Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon Page B

sparkled with warmth but for all that, she wasn't anywhere near as spectacular to him as Kody was. Brynna was pretty. Kody was sizzling. "You're really going to like working for Kyrian. He's a great guy."
    "If you say so."
    She smiled. "So how's your shoulder feeling? You excited to be going back to school? Is your physical therapy really hard? Did you get all the assignments done that I left for you? The math was really hard, but if you need a tutor, we can arrange one for you until you catch up."
    Nick felt assaulted by her barrage of rapidly fired questions and comments. She didn't even give him a chance to respond until the very end. "You always this chatty in the morning?"
    Tad burst out laughing.
    Brynna slapped her brother on the arm, her face red. "Stop that."
    Tad grinned. "Nice to know I'm not the only one your perky morning attitude annoys. I told you it was too much for a man to bear."
    Nick felt his own cheeks heat again. He hadn't meant to offend her. "I'm not annoyed by you, Brynna." He actually liked her a lot. "I'm just not used to people like you talking to me with this much interest. It's kind of creeping me out. Feel like I've stepped into an alternate reality or something. You keep this up and I'm going to start looking for Raccoon City vans or something."
    Brynna frowned. "Raccoon what?"
    Tad snorted. "It's from the game Resident Evil, doof." He looked at Nick through the rearview mirror. "You have to forgive her, Nick. She doesn't play much. Just gabs on the phone with all her vacuous, self-absorbed friends."
    She slid an offended glare to her brother.
    Nick mentally kicked himself. Why did I say that to her? I'm such an idiot. Here he sat in the nicest car he'd ever seen, riding to school with one of the prettiest girls in his class--one who was really decent--and he'd offended her.
    I'm never going to have a girlfriend. I'm too stupid for one.
    And if that wasn't bad enough, Tad pulled up to a nice house and honked.
    Three seconds later, the front door opened and Casey Woods came running out in her full black and gold cheerleader outfit that hugged every curve on her body... and for a fourteen-year-old girl, she had a lot of curves--unlike the rest of their female classmates. Her long wavy dark hair was pulled back from her face with a black and gold bow.
    A bright smile curled her lips as she ran to them.
    Oh, crap...
    She was Brynna's best friend and, up until he'd met Kody, the one girl at school he'd sell his soul to have as his girlfriend. Unfortunately, Casey didn't know he even existed.
    Something brought brutally home as she opened the door to the car and paused with a frown on her beautiful face.
    Brynna didn't miss a beat. "Morning, Case. You know Nick?
    Casey turned her head to look at him from the corner of her eyes as if trying to remember him. "Should I?"
    Yeah, why should you knowme? We only have four classes together... and he sat directly in front of her in two of them.
    / might as well be invisible.
    Nick caught the sight of Tad rolling his eyes in the rearview mirror. "We're going to be late, Case. Get in or step back into your yard and close the door."
    Tad's hostile tone caught him off guard. What magic pill did Tad take to be immune to her looks?
    Glaring at him, Casey shrugged her Prada backpack off and tossed it into the SUV before she climbed in and sat next to Nick.
    Why didnt I sit up front with Tad? Why, Lord, why?
    Casey scowled at Brynna. "So is he like a new student or something? Does he speak English?"
    Brynna slid a puzzled stare to Nick. "Nick's been going to school with us for the last three years."
    "Oh ... well, I'm in all advanced classes."
    Nick bit back a snort at her snotty comment. What am I? Special ed?
    Then again, at the moment, he felt like this was the short bus to hell and that he had a reserved seat on it.
    Brynna opened her mouth to say something else, but Nick held his hand up to stop her from correcting Casey's mistaken conclusions about him before