Chapter 27
Tessa
Slater goes absolutely still, and I freeze as well. I pull my head back but don’t lower my heels to the ground. “I’m sorry,” I whisper as I realize what I just did. I feel my panic building. “I’m sorry, I just—”
He wraps a strong arm around my back and crushes me to his chest, and his lips find mine.
This kiss is so completely different from the one I just tried.
This one is all-consuming. I forget my name; I forget to breathe.
Stars dance before my eyes, and I just cease to exist. Time ceases to exist. Somebody clears their throat, and I jerk backwards.
Mortification flows through me, and I stare at Slater with wide eyes.
“Don’t ever apologize for kissing me.” His words are so low, I’m pretty sure only I can hear them.
“If we didn’t have an audience...” He lets the words hang out there, and I wish he would come out and say what it is he’s thinking.
“Slater,” I whisper, feeling completely undone.
His face softens and loses some of its intensity. His hands frame my face. “Hey, it’s okay. I’ve got you.”
“If you’re done now, we need to get back to work, Parker.” Hayes’s voice is much colder now. Slater’s eyes narrow, but I touch my hand to his arm, drawing his attention back to me.
“I have to go. Will I see you later?” My voice is almost desperate, and I hate that. But I can’t get any kind of control over my emotions; they are all over the place.
He leans forward so his lips are right against my ear. “Now you know my secret; know that I am always watching. You need me, just call my name, I’ll be there.”
My legs feel weak, but I force myself to take a step away from him.
It takes every ounce of control I have to force myself to take another step away from him.
I stare at him, trying to wrap my head around what just happened.
He doesn’t move, but he watches with an intensity that’s scary.
He doesn’t even blink. Hayes steps up next to me. “You coming?”
I nod and start walking with Hayes and Steven back to the guard shack.
On the way, I take off Hayes’s jacket and hand it to him.
He takes it with a scowl but doesn’t say a word.
The walk back seems to take forever, and neither Hayes nor Steven say anything.
I can feel Hayes’s anger, and I feel bad.
But I’m also kind of confused. I’ve never thought there was anything between us, and if I led him to believe that, I certainly didn’t mean to.
I think about apologizing, but his stormy gaze makes it look like he won’t appreciate it.
When we get inside, I walk over to my seat and stop.
Over the back of my chair is one of Slater’s long-sleeved shirts he wears before soccer practice.
A goofy grin settles over my face, and I wonder how he beat us back here to drop this off.
Of course, he’s a really fast runner; so, I guess it’s not that surprising.
When I sit down, I also see my phone sitting face down at my desk.
I stare at it a moment; I know it wasn’t here earlier.
I flip it over and see a text from Slater.
Butterflies take off in my stomach before I even read it.
I make sure nobody’s paying attention before I read it.
Slater- You dropped this on the grass. I found it after you left earlier. And Shorty, if you want to wear a male’s clothing, wear mine. Always mine.
“No phones when we’re on security,” Hayes says dropping into the chair next to me.
I resist the urge to scowl at him and simply turn my phone over and get back to my schoolwork.
I pretend I’m hard at work, but honestly, it’s really hard to concentrate.
My mind is struggling to wrap around everything that happened tonight.
What’s scary is the fact that I’m more shocked and blown away by that kiss than I am by the fact that Slater somehow turned into a wolf.
I sort of question my own sanity right now.
I really do need to ask about the whole wolf thing.
The rest of the night passes incredibly slowly.
And when it’s time for me to make my rounds, I keep an eye out for Slater, but I don’t see him anywhere.
Disappointment fills me, but I try not to think about it.
I’m almost done with my shift, and I make the walk over to the soccer field.
My gaze falls on a certain soccer player, and my heart skips a beat.
Then he turns around. Before I realize what’s happening, he’s jogging towards me.
He doesn’t stop when he gets close. He just steps right into me, wrapping his arms around me.
And then his lips are on mine. Elation flows through me; that is, until a whistle rips through the air, startling me.
I pull back and blink up at Slater. He stares down at me with that intensity of his.
“I’ve been thinking about nothing else but that the last several hours. ”
I meet his gaze boldly. “Was it worth it?”
He growls low in his chest. “You’re playing with fire, Shorty.”
A slow smile fills my face. “Am I?”
“Slate!” somebody yells.
“You’d better go,” I tell him.
“I’ll find you when I’m done.” He starts jogging backwards.
“Show-off,” I mutter loud enough for him to hear me.
There’s no heat in my voice, and he grins.
Then he spins around and runs over to his teammates.
By the time I clock out and head to my dorm room, I don’t have much time to do anything but shower and get to my first class.
I enter my room quietly in case Stephanie is still sleeping.
Her bed is empty, though, so she must already be out for the day.
When I get to my bed, I see the white bag and open it up.
Inside, there’s a breakfast sandwich and a hashbrown, and a bottle of orange juice.
My stomach growls as I breathe it in. I don’t even have to ask who brought it.
I can smell Slater’s cologne on the bag from where he must have touched it.
I text him quickly, even though I know he won’t see it until later.
Me- Thank you for breakfast. I lift the bagel sandwich to my mouth, open wide, and snap the picture. I don’t overthink it as I send it to him.
I don’t hear from him until after third hour. He hearts the pic I sent him and sends me a text.
Slater- meet for lunch?
I can’t help my goofy grin.
Me- sure
My next two hours drag, and I have a hard time focusing. Finally, it’s time for lunch. I make my way out of the classroom and pull out my phone. Slater never told me where to meet him. I nearly collide with someone as I leave the classroom. “Oh, sorry.” I look up, and my heart squeezes. “Slater.”
“You make a habit of walking and texting, Shorty?”
I scowl up at him. “You make a habit of making people run into you?”
He smirks. “Only you.” He takes me by the elbow and pulls me out of the way as several guys burst through the doorway, shoving each other and laughing. I laugh at the expression on his face.
“Come on; they’re just goofing off.”
“They need to be more careful.”
I shrug. “They’re college guys.”
I follow him out of the building, and we keep up with the flow of traffic.
He doesn’t say anything as we walk, and I don’t either.
It’s too hard with so many people around us.
When we get to the dining area, I follow Slater to a table.
I drop my bag off and turn to survey the area, trying to decide what I’m hungry for. “What do you want?” Slater asks.
“I’m thinking—”
“Tessa.”
I turn to see Stephanie and Ashley, who lives across the hall from us, approaching. “Hey, Girl,” Ashley says, hugging me.
I hug her back. “Hey, how’s it going?”
“Busy,” she says with a sigh.
“I hear that.”
“Hey, Steph, how’s your day?”
Her eyes are wide. “So, what’s the deal?”
“With what?”
“With him?” she asks.
“Who?” I realize that Slater’s disappeared.
Stephanie rolls her eyes. “Don’t play dumb. What’s the deal with the soccer guy? Are you guys dating now?”
“No.” I pause. “Why would you say that?”
She gives me a look. “Well, for one, he sent food up to your room this morning. Second, you both walked in here together. So...” Her eyes are bright. I look between the two of them.
“We’re just...”
“Friends,” Stephanie and Ashley both say at the same time.
“I’ve heard that before,” Stephanie says with a shake of her head.
“Wait,” Ashley says, leaning forward. “Here’s the real test. Has he kissed you yet?”
I feel my face heat to a thousand degrees. They both laugh. “You don’t even have to bother answering that,” Stephanie says with a laugh.
“She just did,” Ashley adds.
“I hate you both.”
They continue laughing and then sober up. “Oh, he’s coming. Go,” Ashley swats at Stephanie. “See you,” Ashley calls out over her shoulder.
“Bye,” Stephanie calls out as they walk away.
“Did I scare them off?” Slater asks as he sets a tray on the table.
“Pretty much,” I tell him.
“Good.” There’s not an ounce of remorse in his voice.
“Slater.” I shake my head at him.
“What? I want time with you without other people around. You’re hard to get alone.” My cheeks heat at his words. “I wasn’t sure what you were hungry for, so I went ahead and got a few things.” I look down at the tray and laugh.
“I don’t know how you guys put so much food away.”
“You like Chinese?” he asks. “I know Evie loves this stuff.”
“I do. I don’t think I love it quite as much as Evie does, but I don’t think anybody in the world does.”
“Eat whatever you want; I’ll eat whatever you don’t.”
I grab a box of orange chicken and take a bite. “Mmm. That's so good. Thank you. Do you have any food allergies or anything?”
He takes a bite of what I think is beef and broccoli. “No. You?”
“Hey, Guys,” Evie says dropping into the seat next to me and startling me.
“Ooo, Panda.” Before I can stop her, she reaches out and snatches a piece of orange chicken.
“Oh, that’s so good.” There’s a growl, and my head snaps up.
Evie stares at Slater. “Did you just growl at me?” she whispers in shock.
Zane drops into the seat next to Slater. He takes in Evie’s face. “What’s wrong?” He turns to Slater. “What’d you do?”
“It’s fine,” Evie says waving the whole thing off. She turns to me. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to eat your food.”
“It’s fine. Slater’s just being cranky.” I give him a pointed look that he completely ignores.
“Did you recover from...everything last night?” Evie asks quietly.
The food I’ve just eaten lodges in my throat, and I swallow hard.
So far, I’ve just pushed it all out of my mind.
“I know it’s a lot to take in. It took me a little bit.
” She laughs. “Oh, who am I kidding? I’m still trying to adjust to all of it. ”
I take in her words. “Because Slater is,” I pause, keeping my voice quiet. “What he is.”
Evie gives me an assessing look. “You know it’s not just him, right?”
“What?” I whisper.
“Zane, Quint, Reid, Slater—they're all...the same.”
I feel my face pale. “All of them?”
My gaze shoots to Slater’s. He's sitting back against his seat, watching me intently. He must see the question in my eyes, but he gives me a slight nod. Evie gives me a gentle smile. “Maybe you should come over to the house soon and let the guys explain.”