First Kiss: The Ghost Bird Series: #10 (The Academy Ghost Bird Series) (55 page)

Kota stepped toward him, his own anger burning in him now. He’d been sympathetic to Sang and had truly blamed himself for her fainting in the shower. He’d taken Victor’s abuse, but now, he couldn’t stand it anymore. His hands curled into fists at his sides, as he focused on Victor’s angry eyes.

“Enough,” he barked. “There was no way we could have known.”

“We should have known,” Victor cried out. He pointed a fist at his own chest. “We should have taken the time, instead of fighting with each other about who gets her for the night, or whose sleeping bag she stays in.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Kota asked.

“We’ve been so focused on ourselves and this stupid plan that we haven’t even spent the time with her to get her to tell us when things like this happen.” Victor covered his face with his palms. “I’m so stupid. I knew something was wrong.”

“Hey!” North’s booming voice cut through, startling Kota. North stood in the doorway. Five days without shaving had left him with a dark beard, and his eyes were wide, dark circles under them. His clothes were dirty and rumpled. He looked dangerous.

Behind him were the others, all pushing at North to let them by.

North came in, letting the others in behind him, as he focused on Victor. “You’re not stupid. And stop yelling.” He pointed at Luke, who was the last to come through. “Close the door.”

Luke shut and locked the door and then looked at Kota. “Where is she?”

Kota nodded toward the bathroom. “In there with Gabriel taking a bath.” He frowned, unable to stop another vision of those two kissing.

Luke started in that direction but North snapped at him. “No,” he said. “Stay out here. We’re finishing this now.”

Nathan and Silas started toward the bathroom door. “We didn’t come all this way back to fight,” Nathan said. “We’re going in to see her. I want to see her with my own eyes and make sure she’s okay.”

“The fuck you are,” North said and then forced his way between the boys and the door so they couldn’t enter. “Leave her alone. If anyone’s going in there, I am.”

“No one goes in there!” Victor shouted. At the sound, everyone froze. Victor rarely ever yelled, but in that moment, he sounded like his father.

Victor pointed, his finger sweeping from North, and Luke, to Nathan and Silas, and then to Kota. “All of you,” he said. “I promised her she could have the bathroom as long as she needed to calm down. Gabriel’s in there with her, so we know she’s fine. She’s not going anywhere right now. North is right. We need to get this out now before we’re reduced into fist fights. The last thing we need is to end up facing an Academy council to explain why I’ve killed you all. But if you try going in there again before she’s ready to come out—so help me god—I won’t hesitate.”

The boys fell silent, their breathing the only sound in the room as anger dissipated.

Kota looked at his shoes, caked with mud from the week, trying to calm his heart, his anger, before he said something he’d regret forever. Victor was right. Sang could come out at any minute. No doubt she could hear the yelling. They’d scare her away for good. She’d refuse to join if she saw them fighting like this, especially over her. She’d hate that.

Nathan shared a look with Silas. They moved quietly toward Victor’s bed, sitting on it. Luke dropped to the floor, on his knees, sitting on his heels, frowning.

North moved away from the bathroom door, leaning against the other one that led to the hall. He pressed his back against it, folding his arms over his chest. He looked at Kota. “How much do you know about our plan?”

“I don’t know anything,” Kota said quietly, not wanting Victor’s parents or any servants to overhear. “What plan? Sang said you all had a plan of some sort. Something about us...” He shook his head. “Just assume I don’t know anything.”

North frowned, looking down at the floor to where his brother was sitting. “This is complicated.”

Luke fell back until he was lying on the floor, his hair spilling out from the clip he’d been wearing. He stared up at the ceiling. “Tell me about it.”

“Look,” Kota said, stepping forward, waving his hand through the air. “Just tell me, okay? It’s been a bad day. You can’t make it much worse.”

Silas grunted. “I didn’t think it’d be this bad, either,” he said.

“It’s not just Gabriel,” Nathan said. He was looking at the floor, kicking at the carpet with a dirty sneaker. He stopped and then leaned forward, elbows on his knees, covering his face. “We’re all dating her.”

“I know,” Kota said quickly, and then paused to think about it. He’d known about Dr. Green already. Then Victor had made it clear he was interested, and there had been the kiss when she was in his sleeping bag. He had only kissed her forehead, but Kota had suspected if he’d let it go on, there would have been more.

It would have kept him—and maybe the others—up all up all night, hearing it, knowing what was going on. It’s why he’d told him to get out for the evening and cool off.

“Well, I didn’t know about...” He looked at the rest of them. He’d suspected Nathan, but not so much the others. He strained his brain to fully realize the truth. “Wait…All of you?”

But now, as he looked at the guys, their similar guilty expressions and the way they wouldn’t meet his eyes, he knew. They were all interested in her.

Kota bowed his head in defeat. This was it. It was what he had been worried about from day one. The minute she’d first met the others, he could tell they liked her. “It’s over,” he said quietly, feeling his heart breaking because he was about to lose her. “Isn’t it? You’re going to ask her to pick one of us? One of us leaves and joins her on a couple team in six months?”

“No-o-o,” Luke said, sitting up quickly. His hair spilled around his shoulders as he frowned. “God. You’d think we’d do that?”

“You think
she
could do that?” Victor grumbled. “Do you think she could pick one of us, and then split us up like that?”

Kota slowed his breathing, shaking his head. “I don’t... I don’t really understand. What other option is there?”

The guys shared looks with each other and then returned their eyes to Kota.

Nathan was the first to speak. “We share her,” he said. He frowned and then leaned forward again, covering his face. “Shit. That’s hard to admit out loud. I’m sure that’s not really the right way to say it.”

Kota struggled to understand. Share her? He had to have heard that wrong. “What are you talking about?”

“We stay with her,” North said, his voice strained. He cleared his throat and continued. “All of us. We care enough about her, and each other, to stick together. And...we share her.”

Kota made a face, shaking his head. “You can’t mean... that’s not...”

“It can work,” Victor said. “And it happens. Not every relationship is one plus one equals two.”

“Yeah, I know,” Kota said. He’d heard about love triangles before and more complicated relationships, but he’d never really given it much thought. “But...”

“It’s not going to be easy,” North said. “I didn’t like the idea at first. But I’d rather give it a try than assume we have to split up.” He pointed at Kota. “Because trust me, I will follow her. I don’t care if she picks you after it’s all said and done. I’m behind her and I’m not leaving. And like hell if I’ll let her go on Academy jobs without watching her back.”

“Me either,” Victor said.

“You all can’t really believe it would work,” Kota said, looking around the room at them. He couldn’t picture it. Did they really know what they were getting themselves into?

He looked at Nathan, his oldest friend, and usually the most sensible in their group, second only to Mr. Blackbourne. He stared at him and waited. He couldn’t formulate all the questions he wanted to ask at one time.

Nathan groaned, sighing. “I don’t know if it will work,” he said. He faced Kota straight on, his serious blue eyes focused. His shoulders straightened like they did when he was confident. “None of us do. But what’s the alternative? She leaves because she feels guilty about splitting us apart? Or she chooses one of us and the rest of us are all angry at that person? And what happens when she does need to go on an Academy job and one of the others are there? Are we going to fight the whole time?”

Kota swayed on his feet. They all looked at him, determination in their eyes like he’d never seen before. He’d seen it in Gabriel, too, when he’d come at Kota, ready for a fight over Sang. Now he knew there had been more to it than just him being angry over Sang crying.

Unable to stand anymore, Kota sunk to his knees on the carpet. He sat back on his heels, counting as he tried to make sense of everything.

But the counting couldn’t take away the thoughts floating through his brain, the visions of Sang kissing Gabriel. Victor kissing her in his sleeping bag, in plain view. Dr. Green in the photo.

They thought they’d hidden the pictures, but he’d found them, and even though only her head and back were visible, he’d known it was her.

“I don’t think I can do this,” Kota said.

“We can’t do it without you,” Luke said moving toward him. “You can’t say no. One of us not going for it breaks everything.”

“I can’t,” Kota said, closing his eyes. “I can’t... stop thinking about her with someone else. I can’t watch that. I can’t...”

“I know,” Nathan said. “I see the same thing...when...after you kissed her at the campsite.”

Kota slowly opened his eyes, looking at Nathan.

Nathan was glaring at him, the hurt and pain in his eyes. “I get angry just thinking about it, even though I know you’re not being stealing her away. I can’t help it.”

“I feel it, too,” North said. “I force myself to just get over it.”

“Well one of these days, we’re not going to
just get over it
,” Nathan said, looking over Kota to North. “Not unless we work this out. We’re not ready. Not until I don’t feel like punching your teeth out anytime you get close to her.”

North opened his mouth, lips pulled back, teeth bared, ready to snarl, when Victor stepped in, hands wide.

“Wait,” Victor said. “I’ve been reading about this in psychology studies and through examples people talk about in articles. First, we need to establish we’re okay with this, including Sang if we’re ready. Then we need to set up boundaries.”

“I’m not going back to not kissing her,” Luke said. “That took too long last time. We already know she wants to.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Victor said, looking at them each, in turn, his eyes intense. He peered at each of them and waited for their attention. Kota recognized it as something he did on stage before he spoke. When he did speak again, his voice was calmer, quieter than before, so they all had to strain to hear. “Clearly we have issues with kissing her or doing other things in front of each other. So now if we’re in on this and she’s okay with it, we need to set up rules. If someone else is around, you don’t get to kiss her.”

Luke raised his hand. “I don’t mind seeing it. It doesn’t bug me.”

“This is the way it is for now,” Victor said, turning to Luke. “We can’t risk anyone getting angry. We need Gabriel to agree to this, too.” He looked around, waiting for someone else to say something. “The other part is, we need to divide our time with her better.”

“She’s already dividing her time,” Nathan said.

“Not enough,” Victor said. “And not evenly. She’s there with you every evening.”

“Well, I can’t help that, can I?” Nathan asked as he leaned back on the bed.

“She can sleep at my place,” Silas said in his deep voice, surprising everyone. “Charlie doesn’t mind.”

“It’s more than just sleeping,” Victor said. “It’s dates and how we spend our time with her.”

“That’s not going to work,” North said. “We’ve got school. And there’s seven days in a week and nine of us.”

“Nine?” Kota burst out. “Who...Mr. Blackbourne...he...?”

The others nodded.

“It was his idea in the first place,” North said.

“His plan,” Nathan said.

Kota tilted his head back, groaning. He couldn’t believe it. He’d thought Mr. Blackbourne was the most sensible, and here he was suggesting this very strange plan. Kota wasn’t even sure why they were talking about it. “North’s right,” he said. “Nine of us, and seven days. How are we supposed to wait so long between to see her?”

“You’ll see her nearly every day since we’re working together,” Victor said. “If we’re still a team, we’re going to have to still work together. And for the time being, we’re still in school together.”

Kota looked at his knees on the floor against the white carpet, shaking his head in disbelief. He wasn’t convinced. “I don’t know. Does she want this?”

“She was willing to try,” North said quietly. “Her main concern was us fighting about it.”

“All of these things won’t work anyway without us all in agreement,” Victor said. “You don’t even have to choose right now.”

Kota lifted his head up to meet Victor’s eyes. “You said we had to figure this out.”

“Yes,” he said, “but this only works if you’re ready for it. We can’t do it without you. I can’t do this without
all
of you.” He looked again to the others. “This only works if we’re willing to work together. It’ll be hard enough going into it, learning our boundaries.”

“Are you sure she wants to?” Kota asked. “This has to be a lot for her.”

Victor continued. “She’ll bail if she thinks we’ll fight over her. She’ll find another team or leave altogether.” He paused, his shoulders dropping. “She’d do anything to stop us from killing each other over her, even if it means her joining another team. We all have to give this serious consideration, and then come to her when we’re ready. We’ll have our work cut out for us just to convince her we’re serious. And hopefully, we haven’t driven her insane enough that she’ll want to.”

The room silenced once more. Kota breathed in, counted, breathed out, counted some more. Never, ever, would he have guessed this would be a solution.

“I don’t know,” he said. He needed to think, to go over whatever Victor was reading and see it for himself. Hadn’t Sang said something about Lily? Or was it Marc? Something about their team?