Wrong (5 page)

“I don’t think I’ve ever felt this relaxed in all my life,” Caelyn said, as she drowsily ran her fingers across his chest.

Elijah stroked her hair softly. “Me either. I guess maybe I didn’t even know that’s what it meant to feel relaxed. It’s totally new to me.” He chuckled.

“What’s so funny?”

“I never even thought something like this was possible. I never thought I’d meet someone like you.”

“Why not?”

“It’s just not how things are around here. I didn’t grow up with romance and puppy dogs and ice cream. Everything was dirty and grimy and rough. I always had to fight for every single thing that I needed in life. But somehow, with us, it’s totally different. Like I opened a door and it let me into some new world. A world that looks the same as the old one, but it’s totally different.”

“Maybe we each fell into each other’s universe by accident.”

“Or maybe it was fate,” Elijah said.

“I don’t care what it was. I just care that we’re together now.”

“And tomorrow?” he asked.

She sighed, listening to his heartbeat as she laid her head against him.

“Tomorrow is already here. And we’re still together, Elijah.”

“That’s why you go to that good school,” he laughed. “You’re so damn smart.”

She looked up at him. “I think sometimes you’re just waiting for the next bad thing to happen.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right.”

“But maybe nothing bad is going to happen, this time.”

“Something bad always happens.”

She lifted her head up and drew closer to his face. “You really believe that?”

He nodded slowly. “I’ve got a lifetime of experience that backs it up.”

“This is the new world, now, Elijah. What happened in the past doesn’t matter.

It’s what we do next that matters.”

He caressed her cheek softly, and his expression changed from serious to sweet.

“That’s what I love about you, kid. You’re innocent.”

She sat up, making a face. “I’m not that innocent.”

“Okay, whatever you say, Miss Spears.”

“Shut up.” She playfully slapped his arm.

“Come back here. I want you to stay in my arms all night.”

So Caelyn laid back down, her head on his chest. And she did lay like that the rest of the night, sleeping so soundly that she didn’t wake up again until the sun was well up in the sky the next day.

Elijah was already out of bed and in the bathroom as she opened her eyes and tried to remember how the heck she’d gotten there.

And then it all flooded back to her—the bar, the drinks, the ride home, the amazing sex, everything.

She thought of Alicia and Nellie—she’d texted them quickly on the ride home, just to reassure them she was okay. But they’d probably texted her back.

She got out of bed and walked to the living room, where she found her discarded purse, phone inside.

It said she had six new texts.

When Caelyn looked at them, only one was from Nellie. All it said was:
Have

fun but be safe.

Then there were four texts from Alicia. The first text said,
Are you serious????

A minute later, another one:
This is a bad idea, Caelyn.

So you r just going to leave us hanging?

And then the final text, a few minutes later.
I should have known u would go

back to him. I never should have believed anything u said.

The last couple of texts really stung, but Caelyn tried not to let it get to her. After all, Alicia had been drinking and was probably just hurt at the time. She likely didn’t feel as strongly now as she had then.

But it was the sixth text that really made her stomach curdle.

The sixth text was from Jayson.

I’m going to hold you to your promise.

That’s all he’d written. It had been sent at three in the morning, which was creepy in and of itself. But the idea that he was still thinking of her and trying to hold her to their agreement, even after she’d told him she had no intention of honoring it, made her want to jump out of her skin.

Couldn’t Jayson understand that she had no interest in ever seeing him in person again, let alone somehow trying to revisit their relationship? Of course he couldn’t, because Jayson was insane. Jayson was a rapist.

Maybe Elijah’s right
, she thought.
Maybe bad things are going to keep
happening. Maybe life really is like that.

Elijah appeared in the hallway as she was putting her phone back in her purse.

“Hey,” he said, smiling a little uncertainly. “Everything okay?”

She felt guilty for some reason, even though she’d done nothing wrong. “Yeah, everything’s fine. How’d you sleep?”

He continued to look at her for a long moment, as if he knew she was trying to change the subject. Elijah was shirtless, wearing only boxers, and he looked magnificent as always. A Calvin Klein underwear model had nothing on him.

“I slept great,” he said. “Woke up feeling like king of the universe.”

“What are you doing today?”

“Hanging with you.” He grinned.

“Seriously, Elijah.”

“I want you to stay here with me again,” he told her.

“Tonight?”

“Every night.”

She nearly dropped her purse in shock. “Elijah…”

“I’m serious.” He came towards her, his grin twitching into an even bigger smile.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it.”

“Of course I have. But
you
kicked me out, remember?”

He took her in his arms, and immediately she melted into him.

“I was an idiot. I thought we already figured that out last night.”

“You can’t do this to me.”

“Do what?” he said, kissing her neck softly, sending chills up her spine.

“Mess with my mind. First you tell me to stay, then you tell me to leave, and now you want me back again. It’s crazy, Elijah. You’re all over the place.”

“Correction. I was all over the place.” He leaned down and kissed the top of her breasts now, causing goose bumps to break out across her shoulders, chest, and arms.

“Elijah!” she squealed.

“Now I know what I want and I’m not going to let anything or anybody stand in the way.”

“What about school?” she asked him.

“What about it?”

“How will I go to class? I’m back in school now and just starting to get caught up.”

“I’ll drive you. You can take the train once in a while. We’ll get you a car soon enough, and then you can drive yourself. It’s this new thing called commuting.”

“I don’t know. You’re really serious?”

“Yeah, I am.”

“And the danger’s gone?”

He licked his lips and his smile went away momentarily. “The danger’s not exactly gone. It’s just different now.”

“How so?”

“Now I’m the dangerous one,” he told her.

***

Caelyn decided that she needed to go back to the dorms and grab stuff (again), and Elijah told her he would come with her.

Despite her protests, he refused to let her take the train and go alone. He said he wanted to be with her when she went to her dorm room, as if he was afraid that somebody would convince her to change her plans.

On the ride into Cambridge, Elijah was buoyantly happy, talking away like she hadn’t heard him do since first meeting him. He was drinking coffee and telling her about his parole violation hearing, making fun of the different board members, doing impressions, mimicking their body language and the way they’d talked down to him.

Caelyn was content to simply be in his presence and to know that he was happy and enjoying himself.

Of course, she was worried, a little bit. She wondered what he was going to do for work now, but was afraid to ask, especially after his comment about being the dangerous one now.

The thing was, she had to trust him. It was either trust him or break things off completely, and Caelyn wasn’t willing or ready to break things off with Elijah.

So she enjoyed the ride, sipping her coffee slowly out of a plastic cup, watching the passing scenery, listening to Elijah make his jokes about the craziness that was his life.

Eventually, he finished his story and stopped talking for a minute or two, and the car was silent but for the hum of the engine.

Somehow, a question popped into her head, as if from nowhere.

“Why were you covered in blood the other morning?” she asked.

He didn’t look at her, didn’t even react at first. “The other morning?”

“Yeah. When you came home totally covered in blood.”

His knuckles tightened against the steering wheel. “You don’t want to know. It’s not going to change anything.”

“It might.”

“How so?”

“Well, if you did something really bad, I’d want to know.”

“Why, so you can turn me in?”

“No, Elijah,” she sighed. “I just don’t want there to be secrets between us. I want to start things off the right way if we’re really going to do this. I want to make it work.”

He glanced at her, then back to the road. “Okay, fine. I was covered in blood because one of the guys I was with got stabbed and I was trying to apply pressure to the wound. Obviously, I didn’t do a very good job of it.”

She felt relief flood through her body. “So you didn’t hurt anyone, then.”

“I never said that.”

She looked at him closely. “So what happened? Did you get your money back from that rival gang?”

He shook his head and made a grunting sound. “There was no money to get back.

At least, not from them.”

“I don’t understand.”

“That’s because the whole thing is ridiculous.”

“So they never had your money?”

Elijah’s jaw twitched. “It was a setup. My brother and his crew—my old crew—

robbed my apartment to make it look like Haley’s new boyfriend and his crew hit us.”

“But why?” she asked, shocked. “Why would your own brother do that to you?”

Elijah half-grinned, half grimaced. “Because, Jake knew that if he could get me heated and fighting, I’d be back involved in the life again. He wanted me to owe him—

Jake wanted me to think he’d done me a favor. Unfortunately for him, I figured out the truth.”

Caelyn was still reeling from what he’d told her. The whole thing sounded like something out of a bad movie. Certainly not a movie she wanted to star in. “How did you figure it out?”

“We went to jack Haley’s friend and his crew at their apartment. We got in, took them by surprise, cracked a couple of people upside the head, but nothing too rough.

They weren’t prepared for us. We thought we were getting in and getting out easy, but then as we were leaving, one of our guys got stabbed.”

“How bad was it?”

“You saw the blood on me. It was pretty bad. Got him right in his shoulder. A few inches the other way and it would’ve hit his carotid artery and he’d be dead right now.”

“Elijah, that could’ve been you.” Caelyn was starting to shake from just the thought of it.

“Yeah, but it wasn’t me. We didn’t stick around after that, just kept going—got out of there with some drugs, a few pieces of jewelry. But no cash.”

“Drugs?” she asked, disgusted. “And what will you do with them?”

“That’s Jake’s area. I don’t ask,” Elijah replied.

She shook her head. “It’s bad. Worse than bad.”

“You wanted to know. I never said it was right, Caelyn.”

She sighed, feeling sick to her stomach. “I still don’t understand how you found out the truth.”

“While I was applying pressure to his wound, my so-called friend apologized to me. I guess he thought he was dying or something. He said sorry, and I told him he had no reason to apologize to me. And then he said that if he died, I should know that he’d never wanted to set me up like that.”

“And your brother heard him telling you that?”

Elijah shrugged. “Yeah, he heard the whole thing. We were sitting in the back of Jake’s car getting blood all over the place while he drove to the hospital.”

Caelyn didn’t even know what to say. “I’m sorry, I guess,” she told him.

“Why are you sorry?”

“Sorry I asked, and sorry that your brother did that to you.”

Elijah grunted. “Payback’s a bitch,” was all he said.

And then they stopped talking until they reached Cambridge University.

When they parked and got out of the car, it hit Caelyn that this was real. The two of them were actually going to go and pick up her things from the room. If Alicia or Nellie were in the room, it might get very awkward. Caelyn didn’t want to think about that.

Nellie, she could handle, but Alicia—that was a different story. Alicia and Elijah had hated one another on sight.

They walked onto the quad, where students were milling about, heading to and from classes and dormitories.

Elijah was watching everything around him with a strange look on his face.

Caelyn couldn’t decide if he was scornful or just amused by these privileged kids who seemed to think they owned the world, rather than the other way around.

Passing by the building where the cafeteria was, Caelyn just happened to see a familiar face from the corner of her eye. She froze in her tracks, and Elijah followed her gaze over to the entrance of the building.

Jayson and a couple of his friends disappeared into the entrance of the building just as Elijah looked over.

“What’s he doing here?” Elijah whispered, the vein in his forehead pulsing.

“Elijah, he goes to school here. And he’s probably going down to the cafeteria to eat. It’s not a crime.”

“He’s committing a crime just by breathing, as far as I’m concerned.”

“Come on,” she said, grabbing his arm. “We should go to get my stuff.”

Elijah looked at her, not budging from where he was standing. “Has he tried to contact you?”

She looked away from his penetrating stare. “Elijah—“

“Tell me the truth, Caelyn.”

“This isn’t the time. We’re not here for that.”

“Maybe we should be.”

“Just answer the question. It’s a simple question. Has he tried to contact you?”