Goddess Revenge: Goddess Series Book 4 (Young Adult / New Adult) (13 page)

Over the last couple of weeks, Kate, Seth, Calli, and River all came over to her house to study for semester tests. River continued to help her with her calculus and chemistry, and since she was such a history buff, she helped Calli with her history preparations.

Today was the last day of school before winter vacation, and the day of finals. She’d gotten ready for school, wearing her school hoodie and jeans since they also had a basketball game tonight. The game was an away game, so she was going to ride with Kate since Calli had to ride with the cheerleaders and River with the team.

When Legacy got to school, Calli was already at their picnic table studying. She sat beside her BFF and crammed until River walked up.

“If you don’t have it by now, it doesn’t matter. Testing starts in five minutes,” he said with a laugh.

“Shut up,” Calli mumbled, nose still in her history book.

River kept quiet while Calli studied the Civil War timeline and Legacy studied the periodic table of elements.

When the bell rang, he grabbed her books. They walked to their lockers to put up their books since they were not allowed to bring them into any of the classes. Then the test began.

Oh gods, Legacy’s brain was fried by lunchtime, and she was sure she wasn’t alone in that feeling. They all went to Beef’s for lunch since it was their favorite place to hang. River and Seth got sandwiches instead of their regular greasy burgers because of the game tonight. They all ate, talked, and laughed through most of lunch, and when everyone got done eating, no one wanted to rush back to school.

While River was looking away from Legacy, talking to Seth, he moved his hand to her leg and gently stroked it once before moving it away.

What motivated him to do that? He hadn’t made a move since they’d decided on this little breather, but the maneuver seemed like an absentminded gesture. She wasn’t sure if he consciously did it, and if so, what provoked him? If it was an unconscious effort, then she understood why he moved his hand away as quickly as he did. This was the restaurant where he first made a move like that. Maybe that was why he did it, she guessed.

Then River turned to face her, sliding his hand back onto her leg. “Ready to go?” he asked casually. Okay, so he meant to do it.

“Sure.”

He patted her leg before moving his hand and standing up.
Pat
? Not a gentle, loving caress. That didn’t seem like a pass at all. Maybe what happened earlier was nothing more than a fluke.

Or maybe he’d decided he wanted to stay friends. That her conflicted emotions were too much for him. If so, how would she go about luring him back for his much deserved punishment? She’d have to pay close attention to his behavior to see if he’d made a decision.

On the ride back to school, she couldn’t sense any changes from River. Their conversations were casual, but they did decide the three of them would get together on Sunday to do their gift exchange.

The rest of the day was much easier than the morning since her only hard exam was calculus. She muddled through the test, thinking she did okay. During English, she made plans to spend the night with Calli after the basketball game. Calli and River left school during last period to head to the game while she had to stay and take her P.E. exam. It was a cakewalk. When school let out, Kate followed her to her house to drop off her car, and they headed to the game together.

“Legacy?” Kate asked, glancing out her window.

“Yes?”

“How are you doing with your breakup from Adin?”

That seemed like an odd question. “Um, fine, I guess.”

“Well, Seth and River are becoming pretty good buddies, and Seth’s mentioned to me how much River talks about you.”

Ah
. This made sense now. “Yeah, we’re best friends.”

“Do you, er, think something could happen between you and River?” she asked a little timidly.

How to answer? “Umm, maybe.”

Kate nodded. “Well, I think River would probably flip at the chance to date you. You should hear some of the stuff he says. I mean, nothing too obvious, but like last Friday when you wore the sweatshirt you have on now, he went on and on about how much he loved that color on you.”

Legacy looked out her window to keep Kate from seeing her roll her eyes. Of course River would love the school sweatshirt on her because their school colors were green and gold. He loved it when she wore green. Her eyes tended to change colors from blue to green, depending on what she was wearing. His eyes were green, and he liked it when their eyes matched. He once said it made him feel as if they were on the right path.

If she were on a path with River, it was the wrong one as far as she was concerned. But maybe
he
hoped they would be on the same path. Maybe the leg pat at lunch wasn’t a plutonic gesture after all.

“He’s always liked green on me,” she said a little too dryly. “Er, how are things with you and Seth?” she asked to get the focus off River.

“Um, good. Well, we do fight a lot, but other than that, everything’s good.”

Fight
? “What do you mean by that?”

“He just gets on my nerves sometimes. He’s always clingy. There are times I just want to be left alone without him hovering over me twenty-four-seven, you know. I mean, don’t get me wrong, he’s wonderful. I just think he’s more serious about me than I am about him.”

“Oh,” she said, looking away from her. “Do you not want to be in a serious relationship?”

“Sure, well, just as much as anyone else our age, I guess.”

She nodded. Kate obviously didn’t feel about Seth the way Legacy felt about Adin. But she was still getting to know this chick. Technically, Legacy had known her for years, but now that they all hung around each other, she was really getting to know her.

When they got to the school, Legacy stood in line for some popcorn while Kate went to the bleachers behind where their basketball team would be sitting during the game. For how nonchalantly Kate had talked about Seth being the clingy one, she sure did seem to want to be close to him.

Legacy headed to her seat with popcorn in hand. When she passed the home team practicing, a tall, brown-haired, brown-eyed guy glanced over at her.

“
Damn
, I’d love to hit that,” he said to his teammate loudly enough to make sure she’d hear him.

She grimaced, shaking her head as she kept walking. Guys could be such jerks.

“Where are you going, little momma?” he said as he dribbled the ball over to her.

What a moron
. She stopped and looked at him. “Really? Is that the best you can do?” She laughed and kept walking to her seat, but as her eyes scanned the court, she saw River.

He was staring at the moron. There was no way he could’ve heard the exchange from where he was standing. Well, that would be true if River were mortal, but he wasn’t. She guessed he could very well have heard, but his unfathomable expression left her a little perplexed. She took her seat next to Kate while she munched on her snack.

“What’d that guy say to you? You looked irritated,” Kate asked, reaching into her bag of popcorn.

“He just came onto me.” She shrugged—it wasn’t as if that was the first time that’d ever happened.

When the game was about to start, River sat on the bleacher in front of Legacy, though she knew he’d be sitting all over the bleacher when he was sitting during the game, which he wouldn’t be doing very often.

She wanted to ask him if he heard what the guy said, but she knew now wasn’t the time. She couldn’t ask him if he had superhuman hearing in front of Kate, but she could chat with him to feel him out.

Legacy leaned toward him. “Want some popcorn?” she whispered.

River turned his head to the side, giving it an infinitesimal shake, and smiled at her. Then he turned back around.

Hmmm
…not enough of an exchange to really judge. She tried again. “Good luck,” she whispered.

River turned his head to the side again. “Thanks,” he whispered, and winked at her before turning back around. Then he and several other players got up and walked onto the court. She’d just have to ask him about this later.

Once the buzzer sounded, she realized the moron was on the court too, and he was really good. He seemed to be one of the better players on his team, which was probably where his cockiness came from. These dumb hick chicks over here probably fought each other, falling all over themselves for a corn-fed boy like the moron. How sad.

As the game went on, she couldn’t help but notice how attentive River was to that guy. Anytime the moron got the ball with River around, River managed to get it away from him, either by knocking it away or yanking it out of his hands. She was getting tickled.

Oak Grove was leading, but not by much, when halftime was nearing. Right before the buzzer sounded, the moron had the ball right in front of them with River blocking him. The poor guy was trapped. River wasn’t going to let him get a shot in before the end of the first half. When the buzzer sounded, River elbowed him and cursed at him as he stepped away. The two exchanged looks briefly as they parted, and as River headed to the locker room, he glanced at Legacy.

He didn’t smile or show any other expression. He just looked at her and turned his head to watch where he was going.

“You’d think the way River was acting he’d seen that guy coming on to you,” Kate said, leaning to the side to watch the guys walk away.

“You’d think,” she said, feigning a little humor, but after seeing how River acted toward that guy, she figured it was pretty safe to assume he had heard.

When the teams came back out, River sat away from her this time with Seth beside him. They seemed to be in serious conversation. When the buzzer sounded, Seth went out on the court and River stayed. She was surprised that River didn’t go out. He did sit out from time to time, but he always started at the beginning of a game and at the beginning of the second half.

Several minutes into the game, River was still sitting, and they were losing their narrow lead. She watched the game as Seth took River’s position guarding the moron. When she wasn’t watching the game, she was watching River. He was following the ball, glancing at the game clock every ten or fifteen seconds. He seemed on edge, like he wanted to be out on the court.

When they finally lost the lead and the home team cheered, the coach, with a reluctant look in his eyes, called on River. The coached mouthed some heated words to him, which he nodded in understanding.

Once River was back out on the court, he seemed to stay away from the moron. Seth kept covering him. She realized then that the coach must’ve chewed him out and kept him out of the game because of his behavior at the end of the first half.

River threw a bunch of three-point shots and got the lead back, which they kept the rest of the game.

When it was over, Kate ran over to Seth and hugged him while Legacy Calli walked over to River and gave him a hug. When Calli walked back to the squad, Legacy gave River another hug and started to step away, but he grabbed her arm. She looked up at him, but he wasn’t looking at her. She followed his line of sight and saw him glaring at the moron still on the court who had his back to them.

Looking back at River, she said, “Did you—”

“Wait until he goes in the locker room, and then you and Kate leave.” He looked down at me. “
Don’t
wait around outside. Leave. Call my cell when you get on the road.”

He dropped her arm and caught up with his team members as they entered the visitor locker room. Legacy walked over to Kate, but watched the moron peripherally. She didn’t know why River had just acted that way. She was sure he’d heard the guy come on to her, but that wasn’t the first time that had ever happened to her, and she was sure it wouldn’t be the last. She figured he was just being overprotective, but she wanted to do what he asked. “You ready?” she asked Kate shakily.

“I want to wait until the guys come back out.”

“River wants us to leave now.”

Kate furrowed her brow. “I don’t care what River wants. I want to see Seth before he loads the bus.”

Ugh!
She couldn’t force Kate to leave. She was her ride. “Okay. I’m going to wait by the locker room then.” She figured if she couldn’t leave, she should at least stay close to River.

“I’m going to freshen up. I’ll be right back.” Kate trotted off to the ladies room while Legacy stood by the hallway to the visitor’s locker room.

While she waited, she noticed the home team trickling out of their locker room, and she froze when she saw the moron walk out.

He met her gaze, and a playful smile crept eerily onto his face as he walked toward her.
Oh shit.
Why did her spine try to crawl out of her back? She kept her composure as best she could. She didn’t want to look away from him. This suddenly felt like an animalistic stare down—the one who looked away first would be the weaker of the two, and he was out to prove he was the dominant one.

“No,” he said silkily as he came to stand right in front of her. “That wasn’t the best I could do.”

Oh, what to do? She struggled with something to say, but kept her eyes locked on his. “In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m not interested,” she said smoothly.

“I’m Casey, by the way,” he said like she’d never even spoken.

“Fine, Casey, I’m still not interested.”

“I don’t care if you’re not interested. I only care if you’re interesting.” He took another step closer. “Let’s make things interesting,” he said as he grabbed her arm.

Startled, she tried pulling her arm away from him, but he yanked her under the bleachers, grabbed both of her wrists above her head with one hand, covered her mouth with his other, and stepped on both of her feet.

Too shocked and terrified to really process what was happening, she couldn’t move even if she tried to. He was definitely stronger. Her feet throbbed under his because he’d stomped so hard onto hers. Her wrists and her mouth stung from his rigid, unbreakable hold. If only she could touch him and shock him off. She struggled against his grip, trying to cry out.