Focus (The Crescent Chronicles, #2) (4 page)

“
See ya.” Brian gave a
small wave as he left.

“
Bye.”

I packed up my stuff, and I walked out
with Jared. “They knew who I was, how?”

“
Word’s out Levi chose a
mate and your name’s circulating. Most people just don’t know what
you look like. They were checking out their future
queen.”

I checked my phone out of habit, but I
didn’t have any missed calls. “How can you say that so calmly?
That’s insane.”

“
Not really. I mean you
wouldn’t have been my choice, but evidently Levi wanted
you.”

“
So, it doesn’t faze you
that I had no say in any of this?”

“
Why should it? You
obviously like him; I don’t see why you’re fighting so much.” He
dug into his bag without slowing down and pulled out a pair of
sunglasses.

I groaned. “Forget it. I don’t know why
I asked.”

“
All right, so your next
class is all the way in Newcomb. We can head over there now if you
want.” He put on his shades. He looked even more intimidating that
way.

“
You know where my next
class is?”

“
Of course. Owen’s probably
already there. Such an overachiever.”

“
Owen’s in my French
class?”

“
What? Were you expecting
Levi to be in intro French? He’s fluent.”

I don’t know what I was expecting.
“Well, I guess if it’s going to be one of the three of you, I’d
rather it be Owen.”

“
Don’t let Levi hear you
say that.” He put a hand in the pocket of his cargo
shorts.

“
What? That I detest him
the least?”

“
That you’d rather spend
time with him.” With the sunglasses on, I couldn’t get a good read
on Jared’s expression. I wasn’t sure if he was seriously suggesting
Levi would be annoyed about that.

“
Why? What would Levi
do?”

“
You want me taking Owen’s
spot in all your classes? Because that’s what would
happen.”

“
Okay, keeping that
statement to myself.”

Jared chuckled. “Fast
learner.”

“
But Levi wouldn’t actually
get the wrong idea, would he? I mean, obviously, I don’t like
Owen.”

“
He knows, but he still
wouldn’t like it. Trust me. If you haven’t figured it out yet
you’re even dumber than I thought, but Levi is really possessive of
what’s his.”

“
Stop.” I grabbed Jared’s
arm.

“
Stop what?” He turned
toward me as people stepped around us.

“
Referring to me as his.
I’m not his. I don’t belong to anyone.”

Jared picked up my hand, pointing at
the ring. “This ring says otherwise. You’re his.”

I tugged at the ring. “You know I’d
take this thing off if I could.”

“
Shh, keep it down.” He
looked over his shoulder.

“
What?”

“
Okay, you not living with
Levi is one thing, but trying to explain to the underlings that
you’re not even with him right now, isn’t cool. Got it?”

“
Underlings?”

“
Yeah, got a problem with
the terminology?”

“
Yes. It’s disrespectful.
God knows what you say about me when I’m not around.”

He laughed. “Is that a
joke?”

“
No.”

“
I might be Levi’s friend,
but that doesn’t mean I’d ever get away with bad mouthing his mate.
You don’t get how important you are, do you? Everything will make
sense eventually.”

“
That’s real
helpful.”

“
I know I am.”

I groaned.

“
Okay, this is Newcomb,
you’re on the second floor.” We’d reached another quad of sorts. I
knew my dorm was right on the other side of it.

“
Thanks for the delightful
conversation.”

“
Don’t mention it. See you
later.”

“
What, no door to door
service?”

“
Your next chaperone is
right there.”

I looked over my shoulder to see a
smiling Owen. “Chaperone? I thought you were my
bodyguards.”

“
Bodyguard, chaperone, take
your pick.” He pulled down his sunglasses for a moment so he could
catch my eye before replacing them and walking off.

***

My French professor didn’t use a word
of English. I’d pulled myself through Spanish in high school, and I
thought French would be a nice change of pace. Five minutes into
the first class and I regretted my decision. I was done
for.

“
You okay?” Owen asked as
we filed out of the classroom.

“
I have absolutely no clue
what our professor said today.”

He laughed. “Really? You’ve never taken
any French?”

“
No. Have you? Aren’t we in
a level one class?” I glanced at my workbook, dreading my first
homework assignment.

“
Yeah, but I know some
French, just not super well.”

“
Oh. Damn. I’ll have to get
some help from Hailey.”

Owen held open the door for me.
“Hailey? Good luck with that.”

“
What?” I looked at
him.

“
Hailey’s great and all,
but teaching isn’t her strong point. But you know who would be
really good at helping you?”

“
Don’t say it.”

“
Levi.” Owen grinned. “He’s
the best tutor you could find.”

“
Forget it. I’ll figure it
out on my own.” The last thing I needed was to ask for tutoring
from Levi.

“
Suit yourself.” He
shrugged. “Are you going back to your dorm?”

“
Yeah, I’m done with
classes for the day since I don’t have lab this week.”

“
I know.”

I ignored how smug he was about all of
this. Of the three guys, Owen was the most tolerable.

“
It’s only eleven so I have
an hour before I meet Hailey for lunch, so yeah I think I’ll go
back to my room.”

“
Cool. Have a good one,
Allie.”

“
Thanks, you
too.”

“
Tell my sister
hi.”

“
I will.”

I looked over my shoulder before I
walked into my dorm and saw Owen still standing there watching me.
If they were being so careful today, why weren’t they at other
times? That’s when it hit me—they probably were. I was probably
always being watched. Thank goodness I lived with Hailey. At least
they didn’t have to watch me sleep.

Chapter Four

Jared hadn’t been exaggerating. I had a
Pteron in every class with me. The only break from the guys I got
was my Freshman seminar. I’d been able to get into the same one as
Hailey. With Jared in econ and Organic Chemistry, and Owen in
French, I knew it would be Levi waiting for me in art history on
Tuesday morning. He leaned against the outside of the building,
holding two cups of coffee. “Good morning, love.”

“
Hi, Levi.” I accepted the
coffee, knowing he would have gotten it right, two Splendas and no
cream. “Thanks.”

“
No problem. You ready for
class?”

“
Sure, let’s
go.”

I followed Levi as he picked two seats
in the center of the room. He got the seats right. I hated sitting
in the back or front.

“
These okay?” Levi asked as
he sat down.

“
Perfect, thanks.” I put my
bag down on the floor and took out a new, blue notebook and
pen.

He smiled. “Did you just thank me for
the second time this morning?”

“
Yes, but don’t let it go
to your head.”

“
Don’t worry. I
will.”

I shook my head.

Levi sat down next to me, putting an
arm around the back of my chair.

“
So how was your first day
yesterday? Was it all you wanted it to be?”

I turned to glare at him. “Don’t you
already know? Didn’t your two goons fill you in?”

“
My goons?” He laughed. I
hated how much I loved that deep sound. “I can’t wait to tell Jared
you called him a goon.”

“
Like he can do anything
about it.”

“
True, very true. See, I
knew you liked being my fiancé.”

“
Why do you keep calling me
that?” I looked over my shoulder, hoping there weren’t too many
people listening.

“
Would you rather I call
you my mate? Or is it wife you want? I thought fiancé sounded more
normal for a college freshman.”

“
Because so many college
freshman are engaged?” I tapped my pen, taking out my frustration
on an inanimate object. “Why do you need to call it
anything?”

“
Do you have a better
explanation for the ring on your finger?”

“
Please. Girls wear rings
on their left ring finger. I can explain it another way.” I
couldn’t resist another peek at the ring. It was beautiful. If it
weren’t for the fact that it symbolized the end of my life as I
knew it, I might have enjoyed wearing it.

“
But it’s not just any
ring. It’s
my
ring, and plenty of people know that. Don’t forget it.” His
expression darkened, his light teasing replaced by something far
more serious.

“
So you really expect me to
pretend we’re engaged?”

“
We don’t have to pretend.
Whenever you get tired of that dorm room, there’s plenty of room in
my bed.”

“
This is temporary, Levi.
Temporary.” I looked down, unable to meet his eye.

“
I know, years from now
we’ll look back and laugh at the games you played.”

“
That’s not what I meant,
and you know it.”

“
Please, Al. I was part of
that kiss.”

I forced myself to meet his gaze. “And
it was just a kiss.”

“
It could have been more.”
He leaned over, whispering in my ear, “So much more.”

“
Cut that out, or I’m
changing seats.”

“
We can talk about this
more later.”

“
Later?”

“
Yeah, there’s an event at
Commander’s tonight you need to be at.”

“
Commander’s? As in the
restaurant?”

“
What else would I
mean?”

“
What kind of event is it?”
I wouldn’t have admitted it, but he had my interest.

“
A meeting.” I noticed he
didn’t have either a notebook or laptop ready to take
notes.

“
A meeting? You’re not
going to give me more than that?”

“
A meeting you need to be
at.” He gave me his usual cocky grin before turning toward the
front of the room just as the professor walked in.

Class was uneventful, other than the
professor telling us we had to form small groups for some semester
long project.

“
I think we’ll make a great
group.” Levi took my books before I could stop him.

“
Please, we are not working
together. And I need my books back.”

“
I’m just carrying them for
you. You’ll get them back at your dorm.”

“
But we’re practically
there already.” Like French, Art History was right next to my
dorm.

“
So, it’s really not a big
deal.”

“
Fine,” I sighed. It was
impossible to shake him off.

“
I’ll be over to get you at
seven.”

“
Hailey and I can just take
a cab.” One of the annoying parts of being a freshman is that we
couldn’t have our cars on campus.

“
What are you talking
about? Hailey isn’t coming.”

I grabbed his arm. “Yes, she is. I’m
not going without her.”

“
Are you serious? Do you
realize how ridiculous that is?”

“
What’s ridiculous is you
expecting me to go to a meeting with you with zero advance warning.
What if I had plans?” I released his arm, backing away.

“
Plans? You don’t have
plans.”

“
It’s a Thursday night.
Everyone goes out on Thursdays. We were going to check out
Margarita Night at Vera Cruz.”

“
If we get out early, I’ll
take you.” He put a hand on the back of his neck. “Besides, I can
get you cheap Margaritas anytime.”

“
That’s not the point of
going, and you know it. Anyway, I’m not budging. You want me to
come, Hailey’s in too.” I put a hand on my hip.

“
Fine. But I’m driving you
both. There is no way we’re showing up separately.”

“
Deal. See you at
seven.”

“
It’s a date.”

“
No, it’s a
meeting.”

He ran a hand down my arm, giving me
goose bumps. “Remember what I said, one day we’ll be laughing about
this.”

“
Keep telling yourself
that.” I pulled my books from him and prepared to walk
away.