All questions that would soon be answered.
Opening the door, she scanned the empty bathroom and wondered for a split second if maybe she’d gone to the wrong bathroom and then a stall door opened and the stench of sour milk blasted her nose.
“You,” she breathed, recognizing the dusky-skinned hive girl immediately. Bloodshot eyes studied her.
Pulse hammering in her throat, Flint inched back toward the door.
“You wanted to talk?”
“Stop.” The girl’s soft voice was a sibilant sound. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
“I was counting on that. It’s why I even bothered to show up. What do you want?” She grabbed the door handle, ready to throw it open and run if Tamara tried anything. “Why did the royal guard attack me? What do you want from me?”
“My name is Tamara,” she said, ignoring every question Flint had flung at her.
“What? I know, you already told me that before.” She stopped, brain stuttering to a halt as she tried to process the nuttiness of this meeting.
For her part, Tamara looked genuinely surprised, her eyes and mouth widening.
What game was she playing? Did she honestly not remember?
Pinching her forehead, Tamara shook her head. “I... sometimes forget things. The... metamorphosis... I...”
Was she trying to make friends? Was this some crazy hive ritual? Let’s be friends before I kill you?
Tamara sighed and she squeezed her eyes shut. Her skin was more luminescent that Flint remembered. Before, it’d seemed to be peeling and cracked, now it looked smooth. Even her hair gleamed—it shone like liquid ink underneath the bathroom’s fluorescent lights.
“Are you going to the dance?”
Cocking her head, Flint debated just what she should say. “Why are you writing me notes? You said they were watching me, why?”
Tamara ran her fingers through her short bob. She was fidgety, nervous, gazing around the room as if she was afraid of it.
Which helped ease Flint’s nerves. Tamara didn’t seem like someone ready to attack her. In fact, she looked as if she was terrified of being caught.
“I... didn’t...” Tamara blinked rapidly, her clear double eyelids obvious in the face of her nerves. “I’m sorry.”
Not what she’d expected to hear at all. Flint dropped her hand from the door. “Why did you guys attack me?”
Tamara’s throat worked furiously, her mouth opening and closing as if she were debating whether to speak or keep silent. Finally she shook her head. “I cannot speak of it. I want you to—” She paused and brushed her hands down her sweater. “I wasn’t always bad,” she finally said. “Are you going to the dance, Flint?”
“How do you know my name?”
The second she asked it, she realized how stupid a question it was. They were following her—they probably knew a lot more than just her name. A cold chill swept down her spine. What did she want?
Clenching her fingers into fists, Tamara took a small step forward. “Ask me the right question.”
“What?”
Light snapped in Tamara’s dark eyes, her jaw flexed, and her voice was stronger as she said, “Ask me the right question.”
The emotions rolling off her were no longer anxious. They were determined, angry. “I came here at great risk to my life. Ask me the right question, Flint DeLuca.” Her face contorted, sharp teeth becoming exposed behind her small lips, the double eyelids blinking rapidly. “Ask the right effing question or I can’t bloody help you!”
She was close now, moving like a blur, so fast Flint hadn’t even tracked her. Tamara was almost on top of her, her arms extended and fury burning in her eyes. Frozen like prey, Flint just stood there.
Banging sounded on the door, crackling through the bathroom with an ominous echo and making Flint’s heart jump into her throat.
“Flint!” It was Cain’s voice and he sounded angry. “I hear it.”
“Last warning, girl, don’t go to the dance.”
Flint whirled as the door was shoved open. When she looked back, the window was up and Tamara was gone.
Cain grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her to him and giving her a fierce hug. His body trembled as she played her fingers up and down his back, and one thing became painfully clear in that moment.
Whatever was going on between them, it was deep, powerful, and all consuming... for both of them.
Chapter 28
“What did she say to you?” Cain asked once they’d walked back into the hallway. He was whispering, looking over his shoulder, knowing they’d probably be caught by a teacher any second.
He’d searched every inch of the bathroom after their hug, but Flint knew Tamara had disappeared out the window, probably the same way she’d snuck in.
Hooking her hair behind her ear, she shook her head. “Nothing really.”
“Flint.” He tipped her chin up with his thumb and her skin tingled with a rush of blood. His eyes searched hers, his mouth turning down into a tight frown. “I’m sorry about what I said earlier. I do care, okay. And I’m not pretending. If I wasn’t so consumed with your safety, I’d take you to that dance. I don’t want to be anywhere you’re not. Do you believe that?”
His large hands framed her face.
It was more than she’d ever expected him to say, to admit out loud. Sometimes it was easy to believe he didn’t care at all, but then he’d do or say something like this that just knocked all the air from her lungs, and it made it impossible to think around the fuzz shorting out her brain.
She turned into his palm, planting a kiss on it. He sucked in his breath sharply, thumb gliding along the length of her cheekbone.
“She didn’t touch you?”
“No, I told you. She didn’t really do anything.” Grabbing his wrists, she held tight, stomach a twisted mass of knots.
He stepped in close to her. “If she had...” His throat worked hard on a swallow.
Tracing her finger along the length of his lower lip, she shook her head. “It’s okay, Cain. I’m okay. She only asked me if I was going to the dance.”
Light rimmed his eyes. “Why?”
She shrugged. The air between them sizzled, burned, seeped into her flesh, and made her shiver. He was staring at her the way she’d sometimes caught her dad staring at her mom. It was her turn to swallow hard.
“Right before you came in, she told me not to go, and then she ran away. I don’t know.”
Closing his eyes, he rested his forehead against hers, just breathing slow and easy. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she stood there, content to never move. He smelled so good and this felt so right.
Like fate had planned this from the very beginning. Two opposing forces gathering momentum and speed, like two comets barreling through dimensions, headed for a collision, and nothing could stop them. It was violent, epic, and undeniable.
Then he was nuzzling her neck with his nose and she could barely remember her name.
A loudly clearing throat made Flint snap her eyes open.
Sara—Wickham’s favorite pet—eyed them behind her thick glasses. “Dry-humping by the bathrooms. Seriously?” She rolled her eyes. “You’re just lucky it was me and not Wickham. I’d suggest you get back to class soon before he comes and you get slammed with detention again, Flint.”
Tossing her thick blond ponytail over her shoulder, she bumped Flint’s shoulder and walked into the bathroom.
Cain surprisingly didn’t growl. Instead, he dropped his arm over her shoulder and gave her a quick squeeze.
“If we go back at the same time he’ll know something was up. You go first.” He touched her cheek.
“Okay.” She let her hand slide along his as long as she possibly could and then walked back, still feeling unsettled by her meeting with Tamara and what it could possibly mean.
~*~
School passed in a blur. She’d expected to see Cain at their lunch table, but he hadn’t shown and she hadn’t seen him the rest of the d
ay after Wickham’s class. Abel, on the other hand, had been animated and Janet really quiet.
Which made Flint think she’d been stupid to say yes after all.
Rhiannon snapped the radio on. She was driving her mother’s car, a silver Honda. Flint had had no idea Rhi already knew how to drive, but she was glad to see Whispering Bluff fade into the rearview.
She needed to think, about everything, and she didn’t want to have to do it around any of the guys. Janet was sitting in the passenger seat, staring out the window, noshing on a Twizzler stick.
Flint shoved the last bite in her mouth.
“Seriously, y’all.” Rhi glared at her in the mirror. “Tension’s thick. This was supposed to be fun and I’m not having fun, so either say whatever it is you guys need to say or get out and I’ll go shopping by my own self.”
Blowing air through her tightened lips, Flint tapped her fingers on her thighs. “Janet, I’m sorry.”
“For?” she asked, but her voice dripped with sarcasm.
So it was going to be like this. Groaning, Flint dropped her shoulders. “You were the one who told me he was going to ask.”
Janet twisted in her seat, her brown eyes alive with anger. “That didn’t mean you were supposed to say yes.”
Flint threw up her hands in a placating gesture, scooting as far back into the seat as she possibly could.
“What are you doing?” Janet asked, her brows drawn tight with confusion.
“I’m sorry, okay, but you kind of freak me out when you get angry. I’ve seen what you guys can do. I’ll call him and tell him no if you want.”
“Oh em gee...” Rhi giggled.
Flint’s eyes were wide, not finding the funny in the situation.
“Bet you’re thinking we’re driving you out to the boonies to eat you,” she finished with a snort.
Okay, no... the thought hadn’t crossed her mind.
Before.
Janet’s lips twitched, and then finally she burst out laughing.
“Not funny,” Flint grumped.
Janet wiped tears from her eyes. Rhi on the other hand was still snickering.
“No, I guess it’s not. I wasn’t going to go demon on you, Flint. I can control myself.” She wiggled her wrists. The chime of her bracelets soothed Flint’s nerves better than her words did.
“Yeah, well... I’m trying to learn how to deal with you guys. Forgive me if I’m not quite there yet.”
“Why’d you say yes?” There was such hurt in her eyes that for a moment Flint really did want to fish the cell out of her pocket and call it off with Abel.
“Ja, you have to believe me, I really didn’t think you’d mind. Especially considering you have a date. After what Cain said in the car, I was angry and dumb. Abel asked and he’s my friend. I told him so too—he knows we’re only going as friends. I don’t have any other kind of feelings for him.”
“Really? You told him just as friends?”
“I did. I swear.”
Her lips quirked. “Fine, I guess you’ll live. But don’t kiss him.” She wagged her finger.
Flint really wasn’t sure that was a joke and didn’t want to ask. “We’re just friends, I promise.”
Just then her phone rang. More than a little relieved, she answered it, hoping for a second it would be Abel just so she could just call the whole thing off. After Tamara this morning, she wasn’t even sure she wanted to go anymore.
“Hey.”
It was Cain.
Just the sound of his voice made her lashes flutter.
“Must be Cain, she’s gone tomato again,” Rhi sniffed.
Glaring at her friend, Flint turned in her seat. “Hey,” she breathed. “How’d you get my number?”
“Janet gave it to me.”
Janet shifted down in her seat, pretending to play with her perfect bangs.
“Ah, of course.” She narrowed her eyes at the silent brunette who refused to turn around. “What’s up?”
A lengthy pause rang in her ear before he said, “I was thinking about what the bug said to you today.”
“Tamara,” she automatically corrected.
“Whatever.”
She could almost picture him waving it off as unimportant. She smiled, wishing he were here right now. Yeah, she’d pretty much told him off in the car earlier, but that didn’t mean a girl didn’t have the right to change her mind.
“I’m going to take you to homecoming.”
Pinching the bridge of her nose, Flint fought the temper threatening to climb up her throat at the fact that he just assumed she wouldn’t have a date by now, that he could just tell her what to do.
“Cain,” she said slowly, calmly, knowing she wasn’t there to soothe the beast should it stir. “I’ve already got a date.”
“What?” His voice was low, but she wasn’t fooled into thinking he wasn’t angry. In fact, his soft question unnerved her more. “Who?”
Great, first Janet, now Cain. She squeezed her eyes shut. “Your brother.”
Her body tensed as she got ready to defend her case. But Cain surprised her yet again.
He sighed loudly, and there was the sound of some shuffling on the end of the line. “I guess I deserve that.”
“What?”
“You’re too pretty not to have found a date. If it wasn’t my brother, I’d probably kick his balls though.”
Smiling, she bit her bottom lip. “Well, I don’t know... he’s been bulking up lately. I think he could take you.”
Cain snorted. “Princess, I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that. So when you’re dancing with him... are you going to be thinking about me?”
A hot shiver trekked through her body and she gulped.
“I love him, but if he lays a hand below your waist he’ll be lame for the rest of his life.” His playful words rumbled with a throaty growl and she sighed laughed.
He made her make the strangest sounds.
“So are you?” he breathed.
“Cain.” His name trembled on her tongue.
“Oh la la, is this like phone sex or something we’re listening to, Ja?” Rhi said in a stage whisper.
“Shut up,” Flint snarled at them.
Cain chuckled. “All right, I’ll let you keep your dignity. Even though we already know you’ll be wishing it was me pressing you tight to my body.”
“Who are you? And what did you do with the jerk I can’t stand?”
“Princess, I’ve set my eyes on you. Get used to me, because I’m not going anywhere now.”
Oh em gee was right. Covering her face with her hand, she tried to ignore the fact that she wasn’t alone and was being studied like a bug under Rhi’s microscope. But it was hard. Really hard, because right now, if she’d been alone, she would have been squealing like a little kid in a candy store.
“Be right there,” Cain called to someone. “I’ve got to go. The guys want to scout a warehouse we’ve seen the bugs hanging around before. Oh, and just so you know...” She heard more shuffling, like he was putting shoes on. “Adam’s posted a set of eyes on Katy’s trailer. Just in case.”
“Thanks, Cain.”
He grunted.
“Be safe, okay?” She gripped the phone until her knuckles turned white.
“Don’t worry about me. I’m the big bad wolf.”
She could just picture his cocky leer.
“And, princess—”
“Yeah?”
“I’ll see you tonight.”
That had sounded like a promise. She held the phone to her ear a while after he’d hung up.
Janet looked back at her. “Told you.”
~*~
“Yup.” Rhiannon’s blue eyes gleamed as she stared at Flint in the mirror. “That’s it. That’s your dress. You’re going to make Cain regret not asking you first.”
Flint’s knees trembled as she stared at herself in the floor-length mirror.
The dress was black, more of a cocktail dress with a heart-shaped bodice.
It was strapless and sparkled as she turned and twirled. She tugged at the hem.
“Don’t you think it’s too short?”
Janet was standing next to her in a bright orange gown that gleamed with hints of gold as she moved. She looked really beautiful, and Flint could only hope that when Abel saw her he’d realize he’d been secretly in love with her the whole time.
“As much as I wish you’d look like an ugly hag that night...”
“Gee thanks.”
“Anytime.” She grinned. “But... you do look really hot and you’ve got great legs. Plus, I can’t wait to see Cain’s face.”
Flint barely recognized herself. Her cheeks were flushed, her skin pale and pearlescent. Grabbing her hair, she held it up and preened.
Rhiannon studied her long frost-blue nail polish. “Yup, I’m good. Now let’s go eat, I’m starving.”
The mere mention of food made Flint’s stomach growl. “Let’s eat!” Her words rang with more than just the need for sugar. She was happy, really happy.
~*~
Abel rolled over on his bed. The girls were gone and he was bored. He tapped his pencil on his open book. Sitting reclined on his bed, he stared at his door, wishing someone or something would knock and come hang out.
Taking a deep breath, he tossed the math book off his lap to the floor and, placing his fingers behind his head, lay back on the pillow. The low hum of his AC unit lulled him into a sleepy stupor.
Before he knew it, his eyes slammed shut.
Drifting into a fog of somewhere between sleep and wakefulness, images floated through his mind’s eye. The first day he’d met Flint. How she’d sometimes lean on him when she was making a joke. What color her dress would be. Maybe red. Or his favorite color. Orange. She’d look really good in orange. How hot she’d looked at the hole wearing nothing but short shorts and a green bra, her wild mane of red hair sliding across her pale shoulders like fire.
How she’d looked that day in the trailer, studying his mom’s science experiments. And then the screaming.
The sound of it still haunted him. There’d been panic and soul-sucking fear. He’d been on the ground, arm distorted and twisted, snapped in so many places he still couldn’t understand why he hadn’t needed physical therapy, why it was already nearly healed.
Forbidden, Tempted Series (Book 1) Page 29
