Salvaged Soul (The Ignited Series Book 3) (16 page)

Chapter 16

{Kris}

I dreamt that Nathan was back, Callie was better, and the three of us were celebrating with cups of hot chocolate. We were in Boone, sitting with our feet dangling off the edge of the bridge over the river that had changed my life. Usually, dreams of that river were bad dreams, spurred by bad memories. This one wasn’t so bad. Well, it started off okay anyway.

When Megan and Lauren rose out of the water, both encased in an angelic white glow, a familiar sense of harmony flowed through me. That peacefulness was something I had only recently started to feel when dreaming of them. The sight of my friends no longer frightened me. Now, they usually had reassuring messages and smiles for me, and that was always great.

But this time their focus seemed to be on Callie, and that worried me.

“Over here!”
I wanted to shout to draw them away from her, but in this dream, my mouth didn’t work.

Lauren floated in front of Callie, and Callie smiled as Lauren’s hand reached out to her. Callie didn’t sense what I sensed. She was happy, and I was suddenly very scared.

“You can’t take her!”
My plea went unspoken, and unheard.

Lauren’s hand brushed Callie’s cheek, and I watched silently, powerless to stop whatever happened.

What was happening? Was this it? Was Callie being collected—to join my other friends, because she too, should have died that night? Was fate finally catching up to Callie?

“Not yet.”
Lauren’s soft voice echoed through the valley.

It repeated louder in my head . . . and louder . . . and louder. And then I wasn’t safe on the bridge anymore, but submerged under the water, looking up at a blinding light above. It grew brighter as I kicked for the surface, but I never broke through. A pressure settled in my chest as I realized that I was back in the familiar drowning dream.

I jolted awake, clutching my chest as I gasped for air. On a deeper level, I knew I was only suffering the remnants of a dream, but it took a few moments longer for my body to get the memo. Sweat beaded on my forehead, my breaths came in rapid, shallow bursts, and my pulse pounded like I had just run a marathon. The ceiling slowly came into focus above me, and I realized that it was early morning, and the sun had just started to rise.

It took me another moment to realize that I heard a voice calling my name. A face shifted into my line of sight, and I saw Nathan.

My breathing steadied, and I managed a smile. “What are you doing here?”

“I slept here.” His brow creased as he studied me. “Are you okay? What just happened?”

“Bad dream,” I answered lazily like it didn’t matter. And it didn’t, not now. But I could tell from the way his eyes remained fixed on mine in silent analysis that Nathan wasn’t satisfied with that simple answer. For his benefit, I added, “It was the river.”

He nodded once. “Same as usual?”

“Pretty much.” Also, as usual, I didn’t want to talk about it. That was something he had learned to accept—to not push me into dissecting my nightmares. When they were over, I wanted to forget about them. Not dwell on them.

Especially this morning. Finding Nathan hovering over me within seconds of waking was a good reason to forget the unpleasantness behind my awakening. I pushed through what little distress still lingered from the dream, and focused entirely on the here and now with Nathan. Because he was back, and I couldn’t be happier about that.

I lifted a hand, and brushed my knuckles against the stubbly shadow on his jaw. “How long has it been since you shaved?”

“A few days.” He leaned into my touch. “Does it bother you?”

His tone suggested that he knew it didn’t, but I answered anyway. “Not at all.” In fact, I thought it was sexy. Not a full beard. But a few missed shaves’ worth of stubble? Hell, yeah I thought that was hot.

“You sure about that?”

The mischievous gleam in his eyes caused my pulse to jump. I didn’t know what he was up to until his head lowered to mine. I prepared for a kiss—and expected it to be another wonderfully glorious moment. But no. I didn’t get a kiss. Instead, I got roughed up by a stubbly chin against my cheek.

“Ah!” I screeched, and pressed my palms against his chest. My hands warmed from the sudden contact with hard, smooth skin. Of course, his chest was bare. And of course, I didn’t manage to budge him at all.

And I wasn’t so sure I really wanted to now. Not with pecs like that at my fingertips.

Nathan took advantage of my moment of weakness. Tossing the bed sheets to the side, he threw a leg over both of mine and rose above me, pinning me beneath him. At the same time, his mouth moved to my ear, his stubble mercilessly scraping against everything in its path.

“Say uncle?” His breath tickled the sensitive spot behind my ear, causing me to squirm in I’m-being-tickle-tortured agony.

“Never!” I pushed against him, harder this time, because I was really ticklish there—and the jerk knew it.

He grabbed my wrists and pinned them above my head. As if I ever stood a chance. He nuzzled my neck, continuing his stubble-faced assault as I twisted and squealed beneath him, completely at his mercy.

“Uncle! Uncle!”

I felt the vibration in his chest as he chuckled. “That’s what I thought,” he murmured dangerously close to my ear.

This time, his breath against my skin didn’t tickle so much as it . . . felt good. Really good. So good a tiny, barely audible moan snuck past my parted lips. Nathan stilled, and the rush of his breath stirred the hair that had pooled on the pillow beneath me. He paused there, for only a moment, before his lips were on the move again, trailing a line of soft kisses along my jaw, coming closer. Closer. . .

His head lifted and his eyes pierced mine the moment before his mouth closed in on mine. It didn’t take long to register the difference with this kiss. Whereas Nathan was usually the voice of reason and the advocate of holding back, this time he was neither. Not that I was complaining. My lips readily parted beneath his, allowing him deeper access.

Nathan released one of my wrists, and slipped his free hand between us. My t-shirt had ridden up some during our playful struggle, and when his hand grasped my hip, he was met with bare skin. From there, his touch moved up, seductively slow, until he met fabric. That didn’t stop him. As his fingers pushed my shirt higher and grazed my ribcage, his lips broke away from mine to sear a trail across my jaw to my neck, allowing a moan to pass my lips.

Nathan stopped suddenly, his mouth pressed to the side of my neck, over my pounding pulse, and his hand froze with the tips of his fingers just under the lace of my bra.

“Kris?” His voice was rough. “I need you to tell me to stop.”

“What if I don’t want you to?” I whispered.

With a heavy breath, his head dropped to rest against my shoulder. He shook it once, and I wondered if it signaled defeat on his part. Had he reached a point that he would let this happen?

Every other time we started to get close, he pulled the brakes because he knew I wasn’t ready yet. And, to an extent, he had always been right. If he said the same thing now, he would still be right. But I had come to the conclusion that this was something that I would never feel completely ready for. Because it was scary as hell thinking about having sex. 

The seconds ticked by with Nathan suspended above me, frozen so still I might have suspected that he had fallen asleep if it weren’t for his labored breathing. I knew what he was doing—gaining his composure so that he could think reasonably.

Sometimes I wished he would let his twenty-two-year-old body do his thinking for him—like every other guy did. Sometimes he was too damn considerate for his own good.

“You know,” I murmured thoughtfully. I traced a finger over the hard bicep positioned next to my head as he held himself up. “One of these days, you’re not going to be able to pull the breaks, and it’s just going to happen . . .”

He shuddered, but I wasn’t sure if it was from my touch or my words. “I’m having a difficult enough time right now.” His indecision was audible in the gruffness of his voice. I waited another moment, and was about to make another suggestive comment, when his head lifted with a, “I’m good.”

I didn’t hide my disappointment. “Okay.”

“I’m not going to let anything happen until I know it’s what you want.”

“How do you know that’s not what I want
now
?”

His smile was tender. “Because I can hear it in your voice,” he answered. “Just like I can see it in your eyes. And here?” He shifted his hand so that it was pressed against my heart, which was admittedly racing pretty damn fast. “I can feel that.”

“What? I’m not allowed to be nervous?”

He delicately traced my cheek before wrapping a strand of my hair around his finger. “Nervous, yes. Uncertain, no. Not about this.” His eyes shifted to mine, driving home the message.

I supposed I got it. Sex was a big deal. Maybe not to him so much—not anymore—but it was to me. He knew it was to me, and he was doing everything in his power to make sure that, when it finally happened, it would be the experience he thought I deserved.

Okay, so I probably had the best boyfriend in the world.

With a teasing smile, I said, “I hate you sometimes.”

“Yeah? Well, I love you.”

He kissed me again, and we tested his ability to keep his composure a little bit longer, before a growling stomach—we weren’t even sure whose—reminded us that we needed to eat. By the time we grudgingly rolled out of bed, it was midmorning.

Nathan left for his room to shower and get ready while I did the same. Before he left, he made plans for us to meet in the mess hall in an hour. Sure, we needed to eat, but there was something he needed to tell me. And Alec. He told me that the two of them would meet me there.

I considered every possibility while I showered and fixed my hair, but by the time I left my room and started toward the mess hall with Kim, I hadn’t come up with any explanation for the excited glint in his eyes.

I ran into Micah and Richie at the door. Apparently, Nathan had requested for their presence as well, which only added to the mystery.

What could he have to tell me, Alec,
and
Micah?

This time of day, the mess hall was mostly empty, and it only took a quick scan of the tables to see that we were the first to arrive. I picked through what was left at the pastry bar, and ended up with a wrinkled chocolate donut hard enough to use as a weapon if necessary.

As I returned to the dining area, Nathan, Alec, and Bruce arrived. Nathan smiled, while Bruce outright laughed at something Alec said. The sight caused my feet to stop working in the middle of the large room.

What had happened to them?
Not that I wasn’t happy that Nathan and Alec were no longer plotting each other’s demise, but it was . . . well, it was weird to see them cordial with each other.

No, cordial wasn’t even the word. They were actually
friendly
.

By the time I shook off the surprise and started moving again, Nathan was watching me peculiarly. I gave him a reassuring smile as I slid up beside him.

“You alright?” he murmured. His eyes leveled on mine with an intensity that slammed me with a movie-reel flood of images from that morning.

I couldn’t help smiling like a giddy moron at the memory. “Perfectly fine.”

“Good.” He planted a kiss to the side of my head, before pulling out a chair for me to sit in. He took the seat next to me as the others settled in around us.

“Alright, Natey-boy,” Alec said. “You’ve got us all here. What’s the big news?”

“You never got a letter from me, did you?” he asked Alec, surprising everybody with the randomness of the question, but none more so than Alec.

“You wrote me a letter?” Alec repeated, a teasing grin forming on his lips. Then recognition flashed in his eyes, and he told Nathan, “No, I never got it.”

What in the hell was going on? Nathan writing Alec letters? Alec looking at Nathan like they shared a secret that no one else was in on? I felt like I was living out an episode of The Twilight Zone.

Nathan leaned back in his chair with a shrug. “It’s coming from the middle of nowhere in Greece, so it’ll probably take a while.”

The serious look on Alec’s face disappeared, and he now stared at Nathan with a grin. “Care to save me from all this nervous anticipation, and tell me what it was about?”

Nathan held up a finger. “Waiting on one more person.”

Before anyone could ask who, the double doors at the entrance banged open. Every head at the table whipped in the direction of the noise as Jared entered.

“Sorry I’m late,” he said, though his tone suggested he could have cared less. He shot Nathan a look that I couldn’t interpret as he took a seat next to Alec.

“
Now
we’re all here,” Nathan chided.

Jared took a drink from the Styrofoam cup he had brought with him, and eyeballed Nathan over the lid. But the visible curve of his lips behind the cup made him appear anything but menacing.