Shadows (6 page)

All of this over a ping-pong ball? How completely bizarre. She cleared her throat and extended her hand. “My name is Bethany. Now can I please have my ball back?”

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Andrew’s eyes never left Dawson’s. “We’re going to have to talk soon.”

“Or not,” Dawson replied.

Andrew dropped the ball in her outstretched hand with an arched brow. Then he pivoted around, stalking off toward his table.

“Wow,” she mumbled, unsure of what to make of all of this.

Dawson cleared his throat. “He’s a bit…ah, yeah, Andrew’s just an ass of the highest order. Don’t pay attention to him.”

Bethany nodded and glanced down at her palm, sucking in a sharp breath. Holy smokes…

The ping-pong ball had been melted into an irregular circle.

If she’d heard him in class, why was she asking now?

“Look, let me give you a piece of advice.” She smiled, a poor attempt at being gracious, as if she were talking to a dear friend. It was so, so fake. “Dawson is a total player. Been through the entire school and then some. So has his brother, and they like to mess with people. Pretending to be each other, if you get my drift.”

Disappointment spiked. Memories of her relationship with Daniel surfaced and flickered through her mind. Old wounds were lanced open, and she blurted out, “Why are you telling me this?”

Kimmy gave her an
are you for real
look. “You’re the new girl. Why else do you think he’s so interested in you?” Her gaze traveled over Bethany’s jeans and sweater like she seriously couldn’t figure it out. “I’m just trying to do my good deed of the day and warn you. That boy…well, he’s been around.”

With that, Kimmy turned on her heel and strutted off.

“What the hell?” Bethany said out loud, her voice echoing in the empty room. Was everyone in the school always this friendly? Geez.

Taking a deep breath, she left the locker room, telling herself not to read too much into what Kimmy had said. It could be jealousy. It could be pure girl bitchiness.

Or it could be true
, whispered an evil, nasty voice. Why would she be surprised if it was? She wouldn’t. Both of the brothers were hotness incarnate. She’d be stupid to believe that Dawson didn’t have an acre of ex-girlfriends. Pushing open the door with more of a punch than anything necessary, she wondered if she should cancel on him. The last thing she needed was to be a notch on his belt, no matter how fine that belt was. And the fact that she was already pissy about the idea spoke volumes.

She was way into him.

And he was waiting for her in the hall, leaning against a trophy case, hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans. He must’ve showered, because locks of dark hair curled over his forehead. The V-neck sweater clung to his shoulders.

Her heart did a pitter-patter in her chest at the sight of him. She stopped short, clutching the strap on her bag. “Hey.”

He didn’t smile or grin, only watched her with intense eyes. “I wanted to apologize for my friend.”

That douche was his friend? “It’s not your fault, but maybe—”

“Yeah, it kind of is.” Pushing off the locker, he ran his hand through his hair. “I know that doesn’t make sense, but I’m just sorry he was such a tool to you. And I hope you didn’t change your mind about grabbing something to eat. Not that I’d blame you if you did.”

Now she was confused. Yes, she was changing her mind, but not because of Andrew. And she honestly couldn’t figure out why his friend’s behavior was his problem. But the sincerity in Dawson’s voice and eyes got to her. Player or not, he felt bad when he had no reason to.

Dawson nodded slowly, as if her lack of answer had been one. “All right, I guess it is what it is.”

Her mouth snapped open but nothing came out. Why did this keep happening around the boys in West Virginia?

Standing there before him, she stared, wanting to tell him that it was okay and that she still, against all common sense, wanted to grab something to eat with him. Wanted to hang out and be friends…maybe even more than friends.

But she didn’t say anything.

Giving her a faint smile, he stepped forward. “Do you have a piece of paper and a pen?”

“Uh, sure.” She dug the items out of her bag and handed them over. He immediately started to scribble something. “Dawson, I really—”

“It’s okay. Here,” he said, handing her the paper and pen back. “That’s my number. Call me anytime, if you want. And again, I’m sorry.”

She glanced at the piece of notebook paper, surprised to see that his handwriting was as fluid and graceful as his movements. When she looked up, Dawson was already gone.

…

Dawson was pissed. He wanted to go over to the asshat’s house and drive his car through it. The fact he liked his Jetta was the only thing that stopped him from giving them a new doorway. Well, and Adam, the good twin, as he’d come to refer to him, was a pretty cool guy. So was Ash, when she wasn’t with Daemon.

Andrew had a problem with Bethany only because he’d seen Dawson checking her out in gym, and of course, he was one nosy son of a brat. Out of all the Luxen who lived outside of the community, Andrew was the only one who seemed better suited for living among their kind.

Halfway to his house, Dawson’s phone beeped. Hoping it was Bethany and feeling like a fool for doing so, he leaned back and pulled out the slim iPhone from his front pocket.

And of course it was from his darling brother. Message was short and to the point.

Come home now.

Part of him wanted to say screw it and go anywhere but home, but he’d have to go there sometime. However, he did slow down to a near crawl, ticking off the row of trucks with bumper stickers like
Real Women Love Ford
and
Trucks Do It Better.

The road winding up to his house was silent and empty, like every house that shared the same street. But his driveway was packed. Great. Climbing out of the car, he slammed the door shut.

A crew of Luxen was waiting for him inside. His brother and sister, Adam, Andrew, and Ash, and even Matthew, their unofficial guardian, was there.

Dawson leaned against the door, folding his arms. “Is this an intervention? I can’t wait to hear your letters.”

Daemon’s eyes flashed white light. “Tell me it’s not true.”
“Not sure what ‘it’ is.”

Sprawled on the couch beside Ash, Andrew arched a brow. “You wanted to go all glow bright on me and beat me down in gym class over a girl. A. Human. Girl.”

Dawson smirked. “I want to beat you down every day, Andrew. Today was no exception.”

Andrew flipped him off. “Hardy har har, shit—”

“Don’t,” Daemon snapped, turning on Andrew so quickly that the blond had to see his life flash before his eyes. “Don’t even think about calling my brother a name.”

Holding up his hands, Andrew said, “Whatever, man. All I’m saying is that your bro wanted to go Chuck Norris on my ass over a human girl today.”

Dawson sort of wished he had. “Need I remind you that you
melted
a ping-pong ball with your hand?”

Reason stepped forward in the form of Matthew. “Is that true, Andrew?”

Andrew rolled his eyes. “It was just a ping-pong ball.”

A frown creased Matthew’s face. “Wait. This is all over a
ping-pong
ball
?”

“No,” Andrew said at the same time Dawson replied with a, “Yes.”

“I’m getting a headache.” Adam sighed. “Already.”

So was Dawson. And it had a name. He glared at Andrew. “This isn’t about anything. I don’t know why we had to call a Captain Planet meeting for this.”

His brother folded his arms, mirroring his stance. “Is this about Bethany?”

“Yes!” exclaimed Andrew.

“Who’s Bethany?” Ash asked, sounding bored, but her voice was shrewd. No doubt she was worried about competition for Daemon.

“She’s a girl—”

“A girl?” Dee pulled her nose out of a magazine. “What about a girl? Is she nice? Do I know her?”

Oh, for the love of all things holy. Dawson groaned. “Bethany is a girl from school. And I don’t see what the big deal is. We’ve just talked.”

Dee looked crestfallen. “So I don’t know her?”

“No.” His patience was running thin. “I don’t think you have any classes with her.”

“But she’s human?” Dee glanced around the room, brows arching. “So, I’m with Dawson on this one. What’s the big deal? It’s not like we’re not allowed to…” Her cheeks suddenly matched the color of a tomato. “I don’t get it,” she finished.

“It’s true there are no rules stopping any of us from having…relations, but it is not wise.” Matthew looked like he did when he’d tried to explain the mechanics of sex several years ago. It had been horrifying for all of them. “The DOD does frown upon it, and there really isn’t much of a point.”

“Too dangerous for the humans,” Daemon said, unfolding his arms. He sat on the arm of the recliner where Dee was sitting. “If the DOD even suspected that we let the alien out of the bag, the human goes bye-bye. Not to mention the risk of lighting her up.”

Dawson rolled his eyes. “Yeah, because I plan on turning every human I meet into a disco ball just for the fun of it.”

His brother’s brows lowered in a clear warning.

He sighed. “Anyway, it’s not a big deal.”

“Did you threaten Andrew over her?” Matthew asked, looking like he seriously hoped Dawson didn’t. Well, then, he’d keep his mouth shut, because he wasn’t going to like the answer. “Dawson?”

“Possibly…”

Andrew shot him a bland look. “I would go with yes.”

Man, he wanted to beat Andrew down.

“What did you say?” Daemon asked him, and Dee watched on in interest.

“Fine,” Dawson grumbled. “I told him that if he talked to Bethany again, I was going to shove a certain body part into his mouth.”

Daemon strung together an atrocity of F-bombs. Quite imaginative, too, and even Matthew looked impressed. When he was finished, he said, “You threatened one of your own over a human girl?”

Dawson shrugged.

There went the F-bombs again. “Add that to the way you’ve been staring at her, and we’ve got a problem.”

“How has he been staring at her?” Dee asked, sounding ridiculously innocent. All the guys groaned. “What?” she demanded.

“He stares at her like she’s…” There was an odd pause, almost like Daemon really didn’t know how to phrase it, as if he’d never stared at a girl that way before—and he hadn’t. “Like she’s the finest cut of steak and he’s starving.”

Dawson’s brows shot up. Was that how he stared at Beth? Like she was steak?

“You never look at me like that.” Ash pouted.

Daemon stared at her. Definitely not like
that
.

“Whatever,” Dawson said. “Other than the fact that I will now think of steak every time I see Bethany, there isn’t anything going on. I like her. She’s cool. So what? You guys have nothing to worry about.”

His brother frowned as he glanced at Andrew. “What did you say to the girl?”

Andrew said nothing.

“He kept demanding her name like a freak.” Dawson sighed, so over this conversation.

“Well, to me, it sounds like normal human hating.” Adam glared at his twin. “You got everyone riled up for no reason…as always. It isn’t a big deal.”

It wasn’t a big deal to them, but to him? Dawson wished it wasn’t. His shoulders slumped as he started toward the stairs, done with this conversation. Whatever had been between him and Bethany was finished before it even got started. Looking over his shoulder, he tried to ignore the crushing weight settling on his chest. “There’s nothing to worry about. Thanks to Andrew, she doesn’t want anything to do with me.”

Andrew looked proud.

“So, yeah, there’s nothing to worry about.”