Chameleon (14 page)

The rocks left his hands and hovered over us. “Do you have a phone in your room?”

I
shook my head no.

“Here.” He slipped his phone in my pocket.
“When you get to your room, call me. I’ll buy another phone in a few seconds and call you so you’ll have my new number.”

“
Okay. I will call you.” I came close and whispered, “I do think you can protect me, but it’s insane to go against Wiz by yourself.”

“
I don’t care.” Sighing, he pulled me into him and smashed his lips against mine. I sucked on his tongue when it slipped between my lips. Wiz’s loud growl surrounded us and made my heart stop for a second. My whole body shivered in terror. I’d never heard him growl that loud. He sounded right next to us.

I
jerked back. “G-goodnight, Eight.”

“Are you sure I should leave you with them?”

“I’m fine.” My chest warmed at the look in Eight’s eyes. He stared back as if he was hypnotized and in love.
Maybe he does like me after all.
I could learn to like him more. I could work my heart and brain to get over Wiz and turn their attention to Eight.

“Leave now!” Wiz barked. “Before I gut you
with my dagger.”

Eight
backed away. Rich followed him until Eight escaped into the arcade. I turned around and punched Wiz in his stomach. Pain stung at my knuckles. Wiz didn’t even seem affected in any way as he continued to sneer at the door that Eight had left through.

“Don’t
yell at or threaten my friend!” I shook my aching hand.

“Then don’t kiss him
like that in front of me. The only reason he’s still alive is because you’re pissed at me and I don’t want to further make you mad.”

“You touch him and—”

Wiz leaned my way, stopping my heartbeat in seconds. His face was barely an inch from mine. “You want him alive?”

I gulped in some fear. “Yes.”

“Then don’t ever kiss him like that in front of me.”

“I can do whatever I want.”

“Really?” He stepped around me and headed toward the arcade.

“Wiz, wait. What are you doing?”

“I’m showing you that you can do anything you want, but the little earth witch can’t.”

I rushed his way. “Fine.”

Wiz stopped. “If you want to kiss him, then make sure I’m not around.”

“Fine.”

Wiz turned around, headed my way, lifted me up as I protested, and took me toward Haven. “Let’s go.”

C
hapter 13

I yelled and screamed at Wiz as he carried me, until my voice burned and I passed out into a drunken sleep. My shift into Trinity earlier and the beer drinking had drained my energy away. I sank into Wiz’s citrus fragrance and let the heat that radiated from his skin soothe me.

When I woke
up the next morning, it was in a big bed with Wiz’s hard muscular arms wrapped around me. My head lay on his bare chest. His heart beat into my ear and I couldn’t think of anything else for a few seconds as I tried to tell myself that I wasn’t dreaming. He ran his fingers through my hair. Sometime last night he must have taken it out of the ponytail because those bushy strands lay down my back. The only time they moved was when his fingers flowed through them.

I opened my eyes and didn’t see my faded green
wallpaper or my poster board full of magazine pieces of faces and body parts. Sunlight seeped through blue curtains covered in saxophones and trumpets. We were in Wiz’s apartment. I’d bought him those curtains last year for his birthday.

Which now I assume is not his birthday being that he hasn’t aged in ten years.

“Good morning.”
He played with the ends of my hair near the center of my back, drawing circles with it and causing my skin to shiver in pleasure.

“What are you doing?” I rubbed my eyes with my palms.

“Nothing.” He released my hair.

“Whatever.”
I sucked my teeth and rolled away from him as he opened his arms. Green alligator skin covered the walls around me. Zebra print carpet decorated the floor. Ostrich hair plastered all of the blue lampshades. The wooden coffee table was shaped like small elephants. Their white painted tusks arched up toward the ceiling. The crazy furniture had come with the apartment. Wiz and I had joked that a pimp might have lived in his apartment before the street kids took over the top floors and created Haven.

“Why are we in your apartment?” I slipped
to the edge of his bed and sat up, realizing that I only had on one of his under shirts and my underwear. My bra, socks, and jeans were gone. I looked at the bed again. Wiz rubbing against a naked Destiny flashed in my head. “And eww. . .you put me in your nasty sex bed.”

“I changed the sheets
and covers before putting you in it.” Wiz growled and bared his silver fangs.

“It’s still disgusting.”

“I cleaned the mattress. Give me a break.”

“Whatever.
How does your girlfriend feel about me sleeping in your bed the same night you have sex with her?”

“She’s not my girlfriend.” He sat up and I immediately wished he’d thr
own on a shirt. His chest was perfect curves of sculpted muscle and as usual I wished I could rub my hands against them.

“I have to go.” I looked away.

“You’re welcome by the way.”

“For what?
Why am I thanking you? Is it for being mean and threatening my friend or carting me off like some psycho shapeshifter in heat?” I placed my feet on the soft carpet. Wiz’s shirt rode up well above my hips and exposed some of my panties. Wiz stared at my legs and let his view travel right up to my underwear. My body’s temperature rose to scorching.

I wrenched his shirt down
, cleared my throat, and grabbed a pillow to hide my thighs since the shirt was barely doing the job. “Where are my clothes?”

“You vomited all over them.” He stood up. His
black boxer briefs formed around his thighs. Something big pressed against the material near his groin. I gasped. He had to be erect. I was sure my face turned red with the thought.

“
Your clothes are in the bin with the dirty sheets.” He moved his view to where I was looking, gritted his teeth, and snatched up the pillow he’d been sleeping on to hide his erection. “It’s rude to stare.”

“I wasn’t.
”

“Yes. You were.”

“Oh fine. It was right in front of me, and hard, what am I supposed to do?”

“Not gaze at it like it’s going to hurt you.”

“Then control yourself.”

“You put it there,” he said through clenched teeth and slung his pillow back on the bed. “In fact every damn time I wake up next to you, showing me your prissy little undies, you’re causing that reaction.”

“Were-bull crap.”
I turned away from him and threw my own pillow on the floor.

“Showing me your b
ehind is not helping.”

“Stop it, Wiz.” I walked
around his bed toward the other chair he had in the far end of his room next to the elephant coffee table.

“
We need to talk.”

“
Yes we do. Let’s start with why you brought me back to your place?” I battled with not looking at him.

“Rich said you have a vampire sleeping in your room. I’m already in trouble
with you.” He walked over to his shelf, picked up some paper, and headed to me. “You know I can’t be in the same room with a vamp and I figured killing it would piss you off.”

“
The vampire’s name is Sasha, and yes killing her would end our friendship. What do you want to talk about?” I sat down. “I am not going to talk about last night if that’s what you wanted to discuss.”

“Why do y
ou have this?” He sat on the arm of the chair I was sitting in and set the news clipping on the wooden elephant next to me. “Who gave you this?”

“Why?”

“Please answer me.”

“No.” If I told him Eight discovered the clipping, it was safe to assume Wiz would hurt Eight.
Oh wait. I never called Eight last night. He’s probably worried.

“Where did you put the phone
that Eight gave me?”

Rage decorated his expression.
His eyes brightened. Wrinkles formed around his X brand. He gestured to the night table next to the bed. “That phone is over there. Zero has been calling all morning.”

“His name is Eight
not Zero.” I hurried over to the phone, grabbed it, and pressed the phone number that repeated ten times in missed calls. Hopefully it was a way to contact him.

“How long have you been letting him put his mouth on you?” Wiz’s
lips lowered into a frown.

“Long enough.”

He gripped the chair next to him so hard white tinged his knuckles. I tried to ignore it, but a sad part of me was happy he was acting jealous, at least that was the emotion I assumed he had as the wood from the chair’s arm cracked under his fingers.

Maybe now he knows how I felt when he was rubbing up against Destiny.

“Hello?” Eight said over the phone.

“Hey, Eight. It’s me, Cameo.”

A loud and relieved sigh traveled over the phone. “Where are you? Can I meet you?”

“I’m okay
. Maybe we could meet later.”

Wiz shot up into a standing position.

“Are you okay?” Eight asked.

“I’m
actually fine right now. I just passed out last night when I got home and forgot to call you. Where do you want to meet so I can give you back your phone?”

“Keep it. I bought another one from Vamp Mart late last night
. This is the number.”

“I can’t afford the
phone bill.”

“I’ll pay.”

“I can’t do that, Eight.” I watched Wiz as he clenched and unclenched his fingers and began to pace in front of me.

“Please.
Keep the phone,” Eight said. “Just until you figure out what you’re going to do about that dangerous guy.”

I considered it
for a few minutes. Eight probably would feel better if I kept the phone with me. For some reason I didn’t want him to worry about me anymore or do something crazy.

“Maybe
I’ll keep your phone for a few days, but I’ll pay you back for whatever minutes I use.”

W
iz faced me with gleaming eyes and headed to me until there was barely a foot between us. I edged closer to the bed and he inched forward. I mouthed the word, stop. He shook his head no.

“Eight, I have to go.” I
edged away until my back hit the wall.

“Can I take you to the Fashion Gala tonight?”
Eight asked. “I know your birthday is tomorrow, but I. . .well after the kiss. . .I was thinking maybe you would like to go with me now.”

“I have a lot going on—
”

“
You could use the Gala as research since it’s in the Great Hall,” Eight offered. “Didn’t your message that you left me at the library yesterday say something about research on the Great Hall?”

“
Really? The Gala is at the Great Hall?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know,” I said right as Wiz planted his hands on the area of the wall over my head.
“I’m not a big fashion person.”

I covered the phone. “Move, Wiz.”

“Get off the phone with Zero,” he growled.

I showed him my middle finger.

“Cameo, don’t worry about not being into fashion,” Eight said. “I’ll drop a few dresses and shoes off at your room. My aunt is one of the fashion designers. She has stuff from her last season’s styles that I’m supposed to give away to a foster care home for teens today. What’s your size?”

Wiz
bared his fangs.

“I can fit
any size,” I said. “Drop off anything and I’ll call you later with the details.”

“Okay, but what’s your favorite color?”

“Green.” I blocked Wiz’s hand as he reached for the phone. “I’m sorry, Eight, but I have to go. I’ll see you at the Gala tonight.”

I hung up before
Eight could say anything else.

“How long have you been seeing him?
Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

“How long have you been alive?”

“Long enough.”

“Why?”

“It’s just the way I’m made. I age incredibly slow.”

“What do you mean that’s how you’re made?”
I lowered myself enough to duck under his arms and moved around him. His shirt I was wearing continued to ride up my hips. He trailed behind me as I tried to rush into his bathroom. Before I could step in, Wiz seized my arm and pulled me back.

“I don’t like you talking to him.” Wiz turned me around
to face him.

“Why not?”

“You deserve better, a college guy from a nice family. Someone who could take care of you.”

“He lives in Yemaya District, so his family has money, and he’s going to college next year.” I scanned the floor
for a longer shirt or pair jogging pants that he usually had lying around. “I need to borrow your shorts.”

“Eight can’t take care of you physically, and he has no magic.”

“He’s an earth witch. Plus, I don’t need a body guard.”

“You know I could have killed him last night if I wanted to. All he did was summon some rocks.”

“You’re so old. You’ve had time to practice.” I placed my hands on my hips.

“Your power makes you vulnerable.”
He glanced at my hips and licked his lips.

Again I blushed.
“Speaking of my power. I learned some amazing things about shadows last night. Did you know that the Fairy King after he learned how to store shadows in the stones, he also began to experiment with the shadows?”

His lip
s trembled. I hadn’t expected that reaction. He looked scared. I stepped toward him and he cringed and moved back.

“The King wore shadows and shifted into other people’s images
,” I said.

“Who told you that?”
He stared at the floor. It was the first time I’d ever seen him appear so nervous.

“I got it from a book
,” I lied.

He snapped his face up to me and leaned his head to the side.
“So you were getting drunk in the library last night, before I found you at Fangdom or did this Zero tell you about this?”

“I-it doesn’t matter—”

“Zero said it.” He nodded his head. “He gave you the news clipping too didn’t he?”

“No.”

“You’re done seeing him.”

I rushed off to his dresser and opened his top drawer. “This is a dumb conversation. I don’t need you to decide who I will and won’t date.”

“Nevertheless.” He materialized out of thin air and slammed the drawer close. I flinched as the dresser banged into the wall. “You won’t see him anymore.”

“Because he found the news clipping? The one you have been pretending doesn’t exist?”

He formed his lips into a harsh line.

“Move your hand so I can put on your shorts and leave,” I said.

He wrenched the third drawer open so hard the poor dresser swung back and forth before slamming back to the wall. “Here’s some shorts, but you’re not leaving.”

“Excuse me?” I pulled
green ones out and quickly put them on. “Not only am I leaving, I’m done working with you. I’ll help you find the shadow stone, but that’s it.”