First Kiss: The Ghost Bird Series: #10 (The Academy Ghost Bird Series) (21 page)

I nodded, trying to summon up some good feelings after the earlier intense discussion with Silas, and now learning about Kota having so much on his shoulders.

“Go run on ahead. I’m almost done.”

“Which way?” I asked.

Silas moved to the small pile of items inside the tent, ready to be put into place. “Let me take care of this,” he said to Nathan. “You go and show her.”

Nathan nodded. “Thanks, man.”

We left the tent and Nathan walked with me from the campsite to the road, holding my hand along the way.

We were quiet for the first part of the walk.

“Did you get a chance to talk to Kota much?” Nathan asked.

“Not yet.”

“You’ll get more of a chance tonight,” he said. “I tried when you were at the bathroom, but he kept saying his was busy and would talk later.”

“Gabriel said he doesn’t stop talking about me around him.”

Nathan looked ahead, his blue gaze intense on the woods around us. “He used to be the same way when he spoke about you with me. But now, he’s not.”

Maybe Gabriel wasn’t talking with Kota about the same things.

He squeezed my hand and focused on me. “You’ve got all week to change his mind. Hang in there.”

We had to walk a while before we got to a clearing in the woods where the gravel path turned into sand, stretching out between sand dunes.

The beach.

I jolted forward in excitement. I released Nathan and broke into a stumbling run, climbing the dune.

The ocean met with a river to the north and the rest of the island to the south had really wide stretches of beach. This beach was much bigger than Folly Beach where I’d been before. The ocean rolled over on itself over and over in gentle waves. The breeze picked up, chilling my nose and face, so I zipped up my jacket again. I breathed in the salt and the moisture; it was so much better than the woods. Why couldn’t we have our tents out here?

There was a picnic table on a dry patch of sand. Nearby, North stood next to a barbecue grill. He was bent over, opening up a bag of charcoal.

I ran toward him. He saw me coming and tensed, shoulders rounding out, but he held still. I jumped onto his back, circling his neck with my arms, holding to him for dear life.

“North Star,” I said, my legs dangling off of his back.

“Sang Baby,” he said, and he lifted the bag of charcoal, carrying me along with it as if I were just a scarf around his neck and not a person.

“Can I go touch the water?”

“Hell no.”

I pouted, but since I was behind him, he couldn’t see it. “Please?”

“The last time I took you to the ocean, you fell in.” He shook charcoal from the bag into the grill. “I don’t want to save your ass today. The water’s freezing.”

“I won’t fall in,” I said. “There’s no undercurrents here, right? Please?”

“I don’t know that and no.”

I released his neck, dropping to the ground. I heard other people coming and turned to find Nathan jogging toward us. Gabriel was a few dozen feet behind him.

“Can I go if Nathan goes with me?” I asked North. If he was worried about my safety, maybe someone willing to go along might make it safer.

North chuffed. “Only if he stays right next to you.”

I grinned, running back down the path. Nathan saw me coming and broke out into a sprint toward me, arms open. When I was close, I bounced up, catching him around the shoulders. He caught me around the waist, swung me around in a circle once before wrapping his arms around me. He held me by my thighs as he carried me back to the beach.

“Hi, Honey,” I said, feeling silly because we were just talking a minute ago.

“Hi Peanut,” he said, grinning. “Miss me?”

“Yes. Will you go with me to touch the water? North won’t let me.”

“North said no or North said no unless I go?”

“I can if you will.”

Nathan smirked and glanced around. Gabriel was still struggling to get over the dune behind him and North was busy with the grill. He whispered to me. “I’ll do it for a kiss.”

I leaned in, kissing his cheek close to his mouth. Then I gave him another on the opposite cheek.

“Ah,” Nathan said. “A bonus. I guess you really want to swim.”

“No swimming,” North said. He was opening the package of lighter fluid. “And don’t let her fall in.”

He could hear even with the waves and wind blowing? His hearing was amazing.

“I won’t,” Nathan said. He patted me on the thigh with his palm. “Drop down for a second, Peanut.”

I did. Nathan sat on the picnic table, where he removed his shoes and socks and rolled up his jeans until they were about to his knees. He stepped back down again, his bare feet in the sand. He gritted his teeth. “Fuck. Even the sand is cold.”

I took my jacket off. “I don’t want to get that wet.”

Nathan put it next to his shoes and then focused on me. He bent over, hooked an arm around my back and then caught me around the knees with the other. He cradled me in his arms as he lifted me against his chest. “Let’s go.”

I snuggled into him, holding onto his broad shoulders. The wind from the ocean was biting into my exposed arms and neck. I loved the thermal pants just then, as they did keep my legs warm. I knew the water would be freezing, but I couldn’t help it. I just wanted to touch it.

Nathan marched forward until he got to the soggy part of the sand and stopped. I felt him shiver. “Shit. It’s really cold.”

“Do it quick,” I said. “I just want to touch it.”

“Hang on,” he said. He turned me over until I was dangling upside down, facing out toward the ocean. He hooked his arms around my waist, my legs over his shoulder. “You okay like that?” he asked.

It was perfect. I was upside down, but I could reach to feel the waves with my hands. He marched forward and I spread my hand out over the surface and touched the most chilling water I’d ever felt before. If it would keep still, I was sure the water would turn to ice.

“Got it!” I said and burst out laughing. “Holy crow, it’s cold.”

Nathan laughed and hoisted me a little higher on his shoulder, though leaving me upside down, as he bolted for the dry sand. I dangled in his arms, jostled by his movements.

When we were away from the water, he hauled me up even further until my stomach was over his shoulder. I giggled and patted this butt as he marched back to the picnic table.

“Are you done playing with the ocean?” North asked as we got back.

“Yeah,” I said. “It’s too cold to swim.”

“No swimming.”

Gabriel was putting a stereo on the table and then he adjusted an orange wool hat over his head. “Oy, Trouble, where’s your hat?”

I stuffed my hand into the pockets of the jacket, pulling out my pink gloves and hat.

Gabriel walked over, taking the hat and adjusting it, pulling it over my head. “No sense in buying you shit if you don’t wear it.” He reached his fingers into the hat, stuffing my hair in, and then tugged out two locks of hair to frame my face. “You can leave those out,” he said.

It was like how he wore his hat, with his two blond locks sticking out. It was a funny look for him because it made it appear like he had only blond hair and blue eyes with his contrasting dark eyebrows.

I put on the gloves, too. My nose was chilly, but it wasn’t that bad.

North hovered over the grill, looking at the ocean and then down at the coals. “I don’t know if I should light this.”

“Just do it,” Nathan said, brushing his feet clean of sand while sitting on the table. He groaned and wiped and wiped at his feet. “This is going to be my life this week. Sand in every little cranny.”

“You like dirt,” North said and then eyeballed me as I inched closer to the grill. He waved a hand at me. “Don’t,” he said. “Wind is blowing. I’m pretty sure I want to keep your face flame-free.”

“Pretty sure?” I said, although I was joking and took a step back.

He said nothing. He took out a stick from a kit, and lit one end of it with a lighter, shielding the flame with his body. He stuck the still-burning stick into the coals.

The coals flamed up instantly. The breeze wasn’t horrible, but there was no protection from it off the ocean, so it was constant, bending the tall flames away from the water.

North backed away from the grill. “Maybe we should eat sandwiches. This might be too dangerous.”

“I can eat cold hot dogs,” Gabriel said.

“The coals will simmer down after a bit,” Nathan said.

“I don’t have a lid to this thing,” North said. It was a standard park grill, sticking out of the sand on a pole without a cover. “I should have brought one.”

“There’s a grill back at the camp,” Nathan said. “And I bet it’s better because the trees block the wind more.”

Gabriel and I stood behind North, watching the flames. Nathan put his shoes back on and took turns poking at the charcoal. Eventually, the charcoal started glowing more and the flames simmered down, so North could place hot dogs on the grill to heat up.

North turned his head, looking toward the dunes. When I turned to see what he was looking at, I spotted Silas, Victor, Luke and Kota materializing over the hump of sand.

Luke broke into a run toward me, hurrying down the path while scooting the others out of his way.

He was carrying a soccer ball under his arm. “Hey,” he called to us. “Let’s play something.”

The others carried ice chests and extra folding chairs and started to set them up around the table.

Gabriel took one of the ice chests, dragging it down the beach to where the sand had flattened out and was relatively dry.

Nathan tagged along and he and Luke set up a few lines in the sand.

“Sang’s on my team,” Nathan said.

“Are we playing soccer?” I asked.

“I guess,” Nathan said.

No one said anything about rules, so I assumed we were going to play was basic soccer. The only rules I knew were to use your feet, or any body part except your hands, and kick for a goal.

I started out trying to just chase the ball, but they were all really fast. I ended up just aiming to block Gabriel and Luke while Nathan took over trying to kick the ball over the goal lines.

Nathan and Gabriel were struggling for the ball near the middle, and I zagged in front of Luke. Luke held his hands out as if he was going to catch me. I sprinted and when I thought he was going to zag out of the way, he held out his arms instead, catching me around the waist. I lost my balance, folding over in his arm toward the sand, but he shifted quickly, bringing me down on top of him as he sat down hard on the sand.

I luckily caught my knees in the sand and not in his stomach or groin.

“Ow,” he said, laughing. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders, drawing me in to kiss my cheek. “It’s too cold for tackling.”

“You started it,” I said.

“Oh yeah?” Luke slipped his hands under my jacket and shirt, his chilled fingertips finding the bare skin of my stomach.

Icy waves seared through to my center and I yelped, slapping at his biceps as I tried to crawl off of him. “No,” I whined. “Let go.”

He laughed but didn’t release me. “Warm up my hands.” He sat up, sitting cross-legged on the sand and kept his arms around me.

“Argh,” I said, but I found both his hands, pulled the off me and stuffed them into my jacket pockets instead, securing them with my own arms. I bit my tongue as if that would stop the shivers—remnants of his cold hands on me.

“Oy,” Gabriel called to us as Nathan made another goal. “Get your hands out of her shirt.”

“Warming them up,” Luke said.

“Wear your gloves.”

“You’ve got gloves?” I snapped at Luke. I should have known, but had gotten caught up in the moment, not thinking of them. I wasn’t really annoyed, but he had ice fingers.

“Maybe,” he said. “But you’re a better heater.”

I pushed to try to knock him back over into the sand, but he was too strong and remained upright. He yanked his hands out of my pockets, capturing my hands and grinning.

He had such a wicked, yet warming smile. I had to scramble out of his lap; my heart was melting too much around him.

When I made it back to the center of our soccer field, Kota called for Nathan. They were going to move the table out a little and wanted an extra hand taking all the stuff off and carrying it over.

Gabriel turned up the radio. It was a little hard to hear around the waves, so he faced it our way and turned it up loud. “Oh my god, this song is awesome,” he said. He twisted around again, kicking the ball away where it rolled into a hill of sand and stopped. He dashed toward me, snagging my hands and pulling me toward the stereo and then to a section of smooth sand in front of it. “Come on, Trouble. You’ve got to learn this one.”

I didn’t recognize the song at first until I heard the guitar intro as we got closer. “
Beat It
?” I asked.

“Michael Jackson.” He positioned me in front of himself and then backed off a couple steps. He started snapping his fingers. “Learn this. Next time we go to a club, we’ll do it.”

I hesitated, looking at the other guys, but they were busy moving around supplies for the picnic. I’d danced once in front of them before. I focused on Gabriel moving around and I tried doing the same thing next to him.

Gabriel stopped instantly, snapped his fingers again at me and then pointed to the spot beside him. “No, no, just watch first. I don’t want you to learn it backwards.”

How do you learn a dance backwards? I grunted, stopping. I learned better by diving in. Luke sat on the ice chest next to the stereo, turning up the sound more.

Gabriel started swinging his arm out, snapping his fingers. He did some hip swivels and spins. The more he did, the more I vaguely remembered a music video with this song and the dance he was doing.

Gabriel did the moves again and started explaining how he was swinging his body. He clapped his palms together, gesturing to me. “Come on, you do it now. Luke, start the song over.”

Luke pushed a button and the song stopped suddenly and then started fresh from the intro. I stood quietly at Gabriel’s left. He started snapping his fingers. I snapped mine. His arms went up and slid down. I did it. He pumped his arms out. I followed.