The P.J. Stone Gates Trilogy (#1-3) (4 page)

As I polished off beer number two within five minutes, Bryn decided I was temporarily cut off. I knew he was worried that I would get too chatty like I sometimes did when I was drunk, and start complaining to the wrong person about my lack of premonitions or something. I had one little incident in the girls’ room at one little mixed party like this one, and Bryn has been paranoid ever since. It wasn’t like any of the Regs believed me anyways; they just thought I was really, really drunk. He reached over and snagged my empty cup, set it down near the keg, then took my hand again and tugged me back into the other room. I giggled,
lookout—lightweight coming through,
and scanned the room for any signs of Jenna and Evan. Just as I had suspected—they were both conspicuously absent. “It looks like Evan took Jenna up on her offer,” I called to Bryn over the much too loud music.

Ignoring me, Bryn almost pushed me down on the couch. “Sit,” he ordered. “I’m gonna get you some water. Don’t go anywhere.” He met my eyes with meaning. “And it’s probably best if you don’t talk to anyone until I get back either.”
Bossy much?
I giggled again as he walked away, really starting to feel the effects of those two beers. But hey, at least I hadn’t thought about my dress or boyfriendless situation for a couple of minutes. Sometimes it was nice having the super low tolerance to alcohol that all Seers shared. I couldn’t imagine being like Bryn or Jenna, or, well, anyone else of my kind who didn’t really seem to get drunk. The best they were able to do was get buzzed. That was the reason my kind watched Seers like me so closely at parties like this one.

“Hey, pretty girl. How are you doing tonight?” A guy with longish sandy blond hair and bright crystal blue eyes sat down next to me. He was one of the guys who had been eyeing me when Bryn and I had gone in to get our beers just a few minutes ago. He was kind of cute, and I could sense some power coming off of him. It was very faint, though, and felt like tiny fingers running up and down my exposed skin, causing goose bumps to erupt all over me. I tilted my head to study him for a moment, like called to like, and I just knew.
Seer
. I mean, he wasn’t—obviously—but I was picking up on the dormant power in his blood. Maybe he was exactly what I’d been looking for.

“Hey, yourself.” I grinned at him feeling very relaxed. “What does it look like I’m doing?”

“It looks like you’re wasting that dress sitting all alone on the couch.” His eyes slid down over my body, but instead of feeling self-conscious like I did before, I felt empowered.

“Well, what do you suggest?” I asked with a giggle.

“Come with me.” He grinned, pulling me up from the couch. Normally going off in a party with some strange guy would seem like a bad idea, but this guy seemed harmless, and maybe he was even future boyfriend material.
So why not go with him? What will it hurt?
I smiled back at him and allowed him to lead me out the back door and farther off onto the edge of Ryan’s property where there was a small patch of woods. He pulled a small flask out of his pocket, took a swig, and then offered it to me. “It’s Southern Comfort mixed with some lime.”

I took it from his hand and eyed it suspiciously, as if it would jump up and bite me. “Yeah, I don’t know, I’m already feeling kinda buzzed.”

He gave me an easy grin. “It’s just Southern Comfort, it’s not that strong; give it a go.”

Well, I didn’t want the happy buzz I had going to wear off, so what would one little taste do to me? I brought the flask up to my nose for a quick sniff before taking a shot’s worth into my mouth. “Blak. That stuff is horrible.” I winced at the slight burn it left in its wake.

He took the flask from my hand and drank again before screwing the top back on and replacing it in his pocket. I was still reeling from the horrible taste of the Southern Comfort when he pushed me up against a tree and shoved his tongue down my throat.

Now I was already feeling buzzed from the two beers I had chugged; add in the Southern Comfort and toss in this guy throwing me up against a tree, and my whole world started to spin. “Hey.” My protest came out in a slur as he started to slobber all over my neck. “Hey, wait a second. Stop.” I tried to push him off of me, but he was a lot stronger than he looked. His hands were roaming all over my body, and when he reached down to hike up my dress, stark panic began to take over. “Stop,” I squeaked.

“Awe, come on, baby, it’ll be good. Just relax.”

That’s when it hit me. I didn’t even know this guy’s name, and I had wandered off into the woods with him when I was already halfway toasted. How stupid could I get? “Please. Stop,” I pleaded, my words sounding more slurred than I would have liked. “I’m a virgin.”

He laughed. “Yeah, I don’t believe that for a second.” He fumbled with the zipper on the side of my dress, and I heard a rip. I was kicking and fighting the best that I could, but I was no match for this guy in my current state. He had me pretty firmly pinned. I thought about screaming but realized that probably no one would hear me over the loud music inside the house. Why, oh why, had I gone off with this guy? It looked like the price I was going to pay for my stupidity was losing my virginity to a guy I didn’t even know. I thought of Bryn at that moment for some reason, not because I was wishing he’d come to my rescue, even though I was, but because his face appeared in my mind’s eye, completely unbidden.

“Please, I don’t want this. I’m not lying—I’m a virgin.” I whimpered as his hands skimmed up and over my underwear. Bile rose in my throat. I didn’t want to lose my virginity this way—it just wasn’t fair.

“Get the fuck off her!” Suddenly the guy was pulled from me and thrown to the ground. I was so happy to see Bryn I could have cried, and as soon as I was out of this mess I probably would. “I should break your face. I should break every bone in your body,” Bryn snarled.

I’d never seen Bryn look so—so dangerous. His long black hair had fallen forward into his face, and his dark blue eyes raged with violence. He reached forward and picked up the wanna-be rapist by the neck with one of his large hands, holding him a good few inches off of the ground. A low growl emanated from the back of his throat, and I could have sworn, for the briefest of moments, his eyes sparked an even brighter blue, as if they glowed.

“Please. I’ll leave,” Wanna-be Rapist sputtered while gasping for air. Bryn released his grip and let him drop to the ground with an audible thud. “I’m leaving,” Wanna-be Rapist said, with an edge of panic in his voice. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who thought Bryn looked dangerous. He scrambled up and ran off faster than I’d seen anyone run while intoxicated. Or maybe that was just me?

Bryn watched him go, and then he turned to look at me, his face softening. “You okay, Peej?”

I blinked up at my savior—
Bryn
. Bryn, who I’d known practically all my life—suddenly he looked like a stranger. He really was becoming a Guardian—
my
Guardian—
and
for some reason, in my current state, that upset me. I didn’t want things to change; I didn’t want to lose him. I could no longer hold back the flood of tears that had been threatening to escape my eyes. I slid down the tree, sobbing hysterically.

Bryn dropped down on one knee and tipped my face up with his long fingers to look at him. His face was contorted with some emotion I couldn’t read. “He didn’t—he didn’t—I thought I got here in time.”

“No. He didn’t,” I croaked. “But he would have; he was going to.”

Bryn exhaled one long breath and, wrapped his arms around me, hesitantly at first, but when I sank into him, his hold grew fiercer. “What were you thinking? Going off with him? I told you to stay put.” His voice was harsh, making me cry harder.

“I don’t know. I wasn’t—thinking, that is. I’m sorry, Bryn, so sorry.” My apology, like my thoughts, was slow and muddled.

He let go of me and tipped my face up towards him again so he could look into my eyes. “Hey, why are you apologizing to me? I was just worried is—” He stopped talking as I brought a hand up to caress the side of his face. I’d never really realized how truly beautiful Bryn was. I mean, I noted on some level he was hot, but I didn’t actually take notice. I studied the face that had been one of the most important ones in my life since I was the age of five. I let my gaze roam from his dark blue eyes that were currently churning like a storm at sea; to his high sharp cheekbones; to his full, perfectly shaped lips. The contrast between his strikingly blue eyes and his black hair was nothing short of perfection. Bryn had the most beautiful face I had ever laid eyes on, I decided.

“Do you think I’m pretty, Bryn?” I whispered. His brows furrowed as he looked down at me. “Because I think you have the most beautiful face I’ve ever seen.”
Did I actually just say that out loud?

“Peej—”

I brought my index finger up to his lips slowly, as if my hand weighed more than it normally did. “Shhh . . . No, really. Do you think I’m pretty?”

He swallowed, causing his Adam’s apple to dance up and down in his throat nervously. “No—I think you’re beautiful.”

I frowned at him. “You’re just saying that so I don’t feel bad, you know, because I said you’re beautiful.”

“No. I mean it.” He tucked a piece of hair behind my ear, his hand lingering a moment too long. “So beautiful.” His lips met mine with an undercurrent of electricity. The kiss started out soft and sweet but began to gain momentum quickly. I gasped as his tongue slid in to deftly take control of my mouth. An unfamiliar feeling of liquid heat pooled in my middle, causing a moan to escape from me as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders in an attempt to pull him closer. It was like my body was on fire, and Bryn was the only one who could bring me relief.

And just as suddenly as it had begun, the kiss ended. Bryn stood quickly, leaving me on the ground to stare up at him in a daze. He swore under his breath, turning away from me to run his hands through his hair. “That shouldn’t have happened.” His voice broke an octave lower than normal, causing my stomach to do a little flip flop.

“Bryn.” His name, carrying an unsaid plea, felt new and unfamiliar on my tongue. I wanted his lips on me again, so much so that almost being raped didn’t even feel relevant anymore. Following my duty didn’t seem relevant anymore either. Nothing but tasting Bryn’s lips again mattered in that moment. “Bryn,” I said again, bringing the fingertips of my hand to touch my lips, imagining his were still locked with mine. It didn’t matter that he was a Guardian and I was a Seer; he was Bryn—
my
Bryn.

Bryn turned back towards me, acknowledging my silent plea with wide eyes. Tension was etched into every line on his face. “You’re drunk, and that shouldn’t have happened.”

Maybe I was buzzed, but I wasn’t drunk. And for the life of me, I couldn’t remember why kissing Bryn was such a bad idea. I might have had the memory a moment ago, but it was now buried beneath the fog in my brain. I’d never imagined kissing someone could feel so—
right
. So there was no reason why it shouldn’t have happened or why it shouldn’t happen again. “Why?” I whispered. “Why shouldn’t it have happened? I want—I want you to kiss me again.” When Bryn didn’t move, I felt my cheeks heat with embarrassment. Again, how could I be so stupid? Of course Bryn didn’t want to kiss me again, we were friends—best friends. He obviously didn’t think of me in a sexual manner—like I had told Jenna earlier in the day.

Bryn’s dark blue eyes held so much sadness, I thought it might be possible to drown in them. “I’m a Guardian, Peej. That’s why it shouldn’t have happened.”

“Oh,” was all I managed. How could I have forgotten?
Maybe I am drunk.
Of course—there was no possibility of a future for us. I would marry a Seer descendant or a Gatekeeper one day, not a Guardian. I brought my fingertips back up to touch my lips—they yearned to be pressed up against Bryn’s again—and suddenly none of that mattered anymore. “I don’t care,” I whispered, gathering my feet under me and pushing off them to stand. I swayed for a second, dizziness temporarily tilting my world, before Bryn caught me in his big strong arms. “I don’t care,” I whispered again as I looked up into Bryn’s beautiful face from only mere inches away.

“You should care,” he replied.

“I want you”—even as I was saying it I could hardly believe the words that were coming out of my mouth—“to be my first time.” Not stopping to get a reaction from Bryn, I took a step back and tugged my tattered dress from my body. I stood in front of him in only a little black thong and matching lace bra. Goose bumps erupted over my skin in response to the cool night air.

“Peej—” Bryn’s voice cracked, and I averted my eyes, not wanting to see any kind of rejection there. I was hoping I hadn’t misread what he had just said. He didn’t say he didn’t want me, just that we couldn’t be together because I was a Seer and he was a Guardian.

“Don’t you want to? Be my first? I thought you said you think I’m beautiful.” Still not wanting to meet his eyes, I watched his fists clench and unclench.

He strode forward and took my face in his hands. “I want it so much it hurts.” There was a fierceness in his eyes that I’d never seen before, and I realized I liked him looking at me that way. We had somehow found our way back to the same tree that the wanna-be rapist had been trying to take advantage of me against, but none of that mattered once Bryn claimed my mouth again. I eagerly welcomed the taste of him on my tongue, the feel of his callused hands on my skin, and the press of his body against mine. I gasped into his mouth as he ground himself against me, feeling that part of him pressed so intimately against me was a shock—even if it was a good one. When I instinctively wrapped my long legs around his waist, I felt Bryn freeze. “We can’t,” he protested against my mouth as he pulled away from me. “We just can’t.”

“Bryn, no—,” I started to protest, but he didn’t let me finish.

“No, we can’t,” he growled. “God knows how much I want to, how long I’ve thought about it. That’s why Tammie and I broke up—because it wasn’t right; I couldn’t get you out of my head. It wouldn’t have been right to be with her when I was thinking about you the whole time. But it doesn’t change the fact that you’re a Seer and I’m a Guardian. You’re too good for me, out of my league.”