Confined (A Tethered Novel, Book 3) (21 page)

The ride to my house was an awkward one. I drove my Jeep
while Kace followed behind me in his car. Part of me was glad we’d taken
separate vehicles, because I needed time to think. After all, I had to tell
Kace about another kiss.

Dread was the only word I would use to describe what I was
feeling when I thought about having that conversation with Kace, but it still
didn’t do the sensation much justice.

“So, what was that all about back there?” Callie asked.
She’d opted to ride with me. “And what’s this whole tethered business all
about? I’d never heard of anything like that before until Kace explained it to
us on the way over here. Was that why Theo was staring at you so hardcore the
other day at the beach?”

Taking in a deep breath, I gripped the steering wheel
tighter. I’d known the questions would come at some point during this ride. I
didn’t mind explaining things to her, but Adam was another story. I could only
imagine what his first question would have been, considering his mouth had no
filter.

“What all did Kace tell you?” I asked, because I didn’t know
where to start.

She grabbed the pen I always kept in my cup holder, and
began slapping it nervously against the palm of her hand. “Not much. He was
pretty freaked when he woke up this morning and realized you weren’t in the
house and your Jeep was gone. We all were actually.”

“I should have left a note, I know,” I said, keeping my eyes
straight ahead. “I honestly didn’t expect to go to Theo’s house. I went to
Fisherman’s Brew first, but he wasn’t there.”

“Kace knew where you’d be—or at least who you’d be with,”
Callie said. From the corner of my eye, I saw her shift in her seat to face me.
“He knew the second we all noticed your Jeep was gone.”

“How?”

She set the pen back in my cup holder. “I don’t know, but
that’s when he started rambling about the tether to Adam and me. I thought he
was crazy or something at first. He said he had to go to the Van Rooyens for a
spell to find you. Then we realized he was serious.”

Everything she said made Kace sound somewhat stalker-ish.

“I needed to see if the tether was broken. Admer told me
becoming initiated would break it, because it would bond me with those more
natural to me,” I said, ignoring the creepy sensation running along my spine.

“Was that the only reason you went through with the
initiation then, to break the tether?”

I swallowed hard. Here was my moment of truth. “Not solely,
but it was a big part of why. I needed to break the tether in order for Theo to
be out of my head so I could give whatever Kace and I were becoming a fair
shot.”

That and I also wanted to be able to leave Soul Harbor
whenever I wanted to, but she didn’t need to know that.

“What does the tether do exactly?” She leaned back against
her seat again and cracked her window a little more as we passed the docks. A
salty breeze came in through the window, and I inhaled deeply. “Does it make
the two of you hot for each other or something?”

I gaped at her. “Wow, I wasn’t expecting something like that
to come out of your mouth.”

Shifting my eyes from the road for a split second, I glanced
at her. Her cheeks had already tinted to her standard embarrassed shade of pink.
She smiled and turned her head to stare out her window.

“Yes, it does,” I answered honestly. “That and so much
more.”

“Does Kace know?”

I nodded. “Mostly.”

“So that’s why he was so ill when the spell said you were at
the Van Rooyen place.”

I shrugged. “Guess so.”

A lump rose in my throat. He had every right to be ill about
it. My stomach grew hard as I slowed to a stop at a stop sign. I glanced in my
rearview mirror at Kace sitting in the driver’s seat of his car behind me; he
looked ill.

I was a shitty girlfriend. A very shitty girlfriend.

“Which way do I go—left or right?” I asked, unable to
remember the directions to Theo’s house in reverse.

“Left.”

We rode for a little while in silence, until Callie reached
over and turned the volume on the radio up. She flipped through a few stations,
finally settling on one playing old rock and roll, because nothing else would
come in clear. I was grateful for the noise; it filled the silence and left no
room for more questions.

I would have to answer plenty later, I was sure.

The first thing I did when we made it back to my place was
walk straight to the pantry and feed Binks. I wasn’t one for confrontation, and
the thought of what Kace might have to say to me after I explained in more
detail
why
I was at Theo’s house—and also what had happened,
again—didn’t make me want to give up that trait right now.

Binks rushed into the room as soon as he heard the pantry
door open. I’d long ago figured out his favorite sleep/hiding spot—on top of
the only bookshelf in the living room. How he managed to get up there, I had no
clue. He brushed against my bare legs and meowed loudly. This was his hungry
cry; I knew it well.

“I’m getting it, buddy. Hold on,” I said. I reached in the
bag for the measuring cup I used to scoop out his food and placed one scoop
into his bowl. He went crazy eating it before I could pull my hand away.

Footsteps from more than one person headed up the stairs
toward the second floor, and my heart began to pound. Kace walked into the
kitchen. I figured that was why Adam and Callie were hightailing it up the
stairs.

From in my peripheral vision, I noticed him saunter over to
the sink and lean against the counter. He didn’t look at me; I would have felt
his eyes if he had. The tension was so thick in the small kitchen you could cut
it with a knife. Taking in a deep breath, I tried to slow the pounding of my
heart, but it did no good.

This would be our first fight. I was sure of it.

“So,” he started, breaking the silence and causing me to
jump.

Cramming the measuring cup back into the bag of Meow Mix, I
rolled the top down, sealing up Binks’s goodness, before placing it back into
the pantry and closing the door.

“So,” I repeated awkwardly, turning to face him.

His eyes were on me, but they didn’t appear to want to be.
There was an epic war waging within the icy blue of them. Kace had his hands
shoved in the front pockets of his blue plaid shorts, his legs crossed at the
ankles as he leaned back against the counter.

“I’m not too good at this whole beating around the bush
thing. I’m actually feeling really nervous right now,” he admitted. He ran a
hand through his hair, and a hint of a smile lit his face and deepened my
favorite dimple. “So I’m just going to come right out and ask…why did you
choose to go to the Van Rooyen place alone?”

My heart stopped for a moment. That wasn’t the question I’d
been expecting him to start with.

Stepping away from where Binks was wolfing down his food, I
crossed over to the edge of the counter, just about a foot away from Kace.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I just did. There was this
incredible urge to see for myself if the tether had been broken or not.”

Kace didn’t say anything for a while and neither did I. I
watched as he brought his hand back up to run through his hair and rub at the back
of his neck.

“Did you end up kissing him again?” he asked without looking
at me.

My heart skipped a beat and sunk all the way to my toes. He
really wasn’t one for beating around the bush. A lump formed in my throat, but
I still managed to squeeze out an answer.

“Yeah.” I nodded and dropped my eyes to some coffee grounds
Della must have spilled across the counter when she’d been making coffee for
everyone last night. “I did.”

My voice had been barely above a whisper, but I knew he’d
heard me. His change in stance said so. He’d uncrossed his ankles and
straightened his posture.

He sighed loudly, and I swore I heard him mutter the word
“Karma” underneath his breath.

Silence enveloped the two of us again, until the soft
padding of Binks’s feet left the room.

“I know I said that it wouldn’t happen again,” I began,
pushing through the nerves that were constricting my vocal cords. “I didn’t
mean for it to, Kace, I promise you that, but it doesn’t erase the fact that it
did happen.”

“Is it part of the tether, or is it just you?” he asked,
bringing his softened eyes up to meet mine. “Do you have a thing for him?”

I didn’t answer his question right away, because honestly,
it was something I had never thought about before. I wanted to believe that it
had been the tether causing this obsession with Theo, this attraction that
never seemed to let up, but when I paused to think about it, I wasn’t sure. I
remembered the first time I’d ever met Theo at the bar of Fisherman’s Brew, the
way I’d felt about him then pounded through me, and I came to my answer
quickly.

It wasn’t the tether; it was me.

I had a thing for Theo Van Rooyen. My throat became
scratchy, and I bit at my bottom lip as I realized with certainty that I had
actual feelings for Theo, but that they weren’t reciprocated, because Theo had
never wanted a single thing to do with me. The tether had been like a curse to
him.

“The more things you don’t like about me, the easier it
will be for you to remember I’m dangerous to you…me and my family.”

His words from when we were taking the cleansing bath
together flittered through my mind. Yeah, he never wanted me for real. The
tether was what made him hot for me.

How freaking embarrassing!

“I guess I have my answer, then,” Kace said suddenly.

His words pulled me from my thoughts.

“No,” I stammered. “I mean…I don’t know.”

I was exhausted, and the thought of lying to him seemed too
much, so I didn’t say anything more at all.

Kace left me standing in the kitchen, watching his back as
he exited the room.