Turning Grace (The Turning Series, Book 1)

by J.Q. Davis

  Chapter 13

  The Couch

  The rest of the ride was silent. Tristen kept hold of my hand. Phoebe, who normally had no issues ever speaking to me, remained speechless. I could see the tension in her shoulders the whole ride.

  We pulled up to an apartment complex with a sign out front labeling it “Coldwater Creek”. We were about twenty minutes from my house. Seeing as no one really knew Eric at the party since he didn’t attend our school, this was probably the safest place to be.

  We unloaded out of the car and headed up the stairs. Once on the third floor, Eric unlocked his door and let us in. It was a tiny apartment with the usual drab eggshell-colored walls and beige carpets. There was a small couch in the living room. A glass coffee table sat in between the couch and TV. An Xbox console rested on the floor next to it with discs scattered around it. To the right was the kitchen. A refrigerator that seemed like it could only hold eggs and a carton of milk stood in the corner with a stove that only had two burners next to it. Past the kitchen and living room was a door that I assumed was the single bedroom and bathroom. It became known to me that this must have been what was called a bachelor pad, seeing as there were a couple of empty beer bottles lying around and no type of interior design. It seemed like this was just the place he slept and hung out with his buddies playing video games on occasion. Phoebe’s kind of guy. She was more into the guy himself instead of what he had to show for himself.

  We walked in and Eric went straight to the fridge to fetch some beers. I was assuming now he was feeling he really needed a drink. After what I did tonight, I was feeling the need for one myself.

  “So, what’s the plan?” Tristen asked, reaching for the beer Eric was handing him.

  Phoebe came out of the bedroom changed into shorts and a tank top. She seemed comfortable in Eric’s home. “Well,” she said, “I think we should hang out here for a bit and just chill till everything dies down.”

  “Phoebe, it’s not just gonna go away. Grace hurt her pretty badly. The cops aren’t just gonna quit looking for her,” Eric stated.

  “Can you please stop talking about me like I’m not here?” I asked, beginning to feel really irritated with how he was treating me.

  Eric didn’t say anything and shrugged his shoulders. I walked over to where Tristen was sitting on the couch and plopped down next to him.

  “Yeah, babe, it’s rude,” Phoebe whispered in his direction.

  “Listen,” Tristen began. “I agree that we need to figure out a better plan. But for now, why don’t we just stay here for the night.” He looked at me. “I know you are freaked out right now. Why don’t we just get some sleep and when we wake up in the morning, we’ll figure it out.”

  “I like that plan,” Phoebe said during a yawn. Eric remained quiet. I felt his skepticism, and I was sure that he was questioning even having me in his home. But honestly, I didn’t think he would protest because I was Phoebe’s best friend and he knew for certain that she would not be okay with kicking me out to the curb.

  “I’m gonna get you guys some sheets and pillows. The couch doesn’t pull out, but you can try to fit on it together,” Phoebe said.

  “The floor will be fine,” I blushed. The thought of Tristen and I being that close to one another sounded amazing…and terrifying at the same time.

  Phoebe came back out of the bedroom with sheets, some pillows, and a change of clothes for me and set them down on the couch. I looked over at my emotionally tired friend, wondering just what she was thinking at that very moment.

  She glanced over and smiled before coming to sit next to me.

  Tristen got up and asked Eric to show him where the bathroom was. He was giving Phoebe and I a moment alone, and I appreciated that very much.

  “Phoebe, I’m so sorry I ruined tonight. Halloween, our special night.”

  “Are you kidding me, G? You kicked some Sonny ass tonight.”

  “No I didn’t. I practically chewed her arm off!” I explained, feeling the remorse set in again.

  Phoebe’s expression changed into a serious one. “Grace, why did you do it? Why did you eat it? Why didn’t you spit it out?”

  I couldn’t look her in the eyes when she asked me this. Shame overpowered me. “I don’t know. It just happened.”

  “I can’t help but feel like you’re not telling me something. I want you to know, Grace, that you can tell me anything. I will never judge you. You’re my best friend till the end. We’re soul buddies, remember?”

  The moment Phoebe and I claimed this title flashed through my memories. We were about eight or nine years old and playing with Barbies at my house. Phoebe was Barbie and I was Ken. I remember our Barbies got into an imaginary fight and I began to cry because I told her that I thought Barbie and Ken were soul mates and shouldn’t fight. Phoebe looked over at me and said we were soul mates. We were soul buddies. And from then on, we were.

  I smiled at that beautiful memory. “Tomorrow, I will explain everything I know about what is going on. Tonight, let’s just get some sleep. You look really tired.”

  She lifted her arms above her head and yawned. “I am. But don’t be surprised if you hear some mysterious noises coming from the bedroom,” she said and gave me a wink. “I’m not that tired yet.”

  I noticed a slither of blood on her leg about a finger-length long when she moved to stand up. “Hey, what happened to your leg?”

  “Oh, I think I hit it on something in the haunted house.” She examined it and touched it gently, removing some of the blood that then revealed a narrow cut in her skin. “Don’t worry, Eric will kiss it better,” she said with a devilish grin.

  I shook my head. She walked over to the bedroom door as Tristen was entering the living room.

  “And we’ll talk about that one tomorrow too,” she said and nodded in Tristen’s direction. The blood rushed to my cheeks.

  “You know it,” I said to hide my shyness.

  “I love you, Grace.”

  “I love you too, Phoebe.”

  She shut the door behind her and I stifled back my tears. Tristen sat beside me on the couch and laid his hand on my thigh.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Yeah, yes. I’m fine,” I lied.

  “Are you ready to lie down?”

  “Sure, I’m a little tired.” The truth was…I was beginning to feel my hunger strike back. I remembered my Ziplocs and reached down into my purse to grab a few bags. Feeling a little self-conscious after what happened just a couple of hours before, I decided to ask Tristen if he was okay with me eating.

  “Do you mind?” I asked, lifting my bag into the air.

  “No, go ahead. Are you hungry?”

  “Starving.”

  He got up and began laying out the sheets and pillows on the floor for us. “So, what is it that you’re eating anyway?”

  “Um, it’s just treats my mom makes. There is some beef jerky and dried cranberries and other stuff. Do you want one,” I asked, trying to be polite, but secretly hoping he wouldn’t take the offer.

  “Sure, I’ll take some beef jerky. I’m kind of starved myself.”

  I handed him a slice. He bit down and began to chew.

  “So, you’re Mom makes all this herself?”

  “Yeah, she makes pretty much everything we eat. She is an amazing cook. Well, you would know, you ate some of it.”

  His eyebrows furrowed. He held the beef jerky up to his face and began to analyze it.

  “What’s wrong, you don’t like it?” I asked. How could he not, it was marvelous.

  “It just doesn’t taste like any other jerky I’ve had. What kind of meat is this, do you know?”

  I reached down into my purse to grab another baggie. “Um, I’m not sure actually. Mom never wants me around when she’s cooking. I actually don’t know any of her recipes.”

  “Huh,” he mumbled and ate the rest of the jerky.

  I walked over to the sink in the kitchen and started to
wash the Halloween makeup off my face. If I woke up in the morning with this stuff on, I was sure I would really look like a zombie.

  After drying my face with a hand towel, I turned to find Tristen taking his shirt off. My reaction was to quickly turn back around. “Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t know you were—”

  “It’s okay, Grace. Do you mind if I sleep without it? It’s got fake blood and crap all over it.”

  “No, no I don’t mind.” Of course I didn’t mind.

  I turned back around towards him and struggled to keep my jaw from hitting the floor. Just as I suspected, his six-pack abs and perfectly sculpted chest were revealed. I watched his muscles flex as he reached down to take his shoes off, and when he stood back up I took in the contour of his stomach, allowing my eyes to scan down his body, leading down to his jeans. He left them on. I took a deep breath and headed towards our makeshift bed. Only, there was one on the floor and one on the couch.

  “I figured maybe you would be more comfortable on the couch,” he explained when he noticed my confusion.

  “Oh, thank you.” Damn it. He was being polite. Not that I was expecting anything to transpire between us, intimately, but I was hoping to be close to him. “Do you mind if I take off my shirt?” I asked, realizing then how ridiculous that question was.

  His cheeks flushed and he smiled. “Um…sure?”

  Great. “No, I have a tank top on underneath. Don’t think it will be that easy, Miles.”

  “I didn’t think it would be, Watkins.”

  Tristen turned around, being the gentleman that he was, as I took my shirt off and changed into the spare shorts Phoebe handed me before heading off to bed.

  I hopped over his bed on the floor, not wanting to mess it up. I stretched out on the couch and watched him reach over to the floor lamp and switch it off. The room was completely dark now, which was disappointing because I could no longer see his beautiful body.

  We were positioned like a capital T, with me on the couch and him on the floor. I lied on my back, wondering what he was thinking at that very moment.

  “You have a tattoo,” I stated.

  “I do.”

  “What is it?”

  “It’s a Phoenix. I got it when my grandpa passed away.”

  I knew it. His grandpa. His impact.

  He continued. “He was awesome. The most loving and caring person you would ever meet. He was smart. He was funny. He was everything I want to be.”

  “What happened?” I asked, curiously. I didn’t want to pry, and hoped that he was okay with me asking him this question.

  Without hesitation, he answered. “He got sick. Lung cancer.”

  “I’m so sorry, Tristen.” It hurt me deeply to know that this was painful for him. I had never lost anyone in my life. I had never even known my father well enough to have lost him when he left. The emotions he was feeling right now was foreign to me, and I could only imagine what it was like.

  “It’s okay. He died when I was thirteen. It was tough ‘cause he was like a second dad to me, you know? No one would even tell me he was sick. They were afraid of how I would react. But they finally did, and I was able to cherish every moment I had left with him.”

  “Phoenix, a symbol of strength.”

  “Yeah. He had gotten sick, and fought it for some time. He had been through a lot in his life. He was a Marine and had been through Vietnam. Got shot and discharged. His wife, my grandmother, died early on. Before I was born. He had just been through so much and still managed to see the brighter side of things. He was a Phoenix.”

  My eyes swelled as I listened to Tristen. His voice was full of grief and I knew exactly why his grandfather impacted his life. An envious emotion shot through me when I realized I didn’t have anyone in my life like that.

  It was quiet for a few moments and I wished I could be beside him, holding him.

  “Grace?”

  “Yeah?”

  “What do you think is wrong? Do you think you’re sick?”

  I sighed. “I don’t know. I don’t know what is happening to me.”

  “Are you scared?”

  “Very.”

  Before I knew it, Tristen stood up from his makeshift bed on the floor and laid down next to me on the couch. I slid over as much as I could to make room, however the couch wasn’t very wide at all, forcing us to be as close to each other as we possibly could be.

  He turned me towards his chest, and I unconsciously nestled my head into it. His skin was warm and I could feel every muscle in his unbelievable chest. He wrapped his arms around my body and our legs intertwined into each other’s. He kissed my forehead and held me tight.

  I didn’t know what made me do it in that moment, but a flood gate seemed to open and I cried and cried into his chest for what seemed like hours. He didn’t say a word, but held me tight, not letting go. He kissed my head every time he felt me cry harder.

  I realized that I hadn’t actually shown any emotion since this began happening to me. I was too busy wondering what was wrong and worrying about my next meal and hiding it from the people I loved, like Phoebe, to truly take in what was happening. Something terrible was occurring, and I had no idea what it was. It was a feeling of the unknown and complete loneliness. I felt like I was the only person in the world experiencing it. There was a big decision to be made soon, and I was the only one who could make it. And I had no clue what to do.

  Hearing Tristen’s heartbeat against my ear was what slowed down my crying, until finally there were only sniffles. I looked up at him, curious to see if he’d fallen asleep.

  “Do you feel better?” he asked, glaring into my eyes. His thumb slowly grazed my cheek, wiping away the last of my tears.

  I nodded and before I knew it, his lips were on mine. He tightened his grip around my body as his soft lips pressed against mine. It was long and sweet, followed by smaller, shorter kisses. Slowly, he turned his body and lifted, resulting in me lying underneath him. I bent one leg, allowing his leg to fall in between mine. Holding his body up with one arm, as if to not put too much pressure on me, he smoothed my hair out of my face with his free hand and stared into my eyes.

  “Grace, you are so beautiful,” he breathed.

  “How can you say that? I’m not nearly as perfect as Sonny,” I stated.

  “Are you kidding me? You are far more perfect than Sonny. She hides behind a pound of makeup and expensive clothes.”

  “Yeah, but you like that.”

  “No, Grace. I like you. I’ve always liked you.”

  “You what?”

  “You heard me. I have always liked you, Grace.”

  “Since when?”

  “Since my first day at Middleton, sophomore year. You were walking into art class and I was already at my desk. Your hair wasn’t this long. It was right at your shoulders.” He chuckled. “You had the cutest little look on your face, like you were nervous about our first day of school.”

  I remembered that day as if it were yesterday. It was the first day I laid eyes on Tristen…and the first day I knew I wanted to be with him. “The first day of school is always nerve-racking. Why didn’t you talk to me?”

  “Because…you intimidated me.”

  Oh, come on. He had to be joking. “I was intimidating?” I asked, surprised.

  “Well, yeah. You had already been there a full year before me. You were so adorable. I was this scrawny little dude and you had this big, beautiful hair and those tiny freckles around your nose. I didn’t know what to say to you,” he admitted.

  “Wow, that is almost believable, Miles.”

  “Well, you better believe it, Watkins. By the way, I like this last name calling. It’s sexy,” he grinned a devious grin. I sunk into the couch as my breaths grew heavier.

  I smiled the sexiest I could and whispered his last name. “Miles.”

  This obviously worked because before I knew it, his lips were on mine again, with more force. He relaxed his arm a bit, allowing his body to
press against mine. His tongue entered my mouth and found mine, and began their dance. There was a sense of urgency in our kiss, but our bodies didn’t match. We maneuvered to each other’s movements, slowly finding a perfect rhythm. His hand reached down to my leg, lifting up my thigh and slowly caressing my skin all the way up to my stomach. He didn’t move under my shirt. Instead, he reached for my face and stroked my cheek with the back of his fingers.

  I melted further and further into him with every touch. I let my hands roam free on his bare back, tracing my fingernails up and down the curves of his muscles.

  The notion of sex was always in the back of my mind when I thought of Tristen and me. I was almost certain that he was no stranger to it. He and Sonny were together for some time, and it only seemed natural for them to explore and become intimate. Not to mention, something told me that Sonny was the promiscuous type. But let’s face it: I was a hormonal teenager with a sexy guy stretched out on top of me in the dark.

  My mind was drifting off to places I had never explored and my body was moving in ways it never had while Tristen kissed me. There was no sense of anxiety or nervousness as I pondered on the possibility that this may very well be the last moments of purity for me.

  But as we continued kissing under only the moonlight seeping through the blinds of the one window in the room, I realized that Tristen was going no further.

  I wanted it. And I began to get the suspicious feeling he wasn’t on the same page.

  I pulled away from our kiss, catching a breath and looking into his eyes. His were still closed as if continuing to be in a state of bliss.

  He finally opened his eyes. “Are you okay?”

  “Are you?” I asked, curious as to why he was holding back. Honestly, I wasn’t completely sure I was on board. However after everything I had been experiencing, maybe it wouldn’t be a bad thing. Who knew what tomorrow would bring or if this would be my only opportunity to share my first time in ecstasy with him. There was no one else I would rather share it with.

  “I’m more than okay, Grace. I have you in my arms. I’m kissing you. God, you are such a great kisser. I can kiss you for days.”

  “Is that all you want to do?” I asked bravely, bracing myself for his answer.

  He sat up, resting on his heels, and pulled me up with him. “Grace, are you insisting we have sex right now?”

  I looked down at my hands and began to fidget. Great, maybe I was that easy.

  He pulled my chin up with his finger. “Trust me, I do want to. But…not here. Not now.”

  “Why?”

  “Because Phoebe and Eric are in the other room. Because of everything that happened tonight. Because I want it to be romantic and during a time when we’re hoping the cops won’t come and smash down the door searching for you.”

  “But what if they do? What if I get into trouble and they take me away?” I asked, suddenly realizing that could very well happen. Not only the cops taking me away, but Dr. Roberson taking me away to Costa Rica. Panic crept up through me when I recognized that this could be the last moments I had with Tristen.

  “That won’t happen. I won’t let it. We’ll figure it out, Grace. I just got you, I’m not letting you go that easy. I will run with you.”

  “I feel like this is a dream. Like you aren’t really here right now,” I admitted.

  “Well, I am. And I’m not going anywhere.”

  My heart began to sing a love song when I heard those last words. It was as real as it would get. Tristen was finally here and not just in my thoughts. The truth was that he always wanted to be here. With me. And I couldn’t be happier.

  He hugged me tight before planting a small kiss on my lips. He pushed me down to the couch with him and I rested in his arms, quietly listening to his heartbeat. We didn’t speak, and soon sleepiness overpowered everything else. I drifted off into a slumber with the thoughts of Tristen and me frolicking on the beach of an island…off the coast of Costa Rica.