Push and Shove: The Ghost Bird Series: #6 (The Academy) (32 page)

I shook my head, brushing my fingertips against one of the bite marks on my neck. “I think I just saw McCoy.”

♥♥♥

N
orth went outside to check, having told me to stay inside the cafe. I was cowering in my seat the entire time. Wasn’t Mr. McCoy supposed to be with the Academy? The boys said not to worry about him. I trusted them. What was happening?

North returned to me after what felt like eons. “I didn’t see him,” he said. “He’s not here.”

“I saw him,” I said, my voice small. I had the bag of muffins, clutching the paper in my hands. “It was him.”

North held his hands out. “All right, Baby. I believe you. But I don’t see him now.”

My hand fluttered up until my finger touched my lower lip. “What do we do?”

North frowned. He captured my hand, tugging to get me to stand up out of the booth. “We’re going home.”

“But,” I said, wondering if we shouldn’t drive around the island. We had to find him. I had to find him. I had to know where he was. We had to wire him. We had to know where he was all the time.

North snatched up the bag of muffins, leading the way out. “We’re leaving now.”

North dropped the bag of muffins into the saddlebag when we got back. He had me put on the helmet and his jacket. It was a little warmer with the sun out, but North said I needed to protect my skin. He started the bike and we headed back to Summerville.

North stopped off at a drug store on the way. He asked the counter lady for some help, pointing to my neck. The woman gave us both suggestive smiles, but she helped me pick out a concealer in a color that matched my skin.

“We need help with him, too,” I said, pointing to North.

“No,” North said, waving his hand in the air to dismiss my idea. “I’m not wearing makeup.”

“If the others see your neck, they’ll ask. Who are you going to say bit you?”

North frowned, grumbled. In the end, the woman matched his skin shade and he bought the makeup. We spent another twenty minutes in the parking lot applying concealer and rubbing it in until it hid all the marks. North didn’t bother covering the one on his chest.

“You might forget,” I said. “They’ll see it.

“Leave it,” he said.

After that, we were on the bike and heading back to Sunnyvale Court. When we arrived, it was about ten in the morning. The cars were gone. Some indentions left by the tire marks in the yards were the only clues that something had happened the night before. Relief swept over me.

North pulled into my driveway. Nathan was on the lawn mower, cutting the grass. He waved to us as we approached and jumped down. The mower shut off the moment he stepped away. He crossed the lawn to greet us.

“Hey, Peanut,” Nathan said with a smirk. “Where’ve you been?”

“Well we were going to Europe, but there was this big ocean in the way and North didn’t want to get the bike wet, so we had to come back.”

Nathan laughed. North smirked, rolled his eyes and turned away. I pulled the helmet off and gave it back to him.

“Oy, Trouble!” Gabriel came out from the side of the garage toward us. His blond locks were combed back and mixing into the russet brown hair. His blue tank shirt and the Calvin Klein jeans were splotched with white paint. He stopped short, his mouth gaping. “Oh my fucking god, your hair is shit.”

“Hi, Meanie,” I said.

“Shut up and give me a hug,” he said. He wrapped his arms around me. He smelled like paint. He talked to North over my shoulder. “You couldn’t have taken the truck? Or the Jeep?”

“Nope,” North said.

Gabriel squeezed me around the waist until he lifted me, my toes barely grazing the ground. He turned toward the house, stumbling toward it as he carried me. “No more bikes for you.”

“Hang on,” I said, patting at Gabriel’s sides. “Let me give the jacket back.”

Gabriel released me. North pulled the package of muffins from the saddlebag. He took out two, and handed off the bag to Nathan. I gave North back the jacket.

“Are you coming in?” I asked him.

“I’ve got to go do some shit before I have to go to the diner.” He dropped the jacket and the two muffins into the saddlebag and snapped it shut before turning back to me. He opened his arms up. “Sang Baby,” he said.

“North Star,” I said. I stepped forward.

North wrapped me up into his arms. He brushed the hair from the side of my head, dropping his lips to kiss me close by the ear. “Be good. Listen to Nathan. Don’t let Kota give you any grief about last night. Don’t get into any trouble tonight.” He kissed my forehead before releasing me. “I’ll be back for you.”

I was still blushing as I backed off, realizing the others had witnessed North kissing me. North started up the bike, kicked off and rolled down the drive. Soon, he disappeared around the bend.

When I turned back to Nathan and Gabriel, they were both gazing at me with expressions I didn’t understand.

Gabriel tilted his head toward Nathan. “So... when do we get to kidnap Sang and take her to the beach overnight?”

––––––––

I
followed Gabriel into the house. Nathan went back to finish the lawn.

The family room was clustered with the furniture brought in from the living room. There was a large red stain on the carpet by the fireplace in the back.

“You should have seen it this morning,” Gabriel said. “Nathan and Kota cleared out all the beer cans and shit.”

“Where did they get them from?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “They won’t talk to us.”

There was noise coming from the living room, so I followed the sound. Victor was on the floor on his knees, painting along the baseboard in the living room. His Armani shirt, the sleeves rolled to his elbows, was splotched with paint, too. He was in a pair of jeans that may have been Kota’s or Gabriel’s as they looked a bit long for his legs. It was an unusual sight to see him in something so casual.

“Victor?” I called to him. He didn’t budge. He kept applying the brush to spots along the wall.

It stunned me for a moment. Was he ignoring me? I glanced at Gabriel.

Gabriel clapped his hands loudly. “Oy!” he shouted at Victor.

Victor blinked and then sat up, turning. When he saw me, he stood up and yanked headphones out of his ear. “About time,” he said.

I nearly skipped over to him. He wrapped his arms around my waist, hugging me tightly.

“Hi, Victor,” I said in a quiet voice. He smelled of paint, and the fumes from the room were overwhelming as it was. I ended up holding my breath.

“Hi, Princess,” he said. “Did you have fun?” He leaned his head back and looked at me, a brown eyebrow rising above his fire eyes. “Looks like you did.”

“The bike ride messed up my hair. But I brought muffins.”

Victor laughed. He kissed my cheek once before he backed off, still holding on to my hand. He turned to Gabriel. “Are we done?”

“I’m fucking done,” Gabriel said. “Painting rooms white is shit. Remind me not to get a job painting. Ever.” He leaned over snagging my hand and tugging me toward the kitchen. “Except your room. I want to paint your room. And what kind of muffins are these?”

“Chocolate chip cappuccino,” I said. “I think they’re my new favorite.”

They both seemed to perk up at this. Gabriel opened the bag, dumping the muffins onto the kitchen table.

Victor picked one up, gazing at the rest. “How many did he buy?”

“All of them,” I said.

Gabriel laughed. “I think North is now in the lead as to who is spoiling you the most.”

“Not quite,” Victor said with a quiet smile.

I sat on the counter, opening one of the muffins. Seeing them again and remembering how good the first one had been, I found new room in my stomach for another.

Victor climbed up beside me, sitting close enough that our thighs were pressing together. He leaned over me a bit and watched as I took a bite. “Is it good?”

I was going to hand it over, but he caught my wrist and drew the muffin to his mouth. He kept his eyes locked on my face as he took a bite.

I tried to smother the loopy smile on my face at this.

He pushed my hand back, releasing me and chewed, then licking his lips. “Not bad,” he said.

Gabriel snatched one up from the table, opened it and started eating. “Man, I didn’t realize I was starving.” He cocked his head, his eyes shifting like he was thinking about something. “Hang on a second,” he said and he passed the muffin to Victor. “I have new vitamins for you.”

I groaned.

“Doc’s orders,” he said. He walked out, heading toward the stairs. He must have placed his things in my room.

“Is everyone still spending the weekend here?”

Victor smirked. “That’s our plan?”

“I think so,” Gabriel said.

“Well, if nothing else happens,” he said. He focused on his shirt, poking at one of the paint spots.

“How’d the massage class go?” I asked.

“Besides Adam trying to hit on me a few times, it wasn’t bad. Learned a few things.”

My lips parted, and my tongue darted around, looking for the question I wanted to ask—Adam hitting on Victor? How? I could almost picture it. Did he play with Victor’s hair?

Victor’s eyes sparked and his smile fully formed. He leaned over, his hand flat on the counter slid close to my butt as his chest met my arm. He whispered close to my cheek. “How’d you like the hotel on the beach?”

“It... was nice,” I said quietly.

“If you like it,” he said, “maybe we should go next time.”

My heart flipped. “Us?”

He dropped the muffin on the counter and brought his hand around to my face, sliding a fingertip along the edge of my jaw. “If you want. There’s a nice one in Isle of Palms. Or we could rent one of the beach houses in Kiawah.”

“We don’t need to,” I said. And then I felt guilty about how I said it, because I made it sound like I didn’t want to, but there was another reason. “We don’t need to spend money on...”

His finger slid over until it crossed my lips. He pulled his head back until I could catch the amused flicker of the fire. “Do I have to get someone to get into a fight with Rocky on your front lawn to take you somewhere nice?”

“No,” I said quickly around his finger.

“I wouldn’t suggest it if I couldn’t do it,” he said. He released my lips and then traced his finger down to my chin, tilting it. “If I said I’d rented a house for the weekend and wanted you to come with me, would you?”

“Yes,” I said. And it was true. For Victor, I’d go wherever he wanted. I’d go where any of them asked me to go. I wanted to make them happy.

He bit his lower lip, like he was holding back a grin. He leaned in and kissed my cheek, close to my mouth. It was a slow kiss. His lips were puckered and he held there for so long, I thought he wasn’t going to move again.

And I was tempted in the moment to turn my head. It was all it would take for our lips to meet. The thought nagged at me for so long, it was like he was thinking the same thing, and remained as still as he could while I tried to figure it out.

Or he was stuck there, because the Academy told him he couldn’t. This was as close as he dared.

I moaned softly, frustrated again by the limitations. And he thought we could go somewhere together for a weekend? Silas had said I was killing him, and now I knew what he meant.

It was killing me, too. And I didn’t even know what I was up against.

“Hey, hey,” Gabriel said. “No fucking around in the kitchen. That’s how we start fires.”

Victor pulled away from me and smirked, keeping his eyes on my face. “Too late,” he said.

Gabriel’s crystal eyes slid from Victor to me and back to Victor. “Something going on?”

“No,” Victor said quickly and then slid off the counter, picking up the muffin.

Gabriel turned back to me, and then shot me a thousand silent questions: Was I okay? What was he doing?

I picked up my own muffin again instead of answering. I didn’t know how to bring this up and since Victor dodged it, I thought I was supposed to as well.

Gabriel rolled his eyes and shook a bottle of new vitamins at me. “Take one of these.”

I took one of the pills with some water and then started eating my muffin again. I’d taken a few bites when Kota walked in, trailed by Nathan.

Kota was wearing jeans and a green polo, with a blue zip-up jacket. With his tanned skin and his build, he was extremely handsome. I had to admire the thickness of his arms, nowhere near Nathan’s mass but plenty noticeable with what he was wearing now. The only thing missing was his friendly smile, because his face was strained with worry.

Kota took one look at me on the counter and his eyes narrowed.

My heart skipped at seeing him and the concern from his face, and then dropped again when I caught that he wasn’t happy.

“Where’s North?” Kota asked in a low voice.

I took another bite of muffin just to find more time to think of what to say. “He... had to go clean up before going to the diner.”

“You were gone all night,” he said. “I just wanted him to get you away from the party.”

“He kind of did that.” I didn’t mean to play like this, but I couldn’t help it. It was probably rude and I felt guilty the moment I said it.

“By taking you all the way out to the beach? What happened to you? Why do you look like you’ve been up all night?”

I cringed. I couldn’t lie but I didn’t want to tell him the truth. I held out the half muffin I had left. “Muffin?”

Kota did a small eye roll. “Please tell me he at least had you wear a helmet.”

There was a right answer to this, and I knew it but I didn’t want to start talking about one thing and then get roped into answering questions about the whole evening. I wanted North to be here because I wasn’t sure how much he wanted the others to know. Dodging felt safest. “It’s chocolate chip cappuccino.”

Kota strolled forward and planted his palms on either side of my thighs, gazing at me intently. “Sang, don’t get cute with me. What happened?”

I blushed, lowering the muffin. I sighed. His eyes were relentless, firing off questions. I couldn’t not answer him, because I wanted him to be happy with me, but I was concerned he wouldn’t like the truth. “We rode out to the beach. He showed me the lighthouse. I fell in the water.”