The Stone Sisters: Lyssa (The Stones Sisters Book 1) (3 page)

“What’s wrong?”

Lexa grinned up at Lyssa, only her sister would assume something was wrong, “Nothing’s exactly wrong.
 
I met some girls and …”

“You aren’t just going off with them.
 
We don’t even really know them yet.”

“No…I don’t mean that.
 
I was wondering if you and I could take them and go out after school.”

Lyssa looked at her for a moment and then stopped with her in front of Lexa’s class.
 
Frowning down at her, for a moment Lexa thought she would say no.
 
But, suddenly, she gave her a little smile and nodded.

“Alright.
 
After school, we’ll go get a pizza.
 
I gotta go back to the library before the bell.”

“You and your easy schedule.”

With an evil grin, Lyssa shot as she left, “If you get good grades, you can have an easy one too.”

Lexa slipped into the classroom and grinned when she saw Missy.
 
Running over, she sat next to who she hoped would be a new friend.

“Hey!
 
Want to go out after school?
 
You, Anna, my sister and me?
 
She’ll drive.
 
She said we could go get pizza.”

Missy grinned, “Yeah.
 
That sounds cool.
 
You said your sister has a car, right?”

“Yeah, she does.
 
You’ll have to crawl into the back seat though.
 
She’s got some kind of Audi and it’s tight in the back.”

“An Audi?
 
Whoa.”

“Yeah, my parents trust my sister a lot and got her the car for school.
 
Lyssa likes fast cars.”

“But…isn’t it a sedan?”

“Nope, a small little coupe.
 
Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it, Anna and I are skinny enough for the backseat.”

“It’ll be worse behind Lyssa, she’s taller than me.
 
We’ll have to arrange something.”

Missy laughed, “Look at you, all giddy.
 
I’m surprised Anna even agreed to this.
 
She usually doesn’t like new people.”

Lexa wanted to say she could tell, but instead smiled, “I kinda pushed her into it.
 
But she’s going and that’s great.”

At that, the bell rang and class flew by.
 
After, Missy and Lexa walked to the cafeteria.
 
While they were, Lexa saw Lyssa being followed by that guy again.
 
She seemed to be trying her best to ignore him, but he was grinning.
 
It was as if trying to get past Lyssa’s cold exterior was his goal in life.
 
 
Yeah, good luck, buddy.
 
You’re gonna need it,
Lexa thought and grabbed a tray.
 

Usually it was Lexa’s job to make the two of them lunch to bring to school, but she was running late this morning and Lyssa had gotten them lunch cards for emergencies.
 
Glancing back, she saw Lyssa get in line. Just a little behind her was the hot guy, still trailing her.
 
Lyssa actually rolled her eyes.
 
The guy had no idea how much a crack that was.
 
Normally, Lyssa just didn’t react at all.

Or, maybe, he did.
 
The guy smiled at Lyssa’s back, watching her intently.
 
This should be an interesting thing to watch.
 
For a moment,
Lexa pondered leaving Lyssa to the attentions of the boy who seemed to really be into her sister.  It was tempting, but what if Lyssa made Lexa take the bus?  Making her way to the table with Missy and Anna she plopped down in the empty chair.  There were still a couple left at the table, so she leaned quickly to Missy.

"Hey, mind if my sister sits with us?"

"I don't care, but do you think you can call her away from Kyle?"

Kyle, that was his name.  Lexa grinned, "My sister can't handle tenacious guys."

With that, she turned and started waving her sister down.  Kyle leaned over her shoulder and pointed Lexa out to Lyssa, which caused her cheeks to flame up.  Eyes widening, Lexa dropped her hand in surprise.  Did Lyssa just blush?  Yep.  That was a freaking blush! 

Lyssa picked up the pace and hurried over to sit next to Lexa.  The guy had an amused gleam in his brown eyes as he followed her.  He took his time, however.
 
It was as if he was waiting for Lyssa to relax a bit.

Lyssa dropped into the seat and leaned over, whispering, "Thanks so much, Lexx, I didn't know how to get away..."

"Is this seat taken?"  Guess he didn’t want her to relax too long.

Lexa glanced up and grinned.  Well, Kyle had a sexy voice so that was a plus.  He was also looking at Melissa who beamed, "It's free.  Want to sit with us?"

Kyle smoothly slid into the seat next to Lyssa who looked somewhere between wanting to hit him and being utterly embarrassed.  This was going to be a fun school year.
 
This dude was providing so much material to tease her sister with.  Missy was giddy and giggling as she shoved Anna with her shoulder.  Kyle must have been the number one guy in school or something.
 
Lexa supposed he could be.  Sure, he was hot, but he wasn't the hottest guy she had ever seen.

Grinning, she leaned over and said, "Hi, I'm Lexa, the younger Stone sister."

"Oh, you’re friendly, unlike the ice queen here."

"Ice queen?  Well, I suppose Lyss seems that
wa
...”

Lyssa actually shoved her and gave her a warning glare.  Wow.  It was so out of character.  Maybe Lyssa didn't know how to stop him because he wasn't turning away from her during her cold act.  It was actually hilarious to Lexa and she couldn't help but grin at Kyle.

“Hey, we’re going out for pizza after school,” Missy asked, “Want to come?”

“The car’s all full,” Lyssa said softly, “I can barely fit four.”

Kyle grinned as he looked at the back of Lyssa’s head.
 
She was a challenge.
 
That had to be it.
 
However, he wasn’t as interesting to Lexa as Lyssa’s slight blush.
 
Or the way she was actively trying not to look at Kyle.
 
Lexa didn’t know whether she should tease Lyss when they got home or if she should have pity.

“Oh, I have my own car,” Kyle said, “So that won’t be a problem.”

Lyssa turned and gave him a cool stare.
 
Lexa had seen a lot of guys shrink back from that.
 
Kyle just smiled at her.
 
If he knew just what Lyssa was capable of, he’d be terrified.
 
But, as it was now, he just grinned.
 
It was tempting to bring him along, but Lexa couldn’t do it.

“I kinda wanted a girls’ day.
 
Maybe next time?”

Brown eyes darted to Lexa and a thick brow arched.
 
He wasn’t happy, but he wasn’t angry either.
 
One test passed.
 
At least he wasn’t a jerk.

“Girls’ day.
 
Got it.
 
How about tomorrow?”

Missy kicked Lexx under the table, “Of course!
 
Tomorrow sounds great!”

Kyle grinned and leaned over to Lyssa, “See you in class.”

With that, he got up and headed for the door.
 
Tilting her head, Lexa smiled, “Well his backside’s as good as his front.”

“Oh, please, Lexa,” Lyssa sighed.

“Oh no,” Missy said, “It doesn’t get much better than that.
 
I’ve never seen him so interested before.”

“How do I get him uninterested?”

“Are you for real?”
 
Missy stared at Lyss as if she’d lost her mind.
 

Lexa grinned, “Lyssa believes school is for educational purposes only.
 
That there is enough time for love later.”

“There is,” Lyssa spoke with the usual authoritative tone she used when she didn’t want someone questioning her.

“You’re missing out.
 
Now is the time for fun and exploring.”

“You do too much exploring,” Anna suddenly chimed in.
 
Lexa had forgotten she was there.
 
The girl had been so quiet.
 
When she met Anna’s steady gaze, she didn’t look pissed off anymore.
 
She looked at Lyssa with something in her eyes…Respect, maybe?
 
Lexa wasn’t sure.
 

“Lyss, how’s the rest of your day?”

“Two more classes and then PE.
 
Seriously, is that still necessary?”

“Maybe not for the queen of working out.
 
You don’t need to go to gym, but a lot of us only get exercise when we go.”

“Don’t worry,” Anna said, “They’ll talk today, make teams, shit like that.
 
Unless their doing archery, then you might go shoot for a little while.”

“You should watch your language,” Lyssa commented automatically.

“What?”

“Sorry, Anna, Lyssa has a strict no swearing policy.
 
If you hear her swear, she’s beyond angry.”

Lyssa turned her gray-blue gaze on Anna, “Sorry.
 
Habit.
 
Every time this one swears, I try to clean up her mouth.”

Anna nodded, Missy giggled, “You really are weird!”

Lyssa smiled, “So everyone tells me.”

Chapter 3

Kyle
found teasing Lyssa to be easy.
 
He was in all of her classes.
 
Every time he’d walk in, her eyes would go wide, her cheeks would turn pink and then she’d look away and pretend he wasn’t there.
 
He’d never had a girl react to him that way.
 
Most were eager to flirt.
 
Even her sister seemed the flirtatious type.
 
Not Lyssa.
 
She was sexy as hell but equally serious.
 
She was super smart and she wasn’t afraid to show it, having her hand up for every question the teachers would ask.

Because of his interest in her, girls in the classes seemed to be giving her the cold shoulder.
 
He was going to do something about that when he noticed Lyssa didn’t seem to care.
 
She really was hanging onto that no friends needed policy.
 
He got the distinct impression that the only reason she was heading out for pizza with Lexa and her two friends was for her sister’s sake.
 
For a moment, he pondered crashing “girl’s day.”
 
But soon, he changed his mind.
 
Messing with Lyssa was fun, but he wanted her to like him, not call the cops because he was a crazy stalker.

He’d just stepped out of the locker room, when he saw her.
 
The pink shorts and white tee were modestly cut.
 
They also did nothing to hide Lyssa’s amazing curves.
 
Damn.
 
Besides the disliking him part, she was the total package.
 
But that was ok.
 
He had time.
 
They only just met and it wasn’t as if it was love at first sight.
 
It was interest.
 
That, and a lot of lust at first sight.
 
She was hot.
 
And, she was cutely pretending she wasn’t attracted to him too.
 

“Hey, Stone!”

Lyssa kept walking to the gym, as if she didn’t even hear him.
 
That was odd.
 
He tried again, “Lyssa!”

That got her attention.
 
She turned and looked up at him.
 
Then her eyes roved his body a moment, her cheeks and the tips of her ears turning pink.
 
Kyle let an easy grin spread across his face.
 
She was attracted to him.
 
That was great, because she was definitely attractive to him.
 
For a moment, he just stared at her.
 
As she was about to turn he hurried down the hall to her.

“Wait up.
 
Don’t be so cold, Stone.”

She blinked and it was as if she realized something, “You…you called out Stone back there didn’t you.”

Letting his eyes wander a moment, he grinned, “Yes I did, and you completely ignored me.”

“I’ve never had anyone call me that before…I mean, by my last name.”

“The teachers were calling you Miss Stone.”

Lyssa looked away, like she was trying to gather her thoughts before answering, “Yes well, that’s different.
 
They’re teachers and they call me Miss Stone.
 
It’s just…different.”

She seemed to be lying, but he couldn’t figure out why.
 
Especially over something like this, there was no point to it.
 
Well, it could be because she was so damn private.
 
She was the complete opposite of her talkative sister.

“So, I’m putting in my bid today.”

“Um, your bid for what?”

“Tomorrow.
 
After school.
 
You. Me.
 
How about we go out sightseeing?
 
You’re new in town, right?”

“I have Lexa to consider.
 
Besides, I’m not about to drive off alone with some guy I just met.
 
How do I know you aren’t some crazy date rapist or something?”

Kyle stopped and stared at her, “Wow, that’s…that was harsh.
 
I’m not, by the way.”

She turned to him and he saw the moment she realized she’d gone too far.
 
Eyes went wide and her whole face turned bright red, she said quickly, “Oh my God!
 
I am so sorry!
 
I didn’t even think that… that just came out.”

“Why would you even say that?”

Lyssa looked down and turned away.
 
She started walking towards the bleachers where everyone was sitting.
 
Softly she said, “In my last school, I encountered one.”

Kyle’s brown eyes widened.
 
Had he…?

Lyssa looked back at Kyle, and smiled, “Oh, I beat the snot out of him.
 
No harm done.”

“You…Wow.
 
You must be pretty strong.”

“I am.” Lyssa looked back at him, “Look, I don’t believe you are one.
 
I just…I’m not used to guys talking to me.
 
They usually back off pretty quick.”

“But that guy…”

“Didn’t attack me.
 
I,” she paused, almost as if gathering her thoughts, “happened upon the attack and defended a girl from school.
 
I’m sorry.
 
I shouldn’t have said that.”

“I’ll accept your apology, only if you agree to go out tomorrow like I said.
 
Hell, you can bring Lexa if you want.”

She had backed herself into a corner and provided him with an advantage.
 
Therefore, he decided to use it.
 
He had seen the softness of her gaze, and the protectiveness, when she had looked at her sister.
 
There was more to this girl than just the cold exterior she was determined to show.
 
No point to friends?
 
Well, he would show her otherwise.

“Fine.
 
But not tomorrow.
 
Sometime soon.”

With that, she started to climb the bleachers.
 
She went a row higher than everyone else did, and then sat alone.
 
Grinning and watching her, he made his way up to sit with her.
 
He loved the way her gray-blue eyes widened as she realized his intent.
 
Brad and Steven tried to wave him over, but he smiled and shook his head no.
 
When they saw him sit next to Lyssa, they were grinning ear to ear.
 
Earlier in the day, the two of them had been going on about how hot she was.
 
Both of them thought they stood a chance.
 
But Lyssa wasn’t like other girls.
 
If she were, she’d be putty in his hands by now.
 
Instead, she was still holding her own against him and he liked that.
 
Much as he liked Brad and Steven, she would never go for them.
 
Or, more like, they’d never want to try to get past that icy armor she wore.

First semester they were given three choices as to what sport to participate in.
 
Lyssa chose archery, so he did.
 
She arched a brow at him.
 
There was a challenge in her gaze and he met it with his own.
 
So, she could shoot.
 
Well so could he and he’d show her just how good he was.
 
She smiled and shook her head.
 
You are going down
, her eyes screamed.

Kyle let out a laugh, which got the coach to call out for him to settle down.
 
Grinning, he turned his gaze back onto Lyssa and watched her.
 
Her eyes were glued to the coach, trying her best to ignore him.
 
Trying being the operative word.
 
She slid her eyes slowly to him, caught his gaze, blushed and looked away.
 
Kyle laughed under his breath.
 
There was something adorable about her.
 
The way she’d blush under his stare or the way she tried to pretend she didn’t care about anyone.
 
Because it had to be pretend.
 
Maybe their parents moved so much that she just never learned how to make friends.
 
It would make sense.

As they made their way to pick out a bow, he noticed that her arms were muscular.
 
He wondered if she worked out and how much.
 
Lyssa pulled out a large longbow, looked it over and nodded.
 
As she was about to turn away, the coach called out to her.

“Ah, Miss Stone.
 
That bow has a sixty-pound draw weight.
 
It’s for some of the stronger boys.”

Lyssa turned to the coach and gave him an indulgent smile.
 
The coach cocked an eyebrow.
 
In that moment, she didn’t look like a teenager.
 
When she spoke, her voice was soft, but carried weight.

“I’m fully aware of the draw weight, sir.
 
I’ve used sixty pound bows before.”

The coach started over towards her, not buying it.
 
Lyssa lifted the bow, pointed to where the weight was listed and softly said, “I know what I’m doing, sir.”

First, she strung the bow, which was no small feat.
 
After that, she drew back the bow to its full extension and held it.
 
Her draw was steady, her hands not trembling and the coach stopped.
 
He obviously had no idea what to do with her.

“Miss Stone, you shouldn’t…”

“Let go of the bow string when there is no arrow?
 
I know.”

Slowly she set the string back before releasing it, “Sir, I promise I know archery.”

“Whatever.
 
Don’t hit anybody.”

When the coach turned his back, Lyssa rolled her eyes.
 
When her gaze met his, her pale skin went pink.
 
Realizing she was caught, and hurried out to the field.
 
Grabbing his own bow, he followed her and took up position next to Lyssa.
 
Once again, she pretended not to be aware of him.
 
Nevertheless, her cheeks were red as were the tips of her ears.

Grabbing an arrow, he drew back his bowstring, aimed and let it fly.
 
It had been a year since he had been shooting and he was proud of nearly hitting the center ring right out of the gate.
 
Then he glanced at Lyssa’s target.
 
Dead center.
 
Quickly, he flicked his gaze to her and found her looking at him smugly.

“Just because you got the first shot, doesn’t mean you win.
 
Let’s do this!”

It took him a few shots, but soon he was matching her.
 
Others stopped what they were doing and stood in a semi-circle around the two of them, watching the little impromptu contest.
 
The coach was about to break them up, but then he noticed Lyssa’s tight grouping.

“Looks like she’s got you beat, Adams.”

Kyle lowered his bow and smiled at her, “So far.
 
At least in this.”

Lyssa glanced over at him, and then blush back.
 
Her smile was no longer smug.
 
It was almost as if she expected him to be put off by her beating him so soundly.
 
But, he wasn’t.
 
He found her wholehearted participation in their contest fascinating.
 
She was not like any other girl he had ever met.
 
They would have been too shy to beat him even if they were better than he was at something.