by SJ West
I immediately break the kiss.
“What are you doing?” I ask her, unable to stop myself from naturally responding to her touch as she slowly glides her hand down my manhood.
“What’s wrong? Don’t you like me doing this?” she says, grabbing ahold of me with a firmer grip and causing me to moan involuntarily. “I think you like it quite a lot, Cal. If what we just shared is your very first kiss, then I assume you’ve never had sex before either.”
“Yes, I like the way that feels,” I admit, answering her question first. “I would be lying if I said I didn’t, but this isn’t the way I want to make love to a woman for the first time. I’m not ready for this, and I don’t think you are either.”
Clarissa smiles and bats her eyelashes at me. “If I wasn’t ready, I wouldn’t be touching you like this, Cal. I want you to make love to me here … right now. What are you waiting for? Haven’t you dreamed about this happening when you’re all alone in your room at night thinking about me? I know you have. Most of the boys in our school do. There’s no shame in that. I think about you too when I’m lying in bed by myself. I’ve thought about touching you like this and wondering what it would feel like to have you inside me.”
With those words, I grab ahold of Clarissa and quickly fly us into the sky. My quick movements catch her off guard. It forces her to remove her hand from inside my underwear and wrap both of her arms around my neck tightly. I fly us back over to my hover car before letting her go. I lean inside the car to grab her dress off her seat. When I hold it out for her to take, she angrily snatches it out of my hand.
“Good grief, Cal, you almost gave me a heart attack!” she berates me while slipping her dress back on over her head.
“Sorry,” I reply. “I needed to stop you from doing what you were doing.”
“I don’t understand,” she says, looking truly confused. “I thought you liked me.”
“I do like you,” I tell her, feeling slightly frustrated in a multitude of different ways. “I like you enough not to make love to you in a public place where anyone could see us. If, and when, we share our bodies with one another, I want it to be special. I would want you totally to myself someplace where we wouldn’t be disturbed. And I do desire you, Clarissa, but I don’t feel ready to have sex yet. Although I take it you’ve already experienced it with someone else.”
“Why would you assume that?” she asks defensively, crossing her arms over her chest.
“I’m sorry if I have that wrong,” I apologize. “It just seemed like that wasn’t the first time you’ve ever held a man in your hand before.”
“Well,” she says, averting her gaze from mine, “no. It wasn’t the first time, but I’ve only done it once before. It’s not like I go around grabbing boys’ penises.”
I stand there completely silent for a moment but can’t prevent myself from busting out in laughter at what she said.
Clarissa soon joins me because she sees the humor in what she just said too.
“Stop laughing,” she begs me, trying to catch her breath. “I don’t think I’ll be able to stop until you do.”
I attempt to control my mirth and find success for a few seconds before I begin to laugh again even harder. After a few minutes, we both stop laughing, and I feel as though we’ve crossed a major milestone in what I hope becomes a relationship and not just a friendship.
“Listen,” she says to me, “I didn’t mean to push you to have sex with me. I just wanted to be your first.”
“Why is that?”
“That way, you’ll always remember me,” she says, looking rather shy about admitting such a thing.
“Just being yourself is memorable enough for me, Clarissa. I’ll always remember you.”
“Promise?” she asks shyly.
“I promise. Now, come on. We should probably get back to the party before people start to wonder where we are,” I tell her.
Without any protest, Clarissa lets me help her back into her seat. I then retrieve my own clothes and put them back on before retaking the seat on the driver’s side. Instead of parking the car in the courtyard where I took off, I decide to park it out in front of the castle so Clarissa and I can go inside without our friends or my parents seeing us. After being in the water, our clothes are damp, and I would hate for the rumor mill among our friends to start churning out stories to explain our current state of dress.
“I can take your clothes and dry them really quick down in our laundry room,” I tell her.
“Uh, that would leave me naked,” she points out. “How does that help matters?”
“You can hide in the downstairs bathroom while I handle our clothing situation,” I answer. “It shouldn’t take me more than five minutes to get it done.”
“Okay,” she replies. “I trust you.”
We quickly make our way into the house, only having to pass by a couple of curious servants. While Clarissa takes off her clothes in the small bathroom, I wait outside for her to hand them to me. When she cracks open the door to give me her clothing, I only see her face and one bare shoulder.
“Five minutes?” she asks, shivering slightly.
“No more than that,” I promise her.
“Good, because I’m freezing in here,” she declares, shivering once again.
“I’ll be right back,” I say before making a mad dash downstairs to the basement where the laundry room is located.
Thankfully, there aren’t any servants washing clothes in the room. I quickly shed my own clothing and toss everything into a dryer. I grab one of the white towels neatly folded on the long table in the middle of the room and tie it around my hips as I wait for our clothing to dry. Only a few short minutes later, our clothes are dry and wrinkle free. I quickly put my outfit back on and grab Clarissa’s bra, panties, and dress as I run back upstairs to hand her back her garments.
Just before I turn the corner in the hallway that leads to the bathroom, I hear Clarissa’s laughter as a girl says something to her. I should have thought ahead better, because the bathroom she’s trapped in is the closest one to the ballroom. It figures one of her friends would try to use it while she’s still in there. Not wanting to cause her even more embarrassment, I decide to wait on the other side of the corner until her friend leaves.
“I told you Cal was too sweet to fall for your ploy,” I hear her friend say.
“Yeah, but he’s a guy. How many boys our age pass up sex?” Clarissa asks.
“Maybe he’s just not into girls,” her friend suggests.
“Oh, trust me, what I held in my hands is proof positive that he likes girls. I’m just not sure why he said no to me. I thought I could seal the deal today too.”
“If you want to become the next queen of Laed-i, I guess you’ll need to find another way to bend Cal to your will.”
Clarissa sighs despondently. “I suppose I could play the demure virgin, if that’s what it takes.”
“You act like conniving your way into the royal family is a chore. I mean, come on, Clarissa, have you really looked at Cal? He’s gorgeous!”
“Yeah, but what if I end up having a child with those god-awful wings like he has? Can you imagine carrying around a baby like that inside you?”
“No, I can’t,” her friend states, sounding disgusted just by the notion, “but you’ll be set for life after you have an heir.”
“Well, I have to snag the prince first. You better go. He should be returning with my clothes soon.”
“Good luck!”
I stand in my spot completely stunned and heartbroken over what I just heard. Clarissa is just using me in order to increase her standing in Laed-i society. She isn’t actually interested in me. All she wants is to become queen one day. The more I stand there and think about it, the madder I become.
I walk over to the bathroom door, set her clothing on the floor in front of it, and knock once before strolling away. I know if I face her right now, I might start yelling, and that’s the last thing I want to do. Sh
e doesn’t deserve the satisfaction of knowing that she’s hurt me. I begin to make my way back toward the front of the castle, intent on taking my new hover car for a ride to clear my mind. Just as I reach the front door, I hear my mother call out my name from behind me.
I turn around and watch her walk over to where I am. The closer she gets, the more the smile she’s wearing slips away to be replaced by a look of worry.
“I know that look,” she says as she stops in front of me. “What’s happened?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I tell her, desperately just wanting to leave the castle for a little while to think things over by myself.
“I see,” my mom says, still looking concerned but not pushing me to tell her what’s wrong. “I don’t suppose you would be willing to take me out for a spin in your new car, would you?”
“Sure,” I say rather unenthusiastically.
I turn back around and open the front door, allowing my mother to walk outside ahead of me. As soon as we’re both strapped into our seats, I start the engines and lift us off the castle grounds. I have no idea where I’m going, so I just start flying along the coastline to give us a nice view of the ocean and surrounding area.
After a few minutes, I feel my mom rest a comforting hand on my right arm.
“Cal,” she says to me tenderly, “tell me what’s wrong. I know I might not be able to solve whatever’s troubling you, but it’s not good for you to keep it in either. I don’t think I’ve let you down before in helping you solve a problem, have I?”
I let out a deep sigh and continue driving as I ponder the pros and cons of telling my mother about what I overheard Clarissa say. Finally, I decide to tell her, and after I do, I’m not sure who’s more upset about what happened: me or my mom.
“Well,” my mother says sharply, “I wish I could say I was sorry you overheard all of that, but to be honest, I’m glad you found out what that girl’s endgame is before you gave her more of your heart. I don’t think I have to say it, but I will. You’re too good for her, Cal. You deserve someone who can love you for all that you are.”
“I just can’t believe she’s like that though,” I reply. “She had me totally convinced that she was interested in me, not what my family can provide her.”
“People like that only care about one thing: themselves. I don’t know what’s happened in Clarissa’s life to make her the way she is, but I’m so thankful you used your good judgment when she tried to … um … have her way with you.”
I have to chuckle at my mother’s sudden uncomfortableness about the subject of sex. When I was thirteen, she and my father sat me down and discussed the topic with me. They both wanted to make sure I understood the consequences of such an act and that although there was a lot to gain by having sex with or without someone you loved, it would be a more meaningful experience if I waited to have it with a person I could share my heart with. That person definitely wasn’t going to be Clarissa. I admit that I hoped it would be her one day, but now she’s been tainted by showing herself as a social ladder climber who is only interested in using me to attain the ultimate ranking of queen.
“Mom,” I say hesitantly, “that other thing she said about having a baby with wings. Do you think that will happen? Will my children have wings too?”
“Honestly, sweetie, I’m not sure,” she replies, sounding lost for an answer. “I would say your children have a fifty-fifty chance, just like anyone else who inherits traits from their parents.”
“Liana says she’s never seen anyone on Earth who has wings,” I tell her. “Just how rare are they?”
“Extremely,” my mother replies but doesn’t elaborate on the subject. “Now, what should we do about Clarissa? Do you want me to kick her out on her ass when we get back to the castle? I’ll do it, you know. I used to be a bounty hunter. It wouldn’t be the first time I threw someone out of a home they weren’t welcomed in anymore.”
I smile as I have a vision of my mother tossing Clarissa out of the castle and slamming the front door in her face. From the stories I’ve heard about her bounty hunter days, I know my mom could do it, but that isn’t what I want.
“No, I don’t need you to fight for me,” I tell her. “I can do that on my own. I just needed you to listen and then tell me how great you think I am.”
My mom laughs. “Well, if you ever need an ego boost, I’m available twenty-four seven. You’re the star of my world, Cal, and I will always love you.”
“I love you too, Mom,” I say, reaching over to grab one of her hands and squeeze it tightly. “One day, I hope I find a love like the one you and Dad have. All I want is to have someone who can love me for who I am and not just the life I can provide them with.”
“I don’t have a single doubt that you’ll find a love like that one day, Cal. You’ll just have to be patient. You can’t force these types of things. It’ll happen. You just need to have a little faith in that.”
“Patience has never been one of my virtues, Mom. You know that.”
“Trust me. It’s never been one of mine either, so you must have inherited that fault from me,” she laughs. “I suggest we think about something a little happier, like what we’re going to do with Malcolm and his family while they stay with us.”
“It’s official then?” I ask in surprise. “They’re really going to stay here and take a vacation?”
“That’s what Anna and Malcolm told us. What do you think the kids would like to do?”
“We should definitely take them out on Dad’s boat and go fishing.”
“Hmm, that sounds like fun. Too bad I won’t be able to eat anything you catch in the ocean. I’ll have the staff stock the galley with some steaks for me.”
“I’m sure glad I didn’t inherit your shellfish allergies,” I tell her.
My mom smiles wanly as she looks at me. There’s a touch of melancholy right behind her eyes, but I’m not sure what’s suddenly made her so sad. Maybe it’s the knowledge that she’ll never be able to eat shrimp and lobster again in her life. I’m not totally sure, but I have seen the look before. I just don’t know what causes it.
“I’m glad you didn’t inherit it either,” she tells me. “Now, we should probably head back before people start to miss us, like your father. I wouldn’t want to cause him any unnecessary worry.”
I slowly make a U-turn in the sky and head back along the coastline toward home. I always feel better after I talk my problems over with my mom. She’s never judged me harshly and has always given me good advice. I feel lucky to have her in my life.
Chapter 15
(Liana’s Point of View)
I try to have fun at Cal’s party. I really do. And to the outsider, I probably look like I’m having the time of my life as I dance and laugh with everyone else, but my thoughts keep going back to Silas. All I want to do is return to the barn on Jackie’s parents’ property and find him there waiting for me. I have a feeling he’ll remain in that barn all night if he has to, but I don’t plan to make him wait for me that long. As soon as I can, I intend to feign tiredness and go to the bedroom Cal’s parents have given me in their home. I know I won’t be able to keep my scheme a secret from Liam, but he and I made a pact with each other a long time ago that neither of us would ever tell our parents what we see in the other’s thoughts. Just because we can read each other’s minds doesn’t give us the right to snitch. I know I can trust my brother to keep my thoughts to himself because he cares for me too much to lose my friendship.
When Cal comes back from his joyride with Clarissa, I notice he doesn’t even look her way for the rest of the party. I did see her try to talk to him once, but he shrugged off the hand she placed on his arm and simply walked away from her without uttering a word. After I saw that, I sought him out to see if there was anything I could do to help. He told me what happened with Clarissa while they were gone and the conversation he overheard her having with one of her friends. I offered to knock her out for him, but he just shook his head
and said he was better off finding out what kind of person she was now instead of later. I could hear Jules’s wisdom in his answer and told him I completely agreed. I then proceeded to drag him onto the dance floor and we danced until we were ready to drop. All in all, I think Cal had a great time at his party, even if the little trollop he had a crush on turned out to be a gold digger.
Later that evening while my family and Cal’s were watching a movie together, I yawned and told my parents I was going to go up to my room. I didn’t say any more than that, because I knew if I added more specifics, my mother would be able to tell I was lying. Just as I made it out into the hallway outside of the room, Liam caught up with me.
“Are you going back to the down-world?” he asks me in a whisper as he walks beside me.
“You know I am,” I reply, since he can see my thoughts. “I don’t even know why you bothered to ask.”
Liam reaches out a hand and gently grabs one of my arms to stop me from walking any farther.
“I don’t like this, Liana,” he tells me. “You’ve never lied to Mom and Dad this much before. I think that should tell you something about this boy you’re going back to see.”
“Listen,” I say, “I understand your worry. If it were you in this position, I would be concerned about you too, but you just need to trust me, Liam. Besides, you know I can take care of myself. Silas can’t hurt me.”
The expression on Liam’s face almost makes me laugh. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought someone just splashed him with icy cold water.
“Did you just say Silas?” he asks me, still wearing a stunned expression on his face.
It’s only then I realize the mistake I just made. I didn’t intend for Liam to know Silas’s name, but still, it doesn’t quite explain my brother’s shocked expression.
“Yes. Why?” I ask.
Liam doesn’t let go of my arm. Instead he phases us directly to Jered’s office in his home in Montana. I was told that this is the second house Jered has built on this property. The first one was burned down years ago.