by J. L. Weil
“That’s because you are a guy. I am about two seconds away from ripping this itchy dress into tiny little pieces.”
Undeniable amusement sparked in his expression. “Can I watch?”
I let a short laugh. In a just a few minutes of being in his presence, I already felt lighter, but I was about to make the atmosphere heavy again. The small curl on my lips faded. “What happened to her?”
He stood, setting aside the guitar. “I should have known that you just couldn’t let it be. Do you really want the details, Bri? They will not change anything.”
I might not want to hear them, but I needed to know. Maybe it will help clear my guilty conscious. “I need to know that I didn’t kill a girl or screw her up for life.”
His lips brushed the side of my cheek as he reached me. “You didn’t.”
“What I did— If she hadn’t pushed me—” I couldn’t finish the sentences without choking up.
“I wish I could give you the answers you are looking for, but she was gone when I went back. I’m sorry.”
“Are you sure you went the right way? I mean, she looked pretty out of it.”
His hand fell to his side, and he tilted his head to the side. “I might not have lived here long, but I have a sick sense of direction.”
I didn’t doubt his skills. My shoulders sagged. “She knew my name.”
Brows drawn tight, he said, “Then someone gave it to them.”
A bitter sensation had taken up residency in my belly. “That’s what I was afraid of.”
His hands curled at his sides and eyes flashed. “They know who you are now. You are not safe, and the attacks will only increase. I’m going to find out who has the big ass mouth and make them regret squealing.”
Right. I hadn’t told him that Lukas knows what I am. Now seemed like the wrong time. I wanted to talk to Lukas first. “I’m coming with you,” I said. Someone had to keep him out of trouble.
His jaw set. “Not happening.”
Stubborn as usual, but I had expected nothing less. I can be just as pigheaded. “You can’t stop me.” Sure, I had no idea where this underground community of witches was, but I could be resourceful. And he wasn’t the only witch I knew. Lukas could probably get me there just as easily. I hoped.
“It is far too dangerous for you to walk right into the Lion’s den, because that is exactly where I’d be taking you.”
I pressed my lips together. “This is my life. I think I have a right to know what is going on.” If witches were plotting to kill me, I wanted a heads up.
These gangs of underground witches were starting to become a real thorn in my side. I wracked my brain trying to figure out who would sell me out, unless of course the culprit wasn’t a witch at all. You ask the right questions, cast the proper spells and you could get Mother Teresa to spill her beans. Food for thought. Unfortunately, my brain wasn’t hungry at the moment.
His striking features were highlighted in the waning light. “I want to protect you from getting hurt and that means sheltering you from the all the evil in the world.”
The sincerity in his voice almost had me giving in. Almost. However, the desire to protect my only family and him overruled. “I’ll wear a disguise. No one will recognize me. I can get Sophie to help me.”
He wasn’t convinced. “You are going to get us both in a lot of trouble.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” I muttered.
Sauntering to the edge of the stage, he scanned the row upon row of empty seats, and then ran a hand through his hair. “If she got back to them and told them what happened, what you did… It will renew their plight that you are a threat and must be eliminated.” He spun around, pinning me with a look. “Don’t you see that?”
I understood exactly what I might walk into, still didn’t change anything. If he was going, I was going. “Fine,” I huffed. “You made your point. I understand the dangers, but what about the risks you put yourself in because of me. What is the difference?”
He cocked a brow. “The difference is I can handle myself.”
Oh no. He did not just pull that Neanderthal stunt.
My inner bitch came out. “Is that a dig because I am a girl or because you’re a better witch?” My intention when I merged our dreams had not been to fight, but it looked like a fight was imminent.
Standing in front of me, he looked down, a frown on his lips. “You know that is not what I meant.”
“Good. Then there isn’t a problem. I’m going.”
Doubt crossed his features. “If we do this, we do it my way, which means you follow my directions.”
“I can do that.” Well, at least in theory.
Warm hands framed my face, and the pupils of his blue eyes started to glow. “I’m counting on it.” Ever so lightly he pressed his lips to mine in a soft kiss. My pulsed kicked up. And then he was kissing me again, but it was nothing like the first. Gone was the tenderness and in its place was a fierce unspoken promise. It broke my insecurities, my fears, my uncertainties, only to build me back up.
He grounded me. He made me stronger. Maybe that’s what love did.
When I finally woke up, it was still dark and upon further investigation, I discovered it was just after three in the morning. Ugh. It was too early to get up for school, but I knew that I would not be able to go back to sleep—the undisturbed kind. My lips were still tingling.
I thought I deserved a mental health day.
***
After a very feeble charade at being sick, my aunt called me out of school for the day. I did a little happy dance in my room and thensent a quick text to Gavin who responded with,hooky!
He could make even the simplest things bad. I loved that about him. He made me feel like a rebel when I was anything but.
I switched myself off from the world and finally caught a few hours of needed sleep. It was my growling tummy that woke me up. Throwing my hair into a crazy knot, I went in search of something to satisfy my hunger.
A quick glance at the clock and I realized it was more lunchtime than breakfast. I reached for the box of strawberry Pop-tarts that were ever present in our kitchen, because I couldn’t live without them. I tore open the silver foil package, and breaking off a corner, I stuffed my face. I didn’t even warm them up.
I was going to take advantage of having the house to myself.
My aunt had already left for the day, and I had no intention of cleaning up after myself, getting dress, or even taking a shower. It was that kind of day. I wanted to see no one and I wanted no one to see me. It was just me and my DVR filled with bad reality TV.
Taking my breakfast/lunch to the sofa, I collapsed like a like a hippo getting a suntan. I wiped the crumbs off my t-shirt and licked my fingers. Today, I wanted to give my brain a break and think about nothing related to magic, witches, or being hunted like an animal.
The doorbell rang just as one nameless girl on the TV ripped the hair from another nameless girl in what was surely going to be an epic catfight. I groaned. The last thing I wanted was to move and I laid there a moment contemplating ignoring the salesman or worse. But the ringing was followed sharply by the rapture of knuckles on wood.
Swearing under my breath, I rolled off the couch and swung open the door. I took one look at who was on the other side and started to slam it closed. A menacing Lukas shot his hand out. I knew before he even uttered a word, something was wrong. His hair was disheveled, his usually college tee was wrinkled, and he smelled like stale beer. I was in for a treat.
“You slept with him!” he exploded.
Well damn.
Lukas. Yelled. At. Me. I was almost in as much shock at him yelling at me as I was that he knew Gavin and I had…well, done the dirty. Lukas hadn’t even bothered to pose it as a question, but went straight to an accusation…meaning he already knew the answer.
I wanted to crawl into the nearest hole.
Wow. That was quite a greeting. I was taken aback. “Who told you that?”
&nb
sp; “Are you saying it’s not true?” He dared me in a growl.
The ball in my stomach grew.
I wanted to lie and it was on the tip of my tongue to confirm that it wasn’t true, but I knew that sooner or later I was going to have to tell him. Connection or not, my feelings for him were not as strong as what I felt for Gavin. I wanted to spare Lukas pain.
Yet, I felt trapped.
And my silence was confirmation enough.
“That’s what I thought,” he snapped.
Hurt. Anger. Pain. Sadness.
There were all behind Lukas’s emerald eyes. He made me feel like a piece of crap and that got under my skin. “It’s really none of your business.” And I started to once again slam the door in his face.
He stuck his foot out, stopping the forward process and bulldozed his way into my house. “That’s such bullshit.” The door vibrated shut behind him, shaking the rafters of the house.
I am pretty sure I missed the episode in my life where I agreed to have Lukas approve of my every decision. “You are drunk,” I said, pushing at his chest. It was like trying to move a cement wall. Hurt I understood, even anger, but there was such a strong jealousy growing in his green eyes. It started to frighten me and so alien of his personality. I half expected to see a circular mother-ship land in my front yard.
Beam me up Scotty.
“With good cause.” Sparks started to shoot off him.
Holy crap.
He looked like a ticking bomb ready to explode, and I was going to be hit by the shrapnel. Ookay. Maybe this was the wrong approach, but he caught me off guard. I saw my lazy day drift right out the window. “Lukas. You need to calm down.”
Waves of anger rolled of his body at full height towering over me. “How did you think I would feel? I’ve waited years to be with you and you throw it in my face.”
That was a low blow, and I felt it right in the gut. “That’s not fair. I didn’t even know that you were alive until a few months ago.”
Energy crackled in the air, bouncing off the walls, leaving behind black burnt marks on my aunt’s pretty paint. “But it doesn’t change all that we’ve shared. It might have been in our dreams, but it was real.”
I locked down my jaw. What he said was true. How did I tell him that I loved him, but I wasn’t in love with him? “It was for me too.”
His hand latched onto my arm and a severe shock jolted through me, stronger than I’d ever felt. The grip in his fingers was tight, to a point of painful. “Do you feel that?” he seethed. “It is our energies linking, responding to the other. They were meant for one other, just as you were meant to be mine.”
The possessiveness in his voice sent a shiver down my spine, and the magic fused to my bones. “We might be connected through magic, but that is where it stops for me. My heart belongs to another.” Then I held my breath.
Eyes glowing in electric-green seared mine. “For now,” he conceded, his voice strained.
Power rippled through the room. The paintings on the walls trembled and one fell to the floor, shattering. The carpet quaked under my feet, and when Lukas finally let go of my arm, there were red imprints where his fingers had been. Just like the ones I had given Rianne months ago. That suddenly felt like a lifetime.
Whirling around, he left the same way he had come, with sheer force, fiery temper, and uncontained magic. What the hell just happened? I felt like I had just taken a spin through the center of a tornado. Sinking against the wall, my whole body was shaking, and there was a ball of magic sitting in the center of my chest, waiting to be set free.
I rubbed my wrist and closed my eyes.
So much for peace and quiet, it looked like I was going to be spending the rest of the day cleaning up the destruction Lukas left behind. I despised cleaning.
Chapter 17
The next day at school I sought out Tori. Unlike Austin who thought my powers were the greatest thing since Smartphones, Tori had been avoiding me since the night she found out I wasn’t human. It sucked. I missed her and it had only been a few days. I had given her space, because that was what I thought she needed, but now I needed her.
“Tori!” I called.
As my best friend, I expected her to turn around and acknowledge me. That was not what happened. Pushing my way through the crowded hall, I tried to get to Tori, but after hearing me call her name, she speed up. Stunned, I stopped walking, causing a traffic jam that resulted in some name calling and shoving. I was hurt. I couldn’t believe she had given me the cold shoulder.
It felt like the whole school was against me as I was bounced around like a basketball. When I could finally see past the hordes, Tori was gone. My stomach dropped. On the flip side, she couldn’t ignore me forever. Our class schedules didn’t allow it, and if I had to, I would tie her up in the locker room and make her listen to what I had to say.
Austin snuck up behind me and nudged me with his shoulder. “She’ll come around.”
I had thought so too, but now, I wasn’t so sure. “Maybe,” I muttered, a sinking feeling pitted in my tummy.
He looped an arm through mine. “Babygirl, there is nothing you can ever do, say, or be that would end our friendship. You are stuck with me for life.”
I gave him a sideways glance. “I have yet to decide if that is good or bad.”
Smiling like a goofball, he looked adorable. “Please. My friendship is a bonafide blessing.”
I knew that was an attempt to make me smile, and I gave him A for effort, but it was going to take more than his dorky charm to break through my dark cloud. “I can’t believe she actually snubbed me,” I mumbled.
He gave my arm a squeeze. “Don’t sweat it. Come on. I’ll walk you to class.”
I snorted, moving my feet. “We have the same class.”
He grinned and ran a hand over his sleek hair. “Can’t a guy just be a gentleman?”
Not in this day and age.
Tori might be ignoring me, but I was doing some ignoring of my owned. I refused to let myself dwell on what happened the other day with Lukas, when he decided to fly of the handle. My head was still spinning and I had a hard time wrapping my mind around a side of Lukas I’d never seen.
I knew that I had wounded him by choosing Gavin and pain makes people irrational. Though seriously, he had taken irrational to a whole new level. I had been afraid, a new feeling for me where Lukas was involved. And once again, I couldn’t help but compare Lukas to Gavin. Even when Gavin had been hurt by me and furious with me, I still felt safe. That was where the difference lied. I couldn’t help but think that Lukas hadn’t needed to be such a jerkface.
He’d left behind a mess that I had to clean up, and to my annoyance, it took me more than a twitch of my nose. Five hours of my life I could never get back, but for now I put Lukas at the back of my mind. I needed to find a way to get my best friend to stop treating me like a leper.
So I became a woman on a freaking mission. Nothing was going to stand in my way. True to my word, I cornered Tori in the girl’s locker room. I didn’t give her a chance to refuse or walk away. As the other girls were heading to the gym in their oh-so-flattering uniforms, I snagged Tori by the arm, tugging her behind a row of lockers. She didn’t precisely go with me gracefully.
Jerking out of my grasp, she kept her gaze averted, tawny hair curtaining her face. “What is your deal?”
“My deal!” I screeched. “You are the one who can’t even look at me now.” Helpless exasperation seeped into the air, settling over me like a murky cloud.
She sunk to the bench, resting her hands on her knees. “It’s not you or…what you can do.”
I put my hands on my hips. “Really? Because that is not what it feels like.”
“It’s the world. I don’t know what kind of place we live in anymore. It scares me.”
Which was code for, she was scared. But I understood all too well how she felt. Not that long ago, when I had found out what Gavin was, I had the same uncertainty. “Me too,” I adm
itted, sitting down beside her.
When our eyes met, there was so much confusion in hers. “Why did you never tell me?”
I shrugged, running my hands over the mesh material covering my thighs. “I thought I was protecting you, and…” I owned her honesty no matter how exposing. Swallowing the lump that suddenly formed in my throat, I barreled on. “I was afraid you would look at me differently.”
Tears welled in her chocolate eyes. “And that was exactly what I did. I’m sorry, B. I don’t know you handled this by yourself.”
“I didn’t. I had Gavin. And you are right. I should have told you. It’s me who needs to apologize. I’ve been a crappy friend.”
She brushed aside the tears before they could roll down her cheeks. “You can never be a crappy friend. Can you forgive me for the way I reacted?”
I smiled. “Always. You’re my best friend, Tori.”
She threw her arms around me, nearly tumbling us off the bench. “I’ve missed you.”
I hugged her back just as tightly. It had only been a week, but I knew what she meant. “Me too.” I let go, blinking back tears of my own.
She sniffed a very unflattering goop of snot, but hey, none of that mattered among friends. “We’re late.” The bell had rung a few minutes ago.
“Screw Ms. Jensen.”
She laughed. It was the greatest sound.
From that point on, my day no longer sucked.
My step was a little lighter as I walked onto my porch after school. The only thing this day was lacking was Gavin. I’d seen very little of him. And man could I use some one-on-one time with the big lug. He had been as preoccupied as I had been which was odd. Usually Gavin was attuned with my emotions and the craziness that was knocking around in my brain. Today was Friday night, and I wanted to go out on a date with my boyfriend like a normal teenager.
I had forgotten what normal was.
Thinking of sending him a text when I got inside, I had a naughty imagine conjured in my head of Gavin as I passed a black bird perched on the white porch railing. “Hey, Jared,” I said mindlessly.
It squawked in return, and I paused.