Somehow, Liam had managed to get to school with his dignity mostly intact. He still had the feeling that Theo was laughing at him, but he could pretend to ignore it.
When he walked up to Mason and Corey in the hallway, he was in a bit of a daze.
"Sooo?" Mason asked, spreading his hands open. "How did it go?"
"Uh, well," Liam said, shaking his head with a perplexed look. So much had happened in such a short period of time that it was hard to encapsulate it into one word.
"He stayed the night then?" Corey prodded, an eager look on his face.
"Yeah, he did," Liam nodded, walking alongside the other boys to class.
"Aren't you gonna give us the details, Liam? We're dying here," Mason exclaimed. Liam frowned as he looked down at the ground. A lot of what Theo had revealed to him last night, both through his words and his actions, had been really personal. Suddenly, he wasn't sure about how much he wanted to share with the other boys. Yesterday, they had been laughing and having fun while they schemed. Today, that seemed petty.
"We watched another movie, mum made up the spare room and he stayed the night. Mum made us breakfast and he gave me a lift to school. It was good," he said, his firm tone of voice showing the subject was closed.
Corey and Mason exchanged a long look, trying to decide whether or not to push the topic. An agreement was made.
"Is he coming to the party with us?" Corey asked.
"Yeah, he's gonna get ready at mine and we'll meet you guys there," Liam explained.
"Great," Mason said. "That's great, right Corey?"
"So great," Corey echoed.
Liam paused at the door to their class and shot a look at them.
"What?" He asked.
"The plan is working even better than we thought," Mason shrugged. "We thought we'd have to just about drag him kicking and screaming. You sure nothing happened last night?"
Liam's thought of lying with Theo cuddled up against him on the couch, of his fantasy in the shower, of walking through Theo's nightmare and standing between him and Tara, of his heart literally being ripped from his chest, of the secrets they shared in Liam's bed, of the way he woke up tangled up with Theo, and the sinful way he looked and smelled in Liam's clothes.
"Positive," he said, giving them a sarcastic smile. He breezed past them into the classroom, effectively ending the conversation.
He managed to dodge their questions for the rest of the day, using other students and teachers as barriers, walking out of rooms as they walked in, and generally avoiding them. As he slipped into the locker room to get ready for lacrosse, Liam let out a sigh of relief. He was safe for now, at least until the party, and Mason and Corey would hardly talk about Theo when he was right there.
Liam got changed quickly and ran out onto the field, running a few laps to warm up before grabbing his lacrosse stick and lining up in front of the goal for some practice shots. He was early, so it was another fifteen minutes before the other players started turning up.
"Nice to see you putting in some extra time for a change, Liam," Coach yelled as he walked out onto the field. Liam waved in acknowledgement and continued firing shots into the goals. He had deliberately told Theo a later time that morning so that he could get in more practice both during and after practice. Working off some of his energy now would help him later on that night when he had to see Theo again.
He was on auto-pilot during the whole practice, running through the motions of drills and plays, correcting form and giving quiet encouragement as needed.
By the time training finished, he was a bundle of nervous energy. He was going to a party with Theo Raeken, and he was apparently going to get drunk.
Everyone else filtered away to the showers but Liam kept throwing ball after ball at the net. It started getting dark, his shirt had long since been discarded as sweat dripped off him before he was interrupted.
"Dude, take it easy," Brett said, coming to stand next to Liam and resting an arm on his shoulder. Liam's skin tingled as the warmth from the other werewolf's hand seeped into him. He shrugged the hand off and jogged away to gather up some of the balls he had thrown.
"What are you doing here?" Liam asked.
"Maybe I'm scoping out the competition," Brett said, smirking.
Liam turned to look at him. Brett was dressed in sweats with jogging shoes and headphones resting around his neck. Sweat glistened on his prominent abs. Liam scowled. He had probably just been going for a run. Could have just said that, though. Brett had always loved getting under his skin, even when they were on the same team.
"Since you're here, you may as well be helpful," Liam said, dropping the pile in his arms on the ground. "Get in goals."
Brett grinned and grabbed a spare lacrosse stick from Liam's bag near the goals, dropped his headphones and phone by the bag and got into place.
"Give it your best shot," he teased, eyes glowing yellow, gleaming with anticipation.
Liam narrowed his eyes, giving him a feral grin. "Just remember, you asked for this," he growled.
He was a blur, poetry in motion, scooping up each ball and flinging it towards the goals, his superhuman speed and strength seeing them firing faster than the eye could see. Despite his cocky attitude, Brett couldn't catch them all. Even before he had become a werewolf, Liam had been an exceptional lacrosse player.
"Not bad, Dunbar," Brett said, flicking each of them back to roll near his feet. "You got at least five in."
"It was eight," Liam smirked, gearing up for another round. "I'll double it this time."
He had been watching carefully during the first round, seeing which ones Brett had let go and which ones he had caught. Though the way he lunged and defended was impressive, he was weaker on the right, particularly below his knee. It was a flaw that Liam planned to capitalise on.
Brett brought up his lacrosse stick, slowly moving into a defensive position. He looked less cocky now, but no less determined.
Liam began again, throwing some higher shots to lull Brett into a false sense of security, before he grinned as he fired shot after shot into the lower right-hand corner.
Every single shot went in.
Liam dug his lacrosse stick into the ground at his side and leaned one hand on it, running his other hand through his sweaty hair. He looked at Brett, the smuggest grin stretching across his face.
"I guess you got me good there," Brett said, taking a step forwards, looking at Liam with a wry smile. He slung the lacrosse stick behind his head and across his shoulders, holding it with his hands.
Liam's eyes danced with mirth as he smirked at the other boy. This is why he had always enjoyed lacrosse. It was something he was actually good at, something that came naturally to him. Strategy, studying other players and their weakness was something he enjoyed. Maybe it was why he liked history so much, studying battles and stuff like that.
"Hey, Liam!" Called Theo, waving from the carpark. Liam waved back, acknowledging him. Brett turned to look, an eyebrow raised.
"What's he doing here?" Brett scowled.
"Maybe he's scoping the competition," Liam replied with a cheeky grin.
"I didn't realise there was one," Brett replied, giving him an intense look.
Liam looked away to where Theo was walking towards them, giving him a warm smile. "There's not."
He had been on a team with Brett for a year and a half at Devenford Prep. Liam had seen him half-naked at practice and in the locker room many times without feeling so much as a twinge of interest. His recent 'sexual awakening' as Theo had said last night, was very Theo-centric.
Brett sighed but Liam ignored him.
"Hey," he greeted Theo. The other boy was still wearing his clothes, and from the corner of his eyes he saw the exact moment that Brett's eyes widened as he caught the scent. He stifled a smirk.
"Hey," Theo said. "Practice finish early?" He was looking between Liam and Brett with a light scowl on his face.
"Nah, I just wanted to get some extra practice in," Liam explained. "Brett was passing by and decided to join in."
"I see," Theo said, glaring at the other boy.
"Well, we should go," Liam said, feeling the tension as the two boys stared at each other. "Gotta get ready for the party." He gathered up his things and chucked them in his practice bag. Picking up Brett's phone and headphones, he walked over to the boys and offered them to Brett. "Thanks for the practice," he said.
"Anytime," Brett said, giving Theo a challenging look. Liam rolled his eyes and turned to walk away towards Theo's truck.
After he was a bit further away, he heard the two boys throwing insults at each other.
"You're not good enough for him," Brett growled.
"Maybe." Theo shot back. "You have a weak right knee." Liam heard a crunch and Brett's groan as Theo kicked his right leg out from underneath him. "You should work on that."
"Asshole," Brett hissed through clenched teeth.
Liam shook his head as he reached Theo's car and threw his practice bag into the back of it. Theo caught up to him and Liam stared him down as he unlocked the truck.
"You didn't have to do that," he scolded as he got inside.
"Yeah, I did," Theo said, looking forward with a blank expression. He started the car and drove out of the car park.
Liam looked back at the practice field as they drove off, but it was empty. Brett was gone.
