Aiden and I turned at the same moment, ready to do…something, and I groaned.
It was the hot asshole from the quad.
Of course,thismust’ve been Mac.
Aiden tilted his head in that way that freaked me out, and I steppedin between the two guys against my better judgement. Hot guy raised his eyebrows while Coach let out a loud, dramatic sigh.
“Do you two know each other?” Coach asked.
“No,” Aiden replied.
I squeezed Aiden’s shoulders.Everything is fine, angel. Relax.
I don’t fucking like him,Aiden snarled back.
“I just know she’s a little clumsy,” hot guy said, and what the hell?Fuck him.“She won’t hurt me, right?”
As if he’d be so lucky,Aiden said darkly and I stifled a laugh.
Aiden left with Coach, who looked like he was considering retirement, and I was left withMac.
He wore a stupidly tight black t-shirt with some gray athletic joggers, not quite as stupidly tight, buttight enough. He looked me up and down, then made a face as if my outfit offended him.
“What the hell kind of name is Mac?” I snapped, instantly regretting how annoyed I was. I didn’t even know this guy, but his disdain while checking me out really pissed me off.
He raised his dark eyebrows at me. “My surname?” he said slowly. “Name’s River.”
“River,” I repeated.
My first instinct was to tell him that was a stupid name, but seeing as mine wasSkye, I wasn’t really in a position to do that. He stared at me, keeping his eyebrows raised, and I realized I hadn’t replied.
“I’m Skye,” I said, my voice sounding a bit more normal.
“You’reSkye?” he asked. Something like shock flickered across River’s expression, but it was gone so quickly I could have imagined it. His blue eyes roved over me assessingly, and I almost had the urge to curl in on myself.
It was totally the eye color. It was shocking and intense, and that wastotallywhy I was rattled.
“What, you’ve heard of me?” The joke fell flat, my tone only half-teasing. The awkwardness of this conversation almost made me feel like I was back in highschool. Like I had no idea how to talk to a guy, even non-romantically.
“What would I have heard?” he asked.
“It was a joke,” I muttered.
River didn’t reply. When we stopped in an empty corner of the gym, he only stared at me.
“So…what are your affinities?” I asked. “I have air and water.”
River’s eyebrows raised slightly, then his face went blank.
That was freaking me out a bit. His expressions were all over the place.
“Air and water?” he repeated. “Hmm.”
I blinked. “You also have air and water? Or…”
“Both, yeah.”
We stared at each other again.
