CHAPTER 17 #2
“You look constipated,” I remarked, darting my tongue out to catch the jelly smeared on my bottom lip. He tracked the movement, then lifted his eyes to the ceiling with another quiet groan.
Still feeling weak, I took my full plate and half-eaten doughnut with me to the island’s other side, instantly relieved when I slipped onto a stool and gave my legs a rest.
As the guys started to dish up, I finished my second doughnut before saying, “I’m surprised you two are even speaking to me.”
Maybe it was the sugar high talking, but after almost dying last night, I felt like clearing the air some more.
Oz looked up from his plate to ask, “Why is that?”
“Well, besides the obvious, which is me being a disgraced Mayweather, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Thorne hates me. As close as you three are, I’m sure you’ve heard some pretty awful stories.”
Okay, I was fishing, but I doubted I’d get another opportunity to learn what they knew about me without Thorne around.
“Oh, we’ve heard all the stories, Bambi,” Riku said almost flippantly, too busy dishing up to notice the blood draining from my face.
Oz noticed, though. From behind his black-rimmed glasses, his hazel eyes watched me struggle and fail to swallow before I managed to whisper, “So you know . . . everything?”
Hearing the strain in my voice, Riku finally glanced my way.
As he took in my expression, his voice gentled considerably.
“Yes, we do. What happened was a terrible tragedy, but how Thorne feels about it doesn’t mean we automatically feel the same.
Plus, the whole ‘fall on your sword for the mistakes of your ancestors’ thing doesn’t sit well with me.
Our community can be pretty old school sometimes and could use a little twenty-first century reformation.
I personally don’t like to burn someone at the stake before getting to know them first, and after getting to know you better this past month, I’m pretty sure we should be friends. ”
I blinked, blinked again, certain I’d heard him wrong. “You want to . . . you want to be my friend?”
Please, don’t laugh at me. Please, don’t say it was a joke. Please, please—
“Pretty positive," Riku answered with a curl of his lips. A genuine curl, not a mocking one. “Maybe with a little friendly nookie on the side, but I’m not allowed to talk about that right now.”
A small laugh burst from me. It was barely a laugh at all, but it was still a sound I hadn’t made in a long, long time. Feeling a burn behind my eyes that wasn’t brought on by pain for once, I replied, “I thought you said I was dangerous.”
“Those were Ozzy’s words, actually. I said that I liked dangerous women.” He followed up the words with a teasing wink.
When I peeked at Oz again, he was staring at me in that disconcerting Oracle way of his.
Feeling like he was looking right through me, inside me, I started to glance away when he said, “We all have the potential to be dangerous. Our magical affinity doesn’t define if we’re good or bad, nor does the celestial being that gifted us a part of its spirit. It’s just that, your aura is . . .”
When he paused, I dryly supplied, “Shrouded in malevolent shadows?”
“Yes, but those shadows also feel deeply protective, which confuses me.”
My spine slowly straightened, unease filling me. I should change the subject, but I found myself asking, “Why does that confuse you?”
“Because it’s a contradiction. I saw the way you viciously attacked Riku a few weeks ago, but right afterward, you were extremely remorseful.
And then for weeks after that, you refused to attack Thorne with your magic.
He told us yesterday that you were afraid of yourself, and that makes me believe you only defend yourself out of fear, not maliciousness.
But that contradicts your attack on Riku, so I don’t understand.
It almost feels like you’re protecting something, maybe even hiding something.
Something that would cause you to react out of character in violent ways. ”
My throat tightened and tightened, cutting off my air.
He could see it. He could see my darkness.
Fear rushed through me, not just from the thought of being exposed, but from what the darkness would do at being exposed.
If it was both malevolent and deeply protective, it wouldn’t react too kindly to the threat Oz’s Oracle abilities posed.
Worried for myself, but even more worried for him, I was just about to jump off my stool and race for the door when a voice behind me rumbled, “I felt but couldn’t see a chain around her neck in the shower earlier. She’s probably hiding a spelled amulet.”
Riku quietly snickered at the comment, his mind clearly in the gutter again, but I was too distracted by Thorne’s looming presence to chastise him.
As he joined us in the kitchen, stopping beside Riku across the island from me, I couldn’t help but notice that the white shirt under his blazer was wide open.
Beads of water still clung to his deeply tanned skin, and I hopelessly watched one slip down his six pack and disappear into his navel.
My mouth dried, images of our time in the shower bombarding my brain. My gaze sank lower and followed the trail of dark hair beneath his navel, my mind trying to conjure up a visual of him masterbating.
That groan, that lusty groan. Why couldn’t I stop hearing it?
As usual, I made the mistake of looking up at his face next.
But, for once, he didn’t catch me ogling him.
Not when he was too busy eyeing me in his shirt.
Gone was the anger from earlier, the intense look he was giving me now more like the ones in the shower.
Remembering how he’d stared at my bare breasts, I felt my nipples harden.
No, no, no. Too late. I saw the moment he noticed, the desire flaring in his eyes unmistakable this time.
Certain he was picturing me naked right now, a sudden ache pulsed between my legs.
Horrified, I shot up from my stool and scurried around the island toward the fridge.
The guys silently watched me yank it open, clearly confused by my sudden agitation.
I scrambled to think of an excuse. Anything.
Recalling what Thorne had just said, I hesitated for a moment before grabbing a carton of orange juice and blurting, “I do have a spelled amulet, but it’s harmless.
My grandmother gave it to me for my protection and nothing more. ”
Gran would be so disappointed in me right now, but she’d told me to do whatever it took to survive. Exposing my amulet to keep my darkness hidden felt like the right move. It was far better they think the malevolence was coming from my necklace than from inside of me.
But then Oz asked, “Can I hold it?”
I stiffened, his words evoking a sudden rush of protectiveness.
My hand itched to grab the pendant, to defend it if need be.
Instead, I slowly shut the fridge and moved toward the cabinets in search of a glass.
When I found one, I carefully poured the juice into it before replying, “Sorry, but I swore not to take it off.”
An uncomfortable silence fell over the kitchen, one so quiet that I heard Comet’s wings rustle.
With my back turned to them, I had no doubt that the guys were looking at each other in silent communication.
I tensed even more, worried that they’d try to take it from me by force.
With three-against-one odds, there was no way I’d win.
Just when I was about to race for the door—again—Thorne said, “The spell on the amulet is probably what stopped the curse.”
I turned from the counter with my glass of juice to gape at him. “Stopped it? The curse cut me to bloody ribbons!”
Without looking at me, he reached into the doughnut box and pulled out a glazed one before saying, “Yes, but I doubt whoever created that curse planned for it to stop cutting you. Without a curse reversal, the cuts should have kept forming until you were dead.”
It made sense. Curses didn’t just stop. But knowing that I’d be dead right now if not for my protective amulet was more than a little upsetting. Thank the ancestors for Gran’s wise forethought.
“Do you know who cursed you?” Riku asked me, biting into an apple.
“No, but when I was taking a shower last night, it felt like someone was watching me. Then again when I climbed the tower stairs. I thought I was just being paranoid, but maybe whoever placed that curse used an invisibility spell to follow me.”
“And bypass your dorm’s protective spells,” Thorne said as I sipped my orange juice, a slight growl vibrating his chest. “I bet it was Blaze, the sick bastard. I’m going to kill him.”
I almost spit out my juice. Even Oz and Riku looked surprised as they stopped eating to stare at him.
Swallowing hard, I quipped, “If you do that, you’ll all lose your bets.”
I’d meant for the comment to be light, but when they all turned as one to stare at me, I instantly wished I’d kept my mouth shut.
Squirming under the weight of all three sets of eyes, I blurted a little defensively, “What? It’s not the end of the world if you lose on occasion. It’s just a stupid bet.”
Riku snorted and shook his head like I was a naive little girl. “We never lose, Bambi.”
I frowned, looking at each of them in turn before demanding, “Am I missing something here? If Blaze dies, you all lose.” When no one said anything, I pressed, “Right?”
“Wrong, Snowflake,” Thorne replied, raising the glazed doughnut to his mouth. “If Blaze dies, we win.”
He devoured the doughnut whole.