Pretend With Me (Midnight Society #1) (24 page)

The sun was like fire in my eyes. It literally burned me
the moment I opened my eyelids and I closed them tightly.
My head was pounding as though a tiny person was inside
there, chiseling away pieces of my brain. My throat felt dry.

“Good morning,” I heard Eric say at my side. I could
literally hear the amused smile playing on his lips. “How is
the hangover?”

A low groan escaped my lips instantly. I was never
drinking so much again. The last thing I remembered was
coming home and waking Eric up. Everything after that
was a jumbled, blurry memory. I do remember that I was
giggling and laughing a lot though, about what exactly, I
had no idea.

“Like a bitch,” I muttered opening my eyes, blinking
against the harsh early morning sun. It took a while for my
eyes to adjust, and when they did I turned to face Eric and
found him lying at the side of me. His head was propped
up on his hand and he had a clump of my hair between his
fingers, twirling it this way and that.

I opened my mouth to ask him what he was doing in
my bedroom when I realized he wasn’t. I was in his.
“Eric…” I hesitated, frowning at him. “Why am I in your
bed?” I tried to keep my voice as natural and light as I
could manage.

A broad smile stretched across his lips instantly as he
looked up to face me. “Oh, we had sex last night,” he
grinned. “It was awesome,” he chuckled.

I felt my facial expression change instantly, going from
calm and collected to total and utter horror. What? I
wanted to scream at him. What did he mean we had sex
last night? No, we didn’t, I think I would have
remembered having sex with him. Just as I was about to
start drilling him, Eric burst out laughing, like a full-out
dying from laughter sound that had me torn about my
feelings for him at the moment. I loved hearing him laugh,
it was a sound that soothed and calmed me in a way I had
never felt before. On the other hand, I was utterly pissed
at him. He almost gave me a heart attack.

“That was not funny,” I stated when he finally stopped
laughing.
“No,” he chuckled lightly, and my heart raced at the
very sound. “It was hilarious… And you did offer to give
me a blowjob,” he said matter-of-factly. “But like the
gentleman I am, I fought off the male instinct and turned
your offer down which left a great burden on my heart.”
I rolled my eyes at him, not falling for this a second
time. “But seriously though,” I swallowed trying to
moisten my dry throat. “Why am I in your bed?”
“I honestly don’t know,” he admitted. “When you got
home, you came in here and woke me up.”
“Oh,” I frowned. “Sorry.”
“I didn’t mind. It was actually nice.”
“Was I horrible last night?” I asked afraid of the answer
I might get.
“How much of last night do you remember?” he asked
instead, grinning again.
“All of it, I think. I mean I know how I got home and I
was talking to you... but after that it’s all foggy...” I trailed
off frowning.
“Oh, you were running around the house stripping and
singing how hot I was,” he grinned and my face knotted
up with complete horror again.
“What?” I shrieked. I did not do that, even drunk, I
wouldn’t.
Eric burst out laughing, and I wanted to die of
embarrassment. I pulled the cover over my head hoping to
blend into the bed only to realize I was still wearing the
clothes I’d gone out with last night. I resurfaced glaring at
him. I knew I wouldn't do that.
“Okay, so I lied,” Eric smiled, “but you should have
seen your face, and for the record you did tell me that I
was hot. I think you used the words,” he paused for a
moment “...‘God-like perfection.’ We had a very
interesting conversation, Jen, wished you could have
remembered,” he smiled and I got the feeling that
‘interesting’ was a huge understatement.
“Like what?” I murmured afraid. Whenever I was
drunk, I spoke freely. Whatever was on my mind came out.
“You told me that you made out with Charde and a
few secrets,” he said seriously now. Just as I was about to
ask what secrets I’d told him exactly he said, “Oh and you
also promised me a date-”
“I did not,” I cut him off at once.
“Yes you did, Jen. I said that you never go out with me,
and it was very hurtful. Then you said - and I quote ‘Well
fine, Eric, I’ll go out with you, okay? Are you happy now?’
So you see, Jen, you did.”
“I was drunk,” I moaned. “You took advantage of me.”
“No, you tried to take advantage of me. You were
practically trying to tear my clothes away. And besides it
doesn’t matter, I already have my hopes up so shut up and
go back to sleep. You’ve only been asleep for two hours.”
He dropped my hair and leaned towards me, lightly kissing
my cheek. “I have some college stuff to take care of so I’ll
be gone. But it shouldn’t take long so I’ll be home by the
time you wake up.”
Going back to sleep sounded like a good idea so I
nodded and closed my eyes. It was only when I heard him
close the door that I remembered to ask him about the
secrets I’d told him.

“Jenifer!” Christy yelled waking me up. Without
hesitating she ran from the doorway and leaped straight
onto the bed hugging me. I didn’t have time to react, I was
still half asleep. “Jenifer, I missed you so much,” she
smiled sitting at my side, spreading her tiny arms as wide as
they could go, showing just how much she missed me.

I sat up, my eyes barely open and smiled at her. “Hey,”
I said rubbing my eyes. “I missed you too.”
“Sorry,” Eric frowned, walking into the room, his hand
halfway through his hair. “As soon as I opened the front
door she flew past me, I couldn’t stop her.” He looked at
Christy now. “She didn’t even say hello to me... I feel
disowned,” he sulked.
Christy didn’t look at him, her eyes were glued to me.
“Jenifer, can I hug you again?” she asked uncertain. I
didn’t answer, instead I wrapped my hands around her,
pulling her into a hug and in return her tiny arms wrapped
around me tightly. “You smell funny,” she commented
when she pulled away, wrinkling her nose.
“That’s alcohol, baby,” I said, laughing slightly.
“Eric smells like that sometimes and mommy yells at
him…” she trailed off, looking around the room in
wonder. After a second her eyes bugged out and she
turned back to face me. “Jenifer, you slept in Eric’s
bedroom?” she frowned, and I could see her trying to
figure it out.
I was hoping she wasn’t going to pick up on that. I
didn’t have an answer and when I looked to Eric standing
at the foot of the bed behind her, he only shrugged. “Yes,”
I finally nodded.
“Where did Eric sleep?” she asked, tilting her head to
the side, staring at me with wide, round eyes.
“Well…” I began, “Eric missed you so much that he
slept in your room…”
“He did?” she burst out in pure astonishment then a
second later Christy erupted in laughter, and Eric picked
her up off the bed, placing her on the floor.
“Let’s go watch TV,” he said, taking her hand and
leading her out of the room, “and let Jen rest a bit.”
“I missed you too, Eric, but I’ve never had a sister
before... You play with me and stuff but Jen is…” she
trailed off.
“Oh so you like her better than me, huh…” Eric trailed
off as the bedroom door closed behind them.
I got out of bed more aware than I had been when I
had woken up the first time and headed directly for my
bedroom. Sometime later, I walked out of the room feeling
clean and refreshed. I then got myself breakfast, which
should really be lunch at this point, and sat down on the
couch beside Eric. Christy was on the floor, her toys
scattered about the room as Barbie’s Princess and
the
Pauper played on the TV.
Sometime during the third Barbie movie Eric fell asleep
on the couch beside me, and then a little while after so did
Christy. I turned the TV off and then picked her up, off
the floor carrying her to her bedroom. Next I woke up
Eric and sent him to his bedroom as well.
With nothing else to do I began picking up Christy’s
toys which were now scattered about the living room.
Somewhere along the line I decided that cleaning up was a
good idea, and just as I was about finished Eric walked
down the stairs and into the living room staring at me with
raised eyebrows.
“There are people to do that,” he commented. I just
shrugged and continued. When I didn’t respond he said,
“You can start getting ready for our date.”
“Why do we have to go on a date?” I muttered, not
looking at him.
“Isn’t that what normal teens do?” he asked at once.
I turned to face him now. “Normal? Eric we aren’t
normal. I’m a weird artificial pureblood experiment and
you - don’t even get me started on what you are… We’re
outside the world of normal, and normal people go on
dates so they could get to know someone… who they
might possibly want to marry. I’m already engaged to you.”
I took a breath, folding my arms across my chest, sulking
in defiance.
He walked up to me and held both of my shoulders,
looking as though he was about to start shaking me.
“Fuck, Jenifer,” he almost shouted. “I’m trying to give you
a normal life and you’re making it very hard.”
I bit my lip at this. “Normal is overrated!” I snapped,
“but fine, Eric, I’ll go on the stupid date with you, but you
can’t make me like it so,” I thought for a second and came
up with nothing “urgh,” I grunted stamping my foot in
frustration and he instantly burst out laughing.
“Did you just stamp your foot?” he chuckled at me.
“Shut up, Eric,” I snapped and without giving him a
chance to react, I turned on my heels and stormed out of
the room, leaving him laughing at me.
About an hour later, I was standing in front of the
mirror in a baby pink and white strapless dress that
reached inches under my knees. It was pretty in a girly way
but as shocking as it was I actually liked it. It was one of
those things that could be worn for any kind of event,
classy yet simple.
I heard a soft knock and I turned to see Eric standing
in my doorway. We matched, I realized and a broad smile
spread across my face. He was in a light pink shirt and
God, did he look good. But he was Eric after all, so he
would look great in anything really.
“You look beautiful,” he walked up to me and pulled
me into a hug. An instant later he pulled away, holding my
shoulders. “You smell like me. Why do you smell like me?”
I looked up at him smiling. “I used your shampoo,” I
said unashamed.
“You drive me insane,” he grunted and turned away
from me. He went to my bed, dropping down on it so that
he was now staring up at the ceiling, his feet still touching
the floor though.
I walked up to the bed and stood between his legs,
looking down at him. “Then that means I’m doing my
job,” I teased.
Eric sat up instantly, facing me. He put both hands on
my waist, looking up, his face inches from my stomach.
Already I could feel the air around us slowly turning into
steam. Acting on instinct I slowly raised my hands and
gently touched the sides of his face. Warmth and desire
coursed through me at this touch. I could hear my brain
cells clicking off, one at a time in my head.
“You know what?” Eric whispered smiling. “You're
right, God put you here to drive me insane.” In one of his
non-human flash movements, he pulled me down on the
bed and suddenly I was lying under him, though no part of
his body touched me. My heart was pumping in my chest,
and I couldn’t form a thought other than I should start
ripping his clothes off now. Screw our date, I never
wanted it in the first place.
“You wear my clothes and even after they’ve been
washed, I smell you when I wear them. Do you know what
that does to me, Jen?” he asked with eyes that made me
want to start undressing him even more than I thought
possible.
“Turns you on beyond comprehension?” I suggested,
smiling back at him. He chuckled and then rolled off of
me, propping himself up with his hand. His face was
inches from my own, and his scent filled my nose strongly.
Now I understood completely what he had meant
earlier. His scent was slowly seeping into me, getting me
high. It was utter torture and yet it was so very good.
Everything about him was dangerously intoxicating. He
was like wildfire that slowly incinerated my body. It started
easy and with just one spark, one moment that was simple
and fun, and then it grew. Until instead of sparks in my
heart, it was fire running through my veins.
It was wild and dangerous, and yet so safe. It made me
wonder if this could last. I didn’t think something that was
so unpredictable and raw could work. And what would
happen if our marriage failed? I doubted that I'd ever be
truly free.
“Eric…” I whispered, “if our marriage fails… what is
going to happen… to us, I mean?”
His answer was instant and sure. “It won’t fail,” he
whispered, taking my hand. It startled me at how certain
he was.
“But what if it does?” I insisted.
“It won’t, I promise.”
“How can you know that?” I asked, and he looked at
our hands that seemed to fit together perfectly. He then
began playing with my fingers as I stared at him
expectantly, waiting for him to speak.
“Because I won’t let it,” he breathed out. “I love you,
Jen and my kind... we don’t love like humans do… We
love only once in our lifetime, one person for our entire
life… There's no word for it, but it's an unbreakable bond
made by fate and destiny… It’s intense and is the strongest
bond we have… We know when we meet that person...
that one person we’re supposed to love forever. We know
the exact moment it happens. Sometimes it happens in the
first meeting, the very first time you lay eyes on her, and at
other times you can spend a lifetime together and then one
day, suddenly something snaps inside you and nothing is
ever the same…” he trailed off.
“You sound like you know the feeling…” I whispered.
Eric didn’t reply instantly. Instead I felt his gaze heating
my face as he thought about his answer. “Do you
remember when we met?” he then asked. “In the car when
I told you I cared for you…?” I looked away from our
hands to him and nodded slowly, thinking back to that
first day in the car with him. The memory was distant and
slightly blurred now, even though I remember every
second of that day. It was like I was seeing the images
through a net, all the little details that I was now used to
seeing, I couldn’t see back then. It was strange how much I
changed in just a few months - how much my body had
changed. “That’s when it happened for me… You
apologized… and then I just didn’t see you the same any
more…”
“I would do anything for you… If I could get out of
this marriage I would. It would hurt like Hell because I do
want to marry you, but I would call off our wedding in a
heartbeat if I had the chance… I’d keep hoping that
maybe one day you will want to marry me, but even if you
didn’t… I’d still call it off…” he trailed off leaving me
confused and glassy eyed. It took me a moment to find my
voice.
“Why…?” I breathed out in a low, almost inaudible
whisper.
“You’ve made it clear you don’t want this wedding.
You’re not ready to be married yet… I see what this is
doing to you… I don’t ever want you to be unhappy...
When you love someone, really love someone, you put
their happiness above your own…”
I didn’t know how to respond to that. Eric was so good
and pure, and I wasn’t. I didn’t deserve him. I was broken,
incapable of loving him the way he loved me. I could
never give him that. I wished I could, because he deserved
that kind of love, but he couldn’t have that from me. It
didn’t make sense. “Eric… why do you love me…?”
He didn’t answer right away. “I enjoy being with you…
you laugh at the most weirdest, simplest things. Your sense
of humor,” he chuckled, “it’s like a switch in your head
that you can turn on and off whenever you want.
Sometimes I would tell you a joke and you’ll stare at me
like I’m insane, and then after a while I’ll tell you that same
joke and you’ll laugh until you start crying,” he laughed
and I bit down on my lower lip.
“There are these moments,” he continued, staring at
me, “when I see you staring off into space… You’re lost
and far away, but then this small, breathtaking smile would
pierce your lips.” He reached out and touched the corner
of my lips with his thumb just barely. “It’s short and
carefree but your whole face lights up… and for that
moment you seem so peaceful. I know you’re thinking
about your friends or Daren, I know it’s not me… yet I’m
happy…
“But none of that is why I love you, Jen… To be
perfectly honest I don’t know… I just do. Because I would
still love you if you did none of those things, and I do even
when you throw stuff at me or be mean to me. Even when
I hate you… I love you.”
I didn’t say anything for a long while. “I don’t see it,” I
muttered. I was none of those things Eric described.
“You won’t… not until you’ve seen yourself through
my eyes… If I had one wish for you, it’d be that just once
you’re able to see yourself not just the way that I see you,
but how the world sees you as well. You’d be amazed at
what you truly are…” he trailed off.
Eric’s phone shattered the silence then, ringing loudly
from his pocket. He immediately got up and answered it. I
was thankful for this and as soon as he moved from my
side, I got up and walked towards my bathroom, locking
myself in it.
Without thinking I turned on the tap, letting the water
run as I stared at myself in the mirror. My face was flushed
and I was wide eyed and glowing somehow. I inhaled
slowly, trying to calm myself and when that didn't work, I
wet my hands slightly, passing them along my face. Taking
a few more breaths, I dried my face, smoothed out my hair
and dress, then walked out of the bathroom to find Eric
sitting on the bed staring at me expectantly.
“Ready?” he asked and I nodded. He then took my
hand, leading me out the room towards the front door,
down the stairs to where his car was waiting. Then we
were on our way to wherever he was taking me