Burdened (A Burdened Novel) (53 page)

“Before she tried to attack me
, she was talking to me, checking on me.” I scoot closer to him. “I had woken up and everyone was asleep. She wasn’t, couldn’t have been, because, by the way she talked to me, she was already watching me. The moment she spoke and I acknowledged her, my hands heated. Then she insisted I lay down, because I told her I was fine. That’s when I felt the film cover my eyes.”

“Maybe your eyes help you to see what people really are
…those who are not human.”

Maybe he’s on to something
. “Possibly.” I look at him. “I don’t like people trying to attack me.”

“I don’t either.”

We lay here for a while in silence. I think about what happened in the basement. If Cindy really did want to attack me, apparently my body knew it, but she probably wouldn’t have tried it with the whole family there. That would be like asking for a death wish.

“Relax
, Tracey. I’ll take care of it.”

“No,
we
will take care of it.”

“We?”

“Yes. You doing things without me is over.” I grab his hand. “After losing you, then saving you, then you saving me, we’re in this together, or not at all.”

“I don’t know how I feel about that
, Tracey.”

“You don’t have a choice. We’ll talk to Nathan about it
, and if necessary, handle matters accordingly.”

“Tracey, you can hear my family
and you’ve accepted my family. I can’t believe it.” His voice is calm.

“Why is that so
hard to believe?” I prop myself up on my elbow. “I love you.”

“I see.” He looks at me
, then back at the sky. “It’s nice out here.”

“It is.”

“So how do you think your parents feel about your staying with us?”

“Wait
—before we get into that—why are Scott and Glen moving in with you?”

He sits up
. His look says he doesn’t want to tell me. “Because I don’t. But someone, or maybe some
thing
, broke into Scott’s house one night and tried to kill them. Glen was hurt bad. Scott took care of the person that got in the house. But before he did, he found out that more might come. So the outcome is that they will stay with us.”

“Scott healed Glen and cleared her memory
, I suppose?”

“He did.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

“Tracey, you and I have had our own thing going on.
From last night and today I haven’t had the opportunity. But I found out yesterday morning, after I left your house.” I give an irritated look. “You’re right—I should have told you.”

“Damn right
, Nathan. What the hell? First we have daddy issues, then we have Jackal Cindy issues, and now we have Glen and Scott being targets of murder issues. And that probably means, whoever it is, is also going to try to kill us.”

“That may
…be correct.”

“I’m tired.” I take a few breaths
. Shit is happening that we can’t change. “So now what?”

He pulls me to him. “Now we enjoy the weather, stare at the clear sky, and let me hold you.” He rubs my shoulders. “I told you
it would be like this. There is always someone trying to kill us. We just kill them first.”

I shake my head at him. “You did
tell me. I just don’t know how I feel about it.”

“You don’t have to feel any way. You will be safe at the house
, and now Glen will be there. Let us take care of it.”

“As temping as that may sound, I will be doing whatever you will be doing
with you
.”

He doesn’t respond for a while. “You
go back to school on Monday. Will you miss me?”

My chest aches
, remembering that. I sit up. “I’ll see you in the morning, you’ll visit me when I’m on lunch, and you’ll wait for me to get out. I think I’ll be fine.”

“You have it all figured out
, huh?” he responds, moving to sit behind me.

“Seems like it. So we get rid of one problem
, like your dad, just to add another.”

“Tracey, just forget about all of that right now
—just for right now.”

“Okay, but can you please explain to me why Scott won’t tell Glen?” I take his hands in mine. “That would really take away one of the problems.”

“I don’t know, and I understand, but I can’t tell him what to do. He makes his own decisions and he decides what’s best for his relationship. It would be too simple for him to tell her, making life easy, and sometimes, easy is just too easy.”

“We are easy?”

“Well, somewhat, but let us be thankful for that.” He kisses my neck. “Because our relationship could be just as bad.”

“How?”

“Doesn’t matter, because it’s not.” He kisses my neck again. “Can we just forget about everything else and focus on now, us, together?”

He kisses the other side of my neck, and my body s
tarts tingling. “I love you. I’m sorry I brought this to you. Making you deal with this and having you feel obligated to stand by my side,” he says, before kissing me again.

“Nathan, my choices are my own.” He moves my hair from the back of my neck and kisses me there. “I chose you
. I knew what could happen.”

My grip against his hand tightens with his kiss. “I knew the risks.” He kisses the nape of my neck. “I want you
.” A kiss. “Your family.” A kiss. “You.” A kiss. “Your life.” A longer kiss. “And whatever else you have to offer me.” I turn to face him. “I have no regrets, and you shouldn’t either.”

“Don’t stop loving me
.”

“Won’t happen.” I kiss him. “Don’t leave me, ever.” Images of him lifeless
, creep into my head. Tears try to fill my eyes.

“Don’t
, Tracey, before I do like Scott and make you forget it.” He pecks my lips.

“You better not
ever
do that to me.” I relax my eyebrows and lower my eyes. “I do not understand those two.”

“Not tonight
, Tracey.” He pulls me closer to him. “Just us, remember?” He kisses my chin. “Let me make one of my dreams come true.”

I smile, intrigued by what that could be
. “Mm, I think I like the sound of that,” I say, turning to him fully. “And what was it like?”

“Like this.” He moves me to where my legs are on his sides. He takes his shirt off
, placing my hands on his chest. “And then some of this.” He grabs my jaw, pulling me to kiss him.

There is love in his kiss. No lust, only love. I give him just as much love as he’s giving me. My hands stay on his chest
, even when one of us deepens the kiss. This is us, for a long time, sitting under the night sky, enwrapped in each other.

Nathan’s bedroom door is open when we walk in to find Glen and Scott, lying on his bed watching TV. The room is clean, and they look
way
too comfortable.

I lose it.
“No! Get up right now. This is not happening!” I look at Scott. “And you two had better not done anything in this bed.”

“Oh
, calm down, Tracey. We were just waiting for you all to come back,” Scott says, as if
I’m
the one irritating
him
.

Why don’t you and Glen move? Maybe you could take her somewhere to talk
. There is no way Scott can escape me now. Scott’s eyes open wider. I raise an eyebrow. “Something wrong, Scott?”

Nathan walks to my side. “What are you up to?” I smirk
, ignoring his question.

“Look
, Glen. I need to talk to you about something now that Nathan and Tracey are here.”
I’m going to tell her. Now
!

“No!” Nathan and I object.

“What’s wrong? Why don’t y’all want him to talk to me?” She sits up, crossing her legs. “Go ahead, honey. Express what’s on your mind.”

Scott looks at us and we turn to walk out of the room. “No
, you two better not, or there will be
no
privacy for either of you this whole weekend.” We reluctantly lean against the TV stand.

“Look
, Glen,” he starts. “I love you, and I need you in my life. I don’t want you to leave me. I know we haven’t had the best relationship experience, but I want us to be better, get better. Like them.” He points to us. “I have…well, I am…with me, you…” He takes a breath and shifts, moving one leg under the one that he has bent up.

“What
, Scott?” Glen encourages, rubbing his knee.

He takes another visible breath. “I’m a Sephlem, not
a human.” I hold my breath, looking at Glen.

Glen looks at me. “Listen
, right?” I nod. She turns back to Scott. “Okay, and what does that mean?”

“I’m also
…well, I possess traits of a demon.” He pauses again. She says nothing. “Life may not be the safest with me,” he rushes his words. “And I know I’m giving you minimum information. But I love you and will stay with you forever because we—no, you—are my mate. We are meant to be together.” He grabs her hand.

Cheater
.

He shoots me a look and turns back to Glen. “Is that okay with you?”

Glen looks at me, I raise my eyebrows, and she looks back at Scott. She shrugs her shoulders. “Okay.” She kisses him.

I smile at
them, standing up from the TV stand. “Okay, now that we have that out of the way, can we have our room back?”

“So you knew about this
, Tracey?” Huh?

“Umm, huh?”

“Tracey!?”

“Glen!?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asks angrily.

“Glen, there was nothing for me to tell. Scott had to tell you.”

“But you’re my friend.” I can hear the hurt in her voice.

“Glen, I’m sorry. I wanted to tell
—I did—but it really was not my place.”

“So how did you find out?”

“Find out what?” I’m not in the mood for this.

“About Scott
. You don’t seem surprised.”

I’m getting frustrated
. It’s late—maybe two in the morning—and she wants to have this conversation for the second time.
And
this
is why you needed to tell her on your own
, I say internally to Scott.

Sucks to be you
, he teases, leaning back against the headboard.

I can so flip this on you
, I return.

Try it
.

“
Scott, don’t go there,” Nathan threatens. He really can hear everything that goes on in my head.

“Yes, Scott
—don’t!” I mock.

“No
, Tracey, do. Start spilling.” Glen grabs back my attention.

“Glen, I’m with Nathan
; Nathan told me about him. They are cousins. Of course I would know about Scott.” Damn, this sounds familiar.

She crosses her arms. “I still don’t understand why you didn’t tell me.”

“I couldn’t, Glen. Scott wouldn’t let me.” I make the saddest face I can. “You know I love you, Glen, and would tell you anything.”

Glen turns to Scott with
a face of furry.
You are going to regret that
. Scott threatens me in a low tone.

“And that would be you all’s queue to leave.” Nathan motions them to the door.

Glen pushes Scott roughly from the bed. He grabs her arms and kisses her neck with a smile—probably hearing something in her head that contradicts her actions. The moment they are on the other side, Nathan closes the door.

Alone and cold, I wake up in Nathan’s huge bed. Still tired, I wrap myself in the covers, trying to fall back to sleep. Once I relax, I see that stupid jackal attacking me.
Nathan
.

Yes
, Tracey. I’m in the kitchen. Come eat
.

I get up and put on some
jogging pants and a shirt, to meet him in the kitchen, after cleaning up in the bathroom. It’s easier to make it around his house now—for the areas I go to frequently anyway.

“Hey.” I sit at the island. It’s full of food
—way more than for him and me anyway.

“Hey.”
He grabs a plate from the cabinet and starts putting food on it, then hands it to me. “Juice, milk, water?”

“Milk
, please.” He is mellow. I watch him walk to the fridge, grabbing a glass, and pouring the milk. “You know, there is something I’ve been meaning to mention.” He looks at me as he hands me the milk. “Something your dad mentioned.”

“And what was that?”
He starts making his plate.