Secrets Abound (Supernaturally Bound Book 1) (17 page)

By the time we got to the school, my hands were beginning to feel numb. Aiden pushed open the window he had left cracked. He sprung up higher than I could and crawled through it. I stared at the distance from the ground to the window without confidence. Aiden stuck his head back out and gestured for me to toss him the bags.

Once all the bags were inside, he reached down, offering me his hand. I grabbed hold of it, and he lifted me up through the window with unbelievable strength. The warmth inside the school felt incredible.

Without a word, we set to work. The plan was to turn the school into one humongous haunted house. We found a few more bags that we had stashed throughout the school earlier in the day.

We separated to cover more ground. The halls were eerie in the darkness. I cleared my mind of all scary thoughts and began decorating lockers. Once I was finished with that hall, I entered the girls’ bathroom. I flicked on the light. The lightbulbs gave off a quiet humming sound that couldn’t be heard during a normal school day.

Childhood stories of Bloody Mary and the Candy Man played in my mind. Anxiety rooted itself in the pit of my stomach, and I wanted to hurry out of the bathroom. I couldn’t leave my job unfinished, so I rushed through the decorating. After only a few minutes, I decided I was done and moved to leave.

My hand pushed the door, but it refused to budge. A lump lodged itself in my throat as I suppressed the urge to panic. I took a deep breath and tried, again. No luck. I separated my feet to get a better stance and pushed with all my weight. Still nothing. Okay, I was officially panicking. My alarm went from a four to a ten as the light flickered out.

I threw my body against the door over and over. I glanced over my shoulder and saw the ring demon standing under the bathroom window. I screamed in horror as he opened his mouth to reveal each of his pointed teeth. He moved slowly toward me with his jet black eyes glued to my face. His earlier promise to kill me suddenly surfaced.

“Why haven’t you listened to me?” He continued in my direction. “You fucking bitch!” He shouted as he neared me with his hands raised as if to grab my neck. “I’ll rip your pretty little throat out!” He roared as he lunged the final couple of feet.

I cringed, frozen in fear, waiting for the impact. Then, I heard a voice through the door as someone tried to open it from the outside.

“Bridget? What’s going on? Why won’t the door open?” I heard Aiden’s voice cut through the sound of my pounding heart.

“It’s stuck.” I tried to keep the panic from my voice, but I was unsuccessful.

Relief flooded me as the door flew open and the ring demon disappeared. Aiden tugged me from the bathroom and wrapped his arms around me.

“Are you all right?” He asked.

“Yeah, sorry. I guess I get creeped out easily.” I inhaled slow breaths.

“I think anyone who’s watched a scary movie with you could have told you that.” He teased.

“Shut up.” I laughed, and it helped to calm my nerves.

All that was left was to prepare the grand finale which would be the principal’s office. Aiden borrowed yet another bobby pin to unlock the door, and this time I had him show me. We put a life size zombie in Principal Heckler’s chair behind his desk. I propped a pencil in his right hand. Aiden pulled out a red tie that was exactly like the one that Principal Heckler always wore and tied it around the zombie’s neck.

“Where did you find that?” I asked him, laughing so hard I had to wipe tears out of my eyes.

“I bought it in England.” He explained.

After we decorated the rest of the office, we strung a bucket of slime above the door. So when Principal Heckler opened it Monday morning, he would get a nice surprise
Nickelodeon style
.

We carefully made our way back through the school to the chemistry lab, carrying the bags with us so we wouldn’t leave any evidence. Aiden threw the bags out the window onto the ground and then bounced down after them, landing on his feet. I followed his lead, much less elegantly, though. I landed on top of him causing both of us to tumble to the ground.

“Are you okay?” He asked helping me up.

“Yeah, are you?”

“Yeah. We should go before someone spots us.” He asserted. We grabbed the bags and headed home.

The next day was indeed a snow day, so our prank remained on hold until Monday when everyone returned to the school. I put it to the back of my mind and focused on the fact that we now had a three day weekend. Excitement filled the air in the tiny town of Waverly.

Everyone was outside, enjoying the snow. Parents were helping their kids build snowmen. People were digging out their sleds from their attics. Children were building forts to protect themselves from flying snowballs. It was a cheerful day.

I slipped on snow boots and my coat and crawled out my window to meet Aiden. He was dressed the same as always. I guess he didn’t consider snow to be a worthy enough reason to change his attire.

The first thing I did was race to the front yard and plop down into the snow. I laid down on my back, moving my arms and legs back and forth to make a snow angel. We spent the next few hours playing in the snow, having a carefree time, but unfortunately I had to work the evening shift, so it came to an end sooner than I would have liked. I was distracted the entire walk to work thinking about the concert the next night. I wasn’t sure if I’d even get any sleep that night.

When I got to work, I was surprised when Betty called me into her office. When I opened her door I saw two police officers from Lincoln sitting across from her desk. I closed the door behind me.

“Bridget King?” One of them asked me.

“Yes.” I said hesitantly.

Were we already caught? How could they know already that we broke into the school? Maybe someone saw us. My heart began to speed up, but I kept my face neutral.

“Do you know Jenny White?”

“Yes, is she okay?” I asked, suddenly worried.

“That’s what we’re trying to find out. It seems she ran away. Have you heard from Ms. White recently?” The balding officer asked.

“Not since she moved to Lincoln.” I answered.

She ran away? That seemed a bit bold for Jenny, but she probably just couldn’t stand to live with her uncle. The officer stared at me, trying to read my expression and decide if he believed me or not.

“Alright, well give me a call if you hear anything.” He said, handing me his business card.

“Okay, I will.” I said, and he stood to leave.

After my shift ended, I began my trek home, thinking that the snow seemed less magical when it was seeping into your shoes. The wind cut through me with its icy fingers just as something that felt like very real fingers grasped my shoulder from behind.

“The time has come, bitch. I’ve got plans, and you’re in the way.” The ring demon announced inches from my ear as he slid his hand from my shoulder to my neck.

“Let me go!” I screamed as he started sinking his freakishly long nails into my throat, but it was no use. He used his free arm to trap me against his chest.

“You’re not listening.” He whispered in a deceptively calm voice.

“Just leave me alone!” I growled as I shoved at his chest.

“You know what you have to do for that to happen.” His eyes darted to the road where a blue Prius slowed down next to us. He gave me one last look of warning before vanishing.

“Bridget, do you need a ride?” Mrs. Harris asked through the window.

“Sure.” I said as I attempted to hide my erratic breathing.

For the first time ever, I was grateful for Mrs. Harris’s pointless chatter. It allowed for me to become lost in my thoughts without the need to participate in a two sided conversation. My heart pounded with anxiety when the reality of his threats sunk in. I had no idea what to do.

Later that night, as I had predicted, I had trouble sleeping. I fidgeted as I thought about the ring demon, then Jenny, and then Aiden. Then, thinking about all the unusual things I’d been seeing. Then, thinking about how abnormal I’d been acting. I simply could not shut my brain off. When I finally did drift off, I had a disturbing dream.

It was confusing. We were at the concert having a great time, but then it suddenly got dark, and I became terrified. I wasn’t sure what I was scared of, but it was definitely someone or something. I felt someone grab me. Then, Aiden was fighting someone. He spun toward me and said, “Let’s get out of here.”

When I woke up, my heart was still racing, and my breathing was heavy. I remained in bed for a moment in the dark before I twisted around to look at my alarm clock. It was three a.m. It took me another hour to get back to sleep. I woke up the next day around noon to Aiden shaking me.

“What do you want?” I snapped, irritated that I was being woken up.

“Get up. I want to show you something.” He told me.

I made a moaning noise and kicked the covers off of me. He handed me a cup of coffee and led me outside to where a truck was parked.

“I officially have my own wheels.” He announced.

“This is yours?” I asked, surprised.

“Yeah, my brother bought it for me, today. We can take it to the concert tonight.” He grinned.

“So, your brother knows we’re going to a concert in Lincoln?” I arched a brow.

“Not exactly. He thinks we’re going to a movie in Omaha.”

“Okay, so ixnay on the oncertcay.” I said, brushing off my Pig Latin.

“Exactly.” He laughed.

After I got dressed, we went for a drive. His truck was nice. The interior was brand new. As I was checking out the inside, I noticed a brown bag under my seat. It had a bottle of Jack Daniels in it.

“For tonight, so we don’t have to worry about our fake ID’s.” He explained.

That was a fantastic idea because the fake ID’s we had weren’t the greatest. They only worked half of the time except for at the liquor store down the street. It worked there every time because the clerk was ancient and nearly blind.

“Awesome, I’m so excited.” I exclaimed.

“Yeah, me too.” He grinned.

Eli

Eli stared down at the picture in his hand. It was one of him from the bonfire party and there was a bright red X across his face. On the back it read:
Stay Away
. He glared down at the envelope it came in, once again. So, Aiden knew where he lived. Eli was not surprised. That little bastard always was resourceful. Of course, if he thought this would deter Eli in any way, he was dead wrong. In fact, this made Eli all the more determined to get close to Bridget. If he could hook up with a hot girl and piss Aiden off at the same time, well that was just a win-win situation.

Later that evening, Cassie came over to help me get ready for the concert. She brought a few outfits for me to choose from. I ended up wearing a pair of tight skinny jeans that Cassie said made my butt look fantastic, a black off-shoulder top that clung to my chest emphasizing my curves, and black heels.

“Should I wear my hair up or down?” I asked her.

“You should wear it down in loose curls.” She declared. “So, is tonight,
the night?
”

“No, I don’t think so. I’m not even sure where we stand, right now. He’s been giving me so many mixed signals.” I complained.

“What kind of signals?” Cassie layered on her watermelon lip gloss.

“He always pulls away when we’re making out, for one. I’m just starting to think he’s not interested in me that way.” I confessed.

“I can tell from the way he looks at you that he’s interested in you that way.” She asserted.

“How does he look at me?” I asked skeptically.

“Like he’s a fat kid on a hot day and you’re a double dip ice cream cone.” She announced. I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help laugh at the analogy.

“Well, then how do you explain his behavior?” I asked expectantly.

“Maybe it’s because you’re a virgin.” She shrugged.

“How would he even know that I’m a virgin?” I frowned. Was my inexperience that evident? My face burned at the notion. Was my virginity a turn off for him?

“Sorry to break it you, B, but it’s sort of obvious.” She announced. She let out a laugh when she glanced over at me. “See? You’re blushing, right now. When you make sex into a big deal, it puts a lot of pressure on a guy.”

Her words gave me pause. Was my virginity placing pressure on Aiden? I never meant to make him feel obligated to live up to some fantasy of what a first time was supposed to be like. Is that how he felt? I was silent as these thoughts bombarded my brain.

Cassie left ten minutes before Aiden crawled through my window. He was wearing dark jeans and a white shirt that was slightly form-fitting. When he stood right under the light, I could see his abs through the shirt, and I thought of how it felt to kiss them. I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t realize I had been staring at him. I felt embarrassed until I realized he had been staring at me, too.

“Wow, you look beautiful. “ He said after a moment. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah, do you have the tickets?” I asked him as I grabbed my black coat.

“Of course.” He said, as we crawled out my window.

Once we were in his truck, he switched the heater on. There was still plenty of snow on the ground but the roads had been cleared by snowplows earlier in the day. It was an especially cold night, and I was grateful that the concert was inside.

“How’d you convince your brother to buy you a truck?” I asked Aiden after we had been driving for a few minutes.

“It was an early graduation gift.” He told me.

“Oh, yeah? How does he know you’re not going to flunk out in the next three months?”

“My straight A’s have him confident that I’m not.” He laughed.

“Well, if you were a true friend, you would flunk and graduate next year with me.” I teased.

Although I said it lightly, I
was
distressed by him leaving for college soon. I didn’t even know how to imagine my senior year without him around. Cassie would still be here, but I couldn’t talk to her the way I could talk to Aiden. The thought of him leaving made me feel lonely.

“Cheer up. We still have six months before I go anywhere. Let’s just enjoy our time together.” He said, obviously able to see the sorrow on my face.

“Okay, you’re right.” I agreed, deciding to push thoughts of him leaving to the back of my mind. I grabbed the bottle of Jack. “Cheers.” I took a swig as I turned the music up.

By the time we got to the concert, I was already tipsy. We parked in a spot halfway between the building and the highway. We stood in line for twenty minutes before we made it inside.

There was an unknown band on stage playing. They were opening up for Psycho Sally. They were decent, but nobody was paying too much attention to them.

It was extremely crowded and people kept shoving their way in between Aiden and I, so he grabbed my hand and led me to our seats. The instant his hand touched mine, it felt like energy was running through our linked bodies.

Not long after we sat down, Psycho Sally came onstage and began playing. It was a remarkable show. Everybody was up dancing and singing along. Even the mosh pit got a bit too crazy and had to be broken up by security. I couldn’t believe how many people were there. When it was over, everyone started moving toward the exits all at once.

“It’s going to take a while to get out of here. I’m going to run to the restroom.” I told Aiden.

“Okay, I’ll meet you out front.” He said and morphed into the crowd.

When I finally made my way to the bathroom, it was equally as crowded, so I had to wait a few minutes. I finally got to a sink and washed my hands. I smoothed my hair down a bit. It didn’t look too messy considering I had been dancing all night. I guess that hairspray Cassie let me use was well worth the money she spent on it.

As I left the bathroom, there were three guys standing in a dark corner, drinking beer and talking. They were so large and muscular they could have been pro football players. The burliest of the three had a scruffy beard and was bald. As I passed them by, one of them howled a crude comment to me.

“Fuck off.” I told them and kept walking.

One of them grabbed my arm and yanked me over into the corner. The moment his hand touched my arm, the thrumming began to build again, but this time it was more out of fear than anger.

“What did you say to me?” The bald one muttered.

He was close enough that I could smell the beer on his breath. These guys were drunk. I was outnumbered and they were larger than me, but I wasn’t going to let them intimidate me.

“I said fuck off.” I told the guy as I ripped my arm free.

I knew by his expression that I had pissed him off. He shoved me against the wall and held me pinned there. He had one hand over my mouth so I couldn’t scream and one arm across my chest.

“Someone needs to teach you how to treat a man.” He slurred at me.

That’s when his friends decided they were going to help him out. Each of them grabbed either of my arms and held them against the wall. The one with the bald head still had one hand on my mouth, but his other was now free. He reached his hand up my shirt, inching toward my chest with a disgusting sneer on his face.

I felt his cold hand on my stomach and the thrumming instantly became a heavy buzzing. As he groped my chest, I felt a painful jab against my hip. I stared down in disgust when I realized his erection was poking my side. He followed my gaze and saw what I was staring at.

“That’s what a real man feels like.” He declared with a nasty smile as he thrust forward into another sharp jab.

My stomach rolled as my terror pulsed through my body with an intensity that seemed to be growing. As my body trembled with disgust, his warped mind interpreted it as a sign of anticipation for what he thought he had to offer.

“Like that? Yeah, you like that. You want some more? Big Eddie will give you what you been craving.” He murmured in a husky voice.

His friends muttered in encouragement as he thrust forward at me again, but this time when his erection made contact with my body, all the energy buzzing through me surged into him where his body met mine.

He fell back like he had been shoved and was doubled over. He crumbled to the ground, howling in pain. His two friends were still holding my arms but stared down at him in dazed confusion. I realized my mouth was no longer covered.

“Aiden!” I screamed as loud as I could.

I knew there was no way he’d actually hear me but my first instinct had been to call for him. As soon as his name left my mouth, they snapped out of their confused state, and I was again the center of attention.

Now, they were irate. The other two picked me up and threw me to the ground. One held my legs down and the other held my arms while covering my mouth this time. I was seriously starting to panic, now. I couldn’t believe that only a few minutes ago this room was packed, but now it was empty. I tried getting free, but these guys were strong. I didn’t know what they were going to do to me, but it couldn’t be good.

“Hey Eddie, we got her for you.” The shorter one of the three said, and then turned to me. “You’re really going to get it now, bitch.”

Before I even had a chance to react, I saw a blur and suddenly my hands were free. It took my brain a few seconds to realize that the blur was Aiden’s fist punching the crude remark right off the guy’s face. I was relieved Aiden had heard my scream, but before I could process the situation, Aiden had kicked the second guy in the face while he was crouched over my legs.

Aiden turned back to me and offered his hand. He asked, “Are you alright?” Before I could respond, his nose scrunched up like he got a whiff of something horrible. He immediately jerked back. In a menacing voice that sent shivers down my spine, he said, “
What did he do to you
?”

He whirled away from me with a rage in his eyes that I had never seen before. As his head turned, Eddie’s fist slammed into the side of his face, but Aiden was unaffected as he retaliated with a blow of his own. Eddie’s whole body rocked with the force of Aiden’s fist. With Eddie incapacitated to the point that he no longer posed a threat, I assumed it was over, but I underestimated Aiden’s fury. I was worried that he was taking it too far when I saw the intensity in which he began to punish Eddie with repeated blows.

I rushed forward unsure of how to stop him, so I did the only thing that came to mind. I pressed my body against his back and circled my arms around his waist. Eddie began to topple backward, and I tightened my arms around Aiden’s waist as he leaned forward with the intention of continuing his assault. His entire body tensed for a moment. I whispered his name, and he seemed to snap back to reality.

He spun around and put his arm around my shoulders as he ushered me away. He said, “Let’s get out of here.” His words struck a chord in my memory. Last night’s dream came rushing back to me with a spine tingling sense of déjà vu. As these disturbing thoughts coursed through my mind, I stumbled. Aiden moved closer to brace me from a potential fall. At the door, there were a few security guards, so we stopped and told them what happened. They set off in the direction we indicated to find the men.

The parking lot was packed full of cars trying to get out. By the time we made it to his truck, we realized it would be a while before we could even get out of our spot. Since we were both in need of a moment to collect ourselves, we decided to wait it out in the back of his truck.

When I finally had a second to comprehend what had just happened, I felt a lump form in my throat and tears fill my eyes. I swallowed hard forcing the lump back down and then the unreleased tears dried up. I despised crying. Holding back tears had become something I was excellent at.

We were lying down staring up at the stars for a few minutes before Aiden flipped over on his side propped up on his elbow. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah I’m alright. You showed up just in time.” I smiled up at him to show I truly was okay.

“Just in time would have been before they even had a chance to touch you.” He said, sounding cross with himself.

“It wasn’t your fault. You can’t be with me every second. I’m just thankful you heard my scream.” I instinctively set my hand on his arm.

When I did, there was an invisible spark that we both felt. He reached over and brushed a strand of hair out of my face. I felt tingles where his fingers traced my skin. He leaned down until his face was millimeters away from mine, but he hesitated. My heart beat hastily in anticipation. He stared at my lips, lingering. Losing my grasp on self-control, I closed the gap between us, pressing my lips to his.

I shifted back after a second, unsure if Aiden wanted to continue, but as if our lips were connected by a rubber band, his face surged forward until his lips met mine. All questions of his attraction to me vanished as our kiss became more fervent. His lips were warm against mine. He wrapped his arm around my back and drew me closer to him. His tongue traced my lips and enter my mouth where it intertwined with mine. His hand slowly slid down the curve of my side and rested on my hip. My chest was pressed against his as our kiss went deeper. Our lips remained locked for what seemed like a lifetime until the kisses tapered off into gentle caresses of his lips along my jaw.

As I lay cradled in his arms, I never felt so cherished and safe in my life. I pressed my face into his chest and breathed in his scent. I felt him press his lips against the top of my head and linger for a moment. When we finally broke apart, we realized we were the only ones left in the parking lot.

“Maybe we should go before we get run off by security.” I told him, but secretly I wanted to continue cuddling.

“Yeah, we probably should.” He sounded disappointed, as well. He hopped down off the truck and helped me so I wouldn’t break my ankle trying to jump in my heels.