“Yeah.” For once, I felt lucky to have some actual friends in my corner. “Finn or Samuel, do you mind?”
“Sure.” Finn wrapped Jacob’s arm around his shoulders. “Let’s go get him settled.”
“He needs to eat and stay awake for a few hours.” The coach walked behind us. “He’ll have a pounding headache for a while too. If you have trouble waking him, call us immediately. My number is in his phone.”
“Got it. Thanks.”
The seven of us walked slowly through the stadium and out the back door.
“How did humans hurt you so badly?” Samuel asked once we were away from prying ears.
“The two who got to me first are wolves.” He shook his head and sighed. “I lost track of them, and they got me.”
He’d been too worried about Aidan sitting next to me that he’d lost focus.
“Why don’t you come stay with us tonight?” Amethyst asked as we walked into the parking lot. “We have a house just a few blocks from campus. You can stay in the living room.”
That was probably the best idea. I couldn’t stay with him at his dorm, and we could get in trouble if he stayed in ours. “Are you sure?” Normally, I didn’t trust people right away, but for some reason, I felt okay with them. “It would be easier to keep an eye on him.”
“Sure.” Coral smiled. “The more the merrier.”
“Are you okay with that?” I didn’t want Jacob to be uncomfortable with the arrangement.
“Yeah, it’s fine.” He grimaced with pain. “I just need to grab a change of clothes first.”
“So do I.” And I wanted to wash my makeup off too.
“Here.” Samuel took my spot under Jacob’s other arm. “You go ahead and grab your stuff, and we’ll drive him to his dorm and meet you girls at the house.”
“Let’s go.” Coral pulled the keys out of her small pocket and jangled them.
Beth’s brows furrowed. “You guys drove separately?”
“Yeah, he’s got that truck.” She pointed to the one they’d been sitting in when we’d met them. “And we need more space.” She headed to a newer Honda Civic.
The four of us climbed in, and soon, we were outside the dorms. When I climbed out of the car, the nagging feeling ran down my spine again.
I turned around, expecting not to find Aidan, but he was across the street, leaning against a tree. Our eyes connected, and he motioned for me to come to him.
Yeah, that wasn’t happening. I turned around and walked directly into the dorm. Some things were meant to stay broken.
Chapter Nine
As soon as Beth and I entered our dorm room, she spun to face me. “What the hell was that back there?”
“Which part?” I would rather answer her question directly instead of pouring my heart and soul out.
“Aidan.” Her word was simple, but so much was packed behind it.
“Look, I don’t know.” I walked over, grabbed one of my bags, and started packing my clothes. “His pack hates witches.”
“So, he just showed up to make an ass of himself?” She put a pair of pajamas in my bag. “You don’t mind if I share with you?”
“Yeah, you can, but don’t feel obligated to come.” I felt awful, inconveniencing everyone, but I owed it to Jacob to take care of him.
“Yes, I do.” Beth snorted. “How did Aidan know you were hanging around witches?”
“I don’t know. You know how I felt like someone was watching me?”
She nodded.
“It was Aidan.” I steadied myself for what came next. “When I went to get our drinks, he grabbed me…” And pulled me into his arms before getting away from me as fast as possible. However, I didn’t want to share those details.
“And?” She sat on her bed.
“He told me not to hang around them and that my jersey looked like shit on me.” I threw my hairbrush into the bag with an extra change of clothes.
“The last part is because he’s jealous of Jacob.” She went to the closet and started going through her clothes.
“Well, that’s too bad.” He was acting like he was the victim, not me. “He left me. He can go to hell.”
“I agree.” She put her outfit in the bag and lifted her hands. “He was a complete asshole to our new friends.”
“He’s been an asshole to everyone.” None of it even made sense. “It’s hard to believe he’s the same boy I knew.”
“It sounds like his pack is awful, but hell, so is mine.” She lifted a hand. “My pack isn’t fond of witches either.”
“You don’t seem to have a problem with them.” It was strange. How many packs hated them? Were her and Aidan’s packs different, or was it mine?
“Because I believe every person should be given the benefit of the doubt.” She glanced out the window. “Their race shouldn’t define them. Those four seem nice, and until they prove me wrong, I’m down with being their friend. But that doesn’t mean I’m leaving you alone in their house overnight.”
“Jacob will be there.” I hated that she felt obligated to go.
“You mean the guy with a huge concussion.” She waggled her brows.
“We both know he’ll be better by morning.” Wolves healed extremely fast. What took a human a week to heal only took us a day or two. That’s why going to a hospital was a huge no-no.
“But probably not tonight.” She waved toward the door. “Come on, let’s go. We can get settled in before the guys get there.”
That was probably a good idea. “All right.”
“Here we are.” Coral pulled into the driveway of an older two-story house right past the edge of campus. “Home sweet home.”
The truck was missing, so we’d beat the guys here. That made sense seeing as the guys were helping Jacob get his things together. It was probably slow going.
Amethyst opened her door and gestured for us to follow her. “Let’s get everything situated.”
As we stood from the car, I realized it was only about eight in the evening. The football game was still going on. “I’m sorry if we ruined your plans tonight.” I hadn’t even thought about it until now.
“No, you’re good.” Coral headed to the front door and put the key into the lock. “We’re headed back home tomorrow, so we wouldn’t be going to parties anyway. Inevitably, Finn would have gotten drunk and begun telling all his secrets.
Beth followed behind me. “He doesn’t seem like the secret type. He’s more like the reserved and suffer-in-silence type.”
“Oh, he is.” Coral laughed as she opened the door. “Unless he’s drunk. So you’ve been warned.”
“Then, he refuses to get up in the morning because he needs to sleep it off.” Amethyst swayed from side to side. “So in a way, you’ve done us a favor.”
“How far away is your coven?” I asked as I stepped into the house.
We entered straight into the living room. The ceilings were about seven feet high, and the walls were all white. It had maple floors with a plaid couch sitting in front of an old brick fireplace. There were two matching love seats on each side and a television mounted over the fireplace. A large staircase right in front of the door led to the second floor.