Page 32 of The Silent Waters (Elements 3)

Brooks nudged me gently in the side, and with the small touch from him, everything inside me warmed up. His eyes smiled my way and my heartbeat increased. I loved that about him. I loved how he could see me when the rest of the world forgot I existed. I gave him a small smile and shrugged.

“Come on,” he said, flipping open his notebook to a blank page and handing me his pen. As I took the pen from his grip, I allowed my fingers to linger against his hand. He watched my every move, and I made sure to make every move count.

Did he feel it? My heat? My want? My need?

As I began to write, he smiled, studying the curve of my hand as it ran across the paper. When I finished, I pushed the notebook toward him.

“Crooks,” he said out loud, holding the notebook in his hand.

“Crooks?” Rudolph bellowed, bewildered.

“Crooks?” Oliver echoed, a pitch higher than Owen.

“C is for Calvin, O is for Owen, the other O is Oliver, and then well, Brooks is the rest,” he explained. “Right, Maggie?”

I nodded.

Yes. Yes.

The fact that he understood the meaning of the name without me explaining it made my heart want to explode. How could he understand the thoughts in my head that I never voiced? How could he read me so effortlessly?

“Crooks!” Calvin shouted, slamming his hand against the table. “I love it. I fucking love it,” my brother cheered. “Just think about being on stage: ‘Hi, we’re The Crooks, and we are here to steal your ears tonight.’”

I giggled to myself as they kept chatting.

“We’re The Crooks, and we’re here to steal your money tonight!” Oliver joked.

“We’re The Crooks, and we’re here to steal your hearts tonight!” Brooks laughed.

“Yeah! Yeah! Or how about: We’re The Crooks, and…and…and…” Rudolph frowned. “Well, hell, you all took the best one-liners.”

“You snooze, you lose, kid brother. Maybe if you added more protein to your diet, your brain wouldn’t be so slow.” Oliver chuckled.

“Yes, Oli, because you eating Bambi is what makes you smart. That’s it. That’s probably why you got an A in calculus, right?” Rudolph replied sarcastically. “Oh wait, you got a D minus.”

The twins started arguing, and I knew there was nothing that was going to stop them

until she showed up. Cheryl. She seemed completely over her earlier interaction with her ex-boyfriend and back to her flirty self.

“Hey, boys,” Cheryl sang, swaying her hips and twisting her hair around her finger.

I taught you that move when we were kids!

“I didn’t know you were all going to be over here tonight.” Cheryl always did this weird voice drop thing whenever she talked to guys. She tried to sound seductive, but to me, she sounded like someone who smoked fifteen packs of cigarettes a day. Ridiculous. And of course she knew they’d be there practicing—they were always at our house.

“Oh, hey, Cheryl!” The twins perked up, and their eyes fell to her personal set of twins.

“You look good,” Rudolph barked.

“No, you look great!” Oliver shouted.

“Brilliant!”

“Stunning!”

“Sexy!” the twins yelled in unison.

Cheryl batted her eyes and completely ignored them, zooming her stare in on Brooks, who wasn’t giving her the time of day. Calvin’s and Brooks’ heads were back in their notebook, looking at their future plans. Brooks never seemed too interested in my sister, probably because he’d known her since she was wearing diapers. I could tell that bothered Cheryl, though—every girl wanted Brooks to notice her…including me.