Page 55 of Burning Embers
Desiree’s grin only broadens. “I’m not talking about the guys at the table.” She flicks her gaze over my shoulder before refocusing on me, her eyes sparking with amusement. “See you later, Iz!” She waggles her fingers at me before sashaying back to her friends.
It’s only then that I sense a presence behind me, the heat from his body burning through my sweater and warming me from the inside out. Lava burns in my lower belly before branching outwards in every direction.
What the fuck?
And then, behind me, comes a low, rumbly voice that makes my pulse spike and my throat close.
“Mine.”
Nineteen
IZZY
Mine?
What the fuck?
Tension thrums through my body like an electrical storm has just been unleashed, weighing down my muscles and causing my shoulders to stiffen. I can practically feel the heat from this stranger permeating the air around us and seeping into my skin.
“Umm… What he meant was…um…” Ethan moves to stand in front of me, agitatedly forking his fingers through his golden hair. He flicks his gaze from me to the stranger at my back and then back to me once more.
Emery moves to stand beside his twin with a sardonic smirk on his lips and his hands tucked into his front pockets. He bleeds nonchalance and arrogance, but there’s a certain tightness to his jaw that belies his easy-going demeanor.
“What my eloquent little brother meant to say was that Ashton here thought that you were eating his lunch.” Emery tsks his tongue disapprovingly. “And my friend is super protective and possessive of his lunch.”
What the fuck?
Hislunch?
I exchange a glance with Jake, who looks just as confused as I do. His brows are scrunched together, and his eyes are comically wide.
“Well, this is an interesting development.” Kain folds his muscular arms over his chest and grins like the cat that ate the canary.
It’s a smile that makes me decidedly uneasy. Then again,everythingabout Kain makes me uneasy.
“Fuck off, Kain,” Emery growls, his cocky smirk momentarily fading, replaced by something infinitely darker. Dangerous. It transforms his angelic features entirely, making him almost unrecognizable.
Just as quickly, the darkness shrouding his face disperses, and while it doesn’t lighten entirely, he no longer looks all “doom and gloom.”
“How does Desiree feel about Ashton’s…lunch?” Kain mocks, though I don’t understand what, exactly, he’s making fun of.
Still, everything he says is rubbing me the wrong way, and it infuriates me that I have no ideawhy.
What the hell am I missing?
And why do I have the irresistible urge to slap Kain across the face?
Jake must feel the same way I do because his eyes harden, the blue frosting over. “You’re being such a jackass today. Just fucking leave, Kain.”
Kain’s devious smirk only broadens as he stands and reaches for his lunch. His eyes home in on me like two heat-seeking missiles. Then he winks.
And I swear I hear three growls reverberating through the cafeteria, audible even over all of the chatter and laughter coming from the other students.
“See you at practice, Jake. Dec. Emery. Ashton.” He nods his chin at each man individually, skipping over Ethan—probably because Ethan isn’t on the football team.
Kain walks away with a swagger to his steps that makes my eye twitch.
Why does he irritate me so damn much?