SORROW WOODS (33 page)

He’d looked so handsome tonight when I first saw him. The black shirt he wore made his eyes

look even darker than they normally did and his tanned skin looked silky smooth. His hair looked as if he’d just pushed his hands through it and it had stuck in exactly the right place. He was beautiful, but as I’d seen tonight, he was also dangerous. Now he just looks sad and tired.

“Can I talk to you please?” he asks, the sound of his voice muffled through the glass.

“You shouldn’t be here,” I whisper, opening the doors wide for him.

He steps into my room and sighs. “I know, but I couldn’t just leave it like that between us. I

need to explain stuff to you.”

I think about how many other times we’ve fallen out. I think about how he first tried to trick

me. I think about our argument we had when he came to see me on my birthday. I think about how

it felt when his hand hit my head and then the words that Anastasia screamed at me because of him.

I know that I’ve already heard and felt enough. I’m not sure we can go back from where we are now.

“I don’t think there’s anything to explain, Kaiden.”

He pushes his hands over his face and rubs at his eyes. “Serena,” he sighs, “please. I need to

say I’m sorry.”

I leave my doors open, letting the sea breeze blow my curtains out. “You’ve said it now.”

He shakes his head and paces up and down my room. “It’s not enough though, is it? I want

to explain why I acted like that. I want you to listen to me when I promise that you’ll never see me like that again.”

“You hit me,” I say.

He shakes his head. “I didn’t mean to. I didn’t know it was you.”

“That doesn’t change the end result though, does it Kaiden? Your hand connected with my

skin and cut it because you were too busy pummelling another guy to look around to see who had

tried to stop you.”

He stops pacing and slumps down on the top of my bed. “He was going to kiss you, Serena. I

had to stop him. I couldn’t let that idiot kiss you like that and take advantage of you.”

I fold my arms across my chest and feel the wind whip across the backs of my calves. “I don’t

see what business it is of yours, Kaiden. I’m a big girl and yes, I might have grown up in the woods all of my life and not been kissed before, but that doesn’t mean I’m stupid. And believe it or not, I’ve picked up quite a bit about how people behave and how boys think from just being here for four

weeks.”

He drops his head down and huffs. “I know all of that. It’s just that you don’t know what

Andy was thinking.”

I want to go to him and put my arms around him. It hurts to see him so sad, but I know I

have to make him see that what he did was wrong and why I’m letting him go. It’s doing neither of us any good for us to keep seeing each other when it’s destroying us. “Are you a mind reader now?”

“I wish I was,” he snaps, standing up and walking towards me. He gently touches his finger to

my temple. “I wish I knew what was going on in here, Serena. You’re always saying that you’re open and honest, but you haven’t mentioned anything about what you’re feeling or thinking,” he says,

placing his hand over my heart, “in here.”

He breathes out deeply and looks up at me. “Being open and honest is more than just telling

me what you think about my car or the animals we saw at the zoo.”

I frown at him. If he wants it, then he can have it. I’m sure he won’t be able to figure out

what’s going on in my head either.

“Fine,” I huff, “I can’t believe you attacked that guy. You made him bleed and while you were

making him bleed, I thought you looked like an ugly wild animal. You’re dangerous and mysteriously dark, and even though there’s a small part of me that is terrified of you after seeing what you did to him, it still isn’t enough to stop me from wanting you and I hate you for it. Whenever I look at you, I feel like I freeze. I can never seem to think properly. You confuse me. You suffocate me.”

I take a deep breath and step closer to him, making sure my voice is nothing more than a

whisper so I don’t wake up Angela or Auden. “I hate that you didn’t tell me about Anastasia. It made me feel like you were laughing at me and mocking me behind my back, just when I thought we were

starting to become friends. I hate that you were the one that found me. I hate that I’m stuck here and I feel like I’ve messed up people’s lives. I hate that I can’t run and swim all day like I could in the woods. I hate that people are mean to me and say nasty things to me. Anastasia was right; I’m a

freak, but that doesn’t mean I like it that that people stop and stare. I hate that I feel stupid and dumb all of the time. I hate it all and right now, I can’t decide if I actually hate you or not.” I sigh and look up at him.

He huffs out a deep breath and raises his eyebrows at me. “Are you done now?”

I let my arms drop by my sides and stare at him, feeling all of the fight drain out of me. “I

guess so. I think what I was trying to say is that I think we shouldn’t see each other again. We’re clearly no good for each other.”

“Right,” he says, stepping closer to me.

I don’t understand the look on his face. Is he angry with me? Confused or upset? Does he

agree with me?

“Kaiden,” I whisper.

“Shhh,” he almost whispers, “I heard you, Serena.” He snakes his arm around my back and

roughly pulls me into him. “I get that I scare you and that you don’t really like me. I understand that’s how you feel, but it doesn’t mean that I’m going to accept it.”

“Kaiden, you don’t get to decide what you accept or not. Not when it comes to me and how I

feel about you.”

His eyes scan my face as the warmth of his body soaks into mine. I can see the blacks of his

irises as they move steadily over my face until they fall to my lips. “You said you wanted me.”

Out of everything I’ve just said, is that what he’s really going to focus on? “What?”

“You heard me,” he says, looking carefully at me. “Tell me that me kissing you right now

would be horrible and that you haven’t thought about kissing me before.”

Tell him I haven’t thought about kissing him? I haven’t thought about anything
but
kissing him. “We’re no good for each other,” I remind him. “We’re too different.”

He smirks. “You’re right, but I want you too much to care about whether it’s right or wrong

now.”

I pull back and stare at him. “What do you mean?”

His hands cup my face so quickly that I don’t have time to react. I only have time to register

his warm, soft lips that seal themselves over the top of mine. My heart slams into the front of my chest with such force that it temporarily forces my breath to stick in my throat. It feels like I can feel every thrum of it, as it forces my blood to crash around my body.

I think I stop breathing. I’ve never felt anyone else’s lips against mine and I can feel my pulse in places that I didn’t even know I had a pulse. I can feel his fingers snaking through my hair and then suddenly they’re at the back of my head, his grip tightening just a little harder.

Goosebumps shoot onto the surface of my skin, making me shiver as his lips start to move

slowly against mine. I can feel the tip of his tongue on the underneath of my top lip and open my mouth just enough so he can slip his tongue in. Every centimetre of my skin feels like it’s got ice cubes trailing all over it. I’ve never felt like this.

Something curls in my stomach and swirls around in there. I can hear my quick breaths and

how they skim across his face. His wet mouth moves urgently over my lips. My heart is still

hammering wildly in my chest. I can’t begin to think about how I feel about this moment. I stop

thinking and just let my body take over. This is everything I thought it would be and I’m sure I could do this all day long.

I feel one of his hands move from the back of my head, trailing softly down my neck and over

my shoulder. He pushes against me, forcing me to stagger back until my back hits the wall. His hand moves steadily from my shoulder, down my arm and onto my hip, where it firmly and confidently

starts to creep across my silk nightie.

Our lips and breaths are a mixture that got lost together a long time ago. I want to touch every

part of him. I push my hands through his hair and feel each silky strand glide easily through my

fingers. He moves his face a fraction so all that I can kiss is his bottom lip. As he starts to pull away from me, I realise I don’t want him to stop. I give him one last kiss before he breaks our connection.

The second we’re apart I want to do it again, but I’m so breathless that I don’t even think I can speak, let alone try to get him to kiss me again.

He leans his forehead against mine and stares into my eyes as a smile starts to creep across

his face. He bites his bottom lip and takes in a deep breath. “I’ve wanted to do that for so long, Serena.”

He brushes his hands through my hair as he pants against my skin. After a few, achingly short

seconds, he kisses my forehead. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispers. “Sometimes, when I look at you, I feel like I can’t breathe.”

I open my mouth to respond to him but there’s a knock at my door. We both freeze, each of

us staring and panting at each other with shocked, worried faces.

“Serena?” calls Auden. “Are you alright?”

Kaiden releases me from his hold and swears under his breath, his eyes darting across the

room. “I’ll wait outside,” he whispers.

I nod and watch him creep onto the balcony, pulling the doors shut behind him.

I clear my throat and hope that when I speak I don’t betray the nerves and excitement that

have just been buzzing around in my body. I suck in a few deep breaths and swallow. “Yeah, I’m fine.

I’ve just had a shower. I’m sorry if I woke you.”

“Can I come in for a second?” Auden asks.

I silently slip into my bed, glancing at the doors that Kaiden slipped through a few seconds

ago and realise that they’re not shut properly. “Yeah, sure.”

He steps into my room with his messy bed hair and smiles sleepily at me. “I just wanted to

check that you had a nice time at the party and that you’re alright.”

I nod and pull the covers up to my chin. “I’m okay and the party was fine. It was pretty much

like what I’d always thought they would be like.”

He smiles and pads further into my room. I watch his eyes dart towards the doors and hold

my breath. “Have you opened your doors?” he asks, looking worried.

“Yes, I was a little hot.”

He takes a deep breath. “I’m not really comfortable with you being in here and having your

doors open. Do you mind if I close them now? If you’re hot, then you can open your window.”

“Oh, okay.”

He walks over towards the doors and pulls the curtains aside. I don’t dare move, as I watch

his eyes scan around my balcony before he slowly pulls my doors shut and turns the key in the lock.

“There you go,” he says, “safe and sound now.”

I smile and let my head drop down onto the pillow. “Thank you.”

“Night, darling.”

“Night, Dad.”

He stands at the side of my bed for a few seconds, staring at me without saying anything. I

wonder if he can see the cut on my head, but if he does, he doesn’t mention anything. He smiles at me again and slips quietly out of my room. I lie as still as I can, staring at my ceiling until I think it’s safe for me to climb out of my bed.

When I eventually pull my balcony doors open, my heart sinks. It’s empty.

Kaiden

Serena’s balcony doors have only been closed for a few seconds when I realise the rustling noise I can hear is coming from the bushes in the garden directly below me. Leaning my head over the

railing that wraps around the balcony, I spot someone lurking underneath, looking as suspicious as anyone would when they’re in someone else’s garden in the middle of the night.

“What are you doing?” I call down to her. I glance back at the doors, remembering that Auden

had just walked into Serena’s room, but figure it doesn’t matter if he hears, because something is very wrong here.

“What are
you
doing here, Kaiden Matthews?”

I don’t know who she is, but she clearly know me and that’s never a good thing.

“How about you hang on there for a minute and I’ll come down to you and tell you what I’m

doing here?” I reply.

Her pale ghostly-blue eyes are all that I can make out as she stares up at me mockingly. Her

head is covered in a sort of scarf, so I can’t see anything other than her eyes.

“I don’t think so,” she smirks, running off through the garden.

I roll my eyes and shimmy down the vines that conveniently climb up the back wall of the

house. When I finally reach the ground, I look up and realise that she’s gone over the wall. How the hell did someone so small launch themselves over that wall so easily? I look around, trying to figure out if there’s any other way for me to get out of Serena’s garden and onto the beach, but realise there isn’t. I don’t exactly have time to waste if I’m going to catch her, so I sprint as fast as my arms and legs will carry me and jump just before I hit the wall, using my feet to scramble to the top.

I throw myself over the wall without even bothering to look back and see if Auden or Serena

had heard anything. I stumble as my feet sink into the sand on impact, shaking my head to try and clear the hangover that I can already feel forming. Scanning my eyes over the moonlit-streaked

sands, I spot a shadow darting near the bushes that line the beach. I don’t even think about what I’m doing as I lower my head and chase after her.

Who is this woman and what is she doing sneaking around the Scott’s garden in the middle

of the night? Why was she anywhere near Serena? And how does she know who I am?