Denial (Goblin's Kiss Series Book One) (12 page)

The page was there. The words to.
I reread them.

Her eyes like the sun, her hair
like the yellow licks of a flame.

I had to see what it was she had
that made the king so harnessed to have her.

I took the task in hope for a
favor of the king. She would take me to a new world.

I tore out the
perforated 8 ½ X 11, folded it three times, and tucked it into my
boot for later. I shoved the notebook back under the counter and
aimed for the door. My boss was glaring daggers at my lack of
paleness. I held my stomach for effect, but knew
she
’
d busted me.

In the parking
lot Ames waited by my car. I hadn
’
t noticed he left
me.

His long legs crossed over like
his arms folded at the top. He untwisted when he saw me and pushed
off the side of my Mustang.

I sighed at the gorgeous specimen
before me. He really was just plain gorgeous.

I wanted to tell
him that in no way—even if a man eating dragon swooped him up,
burnt his skin off, clawed his eyes out—would I go with him. He did
all this talk about him compared to the human guys that left me
baffled as to why we talk about the things we do. He rambled on
about how being human wasn
’
t always the easiest, but being
something close to it was harder. He was going to give me something
that would change things. I just knew it. Some piece of information
that was vital to my existence. So, I stayed.

“Why
don
’
t we take my Jeep?”

I shrugged and made sure he knew I
expected him to drop me here later to get it. And that I would
leave a note at home with who I was with.

He
didn
’
t deny me a spin by the house and I wasn
’
t expecting Randor to
be on my doorstep. He greeted us with a wave, but when Ames stepped
out of the car, he suddenly bolted back to his
house.

“Sorry, he is usually a little
friendlier.”
“Who is that?”

“Randor, my neighbor.”

Ames moved a
little closer to my side as I opened the front door. I
didn
’
t get all the strangeness, but nothing with Ames was normal
to me.

“Does he come over often when no
one is home?”

“Oh, he and my
stepfather study the stock market. He comes by to pick up papers
and stuff.” And chitchats longer than I like, but Ames
didn
’
t need to know that.

Ames grunted and tugged on his
hair making it all disheveled and way too sexy for me to--or
should--care about. I wondered if he knew of his habit.

Back inside his Jeep, his left
hand was on the wheel and his other rested on his thigh. For gear
shifting, I guessed.

My own hands
fidgeted with my bag. Nervous wasn
’
t the half of
it.

He said
he
’
d
show me instead of telling. On some dark level of thinking I knew
this was the wrong thing to do. My adoptive father had numerous
talks about strangers and then some hairier talks about boys who
where even stranger to avoid at all costs.

This boy posed
no threat in my eyes and I had no idea why. I did know that I was
through with all things male since last April and here it was
September and I was falling off the wagon. Gale was right about
something. One day I would find my prince and I would know it when
he came. I was just scared of that day. He
’
d have to be perfect. Loyal.
Faithful.

Ames flexed his
fingers before positioning it over the gear shift. I stared at his
large hand and measured it against his body. He was huge. Built
like a train huge. I did the same as yesterday and noticed
something else about him I hadn
’
t before. He had a chiseled jaw
line with deep set eyes. His one earring in the left ear sparkled
in the sun. And his skin...it was unblemished like my own. I
didn
’
t have a single freckle on any inch of my body. Before I knew
what was holy and good, I shouted out my
question.

“Do you have freckles?”

His eyes danced
with a knowing look that turned sexy for a second and then serious.
“I could come back with a delicious statement that would make you
blush buckets, but I
’
ll settle for giving you a
freebie. No and you don
’
t either.”

Did I mention cocky in that
list?

I swallowed hard
as I had often in the last three days and held the handle as the
Jeep lurched out of the driveway. He could read the irritation in
my glare from reading me with such unabashed derision. He
wouldn
’
t hurt me. He hopefully was there to save me from whatever it
is...that I am.

I asked if he
could run by the school and let me grab the economics book I left
in my locker making me able to create small talk about Mr.
Vamp
’
s project. Ames didn
’
t seem interested in the project
idea, but he walked me in to get my book. We never came up with any
sort of plan.

We drove out of the parking lot.
The guy in the parking box house looked at me strangely but let me
go. Bad man. He should have at least asked if I was okay riding
with the new guy.

I scowled in his direction and
berated him some more in my mind.

“What are you thinking?” Ames
asked frowning with my reaction.

“That man let me
leave with a strange guy and didn
’
t think twice,” I gritted my
teeth.

Ames clucked his
tongue, “You know, not all of us are so evil minded.
You
’
ve just met the wrong ones.”

He meant guys.
“You
’
re all the same.” I should know.

“Not all of us,” he said too soft
but I heard. “But judgment before proven can eat one up with anger.
Sometimes you just have to take a chance. Trust
someone.”

Blech!

“Oh, yeah. What makes you so
special?” I countered his mumbled comeback sticking with the belief
I can trust no one. The seatbelt was rubbing my shoulder blade so I
unbuckled and refastened just to avoid his stare then dithered with
my bag to busy myself from his secret-keeper eyes. I really needed
to stop doing just that—the staring at his eyes part.

“For one, I would never lie to
you.”

“Yeah right. You lied since you
arrived.”

“Have I?” he
challenged.

“Yes, you
didn
’
t say what you were when you saw me in the hallway surrounded
by girls Wednesday before classes.” I thought back to Christina and
her cronies at work on him. I was so mad they were near
him.

“I
didn
’
t lie. I couldn
’
t reveal myself to you like that
and you not react the wrong way. Look at what waiting did to you.
Think what learning something like that can do to you in a matter
of seconds. I was never dishonest,” he moved his hand to the bottom
of the steering wheel and put the other on the gear shift. When he
shifted into the next gear, I watched his hands. He was right. He
never lied. I just didn
’t
listen.

“So what are you?” I asked hoping
he would tell me now.

“In good time. For now, let me
show you something.”

He took me to
the edge of the woods five miles from my neighborhood. Living in
the suburbs was life outside of any kind of countryside views. The
woods he stopped the Jeep in front of were the same woods Tonya and
I had found junior year and brought back several friends, including
boyfriends, to see the rolled up carpet that from a distance
resembled a dead body. We
’
d trembled and shrieked at all
the right times to get comfort. It was a great plan that went as
any when you
’
re a teenage girl who just wanted
her boyfriend to pay attention to her instead of Halo or Call of
Duty army dudes.

I eyed the same
place where “the body” had been. I giggled under my breath low
enough he
’
d never hear.

“What
’
s so funny?” he
asked.

“You heard?” I
wouldn
’
t survive him. He didn't answer.

“I told you I would show you. Are
you sure you want to?” He was offering a way out maybe.

“Will I be able to just walk
away...from this?”

Our eyes locked for one.two.three
seconds dangerously speaking words that told me more than I think I
wanted to know and maybe not.

He rubbed a hand
over his growing shadow across his chin that made a sound I
would
’
ve never thought could register with my senses like it was
now, but it was heavenly. I watched in awe for the seconds he kept
his fingers moving in thought. When he put it back on the steering
wheel and released me from the spell I was in, I took in the air
I
’
d
held back silent as I could but it didn
’
t work.

He checked my
face, widened his eyes and smile, “What were
you
thinking?”

The implications were shrouded
heavily in his words but somehow he knew. I dropped my mouth at his
intense stare and tried to ease the growing tension with adjusting
my seatbelt again. It backfired tremendously when his hand reached
over and unfastened it for me letting our fingers touch for a brief
second.

“Your eyes, Emma. They say more
than you could ever imagine.” He put his head on the wheel in front
of him hiding his face from me. He knocked his forehead against it
once.

“That is so not
fair,” I growled. What
’
s got into me?

“Not fair,
” he mumbled. His head
lifted and he turned that same inverted way to the side to show me
his face. No, his eyes. Bright green. I swear the glow was getting
stronger or I was just that transfixed on his every
feature.

“And that means to you the same as
it does for me?” I blushed profusely hating my impulsion to just be
blunt. I wanted confirmation that I was on the right
track.

“Yes, Emma. Yes.”

“Why do you feel that way...about
me?” I asked slow and stopping at each word. Oh yeah, the wrong
track. The track labeled dark and dangerous and loads of
T.R.O.U.B.L.E.

“Emma,” he hid
his face again, “you are good. To good for someone like me. And you
don
’
t realize the power you hold.”

I was irate. Did
he really just want the power? That really stuck in my craw.
“I
’
m
leaving,” I threw the door open. Where did I think I would
go?

“WHAT?” he jumped out with
me.

“You are like
the rest anyway. You only want me for the power. You
don
’
t care about me,” she stomped and kept moving away from
me.

“What did I do?
And what others?” What
did
I do? I was insane with worry making me yell a
little louder than I meant too and wishing like anything I
hadn
’
t just admitted how weak she makes me.

“You are here
for the power, not me. Others came and watched me just like you,
but I hid it and they went away. Why can
’
t you do the same?” She
heaved an angry sound. “Call me when you actually care,” she
stomped off away from the Jeep now into the middle of the
road.

“Emma, would you
wait,
please
,” I
resulted to saying the magic word again that worked for me the
first time.

She stopped. Heck yeah. I found my
new weapon.

She
didn
’
t speak or move her legs, just her hands up and down her arms
like she was cold.

“I
don’
t want you for your power. I
don
’
t need your power. I have my own. I
want...”

“WHAT?” she
circled around and resounded the same word I just shouted in her
direction but she sure didn
’
t count on landing just close
enough she had to tip her head up to see me. Close enough
to...