Chapter 4 - Part 2

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Scarlett

In my first class of the morning, my annoyance grew when Blake breezed into the room and dropped into the seat at the desk next to me.

I glared at him and he smiled back. He was deliberately trying to annoy me and I could feel my temper spring to life. Not wanting him to get the reaction he was working for, I turned to look out of the window and ignored him as best I could.

"Not talking to me this morning?" he asked in a teasing tone. Ignoring him wasn't helping, so I swung my gaze back to him as I gripped my pen in my hand tightly to try and keep my temper under control.

He leaned back lazily in the seat, smiling at me when he noticed I was trying to keep my temper under control. I so wanted to wipe that smile off his face.

"Leave me alone," I hissed at him in a whisper, not wanting to cause a scene. The class was starting to fill up.

"I wish I could, but I can't," he said cryptically as he leaned forward. His smile began to wane. I could see the joking was over and he was very serious.

"We can't leave you alone," he added.

I was about to ask him who was the 'we' he was referring to and why they couldn't leave me alone when the teacher walked in the classroom. Blake's gaze held mine until I turned to face the teacher.

I wasn't going to let him say things like that to me without explaining further, so when the class ended I made sure I grabbed his arm just as we exited the classroom.

"You need to explain what you meant earlier," I told him as he turned to face me. His usual light-hearted and teasing look was gone as he looked at me.

"I can't tell you," he explained and then added, "Just know that Cade and I are the good guys."

With no further explanation, he turned and walked away from me and I was tempted to throw a book at him.

If I was confused before, I was even more confused now. They kept spinning one riddle on top of another. I had no idea what they were talking about and they wouldn't explain.

Frustrated, I stalked to my next class. Like the day before, I kept getting strange looks from most of the students.

By lunchtime, I was tired of going around in circles in my mind. On my way to the cafeteria, I made up my mind. I wanted answers and I was going to get them.

I walked into the cafeteria and spotted the person who was going to give me the answers I wanted.

Cade was sitting at the large table on the one side of the cafeteria where the strange smell of fresh rain was the strongest. I still needed to figure out why most of the students smelled so distinctive.

I walked determinedly to the table. This morning he'd wanted to talk to me and now I was ready to talk. His eyes fastened onto me as I reached the table. The conversation died down when the other students sitting with him noticed me.

I recognized that the blond guy who had stood beside Cade yesterday was sitting across from him. He looked to Cade and arched an eyebrow.

"I want to talk to you," I informed Cade. He glanced to the blond guy and it was like they were having a conversation without words.

"I thought you didn't want to talk," Cade said as his eyes locked with mine. A shiver of awareness ran through me; I hated the way I reacted to him.

"And now I do," I said, feeling my temper beginning to grow. I crossed my arms over my chest to keep myself from slapping him.

I'd never met such an infuriating man and I seemed to lose my temper around him more easily than usual.

"Don't get your panties into a twist," he said as he stood up.

"Leave my panties out of this," I threw back at him as I followed him out of the cafeteria. If I weren't so desperate for some answers, I'd have stormed off.

Just outside the cafeteria, he turned to face me. The hallway was quiet so we wouldn't have anyone listening in on our conversation.

"So, what changed your mind? I was pretty sure after your little outburst this morning you weren't interested in what I had to say." He cocked his head slightly to the side as he studied me.

"Yeah, well, I'm tired of having these cryptic conversations with you and Blake," I said as my hands went to my hips. Cade smiled at the gesture.

"So what did you want to talk to me about this morning?" I asked when he remained silent, watching me with veiled eyes. I breathed in the distinct smell of fresh rain. I needed to ask him what type of cologne it was because half the school was using it.

He watched me quietly for a few moments before he started to talk.

"I want you to come to my house this evening," he said.

My eyes narrowed at him.

"Why?" I asked as I looked at him suspiciously.

"I need to tell you some stuff and I can't do that here," he explained softly, looking around to see if anyone was close enough to hear our conversation.

"I don't know you and I don't trust you," I told him as I shook my head. I didn't know him well enough to go to his house alone tonight. For all I knew he would be a serial killer lining up his next victim—me.

"It's simple. If you want answers, you'll meet me at my house," he stated confidently and I wanted to kick his shin. He was so arrogant, so sure of himself, I wanted to flip him off and tell him to get lost.

I was about to tell him to go and play in traffic when he leaned forward and under his breath and close to my ear he said, "I can explain why you started to change when you turned sixteen."

I couldn't help my mouth from opening in shock as I stared at him. How did he know about that? I hadn't told anyone except Gary.

"How...?" I asked, still bewildered.

"Be at my place at seven," he ordered and then turned to leave. He rattled off an address to me before he disappeared back inside the cafeteria.

Still in shock, I leaned back against the lockers and tried to figure out what had just happened. He knew about the changes. How did he know that?

Well, as much as I didn't want to, I knew the only way to find out would be to go meet him at his house.

I couldn't concentrate for the rest of the day so by the time school ended, I was relieved. Cade and Blake had been scarce since I'd had my conversation with Cade. I hurried home.

Even during my training, Gary picked up on my preoccupied mind.

"Everything okay?" he asked as he wiped the sweat off his face with a towel.

"Yeah," I replied. I wasn't ready to tell him about my short conversation with Cade. If he knew about it he would try to stop me from going and I couldn't let that happen. I wanted to know, to find out why I'd experienced the changes, and for once the answer was within my grasp.

As soon as training was over, I jogged upstairs. I tried hard to concentrate on my homework but it took me forever because I kept watching the time, wishing it would go faster.

After I finally finished, I showered and changed. I wore dark blue jeans and a white baby-doll shirt. There was no way I was dressing up for my visit to Cade's house, so instead of a pair of high heels, I settled for flat, black ballet pumps.

I decided against wearing makeup because I didn't want Cade to get the wrong idea, so I only put a little lip-gloss on.

Gary was already seated at the kitchen table when I entered. At the sight of me, he raised an eyebrow.

"Where are you going tonight?" he asked as I sat down across from him.

"I'm going out to meet a friend," I answered vaguely. Gary wasn't stupid; he knew I was trying to avoid telling him, and I knew him well enough to see he wasn't happy about it.

When Gary had become my guardian, he'd been very protective of me and he still was, even though he wasn't my guardian anymore.

"I'll be fine," I assured him as I got a plate of food.

He didn't say anything further on the subject as I sat down and ate my dinner.

"I'll see you later," I said to him as I left the kitchen once I'd finished eating. My last check of the time told me I still had half an hour, so I headed to the garage. I got into my car and programmed Cade's address into the GPS.

My answers weren't far away. It would only take twenty minutes, according to the GPS, to get to Cade's place.

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