I remained sick for the next five days. The fever would come and go, but at one point it raged so high Nathan was beside himself with worry. The only option he had–besides taking me to the hospital–was the one I fought against as hard as going to the hospital. The one that sucked ass.
But he wouldn’t give into my pleas, not this time. Instead, he turned into a madman on a mission. So when he came back from the store with several large bags of ice and dumped them into the tub, I did the most childish thing I could ever have done in his presence. I locked myself in my room and prayed he’d forget about this whole thing. I didn’t like the sock thing much, but I’d take that over being submerged into a tub full of ice water.
I sat in the corner of my room with a blanket draped over my head. Evening was approaching and the trees outside my window swayed, casting shadows across my lavender walls. I could hear rain splatter against the windows while I listened hard for Nathan’s footsteps.
When I heard them coming toward my room, I pulled the blanket tighter around me, feeling like I was five again. The sound of the doorknob turning made me gasp. I grasped my knees, resting my chin on them.
“Open the door, Paige,” Nathan said. “This isn’t funny. We need to break your fever.” He turned the knob again, harder this time.
I didn’t answer and thought maybe if I stayed quiet he’d give up and let me be.
“I’m going to give you one more opportunity to open this door. If you don’t, I’m coming in.” His voice had a hard edge to it, slicing through my hope he’d leave me alone.
I scanned the room for a place to hide. The bed sat too low to the floor, so I crawled as fast as I could to the closet, dragging the blanket with me. Quietly, I closed the white shutter doors. I settled myself in the corner. There were tall bags of clothes I’d been meaning to take to the Good Will. I stacked them in front of me, pulling the blanket back over me. I knew this was an immature thing to do, but at that moment I didn’t care.
The knob wiggled and clicked.
“I guess I’m coming in on my own.” Still not amused.
He turned the knob again and bore his weight against the door. A splintering sound cracked through the room. The door flung open, hitting the wall with a loud bang. I peeked out of the blanket. His shadow moved between the closet door’s wooden slats. Holding my breath, I crouched under the blanket again.
“You can’t hide from me.” His voice sang out next to the closet. “Because you’ve forgotten one thing.” He opened the door. “I can hear your heart, and right now it’s racing.”
He tossed the bags out of the way, like they were made of Styrofoam. I flipped the blanket off as he was reaching for me. Our eyes locked. With a slight smile, he shook his head, but behind that smile stood a stubbornness I’d never seen in him before.
“Please don’t,” I begged, pushing his hands away, bracing my bare feet against his stomach. “I hate to be cold.”
“I’m doing this for your own good,” he replied. “Believe me, if it weren’t necessary, I wouldn’t do it.”
In one quick move, he snatched my hands and dragged me out, then slung me over his shoulder. I continued begging him and even tried bargaining with him, but he ignored me. When we entered the bathroom, he stopped in front of the tub.
“I’m doing this because I love you, and I hope you don’t hate me.”
“Please, Nathan!” I screamed.
But it was too late. He placed me in the icy tub and held the bottom half of my body down, preventing me from jumping out. I inhaled sharply and howled as soon as the ice water touched my skin, piercing every nerve ending from my shoulders down to my toes, like sharp razor blades. I struggled to get out, but it was pointless. He was too strong, and my pajamas clung heavily against my skin. My howls turned into whimpers and half cries. When I glanced at him, he had a tortured look on his face.
Within minutes, my whole body became numb, and my teeth were clacking together. I thought if I stayed in here much longer, parts of my body would fall off. But thankfully, Nathan stood and helped me out of the tub. He handed me a couple towels and left me alone.
After that horrible incident, my fever became controllable and finally went away. I forgave Nathan, and he remained by my side, taking care of me. When I wasn’t sleeping, we watched movies or talked about things that were normal–anything to forget about what lay ahead of us.
One night, when we were both bored of watching movies, he read Macbeth to me. With my head in his lap I listened to his captivating voice read in a convincing Scottish accent all the way through, saying each line as if he were performing the play. And when he got to the witches’ part, he changed his voice to sound like scratchy, withered old hags, making me burst out in laughter.
Afterwards, while we were talking, we heard a car door slam outside. Nathan peered out the window and told me Tree was here.
“Hi, Tree,” Nathan said, opening the door.
Tree returned the greeting and came in holding a white paper sack–his Mohawk brushed the top of the doorframe. When he saw me sitting on the couch, he smiled and raised the sack.
“I heard you were sick, so I brought you some blueberry cheesecake ice cream.”
My face lit up. “You’re so sweet. Thank you.”
“I’ll put it in the freezer for later.” Nathan took the sack and left the room.
“I ran into Carrie at the convenience store,” Tree said, sitting in the recliner. “She told me what happened the other night at Café Nation and you’ve been sick.”
Nathan sat next to me, his arm naturally draping over my shoulder.
I frowned. “Yeah, Matt was being an ass.”
Tree leaned forward and smirked. “He was being his usual self then?”
Nathan laughed and nodded. “The guy is a piece of work.”
“More like a piece of shit, if you ask me.” Tree sat back, resting his ankle on his knee. His eyebrows knitted. “I wish Carrie could see it.”
“Well, Carrie wasn’t too happy with him. So maybe she’ll change her mind about him,” I said, even though I knew she was still dating him.
Doubt clouded his face. “I don’t know. She told me she was mad at him until he promised he’d call you and apologize for his behavior.”
Oh crap! I still hadn’t told Nathan that Matt called a couple days ago when he went home to get his clothes. I’d been meaning to, but kept putting it off. He was going to be pissed.
I looked down and fumbled with my fingers in my lap.
“He hasn’t called here,” Nathan replied.
I glanced up and caught Tree frowning at me. He knew me too well, but I knew him just as well. He was going to throw me under the bus, and I knew why. He didn’t trust Matt and out of respect for Nathan. I shifted in my seat, giving him a look to keep quiet, but he slowly shook his head.
“He did call, but Paige didn’t tell you,” he said.
Nathan removed his arm from my shoulders and turned to me. “Is that true?”
I glared at Tree, and he flipped his palms up in innocence. He would pay for this, I vowed to myself.
“Um, well,” I said, running my fingers through my hair. “Yeah, he did.”
“When?”
“When you went to get your clothes.” I peeked at him. His face was like stone, his eyes filled with disapproval.
“That was three days ago. When were you planning on telling me this?”
“Well, that day, but everything became normal,” I began, trying to tell him in a way that he understood, hoping Tree wouldn’t catch on. “And then the subject of what’s ahead never came up, and I didn’t want to ruin the nice time we were having.” I could feel Tree staring at me, but I ignored him, refusing to stumble under his scrutiny.
“Regardless, you should have told me,” Nathan said, annoyed.
“I’m sorry.” I touched his face, feeling it soften beneath my hand.
“Okay,” he said. “But next time I want to know right away.” His eyes were steady on mine with a sev
erity that told me he would let this one pass, but if it happened again, he would seriously be pissed.
“All right. I promise.” I dropped my hand back into my lap, relieved I was off the hook, and this conversation had ended.
“What did he say?”
Damn it. Why won’t he let this go? I glanced at Tree and made a face at him when I saw the amusement in his eyes. I didn’t like him siding with Nathan, and how he enjoyed watching me squirm.
I took a deep breath and faced Nathan.
“He said he was sorry, and he misses me. He also doesn’t like you monopolizing all of my time. He admitted he’s jealous and that’s why he acted the way he did the other night. He told me besides Carrie, I was one of his best friends, and he would like to hang out with me.” I said this all in a rush, anxious to get it out and over with.
“He doesn’t care about Carrie,” Tree huffed, pounding the arm of the recliner with his fist.
Nathan became tense again. “What did you tell him?”
“I told him I’d let him know,” I said.
Nathan smashed his lips together and scowled at the floor.
Tree sat up and grinned at me. “I talked to Brayden last night. He told me to tell you hi.” He waggled his eyebrows.
Aw, crap.
Nathan’s attention instantly snapped on Tree. “Who’s Brayden?”
“He’s one of our best friends, but moved to California a couple years ago,” I told him.
Tree shot me a wicked look. I flushed, knowing what he was going to say.
“Brayden and Paige used to make out a lot. In fact, every time I talk to him, he asks me about her.”
That took me by surprise, but it didn’t matter. I was with Nathan and completely in love with him. Nobody could ever compare to him, not even Brayden.
“Is that so?” Nathan said, and to my secret pleasure, I saw jealousy cross his face. “Well, you can tell him she’s taken now.” His arm went around my shoulders.
“I already did,” Tree answered. “And he’s pretty bummed about it. I think he’s still in love with her.”
Just then, “Born to Be Wild” blasted from the recliner. Tree pulled his cell phone out of his coat pocket and rose. It was his dad calling. He programmed that song into his phone so when his dad called, he knew who it was. He shoved it back into his pocket.
“Aren’t you going to answer it?” I asked, following him to the door.
“No. I’ll see him in a few minutes.”
“Thanks again for the ice cream and stopping by.” I hugged his waist.
“I have to make sure my little fairy friend is okay,” he said, hugging me back.
“Nice to see you again,” Nathan said.
Tree was halfway out the door when he stopped. “Are you still going to see Alchemy play this Friday?”
I looked at Nathan, hoping he’d say yes.
“Probably. Why?”
“Because I’m going, and if Matt gives either one of you any shit, I have your back.”
Nathan smiled. “I appreciate it, and the same goes for you.”
Tree returned his smile. “See ya there.”
Beyond the Eyes: YA Paranormal Romance Page 24
