Enchant Me (23 page)

Lifting my hand towards it, I closed my eyes
and concentrated as hard as I could. I actually jerked in surprise
when suddenly it was in my hand. I glanced down at Cody who was
staring fixedly at the bundle of threads and ribbons in my hand.
Carefully using my powers, I lifted it back up into the air a safe
couple feet away from me and his sharp little nails, and started to
let it bob up and down. Cody in turn, got into his hunting crouch,
and when he thought it was low enough, he sprang for it. We played
like that for awhile until both of us wanted to pass out from
exhaustion. We both literally crawled into bed and I reached
over to set the alarm for tomorrow. I groaned, realizing how early
I would have to get up to go home, shower and get ready for school
but I passed out before I really had time to get a healthy amount
of dread going.

CHAPTER 12

When I got home the next morning from my
grandmother’s, my mom had already left for work, saving me from any
time-consuming explanations or rather-- lies. I was going to need
every spare minute I had to get ready for school today. After
feeling like I had looked like a zombie from The Night of the
Living Dead for what felt like days, I felt the need to look my
most beautiful. I decided to wear the same outfit as when Christian
and I first met but as I looked into the mirror I realized
something was missing. Quickly grabbing my airbrush and filling it
with ink, I found my Celtic knot stencil and applied it to my hand
and with a quick spray of black ink over it, now I was
ready. Pulling into the parking lot, I automatically looked
for Christian’s car. Disappointment rippled through me when I
didn’t see it. I wondered if he was too exhausted and slept in. I
would have to call him after first period. Coming down my own
lane, I noticed him then. He had parked next to my usual spot.
Leaning against his car, a patient smile on his full lips, dark
hair ruffling in the breeze, he was utter temptation wrapped up
into one ridiculously masculine package. Once off my bike I
practically leapt into his arms. He actually did fall back a little
against his car but seemed to appreciate my enthusiasm.

“I missed you last night,” I said honestly
but with a bit of mischievousness too. His brown eyes sparkled
with intent.

“Me too, I had a hard time going to sleep
without you there.”

My interest in going to school started to
crumble while I stared up at him, enchanted as always. His eyes
shuttered as he bent towards me but I could still see the glint of
desire underneath his lashes as his lips touched mine. I felt my
own desire crash into me; my feeble sense of restraint slipped and
I found myself sinking my teeth into his bottom lip to let him
know. We both pulled away breathing heavily; eyes open, studying
each other, considering…

“You know,” I said, “You could just fail out
this year and re-do your senior year with me.”

His lips quirked up at this, but then he
shook his head. “No way in hell.”

Releasing me, he grabbed my hand and towed me
into school. “You can’t blame a girl for trying,” I called to
him, trying to be heard over the roar that was the hallway just
before class. 

He pulled us up short in front of my class
door, yanked me into his arms, and pressed a thoroughly devastating
kiss on me, and then whirled my completely stunned self into class.
He proceeded to do this for the next couple of classes and then met
me on my way to lunch. I took a quick peek at him, almost afraid of
what he would be tempted to do if I did anymore than
that. 

“Are you making up for lost time or are you
just staking your claim?” I said and laughed. His arm was
tight around my waist as we walked into the lunchroom, and when he
glanced down at me I could still see that same heat in his eyes.
“Both.”

When we sat down at the table with a mixture
of both our friends, I could see that Tina and Becca were bursting
to get me alone to ask about my prom weekend. Their eyes were wide
and they were wriggling their brows suggestively at me. I tried to
give them one of my sternest warning glances to not completely
embarrass me. While Tina got the message, Becca did not. As soon as
Christian’s attention was elsewhere, I jabbed the heel of my boot
into Becca’s foot. In shock, and I guess a little pain, she yelped,
jerked her knee up in surprise, which of course then slammed the
table, and she yelped again. I knew that I should feel bad, but I
just couldn’t drum up a bit of regret. Instead I started laughing
so hard tears streamed down my face. Becca glared daggers at me
while Tina, doing her best to keep a straight face, rubbed her back
and asked her if she was ok. Christian had turned to us at the
first yelp and glanced between the three of us, trying to figure
out what was so funny, or irritating, depending on your
perspective. Although I wasn’t going to tell him exactly what
happened, when I did try to talk, I started laughing all over
again. Eventually I wound down but Becca, having lost patience,
swept off in a huff and limped out of the cafeteria.

Lunch was almost over and I realized I hadn’t
even touched the lunch I had brought from home, and glancing over
at Tina, saw that neither had she. I had a feeling that we had the
same affliction…the love diet. That feeling when you are so in
love, you never seem hungry. Like love is enough. She gave me a
signal with her eyes that she wanted to be alone to talk. While I
wanted to spend every minute with Christian and definitely enjoyed
having his body pressed against my side, I really did want to talk
to Tina too. I turned to Christian.

Sensing my stare, he looked down at me.
“What’s up?” he said, smiling.

 “I am going to talk to Tina for a
little bit before class.”

He was pondering something but I couldn’t
tell what it was. “Keep an eye out,” he murmured before quickly
kissing me goodbye.

I knew Christian was worried about Nicolas.
With everything that had happened, I had forgotten about him.
Shaking off the cold feeling of dread that went down my spine, I
turned to Tina and her news of the weekend. Arm in arm we
walked out of the lunchroom heading for the parking lot outside so
we could walk and talk somewhat privately.

“So how did it go?” I asked, excited for
her.

 Her dark eyes lit up from within with
remembered memories. “Didn’t Jim look gorgeous, oh my god, I
couldn’t take my eyes off of him,” she giggled at herself and I
smiled. “Of course, most of the other girls couldn’t stop staring
too,” I heard the disgruntlement in her voice at this. 

“Don’t worry,” I said and gave her a little
nudge in the ribs. “They don’t stand a chance. He is so head over
heels for you.”

She slanted a glance at me. “I bet you’re
pretty pleased with yourself, aren’t you?”

I smiled and then laughed. “Yeah.”

I watched as she dutifully checked her
watch. “Oh no, the bell is about to ring and we didn’t even
get to really talk.”

“I will call you later, after Christian
leaves tonight.”

“You promise?” she said, giving me a quick
hug.

“Yes,” I said, watching her run ahead of me
since her class was farther away.

I followed behind at a more leisurely pace,
observing the other students all rushing into the building until I
was the last one outside. As I started to reach for the door, I
felt that uncomfortable and becoming all too familiar, feeling of
being watched. The sensation felt like someone had dripped ice
water down my back. I gripped the door handle in my hand, but swung
around and looked over at the mental hospital. I saw Nicolas then,
almost blending into the tree that he was leaned against. I felt
torn in two, part of me trembled in fear begging me to take the two
steps into the safety of the school, the other side bellowed in
anger and I had to fight the urge to not go over there and demand
he leave me alone. As I stared into his ice blue eyes I started to
sense something that shouldn’t be there, couldn’t be there. I
concentrated harder on him just as a supply truck passed between
us. When I looked again he was gone. I scanned the whole area but
couldn’t see him. My aggressive side urged me to walk over and try
to find him, but ultimately caution won over and I opened the door
and went to class. 

The rest of the school day passed in a blur.
Christian and I almost got into an argument because I refused to
discuss what was wrong until we got to my place after school. I had
a feeling that he already had a pretty good guess on what the issue
was. I really wasn’t sure if I should tell him. While I did revel
in Christian’s possessiveness and protectiveness, I knew in this
case, especially with his powers, how dangerous the situation could
get. Worse-- now I had to worry about what Nicolas might be capable
of, too. I was still considering my options as we parked and went
into my house. 

Cody was at the door to greet us, having
already been dropped off by my grandmother who had a spare key. He
chirped in the cute little way he had, his tail straight up in the
air in happiness. Unable to resist, we both dropped to our knees
and started petting him. After a couple minutes I lifted him up in
my arms and rubbed my face against the soft plushness of his.

“You are so perfect,” I said putting him back
down and patting his back as I got up.

 Following me into the kitchen,
Christian arched a brow, staring at me. “You know, I was joking
about the whole competition for your heart thing.”

Laughing, I poured us both glasses of water
and walked to my room. Deciding that sitting on my bed together
would be too tempting, I dropped down into my Papasan chair and
watched spellbound as Christian descended onto my bed. Spreading
the length of his tall muscular form across my bed, his dark hair
fell across his face as he stared back at me, silently compelling
me to lie next to him. I had to lock every muscle down to stay
where I was. We needed to talk and that wasn’t going to happen if I
went over there.

“Stop tempting me; we really have to
talk.” 

He shrugged his shoulders and threw my
pillows behind his back so he could recline, but still look at
me.

“Can’t blame a guy for trying,” he replied,
his eyes sparkling with wickedness.

He was paying me back for this
morning. I started to spin the ring on my thumb around and
around as I considered how to word things in a way that he wouldn’t
react in an overprotective, dangerous way.

“Christian, I want you to promise me you
won’t do anything based on what I am about to tell you.” His
eyes shuttered, hiding his feelings from me, he rolled further onto
his back as he stared up at the ceiling. “This is about Nicolas,
isn’t it?”

“Do you promise?” I insisted, watching him
warily. 

Quickly he rolled to a sitting position and
stared me down. “No.”

When I didn’t respond to this, he swiftly
stood up and walked over to me. “What did he do Lex?” he
demanded. I belatedly realized two things: One, he wouldn’t
allow me to not tell him and two, I would have absolutely no
control over how he reacted. This was bad in so many ways. I
rapidly tried to think of a way to back track out of this
particular conversation, but I was sidetracked by how I could
actually feel the rising of his anger and protectiveness. He
stood over me, his knees bumping mine: I refused to look up until I
had figured out how to deal with this. There had to be some way to
get him to leave it to me. Maybe my mom and I could call Nicolas’s
parents or I could talk to my cop friends and they could have a
discreet word with Nicolas. In the future, I would have to
remember Christian wasn’t long on patience. Suddenly he leaned over
me, gripped the sides of the Papasan and forced it to lay flat so
that I was staring straight up at him, caged between him and the
chair. Thinking time was over. 

“Lex,” he growled, “what happened?”

“Nothing,” I blurted, “do I look hurt?”

His eyes darkened as he stared at me, “Don’t.
Lie. To. Me.”

I quickly subdued my reactive shiver at his
tone, “Christian-”

He must have decided that intimidation wasn’t
working so he braced a knee in the chair against my thigh and
leaned over. His warm breath flowed down my face and his scent
filled the space between us. I was so mesmerized by his masculine
grace that my train of thought literally jumped the tracks. If he
thought seduction was going to work--he was right. He’d just be
lucky though, if he got one intelligent word out of me. He
opened his eyes wider as he looked at me, letting me see the desire
that was mixed in with all the other emotions.

“Lex?”

“I saw him at school watching me today.”

I could hear the squeak of the wicker chair
as his hands gripped the frame tighter. “What happened--
exactly?”

“I felt like someone was watching me as I was
just about to walk back into the school building. I looked around
and saw him, pretty much in the same spot. We stared at each other
and I started to…”

“What?”

“I sensed--that there is something different
about him. No, that’s wrong. Actually there was something very
familiar about him,” I looked at Christian pointedly. “Something
similar to us.”

Christian leaned away and stood up, staring
down at me perplexedly. “What?”

“I know. I can’t believe it either.”

“That’s impossible. There can’t be that many
of us around.”

I pointed at my purse on my desk. “Can you
get my phone?”

He reached over, dug through my purse and
handed it to me. “Who are you calling?”

“My grandmother, maybe she will have some
idea.”

I quickly brought up her number and dialed,
praying she was home. On the third ring, she picked up. “Grandma
Anne?”

“Yes, what’s going on?” she asked, worry
laced in her tone. She seemed to always know when something was
wrong without me saying anything. Maybe she was a little psychic
too. I put her on speakerphone so Christian could hear her. I
sighed. “Do you remember my ex-boyfriend Nicolas?”