Enchant Me (17 page)

Sinking my hands into his midnight hair I
kissed him back with all the love I felt, and bit by bit I felt the
tension that had held him, leave. Our kisses became languorous and
soft. I couldn’t stop caressing his neck, down his shoulders and
then trailing up his back, and along his arms just to turn around
and start all over again. I couldn’t get enough of him. As his body
became warmer, it released his cologne into the air around me. I
felt surrounded by him, body and soul. If time had ever stood still
for us, it was this moment… I could almost hear the ticking of my
watch slow, the rustling of the willow tree go quiet, and the
burbling of the creek rush to a halt. 

Breaking the kiss, I opened my eyes and
pulled away a little; startled by the quiet. Abruptly, as if I had
broken some spell, all the sounds and movements of the world around
us came rushing back in. The sensation was so shocking I shuddered
with pain. Then I realized it wasn’t that at all. It was a vision,
more intense than ever before, knocking on my head demanding
entrance. I could hear Christian talking to me asking me if I was
ok but he sounded so far away. The temptation to fight it was
strong but something told me I would regret it if I did. So I let
it in… 

The vision shoved to the forefront of my mind
and eyes. I seemed to be looking out of my own eyes at prom. I
could see the decorations, hear the music, and everyone was dancing
and having fun. I was at the refreshment area making sure everyone
was being taken care of. Then I saw what looked to be Christian, he
had a mask on like everyone else, but the build and hair color
marked him. He walked straight over to me and held out his hand.
Taking it I followed him out onto the floor. It was too dark to see
the expression in his eyes, but something was off, wrong…He was
cold, impersonal. I didn’t feel that awareness that I usually felt
with him. There was just nothing between us anymore. My heart
shattered at this, so tonight must mean nothing too. There was no
hope for us. 

The vision wasn’t ending on its own, so I
shook it off, forced it away and focused on Christian’s worried and
wary face in front of me. My head still throbbed horribly and it
was starting to make me a little sick.

“I need to go lay down,” I
whispered. 

He slowly let my legs down so I could stand
on my own but kept one arm around my waist to hold me up. With his
other hand he lifted my chin so he could look straight into my
eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t feel good,” I said and attempted to
step towards the path to the house where I could lay down.

But his arms locked around me and I wasn’t
going anywhere. I gave him a sharp irritated look but it bounced
right off the fierceness of his face. “You had another
headache again.” It was a statement not a question.

I nodded carefully, not seeing any point in
lying. I must have done something that had tipped him off. I
watched fascinated as a wide range of emotions crossed his gorgeous
face. When his dark bangs fell into his eyes I started to reach up
instinctively to move them and he caught my hand, stopping me, and
I remembered the vision. He didn’t really want me. I couldn’t
fathom why he was kissing me tonight and tomorrow he would be so
cold. Almost as if he was saying goodbye. I would have to assume
that maybe he was just playing with me. He didn’t seem the type,
but what did I know.

Between feeling physically sick and now
emotionally sick, I didn’t know how I was going to get through the
night. Ripping out of his hold I trudged back to the path and
headed to the house. I trusted the friends that were partying to
stay out of trouble so I wasn’t worried about them. Christian
treading quietly behind me-- that had me worried.

“Do you only have these headaches around me?”
he growled, sounding closer than I had thought. 

Furiously I rolled his question around in my
mind. What did he mean by that? Did he think I was like one of
those women that told their man she had a headache to avoid him? He
was crazy if he thought that. 

“No, I don’t just have them around you. Why
would you even think that?”

He made some little sound of masculine
disbelief as he followed me up the steps to the house. Knowing what
tomorrow was bringing, I just wanted him to leave. I couldn’t let
him be around if I was on the verge of breaking down. Once I had
the door open I stood on the top step blocking him from going
inside. “I can take it from here, thanks.” 

I stared him down and at the same time
catalogued for the last time everything I loved about him. The way
his dark hair fell into his face, the glorious tall toned build,
and the perfect symmetry of his face, full lips and sultry eyes.
Even anger was beautiful on his face. This was readily apparent at
the moment. In confusion I watched as he took the last steps until
he was on mine, forcing me to step into the house to avoid falling
backwards. 

“I am not leaving you by yourself when you’re
sick.” Grabbing my arm he led me further into the house, closing
and locking the door behind us and was looking around. “Which room
do you stay in?”

I tried ineffectively to pull my arm out of
his warm grasp but he was relentless in his pursuit of seeing me
settled. I felt my head throb more heavily, and subdued, I led him
to the room I stayed in when I was here. It was nothing like my
room at home since grandma had decorated it and not me. Although it
was all antiques and white lace, it was still comfortable and I
flopped down on the bed. For a moment I just stared up at him
as he looked down at me. If I could bottle his intensity and
charisma I could probably make a fortune.

Doing my best to distract myself from my twin
pains, emotional and physical, I studied him, letting my eyes
travel down his body and then leisurely back up. I tried to
decipher the look in his dusky eyes but failed miserably. As far as
distractions go, he was a pretty excellent one. As I studied
him, his expression seemed to soften and he sat on the bed next to
me.

“Are you going to be able to rest?” he
murmured.

I shrugged my shoulders in answer. I
seriously doubted it, but I didn’t want to tell him that. I watched
fascinated as he leaned forward, his scent wrapping around me.
Gently pushing his hands into my hair at the scalp he rested his
thumbs on my temples and slowly started to massage them. At first
the throbbing seemed to intensify, then I felt myself starting to
relax, the pain eased and reluctantly my eyes closed to the beauty
of his face, and I slept. 

CHAPTER 9

When I woke up the next morning, Christian
was gone. I lay in bed inhaling deeply-- hoping I could pick out a
trace of his cologne, but there was nothing in the air. At least my
headache had disappeared. I sat up and shoved the hair out of my
eyes while my mind churned through my memories of last night,
Michelle’s brother Jaime acting so odd, especially towards Becca’s
cousin Ethan, and then just handing me over to…Christian. Then the
obviousness of the situation hit me. I was right. He had been
babysitting me for Christian, probably by Michelle’s request. Man--
did that girl ever have a mothering complex. We were definitely
going to be having some words at some point, not tonight but soon.
My no longer non-existent temper rose up to choke me. I didn’t know
who I wanted to strangle first-- Michelle for interfering, Jaime
for agreeing, or Christian for being so…I don’t know.
Something.

I groaned when I looked over at the clock.
Six hours to do the millions of things I had to do before Prom.
Forcing myself out of bed, I grabbed my overnight bag, helmet and a
garbage bag to clean up any evidence from last night’s party. As I
rushed out of the house I considered the fact no one had come
looking for me last night. Great, which meant everyone, had seen
our stormy departure last night, more gossip for Crescent Point
High. Maybe fate was preparing me for a life of fame and fortune
where my every move would be documented by the press and this was
just practice. 

Rolling my eyes at myself, I picked up my
pace and ran up the hill. As I looked around the fire pit, I
couldn’t find any trash; it was probably cleaner than it had been
before. Grudgingly I had to admit it was probably momma Michelle
who had seen to it… Sighing I headed back down the hill, got on my
bike and rode home. Pulling up in the driveway I was surprised
to see my mom’s car there. I had figured she would already be out
and about for the day. Baffled, I opened the door to see her
sitting on the couch watching TV, dressed to go out, her purse
ready to go beside her. It was apparent she had been waiting for
me. 

“Hi, honey. How was your visit with your
grandmother?” She asked pleasantly enough. 

To lie or not to lie? Well, I sure as hell
couldn’t tell her the truth. “Fine.”

“I just stayed to tell you to have fun
tonight and congratulations on arranging the prom. I am sure it
will go very well,” she said grabbing her purse, getting up and
coming over to me.

“Thanks, I’m sure it will be fun,” I said
stiltedly, giving her a hug. 

“When is Christian coming to get you?”

I didn’t want to lie again although necessity
was starting to make it a bad habit. I just didn’t want to get into
a discussion about my problems with Christian.

“He’s not. I have to go early to help set
up,” “Oh, well I am sure you guys will have fun and that he
will look very handsome,” she said and smiled.

“He always does,” I murmured and fought the
disappointment that started to roll over me.

I would give almost anything to have him be
there as my boyfriend, dancing, flirting. It was going to be such a
romantic atmosphere-- just not for me. She smiled and patted
me on the shoulder but as she was walking through the door she
turned around and gave me a quick pointed look. “Make sure to use
protection.” I gasped as she shut and locked the door on my
stunned face. Why was it that she always seemed to assume that I
was having sex? Alright I admit if Christian and I were still
together—maybe there would be a chance of that happening. But for
the last two years, every time I told her I needed to talk to her
about something serious she always assumed I was pregnant. It was
kind of insulting. 

Brushing it off, I went to my room to find
the one man in my life I could depend on. He was, of course,
oblivious to my arrival, fast asleep in my papasan chair. Whether
he liked it or not he was going to get some cuddling time so I
unceremoniously lifted him up in my arms and gave him a little
squeeze. Sleepily he blinked his large gold eyes at me and put up
with a minimum of three kisses on his face before he started
wiggling around to be let down. I put him back in the chair and
went over to my work desk.

Deciding I better take care of business
first, I called Michelle to see what in particular she needed me to
do before prom. Neither of us mentioned last night. She was really
excited about going to prom tonight with her boyfriend Craig, and I
tried to be happy for her but I seemed to be doomed to selfishness
at the moment. I wanted to feel that way too. Next I called
the DJ and the performers for the night to confirm. For tonight’s
theme we had hired jugglers, magicians, the arrival announcer and a
string quartet, for when people were just arriving, to set the
mood. In the middle of my calls, Tina texted the time she and
Jim would come by to get me. Since motorcycles and prom dresses
didn’t mix well, they were going to give me a ride. I could hear
the excitement she was trying so hard to repress, to avoid making
me feel bad, which of course only made me feel worse.

Sensing I wasn’t in a talkative mood, she let
me go without comment. Finally done with all the calls and
arrangements, I took my shower and then threw on a robe so my dress
wouldn’t be ruined by makeup or hairspray as I was getting ready.
Sitting down at the mirror I forced a smile to my face. It looked
ridiculous there on the mask that was my face, and I let it fade.
Just then I could hear my friend Michael knocking on the door,
ready to work some magic on my hair.

I smiled in genuine eagerness. Although we
hadn’t spent a lot of time together lately, we were pretty close,
having been through a lot together. He had officially come out of
the closet last year at school and it had been tough for awhile.
Eventually everyone had gotten over it. He was too great a guy to
be hateful to, but then those of us blessed to be his friend had
already known that. When I let him in and he walked past me, I
felt strangely pleased that he was only as tall as I was. I had
about had it with all these tall guys, picking me up and bossing me
around.

“Hi, Michael.”

“Hey sweetie,” he said and gave me a quick
hug. He was already looking over the state of my hair as we walked
to my room. “You just washed it, didn’t you? You know hair styles
easier when it’s dirty,” he accused. 

I snapped a look at him but still smiled, “I
am not going to prom with nasty hair.”

“So,” he said with a lift of his brows. “Were
you planning on being close enough to someone that they could
actually smell your hair?”

I knew he was just trying to make me smile,
so I did and then changed the subject. “So, what were you thinking
of doing with my hair?”

He walked around, looking at me from all
angles. “Hmm, what type of makeup look are you doing?”

“I was thinking of doing a sort of soft
romantic look. The dress is a satin, sleeveless, emerald green
dress that dips down into a sharp “V” in the back.”

I watched as he nodded his head, patently
creating the perfect image in his mind. I completely trusted his
judgment. He already volunteered his skills for different theatre
groups and word of his talent was already getting around. His
future was pretty assured. It was a measure of our friendship that
he was even here tonight.