As we stared each other down, I realized I was being petty, immature, and unreasonably jealous, but any girl who has ever faced competition over a guy knows what it looks like when she meets it head-on.
I had a horrible feeling I was going down.
Twisting around to the kitchen island to take a section of orange gave me a moment to compose myself. When I turned back, Ava and Michael sat together at the table, her hand on his knee. I turned back around.
I’d squeezed my orange into juice.
Taking another paper towel from the bunny holder, I used it to wipe away the stickiness dripping through my fingers. Dune broke the silence with his deep voice. “So, Emerson’s moving into the Renegade House?”
“Just a day trip,” Michael answered. “Nate, close your mouth.”
“I thought you guys got here last night? I heard voices late,” Nate said after swallowing loudly.
I turned around in time to see Michael move Ava’s hand back to her own lap. She poked out her bottom lip, and I wondered what I was missing.
“Cat, there’s something I need to talk to you about,” he said. “Alone. Do you have any time today?”
“I do.” Cat’s forehead creased slightly as she looked from Michael to me, then back at Ava. “Let me take care of some things upstairs and I’ll be right down.”
Dune stood and pushed his chair back. It screeched on the hardwood floor, the sound putting me on edge. More on edge.
“I should go get our gear together. Water’s waiting.” He disappeared for a second before popping his head back into the room. “Nice to meet you, Emerson.” He looked at Ava and was gone again.
“Water?” I asked. “What does he mean by that?”
“Oh, just that Dune’s got some skills when it comes to aquatics,” Nate answered. “Legendary skills.”
“He’s got some legendary skills of his own.” Michael pointed at Nate. “Not only is Nate a mass consumer of protein, he’s—”
“Ah, let’s save the details for another time. As for the protein, I’m trying to build bulk. It’s not going very well.” Nate pointed to his bony chest and grinned. He unfolded himself from his chair, all skinny arms and knobby knees, and followed Dune. Leaving me alone with Michael and Ava.
She stared at me coldly before sweeping her hair over her shoulder and returning her attention to Michael. There was nothing cold about the way she was looking at him. “I need to see you. In my room.”
She lived here?
My stomach dropped. Now I understood Cat’s comment. She was surprised Michael had brought me here, considering Ava lived in the house. Last night I’d curled up on his lap and poured my soul out to him.
I’d been emotionally naked with him on the couch while Ava had been asleep upstairs.
And from the way she was looking at him, they were way more than friends.
Chapter 27
Michael’s gaze moved from Ava to me, lingering on my face, probably assessing the damage. “Let me get Em … erson taken care of. I’ll be up in a sec.”
Take care of me? Is that what he’d tried to do last night?
He was still staring at me when Ava stood up.
“Don’t be long.” She walked past me without a glance.
I thought of her picture on the bookshelf in Michael’s loft and kind of wished I’d swiped it.
Because I really wanted to throw darts at it.
I dropped into a vacant chair, crossed my arms and my legs, and waited for Michael to say something.
“Um … I guess I should explain.”
“Explain what?” A definite undercurrent of something unpleasant in my voice betrayed my light tone.
“Who all these people are. I told you the Hourglass did consult jobs and mentoring.” He pulled out the chair beside mine and started to sit down. I gave him the evil eye, and he put his foot on the seat instead, resting one forearm on his leg as he explained. “You saw last night how big the house and grounds are.”
“I did.”
“Dune’s from Samoa, Nate is from New York, and Ava’s from California. They’re boarders who came here to go to the school Liam set up.” He kept his eyes on mine. “Other kids go there, too, but most of them moved here with their families.”
“There’s a school attached to the Hourglass?” I asked, liking the idea but not happy about the timing of the discovery.
“Liam staffed it. Being educated by teachers who understood us was the only way a lot of us are able to get a decent education. Nate and Dune were asked to leave school after Landers figured out they weren’t going to go along with the way he ran things. That’s when they moved in here.”
I couldn’t fathom it. Never having to explain anything because everyone around possessed qualities as strange as yours. Not needing to make excuses to leave a classroom because a flapper girl from the 1920s chose to perform the Charleston beside your teacher while he lectured on the reproductive qualities of frogs.
“The place must be amazing.”
“Most of the time. That many varied abilities in the same square footage …” Michael grinned. “I’ll tell you some stories sometime.”
After meeting Ava, I didn’t foresee a lot of time with Michael in my future. Of course, he knew way more about the future than I did, not that he was sharing the information. “Nate called this the Renegade House. Why?”
“It’s his name for those of us who were booted out by Landers. Since we’re working against him, we’re renegades.”
“But Ava didn’t get the boot? And did the two of you hook up before or after you started living together?”
“Whoa.” Michael pulled his head back in surprise. “It’s not like that. I only asked her to move in a couple of weeks ago.”
“Oh.” I chewed on the inside of my cheek, concentrating on keeping my face expressionless. “Well, then.”
“I mean,” he backpedaled, “she was still at the Hourglass trying to help Kaleb, but I didn’t want Landers to have access to her anymore. I needed to keep her away from him.”
“Aren’t you just a knight in shining armor?” My voice dripped syrupy sweetness, and any warm, fuzzy feelings left over from last night completely disappeared into a vacuum. “Wherever do you keep your horse? And who scoops up the crap it leaves behind?”
He hurried to explain. “No, no, no, it’s not the same thing as us—”
“Stop.” There was no us. “You don’t owe me the particulars, Michael. You really don’t.”
“But Em—”
“Don’t. Really.” I tried to rein in my emotions. I had no reason to be so pissy. If anyone had a right to be mad, it was Ava. Apparently, I was now the other woman—poaching in her territory.
Cat stuck her head around the corner, effectively putting an end to the conversation. “Are you ready to talk now, Michael?”
“He’s ready. I’ll go outside.” I stood and walked toward the back door.
“Wait,” Michael said urgently.
I stopped but didn’t look back. “What?”
“The thing I gave you yesterday … did you bring it with you?” he asked.