Chapter 8
The Boys- Maximus
I hung out with guys over the weekend, but it felt weird without Callyn. She missed an epic prank I pulled on Graydon. Let’s just say it involved Graydon's truck and some post-it notes. There is a prank I want to pull on him in the winter time that also involves his truck and wet cotton balls. I’m hoping to have Callyns help on that one. Graydon hates people messing with his truck. We all messaged her to see if she could hang out, but she said she was busy. I don’t know, it felt off. I can’t wait to see her today. The guys meet at my locker and we are all walking over to Callyns. I grin when I see her standing at her locker.
“Hey.” She jumps and spins toward me. “Ha-ha, gotcha.”
“Jesus, you scared me,” she said as she placed her hand over her heart.
“Clearly. You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. A little warning next time would be nice.” Callyn ducks her head and her hair falls in her face. I reach my hand out to push a lock of her hair behind her ear. She flinches away from my touch. I look over to the others, they all saw and none of them look happy. Besides that, and the first day with us, she has never shied away from our touch. We’re careful. She even started to give us quick hugs.
I clear my throat. “So, what did you do this weekend?”
“Oh, you know, the usual boring family stuff. The stuff that you can’t get out of.”
I don’t buy that for a second. “What did you do?”
“Well, I stuck post-it notes all over Graydon's truck. I could have used your help. Do you know how long it took me to place all those post-it notes by myself? Forever.”
“What did Graydon do to you to get you back?”
“He put me in a headlock and told me if I touched his truck again without his permission, that he would give me the haircut my mother keeps hounding me about. Plus, he made me take all the post-it notes back off by myself as he supervised.”I air quoted supervised. Callyn bust out laughing, I mean laughing so hard she has tears in her eyes.
“I wish I could have seen that, and I totally would have helped,” she whispers.
“I heard that,” Graydon states. Callyn turns and gives Graydon this smile, that I’m going to be trouble smile. “Fuck, we’re going to have to make sure those two are never alone together. Who knows what might happen.”
I lower my voice and place my mouth next to her ear. We’re shifters, so we have exceptional hearing, and I need to make sure Graydon doesn’t hear me. “Good, because I have another idea, but it has to wait until winter and I’m going to need your help.” Callyn’s eyes are full of mischief when I lean back to look at her face. She nods her yes and an impish smile graces her lips. “Do you want to hang out with us this weekend? It’s Lucian birthday.”
Callyn looks up shocked, then looks over at Lucian.
“Why didn’t you tell me your birthday was coming up?”
He shrugs his shoulders. “My grandma is going to bake a cake and make dinner. That’s usually all I do. The guys come over. I don’t go out or anything. I would like if you could come over and hang out with us. Maybe we can watch a movie or play video games.”
Is he blushing? Oh, he is. I try so hard not to laugh. I’m so ribbing him for this later.
“I would love too, but I would need a way to get out of the house. And I don’t see that as being an option,” she says.
“What do you mean?” Graydon questions.
Callyn sighs. “Look, there are some things that I’m not ready to tell you yet. But I will say, I would need a really good reason to leave the house.”
Graydon frowns, then says, “Fine, we have all week to figure out a reason.”
The bell rings and we all scatter to make sure we aren’t late for class. I pull out my phone to message the guys, but I don’t get the chance. I just have to wait for third period and I can talk to her.
∞∞∞
The second the bell rings to signal the end of class, I high tail it out of there. I reach English class in record time. I take my seat and watch the door, waiting for Callyn. She strolls in a few moments later. The second she sits down, I pounce.
“Okay, so does this excuse need to be for one weekend or more?”
She just stares and blinks.
“Um. Can this wait until lunch?”
“Well, I guess, but…” I get cut off because the teacher walks in.
I sit back and cross my arms over my chest. I’m just frustrated. All I need is a few minutes to get my idea out. It probably should wait until all of us are together. I see Callyn peeking at me from the corner of my eye. I look over, meeting her eyes. You okay, she mouths. Nodding my head yes, I give her a smirk. Then she goes and does the one thing I’d least expect from her, she winks.
I get it. A wink might not seem like much, but it’s coming from Callyn. And damn if it isn’t the sexiest thing I’ve seen.
Lucian
Max is practically jumping out of his seat by the time I get to our lunch table. I have to tell the guys that we are meeting with the Elder Council tonight. My grandfather texted me a little bit ago with the news.
“Dude, do you need a downer?”
“No, but I think I have an idea about how to get Callyn to out of her house.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I wanted to talk to her about it earlier, but the teacher walked in and honestly, she didn’t seem like she wanted to talk about it.” He shrugs. “But it might be better with everyone here. You guys can tell me if the idea is bullshit. Even if everyone likes it, Callyn needs to be on board.”
“Do you think that will hard?”
“What do you think will be hard?” Zeke says as he sits down. No sooner after Zeke sits down Callyn and Graydon join us.
“Max has an idea on how to help Callyn.” Everyone turns to look at Max. He’s just sitting there nodding like a crazy person.
“I do. But first I need to know if this is just for this weekend or will it need to be longer?”
“Longer would be ideal,” Callyn states.
“Okay, the plan is simple. You have group projects. For a month, it can be an English project, the next, chemistry. We can switch what class every month.”
“Don’t you think her parents will catch on. Who would have a group project due every month.”
Callyn clears her throat. “About that, it’s only my dad and me. But, this could work. My father…let’s just say my father indulges himself and probably wouldn’t even remember.”
I look around at the others and raise my eyebrows. They all shrug their shoulders. Indulges himself? In exactly what way? Sex? Drugs? Alcohol? Gambling? I wish I knew what was going on. That’s too many variables I don’t like.
“Are you sure? We don’t need to make matters worse for you,” exclaims Zeke.
“We can test it this weekend. See how it goes. Besides, I’m not missing Luke’s birthday.”
She looks over and gives me this smile. I can’t help but smile back.