Page 16 of All Hallows' Hex
“I feel it, keep waiting.” Lanie’s voice was stern and demanding.
“This isn’t bordering on stalking, is it?” Matt said, throwing his two cents in.
We are the peanut gallery right now.
“What would the cosmos say if I walked over there and grabbed them by their collars, forcing them to face each other?” Elijah’s smartass tactic didn’t soften Lanie at all. She turned, readying her fist for his arm.
“If you two don’t cut it—”
“Guys!” I interrupted their bickering. “Look!” Everett’s head had snapped down and fusion pinched his brows. He pulled the earbuds out and brought the phone to his ear. Breathing harder, his chest rose and fell in deep swells as his mouth moved. We were too far away to catch anything.
Everett was on his feet, scanning and moving around the bench. As Lanie had hoped, Sienna came running from the other side and fell right into his arms.
“Classic Everett,” Elijah muttered on a laugh.
“My god, our boy is handsy.” Matt wasn’t exaggerating either. Everett’s hands were all over Sienna, never resting in one place. He pulled her in for a kiss. A sweet moment was expected, but the man devoured her like he’d been starving.
“Oh, ew,” I said, my face scrunching as I watched my best friend completely lose it in him. I covered my eyes; my sweet Sienna was being defiled.
“Damn, doesn’t he have a dorm?” Elijah laughed a little too loudly and it echoed into the courtyard.
“Okay, privacy,privacy!Give them space,” I mockingly scolded them. Sienna needed this reunion. I grabbed onto arms and sleeves, attempting to pull all three of them back into the building.
The awkward for us scene resulted in taking cover in the dorm lounge. Elijah’s and Matt’s laughter still carried through the halls. We occupied the four chairs turned in to face each other, and I drew my finger over them in the air.
“Did you all know?” I landed on Lanie first.
“I was sworn to secrecy, my dear. Forgive me?” The drama oozed off her.
“Forgiven, now you two?” I asked, pinning them in the hot seat.
“We may have known where Everett was going to school,” Matt said first.
“And we may have learned that Sienna would be here, too,” Elijah finished, a pair of troublemakers.
“Sneaky fucks.” I fought a smile, watching Elijah roll his eyes and shake his head. Lanie rested against the arm of the chair, catching my attention as she leaned in with a soft and seductive glint in her eyes. She started to speak, but something moved on my right, and I looked up at . . .
“Shawn? Finished moving in already?” I wasn’t unaware of his admission, but I couldn’t honestly say I expected to see him at all, let alone move-in day.
“Yeah,” he said, brushing me off without even a glance as he moved closer to Lanie. He cleared his throat. “You are too gorgeous for this campus, sweet angel. What’s your name?”
Seriously, who in the fuck taught this man anything regarding romancing a woman?
His face was marred in what I was sure he thought was a cocky grin, but he just looked goofy as hell. I looked over to the boys, hoping to see a similar expression of shock and confusion. Instead, Matt was biting his fist as he nearly busted a blood vessel to keep from laughing. Elijah’s shoulders rocked with silent laughter as his hands covered his face, but he peeked through his fingers.
Movement put my focus on Shawn, but he was just fucking shit up more. He leaned on the side table but miscalculated everything and knocked it over, sending a vase careening to the floor and crashing at their feet.
“I meant to do that,” he said casually. “It’s the Davenport charm.” Lanie’s wide eyes had narrowed into deathly daggers. “So, pretty raven, wanna get out of here? I’ve got a sweet bachelor pad on the third floor and all you’ll need for the rest of the night.”
Snorts escaped the idiot jesters, but that wasn’t enough to sway Shawn from Lanie. To be honest, I wasn’t ready to interfere yet. This was a disaster, and I wanted it to play out fully.
“If I go to yoursweet bachelor pad,wanna know what I’m going to do?” He was completely unaware of the dangerous shift in her tone.
“Fuck yeah, I do.” Shawn bit his lip, or at least attempted to, and rubbed his hands together like a grubby little fly. He was eager, thinking she would whisper scandalous, dirty things to him.
“I’ll rip your balls off and stuff them down your throat so fast, you won’t have time to scream.”
Shawn continued to smile. His hands paused as he finally processed what she said. “Wait, what?”
