When his soft lips touched mine, I held a gasp in my throat. I didn’t want to make this harder on any of us. But lip to lip contact it seemed wasn’t enough to feed his hunger. I let him draw me in parting my lips. His tongue mingled with mine. With my eyes closed I gave myself over to him. It was a subtle sensation that if I wasn’t hyper aware of what was going to happen I might have missed it. I felt a tiny tug and give inside. The pleasure seemed to grow and I lost myself. It woke.
Flynn must have recognized the change because he tried to step away. The demon in me wasn’t having any of that and put a death grip on his head. Things went totally out of control after that. Thinking back later I’d wondered just how thing had gone so wrong.
Sebastian decided then to pop in. “What the hell,” he exclaimed.
Luke stood and moved with amazing speed to the other side of the bed where Flynn and I were lip-locked together.
Sebastian yanked and threw Flynn off me before Luke made it around the bed. Then just as fast, Sebastian grabbed me pulling me to his chest before Flynn hit the wall with a solid thud. My beast was totally happy at the site of Sebastian. She rocked my body on him pushing him against the very wall Flynn was slump on. My mouth was feverish on Sebastian’s when light and darkness flashed leaving my arms empty gravity pulling me to the ground. Sebastian was just gone. Luke’s hand was on my arm so he was pulled down with me. The next thing I knew I was pinning Luke to the ground on all fours. My fever was spreading. I guess it was contagious. Subsequently, Luke’s hands were in my hair with mine in his. We were like one body.
Not having any control, I felt myself reaching under his shirt. His muscles were solid under my hands. Firmly, I slid them up further until I had each peck firm in hand. Then he pulled me to him with a fist full of my hair guiding my mouth to his. Zealously, we kissed unconcerned of our surroundings. When his hand slid down from my hair gliding across my spine to stop at my bottom, I quivered.
“Shit,” I heard Flynn say. Then I felt hands trying to pry us apart. It took a while, but too soon I was alone on the floor breathing hard. Panting, I heard a door open. Fighting for control I remained still with my eyes closed.
“I can’t leave her, what if Sebastian comes back” Luke said.
“You stay over there then,” Flynn said flatly.
“It was you two that first got out of control, so you can’t stay with her either.”
Flynn said, “Fuck.”
My vision dimmed and I heard a voice in my head. ‘Kayla, come to me’. I sat up. Distantly I heard voices in the background.
“What the hell,” Luke said.
“Don’t touch her,” Flynn said. “You see her eyes.”
My body got up and walked through the darkness on a path that was lit in some unseen way. “I’m coming,” I said out loud.
“Who is she talking to?” someone said.
“I don’t know, shit!”
‘You’ve been a bad girl, Kayla,’ the mysterious voice in my head said.
“I know. I’m sorry,” I said out loud.
“Don’t let her go outside,” I heard from somewhere far off. None of it seemed important.
‘Come to me,’ the louder voice in my head said.
“Mercy,” a voice yelled. Something in the tone brought me back. With my hand on the doorknob I turned back.
“Her eyes are normal.”
“Grab her then.”
I felt the arms around me and the lit path faded.
When I woke the next morning, I thought that would be the worst of what would happen to me. But something else would happen that would change our plans drastically.
Chapter Twenty Six
quagmire (n.) a difficult situation
My SAT word today was quagmire. I was definitely beginning to believe that the application that I’d downloaded as a means to expand my vocabulary and prepare me for the ominous test was instead an omen for my life. Today’s word embodied what happened next.
The call came at the ungodly hour in the morning. The shrill of my cell phone was persistent. I wasn’t hung over from alcohol but the memories of last night had me wanting to hide under my covers for the rest of my life. Finally I dragged myself out of bed to pick get the darn thing that sat on my dresser. I turned back to my empty bed closing my eyes because apparently Luke hadn’t stayed with me last night.
“Hello,” I vaguely said.
A rush of gargled words hit me like the sun stepping from the darkness. I’m sure my face wrinkled up in confusion trying to understand through the sobs what was being sad. One thing was clear, it was Maggie. I hadn’t bothered to look at the display prior to answering because my eyes had been barely opened.
“Maggs, slow down. What’s going on?” More garbled words but I thought I made out a name. That name was Brent. I can’t say I was proud of my feelings but I was glad that name hadn’t been hers, Paul’s, or even any of her family’s names.
“What’s wrong with Brent?” I said feeling more awake.
“He’s in the hospital,” she said in between sobs.
“Is he alright? Where is he?” I asked feeling more frantic. I silently cursed myself because I still wished no harm to him.
“I don’t know. New York. Will you meet me there,” she said still sniffling.
“Of course,” I said. I wrote down the hospital name and got a few more details out of her before rushing out of my room. I wasn’t sure where Luke slept. He wasn’t in my room which made me feel worse. Did he hate me? Were we going to break up because he couldn’t trust me? But now was not the time to search for those answers. Not wanting to waste time I rushed through Flynn’s unlocked door and found him sprawled out over his bed.
He lay in nothing but boxers. I stopped taken aback. The wind was knocked right out of me. I heard enough stories about boys in the morning from Maggie in giggling fits but never encounter this first hand. Not this way. I wasn’t sure if I should approach but then my brain clicked back in. Having no choice, I walked to the side of his bed. I reached out a tentative hand not sure what to do. Before I touch him, his eyes flew open. He reached for my hand and tugged. I fell on the bed almost across him.
“Why are you sneaking in here, Mercy?” Flynn said. I felt my cheeks flush and comprehension left my brain when I was face to face with him. My hand was pressed against his bare chest.
“Uh,” I said. Flashes of kissing him last night trailed across my open eyes.
He smiled. I turned bright red. Apparently, I’d done nothing last night to damage our relationship. I hoped I hadn’t encouraged him though.
“Brent,” I was able to utter.
“What about him?” he said, as he released my wrist. I rolled off the bed to fast trying to move away from him. I fell and currently my bottom was now sprawled on the floor. He rolled on his stomach and eyed me there.
“What is it?” he said again.
Laying there unmoving not sure I could stand to see his ass in boxers, I told him in a regurgitation of words what I knew. After everything was out, he shot out of the bed and in his bathroom. I stood and made my way out of the room not wanting to be here if he decided to step out of the room naked.
After closing the door behind me, I knocked this time on the first door next to Flynn’s. I got a sleepy response from Luke. Prepared for me to come in, I didn’t have the same experience I did with Flynn when I entered. He was fully under the covers but a girl could dream. I stayed focused and explained. I hadn’t been able to read any animosity in his eyes, but what I did know is that he hadn’t sleep with me. That was a first for us. Every time we were together overnight, I’d woken up to him lying next to me. But again, my concern was for Brent, so this discussion would have to wait.
In about an hour Flynn and I placed our bags in David’s car and took smaller ones to Luke’s car. We would ride with Luke up interstate ninety five to New York. Flynn took shotgun and I sat stretched out in the back seat watching the two boys who sat in front. Luke’s golden hair was
still damp from a shower. His long sleeve baby blue shirt peeked at me between his seat and the head rest. Flynn’s hair didn’t have a hair out of place and it gave me pause to wonder how much time he put in to make himself perfect or did it just come natural. He wore a mint tea long sleeve graphic tee and jeans looking like a model for Lucky Brand and damn him for that.
I felt like a peasant girl next to these two in navy easy breeze drawstring waist top and light blue jeans. I had my long chestnut hair pulled up in a high ponytail. Like Luke it was still a bit damp from my hasty shower. Soap was pungent in the air of the confined car and I was still reeling from my phone conversation with Maggie.
She may have been a lot of things lately, but she was my best friend and had called me when she needed someone the most. It was that act that made my insecurity about our friendship disappeared. I couldn’t believe I had allowed myself to doubt the strength of our bond. I wanted to be happy that Luke was here to drive me. But my doubts about Maggie had been replaced with doubts over my relationship with Luke. None of us spoke about what happened the previous night.
Luke and Flynn were focus on the problem that faced us this very moment. They had been Brent’s friends for a long time. They would have gone to check on him even if Maggie and I weren’t entangled somehow. But it didn’t matter. I was on my way to lend support to her. She was coming in from Connecticut and likely would make it before us.
Flynn closed his phone and I looked up at Luke. “Were you able to find anything out?” I asked.
He shook his head and said, “No, not much except he is in surgery.”
Luke spoke up, “Do we know anymore about just what happened?”
Flynn answered, “Not much. Something about an animal attack while they were hunting.”
“Hunting,” I said shocked.
Flynn turned to look at me. “Yes, they were hunting Bambi. Does that bother you?” he said somewhat disgusted. I wanted to give him a pass seeing his friend was hurt.
But It did bother me so I said so. “Yes,” I said. My anger didn’t show through though. I wanted to say that’s incredibly mean. But instead I said, “Animals have the same rights to live on this planet as we do?”
Flynn’s retort was quick and painful for me. “This from the girl who made us turkey for dinner yesterday.”
I was silenced. What could I say? I wasn’t a vegetarian. But the thought of being the person killing an animal to eat sickened me. It may be hypocritical but it was the truth. Out of sight out of mind as the saying goes.
The subject was closed because I’d clearly lost. Flynn didn’t goat me on any further. Instead he said, “Can you hand me the paperback out of my bag?’ he asked.
I hadn’t expected him to say that. Maybe a little grateful but still perplex. Neither he nor Luke had brought up the debacle of last night. So I didn’t move I just stared at him.
“My bag,” Flynn asked again.
I looked up not sure I heard him correctly and sat up leaning over to the backpack on the floor behind the passenger seat. I unzipped it to reveal a paperback novel of Stephen King’s ‘Thinner’. I pulled it out zipping the bag back and handed it to Flynn and said, “You read?”
Again he looked at me. “No,” he said. “I only look at the pictures.” He rolled his eyes taking the book from my hand and sitting forward.
I knew what I said sounded wrong, but I didn’t really think he read for recreation at least not boys like Flynn. Paul was an avid reader but despite his status change to popular he was still a bit of a nerd at heart.
“I didn’t mean that,“ I said and Flynn turned back and looked at me. There was so much I didn’t understand about the boy. “I just didn’t think you read anything outside of school,” I said, abashed at me previous comment.
Surprisingly he didn’t have a smart remark, he simply said, “It helps me sleep.”
I turned the question to Luke but didn’t correct my previous blunder with my words. I guess lack of sleep didn’t help me be more tactful. “Luke, do you read too?” I asked. For a moment I’d forgotten that I wasn’t certain of our status.
He laughed and I realized my mistake, “I mean,” I began.
“I know what you mean and yes sometimes,” he said.
I sat back in the seat thinking that my thoughts about boys maybe so wrong. I, like so many girls, thought boys were mostly shallow and only talked about girls and sex and played video games. But these two handsome boys actually read and that shattered every preconceived notion I had.
Luke asked me a question. “What about you? Who are you favorite authors?” I didn’t answer trying to read through the lines of his casual conversation. Are we ok? I hoped so. I really did.
I pondered the question for a moment longer, and then said, “I really like John Grisham.”
Flynn perked up, “Yeah, I really liked ‘The Firm’, his first book. Which of his books are your favorites?”
That sparked a conversation that kept our minds off of our reasons for driving to New York and my lust craze from last night. I found out that Flynn was a big fan of Stephen King and Luke liked Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child although both had read Grisham. I would have never guessed.
We ended up stopping at the last rest stop in Maryland to stretch our legs and get some food. I also was in dire need of the bathroom. The place was pretty crowded and I couldn’t help to wonder where everyone was headed and why. I was sure though that most weren’t driving to hospitals to see friends who could be dying.
Heading back to the car to meet them I passed Flynn leaning on a black sports car talking to a pretty brunette who had nothing but eyes for him. I shook my head and kept heading to the white BMW Luke stood next too. Luke had his hands in his jeans looking at the sky which was a perfect cloudless blue. When he looked down at me I could see how weary he was.
I stopped right in front of him looking at the ground when I reached him. I didn’t know what to say. I was afraid. His hand cupped my chin raising my face to meet my eyes. I squinted because the sun was now in my eyes. Gently he pressed a quick kiss to my lips. Letting go of my chin he encircled his arms around my waist.
“You forgive me,” I said softly.
“Forgive what,” he asked.
Not wanting to go into details I said, “Last night.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” he said. I put my arms around his neck and pulled him down to give him a kiss on the cheek. I wasn’t going to think about our kiss yesterday and let it bother me if he wasn’t. If both of them were letting it go, then so would I. I would however need to talk to them about whatever spoke to me in my head. Later, I rationalized.
“You look tired. Do you want me to drive?” I asked.
His lifted me off my feet and laughed. “You can drive?” he asked back not answering my question.
Back on my feet I stepped back feeling indignant. “I can drive,” I said sourly pouting a bit.
Flynn joined us and said, “You can drive.” He gave me the look and I remembered my dumb question about them reading.
“Fine, I deserve that,” I said. “But truthfully, I’ve had more sleep than either of you. I can drive for a while.”
Both boys looked at each other in silent conversation. I took it as another jab and spoke up for myself. “Just because I’m not rich like the two of you to have my own car doesn’t mean I can’t drive.” I reached for the back door of Luke’s car having said my peace.
Luke caught me and pulled me back. “We were just joking Mercy.” I was pressed in his chest as he hugged me while the two of them laughed.
“You can drive my car anytime you want,” he said. “I am ok to drive, but if you really want to,” he added letting me out of his embrace.
I looked over to Flynn who arched an eye brow up at Luke.
“Just let me know if you get tired,” I said defeated and got in the car.
“I’ll drive,” said Flynn. Luke gave in easily and walked around the car. I wanted to protest at how simply he give
n up the reigns to Flynn and not to me. But I didn’t want to pout. He’d offered me the keys and I hadn’t taken it, so I would keep my mouth shut. I closed my eyes in the back seat still a little peeved. When my eyes opened later, we were at the South Hampton Hospital where Brent was.
Once parked and headed for the waiting room the nurse had sent us to, I was dumbstruck at how crowded the room was. I wondered how many people were in surgery when Luke reading my mind told me all the people in there were Brent’s family. There must have been over twenty people. Luke told me that Brent’s mother was of Italian decent and his father was Irish. That explained it all to me. Both Italians and the Irish had strong family ties. I felt a little pang of envy. Having such a large family seemed nice.
I kept a smile on my face even though I would meet many people that day I would probably never see again. This act reminded me of the people I’d met at the lake house and might not see again. Sebastian’s face instantly popped in my mind. Out of all the people I’d met there, he was the only one I was unsure if I desired to see again. Certainly the wolf pack, who had literally sent us packing was not on my list to see again. Chris was nice enough but the fact that somehow they believed us partially or wholly responsible made me not want to see them again. Putting things in perspective, I decided that even though Flynn’s dad and my mom were marrying, I might just avoid going back to the lake house again.
While I passed through the room in search of Maggie, the somber faces didn’t help my worry about Brent’s mortality. Even though people were milling about in small conversation, the crowd seemed to part revealing Maggie sitting in a chair between two other girls around our age. Both had their hands on Maggie’s back with her own hands covering her eyes hiding her sobs. I couldn’t hear her from so far away with all the conversation, but I knew it could only be Maggie with the mane of red curls. I promptly moved forward to her with Luke and Flynn at my heels.
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