I arrived at the school a little after nine. Eli was already there, leaning against his bike, reading a paperback, reminding me of the first time I saw him. He was so enthralled with his book he didn’t seem to notice when I walked into the parking lot. I let myself take in his rugged beauty. His leather jacket was zipped all the way up to his chin, making me focus on the rough stubble along his jawline. My eyes moved to his lips as he rubbed his chin.
My God, he was hot.
The book was worn and old, and he held it so I couldn’t see the front cover. I had to admit I was curious. What sort of books would he read? No genre seemed like it would be his thing.
I walked slowly towards him. His eyes never left the pages of the book, even when I knew he was aware of my presence. “Morning.” My voice came out slightly squeaky.
His eyes flashed quickly to me then back to the book. He continued to read for another moment before he dog-eared the battered book and stuffed it in his pocket. I humored myself, imagining it was a bodice ripper—a biker who liked romance novels. Now that I knew he was a part of the RODs, I couldn’t help but look at him differently. I should run as fast and as far from him as I could, screaming the whole way. I knew I wouldn’t. He was terrifying, even more so now, but there was something about him that made me take another step forward.
“Sorry I’m late. The bus was running behind this morning,” I fibbed. The bus was on time. I was late, but he didn’t need to know that.
He made a gruff sound in his throat. “You ready?”
“Um, yeah.”
He threw me the only helmet he had.
“Hope you’re not scared of motorcycles,” he said as he threw his leg over the bike. He didn’t say it because he was concerned. It was more like a, “tough luck if you are.” If he thought or hoped I would be afraid, he had the wrong girl.
“Scared of a Harley-Davidson Dyna Super Glide FXD? Hardly.” I hopped on the back, snapping the helmet strap under my chin.
He looked over his shoulder, his eyes wide in awe. “You know what model it is?”
“You sound surprised. Why, because I’m a girl who knows about motorcycles?” I replied with a sly smile on my lips. “It’s a 2003, Hundredth Anniversary model, right?”
He stared at me in disbelief for a few more seconds before turning around, shaking his head. Guys were always surprised I knew about motorcycles and automatically assumed it was because of Mark that I knew my way around a Harley. This was completely untrue and sexist. My mom was the one who had the love for Harleys. She had gone through a rebellious phase, dating many leather-clad, bad boys on bikes. She might have lost her love for the biker, but she never lost her love for the bike. That love had been passed down to me.
“Hold on,” he said.
I grabbed onto his waist and tried to ignore the raw electricity and heat I felt as our bodies pressed together. The chilly wind whipped at my face as he tore down the road. Nothing made me feel more exhilarated than being on a motorcycle.
Regrettably, driving so fast had us arriving at the location way too soon. His warm body had felt like heaven against mine. As soon as we separated, I felt a loss, both in temperature and in . . . something more I didn’t even want to think about.
Taking off the helmet, I looked around. Low and high rope challenges were suspended throughout the trees like spider webs. It looked like a strange version of the Ewok village from Star Wars.
There was a green storage unit a few feet away at the base of a large cedar tree. Eli walked over to it and rolled up the door. It was filled with plastic bins and a huge blow-up air mattress. He unzipped his jacket and threw it to the side. My eyes couldn’t help but wander over him. He wore his usual button-fly jeans, a long-sleeved, white shirt under a dark green t-shirt that said Team Leader on the back. I ignored the quickening of my pulse as I watched him bend over a pile of harnesses.
Oh Holy hell.
“You want to grab something here, Brycin?” he asked, bending over again.
Um . . . yeah. Your ass.
Joining in, I helped collect the rest of the harnesses.
“Do I get one of those?” I pointed at his t-shirt.
He nodded and headed to where he had left his backpack. Pulling it out, he threw the shirt at me.
I held up the t-shirt. It had a decal of a person on ropes with Ropes Adventure Course in the left hand corner. Like Eli’s, it had Team Leader written out in block letters across the back. I tugged off my jacket and hoodie and slipped the t-shirt on over my grey thermal.
Eli and I set up and checked everything before our group of pre-teens showed up. But nothing could have prepared me for the day that lay ahead. I wanted to be back in bed, under the safety of my warm comforter, instead of being glared at by twelve sets of eyeballs with bad attitudes.
A.E.R.C. worked with different age groups and levels of troubled kids. Level 5 was the hardest, as they were already in juvie and extremely troubled. Level 1 was for those who were just beginning to show signs of problems; most had low self-esteem. This morning’s group was Level 3, which meant most of the kids had some real attitude problems. They ranged from age ten to twelve and they looked like they wanted to be anywhere but here. Right then I felt the same. When Eli took a step towards them, even the toughest looking kid gulped nervously.
“All right, we’ll be going over some rules and safety tips with you. We want you to have fun, but if I see anyone pushing, fooling around, disregarding the rules, ignoring or disrespecting one of us”—Eli motioned between us—“you will find yourself dealing with me. I promise that isn’t something you want.” His tone sounded foreboding. “You got me?” Eli looked hard at each one of them. Terrified, they nodded in agreement. “What?” Eli took another step towards them; again he seemed to fill more space than just his body. It was something you couldn’t explain, but it was overwhelming and disturbing.
“Yes, sir!” the kids screamed.
“Yes, sir!” I echoed.
Eli turned his head to stare at me with a “what the hell” look.
“Sir, yes, sir?” I said hesitatingly, feigning meekness.
The kids laughed, and it immediately broke the ice as I had hoped it would. They needed to respect and listen to us, but they also needed to trust and like us for the day to work and become a positive experience for them. From the way Eli looked at me, I knew he understood what I was doing. A slight smile formed on his lips before he crossed his arms. “That’s right. You can call me Sir or Eli. And if you refer to her as Fairy Princess all day, I’ll get you pizza for lunch.” He smiled wickedly, and the kids returned the conspiratorial smile.
Oh, you didn’t just do that, my eyes said to him.
I think I just did.
Fine, but payback’s a bitch.
Then it won’t be a far stretch for you.
I shook my head and smiled.
“Okay, Sir Eli, let’s get these guys climbing!”
To my pleasure, the kids picked up on his nickname as well, which seemed to bother him enough to make me happy. Despite the annoyance of me being called “Fairy Princess” all morning, we worked efficiently and quickly together. We knew without saying a word to each other when to do something, picking up where the other had left off. I hated to admit it, but it looked like Mrs. Sanchez was right.
At lunch Eli followed through with his promise and got them pizza. The kids had lightened up a lot. They seemed to be laughing, joking, and talking about the experience with each other, except for one, a boy named Derek. He kept himself separated from the rest of the group. There was something about him that rubbed me the wrong way. I tried interacting with him a few times, but he would answer my questions with a shrug or a grunted word. At lunch, I decided to go over to where he sat alone, sketching, to try to get him to join the rest of the group.
“Hey, what are you doing over here?”
He looked up from his pictures depicting an assortment of beast-like monsters ripping people apart. Hello, red flag.
“I draw too.” I nodded at his sketches.
He bowed his head and continued drawing.
“Look, I understand about being independent and a loner. I am a loner too, so I completely get that. But today is about being part of a team. It’s about working with people you might not normally hang out or interact with or people you might not like too much. So today, I’d like you to try and get to know some of the others. Who knows, you might be shocked and meet someone you like. That’s how some of my friendships have started.”
He continued to ignore me.
“Derek?” I asked, trying to get his attention.
“Bitch, just leave me alone,” Derek shot out venomously.
“Excuse me?”
“Bitch, are you deaf?” he said louder.
Before I could even react, Eli was there, pulling him off the bench by the front of his shirt. Holy shit! How did he get over here so fast?
“Listen, I don’t care what you do or say outside of here, but you will NOT disrespect her or anyone else while you are here. You got that?” Eli’s voice seethed with anger.
I heard a barely audible mumble from Derek.
“What?”
“Yes,” he yelled.
Without thinking, I walked up and touched Eli’s elbow. At my touch, he seemed to calm down. He let go of the Derek and stepped backwards.
“I think you’re done for the day,” Eli said.
My eyes widened. “Eli, no.” He turned to look at me.
That won’t help him.
He glared at me. I don’t give a shit.
Eli, come on . . .
For a tense moment, I wasn’t sure what he’d do. He exhaled before spinning on his heels. “All right, fine. Lunch time’s over.”
***
We were on the last course of the day. Eli led the group up through the trees on the ropes. The last event had them zip lining down to the ground, where I stood waiting for them on the giant air mattress. By now, almost all the kids’ bad attitudes had disappeared, replaced by smiles and laughter, and it looked like some new friendships had developed.
A handful of squealing pre-teens had zipped down onto the mattress with gleeful laughter, when I noticed Derek watching the kid in front of him, Kevin, with unveiled hatred. Derek pulled something out of his pocket. Whatever it was, it glinted in the sunlight. Fear darted up my chest. While Eli and Kevin were distracted, Derek leaned over the rope.
Oh please, no.
Eli hooked the rope on Kevin. Before I could react, Kevin jumped off the platform.
“ELI, NO!” I shrieked.
Eli’s head shot up and looked at me in panic. My focus was on the kid. Kevin was screaming with joy as he sailed down the zip line, but his joy turned to utter fear as the rope snapped. His small body flailed wildly as he plummeted to the ground below.
I screamed in horror, leaping off the mattress, and running towards the falling boy. With everything in my body I wanted to reach him in time. I had to stop this from happening.
Energy surged inside me and suddenly I was closer to Kevin than should have been possible. His body was only a few feet from the ground when another rush of power ran through me. I dove for him, hitting the ground hard. His body stopped falling and paused in the air before floating into my outstretched arms. I stared at Kevin, his shocked expression mirroring mine.
I blinked as darkness seeped into my vision and quickly took me with it. The last thought I had before blacking out was that I had stopped Kevin from hitting the ground—with my mind.
***
“Em . . .”
My ears took in my name, but my brain grappled to comprehend its meaning, letting it slip away again. The blackness called to me like an old friend, keeping my eyes shut. I longed to follow the soothing darkness into oblivion.
“Wake up, Brycin.”
A husky voice gripped me, pulling me through the dark. I felt the sensations of someone touching my face gently. My lids slowly lifted, blinking against the bright daylight. My vision cleared to see a pair of unyielding, green eyes. There was no hand on my face, but it still tingled with warmth. Everything flooded back to me, and I shot up into a sitting position, which I immediately regretted.
“Whoa, take it easy okay. You might be weak and dizzy for a bit.” Eli steadied me.
“Is . . . is Kevin okay? Where is he?”
“Slow down. Kevin’s fine. He’s right over there. We’re more worried about you. You took quite a header onto the ground. You must have knocked yourself out when you caught him.” Eli’s tone was clipped and tight, and his expression, unreadable.
Instinct told me to play along, but the truth took over my thoughts. Could I actually control things with my mind? Years of incidents and denials flooded me. It seemed I was not only capable of pyrokinesis and technokinesis, but I may be to be telekinetic as well.
What kind of freak was I? Some science experiment? How was I able to do these things?
Crap on ash bark!
That was a funny phrase my mother would say sometimes when she got really upset. It seemed appropriate right then.
I stood up and turned my attention to Kevin. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m cool.” He nodded and smiled. There wasn’t a scratch on him, but I could tell he was putting up a front for his friends. He, too, knew something wasn’t right.
I smiled back, but it felt wrong. They all seemed to think I caught him. I did, but that was not the entire truth. I had watched his body stop and float before it settled into my arms. I rubbed my face, my brain trying to take it all in. I felt weak and sick to my stomach. I shook my head, trying to make the images replaying in my head fly out of my ears.
My eyes landed on Derek. I thought he would look away with fear or have a guilt-ridden face, but he didn’t. Derek held my gaze defiantly; a cruel smirk twisted his lips. Didn’t he have a clue I saw what he did, or didn’t he care?
Eli stepped in front of me, blocking my view of Derek. He grabbed my elbow, where I was bleeding through my t-shirt. He pulled the sleeve up, revealing a large gash on my arm.
“Let’s get a bandage on that,” he said, sounding as if I were an aggravating nuisance.
“I’m fine,” I replied, but squeezed his arm to draw his attention to my face.
It was Derek. He cut the rope. My eyes looked intently into his as I tried to get my message across.
I know. Eli gave a slight nod. I got it covered.
I was so glad when the bus arrived to pick up the kids. The guard who had dropped them off earlier greeted us again. I couldn’t recall her name, but she wasn’t paying any attention to me anyway. She was looking and smiling at Eli like he was a cream-filled cupcake. I couldn’t stop my eyes from rolling.
As Derek passed to get on the bus, Eli’s hand clamped down on his shoulder, yanking him back. As much as Derek tried to hide it, panic and fear flashed across his face.
Eli turned to the guard. “I’m going to need to speak to you about this one.”
***
If I was glad to see the kid’s school bus arrive, I was even more thrilled to see it drive away. It disappeared around the corner with eleven kids going home and one on his way to juvie.
The moment the yellow vehicle disappeared, Eli abruptly headed for his bike. “Let’s go,” he said harshly.
I could feel the animosity oozing off him. At that moment I didn’t have the energy to wonder or care what his problem was with me now. I simply turned and followed him to the Harley. I felt weak and overwhelmed. All I really wanted was to sleep.
Eli turned the bike around in the parking lot to start back, but then slammed on the brakes. My face and body squashed into his back.
“What the hell?” I muttered into his leather jacket.
Eli’s body was tense and all his attention was on something in front of us. I peeked around him to see a tall, gorgeous man leaning against a railing in the parking lot. He smiled at me, but something in his eyes told me he was anything but friendly.
“What are you doing here, Lorcan?” Eli inquired.
The strain in his voice put me on edge. The name sounded familiar, but I’d forgotten where I’d heard it.
“That’s not a very polite way to greet your brother.”
Brother. Right. I’d heard the name from Ryan.
I could now see the family resemblance. Lorcan was a few inches shorter than Eli and he had an oval face unlike Eli’s angular facial structure, but that was the major difference between them. They shared the same color eyes and dark hair, but Lorcan’s hair was shaved close to his head. He looked to be older but still had to be in his twenties.
“Well, I am not a very polite guy. Blame it on my upbringing,” Eli responded.
Lorcan smirked and propelled himself off the railing, and sauntered towards to us. The only other thing I knew was that I was in the presence of another Riders of Darkness member. I sucked in my breath through my teeth. Running away in the opposite direction was now looking like an extremely good idea.
“So are you going to introduce me to your friend, Eli?” Lorcan’s eyes were locked on mine as he proceeded closer, like he was stalking me. The desire to run and hide overwhelmed me even more. In an anomalous moment, Eli became my safety. He had always scared and unsettled me as if at any instant he would turn on me. But right then, Eli’s body heat was like a security blanket that I wanted to wrap myself into protecting me from Lorcan.
Eli glared at his brother. Through gritted teeth, he said, “Ember, this is my brother Lorcan. Lorcan, this is Ember.” He hit the kickstand with his boot and swung off the bike.
“Ember, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” Lorcan reached out his hand to help me off the Harley. I instinctively jerked out of his reach as I slid off the back of the bike.
“Finally?” I stepped away, putting distance between us.
“Yes, he’s been keeping you from us.”
“What do you mean? I haven’t known him long.”
My eyes darted over to Eli in confusion, but his gaze was lost in the surrounding forest. There was a strange sinking sensation in my stomach. "What is he talking about?”
Darkness Of Light (Darkness #1) Page 10
