Crush

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Five

Hunter-

"Morning, Goody. How are you today?" I asked, leaning against the locker next to hers with what I hoped was my sexiest grin.

"Morning," she replied brusquely, slamming her locker and stepping around me. She continued on down the hall.

Crap. Something was wrong.

"Hey, where you off to in such a hurry?" I moved quickly to keep pace with her.

"It's called class, Hunter. I do the same thing every day. Maybe you've noticed."

I searched for a reason she'd be upset with me.

"What's wrong, Cami?"

She shot me a glare. "As if you don't know."

"I wouldn't ask if I knew. Tell me what's wrong."

She stopped dead in her tracks. "Don't play dumb with me. I saw you."

"Saw me?" A little dread crept into my voice. I knew what she was talking about.

"Yes, unless you let someone else borrow your car to sit parked down the street from my house all night. Why are you watching me?"

I scrambled for something to tell her, anything that might make sense.

"Oh. You saw my car." I laughed trying to buy some time. "Um . . . I got a flat after I left yesterday. I called my uncle to come get me, but we had to take the tire in and have it fixed. We just left it there until early this morning when he had to leave." I was lying to her . . . again. I couldn't tell her what I'd really been doing on her street. She'd never believe me anyway.

She visibly relaxed. "Why didn't you come and ask my dad for help?"

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm not very high on the list of people your dad admires right now. Having him stay up to help me get a tire repaired wasn't about to endear me to him any further. Besides, Chris was more than willing to help me." I smiled, trying to soften things. "Can I carry your books?"

"I've got her books," Clay said, sweeping up beside me and taking them before she could respond. "We have band together, remember? Come on, Cami."

He linked arms with her and practically dragged her down the hall. She shot me an apologetic glance, but continued on her way.

I headed toward class, my mood instantly boiling at the sight of Clay. I was tired of having this kid always interfere, and after what I'd seen last night, I knew he wasn't good for Cami. I'd been right to call him a psycho, but there was no way I could call him out right now. It would only draw more attention to me—something I couldn't have happen. I'd give anything to go a round or two with him, just to show him what was what. That sparked another thought in my head. If I couldn't beat the crap out of him, maybe it was time to start messing with him instead.

I purposely waited as long as I could so I'd be the last guy into the weight room. Cami had choir class second period, but Clay had this class with me. Casually, I walked in and surveyed the area.

He was against the farthest wall, doing the bench press. I moved to the bench alongside him, pausing and obviously checking out how heavy he'd weighted his bar before adding ten pounds more to my own. He glared at me as I started easily lifting. I pretended not to notice, continuing my workout. He finished one set before getting up to add more weights, so we were equal.

I couldn't help the internal smile. We were so going to play this game, and I was going to win. I went through my rotation, got up, added more weight, and started again. Soon after, Clay was readjusting to match me. I had to admit, while I knew he'd been working out, I didn't think he would do so well. Kudos to him, but I was getting tired of this.