Wicked Dreams (Fallen Royals, #1)(45)

“Are you going to stop him? He’s going to murder someone.”

“Not this time,” Caleb answers.

Eli hasn’t moved, either.

I wince when Theo grabs a girl from the sidelines, her camera falling to the ground. He gets in her face, his face a smooth mask of fury. And then he shoves her back toward her friends, and stalks away.

“Well, that could’ve gone worse,” Eli calls.

Caleb chuckles.

“How could that have gone worse?” I whisper. I watch the girl get lifted to her feet.

He tilts his head toward me. “Yeah. He could’ve done a lot worse.” He shrugs. “He probably wanted to.”

I meet his gaze. “What happens next?”

“With what?”

“Us.”

He smirks. “You’re admitting to us, then?”

I shift. “Seems inevitable.”

“We are.” He grabs my hand, raising it to his mouth. He kisses my knuckles, then sets it back on my lap. But he doesn’t let go.

Butterflies erupt in my belly. It’s easy to let Caleb hold my hand and pretend we’re two nice people who happen to be dating.

We are the furthest thing from nice.

“Relax,” he murmurs.

“This is very public. And you just dumped your girlfriend. Loudly.”

He lifts one shoulder, his eyes on the game. “You told me to.”

“I told you to break up with Amelie?” I did not. I mean, I kind of did. Not in a direct way.

Not like this.

Jesus, she keeps craning around from her spot in the crowd of cheerleaders, squinting at us. It’s one thing for Caleb to crucify her in front of the entire school—hell, Lion’s Head’s students, too—but now she’s glaring daggers at me.

“You did. Now just relax, and then we’ll go to the party after we win.” He tosses me a quick smile.

I’m not used to his smiling.

I cast a helpless glance back at Riley. Something happens on the field, because I’m suddenly jerked to my feet. Everyone around us cheers.

Caleb picks me up and swings me in a circle, grinning. “You’re good luck,” he says, kissing my cheek. “We just fucking won.”

A joyous riot of Emery-Rose students flood the field, surrounding the team, with Caleb and me at the center. This type of celebration—so very male—throws me off for a moment. They pound each other’s backs, fist-bumping. No one touches me, though. It’s like I’ve been encased in fire, and no one wants to get too close.

Caleb motions for me to get on his back, crouching. Suddenly I’m a head above everyone else, my arms wrapped around his shoulders and my legs around his waist. Over the sea of black and gold, I can see the purple-and-black Lion’s Head students. They’re slower to filter out.

Caleb’s body heat seeps into me, warming my chilled body. The sun set some time ago, dropping the temperature, and I’ve been shivering ever since.

A wide grin spreads when Theo takes off his helmet and reaches toward me. I let go of Caleb long enough to high five him. Liam does the same, and Caleb growls. He backs away from his friends.

I slide my hands inside his jacket, and he chuckles.

“Ready?” Eli asks, appearing at our side.

Riley is tucked against him, watching at me with wide eyes.

“Yep,” Caleb snaps. He leads the way out of the crowd, toward the parking lot. He turns and walks backward, eyeing his friends. “We’re taking a quick detour.”

Eli snickers. “Oh, yeah?”

“You got a problem with that?” he asks.

“I think you’re gonna go do dirty things to your new girlfriend.” Eli laughs.

Riley elbows him, and I tuck my face into Caleb’s neck. I don’t have any desire to discuss sex—or lack thereof—with his friends.

Caleb spins back around, ignoring Eli, and stops at the passenger side of his car. He loosens his hold on the back of my thighs, letting me slip down. “Get in.”

I’m grateful when he turns the car on and blasts the heat.

“So, where’s the detour?”

He eyes me. “My house.”

I shiver. There’s something dangerous in his glance, hot and smoldering.

We drive toward his home and my heartbeat picks up speed.

“I can’t,” I blurt out.

It isn’t that I haven’t had sex before—because that’s what I’d imagine happening—but all I’ll be able to think about in that house is our past.

My past.

His.

They collided in an epic explosion when we were ten, and I’m trying to put everything back together. Caleb seems to have healed… but inside, there are still jagged edges.

Am I afraid of those jagged edges? Yes. Get too close and they may cut.

He slows the car, pulling onto a shoulder and putting it in park.

“What are you afraid of?”

I stare out the window, as far as I can see. Only yards ahead of us, the headlights bounce against trees. The rest is darkness.

“Are you afraid of me?”

I dare to look at him. “Do you think I am?”

His eyes narrow. “I don’t know, Margo. Sometimes I think yes. Sometimes I think… hmm, maybe she’s grown a backbone after all.”