Crave (Harlequin Teen)

one tough lady.”
    I smiled. “She is. I live with my mom, too, though she’s gone a lot of the time.” He raised his eyebrows in silent question. I added, “She’s a sales rep for a safety-products company.”
    He nodded, and we ate for a few minutes. I tried to chew slowly, but it felt like my stomach was eating itself with impatience. The pizza wasn’t even making a dent in the hunger yet.
    He’d gotten us both bottles of orange soda. He opened one and handed it to me, as if he’d assumed I wouldn’t be able to get the lid open. The gesture was both sweet and amusing. Then he opened the other bottle for himself.
    “So…will you finally tell me why you wouldn’t go on a date with me before?”
    Embarrassed, I looked down at the bubbles floating up in my soda. “Well, don’t be mad, but you’re sort of off-limits to me. You and everyone else in the Clann, actually.”
    “It figures. You’ve been off-limits to us ever since you and I got married in the fourth grade.”
    Heat flooded my cheeks, tempting me to press my drink against them. “You remember that?”
    He grinned. “Hey, it’s not every day a guy gets hitched.”
    I played with my bottle lid for a moment before getting the courage to ask, “Did your parents ever tell you why we couldn’t be friends anymore?”
    “Nope. Did yours?”
    I shrugged, considering how to answer without lying or revealing too much. “My mom broke some Clann rule before I was born. So they kicked out my family and banned me from ever learning how to do magic.”
    “Huh. Must have been a major rule. I’ve never heard of any descendant being kicked out of the Clann before. Your grandma break the same rule, too?”
    “Um, no. I think they just held her responsible for not stopping her daughter in the first place.”
    “I’d love to know what that rule was.” He sounded grim.
    “Uh…why?”
    “I might have to try breaking it myself.”
    “What? Why? Don’t you want to be the Clann leader someday?”
    “No, I don’t.”
    “Why not? I would think being able to do magic would be amazing.” I almost confessed that I’d tried to do magic a few times with no luck. But something inside me held back.
    He gave a short, humorless laugh. “Magic isn’t always amazing. Sometimes it’s a real pain in the butt.” Something about the surprise on my face pushed him onward. “No, really. Magic is the reason I’m not playing football now. You know when I shoved Dylan out on the field during that game?” I nodded.
    “I didn’t exactly hit him with my hands.”
    My mouth dropped open. I’d seen magic being used right in front of me and didn’t even know it. Wow. “What does it feel like? Doing magic, I mean?”
    “Like relaxing.”
    “Is it like that for everyone in the Clann?”
    “No, I don’t think so. At least no one else seems to have the problems I do in controlling it.”
    Because he was the leading family’s son? “Well, I’m sure it’s like anything else in life. You probably just need more practice, right?”
    “That’s what Emily says. But that’s the problem. All I do is control it. Otherwise I would be blowing up crap and setting fires right and left by accident. It’s like keeping your hand clenched up in a fist every second you’re awake. I can never relax, never forget about it. I get tired of it. And then there’s the whole issue of the Clann elders trying to run my life. They don’t care what I want, only what they have planned for me.”
    “My parents told me descendants can read each others’ minds. Can you? Read minds, I mean?”
    “Sometimes, if I try really hard and the other person is focused. Mostly all I pick up are random thoughts, though, and it’s too confusing to understand.”
    “Aren’t you worried your parents will read your mind and learn about tonight?”
    One corner of his mouth kicked up. “My sister’s got me covered.” He lifted his left wrist and pointed at his watch. “She gave me this a couple years ago. She told my parents it was to help me get to class on time. What she didn’t tell them was that she’d also charmed it to block my thoughts from them. They just think it’s some kind of new ability I naturally developed with puberty, and a sign that I should be the future Clann leader.”
    Nice to know even the all-powerful Clann elders could get it wrong sometimes.
    “You know, you’re really lucky to have such a good sister.” I’d always wanted a big sister to look out for me,