"Oi! You there! Who are you?"
I flinched and turned. The people in the pool had stopped swimming, every boy staring at me. Wolf was in the middle lane treading water, hair drenched but doing nothing to hide his gaze on me. Shit. Now he hates me and thinks I'm probably stalking him. Which I am. Just. On his dad's payroll. Slowly. From afar.
"I must've....taken the wrong door?" I offered quietly. "Sorry."
She squinted at me, then blew her whistle. "Alright, five minutes, boys, and then it's back to the butterfly you all know and love. Drink something, get those electrolytes back in you."
I watched the guys get out of the pool and knew this was my chance to break for it. I messed up. Holy god I messed up so hard by letting Fitz get to me -
"You don't strike me as the type who likes water. Or anything, really."
My hand froze on the door's handle and I turned, coming face-to-face with Wolf. He toweled himself off as he stared at me, rubbing it through his dark hair as disdain soured his face.
"How do you do that?" I hissed. "Sneak up on people like that? Burn does it too. Is it hereditary, or are you classically trained ninjas, or -"
He shoves a slightly-damp twenty dollar bill at me suddenly.
"For your unwanted assistance. With fixing my bike."
It was such a bizarre thing I was struck dumb for a second. "Oh, wait. I get it. This is laced with anthrax and you've taken the antidote your whole life and this is how I die, struck down by my mortal enemy's charity."
His green eyes narrowed, fox-like. "It's not charity. You fixed the bike, however stupidly lucky you were with it."
"Why are you giving this to me?" I scoffed. I made the mistake of looking down, to the exposed skin of his velvety stomach, every svelte line of muscle shifting beneath his exerted breaths. Gross, Bee. Don't let it hypnotize you like it's done to every other girl in this damn school. "Mr. Francis is the one who's actually going to fix it."
"Mr. Francis doesn't have only one parent who works," He countered brusquely. "Just take the money."
Anger welled up beneath my cheeks. "You think you know everything about my life? I don't need your stupid twenty, okay? My mom does fine, I'm doing fine, my dad's fine, we're all just fine, okay? We might not be swimming in it, but we know how to save and be smart with our money. We don't waste it on things like - like expensive cars or restaurants or random girls who we feel sorry for!"
My shouting made the other boys on the team look at us, muttering to each other. Even the lady coach frowned at me. I felt hot and itchy all over, just like in the crowd that one morning. I'd do anything to not be there at that very second. If I could teleport to the top of a mountain, or a serene meadow, or hell, even the parking lot of the 7-11 near my house - something, anything. Anywhere away from his moment and Wolf's fire-laced eyes. He looked almost...shocked, the usual irritation in his hawk-like brows going slack. My eyes caught on his broad shoulders, his sharp collarbone, his prominent jaw. This was the shape of him - of a guy who could never understand my situation. Not in a million years. But he pretended to, like it would earn him brownie points for being a 'good guy'. I was sick of him. I was sick of everyone telling me he was secretly a good guy. He wasn't. He never would be. Not to me, anyway.
Some distracted, stupid part of me looked at his skin again, the deep olive of it. It was a shame, that part thought, that he couldn't stand being touched by someone else. He had a beautiful body. Did he really have a phobia? Someone as outwardly put-together as him? How could he have a phobia, when the first day we interacted he came so close to me I could smell him? Was it a lie? Was Mr. Blackthorn simply adding an extra layer of caution around his son -
My fingers were suddenly inches away from the side of Wolf's cheek, the tips of them sensing the heat coming off his skin. I wanted to finish the movement, to touch him, but logic screamed at me. What the hell was I doing? How the hell did my fingers get there? I pulled my hand back, Wolf flinching away from me at the same time. What the flying fuck was I doing?
"I-I'm sorry. I - I have to go." I spit the words out in a jumble, and dashed for the door. The smell of fresh air threw my every word and action in the pool building into stark reality. Shit, shit, shit! What had I done? I acted like a complete weirdo - there's no way I could ever look him in the eyes again, right? This was it - I had to move to China, Japan, Malaysia; as far away from the Blackthorn boys and this stupid school as I could. Everyone in that building saw me reach for him - he saw me - I saw me and I can't get the image out of my head. I replay it over and over, like some hideously embarrassing movie reel.
My drive home is a white-knuckled blur of terror and disgust at myself. I half-move through the motions of checking on Dad, making sure he's eaten, taken his pills, making sure dinner is getting started, making sure my homework is caught up, making sure I don't ever, ever look Wolf Blackthorn's way ever again for as long as I live.
Chapter 7
WOLF
Everything feels so far away.
The sound of the pool water lapping against the sides fades. The echo of Coach’s yelling fades.
I watch Beatrix leave, and trace the red-hot marks her fingertips left on my cheek. My skin crawls with goosebumps, my nerves standing on end with some invisible electricity.
What the hell is wrong with me? Am I having a stroke? The doors open and close behind her and all I can think about is how I want more of her touch. More of her eyes lingering over my ridges and lines. Just…more of her. Period.
Frustrated, I growl and shove the twenty dollar bill into my backpack.
“Where do you think you’re going, Blackthorn?” Coach shouts. “Get back in the pool!”
I’m so distracted I hear her, but don’t process any of her words. She blows her whistle in my ear and I start.