A Fox Among Wolves

Chapter Six

"Okay, class," Mr. Kearns says, finishing his lecture on hybrid anatomy. "You have about fifteen minutes left of class. You can use this time to work on those essays that are due in a week." The class lets out a few mumbled remarks as Mr. Kearns hobbles back to his desk and starts to read a book.

Braeden scoots his desk over to mine. "Have you started on the essay yet?"

"I've outlined it, but I haven't started the actual writing process yet. Have you?" I question, watching as he pulls some papers and a pencil out of his backpack.

"I only have some of the basic stuff done, but I can just finish it at home, seeing as we're going to be out of school in fifteen minutes." I nod my head and look down at my paper, realizing that I will probably get a lot more accomplished at home than I would here. Making sure not to wrinkle the papers, I put them in the back of my bag for later.

Braeden reaches over and slides his hand over mine, his thumb rubbing circles on the back. "So, how do you feel about maybe a date tonight," Braeden says, his blue eyes meeting my green ones. "It's been over a week and a half since our last one, and I thought we should have some time to ourselves."

He did have a point. Ever since moving into our new home and having to live with our friends, we haven't had too much alone time. We are always doing our homework together, watching television, or playing games. Whenever Braeden and I are alone, it's at night time and we are exhausted, usually going to sleep as soon as we climb into bed.

"Sure," I say, smiling while I watch his thumb rub the rhythmic circles on the back of my hand. "It would be nice to have some time away from our housemates." Braeden gives a soft laugh and nods his head.

"Some alone time would definitely be nice," he says. Looking up from our hands, I see the smile on his face and the desire in his eyes.

"Yeah, really nice," I mumble, feeling the heat rise in my face. Glancing up at the clock, I notice that we only have about a minute before the bell rings. I pull my hand out from under Braeden's, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before pushing his desk back. He raises an eyebrow, almost as if he was impressed that I was able to push him.

"What? I'm not weak, you know," I say, raising a brow of my own. I hear him chuckle, both of us packing up our bags.

"Never said you were, Henley." The bell rings and we both stand up, ready to be out of this place. We walk side by side to our lockers.

"Where were you thinking we should go for our date?" I ask, opening my locker door and glancing at Braeden as I put away the books I don't need and grab the ones I will for later on tonight. Braeden closes his locker and leans up against it, waiting for me.

"I was thinking about going to that little Italian place by our house. Lasagna sounds really good right now," Braeden says. As soon as I close my locker door, he smoothes his hand down my arm, twining his fingers with mine once he reaches my hand.

"Sounds good," I tell him. We pass Sophia on the way out of the school. She seems enthralled with her mate, only throwing Braeden a quick smile and wave when she sees him. "That's nice that you two had an easy breakup."

Braeden glances down at me before pushing open the school doors and leading us towards the parking lot.

"It wasn't even a real relationship. Why wouldn't it have been an easy breakup?" he asks. We reach Braeden's car. Link and Quinn are already there, now we just have to wait for Lottie and Lena.

"Some people tend to get attached," I say, pulling open the passenger door and sliding into the car once Braeden unlocks the door. He walks over to the driver's side and climbs in behind the wheel. Link and Quinn stand outside, engrossed in their own conversation.