Free Witches (Runes series Book 6) by Ednah Walters

Math or English lit.” Beau entered the hallway, but instead of walking past me, he stopped. I gave him a brief smile. “Fine, Mom. I’ll stop by Mr. Kent’s office and sign up for peer tutoring.” I closed my phone and smiled at Beau. “Mothers. They can be so pushy.” I made a face. “I’m heading to my locker if you want to get your sweatshirt.”
    Beau nodded and for a few minutes, we walked without talking. Students heading to after-school programs turned and stared at us. I wondered what they were thinking. Kayville High bad boy and the QB’s girlfriend together? Hmm, too cliché.
    “So where did you find my sweatshirt?” Beau asked.
    “I went to the boy’s locker room and grabbed it, just so I can give it back to you.” I gave him a toothy smile. “That’s probably what everyone’s thinking.”
    He smirked. “You can read minds?”
    “Yep, and faces. You were thinking it too.”
    “Nah,” he protested, but he couldn’t look me in the eye, confirming my theory.
    “Right. You think I haven’t noticed how girls find a reason to have you, the great Beau Hardshaw, notice them? It’s quite interesting to watch. It’s like a special mating ritual.”
    He chuckled. “Okay, now you’re shitting with me. They do that for your boyfriend.”
    “Only an idiot would think Torin could possibly be interested in them,” I said.
    This time he laughed. Several students looked at us before disappearing into a room.
    “So you’re saying you and Torin are tight?” Beau asked.
    I crossed my forefinger and the middle one. “Like that.”
    “If I didn’t know better, I’d take that as a challenge.”
    “And you’d lose. Besides, you have enough girls panting after you.” We reached the lockers and I stopped in front of mine. “One more and your head would explode.”
    “You held my hand yesterday outside the cafeteria after deliberately bumping into me,” he shot back.
    My face warmed a bit at that. I’d done both and he was full of himself enough to have reached his own conclusion. “It wasn’t deliberate. As for holding your hand, I saw bruises on your arm and knuckles. They looked painful.”
    He frowned and I wished I hadn’t brought those up. The whole point was to make him feel at ease so he could ask me to tutor him. Sure I’d blown my chances, I unlocked my locker, retrieved his sweatshirt, and handed it to him. “I found it outside the boys’ locker room and it happens to have your name. Ok bye, unless you want Torin to think you’re hitting on me.” I wiggled my fingers.
    “Thanks.” He turned to leave and my heart dropped. Maybe he had someone in mind. Ellie was smart and a senior. McKenzie and I just happened to be one of the few juniors in the AP class.
    Beau stopped, pivoted on his heels, and faced me, a sheepish expression on his face. He shoved his hands in his jeans’ front pockets and glanced around as though making sure we were alone. “So, you want to do peer tutoring?”
    “Yeah. It will look good on my college application, but the few times I went to the resource room, they had more tutors than students.” I hoisted my backpack onto my shoulder and started toward the school entrance. He followed. “I didn’t want to hang around, so…”
    “Do you have todo it here at the school?”
    So that was why he hadn’t attended peer tutoring. Embarrassment. No, an image or reputation thing. Guys like Beau liked to pretend that grades didn’t matter. “When I did it last year, we worked anywhere. My place. Her place. The Hub.”
    He was quiet. The front hall was empty and so was the schoolyard. We crossed the road running in front of the school and reached my car first. The parking lot was nearly empty, but his battered Chevrolet truck stood out. It was old and rusty, but I could tell he was trying to take good care of it. Part of it was freshly painted.
    “See you around, Beau,” I called out.
    He seemed undecided, and then he closed the space between us. “Would