Page 39 of Stealing Embers
“Emberly! Whatcha doing at the back of the class?”
Or maybe not.
Sterling sits on the desktop in front of me and perches his black-sneakered feet on the attached chair. His head tilts to the left and a smirk turns up the corners of his mouth as he regards me.
I will not squirm.
“Maybe she’s trying to fly under the radar. Ever considered that, brother?” Greyson scolds his twin as he settles into a desk next to me.
“Why would she want to do that? She’s the new academy celebrity. I’d be capitalizing on that social status and streaking through the girl’s dorm.” Sterling looks genuinely confused.
I scrub a hand down my face while the brothers continue their conversation.
“Of course you would.” I can practically hear Greyson’s eye roll. “But not everyone is like you, Sterling.” And then he mutters under his breath, “Thank goodness for that.”
A quiet laugh slips past my lips. “So true.”
“Ah, she speaks. Phew!” Sliding off the desktop, Sterling flops into the seat. “We were worried our brother might have frightened you back into your shell.”
Bristling at that comment, I raise my head to stare between them, annoyed because Sterling’s offhand joke is rather close to the truth.
“Your brother is an overgrown man-child with an identity crisis. He doesn’t scare me.”
“You sure about that?”
My heart jumps to my throat as Steel’s deep voice slaps against the back of my head.
I fight my instinct to slouch and return my eyes to the desktop. Instead, I glare at Sterling as he mumbles “busted” behind his hand and shakes with laughter.
He so saw Steel coming.
I need to make some new friends. These brothers are bad for my health.
Feigning nonchalance, I shrug without turning to look at the eldest brother. “What’s there to be frightened of? You turn into a few overgrown animals. So what? That can’t be the most impressive thing happening at this school.”
Steel’s hands wrap around my seat back. His knuckles graze my shoulder blades and I straighten to avoid the contact. When he talks, his breath feathers across my neck, causing my blush to deepen.
“Whatever you need to tell yourself,” he whispers in my ear.
The next instant he brushes by me, stopping briefly to give Greyson some weird, guy handshake, and flick Sterling—who’s bent over laughing—on the forehead.
Without a backward glance, he takes a seat on the opposite side of the room near the front. It would have been difficult for him to sit any farther away, but that’s fine with me.
Leaning forward, I swat Sterling with the back of my hand.
“What was that for?” he asks as he rubs the sore spot.
“You couldn’t have warned me he was standing there?”
He snorts a short laugh. “And why would I have done that?”
Shaking my head, I turn to Greyson. “You need some new family members.”
“Don’t I know it,” he agrees.
“Whatever happened to family loyalty, bro?”
“What’s he even doing in this class? He’s not our year,” I press Greyson, ignoring Sterling.