My Stepbrother is a Werewolf?!

5.

***

I ended up hitching a ride to school with dad, as Asher had left particularly early without even having breakfast. After our conversation last night, I thought maybe I’d done or said something to piss him off. But he had been so nice, and I couldn’t exactly tell what I had done to make him angry.

Or maybe I was just overthinking again, and there actually wasn’t anything going on.

As soon as I reached my locker, Lily came rushing up to me, and from the excited look on her face, I could tell that something was up.

“You’ll never guess who your stepbrother was just seen making out with in the bleachers,” she said.

“Wait, what?” I asked, my heart dropping to somewhere in the pits of my stomach. My ears started to ring, and I refused to believe that I’d heard her correctly.

“You didn’t know?” she asked. “Sarah told Michelle, who told Justin, who told Salma, who told Elizabeth, who told me. Apparently Sarah caught them in the middle of the act, and as soon as she found out, well, everybody in school found out.”

“Who was it?” I asked, dreading her response and feeling the knot in my stomach tighten even more.

“Alicia,” she replied. “Alicia Rodriguez.”

It would have been better if Asher had taken a knife and stabbed me through the heart. That would have been a better way to hurt me than snogging Alicia Rodriguez. She was a certified bully, the meanest queen bee to have ever walked these halls. And it wasn’t just the fact that I despised her for everything she represented—arrogance, narcissism and her trademark holier-than-though attitude. It was the fact that she had made it her personal mission to make my life a living hell ever since I sat down next to her in kindergarten.

Forget the fact that she was probably the most beautiful girl I’d ever laid eyes on. Forget the fact that she had an ass that seemed to draw the attention of everyone around her, and full t**s which she never failed to flaunt. The girl’s heart was blacker than the pits of hell. Why Asher of all people would choose someone like her was beyond me, as she represented everything he wasn’t.

“Apparently they’ve been seeing each other all over summer,” Lily said. “Elizabeth swore that she saw them at the park several times, and Justin said he saw her slipping a thong into Asher’s locker once.”

I slammed my locker shut, taking a deep breath and trying to calm my beating heart. So what if he wanted to kiss her? So what if all those condoms in his drawer were meant for her? I didn’t care about them, and I certainly wasn’t going to waste my time thinking about it.

“Everyone is talking about it,” Lily continued. “I just thought I should let you know, since you’re not still hung up on him, right?”

She glared at me pointedly as she said the last part, and I avoided her gaze as I shrugged. “Of course. Why should I care who he kisses?”

“Good,” Lily said as we headed for calculus. “Because I know you’re smarter than that.”

Later on, as we headed for soccer practice, I saw Asher and Alicia walking out to the field together, holding each other’s hands so everyone could see them. Alicia’s minions followed closely behind, while others whispered as they walked past. Asher was wearing his football uniform, while Alicia was in her cheerleader uniform that struggled to contain her butt. I tried not to stare at them as they walked past us, and I ignored Alicia’s triumphant smile as she walked past me. You’d think she’d won the lottery or something.

“Dumb b***h!” Lily cursed as we walked outside. “She thinks she’s the coolest thing since sliced bread.”

“You’ve never liked her, L,” I chuckled, feeling somewhat at ease.

“What’s there to like?” she snapped. “Ever since I found out she’s a backstabbing birch who will do anything to get what she wants, I’ve stayed as far away from her as possible. But one day, I’m going to get a baseball bat and we’re going to have a little chat with her.”

“Is someone jealous?” I laughed as we reached the field.

“E, you know I’m not,” she said. “Asher is hot, but he’s not my type. I’m just not interested in him that way.”

“Are you sure?” I teased. “I can arrange a date between the two of you. I’m sure he’d fall head over heels for you, and he’ll ditch Alicia faster than you can say ‘dumb b***h’.”

“I doubt that,” she laughed. “And don’t even think about it. I’ll gut you like a fish if you even think about it.”

I raised my hands in surrender, and we got on with practice. I could barely concentrate however, as my gaze kept drifting over to Asher as he scored touchdown after touchdown. He was faster than everyone else on the field, and he seemed to have a magnetic touch. The ball always found him, and he easily shrugged off anyone who tried to get a hold of him. He was magnificent, and I stared in awe at him sprinting across the field, covering at least forty yards in a second.

"Warren, get your head in the game," coach Wilman said suddenly, blowing his whistle and causing me to jump. "Keep your eye on the ball."

"Sorry, coach," I sheepishly replied, trying to pay attention and stop ogling Asher. We were already down by two goals, and we needed to score quickly as the clock was running out. I was playing on the wing, and I had to focus on getting the ball and passing it to our striker so she could score. It was extremely difficult to concentrate with Alicia standing right next to me on the sidelines, talking to her minions about how Asher was such a good kisser.

Maybe if I tried discreetly, I could kick the ball onto her head without anyone realising it was intentional.

Suddenly the ball was flying towards me, and the world around me seemed to blur as I brought it down and took off. I was already ahead of the other team’s defence by a yard or two in seconds, the wind whipping my hair and a smile on my face. I cut inside with the ball, twisting so I was facing the goalkeeper directly. One defender slid in to tackle me, but I chipped the ball over her and jumped, then dribbled past the keeper in seconds.

I was just about to kick the ball into the open net when a sudden collision from behind sent me sprawling towards the stands, my body hurtling through the air. Time seemed to slow down as panic gripped me, my instincts urging me to protect myself from the imminent impact. But just as I braced for what was surely going to be a painful contact, a shadow suddenly surged past me, and I found myself cradled securely in someone's arms.

I opened my eyes to find Asher staring at me, his arms wrapped protectively around me with my head tucked into his chest. He was breathing heavily, and there was a wild look of panic in his eyes.

"Are you alright?" he asked, his voice soft and comforting.

I blinked, momentarily stunned by what I had just witnessed. It was as if Asher had turned into The Flash and covered the entire length of the football field as well as the soccer field in seconds. How could he have done that?

"I... I think so," I managed to stammer, my voice barely above a whisper. "Asher, what just happened?"

"No idea," he replied, but I could sense he was lying. "You just kind of flew off."

As I found myself safely on my feet, I turned to face him properly. As everyone began to gather around us, I lowered my voice and said, "Asher, how did you... I mean, how did you catch me so quickly?"

“What are you talking about?” he asked.

“I mean how did you get here fast enough to save me?” I asked. “You were at least fifty yards away from me. So how did you get here so quickly?”

He chuckled nervously, a glimmer of mischief dancing in his eyes. "Don't be ridiculous, Enaya. I guess I was just in the right place at the right time."

His nonchalant response puzzled me, my instincts telling me there was more to his explanation."No, Asher, I saw it. You moved so fast, it was incredible. How did you do that?"

He shifted uncomfortably, his gaze momentarily flickering away from mine. "It was nothing, really. Sometimes, things happen, and we can't explain them. Let's not dwell on it, okay?"

His deflection only fueled my curiosity, but I didn’t get to ask anything else as I was surrounded by my teammates. I wanted to get to the bottom of this, because it didn’t make sense that he was that fast. People don’t run that fast. I know Asher is fast, but even he isn’t that fast. So how did he do it?

He walked away as coach Wilman ordered everyone to give me space. I watched him walk away, the questions bouncing around in my head. I hated not knowing the truth, and somehow I felt like this had something to do with the secret that Amelia was keeping from us. Was Asher a secret superhero? Was he perhaps involved in a freak chemical accident that gave him the ability to move faster than the speed of light?

I needed answers, not cryptic responses and shady secrets.

"E, are you alright?" Lily asked as she materialised beside me. "You scared me to death."

"I'm alright," I replied, even though my mind wasn't entirely there. I was watching Asher walk away, trying to understand if what I had seen was real or not. I knew he was hiding something from me, and I intended to find out what it was. Yesterday, it had been his mom. And today, it was him. Something fishy was going on here, and I couldn't just turn a blind eye to everything here.

I knew what I needed to do.

***