Into the Fire (19 page)

Logan

I know Jeremy’s Cara’s brother, but right now I really want to hit him. I haven’t seen Cara for days, haven’t held her, haven’t kissed her. I don’t even fully have her back yet, and he’s already screwing things up for me. I hold my hand up to him, trying to let him know politely I’m not giving up this time with Cara. “Listen, man, we just got here. Can you give us a little time?”

Jeremy glares at me like I’m his least favorite person before he turns to Cara. “The only reason I’m here is because Mom wouldn’t let you come alone, but this is too much for me. I don’t feel well, and I want to go home.”

“You’re leaving already?” Rachel walks up and places her hand on Jeremy’s shoulder. “I was hoping we could dance a little more.”

“Sorry, Rachel.” Jeremy doesn’t take his eyes off me. “But yeah, we’re leaving. Cara and I, at least.”

Cara looks torn. She grips my hand, but reaches for Jeremy. “Can we talk about this in private?”

“We can talk on the way home.”

“You know Mom won’t let me come back here alone. If you leave, I’ll have to, too.”

Wow, her mom hates me that much? I didn’t realize Jeremy was here as her chaperone.

“Sorry, but I think it’s for the best.”

“What does that mean?” I ask. When did he jump on the “we hate Logan” bandwagon?

“It’s family stuff. I’m sure you can find a ride home with Rachel or Rob.”

Rachel shrugs at me, seeming to not have a clue what’s going on. I feel the same way. I don’t know what got into Jeremy. I thought he was busy dancing with Rachel. Is it because he caught me making out with his sister? It’s not like I was feeling her up in the hallway or anything. I even stopped her when she tried to pull me closer. I deserve major points for that.

“Look, Jeremy, if Cara’s leaving, then I am, too.”

Cara lets go of my hand and pushes Jeremy aside. “What the hell is wrong with you? Is your fever making you act like this? Because you’re being a complete…”

I know she can’t say it. She’s too good a person, and she loves Jeremy. I really want to fill in the blank for her, but I don’t want to start a feud with her brother. It’s bad enough Cara’s mom doesn’t like me. I don’t want to make it a family tag team event.

“No.” Cara shocks the hell out of me with the forcefulness in her voice. “This is crazy. I’m not leaving.”

“If I leave, you have to, too. Mom doesn’t even know you’re with him.”

I was stupid enough to believe her mom let her come because it was a group thing and not a one-on-one date. “Cara, I had no idea you lied to hang out with me tonight. This isn’t right.”

Jeremy crosses his arms. “See? Listen to Logan.”

Cara grabs my hand and pulls me down the hallway. “Go ahead, Jer. Tell Mom I’m with Logan. I don’t care. But find your own ride home.”

I look back over my shoulder. Jeremy isn’t following, and I can’t help thinking it’s because he’s going to call his mom. Things are about to get so much worse. Still, I’m not willing to end my time with Cara. I let her pull me out to the backyard where Nick has a bonfire set up. They sure like bonfires around here. Cara walks us right over to it and reaches out toward the flames.

“Whoa!” I pull her back, afraid she’ll get burned. “Easy there.” I hold her hand, making sure she’s okay.

She’s shaking with anger. “I’m fine. Heat doesn’t bother me.”

I rub her arms to calm her. “You say that, but you’re burning up.” She lets me back her away a bit. “I don’t want you lying to your mom or fighting with your brother for me.”

“You don’t understand. They’ve both changed in the past few days. We used to all get along so well. We were one of those rare happy families.”

“They
are
rare. My dad’s never home, and when he is, I wish he was gone. Seeing him makes me think of Mom’s accident. I can’t separate the two. I can’t stop blaming him.” I shake my head, wondering why I’m telling her all this. “You have no idea how lucky you are to have them.”

Her eyes water. “Yes, I do. Or I did, at least. Everything is different now.”

I can tell there’s more to it, and she looks like she wants to tell me, but the tears take over and she can’t seem to find the words.

“Don’t do this.” I can’t handle seeing her cry.

“I’m sorry. I hate crying in front of people.”

I kiss her tears away and hug her to me, and I see Jeremy up on the deck. At least if he did call his mom, it was a short conversation. But if he comes down here, I’m not going to be able to keep my cool. Not even for Cara’s sake. He’s the reason she’s crying. I lock eyes with him, and he turns and walks away.

Rachel walks out, spots Cara and me, and nods. She mouths, “I got it” and goes after Jeremy. I’m going to owe her big for this.

Cara rests her chin on my chest and looks up at me with red eyes. “I’m sorry you’re in the middle of my family drama.”

“I just wish I knew what I did to make them hate me so much.”

She runs her hand up and down my arm. “You didn’t do anything. I did.”

“What could you have done?” She’s so good, better than any person I’ve ever met.

“I’m not living up to the person they want me to be.”

“Then that’s their problem.” I take her face in my hands and kiss her lips. “Because you’re incredible.”

She looks away for a second and then her eyes meet mine. There’s a longing in them, highlighted by the flicker of the flames reflected from the fire. “Why me?”

“Trust me, most people have fallouts with their families from time to time. You’re no different.”

She shakes her head. “I meant why did you pick me? Was it just because you met me first?”

Does she really think that? “No. My God, Cara.” I run my fingers through her hair. “Do you never look in the mirror?”

“You can’t like my hair that much.”

“It’s not just your hair.”

“Was it my bikini? I don’t normally wear such revealing bathing suits, but I didn’t think anyone else would be at the falls.”

I laugh. “No, it wasn’t your bikini, but I wouldn’t complain at all if you wore that around me again soon.”

She blushes. “What is it, then?”

“At first, it was me being a guy. You’re a hot girl. Of course you got my attention.” It’s like I can barely censor my thoughts around her. “But like I told you before, I can talk to you. No one’s ever made me want to open up the way you do. I have to admit, sometimes I feel like a complete wuss for telling you about my mom, but I know you won’t think that about me.”

“I don’t.”

“I can’t even talk about her with my dad. Whenever I bring her up, he tells me I have to let go and rejoin the land of the living.” I squeeze my hand into a fist. “It’s a good thing we aren’t around each other much.”

“Was it always that way, or has it just been since your Mom…” She trails off, not saying the words that tear through my chest whenever I hear them.

“He loved her. Always her. Always more than he loved me. I was fine with that. She deserved someone who loved her more than anything. But he always wanted to change her. Make her more like him.” My jaw clenches. “I resent him for that. She was pretty damn close to perfect the way she was, but nothing is ever good enough for him.”

“But he loved her. Deep down, he must’ve thought she was close to perfect.”

I shrug. “I guess I’ll never know.” It’s not like I can ask him. “Doesn’t matter anyway. No one is perfect, right?”

She looks away, staring at the bonfire. “When you told me you dated a lot of girls in New York, it freaked me out a little.”

I knew it. My past is my biggest flaw in her eyes. Did she tell her mom about it? That would explain why her mom doesn’t like me and why Cara thinks it’s because of something she did. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t sure if I should tell you, but I was trying to be honest. I never cared enough about a girl to want to tell her about the things I’ve done wrong.”

“You regret dating those girls?” She looks almost hopeful.

I think about it for a second, and something Mom told me finally makes sense. “I asked Mom once why she always gave in to what Dad wanted and if she ever regretted any of those decisions. She said everything we do contributes to the person we become. I always thought it was a copout answer, but I understand it now. So, no. I can’t say I regret dating those girls.” Her face falls, but I raise her chin with my finger. “They showed me that they weren’t what I wanted. I want something meaningful. I want you.” I sound like the kind of guys I used to make fun of, but I can’t stop myself.

She smiles, but her eyes water again. What did I say to make her cry now? “I’m sorry. Should I not have said that?”

“No. You said everything right. I can’t believe I’m crying. I thought the whole ‘crying because you’re happy’ thing was just an expression.” She wipes her eyes and laughs. “Guess not.”

I smile and wipe her cheeks with my thumbs.

“How do you always know what to say and do?”

Now it’s my turn to laugh. “Don’t give me too much credit. I’m in completely new territory, and I’m stumbling my way through it.”

“You’re not stumbling at all.”

“No? Since I’ve met you, I nearly cracked my skull open
and
got hit by a car—all in an attempt to get you to like me. I’d say I’m failing miserably.”

She steps closer, leaning into me. “I don’t know. Looks like you got my attention pretty well.” She reaches up, and I lower my head to kiss her, but she whispers, “And just so you know, I would’ve noticed you even if you hadn’t nearly killed yourself twice.”

I laugh. “So I guess I shouldn’t try so hard from now on?”

“Well, that depends.” She gives me a wicked sexy smile. It’s a side of her that doesn’t come out that often, but God I love it when it does. “How hard were you trying when you kissed me in the hallway?”

“Before Jeremy broke us apart? Very.” Her face falls at the mention of Jeremy, so before she can get upset again, I wrap my arms around her waist and lift her off the ground for a second.

She squeals in delight, which is all the encouragement I need. I kiss her as if we weren’t at a crowded party, only a few feet from a roaring bonfire. I don’t normally open my eyes during a kiss, but I have to see her face. The firelight has been dancing off her hair, making her look like some sort of sexy angel/devil hybrid. I focus on her face first, bathed in light. Her skin glows red.

The bonfire must be going strong, because I feel like
I’m
on fire. I don’t know how Cara can stand being this close to the flames. My skin is practically burning. No, not
my
skin. Cara’s. Everywhere she touches me feels like flames licking at my skin.

I pull away, afraid I’ll find her in pain. We have to back away from the bonfire.

She opens her eyes, confused. “What’s wrong?”

“You don’t feel that?”

“Feel what?” She looks around. “All I felt was you, and I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

Maybe I’m imagining it. I pull her back to me, breathing in her cinnamon scent. Her arms wrap around my neck, and she presses her lips to mine. Her scalding hot lips. I’m not imagining this. She’s unbearably hot. I pull away. “Cara.”

“What?”

Next to us, the bonfire crackles and the fire grows, licking at us. “What the hell?” The barrel containing the bonfire explodes and flames shoot everywhere. I grab Cara’s arm and pull her to the ground, covering her body with mine as fire rains down around us.

Cara

Logan’s on top of me, shielding my head with his hands. Screams ring out through Nick’s backyard. I heard the fire explode and saw the flames coming toward us, but before I could react, Logan tackled me to the ground, covering my body with his.

“Damn it!” He squirms, and I know he’s been burned.

“We need to move.” I try to get out from under him, but he has a tight hold on me. I have to get him off. The fire won’t burn me. I can control it—maybe, if enough of my Phoenix abilities are working—but not when he’s protecting me like this. “Logan, let’s go. If we stay here, we’ll keep getting burned.”

He gets to his knees, but he keeps me under him. I have to crawl with a Logan-sized backpack. We make it to the deck and climb up.

His eyes scan my body, making sure I’m okay, before he says, “Stay here. I’m going to get a hose and put the bonfire out.”

I nod, watching the flames dance in the night air. It’s mesmerizing, hypnotic. As if on autopilot, I move back down the stairs and on the lawn, stepping closer to the fire. Flames flicker and stray sparks fly around me. I reach out, trying to grab them. I can wrestle them back. Use my body temperature to cool them or bring them to me, but that might spark my rebirth. I can’t decide what to try first, and my hands are already in the flames. The heat dances across my palms and wrists.

“Cara! What are you doing? Get back!” Logan’s voice barely registers. It’s like I’m in some sort of bubble, and he’s a distant memory. He calls my name again and water pours down on the bonfire and me.

As soon as the fire is out, I shake my head and look around. I’m right in front of the barrel, touching it.

Logan drops the hose and grabs my hands, turning them over to look at the damage. “What were you—?” His face scrunches up. “That’s impossible. Your hands should be charred from that heat. Blistered at the very least.”

I pull them away. “I guess the water cooled the barrel.” It’s a logical explanation, isn’t it?

“No way. Your hands are scorching hot. They should be burned, but they’re not.”

“Cara!” Jeremy rushes over to me. His shoes have burn marks on them, which means he was outside when the bonfire went crazy.

“Jer, are you okay?” I’m still majorly pissed at him, but that doesn’t mean I want him to be hurt.

“I’m fine. We need to go, though. Right now.”

He’s back to that already? I was almost killed in a freak bonfire accident, and he wants to go home so I have to end my date with Logan? “Don’t start that again.”

“Cara.” Logan’s eyes plead with me. “Maybe you
should
go. Jeremy’s obviously upset, and you’re still shaken up from the fire.”

But this is our first real date. Nothing was supposed to ruin it. Not a bonfire mishap and certainly not my little brother. “I don’t want to leave.”