beast. As Macy likes to say, easy-peasy. We’ve totally got this.
Jaxon and I head out of his room hand in hand, a lightness in my step that’s only marginally dimmed when I think I hear Hudson mutter, “We’re all doomed.”
59
Two Vampires
Too Many
Jaxon and I are the first to make it to the practice field. Because I’m bundled up in four layers of clothing, he insists I strip off the top two layers—which doesn’t sit well with me, considering I’m still freezing from the walk through the forest, but he says if I start to sweat, it will make the walk back a million times worse.
I mean, the temperature isn’t terrible—at least not by Alaska’s standards—but something tells me I’ll still be cold here in the middle of July.
“So what are we going to work on today?” I ask as I strip out of my coat, my hoodie, and my ski pants. The fact that I’m still wearing my fleece pants, leggings, a tank top, and a long-sleeve thermal shirt makes my head spin—and I’m pretty sure it always will. I guess it really is true that you can take the girl out of San Diego, but you can’t take San Diego out of the girl…
“I thought we’d see what you can do,” Jaxon says. “And I know Flint wants to get everyone talking strategy for the game.”
“He’s really taking this seriously,” I comment as I start to stretch. “Especially considering we only have a couple days to train and the stakes are so high.”
“Oh, I think he’s got a lot of reasons he wants to win,” Jaxon tells me with a look I can’t quite decipher. “Plus, I don’t think you get what a big deal Ludares is here. The whole school looks forward to March for the tournament, and the winners get bragging rights for the rest of the year. And there’s also the fact that Flint’s team came in second last year, and I’m sure he’s planning on making sure this year is different.”
I bend over and put my hands flat on the ground as I stretch out my legs. “Thankfully, considering this is our best shot at a bloodstone.”
Jaxon makes a sound of agreement deep in his throat, but when I peer around my thigh at him, there’s a gleam in his eye that says he’s focused on something else entirely: namely my butt as I bend over to stretch.
“Hey! We’re supposed to be talking about the competition,” I tell him as I open my legs wider so that I can stretch from side to side.
“Get first place, win the bloodstone, vanquish Hudson. I got it,” he says, but he still hasn’t lifted his eyes from my ass.
“Jaxon!” Heat rushes to my cheeks, but it makes me happy that he gets as much pleasure looking at me as I do looking at him—after all, I’ve been enjoying the sight of him in that compression shirt since I first saw him in it this morning.
“Sorry,” he says, coming closer to rub a hand up and down my back. “Sometimes it hits me in the face how lucky I am to have you.”
His honesty makes my knees tremble. But when I stand up, I’m still determined not to let him see how much—at least not until he leans forward and drops a kiss on first one cheek and then the other. “You’re beautiful, Grace, inside and out. And I’m so grateful you found me.”
This time there’s no hiding it as I full-on melt. “I’m really glad I found you, too,” I say as I wrap my arms around his waist and hug him close. “And ignored you every time you told me to get the hell out of Katmere Academy.”
He pulls me even closer. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“Yeah, me neither.” I press a kiss to his collarbone before pulling back. “Then again, you might have had a point. Considering the whole Lia thing and now the whole Hudson thing… I mean, I’m glad I didn’t know this was coming, because I would have run as far and as fast as I could. And then I would have missed out on you. On us. But your warning does make a lot more sense in retrospect.”
I expect him to laugh with me, but he doesn’t. Instead, he gets that tortured look on his face that I hate, the one that says he’s beating himself up over things that are completely beyond his control.
I think about trying to