I caught up with Edge in the hallway. He slid his fingers along mine, capturing my hand and leading me further down the hall to his room.
“I don’t know what kind of girl you think I am but…” I gestured to his room.
“I just wanted to talk to you for a second. I have no plans on seducing you…yet,” he said. He pulled my arms out and gently slid his fingertips up and down the words on my skin. “Does it hurt,” he asked softly.
Shivers danced along my spine from the contact. “No. Well, not now anyway,” I said, biting my lip.
“Jade, I’m so sorry…I never…If I would have known. I watched it attack you and I couldn’t-” He was at a loss for words. “I promised you and I…” he choked.
“Shh, it’s okay. I’m okay,” I said, stepping into his arms. He held me close. His chin rested on my head.
“We didn’t know the book was going to imbed itself in me. But you have to admit, it came in handy by doing that. Lorenzo would never have left if he knew that your Mick librarian was actually the book reincarnated,” I said with a snicker.
I held out my arms again. “Any idea what this means?” I asked him.
“I have no idea. I’ll get Jude to look at it and see if he’s came across anything like it. In the mean time…” Edge stepped forward and kissed me softly, “I’m so glad you’re okay,” he sighed.
Matheson rapped softly on the door before stepping in. “I’m sorry for interrupting,” he said, looking at Edge. “I noticed the marks on your arms and I wanted to speak to you, without the others,” he explained.
I held my arms out for his inspection. His eyes traced the words and his face flushed. “You found the book?” he asked.
“Yes. Do you know what this means?” I gestured to the writing.
His hands gripped the doorframe. “It means trouble, lots of it.” He closed his eyes in disbelief.
“You can read it?” Edge asked.
Matheson shook his head and straightened himself. “It’s from the Original Coven. It’s a language that’s been lost for thousands of years,” he explained.
“How do you know it’s that language if it has been lost?” I asked.
“I have a book, or at least I did. I’m not sure if it survived the Triad attack after we split up. I’ll have to go back and see if it’s still there.”
“That would put us a step in the right direction.” Edge sounded hopeful.
“Yes, but which direction?” Matheson countered. “I’d like to speak to you Edge. Could you please show me to my room,” he requested.
Edge tossed a worried look at me before he escorted Matheson down the hall. I didn’t like the question Matheson posed. It sounded like he was worried I had screwed up. I just had to prove to him that I would do everything in my power to protect the knowledge the book infused in me. I just wish I knew what it all meant. I accepted the book when it asked it of me. Could I be strong enough to deny it, if it meant doing the right thing?
CHAPTER EIGHT
I could hear voices coming from down the hall, so I left the unanswered questions unanswered and went to find Rainy and Jessa.
Everyone was in the kitchen minus Matheson and Edge. Julie was stirring something at the stove and it smelled delicious. Jessa was snuggled up under Daggers arm as he chatted with Jude. There was definitely something going on there. Jessa was not one to overly show her emotions and it surprised me to see her acting this way. I waited to feel a jealous twinge about them together, but just couldn’t.
Dagger looked up when he noticed I’d entered the room. “What’s up with your arms?” he asked.
Edge’s hand slid protectively around my waist before I could answer.
Dagger eyed him, “You were supposed to keep her safe.”
Edge turned his head and spoke softly in my ear. “You were right, he’s pissed.”
I turned my face to look him in the eye. “And you don’t care.” I nudged him with my elbow and he released me, but not before squeezing my side slightly.
Julie held a wooden spoon out and pointed it between Dagger and Edge. “You boys sure move fast,” she said, cocking her hip out and waving the spoon in circles before turning back to the stove.
Edge ignored her and walked over to the coffee pot and pulled down two mugs from the cabinet. “We found the book,” he told the room.
“That’s great news,” Jessa said, beaming.
“Where is it?” Dagger asked.
I stepped over to him and stuck out my arms. “Here,” I said with a grimace.
“I don’t understand,” he replied.
“Awww…dude, no flippin’ way!” Jude shouted. “The book merged with you?”
“It almost killed her,” Edge said, setting the coffee cups down hard enough to send the contents slopping over the sides.
Jessa jumped up and grabbed a towel and tossed it to me. Edge grumbled and gestured for me to sit as he slid into an open seat.
“You promised me you’d protect her, not take her into enemy territory!” Dagger shouted.
“Dagger,” Jessa said, placing her hand on his chest. Dagger shifted his gaze to Jessa and unclenched his fists.
“Rein it in, caveman. I’m sure whatever happened was out of Edge’s control,” Julie said from her place at the stove. “Besides, you’re acting like a jealous idiot.”
“Why would Dagger be jealous?” Jude asked.
“Can everyone focus here?” Dagger shouted.
Jude smirked. “So you’re not jealous?”
“What I am is angry. I’ve spent my entire life looking for her. I’ve brought her back from death. And up until lately, I’ve kept her safe. We had an agreement Edge. I trusted you to take care of her,” Dagger growled.
“It wasn’t on purpose, that I can assure you,” Edge said.
I sat back in my chair and listened as Edge recapped how we found the book. I flinched as he spoke about the elements attacking me as I absorbed the book, and the scrolling foreign words that appeared on my arms.
“Holy shit!” Julie said as she turned me in my chair and grabbed my arms.
“Matheson thinks he has a book that will translate the words.” Edge gestured to my arms, “He wants to go look for it tomorrow.”
“That’s some crazy ish,” Jude said, leaning forward in his chair to get a better look at my arms.
I rolled my eyes at him. “You haven’t heard the craziest part.”
Edge shifted in his seat as if bracing himself for what I was about to say.
“What could be crazier than a book being sucked into your skin?” Jessa snorted.
I looked at Edge and he shifted again.
“Lorenzo showed up,” I said, gripping the warm mug in front of me.
“Lorenzo?” Dagger asked in disbelief. “How did you manage to get away from him?”
I peered over at Edge. His lips were pursed in a thin white line. I swallowed nervously and continued. “He showed up after I was like this.” I gestured to the marks. “He questioned Edge about the spell book and when Edge told him it wasn’t there ....well, he left.”
I looked back at Edge. He was staring down into his cup as if waiting for me to tell everyone exactly what transpired between him and Lorenzo in the cave.
“He left? He just left?” Dagger sat back and crossed his arms. He kept bouncing his gaze from Edge to me, like he knew there was more to the story than that.
“So you cloaked her then?” Dagger asked. He was fishing for a better explanation.
“No. Actually he told Lorenzo that I was a Mick librarian that he was using to help find the book,” I said with a half-hearted shrug.
“And he believed that? Jesus, Edge, how is it you always fall into a pile of shit and still come out smelling like a rose?” Dagger snorted.
“For reals, you get outta like, everything, dude. Forget Batman, bro, you’re like Harry frickin’ Houdini,” Jude chimed in.
The table erupted in laughter and I breathed a sigh of relief. At least Dagger
wasn’t demanding an answer, for now. Julie set a huge pot of stew in the middle of the table and Rainy handed out bowls. We stuffed ourselves with beef stew and fresh baked bread as everyone caught up on what had happened in the last few days.
Dagger excused himself to go and talk to Matheson. I had a feeling he would be accompanying him to look for the book tomorrow. Jessa and Rainy cleared the table and Jude ducked out saying he was allergic to cleaning. Edge had slid his chair closer to mine and played with strands of my hair as everyone around us talked.
“So what’s up with you two?” Jessa blurted out across the table. She wiggled her eyebrows at me as I blushed. Warmth spread along my skin as Edge slid his hand into mine. It was becoming a habit of his to reach for me.
“I could ask you the same,” I grumbled at her. There was no way I was going to get into my relationship with Edge while he was sitting right next to me. Besides, I didn’t even know what was going on with him and I, so how could I even begin to explain it?
Edge squeezed my hand before letting it go and slid his chair back. “If you ladies will excuse me, I’m going to go check on a few things.”
He no sooner cleared the door when Jessa was all over me again. She smirked. “Spill it.”
I sighed. “Spill what? There’s nothing to tell you.”
“Puh-lease, his hands hardly left you. If he wasn’t touching you, you’d shift towards him until he did.”
Was that true? I screwed my face up in question at Rainy. She would tell me if Jessa was exaggerating the whole thing. She smiled at me. “You really like him, don’t you?” she asked.
There was no use lying to them. They knew me too well. “I think so, but it’s been a little crazy…ya know. I don’t understand any of this. And Edge, he’s…yeah, I think he’s a great guy.”
“A great guy?” Julie blurted from the other side of the room. I winced, realizing that I’d forgotten that she was still there.
I rubbed my temples as the sound of book pages started ruffling in my head again. The sound kept going on and on like the book was looking for something.
Rainy reached over and grasped my arm. “Headache?” she asked.
“No, it’s just the book. It’s done this before, it’s like flipping pages back and forth.” I tried to explain what was happening inside my head and they looked at me with worry. I waved off their concern. “It doesn’t hurt, it’s just distracting.”
They continued to eye me as I changed the subject.
“So what’s up with you and Dagger?” I asked Jessa.
A huge grin split her face. “He’s perfect,” she sang.
I tried to keep my focus on what she was saying about Dagger. I caught bits and pieces about the searing kiss they’d shared. She surprised me when she told me about the kiss Dagger and I had exchanged when we were chased. She held no anger about it, even after I stammered out an apology. Jessa just simply waved it off saying Dagger had explained the necessity of it. I nodded along trying desperately to pay attention, slipping in comments here and there, but the pages flipped in my head faster and faster. They continued searching for something and it was driving me mad. I just couldn’t fake the distraction anymore. So I faked a yawn instead and told them I was beat.
I slipped out of the kitchen and stumbled to my room. Maybe I just needed some sleep. So much had happened to me since this morning and it was possible that the book was just pushing me to rest.
I fell into bed fully dressed, not even bothering with my shoes. The pages kept on searching as I willed myself to go to sleep. I was at my breaking point with the book just as it began to slow the insistent pace. The last swish of the page ended and I groaned from the reprieve.
“Do you want me to come back later?” Edge’s voice cut through the air, creating the warmth that always surrounded me when he was near.
“Uh, no…sorry. This book is doing some strange things and it finally stopped,” I told him as he sat down on the side of the bed.
“What sort of strange things?” he asked, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. When his fingertips touched my skin, the book softly fluttered. It was like it craved Edge’s touch as much as I did.
“It’s weird. It’s like the book is up there in my head, flipping its pages. Right before I came to lay down, it was going nuts, almost like it was searching for something.”
“Maybe that’s just your brain’s way of telling you to rest,” he joked.
Edge lifted my fingers and softly kissed them. The pages fluttered again.
I sighed at his touch. “I think the book likes you.”
“Oh? And what would make you say that?” he asked, kissing my palm.
Flutter.
“Every time you touch me, it’s like the book reacts to it.”
“Just the book?” he said, sliding his fingers down my arm. I shivered as goose bumps appeared on my skin. I chewed my lip. How much did I want to admit right now? I liked him. A lot. But I hardly knew him. He kissed my fingers again.
Flutter.
“Matheson and Dagger will be leaving first thing in the morning. Dagger’s asked me to come along just in case they run into any problems,” he said.
“Oh?” I wasn’t expecting Edge to go. It bothered me to think he’d be away. Why was I being so needy?
“Do you not want me to go?” he asked.
“No, it’s okay. Besides, it gives me a chance to catch up with Jessa and Rainy.”
Edge leaned in and captured my lips in a quick kiss. “I’ll be back before you know it. Try and get some rest,” he said as he slipped out and shut my door.
I slipped my shoes off and fell back into the pillows. I had a lot to think about, between Edge and the book and how they connected, because for some reason, deep in my heart, I knew they did. I closed my eyes, willing sleep to come. Pages began to softly ruffle as I fell asleep.
I woke up curled around Edge’s body. His hand was holding my head in place over his heart and I listened to the soft cadence of its beat. Sometime in the middle of the night, I’d gone from my bed to his. Pages fluttered in my head as if in approval. I shifted slightly and Edge pulled me closer.
“I won’t say I mind, but when did you get here?” he asked.
I pulled myself away from his heat slowly to look at him. His hair was rumpled and his face had a sexy five o’clock shadow that my fingers just itched to touch.
Cool air danced along my skin and I looked down. Where were my clothes? I gasped and pulled the sheet around me.
“Did we?” I asked, squeezing my eyes closed, trying to recall anything from last night.
“No,” he answered. Laughter rumbled in his chest as the bed dipped. I cautiously opened one eye to see what he was doing.
He smirked. “By the looks of it, you walked in here leaving a trail of clothes behind.”
I could feel the blush creeping up my cheeks. Anyone could have seen me! I groaned into the sheet I held tightly to me. How much had Edge seen before I realized my state of undress? I groaned again. And to make it all worse, the door was wide open.
“Can you get my clothes please,” I mumbled into the sheet.
Edge stood up and the sheet fell off of him. He was wearing a low-slung pair of cotton pants. I sighed in relief. At least one of us was still dressed.
Edge bent over every couple of feet, picking up my trail of clothing. With each piece, I wanted to sink further and further into the mattress. What the hell had I been thinking last night?
The door closed softly and Edge dropped my clothes on the foot of the bed before gathering me up in his arms and sitting me across his lap. I couldn’t even look at him. I was that embarrassed.
“Good morning,” he said, tucking my head into his shoulder. “How did you sleep last night?” he softly chuckled.
I shoved his shoulder. “Not funny,” I mumbled into his neck. He shivered as my words slid across his skin.
“I could get used to waking up with you in my arms, draped over me like a blanket,” he mu
rmured.
“I’m sorry. I really don’t know how I ended up here…like this.” I gestured to my sheet covered body.
“Don’t be sorry…never be sorry for wanting to be close to me.” He ran his fingers along the words covering my arms.
“What do you think this means?” I asked, holding my arms out for inspection.
Edge gathered me close again. “I don’t know. We can only hope that the book Matheson has will help us translate it.”
I grabbed my clothes and tucked the sheet closer to my body before escaping to the bathroom. I could hear Edge’s smug laughter from the other side of the door. He was enjoying this way too much. I cursed myself under my breath as I let the sheet fall to the ground and jerked my clothes back on. I kept reminding myself that it was only a fluke thing and that luckily no one else saw my late night escapade.
When I opened the bathroom door, Edge was pulling a fresh t-shirt down over his sculpted stomach. Butterflies assaulted me. I hadn’t paid much attention to his naked chest while I was worrying about my own.
“I don’t have to go,” he said as he slid towards me. He pulled me tight against him and trailed his lips down my neck. My body heated to his touch and the book fluttered again. “We could stay right here and do a reenactment on how you came into my bed. We can practice it over and over again until we think we have it right,” he said, sliding his hands down into my back pockets.
I swatted his shoulder. “One time was enough for me, thanks.”
“I’ll take what I can get…for now,” he said before brushing his lips against my forehead.
What was this attraction between us?
My eyes snapped open and I shoved him back a step.
“What if we’re under some sort of spell?” I blurted out my thoughts.
Edge tilted his head in thought. “I doubt it,” he finally answered.
“Why? Don’t you think this is all a bit sudden?”
“No, not really. Look…this,” he said, gesturing between the two of us, “started before you even laid eyes on the book.”
Casted (Casted series) Page 12