Pretend With Me (Midnight Society #1) (28 page)

“This says Tutankhaten,” I said in awe as I turned back
to face Eric. “That’s King Tut of Egypt?”
“Yeah,” was Eric’s brilliant answer and I turned back to
the wall studying the names that surrounded King Tut’s.
Instantly I turned back to Eric.
“But King Tut didn’t have children,” I frowned at him,
“as far as they know.”
“And as far as they know he died at nineteen.”
“He didn’t?” I asked totally engrossed in this now.
“No,” Eric shook his head, chuckling at me. “The
Elders thought that his life was too public and they faked
his death… I’ll tell you more later, but let’s get back before
my parents get home and my dad gives me an extra hole to
breathe from.”
“Will he be mad that we’re here?” I asked, biting down
on my lip.
“No,” he took my hand, leading me back to the
staircase. “But he’ll be mad that I have you out of bed,” he
chuckled as we began walking back up the stairs.
“So back to your original question,” Eric started once
we were back in the bedroom. He was lying at my side
while I was sitting crossed legged on the bed. “The Wilson
bloodline is known for having defensive, passive
inheritance. My dad is the only exception, but he wasn’t
born a Wilson…”
“Hmm…” I wondered, “so what do you think mine
will be?” I asked. I wasn’t born a Wilson either, but I did
have Wilson blood running through my veins.
“Maybe you’ll be able to…” he mused as a bright,
amused smile suddenly plastered his face and he looked at
me slyly. “You are going to be able to drive people
insane,” he predicted chuckling, “since you already do that
to me so well,” he laughed and I smacked his arm
playfully. “Or,” he continued, “you’ll be able to annoy
another pureblood named Eric Wilson,” he pointed to the
TV where the ending credits of Pirates of the Caribbean
were scrolling up the screen. “You’ve made me watch that
movie at least ten times already.”
“Eric, I’m serious,” I said despite laughing along with
him.
“I don’t know, Jen,” he smiled looking at me. “What
do you think?”
“I don’t know either,” I frowned. “But it would be cool
to fly,” I smiled, “or if I could think about something and
have it appear before me.”
“What would you think about?”
“Cake!” I blurted out at once, and Eric burst out
laughing. “A big chunk of chocolate cake.”
“Okay,” he grinned showing a row of perfect, dazzling
teeth. “Think about cake right now,” he demanded. “And
I’ll know if you aren’t.”
“Why?” I questioned my eyebrows rising.
“Would you just do it, Jenifer,” he sighed.
“Fine,” I grunted letting thoughts of having chocolate
cake fill my head. I imagined a huge chunk on a white
plate.
“Jen, look!” Eric suddenly burst out scaring me. I
opened my eyes not realizing when I had closed them and
saw Eric sitting crossed legged at the foot of the bed,
directly in front of me, pointing at the empty space
between us. I followed his finger, and lying on the bed was
a slice of cake exactly how I had pictured it in my head.
“You made cake appear.”
A brilliant smile spread across my lips, stretching from
ear to ear. “I did! I did!” I cheered still grinning. “If I think
about you naked… would you strip?” I asked biting my
lower lip.
“I would,” Eric smiled getting up from the bed and for
a moment I thought that he was actually going to do it.
“But you have visitors; Charde and Ryan are at the door.”
Exactly a minute later one of the many housekeepers
knocked on my bedroom door, announcing that Charde
and Ryan were here to see me. About two days ago Dr.
Wilson had allowed me visitors under the condition that
Eric was always with me. I thought it was stupid, because
the only people to visit me were my friends from school –
as I knew no one else – and they weren’t going to hurt me.
“Hello, my lovely,” Charde smiled walking into the
room and dropping down on the bed at my side. She
immediately hugged me. Ryan hung back at the door.
“How are you feeling? Any better?”
“Much,” I smiled. “Eric’s been very good, though he
keeps threatening violence every time I attempt to leave
the bed.”
“Do you know when you’re coming back to school?”
she asked and I looked to Eric, but he only shrugged.
“No not yet… not until Dr. Wilson says I can. So
where are Amelia and Emily?” I asked directing the subject
away from me.
“They’re still in school. The Ball is next week and they
still have a lot of work to do,” she explained pulling out a
small black plastic bag. “They did sent this for you though
and said to get better soon.”
I took the bag, peeping into it to find two packs of
M&Ms. “Thanks,” I smiled.
“So I was thinking, your wedding is in two weeks Jen,
what are you doing for your bachelorette party?”
“Right,” I frowned, looking down at the bed. “The
wedding… Charde… I don’t want a bachelorette party,” I
choked out.
“Oh… well I had an idea. There’s a concert about two
towns away and it’s over the weekend before you’re getting
hitched… I was thinking that we could drive there, spend
the weekend and be back for the wedding…” I opened my
mouth to tell her that I really didn’t want this but before I
could she said, “The band that’s playing is Linkin Park…”
she trailed off grinning at me.
I perked up at this. “You know what?” I asked staring
at her. “I’ve decided that I want a bachelorette party after
all,” I gleamed.
“So we’re going?” she asked excited. I was already
nodding. “Jenifer Carson soon to be Wilson, I love you,”
she cheered hugging me again. “I’m hungry, please tell me
you have food in this joint.”
I smiled nodding. “Kitchen.” She instantly got up off
the bed and started for the kitchen pulling Eric behind her,
leaving Ryan and I alone. Since Ryan had came, he hadn’t
spoken a word to me. Instead he had hung back, staring at
me awkwardly and as the silent moments dragged on, I got
the feeling that I was going to have to make the first move.
“Hey, Ryan,” I smiled, “what’s up?”
“I’m glad you’re okay Jen… I just… I wanted to, um,
tell you that I’m sorry. I didn’t know you would be upset
over the picture.”
“Its fine,” I sighed.
“So um I err… I brought some of your homework and
lectures,” he said awkwardly and gave me a bunch of
papers that was stapled together in different bunches
according to date and class.
“Thanks Ryan, you just made my life a whole lot
easier.”
“Okay,” he nodded. “Well I should um… I should let
you rest,” he mumbled turning to go.
“Hey Ryan,” I called out and he turned back to me
instantly. “Do you still have that magazine?”
“Yeah, do you want it?” he asked but was already
digging through his bag. He pulled it out, holding it to me.
“Thanks,” I replied taking the magazine. I waited until
he had left the room to tuck it under my pillow. Soon after
Charde and Eric re-entered the room. Charde had a plate
with cake and she dropped down on the bed. Eric stayed
at the door though, as Charde and I started planning for
the concert. We’d been at it for a while when Dr. Wilson
walked into the room, to check on me.
When he left Eric followed him out and Charde turned
to me grinning. “You are going to think I’m crazy, but
your father-in-law is hot,” she smiled. Instantly I burst out
laughing knowing that both Eric and his dad was probably
right outside my bedroom door and could hear her. “I
mean have you seen his ass?”
“I’m too busy checking out his son’s ass to notice
anyone else’s.” I would hear about this from Eric later.
“Yeah, Eric does have that,” she mused. “Anyway, I
should be going.” She hugged me again and then stood up.
“I’m so happy you’re okay and come back to school soon,
Jen, we miss you a lot. Bye.”
I waited until Charde had left then pulled out the
magazine from under my pillow and began flipping
through the pages. When I found my picture, I took a long
deep breath preparing myself for what I was about to do.
Since I left Trinidad, I had never talked about my past,
but it was time that I explained it to Eric… not all of it,
but at least some. I owed him that much. I wasn’t sure if I
was ready for this, but I knew that sooner or later I had to
tell him. I was tired of keeping everything inside me.
“So I have a nice ass, do I?” he asked beaming as he
walked back into my bedroom, closing the door behind
him.
“I had to throw something in for your benefit,” I
smiled at him nervously. I took a deep breath, trying to
calm my frantic heart. “Anyway Eric… I want to talk to
you…”
“What about?” he asked, sitting down next to me.
I placed the magazine open to the page of the picture
on my lap. “About this,” I whispered staring down at it.
“Jen,” Eric began at once and there was something in
his voice that made me look at him. He seemed way too
calm. “You don’t have to explain anything.”
“I want to,” I cut him off, and he instantly closed his
mouth. I frowned and looked down at the picture,
studying it.
The page itself wasn’t an individual picture. Instead in
the middle had the largest picture which showed all of us
carelessly draped about the car. Around that picture was
our individual shots, which had also been placed carelessly
– or so it seemed – with its corners sticking out at all
angles and over lapping the main picture.
There were five of us in the main picture – Brandon,
Danny, Daren, Kris and I. “This is Kris,” I pointed to the
only other girl in the picture. She had a small figure and
her hair was long, almost reaching her waist and perfectly
straight.
Next to her was Brandon, her boyfriend. He was
leaning on the car, his side facing the camera and his back
to Kris. She had her hands wrapped around his neck.
Unlike me, she wasn’t sitting on the hood of the car, she
was on her knees and the front of her body was pressed
against Brandon’s back.
“Brandon,” I said pointing to him. “He has the most
amazing eyes I’ve ever seen, apart from yours. It’s a
piercing grey color that’s always awake, even when he’s
dead tired. Kris always said that his eyes were the first
thing she fell in love with…”
“Next is Danny.” Danny was at the driver’s side of the
car. His hand w as touching the handle of the door as if he
was about to open it. “He was the last person that saw me
before I left… That night he was there too... He um…” I
closed my eyes letting my head fall into my hands. “He got
me out of the house and back home…” I trailed off. I
hadn’t removed my hands from covering my face and my
voice came out muffled.
“And this…” I took a deep breath, opening my eyes,
gently running my fingers along Daren’s body. He was
standing at the side of the car, facing me. One hand was
on his cheek and his mouth was hanging open forming a
silent O.
It almost looked comical, as if he was trying to make
me laugh. Looking at us, you would have never guessed we
were in the middle of a fight, because I was smiling sweetly
at the camera, completely ignorant of Daren’s shocked and
funny face just inches from mine.
“This is Daren,” I choked out, turning to face Eric.
“We’re racers, Eric,” I managed to get out. “We’re… I was
an illegal street racer,” I corrected myself. “And the car in
the picture… it’s mine – was mine.”
The car was a black Subaru that had glowing red neon
lights on the rims and underneath. Bright red flames with a
burning vine of thorns and roses were painted on both
sides of the car. It was dropped low, almost touching the
ground, and heavily tinted; so deep that even if you went
right up to the car and pressed your face against the glass
you would still have a hard time seeing what was inside.
Even the windscreen was tinted, but it wasn’t as heavy as
the windows.
You couldn’t see most of these details in the picture
though. Unlike all the other cars we owned, this car was
only for show – it didn’t even begin to compare to the
others in speed, though it was fast. The others had all been
built especially for speed and racing, but I had designed
this car with only looks in mind so Kris could enter it into
car shows and stuff.
I looked up at Eric, quietly begging him to say
something, but as the seconds dragged on, he kept his eyes
focused on the picture, and I began to wonder what was
going through his mind. The silence was deafening and as
the seconds seemed to grow, I urged to reach out and
touch him. The feeling to reassure myself that he wasn’t
going to get up and walk away from me, to hold onto him
gripped my body hard and strong, but I kept my hands at
my side in tight fists. Finally, when it sunk in that Eric was
not going to say anything, I slid the magazine off my lap
and unto his. He needed time to digest this, and I was
going to give him that.
I stood up, about to walk away when Eric grabbed my
hand, making me stop. He pulled me back down to sit next
to him, turning to face me. “Why do you always assume
I’m going to leave you?”
“I can’t help it,” I whispered, so low that it seemed like
only my lips moved. Tears were forming in my eyes now
and it took everything I had to hold them in. Eric nodded
and then turned back to the picture in front of him.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this before?” he uttered.
I looked down at our hands. “My world is just as much
of a secret as yours is,” I whispered making myself look at
him. “Why aren’t you mad at me?”
“I already told you, I knew you had a past the moment
I met you. It’s what makes you who you are… and let’s
face it, this is hot,” he grinned, taking my hand in his.
Instantly I looked down to our fingers, now linked
together as my awareness level of him skyrocketed. I was
suddenly conscious of how close we were to each other.
Eric and I were sitting only inches away, our linked
hands were our only connection and that was all it took for
me to become so aware of him that I saw every little detail;
the slight rise and fall of his chest, the way his body was
tense… the way he looked at me, his eyes mirroring the
exact thoughts in my head.
We wanted each other; it was clear on both our faces. I
could feel the raw chemistry floating in the air, making the
space between us sizzle. I felt the need in my veins, strong
and unrelenting. I couldn’t breathe properly, and even if I
could all that would do was make me inhale his scent,
which I was sure would cause much more damage. My
blood called to him the same way that his was screaming at
me.