The second they’re out of earshot, Stella and Emmie fall about laughing before dropping down on the other side of the picnic bench to me, their eyes locked on their guys.
“I’m sure you shouldn’t have enjoyed that so much,” I mutter, still amused by their little show.
“Scaring the piss out of our classmates? Hell yeah, we enjoy that,” Emmie says with a laugh.
I shake my head, my skin beginning to tingle as Stella rips her eyes from Seb and turns her attention on me.
“What’s up, baby C?” she asks, her eyes boring into mine as if she’ll be able to get the answers she wants.
“Nothing,” I lie. “Just thought it would be nice to study out here. I’ve been locked away all weekend.”
My words force Emmie to turn back to me as well.
“We’re worried about you, Cal.”
“So worried you didn’t want to tell me the truth about what was going on last week?” I quip.
“Cal, that’s not fair,” Stella argues.
“No,” I snap, my fist curling in frustration. “What’s not fair is you joining in and keeping me on the sidelines of my own life, my own family.”
“Cal, that wasn’t—”
“Don’t make excuses. You’ve both told me in the past that I deserve better.” Grabbing my bag, I throw it over my shoulder as my frustration grows. “Maybe you should think about that before you blindly put your boys’ words before our friendship.”
I take off before they get a chance to respond. A part of me is proud of standing up for myself. But there’s a bigger part that just wants to crumple into a heap of tears.
All day, I’ve been looking over my shoulder, waiting for Daemon to show his face and tip my world on its head once more. The pressure of my dangerous decision yesterday is starting to show.
“Calli, wait. We’re sorry, just—”
The sound of multiple sets of cleats pounding against the path up ahead drags my attention away from the apologies, and when I look up, I find three sweaty, muddy football players heading my way.
“Everything okay, baby C?” Alex asks, his brows drawing together as he studies me.
Swallowing down the emotions threatening to bubble over, I force myself to hold his eyes, desperately trying to read if he’s the one who knows where I was Friday night.
“Y-yeah.” I kick myself for not sounding as confident as I wanted to.
“Our girls causing trouble again?” Seb asks beside him.
“Normal stuff,” I say, thankfully sounding a little stronger. “Just scaring off a few more girls who think they can run their mouths.”
“You know,” Alex mutters, “I thought it was meant to be guys who got all possessive and jealous.”
“Yeah, well, that might have something to do with the fact you’ve never had a girl as fierce as Stella and Emmie,” Theo points out.
“Uh… not true.”
“Bro, we’ve seen the girls you hook up with. We all know you’re a sap for a quiet, innocent one,” Seb points out, his eyes alternating between Alex and me.
“Alex isn’t fucking Calli,” Theo snaps predictably.
“Cous, you need to let that go,” I snap, more than fed up with their stupid opinions about who I should and shouldn’t be spending time with. And honestly, if he knew who I had been with recently, he’d probably change his tune pretty quick, because Alex is a way safer option. It’s just sad, I guess, that he’s not the one who fires me up inside, despite the fact that he looks practically identical to the guy who does.
I have no idea what it is I see in Daemon that I don’t see in Alex, but there’s something. Something that just speaks to me on a level I don’t understand.
“Just go,” Alex says, fighting for me as he often does. “You’ve got two horny girls waiting for you. Go fuck them in the locker room or something,” he mutters before wrapping his arm around my shoulders and spinning me away from them.