Instinct told me she meant something completely different. “Heading to class?”
Shortcake didn’t say anything as we walked down the stairs, but her face was pinched as if she was in deep thought about something.
“Avery?”
She squirmed away, and my eyes narrowed as she hurried off. “Yeah, I’m heading to art. What about you guys?”
Catching up with her on the third floor, I’d be damned if she got away that easily. “We’re going out to breakfast. You should skip and join us.”
She tightened her grip on her bag. “I think I’ve done enough skipping this week.”
“I’m skipping,” Ollie announced, “but Cam doesn’t have a class until this afternoon, so he’s a good boy.”
“And you’re a bad boy?” she asked.
He grinned at Shortcake, the kind of smile I’d seen him give countless girls. “Oh, I’m a bad, bad boy.”
My skin prickled as I shot Ollie a look. “Yeah, as in bad at spelling, math, English, cleaning up after yourself, talking to people, and I could go on.”
“But I’m good at the things that count,” Ollie replied.
“And what are those things?” I asked as we stepped out under clouds fat with rain. It was going to be one of those days.
Ollie faced us, walking backward. A red truck started to back up, but he kept going, forcing the truck to grind to a halt. I shook my head. He held up a tanned hand and started ticking off his fingers. “Drinking, socializing, snowboarding, and soccer—remember that sport, Cam? Soccer?”
I stared at him. “Yeah, I remember it, asshole.”
Ollie, probably having no idea what he’d just done, spun around and headed for my truck. A muscle started to tick in my jaw. I shoved my hands in my jeans as I glanced at Shortcake. “See you around, Avery.”
Leaving her, I joined Ollie by my truck. Instead of hitting the unlock button to all the doors, I only did mine and climbed in, slamming the door shut behind me.
“Hello,” came Ollie’s muffled voice.
Ignoring him, I turned on the truck. A big, fat raindrop hit the windshield, and I smiled, looking up at the sky.
“Hey!”
Slowly, I raised my hand, giving him the finger.
Ollie jumped when the sky opened up in a torrential downpour, howling like a wounded animal. Only when his hair was plastered to his skull did I unlock his door.
He climbed in, shivering. “What the fuck, man?”
“You deserved it.” I shifted into reverse, backing out. One look at Ollie’s creased forehead told me he was racking his brain for what he did. I sighed. “You really need to lay off the pot.”
“If I’ve heard that once, I’ve heard that a million times, but Mary Jane loves me, and she’s the only girl I love.”
Smoothing my hand over the baseball cap, I shook my head. “Fucking hippie.”
Ollie shook his head like a wet dog, spraying the interior with droplets of chilly water. He must’ve knocked something loose in his brain, because he fell back against the seat. “Shit, man. I wasn’t thinking.”
I coughed out a laugh as I pulled out of the parking lot, a car behind Shortcake. “That’s a huge surprise.”
Ollie stared ahead, the normal smile he wore gone. “I forget sometimes, you know? It seems like forever ago.”
Shit, I wished I could forget, especially now, as I watched Shortcake’s car hang a left, heading toward campus.
He glanced at me. “I’m sorry, man. Truly. I know how much soccer meant to you.”
I nodded absently as I turned right, heading for the bypass that would take us into Charles Town. Soccer had been my life since the moment Dad enrolled me in the local peewee league, and over years, I’d honed my skills as a striker, the middle scoring position. I was damn good, too, and it was no secret that when I registered for Shepherd and made their soccer team three years ago, I had no plans on staying here. I was biding my time before I could score a tryout with D.C. United. Soccer was how I met Jase and Ollie. Soccer had been my sanity.
But the only thing I was doing with soccer now was coaching a summer rec league program as community service. There would be no more soccer. At least for the foreseeable future, and one act of anger had ensured that.
Most people my age spent Friday night drinking and hanging out with friends. I spent my Friday night sitting in a circle—yes, a fucking circle—listening to people’s problems. Some of the guys in the group weren’t bad. Like Henry. He got drunk one night and got into a fight at a bar. He wasn’t a psychopath. Neither was Aaron, who apparently had some road-rage problems. A couple of the other guys, and that one chick with the pasty-white makeup and heavy black eyeliner, I wasn’t so sure about. They were kind of scary.
Screwed-up thing was that I wasn’t the youngest person here. Not by far.
I only had . . . ten more motherfucking months of this.
I could do this. Seriously. I could easily do this.
“Cameron?” Dr. Bale cleared his throat, and I wanted to punch myself in the throat. “Is there anything you would like to share tonight?”
This was the part I couldn’t do. The talking-about-me shit with a whole bunch of strangers staring at me. I looked up, and a sympathetic look crossed Henry’s face before looking away.
“No,” I said. “Not really.”
Goth chick—who apparently had a penchant for knives—threw herself back in her seat, crossing her arms covered in black ink. “He never shares anything.”
I pressed my lips together to keep from getting stabbed.
“That is true.” Dr. Bale adjusted his wire-frame glasses. “You barely contribute to the group, Cameron.”
Shrugging, I sat back and slid the baseball cap down lower. “I’m just taking it all in.”
Henry jumped in, thankfully, diverting the attention, and I floated under the radar until the end of the session, but when I got up to leave, Dr. Bale summoned me.
Great.
As everyone filed out of the room, I dropped back in the metal folding chair and leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees. “What’s up?
Dr. Bale leaned over, picking out a folder from the plastic bin beside him. “I wanted to make sure you were getting something out of these meetings, Cameron.”
Uh. No. No, I was not. “I am.”
He eyed me as he hooked his leg over a knee as he leaned back in his chair. “You’ve barely spoken about the event.”
“There’s really nothing to say.”
“There’s a lot to say.” He smiled, pausing, and the skin around his eyes crinkled. “I know talking in front of people is hard in the beginning, but you have things in common with them.”
I stiffened. “I’m not sure I have a lot in common with them.”
“Are you sure about that?”
Sighing, I averted my gaze to the white walls. Posters lined them. Ones that spoke of talking, instead of throwing punches.
“Are you taking this seriously, Cameron?”
“Yes.” I forced my gaze not to search out the only clock in the room, behind me.
“Good. I’d hate for you to not take this wonderful opportunity and use it to benefit your life.”
I kept my expression blank.
“Do you realize how lucky you are, Cameron?” Dr. Bale asked when I said nothing. “What happened to that boy could have put you in jail for a very long time.”
“I know,” I said, meaning it. God knows I knew how lucky I was. And for the longest time I believed my ass should’ve been rotting in jail. I would’ve been if it hadn’t been for my father’s pull in the criminal courts and my otherwise spotless record. “I’m a really laid-back guy, Dr. Bale. What happened—”
“The beating you inflicted on that boy would beg to differ.” His gaze flicked down to my file. “Severe head contusions
. Broken jaw, nose, and eye socket, along with several broken ribs.” He looked up, meeting my stare. That doesn’t sound like something a ‘laid-back guy’ would do, now does it?”
My stomach soured, but I didn’t look away. “I’m not proud of what I did. Looking back, I know there were plenty of other things I could’ve done.”
“But?”
But I didn’t have an “anger” or a “rage” problem. And as fucked up as it sounded, I still wasn’t sure I regretted what I had done. The fucker had been beating on my sister, and well, I had lost my shit.
And truth be told, if I had to do the situation all over again, I wasn’t sure I’d handle it any differently. You hurt my sister, you’re fucking with me. It was as simple as that.
Five
When it came to my little Shortcake, patience paid off.
At first, the trip out to Antietam National Battlefield to do our astronomy assignment had started off as painful as my weekly anger-management classes were. She sat in my truck like I lured her in there with the offer of free puppies, tugging on the sleeves of her sweater and sitting as straight as a board. Her nervousness increased as we headed down Bloody Lane, picking a spot that would give us a clear view of the sky and . . . cornfields.
I learned she was a bit of a history nerd, which was cool, because those brown eyes lit up when she started talking about the battlefield. And I also learned she was in one hell of a hurry to get this done and over with.
Never in my life did I doubt my ability to attract a girl like I did with Avery. She acted like spending time with me was tantamount to sitting in music appreciation class for two semesters in a row. As cocky as this sounds, I knew I could walk onto that campus and get a date with the nearest available girl. Probably even a girl who wasn’t available, but with Avery, it was like trying to hit on a nun. And not a naughty nun.
“How long do you think this will take?” she asked.
“Why?” I paused as something occurred to me. Maybe my charm wasn’t failing me. Holy shit, how had I not thought about this before? “You got a hot date tonight?”
She laughed dryly. “Uh, no.”
Part of me was happy to hear this. The other part was thoroughly confused. “You sound like that’s an insane idea. That no one would go out on a Saturday night for a date.”
Shrugging, she dropped the piece of hair she’d been messing with. “I’m not dating anyone.”
I walked on, tapping my hands off my thighs as the breeze stirred the cornstalks, causing them to rattle like dry bones. “So why the rush?” When there was no response, I glanced over my shoulder at her, grinning. “Are you worried that I’ve brought you out here for my own nefarious plans?”
Shortcake stopped, her face paling in a way that made her freckles punch out. “What?”
Whoa. I faced her, feeling the knot back in my chest and something else. Her reaction was too quick, too real. A bad taste filled my mouth. “Hey, Avery, I’m just joking. Seriously.”
She stared at me and then averted her gaze, cheeks flushing. “I know. I’m just . . .”
“Jumpy?”
“Yeah, that.”
I hoped—fuck, I prayed—that was all this was. Watching her fiddle with the bracelet on her left wrist, I couldn’t let the train of thought go any further. Anger over the possibility of something fucked up in the most minor way happening to her was already pricking at my skin. I was sure I was overreacting. “Come on. It’ll be dark soon.”
I started walking, heading toward the tower, waving at two students from our class. Picking a spot on the hill overlooking the dirt lane, I pulled out a flashlight before I sat down. The grass was dry and in that stretch of silence, the hum of crickets was almost as loud as my pounding heart. I had no idea why my pulse was racing, but it felt like I’d run from the truck to here instead of walking.
Looking up, I found Shortcake hovering a few feet behind me. I patted the spot. “Join me? Pretty please? I’m lonely all by myself over here.”
She sucked her lower lip in between her teeth, and the muscles in my stomach tensed. Finally, she moved forward and sat . . . three feet from me. My brows rose, but then . . . then our gazes collided, and I took a breath, but it didn’t get really far. How many freckles did she have on the bridge of her nose? Nine. No. Nine and a half. One of them was faded. Her lips were parted, like she was waiting for a kiss.
The urge to kiss her hit me hard in the gut. Was it the first time? When I wiped the crumb from her lip, I had wanted to kiss her then, to taste those soft-looking lips. Any other girl I would’ve made a move, but not Shortcake.
And that’s when the strangest damn thing happened.
I wanted to slow down. How I could slow down this nonexistent relationship was beyond me, but I don’t know. My heart was still pounding.
Avery ducked her chin, studying her notebook as she cleared her throat.
Letting out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding, I asked, “What constellation are we supposed to be mapping?”
“Um, the Corona Borealis, I think,” she said, skimming the notes as I held the flashlight.
“Ah, the Northern Crown.”
Her brows rose. “You knew that off the top of your head?”
I laughed at her dubious expression. “I might not take notes, but I do pay attention.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I really don’t understand how anyone sees shapes in the stars.”
“Really?” I moved closer slowly and peeked over her shoulder. “The shapes are pretty obvious.”
“Not to me. I mean, it’s just a bunch of stars in the sky. You can probably see whatever you want to see.”
“Look at the Borealis.” I pointed at the map. “It’s obviously a crown.”
She laughed—a real laugh, and the knot tightened in my chest. “It does not look like a crown. It looks like an irregular half circle.”
Grinning, I shook my head. “Look. You can see it now easily. That’s a crown. Come on, see the seven stars.”
“I see the seven stars, but I also see about a hundred others peeking out.” She grabbed a pen. “I also see the cookie monster.”
I laughed. “You’re ridiculous.”
As I watched her, her lips curved up in a smile as she posed her pen over the grid. It was clear she had no idea what latitude line to start at as she glanced up toward the Borealis. Finally, she connected two dots.
“You know where the name comes from?” I asked.
Shortcake shook her head, so I reached over and took the pen from her. In the process, my fingers brushed hers. A jolt zapped up my arm, and she pulled away immediately. “It represents the crown given from the god Dionysus to Ariadne,” I told her. “When she married Bacchus, he placed her crown in the heavens in honor of their marriage.”
She stared, brows furrowing. “Professor Drage didn’t teach that in class.”
“I know.”
“Then how did you know that?”
“Why don’t you know that?”
She tipped her head to the side, lips pursed.
“Okay. Maybe most people wouldn’t know that off the top of their head.” I twirled her pen. “I actually took part of this class as a freshman, but had to drop it.”
Curiosity filled her brown eyes. “Really?”
I nodded.
“You’re, what, a junior?”
“Yep.” I paused, unsure of how much I should say. “I ended up having to take a year off, which put me behind.”
She was quiet for a few moments “Why did you retake astronomy? Is it a part of your major?”
“No. I just like the class and Professor Drage.” I turned off the flashlight “I’m studying recreation and sport. Would like to get into sport rehabilitation.”
“Oh. Did you . . .”
When she didn’t finish her sentence, I looked over
and followed her gaze. On the bench, the two from our astronomy class looked like they were about to practice making babies right then and there.
“Now that is an interesting form of stargazing,” I said.
She watched them for a couple of more moments, her eyes wide like she was trying to figure out exactly what they were doing. Which was obvious. There was a lot of tongue involved.
I poked her with my pen.
“What?”
“Nothing. It’s just that . . .” I had no idea how to say this. “You’re watching them like . . . you’ve never seen a couple do that before.”
“I am?”
I nodded. “So unless you were raised in a convent, I imagined you’ve been in a lap a time or two, right?”
“No, I haven’t!” She cringed, focusing over the cornstalks. “I mean, I haven’t been in a guy’s lap.”
A grin teased at my lips. “What about a girl’s lap?”
Her mouth dropped open. “What? No!”
I smiled broadly, picturing her in a girl’s lap and that wasn’t a bad image. Made even better when I pictured her in my lap, though. “I was joking, Avery.”
Her chin jutted out stubbornly. “I know, it’s just that . . .”
“What?” I poked her arm with the pen again. “You what?”
“I’ve never been in a relationship.”
Never? Never as in ever? No way.
Clutching her notebook, she glanced at me. “What? It’s not a big deal.”
I opened my mouth, said nothing. I blinked and then shook my head as I tipped my head back, staring at the sky. “You’ve never been in a relationship?”
“No.”
“Nothing?”
“That’s what no means.”
I had no idea what to say. “How old are you?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m nineteen.”
“And you haven’t been in a single relationship?”
“No. My parents . . . they were strict.” She swallowed. “I mean, really strict.”
“I can tell.” I tapped the pen on the notebook, beyond curious, like obsessively curious as to how someone as pretty as Avery made it this far without ever being in a relationship “So have you gone on a date or anything?”