Chapter 7
Chapter seven
Ebony was standing at the counter in the school's office filling out a Peer Guide Program form when she felt the large presence at her back.
Gavin's whispered words tickled her neck. "Let's get out of here and sit by the beach and eat hamburgers and milkshakes."
Smiling, she turned around. Gavin was so close, her pleated skirt brushed against him at the movement. "Aww but if we do that you'll miss seeing your favorite person."
Gavin’s eyes lingered on her, taking in the simple button-down and houndstooth skirt before meeting her gaze, confused. "I’m looking at my favorite person."
Ebony felt her cheeks warm and her smile soften.
"As adorable as that is I believe she is referring to me," the tall figure behind Gavin spoke.
Turning, Gavin's eyes widened with genuine shock at the sight of Garrett.
Not wearing his cowboy hat but still in his usual work boots and a worn black T-shirt he looked as about as relaxed as he was going to get.
At nineteen, Garrett was older, wiser, and far more mature than any of the students.
Having been working since he was fourteen, school hadn't always been a priority but this year was his final year and he was going to complete it with them.
"Am I dreaming or am I seeing my one and only bestie standing in Stardust High right now?"
"You're not only seeing him right now, you'll be seeing him for the remainder of the school year as a student. He transferred from Holter to Stardust," Ebony announced using her best Vanna White impression as she swept a hand toward Garrett in a silent ta-da.
Garrett sighed, already tired of them.
"My boy, all grown up and finishing high school. Look at you. Poppa is proud." Gavin went to pat Garrett on the shoulder but Garrett sidestepped him.
Garrett's expression remained passive save for the slight tick in his jaw. "I'd hate for my first day to start with you ending up in the hospital."
Challenge sparked in Gavin's eyes and Ebony decided it was time to step in between them.
Turning to Garrett she smiled and waved a hand towards the hallway.
"Come this way and I'll start your tour.
" She held up a hand at his wincing expression, cutting him off.
"I'll only show you the classrooms you'll need to go to.
Nothing more," she said, knowing that he was not interested in anything else.
She turned back to Gavin and pointed at him. "And you go back to Cal III."
Gavin held up his hand in salute and winked at her before turning and walking away.
"Aren't you glad you moved to Stardust?" she asked Garrett with a grin.
Amused, Garrett nodded for her to start walking. "Sure," he said dryly. "Let's get this over with."
The tour was probably the quickest she had ever given. After twenty minutes of pointing out various classrooms and the quickest routes to the parking lot, Garrett thanked her and was out the door heading to his actual job as an electrician.
With no class for another hour, Ebony walked slowly toward the library and ultimately to her secret base.
Her thoughts drifted to that one memory she had been trying to avoid all morning.
Like ivy twisting around a tree the memory took hold of her, refusing to let her turn away.
Checking to see if anyone was watching she slipped behind the sliding bookshelf and opened the forgotten door, letting out a breath once shut inside.
Sitting down with a plop on the old office chair, Ebony let out a breath. As if given permission, the unwanted memory enveloped her.
It was his pale blue eyes. That was what she remembered first. Not the shift in the mattress next to her, not opening her eyes to the hazy darkness—just his eyes.
Gavin had sat up beside her in bed. Still nestled in her warm covers she had looked up at him through her lashes watching him as he watched her. How long had he been up?
He loomed over her, his bare chest catching the low light coming in through her curtains, the shadows etched around the deep dips between his muscles.
His skin was almost silver where the night's cool light touched him.
He was still so close she could smell his cologne.
The scent was warm like a dimly lit library lined with books and a roaring fire.
Luxurious and sophisticated. She had wanted to turn into the pillow he had abandoned and inhale.
She didn't. She had stayed stock still as his eyes passed over her.
Ebony shivered at the memory, just as she shivered then. The look he gave her was unlike anything he had ever given her before, heated and dangerous.
Ebony blinked, pushing the memory away. It had been nothing. There had been no awkward feelings between them that following morning and whatever she saw on his face was just in her head.
"He simply got up to go to his own room, that was it," she told herself firmly.
She smiled thinking of his expression when she came into the kitchen that morning cradling his coffee close to his face.
"I'm going to need every drop of this. You took all the covers. I was in there shivering to death," he complained.
Ebony shook her head and pulled out her phone to check the time. Yeah, it was all just in her head.
A few hours later, she was walking toward the parking lot while texting Gavin.
School let out over an hour ago and he was already home texting her to hurry up so they could train.
Ugh. The last thing she wanted to do was train.
She just spent the last forty-five minutes in a meeting with the assistant principal and some of the teachers going over plans for school spirit week.
She was walking past the open doors of the natatorium when she heard her name.
"Ebony!"
Stopping, she looked through the doors and caught sight of a familiar bronze body half in and half out of the pool like a merman.
Ebony blinked. A very fit merman. This wasn't her first time seeing Cameron shirtless.
He had been over to the house to swim and trained often with them for years at the martial arts school.
Shirtless was nothing new, but the bulk to him was.
With his arms folded on the edge of the pool, Cameron watched her excitedly as she stepped into the large humid room.
Behind him the massive pool with its lanes corded off with bright red buoys stretched out behind him.
In the other lanes students went back and forth through the water as they practiced.
Cameron was wearing a dark blue swim cap, hiding his cinnamon brown curls.
He was giving her a bright open smile so different from the arrogant smirk he normally gave girls around school.
With her he was just Cameron, tall, dripping wet, and practically naked Cameron.
Why hadn't she ever noticed how muscular he had gotten?
She could hardly stop herself from staring at his chest. With no control her gaze dropped; his chest, broad and slick with water was mesmerizing, each muscle in sharp relief as if carved from stone.
His biceps flexed against the tiled floor as he kept himself upright; they were lean and unforgiving, and she suddenly understood the reaction of the girls at school.
"Hey," she said, trying not to let her eyes linger too long on the water sliding down his chest. "How’s practice?"
Cameron grinned, the cocky edge of it softened just for her. "Oh, you know, just trying to cut time so Coach stops breathing down my neck."
She smirked. "Tell him you're the type of talent that shows up when it counts. Just like how you beat Randall Pickett the other week with only a few seconds left on the clock."
He leaned a little closer over the edge of the pool, drops of water trailing down his arm. "Careful, Ebbs. Keep complimenting me like that and I’ll start thinking you like me."
Ebony rolled her eyes, but she couldn't fight the growing smile. "You're right I do need to be careful,; you're already unbearably arrogant, Gavin’s influence no doubt. I don't think any girl in this school would survive it if your ego grew any larger."
His smile turned slow. "I'm sure you’d manage."
With a smooth upward thrust that did wonderful things to his chest and arms, Cameron pushed himself out of the pool revealing his small—so small, so very small—swimming briefs. Good Lord.
Turning away, she was fully prepared to march right back out.
"Hey, come on," Cameron's playful voice was as smooth as his firm chest. "Don’t run away."
Exasperated with him she gave him a pointed look and then to the pool behind him. "Don’t you have prac-"
An automated rumbling noise sounded from her phone and all the playfulness left her body as she checked her weather app. There was a storm coming in.
Standing only a few inches from her, still dripping wet, Cameron had seen her expression change and watched her check her phone. "Oh yeah, I forgot. You don't like storms, do you?" he said, his tone dipped low, meant only for her.
Looking up, she caught his gaze and her stomach tightened at the concern glittering back. Ebony nodded, this time not taking her eyes from his.
"Yeah, but I'm headed home. Gavin will no doubt do something annoying to keep me distracted," she laughed, thinking of Gavin's text to train. Now it all made sense. "Well, I'm going to head out. Good luck with your numbers."
For a split second, something flickered across his face as she began to turn around. His handsome smile stayed in place, but his jaw tightened for a fraction of a second as if he wanted to say something but changed his mind.