The Pretender - Cora Brent Page 0,36
really talk and sort this out. So can we just keep this for us? Just for now? Please?”
I soften and take her hand. When she puts it that way her request is actually very cute and sincere and I keep hearing the word ‘us’ echo in my head. I like the sound of it. I like to think that there’s an ‘us’ that includes me and her.
“It is just us, Camden.”
She pulls my large hand into her lap and clasps it between her smaller gloved hands. The bus is slowing down and the gothic outline of Black Mountain Academy looms straight ahead. The snow is falling more thickly here and sticking to the ground.
Camden squeezes my hand. “I have to stay after school for a Bulletin meeting. But I’ll be on the late bus and then I’m scheduled to work from five thirty until nine.”
“I’ll already be there.”
She frowns as Black Mountain Academy closes in. “So many hours from now.”
“Just so you know, I’ll be staring at you all day long and flashing back to filthy naked memories.”
She elbows me and hisses under her breath. “I wasn’t naked.”
“Doesn’t matter. In my head you’re naked right now.”
She can’t keep herself from smiling even as she teases. “Is that all you want from me?”
I push her hair aside and whisper in her ear. “I want everything, Camden. Everything.”
She’s turned on as hell. I can tell by the flush in her cheeks and the way she breathes. The bus brakes squeal and the vehicle quakes to a stop. This will be my last chance to kiss her until much later and I don’t hesitate to take advantage. I lean in and slide my tongue between her lips. I almost lose it when she sinks into me with a moan and touches my belt. It’s going to be torture getting through the day and seeing her right there in front me, just out of reach. But we’re going to try this. We’re going to have something real. We’re going to trust each other.
Camden heads straight for the building. She turns around once, catches my eye and smiles before disappearing through the massive double doors. The courtyard is full of people exclaiming over the snow, posing for selfies and trying to pack the white dust on the ground into snowballs. Snow isn’t exactly a rare sight here in the winter but there’s something special about snow a week before Christmas so I can’t fault them for being excited. Once the holidays are over nobody will be excited for bleak winter weather any longer.
Kent catches up with me in the hallway and throws something over my head.
“Fuckface. You dropped this on the floor of the locker room on Friday.”
I’m glad to see my jacket. I thought I’d be spending time between classes trying to hunt it down. “Thanks, man.”
The first bell rings. Some girl calls out Kent’s name but he pays no attention to her. He pauses in the middle of the hallway and shoots an odd look in my direction. “I was gonna call you this weekend but I knew you were working so I figured I’d just tell you today.”
“Tell me what?”
He’s distracted now because Trina has appeared. She hugs him around the waist and he snakes a possessive arm around her. “We’ll talk at lunch,” he says and then vanishes with his girl, probably off to do something quick and pornographic.
Today I don’t really mind sitting in class, mostly because I’m not paying the slightest bit of attention to what’s going on. I’m busy staring at Camden and having such insane daydreams that I’m in danger of creaming my pants. I’m not missing much in the classroom. The teachers are going through the motions, already in vacation mode with this being the next to last day of school before holiday break.
A few times throughout the morning I catch Camden’s eye and every time she blushes with a little smirk. I don’t know how we’re going to keep this quiet when I’m dying to grab her in the hallway, pin her up against the nearest lockers and do things to her body. I want every horny son of a bitch roaming these expensive halls to know that Camden Galway is taken.
I’d forgotten all about Kent’s promise to tell me something important until he catches up with me at lunch. I’ve got my lunch tray in hand when he appears and practically pushes me toward a table like we’re dating or something.
“What the hell?” I