“Because we just met, and I really wanted you there. What would you have said if I told you it was my birthday party?” Hardly knowing him at all, she would have said, “No.”
“Okay, I see your point, but you could have told me in the last few days.” If Kallos had known, she would have gotten him something. She keeps forgetting that they know her feelings because she sees his face light up.
“You already gave me the best present ever. You gave me your heart. What else could top that?” Ian comes closer to her and kisses her. She doesn’t care that he doesn’t want her to get him anything because the first chance she gets, she’s calling her mom. Kallos tangles her fingers in Ian’s black hair. He holds her tighter to him, and she doesn’t think she will ever get tired of him kissing her. He pulls away slowly as if he doesn’t want to. She really doesn’t want the kiss to end either, but they need to get going. She still needs to talk to her dad and mom about his party.
“Well, then, … um … happy birthday.” One side of his mouth lifts up in a half-smile. “I love you, Ian.” That gets his full smile and gets Kallos another kiss. It's still a little strange for her to say she loves him, but she loves the way is sounds when it's going to Ian and Sean.
“Oh, Kallos, I love you. Now let’s get going; you have to talk to your parents.” Ian and Kallos walk hand-in-hand to the school. He lets go right before they enter.
“Kallos, we aren’t going to hide us,” Ian suddenly says as they are walking up to their lockers, and she turns to look at him.
“What do you mean …’hide us’?” She arches an eyebrow.
“I mean Sean and Ian aren’t going to hide being with you. I don’t care what people think, and I already know that Sean doesn’t care either. I just hope you can handle it. Some people won’t say anything, but others will.” Kallos hasn’t thought about what people will think. She has two boyfriends, and she can’t believe she does. She never had a boy look at her until this week, and now she has two boyfriends. She doesn’t want to hide that she is with them either, but it scares her to think what people will say.
“I don’t want to hide us either.” She says.
“Good, because I wouldn’t be happy if we did,” Sean said behind them. Just hearing his voice makes her react. Kallos can feel her skin heat up and her mark tingle. She turns around and sees both of them; the first thing she thinks is how lucky she is. They aren't just beautiful they are caring.
“Kallos is going to go and talk to her dad before class,” Ian said as he grabs his things.
“Well, his office is on my way to class, so I can walk you there,” Sean grins at her.
“Okay, that sounds good. I’ll see you in a little bit, Ian.” Kallos is standing in between Sean and Ian, and she wonders if she is supposed to kiss Ian or not. There are a lot of people around, and Kallos knows that if she does, there will be rumors. Kallos realizes that she doesn't care what anyone besides Sean and Ian thinks. She leans in to Ian and kisses him on the lips. It's a short, sweet kiss. She can't miss how his body relaxes against hers for those few seconds. When she is pulling away, he smiles down at her, and she is smiles back. “Bye,” she whispers.
****
“See you soon,” Ian watches Kallos and Sean walking away. He can't believe that he is in love with her. He knows that she is his soul mate, but he never thought he would love her the way he does. He knew the first time he met her, when she smashed her beautiful head into his forehead. Ian loves how shy she is and how she doesn't realize how beautiful she is. He knows she doesn't think she deserves him and Sean, but the truth is she deserves more. Kallos should have whatever she wants in life, and he knows that won't include both him and his brother. There will be a time when she will pick one of them; Ian prays it's him.
As he is walking to his classroom, he sees Karissa. He hasn't talked to her since he saw her with Kallos. Ian thinks about walking past her, but he can't. They have been best friends for a while, and he doesn't want to lose that. Kallos is one of the only people who truly know about him and his family. She looks up and gives him a half-hearted smile; he continues to walk to her.
“Hey, Karissa,” Ian can see her flinch when he uses her full name. She looks down at her feet, but he doesn't miss the hurt that he’s caused reflected on her face.
“Can we talk?” She mumbles.
“Yeah. I think we should” She glances up at Ian and nods. He decides she should be the one to talk first.
“I'm sorry I freaked out at Kallos. But I do have a good reason for it,” Karissa said when they are almost to the classroom. “You can't tell me that you are okay with sharing her with your brother. I know you two, and you guys barely get along.”
“Kris, we are both her soul mates. I have to deal with Sean if I want to be with Kallos.” She takes a chance and looks him in the eyes. Ian can see so much in her face, from hurt and sadness to love and wanting.
Karissa clears her throat, “Did you know that Brandon is back?” His eyes widen, and he shakes his head. He knew that Brandon would come back. They are cousins, but Brandon is a full demon. They get to the classroom and almost all the chairs are full. “Do you mind if I sit with you? I still have something I want to tell you.”
“Sure,” Ian says and heads to the back of the classroom. Karissa sits next to him, and he looks up to see Brandon walking in. Ian glares at him as Brandon smiles. “Start talking, Kris.” He knows that his voice sounds hateful.
“Well, I need you to look at me Ian.” Ian turns his gaze to Karissa. “Um… I thought this was going to easy. But it isn't.” She pauses and looks down. “I am in love with you. I know that you have Kallos and she is your soul mate. But I have loved you since I met you. Whenever I need strength, I just think of you, and I can do anything.” The whole time she is talking, she is looking down, but he can't take his eyes off of her. Ian knows that he should say something, but he doesn't know what to say to her. Karissa looks up and stares into Ian's eyes, “Say something!”
“I don't know what to say.” Ian has never thought of Karissa like that. She was with his brother, and he thought she was in love with Sean, not him. “I do love you, but I don't know if I love you more than a sister.” He knows that hurt her but he isn't going to lie to her.
“I understand,” she looks down again.
“I need to think about things, Okay?” She doesn't look up at Ian, but she nods. He keeps his eyes on the door and on Brandon. His being back isn't a good thing.
****
Sean and Kallos have been walking together, and she grabs Sean’s hand. He tightens his hold for a second. Walking in silence; she is completely content just holding his hand and being near him.
“You’re really okay with all this?” Sean finally breaks the silence. Kallos knows that they really do care about her, but it will take some time for her to get used to it.
“I am. I’m not going to say that it’s going to be easy, but I don’t want to lose you or Ian.” It hurt Kallos too much to even think about that.
“Good. We can’t wait for you to meet our parents.” Now that is terrifying, she thought.
“How are they going to take me being with both of you?”
“My mom would always tell us that you would have to choose one of us. Now that you are meant for both of us, I think they’ll both love it. When we asked to stay with you, she told us not to let you break our hearts. I think she knew that we were in love with you, and she thought you would have to choose just one.” That takes a big weight off Kallos’ shoulder. At least she doesn’t have to worry about Sean and Ian’s parents hating her. Then, they realized they were in front of her dad’s office.
“So, I’ll see you later.” Sean grins and brings her hand to his lips. He kisses her knuckles.
“Later, my love” he whispers along her knuckles, and she feels the blush spreading all over her body. He walks to his class, and she heads to her dad’s office. She knocks once on his door and doesn’t have to wait long. He is there before she can
knock again.
“Is everything okay?” Kallos smiles and nods. She walks past him and sits down.
“Dad, I have a question for you and Mom.” He moves behind his desk and gives her a questioning look. “Can you call mom and put her on speaker?”
“Will you tell me what this is about?” Kallos shakes her head. “Please, Dad, I don’t want to repeat myself.” He picks up his phone and types in their house number.
“Hello?” Her mother answers.
“Hello, Honey. Kallos has a question for both of us. She said that she needed to speak to us at the same time. You’re on speaker, Honey.” Kallos has a feeling that he is warning her mom that she is speaking to both of them. She loves how loving her parents are to each other, but she doesn’t always want to see or hear it.
“Hello, Kallos. Is everything all right?”
“Yes, Mom, I just have to ask you and dad something. Then, I have to ask you to do something for me, and then, I have something to tell you” Her dad just nods at all the “something’s.”
“Okay, what is it?”
“Well, today is Ian’s birthday, and he asked me earlier if I could go to his party. At the time, I didn’t know it was his birthday, and now I do. I’m wondering if I could go. It’s at his house.”
“Well, I don’t see that being a problem. Do you James?”
She looks at her dad, and he doesn't look too happy. He knows there is more coming and soon. “No… ah… that will be fine. What else?” That was the easy part.
“Mom, since it is the last minute, can you just get me a birthday card for him, maybe a singing one?” She hears her mom chuckle.
“Of course, I can.”
“Now what do you need to tell us?” Her dad asks, and she knows that he is thinking it is something bad. She takes a deep breath.
“Well, you know that they are both my soul mates.”
“Yes,” they said together.
“I’ve decided to be with them both. I’m not choosing just one. I may never choose just one. I love them both. I know that I am young, but just the thought of being without one breaks something inside of me. Please, understand this. It’s going to be hard and I know that, but I can’t lose either one of them.” Kallos takes a breath and looks down because she isn’t sure how her dad is going to take this. She already knows that he isn’t too happy about her having a boyfriend, but two might push him over the edge.
“People are going to talk about you, and it won’t be nice things. What are you going to do about that?” Her dad asks firmly, and she looks up at him.
“I already know, and I don’t care. I want what you and Mom have. I have found that with Ian and Sean.”
“Oh, Sweetie, we want that for you too. We want you to be happy, and if they make you happy, then you should be with them. Just know that people will say things about you behind your back and to your face.” Kallos knew her mom would understand. It's her dad that she is worried about. “Don’t you want your little girl to be happy, James?” Mom’s voice pleaded over the phone. Her dad is still staring at Kallos. He doesn’t look mad just concerned.
“I want you to be happy.” That is all he said. Her dad isn’t much of a talker like her mom.
“Dad, I need you to do something else for me.” He didn’t say anything; he just nodded and raised his eyebrows. “Will you be a little nicer to them? You scare the living crap out of them. It was kind of funny at first, but now I feel bad.” She can see his lips begin to form into a smile. Kallos knows that he loved to hear that he scared them.
“I will do my best. Now, I’m going to write you a pass for class since you are three minutes late.”
“Okay. Bye Mom, I love you.”
“I love you too, Sweetie.” Her dad held out a late pass out for her, and she leaned in and kissed his cheek.
“Thanks, Daddy! I love you!”
“I love you too, KD.” She takes the pass and walks out.
She walks into her class and hands the pass to the teacher. She looks where she normally sits and Karissa is in her seat. Kallos rolls her eyes; it's way too early to deal with Karissa. As she walks to the back where the only open seat is, Ian touches her hand when she walks past. Yeah, she knows that he is feeling her annoyance, and she gives him a quick smile. She sits down and looks over homework that is due in her next class. Kallos feels someone poke her. She looks to her right and there is a new guy sitting there. He smiles at her. He is handsome, chocolate brown hair that is wavy and goes to his shoulders, and his eyes are a perfect match to his hair. His smile is bright and welcoming.
“We haven’t met yet. I’m Brandon, and you must be Kallos.” His voice is soothing and deep, deeper than Ian’s and Sean’s voices. It doesn't do anything for her like what her boys’ voices did.
“Hi,” Kallos quickly looks away. This boy is attractive, and she doesn’t want Ian and Sean picking up that feeling. She looks at her notebook with her homework in it. She just needs something to distract her.
“You may have the last five minutes to do whatever you want.” Mrs. Kendall announces and then sits back at her desk. Within seconds, Ian is standing in front of her, but he isn’t looking at her. She follows his glaze, and it's on Brandon. She looks back at Ian, and she notices that his eyes are doing what they did last night. He has dark blue clouds floating across his beautiful blue eyes.
“Brandon, how are you?” Ian said through his teeth. It's just like last night, and Kallos wonders if Ian has always been this jealous.
“I’m doing great, Hunter.” Kallos glances back at Brandon, and he isn’t even looking at Ian his eyes are on her. So, he is flirting with her to get to Ian. Brandon starts to laugh and shakes his head. He looks at Ian. “Hunter, congrats on finally getting your eyes to change. The little Demon God is becoming a man.” Okay, now she is getting mad.
“Okay, stop it. Ian, look at me.” It takes him a second, but he does. Kallos smiles at him and grabs his hands this feels vaguely familiar. Knowing he can feel her she thinks warm, calming thoughts. She is trying to calm him down and is praying it's going to work. His hands cool down, and his eyes start to change back. Kallos is surprised and relieved it worked.
“I’m sorry, Kallos,” He whispers, and he squeezes her hands, and then let’s go.
“I see you can tame a beast. You are a rare talent, my Goddess.” Brandon surprises Kallos by standing and bowing to her. When he stands up, he reaches out his hand to touch her face, but she moves away. She doesn’t want him to touch her. Kallos is starting to get strange feelings. Something is telling her not to let him touch her. He smiles at her, “Are you afraid of me now? You seem relaxed with him.” She knows that he is trying to get Ian angry, and it's working, until she touches Ian and calms him down.
“I just don’t want to start anything. It's nice to meet you, Brandon.” Kallos has never been so happy to hear the bell ring. She walks away and pulls Ian with her. She is even happier to see Sean waiting for them outside the classroom. Sean glances at Ian and then at her.
“You okay?” he asks Ian, and Ian just nods. Then, Sean’s gray eyes narrow on her. She knows that he is giving her that look because she can’t lie to him. They start walking to their lockers, and she knows that he is waiting for her answer. When they are at the lockers, she knows he is staring at her.
“Everything is fine.” Which it is, now? She calmed Ian down and that’s all that matters. She shut her locker, and Sean is standing there. He doesn’t look like he believes her.
“Kallos, you know you can’t lie to us.”
“I’m not lying!” She said it a little loud, and the people around turn their heads. She closes her eyes and counts to ten; when she opens them, she is a little calmer. “I’m not lying to you, I took care of it.” Sean's eyes narrow.
“What happened?” Sean asks, and she hears someone clear his throat. Sean and Kallos both turn around to see that it's Ian. He doesn’t look like he is angry; he looks more aggravated.
“You two don’t
have to talk about me like I’m not here. Brandon was hitting on her, and it made me mad.” She feels bad that they were talking about him like he isn’t standing right there. She doesn’t want to treat him like that.
“I’m so sorry, Ian. I didn’t mean for it to come out like that.” He smiles at her, and it lights up his face.
“I know, and you have nothing to be sorry about. I am the one who should be sorry. I don’t know why I’m so jealous lately. I have never been like this before.” Ian says and looks miserable.
“Wait, Brandon is back?” Sean asks and Ian nods. “Well that sucks. I was hoping he would stay away this time. You are jealous because you’re in love this time.” He punches Ian in the arm and laughs. Sometimes boys are really weird. “Well, Kallos, I’ll see you later; we all need to get to class.” He leans in and kisses her cheek, but she turns at the last minute and kisses him on the mouth. It is a short kiss, but she knows that she caught him off guard. “See you guys later,” he chuckles. She sees a look flash across Ian’s face. It’s only there for a second, but she doesn’t miss it. It doesn’t look like he is jealous; it's more like he is hurt. He isn't even looking at her; he is looking in the direction Sean is walking in.
“Ian?” He doesn’t look at her, but she knows that he heard her because his body twitches.
“Sorry, let’s go.” Then, he surprises her by walking away and leaving her alone. Kallos is keeping her anger low because she doesn’t want him coming back to say he’s sorry. She is really getting tired of his mood swings. What happened to her sweetheart? Ian still has his moments of melting her heart, but then he has these moments where she doesn’t know what’s going on. She walks into her next class, and her seat is still open. Kallos hurries to it; she doesn’t want anyone to steal it from her. She sits down and Ian doesn’t even look at her. Brandon walks into the room with Kellee and Karissa. Brandon smiles at Kallos and then sits behind her.
Kallos (Kallos Series) Page 13
