Amber Eyes (22 page)

Before I could react, the harsh silhouette of a tall man jumped into the empty space of the missing door. Omigod! I crashed against him so hard I bounced back and fell on the floor on my butt. I looked up. His massive figure seemed to be as tall as the absent door and he loomed over me. The sound of my own heartbeat thrashed my ears.

“Don’t touch me!” I shouted, crawling backwards as fast as I could. I tried to stand up but my muddy feet slipped on the parquet and I landed again on my buttocks.

“Cool down,” his cajoling voice said. “It’s me.”

Yago’s gorilla-like hand grabbed my arm and I felt my bones crushing under his grip. The pain traveled up to my neck like the sting of a thousand bees all at once. His brutal yank lifted me to my feet as if I were a rag doll.

I struggled, trying to shake myself free. “Leave me alone!”

“Come with me.”

I tried to run the opposite way, but he dragged me toward him until he wrapped his arms around me. He locked his hands behind me and firmly held me. “Come with me.”

I clenched my hands into fists and started to beat his chest with all my strength. “Let me go! Let me go!”

But he was already dragging me outside where I was sure he would start ripping my clothes off in no time.

July 4, 00:33 am

As he dragged me outside, Yago craned his neck as much as possible to avoid my blows. I wouldn’t stop until he released me.

“Stop,” he said in his half-friendly, half-sarcastic tone. “It’s me. You’re safe.”

“Let me go! I hate you. Let me go!”

“You can’t go back inside, it’s dangerous.”

We were out on the porch. The night’s minty air hit me while Yago dragged me further, until he thrust my back against one of the massive columns, trapping me between the column and his body. He attempted to hold my hands, but I beat him as hard as I could. “Leave me alone, let me go! Don’t touch me, Yago!”

“Justin, it’s me, Edward. Come on!”

Yago wouldn’t fool me. He wanted me to stop resisting, but I planned to fight. No more tricks. He couldn’t be Edward because Edward was sleeping in his tent far away from here.

I grabbed his hair with both hands and pulled as hard as I could. “Let me go! Let me go!”

“Ouch! Justin, it’s me, Edward. Stop it!” Yago grabbed my wrists so hard he hurt me. He pulled until I released his hair. “Can’t you recognize me? You’re safe with me.”

Yago took me by the shoulders and shook me. Several jolts back and forth that made my head bob like my neck was a spring, and I got dizzy. He stopped and locked his eyes with mine.

“Look at me, Justin. Tell me who I am.”

For some moments nothing made sense. He was Yago, of course, but he didn’t look like Yago. Not at all. He looked like Edward, with disheveled hair and wearing a sweat shirt and sweat pants. I narrowed my eyes.

The starlight hit his face, a face half darkened by stubble. Espresso brown eyes that gazed at me in concern, framed by frowning, thick eyebrows. Trembling thin lips pursed in a concerned grimace. Expectant features eager to hear the answer they wanted, rather than the answer they got.

Several longer moments elapsed.

Propelled by a spring, I hugged Edward and sighed as deep I as could, exhaling my terrified bewilderment. He was Edward of course. How could I ever mistook him for Yago? Confusion and fear had blinded me, but not anymore. Edward hugged me back, this time not with a tough grip but a friendly, reassuring hug. “It’s okay, Justin. Everything’s over, pal.”

My next sigh led me into sobs. I couldn’t help it.

“What on earth terrified you so much inside this house?” Edward whispered. He didn’t sound upset but caring. “You shouldn’t have come. I told you guys this place is off limits. You should always obey me, it’s for your safety.”

I couldn’t answer him. I only nodded. Truth was in his words.

“It was good I realized you left the campsite and followed you, but I got lost. How could you find your way so easily in the forest? And don’t come again with that crap about telekinetic powers.” Edward caressed my hair, pressing my head gently into his chest. His arms around me protected me from any danger. I closed my eyes and recalled how everybody in his Scout Patrol followed his advice and instructions, and how he was never wrong. Edward was strong, and smart and resourceful, and the right person to shelter me. My sobs started to fade.

“It’s okay, Justin. It’s okay.”

My sobs ended like they had begun, with a deep sigh. I raised my face and fixed my eyes on Edward’s. He held his breath, but he didn’t break our eye contact. Instead, he stared at me until I thought I might need to slap my fingers in front of his face. It turned unnecessary when he murmured, “How can your eyes both call me and dismiss me?”

I had no answer. I wasn’t even aware that my eyes were capable of such thing. He talked in whispers, as if fearful somebody could eavesdrop. “I told Daniel he didn’t want to see your eyes. But who would? They cast a spell. Anybody would fall in love with you only because of your eyes.” Edward shut his own eyes, pressing them with two fingers. “Don’t pay attention to me, I’m talking nonsense.”

He stared at me again and blushed. His face turned bright red and his eyes sparkled. I took a hand to his cheek. It felt hot. I caressed his cheek.

“You scared me,” I whispered. For some reason, it felt odd to raise my voice. Silence surrounded us except for the almost inaudible whoosh of the soft, minty breeze. I could almost hear the starlight.

Edward took a trembling hand to my cheek and he caressed my face. “Sorry if I scared you. That wasn’t my intention. You were hysterical.”

I nodded. I’d been. But it didn’t matter now. All that mattered was his palm on my cheek, feeling around with his thumb. A strong hand and seasoned fingers that knew how to caress and sooth my emotions. I felt safe.

“Your skin is soft, Justin, like a girl’s.” He seemed to be a little surprised as if he’d expected otherwise. His thumb then stroked my lower lip, softly running the tip over it. A shiver traveled up my back and my lip quivered. What would come next? I parted my lips a bit. A kiss. It’d be awesome if he’d kiss me. Lord knew, I needed it.

Edward suddenly withdrew his hand as if my cheek were caustic. “No.”

Two thick sweat drops ran down his face. He raised his head and stared at the sky beyond the porch’s ceiling and sighed. I followed his lead and gazed upwards too. It was a splendid moonless night. Millions… no, billions of stars shone in the sky, filling the night with a fantastic, ghostly glow.

“Edward…” I whispered. I wanted to ask him to kiss me. I was ready. In the middle of such a horrible night, it felt like the antidote I desperately needed. I just wanted him to do it, I needed him to.

Edward bit his lip, still staring at the sky. His eyes glistened and I wondered if tears were welling up inside them.

“Edward, I’m down here…” He couldn’t avoid me. Not when he had me trapped between his body and the column. Not when he’d said such nice things about my eyes and falling in love. Not in a starry night like this one. Minutes ago, my mind had coasted down a slide. I’d met ghosts who’d showed me a horrific past I didn’t want to accept as mine. I’d received a phone call reminding me about Yago, a true danger. Things my mind didn’t have the ability to grasp, much less accept. I needed a savior, someone to take me from all of it.

“Edward?”

He lowered his face and cleared his throat. “Your face’s dirty, Justin. You look like a homeless boy.” He wiped the tears on my cheek with his hand, caressing me at the same time. “And your eyelashes are all wet. Did I tell you how pretty they are?”

No he hadn’t, but now he had. My lips trembled. They parted and I couldn’t help it. I inched towards him standing on my toes so I could reach his lips. His trembled too, hopelessly beckoning to me. If my eyes cast some sort of spell, and so did his lips, so did his own eyes, so did his lime-like aroma.

Edward’s hands gripped my shoulders, gently pulling me toward him, and he pressed his lips against mine. Tenderly but firmly. Once more, I felt the warm surge that traveled through me each time he touched me, except that this time it came in tenfold. The vivifying stream made the butterflies in my stomach go crazy, a sensation similar to the wave I first felt in the girls’ restroom when Jenny had kissed me. This time, though, we were not madly making out like Jenny and I had. Not at all. This time, chivalry ruled. This time, it was a gentleman kissing me, not an eager, clumsy teenager but a well-seasoned knight. Our lips rubbed, our hands caressed our mutual blushing cheeks, our bodies stuck together as close as possible, and I could feel his accelerating heartbeat.

When I felt his tongue upon mine, I almost bit him, so powerful the emotions it raised. Now that I was no longer fostering guilt because I didn’t kill Yago, I craved to be loved and kissed forever. Adrenaline hit me and I wanted more of those stimulating sensations I felt the previous night when I touched myself in Aaron’s bathroom. My skin turned extra-sensitive.

My mind traveled back to the previous night when my hand had explored my body. I lost myself in that image, more powerful now that I was being kissed. I craned my neck and tilted my head backwards, resting it on the column so Edward could kiss my neck. His lips upon it sent electric jolts through my body, giving me goosebumps. A perfect moment.

I raised my arms so he could pull off my t-shirt. I could feel his breath on my neck and near my earlobes, tickling my skin so sensitive that I could detect the pores of his nose as he rubbed it behind my ear. I closed my eyes and bit my lower lip. I’d waited so long for this to happen!

His hand on the small of my back pressed me, holding and pushing me slightly upwards. My skin rubbed his sweatshirt. His other hand did what Yago’s couldn’t. His trembling open palm and rigid fingers kissed my skin.

At the touch of his hand on my breasts and nipples, electricity flowed inside me and all my muscles contracted. I arched my body like an Olympic gymnast, yielding to the sensation and to the explosion within and without me that soaked my skin in sweat. I couldn’t help moaning, eager to shout his name. It came out of my lips, half a moan, half a sigh. “Oh, Edward! You’re so much better than Jenny.”

Edward’s deep voice boomed in my ears like it came from another dimension, from another world. “
Jenny?
”

Edward sprung one step backwards, his eyes wide open. His face’s red hues faded at the speed of light until an ashen tone overtook his features. With shaky fingers, he touched his own wet, sullen lips. He then slammed his palm on his mouth and backed off another step, blinking fast.

“What have I done?” It’d been neither a whisper nor a cry, but both combined in deep anguish. “We’re both guys!”

Edward stared at me with his brown eyes wide as dishes, not realizing I was a girl, but freaked out because he thought he’d just kissed another guy.

Instead of crying, “Cool, you’re a girl!” he had exclaimed “We’re both guys!” Couldn’t he recognize a girl’s boobs when he touched them, no matter how flat chested the girl was? Was he that short-sighted? Suddenly, I couldn’t stand his gaze. I couldn’t stand that he stared at my body displayed so he could laugh at it because it was not womanish enough. My arms flew to cover my boobs, and I turned toward the column, cringing, giving my back to Edward.

Cold sweat covered my skin, and I started to shiver. His words, “We’re both guys!” still reverberated in my ears. In my mind, laughs started to ring as the whole world derided me for turning into a stupid boy when I most needed to be a fantastic girl. I took one of my hands to my face, groping as if I’d turned blind. My sunglasses. They weren’t where they should be. Edward could read my humiliation and embarrassment in my eyes in the same way in which he’d seen stars and the universe before. I shut them and cringed even more, sticking to the column, trying to penetrate it and disappear inside it. All I wanted was to hide from him, to run to the end of the world and stay there forever.

I should have told him I was a girl. I should have pulled my pants down and showed him. I didn’t because I thought he was so stupid and short-sighted that, rather that realizing I was a girl, he’d think I was hiding my “thing” between my legs—and I couldn’t stand any further degradation.

I needed my damned sunglasses, and where had my stupid t-shirt ended up?

From behind me, I felt Edward’s cold hands touching my bare shoulders. “I’m so sorry! Justin, I never…”

“Don’t touch me!” This time his hands didn’t convey warmness but a cold rejection that burnt like acid poured on my skin. I shrugged and dodged away from him, hiding behind the column so it would stand protectively between us. “Don’t touch me. I want my shirt.”

“Yes… of course.”

I leaned on the column, feeling its freezing marble on my back. My arms were crossed over my chest, protecting my small breast from Edward’s discreet glances.

He’ll never, ever, see them or touch my boobs again.

Tears ran down my face, but I refused to sob. Instead, I kept biting my lip as anger ate my entrails. He hadn’t realized I was a girl. He was an idiot. He was worse than Yago. All men were swine!

“Here you are.” Edward stood behind the column, extending his arm holding my t-shirt. I put it on. Then I took my sunglasses out of my pocket and put them on too.

We stood for a long time in silence, both of us breathing hard, each of us leaning against opposite sides of the same column.

“I’m really sorry, Justin.”

I wasn’t gonna answer him. My voice would have cracked and I didn’t want to give away any further clue of how humiliated I felt. Rage made me ball my fists until my knuckles turned white. Twice, I hit the column with my fists and I didn’t mind the pain. I stomped my bare foot on the marble floor and it hurt too, but I cared less. I wanted to yell how much I hated him, but I knew I’d start to sob like a baby if I utter one single word. Each time I felt I was about to break into uncontrollable tears, I bit my lip harder until I tasted blood.

A ghostly bang from inside the mansion reminded me that we shouldn’t stay here. Actually, it’d been foolish to make out with Yago so close to us. I breathed in deeply and wiped my cheeks with a hand. I gulped. A supreme effort was required to control my feelings. In a whisper, my voice came out of my lips devoid of any emotion. “Take me back to the campsite, Edward. This place isn’t safe. There’s a dangerous man around here.”