“I don’t know. If I’m being honest, I didn’t really wanna come back. I was supposed to be starting college this past fall, and I had everything all planned.”
“How did you end up here?”
“My mom’s brother died, and he left us the house and everything. Since it’s the family estate, my mom refused to sell it, and she insisted that my sister and I postpone all our plans for higher education and come back here.”
“That seems like a weird thing for a parent to insist,” I said. “I don’t have any experience with higher education, but I thought that parents usually pushed for you to go.”
“Yeah, my mom can be strange sometimes.” He shook his head. “What about you?”
“I’m mostly just passing through,” I evaded the question as best I could. Things always went much better when people didn’t know I lived with a travelling carnival.
He leaned back, and I felt his eyes searching me again. “So, what are you some kind of vagabond?”
“What?” I laughed to cover up how caught off-guard I felt. “Why do you ask that?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “You implied that you’re travelling soon, and you kinda look bohemian.”
“How do bohemians look?” I asked.
“Like you?” he asked, then shrugged. “I don’t know. I think it’s the earrings.”
My earrings were dangling feathers, and I touched one. “The feathers? Madonna has an earring like this.”
He looked down and pointed to my arms. “What about those? Do they mean anything?”
All down my left forearm, I had tattoos of little black paw prints leaving a trail from my inner elbow down to my wrist. I touched at them when Gabe leaned over to get a better look. He was so close, I could smell the mousse in his hair, clean and fresh.
“Not really. I just thought it’d be cool.”
“They are pretty cool,” Gabe agreed.
He reached out to touch them, and the light umber skin of his hand was nearly as dark as my own. His fingers trailed across my skin, sending small tingles down my arm everywhere he touched.
Then he stopped and leaned back to look up at me. His eyes were mesmerizing, but it was his mouth that really caught me. His lips seemed to have this permanent smile at the edges, even when he wasn’t really grinning, like he knew some kind of private joke.
His eyes weren’t enchanting because of the rich color, but the wicked glimmer to them. Somehow, even when I was outside and too far away to really see, I’d noticed that gleam – a promise of something a little sinful and dangerous – that made my heart pound loudly. As he looked at me now, I felt my pulse quicken and heat flush my skin.
That’s what I’d thought I should’ve feared when I was downstairs, but in truth, it was that glint of something else that had brought me here.
“Do you have any more tattoos?” he asked.
“A couple. But they’re hidden under my clothes.”
He smiled crookedly. “Maybe I can see them some other time then.”
I laughed but didn’t disagree with him. “What about you? Do you have any tattoos?”
“None yet, but it’s for the best. My parents would kill me if I got one.”
“Where are these alleged parents of yours?”
“They’re out of town for the night. Selena’s birthday’s actually next week, but she planned the party for tonight because they were gone.”
I nodded in approval. “Smart.”
The music stopped, followed by the sound of the tape clicking a few seconds later. Gabe got up and went over to the stereo so he could switch it over. While he was up, he took off his blazer and tossed it on his hamper, leaving him in just a white tee shirt that fit nicely over his toned frame.
The music started playing again, and Gabe sat down next to me again, sitting closer than he had before, but I didn’t comment on the mere inches between us. He leaned back a bit so he propped himself up on his elbows.
When he did, his shirt rode up just a little bit, exposing the smooth flesh above his jeans. I saw the hint of the outlines of his muscles, before he pulled his shirt back down, covering himself, and I looked away before he caught me staring at him.
“I just realized something,” Gabe said. “We’ve talking about me the whole time, and you’ve hardly said anything about yourself.”
I shrugged. “There’s not much to tell.”
“Oh, I really doubt that. You’re all dark and mysterious.” He swirled his hand in front of me, as to emphasize the mystery. “I bet you’re filled with untold secrets.”
I laughed. “I’m not really.”
“Prove it,” he challenged me. “Tell me a secret. Any secret.”
“Okay.” I bit my lip, thinking. “What constitutes as a secret?”
“Something you’ve never told anyone before.”
“Not anyone ever?” I asked.
He shook his head resolutely. “Nope.”
I leaned back and crossed my leg over my knee as I thought. Truthfully, I had plenty of secrets. But it was hard to think of something that I would want this guy to know.
“You tell me something first, then I’ll tell you something.”
“Okay.” He nodded. “Now I’m getting a read on who you are, sneaking around the rules like that.”
“It’s your game, so it only seems fair that I get to name my own terms. Now, it’s your turn. What’s your secret?”
He played absently pulled at a string on his comforter, or at least he tried to do it absently. But his hand was right next to mine, so when he tugged at the string, his long fingers brushed against my hand.
When I didn’t say anything or move away, he lifted his eyes to meet mine. His smile had fallen away, and though his expression was serious, I could still see the hint of something wicked. Even now, when he was dropping his pretenses and preparing for a confession, he couldn’t completely get rid of the darkness that drew me to him.
“I really want to kiss you,” Gabe said finally.
“You’ve never told anyone that before?” I asked with a smile. “You’ve never wanted to kiss anyone?”
“Well, I’ve never told anyone that I wanted to kiss you, the mysterious Mara Beznik before,” he clarified.
I laughed lightly. “Why do I feel like you’ve played this game before?”
“I haven’t. I swear,” he insisted, but I wasn’t sure that I believed him.
“So, why haven’t you?”
“I don’t know.” He shook his head, still smiling up at me. “It doesn’t seem to be working, so maybe it’s not such a great game.”
“No, I meant, if you want to kiss me, why haven’t you yet?” I asked.
“I guess because I didn’t realize it was an option. I thought you might slap me or…”
His words died on his lips because I leaned down and kissed him. He was already so close, but to avoid an awkward angle, I had to lay down next to him.
When my lips pressed against his, there was a hesitation. Gabe was tentative at first, as if he thought this might be some kind of trick, but when he realized it wasn’t, he kissed me fully. His tongue parted my lips, bold and hungry. He put his hand on my side, to pull me closer to him.
My shirt had ridden up, so his hand was pressed to the bare skin of my side, and the instant I felt his skin against mine, a cold pain jolted through me. A blast of arctic air suddenly surged over me – through me, really, piercing my heart like a jagged icicle.
I pulled away in surprise, and for a split second, I couldn’t breathe.
But then it was gone. The chill, the pain, everything had disappeared almost the instant had started.
“Are you okay?” Gabe sat up, and when I braved looking up at him, I saw the concern in his eyes, warming the burnt caramel color.
“Nothing.” I smiled, but it didn’t come as easily as I liked.
“You sure?” he asked.
“Yeah. I just got a chill. That’s all.” I tried to play it down, not just him fo
r but for myself. “Now. Where we were?”
Gabe looked down at me for a few moments longer, as if to decide whether he believed me or not. I must’ve been convincing because an easy grin returned to his face.
“Let me think. I believe you were right about here.” He put his hand on my waist, and when I didn’t recoil, he pulled me back down so I was lying on the bed. “And I was right about here.”
His lips hovered right above mine, as close as they could be without touching, and he searched my eyes, almost daring me to kiss him again. But I’d kissed him the first time, and now I was waiting for him to make the move.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity of anticipation, he closed eyes and his lips found mine. His hand was still on my waist from when he pulled me back down, and the instant our mouths met, his hand tightened, gripping onto me, and I wrapped my arms around him.
Freeks will be out January 3, 2017 in hardcover, ebook, and audio.
Amanda Hocking is a lifelong Minnesotan obsessed with Batman and Jim Henson. In between watching cooking shows, taking care of her small menagerie of pets, and drinking too much Red Bull Zero, she writes young adult urban fantasy and paranormal romance.
She has published over fifteen young adult novels, including the New York Times Bestselling series the Trylle Trilogy and the Kanin Chronicles, along with the Watersong series and the Hollows.
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Swear (My Blood Approves #5) Page 28