Focus (The Crescent Chronicles, #2) (11 page)

“
They don’t want to kill me
though, right? I mean doesn’t that defeat the purpose? If they kill
me, you can just take another mate.”

Levi put a hand under my chin and made
me look at him. “You make it sound like a business dealing. Do you
realize what losing you would do to me?”

“
I’m just saying that they
probably want to kidnap me but not kill me.” I couldn’t believe I
was saying it so matter-of-factly, but in some ways it made things
easier.

“
Don’t. Just don’t. If
anyone took you from me again…I can’t even think about it.” His
voice sounded scratchy.

“
Trust me. I’m not letting
myself get kidnapped again.”

“
We’re going to keep you
safe.” Hailey put a hand on my arm. “Remember that.”

“
Are you going to start
telling me stuff? Keeping me in the loop?”

Levi searched my face. “Do you really
want me to? Do you really want to know more?”

“
Yes,” I said confidently.
“I need to know.”

“
Okay, I will.”

“
You can’t be serious.”
Jared kicked a game controller that was lying on the
floor.

“
I am. If she wants to
know, she deserves to know.”

“
Good.” I leaned my head
back. Between meeting Martin, and hearing Levi actually say I was
in danger, I didn’t think I could take much more. “Does anyone want
to take us home?”

“
You girls can always stay
here…” It sounded like Levi was just going through the motions. He
didn’t actually expect us to stay.

“
I think you know the
answer.”

“
Fine, I’ll take you guys
back.”

Twenty minutes later, I was slipping
between the soft sheets of my bed. I couldn’t help but look out the
window before I lay down. I wondered who was out there watching me,
and if it was only Levi’s people. For all I knew, there was a
Blackwell sitting out there in the dark too. I pulled my blankets
tightly around me. I’d spent so much time focused on whether I
wanted to get back together with Levi, that I hadn’t been seriously
thinking about the danger I was in.

“
Are you okay?” Hailey
paused with her hand on the light switch.

“
I’m fine.” I wasn’t sure
who I was lying to more, Hailey or myself.

Chapter Nine

Knowing exactly how much danger I was
in didn’t change the fact that I still had to go to class. My
second week of college wasn’t that different from the first. The
only real change was that I started my organic chemistry
lab.

Jared waited for me outside of my dorm.
He smiled when he saw me.

“
I’m guessing you have lab
too?” I started walking, knowing he’d follow.

“
Nope. I couldn’t get into
it. I’m just keeping you company on the way over.”

A few days earlier, I would have told
him to get lost, but now I found his presence
comforting.

“
Are you saying that you
guys couldn’t override a schedule? You’re losing your
touch.”

“
Well, we figured it wasn’t
that big of a deal. How much trouble can you get into for a few
hours of lab, right?”

“
Don’t remind me. I can’t
believe lab’s starting already.”

“
I thought you liked this
stuff.”

“
I do. I mean I like
learning about it, but that doesn’t mean I want to spend three
hours in a lab.”

Jared laughed. “Good luck
with it. I have mine tomorrow.”
I couldn’t
imagine Jared in a lab.

We reached the modern glass building
that housed the Organic Chemistry lab. It looked out of place
amongst the mostly stone buildings of the quad. “Thanks. See
ya.”

I walked into lab, which was really a
series of rooms. I took a lab manual from the pile and found an
empty stool. Of all of my classes, this lab made me the most
nervous. I was good at listening to lectures and spitting it all
back out on exams and in papers. It was something different to
actually have to perform experiments. Results never seemed to turn
out like they were supposed to. I was sure this would be a lot
harder than my science labs in high school.

“
Allie, hey.”

I glanced up from flipping through the
manual. Nick, the guy from the house party, took the stool next to
me. “Hi, Nick.”

“
I didn’t know you were in
Orgo.”

“
Yeah, I guess I can say
the same thing to you.”

“
I’m glad you’re here. I
hate having to find lab partners.”

I guess that meant we were working
together. I didn’t mind, though. Searching for a partner wasn’t
high on my to-do list. “Me too.”

Our TA came in and introduced himself.
I expected he wouldn’t be like a regular professor, but I was
surprised to see he was wearing jeans and a t-shirt.

“
Hi guys. Welcome to
Organic Chemistry Lab. I’d tell you this was going to be fun, but
then I’d be lying.” He paused, probably hoping for laughs. He
didn’t get any.

“
Basically, we’ll be doing
an experiment each week. Just follow your lab manual, and if you
have any questions or problems, let me know. Oh, and don’t forget
to turn in your prelab questions at the start of each class. If
there aren’t any questions, you can go ahead and check out your
first experiment.”

I tried not to let the lab intimidate
me. It’s not like I’d never seen the equipment before, but I’d
heard so many horror stories about organic chem.

“
Are you premed?” Nick
sorted through the equipment on the table.

“
Definitely
not.”

He put down the beaker he was holding.
“Really? You’re taking this because you want to?”

I laughed. “I guess that makes me a
nerd?”

“
You couldn’t be a nerd if
you tried.” His eyes raked over me in a way that made me a little
bit uncomfortable.

“
Nerds have to look a
certain way?” I picked up my manual, trying to read over the
instructions.

“
Yes. I mean anyone can be
nerdy, but it takes a lot to be a nerd.”

I laughed again. “If you say
so.”

I tried to focus on the experiment.
After measuring several compounds and heating the chemicals in the
sand bath, I hoped to have the desired result.

Three grueling hours later, we were
done.

“
That wasn’t so bad.” Nick
started to clean up.

“
I think these things
usually start out easy and then get harder.” I walked up the front
to check out with the T.A.

Nick followed, and we headed outside.
Jared was waiting for me by the entry. He glared at Nick. “Hey,
Allie, you ready?”

“
Sure, see you next week.”
I waved to Nick.

“
See you around.” Nick was
definitely disappointed as we walked away.

“
Who’s the kid?” Jared
pulled the straps of his backpack away from him.

“
My lab
partner.”

“
I’m glad Levi didn’t pick
you up.”

“
Pick me up? Do you really
have to call it that?”

“
What would you
prefer?”

“
Meet me.”

“
Okay, I’m glad Levi didn’t
meet you.”

“
You always make Levi sound
like this crazy, jealous person, but he’s never acted that
way.”

“
It’s been a new experience
for him. He’s never had a reason to be jealous before. He was going
to have Natalie fire Alex because he didn’t like the way he looked
at you.” Without saying anything, Jared stopped and held open the
door to a coffee shop.

“
How’d you know I wanted
something?”

“
I didn’t. Levi suggested
it. He said you’d probably want a caffeine fix.”

“
Sometimes he can even pass
as charming.” I got in line.

Jared smiled. “So what’s going on with
you guys?”

“
Like you don’t know.” I
turned to look at him. “You want anything?”

“
I’ll take a
coffee.”

I ordered Jared his coffee, and I got
an iced mocha.

We were back outside before Jared
answered me. “Levi seems to think you’re back together, but for
some reason you’re holding sex over him.”

I pushed his arm. “For some reason? The
last time I slept with him I got quite a surprise.” I couldn’t
believe I was talking sex with Jared.

“
What’s done is done. I
assure you, more sex won’t change things—other than Levi’s sanity
that is.”

“
His sanity? Because lack
of sex has been known to cause insanity?”

“
I live with the guy. Trust
me, it’s causing it. You can’t give a guy the night of his life and
then take it away from him. It screws with you.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Like you know
anything about that? Have you ever been with the same girl more
than once?”

“
Yes.”

“
I’m not talking about
multiple times in a night, or a weekend.”

“
Okay, you weren’t
specific. No.”

“
You’re so
disgusting.”

“
What?” He
smirked.

“
Forget it.”

“
You’re the one who
asked.”

“
All right, let’s change
the topic. I was meaning to ask you something.” I stopped at a
bench. We were getting close to the dorms and this talk could take
a while.

Jared sat down next to me, tossing his
backpack onto the bench next to him. “We’re sitting down for it?
This I’ve got to hear. But if you’re trying to come on to me,
please don’t. You are my best friend’s mate.”

“
Dream on,
Jared.”

“
This isn’t fun. I can’t
even throw it back at you.”

I laughed. “I’m not going to come on to
you.”

“
Lay it on me
then.”

I adjusted my bag in my lap and turned
to look at him. “You owe me a favor, and I’m calling it
in.”

“
Okay. What kind of
favor?”

“
Teach me to
fight.”

“
Teach you to fight? Are
you joking?”

“
I need to be able to
defend myself.”

“
You can’t defend yourself
against these enemies.”

“
I need to be able to try.
And if I can’t fight off paranormals, I should at least be able to
stun them or something.”

“
Why don’t you ask
Levi?”

“
You know what he’d say.
Besides, I want to learn from the best. I heard you were the
best.”

“
Kissing my ass isn’t going
to help.”

“
It won’t?”

He laughed. “Levi would kill me if he
found out.”

“
I don’t care. I need this.
Will you help? Somehow I don’t think the self-defense classes they
offer at the gym are going to cut it.”

“
Yes and no. I’m willing to
help you get in better shape and teach you some basics, but that’s
it.”

“
Better shape? Are you
implying I’m not in good shape?” I looked down at my body. No one
had ever said anything like that to me before.

He rolled his eyes. “You’re hot, Allie.
Let’s face it, if you weren’t with Levi, I’d have had you by now,
but that’s not what I mean. You do lots of cardio,
right?”

“
Yes.” I ignored his sex
comment, figuring that snapping at him wasn’t good for my cause.
“And I use weights and stuff.”

“
And stuff? That proves my
point. We have to get you in shape.”

“
Okay. I’m willing to work
hard.”

“
Fine. We’ll have to do it
when Levi’s in class so he won’t show up at the gym.”

“
We’re meeting at the
gym?”

“
In the beginning. When I
know you can handle actual training, we’ll figure out somewhere
else.”

“
Okay, so when do we
start.”

“
Hmm, tomorrow at two
o’clock.”

“
All right.”

“
But you better be ready to
work hard. I’m not going to baby you.”

“
I don’t want you to. I can
handle it.” I sat up straighter.

“
We’ll see. Can we go? As
fun as this is, I’d like to get home sometime.” Jared stood up,
slinging his backpack on in one swift movement.

I rolled my eyes. “It’s always a
pleasure talking to you.”

He grinned. “The feeling’s
mutual.”

***

I could barely eat lunch the next day.
Despite all my talk, I was nervous about working out with Jared. I
usually could hold my own in sports, but I certainly wasn’t a
fitness guru.

“
Are you ever going to tell
me what’s up?” Hailey finished the last of her sandwich.

“
Only if you promise not to
tell Levi.”

“
Do you really have to say
that?”