Page 4 of Eye of the Hurricane (Weathering Doves Harbor #2)

Ares

I’m lying on a pool float, blissfully soaking in the hot July sun when Ravyn, one of my best friends, rudely flips me over into the water.

“The fuck?” I exclaim, shaking the water out of my hair. She laughs and gives me a shrug.

“You looked too peaceful. Seeing men at peace doesn’t sit right with me.”

“I feel like you keep finding a way to get meaner, Ray.”

“Well, I’m not thrilled that our fun little group of three turned into a group of five and we’re now outnumbered by men,” she admits.

“You’ll be used to it in no time.” Audra cuts in from the opposite end of the pool. Ravyn rolls her eyes in response.

Ever since Audra and Roman told the world about being together, our group got a size upgrade. Everywhere Audra goes, Roman follows. And if friends are invited—which they almost always are—Beck is there, too. He’s Roman’s best friend.

I thought I would hate it, seeing them together. I thought it would be weird, because she feels like my sister and he’s my brother. Somehow, it’s not. It’s sort of perfect, but in the way that makes you want to puke.

“I’ll be used to it when the guys are outnumbered again,” Ravyn corrects her.

“I’m like… so harmless?” Beck shrugs his shoulders, looking around confused. Roman laughs, patting him on the shoulder.

“We know, buddy,” Roman says, pretending to console a small child.

Beck is truly harmless. He’s by far the kindest of all of us. I don’t think there’s a bad intention in his body. He would give Roman the shirt off of his back. Actually, I think he’d do it for any of us, despite not being as close with the rest of us.

“When do you go back to school?” Ravyn asks.

“About a month. I have a couple meetings with one of my professors before then. She’s going to help me with preparing my portfolio for graduation.”

“Help with what? Don’t you just put your best pieces in?” Audra asks.

“Yes and no. My best pieces, but also the pieces that appeal to institutes I’m interested in. She’ll also tell me places I’m lacking now so that I have the school year to fill those gaps,” I explain. She nods along, taking in the information.

“Have you decided if you’re doing photography and painting or just painting?” she asks.

That’s the part I’ve gone back and forth on a million times through college. Painting is what I’m good at. Great at, even. Photography is more of a passion thing for me. I’m not bad at it. I just don’t know if I’m good enough to include it in my portfolio .

“Not yet. That’s part of what I’m meeting Professor Vines about.”

“I’m still team photography, if it counts for anything.” Ravyn cuts in.

“I totally agree, no one takes better candids of us!” Audra says with a laugh.

A few days later, I’m headed to campus to meet with Professor Vines about my portfolio. Campus is a ghost town during the summer. Sure, there are students here, but not even a quarter of the amount there are in the fall.

The sports teams still come here for summer practice and some students have summer courses. Some are even here just to fill out paperwork or visit before applying to Doves Harbor University.

When I started college I hated it. All for about one day. That is, until I met Katherine. Knowing Kat changed everything. Most of all, my attitude toward college. All of a sudden it was a place I might run into her. Which inadvertently made it a place I was excited to be.

3 Years Ago…

College sucks .

Okay, maybe I’m jumping the gun here. It’s only my first day.

But, classes are hard and finding friends is harder.

The class stuff I expected, but the lack of friendly faces is new to me.

I’ve never had a problem socializing. I was the social butterfly in high school, but here I’m just another freshman in the crowd.

Maybe not having my best friends, Audra and Ravyn, is throwing me off.

I walk into my last class of the day and the entire room is filled with other students. I look for a seat in the back row but every seat is filled. I walk down the rows of auditorium seating until I find an empty seat.

Just as the professor starts speaking, I notice the woman sitting two chairs to my left.

Beautiful blonde waves cascade over her shoulders and down her back.

She has a pencil pulled up and pressed to her full, red lips.

Freckles are perfectly sprinkled atop both cheeks and the bridge of her upturned nose.

In this moment, I’m certain that I’ve just laid eyes on the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met. Scratch that, probably the most beautiful woman I’ll ever meet. She is sunshine personified.

The professor goes on and on with introductions but I don’t hear a single word she says. I’m lost in the fantasy life I’ve mapped out with the beautiful blonde a couple of seats away.

She’s wildly overdressed for a college lecture. She’s got on a yellow dress with thin straps and a slit up the side. Her heels even match. Holy fucking fuck.

After what feels like three years but is likely closer to forty-five minutes, class is dismissed. I make it a personal mission to catch the blonde outside of class and introduce myself. I push through the crowd of people and finally find my way outside to wait .

I notice the sound of heels clicking on the cement outside. I know it’s her when I see pale yellow heels. I waste no time putting myself in her path.

I’m now standing in front of what might be an actual angel. Except the angel is… scowling? I might care more if her perfect nose didn’t scrunch up in such an adorable way. I might be more worried about the squint in her eyes if they weren’t the most alluring shade of blue I’ve ever seen.

“My name is Ares,” I say, clearing my throat. I’m a little surprised I can even remember how to speak.

“And I care why?” she asks, looking at me expectantly for an answer. Of course, the prettiest girl on campus is the least friendly. It’s really the kind of luck I find in my endeavors. So much for angels and sunshine.

Well, I didn’t anticipate this . I clear my throat again, buying myself a second to gather something to say.

“I just wanted to introduce myself,” I say, sticking my hand out for her to shake. Her eyes flick to my hand then back up to my face, confusion twisting into her features.

“Well… you’ve introduced yourself. Can I go now?” She asks, pointing her thumb over her shoulder. I try to quickly think of a reason to keep her here, keep her talking to me, but I don’t have one.

“Yes, ma’am,” I say, scratching the back of my neck. I definitely blew that one. At least it couldn’t have gone worse, I guess.

She turns on her heels and walks the other way. Just then I hear her mumble under her breath, “Well, that was odd.”

Something about that being my first and possibly only impression with this woman really doesn’t sit right with me. So like the idiot I am, I catch back up with her .

“I’m sorry, that was weird back there,” I start and she laughs.

“It’s still pretty weird…” She stops for a second, thinking. “Ares, was it?”

“Yep, Ares.” I nod my head. “And yours is?” I ask.

“Katherine,” she adds, not sounding entirely sure if she really wanted to give me that information.

“There’s a Katherine in one of my favorite shows, she’s smoking hot” I tell her, immediately realizing how stupid it is. She rolls her eyes so hard I think they might get stuck back there. She hums a sound of annoyance.

“You really aren’t great at social interactions, are you?” she asks, amusement twinkling in her eyes. Somehow I think doubling down on this horrible first impression is working in my favor.

“Usually I do better, just not so great with beautiful girls,” I admit, giving her a wink. She groans in annoyance. This is going about as bad as possible but I’m just happy she’s giving me the time of day.

“Yeah, no. I don’t have time for whatever this is,” she says, waving her hands in the air.

“Shit,” I huff under my breath. “I promise I’m not always this awkward.

I just saw you in the lecture hall and wanted to say something because you’re really pretty and I realize now that it was weird and maybe even a little creepy…

okay, maybe a lot creepy.” I take a long inhale before continuing to spew word vomit.

“I’ve just really not been having a great first day, I don’t really have any friends here. I’m sorry.” I blurt out.

The more I trip over my own words, the less tense she looks. I think it might even be a smile I see quirking at the corners of her perfect lips. An exasperated sigh falls from her mouth .

“Freshman year?” she asks, her tone finally softening some.

“Technically. I took a gap year,” I admit and she rolls her eyes.

“Why do I feel like you’re trouble?” she asks, popping her leg up behind her to fix the strap of her high heel. My eyes fall to watch and then drag back up her creamy legs, to the matching dress, and then back up to her face.

A dissatisfied look falls on her face. Probably because I just shamelessly checked her out as she was trying to talk to me. “See?” She points at me. “Trouble,” she says, shaking her head at me. I throw my hands up.

“No trouble, promise,” I tell her. The look she gives me tells me she doesn’t believe me for a single second. Given this first impression, I can’t blame her.

“You ever go to parties?” I ask, raising a brow at her.

“Yes? I go to parties. Do you go to parties?” she asks with a laugh.

“Not college parties, never been to one.” I shrug. Katherine smiles and one dimple pop.

“There’s one tonight, I can get you the invite if you want to go,” she says with a shrug. If she’ll be there, count me in. The only thing I learned on my first day of college is that I will do whatever I have to, to be around her.

“That would be awesome. Will you be there?” I ask. A smile creeps up on her face again.

“Yes. I’ll be there.” She laughs. Her laugh is warm and sweet like honey. It’s absolutely addicting.

“We could go together?” I offer, shamelessly making one last effort. She rolls her eyes but this time, she does it with a smile so big that I catch the dimple carved into her left cheek cheek. The one in her left cheek is much deeper .

“I think I can make it there on my own. I’ll see you there,” she says but her tone has lost its edge. She turns to walk away but I call out to stop her.

“Your number!” I call out, taking a step in her direction. She turns around giving me a ‘ in your dreams ’ look. “For the party info,” I add and once again, her edge is gone.

“Right, okay. Give me your phone.”

I hardly know this woman but I’m certain whatever she tells me to do, I’ll be doing it.

No such luck today. No run-in with a pretty blonde on my way to Vine’s office. Just a churning stomach and a racing mind.

A lot of those feelings fall away when I walk into her office. It’s all bright yellows, sunflowers, and sunshine. Like the sun threw up in the room. The first time I saw it, it felt childish. Every time since, it’s just reminded me of Kat.

“How’s your summer been, Ares?” Big bright red spirals bounce as she stands to greet me. There’s hardly a spot on her face that’s not covered in freckles. It suits her. Her smile is bright and warm.

“It’s been good. A little chaotic, but good. How has yours been?” I ask, mostly out of respect. Not that I don’t hope her summer is good, I just have more important things to talk about.

“Summer has been lovely! What brings you in?”

“My portfolio. I’ve been thinking about going with more than just painting. I was thinking of including photography.” She opens her mouth to speak but I cut her off, rushing in more word vomit. “I don’t know if my photography is good enough, though.”

“I’ve seen some of your work over the last couple of years, it’s good. Show me some of the pieces you’re thinking about for your portfolio,” she requests, looking at me expectantly. I pull out some of the pieces I’ve had in mind for it, showing her a mix of photography and paintings.

She smiles sweetly at each piece, nodding along as she looks over my selections. It’s hard to gauge her true feelings, though, because Vines always seems to smile.

“Well, I think some of these are definitely contenders…” She trails off as she recollects my pieces and aligns them on her desk. “Can I be honest?” she asks, and my heart sinks. This feels like a precursor to being told my art sucks. Still, I nod.

“Technique-wise, it’s all there. There are very few pointers I could give regarding your composition. I would imagine you don’t have much trouble selling these pieces?” She poses the last part as a question.

“No ma’am,” I reply.

She nods, a small confirmation to herself before continuing.

“As a whole, there is a… dullness lingering in your collection. It feels like it lacks emotion altogether. It would be one thing if the tone and visual cues were negative, because negative emotions can make for equally beautiful art to positive ones. But your current portfolio feels absent of any strong emotional connection. These pieces, they feel like projects, obligations. Creations you were forced to make.”

The words sting and I’m not sure why. But she’s right. Almost all of the pieces I’ve included are projects I was assigned over the years.

“So I just need to work on adding emotion into my work?” I ask, voice beaming with hope.

“Yes. Other than that, your work is great. Once you work on some new pieces, with emotion in mind, let’s meet again?” she asks .

“Yes ma’am. I’ll email you, if that’s alright.”

“That’s perfect. And Ares?”

I meet her eyes, a familiar glint of knowing and cheekiness running through them. “Preferably new pieces for you, not just a grade?”

I toss her a sheepish smile as she scrunches her nose and nods once more, raising a hand to shoo me from her chair. “Good luck! Enjoy the rest of summer.”