Page 37 of The Golden Receiver

One of the downsides of being on the football team was that I didn’t have a lot of free time. I had weight training in the morning, classes in the day, and then practice until late. Then I had to study and at least pretend I cared about the academic side of college, that I wasn’t just there so I could play football for just a little longer and keep my dream of being the first monster in professional football alive.

It meant I didn’t get to see enough of my pack. Not the ones on campus, and certainly not the ones who still lived at the warehouse. I missed them. Which was why when Kali sent a text to our (very active) group chat to invite us all to dinner, I agreed immediately. It was an invitation for a Sunday: meeting in the afternoon and staying as late as we wanted. Most of the pack members who were on campus agreed to go.

Luke picked us up outside of Karloff Hall in one of the SUVs the pack owned. We all piled in. The closer we got to the warehouse, the more relaxed I became. When we got to the warehouse, we all piled out and went inside. Kali was in the industrial sized kitchen with a few of the younger pack members. I didn’t know what she was cooking for dinner, but it smelled amazing.

“Need any help?” I asked, more out of obligation than any real desire to help in the kitchen. Kali had tried to teach me to cook over the years, but I had never mastered more than the basics. I could make a mean spaghetti, and that was about it. Anything else required careful supervision, and it usually resulted in at least one fire alarm going off. It was a whole thing.

“We’ve got it. You kids go relax,” Kali answered, smiling over her shoulder.

I didn’t need telling twice. I turned around and left the kitchen. Nick and Serena were right behind me. Charlie lingered for a moment. It took Serena tugging at his arm to get him to follow the rest of us. We all ended up in one of the common areas on the third floor of the warehouse. It had overstuffed couches, a television, and a Foosball table set up. I plopped down on one of the couches, taking over the entire thing. Nick and Serena settled on another. Charlie plopped down onto the floor, leaning against a giant armchair. A few younger pack members were playing Foosball.

“How’s college?” The question came from the younger girl, Daisy. She was a senior in high school, and I knew she was planning on applying to Creelin University next year. She was an amazing swimmer, and she had eyes on the school swim team. I wasn’t surprised that she was the first person to ask about school.

We told her a little about our classes. Luckily, no one pointed out the fact that I talked the least about my schooling. After all, they all knew that I wasn’t the most serious student. School was nothing more than a means to an end for me: the ends being playing football. Charlie, on the other hand, had the most to say about his classes. He loved school. Honestly, I thought he and Preston would probably make very good friends. They could bond over schoolbooks and taking notes.

Conversation moved on from our classes to the more interesting topics of social lives. Well, more interesting for Nick and Serena. They had much more active social lives than I did, but then, they didn’t spend most of their time playing football. Next semester, I’d have more time for a social life.

“Oh, and Evie’s got himself a boyfriend,” Nick chirped a few minutes into the conversation. It wasn’t as non-sequitur as it seemed. Serena had just been talking about a guy she’d been going on dates with for the past few weeks.

But it knocked me for six.

“I do not have a boyfriend,” I corrected immediately.

“Then why do you always smell like that human on your football team?” Serena asked. “You reek of him. Like all the time.”

Did I? I must have smelled really good then, because Kieran was the best smelling person I’d ever had the pleasure of knowing. And that included all humans and monsters.

“We’re not dating.”

“Then why do you smell like him?” the boy playing Foosball with Daisy, Will, asked. He was a junior in high school, and I’d heard enough stories over the summer to know that he wasn’t exactly innocent.

“I hang out with him a lot. We’re both on the same team, and we run together,” I explained. Unfortunately, I could feel heat rising to my cheeks. If I could feel it, then I knew that they could see it. Maybe they wouldn’t be able to see the redness because colorblindness was common in werewolves, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t notice if my cheeks got darker.

I looked down, trying to avoid the inevitable.

“Oh my god, he’s blushing!” Serena shouted.

Clearly, looking down did not work.

I took a deep breath. When my face cooled down, I looked back up. “I wasn’t blushing,” I lied. “And we’re friends. That’s it.”

Serena and Nick exchanged looks. Charlie let out a hum of disbelief. I refused to look back to see if Daisy and Will looked convinced or not. Everyone was quiet for a moment. I got that weird feeling that sometimes came when I felt like people were communicating with their eyes and leaving me out. “Do you have a crush on him?” Charlie asked.

I guess the silent communication meant that the question fell on his shoulders.

“No.”

I knew that my answer was a lie the second it passed my lips. Worse, I knew that they knew too.

Luckily, my pack mates let the topic drop.

For now.

With them, it was always just for now.

Chapter Thirteen

Kieran