Pretend With Me (Midnight Society #1) (26 page)

I never hit the ground though, and not knowing when
I’d closed my eyes, I opened them to find myself staring
into Eric’s eyes. He was holding me up, midair, like the
first time we’d met at my school.
My heart began pumping harder and faster in my chest,
as the almost painful, nerve racking feeling jumping
around inside me came back. Eric’s eyes glowed blue
abruptly, and I could tell that he was feeling the same thing
I was. The same thoughts were going through his head.
I didn’t know how much longer I could fight this
feeling, this lust and desire for him. Eric only had to walk
into the same room with me and I wanted to jump him.
Whenever he touched me, or I breathed in his scent, my
brain cells fried and I couldn’t think clearly. I couldn’t
focus on anything else but him or satisfying the desire
coursing through my veins. I didn’t think I could fight this
feeling any longer, it was becoming too hard and too
painful.
“Neither can I,” he answered my unspoken thoughts,
his warm breath washing over my face. That was my
undoing. I raised my hand and gently touched his face. My
fingers ran along his perfectly sculpted jaw line, so gently it
was almost as if I wasn’t touching him at all. My body was
acting without thought, and I felt myself pull his face
down to mine. The moment our lips met, fire heated my
soul, pulling me away from this world and shoving me into
another that belonged only to Eric and I.
He tried pulling us up without breaking the kiss and
then once again I was falling. This time I hit the ice with a
thud, but it didn’t hurt as I thought it would. Confused, I
opened my eyes and found that Eric had broken my fall. I
was halfway on top of him and halfway tangled up with his
arms and legs.
“Oh God,” Eric huffed out, pained. “Jen, you elbowed
me,” he groaned lying flat out on the ice.
“Wasn’t that bad,” I muttered, untangling myself from
him, sitting at his side.
“That’s because I fell first and you conveniently landed
on top of me,” he groaned yet smiling.
“Are you okay?” I asked, staring down at his face. He
let out a breath and raised a hand, giving me thumbs up.
“Good,” I said getting up off the ice. “Now can we
migrate because I’m freezing my butt off,” I laughed,
standing up above him. He stretched out a hand to me and
I instantly took it, pulling him up.
“Sorry,” he murmured gathering up the coats. “I forgot
about that.” Eric then held out one of the coat to me.
After I had shrugged it on, he pulled out a pair of white
gloves from the pockets of his coat and without asking if I
wanted them, took my hand and began putting them on
me.
After they were on, he opened his coat and I realized
that it wasn’t a coat. Instead there were more articles of
clothing meant to keep me warm. Some minutes later , after
I was all bundled up in thick, warm clothing Eric suddenly
vanished in one of his flash movement. A second later, he
materialized behind me, almost scaring me to death. I
would never get used to him doing that.
Eric stooped down, taking my foot in his hand,
replacing my shoes with skates, one at a time. When he
was finished, he put on his own skates and then he was
slowly pulling me along.
“Aren’t you cold?” I asked, gripping onto him for life.
“Do you get cold?”
“Yes we do, well purebloods do… but it takes a lot
more than this…” he trailed off, making a move to release
me.
“Don’t you dare let go of me, Eric,” I warned.
A dazzling smile flashed across his face as he released
me sliding away. “You can do it, Jen.”
I shut my eyes and pushed myself to move towards
Eric. Surprisingly I didn’t fall. I found myself smoothly
gliding towards him. “Oh my God,” I cheered excitedly,
clapping my hands. “I’m not falling, Eric,” I giggled, “I’m
actually really doing it!”
“I knew you could,” he chuckled unsurprisedly, skating
up to me and wrapping his arms around me. We stayed on
the ice for a little while longer, but then I got hungry and
he led me back towards the house. We didn’t go inside,
instead he led me to the back of the deck, towards the
smallest table at the end.
During our meal Eric asked me what must be
thousands of questions. He wanted to know about things I
liked or hated. The music I listened to. He asked about the
things I’d done and the books I’d read. But mostly, he was
curious about the people in my life. My friends back in
Trinidad and the life I had there. My heart nearly jumped
out of my chest when he mentioned Kris.
When we were finished eating, Eric took me back to
the lake. We skated for a long while after the sun had gone
down and stars had started blinking in the sky. Hours had
drifted past us before we knew it.
I couldn’t remember having so much fun, ever. I spent
most of the time giggling and laughing it seemed. The
evening was perfect and I was glad that Eric had done it
for me. I would never admit this to him, but I was happy
he’d tricked me into coming on this date with him.
We didn’t get back late, which was surprising, but when
we did I was beat. As soon as I got back, I changed into
one of Eric’s shirts and shorts, and curled up on the couch
in front the TV. I turned it on and began flipping through
the channels, not really looking at anything, but hating the
silence of the big house.
Eric dropped down on the couch, a moment later
staring at me. “I’m glad you had fun, Jen,” he smiled.
I scooted closer to him, draping my arms over his
chest. “Did you have fun?” I asked.
He took my hand and kissed it, smiling. He still hadn’t
taken his eyes off me. “Of course,” he smiled, pulling me
closer to him. I didn’t protest, instead I went along with it,
placing my head just where his shoulder and arm met. He
smiled down at me, kissing my forehead, hugging me
closer to him. “How could I not?”
“I’m glad you had fun too, Eric,” I smiled back. A
silent moment passed us and then I said, “Tell me
something about you that no one else knows.”
“I will if you will,” he chuckled amused. I nodded and
then he sighed, thinking. “I get scared a lot now... for you
that is… When we’re not together I worry about you. I
wonder if you’re okay… Sometimes on mornings, when I
wake up and I can’t find you, I start to panic… I think that
somehow they’ve found you…” he trailed off. I didn’t
have to ask who ‘they’ were. It wasn’t easy to forget an
entire species wanted you dead.
“But then I would sense you, your smell… your light
footsteps. I would hear you singing to yourself,” he
chuckled lightly, “and I would know you're safe.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, taking his hand.
“Why, you’ve done nothing wrong, Jen. Now it’s your
turn.”
I frowned, biting my lower lip. I didn’t answer right
away and the silence stretched on loudly. “The night that
Daren died,” I swallowed “that night I was at a party…
some people… um, they wanted to know something…
and I wouldn’t tell them…”
I felt Eric stiffened, but I kept my eyes focused on the
TV. “And to teach me a lesson… they um,” I raised my
hand and touched the tiny scar at the base of my neck,
unconscious I was doing it. “They gave me this,” I finally
whispered. I could barely hear my own voice.
Eric didn’t say anything; instead he pulled me closer to
him crushing my body to his. His hands had made such
tight fist that his knuckles had gone white. I peeked up at
him and saw that his eyes were now blazing blue as his
tongue traced over his four sharp fangs teasingly.
“Its fine,” I sighed, closing my eyes and squeezing his
hand. “I’ve gotten over it,” I lied. “I’m fine.”

At school, everyone was talking about an upcoming
Black and White ball. Amelia and Emily were a part of the
committee, and so for our entire lunch break they told us
about every little detail of the event. It was supposed to
raise funds for a charity that I really didn’t remember.
Halfway through, I had stopped listening and found myself
picking at my fries as I stared at the other students eating
lunch in the cafeteria.

St. Michael’s cafeteria was like everything else in the
school - huge and amazing. It was kind of like a restaurant,
except you didn’t have to pay for anything. All you had to
do was walk up to the counter and choose what you
wanted from the dozens of dishes. There was no waiting in
lines or mean cafeteria ladies. Even the furniture was
expensive yet comfortable, black wooden chairs and
square tables that littered the circular room. There were no
walls either, or at least that was the first thought I’d had
when Emily had shown me into the room. I’d later realized
that it was glass, so clean and clear it seemed nonexistent. I
could see outside to the well-maintained lawns, where
some of the students were having lunch as well.

“Jen!” Charde elbowed me, making me focus on her.
“You’re going, right?”
“What?” I blinked, staring at her completely lost.
“Dress shopping,” Emily put in.
“Ah… I’m not going to the ball… but I don’t mind
watching you try on dresses,” I muttered.
“Really?” Amelia frowned at me. “So Eric’s going
solo?”
“Eric’s going?” I blurted out.
“He kinda doesn’t have a choice-” she started, but was
cut off when someone at another table began shouting.
Wordlessly, we all turned to find Ryan having a heated
conversation with some other guys at their table. Not
caring enough, Amelia turned back to me and continued.
“His family is one of the founding families of the school…
he needs to be there to represent them.”
“Aw damn,” I sulked, as I got out my phone and
opened up a new message, asking Eric if attending the ball
was necessary. He replied in the same minute.

Eric was at my school - in a board meeting. Well Hell.
Sometimes it was so easy to forget that Eric had so many
responsibilities. I mean he was so laid back and carefree
that it made him seem like just another college student,
when in reality he was anything but. He had board
meetings for a private school and business meetings
concerning the future of more than one multimillion-dollar
companies, and what made it even more unbelievable was
that I’d never heard him complain about having to do
these things.

“I’ll prove it,” Ryan shouted again, this time so loud
and harsh that we all turned to him. “Give me my fucking
magazine,” he then snapped at his friends and stood up.
Ryan then snatched something up from the table and
turned, his eyes locked onto me instantly as he began to
make his way to my table. My stomach dropped as he
closed the distance between us. I didn’t know why but I
felt utter and total dread filling me, and all I could do was
watch as he walked up to me and then leaned down beside
me, ignoring everyone else at the table.

“Hey, Jen,” Ryan began. “Would you tell those
dickheads that this is you?” he said placing an open
magazine on the tabletop in front of me. My breath
stopped instantly. “I knew it was you. I knew I saw you
before…” he trailed off seeing the horror and pain in my
face.

One second - that was all it took for me to shatter
inside. Staring at the picture and the people in it, I couldn’t
help but break apart. My chest constricted and suddenly I
felt as if all the air had been vacuumed out of the room,
leaving me breathless and choking. Once again I found
myself struggling to breathe as tears welled up in my eyes
and the memories of that night flooded me. Seconds later
they rolled down my cheeks, heating my face.

My heart ached, it throbbed and vibrated in my chest
so much that I wanted to rip it out just so the pain would
stop. I couldn’t take my eyes off the picture staring back at
me, even as it broke me apart. Slowly my trembling hands
took the magazine up and gave it back to Ryan. I got up
from the table, turned and walked out of the cafeteria as
the memories of that night replayed in my head. No matter
what I did or how much I tried not to think about it, I
couldn’t stop myself. All I could focus on was everything
and everyone that I’d lost.

Soon I found myself outside the school and almost
instantly warm, creamy air hit me. I kept walking even
though I didn’t know where I was going. I felt like I
needed to keep moving. If I stood still my body would
shut down completely and I didn’t think that I’d be able to
put myself back together again after this.

The next thing I knew was that I was sitting in the
driver’s seat of Eric's car, my hands on the steering wheel.
I could smell his scent coating the air around me thickly,
but even that wasn't enough to break me out of my head.
Without thinking about what my actions meant, I leaned
down, reaching for the wires under the steering wheel.
When I found the ones I wanted, my fingers yanked them
out and then broke them apart. Seconds later the engine
came to life, purring almost silently in the background. It
was like a whisper inside my head, telling me to drive - to
get away from everything and everyone for a while.

I didn’t think, instead I listened to the whispers in my
head and put the car in gear, pulling out of the parking lot
at full speed. The tires squealed loudly and then seconds
later the car shot out into the main road without any
warning to the other drivers. Once there, I peeled off at a
speed that would kill me immediately if I crashed. My foot
pressed down on the pedal, pushing the car to go even
faster and as the speed built I craved more.

Within seconds I was shooting through the streets at a
dangerous speed, running every red light and barely
missing other cars by inches. The more I hurt, was the
more speed I wanted. I needed it. Inside my chest, my
heart throbbed and I gave the car more gas, pushing it
faster.