The Better to Bite (Howl #1)(41)

And I realized that maybe I should be more careful with him. What with him being a werewolf and all.

I put my hands on my hips. I’d saved his life. He’d had the opportunity to rip me apart if he wanted, but he hadn’t. The way I figured it, he owed me, so that meant he didn’t get to go around acting like a jerk. Werewolf or not.

“I’m making it about me,” he said and stalked toward me. Only, he wasn’t looking at me. He was glaring at Brent. Guys could really be such idiots some days.

“Been running lately?” Rafe asked Brent, a hard edge in his voice.

Brent hesitated and glanced at me.

I just glared back at them both.

Rafe finally looked my way. About time. But then he said, “The last thing you want to be doing is trusting this guy with your secrets.”

That was sure not what I’d expected him to say. Then I had to blurt, “So what? I’m supposed to trust you?” A guy who went all furry and seriously feral in the moonlight.

The bell rang, sounding too loud and far too shrill.

“No.” The ringing almost drowned out Rafe’s words. I wish it had because he said, “You can’t trust either of us.”

***

“That was so hot.” Two and a half hours later, and Jenny was still talking about the scene in the hall. When the bell had rung, she’d hurried inside and caught the tail-end of my latest drama. “I mean, were they about to fight over you or something? Because that would be the ultimate.”

Um, not so much. I didn’t particularly want to be some kind of bone that the guys were battling over. Actually, right then, I didn’t want to be anything to either one of them.

You can’t trust either of us.

I was getting sick of being in the dark.

I jumped in my new VW. I inhaled deeply because it smelled awesome. I’d put the top down, and Jenny hopped in bedside me.

She slid her hands over the leather in a fast caress. “How come you’re the VIP’s most wanted lately?” She wanted to know.

I curled my hands around the steering wheel. “I thought you and Troy had some kind of thing going.” I’d caught them necking in the halls more than once. “Doesn’t that make you a VIP’s ‘most wanted’?”

Her hands fisted. “No. It just makes me the flavor of the moment.” There was a thread of tension in her voice I’d never heard before.

I tried to laugh, wanting to lighten her mood. A tense Jenny was a Jenny that I didn’t know how to deal with. “Guess that’s what I am, too.” But I couldn’t shake the feeling that something more was going on here. Something deeper, darker.

Dangerous.

Brent and Rafe—were they interested in me? Or was it something else entirely different?

Been running lately?

I hadn’t wanted to think too much about what Rafe meant when he said those words to Brent, but I couldn’t forget how quickly Brent had healed from the accident and the way he’d played on the football field. Moving too fast. Being too strong.

Was he like Rafe?

I really, really hoped not.

“You’re gonna take me to the game tonight, right?” Jenny piped up. “They’re doing a memorial for Sissy, and I don’t want to miss it.”

She’d been one of the red-eyed girls this week, too.

I hadn’t planned on going to the game. Brent had asked me to come, but after last week’s craziness, and after the bruises that were only now healing, sitting in crowded bleachers wasn’t exactly appealing.

“Please,” Jenny wheedled. “I don’t want to go alone! And it’s—it’s for Sissy.”

Sissy. I nodded.

My gaze swept around the lot. Rafe had his guys around him. He didn’t look my way. Figured. Why was I looking his? My gaze darted to the left. Brent was holding court with the jocks. Brent caught my stare and waved.

If I can trust anyone, it’s him.

I needed to get over this bad boy attraction I had and focus on a guy who seemed to be one of the good ones.

“Sorry I’m late!” Cassidy jumped into the backseat and dropped her pack with a thunk. “I forgot my Cal book and had to run all the way back to my locker. Of course, I’m in the slam back of the school.”

I noticed Jenny’s mouth had dropped open. She stared at me with wider than usual eyes. “She’s going with us?” Jenny whispered.

Cassidy laughed. “Yes, she is.It’s my gran’s shop, of course I’m heading there.”

I offered Jenny a smile. “Did I forget to mention our little pit stop?”

She blinked at me.

I patted her hand. “No worries. You can look for some love potions while we’re there.”

Rafe’s motorcycle roared out of the lot.

***

Granny Helen took me to the back. We were alone this time. I heard Cassidy out front, trying to convince Jenny to spend thirty bucks on a Love-Me spell. I was pretty sure the brew was pure BS, but I had to admire Cassidy for knowing how to work her customer.

Granny Helen watched me with her coal black eyes. Maybe it was my imagination, but the lines on her face looked even deeper today. Her body sagged a bit.

I bit my lip. “Are you all right?”

Her brows lifted. “Sometimes, you can feel it when death wants to take you.”