Denial (Goblin's Kiss Series Book One)

by Cyndi Goodgame

  She looked at me for answers. My narrowed death glare at Trigger, the spineless neutral ground wingman, was all daggers. That’s where his name came from, not his good aim with a weapon. His mouth was a bloody friggin’ waterfall that never cuts off.

  “I am not that person anymore,” I gritted my teeth at Trigger. I didn’t want to be my father’s son. I didn’t want run a kingdom of freaks like myself who didn’t appreciate what they have or would probably let themselves turn the same greed my father had to make another war between the realms. Evidence by the fact of who runs it now. They could do that all on their own.

  “Dude. She will be putty in your hands with that.”

  Did he not see that she was standing right here? And he didn’t know her tiger side. I ought to let him have it from her. And I doubted the puddling putty part. “First, I will tell her myself. Second, if you’re coming you’ll refrain from making any comments about her or making her uncomfortable.”

  I slammed my fist into Trigger’s jaw. “And as for the other part,” he pulled back and took in a breath ready for my next blow, “that is for the comment on her body.”

  “Okay, okay,” Trigger rubbed his jaw. “I’ll leave you to her body. Sounds like you have it covered.”

  I slammed my fist into his stomach.

  “Um, Ames. If you beat up all these guys before they volunteer to help us, where will we be?”

  “Oh, she is sassy,” Trigger said with a drawl going on even bent over in pain.

  “Told ya, man,” Wicker laughed.

  I flipped around to take care of him too, but she stepped in the way. She put her hand right to my cheek. I froze in mid-punch and dropped my hand. Mostly because I wanted to see what she would do next.

  She leaned into my ear. I could feel her breath close to my skin. “You don’t have to fight everyone to have me. I’m already yours.”

  Three little words. They stopped me cold. She couldn’t have meant what it did to me. I couldn’t help myself. I took her in my arms and pulled her too tight. She squealed just enough for me to hear and then melted in my arms even more maybe than I was doing in hers.

  “Get a room, bro,” a voice of one of the morons behind us now announced. For once, I ignored them.

  “If you two are done with the explosive PDA, we could be going. Time is an issue here.”

  She smarted off to them giving me the lowest blow for the day. “Just friends here Oprah and Jerry. Any more advice?”

  “You sure about that?” Trigger huffed.

  “Are you really sure about this?” I whispered close not wanting her “friendly” nature to leave my side. The others would do well to butt out. I can’t let them see she is that important to me. They might use it against me, friends or not. It would help if I could stay away from her, but that was not an option.

  “Very.”

  I don’t know how many times in one setting I will ask if she is sure, but Emma seems dead set on being sure. I hope she knows the meaning of the word.

  I called in a favor before it would make me insane to know nothing. Deep in the book room of my realm, I hoped someone would find me some answers.

  We left heading towards the side of the park that would open up to the highway. I kept a vehicle there in times of emergency, i.e. time off. Rare, but sometimes I liked getting away from it all. Now...I see only getting away with Emma. I wanted to take her all kinds of places. Show her things.

  A cave was buried deep in a part of the forest that I knew most could never climb too. It meant climbing, but there wasn’t an alternative at the moment. That was my best hope until more of the plan folded out in my head. Not that I was telling her that last part.

  EMMA

  Crap-o-la! I’d just told Ames I was hot to trot for him. I didn’t even want to admit to myself yet that I might actually like him. Like, like him, like him.

  And no, I wasn’t sure this was okay. But something told me my life wasn’t working out trying to be normal. I didn’t like Joshlin, but the rest seemed okay. And I couldn’t help asking myself, What if this is where I belong? If I leave, I won’t know.

  He drove me to my house first to gather a few items. When he was a street away a red flag went up in my face. I never told him where I lived. He knew the other day and I never noticed. “How did you know where I live?”

  He doused the alarm in my face with one of his deadly smiles, “I’ve known about you for a while longer than you think. Remember when you came to live here?”

  See? He had that kind of power. The power to creep me out and make me blush tides of red all in one. I leaned more on the butterfly feelings my stomach shot through me than the stalker-like part. But he still didn’t answer my question the right way.

  I was most appreciative either way with him being thoughtful enough to cater to my needs, but saying goodbye to an empty house was depressing though I knew I’d be back soon when this was all over.

  We walked for hours after parking back where we’d just left. We went through trails, places where they weren’t any trails, and up, up, up. When we started to climb even steeper terrain, I got a little antsy. I wanted to be hidden. Over an hour had passed and I remember what the time frame included for Mr. King Rude Dude.

  I stopped to get a breath, resting one leg in the air against a rock we were climbing and wished like anything I hadn’t skipped my run all first three days of school.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Just wishing I’d not missed my run the last few days.”

  “You like to run?” he stopped resting a foot on the rock beside me.

  He didn’t know me that well, I see. “Yeah. Makes the world seem like it is still running and I’m the one standing still looking in. I get to be in charge instead of it in charge of me.”

  “You control your own path, Emma. You don’t have to think everyone will hurt you.”

  I raised my eyebrow and crossed my arms. “Isn’t that what you’ve spent the better part of your time with me saying?”

  I have powers that will hurt me. Hurt others. Powers that others want to hurt me to get. And a guy who has a few powers of his own that screamed heartache all over and easily the “hurting” type.

  He dismissed my comment and said, “Get your bee-hind back up and move.” I knew he was mocking me. I stuck my tongue out at him flirted right back. I could get used to that.

  He laughed. I needed him to smile and laugh more.

  “We can give you two privacy if you need,” Trigger bugged.

  “You scum!” I gave them my best snarl.

  “Ohhh, that’s a classic. You are so hurting my feelings. Such bad words from a classy little girl,” Trigger cooed like it was an endearment.

  I felt the unearthly anger fill me up, making me shatterproof, but not the surroundings. The ground and rock shook beneath us. I’m not little.

  Ames stood up taller to hide their faces from me. It was like he wanted to protect me from all bad. Bad words. Bad people. Bad non-people. “Enough guys. She can hold her own and you know it. Don’t rile her up and get her to remind you what you can’t do.”

  I hid what was crawling up my skin and itching to spark out. Ames felt it. He grabbed hold my hand to calm me down relaxing his grip and then tightening it to remind me he was with me. I’d never felt that calm, that fast. Nothing had ever tried to stop my un-wielding force like he keeps repeating. Was it his closeness or just that fact that he cared? Or was it something else? Maybe he knew and kept that secret too.

  I thanked him away from the prying eyes of our companions. We crossed over two more big rocks and right into a cave-like entrance that had just enough light and just enough coverage to be hidden.

  “How did you know this was here?” I asked as I saw a little pile of ashes in the middle of what could be called a room of sorts. A box of something stood in the corner. Someone had been here.

  “I was prepared,” he said smugly.

  I shifted my hip sideways, “You were here before?”
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  He rolled his eyes at me, “I come here a lot. I can’t stand to be around that moronic king all the time.”

  Understood.

  “Why here, Ames? Why not get going farther away?”

  “I need to know something.”

  I waited patiently for what the something was. He finally dropped his eyes releasing his power over me. He ran his thumb across his top lip, then his bottom in a circle and let it sit there on the corner. That was the second time I’d noticed this particular dealing-with-stress habit.

  “Your power. How much you really have.” His guarded eyes were trying to read me. His eyes had so many ways of telling.

  “How do you plan to do that?” I switched my hand to the other hip trying to work out the kinks of mountain climbing.

  His grin was too sexy and full of devious looking thoughts pushing out. I had to look away and blush at the cold, stone wall. I worried what he might do.

  We settled marking our spots of territorial claim. Trigger and Wicker on one side and Ames and I on the other. The other two wouldn’t let the suggestive comments let up even in our exhaustion.

  I had just about had it when Trigger threw in, “Might be cozier on my side princess. I have nicer—

  AMES

  I moved across the room away from her knowing what was coming the second he took it too far. Her face lit up with the way I gave her the go ahead and also by the fact that I wasn’t moving to touch her. I looked straight to her fingers that I’d become accustomed to checking for signs of her destructive instinct. The sizzle moved up through me telling me she was fired up and about to let it go on him.

  Hiding in the hole of a mountain, I worried then I’d made a mistake, but it was too late to worry about the cave or us buried under it.

  The blast landed Trigger right smack against the stone wall of the other side of the caved entrance moaning and groaning. After seeing he was initially okay, I laughed my friggin’ head off. Trigger would watch his mouth from now on.

  My only fear? Right after the burst of energy whammed Trigger into yesterday, the mud and water from the ceiling settled over our heads and two stalagmites sliced the ground around Trigger with their sharp points. Theories are sometimes wrong, but this one wasn’t. She could level the mountain if she wanted to.

  After letting her cool off, I walked over to comfort her. She was shaking from the second the magic stopped, but I couldn’t chance making her anger flare up and burying us alive.

  “How are you doing?” She looked at me like I asked her to eat alligator meat. “Okay. So, not so good. Do you think you can control yourself?”

  The lethal look she added to the last one wasn’t reassuring. I couldn’t say anything right.

  “I mean to just know you are okay and not upset anymore. If you need something….” Lord if I didn’t sound already whooped by this girl.

  I wasn’t the only one who thought so. Trigger whistled and made a his fake fighter jet crash into the imaginary surface sending the message that I have “crashed and burned” as well as let the girl wrap herself around me squeezed tight since he was now fake wrapping his finger.

  Figuring I’d never win the wordless fight with the guy, I chose to ignore him and worry about Emma, besieging myself. She needed to know a few things.

  “Ignore me all you want, Mav. It is what it is.” I still owed him another beating. Now he had two coming.

  I wanted to remind him it was Goose who died, but unfortunately, he was right. I abandoned the situation and started adjusting the room for the coming night. After dinner with leftover snacks from Triggers quick run to the gas station, we bedded down in our chosen corners. I waited till the others were silent and pulled my blanket over to Emma. I was certainly glad I had all of this stashed here for an emergency. This fell into that category and then some.

  “Emma,” I looked her hoping my words would set with her the way I wanted. She faced me. “If something goes wrong, I want you to run.”

  She rolled her eyes at me. At least she wasn’t angry at me anymore. “I get it, Ames. Sneaking around avoiding imminent danger would most likely cause my feet to run, scream, hide, and even stab random guys who look at me the wrong way. I get it.” Her hand went to the curve of her hip and stayed there. I followed it up to her eyes again.

  With a lack of any ability to speak, I just nodded doing my best to look the part of cool for which I’m finding it harder and harder to do around her.

  Minutes later, she was tapping her foot nervously and most likely just trying to pass the time. I was trying to work out in my head the next step of the plan coming up with nothing. Distractions weren’t usually my problem. But then again, she had never been in the picture and she had certainly never sat so close to me that even her perfumed scent knocked me into overdrive.

  “What are you doing?”

  Tap. Tap. Tap.

  “Nothing,” she said hiding her face from me.

  “Well, will you please do that nothing a little over to your left and two inches forward? I can’t concentrate with you doing that with your feet.”

  I needed the space. I needed to think away from her. My hair will fall out if I keep pulling on it trying to avoid touching her. It was getting harder.

  “You moved by me, Ames Cahn.”

  Oh, yeah. My jaw set unable to give a proper comeback.

  She smiled wide staring at my hair like she does, “Gladly, Mr. Bossy.”

  I slid my blanket back to where I started and never once closed my eyes. She, however, was fast asleep within minutes and therefore made my throbbing head relax enough to at least know she would rest.

  When the phone buzzed with the message I’d been waiting for, I almost sang out like nitwit. It was good news.

  EMMA

  The morning was quiet till the dynamic duo came in from their “patrol” around the big, bad cave. I didn’t feel the danger they did, but what did I know?

  Ames got quiet the second the other two came back into the cave-room just after the sun was starting to peek in. I was cranky I was up this early and missed my hot tea.

  Trigger made a predictable comment about my helplessness and constant need to be treated like a damsel in distress.

  “I didn’t ask for any of this. You guys came looking for me, remember? Go find your other dead king’s daughter who didn’t want to be found?”

  No, it wasn’t profound, but it was all I could come up with this early.

  When Ames’ hand settled into mine in an attempt to calm me down, I let it be. It was like a “push button” for controlling my urges of destruction.

  The guys all gathered and started to talk.

  I took that time to get some fresh air. I didn’t like the way Ames avoided me when the two of them came around and I sure didn’t understand it. Instead of making my way out of the mouth of the cave I watched him.

  When they both watched Ames inch away and look the opposite direction checking on me, I knew then they were uncomfortable around us. To say the least. So when they both decided to excuse themselves to see if the area was still safe and gave Ames just the slightest bow, I felt the need to get some things in the clear.

  “So are you going to tell me what they meant by the prince thing?” He didn’t budge. He was definitely the deny everything type, or at least in his past. He didn’t want to tell things that would get him hurt.

  Guys are funny that way. We girls cope with calling our best friend and hashing it out with chocolate. Guys want to act like nothing can penetrate their manliness and for sure not show their feelings. It would make them look less manly.

  “You know, I heard of a girl who just found out she was some freak human who turned out to be some long lost princess and the evil goblin king wants to take her away and...well you know the rest. Either way...hefty story, fun to tell.” It didn’t all sound absurd, crazy, or fanatical. Just most of it.

  I was trying to keep it light, help him out.

  “My story isn’t fun to tell.” He brok
e a stick for the fire in two and continued doing so with every little twig he could find. I’d hit something raw on the inside of Ames Cahn.

  The day ended and I hadn’t made any headway into the life of this guy who says he will save me and keep me safe from the bad guys. The night wasn’t like the one before with blonde jokes (I’m not blonde) and meaningless arguments. Tonight, no one spoke. Not even mindless chatter.

  AMES

  “I know what you fear?” Trigger asked me with Emma still asleep. I checked her breathing. The same counts of three I’d done for two nights. I am now memorizing her sleep patterns.

  “And I’m sure you’re going to elaborate,” I rubbed my eyes wanting some coffee. It was still way too early for all this drama. Emma was still curled beside me in a ball scooted closer to me than when she fell asleep. Was she cold? Thinking she was cold, I covered her with my own blanket that smelled of musty mountain air. I didn’t like that it covered her flowery scent.

  “Your fear is—

  I cut him off, “Don’t you think it’s a little early to be tossing around such a heavy word that you obviously are going to try to hit me with as an arrow to my psyche?”

  “Might go deeper than that, bro.” Trigger looked over at my sleeping angel and darted fast to the wall. I’d just let my eyes stray from her to broach him and his double meanings and that’s where he landed his own heavy stare when I followed it back.

  “Out with it,” I just wanted him to spill it now before she woke up and heard the wisdom of the all mighty Trigger man. If not, he’d do it later in front of her just to piss me off.

  “You have to tell all of it.”

  “Not happening.”