Page 59 of Beneath the Surface
“Good practice, son. I’m impressed with your leadership skills. The way you handled Smith—” He shook his head, huffing out a laugh as he clapped me on the back. “Nice work. Keep it up. Lead the team just like that, and we’ll crush the opposition at our next game.”
“Lead us not into temptation,” Miller spoke up, smirking at me. “The Halloween party,” he added when I raised a brow in question.
“You boys have a good night. Don’t party too hard.” Coach clapped me on the back again and then did the same to Miller. His gaze shot toward Micah. “Micah!”
Micah’s head flew up.
“You’re attending this party?”
Micah nodded slowly.
“Good. It’s about time you socialized with these guys, instead of being shut up in your bedroom. Remember, though, you have a responsibility to behave.” Coach turned back to me. “Keep him in line.” He winked, grinning at me, and I held back a wince, gritting my teeth. Now my eyes had been opened, I fucking hated the way he acted toward Micah.
Micah didn’t even respond verbally, just dropped his gaze to the floor, slumping forward again. Coach rolled his eyes but turned away to say something to another of my teammates. I took the opportunity to skate over to Micah.
“Wait for me? We’ll go back to mine.”
He nodded listlessly, not even looking at me. My stomach churned. Something was wrong with him, and I needed to find out what it was. Now.
“…I didn’t know what else to do. I ran. I wasn’t even thinking; I just needed to get away.”
Micah was seated on my bed, resting against the headboard, hugging his knees. His entire body was tensed like he was ready to flee at any second. As he finished up his explanation of whathad happened at the lake, I shook my head. Fuck. Anything could have happened to him. If I hadn’t woken up early…
“Promise me you’ll never do that again. Don’t go off on your own.”
“Stop trying to control me,” he bit out, some of his fire finally returning, and I didn’t want to admit to myself how relieved I was to see it.
“This isn’t about me trying to control you. This is about you staying safe and not fucking running into unknown situations on your own. It’s the same for any of us, me included.”
“You care.” It was the same thing he’d said to me back at the lake, and there was just as much wonder and disbelief in his voice as there had been the first time. I cursed his dad silently in my head for letting him think he wasn’t worth caring about. Fucking hell, I cared about him too much, if anything?—
“Gray?”
I blinked, seeing Micah eyeing me warily.
“Of course I fucking care,” I growled. “I told you that before, and I’ll tell you as many times as it takes to get it through your head.”
“Oh.” He bit down on his lip.
“Yeah,oh.” I got up from my desk chair and crossed the room to my bed, taking a seat on the edge. Turning to face him, I lifted my hand, almost on autopilot, brushing back a strand of hair that had fallen down over his face. I ignored the soft gasp that fell from his throat, holding his gaze. “Listen to me. I. Fucking. Care.”
He swallowed hard, his throat working. “I…I care too.”
My lips curved upward. “Yeah. I know. You kissed me.” Why the fuck was I bringing this up now, and why was I smiling about it?
His cheeks flushed, but his eyes narrowed, and yeah, there was the Micah I knew and liked. “So? I kissed Ava and Cruz already.”
“You kissedCruz?” I stared at him, all thoughts of our kiss momentarily forgotten. “What the actual fuck? Cruz Martinez? Why? Why would you do that?”
He shrugged. All his nervousness seemed to have disappeared, replaced with humor at my reaction to this piece of news. “He kissed me. Or I kissed him. It was… I dunno. I don’t think he planned it. Either time.”
“You kissed himmore than once?” My mouth was wide open. Sudden images assaulted my mind. Micah and Ava in that video I’d been sent. An image my brain helpfully conjured up of Micah and Cruz kissing… My dick, already perking up at the memory of the hot-as-fuck scene of Ava and Micah, perked up even further at this new thought.
“Don’t answer that,” I bit out, rising to my feet and turning away so I could surreptitiously adjust my wayward dick. “Come on. Show me the pictures you got. Maybe there’s something we can use.”
Two hours later, my former noticeboard had become an evidence board. We’d printed the images Micah had taken, including a close-up of the strange symbol over the mausoleum entrance, which I wanted to research more closely. We’d made a copy of the written note I’d received and printed copies of our texts. Everything had been pinned up on the board. I paced back and forth, scanning the pieces of evidence as I tried to work out if there were any patterns. Anything we were missing.
“Will anyone see this?”