Connected: Book 1 Connected Series

by Kat Stiles

  “There’s got to be a reason I’m getting these visions. I have to believe we’re supposed to stop them from happening.”

  I wanted to believe that, too. But with our track record, I wasn’t sure.

  Tommy suddenly perked up. Across the lunchroom, Scott and his group of friends sat at their table.

  “Is something wrong?” I asked Tommy.

  “No.” He reached across the table to touch my hands. The heat flowed like always, and he buried his hands underneath mine. He wore a look of concentration.

  “Can you hear him?” I said quietly.

  “Who?” He focused back to me.

  I whispered at a level only he could hear so as not scare Roz. “Scott.”

  “Wasn’t trying.”

  I raised an eyebrow at him. But his attention was back to Scott. My heart sank in fear at the sick grin on Scott’s face. Even while he chewed his food, he sneered at us.

  I squeezed Tommy’s hands. “What’s up?”

  “Nothing.” He withdrew his hands and got his sandwich out from his lunch bag. “Everything’s fine.”

  But the tension I felt from him was a stark contrast to his words. What was going on?

  * * * *

  At my locker after school, Tommy wrapped his arms around my waist from behind. He rested his head on my shoulder and greeted me.

  “Hi,” I said, crossing my forearms on top of his.

  I turned to face him, and he released me. Holding his hands, I noticed a feeling of anxiety in them. Even his eyes were overly alert. “Are you all right? You seem kinda wired.”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” A small smile surfaced. “Don’t want you to be late for the bus.” He let go of my hands.

  “Tommy, are you sure? I’m worried about you.”

  He embraced me, but didn’t say a word.

  “I know something’s wrong. Tell me what’s going on,” I whispered into his shoulder.

  “Don’t worry, beautiful. It’s fine.” There was an ominous tone to his voice, as if he knew something horrible was about to happen, but nothing could be done about it. He smiled nervously before he brushed my cheek, then left. At his locker, he glanced around.

  I had almost made it to the bus when the anxiety resurged, more powerful than before. I knew then I had to stay.

  Roz approached me. “I’m going to stick around,” I told her.

  “You okay, Em? You look worried.”

  “Yeah.” I flashed a smile for her. No point in both of us worrying, I reasoned. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

  On my way back into the school, I felt a shot of pain so intense I doubled over.

  Tommy. He’s in trouble.

  I put both of my hands to my stomach, but the heat did little to lessen the pain. My mind raced, trying to determine how I could help him. I couldn’t do much damage in a fight. And the last thing he needed was for the principal to find out.

  A sudden pain shot in my jaw, and my lip burned like it was on fire. Quick, Em, think. You have to do something.

  Then I remembered his brother. Demetri’s old truck sat in the parking lot. Squinting my eyes, I could see him seated on the driver’s side. I ran towards him, waving my arms to try to get his attention. Right when he saw me, my knee gave out in a sudden spasm of pain. I fell to the ground hard, the hot asphalt shredding through my jeans and tearing my skin. I placed my hand on my knee, an instinctual reaction to the pain. A crowd of other students began to form.

  The crowd murmured to themselves, but no one offered any help. A couple of them were arguing whether or not I was faking to get attention. I would’ve laughed if I weren’t hurting so much.

  Demetri pushed his way through. “Em, you all right?”

  “It’s Tommy,” I blurted out. “He needs your help.”

  “Where is he?”

  “I’m not sure. The last place I saw him was by his locker.” My knee was still shaky, and it took a major effort to stand. I finally made it to my feet, and a surge of pain ignited under my eye. In an instant, it watered up, blinding me. I stumbled back, but Demetri caught me before I fell again.

  “Are you all right?” he repeated.

  “I’m fine,” I said, but leaned on him as I half walked, half limped towards the door. We nearly made it back to the school when my ribs suddenly burned, and I doubled over again. “It’s getting worse,” I whispered, fighting the pain to return back upright. “Quickly.”

  “What is going on with you?” he muttered under his breath.

  Once inside, we heard a commotion in the stairwell near the lockers. Demetri burst through the hallway doors. I followed behind, but stayed out of the way.

  It was what I had feared: Scott and two other boys were picking Tommy apart. I gasped at the sight of Tommy: his eye was a mixture of red and purple, and his lip was busted open. I could tell both hadn’t finished swelling. And from what I had felt, I knew he’d sustained more damage I couldn’t see.

  Demetri sprang into action, going for the biggest one, who was more his size. He threw a series of kicks and punches in rapid succession, stunning his opponent.

  Tommy went after Scott, throwing punch after punch. But Scott just stood there, taking the blows and not even trying to defend himself. He giggled like a psychopath from a horror movie, and then motioned towards Tommy. His friend took the hint and dived at Tommy, taking him down at the knees.

  Tommy scrambled back to his feet. The boy tried to take Tommy down again but was met with a knee to his stomach, followed by an elbow to his face. The boy toppled to the floor, wincing.

  Scott yawned and stretched his arms, until his gaze settled on me. A maniacal grin appeared on his face. I shuddered. In a fraction of a second, he moved next to me. My heart pounded in my chest. What did Lauren always tell me to do in these situations? Groin kick, right?

  He reached out to touch me. I instinctively retreated from him, until I backed myself into the corner of the stairwell. I searched for a weapon, an exit, anything. I was trapped.

  “You’re Roz’s friend, right? Em?” he said, his eyes looking me up and down. “Pretty indestructible little thing, aren’t you?”

  My jaw dropped. I finally understood why his voice sounded familiar. Without the drunken nervousness, I didn’t recognize it before. He was the driver—the bastard who hit me and left me for dead. I so wanted to hurt him. A slap, a punch, a kick…anything. But like that night, I froze, afraid to breathe, let alone attack.

  “I never wanted to hurt you. It was an accident,” he explained, fingering a lock of my hair.

  “Stay away from me!” I scratched his face, like a scared kitten defending itself, with about the same level of effectiveness. It hardly broke his skin.

  Scott put a hand to his cheek. “Oww, that hurt.”

  At first I figured he was making fun of me. But then his eyes revealed genuine shock.

  “What the…” Scott grabbed my wrist before I could make a run for it. My hands heated in a flash.

  “I can…feel that.”

  “Get your hands off her,” Tommy growled, grabbing Scott by the collar and hurling him back. Then he threw a punch that landed squarely on Scott’s jaw, disorienting him. The distaste I had for fighting suddenly left me, and it was with great awe that I watched Tommy work. I’d never seen a fight up-close, not a real fight anyway. The pushing around on the playground stuff didn’t compare to this. Tommy knew exactly what he was doing.

  My eyes were drawn to Demetri and the ease with which he lifted the muscular boy by the throat single-handedly, and then slammed him crashing to the ground. Tommy finished by smashing Scott’s face in against his knee. Scott lost his balance and stumbled to the floor.

  Footsteps approached from within the school.

  “We gotta get outta here,” Demetri said.

  Tommy grabbed my hand and we ran from the stairwell together, moving as fast as we could, considering his condition. We were all winded when we arrived at the truck.

  “Good times,” Demetri
said. “Sorry I didn’t get there sooner. Are you all right, Tommy?”

  “Yeah, I’m okay. They jumped me with people still there. I wasn’t expecting that.”

  Tommy assisted me into the truck, and then pulled a rag from the glove box to wipe the blood from his lip. “Thanks for your help,” he said to Demetri.

  “No problem. Haven’t had that much fun in a while.” The old truck reluctantly fired to life, and he peeled out of the parking lot.

  I touched Tommy’s face where the swelling had worsened. The energy flowed from my hands in a rush. He closed his eyes as his body continued to feed.

  “Are you okay, Em?”

  The sound of Demetri’s voice startled me back to reality. I withdrew my hands and Tommy’s eyes opened.

  “I’m fine,” I said.

  “You had me worried for a second there. I didn’t know what was up with you,” Demetri said.

  Tommy squeezed my hand. “What happened?”

  “I’m fine,” I repeated, annoyed Demetri mentioned it. “I–I got a little sick.”

  Demetri adjusted his ball cap. “Hey, how did you know something was wrong with Tommy? You didn’t even know where he was, you couldn’t have seen the fight break out.”

  “Had a feeling.” I flashed a nervous smile. “Don’t you ever get those?”

  “No,” he said.

  I gulped. Not quite the answer I wanted to hear. It was only a matter of time before I’d have to explain.

  I leaned into Tommy and whispered, “I need to work on you.”

  He nodded. “You working tonight?” he asked Demetri.

  “No, Mom and Dad. Hey, do you want me to drop you off at home, Em?”

  “She’s coming over,” Tommy said. “I’ll drive her home later.”

  “Doubt that. It hurts worse before it gets better. You’ll be lucky if you can move in a couple of hours.”

  “I’ll be all right,” Tommy said.

  “Okay, if you say so,” Demetri said, and then added quietly to me, “Don’t be surprised if I’m the one driving you home tonight, Em.”

  Tommy caressed my cheek. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

  “No.” My eyes closed at the feel of his strong fingers on my skin, but the pleasure was short-lived.

  “Sorry you had to see that,” Tommy said.

  “No, it’s all right. It was… You were incredible,” I said.

  “Taught him everything he knows,” Demetri said. He wore a satisfied grin for the rest of the ride.

  * * * *

  At their house, Demetri headed straight for the kitchen.

  “He’s going to see what we’re doing. We have to tell him,” I whispered to Tommy.

  “Nah, he won’t bother us. We’ll use my bed.”

  I looked at him as if he were insane. “He’s okay with that?”

  Tommy smiled. “It’s different with guys.”

  “Must be. I could only imagine how the Ice Queen would react.” I looked at his black eye and busted lip. “Don’t you think he’s going to notice afterwards? I mean, your face…”

  He shrugged. “Probably not. He doesn’t pay attention to much of anything.” Tommy took my hand into his and we walked—or rather, I walked and he limped—up the stairs. Demetri entered the living room, right when we approached the top.

  “They should be home at nine!” he yelled to us, sporting a knowing smile.

  “Okay, thanks,” Tommy said.

  Tommy’s bedroom was functional, surprisingly clean, and devoid of decoration, save some theater posters on the walls.

  He shut the door behind us, and his arms enclosed around my waist, pulling me in to him. “I didn’t think I’d get you alone in here this fast.”

  Even all bruised and battered, he still managed to make my heart pound. “Go lie down, will you?”

  “Wanna start already? Guess that shouldn’t be a surprise.”

  “Very funny.” I touched his face, and the heat was intense. I think he felt it too, because he mumbled a disappointed concession, and then limped to his bed and took a seat on the edge.

  “So what happened with you before?” he said. “Why was Demetri worried?”

  I sat next to him. “I felt your pain.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The hits you took, I guess.”

  His mouth gaped. “Are you serious?”

  “Yeah. Stomach, knee, face, and ribs, I think. It’s how I knew something was wrong. I went and got Demetri.”

  “How is it you can do that?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I’ve healed you before. When I heal, I feel a connection to the person.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, like with Roz the other day.”

  “I didn’t know you could feel it outside of healing someone.” He wore a guilty expression I found entirely adorable.

  “It’s okay. I like being connected to you. It’s usually a pretty good feeling.”

  “But I don’t like causing you pain,” he said.

  “I told you, I’m a quick healer. I can handle it.” I smiled sweetly at him.

  “That smile…” He touched my cheek and then rested his hand right below my cheekbone. “Makes it all worth it.” The kiss that followed warmed my entire body.

  “Oww.” He pulled away and his lip started to bleed again.

  I stifled a giggle. “To be continued, right?”

  He attempted a smile, but cried out again. “Damn, that hurts, too.”

  I glanced around the room in search of a chair I could use. The shirt I’d given him lay next to his pillow.

  “You sleep with my shirt?”

  He blushed before leaning over to hide it under the covers. “Of course.”

  I laughed.

  “What? Having your scent near me is calming. Helps me sleep at night.”

  “I see.” A wicked grin formed on my lips. “And now you actually have me here alone and you’re too weak to do anything.” I let out an exaggerated sigh. “Such a pity.”

  He groaned but made it to his feet nonetheless. “I’m not that weak.”

  “You forget I know how bad you are. Sit your ass back down,” I commanded.

  “Talkin’ like that…” He came closer, wrapping his arms around me and leaning in next to my ear. “I guess I can wait until afterwards.” The heat traveled down my body in another shiver, flushing my face. He smiled. “I love it when that happens.”

  “What?”

  “This.” He placed both of his hands on my cheeks. “It’s like the heat gets turned on.” His hands were cold in comparison, illustrating his point. “It’s physical proof that you’re into me.”

  For a moment, I basked in the feel of his touch and the alluring mechanical scent of his hands. Then I had him lay down on the bed. I didn’t see anything I could use for a chair in his bedroom, but I remembered seeing a folding chair downstairs. “I’ll be right back, okay?”

  “What do you need?”

  “I’ll get it. You relax.”

  Demetri lounged on the couch downstairs, watching TV.

  “Hey, Em,” he said, and nonchalantly added, “You still have all your clothes on.”

  “You’re a riot, Demetri. What did he tell you?”

  “What?” That monumental grin of his appeared. “I heard all about that day in the park.”

  “I can’t believe—”

  “And now you’ve got him alone in his bedroom. All part of the plan, huh?”

  I shot him the death stare as I grabbed the chair. He laughed it off.

  “We’re not going to have sex.”

  “Whatever,” he said. “You’re a Scorpio, aren’t you?”

  “Did Tommy tell you my birthday, too?”

  “Nope. I can tell. I’m a Scorpio, too. Totally oversexed.”

  “Hmph. Speak for yourself.”

  “Yeah. I’ve seen the way you look at him.”

  I rolled my eyes. They were both delusional, I decided as I ascended t
he stairs. I thought the conversation was over, until he added, “I keep the condoms in my top dresser drawer. I’m not ready to be an uncle yet.”

  “Will you stop? I’m not going to have sex with him!”

  He returned his attention to the TV. “Have fun, Em. But go easy on him, will you? He’s injured.”

  I let out a frustrated yell, before rejoining Tommy in his room. “Your brother…” I shook my head.

  “He likes you. He wouldn’t screw with you if he didn’t.”

  I couldn’t help but smile, in spite of myself. I situated the chair by the bed while Tommy positioned his body near the edge, next to me.

  “Close your eyes and try to relax,” I said.

  I scanned his body by gently laying my hands on him, working from his head down. Even with the layer of clothing separating my hands from his skin, the feel of his body was every bit as wonderful as I imagined it would be. It took a concentrated effort to not get lost in the sensation of simply touching him.

  I noted the highest temperature at his head, his entire abdominal area and one of his knees, the same places I felt pain earlier. A look of pure contentment took shape on his face.

  “What?”

  “This is one of my fantasies—having you touch me like this. I would’ve gotten my ass kicked sooner had I known this would happen.”

  “If you weren’t injured, I would probably hit you right now.”

  He merely continued to smile.

  I focused first on his stomach, the location of the majority of heat. I took a deep breath and released it, and then placed my hands down, over his shirt.

  “I think it’ll feel better without the shirt,” he said. “Do you promise to behave?”

  “I’ll try,” I said dryly.

  He took off his shirt, and I noticed some swelling and patches of redness at his ribs. A soft whimper escaped my lips. What if his bones are actually broken?

  “You said you’d behave.”

  “Your ribs, Tommy. It looks pretty bad.”