Covet (Clann)

made.
    While she danced the night away in Tristan’s arms, I would be sweating it out over a big Crockpot full of cheese sauce and a plastic jar of pickles.
    I was so ready for Halloween to be over. Too bad it was still weeks away.

CHAPTER 20
    TRISTAN
    I had a real love/hate thing going on with English lit this year. Sometimes I was grateful just for the chance to sit beside Savannah and sneak glances at her when she was busy reading or writing something.
    But she wasn’t exactly making it easy for me to forget about her when she showed up wearing skirts and heels that showed off her awesome long legs.
    Was she trying to torture me now? I’d never thought of her as the sadistic type. Maybe it was a sign of her vampire side taking over.
    She uncrossed her feet and tucked them under her desk, making little stones on her heels wink and shine.
    Geez. I’d never even paid attention to girls’ shoes before. Sav was turning me into some kind of a shoe freak.
    Savannah’s feet twitched.
    A coincidence that I’d just been thinking about them. Right?
    I looked at her directly, checking to see if she was looking my way. She turned the opposite direction, bending down to search her Charmers bag for something. An excuse to avoid eye contact? Probably.
    Maybe I should try to talk to her after class, see how she reacted.
    She jumped then froze in her seat, her shoulders hunching up. Almost as if she’d heard me.
    No, she couldn’t have. Everyone knew vampires and witches couldn’t read each others’ minds. It was a basic survival mechanism that both our species had evolved over the centuries to protect ourselves from each other.
    So if I grabbed my book and dropped it on the floor…
    I started to pick up my textbook from my desktop, and her entire body flinched as if I’d already dropped the book.
    Slowly she sat back up in her seat and appeared to be copying notes from the classroom board again.
    Very carefully, I thought, Savannah. Can you hear me?
    Her writing hand jerked, her pen making a slash of blue across her paper.
    I waited for her to look at me. Instead, she went back to her note taking, her mouth tightening. It was the first sign of emotion I’d seen on her face in months, since our argument at Charmers practice last year. I’d begun to wonder if her face had become permanently frozen in that Ice Queen mask I was really beginning to hate. She used to be so easy to read, every emotion plain as daylight both on her face and in the way her eyes changed colors to match her moods.
    Lately, all those irises had displayed was that same icy silver-gray.
    On purpose now, I remembered the last time I’d held her in the council’s jet…the way she’d sat in my lap, her head on my shoulder, her arms around me. Her fingertips slowly rubbing tiny circles on my shirt. The lavender scent of her hair beneath my chin. The way it had felt to kiss her…
    She sighed. But that could have been another coincidence.
    So I tried another tactic that would hopefully get a more obvious reaction from her. I pictured myself kissing Bethany under the bleachers at the practice field. We’d never actually done this. I’d been careful not to lead Bethany on and only kissed her cheek goodbye sometimes. We probably hung out together too much as it was, but Bethany was a good friend.
    But I didn’t think about the facts now. I imagined holding Bethany in my arms, stroking her back, my hands tangling in her hair…
    Savannah’s pen snapped in half, spilling ink all over her writing hand and notes. Jaw clenched, she got up to throw both in the trash by the classroom door then asked permission from the teacher to wash up in the restroom.
    Oh yeah, Savannah could definitely hear my thoughts.
    The only question was whether I could hear hers, too, if I tried.
    I kicked back in my seat and pretended to be focused on taking notes along with everyone else. When Savannah returned, I didn’t look up. I waited until she was back in her seat and writing again. Then I willed myself to hear her mind, which was all it usually took unless the target was a descendant trained to block their thoughts from others.
    I picked up nothing. Not even a stray word or image from her thoughts. No static or music or any hint that she was actively trying to block me out.
    I tried harder, staring straight at her now, focusing all my energy on the effort.
    She sucked in air through her nose and rubbed her forearms as goose bumps appeared all over her skin.
    Crap.