Luke circled around me blocking my view of everyone. Gently, he moved me backwards until I was pressed against the wall on the short side of the pool. “It seems I can’t ever be alone with you these days no matter how hard I try,” he said.
If he only knew where I’d been yesterday, I doubt we’d be having this conversation. But we weren’t together despite the coziness. I owed him no explanation I tried to tell myself, feeling guilty. Taking a minute, I didn’t know what to say other than something like ‘we shouldn’t be alone’ or ‘we can’t be together’, his expression changed. I was biting my lip trying to think of a response. “I guess it wasn’t meant to be,” I said before pausing. “But then again you’ve had Lexi and Adelina to keep you company,” I said, with a frown of disapproval. His kiss and attention were all nice, but I couldn’t ignore the girls that were circling him like vultures. I should have mentioned Kristen, but I hadn’t seen him really with her yet.
Looking away from him, I really didn’t want to get into this conversation. I met Sebastian’s gaze over Luke’s shoulder. He held Adelina close. In fact, she was squirming a bit but not in a way that would suggest she wanted to leave. His stare burned into mine and a felt a kind of heat from it I hadn’t felt since our almost kiss. When he winked at me, I turned back to Luke.
“They mean nothing to me. I want you. Can’t you see that,” Luke said his body so close to me.
His lips touch my ear ever so lightly. I tried to put my hands between us to back him away, but he caught them. “You said you loved me too,” he murmured in my ear.
“Stop,” I finally said. He moved his head back but kept my hands in his. “Even if I believed you, I won’t damn you,” I confessed. Not meaning to, but I felt I had no choice but to just say it. He was crumbling my resolve and I could feel the succubus inside me stir.
He frowned. His face showed his confusion. “What?” he questioned.
“I know now that if you’re with me, a half demon, your soul will be damned,” I said speaking softly so our conversation wouldn’t be overheard. It wasn’t ideal to do this here, but it was too late.
He let out a half laugh. “You can’t be serious,” he said.
Now I was getting a bit upset. Was he really laughing at me for doing the right thing? I didn’t trust my words, so I nodded. I needed to be true to my conviction about this.
“Mercy, you can’t corrupt me. I was already tainted long before I met you,” he said. I narrowed my eyes. He shook his head before continuing. “I broke all the rules long ago. I drink, curse, and have sex; I’m probably already damned. I’m sure the council is just waiting to find a reason to punish me if it wasn’t for my father,” he said.
Stunned, I didn’t know what to say. Well, for one thing, he’d confirmed he wasn’t a virgin. Oh joy, was I the last virgin standing? I assumed maybe that was true among those in my current company. But more important was that he’d confessed I wasn’t a burden on his soul. Could I trust his statement? He looked sincere. Was I a fool for not talking to him first? But he was the one who broke up with me. Feeling foolish, I resorted to my only defense. “Your cogent words don’t matter anyway, you are the one that broke up with me,” I said trying again in vain to break free of his grasp.
Unable to, I looked again over his shoulder at the other people in the pool. Sebastian and Adelina were on one side of the pool and Flynn and Adriana were on the other making out. We formed a sort of triangle if you connected us like dots. Tom was near Sebastian, but not too close, talking to the girl in the chair. So I guess he’d come with her. I couldn’t hear him but she was firmly shaking her head with eyes wide. I assumed she was telling him there was no way she was getting in. He raised his hands in exasperating and ducked under the water swimming toward the opposite end of the pool from me.
When I focused back on Luke, he’d been staring out into the darkness. He looked back at me and said, “I was wrong. I should have trusted you.” He paused then added, “It’s been two months and you and Paul haven’t gotten together.”
“Luke,” I began. Suddenly the need to be honest and come clean possessed my soul. I needed to tell him.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “What matters now is that you and I are together.”
“I need to tell you something,” I insisted. He was leaning in to kiss me again. “Wait.”
He moved back, his face is serious. I said, “It’s about Paul and me.”
“I don’t need to know,” he said shaking his head slightly wet curls sending droplets of water.
“But you do,” I protested.
One hand was resting on the side of the pool, holding us up. The other was still securing my hands. “You’ve already told me that you don’t love him they way you love me,” he said confidently.
“Well,” I started.
“Are you together with him?” he asked.
“No, but…” I said.
“Then, nothing else matters,” he said. He kissed me not giving me any chance to speak. He let go of my hands and I swore I saw the universe full of stars behind my closed eyelids. He had that effect on me. When I felt weak, he broke our kiss. “Tell me you’ll take me back,” he said while giving me his signature airbrush kiss.
“What happened between you and Lexi?” I asked. I should even be considering taking him back, but I had to know. They hadn’t come back to the wedding.
Too quickly, he said, “Nothing I swear.”
Wanting to believe him, I said, “Why is Adelina here?”
For a moment he looked at me like I should know the answer. When I continued to wait, he relented. “It’s Flynn’s house. He invited Adriana. She brought her sister. I didn’t ask her to come.”
“But you are here about to play spin the bottle,” I said as more of a statement than a question.
Again I got that ‘Mercy you are crazy’ look. “I was here waiting for you. I wasn’t going to play. I’d told them that.”
Remembering just how Adelina cuddled up to him, I gave him that yeah right look. “Mercy, you think I would play some game where you could come home and see me kissing some other girl when I’m trying to get you back.”
He did look utterly sincere and he wasn’t a liar by nature. I had to trust him. My acquiesce must have shown through. Gently, he pressed his lips to mine and I was lost again.
Totally out of control with Luke’s presence so near, succubus saw her way in and took control. Until I could slip into the mist of her skin I watch her snake her fingers though his hair and pull him closer like we were one. I fumbled a bit because the sensations were intense. His hand was on my hip pinning me to the wall. His other hand was still on the wall holding us above water.
It didn’t matter really that my demon had control because she had no effect on other supernatural beings. But I didn’t like her having power over me. Nuzzling my neck, he didn’t see the change in my eyes. Managing quickly, soon it and I were one. Without thought, I had her knowledge and experience. I understood the finer arts of seduction all of a sudden. It wasn’t like a manual, but somehow instincts kicked in. Just a slight twist of my hips and Luke groaned against my mouth. The power I could wield against mankind was alluring.
Breaking our kiss I said, “Maybe we should go inside and change.” He looked at my wet top plastered to my skin.
He nodded. “Wait here and I’ll go get you a towel,” he said. Then he moved to the side of me and hoisted himself up and out of the water. His arm muscles flexed and looked so impressive. I nearly swooned. Keeping one hand on the ledge, I turned back to the pool to people watch. Flynn’s hair lay uncharacteristically flat. But like he sensed me watching, a free hand came up and ruffled at it a bit so it stood messily up again. Then I saw it wasn’t his hand but Adriana’s that had done the deed.
Shaking my hand I looked to my left at Sebastian. I’d never seen him make-out with another girl. But there he was kissing the enemy. I bit down on my jealously at that. I didn’t like the girl and didn’t want anyone else
to. Turning, I was just in time to see the strange girl still typing on her phone when Tom surfaced in front of me.
“Hey, trouble,” he said.
I rolled my eyes. “So who’s the girl?” I asked.
“No one,” he said his tone sounding frustrated.
“I didn’t know you had a girlfriend,” I teased sending a small splash of water towards him. “I thought you didn’t have time for girls.”
He wiped at his eyes before he said, “She’s not my girlfriend. She’s just a girl, alright.”
“Okay,” I said chuckling under my breath. I could tell he wanted me to leave it alone and I shouldn’t bug him about it. But who was I kidding. He was forever teasing me about being trouble, so I would give into that name. “I don’t know though, she isn’t looking very pleased by your proximity to me.”
He whipped around so quickly you’d think he’d get whiplash. I laughed when he turned his narrowed eyes back to me. “Oops, I lied,” I laughed. “But obviously she’s not just any girl,” I said.
He was looking at me with a strange intensity like he was judging me in a way. “She’s,” he started but his gaze trailed upwards. I swiveled my head to see Luke had returned and he looked none too pleased.
“I’ll see you later,” Tom said and then leaned back to do a backstroke away from me.
Luke held out a hand to me. I reached up with one hand on the side of the pool for leverage. He lifted me out of the pool like I weighted nothing. I could tell he was not happy about Tom talking to me. So I put a hand on his biceps. “My, my, what strong arms you have Mr. Bishop,” I crooned, trying to allay his jealousy.
His mouth crocked up and my demon that’d left when Tom showed up showed signs of life again. “The better to hold you with,” he retorted with a smile. He held out the towel and I folded myself into it. In his arms, I noticed his clothes weren’t wet. He’d changed.
“Are you guys leaving us?” a voice said, just as we’d begun to walk away.
“It seems like you got things covered here,” Luke said turning only his head back to answer Flynn. I didn’t turn back, but I did see Tom getting out of the pool in my peripheral vision. He walked over to a table near the girl he’d started to tell me about and picked up a towel. Luke apparently brought out enough towels for everyone, but I wouldn’t have expected anything less from him.
When we entered the house, I started to shiver even though it was warmer in here than outside. “Here you go,” Luke said, scooping me up. Cradling me in his arms, he moved more quickly taking two steps at a time as we ascended the stairs. I was amazed by his show of strength. Something he’d obviously hidden from me while he played human.
I was still giggling when he put me down in my room. We stood there looking at each other unsupervised like so many times before, but there was something different tonight. I bit my lower lip when I let the towel slide to the floor. We were just a few steps apart within reaching distance. He swallowed audibly. My hands came to my top first fumbling with the tiny buttons. He started to turn around. “Don’t,” I said, unsure of what I was about to do.
He turned back and looked deep in my eyes. I saw the summer sky in his and wondered what he saw in mine. But I knew that this was what I wanted. It had crystallized for me in this moment that he could be the only one for this task. When my shirt hit the floor, his eyes had never left mine not even for a moment. So I kept my gaze on his when my hands reached for the back of my skirt and the sound of the zipper going down was deafening. I wiggled a little and finally the wet thing yielded to gravity falling to the floor. Neither of us moved and I gave him extra points for never once allowing his gaze to slide south. In a way I wanted to be offended, but something in his eyes said he was fighting all his urges to keep looking at me in my eyes.
When I stepped towards him, he didn’t move. So I lifted on my toes with my bare feet, my shoes were somewhere on the bottom of the pool. Flynn would be replacing them, so I didn’t care. I leaned up and kissed him. He surrendered to me and kissed me back, but this time it was more chaste. Taking hold of my wrist, he kept me from wrapping myself around him like a wet tee-shirt. He pulled back still holding my hands and began to kneel at my feet. A wave of heat followed down the line of my body as he did. I didn’t know what to expect but when he stood and wrapped the towel around my damp body that hadn’t been what I expected. The towel now covered my black bra and panties which for a weird reason I was grateful matched.
I grasped the towel closed and questioned him only with my eyes. We’d yet to speak, but clearly I’d offered myself to him in a way I hadn’t to any other. And it appeared he was rejecting me.
Feeling a bit silly, I made my way to turn away from him. But he stopped me. He pulled me close cradling my head to his chest. “God, you have to know I want you,” he said.
I pulled back. “Yet, it’s clear you don’t,” I countered, sounding more pissed than I’d wanted.
“I do,” he said. “It’s just-”
“It’s just that you admitted to me today that you’d been with other girls, yet you won’t be with me,” I said.
He took a step towards me and pride had me taking a step back. “Those other girls didn’t mean to me what you do,” he said.
“So what are you a humanitarian, protecting the innocent?” I chided, sounding bitter.
He nodded and simply said, “Something like that.”
I huff out a laugh. “Funny coming from you, who moments before said I couldn’t damn you. What if I don’t want to be saved,” I said.
“Time is endless,” he pleaded taking a few more steps towards me. I looked back making sure I wouldn’t trip when I moved away backwards.
I pursed my lips. “No, it’s not,” I said firmly thinking about how easily life could end from beings just like myself.
“You’re right,” he said. “But you haven’t even agreed to be my girlfriend again.”
It was then I stopped. I hadn’t but weren’t my actions clear. Luke trapped me in his arms and kissed me again. Lost was reason when we were together.
His touch was like a slow burn running deep inside my soul. His kiss was like honey, thick and sweet. He pulled back and led me towards a door. He opened it. “Mercy, go take a shower. I think I’ll have a cold one myself. When you’re ready, let me know what you decide,” he said.
And then with what seemed like a great effort, he backed up from me eventually turning away and walking out my door. I stood there stunned wondering now if I should take a cold shower too.
Chapter Eleven
diffident (adj.) shy, quiet, modest
Bathed in sunlight, I woke. Luke was there with his arms around me like old times. Because my mom and Flynn’s dad were out of town, he’d stayed the night. At some point, he’d come back to my room. We’d ended up talking and catching up on our lives. Apparently, he’d still been aware of my every move. He watched me at softball practice and commented on my swing. So he’d seen a practice or two. The one thing I didn’t do was tell him about Paul. I hadn’t given him an answer either about us being back together. It felt like we were without me saying the words. And somewhere deep inside me, I still felt despite his assurances I could somehow be a danger to his soul.
“Morning,” he said pressing a kiss to the side of my head. I’d missed the feeling of being close to him and didn’t want to move.
“Morning,” I responded and squeezed at his arms around me.
“Get dressed,” he said.
Groaning, I asked, “Why?”
“Because I want to take you to breakfast,” he told me, with the warmth I felt being close to him.
I turned to face him. “I can cook you something,” I said. Cooking was not a bother for me. In fact, I really enjoyed it.
“No,” he said, a little too quickly. I eyed him like he’d kept something from me. He rebounded quickly. “No, I enjoy your cooking immensely, trust me. But I want you alone and I also don’t want you to cook for everybody,” he said.
“Adelina is probably here,” he said, quirking one eye.
Frowning, I answered quickly with a pained smile, “So, where are you taking me?” There was no way I was cooking for her unless I wanted homicide added to my list of troubles. He probably knew that too, that’s why he’d said it.
He laughed. He’d left me so I could get ready. I met him downstairs while the house was still quiet. Part of me pondered if the wonder twins had stayed here last night. If so, where were they sleeping? I was sure Luke had a clue, but I opted not to ask. Sometimes, what you don’t know won’t hurt you.
Eventually, we ended up at I-Hop of all places after he offered to take me to a fancy restaurant in Bethesda. I declined and opted for this. I wanted to have a relaxed meal not worry whether I was using the right fork or not. After we were seated at a small booth he said, “Why are you grinning like a kid in a candy store.”
Waiting for Mercy (Cambions) Page 12
