Kindred (Book 1 The Kindred Series) (13 page)

   “The
L
ookout
and Standish beach,
”
Susan retorted impatiently.
 

   “Whoopee.”

  
Susan
glared at
Billy
briefly
before
focusing
her attention back o
n
Devon
. “Anyway, if you would like, I’ll take you around and show you everything.”

   Billy and David
shook their heads in disgust
;
they
turn
ed
their attention away from
Susan
as they
started talking about football
.
“Thank you, but I think
I’m all set
.”

  
Susan
’s
pretty
face fell in disappointment. “Well
,
if you change your mind let me know.”

   He gave her a brisk nod before
focusing on
Cassie
once more
. She was watching him silently, her eyes steady and calm as he met her gaze. His heart
seemed to
lurch again,
for a moment he felt it beating
fiercely
in his chest
, and then it was dead once more
. Whatever the strange connection
between him and this girl was, he didn’t think he would ever get used to it, or understand it.

  
He couldn’t take his eyes away from her as she lowered her lids slowly,
once again
focusing on
the table
as she dropped her
half eaten
apple
on the tray.
The loud ringing of
the
bell caused everyone to lurch to their feet
like
Pavlov’s dogs. Devon raised a
n
eye
brow at the sign of automatic obedience, but he found himself following
suit.

   Her eyes met his again, her hands clench
ed
tighter
upon
her tray. There
was a sad acceptance in her gaze
that he didn’t understand, a look of resignation that touched something deep inside him. He longed to reach out and touch her,
longed
to ease the ach
ing
loneliness he sensed
radiating from her.

   Melissa was before him again, her dark eyes twink
led
brig
htly, amusement radiat
ed
from her as she smiled
.
Melissa
glanced briefly at
Cassie, her knowing smile widen
ed
.
“What’s your next class?” He to
re his
attention
away from Cassie
, slipping the well used schedule from h
is pocket as he handed it to Melissa
. “Oh good, Cassie
and I have American history now
to
o.”

   Cassie
inhaled sharply,
a
look of utter panic descended over her
face
once more.
He was becoming accustomed to that look, he didn’t like it, but he was
adjusting
to it. For a moment
it seemed
she w
as
going to bolt from the room
again
as her
eyes
darted
frantically
around
. Then, her
focus
came
back to
hi
m
;
a steely resolve descend
ed
over her as she nodded briskly, turned sharply on her heel
,
and hurr
ied
to the nearest trash can.

   She dumped her
mostly
untouched lunch.

CHAPTER 5

   Cassie
shifted uncomfortably, her whole body hurt. She had taken quite the pounding in training today, pushing herself extra hard in the hopes that the exertion would help to bury the memory of the strange man that had walked into her life.
It had not worked.

   Cassie rolled her shoulders, trying to work the
tension out of them. The hot water of her shower had helped to ease some of the tightness in them, but it had not relaxed them completely. She dressed slowly, listening to the TV as she ran the brush through her tangled hair. She winced as it got caught on a snarl
but pulled it swiftly through.

   Limping slightly, she pulled the door open. Chris was sitting Indian style on her bed, his hands folded before
as he leaned toward the TV. The Red Sox were in the race for the playoffs
and he was riveted. Cassie shook her head as he groaned loudly, pounding his fist onto the bed. “Damn
,
these guys are killing me!”

   Cassie laughed softly as she settled onto the bed beside him. “Is it over?”

  
“Might as well be
,” he muttered.

   Cassie pat
ted
his knee gently. “Are you going to stay here tonight?”

   Chris shook his head before rising slowly to his feet. “No, it’s pretty quiet over there and I suppose I should go home once in awhile.”

  
“I guess,” she muttered.

   “
A
re you going to miss me?” he asked teasingly.

  
“Always.”
Though it was true, Cassie didn
’
t tell him that she didn
’
t wish to be alone tonight. If she was alone then she would think, and if she thought, she knew that her thoughts would be centered upon
him
.

   Cassie shuddered;
she
wrapp
ed
her arms tightly around herself. She didn’t want to think about Devon, she wanted to forget his existence entirely, but she knew that was going to be impossible, especially if Chris went home. Unfortunately she couldn
’
t bring herself to ask Chris to stay. He would know something was wrong if she did, and she didn
’
t want anyone to know just how much Devon affected her.

   Swallowing her anxiety, she drew on her pride as Chris swung a leg out her window to take his normal exit
from
her house. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

   Cassie nodded as he leapt onto the tree branch, swinging for a brief moment before
scurrying down the limb hand over hand. His legs wrapped around the trunk as he swiftly used the other branches to climb to the ground. She watched as he loped across the street, disappearing through his front door.

   Sighing softly, Cassie closed the window most of the way. Turning off her lights, she slipped into
bed, knowing that she would not be able to sleep. Staring blankly at the flickering TV she tried hard to shut her mind off of Devon, tried hard not to think about him, but the harder she tried the more she found herself fixated on him.

   Tossing and turning, Cassie finally managed to slip into a restless sleep at almost two in the morning. And the moment that she slept, she dreamed.

  
Of him.

***

   Cassie squinted against the bright light of the morning, wishing that she had darker and stronger sunglasses.
Her eyes were killing her; she was exhausted, twitchy, and extreme
ly agitated
. Her skin felt two sizes to small as she tried hard not to scratch at it with the strange urge to rip it off. The sun seemed to be burning it a
nd
she tingled with pain and discomfort.

   It was going to be a miserable day and she hadn’t even made it into the school yet.
Rubbing the back of her neck, she eased further into the shadows of the
giant oak overhanging Chris’s M
ustang. “Are you ok?” She glanced over at Melissa, nodding slowly as she hugged her books tighter to her chest. “Cassie…”

   Melissa’s voice trailed off as a strange quiet settled over the student body
. The tingling
sens
ation of her skin increased tenfold, the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She turned slowly, her eyes instantly
latching
onto the sleek black Challenger that moved slowly past. Her heart turned over, her mouth went dry
. She knew instantly who was behind the wheel, even though the tinted windows were to dark to get a glimpse of the driver.

  
“Wow,” Chris breathed his eyes so wide Cassie was certain they were about to pop out of his head.

   Cassie took a step back, wishing that she could disappear into the oak as she bumped up against it.
Memories of her dreams from last night suddenly assaulted her, flooding her body with heat and making her skin crawl even more. Though
t
he dreams had just been bits and
pieces
of him standing by B’s and S’s watching her
, they had left her longing for more
.
T
he searing look
in his eyes as he had stared at her still left her shaken and trembling with a strange sense of unfulfilled desire and need. She had never experienced anything like
these feelings
before
.
A
lthough
they
left her confused
,
she could not deny that the excitement tearing through her was a wonderfully alive sensation
, and something she had not felt in a very long time
.

  
She watched breathlessly, her heart hammering loudly in her chest as the car slid into a parking spot and Devon climbed out. Though he wore dark sunglasses, she knew the moment when his gaze locked onto hers. Her legs went weak, her body turned to rubber
as she felt his gaze burning into her. Trembling, Cassie hugged her books tighter to her chest, unable to move as she stared back
at him
. She fel
t
like a fool for being caught staring, no
gaping
at him, but she could not bring herself to care.

   His gaze was torn from her as Marcy and Susan hurried eagerly up to him. Cassie slumped against the tree, trying hard to catch her breath
,
and ease the pounding of her heart. She was shaking, trembling like a leaf as the lin
gering effects of his gaze
coursed through her
. Chris was staring at her questioningly, an eyebrow lifted in surprise.

   “What’s wrong with you?”

   Cassie shook her head, trying hard not to completely fall apart.
“Nothing.”

   He continued to stare at her, but thankfully Jason and Kara picked that moment to arrive
and distract his attention
.
The game was discussed, plans were made, but Cassie barely heard any of it. Unwillingly her gaze returned to Devon. He was still standing by the car, but he now had a large group of
female
admirers surrounding him.

   Cassie’s heart lurched, jealousy filled her. She shifted uncomfortably, trying hard to deny the emotions suffusing her. There was some strange connection between them (or at least she believed so), but it was more than apparent that he could have his choice of any of the girls, and that none of them were avoiding him as much as Cassie was trying to.
Her anger mounted as
Marcy touched his arm, grinning brightly as her hand lingered far longer than Cassie would have liked. All she wanted
was to
know
what he felt like, and now Marcy did.

   “He is wicked hot,” Kara gushed from beside her.

   Cassie started in surprise
; she had been so focused on Devon that she hadn’t realized Kara had moved to stand beside her. “Who?” she managed to croak out, knowing full well who Kara meant.

   Kara grinned at her, her light brown eyes sparkling merrily. “The new guy, the one you’re staring at.”
   Cassie shifted uncomfortably.
She hadn’t realized that she had been so overt in her ogling. “Um yeah, he’s ok,” she hedged.

   Kara laughed softly as she flung her backpack higher on her shoulder. Melissa moved over to join them, her gaze steady and intense as she watched Cassie. “You want to go over there with me?”
Kara inquired.