The Stranger Trilogy Box Set Page 12

  “I know it’s only been a couple of days, but do you know what happened to that guy?” The door clanged shut behind them.

  “What guy?” He started jogging once more.

  Sophie scowled, hoping their conversation would have given her a break from the physical activity. “You know,” she said, dashing to catch up to him. “The guy. From the diner. The one I accidentally …” She let her voice trail off. Just because he had been threatening her life did not mean she was okay with the fact that she killed someone.

  “Still dead, as far as I’m concerned,” came his retort.

  Sophie rolled her eyes. “You know that’s not what I meant,” she said, feeling herself grow frustrated with him—something the running was actually helping with, surprisingly enough. “Do they know that I did it?”

  “Kid, you’re a runaway,” he said, giving her a sidelong look. “No one knows you even exist save for your foster family you ran away from. You’re safe here.” He turned his hazel eyes back to the road. “I won’t let anything happen to you.” The words were soft, and before Sophie could register them as sweet, the growl returned. “Now, could we please stop talking? It’ll only wind you more, and I don’t need you huffing and puffing because I’m not going to carry your ass back to AckPec.”

  Sophie clenched her jaw, but didn’t say anything. She wished she could enjoy the scenic view the town provided, but all of her attention was on the task at hand. She fell slightly behind Will due to how inexperienced she was with the exercise, but she refused to slow to a walk, especially not after his little comment about huffing and puffing.

  Somehow, her sapphire eyes found Will’s back and stayed there. Yes, she was well-aware that Will was an incredibly powerful person. He had muscles—lots more muscles than she had seen on a man in person before—and broad shoulders and Oh my God, what a great butt. She had never seen a butt as beautiful and as perfect as Will’s. Usually, guys had either no butt or too much butt or a weirdly shaped butt. But Will’s … There was probably a website dedicated to it.

  With that thought, she ran smack into his compact frame. Her face pressed tightly against his upper back—she could feel the sweat that caused his wife beater to stick to his torso, could feel every one of his many muscles contract as they reacted to her collision.

  Once Sophie righted herself, she realized Will was giving her a questioning albeit highly annoyed look that consisted of an arched left eyebrow.

  “What?” she asked defensively. Sophie was so embarrassed she didn’t even realize they had reached the shoreline. Instead, her eyes locked onto the glittering water, avoiding Will’s piercing stare. “I was concentrating on running.”

  She watched as his lips slid into a smirk, as though he knew the real reason she had bumped into him, as though he knew exactly why she was so uncomfortable and couldn’t look him in the eye. “Sure you were,” he said.

  This, of course, only caused her already deep blush to heighten. She had to change the subject, and fast.

  “I need water,” she said abruptly.

  Instead of deterring him, however, the comment only expanded his smirk. “I’m sure you do,” he quipped.

  Sophie’s mouth dropped. How dare he? Her face had to be on fire. There was no way it could be this hot and not be on fire.

  “If you’re really hot, I could just toss you into the ocean,” he said, prolonging this embarrassing and seemingly endless torment. “But then again, you might like that.”

  Sophie didn’t even wait for Will to take the lead; once the pedestrian light signaled Walk, she ran across the street to the beach, Will’s rumbly laughter following her the entire way.

  She wasn’t sure if it was because Will was in shape or if it was because he was a shifter, but somehow the two made it back to AckPec after running for what felt like forever through town. Currently, she was lowering her heart rate by lying in the cool grass, one arm raised up and resting on her forehead. It blocked out the shining sun while giving her a nice view of the pacing Will without being obvious that she was pretty much checking him out. She didn’t need that thrown back in her face. Again.

  “Hey, kid.”

  Sophie’s blue eyes snapped up from Will’s compact torso, the tight white wife beater still clinging to it thanks to the sweat his body had accumulated on their run, to his face.

  “How’d you end up in Tahoe?”

  Sophie furrowed her brow. “What?” she asked.

  Will wrinkled his forehead, waiting for a response. Sophie glanced away, unconsciously feeling her cheeks start to turn red. This was dangerous territory, especially with the labels of instructor and student bestowed upon the two of them.

  “Things happened,” she said. “And I like the mountains.” Her eyes lingered on the rich, green blades of grass, ensuring that they avoided Will’s at all costs.

  Will made a noise that sounded like a snort and a laugh. Without warning, he took a seat next to her, shifting his position so he was lying on his stomach, upper torso kept up thanks to the weight placed on his forearms, and his golden-green eyes resting on Sophie’s face.

  “Ah,” he drawled, his lips curling up into a smirk. “I know.”

  Sophie sat up into a sitting position, looking down at Will with a glance. “You don’t know!” she exclaimed.

  “I know.” He cocked his head to the side, giving her a lazy look. “It obviously has to do with something embarrassing, judging from the fact that your face is now the same color as your hair. And, since you’re a teenage girl, it obviously has to do with boys. But you also don’t seem to be the type of girl that’s dramatic, so it must be something serious.” He paused here, closing one eye and placing the tip of his index finger on the tip of his chin. “The only thing serious when it comes to boys is sex.”

  “Oh my God.” Sophie really did try to lace her words with a scoff, but even she knew she had failed.

  Will leaned in closer to her so their faces were less than a foot apart. “I can hear your heartbeat from here,” he told her. Was it her or had his voice gotten huskier? Did he control that or did the tone come naturally to him? “I can see your face get even redder, which I thought wasn’t possible, and I can smell the increase in your perspiration.”

  “You can smell my sweat?” she questioned, scrunching her nose. “That’s gross. I should probably hit the shower in time for lunch. I’ll see you later.” Before she could hop up and leave, Will’s hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. She forced herself to ignore the spread of warmth that resulted from his touch, the tingling.

  “You can tell me, kid,” he told her. His voice was quiet, still husky but serious. The warmth was replaced by goosebumps and somehow, his eyes forced hers to stay locked with his.

  “You tell me something about you.” Sophie wasn’t sure what made her say it, especially since she had no plans to tell him anything about her life before meeting him, let alone the most embarrassing moment in her life.

  He still hadn’t released her wrist though his face did turn flat. “I suppose it is only fair,” he growled. “What do you want to know?”

  There were many things she wanted to know about him: she wanted to know when his birthday was, if anything had happened between him and Dianna, why he loved plaid so much, and if he really meant it when he said she was beautiful. She wanted to know where he was from, if he had any family, and what he learned from the past two hundred years of being alive. What came out of her mouth instead was, “Why are you here? I mean, what made you choose to be an instructor at AckPec?”

  This question seemed to take him by surprise. He blinked once, tilted his head to the side, and said, “I, uh.” A beat. Sophie guessed he needed a minute to gather his thoughts, which was fine with her. The longer he took to explain his answer, the more likely he’d forget about her own response.

  “To be honest,” he began again, “I’ve always been more of a loner.”

  “A lone wolf,” Sophie teased.

  Will’s eyes sparkled at the
comment. “I don’t like it when people depend on me,” he continued. “Still don’t. When the full moon comes, I deal with it myself. But I remember what it was like for me and not knowing what I was or that there were others like me. Thanks to Ethan, I know who and what I am. If I can help other kids figure out who and what they are …” He let his voice trail of. “Well, not to get corny or anything, but then I’ve done my job.”

  “Aw, Will likes to help the ickle kiddies,” Sophie said with a laugh, reaching over and tousling his thick head of hair.

  “Hey!” he rumbled. “Nobody is allowed to touch my hair.”

  “There goes your social life, hmm?” The minute the words were out of her mouth, she regretted it. Not because they were rather inappropriate, but because—

  “I answered your question,” he said, smiling that wolfish grin which happened to show his canines. “You answer mine. What made you run away from your foster home and end up in Tahoe?”

  “You know what? It’s not even that big a deal,” she said, looking away.

  “Yeah? Let’s hear it.” He dropped her wrist a second time. She could feel his eyes burning into her profile.

  Her face was on fire and there was no getting out of this. As quickly as she could, she said, “Me and my boyfriend at the time decided that after two years of dating, we were ready to, you know, take the next step. Everything was going fine and we were enjoying ourselves and then, out of nowhere, he had a heart attack. God, I was mortified. I still am, to this day. He knew I was stronger than most girls, but not like that. I didn’t know that my strength could affect that area of my life. I called an ambulance, and from what I know, he’s okay. But after that, I left. I didn’t want to hurt anybody I loved, whether accidental or not, and I didn’t want to deal with such obvious proof that I’m a freak.”

  Before she realized it, Will sat up and grabbed Sophie’s chin with the crook of his index finger. “You are not a freak,” he insisted.

  For a moment, the two said nothing, simply stared into each other’s eyes. Will was looking for something in hers, but Sophie had no idea what that was. All she knew was that she couldn’t speak. When had he gotten so close to her? She could feel his breath on her face.

  All at once, he dropped her chin, releasing her from his spell. “Little advice, kid,” he went on to say. “Sex isn’t impossible with someone in your condition. You just have to find someone who can handle you is all.” There, again, that wolfish smile decorated his chiseled face. She hated how deliriously attractive he was nearly as much as she hated herself for thinking so.

  16

  “Can I ask you a question?” Jane asked, looking at Calvin from the corner of her eye. The tour was nearly over. All that was left was the astronomy tower and the soccer fields before she could be free of him for the time being.

  “I suppose you can since you just did,” was his reply.

  Jane’s first reaction was to snap at him for being a smartass, but the more time she spent with him, the more she began to realize that Calvin didn’t mean to be so snide. It wasn’t on purpose; it was just the way he was. He treated everyone as though he was smarter than they were because he was. He didn’t mean to insult people, he was just genuinely surprised how little people knew about the world.

  It wasn’t an excuse by any means.

  Jane clenched her jaw to bite back a response and focused on her question. “Why are you here?”

  A beat. “I don’t understand the question,” he replied.

  They reached the east doorways of the AckBuilding. Jane pushed it open and Calvin held it for her before following her outside. The fields were just up ahead. The Aeris soccer team was practicing now and the hall’s general physical education was going on.

  “Even though you’re a peculiar, you don’t seem to like anything here. The classes clash with your intelligence, or so you say. I feel like this would be a waste of your time. Why would you be here when you could be, I don’t know, getting your second PhD or something?”

  “I plan to get my second doctorate,” he said as though any other option wasn’t even considered.

  Jane rolled her eyes and looked away. So much for trying to make conversation. As much as Calvin annoyed her to no end, she had to admit that he was interesting. She had never met anyone like him, really, in terms of both personality and looks. She would have liked to learn more about who he was rather than what he thought about things.

  She took him to the astronomy tower. “I still can’t believe they’re calling this astronomy class advanced; what a joke,” he had said. Next, she headed to the fields before she could go back to her dorm and read for Astrology.

  “I’m here,” he said, standing next to her, “because I don’t know what I am.” His eyes were looking straight ahead, over the cliff and out at sea. “I know why the sky is blue and how our bodies process food. I know physics better than most Nobel Prize Winners. But even with all the knowledge I’ve accumulated, I have no idea why I can read minds. I’m hoping that perhaps being here will inspire me to figure it out. If that means I have to waste my time with ridiculous classes that have no value to life, then I’ll have to deal with it.”

  Jane allowed a moment for his words to sink in. It was still relatively insulting, his lack of interest in all subjects she found fascinating, but she knew a little bit more about him. He needed to know every single thing and wanted nothing more than to know about what being a peculiar meant.

  “Huh.”

  She could feel his reaction to her soft murmur, how his entire body shifted toward her, how his big, round eyes slowly dropped until they reached her profile. She barely even knew him, but for some reason she could feel his brows lift up.

  “Your usage of a linguistic slang term indicates that you’re confused about something,” he stated, his hands behind his back. If anyone were to walk by them, if any of the soccer players looked over, they might assume she and Calvin were chums. Friends.

  Yeah, right.

  “Well,” she said, answering his unasked question, “I’ve never really thought about why I am the way I am. I just … am. I’ve never really questioned it.”

  “How can you live life that way?” Calvin asked, completely aghast. Every time he was confounded about something—a surprising frequency, Jane was beginning to realize—his vocal pitch got high and more of his accent broke through. It might have been cute if it wasn’t so whiney.

  “What?” she asked, snapping her head in his direction. She tilted her head up so her eyes would lock with his.

  “How can you be satisfied living your life in complete ignorance?” he asked her, throwing his arms out. “There’s no excuse, Jane, to be so lazy and in the dark about everything. Why are we different? Why are we different from other peculiars? If I could figure out the mark on our DNA that differs us from humans and other peculiars, then I can figure out who else is peculiar. There would be no need to wait to recruit, no need to wait for some sign of ability. We’d be able to run all sorts of tests. Do you realize the benefits to society that kind of information would garner? Do you realize what kind of respect this information could get me?”

  Her mouth dropped open. Was he really saying what she thought he was saying?

  “So we’re, like, a science experiment to you?” She couldn’t believe she had to ask, but she needed to hear him say it.

  “Your minimization of all the potential here is insulting, but I suppose, to express it in terms you can understand, yes, it is much like a science experiment.”

  To be completely honest, Jane had no idea why she got so mad so fast, but something about him set her off.

  “You’re a jerk.” Her headache was only getting worse. Not the best comeback but her mind was too clouded with rage for her to think of anything else.

  “What?” His brow furrowed. He seemed genuinely confused about her reaction. “Why?”

  “You realize we’re humans, right?” she asked him. She couldn’t decide whether to grit her teeth or not,
but it was rather difficult for her to control the steadiness of her voice. “We’re more than just bones and blood and skin and DNA. We have feelings and gut reactions and souls that can’t be explained by science. Why do you have to know everything? Why can’t you just let us be who we are without labeling us, without explaining things? Why can’t we just be?” Now she did clench her jaw. Her eyes were burning, her face was flushed, her breathing was rapid. “I have to go.”

  She spun around headed back to the building. This was the person she’d be training with? Absolutely not.

  She had to speak to Depogare and she had to do it now.

  He didn’t even bat an eye when she burst into his office. Jane knew she was lucky to have caught him before he headed down to the Dining Hall because she might not have the same amount of ferociousness as she had now, and she needed that ferociousness because she was particularly intimidated by him.

  Professor Depogare was in another one of his pressed suits—this one white and dark grey—his copper-brown hair combed back from his face, every lock in place. His midnight-blue eyes rose until they met her face. He had been reading something before she came in; a big red hardcover book rested in his lap. His long legs were crossed, his left ankle resting on his right knee, revealing predictable black socks.

  Jane’s mouth opened, prepared to spew out everything she needed to say about Calvin, but something stopped her. She wasn’t sure if it was because she noticed that perhaps his nose wasn’t as big as she had originally assumed and maybe he wasn’t as ugly as everyone thought he was. And the way he was crossing his legs was ridiculously masculine, but something made her stop.

  “Yes, Miss Cabot?” he said in his mumbling, Southern accent. He cocked his head to the side, giving her a look of expectancy mixed with impatience. “What did you need so badly that you couldn’t even be bothered to knock? Is there some kind of emergency or has your Ignis flair for overreacting to mundane trivialities reared its ugly head?”