by Noelle N
"Wait," Lance said, staring down at her with a frown on his face, and held out a hand to her with his palm facing up. "Where's my present?"
Bianca blinked in confusion for a moment, before rolling her eyes at him and reaching into the box of cupcakes. Lance's eyes immediately brightened when she pulled out a red-velvet one, but the smile on his face promptly vanished when she popped the cupcake into her mouth. "Here," she mumbled, through a mouthful of cake and neatly placed the wrapper into his outstretched hand. "You're welcome."
I burst out laughing at the sight of Lance's gobsmacked face. Still chewing, Bianca smirked at him and offered me a quick wave goodbye over her shoulder before striding out of the diner. Lance was still looking appalled even after she'd long disappeared out of sight, and he finally headed back to his stool, planting his elbows on the counter as he narrowed his eyes at me.
"I'm sorry, but you should've seen your face," I said, amused laughter still spilling from my lips every so often. I took the wrapper from him and chucked it into the bin, before turning back and bracing my palms on the tabletop. "You have something to tell me?"
"In exchange for a cupcake."
It was my turn to narrow my eyes at him, but I caved quickly and pulled out a plate, selecting a chocolate chip one that I knew was his favourite. "Alright. Now spill."
Lance took a huge bite of his cupcake, chewed with such excruciating slowness that I was beginning to feel the irrepressible urge to strangle him, and finally swallowed. "Brutus called," he said at last.
I froze; my heart immediately leaping to my throat.
"Apparently, Jed's been showing signs of waking – "
I didn't wait for him to finish. Chucking the kitchen tongs at him, which he eagerly picked up, I pushed my way past the counter and all but ran out of the diner without so much as another word. I had no doubt that Lance was going to wipe out the rest of the cupcakes now that no one was monitoring the counter, unless Lorraine returned to smack him before he could gobble down everything, and I was going to give him a piece of my mind later on for not telling me about Jed at the first moment possible – but all these didn't matter for now, at least.
Instead, all I was focused on was getting back home as fast as I could. I was almost breathless by the time I rushed up the stairs, and Brutus had stepped out to the landing when he heard the ruckus, holding out a hand to steady me and laughing when he saw how flustered I was.
I looked up at Brutus. "Is he – "
"Almost." His usually gruff voice was warmer now, a pleased smile playing on his lips. "He's been moving a bit, not fully conscious yet, but – " He threw a glance over his shoulder before turning back to me. "I'll leave you to see him."
"Thanks."
"Anytime, Luna." He nodded a quick goodbye at me before leaving.
I stepped into the room, placing a palm flat against the door to push it open. It was like venturing into a different place altogether. Where the rest of the house had drawn curtains and shut windows, the sunlight streamed through in here, casting fragmented hues on the floor as dust danced in the rays of light that filtered across the room.
Still, all of that was peripheral when I saw him – the slight frown creasing his forehead and the way his fingers twitched by his side, the slight bob of his Adam's apple as he swallowed heavily. I didn't know how long I stood there for, my feet frozen to the round and my fingers tight around the doorknob.
But when he finally, finally stirred awake, his eyes were the same shade of green I remembered so clearly when I first saw him.
"Jed," I whispered, feeling such a heady rush of disbelief and relief that I could hardly breathe, let alone move.
His gaze locked on mine, and he smiled. "Hey, Quinn."
30
SHIFT
When I slid my fingers across the pendant I wore, I realised that the crescent-shaped moon was an exact duplicate of the one in the sky. I could see it from here, hung in the sky just over the hill, looking so bright that it seemed close enough to touch.
The night had never looked more mysterious than it did tonight. I'd always preferred the light, but I was beginning to see what I hadn't seen before. The shadows blended perfectly with the landscape; contours and dips across the immense space before me laid out in an impressive ensemble. Darkness, when it wasn't sinister, could actually lull you in. It was drowning where light was jarring and bright, but perhaps, that was what made some crave it.
A sudden, sharp creaking of the floorboard made me spin round immediately, only to relax when I realised that Jed was standing a good distance behind me, leaning against the counter with one arm braced on top of it. Caught staring, he immediately straightened and lowered his head in an almost apologetic manner, before closing the distance between us.
He paused when he was barely a few inches away from me, his feet bare on the cold floor. He was wearing his usual sweatpants, his jacket left unzipped; and, for a moment, he just stared at me, uncertainty warring across his features before he carefully reached down. In an infinitely gentle gesture, he tucked a stray lock of my hair behind my ear.
Everything alright? His actions seemed to suggest, and I could almost hear his voice in my head, a low sound that reeled me in, lulled me deep.
"Just a little nervous," I admitted softly, a faint smile flitting across my lips that seemed to do nothing to reassure him, because he took a step closer still.
Then he held a hand up and waited.
It took me several seconds to figure out what he was doing. And it all came back in a flurry of memories – the way I'd once held up a hand for him to take, the consternation on his face, only to clear when I said the two words that had closed all distances between us back then.
Trust me.
With a smile, I quickly slid my hand up, felt my fingers come into contact with his warm skin, until my palm was flat against his, my fingers slipping through the crevices between his as our hands intertwined. If I focused hard enough, I knew that I'd feel the steady beat of his heart pulse against my skin.
"I do trust you," I readily agreed, my voice soft amidst the silence of the night.
His gaze warmed and he lowered his head just marginally, until the ends of his hair were brushing against my forehead and his breath was hot against my skin. His eyes flickered to my lips and I instinctively let mine flutter shut, feeling his fingers tighten around my hand with wired anticipation before he finally, finally closed the distance between us.
His lips brushed mine in a gentle graze, wrenching the breathiest whimper from me and making him growl low in his throat in response. It was the kind of kiss you could sink in; and sink in I did, letting him capture my mouth several times in heated nips before his tongue teased the seam between my lips. I opened up to him without any hesitation on my part and leaned into him when his tongue slid against mine with perfect familiarity, until all I could taste was him.
His taste was drowning and I slid my fingers up his bare chest, the sides of his unzipped jacket brushing against the back of my hands. Every muscle along his torso seemed to tense under my touch and he shivered, his hands anchoring around my waist before sliding up, my shirt rising with his actions until he was grazing the small of my back, his hot palms sliding up the fragile indents of my spine
Slowly, steadily, his hand traced delicate patterns up my back and sent the most delightful shivers down my spine. His fingers threading through my blonde tresses, gently tugging the hair-tie aside and letting my hair fall in haphazard locks over my now bare shoulders. It wasn't until then that I vaguely registered what he was doing, because he was now tugging my cardigan off me, discarding it swiftly behind us until I stood shivering in jeans and a thin camisole.
But I wasn't shivering because of the cold but because of the slick, velvet heat of his tongue that was tracing the marks indenting my skin: The first – a shallow one along the length of my neck. And the second – a far deeper one along the base of my neck where my pulse point was.
I all but clung
to him until he reluctantly dragged his head away from my neck. For a moment, we both fought to catch our breath, and I felt a kind of quiet, sated lull spreading through him that I knew was mirrored in me perfectly. And when his eyes met mine, they were almost obsidian.
So were mine.
Sliding his palms up to my cheeks so that I felt entirely precious within his grasp, he lowered his forehead to rest against mine, his lips brushing mine in a feather-light touch and his voice as quiet as the night when he finally spoke.
"Shift."
- F I N -
+
You can read more works by Noelle N. on the following sites:
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/hepburnettes
Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/user/hepburnettes