Genius (CENTURIES series: Book #2)

34

• The two incredible covers were made by articulateme - thank you so much, love, they are gorgeous! •

"This is so fucked up. I mean, seriously."

"Let it go, Caleb."

"No, seriously," Caleb said, holding up one of Mia's old board games. "Ouija boards are from the age limits of eight and up, but drinking ages are twenty-one. So you can summon demons before fifth grade, but you can't see a little titty at a strippy before your brain is finished developing? That's fucked up, America."

Both Zoe and Mia gave each other a saying glance, one that told that they both kinda didn't care. But apparently, to Caleb, the matter was very serious.

"Let's just watch a movie instead, okay?" Zoe suggested, getting up from Mia's couch to go to her DVD collection.

"Sure." Caleb finally agreed. "How about The Smurfs?"

Mia wanted to smile by the sour expression that formed on Zoe's face, but found that pulling on that particular muscle hurt.

It had only been two days since Eli left. Why did it feel like forever? And why didn't the pain fade? It still felt like her heart was shattering, over and over again, like the moment was stuck on repeat.

"What happened that night, Caleb?" Mia whispered, bringing both Zoe and Caleb's attention to her. "At the club. You said you went after him. What happened? What did he say?"

The smirk on Caleb's lips from before faded and slowly disappeared. Instead he looked down at the floor and cleared his throat. "I don't think we should talk about that, M."

That of course meant that something had happened. "Caleb, I have to know. He came back to me, and then come morning, he never wanted to again. Something must have made him think that..." Mia's tongue felt dry. "S-something must have changed his mind about me. Or someone."

Caleb cringed. "I swear I didn't say anything to him, Mia. Not like... ah, shit, okay, I said something. But I swear it didn't influence what he did."

Mia's heart stopped for a second. "Caleb. What did you tell him?"

Caleb sighed and leaned back into the couch, just as Zoe sat down next to him with a serious frown. "Alright, look. When I came to him that night at the bar, he was wasted. Pissed and wasted. He still thought you were the one who turned him in, so I started off by setting him straight."

"And then what?"

"He didn't believe me, of course," Caleb snorted. "He was so fucking high. Had coated on a few drinks, too. Even so, he's never not believed me whenever I've told him something. That made me realize... it wasn't that he didn't believe I was telling the truth. It was that he couldn't believe that you had been telling the truth."

"I... what?" Mia whispered, but then his words from their argument rang in her head.

'After everything I've been through, you should know why I don't trust people!'

"Mia, whether that thick head of his wants to admit it, he's got a thing for you," Caleb said, running a hand over his hair. "Actually, he's got a really big thing for you. Wow, that sounded so damn wrong, but you get it. He's crazy for you. Literally. In the four years I've known him, he's never been crazy like that. Guess it took someone special to break through to him and make him... crazy."