I’m never gonna see him again.
Well, I will see him at school but I’ll neverseehim like I did tonight. Or talk to him or be near him or touch his hoodie.
I’ll never dance for him either.
I bite my lip at the thought.
Theroguethought.
I shouldn’t want to anyway but I do.
I do and I…
“Hey, Ledger!”
For the second time tonight, Reed jars the breath out of me when he calls out, this time to my brother, while still keeping his eyes on me.
Ledger, who had started to walk away, comes to a halt and turns around to face him.
Reed isn’t alone anymore. Along with Tempest – who’s staring at Ledger with wide gray eyes – others from the crowd have joined him now.
And I fist my hands at my sides as I hope and wish and pray that this isn’t going to get out of hand.
“I’m sorry,” Reed says, jerking his chin at him.
“For fucking what?”
“That you lost tonight.” Then, “Even though you deserved it.”
Around me, my brothers seethe and I watch some of the players from the Mustang camp snicker.
But Ledger still obeys Conrad’s rule and simply flips him the finger before turning around and striding away.
But I can’t move.
Because Reed is back to looking at me.
His wolf eyes home in on me for a few seconds before doing a final sweep of my body and then looking away as he’s submerged by the crowd.
And I realize that he kept his promise, didn’t he?
The one I forced him to make before I danced for him.
He apologized to my brother.
It wassomeone from the party who told.
Someone from the party who texted someone else. Who in turn texted another someone else and that’s how Ledger got the news about where I was.
He tried to call me first.
To confirm, I think. Because he gave me the benefit of the doubt, but when I didn’t pick up and when the friend that I’d used as an alibi told him that she never saw me after school ended yesterday, he got pissed.
I’m guessing Conrad came along to calm Ledger down and to rein in the situation if it got out of hand. He’s been a witness to many such situations over the years he’s been coaching the two.
And when my other two brothers, who were trying to surprise us with a weekend visit, found out where I was, they came along in case Ledger needed reinforcements.
At least that’s what I’m guessing from past experiences – Ledger is the youngest brother and like they are with me, our older brothers are protective of him as well. Not that they’d tell him or that Ledger would like that since he’s all grown up and everything but still.
