Page 87 of Sellout

“I hope she is worth dying for.” Will’s voice is low and gravely, his eyes lighted from their usual brown to an almost amber color. I know that his wolf is close to the surface.

“Go home, Will,” Parker demands. “You don’t need to be around humans—not like this.”

Will growls, but does as Parker says. He stomps toward the exit of the school.

I look up at Parker. “How do teachers not notice him leaving campus?”

“He can just compel them,” he answers, putting his hand in mine. “Come on. Let’s get to our next class.”

With his hand in mine, Parker leads me to our next class.

I wish I could explain this to Will, but I can’t put into words how Parker makes me feel. I don’t even understand it myself. But what I do know is this isn’t something that I can pass up.

Parker glances over at me and I find myself wishing I knew what he was thinking. But maybe that’s part of the reason I feel so strongly about him—I don’t know. I have no idea what’s going on in his head. The only things I know are what he shares with me.

“Do you think Will is this upset about us?” I ask Parker, as we walk into our next class.

“You said he told you about his parents—so, yes. Heisthat upset. He tries to play it off like it doesn’t bother him, but he hasn’t seen his sister since he was eleven.” Parker sits down at his usual desk.

“I thought his parents died when he was five.” I sit down next to him.

He nods. “They did. But he used to see his sister a few times a month. When he was eleven, his sister decided she didn’t want anything to do with him anymore. Because he’s a wolf shifter, she said he should be with his own kind. And she wanted to stay with the elementals.”

The bell rings before I can respond, but I consider Parker’s words. It explains so much about Will—why he doesn’t want me around.

His sister broke his heart.

She better hope I never meet her.

“He’ll come around,” Parker assures me, squeezing my hand one last time before letting go.

I’m not sure about Will ‘coming around.’ He’s too stubborn for that. But something is going to have to give. Things can’t keep going on like they are.

The rest of the school day passes quickly. Will never shows back up, so it’s just Blaine and me in our last period class. It’s study hall, so Blaine decides that we should ditch class. He compels the teacher into thinking we have to do something for another teacher so we don’t get marked absent and we head out into the parking lot of the school. We sit down on the tailgate of his pickup.

“I can’t believe you compelled our teacher so we could ditch class.” I scoot so that I’m facing Blaine.

“Parker would be scandalized,” Blaine teases.

He’s right.

I don’t see Parker ever breaking the rules. Which crushes my heart. He won’t even date me, no matter how bad I wish we could break that particular rule.

Blaine nudges me with his knee. “I notice that Will left school early.”

I frown but nod. “Yeah, he can’t stand to be around me.”

He raises an eyebrow calling my bluff. “Vixen, this is me you’re talking to.”

I sigh. “Fine. Maybe Will knows things about me that others don’t.”

“And by others you mean Parker.” Blaine studies me for a moment, then nods. “Will is keeping a secret for you.”

I nod. “He might’ve seen me do something that Parker doesn’t know I can do. I swore Will to secrecy.”

“Why not tell Parker? You two are close.”

“Because if he finds out the truth, I’m scared he will send me away.”