“Where?” he asked, deflating.
“To the dance-floor, of course. And anyone here who isn’t on that dance-floor won’t see me all night.”
“Don’t think you’re leaving me behind,” said Fletcher.
At first I was surprised that the entire squad came to the dance-floor with me, but after a while I came to realise that a big reason for it was because I was getting approached by a lot of blokes since I was the only female in there. Evan’s warning gaze served as a great deterrent to the would-be-drink-offering-blokes as well.
I was dancing with Max when Evan spoke down my ear, “You probably won’t be pleased to know that Jared’s here.”
My heart did a little jump at the sound of his name. Maybe it was faulty. “I don’t care. He can go where he pleases, it’s nothing to do with me.”
“Do you realise that that’s near enough the same thing he said to me telepathically that night when you eavesdropped?”
I spun on my heel, giggling but offended. “I did not eavesdrop.” In truth, I hadn’t turned so that I could jokingly confront Evan. I wanted to get an idea of where Jared was. My senses reached out, alerting me that he was somewhere to my right near the bar. And not happy.
“I was just letting you know he’s here.”
I knew what he meant: be aware that Jared’s here and tone it down with Max or Jared might snap. I’d have disagreed, but Jared had told me telepathically that I’d saved Max’s life by saying no to him, though I never really understood why he was so mental over a bonk.
“Look,” began Evan, “maybe you should pretend you’re going to the bar for a drink and let him approach you.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because I can feel that he’s riled.”
So could I. That was the thing that got to me: I shouldn’t be able to sense his emotions so well. “It’s not my fault that Antonio wants me to lead the squad alongside Jared. I told Antonio I didn’t want to, he made it clear that it was an order.”
“So let Jared approach you, let him bring it up, and then tell him that. Let him get it off his chest.”
“Why should I reassure the plonker?”
Evan sighed. “Please, Sam?” He very rarely called me that. “Yeah he’s a pain in the ass but he’s also my twin brother. Maybe once he’s got it off his chest you two can start behaving civilly to each other again…you know, like grown-ups do.”#p#分页标题#e#
I couldn’t help smiling at that. I supposed it wasn’t very mature to snub your colleague when you have to see them and work with them every day. Plus, if we didn’t somehow sort this out how would we ever successfully lead the squad together? How could we ever protect The Hollow the way we were needed to?
Evan kissed my cheek when I sighed in defeat. I then left it to Evan to keep Max out of the way while we tested this theory that Jared had something to say. As Evan suggested, I went to the bar and ordered a drink. I then leaned my back against the bar as if having a brief rest, and kept my gaze forward as I sipped on the red grape NST. Only moments later I felt Jared approaching. Felt his eyes, felt his annoyance...and God that scent.
“I never thought you’d manage to pass as a guy.” His humour didn’t disguise his irritation very well.
“I never thought you’d manage to get entry either, considering you have to be an adult. Sulking is more a toddler thing.” I heard him take a long breath. It pleasantly tickled my skin as he exhaled.
“The squad was impressive at the arena.”
There was a slight emphasis on the word squad; the interpretation being that he believed it was them that deserved the glory, not me. I didn’t rise to that. The fact that was they were impressive and wouldn’t have been unless they had listened hard and tried hard. I was proud of them and wouldn’t take that away from them.
“I’ve noticed that they’re improving physically too,” I said. “Especially Max. You’re obviously training them right.”
He hissed slightly on hearing Max’s name. “You sound surprised that I am.”
I hadn’t sounded surprised at all. My tone had been completely flat. I realised then that he was trying to get an argument out of me. Oh he wanted to get things off his chest alright, but he wanted to argue while he did it.
“Antonio thinks highly of you, so why would I be surprised?”
“Antonio thinks highly of you, but I was surprised tonight.”
“Like you said, the squad was impressive.”
Another long, heavy breath. “Look at me.” It was said softly.