He may be right about my feelings, but still. “I want to know everything. Okay?”
Placing his hand over his chest, he says, “Swear it.” He looks back toward the window. “And it’s okay if you’re not comfortable, it’s a lot.”
“Yeah. Especially with you being able to hear my thoughts. And demon’s blood. And my heart replaced your heart, and we’ll both die if I die. And Sephlems.” It all rushes out of me as I pace my bedroom floor, shoving my hands through my tangled hair. “And I can’t tell Glen because of a rule, I think.” I look at him to confirm, and he nods peacefully. Seeing the calm in his eyes, I slow, and my forehead creases. “I’m sorry. I was trying to be rational about everything, and that just came out.”
Nathan looks up at me from a bowed head, a small smile lifting the corners of his mouth. “Don’t apologize. You’re absolutely right.” He waves me over. I cross the floor and look up at him. Nathan towers over me, expression serene and understanding. He rubs my shoulders, and the growing tension eases. “I don’t mean to cut you off. We’ll pick this up later, but we need to get down there.”
I nod. “Okay, just stay quiet as we walk.” It’s Saturday, and Mom never wakes up early. I don’t want to do anything to make this Saturday special.
Scott’s fierce scowl cuts through us as Nathan and I exit my home and cross the yard. He marches over to us and shoves Nathan away from me, forcing our clasped hands apart. My chest strokes in pain, and I drop to my knees. I blink, unable to see, arms clutched around me to hold my splitting body together.
Argh! Nathan being forced away from me is on a different level of pain than that of us not being together. I bite back my groan and catch my breath.
A gentle grasp of my shoulders relieves the spasms, and as I rise to my feet, my vision returns with floaters and flashes. But it’s the brush of warm lips against my neck that draws on the tranquility. I sigh, relieved.
“Scott!” Nathan barks. “Calm down. That’s not cool, and you know it.”
I swipe my hand across my forehead. “That was the worst thing I’ve ever experienced.”
“That’ll never happen again.” Nathan rubs the middle of my back. “I’m sorry you had to experience that.”
Pushing my hand across my chest, I ask, “Why’d that happen?”
“Just what you thought. Forced separation.” The worst feeling. It had a less intense effect on me. Very sorry about that.
I nod, rushing breaths finally easing.
Talk to Glen. It won’t take me long to talk to Scott. Plus, I need to point out a few things to him.
I nod again as we meet her. “Hi, Glen,” he greets.
“Hey,” Glen returns, giving Nathan a flirty smile that makes me a little uncomfortable.
“I’ll be back in a minute,” Nathan says.
Nathan cross the yard to Scott and I can almost see the steam charging from Scott’s ears and the anger in Nathan’s steps.
Glen bumps my hip with hers. “I see things worked out for you getting your guy. Maybe some guy should’ve grabbed my ass to fix Scott’s mixed feelings.” She jumps right into it. “When you left for the kitchen at Andrew’s, I was still dancing with Eric. He was way too drunk, and I told him I needed a break.” She plays with her loose curls, looking at the ground. “So, you were gone for like ever. Scott and his cousins came back clean and rejoined the party, attracting all the girls to them. I got dizzy and needed to lie down. Andrew offered me his room, and when I was walking in, Scott was right behind me. He scared the hell out of me, but I didn’t push him away. I didn’t want to. I guess I wanted him to be there.” She shrugs. “He pushed the door closed, and I kind of attacked him, kissing him like he was my husband who’d been lost at sea for years and finally returned home. It didn’t take him by surprise, and he was into it. I straddled him on Andrew’s bed and almost had sex with him,” she says, giving me a wide-eyed glare as if her forward actions are shocking. “But he stopped me. Mr. Safety Scott.” She grumbles and rolls her eyes.
I chuckle. “You two were sleeping when I had checked on you. And that explains why he was missing a shirt.” I study her face, searching for the odd snowflake I saw under her eye earlier, but it’s gone. I don’t know if I should mention it or not.
“We were asleep. And it was a good sleep. Everything was perfect, Tracey.” She looks down, hiding the hurt in her welling eyes. “He woke me up, peeved. I was so sick. He was beating himself up, saying how this shouldn’t have happened and that it was a mistake. Cey, he looked at me with the most violent eyes. Scared the hell out of me.”
I breathe, listening to Glen’s night. I won’t mention the snowflake, not yet. Why would Scott give in―and he is definitely giving in―then rebel like that? This must be what Nathan meant by no control. Is Mr. Safety Scott unable to separate the good from the bad within himself? “I don’t know, Glen. Maybe he just isn’t ready for a relationship, or doesn’t know what he wants.” I’d prefer to tell her that I think he’s losing it because he’s fighting his want for her, and it’s making him lose control of himself. Plus, they’re drawn to each other for a reason, and he knows that, but he’s willing to give up everything they have because of his stubbornness. But Nathan said not to say anything, and I don’t want to make it worse. I know what the bad part of this feels like, and knowing the details will only make it worse.
“Well, I just can’t―” She snaps her mouth shut, looking past my shoulder. Nathan and Scott are approaching. Her voice lowers so only I can hear. “Don’t say what I told you.”
I nod, but Scott may also have bionic hearing and has already heard her.
Nathan comes to my side, and him being so close feels extremely comfortable where I expect us to feel awkward this new to each other. “Come on, Tracey. Let’s let Scott and Glen talk. Scott, my car’s parked down the street.” Nathan takes a set of keys from his pocket and tosses them to Scott. “If you leave, I’ll find a way back.”
Scott catches the keys and nods toward the street for Glen to follow. She quickly follows behind him. They don’t touch, but I can tell Glen wants to, seeing her hands fidget behind her back.
“What happened? I thought you drove a truck.”
Nathan stands behind me, wrapping his arms around my middle. “I have a car too. And we’ll talk about that when we wake back up.” He nudges me toward my house. “The sun’s almost up. Go see if your mom’s awake. Just look out the window. I’ll let myself in if she’s not.”
I head for the patio doors, stealing another glance at Glen and Scott as they make it to the sidewalk. He bashfully reaches out and grabs her hand. I smile to myself. What is up with him?
I head in, locking the patio door behind me. I creep up the stairs to Mom’s room and peek in on her, seeing she’s still asleep. I kiss her cheek and close her door behind me when I leave her room.
The hall clock reads 6:23 a.m. I yawn and drag my feet to my room, craving hours of sleep.
I push my bedroom door open and see Nathan standing by the window. “Took you long enough,” he says.
I close and lock my door. “When we wake back up, you’re going to tell me how you did that.”
“Anything you want, beautiful.”
I wake up alone, wrapped in a bundle of sheets and my comforter. Hearing a soft thud causes me to pry my eyes open. By the brightness of the sun beaming through the window, it must be after twelve.
I sit up on my elbows, looking around my room. I wasn’t alone when I fell asleep. I see Nathan lying on the chaise, head back, eyes closed. His chest rises and falls with a restful ease, but something tells me he isn’t sleeping. I untangle myself from my cocoon. “Did my wild sleeping force you out of the bed?”
His humor raises his cheeks in a tender smile. His eyes open and his gaze lands on me without searching first. “No. You sleep still and comfortably.” Standing, he stuffs his phone in his pocket and crosses the floor. “We need to go.”
“Where?”
“Scott’s house.”
/>
“Why?”
He raises a smoothly laid eyebrow. “Why are you asking so many questions?”
I knit mine. “Because I want to know.”
“Get in the shower and get dressed. I’ll be waiting outside.”
I stretch, rising on my tiptoes and splaying out my fingers. “What time is it?”
He stares at me before answering, “A little after three. Feel better?”
“Humph. Fine. You know you can be yourself around me,” I say in preparation for my assumption. His eyes narrow, and I cut him off. “I heard you come in before I got up. But by the time I opened my eyes, you’re on the chaise looking more relaxed than I might’ve been.”
He stuffs his thumbs in his pockets and shrugs, smiling. “Yeah. I was too late trying to escape.”
I purse my lips, pinching them to the side. “Right.”
Moving faster than I can follow, he pulls my arm, and I’m lying across his legs. Our eyes lock and he says, “I’m not going anywhere. I had to take a call, and I didn’t want to wake you.” Before I can respond, he adds, “Come on, Tracey. Get up and brush your teeth, wash your face, wash your ass. We need to go see Scott and check on Glen. Make sure he didn’t kill her.” He laughs.
My eyes widen, and I gasp. “Not funny.”
Pinching his nose, he nods. “You’re right. That might’ve been inappropriate.” He moves me from his lap and scoots off the bed. “Don’t take too long and leave me waiting outside.”
“I’ll be down shortly.”
impatient
Mom must be planning something for Dad. That’s usually the only time she’s ever gone so early, like today, and so often, like she’s been all week. I text her just to say hi, but she takes a while to respond.
Nathan’s leaning over the roof of my car, attention drawn to his phone.
“What’s going on in Nathan’s world that has him so enraptured by his phone?” I ask jokingly, pulling closed the front door of my house.
His gaze flicks up at me and then back to his phone. “Work, family, and friends. It’s always something.”
I pull open the driver’s side door of my car and pop the locks for Nathan to get in. I crank the engine, and once he has on his seat belt, I pull out of the drive. He doesn’t look up once. I steal a few glances, seeing he’s typing a long message. Something sparks a thought in the back of my mind, and I can’t disregard it. “Your . . . beast. By the comfort in your mentioning it, you don’t resent it.”
Nathan inhales and releases it, phone falling in his lap. “I don’t,” he admits. “It’s who I am. He’s a part of me. However, I don’t like the name and meaning behind what I am.”
“So, you like being that way.”
“I wouldn’t say that. But I don’t like to be controlled. I don’t like people trying to change me, and being Burdened, that’s the first thing they try to amend. To make us more Sephlem, more human-like. But that’s not all of who I am, so I disliked that aspect and fought against it. I stopped fighting a few years or so ago, thanks to Scott. He helped me realize the importance of overcoming my demon. To resist the urge to do what the other half of me wanted. It wasn’t until I met you that I realized they weren’t trying to change me for me, but for when I met my mate.” He twists in his seat, looking around. “I think you passed Scott’s house.”
I glance in the rearview mirror and survey my surroundings. I’ve come an entire block too far. “I wasn’t paying attention.” I drive to the end of the block and turn around. “Sorry.”
Nathan makes a throaty chuckle. “It’s the red, brick house.”
“Yeah,” I say grudgingly. It’s been a long time since I’ve been over here, but I recognize the house. We used to hang around here when we were in grade school, playing, and teaching each other to ride bikes. When we entered high school, we all kind of branched off, going our separate ways, hanging around different people, and turning our backs on our childhood fun. Gosh. It sucks the way we’ve abandoned each other. Eventually, we even stopped acknowledging each other in the hallways and soon became strangers. I can only imagine how things will change after graduation.
“Don’t pull into the driveway. Park in front of that five fifty right there.” Nathan points to a silver car on the curb.
I do as he instructs and cut the engine. He’s back on his phone, and I try not to be nosy, but it looks like he’s texting now.
“You can be nosy, Tracey.” He smirks, wearing a raised eyebrow accompanied with vibrant eyes. “Ask me whatever and go through whatever you want.”
I drag my gaze away from him. “Stop doing that.”
“I can’t help it. I enjoy being in your mind.” His phone vibrates in his hand, and he gives it back his attention. “Come on, I’m driving.”
“Where are we going?”
“I’m taking us out.”
“Us?”
“Yeah. You, me, Scott, and Glen.”
“Why?”
His hand holding his phone lowers. He meets my gaze. “You don’t want to go out with me?”
“Yes, you. Not us.”
“You told me to show Scott you and me so he can see they can work it out like we are. The best way to show him that is to be around them. The four of us. We’ll have a long time to spend alone together, Tracey.” He nods his head toward the window. “But right now, we need to make sure my cousin doesn’t kill your friend because he can’t control himself.” Bringing his phone to his ear, he gets out.
I take a few breaths to calm my racing heart from the panic his statement sparked. What is up with him thinking Scott’s going to hurt Glen? “If that’s a joke, I don’t like it.”
Scott and Glen are coming down the driveway. I close the driver’s side door, pacified by the smile brightening Glen’s face. Scott, though, looks stuck in-between emotions. But, they’re cute together, holding hands, appearing to belong this way.
“Tracey,” Nathan calls. “I’m running in the house to shower and change. I’ll be right back.” I poke out my lip. “You could always come with me.”
I try to hold back my smile, failing miserably. You’re trying to start something, I form a thought directed to him.
Nah, not yet. . . I’ll be right back. Fifteen minutes tops.
I nod.
Glen rushes over, and Scott follows Nathan back into his house.
“You feeling better?” I ask before she can ramble about Nathan sleeping over. “You seem better.” I bump her with my hip. “You’re smiling.”
“Yeah, well, Scott’s still being an ass. But sometimes he’s okay.” We sit on the trunk of my car, and she gripes, “One moment he’s like, Oh Glen, and wanting to touch and kiss me. Then the next, he’s like, Don’t, Glen.” She deepens her voice and points her finger, imitating Scott. “He’s like a drill sergeant sometimes. You know?”
I laugh at her scrunched face and swaying head that’s supposed to help her mocking. “That’s a terrible impersonation. You two came back here when you left my house?”
“Yeah. His mom and dad weren’t here, still aren’t here. So we laid around his living room.” She takes a moment and stretches her arms over her head. A thought forces her eyes to widen and her arms to fall in her lap. “What did you and Nathan end up doing?”
The comfort of her voice in the way she speaks his name irritates me. It’s no big deal. It just takes some convincing. “Nothing. Slept.”
“Really? You two did nothing?”
I crease my brows and crinkle my nose at her insinuation. “Um, no. I met him last week, Glen. I’m not a slut, like some people,” I joke, peeking at her from the corner of my eyes.
Laughing, she shoves me so hard I have to catch myself from falling off the car.
Tracey! I jump from the sudden sound of Nathan’s voice in my head.
Yes? I sing in my mind, rubbing my throbbing arm.
What are you doing? Is she hurting you? What was that? he asks, sounding panicked.
Wow. Nothing. She was just joking
around. You felt that?
Yes. And I didn’t like it. Stop joking.
Are you upset? You sound peeved.
His sigh echoes in my head. No, Tracey, I’m not upset. Something hurt you, and my body reacted in a violent and protective way. Sorry, he relays in a softer tone.
Got it! Hurry. You almost finished?
Yes. Give me eight more minutes.
Okay.
“Hello, Tracey?” Glen sings, snapping her fingers in front of my face.
“Yes?” I swat her hands.
Glowering at me, she sasses, “Can you hear me? I’m talking to you, and you’re totally zoning.”
“I’m sorry. Something just crossed my mind.”
“Like what?”
Oh, my gosh, Glen. She is totally prying. With a swift subject change, I say, “Scott will come around. I asked Nathan to talk to him. Maybe everything will work out.”
“You and Nathan sure seem swell all of a sudden,” she says, glaring at me from the corner of her eye. “You ever confirm if he was heading off to school? How old is he anyway?”
I think for a moment, twisting my lips to the side. “I don’t know.” Good question. He looks like he’s about nineteen or twenty. Maybe twenty-one.
“Well, don’t you want to find out? He slept over, and you didn’t get any deets.”
Wow, insulting much. I want to defend myself, but she has a point. And in order to cover my tracts, I’ll need to half-lie and half tell the truth so I don’t give away Nathan being a Burdened Sephlem. It’s so hard to not just tell Glen everything, but I can’t. Going for the full lie, I say, “No, Glen, I don’t know, and I didn’t think to ask.” Honestly, what was most important was Sephlem info, the stuff that made him not normal. To ask him his human age never crossed my mind, but I guess it should have.
“So, you like him?” Is she running out of Scott to talk about?
“Yes. Of course,” I say, nodding. “Without a doubt.”
Plight: A Dark Paranormal Romance (The Sephlem Trials Book 1) Page 10