by Jenica Saren
Slowly, I blinked at Gray. I held his stare for who knows how long before I could bring myself to reply. "Of course I think it's triggered, but it's not just in my head anymore. She can extend into my actual life now and that's what happened in the car."
It was easy to see that none of them were entirely on board with the whole thing. Honestly, if I wasn't living the nightmare myself, I wouldn't believe it either.
"Come on, you guys have been around how long now? You've had to have heard stranger shit than this before, right?"
Rafe nodded and moved to sit beside me on the couch, wrapping his arm over my shoulders. "We have, and we believe you."
"Then what's with the side-eyes?" I asked.
He shared a glance with the others that made my heart clench before the words were even out of his mouth because I already knew what that look meant. "Something this crazy never bodes well, not for us and not for humanity," he explained sympathetically while he traced small, soothing circles over my shoulder.
It was a small comfort. His words were ricocheting around the inside of my skull. I felt like I was about to be sick. "Yay me," I commented dryly.
The guys launched into a discussion that I blocked out in favour of my own damning thoughts. The plus side was that they believed me, even though they knew I was crazy. The downside was that my crazy was threatening the entire world and not just my mental well-being. Fantastic.
My options were currently nonexistent, at least until my sinful protectors figured something out. A bigger problem still was that we had absolutely no idea what my inner self had done. She could have given me an extra finger, a tumour, or even another mole.
That reminded me...
As covertly as I could, I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my phone, turning on the screen and opening the camera. And there it was, lo and behold, the mystery mole. It wasn't as big as it had seemed on the face of my three-dimensional mirror image, nothing more than a freckle, but it was still there and made me want to scream.
"Thinking hard about something?" Rafe's voice whispered in my ear made me jump, even as it sent a shiver of thrill down my spine.
"My inner self had a mole on her cheek, so I was checking to see if I had it too," I explained while trying to get some distance from his scorching body heat. Okay, it was my own heat, but I was sticking with my story.
"And?" His breath ruffled the strands of hair that were hanging over my cheek and I sucked in a breath to hold back an actual tremble.
I blinked a few times before responding. "Uh, yeah. It's there. I may get it removed," I said distractedly.
Rafe gently grabbed my chin and turned my face toward him. My breathing hitched as his deep, brown eyes connected with mine. "I'd prefer it if you didn't," he breathed.
Pain coiled tightly in my stomach and I had to fight the urge to double over. Whatever was going on with my body needed to stop, because it was seriously ruining some amazing moments with very steamy potential.
"But it's not very sightly. So, what if I want it gone?" I asked. Please be sweet, please be sweet!
A lazy, crooked grin lit up his entire face and I resisted the need to fan myself like an old southern belle. "I think it's perfect," he whispered, his breath feathering across my lips. "Like you."
My heart both soared and throbbed painfully in my chest. It was possibly one of the sweetest things I'd ever been told, but the pain was becoming unbearable. A sweat broke out across my brow and I had to break our increasing nearness to swipe at the dewy beads that were forming on my skin.
"Are you okay?" I heard Rafe ask. My vision had become blurry and the pain was overwhelming me.
I couldn't respond.
When his hand trailed a line of feather-light touches down my back, I simultaneously leaned into it and crumpled. I clamped my eyes closed as light exploded behind my lids. This pain is killing me. I thought, and not dramatically. I couldn't make myself breathe or speak, much less move. I wanted to scream but could only clench my teeth until I heard the sickening, scraping sound of them grinding together.
"Get away from her!" Someone shouted. I wanted to tell them not to do that, not to make him go away. "Stop touching her!"
I felt the presence of his hand move away and I was in agony all over again, even as the blinding lights faded and I found myself able to breathe once again. When I cracked my eyes open a fraction, Rafe was at the other end of the couch with pain in his eyes and the others were staring at me with a wide range of emotions.
When Eliam spoke, his voice grim, I knew it was him that ordered Rafe away from me. The fucking asshole. "Don't touch her," he said in a low, deadly voice.
Still beyond the capability of speech, I stared at him with a question in my eyes. Why? I thought, projecting it to him.
His expression didn't change as he gazed back with unfaltering intensity. "What did your hallucination tell you, Ria?" He asked, ignoring my one-word, very simple question in favour of his own.
I already told you everything.
It didn't make sense that he would be asking me again. My story wasn't going to change if that's what he was implying. And what a time, too! I couldn't even unclench my teeth to respond.
"E, I don't think she's gonna be able to answer you," Beck said, coming to my rescue.
"She said that her hallucination warned her away from us, right?" Eliam continued, speaking as though Beck had never said anything.
What was he getting at? I already told him that. Was he using my inner self's words to push me out like he'd wanted? If so, that was a shit move, and as soon as my body relaxed, I was going to kick his ass.
"What are you trying to say, asshole?" I hissed through my teeth, clutching the pillow to my chest as though my life depended on it. I mean, it felt like it did. The pain was ebbing away slowly and I credited my decorative companion for the reprieve.
Eliam crouched down before me and I didn't bother to hide my shock. "I'm going to touch you, okay?" I was so stunned that all I could manage was a brief nod.
A quick glance at the others said that they were equally as surprised as I was. Well, it was reassuring to know that this wasn't typical Pride behaviour. Just kidding, it was the furthest thing from reassuring.
He placed his hand on one of mine and I waited anxiously for something to happen. When nothing did, I gazed quizzically at Eliam. What was he doing? Was he doing more Sin mojo?
I opened my mouth to ask him, but was stunned into silence as his lips came crashing down on mine, igniting that molten lava in my veins, and turning it into something wild and untamed. Where there was pleasure and surprise, there was also shock and copious amounts of unhindered pain.
I pulled away as quickly as I could, a small and pathetic whimper escaping me as I crumpled once again, folding in on myself and my pillow.
This wasn't what I thought pleasure and pain was supposed to be.
"What the fuck did you do?" Gatlin, my dark angel, demanded. Always coming to my rescue.
"I didn't do it, she did."
"Like hell she did! She's in pain, E!" Beck snapped. I felt him move to the arm of the couch on my right, leaning against it but not touching me. Despite the insanity of the order, it seemed that even he was heeding Eliam's command to not touch me.
I heard Eliam suck in a deep breath, sounding like he was trying to calm himself before speaking again. "Her hallucination, Beck. She did something to keep her away from us romantically."
Keep me from them... Romantically?
He's got to be fucking joking.
"I don't feel romantically toward you," I growled out. My voice cracked slightly and I'm pretty sure that didn't exactly help me sell it. That was another issue to deal with another day.
"Tell it to the kiss, sweetheart," Eliam joked. Joked! He could be cracking jokes at a time when he himself had said that I was literally being tortured by my own fucking brain?
If I hadn't been twisted up in the unfavourable pretzel of pain yoga pose, I'd have kicked him righ
t then and there. Or pulled his ear. I'd seen women do that before and it looked uncomfortable, to say the least.
As if sensing my fuming, Gray stepped up to the plate to diffuse the situation before it even started. "If that's the case, what are we supposed to do?" He asked Eliam. Redirecting: my favourite trick and longtime habit.
"We take her to the only person insane enough to help, obviously," Eliam replied smoothly. His tone said that there was no room for debate or argument to be had, but I wasn't going to just roll over and let him take me to someone that he considered 'insane enough' to help me. Help was starting to sound a lot like a group of men in white coats, and I can't say I was on board with that plan, especially when said plan was coming from him.
"Someone want to clue me in over here? Maybe? No? Okay," I mumbled.
"We're going on a little hiking trip," Eliam answered when everyone else remained silent. He moved to help me up from the couch, but then seemed to think better of it.
Lifting my whole head instead of just my eyes, I gave him an exasperated look. "I'm not going to get fifty shades of hot and bothered from being helped up," I grumbled.
I was surprised when he extended his hand back out. I could imagine that his logic fell somewhere along the lines of, "if she gets hurt, it's on her now" or something equally as pompous. The joke was on him, because I would probably blame him anyway.
As I expected, however, when I took his offered hand, nothing happened. No pain, no sparks, nada. Smirking, I pulled myself to my feet and avoided thinking about how achey my body was feeling.
"See?" I taunted. "No romantic feelings."
His only reply was raising an eyebrow sarcastically at me. He knew I was right. Totally felt nothing. The spot on my heart labelled with his name was big and empty, as barren as Mars.
Not that there was a spot on my heart with his name on it, since he wasn't allowed anywhere near my heart, but it was a good metaphor.
"When do we leave?" I asked Eliam, avoiding his eyes for reasons completely unbeknownst to me.
Gray was the one who answered, though, clearing his throat as if he was indicating that it was a good time for him to take the reins. I couldn't disagree. "As soon as you're ready. You can meet us back here when you're done.
I glanced down and examined my clothes, not finding any issue with them. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing right now?" I asked. I thought I looked damn good, but that was just me, apparently.
"It's a hike in the woods, not a nightclub in downtown. You have to be prepared for brush, brambles, bugs," Beck answered.
A nasty chill went through me and I decided that I no longer cared how I good I looked for the trip to go see the crazy person. As long as I was wearing a head-to-toe bodysuit that prevented the proximity of any and all creepy crawlies, I was going to call it good.
I mumbled a quick "be right back" and made a beeline straight for my bedroom. I hadn't had a chance to go shopping, so I could only hope that I had something that would be relatively suitable for traversing the bug-ridden woods that the guys were essentially kidnapping me to.
I just hoped that whoever this crazy person they were taking me to go see was, they would be able to give some helpful insight into me... Situation.
But, knowing my luck, they'd probably kidnap me too, and be a whole lot less attractive than my six sinfully delicious roommates-turned-bodyguards.
6 Ria
“Where are we going again?” I asked as I warily eyed the dense forest around me. I kicked at a little white toadstool while following Eliam’s lead. “And what the hell is up with the shrooms?” I knew I was being a pain, but I was grouchy. I’d only had one cup of coffee that morning before every last one of those assholes got all worked up over a stupid fucking dream.
Beck was the one who spoke up, inserting himself in my bubble – my clearly defined bubble – to wrap an arm around my shoulders. “We told you, we’re going to see an old friend of ours who may be able to help with the whole sexual tension thing.” I shot him a look that I prayed conveyed my distaste for his interpretation of the predicament I was in.
“And the mushrooms you keep carelessly destroying,” Eliam said from in front of me. “Are fairy circles, and those fairies are going to be bloody livid if they find you.”
My expression morphed into one of pure shock. “You’re telling me that fucking fairies are real, but the devil isn’t?” I blanched.
The dick beside me snickered, his body shaking with the effort it apparently took not to lose his shit. “We told you already, babe. The devil is real, it’s just not one devil. There are dozens.” He explained again.
“Yeah, I get it,” I muttered. “Faith makes things real, blah, blah, blah.” It wasn’t that I was incapable of grasping that concept, it was just that… Well, I couldn’t grasp the concept.
Beck chuckled again, the sound echoed by his brothers behind us. I looked over my shoulder and shot them all the bird as I peeled Beck’s arm off my shoulders. Which, of course, made them all laugh harder.
Hardy, har, har. Laugh it up, assholes.
I was too busy glaring daggers into my roommates to realize that Eliam had stopped in front of me. And, truthfully, if he hadn’t been as solid as an oak tree, he would have gone down with me when I fell on my ass.
The laughter around me grew in volume as I sat on the forest floor clutching my sore nose. “Yeah, fucking hilarious. You’re all so great, and mature, and fucking stand up guys.” I grouched. I was two seconds away from unleashing my kickass persona on them. Well, hypothetically, since I was still having issues recreating that whole thing.
A hand fell into my line of sight and I followed the limb up to gorgeous amber eyes. “It’s not like that. Are you okay?” Gray asked as I clasped his hand and he helped haul me to my feet.
Warmth flooded through me at his touch and an inexplicable warmth filled me at his simple nearness. My gaze swept over his smooth, angular features, lingering a moment too long on his lips that were lined with a dark covering of stubble.
My heart clenched painfully, forcing me to double over and grind my teeth together to keep from crying out. Damn this stupid fucking bubble. Damn magic. Damn those sexy as sin... Sins.
"What's wrong, toy? Having dirty thoughts about my little bro now?" Beck snickered from somewhere nearby. I choked on the flurry of choice words that I had ready to fire at the dick, when Gray - gasp - let go of my hand and I was gifted with the sound of flesh meeting flesh, followed by the unmistakable cracking of cartilage.
I turned my head cautiously to the side, staring on in surprise. Huh. Who knew that Gray, of all the assholes I live with, would be the one to go out of his way to deck his own brother for me. Actually, when I thought about it, it made a lot of sense. He'd been married, so he probably had a lot of ideas about how women should be treated.
Or he just wanted to break Beck's face.
Fortunately, with the distance between the two of us and the distraction of the sloth Sin's knuckles meeting dick meat, the pain was rapidly subsiding and I was finally able to take in a full breath of sweet, sweet oxygen.
Dick meat? Really? My inner self was still acting weird, constantly looking down at me with a sense of disgust and superiority. But yeah, 'dick meat' seemed appropriate; Beck was a dick, his face was made of meat. Case fucking closed.
Ignoring the cold gleam in my inner self's eyes, I turned my attention back to the matter at hand. "Gray, you didn't have to punch him." I groaned, pulling myself upright.
Beck was still standing, rubbing his bloody but already healed nose. "Yeah man, you didn't have to punch me." He whined.
Gray raised one eyebrow in a very matter-of-fact sort of way, staring at his brother. "Apologies." He deadpanned. "I thought I saw a bug, but it was just you being a pest."
I tried. I really, really tried to keep a straight face and not be the asshole who started laughing first. My lungs strained as I held my breath, my ribs and neck hurt with how tense I was from resisting, and I was re
latively sure I was turning purple. No one seemed to be paying me any mind, and that made it so hard to refrain that I just couldn't take it anymore.
The laughter erupted from me like a volcano of pure mirth and I lost my mind right there, doubling back over and clutching my sides. Gasping, with tears welling up in my eyes, I glanced around to see if anyone was looking at me like I was insane. They weren't. Not one of them.
The guys stood around with these adorable - can't believe I said that - smirks on their gorgeous faces. Even Beck, with the broken dick meat, was snickering behind his hand.
"What's so funny, doll face?" Rafe chuckled directly to my left.
Struggling to straighten up and control my hysterical laughter, I look the greed Sin in his sparkling hazel eyes. "He called Beck a bug." I managed, pointing in Gray's general direction.
Gray made a choking sound that I took as either surprise or offence. "I did not! I called him a pest."
"Which was rude." Beck chimed in.
"But well deserved, dude." Rafe agreed, looking way too enthusiastic about the sentiment. "You're a bug."
"I didn't call him a bug!"
My humour had reached an all-time high by the time Eliam cleared his throat impatiently. "We really have to get going." He reminded us all. "She doesn't like to be kept waiting, in case you two don't remember." He pinned is purple gaze on Beck and Rafe, both of whom turned white as a sheet. The two each gave a sharp nod while Eliam turned to the rest of us, eyebrow raised in challenge.
A smart person would have left it at that and followed the prideful asshat as he turned to continue on the invisible path. I, however, was not a smart person. "What did your friend do to them?" I asked, my voice holding those little notes that indicate how sassy and annoying I was trying to be.
I couldn't help it. Eliam got under my skin and always brought out the most obnoxious side of me.
He turned around, rubbing the bridge of his nose as though I was giving him a headache. Which I kinda hoped I was. "It was a long time ago, and it's really none of your business." He snapped.