16. Kiaran
Kiaran
I strummed my fingers obsessively against my thigh as I waited on the couch for our dinner party.
Amelie was finishing up getting ready, the table was set for ten, appetizers covered the table around the place settings and the tea pot was hot and ready to serve.
The same memory was playing on repeat in my mind, making me all the more anxious.
When I was ten, I invited my two friends to my home for a sleepover.
Emmin and Leo were the only boys in fundamentals school who would be my friend.
After going to their house countless times and my parents deciding that they needed to be the ones supervising us, they only allowed me to hang out with them at our house.
I supposed that was fair being that the first day I came home from Emmin’s I had infested our house with rats.
It took weeks to trap them all, my mother suspended all of my magic and told me to set literal traps.
That wasn’t interesting to me so I summoned the Black Magic and let birds loose thinking they’d just take care of it.
So we ended up with a fuck ton of rats and bird shit.
Three weeks later, my mother, with only a snap of her fingers, rid the house of all the vermin her ten-year-old put there.
Needless to say, McCalmont supervised visits were all I was allowed after that.
I told my mother I needed the afternoon to study for a test on Monday so she signed me out of school at noon on Friday.
I spent the entire afternoon cleaning my room, the floorboards, I even took everything out from underneath the basement stairs and organized it.
There was absolutely no reason they would have looked in there, but I was so nervous to have friends over for the first time.
My mother was supposed to bring them over when she finished her Coven duties. She always arrived home around five so I figured I’d still have a bit of time when the grand clock struck on the hour. But the door opened only a minute later.
Trying to keep my cool, I walked instead of skipped down the stairs to meet my friends. When I rounded the banister on the main level, I went straight for the kitchen where I figured my mother had brought them. I found her standing at the marbled counter bracing both hands on the edge.
My friends weren’t there and when I asked her where they were, she gave me a pitiful look and asked how I felt about going out for sweets with her and Mia.
When I saw them at school the following week, they wouldn’t talk to me anymore. I never knew what I did to make them upset with me.
I never had another friend after that.
All I could think about now was if the men from the campsite would come. The Forest lit up on cue as Amelie strode out of the bathroom, as if the show was just for her. I never told her that it only started after she got here. Everything she came in contact with loved her, lit up for her.
Including me.
Amelie floated on the air as she approached the table, not a worry in the world if our guests would show. She was so used to people not showing up for her it probably wouldn’t phase her if they didn’t come.
Fern had given Amelie a dress fit for a princess.
The pale blue fabric flowed and curved around her body like it was wind itself.
Gold beading covered the seams and the delicate ruffles helped it bounce around the floor.
The sleeves bunched at her wrists and if I didn’t know any better I’d have said she was one of her God’s most precious Angels.
Her hair was set in the natural curl pattern it had taken in her time here, her cheeks were blushed and her puffy lips were stained the most perfect shade of light spring pink. She was absolutely ethereal in the candle light.
I felt criminally underdressed now in my denim pants and black knit sweater.
The thunderstorm beating in my heart calmed at the thought of spending tonight with her. If the men didn’t come, Amelie would be here. Much better company than my mother and Mia.
Amelie strode toward me, her smile sending me into a pathetic spiral. She was so fucking beautiful. I should go change.
“Why are you sitting like that?” she asked before plopping down very ungracefully next to me.
“Like what?”
“Like a string is tied to your spine and your hands are nailed to your legs?”
Taking inventory of my body, I relaxed and realized that I’d been sitting like some kind of gargoyle awaiting our visitors.
“Should I change?” I blurted, glancing down and noticing a speck of dirt on the hem of my jeans.
“No, I think you look very pretty.”
I whipped my head to her, furrowing my brows and flattening my lips to try and hide my smile. Infuriating woman .
“I’m a man, Amelie. I’m very big and tough, don’t call me pretty.”
“You are very big and tough.” She mocked my face and I wanted to kiss the broody look right off of it.
“I’ve never had guests here before,” I admitted.
“Are you nervous?”
“No,” I bit out too quickly.
Amelie bounced closer to me, the cushions dipping under the movement. Her arm slinked under mine as she leaned on my shoulder.
“Ethel will like you. Just be nice.” She gently squeezed my bicep, I tried not to flex but who was I kidding, I wanted to impress her. “And your friends from the campsite wouldn’t have asked to come if they didn’t want to.”
“I’m not sure they consider me their friend.” My voice was pathetic as I admitted to caring about whether the Lost Souls liked me or not. They were lost and still found others to spend their afterlife with. I was more than alive and had no one.
No one at home, no one in the Forest. Until Amelie.
“You’re easy to be friends with, Kiaran.”
“I literally sent wolves after you the night you tried to run to keep you here.”
Amelie laughed and squeezed my arm again before sliding her hand down to lace her fingers between mine.
“Yeah, you did do that.”
“If I wouldn’t have, you’d be long gone right now.”
Amelie twisted our hands, inspecting every crack and callous and let out a sigh.
“Maybe. But even your wolves thought you deserved a friend and brought me right back to you.”
The way she could turn my indiscretions into a compliment was fascinating.
My mother spent my entire childhood making me feel like my curiosity was a defect in my genetics. It was my fault that people didn’t see me as a powerful member of the McCalmont family but rather a massive fuck up from the most influential family in Avonya.
“If you keep blasting your sunshine on my darkness, someone’s going to be misled into thinking I’m not a bad guy.”
Amelie shook her head against my arm before she grabbed the skirt of her dress and stood up on the couch. Her arms spread wide above her head, her fingers wiggling.
“What the hell are you doing?” I laughed as I took in the strange girl towering over me. Her hair cascading around her as her eyes danced playfully.
“Shining on you. Everyone should see how great you are.”
I wrapped my arm around her waist and tugged her down to my lap. Her laugh erupted goosebumps all over my skin.
“You’re amazing, do you know that? After everything you’ve been through, you’re just so…amazing.” I drank her in. She was stunning, the candlelight only making her shine brighter, somehow. My palm found her cheek and she tilted her head into the touch.
“This is Heaven compared to the Hell I grew up in.”
As soon as she said it, her face fell. But only briefly, before she threw back on a smile and rested her head on my chest. She didn’t like being vulnerable. It wasn’t natural for her.
“I know this isn’t Heaven to you. Seeing your home was surreal.
I thought I dreamed of places that could never exist, people I’d never meet and scenarios that I’d never experience.
Knowing you lived a life I could only dream of and now you’re stuck here guts me.
I’m sorry that this isn’t more for you, but I hope you know that it is more than I could’ve ever hoped for. ”
My heart cracked under the weight of her words. The admission that she believed I wanted more than what I had right now was so fucking wrong. Maybe before her, but definitely not now.
I bunched the fabric of her dress in my hands and pulled her closer. She fit perfectly in my arms .
“It has been nothing short of an honor to have you here, Amelie. I’ve never opened my eyes in the morning and been excited for anything, but now? The idea of seeing you in the kitchen or playing mad alchemist over the cauldron has me waiting for the sun to rise every day.”
I nudged her off my chest, forcing her to look at me. Her painted cheeks were even pinker now. My gaze dropped to her puffy lips as they parted slightly.
I closed the little amount of space between us.
“Kiss me,” she whispered. My skin sizzled, the only sound in the room was her ragged breaths and the thud, thud, thud of my heart in my ears.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” I wasn’t sure why anymore, but something in my bones trembled at the idea of finally kissing her.
“Please?” She batted her thick lashes, her tongue rolled slowly over her lips. Fuck.
“You need to be sure that’s what you want, I won’t be able to stop once I start.”
Her golden rivers were ablaze, like lightning in a stormy, sapphire sky.
“Prove it.”
Only a hairsbreadth away, the smell of vanilla and strawberries took over my senses, her long waves grazing my fingertips on her back
I shouldn’t. I want to. I can’t. I have to. I won’t. I need to.
“Whatever you want, pretty girl.” I whispered against her lips, my hand found the base of her neck, closing the tiny bit of space between us to ever so softly press my lips to hers.
Her soft lips welcomed mine and my stomach rolled with nerves. I knew she’d never had sex that she’d wanted before, but had she ever had a kiss she’d wanted before?
Because I hoped after this she’d never want to kiss anyone else. Selfish as that was.