Page 17 of Ominous: Part 1
She glances up at me, almost like she’s furious, and I think she’s going to say something about me having no right to ask for her number like this, which we both know is a lie, or else walk off without saying a word which seems to be her preferred exit.
But instead, she snatches the phone from me, and her thumbs fly over the keyboard while I watch the rubber bracelets around her wrist slide further toward her inner forearm. I see a faint tan line, a jumble of pale circles in her otherwise summery skin.
“Here,” she mutters, thrusting the phone back toward me. She’s marching past me before I can say anything else, even though an invitation for this weekend is on the tip of my tongue as I watch her blush. But I lose the words because I’m staring not at her number, which she surprisingly gave me, but at her name in my phone.
Eden Rain,and beside that, a knife emoji.
I bite my tongue to hold in my smile and turn around, watching her hips sway as she walks with her head held high through the crowd. She’s full of surprises, and she seems so much more confident when she’s not close to me.Do I make you nervous?
Just as she rounds the corner for the front entrance, she looks over her shoulder, and I swear to God she winks at me.
Okay, baby girl. Do that to my face.
* * *
“Wereyou at Luna’s last night?”
Sweat drips down my back as I twist out of my cousin Jasper’s cradle. He releases me because he knows I’d get out anyway, and we roll away from each other on the mat. All around us, those who showed up for pre-season practice are sparring, and Coach Pensky is talking to his wife, Annie, at the front of the wrestling room. She’s got an armful of black robes with huge, silver pins dangling from them. To represent each pin we get, but probably a pain in the ass to wash. Still, Mr. and Ms. Pensky are from New Jersey, the high school wrestling capital of the country, and they’re married to the sport. Both short and slim and with New Jersey accents and raised voices, they’re arguing now about who-knows-what.
Someone bumps into me, and I look over my shoulder with a frown, only to find Josh Holland stammering apologies.
I almost choked him out one day, I guess that’s why he seems so nervous now, sweat dampening his blond hair over his eyes.
I ignore him and turn back to Jasper, who’s fucking with the waistband of his gym shorts. None of us are in singlets for practice.
Jasper is carefully avoiding my gaze, and I know he has a crush on Janelle. She was just leaving when I got to Luna’s, and he must’ve heard I went there last night. He doesn’t want me tocorruptJanelle before he gets a chance to fuck her.
I think the corruption is the fun part. Besides, Janelle knows too much what I’m like. She’d never sleep with me.
“No,” I lie easily enough because it’s better that way.
Jasper picks his head up, running a hand through his sweaty, black hair. He frowns, and I get the distinct feeling he doesn’t believe me. But I know he won’t question me.
We didn’t see much of each other growing up. Dad wanted to hide me away, and Uncle Edison wanted to protect his son from his brother’s own. It’s a miracle he lets me work at his body shop. Still, Jasper’s been at Trafalgar with me the past three years. Addison secrets stay hidden, but some things even Dad can’t conceal.
Jasper drops his hand to his thigh and curls his fingers into a fist, then spreads them, the bones in his wrist working as he repeats the motion. He looks down through thick lashes, sweat dripping from the tip of his nose. “Dom was talking about the new girl.”
I run my tongue over my teeth, fingers splayed on my thighs as I stare at Jasper, willing him to look up. But he doesn’t. “Oh yeah?”
Jasper nods once. “At lunch, said he was thinking of going to the library because she hides out there. Said he wanted her to come to the party next weekend when his parents are out of town.” He snorts. “I mean, Luna wasn’t around, or he wouldn’t have said shit, you know?” He glances up at me.
Yeah, well Luna was sucking my dick last night so it’s not like she’s got much room to… talk.
I bring my thoughts back to Eden. I know she eats lunch in the library. It’s not unusual. We can leave campus, and a lot of people don’t stay in the cafeteria. They disperse all kinds of places. Theater kids on stage, art kids in the studio, athletes in this building.
But I’ve never interrupted her.
I really like to watch her when she doesn’t know I am. People are more themselves without an audience.
“Did he say anything else?” I ask my cousin quietly, watching his throat bob as he swallows. I wonder what he’s thinking about. Is he remembering his dad breaking the news about the first time I went away? Did he give him all the gory details? Or is he thinking about when Mom left, and what I did in the aftermath? Uncle Edison has never chastised me. He’s never been afraid of me, either. But I know him and his wife, Maria, want their son safe above all else. What do they tell Jasper, so he keeps loving me, but his guard stays up around me, too?
Jasper blows out a breath, then lifts his big brown eyes to mine. “No,” he answers me. “If you take her to the party… just watch her. She seems like a nice girl, and you know how he is, with drugs and shit.”
It’s why Jasper won’t go.I offer my cousin a smile, because I’m not so sure I can get Eden there either. But I know exactly how Dom is.And he doesn’t want Eden. He just wants to make sure if I have her, I share her. Because that’s how he wants everything between us. Except his darkest secret.He wants me to keep that, doesn’t he?
“You ready to go again?” I ask, letting it go as I stand. I stretch my arms behind my back, loop my fingers and pop my shoulder. I drop my hands and crouch into a sparring stance.
Slowly, Jasper pushes to his feet too and nods. His eyes linger on my face a second longer than they should. He saw me this morning, walking Eden from class.
