Page 70 of Burning Embers
“Come along, then.” Montgomery doesn’t bother to glance back at me as he moves towards the school, a single step from him equaling two of mine.
He doesn’t bother to slow his pace, content for me to run along after him like the damn dog I joked about being.
Still, I don’t want to make any waves on the first day of school, especially with the vice principal.
Even if he is one of the sexiest men I’ve ever seen before.
“I’ll text you later,” I murmur to Grayson, grabbing my water bottle from his hand and shoving it back into my backpack.
He snarls something noncommittally but doesn’t protest.
However, I can feel his gaze on me as I step into the school and out of sight.
And that sensation of eyes caressing my skin doesn’t fade, even as I step into the office to finish my paperwork.
One thing’s for certain—this town is making me believe I’m losing my goddamn mind.
Twenty-Three
IZZY
“So how was your first day of school, Izzy?” Hale asks later that evening, as the five of us—me, Hale, Jake, Lissa, and Seth—sit around the table for dinner.
Hale has prepared an elaborate feast, complete with an entire chicken, salad, dinner rolls, sweet potatoes, cobs of corn, and a bowl of fresh fruit. According to Jake, Hale always whips together a huge dinner whenever a new foster kid starts school. He knows how stressful and terrifying it can be to leave the life you once knew without any warning, so he wants to do what he can to help alleviate the tension.
“It was great. Thanks for asking.”
Jake flashes me a shit-eating grin from across the table. “She seems to be making a lot of new…friends.”
He waggles his eyebrows suggestively as heat floods my cheeks.
I give him a glare, one that promises pain and death, and hiss, “Shut up.”
In response, he blows me a kiss.
“Is it true that you’re friends with Desiree?” Lissa all but squeals. She’s been relatively silent so far—her cheeks stuffedwith so much food she looks like a chipmunk—but apparently, she can only hold her tongue for so long. “She’s soooo pretty. You have to introduce me to her! She’s super popular and super gorgeous and super nice. I’ve also heard you befriended the Magnetic Four, and?—”
“Magnetic Four?” I ask, wrinkling my nose.
Jake hides his smile behind his palm, though his eyes still glimmer with amusement.
Lissa turns bright red, the color contrasting with her pink clothing, and begins to stab at her salad aggressively. She’s a vegetarian, apparently, but it’s only because meat makes her gassy. Her words.
“Yeah…well…that’s what me and my friends call them.”
“Is that so?” Jake asks, his grin broadening.
Apparently, this is the first time he’s heard of it, and I know he’s pleased to have another weapon in his arsenal to tease her with.
She rolls her shoulders back, her embarrassment transforming into determination. I have to hand it to the girl—there isn’t a lot that can ruffle her.
“That name fits them, don’t you think? I mean, they’re just so…” She stares off into the distance with hearts in her eyes as I bite back a chuckle.
“I’m assuming you mean Emery, Ethan, Ashton, and Reid?” I ask, wanting to make sure we’re on the same page.
She gives me a “duh” look and then begins squirting Italian dressing on her salad.
I glance inconspicuously towards Hale, but he seems to be preoccupied with Seth, reminding the other boy that it isn’t appropriate to wear headphones at the dinner table. Knowing he’s not listening to my conversation with Lissa, I finally get the nerve to ask her one of the many questions clamoring for attention in my mind.