“Already there.” Trigger didn’t know when to let up. So when her hands sparked and the flash of my hands moved from the wheel to her thigh, she didn’t flinch or protest. Her body didn’t relax though. I slid my hands up her side to the nook of her elbow and pressed my thumbs in. Immediately, her rigid frame fell back against the seat. The back seat didn’t once know a moment of what passed in the front, but she did. I did.
“I think we’ve established she doesn’t care for you, Trigger. Let it rest.”
“You got it boss.”
After ignoring his last word and laugh, we parked at our next destination.
We dropped by the department store and bought a set of spare clothes for all three guys and a new red t-shirt for her that she kept eyeing. I tricked her into picking it up and showing me what it said just so I could be sure it was her size. I didn’t have to. The sales lady beat me to it saying it was would be perfect on her and that red was her color. The shirt had a saying on it that read, “Sass is Class!” Yes, that was her alright.
The cleaners was next. I had a time keeping the two clowns from wanting to take turns holding her undergarments when she went to the restroom. They were getting more annoying by the minute.
The night went by alerting me to her every little sound as she slept, but at least she slept. When the morning came, I faked sleep to let her get ready in peace. When I made my exit out of the bed, she smiled hugely and asked if I needed the bathroom out of courtesy or to just have a reason to say something since I was looking at her.
Clean and ready to go, I stepped too close to her trying to get by the tiny space between her bed and the desk I sat at most of last night. My boat-sized shoe landed on her toes and I reached out only to steady her, but ended up feeling her hands land across my chest. The fire that ignited reminded me of what her touch did even that first day and both times as a defense move to save her from broken toe bones. I just met this girl days ago. How could she have such a hold on me already?
“Sorry. I uh...” am the lamest man alive. Heck if I didn’t lose my tongue around this girl and look like a total fool.
“Sorry,” she blushed looking up at me. Bad, HUGE mistake.
My body leaned in on its own accord. It’s a male thing. I couldn’t help it. But I stopped myself in time. A breath’s length from her lips, I closed my eyes and backed away.
“Let’s go.”
EMMA
Ames Cahn almost kissed me. In a motel. Where we spent the night. Alone. In separate beds.
I was in way over my head.
The current that sparked giving us both a shared “zap” of heat blazing on our fingertips had nothing to do with my powers. It was something else altogether. I could tell by the way he himself was just as affected. I shook in the bucket seat cramping up at the reenactment in my head. I wanted it to happen again.
We drove for hours. Ames said he was purposefully driving in a few circles to check for followers and even insinuated that he had some way of detecting their presence.
I ventured to ask if the other two had the same abilities and Trigger chuckled at my question and replied with, “Not the peons of our world, sweetness.”
That left a string of questions for me, but Ames cut me off telling Trigger not to call me Sweetness. Funny how he easily avoided all my important questions. I wasn’t dumb. I can put facts together.
“Trigger, why are you a peon? That’s not a fair assessment.”
Ames growled, gripped the wheel tighter, and aimed a stare at him in the rearview mirror that made even me a little scared. Ames was definitely authoritative.
“Sorry, sweetness. The angry bear beside you wishes for me to remain silent. If I give up that silence, anything and everything will be used against me to—
“Trigger. Shut the h—”
“Ames. Stop being rude all the time. Your grumpiness is exhausting.”
AMES
Yeah? My “grumpiness” was caused solely by the constant need to want to smother myself with all things Emma, the sassiest creature this earth has ever deemed in my care. I’d stop the Jeep right now and drag her over to my seat if it wouldn’t startle her and the watchful crude eyes in the backseat.
Thankfully, she left it alone. Again. Trigger was right about one thing. She would have to have her questions answered soon or she would resent me for the rest of her life.
I needed out of this car. When we arrive at the cabin, I intended to tell the other two to survey the area, set up traps every three yards, and alert the few friends I had living on the perimeter that we were there.
I got my wish. And now...I was alone with Emma for at least the next hour.
We entered the cabin that I’d spent weeks in at a time alone and depressed. I had a small hope inside that maybe I would never be alone again, but that was wishful thinking and just a pipe dream.
I let her settle her things in the back, farthest room in the place where the bathroom was closest. There were two other rooms. One was an actual bedroom; the other was an office/workout room/hobby room and more. I left her alone and made the room ready for me to sleep in. I took the cot folded up in the closet and folded it out coughing when the dust filled the air. I grabbed the twin bed sized sheets that would be too big for the smaller sized cot and spread them out accordingly. Next, I needed to get in her room and get my things. I couldn’t very well traipse into her room naked to get my clothes. Yeah! That would go over well.
The bed done, I didn’t know what else to do but inventory the kitchen for food until she came out. I looked at my watch noting that a quarter hour had passed. I blew out a huge breath feeling the pressure of everything on my shoulders when she cleared her throat at the entrance of the new bedroom I would be staying in.
She eyed my newly made bed, “Is that what you’re sleeping on?”
“Yes,” I gritted my teeth. Didn’t she appreciate me giving her my room?
“I can’t let you stay on that. You will just have to stay in my room. I can take that since I fit better on it.”
“NO! You will not stay in here.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Why? Hiding something in here from me?”
That again.
“You’re acting weird Ames and I intend to find out why.” Her arms folded telling me she meant business. When did I start to see her mannerisms so well?
“I’m not hiding anything in this room. I just don’t want you uncomfortable.”
“So I take it I’m in your room?” She deadpanned the words as if they might actually take another form and make her think differently than I knew she was. I admit that I kind of wanted to see the reaction I got from her staying in my room.
I nodded.
Her cheeks blushed and I wanted to know why. “Is that okay?” My voice came out cracked and sounding like a dang girl.
“Just don’t want to be in your love pad where you might have taken your females before. I would rather sleep in here.” She pointed to the cot while tapping that foot reminding me of the sure fire way of knowing when she was pissed. I found it humorous.
In total shock by her audacious attitude, though I shouldn’t be, I told her the stupid truth. “No one has ever been here with me until now. You are the first to ever see it.”
Wouldn’t have guessed her to start beaming like a beautiful siren reeling me in with her bright smile. “In that case, I’d be honored. But I won’t bite. We slept in the same room last night and didn’t kill each other. I think you can stay in a more comfortable bed where your feet do not hang off and survive the night.”
Aye! But would my body survive another night near her? Two nights. Many nights. “I don’t know.”
Then the siren before me stepped up her game. “Please,” she batted her eyelashes and curled her lips up holding them open forcing my eyes to look at her mouth. “Genie wish, please.”
Yawp! I needed air. “Genies aren’t real.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Emma, we’ll talk about it later. For now, we n
eed to assess the food and make a list.”
She let it go with a cynical glance. Funny how her magic didn’t spark the same way to destroy with me when I was in her line of sight, but just the opposite.
EMMA
Why couldn’t he see it my way? I didn’t bite and it would make us both sleep better. He was so grumpy the last twenty-four hours that I just knew another bad night of sleep would make him worse. He thinks I don’t know he stays up all night watching the door.
The night came and we were safe in the house, full on spaghetti cooked by Ames, and heading off to our separate rooms. I asked him where he learned to cook (it really was good and not completely out of a can) and he said he taught himself watching cooking shows. It really didn’t fit the linebacker type he was, but who am I to judge. I probably don’t look like the destructive chick who can level a two story building.
Of course, he didn’t admit this in front of Trigger and Wicker. He waited till we were alone while cleaning up the kitchen.
Ames stopped at the first room, the cot room. I couldn’t let him go in there and I somehow knew he wouldn’t go into the back room with the other two knowing. I waited until the dynamic duo were locked inside and then I stopped beside his door.
Not trying to sound like a slutty girl, I laid my hand gently on the top half of his arm making him look at me. His eyes watched my hand where it sat. I wasn’t sure what to think about him always looking at my hand when I touched him. Was he repulsed by me so much that he didn’t want me touching him? And I couldn’t exactly say why I was so intrigued with the idea of touching him, but I couldn’t get it out of my mind. He was just so concerned for my welfare and it made me want to take care of him too.
“Why can’t I give something to you when you have given up so much? I don’t pretend to not notice you give, give, give. Let me do this for you. I promise to stay far on my side of the bed and not bother you.”
Okay, so that was snippy. But he was the one acting weird. Well, weirder than a magical knight in shining armor from a far away land would be. I think.
He snorted and looked at the cot. “If you are uncomfortable in any way, I will remove myself immediately.”
He sounded so clinical. He was the uncomfortable one.
He agreed to get dressed in his new room and then would head in when he was ready. I went first in the bathroom and headed in the bedroom while he used it. I dressed quickly in yoga pants and the just cleaned shirt from my bag. He’d bought clothes, but he had to have had clothes already here for when he entered the dark moonlit room, I could tell he was wearing pajama pants and a tee I’d never seen.
He smelled wonderful. The warm, earthy scent sent my body into a spasm as he climbed on the bed and stayed above the covers. Sandalwood. From my run near the woods. It was a new scent added to his already heady pine. It was a weird word to describe it, but there was nothing else that fit.
I know for a fact that when he finally did sleep some the last two nights, he slept under the sheets.
Geez! “I don’t bite, Ames. Why do you hate me so much?” It just spilled out, bitterness seeping into my words. Honesty is what I wanted to know most. I’d thought he liked me, but the last day or two he seemed just the opposite.
His arm was over his eyes. “I don’t hate you, Emma. I...”
“You what? Wish I wasn’t your problem anymore. Just say it, Ames. I know you are frustrated.”
“I am not frustrated with that. You are not a problem. I just didn’t know it would end up like this.” His hand motioned around him.
“So I am a disappointment?” I could hear it in his voice.
AMES
This girl was impossible. She didn’t understand anything I said. What was I supposed to do? Say? “My frustration has nothing to do with anything you have done wrong and nothing to do with helping you.”
“Then what does it have to do with?” She was on the far end of the bed, under the covers, and I could still feel the warmth her body streaming out. Kissing a girl was one thing, but lying in the same bed with her without being able to touch her was another. And I didn’t trust myself with this girl. With a simple phrase, she could wrap herself around me so tight I couldn’t breathe.
“You, Emma. You. I can’t seem to get you out of my head.”
She was too quiet and I sounded like a desperate man searching for a drop of water to quench my painful thirst. Hating my confession now, I dared a look over in the dark. Her glowing eyes flitted to me.
“You hate me now, right. I am not sure I can keep you safe for you constantly make my brain stupefied.” I was a lame idiot.
Worse, she rolled over and faced me. “H-H-Hate you? I’ve spent the last two days trying to get you to not be so uptight. I get the whole protecting me thing, but you just make me angry with your stubbornness.”
Stubborn. Protecting her was stubborn? “Either way. I will focus on keeping you safe. It means everything to me.”
She wouldn’t get it anyway.
She sighed and that was the last I heard of her before the short little breaths told me she was asleep. I drifted off not long after that resting my hand close enough to her back I could feel her body heat, but not touching. I swear I heard her breathing slow even more.
The next morning, I woke with a start. I’d slept. My eyes flicked open noting I’d let my guard down. Worse, her body was tucked up next to mine. I tried to scoot out from under where her arms were tangled over my chest. It was choking my thoughts to the point incoherency was unstoppable.
She mewed in her sleep, and after an exhaustive effort she was alone on the bed. I snuck out the door and headed to the bathroom. After, I stumbled on to the kitchen to see what I could make her for breakfast. She would surely wake up hungry.
“You are in so deep, man,” a voice met me in the hallway.
I ignored it and kept going. We’ve already done this conversation.
The morning waned on and she slept. I felt better knowing she was getting rest. The guys made the rounds around the perimeter and all was well.
The afternoon sun made me check my watch for the fiftieth time. She was still asleep. Pacing the floor staring at the hours old eggs and toast still on her plate, I was just about to go in her room and wake her when she stepped into the living area.
In her too tight pants and too tight shirt, I moved to cover her the second the two idiots on the sofa opened their mouths. It wasn’t like they hadn’t see a girl before, I just didn’t like them looking at her the way they were.
She tsked or made some kind of noise that was meant to be against me and went into the little kitchen. She saw the plate of food still out and looked up to where I was still rooted watching her like the other two fools.
“Thank you. For breakfast. Sorry I slept so long.”
“It’s okay. I’m glad you’re rested. There is leftover spaghetti in the fridge.” I couldn’t look like a pansy in front of these two any longer. They were already giving me enough grief.
I sat on the only other chair in the living area and realized then there were only three places to sit in the room. We would have to pull a chair from the two-seater table she was about to sit at for her to join us.
The television was currently blasting shots fired by Wicker who was beating Trigger at World at War on the Xbox. I watched her carefully move around the kitchen and heat her food. When she curled around the countertop and glided to the table, I looked away fast to the television knowing she’d catch me staring.
I heard every single time her fork hit the plate and when she moved back to the kitchen to rinse her plate in the sink. The dishes were piled in there from the three meals devoured by the demons on the sofa. I was regretting bringing them with us.
She started to wash the dishes and I jumped halfway across the room to help her, grabbing the dishtowel to dry as she washed. She smiled meekly at me and kept on.
The demons never offered to help.
EMMA
The night was the same as t
he last. I slept so sound, I didn’t know he left the room. It was weird sleeping in the same room with a guy even if he was on the other side of the bed. I could tell now he was attracted to me and fairly certain he could tell how affected I was by him. I’m sure I’m doing this all wrong by offering for us to sleep in the same room, but he would be uncomfortable and even crankier if he slept on the dwarf-sized cot.
The next morning I was alone again when I woke. And the next. A routine was formed and by the third day, I was bored in the house entirely. Cooped up and itchy to get out.
Trigger and Wicker were content to eat and play video games, but I was achy and wanted to see the earth move in front of me. I’d been in bed more than I’d seen the sun and it was starting to make my skin dry out. Well, maybe not literally.
I was positive both of them were talking about me when they thought I wasn’t in the room. Several moments of sudden need to check the perimeter, blank looks of surprise and silence following, and complete laughter when I swear they weren’t talking just before. When I’d give them a look, they would act like it was an inside joke or something. Worse, when Ames came into the room, they would glance at him and then me and nod to each other. I had always been subject to rumors, but not anywhere I couldn’t surmise what they surfaced around. With the current circumstances, it could be any number of things.
“Can we walk in the woods or something? Hike around.”
“NO!” Ames barked at me with darker than usual circles under his eyes.
Geez! He needed to grow a smile. “Okay. Fine. I’m going to go walk around out front in circles. You call me when dinner is ready, dear. Afterward, you can rub my feet and I’ll open you a cold one.”
AMES
She smirked at me in her new red t-shirt that fit way to close to skin-like. I almost told her to change this morning.
Denial (Goblin's Kiss Series Book One) Page 15