Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Colt parked his Charger in front of my house. After I slowly climbed out of the car, Creed scooped me up. Having experienced being carried already once today, I wasn’t as startled this time around. I still hooked my arms around his neck, holding on tight as we headed toward my house.
Colt walked behind us, carrying my backpack. “Are your keys in your bag?”
“Front pocket. I have an alarm,” I warned Colt. I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone the code. I hesitated for a second as I debated, then remembered I could always change it later if I had to and told him the code.
As Colt pulled my keys from my bag, Keelan’s Jeep pulled up their drive.
“Why aren’t you at practice?” Knox asked loudly as he and Keelan climbed out.
“Here we go,” Creed grumbled under his breath, then shouted over his shoulder, “We didn’t go!”
Colt dashed ahead of us to unlock my front door.
Knox slammed the Jeep’s door and stormed around it to stand along the oleander bushes that separated our properties. “Please tell me you didn’t ditch practice so one or both of you could try and get between Shiloh’s legs?”
My breath caught in my throat as my cheeks began to burn. Creed paused at the top of the porch steps, his jaw clenching. He started to turn us slowly to face Knox. With the rage burning in his eyes, I knew he was about to explode on him, and it wasn’t going to be pretty.
Colt’s hand landed on Creed’s shoulder. “Take Shiloh inside. I’ll deal with this.” Colt didn’t wait around for a reply and pounded down the porch steps. Creed listened to his twin and carried me inside.
We were only a few steps inside when we heard Colt growl, “That was fucked up, Knox. Even for you.”
“You two aren’t being smart,” Knox growled back.
“Why? Because you think we skipped practice to get laid?” Colt snapped. “Way to fucking assume the worst, as usual. Shiloh is our friend and?—”
“I’ve seen the way you both look at her,” Knox cut him off.
Creed’s arms tightened around me. I hesitantly glanced at him. His jaw was clenched, and his gaze angrily bored into the floor.
“Alright, that’s enough,” Keelan said, his voice taking on a serious tone. “Colt, why did you and Creed skip practice?”
“A guy at school shoved Shiloh and she got hurt,” Colt answered.
“Is she alright?” Keelan asked.
I didn’t get to hear Colt’s response. Creed hiked me up to restrengthen his hold of me. “Where do you want me to take you?” he asked, his tone coming out sharp.
I was dying to change out of my jean skirt and into some loose shorts. I pointed to the hall just off the living room. “In my bedroom.”
I felt the tension ease a little from his body. Looking at his face, I caught the corner of his mouth curling up. “Oh, really?”
I frowned, confused. “Yes. I really need to get out of this skirt.”
Creed chuckled as he headed for my room.
I replayed what we both had said in my head and my blush that had yet to fully recede flared again. “Oh.” Then I ended up chuckling, too.
Creed carried me down the hall to my room. He gently set me down on my bed. As his eyes roamed around my room, I lay back across my bed with a sigh. I didn’t have much that was personal in my room besides a few knickknacks and my jewelry box sitting on top of my dresser. My furniture in my room was espresso-colored and the linens on my bed were teal and white. I hadn’t gotten around to putting my stamp on the space yet.
“You don’t have any pictures,” Creed pointed out.
No, I didn’t. I wasn’t allowed to have anything out that might give away my true identity. The few pictures I did have had been approved by Logan and they were only on my phone.
“I haven’t gotten around to hanging any yet,” I lied, staring up at the ceiling. I hated lying to him. I let out a heavy sigh and I felt fingers touch my bare knee.
“Are you alright? Is it your hip?”
I internally grimaced. Shayla had always said I was a crappy liar. I never could master a poker face. I looked down where my legs hung off the side of the bed. Creed was standing there staring down at me. I shook my head. Before he could push further, I changed the subject. “Knox was really upset.”
This time Creed sighed and plopped down on the bed next to me. He lay on his side, propped up on one elbow, his hand supporting his head. “He’ll get over it.”
I met Creed’s aquamarine eyes. My breath hitched as his fingers brushed a few stray hairs away from my forehead that had escaped my messy bun. “Your roots are brown.”
I leaned in close and whispered, “That’s because I have brown hair.”
He rolled his eyes. “No shit, smart ass. What I meant to say is that I didn’t know you had brown hair.”
I laughed and he watched me with a tiny smile.
“You’re so beautiful when you laugh,” he said, and with a featherlike touch, he ran his finger from my temple to the corner of my mouth. “Your whole face lights up.” His eyes dropped to my mouth and he slowly trailed his finger along my bottom lip. “Your smile is the best part.”
Butterflies went wild in my stomach.
“Then we should make her laugh more often,” a voice said.
Creed dropped his finger from my lip and we both looked toward the source and found Colt leaning against the doorframe. His eyes took us in, lying next to each other, with an unreadable expression.
“I should let you get changed,” Creed said as he sat up and clambered off the bed.
“Would you mind grabbing me a pair of pajama shorts from my dresser? They’re in the second drawer,” I asked Creed, as I sat up slowly. The movement caused a little discomfort. Scooting to the edge of the bed made me hiss.
Creed made his way over to my dresser and as I saw him start to pull the second drawer open, I realized my mistake. “I meant the third drawer!”
I was too late. Creed pulled the drawer all the way open and gaped down at all my superhero lingerie. I had forgotten that I’d had to move my pajamas down a drawer when I’d realized one drawer for my underwear wouldn’t suffice. And if I’d thought the situation couldn’t get any worse, Creed plucked one of my Spider-Man bras out and began looking it over.
“Creed, you can’t take shit out of a girl’s underwear drawer and look at it like a creeper,” Colt admonished.
Creed looked at his brother with a stupid grin. “Shiloh has a naughty collection of superhero lingerie.”
That took the frown Colt had right off his face and replaced it with a look of intrigue.
I was undoubtedly red as a freaking tomato. “It’s not naughty. They’re cute!”
Creed laughed and turned back to the drawer. Without shame he began rummaging through it. “She’s got Captain America, Batman, Robin…”
Colt took a step toward his brother with a torn expression.
“Creed, stop going through my underwear!” I yelled and threw a decorative pillow from my bed at him. “How would you feel if I went through yours?” The small pillow bounced off his shoulder and dropped to the floor.
Creed briefly glanced at the pillow, unfazed. With a sigh, Creed closed the drawer and opened my pajama drawer. “Feel free to go through my underwear all you like. They’re all in the top drawer of my dresser,” he shot over his shoulder. Once he found the Batman pajama set I’d worn that first morning I’d cooked him breakfast, he held both the top and bottom out to me. He smirked. “But my underwear isn’t nearly as sexy as yours.”
Feeling flushed from head to toe, I snatched my PJs from his hand. “Thank you.”
“After you change, you should really get some ice on that hip,” Colt said.
I nodded. “I have a few ice packs in the freezer.”
“Let’s order some food and watch a movie,” Creed suggested.
Colt looked to me. “Chinese or pizza?”
“Ooh! I want Chinese food.” I beamed.
“It’s a date,” Creed said and pushed Colt out into the hall before shutting the door behind them.
A date? I mused to myself, then shook my head and began changing.
A swim meet was exactly like I’d pictured it would be. Bleachers on each side of the gigantic pool, filled with families and fellow students here to show their support. Ethan had been right. The swim team was a big deal. There were a lot of people here.
Walking along our school’s side of the pool. I scanned the crowd for Ethan. When I spotted him two rows up, I noticed he was already sitting with Keelan and Knox. All three of them saw me at the same time. Ethan took in my appearance and threw his head back laughing. I put my hands on my hips and cocked an eyebrow at him.
Ethan stood up. “Do a twirl, Shi.”
Before I humored him, I unzipped my black sweatshirt and slid it down to the crease of my arms, so he could see the back of my shirt. As I twirled, he laughed harder.
I was dressed to the nines as a cheerleader, colors and all. I’d lost a bet and now it was time to pay up. Last week, I had stopped by the school’s student-run store to purchase our swim team’s T-shirt and a jersey for the football team. Both were dark blue with gray lettering. The swim team’s shirt had the team’s name and mascot on the front. I’d enhanced it by turning it into a crop top. On the back, across the shoulders, I’d ironed on gray letters, spelling out Team Stone —the twins’ last name. I’d paired the shirt with a high-waisted, pleated miniskirt I’d had to order online. The color was the same shade of dark blue and had a single gray strip an inch from the bottom. I’d put my hair up in pigtails. They curved out on the upper sides of my head with black, blue, and silver ribbons tied around my hair ties. The strands of the ribbons hung along with my hair.
“What’s the verdict?” I asked.
Ethan gave me a smile. “Adorable, yet sexy.”
I snapped my fingers, mocking disappointment. “Darn, I was hoping to embarrass. I guess I’ll have to try harder for your game tomorrow.”
Ethan chuckled. “I can’t wait.”
I made my way up the bleachers slowly because my hip was still hurt. Ethan stood, offering the spot between him and Keelan.
“Hi,” I greeted Keelan and Knox shyly before taking a seat. They both were staring at me. Keelan was looking at me all over, probably taking in my outfit, and Knox…well, he was frowning. I wondered if he was still upset about yesterday.
“Shi, do you want to fix your sweatshirt?” Ethan asked as he pulled up the sleeve that had fallen down to my wrist, revealing my long, nasty scar on my inner arm.
That drew Keelan’s and Knox’s attention. Keelan had already seen my scars, but Knox hadn’t—at least until now. He might have just gotten a glimpse of the scar before Ethan could cover it.
I tried not to feel embarrassed. In fact, I forced it down with all my might. I didn’t want to ruin this evening with my insecurities. I give Ethan a grateful smile. “Thanks.”
He grinned back. “I’m assuming you’re wearing a jersey to my game. Did you put my name on it, too?”
“Not exactly.” I pulled out my phone. “Since you pretty much figured it out, I might as well show you.” I went to my pictures and found the one with the dark blue jersey. I showed him my phone.
He burst out laughing. “No, you didn’t!”
Yes, I did . Instead of his name on the back of the jersey, I’d ironed on Football God over his number on the back.
“This is the best thing I’ve ever seen.” He beamed.
“Did you invite Isabelle to the game?” I asked him. Isabelle was the girl I had caught him staring at in biology yesterday. We hadn’t been able to talk about her again until today. I’d tried to give him advice and suggested that he invite her to his game.
“Yeah, but I don’t know if she’ll show up,” he said.
“You didn’t act like a horndog when you asked her, did you?”
“I was respectful,” he deadpanned. “She said she would think about it.”
“Did she say anything else?”
He shook his head.
I bumped his shoulder with mine. “She’ll be there.”
He shrugged, not completely convinced.
Ethan was a sweetheart when he wasn’t acting like a womanizing fool. She would be a fool not to show.
“Do you want some popcorn, Shiloh?” Keelan asked me.
Surprised, I turned to look at him, then over his shoulder to see a student selling popcorn and drinks while walking up and down the steps of the bleachers. “Yes, please. I love popcorn.”
Keelan waved at the student and bought two slim, red-and-white-striped cartons of popcorn and a water. I reached into my pocket to get him some money. Keelan put a hand over mine, stopping me. “I got it,” he said, handing me a carton of popcorn.
“Thank you.” Popcorn was my favorite. It was my go-to when I was sad, happy, or bored.
The meet started shortly after that and everyone really got into it. Even I was cheering on the twins as they soared through the water. They kicked butt and smoked the competition. Ethan had to leave when the meet was over. Keelan, Knox, and I stayed behind, sitting on the bleachers waiting for the twins to come out of the locker room after showering.
Mostly everyone had cleared out, except for a few waiting like us. Creed walked out of the locker room first, Colt following closely behind. I hopped up from my seat. Ignoring the slight zap of pain in my hip, I made my way down the bleachers to the ground next to the pool. Colt grinned at me and Creed smirked at my appearance.
“That was exciting. Good job, guys,” I gushed.
Creed held out his hand. “Take the sweatshirt off.”
I looked at Colt. He had his hand over his mouth in an attempt to hide his smile as he stared down at me. I glanced around quickly out of habit before sliding my sweatshirt off and handing it over to Creed. I did a slow twirl, like I’d done for Ethan. By the time I completed my turn, both were smiling broadly but didn’t comment as to what they thought.
I put my hands on my hips. “Ethan said I looked adorable.”
“He also said sexy,” Keelan said as he approached with Knox.
I scrunched my nose at that and went to grab my sweatshirt.
Creed held it out of my reach. “No way are you covering up.”
I glanced at Knox. He was glaring down at my wrists. I had the strong urge to hide them.
Colt grabbed my hand, lacing our fingers, and pulled me along toward the exit. “Ethan texted me saying I’m going to be jealous when I see your outfit for tomorrow. What did he mean by that?”
“I don’t know why he would say that. All I did was show him a picture of the jersey I’m going to wear. My phone is in one of my sweatshirt’s pockets if you want to see it.”
Before I could even finish telling them that, Creed was pulling my phone out from my sweatshirt he was carrying as he followed. He tapped and swiped at my phone. “Why does it say Football God?” Creed asked.
Colt stopped walking. “What? Let me see?”
Creed handed over the phone to Colt. He looked at the picture for a minute before laughing. “It’s a joke between them. Don’t read into it. Ethan is just trying to stir shit up,” Colt told his brother.
“Are we going to be let in on why Shiloh is dressing like a cheerleader?” Knox asked.
Creed and Colt stared at their brother and then at each other. “No,” Creed replied.
I shook my head at them. “Don’t be mean.”
Creed’s brows shot up. I was just as surprised as he was that I’d defended Knox.
“I lost a bet,” I told Knox.
He and Keelan wore the same ah look, like the twins placing bets was a regular occurrence.
The five of us made our way to the parking lot. Colt’s Charger was parked right up in front and Keelan’s Jeep was parked in the back of the lot. I was among the unlucky bunch who’d had to park in the neighborhood next to the school because the lot had been overflowing with cars by the time I’d shown up.
“Where’s your car, babe?” Colt asked, looking around the lot.
I didn’t react to him calling me babe . I liked it. “I had to park in the neighborhood down the street.”
Colt squeezed my hand. “We’ll drive you to pick it up.”
“You don’t?—”
“It’s dark out and you shouldn’t be walking alone,” he said in that firm tone.
I wasn’t going to point out that I ran when it was dark out most of the time. Then again, I took a gun with me when I ran that early. All I had on me now was my tracker tucked in my sock. I didn’t argue and climbed into the backseat of his Charger. Like his new term of endearment, I liked that he worried about me.