“What am I supposed to do?” she asked. “I’m becoming more and more detached from Thomas, and he’s aggressive and even more possessive.”
“I’ve noticed that. Maybe you could just talk to him.”
“I’ve talked and gotten nowhere.”
“Don’t do it.”
Jeremy walked up behind Gillian and wrapped his arms around her. “You were great tonight.” He kissed her cheek and hugged her tightly.
Ava looked away. The wind blew slightly, and she shivered. Goosebumps formed, but then she suddenly became warm as if the temperatures outside rose. And now she’d developed the climate-control ability, as she liked to call it. Enchanters could make themselves warm or cold to survive extreme weather. It was just one more reminder of how different she was.
“Are you two okay?” Jeremy asked.
“Fine,” Ava said.
“We won, Babe,” Lance said as he and Thomas came out of the locker room, clean and refreshed. He picked Melissa up and spun her around.
“That’s 5 and 0,” Thomas said. “We finally beat them.” He took Ava’s hand, and then they all walked up the hill to the parking lot of the school. “After three years of them beating us. Ah, that game was so awesome. I totally ragged them.”
He launched into his review of the game while Ava ambled at his side, not paying attention.
Thomas squeezed her hand. “Earth to Ava, are you listening?”
“Yeah,” she lied.
“Did you even watch the game?”
“Some of it.”
He sighed and released her hand. “Dammit, Ava,” he shouted. “Why can’t you come and actually watch for once? I mean, what’s the point of showing up if you’re not even going to watch me?”
“Because you want me there. I had a lot of homework to do. Besides, I can’t really tell what’s going on or who has the ball and what all the flags mean.”
“I’ve tried explaining it to you. It’s not hard. It’s not a sissy sport like baseball. This is a real sport.”
As if she hadn’t heard that a million times. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
“Next Friday, for once, would you please just watch me? Is it really that hard? Or do you have to be so damn stubborn and uncaring?”
“It’s not that I don’t care. I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings. I just get bored.”
“Great. So now I bore you?”
Ava groaned. “Stop acting like a baby.”
“I’m a baby now?”
“Stop putting words in my mouth.”
Lance shook his head. “And the fighting has begun. We’ll see you at the bonfire.” He and Melissa got into his car.
“We’re gonna skip it tonight,” Gillian said. “We’ll see you later. I’ll call you, Ava.” She waved to them, and walked away with Jeremy.
Great. So now, Ava would have to endure Thomas’s drunkenness while Melissa and Lance went to find a quiet spot in the woods. The night just kept getting better. She was a little miffed that Gillian had deserted her, knowing what Ava had just told her.
“Babe, ride with me,” Thomas said.
“I wish you wouldn’t call me that. You know I hate it.”
He rolled his eyes. “Why?”
“You know why. It’s patronizing. It makes me feel like I’m some toy.”
“Whatever. Will you ride with me?”
“No. You’ll get drunk, and then I’ll have to find a way home.”
“No I won’t. But you could always drive us home.”
“I hate driving your Jeep.”
“I won’t drink tonight. Promise. Please?”
He wouldn’t give up. “Fine.” She placed her books inside her car and then climbed inside his Jeep.
He turned the ignition, revved the engine, and drove out of the parking lot, following Lance and others in a caravan to the bonfire.
“I don’t want to stay long,” she told Thomas.
“You never do. By the way, thanks for telling everyone yesterday that I fainted. Good to know you can keep a secret.”
“Oh, like you kept mine about me thinking Gillian manipulated Kristen.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Do you have a crayon stuck in your brain?”
He wrinkled his eyebrows. “No. That was like a month ago.”
“I still think something’s going on with Xavier.”
“Why are you so concerned with him? Who cares? If anything, he did Kristen and all them a favor.”
“Favor? Why, because Kristen suddenly looks hot to you?”
Even in the dim blue dashboard lights, she could see the muscles in his jaw twitch. “What about Peter? You seem to have the hots for him.”
“He has a girlfriend.” She hoped that would make Thomas back down.
“Maybe he had something to do with your fainting.”
She was aghast. “How could you even think that?”
“He’s always around you. He was the only one out there with you yesterday. Maybe he and Xavier are working together. You never know.”
“You can be such an ass.”
Thomas parked the car at the end of the line in a field down from the bonfire and cut the engine.
Ava reached for her door, but he grabbed her arm and forced her to face him. “Don’t call me that again.” His blue eyes bored into hers.
She exhaled, defeated. “I’m so sick of this.”
“Sick of what?”
“Fighting with you.”
“Then don’t.” His eyes softened.
Then he cradled her face between his hands. He kissed her, gently at first, then harder.
She winced from the bruise. “Thomas,” she groaned.
He leaned over, with his mouth still on hers, and pulled the seat lever, making it recline backward. His hands fervently tried to touch her, but she blocked him.
“Thomas, knock it off.”
“Babe, come on, I’m ready.”
“Well I’m not.” She pushed him back.
He released a frustrated groan and then returned to his seat. “When are you ever going to be ready? We’ve been together forever. What’s it gonna take?”
She pulled her seat back to the upright position. “Certainly not attacking me like that.”
“I can’t help it. I’m sorry. I really am.” He brushed his fingers across her cheek. “I just love you so much. And I feel like I’m losing you.”
She swallowed hard. He had a way of making her feel guilty.
He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Let’s go.”
Ava nodded and then they got out of the car. She felt like crying, but with every fiber in her body, she held it in.
Together, they walked toward the large fire. As usual, music blared while people gathered around with beer or other alcoholic drinks, dancing, mingling, or just acting stupid. Like the time Chip Crenshaw fell into the fire because he was dancing to impress some girl. Lucky for him, he didn’t burn.
Ava hated being here, and all she wanted to do was go home.
“You two get all that out of your system?” Melissa asked as Ava and Thomas joined her and Lance.
Ava clenched her teeth to keep down the lump that lurched inside her throat. She blinked away the tears.
“Shut up, Mel,” Thomas snapped.
“I guess not,” she said.
Lance patted Thomas’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s get a drink.”
Ava grabbed Thomas’s arm. “You said you wouldn’t drink tonight.”
“Whatever.” He jerked his arm away and followed Lance.
“You okay?” Melissa asked.
“Fine.” She knew she should’ve taken her own car.
Melissa lit a cigarette and exhaled the smoke as they watched Thomas telling his larger-than-life football story.
“It sure didn’t take long for him to regale everyone with his precious football game,” Melissa said. “He cracks me up with how animated he gets. You want anything to drink?”
“No, thanks.
”
Melissa walked away, and Ava continued to watch Thomas, anger brimming. She stared at the fire and then tilted her head to the side. She couldn’t be sure, but it looked as though the fire actually tried to reach out to Thomas. Yes, it seemed to follow his hand movements. Whether he moved up or down, the fire tagged along. She glanced around to see if anyone else noticed, but they all seemed too drunk or too enamored with him. Then, she saw Xavier.
He appeared to be staring right at Thomas’s hands. She stiffened. Did he really see what she did? What was going through his mind? He didn’t look shocked at all, but his gaze was so intense that it made her nervous.
“You’re not getting any ideas, are you?”
Ava jerked around and met Peter’s eyes. “What?”
“To mess with Xavier. It’s not worth it.”
“No, that’s not what I was thinking.”
“Good. Are you okay?” His brown eyes invited her to unload all her worries.
But she didn’t.
“Sure.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t sit with you. Valerie and Amanda didn’t want to sit alone since Seth, you know.”
“It’s okay. How are you all handling it?”
He sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“I’m sorry.” Ava wished she could say something to make him feel better.
“Don’t be. Seth made his decision.”
But she wasn’t sure Seth had a choice. She had to figure out what Xavier was doing. Something was going on.
“You get your homework done?” Peter asked after a few moments.
“I guess. I suck at chemistry.”
“I know.” He grinned. “Maybe I could tutor you.”
“I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
“Why? Because of Thomas?”
Ava turned, and saw Peter’s brunette friend watching them with her arms crossed. “I don’t think your girlfriend would like it.” At once, she wished she could take back those jealous words.
A crease formed between his eyebrows. “I don’t have a girlfriend.”
Ava was silently relieved. “Oh.” She looked back where Xavier stood, but he was gone. She saw Thomas talking to a few cheerleaders away from the fire as if nothing had happened. Surely, he must have been aware.
“Would you like to meet my friends?” Peter asked.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t think I’d be good company right now.”
“Why don’t we go for a drive?”
“What about your friends? How will they get home?”
“I took my own car. And Tony’s with them now. Come on.”
Alone time with Peter?
“Okay.” She followed him to his car, hoping Thomas wouldn’t see them together. But she decided that he was too drunk to notice. He would be upset, but she’d send him a message. The brunette girl would probably be even more upset that she was leaving with Peter. She suddenly felt wrong about taking a drive with him. If the girl wasn’t his girlfriend, she obviously liked him, and Ava didn’t want to step on any toes.
“Do you want to go to my house?” he asked.
“Sure,” she said, and slid into passenger seat. What was she doing? She couldn’t go to his house. Ava wanted to be there with him, but Gillian’s words flashed in her mind like a blinking red light. Forbidden. Forbidden. Forbidden.
CHAPTER NINE
FORBIDDEN
Peter drove down the interstate a short distance and then exited. Ava ignored the rational part of her brain, and tried to push aside Gillian’s annoying warning. They would just hang out like they did all those times during the summer. Besides, this way Thomas couldn’t find her.
“What happened tonight?” he asked.
“Nothing.” She twirled her opal ring around her finger.
“What’s the nicest thing Thomas has ever done for you?”
The question took her off guard. “I don’t know. He brought me flowers when he came back from camp.”
“That’s it?”
“What do you want me to say?”
Peter sighed. “I don’t get why you’re with him if he makes you so miserable.”
“He’s always been there.” She paused. “When I was younger, I got sick with pneumonia, and he would talk to me on the phone every day. He’s all I’ve ever known. But he’s different now.”
“Then why are you still with him? I mean, he doesn’t seem to treat you well.”
“He treats me fine”
“Is that why you looked like you were about to cry back there?”
She peered out the window, crossed her arms, feeling a little embarrassed. “Can we not talk about this?”
“I’m just worried about you.”
“Peter, I appreciate your concern, but really, it’s not necessary.”
“Okay.” He pulled into a driveway in front of a massive two-story house with a brick front and eight windows that faced the road. Peter and his dad lived in an old wealthy subdivision.
They walked up the short winding sidewalk to the front step. He opened the door to a quiet house, and she followed him through the narrow hall and into the living room.
Forbidden.
Soft yellow light poured from a lamp on an end table. Peter switched on the TV and flipped to a sports channel, while she took a seat in the deep brown plush couch.
“Are you hungry? Thirsty?” he asked.
“No, thanks.”
He sat next to her, and her heart sprang to life.
After a few moments of silence and staring at the TV, he turned to her. “I didn’t know you had pneumonia. How bad was it?”
She met his soft brown eyes. “I almost died.”
His jaw dropped open. “Wow.”
Ava fought the urge to hold his hand. This was bad. They would return to Savina and Colden’s tomorrow night, but would she and Peter still have nights like this after the Initiation?
“What are you thinking about?” he asked.
“Just how everything is going to change.”
“You mean after graduation?”
“Yeah,” she lied.
“You can’t worry about things that are out of your control.”
“I know. It just sucks.”
“Don’t get down about it. This is our last year, so we need to make the best of it. Things will change, and friends will drift apart, but you’ll gain some new ones. And those who really care will still be there. They won’t abandon you.”
His tone was bitter.
“Have you talked to Seth at all?” she asked.
He shook his head. “He still ignores me. He changed his number, and he’s never at home. His parents don’t even seem bothered by how different he is. I don’t get it.”
“I don’t understand how someone can up and change like that, without warning.”
“I’ve been wondering that myself for seven years.”
Ava looked at Peter, unsure of what he meant.
“My mom left when I was ten,” he said.
She gasped. “Peter, I’m so sorry.” First, his mom had abandoned him, now his friend.
“Thanks. She just couldn’t handle us I guess.” He shrugged. “It happened one day after school. I came home, and she told us she was leaving. She said she wasn’t cut out for this kind of life and left.”
“That’s awful. Has she ever tried contacting you?”
“No.”
“Do you ever think about her? I mean, do you ever want to see her again?”
“I try not to think about her, honestly. And no, I don’t want to see her.” He spoke with resentment.
She reveled in the simple fact that they had something in common, something big, something no one she had ever known shared. They each had no mother.
“How come you never told me?” The words slipped out, but she knew the answer.
Another shrug. “It’s just something I don’t talk about.”
“Yeah, I can understand.” And she could.
>
“It’s okay, though. I don’t mind telling you about it. I’m very comfortable with you.”
“Me too.”
His hand brushed against hers, and slowly he intertwined his fingers with hers. It felt so natural. The simple touch made her heart hammer against her ribcage.
Forbidden.
She dropped her gaze, and removed her hand.
The room was quiet, except for the people talking on TV. The wind outside forced the nearby branches to scratch the window. Her attention turned to the brewing storm. White veins descended from the dark clouds and illuminated the room. She flinched and looked away. No matter how many years had passed, she still hated lightning.
“You were there,” he whispered. “Weren’t you?”
She met his eyes. “Where?”
“With your mom?”
Her stomach tightened, as if someone had wrapped their hands around it and squeezed. It always felt like that when she thought of that day. “Yes.”
“H-how did she?” Peter shook his head. “No, sorry. That was rude.”
“She was struck by lightning,” she mumbled, and fidgeted with her ring.
Peter made a sound, but Ava wasn’t quite sure what it was.
“I was outside playing—.”
“You don’t have to tell me. I don’t want to upset you.”
“It’s okay.” She drew in a shaky breath. “There was a storm coming. My mom came outside to get the sheets from the clothesline and told me to go inside. But I just took my time cleaning up my dolls.” Tears blurred her vision. “If I had listened to her, I wouldn’t have seen the lightning reflected in the glass doors.”
“Ava.”
She looked up and several tears fell. “The last memory I have of her…” Ava saw in her mind, the blood oozing from her mom’s head and her singed body. “I kept screaming for her but she never woke up. How could such a thing have happened?”
Peter pulled her against him. “I—I wish I knew what to say.”
“It feels weird knowing I’ve told someone else.” She tilted her head up at him and searched his eyes. “Someone who understands me.”
“I can’t ever imagine how you must feel.”
“Yes, you can. Your mom left.”
“Yeah, but she had a choice. I do know how it feels not to have a mom. If she couldn’t stand my dad so much, at least she could’ve made an effort for me. She could’ve given me advice or just been there for me. At least, we have each other.”
Under A Blood Moon (Elemental Enchanters) Page 7