Ember X (Death Collectors) - By Jessica Sorensen Page 0,41
breathe through it. “Give me my phone back.”
She giggles as I try to pry the phone from her fingers. She rolls on her back and pushes herself across the floor with her feet and I crawl after her.
“Hi, Asher, this is Raven,” she says into the phone and I narrow my eyes. “Call Ember when you get the chance. She needs to know if you’re okay and if you like her, because it’s driving her crazy. Literally.”
I pinch her arm hard. “You are the worst friend ever.”
“Ow…” She laughs, throwing her head back. Tears of laughter flood her eyes as she keeps talking in the phone. “In fact, it’s a matter of life or death—she has to know ASAP.” She hangs up the phone.
I glare at her and rip the phone from her hand. “Thanks a lot. Now he’s going to think I’m insane.”
“Aren’t you?” She flutters her eyelashes innocently. “Besides, I was just trying to help and it shouldn’t bother you what other people think. You’ve been through a lot worse than some guy thinking you’re a stalker.”
I turn to my back, putting distance from her and her death. “I don’t know why I care, but I do.”
“I wouldn’t get your hopes up,” she says in a heavy-weighted tone. “Guys like Asher don’t really look at girls like you. They’re more my type.”
I wonder if this whole scene was to make Asher think I am insane, so she could have him. “Raven, are you sure—”
Cameron strolls passed us and I stop talking as his eyebrows dip together at Raven and I tangled up in a pile of books.
He stops in front of us and his lips curl into impish grin. “I’m kind of curious what led up to this. Was it an accident or the beginning of something kinky?”
“We fell,” I say, before Raven can feed him some dirty story, and then grab the shelf above my head and pull myself to my feet.
Raven sticks out her hand to Cameron and pouts her bottom lip. “A little help, please.”
Cameron takes her hand and tugs her up. She intentionally trips and braces herself with his shoulders. “Oh my goodness.” She squeezes his bicep. “You must work out like all the time.”
He lifts her hand from his bicep. “Not really.”
“We should get going,” I tell Raven before she can further embarrass herself.
She seductively smiles at Cameron and flips her hair before walking past him, exaggeratedly shaking her ass. “See you later, Em.” She waggles her finger at me and turns the corner.
“Sorry about that,” I say to Cameron as I round the bookshelf and collect my bag from the floor where Raven dropped it. When I turn back around, I almost run into him.
He doesn’t step back though, watching me with his hungry eyes, like he could eat me up. “You dropped this.” He hands me my phone.
I drop the phone in my bag and back up. “I’m real sorry about Raven. She can kind of be a little… overly friendly sometimes.”
“I think she might have some issues,” he informs me with a lazy grin.
“Doesn’t everyone?” I pick up a book to divert my attention away from the lust in his eyes.
He takes the book from my hands, his fingers almost touching mine, but not quite, and then he discards the book onto the shelf. “Okay, I’m going to get straight to the point. I think we should go out on a date.”
“Go out on a date?” I elevate my eyebrows. “Really? You and me?”
“Why do you sound so surprised?” he asks, amused.
I glance at my black jeans, my fingerless arm warmers, and my black and red striped tank top, then at his black button-down shirt and his name brand jeans. “I think it’s kind of obvious.”
“We’re not as different as you think,” he assures me confidently. “You like poetry, right? So I was thinking that you and I could go to a poetry slam.”
I sputter a laugh. “Sorry to burst your bubble, but there aren’t poetry slams around here. In fact, the closest thing you’ll probably find is banjo night down at Mamma’s House of Cheese Fries.”
He laughs and it momentarily erases the misery in his eyes. “You don’t think I know that.” He inches forward and the tips of his shoes clip the tips of mine. “There is, however, a Saturday night poetry slam in Jackson.”
I casually step back, seeking room before an accidental touch happens. “What about Mackenzie?”