DENIAL

(The Witches of Santa Anna, Book Eight)

by Lauren Barnholdt & Aaron Gorvine

Copyright 2011, Lauren Barnholdt and Aaron Gorvine, all rights reserved This book is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental

Chapter One

Natalia

Here is how Monday is supposed to go:

1. Cam and I will show up at school, and it will be like this weekend never happened. We’ll talk about the homecoming game (Santa Anna won 21-7), we’ll have lunch together in the cafeteria, we’ll pass notes during study hall, we’ll hold hands in the hall. In short, we’ll just be normal.

2. Raine won’t be at school. In fact, she’ll never be at school. She’ll transfer or move away or just… be gone.

3. Brody will apologize for the crazy things he told me yesterday. The crazy things about how I can’t be with Cam, how this whole thing with Raine is going to get even worse, how there’s going to be a war. He’ll tell me he made it all up, that he was just jealous of me and Cam, that it’s going to take some getting used to, but that he hopes we can all be friends.

“You okay?” Cam asks. He reaches over and squeezes my hand. We’re in his car, on the way to school, and I must seem distracted. Probably because I’m so caught up in wishing for my ideal Monday scenario, a scenario I know has pretty much no chance of coming true.

“I’m fine,” I say, turning from the window and giving him a smile.

“No, you’re not.”

“How do you know?”

“I can tell.” He grins. “I told you not to worry, didn’t I?”

“Yeah.” He did tell me not to worry. That’s all he’s been telling me all weekend.

But how can I not? I mean, there are so many things to be nervous about. The way Raine disappeared on Saturday night. The way we just left Becca. The way Brody showed up at Starbucks yesterday. The fact that we still don’t know why Derek was taking all those pictures of us.

Cam pulls the car into the student parking lot, and I look up at the building in front of us, thinking about my first day of school at Santa Anna, just a couple of weeks ago. I finger the white butterfly necklace I’m wearing and think about how much everything has changed since then.

“Hey,” Cam says. He reaches over and pulls me toward him. “It’s going to be okay. Let me worry about it, all right?”

“Okay.” I bury my head into his shoulder, inhaling his scent, letting myself believe for just one second that it really is going to be that easy. That I can just take all my angst and anxiety and put it on him to deal with. But I can’t. I know it and Cam knows it.

He pulls back, and looks at me, his deep blue eyes searching mine. He kisses my lips, softly, and a shiver runs through my body. I close my eyes and lean back into him, letting myself just enjoy the fact that I’m here, kissing Cam. That we don’t have to keep our relationship secret anymore.

“You ready?” he asks.

I look up at the front doors of the school. “Yeah,” I say, unbuckling my seatbelt.

“I’m ready.”

***

When I walk into the junior hall, I’m expecting something big to happen. People to stop and stare. Brody to be standing by my locker. Raine to be waiting, ready to confront me. Something. But it’s just like any other day. Kids rushing to their classes, locker doors slamming, the sound of everyone greeting each other after the weekend.

“See?” Cam says. “I told you. Everything’s normal.”

I scan the halls, looking for Raine, Becca, or Teri. But I don’t see them. I don’t see Brody, either. Or Aiden. Who I do see, though, is Adrianna, standing by my locker, waiting for me. And she doesn’t look that happy.

“Uh oh,” I say. “Adrianna.”

“She’s probably pissed that you left her at the dance,” Cam says.

I sigh. “That was pretty shitty of me.”

“Totally shitty of you,” Cam says, teasing. I go to shove him in the shoulder, but he reaches up and grabs my hand playfully, blocking it. Then he pulls me toward him and kisses me again. I’m not sure if it’s my imagination, but I feel like some of the kids in the hall are watching.

“I better go apologize to her,” I say. I pull back from him, not sure I’m ready for everyone to see us kissing in the halls. I’m glad we don’t have to pretend we’re not together anymore, but still. It feels weird. Like we’re on display. But I guess that comes with the territory when you’re dating the hottest guy in school.

“I’ll go with you,” Cam says.

“You’ll go with me?” I ask, raising my eyebrows at him.

“Yeah.”

“To my locker?”

“Yes.”

“Cam, I’ll be fine,” I say. “I don’t need a bodyguard. I’m only going twenty feet down the hall.”

“I know you’ll be fine,” he says. He rolls his eyes, like he can’t believe I’m even insinuating that I won’t be. But I know better. “I’m sorry,” he says, sighing. “I just… I don’t want you out of my sight.”

“It’s fine,” I say. “Raine probably won’t even be in school today.”

“Okay,” he says, finally. “But I’m meeting you after every class. And I’m walking you to homeroom.”

“We’ll see.” He kisses me once more, and I walk over to my locker.

Adrianna’s still waiting. Her dark hair is pulled back into a sleek ponytail, and her school uniform looks neatly pressed. She’s in sharp contrast to me, with my hair still wet from the shower, and my uniform rumpled because I threw it on this morning in a rush. I was at Cam’s all weekend, and he drove me home this morning, then waited for me while I ran in and got ready for school.

I’m kind of a mess. I haven’t even done any of my homework.

“So you and Cam are together now?” Adrianna asks, without even saying hello.

“Yes,” I say carefully, waiting for her reaction. I turn the combination dial on my locker.

“So that’s why you left me on Friday night? And then didn’t answer your phone all weekend? Because you were with Cam?” Her tone is accusing, and her eyes are flashing.

“Yes,” I say, “I was at Cam’s. My phone died, and the charger was at my house.”

She crosses her arms. “You couldn’t have used Cam’s phone? I was worried about you, Natalia. Not to mention that you left me alone with Lancaster.” She sighs and then readjusts the strap of her messenger bag. “I had to ride home with him in the limo.

By myself! All you guys disappeared and took off.”

“Yuck,” I say, “Was he still drinking?”

“No, he finally stopped,” he says. “But he spent the whole ride home puking.”

“Eww.” I finish sliding the books I need for the morning into my bag. “Look, I’m sorry,” I tell her. “I shouldn’t have just left you like that.”

“You’re right, you shouldn’t have.” She looks at me like she’s waiting for me to say something else. And for a second, I think about telling her everything. All the things that happened this weekend. The stuff with Raine that’s been going on since I started school here. All of it. But I doubt she would believe me. And even if she did, she’d be in danger. And I don’t want to be responsible for that.

“I’m really, really sorry,” I tell her. “Listen, do you want to hang out after school? We could talk about this. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

She hesitates. “Okay,” she says finally, not sounding completely convinced.

“See you at lunch?”

“See you at lunch,” I say, relieved. Adrianna’s been nothing but nice to me since I got to Santa Anna, and the last thing I want to do is screw up my friendship with her.

She heads down the hall toward her homeroom, and I shut my locker door and then spin around, heading back toward Cam’s locker. But when I do, I slam into someone. Hard.

Her books go falling to the floor.

“Sorry,” I say, crouching down to help her pick them up. “I guess I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

“It’s okay,” the girl says. I startle. She has the same voice as me. I mean, the same accent. Well, not exactly the same. My British accent is pretty much gone after living in the states for so many years. This girl’s is more pronounced. Like she just got here.

“Sorry,” I say again, shaking my head when I realize I’ve been staring at her. “I just… your accent. I was born in England, and I just didn’t realize someone else here was British.”

“That’s probably because I’m new,” she says. She smiles, revealing a row of even white teeth. “It’s my first day.”

“Wow,” I say, raising my eyebrows. “That’s weird. I just started a couple of weeks ago, and I figured I’d be the newest new girl for a while. Apparently they don’t get that many of them around here.”

“I’m Hadley,” she says, holding her hand out to me.

“Natalia.”

Her hand is smooth, her nails perfectly manicured to a pearly pink. Her long light brown hair is curled on the bottom, with side swept bangs and blonde highlights. Her tan skin is flawless.

“So any new girl tips you can give me?” she asks.

Honey, you have no idea, I think. But instead, I just say, “Yeah. Watch out for the cafeteria food. And make sure you keep up with the reading.”

“Will do,” she says. But her dark brown eyes flick over my shoulder, distracted.

I turn around to see what she’s looking at. Cam’s walking toward us, his easy stride sliding down the hallway toward me. I smile at him, then turn back to Hadley.

“Who is that?” she asks, cocking her head to one side. “He’s gorgeous.”

“That’s, um…that’s Cam,” I say, “He’s my boyfriend.”

I expect her to apologize, or at least be embarrassed for checking out the guy I’m dating, but all she says is, “You have really good taste. They don’t make them like that at my old school.”

“Thanks,” I say, not really sure if it’s a compliment.

“Hey,” Cam says, coming up behind me and circling his arms around my waist.

“Hey.” I lean into him. “Cam, this is Hadley. She’s new.”

“Two new girls in two weeks,” he says. “Santa Anna better be careful, we’ll start getting a reputation for taking anyone.”

Hadley smiles. “Do either of you guys know where room 103 is? That’s my homeroom.”

“Mine too,” Cam says. “I’ll walk you.”

Um, what? What happened to walking me to homeroom?

It’s not that I don’t trust Cam. But this girl already told me she thinks he’s hot.

Although. I probably shouldn’t be getting all psycho jealous already. I mean, Cam and I have only been together for two days. Besides, I don’t know anything about this Hadley girl – it’s wrong of me to assume she might be the type to try and steal someone’s boyfriend. With all the weird stuff that went on this weekend, the last thing I should be worried about is Cam being friendly to a new girl. I have way bigger problems to deal with.

But still, as Cam kisses me goodbye, and the two of them go walking down the hall together, I can’t help but have a pit of anxiety in my stomach. After everything that’s gone on, I’m starting to learn that you can’t trust anyone around here.

Even Cam? a voice in the back of my head whispers. But I don’t even want to think about that. So I push the thought out of my head before it can take over.

I’m going to have to get used to girls hitting on Cam.

I guess that’s another thing that comes with dating the hottest guy in school.

Chapter Two

Campbell

When Nat started at Santa Anna she was so nervous, like a jittery colt. All big eyed and fidgety hands and worried about what people thought of her.

But this girl, Hadley, is nothing like that. She’s smiling and talking like she’s been going to school here her whole life.

“So, Cam, you’re a footballer?” she asks as we pass by a group of kids that includes Lancaster and Brody.

Lancaster shouts my name and thumps his chest for some reason. Brody just stares as I go by. He looks hollow-eyed and tired.

“A footballer?” I ask. “Is that some kind of English term?”

“It means you play football, obviously.” She gives me a little glance and a smile.

“I always used to have the biggest crushes on the footballers at my old school.”

I laugh a little. “I don’t think it’s the same kind of football.”

She stops and thinks for a moment and her face reddens. “You play the one with helmets and all of that.”

“Yup, that’s the one. What you’re talking about is soccer.”

“God, I feel like an idiot. You’d think that speaking the same language would make it easier to fit in when you move to a new country, but apparently not.”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I always thought it made no sense to call it soccer. And how’d you know I was a footballer, anyway?”

Hadley smiles. “Your shoulders. But I need to get my sports straight apparently.

It’s bad enough I almost called you a bloke.”

“You’ll figure it out., “ I tell her, “You seem like a smart blokette.”

She laughs.

Right before we’re about to go into homeroom I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn. Brody.

“Can I talk to you?” he asks.

I’m about to tell him no, that I’m showing Hadley to homeroom, but she’s waving and walking into the classroom without me.

Brody’s still waiting. “Fine,” I say, sighing and following him as he weaves through the crowd in the junior hall.

“Who’s the new girl?” Brody asks.

“Some British chick.”

His eyes narrow a little but he doesn’t say anything else.

We go to the boy’s bathroom.

The smell hits me right away and I recoil. “It smells like someone brought a horse in here,” I say.

Brody laughs. “A horse would be ashamed to make a smell like this,” he says.

Then he walks down the row of stalls and kicks the doors open one by one. He peers into the last stall and turns away from it with a grimace. “Ugh. That’s the offender right there.”

I fold my arms and lean against the sink. “I guess you probably didn’t bring me in here to talk about how bad the bathroom smells or strategy for the game against Springfield this weekend.”

He runs a hand through his hair, which kind of looks like it hasn’t been washed in a day or two. He’s also got some stubble coming in, patchy, around his chins and cheeks.

“No, I didn’t want to talk about the game.”

“Okay. Well Nat told me about your little convo at Starbucks. So…let’s not rehash that.”

He looks at me and his eyes are bleak, haunted. It creeps me out a little. “I know you and Natalia like each other Cam—“

“Don’t tell me what you know about us,” I say, my throat tightening. “You don’t know shit about me and her.”

He laughs, and it sounds forced. “My point is, I’m not trying to stand in your way because I like Natalia. I admit, I do have feelings for her. But she made her choice and I accept it.”

“Great. But whether you accept it or not doesn’t change anything.”

He shakes his head. “Whatever, Cam. There are more important things than whatever stupid grudge you have against me.”

“I told you I don’t want to hear about magic and battles and whatever other whacked out stuff you’re going to try and convince me of.”

“You need to hear this,” he says. “You need to realize how much danger you’re putting Natalia in when the two of you are together.”

“Danger from who?” I say, stepping toward him, my fists clenching. “Are you threatening me?”

“No. I’m trying to warn you. Where do you think Raine is right now?”

I stop as if someone just threw cold water on me. I hadn’t really thought about Raine, beyond being happy she wasn’t in school today. “I have no idea where she is.

Not my problem.”

“But it will be. She’s gone for help.”

“Help?” My stomach starts to clench and I feel that familiar chill running up my spine.

“Raine has very powerful friends and she’s going to be bringing back reinforcements. More soldiers for the next battle.”

“You’re not scaring me.”

“And you’re less intelligent than I’d hoped.” He says it without anger.

I turn away from him and try to clear my head. Walk back to the sink, catching a glimpse of my weary face in the mirror. Almost as tired as Brody looks.

“Look, I’ll take care of Natalia,” I tell him finally. “I hear what you’re saying, but we’re not going to let Raine and her cronies scare us into not being together.”

“You can’t protect her, Cam.”

“Watch me.”

“Like you protected her at the Homecoming dance?” he says, and his tone has finally escalated. I look at him and his face is red.

I’m glad he’s pissed off. I feel like I want to punch him. Just to shut him up.

I have a sudden flash of that night at the dance. Me tied up on the ground while Nat fought Raine and Becca on her own.

Brody’s right, I wasn’t much good to Natalia when she needed me. In fact, she had to save my ass.

“Well now I know better,” I tell him. “I can stay away from Raine and make sure—“

“You can’t stay away from Raine,” he says. He pounds the wall with his fist and his voice gets even louder. “She’s got a lock on you. The best thing for everybody would be if you left and she could chase after you for awhile. But eventually she’ll get you. She has to.”

I just stare at him. “What are you saying?”

“You heard me.” His eyes don’t waver.

“Fuck you, Brody.”

He suddenly relaxes a little, his shoulders drop and he shakes his head. Laughs.

“Yeah, fuck me, Cam. You said it.”

“Just leave us alone,” I tell him. “We don’t want to hear your little theories anymore.”

“Right.” He starts to leave the bathroom.

“I don’t trust a damn thing you say, man. You’re just jealous because Natalia’s with me.” I yell it as he leaves and the echoes of my statement bounce around the now empty bathroom.

I wish I believed that’s all it was.

**

I don’t tell Nat about my conversation with Brody. She seems to be relaxing more and more as the day goes on, and I decide it’s better not to burden her with it.

Although she can tell I’m a little preoccupied, I just play it off like it’s about my annoying math class. Which is slightly true, since I am doing pretty badly in math.

But I can’t stop thinking about Brody and the haunted look in his eyes, the stuff he told me. I wish there was someone I could talk to about it.

Aiden, I think. I’ve always been able to talk to Aiden, even if he can be a little naïve sometimes. But Aiden sent me a text this morning that he wasn’t coming to school today.

I decide to quickly drive over to his house before practice starts. It’ll give me something to do besides hanging out with Lancaster and Brody and making fake, useless conversation.

When I get to Aiden’s house I pull into the empty driveway and honk my horn.

I see his little head peer out of the second-floor window. A moment later the front door opens. I get out of my car and walk inside.

I notice the smell right away. A kind of musty, pungent odor like sweat mixed with a closet full of mothballs. My nose wrinkles but I don’t say anything.

Aiden is standing there in sweatpants and a sweatshirt and his hair is all mussed.

“Were you sleeping?” I ask.

He belches and nods at the same time. “Yeah. Not feeling good. Think I got food poisoning from breakfast yesterday.”

“Really?”

He sits down on the stairs and curls up like a little kid. “I haven’t been doing so good the last few days.”

“I know. But you’ll feel better.” Another wave of that smell hits me. “Might want to grab a shower, though.”

“I’m sick.”

“I know. I know. Look, I was coming to talk about stuff but you don’t seem up for it.”

He looks up at me. “Has Bec Bec said anything to you?”

“I didn’t see her today.”

He sighs. “I miss her.”

“Dude she wanted to kill you, remember?”

“I know.”

“But?”

“But when she kissed me—“

“Don’t talk like that,” I growl at him.

He seems taken aback by my tone and I feel bad. The thing is, him talking about kissing Becca reminds me of how it felt when Raine kissed me—and I don’t want to think about that.

About how much I liked it.

I shake that thought off.

Aiden gets up. “I should go back to bed,” he says, coughing. His breath stinks too, I realize. It smells like rancid coffee or something.

“Do you trust Brody?” I ask him suddenly.

He looks at me. “Trust him?”

“Like, do you think he’d make shit up about Nat and me?”

Aiden just shakes his head. “It’s not always about you and Nat, you know,” he says, and then walks slowly up the stairs.

I leave the house and close the door behind me. I take in a clean breath of fresh air, and then climb into my car. I drive back to school, trying not to think about the fact that I’m somehow relieved to get away from my best friend.

Chapter Three

Natalia

So here’s the thing. The day actually hasn’t been that bad. The mental list I made in the car this morning? It’s kind of come close to coming true. No sign of Raine or the Triad. And when I see Brody in the hall after sixth period, he gives me a nod of acknowledgment, but other than that, he hasn’t said anything to me all day.

Of course, it’s not all perfect. Santa Anna is buzzing with the news that Cam and I are a couple, and I’ve been getting whispers and stares in the halls all day. Two sophomore girls even came up to me in gym and asked if it was true. But that’s to be expected, and I’m hoping it’ll die down in the next couple of days. Besides, when it comes to all the things that could have happened or gone wrong today, the Santa Anna rumor mill is the least of my worries.

“So what should we do?” Adrianna asks on our way out of school. “We could go to my house. We could talk and start our homework.” She looks less than thrilled at this possibility.

“Or we could go to lunch,” I say.

“We already ate lunch.”

“Fries and Diet Cokes don’t count as lunch,” I say, dodging two freshmen who are rushing to their bus. “Oooh, or we could go to the mall. I’ll treat you to a new lip gloss.”

“Stila?” Adrianna asks. “To make up for the fact that you ditched me at the dance?” But she’s smiling.

“Sure,” I say. “And if you work it right and guilt trip me some more, I might even spring for one of those soft pretzels.”

“And a cherry slushie?”

“Fine,” I say, mock rolling my eyes. “You talked me into it.”

We’re talking and laughing on our way to Adrianna’s car. It’s an unseasonably warm day for October, and I pull off the navy blue sweater I’m wearing over my uniform and tie it around my waist. I turn my face toward the sun, letting the breeze move over my skin. I take a deep breath and for the first time since Saturday, just for a second, I let myself think that everything’s going to be fine.

“So you and Cam,” Adrianna says.

“Yup,” I say, “Me and Cam.” Just saying his name with mine gives me butterflies in my stomach. I think about yesterday, about being at his house, about how amazing it was.

“You’re going to have to tell me all about how that happened at the mall,”

Adrianna says. “We might have to actually sit and have a coffee.”

“Of course,” I say. Although something tells me that the truth – I saved him from Raine trying to basically kill him and/or put some kind of weird spell on him– isn’t going to go over well. I’ll have to stick with the tried and true, we ended up alone and confessed our feelings story. Definitely not as dramatic, but –

“Shit, shit, shit!” someone yells.

We’re in the student parking lot now, and the girl from this morning, Hadley, is standing in front of a beat-up old white car. She’s got the hood up, and she’s bent over, peering into it with a frustrated look on her face. And she’s swearing.

“Hey,” Adrianna says to her back. “Dead battery?”

“I have no idea,” Hadley says. She straightens up, then pushes a strand of her light brown hair behind her ear. There’s a small smudge of car grease on her cheek, and her uniform is a little rumpled. But while on anyone else it would look messy, on her it just looks… I don’t know. Sexy. Like she’s on one of those calendars. “Sexy Girls Of Car Maintenance” or something.

“I’m Adrianna,” Adrianna says. “You’re the new girl, right?”

“Yeah,” Hadley says. She holds her hand out. “Hadley Graham.” She nods at me. “Nice to see you again, Natalia.”

“You too,” I say.

She looks back at the car and sighs. “So I guess I’m going to have to call Triple A. Or have my dad come and take a look at it.” She bites her lip.

There’s a burst of voices behind us, and I turn around to see Brody and some of his friends from the football team walking by. Our eyes meet, and he gives me another nod. I nod back at him, relieved that, at least for the time being, he’s going to be leaving me alone.

But then something else bubbles up inside me. Guilt, maybe? But why would I feel guilty? Brody lied to me. He tried to scare me. He said he was trying to protect me, and he didn’t. He fed Cam to Raine when him and Cam were supposed to be friends.

“God,” Hadley says, watching the boys go by. “How do you guys get anything done around here?”

“What do you mean?” Adrianna asks.

“First Cam, now those guys,” she says. “All the guys here are so good-looking.”

“Yeah, well, be careful,” Adrianna says. “Some of them aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.” I know she’s thinking about Lancaster and the fact that he got wasted at the dance and totally ruined the night.

“Really?” Hadley asks, her blue eyes sparkling with interest. “Spill.”

“It’s a long story,” Adrianna says. A look of disappointment crosses Hadley’s face, and Adrianna must notice it too, because she says, “But we’re headed to the mall if you want to come with us. I can tell you all about it.”

Adrianna looks at me, her eyes asking if it’s okay. For some reason, I want to say no. I know it’s silly and petty – Hadley seems really nice, and she’s new. I know how it feels to be new. Hell, I’m still new. And it’s silly not to like her just because she made a comment about Cam being hot. Cam is hot.

Besides, she just said the same thing about Brody. Maybe her and Brody will get together. And he’ll stop all his craziness, and the four of us will go on double dates.

“Yeah,” I say, giving her a smile. “You should come.”

***

Hadley calls her dad and tells him that she’s leaving her car at school, and then the three of us head to the mall. We actually have a great time. Hadley’s funny and tells good stories. (The ones about her crazy ex-boyfriend and how she figured out he was cheating on her are especially good.) And with Hadley there, it doesn’t turn into this big thing where I have to keep apologizing to Adrianna for leaving her at the dance. Not that I would have minded doing that, but it makes the whole trip just feel a lot more chill.

We pick out Stila lip glosses in Sephora, and even let the saleswoman give us an airbrush foundation demonstration. Then we spent over an hour flipping through the discount dress racks at Macy’s while we drink cherry slushies. By the time Adrianna drops me off at home, I’m feeling a lot better about the new girl.

My mom’s car is already in the driveway, and I walk into the house, glad that she’s there and that we’ll be able to have dinner together. My mom’s a lawyer, and works in Boston, so she has long hours and a long commute. Her being home in time for dinner is rare.

“Hey,” she says when she sees me. “I hope you’re hungry.” She’s at the stove, stirring something yummy-smelling in a frying pan.

“Smells good,” I say. I drop my bag on the floor at my feet, deciding I can deal with my homework later.

“Fajitas,” my mom says.

“Yum. I’m going to run upstairs and change, and then I’ll be down.”

I take the stairs two at a time, then throw my uniform into the hamper and pull on my favorite jeans and a soft white t-shirt. I put a light purple zip-up on over it, then scrape my hair back into a ponytail.

When I get back downstairs, there’s a plate of chicken and vegetables sitting in front of my chair. My mom’s sitting at the table, pouring diet coke into glasses.

“I’m starving.” I slide into my chair and help myself to a tortilla. “Thanks for making all this. I’ll clean up after.”

“Deal,” my mom says. She takes a sip of her soda. “So how was your day?”

“Good,” I say, scooping some chicken onto my tortilla. But something about her tone gives me a weird feeling, one of those “uh oh, your mom is about to bring something up you really don’t want to talk about and it’s going to be really awkward” kind of feelings.

The last time I had that feeling was when I got my period at the beginning of eighth grade and even though I knew all the biology behind it, my mom said, “Oh, honey, isn’t that so nice!” and then wanted to talk about it. Like, for a long time.

“And yesterday? How was your day yesterday?” she asks. And then I get it.

She wants to talk about me. Being at Cam’s.

“Fine,” I say carefully. I debate whether or not I should take the lead on this conversation, cut her off at the pass before she can start asking me all sorts of embarrassing questions and/or start probing for details about my sex life.

But before I can decide, she says, “So you never came home last night.”

“No.” I wait.

“Or the night before.”

“No.”

“You were at Cam’s house.”

“Yes.” I sent my mom a text telling her that I was going to be staying at Cam’s.

She replied and said it was fine. But apparently it’s not.

“I’m not sure exactly how I feel about that.”

“Okay,” I say, “That’s fair. But just so you know, it’s not like I’m going to make a habit of it or anything.” I consider mentioning that some weird stuff went on at the dance, and that I didn’t feel like being alone. But I’m afraid she’ll ask what kind of weird stuff, and there’s obviously no way I can get into all that.

“Natalia,” she says, “You went to the dance with Brody, and you somehow ended up spending the night at Cam’s house?”

“Brody was never my boyfriend,” I say. And then I realize how that sounds.

Like I was hooking up with Brody, and then dumped him when Cam came along. But I never even hooked up with Brody. Except for one kiss. One kiss that wasn’t even really a kiss. “Look, Mom,” I say, deciding to start over. “Cam and I, we’re together. Brody and I were always just friends. And it’s always been Cam.”

“What’s always been Cam?”

“I’ve always liked him.”

“For the two weeks you’ve known him, you mean?”

“Yes.” Even I realize that sounds kind of bad.

“Well, I want to meet his parents.”

I almost choke on my Diet Coke. “You want to meet his parents?”

“Yes,” my mom says. “If my daughter’s going to be spending the night over there, I have a right to know what their rules are when it comes to sex.”

Oh. My. God. She did not just say that. “Mom,” I say, “Cam and I aren’t… I mean, I don’t plan on – “

“Natalia,” she says firmly. “I want to meet them.”

“His dad lives in Maine,” I try.

“Well, his mother then. And I should get to know Cam better, too. Invite them both over for dinner.”

“Fine,” I say.

This is going to be a disaster. I wonder what Cam’s mom is like. She wasn’t around at all this weekend. Hopefully she’ll be cool with all this.

My phone buzzes, and I pull it out. A text from Cam.

“about to start practice – miss u beautiful”

Yeah. We’ll see if he still feels that way when I tell him we’re about to have our own little Meet The Parents right here in my kitchen. I serve myself another tortilla. And this time, I decide I deserve some extra sour cream.

Chapter Four

Campbell

In the locker room after practice, things get awkward.

Lancaster looks at me and then Brody, changing two lockers down from me.

“What the hell’s up with you two?” Lancaster asks, pulling on his Burberry Polo shirt. “Was I that drunk on Friday night that I totally missed you guys hating each other?”

I want to tell him that this has been going on for weeks, but Lancaster’s not the brightest bulb and he doesn’t notice stuff like that. “Everything’s fine,” I lie.

“Then how come you two won’t say boo to each other?”

Brody and I exchange glances. Neither of us answers.

Lancaster comes over and slaps me on the back, grabs Brody, and tries to pull all of us together. “C’mere you two, stop being such babies. Tell Uncle Tony what’s the matter.”

“Let go,” Brody says and peels Lancaster’s hand off his back. He turns back to his locker and continues changing in silence.

Lancaster raises his eyebrows and whistles softly. “That bad, huh?”

I shrug. “So—did you ever hook up with that Adrianna chick?”

He makes a face. “She doesn’t even hardly drink, dude. I mean…you know me.

I like to have a few and any girl who hangs with me needs to like to throw a few back.

Right?”

“Right.” I finish tying my sneakers. Just then I get a text from Nat.

“call me when u get out of practice”

Lancaster peers over my shoulder. “Call me when you get out of practice?” He giggles and jumps away as I pull back to give him a hard punch. “Oh, Cammy Cammy Cam! Cam I love you! Cam, give it to me, Cam!” He thrusts his hips back and forth into the air, and mimes hitting an imaginary girl’s ass.

“Dude, knock it off,” I say.

“That girl just can’t get enough of the Camster, eh?” he says, chuckling.

Brody just shakes his head and walks out of the locker room. Part of me actually feels kind of bad for him.

I look at Lancaster. “Are you really that stupid?”

“What?” he says, genuinely confused. I shake my head.

A few minutes later, I’m in the car on my way home and I call Nat. She picks up immediately.

“Hey,” she says, sounding weird.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, instantly on alert.

“Nothing. I mean, it’s not a big deal. At least, I hope you won’t think it is.”

“Tell me.” I can only imagine what new horrible news is coming my way. Raine sent her a ransom note? Teri is holding her grandmother hostage?

“Well, my mom wasn’t too psyched about me spending all weekend at your house…”

I laugh. “Yeah. I guess I can’t blame her.”

“And she said she needs to meet your mom.”

“My mom?”

“She wants you guys to come to my house for dinner this weekend.”

I groan. “Shit.”

“You don’t want to.” She sounds cute when she’s nervous, I decide.

“It’s not that I don’t want to. It’s just….the thing is, my mom’s kind of quirky.”

That’s the understatement of the year.

“So’s mine,” Natalia says. “And she’s totally not judgmental at all—she loves everybody. She even loved Derek.”

“Oh, that changes things. If she thought Derek was cool then my mom is a lock.”

Nat laughs and a few minutes later we get off the phone. The smile dies on my lips as soon as I hang up. The thought of having my mom at Natalia’s house is horrifying to me. But I didn’t want to let Nat down, so I had to say yes. But still. Talk about a disaster waiting to happen.

***

Mom gets home from work at about seven o’clock. She’s carrying two brown bags and the smell of Chinese food wafts towards me.

“Takeout?” I ask, as she hands the bags off to me and sets her satchel on the floor by the front door.

“I’m exhausted,” she says. “Can you get out some dishes?”

“Sure.” I put the food on the table and grab some plates and silverware.

“How was school?” she asks.

“Fine.” I rip open the bags. “Nice, you got spare ribs.”

“Of course.” She comes over and sits down, sighing. “Anything interesting happening?”

I give her a look. If she only knew the half of it. But I would never even hint at the insane stuff going on with Raine and Brody. My mom can’t even watch PG-13

horror movies so I can’t imagine what she’d do if she found out that her son was almost made a human sacrifice by a coven of witches.

“Well, there is something,” I say, biting into a spare rib.

“Do tell.”

“I’m kind of seeing someone.”

Her eyes light up. “Well I know you’ve been spending time with Raine Marsden.

I really like her.”

I flinch at the mention of her name. That’s right, Brody opened his big fat mouth and told my mom that Raine liked me. “Not Raine,” I say.

“What happened?”

“With Raine?”

“She’s such a beauty.” Mom gets up from the table and walks to the fridge, takes out a jug of table wine. “And always so friendly. Did I tell you how she actually pumped gas for me—”

“Yeah, you did,” I say, frustrated.

She pours a big glass of wine and stands across the kitchen, sipping it thoughtfully. “Such a nice girl. Did you two have an argument?”

No. She tried to steal my life force.

“She’s just not my type.”

“Shame, shame, shame.”

“But I’m seeing someone else,” I remind her.

“Do I know her?”

This is getting annoying. And Mom is drinking, which makes it worse.

Reminding me exactly why I don’t think this dinner is such a good idea.

“No, mom, you don’t know her. But I want you to meet her.”

Mom clucks. “I still think you and Raine could work things out.”

“Did you not hear me?”

“What?”

“I told you she’s not my type. I don’t like Raine. She’s a bitch.”

Mom’s expression grows stormy. “Do not speak like that in front of me. I’m your mother.”

“You need to ease up on the table wine.”

“Excuse me?”

“No, excuse me.” I get up and leave the room. I go outside and just as I’m about to get in my car to drive around and cool off, I spot a familiar vehicle parked across the street, a few houses down.

I recognize that car, I think.

Derek.

I wonder if he’s watching me. I pretend not to notice anything, instead getting in my car and slowly backing out of my driveway, taking my time. Then I come around and as I’m passing him, slow all the way down and stop.

I roll down my window and wave at him.

He rolls down his window.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I say.

“That’s not much of a greeting.” He grins, all smarmy and arrogant.

“What are you doing in my neighborhood?”

“Not much.” He shrugs. “Taking in the view. Pretty sweet place you got, Cam.”

But then I notice which way his car is facing and how far it is from my house.

“You’re watching Aiden, aren’t you?”

His shit-eating grin fades for a moment, and it feels like I get a quick peak beneath the surface. He looks like a stone cold psycho. But then the smile comes back.

“Don’t worry about what I’m doing, Cam. I’m on your side, buddy. Didn’t Natalia tell you how I showed her where to find you guys the other night?”

“She told me you followed her and acted like a stalker, as usual. Yeah.”

“Come on now, that’s no way to thank the guy who helped save your life.” His hand rests on the steering wheel. He’s chewing gum. “Of course, Aiden had it even rougher than you did.”

“How do you know all this shit?”

He smiles. “Now you know I can’t tell you that. And besides, you’re better off not knowing too much. Ignorance is bliss, as they say.”

“Why are you spending time with Brody’s sister?”

Now the smile really goes away and his teeth show, but it’s like a dog about to bite. “Who told you that?”

“Ignorance is bliss, Derek.”

He starts his car. “Well now that you’ve got that little piece of advice memorized, here’s another.”

“Yeah?”

“A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. Very, very dangerous.”

And then he speeds off.

Chapter Five

Natalia

When I get to school the next morning, Hadley’s waiting for me in the front entrance of school, by the gym. Her hair’s in two pigtails, and she’s wearing knee socks and a pair of shiny black Mary Janes. She looks like a naughty schoolgirl. I look down at my own uniform, still a little rumpled, and try not to feel inferior.

“Okay, so this is going to sound totally lame,” she says when she sees me, “But what would you think about having a sleepover?”

“A sleepover?” I ask. For a second I wonder if she’s going to say she’s going to use her webcam to tape it and then upload it to one of those pay-per-view porn sites.

That’s how sexy this girl is.

“Yeah.” She pulls on the bottom of a pigtail. “Me, you and Adrianna. And if there’s anyone else you think we should invite, they can come too.”

I hesitate. I’m all about sleepovers. I mean, what’s not to like? Snacks, makeovers, cheesy movies. But I’m supposed to be having Cam and his mom over to dinner this weekend. And even though we didn’t set a specific time, I’m thinking I need to keep my schedule wide open.

Especially since Cam sounded a little weird about it on the phone last night. I just want to get the whole thing over with. How bad can his mom really be? All she has to do is come over, eat some dinner, and let my mom know that she’s not going to let us shoot up in the basement and/or have sex on the kitchen counter.

“A sleepover would be fun,” I tell Hadley. “Except I have plans with Cam this weekend.”

“What about me?” Cam asks, appearing behind us in the hall. He leans in and gives me a kiss on the cheek.

“I was inviting Natalia to hang out this weekend, but she was saying you guys have plans.” Hadley looks disappointed, which makes me feel bad. She’s nice. And it’s not her fault she’s gorgeous.

“We have plans?” Cam looks at me, confused.

“Oh. I mean, not definite ones. But I thought we were talking about doing that dinner with our parents.” I keep my tone deliberately light.

“Oh.” An uncomfortable look passes over his face. “I didn’t know that was a definite thing.”

“Well, it wasn’t,” I say. “I mean, the dinner is a definite thing. And I just thought that this weekend would make the most sense.” I also kind of told my mom that Cam and his mom were for sure coming over this weekend. I had to! After that whole scene at dinner, I wanted to alleviate some of her fears. But I don’t mention any of that to Cam.

“If you want to hang with Hadley, that’s fine,” Cam says to me. “You should.

We can do the dinner another time.”

I look at him incredulously. Do the dinner another time? What is he talking about? “No, that’s okay,” I say brightly. “We should probably just get it over with.

Hadley understands, don’t you, Hadley?”

“Totally,” Hadley says. I can tell she’s still disappointed, but she smiles anyway.

“I mean, if you guys had plans….”

“No way,” Cam says. “You shouldn’t be alone on your first weekend at Santa Anna.”

She shouldn’t? Why not? Should I be concerned that my boyfriend wants to hang out with the new girl?

“It’s fine,” Hadley says. “I don’t want to intrude. I’m sure you want to be with your girlfriend this weekend, Cam.”

“Cam?” I ask, raising my eyebrows at him.

He still looks uncomfortable, but he says, “Of course I do. So why don’t we all do something together? We can all go out, play pool or something.”

Okay, my boyfriend did not just invite another girl on one of our dates. The three of us? Playing pool together? That sounds horrible. First, I hate pool. I’m horrible at it.

And second, why do we want to spend our first full weekend as a couple with another girl?

Then Cam says, “We could invite some other people, too. Maybe Lancaster and Adrianna?”

“Adrianna’s over it,” I say. “But what about Aiden?” Yes! This is actually perfect. We’ll turn this into some kind of double date! The four of us. Me and Cam.

Aiden and Hadley.

“Aiden?” Cam asks doubtfully.

“Oooh, who’s Aiden?” Hadley asks. “Is he another footballer?”

“Hardly,” Cam says.

“Cam!” I say. I turn to Hadley. “Aiden’s one of Cam’s best friends. He’s really sweet and nice.”

“Is he cute?” Hadley asks.

“Yes.” It’s not a lie. Aiden is cute. In fact, that’s the word I would pick to describe him. He’s not gorgeous or good-looking. He’s cute. Like a puppy.

“Oooh, a set up!” Hadley jumps up and down, her pigtails bouncing. “I love blind dates. Does that make me weird?”

“No,” I say. “I love blind dates, too.” I give Cam a pointed look. A pointed look that means if he’s not careful, I might be getting set up on some blind dates of my own.

“Aiden’s not exactly in any shape to be going on a date,” Cam says. “He’s sick.”

“It’s only Tuesday,” I point out, “He won’t be sick by Saturday.”

“He might,” Cam says.

“He won’t,” I say, a little more forcefully this time.

Cam sighs. “Okay,” he says. “I’ll set it up.”

“Great,” Hadley says. She claps her hands. “This is going to be so much fun! I can’t wait!” She bounces of down the hall, leaving the scent of some kind of fruity perfume in her wake.

“So what was that about?” I ask Cam, deciding it’s better to just come out with it.

After sneaking around for the past couple of weeks, now that we’re together and everyone knows it, I’m sick of keeping secrets and hiding my feelings.

“What was what about?”

“Not wanting to come over to my house? Not wanting to hook Hadley up with Aiden?”

He shrugs. “It’s just a weird thing with my mom. And with Aiden.”

I can tell he doesn’t want to talk about it, and so I decide not to push him.

“Okay,” I say. “Fine. But you’re still going to bring it up to him, right? It’s still a plan? And we’re still going to find a time for your mom to come over?”

“Of course.” He takes my hand and we walk down the hall toward his locker. I let him entwine his fingers with mine, doing my best to push the nagging feeling I have that there’s something he’s not telling me out of my mind.

Chapter Six

Campbell

It’s probably not the best sign that I’m exhausted when Friday night rolls around and we’re all supposed to go out on a double date.

But I do my best to snap out of it, take a long shower, dress up in a new button-down shirt and jeans, white Nikes. I check myself out in the full-length mirror in my room, spread some Crew hair wax in my hair and style it for a minute.

“Not bad,” I say, taking the whole look in.

When I get downstairs, Mom is at the kitchen table having a glass of wine and reading some magazine. She glances up at me and her lips tighten almost imperceptibly.

We haven’t spoken much since our fight the other day.

“Going out with some friends?” she asks in a fake interested voice.

“Yeah.” I walk over to the table, suddenly feeling guilty about how I treated her.

“Probably gonna play some pool at Flat Tops. Actually, Aiden’s going on a date with this new girl. She’s from England.” I laugh. “Can you picture Aid on a blind date?”

“Mmmm….” She licks her finger and flips to a page with a headline that says

“Picking an Inspired Color for Your Master Bedroom.”

“Anyway,” I tell her. “I shouldn’t be home too late.”

“Okay then.” She keeps her eyes on the magazine and doesn’t look at me.

“Mom.”

“Yes?”

“Is everything okay?”

She finally stops reading and looks up. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

“I don’t know. You seem kind of weird.”

“Everything’s fine, Campbell.” She takes another sip of wine.

I sigh and turn around. “Well, see you later.”

I head out to my car and then stop in front of Aiden’s, honking twice.

I catch a glimpse of Aid in his bedroom window. He peers out and for a fleeting second I could swear he presses his face right against the glass. Then a moment later the light goes off.

My phone buzzes. A text from Nat.

U coming soon?

I tell her we’ll be there in a few.

The passenger door flies open. Aiden gets in, and I get a powerful whiff of some kind of cologne. “Dude, what the hell did you do—dump a bottle of Old Spice over your head?”

He grins at me. “How’d you know I use Old Spice?”

“Lucky guess.” I pull out of the driveway and start to head to Nat’s house.

I glance at Aiden as I drive. He’s fidgety, almost hyper. Not all lethargic like he was the other day, so that’s good at least. But the smell of his cologne is almost making me gag. I roll down my window.

Also, it seems like maybe he didn’t do such a hot job of shaving. He’s got a few strands of hair sprouting from his chin and jaw. “Feeling better?” I ask him.

“Oh, definitely.”

“That’s good. How come you weren’t in school again today?”

He laughs. “Figured I might as well milk being sick for all it’s worth, seeing as I got a doctor’s note and all.” He drums his fingers on his legs. “So, you say this chick is really cute?”

“Hadley?” I think about her. She’s definitely cute. Kind of hot, actually. But thinking that makes me feel kind of bad, like I’m somehow cheating on Nat. Which is ridiculous. I have no interest in Hadley. And it’s not like I can’t have opinions about other girls, right?

“Well?” Aiden says.

“Yeah, she’s cute. She’s plenty for you to handle. And she’s from England. Do you know much about England?”

“Oh sure,” he says. “Crumpets, tea, Wimbledon, Parliament, all that stuff.”

“All you did was just randomly list a bunch of topics.”

“That’s all English stuff.”

“And you can like hold a conversation about crumpets I guess?”

“Oh, yeah. You’d be surprised what I can talk about. I’m good like that.”

As the wind blows through my hair, and Aiden continues to babble like a kid who just ate a pound of sugar, I can only hope that I’ve at least aired the car out a little.

Because this could turn into a total nightmare.

**

The car ride to Flat Top Johnny’s has been painful. Pretty much how I’d imagined—only worse.

Conversation has been spotty and awkward at best, and even Natalia and me are barely able to break the long silences in the car. She just grabs my hand and squeezes every so often, and we exchange horrified glances.

Hadley is sitting in the back seat with Aiden, or rather—she’s about as far away as she can get without actually climbing out the window. He seems oblivious to her disgust, and keeps trying to make weird jokes.

“Planning to go to Oxford and study law, Hadley?” he says.

“Why would I do that? Because it’s in England?” She rolls her eyes.

“You love England,” he replies. “I bet you eat tea and crumpets every morning.”

“Oh, of course I do.” She shakes her head.

“You coming to the football game tomorrow afternoon?” I ask Hadley in an effort to break the awkward conversation up a bit.

Nat gives me a look but I’m not sure why.

“I’d love to see a real American football game,” Hadley says.

“Well, consider it an official invitation then,” I say, and feel another strong squeeze of my hand from Natalia. This time she digs her nails into my hand.

“Hey,” I say.

She smiles at me. “Almost there!”

We park and walk into Flat Tops. The place isn’t too crowded for a Friday night, so we grab a high four top table near one of the pool tables.

A waitress comes over and takes our drink orders. We can’t do anything alcoholic obviously, so everyone just gets sodas.

I lean into Natalia and whisper in her ear. “Everything okay?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“You practically drew blood when you grabbed my hand a second ago.”

“Sorry. It wasn’t intentional.”

“All right, if you say so.”

We look at the menus and decide to order some appetizers. Buffalo wings, mozzarella sticks, and barbeque sliders.

“Wot if I speak in Brittish accent?” Aiden says. “Would that make you like me better, aye?”

“Wow, that’s really impressive,” Hadley says. “You sound like you were born and raised in Leeds.”

“Crikey!” he shouts.

“Umm, I think that’s an Australian thing,” Natalia says.

“Dude, chill,” I laugh.

I can see Hadley’s getting really fed up with him harping on the English stuff, but as usual Aiden’s clueless.

“Want to play a few games of pool while we wait for the food?” I ask.

“Sure,” Hadley says. “How about you and me versus Aiden and Nat?”

“Well…” I hesitate. Nat purses her lips but doesn’t answer.

Aiden claps his hands. “Okay Natalia, we can do this, baby!” He runs over and makes her give him a high five.

“Okay, now we need a special handshake,” Hadley tells me.

“You think?”

“Definitely.”

“Well, I’m not good at coming up with stuff like that.”

“I’ll figure something out.” She taps her chin with a manicured finger.

We head over to a table and grab some sticks. I rack the balls and Aiden gets ready to break.

A table away from us, I notice three guys starting a game too. One of them looks at me—no—stares at me for a long moment.

Kind of weirds me out. Like he knows me from somewhere but I’m pretty sure I’ve never met him before. Unless maybe he’s is from a rival team or something.

I ignore the weird dude and go back to our game.

Aiden pretty much does nothing on the break. I give Natalia a wink and she smiles at me with a look of relief.

I feel bad that we’re playing on opposite teams. This whole double-date thing was a bad idea, but I just wanted to avoid her meeting my mom. As bad as this is, it’s nothing compared to my mom having getting drunk at Natalia’s house.

I shiver just thinking about it.

“Okay, watch how a pro does it,” I say. Then I run off a quick string of balls.

Hadley waggles her hand like it’s hot. “Wow, you can play Campbell!”

“Eh, my dad has a pool table at his house in Maine. I put a lot of hours in over the years.”

“I didn’t know that,” Natalia says.

“Yeah, summers and stuff.”

“Maybe a bunch of us will go down this summer and have a party,” Hadley says.

“What do you think?”

“Sure, why not.”

I don’t really mean it, just don’t want to seem rude.

We win the first game easily. It’s kind of sad really. When Hadley sinks the eight ball on an easy shot, I give her a quick high-five and she tries to turn it into some goofy handshake.

Natalia comes over and grabs me by the arm. “Food’s here.”

“I have to go to the ladies room,” Hadley announces. “Want to come, Nat?”

“No, I’m fine,” she says.

Hadley heads to the bathroom and Natalia pulls me off away from Aiden, who’s already shoving an entire slider into his mouth.

“You’re really starting to hurt my feelings,” she says.

“What? Why?”

“You keep flirting with her.”

“Hadley?”

She nods, her eyes hurt. “Do you like her?”

“No. Hell, no. Just—“

“Just what?”

“I don’t want to be rude or whatever.”

“Okay.” She bites her lip. “You’re being rude to me, though.”

“Hey. Hey. I’m sorry.”

I kiss her. Her lips are soft and warm.

She smiles at me. “Okay. Sorry if I freaked out.”

“I won’t even speak to her the rest of the night, okay?”

“No. Don’t do that. Besides, someone needs to keep her and Aiden from talking.

They might be the worst couple ever.”

“Yeah. It’s horrible.”

We laugh and go back to the table.

Hadley comes back from the bathroom and sits down. The four of us eat for awhile and then we decide to play another game of pool. Those three guys are still playing across from us, and I swear they keep glancing over at us. Or is it me?

I’m not sure, and maybe I’m just being paranoid.

This game is closer, since it’s boys versus girls. I try not to sink too many shots and Aiden screws up enough to keep it interesting.

Natalia gets a shot on the eight ball. As she leans over the table, Hadley makes a little noise of surprise. “Ohmigod, look at your beautiful butterfly!”

She points at the necklace as Natalia bends down for the shot.

“This?” Nat asks She seems surprised and almost unnerved. “It’s just costume jewelry.”

“I love it. So beautiful the way it catches the light.”

“Thanks.” She misses her shot badly and scratches.

Aiden groans. “This sucks.”

“I think I’m a tired,” Hadley yawns. “Might be time to go home.”

“Okay, I’ll settle up the check,” I say.

By the time I’m done paying, I look over and those guys are gone. At least, they’re not playing pool anymore.

We head outside to the parking lot and it’s even emptier now. “Huh, I thought this place would be packed tonight,” I say, throwing my arm across Nat’s shoulders.

She moves closer to me as a cold wind blows. “It got freezing out,” she shivers.

Aiden is staring at his feet and kicking pebbles. Hadley is falling behind as she checks her phone.

Suddenly Aiden looks up and sniffs the air. It’s funny because for a second he reminds me of a dog. Like, really, a dog. It’s funny because the look on his face somehow puts me on alert.

And then I see them coming.

The three guys from the pool room. And they’re heading for us.

No, for Nat.

“Get it,” the one guy who was staring at me all night, says, loud enough for me to hear.

“Cam!” Nat screams.

The three dudes are all older than me, and two of them are almost as big as me also. But I don’t give a shit. All I do know is they’re trying to hurt Natalia.

I run forward and smash one dude with my shoulder. He makes a low grunt and falls backward onto the pavement. The smallest one throws a punch and it gets me on the jaw, sending a burst of numbness over my face.

I fire a punch back at him and it gets him right on the nose. The guy screams and falls to one knee.

But the last guy But the last guy has gotten past me and is almost on top of Natalia now. Aiden stands in his way and the dude tosses him aside like a bag of leaves.

Aiden hits the pavement and then his head bounces off a car door.

Hadley and Natalia both scream.

“Out of the way, Hadley!” the guy shouts, and sweeps her aside, too.

She stumbles and almost falls.

Nat’s eyes are wide and she shrieks my name. I turn and grab the guy by the back of his shirt as he makes a grab for her necklace.

I throw him and he falls forward. He hits the ground and springs to his feet almost instantly. Looks like he might try and get by me again.

“Just fucking try it. Come on,” I say, meaning it. I want him to give me a reason to hurt him.

He seems to sense this and a grimace spreads over his face, and that turns into a grin as he backs away from us, collecting his slightly wounded buddies. “No problem.

We’ll get you next time. Us or someone else.”

“Bring it, asshole,” Aiden yells from the ground.

When they’re far enough away to be sure, I go to Natalia and she buries her face in my shirt crying.

I look up and see Hadley staring at us, her face a mask.

“How did they know your name?” I ask.

She doesn’t answer…..

Don’t miss Book Nine of The Witches of Santa Anna, coming soon…

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six