The Promise (The Coven Series) (2 page)

“You’re
rude.”
 
Tiny?
 
Why did he have to remark upon my
shortness?
 

His
smile widened.

“And
Kay doesn’t always act like that.”
 

“You’re
a loyal little thing aren’t you?” he laughed.
 

A little thing?
 
Yet
another remark upon my stature, my one bone of contention with my
appearance.
 
It irked me.
 
He irked me.
 
Maybe I didn’t want him after all.
 

His
eyes sparkled with laughter.
 
He was
irritating me on purpose.

“She’s
my friend.”
 

His
lips turned up in a half smile and his eyes darkened to steel.
 
“Did I say something to upset you?”

“Of
course not,” I replied coolly.
 
I
couldn’t seem to drag my gaze away from his eyes.
 
They fascinated me.
 
I’d never seen eyes that could turn so many
shades of gray in a matter of seconds.
 

“And
you’ve got a bit of a temper,” he mused.
 
His face wore an odd expression as he reached out and pushed a stray
strand of hair behind my ear.
 
I almost
hyperventilated.

Normally,
I would have evaded any guy who tried to touch me, especially one I didn’t
know, but not this one.
 
I wanted him to
touch me.
 
Very weird.
 

His
fingers were warm as they continued down from my ear and brushed my cheek.
 
I felt a little spark of electricity shoot
across my skin.

“Anything
else you’d like to point out while you’re doing such a bang up job of it?”
 
I tried to work up a good glare.
 
He looked at me like he couldn’t quite figure
out how I fit into the whole puzzle.
 
I
was the odd piece that just didn’t work no matter which way you turned it.
 

His
face turned serious as he thought about it.
 
“Your face gets all red when you get angry.”

Oh,
he did not.
 

“And
you make a funny choking noise when you’re trying not to yell.”

My
fist clenched.
 

I
turned and unlocked the door.
 
No way was
I going to stand here and listen to this.

His
hand found mine before I could open the door.
 
He pulled me back to him.

“And
despite all that, you’re still the cutest little thing I’ve seen in ages,” he
told me with a devilish grin.

My
mouth fell open.
 
He thought I was
cute?
 

“I’ll
see you around, Cassie Jayne Bishop.”
 
He
tweaked my nose and then sauntered back the way we’d come.

I
watched him until he disappeared.
 
Cute?
 
He said I was
cute?
 
Mr. Melt
In
Your Mouth Gorgeous thought I was cute?
 
I smiled.
 
Then I caught site of
my Mary
Janes
.
 
Ugh.
 
Kay owed me a new pair of
shoes.

I
shivered as the cold wind blew through the trees and wished it was just a bit
warmer.
 
The wind faded and I could feel
heat radiate around me.
 
The heat pump
must have kicked on, I decided.
 
At least
Mom had remembered to turn it on.

My
gaze flitted back to the spot where he’d disappeared.
 
I hadn’t actually seen him turn the
corner.
 
It was more like
he’d…faded.
 
Odd.
 
My eyes must be really tired, I decided, but
I smiled.
 
I could still feel his fingers
where they’d grazed my cheek and my hand tingled from the warmth of his.

Things
might definitely be looking up.
 

That
is if I could forget October 15th and stay out of the town’s clutches.
 

Chapter Two

“You
owe me a new pair of shoes Makayla Joyce Martin,” I told her the next day as I
pulled books out of my locker.

“Shoes?”
she asked quietly, wincing as the guy beside her slammed his locker shut.

Hangovers
are the worst form of punishment.
 
Served her right.
 

“You
barfed all over my new shoes,” I accused, slamming my own locker.
 
“Then I had to haul your ass home.”

Her
eyes widened.
 
“
Your
Mary
Janes
?
 
Shit, CJ, I’m sorry.”

“I
will accept your apology in the form of a new pair of those same shoes.”

“They
clearanced
those out at Target already!” she
whined.
 
“How am I supposed to find that
exact pair?”

“You’re
a resourceful girl,” I told her sweetly.
 
“You’ll figure it out.”

She
sighed.
 
“How did you get us home
anyway?
 
I gave Jess my car.”

“We
walked with you puking every five minutes.”

“What
would I do without you?”

“God
only knows,” I muttered as I adjusted the jacket of my school uniform.
 
It wasn’t so bad as far as uniforms
went.
 
The colors were nice—red, black,
and silver.
 
We could even wear jeans as
long as we either wore the school jacket or one of the shirts with the school’s
insignia, some sort of Celtic symbol.
 
I
knew it had something to do with our town’s heritage, but I’d never really
bothered to look into what it stood for.
 
It just looked like interwoven lattice work to me.

Kay
pulled books out of her own locker.
 
“You
know, CJ…”
 
She stopped and gasped.
 
Her shades came off and she gave me a once
over.
 
“Oh my God!
 
Who is he?”

“Who?”
I asked with feigned innocence.
 

“Don’t
who me, CJ!
 
Your hair doesn’t have a
strand out of place, your makeup is perfect, and you’re wearing your
damn-my-ass-looks-fine skinny jeans.
 
Spill!
 
Who is he?”

I
had taken a little extra time this morning with my appearance in hopes Mr. Melt
In
Your Mouth Gorgeous would be at school.
 
I’d been scoping the halls since we got here,
but no such luck.
 

“You
didn’t have to get all dressed up for me.”
 
Jeff Parker, his cornflower blue eyes sparkling with laughter, wrapped
an arm around my shoulders and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek as he rolled
up to us.
 
I tried to shrug his arm off,
but he held on with a death grip and a smile.
 
The boy didn’t know when to give up.
 

“Details,
CJ, I want details.”
 
Kay wagged a finger
at me.
 

No,
she didn’t.
 
She’d die of
embarrassment.
 
I smiled wickedly at
her.
 
If I didn’t love her, I’d so
totally embarrass her right now after she’d ruined my shoes last night.

Her
eyes widened at my smile.
 
She knew
something was up.
 

“So
are you coming tonight?” Jeff saved me from being bombarded with more
questions.

“Definitely
not,” I told him.
 
Why was everyone
suddenly so interested in my coming to the Hall?
 
I got pestered a lot to come, but it had
gotten worse in the last few weeks.
 
It
seemed like the entire town had asked me to come at one point or another in the
last couple of days.
 
Why couldn’t
everyone just respect my beliefs the way I did theirs?
 

“You
totally should come,” Kay smoothed her ebony hair.
 
A freshman bumped into her and she glared her
best Queen Bitch stare at the kid.
 
Face
pale and eyes wide, the poor girl mumbled something like an apology and ran for
the nearest exit.

“You
know I don’t believe in any of that nonsense, Kay.”
 
I rolled my eyes.
 
Sometimes I wondered why she couldn’t be
nicer.
 
That wasn’t Kay, though.
 
She was “The Shit” and she knew it.

“You
never come,” Jeff wheedled.
 
“It’ll be
fun, CJ.”

“You
guys convince CJ to come tonight?”
 
Billy
Howe asked between bites of his Pop Tart as he came to a stop beside us.
 
Billy was Kay’s most recent acquisition in a
long and never-ending line of boyfriends.
 
His football physique and dark good looks made him drool worthy.
 

“Now
why would I want to come?
 
It’s just
another excuse for you guys to get drunk and partake in lewd and illicit
acts.”
 

“Lewd?”
Jeff smirked, his curly brown hair falling into his eyes.
 
“Have you been sneaking around spying on our
little get-togethers, CJ?
 
My bod looked
totally hot, right?”

Shudder.
 
Jeff’s naked body.
 
As if that would ever
happen in this lifetime.
  
Hell,
in this universe in a thousand lifetimes.
 

“Seriously,
CJ, you need to come.
 
It’s not what you
think.”
 
Billy took Kay’s books for
her.
 
Totally sweet.
 
I glanced up at Jeff.
 
Neighbor Boy had serious designs on becoming
my boyfriend, but did he even think to offer to take my books?
 
Uh, no.
 
Sweet was not in his vocabulary.
 
So very, very not fair.
 

“Sorry,
no.
 
I have stuff to do,” I said and
tried again to dislodge Jeff.
 

“You’re
not coming tonight?”

My
eyes went round at the sound of that voice.
 
It was the guy from last night.
 
It had to be.
 
I turned to the
left and my suspicions were confirmed.
 
He lounged against a locker looking sexier than anyone I’d ever
met.
 
He was dressed in a black school
tee-shirt and sinfully tight jeans.
 
His
hair looked like a perfect mess again, as if he’d just crawled out of bed.
 
It made him look even more delicious.
 

My
heart sped up at the sight of him and I felt butterflies begin to flutter in my
stomach.
   
His eyes pinned me, darkening
as his gaze raked over me from head to toe and caused me to fidget.
 
I swallowed thickly.
 

Kay’s
“OH” nearly knocked her over.
 
I
snickered.
 
Little did she know he’d seen
her covered in
puke.
 

A
smile tugged at Ethan’s very kissable lips.
 
He knew exactly why I was laughing.

“Hey.”
 
My teeth snagged my bottom lip.
  
Jeff’s fingers tightened around my arm.
 
His expression was not at all happy.
 
Tough.
 
Neighbor Boy was not my boyfriend.

“Ethan,”
Billy greeted him.
 
“I thought you said
you wouldn’t be here until tomorrow.”

He
looked at me and grinned.
 
“Changed my mind.”

Kay
looked ready to burst at the seams.
 
She
was shooting me looks that promised death if I didn’t dish.
 

I
could feel the blush start to creep up my neck and bloom onto my cheeks as
Ethan continued to stare at me.
 
His
smile widened, showing a mouthful of even white teeth.
 

“This
is Ethan Warren,” Billy introduced him.
 
“He just moved here from Virginia.
 
His granddad is Andrew Warren.”
 

Huh.
 
I didn’t know Old Man Warren had any living
relatives.
 
Wait, Ethan was going
tonight?
 
He believed in all that
nonsense?
 
And did he really sound like
he was disappointed I wasn’t going?

“CJ
never goes,” Jeff said with a note of irritation in his voice.
 
“That’s cool.
 
She doesn’t have to.”

Ethan’s
eyes flickered to Jeff’s arm strapped to me like a life vest and arched a
brow.
 
My blush deepened.
 
If I tried to shrug Jeff off now, it would
hurt his feelings, but I so did not want Ethan to think I had a thing for Jeff.
 
As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t do that to
Jeff.
 
He might not be boyfriend
material, but he was my friend.
 

“Never?”
Ethan asked.