“No, a camera is for making sure you don’t mess up. They are meant to be precise.” He pointed at Damien and sighed. “Bears, though, are notoriously bad for giving directions, so if I don’t hit anything, it’s because I’m a good driver.”
“Do you just say shit and hope it makes sense?” Jess rolled her eyes and leaned against the car door.
“You haven’t figured that out till now?” Rage leaned over me and hit the back of Cole’s seat. “He has diarrhea mouth.”
“That is offensive.” He put the car in reverse and kept his eye on Damien, who was standing out in the road, guiding him to back on out. “You both think you’re so punny, but it’s a fact that vampires don’t poop. Therefore, it’s impossible for feces to be coming out of either of my orifices.”
I wasn’t going to touch that with a ten-foot pole. “You do realize you just need to back straight out.” It was as if he was losing his damn mind.
Within a few seconds, we were out of the driveway.
The front passenger door opened, and Damien jumped back in. He closed his eyes and leaned his arm against the door handle. “Don’t ask any more questions. It’ll just encourage him to go even crazier.”
That was true since Cole always went for shock value.
A phone rang, and Rage shifted toward me, grabbing the phone from his back pocket. “Ugh, it’s Isadora.” He swiped the green button and put the phone to his ear. “Hello.”
“I need you here now.” Her voice was so loud everyone could hear it easily. “Please tell me you’ve left. As usual, Cole wouldn’t give me a straight answer and was trying to pull his shit on me.”
“We’re on our way.” Rage sighed and wrapped an arm around me.
“Good, bring Raven with you.” There was a click, and the line went dead.
“She wants me there?” Her request was odd. Most of the time she acted like she couldn’t stand me and that my mere presence bothered her.
“Yeah, I don’t know why.” Rage frowned and placed his phone back in the pocket. “It’s definitely strange, and I don’t like it.”
“What did you expect, grumpy?” Cole turned on to the main road and accelerated. “She’s one of us now.”
Even though I liked the sound of that, I was pretty sure that Isadora didn’t agree. There was no telling why she wanted me there. Each time we’d met, it had been around bad things going on. So I was pretty sure she hadn’t changed her opinion of me and just wanted to have a girl talk. Now I was dreading what we were walking into.
Chapter Four
It was early morning when we rolled back into the Academy’s parking lot. I thought back to the first time we did this. Damien, in bear form, had come running out from the forest, and my wolf forced me to shift. It seemed strange that a little over a year ago, I had struggled so desperately with my wolf. Thinking about it now made it feel like it was years ago.
“So … I guess I’ll head back to the dorms.” Jess climbed from the car with a pout.
She hated to be excluded, but this was something she didn’t want to be involved with. As I scooted out of the backseat, I stretched out my arms and legs. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed being squashed against Rage. After eight hours in the car, my body protested the small amount of room.
“Sorry, shorty.” Cole frowned and wrapped his arms around her. “But honestly, calls from her aren’t usually a good thing, especially when she was adamant that we get back here.” He pulled away and lifted a finger. “Unless she missed my gorgeous face.”
“I doubt it was that,” Damien grumbled and scowled in Cole’s direction. He had fallen asleep for a while. When he had started snoring, Cole silently opened the center console and pulled out some chocolate pudding. He ignored our questions as he opened the package and stuck a finger in the fudge. He then started crying out in pain and swerving all over the road. Damien had startled and crammed his body against the car door. Long story short, he thought Cole had shit on his hand until his bear senses centered him and he smelled the sweet fragrance. Needless to say, he wasn’t happy with Cole and his wake-up call.
“Don’t hate, hater.” Cole turned toward him and waved him off. “I don’t need your bad juju.”
“We don’t have time for this.” Rage trekked to me and brushed his fingertips on my cheek. “If you’re tired, I’ll tell Isadora that you couldn’t make it.”
He wasn’t thrilled about me being involved with the headmaster. She was a handful at the best of times. On top of that, he was concerned about my well-being. Between my parents and Isadora, I was too keyed up to go to sleep. “No, she wants me there too.” I stood on my tiptoes and pressed my lips to his. “We’re in this together.”
“Always.” His eyes lightened as a small grin peeked out.
“I never thought Rage would settle down.” Cole tilted his head. “But not only is he firmly committed to one girl, he’s whipped.”
“You’re just jealous.” Jess smacked his arm. “He’s not whipped. He’s caring and attentive. If Raven wasn’t my best friend, I’d hate her just because of that alone.”
A phone dinged, and Damien pulled it from his front pocket. “Damnit, we gotta go. She knows we are here and lollygagging.”
“It’s like the bitch has eyes everywhere.” Cole spun around, looking in every corner.
I snorted and glanced at Jess. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Alright, just don’t wake my ass up when you come in.” She yawned and sighed. “I’m exhausted. Have fun.” She turned and made her way back to the dorms.
“Time to face the music, guys.” Cole turned and merrily strolled toward the main house.
“Doesn’t he ever get tired?” The vampire always had endless energy, no matter the time or task.
“I used to think he had to.” Damien sighed in defeat. “But I’ve never seen him get tired. He’s perky when he gets up and the same even when going to bed every night over the past three years.”
“Perky isn’t the word I’d use for him.” Rage shook his head as he watched Cole. “I can think of a few better. Smartass. Annoying. Attention Starved. Needy.”
“Oh, Shameless.” Damien huffed.
“Come on, guys.” Cole opened the door and motioned for us to hurry up. “The longer we take, the angrier she’s going to be.”
“Weren’t you part of the reason we were lollygagging?” Sometimes conversations were like whiplash with him.
“Don’t throw my past mistakes in my face.” Cole arched his eyebrows and lowered his head.
“It was less than two minutes ago.” He had lost his damn mind.
“Exactly.” He held out both of his hands and shook them with each word. “In the past.”
“Just don’t.” Rage closed his eyes and took my hand as we walked through the door. “You know there is no winning with Cole logic. It always slants in his favor.”
“I’m glad you finally caught on.” Cole followed behind us but reached forward, pushing Rage’s shoulder. “It only took three years.”