Coven (3 page)

“Nice dad.”

“He has his moments,” Seth agreed, but
immediately I noticed a change in his aura. “What about you? What
do you drive?”

“Actually, I’m more of a motorcycle girl,” I
replied, enjoying the look of surprise on his face.

“Seriously? Like to ride or drive?” He
seemed completely interested.

“Both. My dad restores and designs them.
We’ve been building a custom one for me, together.”

“For real?” he asked again, and I could tell
he was seeing me in a new light. Maybe most girls weren’t into
mechanics like I was. Smiling at his incredulous look, I nodded.
“That’s awesome,” he continued. “I’d love to see it sometime
. . . if that’s okay with you.”

It was so much more than okay with me. “I’d
like that,” I replied, feeling all warm and fuzzy over our bonding
moment. My first impressions of Seth were all good ones, so
far.

Seth held the door open for me, adding
“gentleman” to his repertoire, and we exited outside. Immediately,
I knew which car on the lot was his. The black paint and chrome
glistened in the light of high noon, showcasing the car
beautifully.

“What do you think?” he asked, nodding in
the direction of the vehicle.

“Looks pretty cherry to me.”

“Cherry.” Seth chuckled and glanced over at
me. “I think you and I are going to get along fine.”

Gosh, I hope so,
I thought to myself,
wisely choosing to keep my mouth shut while continuing to stare at
the car as we walked toward it.

Arriving, Seth led me around to the
passenger side and opened the door. I’d seen my dad do the same for
my mom and me at least a million times, but having a guy, who was
definitely not my dad, do it for me made my heart flutter a little.
I wondered if Seth was always this polite.

As soon as he joined me inside, he fired up
the engine and it purred smoothly as he backed out of the parking
spot.

“So, what other things might I find
surprising about you?” he asked casually, causing my heart to race
for an entirely different reason. I wondered what he’d say if he
knew I was a witch . . . as in a real witch that actually
did extraordinary magic.

“I’m a pretty kick-ass fighter.” I
volunteered, instead.

“Fighter?” He sounded confused. “Like karate
or something?”

“Like put me in front of any opponent and I
will kick their ass.”

Brow furrowing, he glanced over at me. “I
don’t know you well enough to know if you’re teasing me or
not.”

I laughed. “I’m not teasing. My dad is
. . . well, let’s just say life hasn’t always thrown the
best of things at him. He had to learn to be tough. Because of his
experiences, he wanted me to be tough, too, and to know how to take
care of myself.”

“So you’ve had defense classes then?” Seth
asked, still not getting at all what I meant.

“Yeah, something like that,” I agreed,
deciding not to press the issue. Hopefully there would never be a
need to use those skills, anyway. “What about you? Do you ever do
any fighting?”

“Only if you count tackling guys on a
football field fighting.”

“You play? Offense or defense?” I loved
football—at least I thought I did after watching games on
television with my dad, occasionally.

“Defensive tackle, when I play both ways,
that is. Normally I’m the quarterback. You like football?”

“I do. Well, I’ve only actually ever watched
it on television. But I have permission to do a special tryout for
the cheer team after school today. I’ve taken dance lessons most of
my life, but your cheer line is the closest thing your school has
to a dance class. If I make it, I’ll get to cheer and do the half
time routines at the games.”

“Well, I hope you do. It would be awesome to
have you there.”

Instantly, I felt the foreign feeling of
heat creep back into my face. I didn’t know why I was blushing, but
I was absurdly pleased that Seth wanted me at his sporting
events.

“So, where are we going to eat?” My random
subject change was totally obvious, but I really did want to know
where we were going. In all honesty, Seth had put me so completely
at ease I hadn’t even thought twice about jumping into a car with
someone I’d just barely met. For all I knew, he could be taking me
somewhere to accost me. I could practically hear my dad berating me
for not being cautious enough. I needed to pay better attention to
my surroundings and be aware
,
like he taught me.

“To a great Italian restaurant my best
friend’s family owns down on the Waterfront called Nicolazzo’s.
It’s a pretty awesome place—mostly Italian food, but they do offer
some Irish dishes, too.”

“That’s an interesting combination. Is that
your friend’s last name? Nicolazzo?”

“No. Blackstone is their last name,
actually. My friend’s name is Jett. He’ll be there and I’ll
introduce you. He goes to school with us, too.” Seth turned the car
down another street and I could see flashes of the water between
the buildings. “His dad is Irish and his mom is Italian. Nicolazzo
is her maiden name. I guess her father has a family restaurant with
the same name back in Italy, where she was raised. Her dad let her
bring all his recipes to start her own place, here, after she got
married. The restaurant is divided in two—the downstairs is more of
the fine dining side, and the upstairs is more casual, kind of a
pizza parlor, fun, hang-out place. They have pool tables, a few
arcade games, darts, and a jukebox. They do pizza by-the-slice for
the high school lunch crowd.”

“Sounds awesome.” My stomach chose that
moment to rumble, quietly enough that Seth didn’t seem to notice,
thank goodness. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until right now.
“Does your friend play football with you, too?”

Seth nodded. “Yep. You’ll meet him and his
girlfriend, Megan. Don’t let her get under your skin. She can be
slightly bitchy. That’s just her personality.”

Wonderful,
I thought to myself.
Hopefully I’d find some common ground with her. I didn’t want to
make enemies on my first day.

“There’ll be some other guys from the team,
too, and some of the cheerleaders. I’ll introduce you to them so
you know some of the girls before this afternoon.”

“Thanks. I’d like that.”

Seth maneuvered his car into a parking spot
on the street that was clearly marked “reserved.” I glanced at him
in question and he grinned.

“One of the perks of knowing the owners.” He
smiled and turned off the engine. “You ready?”

I nodded and reached for the door
handle.

“Wait! I got that.” Quickly jumping out, he
ran around to my side and opened the door.

“Thanks.” I felt flustered, again. “You’re
really polite.” Groaning inwardly, I began cussing myself out.
Way to point out the obvious, Kenna.
I stared up at the two
story dark gray building with its many windows encased in white
trim. A large red sign hung on the front of the building with gold
lettering that read “Nicolazzo’s” on it. All sorts of delicious
aromas floated in the air and the hum of voices and clattering
silverware tinkled from inside.

“They have patio seating out back, so you
can eat and enjoy watching the boats out on the waterfront.”

“That sounds wonderful. I bet it’s beautiful
at night.”

“It is. All the tables are lit with glass
lanterns—it’s actually kind of romantic, if you like that sort of
thing. I’ll have to bring you back sometime to try their pasta.
You’ll love it.”

I was pretty sure that was a not-so-subtle
invitation for real date; and to be honest, I really didn’t hate
the idea at all. Seth seemed like a pretty awesome guy. “I think
that would be fun.”

“Then it’s a date,” he replied, grinning.
“If you’ll give me your phone number I’ll text you later and we can
set it up.”

“I’m on Facebook, also,” I added, wondering
if I sounded too eager. “I don’t really have any friends on it. I’m
new.”

“Perfect. I’ll send you a friend request and
we can message back and forth.” He held the door to the restaurant
open for me and I stepped inside, immediately seeing a hostess at a
stand inside the door. “We’re just going up for lunch, Carrie.”
Seth added, pointing toward the stairs and the young woman smiled
and nodded.

Placing his hand on the small of my back, he
guided me across the room and we began to climb. I couldn’t help
sucking in a deep breath of anticipation. I was about to meet a
whole bunch of new people.

I hoped they liked me.

Chapter Three

Eyes darting around, I resisted the desire
to bounce to the rhythm of the music playing from a jukebox in the
corner, instead taking in the ambience of the place. I loved the
polished wood paneling on the walls, sporting more of a seaside
motif vs. an Italian one. Artfully strung fishing nets were hung
here and there about the space with other seafaring items tacked
onto them—everything from starfish and seashells to the steering
wheels from the helms of ships . . . at least I assumed
they were off actual ships. They looked old.

At the far end of the room were pool tables
with several people crowded around one, watching a couple of guys
play. From where I stood, it looked as if the room continued on
around the corner, but I couldn’t see what else was back there.

Red, vinyl covered booths outlined two of
the interior walls and wooden tables were randomly placed
throughout the middle of the room. There was a long counter with
warmers, displaying several different kinds of pizza. They smelled
heavenly and my mouth immediately watered.

“Hungry?” Seth asked, smiling at me.

I nodded. “Even if I wasn’t before, I would
be after smelling this food.”

“Wait until you taste it.”

Following him, I grabbed a plate and stepped
up to the buffet, finally deciding on a piece with pepperoni and
olives. I also grabbed one of the small Caesar salads from a
chilling rack and a bottle of water. Joining Seth at the register,
I dug in my bag for some cash.

“Both of these,” Seth said, gesturing to my
food, too, as he retrieved his wallet from his back pocket.

“You don’t need to do that. I can pay,” I
protested.

“So can I.” Handing the woman some money, he
grinned at me. “It’s the least I can do after capturing you and
making you change your plans.”

“It wasn’t a big deal, really. I was happy
to come.” My heart was doing this crazy little flip-flop thing
every time he smiled at me. I liked it—or him—at least I thought I
did. I enjoyed the way I felt when I was around him. It was kind of
like this crazy adrenaline rush. I’d never had a chance to get
close to anyone my own age before, except for the son of my
parents’ best friends, Brad and Shelly. But he was a couple years
younger than me, so that really didn’t count. Besides, we didn’t
get to see them very often.

“This way.” Seth nodded toward the corner.
Gathering my plate, I quickly followed after him. “We’ll need to
come here on the weekend sometime. They have live bands on that
small stage over there, and everyone comes to dance.”

“I’d love that.” I really meant it, too. It
was funny how easy I felt with him. For some reason, it seemed
perfectly fine for me to follow him around and let him show me
things. I quickly spotted a rowdy group of students gathered around
two booths that were closest to the stage. They were next to the
wide windows that looked out over the beautiful harbor and near two
French doors that were flung wide open, letting the fresh sea
breeze into the establishment. There were more kids outside on the
deck.

Seth led me over to the group at the two
tables and several people shifted, moving so there would be a spot
for us.

“Who’s this?”

Attention immediately riveted on me, but I
couldn’t drag my eyes away from the guy sitting in the middle of
the booth with his arm draped around a very beautiful brunette. I
hardly noticed her as I stared into his piercing blue eyes—feeling
my whole posture go rigid under his perusal—and not just because he
was extremely good looking, in a sexy bad-boy type of way. His
dark, chin length hair and scruffy beard growth made him look way
too old to be in high school, but none of that mattered to me. What
caught my interest was his blazing red aura with a black vein
twisting through it, much like the snake tattoo on his arm.

Those were not good colors to get mixed up
with. This guy had some serious issues that both intrigued and
scared me.

“This is Kenna Mangum,” Seth said easily,
obviously unaware of what I could see. “She’s new and I invited her
to come and meet all of you. She doesn’t know anyone at school,
yet.”

His words filtered through my subconscious
as I continued to stare at this guy, noting how flecks of purple
popped up, here and there, in his aura. Purple was a strong color
and had several redeeming qualities—not that reds didn’t have
some—but red was very dominate; and combined with the black, it put
me on edge. Black was anger, hate, depression, and basically all
negative emotions.

“Kenna, this is my best friend, Jett
Blackstone. His parents are the ones who own this place. This is
his girlfriend, Megan Cordova. This guy here is Billy Nash
. . .” He continued on, naming all the people gathered
around.

I didn’t hear any of it, still staring at
Jett.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” a
snotty voice distracted me and finally managed to knock me from my
rude behavior. I glanced at the girl sitting beside Jett, taking in
her sneer of disdain as she glared at me.

“Sorry.” Grasping at straws, I tried to
offer an explanation. “I was just trying to remember if I’d
forgotten to take my medication today.”

“Medication?” Seth asked, immediately
resting a hand on my shoulder. “Are you feeling all right?”