Jordy glares at Meiying, stabbing a finger at her in return. “Not cool, baby Liu.”
“Gross. Don’t call me that.”
“Hold on. You kissed Georgia Draven?” I ask again.
Jordy sighs and Rafael fights a grin. “What baby Liu left out is, the Rabble Roll is a bar. I was drunk and that basket of crazy over there took advantage of me.”
I snort. “Riiiight.” How stupid did he think I was? Shifters couldn’t get drunk. At least not the black-out crazy level of drunk where you’re actually at risk of being taken advantage of.
“Hey, at least I learn from my mistakes. You’re still sleeping with this asshole.”
Rafael shoots him a glare and Meiying snickers. I give Rafael a quick kiss on the cheek and his glower instantly softens. “I happen to like this asshole,” I say and everyone else at the table makes gagging sounds.
I roll my eyes and steal a fry off Meiying’s tray only to throw it at Jordy who somehow manages to catch it in his mouth.
“So, the game…?” Jordy says, trying to shift the focus off himself. “Who are you going with? I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to show up alone.”
I roll my eyes but notice Rafael scowling. I guess he hadn’t considered that. “I’ll be fine. Nothing has happened since the whole bathroom incident and nothing is going to happen. You three went all psycho on Sabrina and she’s been avoiding me ever since.” Every head turns to look where she’s currently seated, alone and in a far corner picking at her lunch with a look of complete misery on her face.
All three give me smug smiles. As soon as Rafael learned Sabrina was behind the attack, he went all caveman and pulled in every shifter at Hellbound High to make sure that her status as an outcast stuck. He somehow managed to get the vampires and the fae on board and even reached out to the local witch coven, informing them of Sabrina’s behavior and how it goes against what Hellbound High stands for. He made it sound like his father’s faith in this little experiment was in doubt and the witches quickly assured him behavior like this would not happen again from anyone in their coven and that Sabrina would be reprimanded for her role in the assault.
She’s a social pariah now. I almost feel bad. Her own friends have abandoned her and the school pretends she doesn’t exist. People will walk into her without batting an eyelash. I noticed in second period even our teacher ignored her. I have no idea how the wolves managed that, but they did.
“No way.” Rafael shakes his head. “You can’t show up alone. We won’t be able to protect you if something happens while we’re on the field.”
“I don’t need protection—”
“I can go with you,” Meiying says. All eyes swing toward her.
“I thought you hated football?” I ask because she’s whined on least four separate occasions about how stupid the upcoming game is.
“I do.” She turns her attention to Desmond. “But I wouldn’t mind seeing this one throw an epic interception so I can give him shit for it for the next few years.”
“Not fucking likely,” he deadpans.
I don’t know what’s going on with those two. Likely nothing because Des will be eighteen in a few short months and Meiying’s only a freshman. As soon as Des graduates he’ll no longer be considered a juvenile which will mean Meiying is definitely off limits. But she seems intent on getting under his skin any chance she gets, despite the fact that he usually ignores her.
Rafael stops me just outside the door to third period and plants a lingering kiss on my lips that takes my breath away.
“Don’t be late tonight,” he tells me, nipping my lower lip.
“Are you suddenly worried I won’t show up?” I ask, fingering my bracelet.
He smirks. “Nah, I know you’ll be there, but it never hurts to have some reassurances.” I don’t know why this game is so important to him, but it is, and I won’t let him down. I tug my bracelet off and take his hand in mine, trying it around his wrist. “Consider yourself reassured. This is important to me. You can give it back when I get there.”
He kisses me deep and slow, leaving me breathless before walking backward toward his own class. “Later, baby.”
24 Rafael
Friday night came too fucking fast. I’m sitting in the locker room and can barely hear what the coach is saying as he gives his little pep talk along with a few carefully worded warnings before we rush out onto the field. Tonight’s game is supposed to demonstrate that we can work together without killing one another. That this little project of theirs has some real potential.
With that in mind, we have to keep it clean. No low blows. No cheap shots. And most importantly, no deadly force. Both teams are evenly mixed with shifters, vampires, druids, fae, and a handful of humans brave enough to set foot on the field with us.
I tighten my laces, my gaze meeting Des’s. We nod, both ready to lay it all out on the field and prepared to watch each other’s backs. Tonight’s a big night. A lot is on the line. For one, if we win, we’ll earn our Alpha’s respect and bring home a victory for the Southwest Pack. The teams might be equally divided and the factions intermixed, but our quarterback is Des making us team wolf. Our opponent’s QB is a vampire making them team vamp. No matter how the school tries to spin it, it’s still going to boil down to shifters versus vampires, and I for one refuse to be on the losing side.
Tonight is also the night I’m introducing Isa to my pops. This is step one in our plan to have Isa join the Pack. I haven’t had the chance to talk to my pops about her yet. Not with how busy
