Chapter 12 #2
“You could have taken the next exit. It has a ramp.”
He grinned. “Yes, Tails, but you said you wanted to go fast. I followed your instructions.”
I steadied myself with the dashboard, the clutch of sleep clinging like cobwebs. In my dream, I had been falling off a fifty-story building. You don’t walk away from that kind of fall. I didn’t want to consider how much the dream resembled my current reality.
“Where are we?” I rubbed my neck. The horizon had light.
It was 5:05 a.m. according to the clock.
“Wow, I slept a long time.” He hadn’t even glanced at me.
His shoulder-length almost black hair covered the edge of his glasses, and his jaw had bristles now.
He must shave. That took me back to the vision of the hair. Had it been a dream?
“You were very asleep. It’s another hour to my home.”
“Really? We should be there by now.” Distracting myself, I did the mental calculation, and the numbers didn’t add up. “What about gas?”
“I got it.”
“Got it? When? ”
“While you were asleep. I also picked up a few things.” He nodded at the backseat. There were shopping bags.
“Food?”
“Some. Mostly clothing for you.”
“Clothing?” I recoiled, then calmed myself down. It was totally normal he was buying me clothes while I slept in the car. How could I not have woken up when he stopped? I wasn’t a light sleeper but under the circumstances…
“You were asleep, and I made sure you stayed that way.”
“Did you just read my mind?” This was beginning to be a problem. “What do you mean you made sure?”
“I told you that we have gifts. One of mine is to keep people asleep or put them to sleep, and yes, I can read your thoughts.”
I didn’t like the way his grin twisted up.
“But you didn’t know my thoughts in the club.”
“No.”
“What changed?”
“I licked you.”
My skin prickled with a blend of oozing horror and tickling fascination which I wanted to ignore. I squeezed as close to the door as I could get, staring out the window. There was no way I was ever sleeping again in his presence.
Nine hells, he probably knew what I was dreaming.
Mother of God, he knows what I’m thinking right now.
I glanced in his direction, and he smirked but didn’t take his eyes off the road. I had to do something. Anything, but think.
With some impressive contortions, I climbed into the back seat and rummaged in the shopping bags.
He’d bought me a PINK sundress with ribbons and flounces, like young girls wear when they go to garden parties or anime cosplayers.
It had spaghetti straps. I hadn’t worn a dress since prom. What the hell was he thinking?
“I was thinking you would look nice in that dress.”
“Nice? You want me to look nice for you? Are you kidding me?”
He didn’t turn. I rummaged through the tissue. A tiny pink bolero sweater that matched the dress and shoes with tiny pink crystals on them.
Pink ? Everything was pink.
“I like pink,” he said from the front seat.
There was no way I was putting on that dress, even if my clothes were a disaster from being drip-dried. Hell would freeze over first.
“Hell is frozen.”
“What?”
“Hell is frozen. Well, at least the place that most resembles hell in our mythos.”
This had to stop. I pinched myself to stop thinking and then rubbed my arms, concentrating on the discomfort. “What does it take to undo the licking thing?”
“It wears off on its own.”
“Thank God,” I breathed out. I’d have to survive until then.
“Put the dress on. My parents won’t like it if I bring you home disheveled.”
Insane anger blurred my vision. “Like I care what your parents think. I mean what are you—fifteen?”
He smirked. “You will care as they will protect you if they approve of you. At the moment, you need their protection and mine.”
“I can protect myself.” But could I really?
My stomach plummeted. Going home with him was stupid.
What was I thinking? Oh yeah, my entire life was in flames because of his damned sister, and I currently had no other viable option.
I held up the dress, trying not to cringe.
He’d gotten plus-sized clothing that might even fit me.
There was even a super-sized pack of baby wipes.
Damn it if clean might beat ugly just this once.
I swore and pulled off my overshirt. He glanced in the rearview mirror.
“Keep your eyes on the road,” I snapped.
“There’s underclothing in the third bag.”
My heart did flip-flops. I dug in the bottom of the bag. Pink satin with little crystal rhinestones and bows. I was not wearing that. Nope, nada. I’d wear the dress but not the bra.
My comfy black sports bra showed all over the place in the dress. Aesthetics won. After removing blood and dirt, the best I could, I put the pink bra on. It was a near-perfect fit, but I didn’t give on the panties.
“It’s okay. I didn’t think you’d go for the panties, but they came as a set.”
I groaned and dropped against the seat, ripping open a chocolate pecan energy bar. My favorite. He’d also bought tetra-packs of chocolate milk, sandwich cookies, dark chocolate, and steaks. Raw steaks.
“The steaks are for me,” he said with what I swear was a growl.
“Take it easy. It wasn’t like I was going to eat them.” I dropped the beef back into the bag and opened a chocolate milk, the only kind I’d drink…
It was becoming apparent I still didn’t know the whole story. That was a huge problem. I was inquisitive, crazy anal actually about knowing stuff. Maybe it was all the true crime podcasts I listened to, but not knowing all the details would kill me slowly. So, I started to ask…
“It’s part of the mind-reading package. It’s an empathetic reaction. I can read your thoughts and emotions as if I know you really well. When I was shopping, I took that into account.”
“Why did you buy pink stuff then?” My mind was whirring. He’d not only picked out clothes for me, but he’d chosen the right sizes.
“I told you, Tails. I like pink.” He turned his head, but it didn’t hide his smile.
“Bastard,” I hissed, taking a bite of a sandwich cookie. The damn things were poison, but they soothed the soul.