Entropy (The Countenance Trilogy 3) (19 page)

“You like the thought of all this power, don’t you?”

He gets that sleepy look in his eyes as his fingers sear over my inner thigh. I can taste his lust for me as it spins through the air, thick and sweet as syrup.

A rumbling sound thunders from deep in the woods, and I freeze.

Wesley doesn’t seem to notice as he streams one erotic kiss after another down my neck, down lower still all the way to my cleavage.

An inhuman howl emits from the forest, and this time it’s coming from only a few yards away.

“You know.” I gently pluck his hand out from between my thighs. “I think we should call it a night before things get too freaky.” I shoot a look to the woods. I already know how this night will end if we hang around for another minute—the stench of death, an entire herd of the undead. If anything, Ephemeral knows how to show you a wild time on a Saturday night. “Let’s save the best for tomorrow. You know what they say”—I plant a heated kiss over his lips—“anticipation is half the fun.”

Wes pulls back not bothering to hide the disappointment on his face. “Less than twenty-four hours.” He picks up my hand and threads our fingers. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“I’m positive,” it speeds from me. My heart starts to riot at the thought of seeing Lacey in less than twenty-four hours. “And you? Are you sure you want me, forever?”

“Laken.” He shakes his head, his eyes wide and serious. “I have never been so sure about anything in all my life. Just knowing that we’re going to be together, that no one will ever have the chance to come between us. Its more than any person could ask for.” Wes wraps his arm around me before offering a tender kiss that qualifies as almost chaste. “It’s always been me and you. It always will be.”

And deep in my soul, a frightened part of me knows this to be true.

Wes walks me back to Austen House, and I wait until he’s up over the ridge.

“Did you have a great night?” Jen lays her chin on my shoulder, and we look out at the blank canvas of night together.

“Yes. It’s always great with Wes. I thought we should say goodnight early considering what tomorrow is.” I force a tiny smile. “You mind if I borrow your car? There’s someone else I’d like to say goodnight to.”

“
Laken
.” Jen closes her eyes a moment too long. “Forget about him. There’s nothing left to say.”

“There’s always goodbye.”

Goodbye is all that’s left between Coop and me.

Coop and all our love is perfect and consuming, an all-out fire that will never be extinguished, and for all eternity, I’ll burn for him.

How can I ever say goodbye?

Cooper

Austen House sucked tonight—big hairy balls to be exact.

Grayson was one inch away from reintroducing me to her nipples. I had to take off before she got in a major assault. Besides, I couldn’t hang around for another minute watching Wes rocking Laken in his arms.

I guess this is it. Their future begins tomorrow, and mine officially ends.

Edinger and the deal I worked out with the devil comes back to the forefront of my mind—win Laken’s heart or live out the rest of my days in the tunnels. It looks like it’s the Counts and me for all eternity. I’ll have to tell Dad. I’m sort of hoping that he and Marky will find a way to visit. Maybe Ezrina would be willing to help.

Shit. How in the hell did everything go so wrong so fast?

Marky struts in and opens the fridge as if she were fanning herself.

“What are you doing up so late?”

“Can’t sleep. I thought maybe I’d have a snack, watch a little TV.” She tilts into me, full with suspicion. “Why aren’t you out with your girlfriend?”

“What girlfriend?” I pluck the peanut butter out of the cupboard.

“You
know
, my future sister—Laken.”

Her future sister. My heart breaks for Marky. Little does she know that by this time tomorrow, she may not even have a brother.

“Laken’s not my girlfriend, Marky.” Not tonight, not ever.

“Well do something about it.” She looks up at me over the rim of her reading glasses, her hair sprayed out around her in a ball of frizz. “Just ask her to be your girlfriend.”

“There’s not a thing on this planet I could do to get her to be my girlfriend.”

Marky stares over at me, her hand still clutching the refrigerator door.

“Do I have to spell everything out for you?” She gives a huff of frustration. “You have to kiss her with your tongue if you want her to like you, stupid.”

“Says who?”

“Says my friends.”

“Get new friends.”
Crap. The last thing I need to worry about is Marky getting boys to like her by way of her tongue. Shit. Maybe I can work out some deal with Edinger so that I get to stick around until Marky’s thirty. Edinger’s got to have a heart in there somewhere. Hell, I’ll volunteer to run a blood drive. The Counts can pull right up to my neck any damn time they please just to refuel. “Besides, Laken sort of already has a boyfriend.”

“She should kick him out of town.”

Out of town? I like her trajectory.

Marky pulls out the milk and a box of cereal from the pantry a little more aggressively than necessary.

“If Laken doesn’t pick you, I’ll hate you forever.” She snarls at me as if there were an underlying physical threat buried in her words—as if I’ve screwed things up simply by being myself, and, come to think of it, I probably have.

“If Laken doesn’t pick me, I’ll be damned.”
Forever
—in the Tenebrous Woods, but I leave that part out. Even if I was still on planet Earth, I’d be damned without Laken.

“You said a bad word!” She holds a spoon in the air as if she were frozen in time.

“I meant it.”

A pair of headlights illuminates the kitchen before cutting out. I glance out the window to find an unfamiliar SUV in the driveway.

“Looks like we’ve got company.” I step away from the window so they don’t see me squinting out into the night. It’s probably Wes coming to hack my dick off with a meat cleaver. Nothing could round out this crap evening more efficiently than getting either one of my heads chopped off.

“I’m scared.” Marky zips over and tackles me just as a light knock erupts over the kitchen window.

We look over to find Laken’s beautiful face smiling at the two of us as she waves.

“She’s here!” Marky pushes me to the side and makes a beeline for the door. “Laken!” She skips over and just about takes Laken down in her gorgeous red dress, her sky-high matching heels.

“I missed you.” Laken wraps her arms around my sister and buries her face in her hair, holding her like that a good long while. “What are you doing up this late?” She pulls back, her cheeks glowing from the momentary exchange.

“Nobody around here cares when I get to bed.” She makes a face, juicing it up to make my dad and me sound like a couple of wild apes. “I was just about to eat a big bowl of sugary cereal, and this one here”—she points to me—“wasn’t even going to try to stop me.”

“All right.” I pluck my sister back. “Why don’t you go brush your teeth? I’m about to implement a little tough love, and I have a feeling you won’t like it.”

“But what about the cereal?”

“
I’ll
eat it.”

“But—”

“It’s past your bedtime.” I give her a gentle shove toward the stairs. “Brush your teeth.”

“Nice move, Flanders.” Laken tilts into me. “You’re going to make a great dad someday.”

“Yeah, well, according to Marky I’ll have a bunch of toothless night owls.” I take a step into her and freeze. My natural inclination was to pull her in, to feel her body warm against mine, but tomorrow changes everything, even how I look at her tonight. “What brings you here?” I say it low, almost afraid to say it at all in the event I might make her feel unwelcome. But it’s the furthest from the truth. My heart soars just having her in the same room with me.

“I asked Jen if I could borrow her car to come say goodnight.”

A spike of adrenaline rockets through me. Laken drove a million country miles to say those simple words, and not for a second do I believe that’s all she wanted to say.

“You want to hang out for a little while? It feels kind of strange saying goodnight to someone who just got here.” Not to mention the fact I never want her to leave.

“Yeah, I’d like that. I had some of Jen’s muddy coffee earlier, so I’m wide awake.” Laken sweeps those unapologetic eyes over my features, dripping them down my chest before springing back to meet my gaze.

My heart drums against my chest. A smile twitches on my lips, but I’m afraid to give it—afraid that the kiss she offered the other night is still coming in grand style. There’s no way Laken came here to let me know she changed her mind. She’s a thousand percent convinced that it’s the one sure-fire way to get our families back in record time. And as much as I hate it, she might be right.

“What would you like to do?” I slap my hands over my thighs stupidly.

“Anything.” Laken steps in until I can feel the fibers from her dress tickling my shirt.

“Great.” My dick perks up as if it were being roused from a long slumber. “I’ve got a couple of board games, and I think I’ve got a deck of cards around somewhere. Or we could watch a movie.” My heart tries to bang its way out of my chest. You’d think I’d never been alone with Laken before, that she didn’t spend endless nights here just a few weeks back—that I didn’t hold her in my arms until sunrise. But tonight is different. I think we both know that.

Her perfect golden hair crests over her chest, and my insides grind because I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want Laken right now.

“The movie sounds good.” She shrugs.

“Great.” I take an unsteady breath. “We can ask Marky and my dad to join us if you want.” Crap. That’s not what I want.

“
Or
we can watch it in your bedroom.” She runs her fingers through my hair while grazing on her bottom lip with her teeth. “Just you and me—alone.”

“That sounds like a better idea.” Hell, that sounds downright brilliant.

Maybe Laken does want this with me.

God, I hope so.

I press into the small of her back and let her walk up the stairs first. It’s the last time this will ever happen, and it feels more like a final walk down death row than it does some nighttime jaunt to my bedroom with the girl of my dreams.

We get to my room, and I lock the door then proceed to barricade it with my backpack and its arsenal of textbooks.

“Here we are,” I say taking her in. Laken is a vision in red. I’m burning for her, and seeing her lit up like a flame isn’t exactly helping the situation. I go to reach for the remote, and Laken grabs me by the wrist.

“Remember that night we danced here? Do you think we can do that again?” Her eyes pull down with sadness, and there’s not one note of her trying to seduce me. This is simply the end, and Laken wants one more round before we call the fight.

I pluck my phone out of my pocket and cue up a slow song on repeat.

The music swims through the air just loud enough for the two of us to hear.

I hold out my arms, and Laken folds into my body. The sweet scent from her skin infiltrates me, and I start to lose it. I want her, all of her, tonight and forever.

“Come here.” I pull her in hard and press my lips over her hair.

Laken grips me as if we were about to blow away. She digs her fingernails into my back, and I memorize the pain. This is it
—
our entire future is encapsulated in this moment.

My hips press into hers, hard to the bone, and my dick stretches to life unrepentantly.

Laken lets out an uneven moan as her head rolls over her shoulders.

She crushes her chest to mine, and I close my eyes, soaking in the tender feel of her body.

Her fingers fumble to my chest as she works to unbutton my shirt.

“
Laken
.” I open my mouth to protest, and she touches a finger to my lips with merely a glance up at me. She lays her head over my bare flesh and sighs. We rock to the music that way for a very long time with my fingers digging through her hair. Her cheek rubs over my skin as if she were trying to get a lifetime fill.

“We can’t move any further tonight.” I let out a heated breath right into her ear, and she nods beneath me. Wes would know. Hell, he probably already knows.

Laken looks up at me with her sad eyes, her downturned lips.

“What would make you happy, Coop?” She brushes her fingers against the side of my face, and I catch her by the wrist, burying a kiss in her palm.

“You, safe—right here with me.” My eyes pierce right through to her soul because there are no truer words than these.

She gives a steady nod, never taking her sweet eyes from mine, and we sway under the harsh light from above, examining one another with grievous hearts because we both know we’ll never be in this close proximity again.

“Don’t miss me.” I shake my head—my thoughts pigeonholed in the barricade my mind put up.

“I already miss you.” Her lips tug down, but she tries to fight it.

I wish this weren’t impossible
. She shares the words through her thoughts.

I get it. It’s safer that way. There are some words you simply don’t want to own.

She glances up at me.
I wish there were some other surefire way into those tunnels.

I rub my arms over her back. Sometimes in life there, are no words. Sometimes in life, people are incapable of consoling others because they, themselves, are hurting too damn much.

“I wish we could ask Skyla a few more questions.” She blows it out in one desperate breath. “There has to be something that can give us the upper hand.”