Masquerade (Heven and Hell #1)(12)
Author: Cambria Hebert

“Not like this.” He wouldn’t do that to her.

Kimber frowned and looked to where Sam was in line.

“You really like him?” I whispered. When she opened her mouth to answer I cut her off. “Don’t answer that. It isn’t my business anyway.”

“Of course it is. You’re my best friend.”

But I couldn’t stand to hear her answer, which was ridiculous, because I didn’t even know him, and he had no clue I was alive. He arrived back at the table and sat down. Kimber looked at me with pleading eyes, and with a sigh, I scooted my chair back to the table.

“I need to talk to you about something,” Kimber said, taking a bite of her turkey sandwich.

“Okay.” I was only half-listening, distracted by Sam’s presence.

“You know Jenna broke her arm?”

“Uh-huh,” I answered. Sam’s hands were huge; he had long fingers and short square fingernails. The fork he was eating with looked like a child’s toy.

“Earth to Heven” Kimber was waving her hand in front of my face.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, and Sam looked up to catch me staring at his hands. Quickly I ducked my head, but not before I saw his lips tilt up. My heart beat faster.

“Anyway, I thought you could think about it,” Kimber finished whatever she was saying.

I stared at her.

“You didn’t hear a word I said, did you?” she frowned.

“Uh, yeah, Jenna and her broken arm.”

Kimber brightened a bit and nodded. “I want you to take her place at the cheer competition next weekend.”

“Me?” I choked on the water I was drinking. The cap from my bottle flew out of my hands and landed right in front of Sam. He scooped it up before I could reach for it and held it out. It looked small lying in the center of his palm. I flicked my eyes up to his face, but then looked back down when I saw him watching me. “You lost something,” he rasped and held his hand out to me.

“Thanks.” I tried to touch as little of him as possible, but someone jostled his chair from behind just as I was reaching into his palm. Instead of the ‘no contact’ I’d planned, his arm shot out, and I automatically grasped his hand to try and steady him.

His skin was warm.

And slightly rough.

I sighed.

I swear he heard the small breath, and his eyes locked on mine. I didn’t pull away as I wanted to because I was surprised by the shot of gold that was like lightning through his whiskey- colored stare. I blinked then looked back at him, but the gold was gone. Had I imagined that?

“Heven, are you okay?” Kimber worried from somewhere far away.

To my intense surprise Sam squeezed my fingers before gently sliding his hand from beneath mine. He grabbed my water bottle, and I watched as he twisted the cap back into place. When he was finished he returned the bottle beside my elbow.

“Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

“Heven, the cheer competition?” Kimber reminded me.

“I don’t cheer anymore.”

“It hasn’t been that long, and I can teach you the routine.” I shook my head, ready to shoot her down, but she interrupted. “Please! The team won’t be able to compete because we’ll be short.”

I looked doubtful, and Kimber hurried to add, “Two girls are out because of injury already, and now with Jenna…”

“Find someone else.”

“There isn’t anyone, and you’re the best!” Kimber smiled over at Sam. “Heven was going to be head cheerleader.”

I kicked her under the table. Sam looked at me. “Yeah?”

I nodded, blushing.

“Cool. How come you stopped cheering?”

Wasn’t it obvious? Kimber made a sound, but I held up my hand. “I cheered Before.”

He seemed confused, so I motioned to my face and looked right at him so he could see.

“You stopped cheering because you have scars on your face?” He put his fork down like he was sickened by his food. It made my stomach hurt to see his reaction to my ugliness, and I quickly ducked my face, reaching for my hair and pulling my hoodie as close around my face as I possibly could. Desperate for a new subject, I turned pleading eyes on Kimber, but she was staring in the opposite direction, so I followed her gaze. Just entering the lunchroom, Cole was standing in the center of the room, staring at our table. He looked angry and hurt at the same time. Abruptly he turned and banged out the doors, and Kimber jumped up from her chair.

“I’ll be right back,” she threw out and then ran after him.

I resisted the urge to go after them both and find out what was happening. Did Kimber finally understand that she was breaking his heart? Could Cole possibly forgive her? I prayed that he would, because things just didn’t seem right when they weren’t together. And because selfishly I didn’t want her to be with Sam. I reached across the table and gathered Kimber’s forgotten lunch – I knew she wouldn’t be coming back this period. I couldn’t wait ‘til the final bell rang so I could find out what happened between them. As I zipped up her fashionable pouch I felt a whisper against my ear. “You didn’t answer my question.”

A shiver started at the base of my spine and went all the way up to my shoulders. Ever so slowly I turned to peek at him from around my hood.

“Remember me?” He smiled.

Something familiar ghosted through me, but I couldn’t think about that now. I would never forget Sam. I nodded. His chuckle slid over me like honey, and of their own accord, my eyes briefly closed.

“So?” he prompted.

I sifted through the fog in my mind for whatever it was he’d asked. Oh, yeah, the scars. “Yes. I gave up cheering after my accident.”

“I don’t think you should let a few little scars keep you from what you love.”

He was closer than ever. Somehow his chair was right next to mine, and he was the only thing in the universe. “I-It isn’t little.”

“Your beauty overshadows it.” He said the words easily, as if they cost him nothing. Yet they were words that were more valuable to me than anything, and I was very afraid that they cost me my heart. The very heart I had been trying to protect. I watched in slow motion as his hand came up and drew closer, his hazel eyes hypnotizing me. Right before he made contact I realized what he was doing, and I jerked away. No one had ever touched my scars, except for my doctor. Not even my mother. As a result of my quick reflexes, his hand brushed the side of my hood and landed on my shoulder. I kept my eyes down, trying not to struggle for air. I felt his fingers move over me, almost like a caress, and then his touch was gone. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”