BriarEdge Academy: October Read online

  “We haven’t really defined anything, but yeah, he probably does.” She ran a hand through her hair. “That’s because we are. I really like Lex.”

  “And you also really like Jonas?” Octavia guessed.

  Cautiously, Candace nodded. She prepared herself for judgmental words.

  Octavia sighed softly. “I guess it’s not that weird. Do they know about each other?”

  Guilt felt like it was eating Candace alive when she shook her head. “No, but I know I need to tell them. It’s not right to hide from either one of them that I like the other.”

  Octavia nodded. “I think you should probably tell them, but I understand how hard it is to say things to certain people.” For a moment, her gaze was haunted, and she seemed to be reliving the experience with Manion. “Has he left Isis alone?”

  Since she’d watched her expression shift, she knew right where Octavia’s mind jumped, so Candace didn’t have to ask who he was. “Isis hasn’t been alone with him since, and I hope nobody else has either. As far as I know, he’s keeping it to creepy leers and touching her shoulders.”

  Octavia shuddered. “He’s such a sick creep.” After a couple of breath, her expression brightened slightly. “Let’s not talk about him though, or anything that’s going to make us feel bad. We’ll just have a terrific time and find costumes, okay?”

  Candace was fully on board with that plan, and she joined in Octavia’s attempts to keep things light as they made their way to Kathy’s Boutique. When they stepped inside, there were several other academy people there as well, most going through the selection of costumes in a side room. It might have normally been a stockroom, or perhaps an office, but it had been converted to a costume shop for the time being.

  After browsing for a while, she and Octavia each selected a few costumes and headed to the changing area in the back. There were only three rooms, and it looked like it had once been a single room before being re-walled into three narrow cubicles. There was enough room to move in and turn around, to take off her clothes and put on the costumes, but not much more than that.

  She was about to close the door when someone squeezed in behind her. At first, she expected to see Octavia and started to tell her there wasn’t enough room for both of them to change clothes. Instead, it was Dalton, and he closed the door behind him, leaning against it.

  She glared at him. “What are you doing in here?”

  “I saw you come in and followed you,” he said unapologetically, as though that was perfectly normal behavior after virtually ignoring her for the past few weeks.

  Not that she wasn’t happy to be ignored, she assured herself. She hadn’t missed his attention. Not at all. And who was she trying to convince with that assertion? “But why? Leave.”

  “I just wanted to give you some input.” As he spoke, he took the costumes she’d selected out of her hands and hung them on one of the two hooks provided. He grimaced at the white dress. “The Snow Queen is way too virginal.” As though that was the end of the matter, he placed it on the empty hook before going to the next costume. He grimaced again. “Don’t you think the leopard thing is overdone?” He tipped his head to the side. “Though I wouldn’t mind seeing you in the catsuit.”

  She took the hanger out of his hand herself, shoving it firmly onto the hook with the Snow Queen costume. “In that case, it’s definitely out.”

  He shrugged before looking at the third one. “Now, I like this one.” He ran a finger down the faux leather jacket that was part of the aviatrix costume. “It’s formfitting enough to be sexy, but not so formfitting that everybody gets to see what you have.” He turned to face her, pushing her against the mirror, but not as roughly as he’d done sometimes in the past. “Just remember whatever you show belongs to me.”

  She shook her head. “You’re out of your mind. You go weeks without bothering me, and now this? I’m not interested in your input, your opinions, or your delusions. Get out of here.”

  “I stayed away as long as I could, wanting this to be over.” He bent closer, looking like he was on the verge of kissing her for a moment. His hand tightened briefly around her shoulder, but not hard enough to hurt. “It’s not going to be over until we face it. We just need to fuck and get it out of our systems.”

  She shook her head. “Never. Now get out. If you don’t, I’ll scream.”

  He smirked, but then he shrugged. “Yeah, you probably would. Even though you’d be more embarrassed than me, because everyone will assume we weren’t in here just talking.” He spoke the words almost against her mouth before standing up.

  When he dropped his hand, it brushed against her nipple, though she couldn’t tell if it was deliberate or an accident. She hated how it immediately hardened at the light touch. With a jaunty little wave, he stepped back from her to open the door and step out. She immediately shut and locked it, leaning against it as she listened to the sound of his feet moving farther away.

  It took a few minutes to gather her composure. Only when Olivia knocked against the other wall, likely with an elbow as she changed clothes, did she remember she was in the room for a purpose.

  With a spurt of defiance, she tried on the Snow Queen costume first. It was gorgeous, but it didn’t look quite right on her. She certainly didn’t have time to have it altered, and she didn’t want to deal with that anyway. The waistline was too high, and the bodice was too low. It would never pass inspection at the academy, since they still had to follow the dress code even with their costumes.

  With a sigh of regret, wishing it looked better on her so she could prove to Dalton that she didn’t care what he thought, she set it aside. She’d already discarded the leopard costume as a possibility after the way he reacted to the idea of her in the catsuit, so that left her with the aviatrix costume. Either that, or she’d have to go back and look for something else. Since she really liked that one, she decided to try it on.

  A couple of moments later, she looked at herself in the mirror and sighed in resignation. It looked great on her, and it fit well. As much as she hated to do anything that Dalton might take as a sign of approval, she decided it was the best choice of the three. Selecting that one had absolutely nothing to do with Dalton or his opinion.

  Chapter Five

  Candace

  On Halloween night, Candace was running late. Partially, that was Isis’s fault, because she’d spent way too long in their shared bathroom, and partly because everything seemed to be a disaster. She couldn’t find her lipstick, she had trouble finding a bra that worked with the neckline of the white blouse, and she was just fumbling with everything.

  She didn’t officially have a date, but she was meeting Lex at the entryway. He hadn’t asked her, and she hadn’t asked him. They’d just sort of reached the consensus that they would go together. She knew they were overdue for a talk about what was going on between them, and she was way, way overdue to tell Lex and Jonas about each other.

  Maybe she’d be able to do so tomorrow, after the dance. She could get Lex to come with her to the rose maze, and they could find Jonas, who would probably be around for at least an hour or two. He’d gotten in the habit of working most Saturday mornings, so they’d have some time to spend together.

  The idea of actually telling them made her stomach clench with nausea, and that cost her a few more minutes. By the time she slipped into the dance, she didn’t see Lex waiting in the foyer any longer.

  The dance was in the gymnasium, which had been dressed up to look spooky and sophisticated all at once. She knew Malone had been in charge of the decorating committee, and she had to concede that her stepsister was certainly good at one thing. Well, maybe two, if she counted bitchiness as a talent.

  She slipped inside, looking around for Lex before joining the crush of people. Movement to her right caught her attention, and she grimaced in disgust when she saw Manion slip inside. He was wearing a costume, and she was certain he wasn’t a chaperone. When he prepared to slip on a face full-face mask, she was mor
e convinced than ever.

  Impulsively, she lifted her phone and started recording, catching a full image of his face before he brought down the ghoul mask to hide his identity. She followed him as he went into the dance, moving through the students on the floor.

  She curled her lip when he approached a girl who might even be a freshman, who was dressed as a bumblebee. She still had braces, and a little bit of baby fat on her face. When Manion asked her to dance, she giggled and took his hand.

  “What’re you doing?” asked Lex from behind her.

  Hastily, she stopped recording and put away her phone. “I was looking for you,” she said as she turned around. “I’m sorry I’m late.” Her mouth dropped open in surprise, and she giggled at the costume he wore. He’d chosen an aviator, which wasn’t exactly a popular choice. “Whatever made you pick that costume?” She fluttered her lashes.

  He grinned, and he appeared to be flushing a little, though it was difficult to tell under the dim lighting. “I thought it might look good with yours. I had to order it online, since Kathy’s didn’t have anything like it.”

  She looked him up and down, admiring how handsome he was. “You look good like that.” She stepped closer, putting a hand on each tail of the scarf he wore wrapped around his neck. Holding the white cloth, she pulled him closer, until her mouth was almost against his. “Let’s dance.”

  He let out a small sigh, but he stepped back. They both knew kissing and too much PDA would be asking for trouble with the chaperones.

  Speaking of, there was Kip, standing near Suzanne. She was gratified to see he looked deeply uncomfortable, but she didn’t like how close Suzanne stood to him. She wasn’t quite touching him, but she might as well be. If Suzanne exhaled heavily, her breasts would brush against his chest. She had to restrain the urge to walk across the room and rip Suzanne away from him.

  It would be a foolish thing to do, and she wasn’t sure she had any right to anyway. She and Kip had an unspoken attraction. She was reasonably certain of that, but neither one of them had acted on it or even mentioned it.

  It remained a great unspoken secret between them, if she wasn’t imagining it all. If he was just being kind to her, she couldn’t bear the humiliation of revealing her feelings for him—especially in such a public setting that would lead to his termination and her expulsion.

  Making a determined effort, she looked away from him and back at Lex. She swayed in his arms to a slow song, and then it changed to a faster beat. They danced a few of those in a row before she was ready for punch.

  He took her hand, and they moved to a table set up away from the dance floor. As she did so, she saw Manion with the same girl. He was pressed a lot closer to her now, with one of his hands resting on her butt. He was getting away with it because they were at an angle that put them just out of sight of most of the chaperones.

  As soon as she sat down, she pulled out her phone and recorded more of his inappropriate interaction. She wasn’t certain what she could do with the footage, if anything, but she figured it wouldn’t hurt to have proof that Manion was a total perv. She doubted the girl in the bumblebee costume had any clue she was dancing with a teacher.

  Candace could reveal that, but it would lead to a big fallout. She still didn’t have Octavia or Isis’s permission to reveal what Manion had done to them, and maybe she wouldn’t need it with the visual proof of him feeling up a student, but she wasn’t ready to tackle the battle tonight. As long as Manion didn’t try to do anything besides dance with the girl, she’d keep her silence for now, along with proof of what he’d done.

  She was looking around for Lex when a hand settled on her shoulder. She looked up into the mask of a werewolf, which hid the wearer’s identity. Yet she knew who it was. “What do you want?”

  He didn’t answer as he took her hand, tugging her to her feet. When she tried to pull away, he pulled her closer.

  “I don’t want to dance.” So why was she following him onto the dance floor without him forcing her? He definitely wasn’t dragging her along with him.

  “One dance,” he said in a raspy tone, as though trying to sound like a werewolf—or disguise his voice.

  “One,” she said with a huffy sigh and stood an appropriate distance from him.

  Of course he swallowed up her space, pulling her tightly against him. “Did you think about what I said?”

  She snorted. “If you’re talking about…fucking you,” She lowered her voice to a whisper, “No. I haven’t given it a thought.”

  Dalton laughed. “Sure you haven’t.” His hand dropped to the curve of her ass, almost touching but not quite. “You know you want me. And you owe me.”

  She pulled back. “I what?”

  “You owe me one. When Malone reported you to Hastings for trying to shove her down the stairs—”

  Her mouth dropped open. “I did no such thing. I even tried to keep her ungrateful ass from falling.”

  He sighed, clearly annoyed at the interruption. “That’s what I told the headmaster.”

  She stumbled a step, but he pulled her closer, keeping the rhythm. “Does she know?”

  His sound was somewhere between a grunt and a snort. “I’m still alive, aren’t I? She’s bitching about him not doing anything.”

  “Um, well, thanks for telling him the truth, but that doesn’t mean I owe you anything.” She gasped when his hand disappeared between their bodies to stroke the scant half-inch of abdomen revealed by the tie of the shirt. “Stop that.”

  “Why? You know you like it…want it.” His finger dipped into her waistband.

  She jerked away, relieved as the music stopped. “This is a bad idea. Go back to ignoring me. It’s the best thing.”

  The werewolf shook his head. “I can’t. I tried. Believe me, I tried. I don’t want to want you.”

  “Then don’t. Just have some willpower.” Before he could reach for her again, she scurried back to the table and took the seat where Lex had left her.

  Lex returned shortly thereafter, holding out a cup of punch for her. “I’m sorry it took so long. The line was ridiculous.”

  “It’s fine. It gave me a chance to rest.” She winced at the lie, but she couldn’t find a way to tell him she’d been dancing with Dalton, which might lead to him asking why, when he knew Dalton and Malone were her least favorite people around here. She sipped it before wrinkling her nose. “It’s mostly sugar.”

  Lex winked at her. “We could make it more interesting.”

  She frowned. “How?”

  He put his finger to his lips and looked around, acting as though he was afraid someone was spying on them. He lowered his voice. “You’ll have to come with me. Do you trust me?” He held out a hand as he asked the question.

  She took it without hesitation. “Of course I do. Where are we going?”

  He grinned. “Just a little place I know. We might come back to the dance later, if you want?”

  After a brief hesitation, she nodded and moved with him toward the exit. As she went past Kip, she caught his gaze. They looked at each other for a moment, and she was certain she saw longing there, along with disappointment when his gaze moved to Lex and their clasped hands.

  The brief glance was all she had time for, because Lex was pulling her on, and she couldn’t stop to stare at him, let alone talk to Kip about this at the moment. Instead, she followed Lex out of the dance, knowing she either had to talk to Kip, or she had to talk herself out of her infatuation.

  Lex led her around the building and out onto the quad. It was soon obvious he was heading to the rose maze, and she stumbled. “I don’t think that’s—”

  He shook his head. “No one will know, I promise. Hardly anyone goes in there.”

  She had mixed feelings about plunging into the maze with him. She couldn’t imagine sharing the special space with Lex after sharing it with Jonas, but she couldn’t figure out how to tell him why she didn’t want to slip away to make out in the rose maze.

  To her relief
, he stopped partway through and took a seat on a bench. They hadn’t made their way to the center and the gazebo, which she thought of as her and Jonas’s place. She sat beside him, feeling nervous to start with. When he removed a flask from his inner pocket and topped off their punch with some kind of alcohol, she eyed hers warily. “I don’t know about this.”

  He grinned. “The vodka just gives a little kick. I didn’t bring you here to get you drunk.” He leaned a little closer. “But if it loosens your inhibitions, I’m okay with that.” He winked at her as he put an arm around her shoulders. “You can trust me.”

  She did trust him. It was herself she wasn’t sure she could trust. Could she put the brakes on if things went too far? It wasn’t like she was dying to hold on to her virginity. In fact, she’d been on birth control since before her mother had married Ashton. She’d just never had any cause to use it with anyone yet, because there hadn’t been anyone who made her feel that deeply before. Lex did, but he wasn’t the only one, and that was what was holding her back.

  After an awkward silence, she sipped at the punch and alcohol. She gasped. “Oh, that’s horrible. It burns my throat. Shouldn’t a rich boy have smooth alcohol?”

  Lex laughed. “I have to settle for what’s in my dad’s liquor cabinet.”

  She bent down to put the cup on the ground. “Whatever it is, it’s vile.”

  “Do you need something to get the taste out of your mouth?” He asked the question with an exaggerated lascivious leer.

  She rolled her eyes. “Maybe a breath mint.”

  “I don’t have any of those, but I can give you sweet kisses.”

  She couldn’t help a giggle as his mouth got closer. “That was so cheesy, it almost goes with wine. Do you have any of that in another flask?”

  Instead of answering, Lex pressed his lips to hers in a deep kiss. Since that day in the darkroom, their kisses had been hot, intense, and full of longing. This one was no exception. She knew where they were leading, but she promised herself she wouldn’t let it get to that point until she told Jonas about Lex and Lex about Jonas. Her greatest fear, besides them both rejecting her, was they would ask her to choose. That was only logical, but she had no idea how she was going to do it.