Hush - Fighting Fate #2 (9 page)

Mia frowned at me, still biting her lip. I knew she was worried, but I really needed to wipe my mind. Picking up one more, I tipped it back and shrugged. I didn’t care anymore.

The burning liquid
quickly reached my stomach and all of a sudden I just wanted to dance. Looking at Mia, I smiled widely. “Let’s dance.”

She looked back at Jace, who was eyeing me cautiously. When he gave her a slight nod, she smiled and stretched up to kiss him before grabbing my hand.

We half walked, half skipped back to the lounge room where a crowd was jumping maniacal to the beat of a fast techno song.

I caught Jace and Aiden standing off to the side, watching, their
gazes intent. I knew they were only concerned about Mia. She hadn’t had an anxiety attack in a while, but the last one wasn’t so long ago it was forgotten yet.

About six tracks later, my head was starting to feel fluffy.
My body felt loose and relaxed, and
everything
seemed funny. I was on my own planet, doing what felt good to me, and I didn’t care one single bit what anyone else thought about it.

Mia
laughed with me the whole time, easing my troubles – even if it was only for one night. Every so often, Jace would appear with a fresh drink for each of us. Sometimes it was water, sometimes it was a cup of some sweet tasting orange juice, but each time we would hold our cups up and toast to some bazaar wish for my future.

A few tracks later, when Jace took our empty cups away, he reappeared beside us and took Mia in his arms for a dance of his own. I didn’t see Corey until he was right in front of me.

“Hey!” I said, immediately wondering why I was so excited to see him. Then I quickly realized I’d forgotten all about him. Whoops. I giggled.

Corey
cocked a lopsided grin at me. It was kind of cute, really. I giggled again.

“Wanna dance?” he asked, sliding a little closer to me.

I bit my lip, trying to repress the urge to flat out laugh. What was wrong with me? If I didn’t rein it in, I’d be in complete hysterics soon. He took my non answer as a yes, and taking a full step forward, put his hands on my hips.

We
swayed to the music in an almost hypnotic way, just feeling the beat flow through us until the song changed into another, then another.

It was somew
here in the middle of the third song when I realized my mood had changed. The laughter was gone, and it all felt way too serious. His hands had moved slowly around to my lower back, fingers splayed, tension high.

This new energy confused me, and I wasn’t really sure why. Pushing away from him a fraction, I looked up into his eyes.
Despite the fluffiness in my head, I knew I was standing on a precipice. I had to make a decision: Retreat, or attempt normal.

Before I could think anything else, his lips were on mine, and we were kissing.
The decision had been made. My body melted and reacted of its own accord, my lips parting against his, and my hands snaking up into his hair. Corey’s hands pressed firmly against my lower back, pulling me against him as his lips caressed mine.

I
instantly knew this was the kind of normalcy I’d been looking for. My body had been craving it, but I still couldn’t help feeling like something was missing. It didn’t feel right. And it didn’t taste right.

Eventually we pulled apart
and Corey exhaled with a grin. “Wow.”

I
looked up at him and blinked, reality coming back like a slap in the face. The lust in his gaze paralyzed me. Everything, and I mean
everything
, rushed back to me, stealing the air out of my lungs. I felt like I was back in Mitch’s bedroom. Shit.

I guessed my expression mustn’t have shown the anxiety that coursed through me, because
Corey just lifted his lopsided grin a little higher, pulling it into a knowing smile. Oh crap. What the hell was I doing?

Confusion, my constant companion, stepped front and center.
Taking a small step back, I feigned a tiny smile. “Um…I need to use the bathroom.”

Corey
let his hands glide over my hips as he released me. “Okay. I’ll get you a drink.”

Stupid, stupid, stupid!
I grumbled to myself as I weaved my way through the crowd, trying to find the way to the bathroom. I reached the end of a long hallway, and opened a door that looked like it could be it, but instead found myself standing outside. Shit.

I sighed then drew in a deep breath. Now that I was away from the music and the intoxication of the crowd, I felt kind of wrong. My head couldn’t seem to keep focus on anything for very long, and my body seemed incredibly heavy. Why did it sound like such a good idea to get drunk? Yes, I
’d felt pretty damn good for those few hours, but this uncontrollable mess was horrible. I needed to go home.

I didn’t even bother going to find
Mia to say goodbye. I just tapped out a quick text then slipped down the side of Ryan’s house, and started for home.

Chapter 18

Noah

At exactly 12:36am,
Kaeli slipped through the side gate and out onto the street. She’d barely gone past the neighbor’s house, when I realized she’d accomplished her goal of getting drunk.

She didn’t stumble and giggle like most girls did when they were drunk. Kaeli just had an intense focus about her, her body tightly wound as she concentrated on each foot going in front of the other. I wondered if it’d helped her forget everything she’d seen back at the house. Strangely, I hoped so.

I walked a little way behind her, on the other side of the street, keeping to the shadows. She’d only gone two blocks when I heard a faint sob come from her. Fuck. Why did that sound hurt me so much?

She
slowed, then eventually came to a complete stop, dropping her face into her hands. My heart contracted. I hated the thought of her being so upset. I just wanted to comfort her.

Quietly, I slipped further up the street
from her, then crossed over, coming to stand a few yards in front of her. As if sensing my presence, she lifted her hands from her face and looked up at me. I couldn’t hear her from where I was standing, but her lips parted like she gasped and her eyes widened a fraction.

“Mitch?” she whispered.

I watched her wearily. I knew what she must think of me. Even though I wanted to go to her more than anything, I knew my touch probably wasn’t what she wanted right now.

“What are you doing here?”
she asked.

I decided to go with the truth. “I followed you. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Why?” she said disdainfully. “Is TJ worried his latest mule might get hurt? Or was he just worried I might become a blabbermouth when I was drunk?”

“Neither. TJ doesn’t know I’m here.”

She blinked in surprise. “Then why are you?”

I shrugged. “I told you. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

She stared at me for a long while. I almost couldn’t hear her next words. “Well, I’m not.”

Her bottom lip trembled. I could tell she was trying so hard to keep it together. I took an involuntary step towards her then stopped, remembering
I was the enemy. That was when she lost it. The tears flowed down her cheeks like a waterfall.

I closed the gap between us, coming to stand before her. Gingerly, I reached out and
wiped a tear away with my thumb. Surprised flittered in her eyes for a second, then before I knew anything else, she leaned forward and rested her forehead on my chest, her hands coming to rest either side of my waist. I didn’t think about the fact that she should hate me, that she should be cringing from my touch. I just wrapped my arms around her and did what I had wanted to do since the first moment I saw her. Hold her.

After a while, she
pulled away from me. She didn’t move away very far, just enough to look up at me, her hands still resting on my hips. The trust I saw in her eyes paralyzed me. When the hell did that happen? I was so screwed. The second TJ saw her look at me like that, the operation was going to go to hell. I needed to fix this.

She interrupted my thoughts with a whisper.
“You’re not like the others.”

Ah
fuck. “Are you sure about that?” I gave her my best intense gaze. The kind I used to the guys when I needed to show them I wouldn’t be fucked with.

She blinked at me. “Yes.” The alcohol was making her brave. “I don’t think you’d hurt me.”

Oh God, was I that easy to read? I opened my mouth to respond, but was cut off by a voice down the street.

“Kaeli?”

We both turned at the sound of the voice. A boy, about the same age as Kaeli was walking towards us. Kaeli didn’t attempt to move away from me, so I didn’t think he was her boyfriend. He was tall, although not quite as tall as me, and was solid for a high schooler. He had medium length blonde hair and brown eyes that flickered nervously between us. The confidence he showed by approaching us in this situation proved he was probably one of the popular guys at school.

His gaze zeroed in on Kaeli. “Are you okay?” he asked, unable to stop himself from glancing at me when he said it.

She inhaled deeply, then dropped her hands from my hips and turned to face him. “Yeah. I started to feel sick so I thought I’d go home.”

The confusion in his gaze told me it wasn’t the answer he was looking for. “Do you want me to walk you?” he asked hopefully.

Her eyes darted to me for a second before returning back to him. “No, I’ll be alright. Thanks though.”

He pursed his lips together as he decided what to do. After a few seconds, he simply nodded and turned to walk away. What a d
ick. There was no way known I’d just leave her with someone who looked like me.

Chapter 19

Kaeli

It was strange having
Mitch walk me home. It felt like such a gentlemanly thing to do, and that just didn’t match up with the whole drug dealing criminal thing he had going on.

Then when we were about
half way home, the tequila caught up with me and I had to run for the bushes to be sick. Mitch stayed with me the entire time, softly rubbing my back and holding my hair for me. I was so confused. He was one big contradiction, and every minute I spent in his presence, I grew to trust him a little more. I had no idea why. It went against all common sense.

We didn’t talk. At all.
My mind was too full to verbalize anything anyway. By the time we’d reached my house, I’d analyzed the kiss I’d shared with Corey, both kisses Mitch had forced on me, as well as the strange sense of protection I felt from him. The end result was a headache with no answers.

Before he turned to leave he looked at me. “Kaeli, be careful.
Whether you like it not, from now on, you’re probably being watched.” And with that he disappeared, leaving me wondering what the hell he was talking about.

I didn’t know what it was with him.
It was almost like I was beginning to forget what he was, and what he stood for. It was crazy. So many things were starting to become clear – or fuzzier if I really thought about it, because none of it gave me answers. Only more questions.

I thought about the way he’d asked me if I wanted him to fuck me down in the living room so everyone could watch
. Why did he say that only to take me upstairs and do nothing but kiss me? It didn’t make any sense. Unless he was only saying it for TJ’s benefit..? But why would he want TJ to think he was, ‘fucking me’, when he wasn’t?

My mind immediately went to Pock and I felt the blood drain from my face. I had a feeling I knew exactly what
he’d
do if he thought Mitch wasn’t using me like he thought I should be used.

I stopped breathing. Surely he couldn’t be pretending to be with me just to stop the others from taking advantage of me? It seemed stupid to think, but what other explanation could there be? I searched my brain. Maybe he was gay and had to hide the fact from the guys…

I remembered the hardness I’d felt against my stomach earlier that night. No, he definitely wasn’t gay.

I groaned.
My head hurt. God, if I thought about it any more, I was going to have a mental breakdown.

Pulling out my keys, I fumbled with the lock
, grumbling. It seemed finding the hole in the dark was more difficult than I thought. Just when it finally found its mark and I thought to cheer my success, I heard footsteps behind me.

Mi
tch’s warning had me turning in a panic, but when I saw Aaron striding up the path towards me, I exhaled with relief.

Aaron
eyed me suspiciously. “Who was that?” he asked, jerking his head back towards the street. I narrowed my eyes at his beat up face. It looked so much worse than it had earlier in the night.

Glancing
out into the darkness, I tried to see if Mitch was still there. When I couldn’t see anything, I returned my glare to Aaron. “Just one of your BFF’s, making sure I’m not spilling any deep dark secrets.”