Enticed by J.A. Belfield Page B

to her, as he did
a crap job of hiding his laughter in the crook of Lia’s neck. “Is
this your doing?”
    She held up her
hands, grinning. “Hey, don’t look at me. Though, you’ve got to
admit, it’s pretty cool."
    I grunted. No
way I’d admit that.
    “Try it on,”
Mia said.
    I think I may
have grimaced. “What—now?”
    “Well, you
can’t have your other pressie until you do.”
    I sliced my
gaze across to her and Gabe, and noticed, for the first time, the
second package he held.
    He peered back
at me through the pale blond curls hanging low over his brow, the
apology in his bright blue eyes warring with the manic twitching at
the corner of his lips. “This one’s better,” he said.
“Promise.”
    Grumbling
beneath my breath, I shrugged out of the grey Umbro shirt I'd
shucked on that morning, and worked the gift over my head, before
poking my arms through the sleeve holes. I held out my arms and
glanced round at the others. “Well?”
    Across the
table, Kyle snorted, as Brook smiled and said, “Perfect.”
    Nodding like I
agreed, I wiggled my fingers at Gabe, knowing the sooner I had it
over with, the sooner Mia’d leave me alone. “Okay, gimme.”
    The second gift
was box-shaped and clunked when he leaned in and set it down on the
table. Not wasting any more time, I tore the paper from the end and
slid out a metal box with a clasp on and a little plastic handle. A
brown angry-looking cartoon wolf, with six teeth pointing out
either side of its long snout and wearing green dungarees, had been
printed onto the lid.
    My eyebrow
arched up.
    “Your own
lunchbox,” Mum said from her seat next to Dad. “Very cute.”
    I turned my
eyebrow on her, but all it got me in return was an amused glint in
the chocolate eyes she’d passed onto me and Sean.
    “Open it up,”
Gabe said, before I even had the chance to reach for the clasp.
    It gave a quiet
snap as I tugged it free, and I grinned on lifting the lid, beneath
which I found around a dozen Snickers bars staring back at me.
“Now, this is more like it.”
    Gabe chuckled.
“You’re welcome.”
    Clipping the
latch back into place, I averted my gaze. “So, is your mum coming
over today?” I said, finally voicing the question I’d been wanting
to ask since he’d stepped into the kitchen.
    “Damn.” He
snapped straight and wove around Mia, his hand swinging from behind
him. “Nearly forgot. She asked me to give you this.”
    The envelope he
handed over was creased and bent a little, like he’d pulled it from
his back pocket.
    I studied it.
Nothing special. Just a bog standard, gift-card issue envelope,
with my name on the front in Shelley’s handwriting.
    And pink—as if
to drive the nail of a delivered-by-someone-else birthday card home
with more thwack .
    The quiet that
took over the room told me everyone else likely watched me while I
stared at the envelope. Sighing at its lack of personality, I
turned it over, but paused at the back flap.
    There, letters
had been neatly printed in Shelley’s hand: FOR YOUR EYES ONLY.
    I probably
narrowed my gaze at it a bit too long before glancing up and
finding every set of eyes pinned my way. Yeah, wasn’t sharing
whatever was inside with them, for damn sure. Clearing my throat, I
waved the envelope and scraped back my chair. “I’ll be in my room,”
I told them and, not waiting to see what they thought of that,
bolted for the stairs.
    Once on the
landing, I strode along to the second door on the left and pushed
inside my bedroom. Coffee shades coloured the walls around the
decent-sized window that overlooked the back garden and, more
importantly, the forest, but only the envelope—or what might be
inside it—held my attention.
    Sinking down
onto the edge of my bed, I worked a finger under the flap and took
out a regular old birthday card with a chimp on the front and a
simple ‘Happy Birthday’ printed across its top in bulky orange
letters. Nothing romantic. No hearts. No confessed feelings.