The Wanderers Beginning: The Wanderers, Reborn, & Unforgiven

by Jessica Miller

  I walked into his office and closed the door behind me. Then I ran over to Aidan and wrapped my arms around him, holding him tight before I pulled his lips down to mine. “Hey, hey, not here,” he said, pulling back.

  “Sorry, it’s just so hard to keep my hands to myself when I’m around you,” I confessed.

  He smiled back at me. “I know what you mean, but we have to be careful.” I sighed and sat down on the couch while he went back to his paper work on his desk. “Is this a business visit or you just here for pleasure?” he asked.

  “Both,” I smiled. “Mackenzie moved out.”

  He creased his brows and looked up. “What do you mean moved out?”

  “She said she was going to stay with Addyson and Madison.” I shrugged, not caring to elaborate. “Now that I have my own room maybe we can…”

  “Nice try, but that would be too risky.” I pouted and leaned back against the couch. “Is there something else?”

  “Well, I was kind of wondering what happened at the faculty meeting?”

  He let out a breath and sat down. “Not much. We just discussed the measures we’re going to take to make sure the school is more secured.”

  “And how are they going to do that?”

  “Ms. Kraft and a few other teachers are working on a stronger spell to block out unwanted guests. More guardians are coming and students are no longer allowed to leave campus. Ella, you are safe here. I won’t let anything happen to you,” he said, sitting next to me.

  “No, I don’t want you to get involved. In fact I need to stay away from you and you need to stay away from me. It’s the only way I can keep you safe. I can’t lose you too.” I stood up to walk out, but he pulled me back down.

  “I don’t care. I’ll take the risk. It will be worth it to be with you.”

  “Don’t say that.”

  He reached up and cupped my face. I leaned into his hand wanting so badly to kiss him, but now was not the time or place. “Meet me tonight. In my room?” I told him I would when I thought it was safe for me to sneak out. Then I left and went to my next class.

  For our next session, Gabe had us meet him in the weight room after we ran laps. We spent the next hour doing circuit training. When Gabe left to take a phone call Roman turned to me and asked, “What happened at your old school that has you so freaked?”

  I set down my weight. “Nothing you need to worry about,” I said, moving on to the next machine.

  “If my life is in danger I think I have the right to know,” he said, wiping the sweat from his brow.

  “He only goes after the people I care about so you’re safe.”

  “Ouch,” he said smiling. Gabe came back in the room and told us we could go. I left without another word and went back to my room to shower and wait until I could meet Aidan.

  I waited until nightfall. Once I felt it was safe, I snuck out of my room and headed to Aidan’s. “Going somewhere?” Mackenzie said, stepping out of the shadows, and scaring the crap out of me.

  “Christ Mackenzie! What are you doing out here?”

  “I believe I just asked you that?” she said, thinking she somehow cleverly got me.

  I stood there with my arms crossed, not in the mood. “What do you want Mackenzie?”

  “I want you to tell me where you are going?”

  “I’m going for a walk,” I said, hoping she would drop it.

  “It’s a little late for a midnight stroll, don’t you think? Aren’t you afraid that whoever is after you is out there somewhere…waiting?”

  “Maybe I’ll get lucky and he’ll take you instead.”

  She scowled at me before she walked away but not before calling over her shoulder, “Tell Aidan, oops, I mean Mr. Callahan I said hi.” I opened my mouth to say something, but then thought it wise not to. There was no way she knew anything. She was just probably taking a guess and hoping to get a reaction out of me to confirm it. I refused to give her the satisfaction of thinking she was right. I waited until I knew for sure she was back inside before I started on my way again.

  As Aidan had mention to me earlier, there were more guardians than before which made it harder for me to be discreet. I managed to make it across campus and into the teachers’ dorms without an issue. When I opened the door to Aidan’s room I was taken back, surprised. He had lit up the entire room with candles, rose petals littered the floor and bed. I closed and locked the door behind me. I spotted Aidan over by the window, closing the curtains. He smiled brightly when he saw me.

  “All this for me?” I asked sheepishly.

  “You don’t like it?” he asked, crossing the room.

  “I do, it’s just…”

  “Hey, no expectations. I just wanted to do something nice. I told you I can wait.”

  I wrapped my arms around his waist and laid my head on his chest. “How do you always seem to understand?”

  He ran his fingers through my hair and then pulled me over to the bed to sit down. “How was your training session today?” he asked.

  “Painful,” I groaned. “I don’t think I’m cut out for this.”

  “Give it time. You’ll get used to it. Gabe’s the best and he didn’t get that way by doing a few push-ups.”

  “I know,” I said, rubbing my sore shoulders.

  “Here, let me,” Aidan offered.

  I adjusted myself so he could massage my shoulders. “You were right about them doubling the guardians. I had a hard time getting over here. Not to mention the run in I had with Mackenzie.”

  “I thought you said she moved out of your room?”

  “She did. I ran into her outside. She cornered me and wanted to know where I was going.”

  “You didn’t tell her did you?” he asked panicked.

  “Of course not,” I turned to face him. “You believe me, right?”

  “Of course I do,” he said, cupping my face. I leaned into him and he coaxed me back on the bed. We just lied there next to each other staring into each other’s eyes. I pulled him closer and started to kiss him. It was only a matter of minutes before I felt that extreme desire to be with him. I pulled him even closer to me and tugged on the button on his pants. Then I pulled back so he could take off my shirt. As usual, things started to get hot and heavy, but this time there were no distractions to stop us.

  Right before Aidan was about to take off my bra I pulled back. “What is it what’s wrong?” he asked.

  “You have condoms, right?”

  He smiled. “Of course I do.” He rolled over and reached into a draw. “There in here somewhere?” he looked for another couple of minutes before he gave up. “I guess I don’t,” he said, turning back to me.

  I sat up and sighed. “I guess another night then.”

  “Come here,” he said, pulling me closer to him. We just lied there and held each other. “You know, I never noticed all of your tattoos before.”

  “How could you miss them?” I joked.

  He traced his finger along the tattoo on my side. “What made you get them? You don’t really seem like the tattoo type.”

  “I was bored,” I shrugged. I figured that was the best explanation without getting to detailed and it seemed to work. “And who’s to say you have to be a certain type to like tattoos?” He ignored my last question and continued to trace the tattoo on my side. I closed my eyes as my skin started to tingle from the light brush of his fingertips. “You’re making it hard to resist you when you keep doing that.” He smiled and continued down to the ones on my stomach. That urge was pulsing through me again and I had to pull myself away. “I should go.”

  “You don’t have to,” he said, pulling me back, and kissing my neck.

  “I do. We can’t control ourselves when we’re alone.” As soon as the words fell out of my mouth something occurred to me. “Did you ever notice that every time we’re together we can’t keep our hands off each other?”

  “What’s wrong with that?” he asked as he worked his lips across my chest.

&nbs
p; “That’s it. I mean that’s all we seem to do. I don’t ever remember wanting to do anything else. Doesn’t that seem weird?”

  “Well sometimes when two people care about each other the way we do…” he began as he kissed my neck again.

  “But that’s just it. Do you really care about me?”

  “Ella, what are you talking about?” he said, finally stopping to look at me.

  “I don’t know. I just never felt this way before. I guess that’s why I don’t understand it.”

  “Do you not want to be here?” he asked upset.

  “No I do. I do. It’s just…never mind.”

  “Ella, I would never make you do anything you don’t want to do. If you want to go you can go.”

  “I don’t want to go,” I said, knowing that was the odd part. I just met him and all of a sudden I couldn’t pull myself away. He grazed my cheek, causing me to melt. I started to kiss him and fell back into the sex induced coma I felt every time I was with him. “You sure you don’t have any condoms? Somewhere else maybe?”

  He smiled his most sexy smile and said, “No, but I think I know where I can get some.” He got up off the bed and got dressed. “I’ll be right back,” he said, giving me a quick kiss before he took off.

  Not able to sit still, I stood up, and walked around the room checking things out. He had a few pictures around the room of what looked like him and his dad and some with friends. I walked over to his bureau and picked up his cologne, taking a whiff. I spotted a loose picture that had fallen. I bent down to pick it up. When I saw the picture I almost dropped the bottle of cologne. I thought maybe I was imagining it, like my mind was playing tricks on me.

  Aidan walked back in to the room and I turned on him. “What is this?” I said, holding out the picture.

  “Where did you get that?”

  “I found it,” I said, annoyed he didn’t answer my first question.

  “You were snooping?”

  “No I wasn’t and you still didn’t answer my first question,” I snapped.

  He took the picture from me and ripped it in half. “It’s nothing,” he said dismissing it.

  “It didn’t look like nothing.”

  “Ella, just drop it.”

  “How can I? I just found a picture of you with your arms around Mackenzie, kissing her!”

  “Ella, you’re over reacting,” he said, looking at me like I was a little kid throwing a hissy fit.

  “Explain,” I demanded.

  “It was a long time ago. It was my last year here as a student and it was visitors’ weekend where future students can come and check out the school.”

  “Let me guess, you offered to give her a private tour,” I said, putting my clothes back on.

  He stopped me. “Ella, look, it was really stupid. I see that now. There was this party and we were both really drunk and one thing led to another. I didn’t know how young she was until after. It was just a one night thing, but to her it meant more.”

  “Well of course it did,” I growled.

  “Look,” he grabbed my arms. “It was stupid and it happened. I can’t change it. It’s not my fault she thought there was more to it.”

  “Really? Because that picture would indicate you led her to believe there was.”

  “It was the day after. We had lunch together and I told her it was a one-time thing. She took the picture. She was the one with the crush. I tried to let her down easy, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. After she left things got a little out of hand.”

  “What do you mean out of hand?” I asked, not liking this scenario.

  “She emailed me almost every day. Telling me she loved me and couldn’t wait to come back. I tried to convince her it was just a crush and not love. I tried everything I could to convince her to get over me. I stopped emailing her back, changed my number, hoping she’d get the hint. After a month of ignoring her I never heard from her again.”

  “Until now.”

  “Ella it was mistake. It’s not something I’m proud of. If I could, I’d go back and change it. I would, but what’s done is done.” He took me in his arms and pressed his forehead to mine. I could feel the heat building up between us again. I was so mad at him I wanted to leave, but when we were this close, all I wanted was him to touch me. He kissed my lips and for a moment I forgot what we were fighting about.

  Aidan picked me up and carried me over to the bed. One by one our clothes came off again. “Something’s not right,” I said a little breathless. He just kept kissing me.

  I felt like something was trying to break through a barrier. My mind was all hazy and the more he touched me the harder it was to think straight. Aidan leaned off the bed to get the condom and my head got a little clearer. “Wait, weren’t we just arguing?” I asked unsure. My head was still fuzzy.

  Aidan looked just as puzzled as I was. I got up off the bed and the more distance I got from him the clearer my head got. “Ella, what’s going on?”

  “That’s what I’d like to know. I think I should go,” I said, putting my clothes back on.

  “Don’t go,” he said, reaching for me.

  I jumped back. “No. Stay there! Every time you get near me or touch me I can’t think straight.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with that. I feel the same way,” he smiled.

  “Actually, there is something wrong with that. There is something wrong with all of this,” I said, heading for the door.

  “Ella wait, stop!” He was in front of me in an instant. “I think you should just sit down and we can talk this out.”

  “No. I want to go.” I tried to push past him, but he grabbed me.

  “You don’t really mean that,” he said, his voice all velvety soft, trying to coax me back.

  I tried to pull away but he gripped me tighter, pulling me in for a kiss. I turned away but he didn’t stop. “Aidan, stop it.”

  “You know you don’t want me to stop.”

  “Yes I do,” I said, trying to push him away again, but he just held on. “Aidan.”

  “Quit being such a tease,” he said, kissing me again. I stomped on his foot so he would let me go, but that move came back to bite me in the ass. He cracked me across the face so hard I flew into the wall and crumbled to the floor. I held my hand up to my cheek and just stared at him wide eyed. He walked over to me and bent down in front of me. “Ella, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over me. Oh god I’m so sorry,” he said, reaching for me.

  “Don’t touch me,” I said, scrambling to get up.

  “Ella, please, you have to believe I didn’t mean to. I swear. I don’t even know what happened.” He looked as puzzled as I was. He held his hand out to me again but I slapped it away. Something changed. I felt it. He turned to look at me and his eyes were glowing. I opened my mouth to scream but he had it covered before I even had the chance.

  “Relax,” he said. “I just want to be with you. I promise I won’t hurt you.” My brain couldn’t form words as the tears began to stream down my face. “Oh, Ella, don’t cry,” he said, brushing my cheek. I flinched at his touch, making him upset. “Why are you so upset? This is a good thing. This is what we both want.” He started to take off my jacket, then shirt. “You are so beautiful.” I never thought hearing those words would sound so awful.

  “This is not what I want,” I said, finding my voice. He ignored me. It was almost like something had come over him making him a completely different person. Every time he would try to kiss me I would turn my head, but he would grab my jaw and force it back. He was strong, but so was I. Just as he was about to tear off my pants I brought up my knee and nailed him in the groin. A move to this day that has proven to not fail me yet. He howled in pain, falling forward. I socked him in the face, knocking him off of me. I scrambled to get up. Grabbing my jacket, I ran out of there as fast as I could.

  I ran so hard and so fast I didn’t see the person in front of me. I slammed right into them falling down to the cold ground. “What’s the mat
ter? You look a little flushed,” Mackenzie said, straightening out her jacket.

  “For someone who has made it clear I’m a threat to her safety sure is spending a lot time around me,” I said, getting up and dusting myself off.

  “Please, I was simply out for a stroll,” she smiled.

  “You seem to have impeccable timing. I find it hard to believe that this was some strange coincidence.” I glared at her, knowing she was up to something. “Whatever, I don’t have time for this,” I said, looking over my shoulder, and walking away as fast as possible.

  “What’s with the waterworks? Aidan not as good as you thought?”

  I stopped and turned around. “Look, whatever game you’re playing you can just stop right now.”

  “Now why would I do that when I’m having so much fun,” she laughed. “So how was it? Was it everything you imagined? Did you see fireworks?” I stood there not sure what to say, so she continued. “Did he tell you he cared about you and loved being around you and every time you touched you couldn’t seem to stop.”

  “What did you do?”

  She smiled wickedly. “Oh, it was so easy. I knew how easy this would be when I first saw you two together by the fountain.”

  “What did you do?” I repeated, louder this time.

  “I may have cast a little spell,” she said with the wave of her hand like it was nothing.

  “What kind of spell?” I asked, taking a step closer to her.

  “Oh come on now Ella, I know you’re not that dumb. You have to have figured it out by now.” She looked down at my exposed chest and I quickly zipped up my jacket. In my rush to escape I had left my shirt. “That bad huh?” she said, having no idea what she had done.

  “You have any idea what you have done?” I said, getting in her face. “Your stupid little spell almost…” I bit my tongue to keep the tears at bay. “You are such an evil bitch.”

  “Well, I can’t take all the credit. I did have some help. Turns out you’re not that easy to bewitch,” she said a little bitterly. “We had to crank it up a bit and I have to say I am quite exhausted. So if you don’t mind I think I might retire for the night,” she said, placing her hand over her mouth and faking a yawn. She smiled, sashaying her way past me.