Kiss of Awakening

by Jennifer Snyder

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Bree tossed a few more crumpled articles of clothing into her suitcase. “Have you gotten a text from Delvin yet?”

  My heart dropped to my toes at the mention of his name. Milliseconds after my mother had vanished—to which I’m still assuming she didn’t vanish into thin air, but merely flew away somehow—Delvin had come to, complaining of not feeling well. Bree had gotten his friends, and one of them had driven him home like he had asked.

  I hadn’t heard from him since.

  This both saddened and relieved me. While Delvin had been one sexy ass bartender, we didn’t even live in the same state, and I wasn’t one who believed in long distance relationships, so leaving without him saying anything to me was best. There was no awkward moment to bypass or paper thin expectations for the future. Plus, I didn’t have to deal with the worry that he would remember what I had done to him and call me out.

  Never saying goodbye worked out perfectly. I could put all of this behind me as though it had never happened.

  I shook my head and busied myself with arranging the inside of my suitcase perfectly. “No, nothing.”

  “He must be pretty damn sick, then.” She crinkled her nose and zipped her suitcase closed. “I hope we don’t get it. That’s all I need when I get back home.”

  “I think you’ll be fine,” I said, knowing she had nothing to worry about and wishing she would drop the entire conversation.

  Delvin wasn’t sick. Well, not really. He was just drained of his freaking life energy, but I wasn’t about to explain that to Bree. This was one secret I wouldn’t ever share with her.

  “Are you ready to head down?”

  My breath left me in a small wisp of relief. “Yeah, if you are.”

  She stood her suitcase up and rolled it toward the door. “I’m ready.” She sighed. “I just can’t believe Delvin seriously isn’t going to call or text you goodbye. I really thought you two had a connection.”

  My heart palpitated in my chest. I wished Bree would forget about Delvin. Her remembering him would make it that much harder to keep this insane secret heritage from her. It would also make it that much harder to forget about.

  “I need to use the restroom before we leave,” I lied. Really, I needed a moment to collect myself—a little time to calm my nerves from having heard his name for the millionth time in twenty-four hours from her. I was positive she was about to head down the road of remembrance and talk about how crazy it was that we were making out one second, and then the next he was on the ground, practically comatose from sickness, like she had more times than I could count already. “Do you care to head down and hail us a cab?”

  “I’m not making any promises that I’ll have one by the time you get down there.” She gripped the handle of the hotel room door. “After all, I’m not wearing my lucky shirt today.”

  I laughed, but it was forced. “I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

  “Yeah, yeah. We’ll see.” She pulled open the door and rolled her suitcase out into the hall while I darted up the stairs toward the bathroom. “See you in a minute.”

  “Yeah,” I called down to her.

  The loud click of the thick door closing behind her had me releasing a breath I hadn’t been aware I’d been holding. How the hell was I going to keep something this big from Bree? She had always been good at reading me; it was one of the things that came with being best friends for so many years.

  Chewing the inside of my cheek, I replayed last night in my head for the millionth time, wondering if at any point I could have been drugged. I had never wished for that to be the case so badly in my life.

  Slapping the plastic room key I held against the palm of my hand, I glanced at the ring I still wore, deciding that not everything was from a drug-induced hallucination. The ring was tangible evidence of that. Fingering it, I slipped it over my knuckle repeatedly while I continued to think. After everything that had happened with Delvin last night, the ring had loosened on its own. I’d left it in place with a mild hope that the connection it had with my mother still held, because regardless of how I felt about her last night, I still hoped for another chance to speak with her sometime soon.

  Inhaling deeply, I made my way back down the metal stairs. I gripped the handle of my suitcase and pulled the heavy hotel door open. One of my wheels got stuck in the track of the door, and I fought to get it free while struggling not to become crushed by the door.

  A hand reached out and took control of the suitcase for me, pulling it away from the door with ease. Glancing up, I locked eyes with a bell boy who couldn’t have been much older than me. He flashed me a smile I was sure he thought made him look slick and debonair, but it didn’t have the effect on me he was hoping for, because the only thing I could focus on was the shimmering deep red swirled together with a bright shade of orange surrounding him.

  His eyes trailed over me as the red flecks of glitter darkened and spread through the orange even more. “Here you go.”

  Letting the door click closed, I reached for my suitcase with a polite smile. “Thanks.”

  “No problem.” He rolled my suitcase to his side, his wide smile never once dimming. “Let me help you down with this.”

  I smoothed my hands along my jean-clad thighs. “Um, okay. Thank you.”

  Why was he looking at me like a lovesick puppy?

  “Did you have a nice stay?”

  I nodded. “Ugh, yeah. My friend and I had a great time. Thanks.”

  The red was now practically dimming out the vibrant orange I figured was his usual aura color. It hit me then—this entire thing was real. I hadn’t been drugged or dreaming, and everything my mother had said had been real.

  Right?

  Doubt crept back into my mind, because I wasn’t sure if the succubus part was true. I couldn’t seem to wrap my mind around it. Sure, obviously I could see auras, but that didn’t mean the other part was real.

  I licked along my bottom lip and brought my eyes back up to meet with the bell boy’s. He was staring at me as though I were a slice of chocolate cake he couldn’t wait to devour.

  When we paused in front of the elevator, I pushed the down button and then crammed my hands into the back pockets of my jeans. Would it be horrible of me to test it out, to kiss him and see if there was a repeat sensation from last night? The memory of how I had felt crashed through me the same way I supposed an addict felt when craving another hit of their drug of choice.

  The doors to the elevator opened, revealing it empty. After we stepped inside, the bell boy pressed the ground floor button and the doors slipped closed before us. If I was going to do this, now was my chance. There would be no better moment and no better candidate than this guy, who I would never in my life see again.

  Allowing this reasoning to fuel my actions, I erased the miniscule distance between us and pressed my lips against his. A heady haze instantly floated through me as the spicy sweet taste of a fireball candy filled my mouth. While it wasn’t as intense a flavor or sensation as it had been the night before, it was still absolutely amazing.

  The elevator jerked to a stop and the doors slid open with a ding. I released the bell boy, feeling the euphoric dizziness from what had been transpiring between us dance through me. My fingers touched my parted lips as my heart picked up pace inside my chest. I gripped the handle of my suitcase and jerked it free from the dazed and confused bell boy’s hand before hightailing it out of the elevator.

  It was real. I was a freaking succubus. Holy hell.