by Myers, AJ
“Sure she would,” I told him, grinning and picking up the box I’d packed for Kim. What? I never said I was above bribery. Starting down the hall, I winked at him over my shoulder. “If I stand still long enough, that is.”
Chapter 29: Pride & Prejudice
Nathan, Tyler, Blake, Zan, and Ainsley were running toward Kim’s room when I tore around the corner headed in the same direction. They stopped when they saw me shake my head at them. It wasn’t a moment too soon, either. Nathan actually stumbled into Zan when he backed up to keep from being fried by a ball of Witch Fire that crashed through the wall not half an inch from his nose.
“I got it!” I cried before the shock wore off and they started demanding answers.
“Ember Leigh Blaylock, get your ass in here! I am going to kill you!” Kim shrieked, lobbing another fireball through the door that was close enough to make my hair stand on end.
I dropped to my knees, hoping that would put me out of the line of fire and frantically dug through the box I’d brought until I found what I was looking for. Ainsley looked at me like I was crazy when I held up a pair of garnet suede boots like I’d just discovered buried treasure, then cast a doubtful look at the door.
“You’re going to keep her from killing you by giving her a pair of boots?” Zan asked, looking even more skeptical than Ainsley.
“These are not just boots,” I told them calmly. “These are Miu Mius. They haven’t even come out yet, and when they do they’re going to cost a grand a pair. Kim would die before she did anything to hurt them.”
The ‘She’s lost her damn mind’ look went from one person to the other as I stood up slowly, trying to gauge where Kim might be in the room, and opened the door enough to stick one hand in to dangle a single boot as a flag of truce. I jerked my hand back quickly when I felt like I had just grabbed hold of a lightning bolt and stared at the top half of the boot I had hoped to use as a shield. And why was I only staring at the top half?
Because, that’s all that was left.
“Just so you know, that was one of a pair of Miu Mius!” I yelled through the door. I waited for her gasp of horror and I wasn’t disappointed. Zan rolled his eyes and shook his head while Ainsley clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle her snort of laughter. Everyone else was still waiting to see if Kim was going to start lobbing fireballs again. “I’ll get you another pair if you let me come in.”
“Oh, I want you to come in!” Kim yelled back. “I’m just not promising you’ll be walking out!”
“What did you do?” Tyler mouthed, jerking his head toward the door.
As an answer, I held up my IV-free hand and wiggled my fingers for emphasis. Tyler looked like he was going to have a stroke. Nathan’s mouth fell open. Blake groaned quietly and dropped his head into his hands. Ainsley looked thoroughly confused and Zan just shook his head at me again, smiling. Deciding they could lecture me after I talked Kim out of killing me, I cracked the door open again.
“I’m coming in, Kim,” I called through the crack. “If you throw one more fireball at me, I’m going to kick your ass. We clear?”
When she didn’t answer, I took that as a yes. Big mistake. I had barely gotten through the door when I was forced to duck again to keep from being hit with another ball of blue-white light. Growling, I stood up and crossed my arms over my chest, glaring right back at her.
“What exactly is your problem?” I demanded, arching an eyebrow at her in a way I had dubbed ‘The Nathan Technique’. I had practiced that look in the mirror for two solid weeks while on house arrest. Time well spent, in my opinion. Nothing says ‘Who pissed in your Cheerios?’ quite like that look.
“What the hell is this, Ember?” Her eyes burned with anger as she held up the empty IV bag.
“Looks like a plastic bag to me,” I told her, shrugging.
“Uh-huh. And what was in it?” she hissed, obviously not appreciating my unfazed expression. “I’m warning you, Ember, if I have fangs or start to see pretty colored halos around people, I am going to be seriously unhappy.”
“I didn’t turn you!” Really, that was just too much. “Do you really think I would turn you just to heal a few burns? Come on, Kim! You know me better than that.”
Okay, that wasn’t really fair. I might not have turned her into a vampire or a darkling, but I had definitely messed with her DNA. She wasn’t going to grow fangs—or wings, I hoped—but she wasn’t going to be the same, either. And if I had given her enough to make her immortal, she really might kill me.
Part of me hoped, prayed, that I hadn’t. But there was a very small part of me that admitted to liking the idea. It was selfish, but that part of me accepted that I didn’t want to lose her, even if it was eighty years down the road.
“If it’s not your blood, and it’s not Nathan’s blood, then whose is it?” she demanded, not fooled for a second.
“Tyler’s,” I told her honestly.
“Tyler’s?” She rolled her eyes. “You are so full of shit, Ember! Maybe you didn’t notice, but my burns are gone. Hell, even my hair has started growing back! Tyler could be a super-witch and his blood wouldn’t have done that.”
“It would if Tyler was an angel.”
For a second, she just stared at me with her mouth open. Don’t get me wrong, it was moving but no sound was coming out. She looked like a fish out of water. When she did find her voice again, it was with a shriek that nearly pierced my eardrums.
“Tyler’s an angel? And you didn’t tell me?”
“I only found out last night, Kim,” I told her calmly. “I didn’t have time to tell you between getting shot and making up with Nathan and…”
My voice trailed off as she let out a ferocious snarl that froze the blood in my veins. Confused, I rewound the last few seconds in my mind, but I couldn’t see why anything I had said would make her so furious. I wasn’t left to wonder what was up for long, though.
“You what?” she asked, her voice low and cold. I suddenly missed the shrieking. “You made up with Nathan, Ember? After what he did to you? Are you serious?”
“That was an accident, Kim, and you damned well know it!” I snapped, my voice hard. She had seen it firsthand. It wasn’t Nathan’s fault that I had jumped in front of Tyler like an idiot, and I wasn’t going to let her hold it against him. “He didn’t mean to hit me. He was trying to hit Tyler.”
“I’m not talking about that.” Her hands clenched into fists at her sides and I saw a glimmer of Witch Fire as her fingers closed. “I’m talking about what happened before that. And don’t you dare defend him, Ember. I think I’ll be sick if you do.”
I felt the blood drain from my face as I realized what she meant. I hadn’t told her about what happened between me and Nathan in that alley. I never would have told her. Even if Nathan and I hadn’t made up, I would have taken that secret to the grave with me before I shared it with her.
“How did you know?” I whispered, not quite meeting her eyes anymore.
“The same way you knew about Morgan Tanner hooking up with Cole at her birthday party,” Kim said, her expression hard. “I saw it when you tripped over your heels and I caught you. Why did you think I was so pissed? I knew he wasn’t trying to hit you, Ember. He didn’t have to, though, did he? He’d already done so much worse than that.”
I gulped hard against the sadness and shame bubbling up inside me. She didn’t understand and she wouldn’t let me explain it to her even if I wanted to try. She was right, what Nathan had done was awful, degrading. But, jealousy is an awful, degrading kind of emotion. Could I really say I would have acted any better if our places had been reversed? I like to think I would have, but you never really know until you’re there.
“That’s enough,” Blake said quietly, from the doorway behind me. “It’s done and over with, Kim. Em’s made peace with it. Let it go, baby.”
“I can’t do that,” she told him, her eyes still trained on my face.
I couldn’t look at Blake when I pushed past hi
m, my eyes burning and my stomach knotting in shame. I knew Nathan wasn’t in the hallway even before I made it out the door. Tyler was there waiting for me, but I ran past him before he could say anything. I heard Ainsley call out behind me, but I ignored her. Even when I heard her footsteps pounding after me, I kept going.
I ran into the first empty room I came to and slammed the door. I was pacing back and forth frantically, trying to siphon off some of my anger and hurt, when I heard the door open and close softly behind me. Assuming it was Ainsley, I didn’t even turn around. I wondered if they all knew what had happened between me and Nathan in that alley. How could I ever look any of them in the eye again if they did?
If I hadn’t been so wrapped up in my own misery, I would have recognized Nathan’s scent before his arms slid around me from behind. He didn’t say anything, just held me close and let me sink back against him.
I didn’t know what to say. He had heard everything Kim said, I knew he had. And I couldn’t even apologize for her because we both knew she was right.
“She’ll get over it,” I finally said, my voice a mere whisper of sound.
No, she wouldn’t, but it made me feel better to say it. She hated him, it had been right there in her eyes for anyone to see. Until he proved himself worthy again, that wasn’t likely to change. I winced when I realized that might never happen. I really didn’t think Kim would ever forgive him.
“She’s angry and confused—” I sighed when I realized I was apologizing for her, anyway.
“And right.” When I started to protest, he shook his head and gave me a gentle squeeze. “She is, Em. I don’t understand why you forgave me, either. What I did in that alley… I was jealous and angry and afraid that I’d really lost you, but it was no excuse for the way I treated you. I will never be able to tell you how sorry I am. It may just be the only completely unforgivable thing I’ve ever done.”
“But I did forgive you,” I mumbled, laying my head back against his shoulder.
“I know, baby.” He kissed the top of my head, then laid his cheek against my hair. “You did, but that doesn’t mean the others will. They love you and I hurt you. Could you have forgiven Blake so easily if he had treated Kim the way I treated you that night? And you’ve loved Blake for years.”
Sighing, I turned and wound my arms around his waist. I laid my cheek against his chest and took a deep breath, letting his delicious scent soothe some of my anger. It wasn’t long before holding him wasn’t enough. I wanted to touch and be touched, kiss and be kissed. For just a few minutes, I didn’t want to think about hunters or angels or monsters or my pissed off best friend. I wanted it to be just me and Nathan.
No drama.
No danger lurking around the corner.
Just us.
I looked around the room, taking in the beige walls, beige carpet, beige and plum-striped draperies, until I finally found what I was looking for against the opposite wall. Stepping back, I took Nathan’s hand and led him over to another one of the almost-invisible beige sofas and pushed him down on it. His eyes widened in surprise when I crawled onto his lap, straddling his hips, but he didn’t protest.
“This is the deal,” I murmured, wrapping my arms around his neck. “We are never going to talk about this again. As far as I’m concerned, it never happened.”
“Em—” he began, sighing. I put my finger over his lips and shook my head.
“It’s over, Nathan. Let it go. I have.”
To prove it, I pressed myself close to him, letting my newly returned warmth sink into him. I smiled when his hands settled on my hips, holding me in place.
“What are you doing, baby?” he breathed, his voice barely a whisper.
“Making up for lost time,” I whispered back, nuzzling the side of his neck as I started working the buttons free on his shirt. “We were interrupted last night. I thought we could pick up where we left off.”
His aura lit up like the sun and I got the barest whiff of his essence, just enough to make me shiver with desire. My mark started up its gentle thrumming and, for just one second, I could see into Nathan’s mind. I got the barest flash of a memory of us the first—and, unfortunately, only—time we made love and smiled again.
That was good. I wanted him to remember it, think about it, want it. I wanted him to want me as much as I wanted him.
“This really isn’t a good idea,” he protested weakly as I moved up his neck slowly. “Anyone could walk in here…”
I focused my power and waved my hand in the direction of the door, smiling again when I heard the lock click. Nathan moaned, a sound of pure need, when I started kissing along his jaw. My hands tangled in his hair as I worked my way toward his lips and his arms wrapped around me holding me closer.
“Hamilton,” he whispered, sounding slightly breathless as I wiggled myself even closer to him.
“I’ll deal with later.”
“Kim,” he said, sounding slightly panicked.
“Has a boyfriend of her own,” I laughed, breathing the words against his chin. “I’m certainly not sharing mine.”
“You’re killing me, Em,” he moaned, as I caressed his bottom lip with the tip of my tongue. “How am I supposed to argue against this kind of persuasion?”
“You’re not,” I whispered against his lips. “I need you, Nathan.”
“I need you, too, baby,” he groaned softly. “You have no idea how much I need you.”
Considering my position on his lap, I thought that was a bit naïve.
His grip loosened and his hands started to roam up my back. In less time than it took me to blink, he went from being my victim to being the one in charge. His eyes captured mine as his hands slid under my t-shirt and started slowly pushing it up. With each brush of his fingers against my skin, I felt like I was coming apart. When he finally whipped it over my head and tossed it behind me, I could barely draw in a full breath.
“Do you know how tempting you are?” he purred, trailing his fingertips up and down the line of my spine. “Everything about you draws me in. Just the scent of your skin is enough to drive me insane.”
His lips barely brushed my skin, there and then gone again only to land somewhere else. My skin tingled from my head to my toes. My hands clutched at his shoulders, feeling the muscles bunch beneath my fingers, as if that would keep me from being sucked into the whirlpool of sensations I could never have felt with anyone but him. I was totally breathless by the time his lips touched mine, another barely there caress that drove me crazy, and I couldn’t stand the torture for another second.
“I love you, Ember,” he whispered against my lips. “I will love you until time ends and I end with it.”
“And I love you,” I breathed, tracing the line of his strong jaw with my fingers. “I love you with everything I am. I have since the moment I laid eyes on you. That hasn’t changed.”
Those were the last words either of us spoke for a long time. We let our hands and our lips say everything for us. With each touch, each kiss, we found our way back to one another. Every hurt was forgiven, all the terrible things we had said to one another forgotten. There was nothing but love and passion. Nothing else even existed.
Until somebody started pounding on the damn door.
“Do we ignore it?” Nathan asked, whispering the words against my earlobe.
“Oh, yeah!”
I dragged his lips back to mine for another long, drugging kiss and hoped whoever was outside that door would just melt into the floor. In fact, the whole world could have gone away right then, and I wouldn’t have minded a bit.
“Nathan! Take your nasty-ass hands off my friend!” Kim yelled through the door, kicking it when she decided knocking wasn’t going to do any good. “Ember! Get your butt out here! Seriously! Don’t make me come in there and get you!”
I hissed, glaring at the door as Nathan groaned and let his head drop to rest against my shoulder. Between the two of us, it was hard to tell who was more frustrated.
“I think we better talk to her,” Nathan growled.
He was off the sofa and pulling his shirt on before I could yell at her to just go away. He pulled me up beside him and had just handed me my own shirt when the door literally blew off. Nathan grabbed me, sheltering me with his own body as the thick panel blasted straight across the room, embedding in the opposite wall with an earsplitting crash that shook the floor beneath us.
I peeked around him to glare at Kim and found her standing in the doorway, her mouth hanging open and her eyes so wide they were bugging out of her head. She looked down at her hands, then at the door lodged in the wall across the room, then back down at her hands. She looked like she didn’t know whether to be horrified or just plain terrified.
“We were going to answer the door, Kim,” Nathan said, his voice sounding tight and controlled. “You could have just waited a second.”
“You don’t get to speak to me!” Kim hissed. Her voice was a little shaky, but the anger in it was undeniable. “You are a creep. You don’t deserve to get to touch my friend anymore. After what you did, I can’t believe she would even want you to!”
“Funny you should say that,” I growled right back, stepping away from Nathan and facing her head on. She took one look at me, standing there with my shirt fisted in my hand, and her face went nuclear red. “Do you know why it’s funny, Kim? It’s funny because before you came blasting through the door I was trying to seduce him!”
She drew in a loud hissing breath through her teeth and I saw a glimmer of blue-white fire in her eyes. She glared from me to Nathan for a few seconds and then turned on her heel and stomped back down the hall. I heard the door of her room slam behind her and shook my head. Nathan sighed loudly before wrapping his arms around me again, holding me close.
“That didn’t go very well, did it?” he asked sadly, staring at the doorway Kim had disappeared through.
“No, it definitely did not,” I sighed, dropping my forehead to rest against his chest.
Then again, when had it ever gone well where Nathan and I were concerned? I couldn’t understand why it always had to be so hard for us. Even falling in love, something that should have been as easy as…well, falling, had been hard for us. Every time we turned around there was a new threat, some new drama. When would it end?
