by M. J. O'Shea
“O-okay,” I answered.
“Okay?” Colin said, his voice anything but quiet. “Now you say okay? Where was this agreeable guy before you went traipsing off to Romania to risk your life and Xan’s?”
I ground the heel of my hand into my forehead. “Colin, this is between Mom, Dad, and me. You should go back to the city with your friends.”
“This is a whole family problem,” Colin corrected. “What if you’d made an ass of yourself out there? What if you’d ruined the Fitzgerald reputation?”
“Is that seriously what you’re worried about?” I asked.
“No, of course not!” my mother answered. “We were worried about you.”
“Tell that to douche-nozzle over there,” I mumbled. I was too tired for this shit. I’d have been okay talking to my parents, apologizing for my mistakes, but they had to bring in Colin too. I couldn’t deal. All I wanted was my warm bed and my warmer brand-new boyfriend to curl up with and go to sleep.
“Charlie!” My mom protested. Right, I always forgot that we weren’t allowed to swear. I guess that rule included calling my brother a douche-nozzle.
“I think I will go to bed. We can all talk about this in the morning when we’re more awake.” I looked at my parents. “I am sorry about worrying you guys. I just wanted to prove that I could do what you guys do. And I got it done and I got paid.” I headed for the stairs. “I’ll see you two in the morning.”
My parents didn’t say anything else. I hoisted my heavy pack over my shoulder and trudged up the stairs. When I was behind the safety of my bedroom door, I locked it and made sure to keep the window open so Xan could come in. I doubted I’d be able to sleep without him.
I WANTED to hide in my bedroom all morning. Who’d blame me with the inquisition waiting right outside my door? Xan was still there, arms wrapped tightly around me. I slipped my fingers in between his and squeezed, hoping for some comfort, but not really wanting to wake him. He’d probably had his own brand of torture waiting for him in the village. The fact that he’d let me slip out couldn’t have gone over well. I felt like a jerk for getting him in trouble as well as myself. Somehow those kinds of things aren’t ever in the front of my mind when I’m hatching one of my schemes. Usually Xan never minded getting in trouble if whatever we were doing was worth it. I hoped our trip to Romania was worth it to him. No matter what happened with my parents, the trip had changed my life. And when Xan pulled me closer, I wondered how thin the line was between love and in love.
I was pretty sure I’d already crossed it.
BREAKFAST WAS a silent affair. My parents didn’t comment on Xan’s sudden presence. I didn’t for a second think his being there would stop the bomb from dropping, either. The first torpedoes detonated after I put my dishes in the sink and turned to go back upstairs.
“Don’t even consider escaping,” my mother said. Her voice was back up to its usual not very quiet.
“I wasn’t. I just didn’t think you guys were ready to talk.”
“Sit. Living room.” My dad’s voice was terse, to say the least. Xan crowded protectively closer as we sank onto the cold leather couch. A thick folder was dropped onto the coffee table in front of me. It had the letters NYU embossed on it.
“You’ve earned yourself a one-way ticket to college,” Dad said. It was the longest sentence I’d heard out of him since before I left. “No hunter acts so rashly, with so little disregard for his own safety and the safety of those around him.”
“I didn’t ask anyone to follow me!” I protested.
“Did you think I wouldn’t?” Xan asked quietly. At least he didn’t sound angry.
“I hoped I was too far gone by the time you learned where I was. I didn’t want this to be anyone else’s problem. I needed to prove that I was capable of doing the job.”
“All you proved was that you were capable of being sneaky and untrustworthy and dangerously naive.”
“What was I supposed to do? Ask? All you would have done was say no.”
“Yes, we would have said no, and for good reason. You aren’t right for this job. You’re smart, wily, and very good at getting what you want, but this time it’s not going to happen. You’re going to move in with your brother and you’re going to go to college. I don’t expect an argument.”
“I’m eighteen. I can just leave, you know.”
“And you’re so ready to survive on your own.” My mother rolled her eyes.
“I have the money the Lycans gave me.”
“And that’ll last you, what, six months?”
Six months? How much did they think I had…? “No. It’s only a couple thousand.”
My dad nearly growled. “A couple thousand? I want an exact number.”
“Twenty five hundred.”
All three of them leapt off of their chairs. “Are you stupid?” Colin cried. “They would’ve offered at least fifteen to me and I still wouldn’t have taken it. It was too dangerous.”
“Fifteen thousand?” My stomach clenched.
“This is exactly what we’re trying to tell you, darling. You’re not ready,” my mother said. She was using her nice voice. The one that usually got her what she wanted. Not this time.
“I did the job, didn’t I? Next time I’ll know better than to accept less money than it’s worth. I can survive on my own. I’ll go pack my stuff.”
“Charlie, sit down.” My father looked like he was about to pull his hair out. I knew the feeling. “You’ve never even had a job other than your brief misguided stint working for the lycans—” I started to speak and my father held up his hand. “Which we won’t be speaking of anymore. You’re going to college. The new semester starts in just over a week. You’ll have plenty of time to prepare if you get started moving today.”
I looked at Xan and panicked. He could never survive in a tiny treeless New York apartment. I could never survive. I didn’t want to go to college, I didn’t want to live a pedestrian life. And I sure as freaking hell didn’t want to live with Colin or without Xan. “But what about the lycan? What if he comes after me and Xan’s not there to protect me?”
“The chances of that happening are slim to none. Especially if you mind your own business, go to class, and leave the hunting to those who are more capable.”
I sat there silently, trying to come up with a solution. I could take off and try to make it on my own. If I bagged a few more jobs, I could come up with the cash to survive. But they were right about me not being able to be a hunter—yet. If I tried to go after some badass, the chances of me getting killed were a lot higher than me making money. I wasn’t trained. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. I looked at Xan, hoping he’d offer me some sort of option.
“Maybe it’s best, C,” he whispered, although he didn’t look very happy about it. “I’d say that you could come stay in the Forest, but nonmagical creatures can only visit, not stay to live.”
“There’s no way I could become magical? I’ll get Noah to bite me!” Not that I wanted to be a vampire, but it was a way.
“No!” Three horrified voices shouted at once. I saw the look on Xan’s face and realized that would be a mistake on more than one level.
“I—” I was out of ideas, sad as it might be. If my only option as far as my parents were concerned was college, and I really didn’t have any skills that would let me survive on my own, I was really shit out of luck. “I’ll go to college,” I said softly. “But I don’t want to live with Colin.”
“What are your choices? The dorms will already be full.”
There most likely would be some openings, but I didn’t want to live there either. “Noah offered me his spare room. Rent would be cheap. He might not even charge me at all.”
My parents looked skeptical. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Mom said.
“Why? Because he lives with his boyfriend?” My mom had never been homophobic. You could say I was trying to make her feel bad so she’d say yes. It was a technique of mine that she’d
never wised up to.
“Charlie!” she exclaimed. “Of course not.”
“Is it because he’s a vampire?” My mother had also been very fair about accepting our no-longer-human family members. That wasn’t it either.
“Charlie, quit baiting your mother. You know the reason. Your cousin is a hunter. All of his friends are hunters. We’re worried about you being around that.”
“But Zack goes to night classes at NYU. Wouldn’t it be nice to have another student in the house? I mean, if we follow your logic, I shouldn’t live with Colin because he’s a hunter and he has all the same friends.”
My parents were cornered. They didn’t want to admit out loud that Colin would’ve been policing my actions, and on the surface, other than the vampire thing, living with him would be just like living with Noah. Except—
“Besides, Colin has a one-bedroom apartment and a new girlfriend.” I didn’t know if that was true exactly, but he and Amanda had looked awfully cozy at Christmas. “I’ll be able to concentrate on my schoolwork much better at Noah’s.” And he probably won’t tattle if I sneak out to visit Xan once in a while… or learn a few tricks of the trade.
“Please call him and make sure it’s okay,” Mom said.
“He’s asleep. I’ll call later once it’s time for him and Zack to be awake.” I stood, both relieved for the small concession and unhappy about the situation in general that I realized was at least half my fault.
“You wanna come upstairs, Xan? I have a lot of packing to do.”
Chapter 14: Enforced Academic Prison
College
I HAULED the last laundry basket filled with my books up the stairs of Noah and Zack’s building—my building too. It was going to be hard to remember that. And to remember that in just a few days, I would be a college student taking the random classes my parents had signed me up for. I’d seen the list a few days before, but it wasn’t like I cared. I imagined it would be just like high school. Sitting in class bored out of my mind, taking tests, doing assignments, talking to people I didn’t care to know. Same old crap, different place, right?
College. Whatever.
I still marveled at my parents’ nerve, applying, hell, registering me for classes. And I was going along with it because I’d made an immature ass of myself and I didn’t have any other choice. But oh damn did it suck.
Despite it being cold-as-hell January, I was sweating by the time I got to the third floor of the building. Thank God they didn’t live on the sixth floor. Noah said the elevator went in and out constantly, and the repair guy was anything but reliable. I guessed I had to look at it as good conditioning. Conditioning was a requirement of any training program, right? And I was going to go ahead with my training, no matter what my parents said. Well, somehow I would. That was the part I hadn’t quite worked out yet.
I flopped my basket down on the already packed bed. I had a ton of work to do if I was going to be ready to start class in five days. I wondered how that would work too. I’d have day classes and my new roommates were usually up all night. I figured I’d barely see them, which would kinda suck. They were both cool. There was someone else I was barely going to see. Xan. That sucked a hell of a lot—especially since things between us were so great, but still new and tenuous. I was worried he’d find some hot dryad boy (or girl) out there in the Forest and decide I was too much of a pain in the ass to be bothered with.
Speaking of….
“There you are.” He popped his head around the corner. “I thought you were still down at the car.”
“Nope. That’s the last of it.”
Xan wandered over and casually wrapped his arms around my shoulders. I laid my head back on his chest. “Do you want to put some stuff away, or do you want to head out?”
“Head out. Please. I’ll leave Noah and Zack a note for when they wake up.”
Xan grinned. “At least this time they know where you’re going. No Bucharest.”
“No Bucharest. Just the Forest.” I smiled slyly. “Unless you have something else planned.”
He squeezed me. “Nope. I was thinking we could, um, rest. You’ll want your strength up for the beginning of the semester.”
“Yes. Lots of resting.” I chuckled. “Does your door lock?”
Xan smiled, then reached into his backpack and pulled out a brand new locking latch and a screwdriver. “It does now!”
And I was so effing glad to be heading there. We were going to drop the car at my parents’ house, and I was going to spend four perfect days in the lovely Indian summer of Xan’s village. Then it was back to suckass reality.
THE VACATION in the Forest passed far too quickly, as vacations usually do. It seemed like one moment I was pulling us up to his treetop room on the first evening, and the next I was waking up in his bed on the day I had to go back to New York to unpack my room to get ready for classes the next morning.
“Nooooo,” I moaned.
Xan grumbled in his sleep and held me tighter. I kissed his warm chest and slid my hands down, unimpeded, to cup his amazingly silky hips in my hands.
“Mmm, good morning,” he mumbled.
“Not good. I have to go back to New York.” Sleepy Xan-voice grumbled a few nonsense words. I chuckled. “What?”
“You stay here. No college,” he muttered. I smiled to myself and sucked on Xan’s neck for a minute. Then I moved on to that golden muscled chest that I seriously had to kiss.
“Okay, deal. I’ll just stay here and spend all day kissing….” Kiss “…your amazing….” Kiss. “…body….” Kiss. “…all over.” I ducked under the covers, where I could take the kissing very seriously.
“Shit,” Xan groaned when I sucked on his hip.
“Did you just swear?” I asked, coming back up for air with what I’m sure was an incredulous look on my face.
“It happens,” he answered with a small laugh. “You’re driving me insane.”
“Like this?” I leaned forward and sucked on his nipple. Hard. With teeth. Xan arched into me and moaned, reaching for my hair and my butt and everything he could grab.
“Yes, like that,” he panted.
I thought it might be time for more. We’d slept naked together the entire time I’d been in the Forest, and our touches had been getting more and more intimate. Our hands had been nearly everywhere hands could be. But my mouth hadn’t yet. I’d done it a few times before, though Xan and I hadn’t gone there yet. I had to admit, at least to myself, that I was nervous. I looked at Xan closely, waiting for him to open his gorgeous eyes and look at me in return.
“Can I?” I asked before I reached down to touch him. He was thick and hard and as excited as I was. I loved running my fingers across it, feeling his soft skin, the wiry puff of hair, drops of wetness when he was close to the edge.
“Of course you can,” Xan answered, his eyebrows drawn in confusion. I had touched him already, more than once.
“No…. I meant with my mouth.”
“Ohhh,” Xan answered, his eyes wide. He nodded hesitantly. “I want… yes.”
I leaned over and kissed him once again on the mouth, cupped my hand on his face, and drew my fingers down until they were on his neck, his chest, back down to where I wanted them to be. I stroked him and kissed my way down his neck and his chest, stopping to suck on his skin every few inches.
“Charlie….” he whispered. I inhaled deeply, dragging his warmth into my lungs and my tongue down his golden skin. He threaded his fingers into my hair and pulled tight. “It’s so…. I….”
He struggled to speak. And then he couldn’t say a thing. It was all moans and grunts and gasps of breath when I took him as far as I could into my mouth. God, I loved how that felt, the warmth and the heavy thickness on my tongue—and of course it felt even better with Xan than I remembered it ever being before. Every moan made me harder, every whimper felt like it echoed in my belly. He arched his long slender back and I ran my hand up his belly, chasing the dappled drops of sun from the lig
ht above. Xan squeezed my shoulders with his thighs.
“Charlie, babe. Stop… stop.” He pushed at my head. I looked up, worried I’d done something wrong.
“What it is?” I was panting, turned on as hell, and scared to death that I’d screwed up somehow.
Xan moaned. “I was gonna come but I want to kiss you. Come here.” He pulled me close for a lusty kiss and rubbed, wet and straining, up against my hip. I reached down to wrap my fingers around it. He moaned low against my mouth.
“You want to come now?” I whispered between kisses.
Xan nodded and held on to me, hands skimming over my hair, my back, my thighs, everywhere he could grab and hold. When he came, he cried out into our kiss and froze, back arched in the air. It was gorgeous and intimate. Even with all our years of friendship, I’d never felt closer to him.
I love you….
And I did. In every way I could love him. My throat tightened and I kissed him hard and long and deep. We separated reluctantly, and he used a cloth to dry us off. Then we collapsed back onto his bed, my head on his chest. I played lazily with one of his nipples until he shivered and covered my hand with his.
“I don’t want you to go,” Xan said quietly. I lifted my head up to look at him. He brushed little kisses over my face and my neck before settling on my lips for a longer caress.
“I don’t want to go either.” I sighed. “But you said it yourself. I can’t stay here. What are we going to do?”
He shook his head. “I have no idea. This sucks, more than I would have even thought it could.”
“I can come here on the weekends, right?”
“Yeah, and I can come to the city to see you. As much as possible, I’ll be there.”
I held on tighter. “Every night?”
“I wish.” Xan smiled sadly. “I have things I have to do here.”
“I know.” I laid my head down on his chest and relaxed. “I’ll get up in a minute to get ready,” I added. I didn’t want to get up at all, but the longer I procrastinated, the harder reality was going to hit me when I got back to the city.
