“I couldn’t take all the drooling. You were creating a huge puddle on my shirt.”
I smack him in the face with a pillow. “I did not. I don’t drool.”
“You do. Massive amounts.”
I swing the pillow to smack him again, but he catches my wrist and pulls me off the bed. I land on top of him, and he wraps an arm around my lower back. He pulls the pillow from my hand and shoves it under his head, pushing his jacket out of the way. His eyes are a deep dark blue in the shadows, intensifying the sultry playfulness in them.
“I don’t drool.”
“You don’t drool… much.”
I jab him in the ribs, and he laughs. “Why are you really on the floor?”
“Because it’s the gentlemanly thing to do, and I’m nothing if not a gentleman.” He tucks a section of tangled curls behind my ear. They fall free two seconds later and he smiles. “I should go before everyone else wakes up. Wouldn’t want you getting grounded forever.”
“No, definitely wouldn’t want that.” My thoughts flash back to the hours of cleaning Aunt Claudia subjected my cousins and me to. It’s bad enough I’ve got a month of more scrubbing, sweeping, mopping, dusting, and whatever else my aunt and uncle decide to throw at me to look forward to. There’s no way I can take more than that.
His smile grows bigger. “If I’m going to go, you’re going to have to get up.” He releases his hold from around my lower back, the edge of his finger grazing over skin before his hand settles on my hip.
My heartbeats pick up the pace, the skin at my back still tingling where he’d touched it. The curve of his mouth catches my attention, and all I can think about is kissing him.
“You’re not moving.”
“Huh? Oh.” I bite my lip, rivers of molten lava depositing into my cheeks at realizing I’m still straddling him when I’m supposed to be letting him up. “Right. Sorry.”
His thumb brushes over my mouth, his eyes becoming dark and heady as his lashes lower a fraction. “You’re blushing.” He licks his lips and my heartbeats want to race and stop all at the same time. “And you still haven’t moved,” he whispers.
“Maybe I don’t want to.”
The corner of his mouth lifts. “No?”
“No.”
I press my lips against his, praying my morning breath isn’t too bad. His fingers glide through my hair until his hand reaches the base of my head. He deepens the kiss, sending a hot rush of butterflies in my gut to take flight. He tastes like cinnamon, and I savor every second. Being here with him for however brief a time, the world and all its problems melt away. My brain too fogged with processing his scent, his taste, and his touch to worry about vampires, witches, angels, the Venari, or anyone else… except for maybe my aunt and uncle. Having them walk in right now would not be good.
“You really should go,” I mumble against his mouth. I push myself up so I’m hovering above him.
“I know.” He flips me around in one fluid motion so he’s now the one hovering above me. “Just not yet.”
“You’re right. You should stay a little longer.” Grabbing a fistful of his shirt, I pull his mouth back to mine. Making out with Sebastian is way more preferable than facing whatever the world has in store for me today.
A knock at the door has me scrambling, and Sebastian shimmying under the bed.
Aunt Claudia pokes her head in. She’s dressed in leggings and a loose fitting t-shirt when ordinarily she’d be in her pajamas at this hour. “What are you doing on the floor?”
My heart jackhammers inside my chest, the thud-thud visible above the line of my tank top. God, I hope she doesn’t see it. “Looking for my leather Chucks,” I say way too fast. I force myself to slow down, but there’s not a whole lot I can do about all the heat rushing into my flaming cheeks. I’m probably as red as a tomato.
I cross my fingers hoping she’ll think it’s because she scared the crap out of me when she came in and not because I’m hiding a boy under my bed. “I forgot to change my alarm after you said I couldn’t continue jogging while grounded, and since it woke me up, I thought I’d go ahead and get ready for school.” I run my hand underneath the edge of the bed and Sebastian hands me a pair of shoes. I hold them up. “See.”
“I never said you had to stop jogging. I said you’d have to use the treadmill in the basement. I thought maybe we could work out together this morning. You can run, and I can do my yoga. I’ll meet you downstairs in five.”
The moment the door closes, Sebastian laughs and I let out a sigh. He slides out from under the bed. “Have fun exercising with your aunt.” Kissing me on the cheek, he grabs his jacket and exits through the window. “I’ll see you at school.” He pops his head back in. “Oh, I brought your backpack back last night too. It’s over there.” He nods his chin toward my dresser. “You left it at the center.”
“I did?” It takes every bit of restraint I have to wait for him to leave and not rush over there right this second to rummage through it to make sure the Book of Shadows and the spell for Evan is still inside. If I left it behind, anybody could have gone through it. I can’t believe I did that.
Once I hear his car start, I dart across the room and yank the bag open. The book is still inside. Thank God. Next, I pat down the pockets making sure the spell is still there too, letting out a sigh once I find it. I need to be more careful.
Both Taylor and Paige are waiting at my locker when I get to school via the bus, since Jack’s car is out of commission until he gets a new tire and rim.
Taylor calls me out the moment I’m within hearing distance. “Where were you this weekend? Your aunt and uncle called my house looking for you. I sent you like a bazillion texts, and you didn’t answer a single one.” She narrows her eyes, studying me. “I’d be mad at you if I wasn’t so curious. It’s not like you to disappear.”
“It’s not all that interesting, really.” Sweat beads along my hairline as my mouth goes dry. If Taylor even for a second thinks I’m lying, she’ll be all over me until I crack. “Jack got a flat and had one of his friends pick us up. They were having a party, so we went and things got a little carried away.” I shrug, hoping it comes off as no big deal.
Taylor shifts her stance so her arms are now crossed, her head tilted to the side, and her hip jutting out. Yeah, she’s not buying it. I’m going to have to give her a few details to sell it. Hopefully without going too overboard.
“Really, it’s not that big a deal. My cousins and I were just letting off some steam and ended up drinking too much. It was stupid and now we’re grounded for a month. Aunt Claudia took our phones away and had us cleaning the house for hours yesterday.”
She stares me down, her eyes narrowing even further. It takes everything in me to breathe regularly. A trickle of sweat rolls down my back, the weight of her gaze growing heavier and heavier until I can’t take it anymore, and I break the connection under the guise of needing to get my books out of my locker.
Please, please don’t question me anymore.
The moment I lift up on the locker handle, she takes over, swinging the door the rest of the way open so it’s pressed flat against the locker beside mine. She leans against it, her dark brown eyes pools of disbelief. “You went to a party and got drunk?”
I shrug. “Yep.”
“I call bullsh—”
“Language, Miss Smith,” Principal Anderson chides on his way down the hall. The soles of his patent leather shoes squeak over the tiled floor until they disappear into a cacophony of slamming locker doors and mingling voices. I can’t believe I’m actually thinking this, but I kind of wish he would have stopped. At least then I wouldn’t have to suffer through the third degree with Taylor.
“I’ve been to parties and drank before. You were there the last time.” The last time being at Tad Brooks’ party, after which I swore to never drink again and haven’t.
“Yeah, and you’ve not been to a party or touched a drop of alcohol since then, so you’ll have to excuse me if I
don’t quite believe you. I know you, and you are not a party girl, Indi. So where were you really?” She reaches around me and nudges Paige. “Back me up, Paige.”
“Holy crap, Indi, look at all these flowers,” Paige says, ignoring Taylor’s call to gang up on me.
“What flowers?” It’s then I actually look inside my locker. Sitting on the bottom in a black crystal vase are at least two-dozen blue roses in full bloom. Goose bumps creep over the back of my neck while my stomach drops into my feet.
Taylor snatches the card before I can, but I already know who they’re from.
Evan.
“Thinking of you, Evan.” Her face lights up. “Are you and Evan back together? Is that where you really were this weekend? Did you two run off and have a wild night together? Because I can totally support that. I mean, it’s Evan. You guys are so cute together.”
“I wasn’t with Evan, and we’re not back together. I told you, I don’t want to drag him into the mess with my dad and the shady guys he got involved with. The F.B.I. is still investigating.” She rolls her eyes, having heard this lie many times before, but it’s not like I can tell her the straight up truth.
Could I have come up with a better lie? Probably. But this is the one that came out of my mouth at the time, so I’ve no choice but to roll with it.
“I was with Jack and Liv and Se—” I cut myself off before I say his name and open up a whole other interrogation. “And we were letting off some steam at a party. Like I said. I’m not innocent all the time, you know? Occasionally I do stupid things, and this weekend was one of them.”
Sebastian picks that exact moment to walk by and wink.
Taylor doesn’t miss a beat, her eyes flicking back and forth between him and me.
“Oh, my gosh.” Paige grips onto my arm, her fingertips digging in. Her eyes go all big and sparkly. “You were with Sebastian this weekend, weren’t you? I knew there was something between you two besides a history assignment.”
“Were you?” Taylor scoots in closer, going into full gossip mode. Despite her wanting Evan and me back together, she’s about as giddy as Paige is over the prospect of something happening between Sebastian and me. “You have to tell us if you were. Best friends don’t lie to one another.”
“I—”
The warning bell rings overhead, signaling we have five minutes to get to class before we’re counted tardy. I have never been so happy to get to chemistry in my entire life.
“We better go, or we’re going to be late to class. I cannot afford to get a detention. Aunt Claudia is already mad enough.” I grab my books from beneath the flowers, careful not to tip them over. An ache slices its way through the center of my heart as I look at them. I can’t help but think back to all the fun times Evan and I had together. Our romantic attempt might not have worked out, but he was always a great friend. Seeing a bouquet from him should bring a smile to my face, not send goose bumps skittering down my spine. I need to figure out a way to get him alone today so I can reverse the damage I’ve done before the twisted happiness I forced on him goes too far.
Closing my locker, I speed walk down the hall before Taylor can sink her teeth back in and bombard me with question after question. I turn the corner just in time to see Kayla Preston’s ruby red lips pull back in a smirk right before she shoulder checks me, and I stumble into a row of lockers. All my books go sprawling over the floor to the sound of her fake girly-girl laugh.
Seriously?
She covers her mouth with the tips of her fingers. “Oops, my bad. I so didn’t see you there.”
“Give it a rest, Kayla. We all know you did it on purpose,” Paige says as she and Taylor catch up to me.
“Let me guess. Evan still isn’t giving you the time of day, so you think bullying Indi will make you feel better. How pathetic. You need to grow up and move on.” Taylor pats her on the shoulder as she pinches her lips between her teeth and shakes her head in a you poor stupid girl kind of way. “You would think by now it would have sunk into your thick skull. He’s just not into you.”
Kayla jerks away, her upper lip pulled back in a snarl. Narrowed eyes colored with hatred turn my way. “This isn’t over. You will not steal him away from me again.”
I throw my head back and sigh. “I didn’t steal him away the first time. Ever think maybe he doesn’t like you because you’re a horrible person? Maybe you should try being a decent human being once in a while, and maybe then he might look your way. Though I wouldn’t hold my breath. On second thought, maybe you should hold your breath.” Ordinarily, I’d keep my opinions to myself and not engage, but I have to admit, that felt kind of good.
Her face turns a horrible shade of red, her fists balled at her sides. Her ridiculous heels click on the floor as she steps my way. Taylor cuts in, pushing her back before she makes it far enough to do anything.
Paige hands me my books, then takes me by the arm. “Come on, let’s go before we’re late. She isn’t worth wasting any more time over.”
I make it two steps before I trip over nothing. I go down hard, slamming my knee into the tiled floor, and taking Paige with me. My books go flying out of my arms for the second time and slide halfway down the hall. Pushing myself up, I look back over my shoulder at Kayla. A smile bordering more on the evil sneer side of things covers her face. She wiggles her fingers in a wave.
I dust myself off, not giving her the satisfaction of seeing me embarrassed.
A weird energy crackles the air around me, raising the hairs on the back of my neck.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d say it was magic.
I stare at Kayla, sashaying down the hallway, an insane thought filling my head. Did she…? Could she be…? No. It’s too crazy to even consider. There’s no way Kayla Preston is a witch. If she were, she would have abused her powers on me way before now. Wouldn’t she have?
But if the magic I’m sensing isn’t hers, then whose is it?
I scan the area. The only people left in the hall are Taylor and Paige, and I know they’re not supernatural.
Maybe there was no magic at all. Maybe the stress is finally getting to me and I’m now looking for problems that aren’t there.
“You okay?” Paige asks. “You cracked your knee pretty hard on the floor.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Good, because we’re about to make Mr. Jackson’s day if we don’t haul butt right now.” Taylor shoves my books into my arms, then sprints down the hallway, leaving Paige and me to catch up.
15
Taylor, Paige, and I rush into the classroom just as the final bell rings. At the desk, Sebastian glances over his shoulder at our arrival, while Mr. Jackson greets us with a cold-eyed glare. He despises tardiness and isn’t too fond of students just making it in time either. He taps his watch then takes the slip of paper Sebastian hands him.
I raise a questioning eyebrow in Sebastian’s direction and get a wink in return.
The muscles of Mr. Jackson’s jaw twitch. “Miss Bellamy.” He calls me forward with a wave of his hand, his gaze scanning over the paper Sebastian handed him.
I gulp down the lump forming in my throat. Being summoned to Mr. Jackson’s desk is never a good thing. My arms tighten around my books, my heart beating double time. I glance at the clock on the wall even though I know I made it to class on time. Plus, he didn’t call Taylor or Paige to join me.
Could I be in trouble for something else? The only time Mr. Jackson calls anyone to his desk, it’s to hand out a detention slip. I cannot get one of those. Not after this weekend. Aunt Claudia would kill me, and Uncle Caleb would probably help her.
I shift my gaze to Sebastian. He twists the ring around his pinky, the small-engraved symbols flashing blue with each spin. A hint of a smile curves one side of his mouth upward. He’s influencing him.
Penetrating gray eyes beneath bushy eyebrows laser-lock on my face, scrutinizing my every move until I’m ready to confess every wrong I’ve ever committed… or hide under my desk
in fear. I swear, Mr. Jackson is in the wrong line of work. He should be interrogating bad guys for the government instead of torturing high school kids. “You and Mr. Chase have been excused from classes for the day to work on an office assignment. This does not mean you are excused from today’s in-class assignment.” He hands us both a paper from the stack on his desk. “You are both to read all of chapter twenty-six and fill out the corresponding worksheet. I expect it on my desk first thing in the morning before the start of class. No exceptions.”
“Sir, yes, sir.” Smacking his feet together, Sebastian salutes Mr. Jackson with the worksheet still held between his fingers. A collective laugh comes from the class until Mr. Jackson slams a palm down onto the desktop.
“That’ll be enough, Mr. Chase, unless you would like a detention for this afternoon.”
“Hmm. Tempting, but I’m afraid I’ve got plans this afternoon.” Sebastian folds the worksheet into a small square, then shoves it into the back pocket of his jeans. “See you tomorrow, Mr. J.” Grabbing my hand, he pulls me behind him toward the door.
Taylor and Paige stare at me with their mouths hanging open. I get the feeling it has more to do with Sebastian holding my hand then the bogus office assignment we’re supposedly working on. The office doesn’t give out assignments.
“An office assignment? What exactly are we supposed to be doing?” I ask once we’re out in the hall.
“Organizing files.”
“And does the office know we’re organizing files? When Mr. Jackson finds out we’re lying, it’s going to be detention hell for the both of us.”
“As far as anyone knows—the office included—we are doing exactly what the paper said. At least, that’s how everyone will remember it.”
“So it’s a spell and not just the influence of your ring’s charming abilities? I saw you put the whammy on Mr. Jackson back there.”
“Are you saying I have no charm of my own?” He rubs a hand over his heart. “That stings.”
Of Darkness & Light: Blood Descent Book 2 Page 15