Grounded (Grounded #1) (12 page)

Exactly as I thought, Jensen was still on my bed, arm behind his head, flipping through channels with the remote. I wondered if he noticed that his TV was bigger than mine. I had no idea why that was the thought that popped in my mind right then. Sexy guy sprawled on my bed…I think of television? Idiot.

“Man, sleep is gonna feel good tonight.” I crawled under the thin blanket and cuddled up beside him. “So, tomorrow…”

He cut me off, knowing where I was headed. “I’m not doing that with you.”

“What do you mean?” I bolted up. “You have to, Jensen. You can’t be in the middle of all this and be unprepared. You won’t hurt me; I’m tougher than I look. And we have to get whatever power is inside of you to come out, and that’s not a euphemism.” A lot of that was just a long ramble. That was something new since meeting him. I didn’t use to ramble so much.

He smiled, then got serious again very quickly. “I know you are, but I can’t, Alyssum.”

“What about Aric? You could train with him for a while, then we could work on the other stuff.” That seemed to be the best compromise, and I can’t say the thought of seeing those two go toe to toe repulsed me.

“Somehow, I think punching
him
won’t be an issue.”

He patted his shoulder for me to lie back down and wrapped both arms around me, pulling me into his chest. I’m not sure when I fell asleep or how long I was able to hold out before drifting off. I liked laying there with him and wanted to enjoy it as long as I could, but eventually, the effects of all the work I’d done won out.

Chapter Sixteen

Jensen was gone when I woke up. It was still dark, twenty minutes before midnight, according to the clock next to my bed. He’d made sure I was comfortable, tucking me in snugly, before going back to his own room. I wished I knew how long he stayed and made a mental note to ask him later. Since I hadn’t had dinner last night, my stomach started demanding food. I took a little walk to the kitchen for a not-yet-midnight snack. I didn’t turn any lights on as I grabbed a bowl, spoon, cereal and milk. The energy efficient lightbulb over the sink that we left on every night gave me enough light to move around without hurting myself.

“Hey,” Jensen said, approaching me from behind where I sat at the island.

“Jensen!” My hand flew up to my heart and I dropped the spoon. “You scared me.”

“Sorry.” He leaned over, looking into my bowl. “That’s the best you could do?”

“I…uh…can’t cook.” He looked a little surprised. “Is that a deal breaker?”

“Hardly,” he scoffed. “Besides, I can, but you know making a sandwich isn’t exactly cooking.”

“True, but it’s a whole lot more effort than I’m usually up for in the middle of the night.” A low chuckle rumbled in his chest. “What has you up?”

“Water.” He shook the bottle in my face, as if he was stating the obvious. Which he was.

“Ah, there’s some in the fridge in your room.”

He eyed me. His eyes were usually clear enough that I could tell what was going on in his head. They were like a window to his soul.

“I won’t say I was kind of hoping you’d be up because of your insomnia. I won’t say that.” He cocked his head to the side, one corner of his mouth curling up.

“Ugh, always.” I shook my head. My mom said I was so high strung, so tightly wound, that nothing I did seemed to help me sleep.

“How come you fall asleep so easy when I’m with you? Am I that boring?”

I laughed, shaking my head. “You make me really comfortable. Like my whole body just relaxes.”

He liked that answer.

***

Even with the interruption to my sleep, I still woke back up much too early. Apparently I wasn’t the only early riser. Aric already had some eggs cooking on the stove. Newly toasted bread sat on a plate in the middle of the large island.

“Morning. Want some?” He tipped the pan toward me.

“If you have extra.” He nodded while I took a seat on one of the bar stools. “We should talk about today.” He glanced over his shoulder. “I was talking to Jensen last night,” the muscles in his jaw tensed slightly, “and he won’t train with me. I thought you could do it.” He nodded. I hated it when he answered with body movements. “But at some point, we have to convince him. He has an ‘I was raised not to hit girls’ thing that’s driving me nuts.”

Aric brought a plate of perfectly cooked eggs over and sat it in front of me, then tossed two slices of toast on top. “Yeah, Alyssum, that’s what all the girls complain about.” He changed his voice to sound feminine and said, “
My boyfriend won’t hit me!
”

I threw a spoon in his general direction and missed, catching a small vase of flowers and leaving a snowflake shaped crack on the front instead. Oops.

“Any sign of some power?” he asked, still chewing. I shook my head in response. “You better get on that, then.”

My brows went down. “What do you mean?”

“There’s a reason why our powers kick in just after puberty. Hasn’t anyone ever told you that?” I shook my head because apparently no one tells me anything. Apparently, he knew more about us than I did them. “Geez, it has to do with hormones and whatever. Look, you’re going to have to get him really…uh…frustrated.”

I had no idea what he was talking about. In my defense, it was really early and I don’t sleep much. “Like what? Give him really hard math problems? That always worked for me.”

He shook his head and readjusted his position on the stool, showing he wasn’t entirely comfortable with our conversation.

“No, Alyssum.” His eyes narrowed and he drew out the next word. “Frustrated…”

I swear it took a full minute before his meaning sank in.

“Oh.
Oh
.” My breakfast suddenly got very interesting. “But why wouldn’t it have kicked in before?”

Aric smirked and scratched his head roughly. “I’ve known him for a while now and uh…I don’t get the impression he’s ever had reason to be frustrated.”

“Why’s that?” I asked.

Aric shot me an evil grin. “I’m not saying he’s a man-whore or anything, but he’s known pleasures of the flesh.”

“Oh god.” I dropped my head into my hands. Jensen and I haven’t had
that
talk yet. He might not have been completely comfortable with my jokes and innuendos, but I hadn’t assumed he was a virgin. A lot of guys just don’t think girls talk like that.

Aric dropped his plate in the sink, rubbed my head the way you would a little kid, and walked out.

“Jackass,” I called down the hall with a smile.

***

I returned to my room to change out of my pajamas. The three of us had planned to meet at ten. My father had Gremalian business that would take him away for a few days, a truce talk with his Gobel equivalent that likely wouldn’t go well. Dad wasn’t interested in giving up any of our land, an area that happened to be very rich in natural resources, and the Gobel weren’t interested in anything else.

I heard his car pull out just after I got back to my room. No goodbye, no “see ya later, sport,” no “good luck training the savior of our society.”

Aric and Jensen were already in the garage, sitting relaxed across from one another when I got to them. No doubt, Jensen would be at Aric’s throat if he knew the conversation that had taken place just hours earlier. We didn’t talk about those things.

“What? No fighting, yet?”

Their postures went stiff and their heads jerked toward me. I smiled at the way I took them by surprise, then sat in my own seat, flinging my legs over one arm. I opened the magazine I’d brought with me.

Aric started by explaining the theory of Gobel fighting. I didn’t listen to most of it. He said something about how mischievous Gobels could be, attacking out of nowhere when you least expect it. While they were strong, that wasn’t the only thing to be on the lookout for. They all have powers, but not the same type or level of powers. It was more a hodgepodge of low level powers that most of the time was just annoying. Since they breed like rabbits, they have the numbers to overcome their enemy.

Then it was time to fight.

They weren’t overly aggressive right out of the gate. I pretended not to be watching until they got some of their pent up energy or pent up aggression out. In the beginning, Aric was able to avoid Jensen altogether. I could see Jensen getting frustrated. My mind paused on the word
frustrated
. I tried to shake it out of my head altogether.

To cool down a little, Jensen pulled his t-shirt off and threw it toward the door. Watching his muscles flex and turn, I noticed how strong he was. I knew there was definition there from all the times I’d felt it just below his shirt, sometimes skin to skin. Watching him was mesmerizing.

“Alyssum?” Aric broke the spell.

“Draw,” I said, because they were actually pretty evenly matched.

They’d each gotten the other good enough to call it a tie. Apparently, my staring hadn’t gone unnoticed by either of them.

“My turn.” I got to my feet in one swift motion and joined them in the center of the room. “I know you’re firmly against this, Jensen, but it’s got to be done.”

“I told you no.” He started to walk away.

“What if it could save your life?” I called to his back.

He turned to me, his eyes on fire. “Do you think I care?” He yelled. “Do you think that matters if I hurt you?” His reasoning didn’t deter me.

“What if it saves
my
life?” I yelled back. “Does it matter then?” His face scrunched up. I could see he didn’t understand. “Look, I need practice too and I can’t only use Aric because I’ll get too used to him. Plus, you are here to save lives, mine included.”

He reluctantly gave in and came back. I could tell, right away, his heart wasn’t in it. He was coming at me and missing on purpose, over and over, so I corrected him. When he went left, I went right so his punch landed squarely on my jaw. Since he wasn’t actually trying, it didn’t have a lot behind it. He jumped back, horrified by what he’d done. I just smiled and re-engaged.

Soon we were at half speed and he was a natural. I only hoped that he noticed before we started that the small cut Aric gave me the day before was completely gone. He never said anything about it, though.

“Ow! Okay, enough. That really hurt,” I cried after he landed a barely felt kick to my stomach.

“I’m sorry.” He had a horrified scowl on his face. “I told you I didn’t want to do this.”

He wrenched at his neck, then came over to help me up. I twisted my arm, gaining the advantage, and flipped him on to his back, landing an elbow to the chest.

“You can’t fall for that,” I said once we were on our feet.

He hunched over with his hands on his knees, gasping for air. “I think you broke a rib.”

My face fell and I went to him to check it out. When I got within reach, he pulled me into his arms awkwardly and we stumbled back against the wall.

“And you can’t fall for that.”

Chapter Seventeen

My earlier conversation with Aric came back to mind when we broke for lunch, but I didn’t have time to obsess about ways to get Jensen sexually frustrated because Dahlia found us—accidentally, of course. I made the introductions, as she’d demanded, making sure to be very clear that Jensen was off limits. The look she threw me said I’d be getting the third degree about that later. Dahlia being Dahlia, she started flirting with Aric immediately. He loved the attention. It was weird to see two parts of my life come together, intermingling in a way I never imagined.

Dahlia came in to see if I wanted to go shopping with her at a mall several hours away. I hated shopping unless it was necessary, like in New York. Not to mention I wasn’t excited at the prospect of the long car ride. I’d had enough of those for a while. Luckily, I had a legitimate excuse to get out of shopping. I was sweaty and gross from training, something Dahlia commented on. She left pretty quickly after that.

The morning was for fighting and the afternoon was for trying to coax Jensen’s power out. So, after eating, I took him back to my room. This was the first time I’d ever been so nervous around him; I wasn’t even this nervous when we were alone in his apartment and his hands started to wander, but that’s because our passionate make-out sessions were never planned. They happened naturally. I’d never intentionally gotten a guy worked up just to say no in the end.

He dropped into one of the large chairs by the window, probably trying to avoid mucking up my beautiful, soft bedding with his sweaty body.

After announcing that I needed to shower, I headed toward the bathroom, yanking my shirt over my head, and threw it at his feet. He only got to see my bare back as I walked away. I could feel his eyes on my skin.

I wrapped the large, white bath towel I grabbed when getting out of the shower around me twice before I walked out to get some new clothes. The funny thing was, I didn’t even forget the clothes on purpose. I never took them into the bathroom with me. Never had reason to before then.

Jensen’s breath caught as soon as I walked out in just the towel. “What are you doing?”

I turned a little sheepish. “I forgot my clothes.”

“Are you trying to kill me?” His voice sounded husky. He sighed a ragged sigh that made me giggle as he stalked over, brushed wet strands of hair off my shoulders, wrapped his hand around the back of my neck, and gave me a thorough kissing with his soft but demanding mouth.

Moving to the bed, his hands ran down my body, gentle at times, urgent at others, sometimes squeezing so tightly his grip was a tad painful. Jensen loosened my towel just enough to get his hands inside. His skin burned across mine. I wasn’t even completely naked, but suddenly I wanted to be. I don’t know how long we laid there kissing, exploring each other without moving too fast. Too soon, Aric pounded at the door and called out, causing us both to jump. “Are we doing this or what?”

At least he didn’t try to come in. That would be even more awkward than when we were in Jensen’s room when we first got back to Delaware.

“Or what.” Jensen breathed into my now mostly dried hair, making me laugh.

“Be down soon,” I yelled back, hoping he didn’t hear my voice waver.

I hopped up, holding the Egyptian cotton towel tightly to my flushed skin while I pulled out shorts and a tank top. I made the twirl motion with my index finger to tell him to turn around. He hadn’t seen me naked yet and, while I was completely sure he would at some point, I had a job to do. Feeling a little devilish, I tossed my towel just in front of him once his back was to me so he’d know I was within an arm’s reach with nothing covering my body.

“Yup, you’re trying to me kill me,” he said playfully, waving his arms behind him like he was trying to grab me.

“Nah, you’d be no good to me dead.”

Once dressed, I ran to the bathroom to snag myself an elastic to pull my hair back into a ponytail. Then I got my shoes, grabbed his arm and hit the door.

The afternoon was fruitless. Jensen tried, he really did. Even though I gave a detailed tutorial on how I do what I do, nothing happened for him. It looked like he was going to have an aneurism or pull a muscle or something. We finally decided to call it a day.

Before Aric left the room, he leaned in and whispered just loud enough for me to hear, “Do better.”

That pissed me off on two fronts. The first being that Aric shouldn’t be thinking of me frustrating Jensen, and secondly, our moment together after my shower should have left Jensen with raging hormones like it did me. He should already be frustrated. I know I was.

The moment Jensen and I parted ways, it was his turn to shower and change clothes, I burst into Aric’s room without knocking. Hearing the water in the bathroom, I headed that way. Again, I didn’t knock, which was probably not the smartest choice because the room was filled with steam and he was naked in the shower. Yeah, I needed to start thinking before I acted.

“What the hell?” I pounded the glass door once, just hard enough to grab his attention. He jumped pretty high, but I was too consumed with anger to notice his assets. Really, I didn’t see a thing.

“Christ, Alyssum.” Aric shut the water off, grabbed his towel and followed me out into the main room. “So, privacy is just a concept for you, huh?”

I didn’t look at his bare chest or the muscles rippling down. I didn’t watch the bead of water tracing his body until it became inappropriate for me to see its destination…Or, at least, I tried very hard not to. Some things are hard to ignore. Yes, I was with Jensen now, but I wasn’t blind.

“Privacy? You’re kidding me, right?” I folded my arms under my breasts. He looked dumbfounded and confused. “Don’t talk to me about…frustrating Jensen. Don’t talk to me about any of that stuff.”

“Do you think I want to?” His eyes blazed. “It isn’t easy, but it’s what needs to be done.”

“What are you talking about?” Because either I really wasn’t following or he was distracting me. It really could’ve been either.

“Just because I can accept that you’re with him, just because I can stay friends with both of you, doesn’t mean I want to be involved with…” He groaned loudly. “But what I said is the truth. I don’t want my family to die.” His voice softened just a notch. “And you’re my family now, Alyssum.”

Everything within me melted. I sometimes forgot that Aric had people he cared about on the other side, people he could very well lose.

“Sorry for bursting in here. I got your message, but you have to stop bringing it up, ‘kay?”

“You know, if you want to see me naked in the future, you could just ask,” he said as I turned the door knob. “Anytime you want.”

I threw a mid-wattage bolt to his shoulder. It singed against his wet skin, making him grind his teeth together.

“Mean,” he spat playfully just as I closed the door.

***

That night, all hell had broken loose.

I heard it long before I saw it. As the first echo found its way upstairs, I ran out of my room and bumped right into Jensen and Aric.

“What the hell was that?” Jensen asked, holding me steady so I didn’t face plant into the floor.

“Not sure. It’s coming from the front room.”

When we got to close to the front room, I slowed down to peak around the corner and see what was happening. The hair on my arms stood up, like tiny wires poking out, and instead of the regular prickle up the back of my neck, much bigger electrical pulses punished the base of my skull. There was a hell of a lot of Gobel inside the house.

My father had someone by the throat while throwing instructions out at people I couldn’t see.

“Gobel.” I drew back against the wall. The guys followed my lead and pulled back to stay hidden as well.

“If you give us Aric, we’ll leave.” The heavy voice made my stomach drop.

I looked to Aric and saw his eyes on the ceiling, like a kid who’d gotten in trouble. “My dad.”

“You two stay here,” I said. Aric nodded. Only Jensen started to protest. “No, you need to stay here. They can’t know you’re here, they can’t know you’re you.”

I caught Aric’s eyes and held them with mine. “Keep him here, no matter what.” He nodded.

I took off in a run directly into the middle of the mayhem. I dove over a few guys fighting on the floor, taking out a woman at the shoulders. She hit the floor with a crack. Since the running allowed me to pick up some static, I threw a bolt at the guy sneaking up behind my dad. Taking inventory, I took a deep breath, picked up all the energy I could, and sent a band of static across the room. People on both sides fell to the ground. The ring snapped against the wall. No one had ever seen me do that. Sometimes there are abilities a girl needs to keep to herself until she really needs to use it.

“Now that I have everyone’s attention…do you think there’s a better way to handle this?” In the house, I couldn’t pick up enough power to do any real damage to that large of a group, but that was fine. I just wanted to startle them out of fighting.

“I want my son,” the man with the big voice declared.

“Not gonna happen.” I shook my head. He charged until I threw the biggest spark I could muster. I wasn’t trying to hurt him, but no way in hell was he gonna hurt me.

“Kidnapping a Gobel is grounds for war in and of itself,” he said, stalking toward me much slower, one small step after another.

“We didn’t kidnap him.”

I found Kale’s pale face in the crowd. He refused to look me in the eye.

Aric’s father was about to disagree when Aric showed himself from the hallway. “They didn’t, Dad.”

“Aric,” the woman I was his mother came forward, “you must come home, please.”

“I can’t, Mom. Not this time.”

Aric’s dad suggested that some of their posse wait outside so he and his wife could speak to their sons. Leaving them to deal with family issues, I ran back to where I’d left Jensen. He was gone. I searched the nearest rooms fairly quickly, finally finding him in the garage, alone. Moon rays crept in, giving me just enough light to see him.

“There you are.” I was slightly breathless from the search and the fear I might not find him, that somehow one of them got to him. My stomach turned. I felt sick at that last thought.

He jumped. “Yeah, I, uh…need to make…” He threw his hands up helplessly.

“Why the sudden rush?” I thought I knew and leaned with folded arms on the wall by the door. Some things I had to let him say, let him come to terms with on his own.

“You ran off into that,” he raised his hands in the general direction of the foyer, “and I had to stay back because I’m useless. You guys seem to think there’s something inside me, so I need to get it out. What’s the secret?”

I smirked before beginning to walk toward him. “Well, Aric says the reason our powers kick in just after puberty is from the…frustration that comes with it.” I saw what was going on his head all over his face. He knew exactly what I was saying. “He didn’t seem to think you’ve been frustrated enough for it to kick in.”

He winced, like he’d made a painful realization or was afraid that I had.

“So, that’s what you’ve been doing?”

“Yes.” Three more steps brought me within reach of him.

“Did any of it mean anything?”

I couldn’t believe he could ask me that, even though I really shouldn’t have been surprised. Yeah, I had to work him up for his own good, to get his power out, but I enjoyed every damn minute of everything we did.

“All of it. I just had to make sure it didn’t go any further, no matter how much we may have wanted it to. And trust me, I wanted it to.”

“Ah. Well, you do a fine job.” He tipped his head in my direction, like it was a compliment.

“It really wasn’t that hard,” I said playfully.

“Speak for yourself,” he threw back.

I smirked. I hated the idea that had just formed in my head. A deep breath helped me work my courage into place so I could say what needed to be said. I hoped he wouldn’t get angry and leave. “Maybe we’ve been going about this all wrong.”

“How so?” Jensen got close enough that he could trail his fingers down my arms.

“Well, back in Putnam Valley, whenever Aric and I were together…” I jumped. A spark zapped my arm, like the static shock from a blanket. Not too painful. The important thing was that I didn’t do it. “Oh.” A smile slowly formed. “So, when we were alone in his apartment,” a little bigger jolt caused me to take in a quick breath, “aside from all the—”

The next shock was painful enough to interrupt me, like a hard, sharp pinch on each arm, or being snapped with the thinnest rubber band ever. The thin ones hurt more than the thick. I yelped.

“I’m sorry. Did that hurt?” Guilt dilated his pupils.

“Jensen, you did it!”

“I did? I did.”

“Try again. Just this time not on me.” I took a step back. If the voltage of his zaps continued to grow, I didn’t want to be on the receiving end.