Chapter 19

Kate had to admit that driving to the middle of nowhere had become much more interesting since she met Alex. Seeing where he lived reminded her of what she’d had before her dad abandoned her family. Since then, they’d moved to one of those lower-middle-class neighborhoods that seemed to sprout amongst the cracks and fringes of every big city.

When Kate first met Alex, she figured a guy like him would never really get her. He was too perfect, too gorgeous, and had way too much charisma. Luckily for her, Kate’s grandmother saw something in him that made her want to introduce the two of them. Looking back, that was something her grandmother had never done before.

Being around Alex had made her begin to look beyond her cancer. Maybe there was more to life than a death-sentence diagnosis, or so she felt. Everyone around her had treated her with kid gloves because who knew what tomorrow would bring?

Kate was looking forward to their date; they were going on a picnic at a spot Alex had picked. He arranged for her to pick him up at work, and then they would stop at a restaurant to get something to go. She pulled around the back of CIS and used the rear entrance. She wanted to make a pit stop at the little girls’ room before their date.

Alex’s foster sister was waiting for her when she came out of the bathroom.

“Are you sure you want to be alone in the forest with Alex?”

“I know my way around the woods,” Kate said.

“Don’t tell me you were a Girl Scout?” Lyric asked with a crooked grin.

“I eat Girl Scouts for breakfast,” Kate bragged.

“I know someone who went to prison for that,” Alex said as he found them.

Lyric snorted as she tried not to laugh at his quip.

Alex pulled Kate into a hug and kissed her cheek. All Kate could smell was his cologne—rich, elegant, with a hint of leather. Geez, he smelled good. She turned her head and buried her nose in his neck. She could stay there forever.

Kate was positive Alex thought she was a weirdo, but she hoped she’d gotten away with a quick sniff. Kate pulled her nose out of his neck and found mischief dancing in his eyes. If her grandmother knew what a little troublemaker Alex could be, Gran would’ve stopped them from seeing each other. It wasn’t that he’d pushed her to do anything she wasn’t ready for; it was just that he was fun to be around.

Lyric cleared her throat to remind them she was there. Alex leaned close to Kate and whispered, “Did you just sniff me?”

The feeling of his breath on her neck made her shudder. The combination of the smell of his cologne, the minty fresh scent of his breath, and his lips close to hers made her wonder if her brain would ever function again.

“Alex,” Lyric warned.

Luckily, his boss, Grace, joined them in the back hall.

“You get back to work,” Grace said to Lyric, then turned to Alex. “And you, I’ll see tomorrow. Go have a great day.”

Dawn sat at the back table in the Grind Bar, her eyes lost in the cup of black coffee she’d been staring at for the last half hour. Learning about Alex’s past made her wonder if it made him more attractive. Knowing what a bad boy he really was and having heard how he handled himself at the train yard somehow turned her on.

She heard the jingle of the door’s bell and saw it was Alex with Kate. That was a development none of the females in Conclave saw coming. Everyone knew he had a crush on Natasha, but none of them thought anything would come of that. Dawn also didn’t see Alex surviving a long-distance relationship, so she could wait out the Kate thing.

After Kate was out of the picture, Dawn seriously thought about asking Alex out herself. She could dump her rule about him being too young because she would be a senior, so she didn’t care what people thought.

Dawn noted that they’d asked for a to-go order. While they waited, Alex guided Kate to Dawn’s table. Right before they got there, the lady beside her got up and left, leaving a napkin on the floor. Dawn leaned down and picked it up.

“It’s nice to see you serving your community service to atone for your earlier wrongdoings,” Alex joked.

“Bite me, Sunshine,” Dawn bantered back.

“We should just eat here. I don’t feel like getting eaten alive by mosquitoes,” Kate said as she sat at the table next to Dawn’s.

Dawn was impressed when Alex went with the flow and didn’t argue when his plans were changed. Maybe he’d picked up on the hint that Kate wanted some indoor alone time instead of traipsing through the woods.

Dawn and Kate chatted while Alex played with his phone. Finally, their order number was called, and he went to get it. As they began to eat today’s soup special—tomato basil—it gave Dawn a chance to pay attention to their surroundings. She noticed every girl in the place was looking at Alex like he was a piece of meat.

Dawn chuckled to herself.

“What?” Kate asked.

“You don’t see it, do you?” Dawn asked.

“See what?” Alex asked, confused.

He looked around, and all the longing stares darted back down to their fancy drinks.

“I keep telling him he’s out of my league, but he doesn’t believe me,” Kate said.

“They just haven’t met me yet. Trust me, if they had to actually talk to me, they’d all be running,” Alex said.

Dawn had to admit that Alex had turned that conversation on its head, and Kate didn’t look nearly as uncomfortable as she had just a moment before.

The three of them chatted about nothing until they’d finished their lunch. Then the door rang again, and Ethan came bounding in.

“Pool party at Kaitlyn’s! Let’s go make that party our bitch!” Ethan yelled.

Dawn saw Alex glance at Kate and note her eagerness to go to a pool party. When he looked at Dawn, she gave him a little shrug to tell the boy he might as well cave.

“I’d be up for spending time at Kaitlyn’s,” Alex said casually.

“But I don’t have a suit,” Kate said, giving him an out.

“I have one you could borrow,” Dawn said, sealing Alex’s fate.

The very idea of going to a pool party with Ethan anywhere near Kate made Alex’s skin crawl, like spider webs catching on your face. But Alex had agreed to attend.

Somehow, Dawn had stolen his girlfriend, preventing Alex from getting any personal time with her before the party.

Then Alex had an evil thought and sent a message to Lyric that might have implied Ethan planned to go skinny-dipping at Kaitlyn’s party. He made a bet with himself that his foster sister would beat him to the party.

Everyone was amazed that Lyric could control Ethan with just a glance. Alex knew Ethan would be Ethan when Lyric was out of sight, but when Lyric was around, he only had eyes for her.

Alex put on his swimsuit and let Boomer inside after doing his business.

“You know the drill. Back into the crate.”

Boomer let him know life wasn’t fair but did as he was told.

Alex grabbed a couple of towels off the dryer on his way to Dawn’s house.

This was the first pool party Kate had ever attended because no one in her neighborhood had a pool. She was a bit scandalized when she met Kaitlyn and her cheerleading friend Sandra and saw they had half their bottoms exposed.

Kate was glad Alex stayed at her side as she met everyone. Every once in a while, one of them would say something, and Alex would look over at her, smiling as if she were in on the secret. Kate would smile back.

Ethan came bounding up to her.

“Hey, there,” he said, his mouth quirking into a smile.