The Wide Receiver Outcast Read online

  Ms. Smith folded her arms over her chest, and I could hear the soft sigh she released. She was trying to get a handle on her emotions. I could feel them as they coursed through her. They were as real as my own.

  “I’m sorry. I, um, I must have misspoken.” She ran her hands through her hair, flicking the ends in my direction.

  It took all the strength I had not to close my eyes and breathe in her scent. The desire to explore this new awakening was strong and rattled my nerves.

  Even though I knew I shouldn’t, I shot her a smile and leaned in. “It’s okay. We’ve all had those kinds of days.” I raised my eyebrows as I took in her wide eyes and soft features.

  She held my gaze for a moment and slipped her bottom lip in between her teeth and pressed down on it as a contemplative expression passed over her face. Like she was trying to figure me out.

  I wanted to hope that, maybe, she was feeling the chemistry that was zapping between us, but I doubted it. I was only feeling this way because I was exhausted and my emotions were on edge from being here. That had to be the explanation.

  Nothing else seemed plausible.

  Then she sighed and nodded toward the hallway. “Come on, let’s get moving. I’ll show you to your first class and then I’ll be back to pick you up and show you to your next class.”

  I kept pace behind her. That way I was allowed to study her unnoticed. I wanted to take her in. To memorize the way she moved. She was like a drug that my body hadn’t known it needed but most definitely wanted.

  “So, do you go by anything besides Ms. Smith?” I asked, my voice coming out deeper than I intended. Which annoyed me. I cleared my throat. I must have something in it. That’s what accounted for my change in tone.

  She glanced behind me. Her blue eyes caused my breath to catch in my throat. They were so open, so raw, and I doubted she even knew how intoxicating they were.

  “Brielle,” she said.

  Brielle, I repeated in my mind. It was beautiful. Just like her.

  I pushed that thought far from my mind. There was no way I could let a complication like Brielle into my life. What was I thinking? I was pretty sure I’d gone completely crazy.

  It had to be Bronson and his challenge from earlier that was confusing me. I guess I hadn’t expected to meet Smoky Hill’s bodyguard two seconds after setting foot on school property.

  It was his fault I was so distracted, that I seemed to be having thoughts and feelings for Brielle that I knew shouldn’t be there. Having feelings for anyone in the human-lovers pack was not in the book for me.

  Feelings only led to actions, and actions would complicate my time here. I didn’t need any of that. My home was counting on me, and I wasn’t about to let them down.

  Brielle must have stopped, because suddenly I barrelled right into her. She gasped, and instinct took over. Instead of letting her fall to the ground, I wrapped both arms around her and pulled her to my chest.

  “Whoa,” I said, my voice deep and throaty. I was trying to ignore the heat that permeated my skin from her touch. Every point of contact was shooting electricity through my body straight to my heart.

  And I froze. I didn’t know what to do. Part of me wanted to keep standing there with my arms wrapped around her waist, pressing her against my body. The other part of me wanted to run far away from here.

  With such conflicting feelings coursing through me, they paralyzed me. Which was ridiculous. I’d never had this happen before. How could one person—one girl—rattle me like this?

  “Mr. Young,” Brielle whispered as she rested her hands on my chest and pressed against me. “You can let me go now. I’m not going to fall over.”

  I blinked a few times as I pulled myself from the trance I was in. Then, as if her skin was burning hot, I dropped my arms and jumped back, running my hands through my hair.

  I needed to get a grip right now. If any of this got back to Brutus, I was in trouble. Like, lose my life kind of trouble.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled as I glanced around, shoving my hands in my front pockets. They needed to stay there. Even though I knew I shouldn’t let them, they were desperate to reach out and find Brielle again.

  She folded her arms in front of her chest and shook her head. “That’s fine,” she said, her voice low. “Just don’t let it happen again. Your first period is here.”

  I forced a smile and then glanced at the room she’d pointed to. “Here?” I asked.

  Brielle followed my gaze and nodded. “That’s right.” Then she nodded toward the other hallway. “I have choir, so I’ll be down there. But I’ll be back to show you to second period.”

  The desire to keep her close came over me, but I pushed it aside. Then, not wanting to stand there looking like an idiot, I made my way over to the classroom door and rested my fingers on the door handle.

  Before I could stop myself, I turned and said, “The name’s Matthew.”

  Heat crept up my skin as she slowly smiled and nodded.

  “Nice to meet you, Matthew,” she said softly.

  My whole body felt as if it were on fire, and for just a moment, I allowed that reaction. But then reality came crashing down around me. I cleared my throat, pushed down on the handle, and slipped into the back of the classroom.

  The teacher was at the front of the room. He paused and ran his gaze over me. He nodded toward the empty desk a few feet away from me, and I readily took it. I didn’t want to stand out here. I wanted to slip into the shadows and fulfill my duty.

  Relief flooded my body as the sound of Brielle’s heartbeat faded into the distance. With her gone, there was a much greater chance of me getting some control over my thoughts and reactions. I was finally going to be able to get my head on straight and focus on why I was really here.

  And that was to make sure that the next alpha in the Mother pack was not a human-loving Bronson.

  Things were changing in the Mother pack, and it was my responsibility to see those changes through.

  No matter what.

  3

  Rose

  I thought I knew pain. Apparently not.

  What I was feeling as I walked through the hallways at school wasn’t like anything I’d experienced in my life.

  Grayson was gone, and I doubted—even though I was holding out hope—that he would ever come back.

  I spent the entire morning at the diner on edge. Every time the door opened, my heart pounded as I whipped my attention to who was walking in. And, every time, a rush pulsed through my body before I crashed back to Earth when I discovered that it was most definitely not Grayson.

  I never realized how much I missed Grayson and his random drop-ins every day at the diner until he was gone. I’d grown to expect him to come in, and when he didn’t…well, it was as if a part of me had died.

  I gripped my books to my chest as I made my way through the hallway with my head down. I really didn’t want to talk to anyone, and thankfully, I wasn’t popular enough to be stopped.

  It didn’t take long before I found Cora. She was standing in front of her locker, staring inside of it. I blew out my breath as I leaned against the locker next to her. I could feel her sadness, and that was comforting.

  She knew the pain that coursed through me. I took solace in that.

  “How was your morning?” she asked as she glanced over at me.

  I shrugged as I tipped my face toward the ceiling and closed my eyes. “I’ve had better.”

  Cora snorted. “Tell me about it.” I could hear her shuffling things around in her locker.

  It was strange, this connection I felt to Cora. It was like we knew exactly what the other was feeling. There was a certain camaraderie between us.

  We were both in love with wolf shifters. And we both couldn’t have the one thing we wanted.

  The wolf shifters.

  Not wanting to wallow in my self-pity, I took in a deep breath and straightened my head, glancing around the hallway. A very large and very colorful banner hung on the wall in
front of me with the words Masquerade Homecoming Ball.

  Great.

  Just what I needed.

  A place where everyone was dancing and falling in love.

  “Bleh,” I said.

  Cora glanced over at me. “What’s wrong?”

  I nodded toward the banner and Cora followed my gesture with her gaze. She studied it for a second before she sighed and turned her attention back to her locker.

  “Are you going?” I asked, desperate for something to think about other than Grayson and how much it hurt that he was gone. But then, just as the words left my lips, I realized that I should have never brought it up. With Grayson gone, there wasn’t anyone else I wanted to go with. And I couldn’t imagine Cora feeling any different.

  The sound of Cora’s locker shutting drew my attention over to her. She was standing in front of her locker with her head tipped down toward the floor. Her expression was a pained one, and I suddenly felt like the worst friend.

  “I’m sorry,” I said as folded my arms over my chest and squeezed.

  Cora shook her head as she shut her eyes for a moment and then opened them again. “It’s okay. I’m okay. It’s hard, but it’s getting easier day by day.” Her smile was forced as she met my gaze.

  I studied her for a moment before I nodded. “Right,” I said.

  And I knew that what she was saying was the truth. I knew what that pain was like. I lived with it every day. It wasn’t like I didn’t know loss. My parents were gone. Dead.

  So I knew what she said was true—things would get easier—it was just hard to remember. Especially when the pain I felt from losing Grayson was so deep and so acute that it took my breath away every time I thought about it.

  Cora gave me a small smile as she pushed away from her locker, and I fell into step with her as we made our way down the hallway to first period.

  “Think Christopher will ask you to go with him?” I asked, peeking over at her.

  I knew that Christopher wasn’t Liam, but they’d been spending time with each other. He seemed like the perfect guy to help her forget Liam.

  “I don’t know.” She sighed.

  I nodded. “Yeah. Well, if you don’t go with him, we should go together. I mean, it is our last homecoming dance for the rest of our lives. We might regret it if we don’t.” Even though I hated the idea of dancing with my fellow students, I also hated the idea of sitting at home wallowing in my self-pity. After all, a distraction was better than my own thoughts.

  Cora nodded, drawing my attention over to her. “Sure. It’s a date.”

  I grinned at her as my first period classroom came into view. I gave her what I hoped came across as a confident smile. Something that reassured her that we could get through this. It felt like a complete lie, but hey, I was willing to fake it for now.

  “Have fun,” she said as she nodded toward the classroom door.

  “You too.”

  She peeled off, getting lost in the crowd of students all rushing to their first period classes. I pulled open the classroom door and slipped into the room. I ignored everyone as I made my way to my desk, where I sat down and pulled out my books.

  I took a deep breath and tapped my pencil on the desk while I waited for Mrs. Trenton to come in and start class. I was ready to lose myself in the mundane schoolwork and lectures. At least then I could focus on something other than the complete lack of Grayson in my life.

  I could pretend that I didn’t need him anymore. That it didn’t matter that he was gone.

  I could live the lie that I was convincing myself of every minute of every day.

  Grayson was gone, and I was going to be okay.

  And even though I knew it was a complete lie, I couldn’t deviate from that thought.

  Not if I wanted to survive.

  4

  Cora

  The school day seemed to drag on and on. By the time the bell rang for lunch, I was ready to be finished. I grabbed my backpack and books and headed out of chemistry. Once I was out in the hall, I heard Christopher call after me, but I really wasn’t in the mood to talk to him.

  Sure, we’d had a fun Saturday as we took care of the doll, and he was sweet and cute…but he wasn’t Liam. And I wasn’t sure I was ever going to convince myself any different.

  I made it to my locker in record time. After spinning the dial, I pulled up on the release and the door swung open. After shuffling some books around from my backpack to my locker and vice versa, I straightened and moved to shut the door.

  But before I could even move, I caught a glimpse of Liam from the corner of my eye and my entire body froze. I forget how to move.

  Liam was walking over to his locker. It was moments like this that I cursed the fact that we had lockers so close together. It was like fate was laughing at me. Horrible, ugly fate.

  One day, we were going to have words.

  “Liam!”

  My body chilled as I saw Katie round the corner and rush over to him. I swallowed as anger rose up inside of me. Tears pricked my eyes as I stared daggers at my locker.

  It was hard, the desire to run battled with the desire to stay. There was no way that I wanted either of them to know how I was feeling. That being away from Liam was literally crushing me on the inside.

  I needed to be strong, and standing here while they flirted felt like the only way I was going to prove that. As crazy as that sounded.

  “What do you want, Katie?” Liam’s low voice washed over me, causing goosebumps to rise up on my skin. My breath hitched in my throat, and for a moment I wondered if Liam was listening to the change inside of me. If he still knew exactly what he was doing to my whole body.

  “I just wanted to let you know that I’m still dateless for homecoming. You know, in case you wanted to ask.”

  From the corner of my eye, I saw her lean in and wrap her arm around his. Anger. Hurt. Betrayal. All of those emotions rose up inside of me like a tornado during a summer rain.

  I felt suffocated. My heart was pounding so hard, I could hear it in my ears.

  The flight response inside of me took over, and all I could think about was getting out of there.

  I slammed my locker and turned. The only thought in my mind was making my way to the lunchroom. Standing in line and battling hangry students sounded much better than standing in the hallway, watching Liam and Katie make plans.

  Just as I neared them, Katie suddenly stepped out in front of me. Her eyes were wide and her eyebrows raised as she ran her gaze over me.

  “What’s the matter with you?” she asked as she blocked my retreat.

  I cleared my throat and blinked back my tears as I forced myself to stand tall. There was no way I was going to let this girl intimidate me like that. I was tired of her bullying, and I was going to let her know it.

  After all, that was just about the only thing I seemed to be able to control in my life right now.

  Ignoring Liam’s gaze, that I knew was on me—and burning a hole in the side of my face—I turned to face Katie head-on.

  “Leave me alone,” I said as I gripped the straps of my backpack.

  “Excuse me?” Katie asked, stepping forward.

  “Just leave her alone,” Liam said as he neared.

  I shot him a glare. “I don’t need your help,” I said, furious that he thought he could once again reinsert himself in my life. Like I wasn’t capable of taking care of myself.

  “Cora,” he said, his voice lowering from the obvious pain I could hear inside it. That, mixed with the way he was staring into my eyes, took my breath away—and angered me at the same time.

  This wasn’t fair. Any of it. I didn’t choose to fall in love with him, and yet, here I was, completely and totally smitten by the one guy I couldn’t have.

  “You heard her, Liam,” Katie said as she once again snaked her arm around his and pulled herself closer. “Cora doesn’t need your help.”

  I glared at Katie as rage and pain coursed through me. The only other time I’
d felt like this was when Dad died. When I realized I had no control over that kind of hurt. But this? This I could control, and I wasn’t going to let some Barbie-doll bully push me around.

  So I acted. The storm inside of me came to a head and there was nothing I could do to stop myself. Suddenly, my hands were on Katie. I shoved her and she went down, sprawling across the floor.

  She screamed, but I barely heard it. Instead, all I could think about was showing Katie she couldn’t push me around anymore. And, maybe, that she couldn’t claim Liam like that.

  Just as I moved to attack again, two very strong arms wrapped around my middle and pulled me away. I struggled against their strength as I tried to wiggle free.

  Katie was going to get away with how she was acting, and there was no way I was going to let that happen.

  “Let me go.” I growled and pushed against the arms around my middle. I would know those arms anywhere. I’d felt that grip multiple times. Liam was once again inserting himself into my life.

  “Ms. Gray.” Mrs. White’s voice rose above the chatter of the crowd. Realization hit me, causing my body to turn limp. The agitation that had been coursing through my body faded, and I was left with this empty feeling in the pit of my stomach.

  One that told me I was about to get into trouble.

  “I’m so glad you showed up,” Katie said as she scrambled to stand. “Cora pushed me.” Katie pushed out her lower lip as she turned to face Mrs. White.

  Mrs. White glanced over at her and then back to me. I could tell that she wasn’t too upset that I had pushed Katie. After all, it wasn’t any secret that Katie was the mean girl at school. I knew it. The teachers knew it. And I couldn’t help but wonder if, according to Mrs. White, Katie had a little karma headed her direction.

  “Is this true, Ms. Gray?” Mrs. White asked as she leaned in to study me.