Death's Dilemma (DHAD #2) (13 page)

Lacie showed Myah to the door while invisible Guardians helped keep her upright as she made her way to the door and up the stairs. Their thoughts were expressed in the constant shaking of their heads. Trevor had already attempted to stop the game earlier. I had to run to the restroom for a quick bathroom break, and he tried to get me to stop the game, but I refused.

“This was your doing. You said she could still have it, so we’re both going to enjoy it. There are like thirty Guardians here anyways, so bug off.”

I put Cameron’s arm around my shoulder and dragged him to the spare room on the first floor. Guess being the reigning champs had gotten to him. I closed one eye, trying to get my vision from splitting as I attempted to guide him to the bed.

“Thank you for not telling my secret,” he said when I flopped him onto the bed.

“You’ll find I’m very good at keeping them.” I winked.

“Because you have so many,” he said as he closed his eyes and passed out.

Chapter Twenty

SOB

When I came out of the room, no one but the Guardians remained. Too bad they weren’t invisible to me as I didn’t really care for the expressions they’d been giving me all night, especially now.

“Stay away from my future, you drunk hussy,” Catherine said as she stepped in front of me before I could make my way up the stairs. She went to slap me in the face, but I grabbed her wrist midway.

“You touch me, and I will put you on the ground in front of all your little friends.”

“You wouldn’t, and if you did, we’d take you down.”

“You really want to challenge me? Have you not seen what I can do? Do you seriously think you and your little minions over there could take me?” They might have been able to, considering I was feeling a little off, but I wouldn’t let them know that.

“I’m not afraid of you,” she said almost at whisper. Not afraid…okay. Use your man voice then.

“You should be. Now, get out of my way,” I said as I dropped her wrist and walked past her and up the first stair. I felt a tingle in my gut, letting me know someone was attempting to rush me. I flipped Catherine over my shoulder and threw her into the piano in the main room. Wasn’t so bad, huh? Trevor, never trust someone who tries to attack when their enemy’s back is turned. Giving up on the stairs, I ported to my room and let out a scream in frustration. That was it. I would just have to have Trevor set things straight with this stupid bitch if she didn’t believe me. Her eyes of jealously on me all the time were really getting annoying. He was all hers, and I don’t know how much clearer I could be on that. I ported into his room. He stood up from his bed, when he saw me.

“There you are, the SOB of the evening.”

“What is wrong with you?” he asked as he walked up to me.

“Nothing is wrong with me. What is wrong with you?” I said as I poked him in the chest with my finger.

“How much have you had to drink, Cendall?”

“Only four,”
ten…
“…glasses.”

“Glasses of what?”

“Jungle juice I think they called it. Really yummy, and it wasn’t strong.”

“Jungle juice is nothing but liquors combined in a bin, it’s nothing but strong alcohol made to taste like juice.”

“Meh… whatever. I’m fine. Stop trying to lecture me on my day off. I came in here to tell you…” I went to poke him again, but my feet got tangled in something, and I ended up crashing into him instead. We fell to the ground hard, in a tangled web of limbs, and I landed on top of him with a thud. I looked up at him, and he gave me that dark, playful look he gave sometimes. “I came in here to yell at you... don’t you make that face.”

“What face?” he laughed, and the look went from light and playful to dark, dangerous and just fucking sexy.

“That face. When you do that face, I can’t think…and…” I took a deep breath which was a big mistake, as I got a full blast of freshly chopped cedar after a rainstorm. I went on my tip toes so that I stood even with him. This was the face I saw before we kissed that first time when he called my bluff. My mind rushed to remember how his mouth felt on mine. What harm could one more taste do? “That one,” I said, slowly inching my face higher, brushing my lips against his.

“Cendall, what are you do—”

“Shhhhhh,” I said and went for it. The kiss started off slow, but quickly intensified. Trevor flipped me over, and I wrapped my legs around his waist as he lifted us up off the ground, never letting our mouths separate. He took us to the bed and set us down. As soon as we were on the bed, I flipped us around again, and I straddled him. I pulled away from the kiss, and his puzzled eyes looked up at me. He was about to speak when I put my finger to his mouth. I then grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it up over his head. He smiled. I did the same with my shirt and watched his eyes widen as his chest rose up and fell like he’d just taken a deep breath. My fingertips grazed over his abs and found their way to the scar that was in the middle of his chest, a scar I was all too familiar with. It was from the day he was almost taken away from me, when Mobrolantis
had come for Lacie. Mobrolantis, who was out there likely plotting our deaths, could be searching for us at this very moment.

I stumbled off of him and pulled my shirt back over my head.

“Cendall,” he called out, and I couldn’t control my body as it turned at his command.

“You had something to tell me,” he said as he, too, pulled his shirt back over his head. I watched as it slid over his shoulders and down his torso, like the curtains closing after a Broadway play. This show, whatever it had been, was over. No more to see here folks.

“Oh, yeah. Tell your little girlfriend I’m not into you. She’s all worried I’m trying to take away her future from her,” I said, finally remembering why I’d came to his room in the first place.

“I’ll let her know,” he said as he rolled his eyes.

Chapter Twenty-One

Dates?

“Ready?” she asked as she walked through our connected closet in her dark blue gown. Her hair rested on her shoulders in large, blonde curls. As she wanted, the dark blue gown made her eyes really pop, and the light red lipstick made her appear older, in a good way. “Cendall, you don’t even have your dress on yet. You only have thirty minutes until our dates arrive. You’ve been in here all day. What have you been doing?” Avoiding Trevor. After what I did last night, I had yet to find the courage to face him. I also hadn’t come up with a good excuse to explain it away.

“Our dates? You mean yours? Remember, I’m flying solo,” I said as I made my hand dive down like I imagined an airplane to do. She smiled like she knew something I didn’t.

“Oh yeah, that must have slipped my mind.”

“What is that look for?” I asked.

“Nothing,” she said, and her smile faded. “I just wanted to talk to you about something before we leave.”

“Spit it out.”

“If something does go down, just promise me you won’t die. You’ve been a great friend, Cendall, and you’ve saved me so many times. I don’t think I could handle it if you were killed because of me.”

“Where did this come from?”

“I don’t know. I don’t have a bad feeling about tonight or anything. I just wanted to let you know. I know at times you get annoyed because, even after bad things, I still carry on instead of being locked up in this house. I’m not afraid of death, Cendall, which is why I force myself to live. If my life ends tomorrow, tonight, or hell in the next five minutes, I’ll know I lived it to the fullest. I didn’t cower to them, you know? It’s the only thing that keeps me going sometimes. But after the week we’ve had, I just can’t let me be the cause of your death. So promise me, if it comes down to it, you’ll save yourself.”

“It’s not going to come down to that, Lacie.”

“But if it does, promise me.”

“I promise,” I lied. Something about that word always brought out the lies. I would never let her go unprotected and would gladly lose my life for her. She didn’t deserve to be on my list, I knew that. And if I gave up on her now, what would that make me. Yes I’d collected dozens of souls, but they were vulnerable at that time. Never did I take a soul that wasn’t at one of those times, and I wasn’t going to start that now. She would live to be old and grey, and I would assist in making sure that happened in any way I could. Over the past year she’d become like a sister to me, and you didn’t ever give up on your family.

“One last thing, then I swear I’m back to being an irresponsible teenager. It’s more of a request than a question”

“Yes.”

“Don’t let him take me. If you have a choice, I’d rather it be you.”

“If you wanted me to take your soul so badly, why didn’t you just let me know before, would have saved me a major headache,” I joked.

“You know what I mean.”

“I know.” And I did, at least if I collected her soul, she’d end up the realm above where she belonged. If Mobrolantis got a hold of it…well, that was just something I didn’t need to think about before a dance.

“Can you help me finish zipping this up,” she asked as she turned, and I zipped her into her blue gown. She turned back around and wrapped me up in a hug. “Thank you! Now tick, tock! Get ready! We have only twenty minutes now. I’ll be back in five to help you with your make up.”

I grabbed the dress off the hanger as it teetered on the doorframe where I had hung it to prevent wrinkles. It, just like at the store, slid on easily and hugged every curve. I put on black flats instead of my normal boots because they would have stuck out of this dress. I then slid the dress up and positioned three garter belts onto my thigh. I grabbed my scythe off the floor and carefully slid it under the garters and against my skin. I put the dress back over my legs and went to the mirror to make sure everything was covered. I frantically checked every angle, and from what I could see, no one but Lacie would know it was under there. I couldn’t help it as the sides of my mouth raised in a smile as I looked at the gown on me. The strapless heart-shaped neckline made my boobs look twice the size, and the black rhinestones and beaded embroidery complimented the blood red gown.

“Just as awesome as before,” Lacie said as she caught me checking myself out in the mirror. “Once I add my finishing touches, you’ll be wrecking hearts.”

“From soul sucking, to wrecking hearts, who would have thought,” I said and we both cracked up. She made me sit down on the bed as she “worked her magic.”

“All done,” she said after a few minutes.

“Really?”

“Yes, I knew you wouldn’t want to go all heavy, so I just gave you a little mascara and added a touch of red to your lips. I wasn’t going to make you into California Barbie.”

I got up and went over to the mirror on the other side of the bedroom. It was perfect; it almost looked natural. The little bit of mascara on my eyelashes brought out my eyes, and I even liked the red on my lips.

“Thank you.”

“Almost ready ladies?” Trevor called from the doorway as he entered my room. I turned to face him, and my breath caught in my throat as my mind went blank as I got a good full view of him. He had on a dark, navy blue suit with a silver skinny tie. His hair wasn’t tied back or in an un-brushed mess like usual, but instead, it appeared styled as it sat in loose curls at his jaw line. My fingers twitched, wanting to tuck the gentle ringlets behind his ears as they grazed his strong jaw line. Lacie laughed

“Well, don’t you clean up nice!” Lacie said to him.

“Thank you,” he said after clearing his throat.

“You both look nice as well,” he said as I watched his eyes travel down my legs and back up, taking their sweet time near the chest area. I bit my bottom lip as my eyes locked onto his thick, full, and soft lips. I blinked, trying to erase the sweet taste of him, but it only made the memory of him clearer. I tried to focus my eyes elsewhere, but they went straight to his chest, giving me another flash of what my hands looked like rubbing up and down his torso yesterday.

“Thank you,” she replied, but my mouth went dry, and I nodded instead. His gaze finally met my face, and heat flew to my cheeks. I looked away, breaking away whatever that had been.

“Lacie, can you give us a minute? We’ve got to discuss tactics, and your date is waiting downstairs.”

“Okay.”
Noooo!
I wanted to scream, but what would be a logical excuse to get her to stay.

“Hi,” he said with a crooked smirk as he stood in front of me

“Hi.”

“We should probably talk about last night.”

“Yes, I was going to come down earlier to talk about it, but I was…”

“Avoiding me,” he said, finishing my sentence.

“No, I wasn’t avoiding you. If I avoided you, that would mean that I felt awkward and that it meant something or I had feelings for you, but that’s not the case.”

“So, you don’t like me then?”

“Not like that. Just as a…uh… friends, like we agreed.”

“You’re horrible at pretending you don’t like me. If this protection detail thing doesn’t work out, I wouldn’t recommend acting.”

“I’m not pretending.”

“Okay then,” he paused as he tucked the hair behind his ears “…back to the games we go.”

“What are you talking about?”

“If you don’t like me, then why did you kiss me last night Cendall?”

“It’s being around all these human teenagers all the time…makes me hormonal.” He laughed. “And I was intoxicated. I could have been kissing a Demon for all I knew.”

“Ahh, and there’s the excuse I’ve been waiting for.” He leaned in. “And what about now,” he said as he wrapped his arms around my waist and brought me inches from him. I gasped from the pull, and tried to talk, but nothing came out as I tried to calm my breathing. My heart started to race as I felt his breath touch my lips as his fingertips brush against my lower back.

“What do you mean?”

“What is going to be your excuse this time, my dear old
friend
.”

“I won’t need—,” I started, but before I got out a word, his lips were on mine, and my body surrendered as my tongue stroked his. He pulled away almost as quickly as it’d begun.