I hesitated in taking the money, but I was hungry. “I’ll buy lunch tomorrow.”
“Good deal.”
We did have lunch the next day and every day after. And Thea. I couldn’t get her out of my head. I wanted to know the girl with the crazy hair and beautiful smile. Then one day Cam invited me home for dinner. I didn’t know at the time that by saying yes I would be forever changed.
“Boys, dinner. Thea!”
I stood in the hall out of sight as Cam came running down the stairs. He was only older than me by two minutes, but he played the older sibling card all the time. As far as ‘big’ brothers went, he was cool. He didn’t tease me, he didn’t mother me, he let me hang with him and his friends and he always had a shoulder for me to cry on. I loved Cam, even when I thought he was being a dork. But it wasn’t my brother that had me hiding in the shadows; it was the lone figure that followed after him. Damian Tate. I had seen Damian at school, but I never imagined he would be having dinner at my house. He just seemed so removed from everything, like he was a celestial being who had come to Earth to checkup on his charges. My brother knew him, and well enough to invite him home for dinner. I might have to rethink Cam’s dork status. I had watched Damian earlier in the kitchen as he stood in the corner while Cam whipped them up an after school snack. He didn’t talk very much, he watched like someone used to being on the outside looking in. And his eyes, a pale green that hid so much—a sadness that was too heavy a burden for someone so young to carry. As he had done earlier in the kitchen, he turned those eyes on me and it was the feeling that accompanied his silent stare, like he was as aware of me as I was of him, that I liked…a lot.
“You coming to dinner, kiddo?” I jumped out of my skin.
“Dad!”
“You’re skulking again.”’
“I’m not skulking. I was observing.”
“You were checking out Cam’s friend.”
“I was...” I thought to wiggle out of it, but what was the point. “Oh all right. I was checking out Damian. He’s cute, but he looks…sad.”
Dad looked past me to where the guys were settling at the table before brown eyes that I shared looked back at me. “Have you ever thought about following in your old man’s footsteps? You have a knack for reading people.”
“Becoming a cop? There are a couple of problems with that idea. First, you know my feelings about running, so chasing down a suspect is not going to happen. And blue is not a good color on me.”
Dad chuckled. “Come with me. I have something for you,” he said.
“For me? Why?”
“Why not?”
“But it’s not my birthday.”
“So.”
He took me to his study and reached for the little chest he had on top of his bookcase—a chest that was usually locked. He opened it and pulled out a small package.
“For me!”
“Open it.”
My hands shook with excitement as I tore off the paper to discover an MP3 player. “Oh my God. How did you know I wanted one of these?”
Dad gave me a look. “You’re asking this of the man taking the detective test next week.”
“Good point.” I threw my arms around him and hugged him hard. “Thank you.”
He held me close for a few minutes, long enough that I said, “Geez, Dad.”
He released me, but the look in his eyes had my next comment dying on my tongue. “Dad?”
“Edward, Thea, dinner is getting cold.”
“We better hurry or Mom will have us doing KP duty instead of Cam.”
I wondered what had brought on that look, but the moment had passed. “Thank you for the music player.”
“Maybe I’ll surprise you with something else. We can make it our little thing,” he said.
“Can I surprise you too?”
He pulled me close as we walked to the dining room. “Absolutely.”
Dad took his place at the head of the table and the only other open seat was the one next to Damian. Normally, I had an appetite that put Dad and Cam to shame, but not that night. Every part of my body felt on edge, like I was next in line for the rollercoaster…excitement and fear waging an internal war. Damian was the same age as Cam and I, but even at seventeen he was a big kid. The space between our bodies was only inches and I felt him, my entire left side burned from the proximity. He hadn’t yet spoken to me, but I didn’t need words because he was such a big presence, even being a quiet one—and he was beautiful, even more so because there was just so much hidden behind those eyes. I was pulled from my thoughts when I heard Cam laughing.