Elite (Eagle Elite) - By Rachel Van Dyken Page 0,85

and looked at Chase. “Get a bag?”

“Hold on one second!” I threw my hands into the air. “You can’t just make me leave!”

“Trace.” Nixon pinched the bridge of his nose. “Your grandfather and I decided it’s safer for you to be with me at all times. I can’t exactly shimmy into your dorm at all hours without people finding out. It’s just not safe.”

“So I’m going to be a prisoner in my grandfather’s home?”

“Of course not.” Nixon smiled. “You’re going to be a prisoner in mine.”

Chase snorted.

“What was that?” Nixon snapped at Chase.

“Air. I coughed. Found a bag.” He handed Nixon my small duffel and saluted me. “Love ya, Trace. I’ll be waiting at Nixon’s. I think it’s best if we all pow-wow together.”

“Okay.” I waved goodbye and turned back to Nixon. “You’ve lost your mind.”

“Probably.” He pulled me into his arms and sighed. “I can’t lose you again.”

I started crying softly. When had things gotten so screwed up? “I’m scared.”

“I’ll be scared with you,” Nixon murmured, repeating what I told him when I was six. “I’ll be scared until you aren’t scared anymore, okay?”

“Okay.”

“And I’ll save you from all of it, Trace. I promise.”

“That’s stupid.” I laughed into his chest. “Boys can’t save girls.”

“You’re right.” He kissed my temple. “It’s the other way around, because you saved me, Trace. You saved me when you were six and you’re saving me now.”

“By doing what?”

“Staying alive… and allowing me to rescue you.”

“Stupid girls. We always need rescuing.”

“Stupid boys, we always jump at the chance to do it.”

“I love you.” I kissed his lips softly.

“I love you too,” he said kissing me back. “Now, let’s pack. It looks like we’ll have plenty of time to slumber party in the next few months.”

“Yay.” I rolled my eyes.

“And…” Nixon grinned shamelessly. “Maybe we’ll find some time to work on that whole goal you have before you die.”

“What goal?”

“The goal.” He eyed me up and down. “You know, about not dying a virgin.”

“Ass.” I threw a pillow at him and laughed.

“Hey, I’m just offering to help with the bucket list!”

Monroe burst into the room. “Is it true?” She looked between me and Nixon and back at Nixon again.

He nodded.

She closed her eyes and let out a heavy sigh. “They’re going to come for all of us.”

“I know.” Nixon walked over to her and pulled her into a hug. “But we’ll be ready.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.” He held her hand and reached out to me. We hugged together and began packing the rest of our room up. It was going to be a long night, but not near as long as the rest of the school year was going to be. Whoever said life was boring clearly didn’t go to Eagle Elite.

The End

Stay tuned for a sneak peek of the sequel… Elect.

Elect

Book 2 (Elite)

Prologue

I gauged her reaction, hoping that I was wrong. Hoping to God that Trace would just this once listen to me. Her eyes flickered with interest for a few brief seconds before she looked down at the ground.

Shit. I waited in the shadows. A part of me knew this would happen. The part that told me to damn my feelings to hell and heed all the warning signs I’d been seeing. But now it seemed like it was too late. I stayed, planted where I was, watching, waiting.

“Chase, you can’t…” Trace shook her head. “You can’t be like this. We can’t do this!”

“We aren’t doing anything,” Chase said in low tones, reaching for Trace’s hand. “Don’t you?” He looked directly at me, though all he saw was a shadow, I knew I was well hidden. “Don’t you feel the same way?”

Trace jerked her hand away from Chase’s. “It doesn’t matter what I feel. It’s not about me, Chase.”

“But it is.” Chase reached for her again. This time her hand grasped his in such an intimate embrace I thought I was going to vomit all over the ground. The outside air was cold as hell. Little pieces of ice tried to find their way into my wool coat.

“It isn’t.” Trace sighed. “It never was.”

Chase jerked her towards him. She fell against his chest and looked up into his eyes. “What are you doing?”

“What I should have done a long time ago.” He grabbed the back of her head and pulled her in for a kiss. Their lips touched.

I had to look away.

The only sound in the night was that of my soft footsteps as I walked away… leaving my heart in broken pieces where I last