Secrets Abound (Supernaturally Bound Book 1) (14 page)

“You, go to the nurse’s office.” Principal Heckler said, pointing at Vicky. “You,” he said, pointing at me, “my office, now.”

Aiden loosened his grip, but hesitated a second before letting me go completely. He gave my hand a reassuring squeeze as I moved away from him and trudged to the front of the school. I sat down in the way too familiar chair in Principal Heckler’s office.

Principal Heckler and Vice Principal Phinn had obviously been discussing me before they waltzed through the door because they both fell silent when they entered the room. They sat across from me as I nervously played with my bracelet that Aiden gave me. I had worn it every day since he gave it to me.

“Alright, Miss King, let’s get right to it.” VP Phinn said, glancing through a folder that, if I had to guess from the size of it, was probably my permanent record. “You are suspended for the rest of today and tomorrow. Then, you will have two weeks of detention every day after school in the library.”

“
Two weeks?
But
she
attacked
me.
” I argued.

“Which is why you are getting off so easy.”

I shut my mouth knowing that if I kept talking, I would simply end up with even more detention. I was smart enough to know when to stop speaking… most of the time.

I wandered to my locker to grab my bag so I could go home. I was surprised to see Aiden waiting for me there. Third period had already started, and he was supposed to be in health class.

“What are you doing here?” I asked him. He held up a bathroom pass and I said, “Oh.”

“What happened?” He asked me.

“Suspended for two days and detention for two weeks.” I yanked my bag out of my locker.

“What were you thinking?” He sounded frustrated.

“I wasn’t. I’m sorry.” I said, unsure of why I was apologizing but just feeling the need to. “Thank you for breaking it up before things got too bad.”

“You’re welcome.” He said gentler than before. “So what are you going to do today?”

“I guess go home and work on my project. You want to skip school and come help me?” I suggested, not actually expecting him to agree.

He thought it over and then surprised me by saying, “Okay.”

“Alright, I’ll meet you out front.” I told him.

After I stopped by the darkroom to pick up the rest of my pictures, I signed out at the front office. Aiden was around the corner of the school where no one would see him leaving with me.

The first thing I noticed when we arrived at my house was that Judy’s car wasn’t there. I was curious where she went, but I felt relieved that I wouldn’t have to explain anything to her. I unlocked the front door and entered the empty house. This was a rare thing. The house almost
always
had someone in it, usually Judy. She didn’t work and mostly sat around drinking all day.

I dropped my bag by the foot of my bed and flopped down on the floor beside it. Aiden slid down next to me, leaning against my bed. I dumped out all my pictures and spread them across the floor in front of us.

“Okay, the first thing we should do is separate all the pictures by gender and then age.” I declared. After a few moments of sorting, Aiden picked up a picture and examined it. I glanced over to see which picture it was. “That was at the bonfire.” I said, seeing Eli’s picture in his hand.

“You don’t need him in your project, do you?” Aiden asked.

“Actually, I do. I have to have a
hundred
people in my project, and I’m still short a few. Each
one
counts.” I told him, grabbing the picture from him and setting it in the young male pile.

“Then, use me instead.” He grabbed the picture again and tossed it into my waste basket. I smiled at him and grabbed it back out.

“Nice try, but that wouldn’t work. Mrs. Walker specifically told me no friends.” I explained, setting the picture in the pile, once again. “Why are you acting so jealous over a picture?”

“It’s not the picture. It’s the guy.” He said, reminding me of the fight we had the night of the bonfire. He had never explained to me why he loathed Eli, but I knew now wasn’t the time to question him.

“A guy that I met once at a party and haven’t seen since,” I said, scooting closer to him and putting my arm through his, “and who is probably off somewhere in Lincoln while I’m here with you.” I leaned up and kissed him. I slid onto his lap where I was straddling him. “A guy who doesn’t get to do this.” I continued as I kissed him, again.

“True.” He gripped me tighter, guiding me down for another kiss much more intense than the last two. His mouth was warm and tasted sweet. His tongue was hot and wet as it massaged mine. He wrapped an arm around my waist and moved me closer to him. I felt his excitement through his pants, and my body called out to feel more.

I had always told myself I was in
no
hurry to have sex, but if there was any guy that could change my mind, it’d be Aiden. I slid my hand through his hair, interlocking my fingers with its thick strands. Aiden tugged my shirt up over my head. His hand slipped up my back and had my bra unsnapped before I even knew it. I wondered exactly
how much
experience he had.

He stared at my bare chest with admiring eyes before continuing to kiss me. His hand slowly found its way around to my front and cupped one of my breasts. His kisses moved sensually down my neck until they found themselves on my nipple. Electricity shot through every inch of my body. His teeth grazed my breast, and I let out a gasp of excitement. As warmth spread downward, I pressed my pelvis as close to Aiden as I could with our clothes on. He lips found mine and kissed me, once more

We were jolted back to reality when Aiden’s phone started playing a guitar solo. We stared at each other breathing heavily as the phone continued to ring. He reached into his pocket and tugged it out.

“Cassie?” He spoke into the phone. “Hold on a second.” He handed the phone to me and I put it to my ear.

“What’s up?” I asked. Aiden handed me my shirt and slid me off of him. He got up and left the room. It sounded like he went to the bathroom.

“What the hell happened today? I heard you got
suspended
for kicking Vicky’s
ass
.” She said. I could tell she was in the cafeteria from all the noise in the background.

“Yeah, I’m suspended today and tomorrow. How’d you know to call Aiden’s phone?” I asked, pulling my shirt on over my head.

“He’s not at lunch and he’s with you ninety percent of the time.” She pointed out.

“Well,” I said, pausing to make sure my bedroom door was closed so Aiden couldn’t hear me, “you have the worst timing.”

“Oh my
God
, were you two playing hide the salami?” She asked.

“No,” I whispered.

“Whatever.” She said in a disbelieving tone. “Anyway, I was going to ask you if you wanted to go the mall, later.”

“Sure, but let’s go to a different mall, this time.” I said. I desperately didn’t want to run into that creepy guy, again.

“Okay.” She said, and I heard the bell ring in the background. “I have to go. You and Aiden can resume making out.” I tried to make myself deny it, but I was a terrible liar, so I remained silent. “No response? I knew it! You two
were
making out. Is he a great kisser? He looks like a great kisser.” She continued. Part of me wanted to tell her that he was an amazing kisser, but I didn’t want him to overhear our girl talk.

“I can’t talk about this, right now.” I said, lowering my voice again as Aiden strolled back into the room. “Go to class, and I’ll see you after school.” I hung up the phone and handed it back to Aiden. He placed it back in his pocket and sat down on the floor across from me. I felt somewhat disappointed by the distance between us, but I knew I needed to work on my project while I had the time.

“What did Cassie want?” He asked as he sorted through the pictures.

“She asked me to go to the mall with her after school.”

“Are you guys going to the one in Lincoln?” He asked with that worried edge his voice always got.

“I’m not sure. We might check out one in Omaha, this time.” I said.

“That would be better.” He commented.

I rolled my eyes at that. “Aiden, if I want to go to Lincoln, I will. I’ll do what I want.”

“Yeah I
know
. If there’s
anything
I know about you, it’s that you will do
exactly
what you want.” He said in what sounded like an exasperated tone, but when I ventured a glance at him, he was smiling. “Which is something I both hate and love about you.” He said, taking me by surprise.

“As much as you try to boss me around, I would have thought it was something you completely hated.” I frowned.

“I don’t mean to boss you around. It just drives me crazy not knowing if you’re safe.” He said apologetically. I felt my stubbornness begin to subside.

“I get it. I guess, I’m just not used to having someone care about me.” I admitted.

“Well, you’ll just have to get used to it.” He paused. “Because I do.” I bit the inside of my cheek to suppress the goofy grin the insisted on being plastered across my face.

We spent the next few hours fixated on my project and ended up getting the majority of it finished. By the time Cassie showed up, we were putting all the pictures away. Cassie crawled through my window with her hand over her eyes in a dramatic gesture.

“Third party here. Put the clothes back on.” She said, as she proceeded to peek through her fingers. Seeing our decent state, she commented, “What? Do you need more time? I can come back in an hour.”

“Cassie, just come in.” I said with a blush. I glanced at Aiden to measure his reaction which was cool as always.

“Fine, are you ready to go?” She asked me.

“Yeah.” I said. Since no one was home, I guided Aiden to the front door. “I’ll see you, later. Thanks for helping me with my project.”

“No problem.” He paused in the open door.

We stood there awkwardly not sure what to do. Were we at the stage where we kissed each other goodbye? Wanting to end the moment but not wanting to push it too far, I stuck out my hand for him to shake. I instantly felt ridiculous, but it was too late, and I had to see it through. He took it and gave it a squeeze. Once he left, I closed the door behind him and twirled around to see Cassie leaning against the wall.

“That was hard to watch.” She pressed her eyebrows together.

“Did I really just shake his hand?” I asked horrified.

“Yes. Yes, you did.” She said. “You guys seriously have to DTR.”

“Yeah, we do.” I agreed, knowing we had to
define the relationship
or there would only be more awkward moments to come.

The ride to Omaha was spent singing along to the radio. It was fantastic to feel carefree after everything that had been happening, lately. It truly seemed like things were beginning to look up, for once. Vicky was gone, Aiden and I were getting closer than ever, and the more Cassie hung out with Ryan, the happier she seemed to be. Not even the evil ring demon could put a damper on my mood.

For the first hour at the mall, we went from store to store trying on clothes and shoes. I usually didn’t enjoy this type of thing, but I was in a fantastic mood, and nothing could bring me down. Or so I thought.

We decided to go to one last store which sold accessories. We were trying on sunglasses when I heard a familiar laugh off to our left. I glanced over to see Vicky in the jewelry section with Candy and Mandy. Of all the places for her to be, of course, we had to run into her here.

I was tempted to simply leave the store, but Vicky spotted us, and I didn’t want it to seem like I was running away. So, I set my bag down on the ground and grabbed another pair of sunglasses. I was determined to appear unaffected by her presence. I was checking out my reflection in the mirror when I saw Vicky saunter up behind me.

“Just so you know, I’m going to a private school in Lincoln, now. So, honestly, you did me a favor. Now, I get to go to a
way
better school where they take out the trash. Not give it a school ID and call it a student.” She said in the snottiest voice she could muster.

“Don’t mention it. In fact, not having to see your face every day is thanks enough.” I twirled around to face her.

I noticed that her face was almost back to normal. Her black eye had faded and her nose wasn’t puffy anymore. Damn, she must have a spectacular plastic surgeon. She made a “humph” noise and shoved past me, bumping into me as she did so. I fought back the urge to start another fight with her and twisted back to Cassie who was staring hopefully at the situation. I could tell she was waiting for round two.

“Let’s just go.” I told her.

She gave me a face of disappointment but nodded in agreement. I slung my bag over my shoulder and headed for the exit. I was startled when the alarm sounded as we strolled through it.

“You two, stop right there.” We heard the security guard say.