Storm (Elemental 1)

“No.” She had enough anger to share with him. He’d picked this fight. “I’ll get my own ride.”

Then she leapt onto the porch, flung the marked door wide, and threw herself into the foyer.

And without a backwards glance, she slammed the door on the wind and the whole lot of them.

Becca rode the bus. She half expected Quinn to be there, but her friend must have gotten a ride from her mother.

Becca hadn’t done this since sophomore year, and she hoped she wouldn’t get another chance. The vehicle was crowded with freshman boys who must not have learned to shower in the morning yet. She hunched against a window with her English Lit book. She was supposed to have read two chapters of Anna Karenina the previous night, and she hadn’t even cracked the spine.

You should have had Mom write you a note.

She should have. But her brain was shot.

To think she’d almost liked Gabriel. What a dick.

Then she remembered the way he’d tamed fire until Chris got her to safety.

The way he’d almost gotten himself killed.

This was too confusing.

Hunter was right: Trouble followed Chris around like he kept it on a leash. But that didn’t mean Hunter had a right to chase the guy off for offering her a ride to school.

Becca was dreading English, wondering how she’d meet Chris’s eyes after Gabriel’s little monologue in the driveway. But he must have skipped—his seat stayed empty.

World History would mean Hunter and Chris in class together—one of whom was supposed to be her partner. Would Chris skip two classes in a row? She almost ditched, but Hunter caught up to her in the hallway.

There was a bruise on his cheek, faint but present. “I’m sorry,” he said.

She shrugged her backpack higher on her shoulder and looked down the hall. “Does your face hurt?”

He hesitated, like it was a trick question. “No?”

“Too bad.” She reached up to poke his bruise.

He was way too quick—he caught her wrist. “I am, Becca. I shouldn’t have picked a fight with that guy. Seeing him show up, with what you’re going through—”

“Chris and his brothers saved my life.” She pulled her hand free and turned away. “You have no idea what I’m going through.”

He put an arm against the wall and blocked her way. “So tell me.”

For a moment, it seemed his voice held a note of awareness, as if those three simple words meant more than they should have. She looked up to find his eyes close, intent on hers.

No, this was stupid. He was just being Hunter, as direct and challenging as ever.

She ducked under his arm. “We have class.”

Becca readied herself for an apology to Chris. He had saved her life. He’d come to offer her a ride to school, not to fight with Hunter.

But Chris wasn’t in World History, either.

When she opened her notebook, it fell to the last page where she’d written. Where she’d told Chris she was going to ask for another partner.

Becca swallowed and turned to a fresh page. Then she took two sets of notes, writing fast until her hand ached.

She booked it out of the classroom ahead of Hunter, hoping to find some familiar sanctuary with Quinn at lunch.

But Quinn wasn’t at their usual table.