Covet (Clann)

with was getting an earful.
    “What’s up with your mom?”
    “Aw, she’s just ticked off ’cause some punks broke into the genealogical society office and trashed the place.”
    “Whoa. How bad was it?”
    “They busted the locks off the filing cabinets and threw a bunch of paperwork all over the place. Probably bored and stupid with nothing better to do. Don’t worry, she’ll get over it once she gets tired of hearing the detectives tell her there’re no new clues to follow.”
    Though beautiful, Jacksonville was a little short on teenaged entertainment, other than the movie theater and annual festivals and rodeo. For an average weekend when nothing was on the local calendar, most people drove the half hour to Tyler or even farther to Dallas or Houston.
    Still, who would want to break into a genealogical society’s office?
    “Now quit avoiding the subject,” Ron said. “That’s why you went berserk today, isn’t it? Because you can read Tristan’s mind. He’s been driving you nuts with his thoughts, hasn’t he?”
    Ugh. Ron had a pit bull’s gleam in his eyes. He wasn’t going to let this go.
    I sighed, exhausted by all the secrets everyone expected me to keep. “Yes, I can. And yes, he’s driving me insane. When he’s not drudging up our past, he’s picturing making out with Bethany.”
    “What a jerk.”
    The overly sympathetic tone made me smile. “Yeah, lately he is.”
    I glanced down at the textbook, realized it was turned to completely the wrong lesson, and found the right page. “What did you say to him after I left today? He was awfully quick to apologize when I got back.”
    His face became the image of innocence. “Nothing.”
    I grinned. “Yeah, right. What’d you do, threaten to beat him up or something?”
    Now there was a fight I definitely wouldn’t want to see. Both guys were around the six-foot mark in height, both broad-shouldered, muscular and fast from all their football training. They were evenly matched physically. The only way Tristan could gain the upper hand in a fight with Ron was to resort to magic.
    Before today, I would have said Tristan would never stoop that low in a fight with someone who wasn’t a descendant. But after today, I had to wonder.
    “No, I swear, we didn’t say a word to each other,” Ron said. I stared at him, but he didn’t blink. “Maybe he just felt bad about making you cry.”
    My throat tightened, making my voice come out raspy. “He hasn’t done that in a long, long time.”
    Ron reached across the table and patted my shoulder. “Want me to beat him up for you?”
    A laugh burst out of me. “I made that same offer to Anne about you.”
    His eyebrows shot up. “I take it she turned you down?”
    Smiling, I went back to reading the lesson I’d missed this morning. “Maybe she didn’t. Maybe she requested a surprise attack.”
    He snorted. “I wouldn’t put it past her. When that girl gets ticked off…”
    “Yeah, she’s a true warrior. Get her mad enough and she’ll fight just about anybody who’s doing wrong in her eyes.”
    “Which is how I know she’d never ask you to try and beat me up for her.”
    I laughed. “Of course not. She’d rather do it herself.”

CHAPTER 22
    TRISTAN
    I’d made Savannah cry today.
    I’d seen her close to tears before, and red-eyed and red-nosed from crying about Greg Stanwick once just before their breakup. I’d seen her kneeling in the rain as her grandma died, and the drops running down her face probably had been a mixture of rain and tears.
    But today, there hadn’t been a shred of doubt about what had happened in English lit. Savannah had burst into tears. Because of me.
    Which made me the biggest jerk in East Texas.
    What was wrong with me lately? I was just so dang ticked off all the time! And nothing seemed to make it go away, not even playing football.
    “Tristan?”
    “Hmm?” I answered out of habit.
    “Have you heard a word I’ve said?” Bethany’s tone finally got my attention. She actually sounded a little irritated.
    “Oh. Sorry. What’d you say?”
    She said something about costumes.
    “Great,” I murmured.
    Was Ron hugging Savannah now, even kissing her in the library to comfort her? Probably. At least, that’s what I would have done. She sure as heck wasn’t here in the cafeteria. Where would she be if not in the library with him?
    Bethany was rattling on about costumes for the dance, which I’d agreed to take her to. She’d complained about