Scorching Secrets (27 page)

Ah, there is the blush again.

Twenty minutes later, Ryanne is sitting on the kitchen counter. Emma is still dancing, though not like earlier. It is nice to see everyone acting like normal teenagers for once—well those of us who are teens. I’m leaning against the island in the middle of the kitchen when the song “Run” by Matt Nathanson ft. Jennifer Nettles came on. I quietly sing along with the song. I don’t have the best singing voice, but I’m not that bad. I sang the first chorus by myself. When it comes time for the Jennifer Nettles part, I am prepared to sing it as well but am shocked when I hear Ryanne start to sing. I look up at her and find her watching me. The room quiets. Her beautiful voice fills the room as she sings out. We sing the next line together. I forget that there are other people in the room. My focus is completely on Ryanne.

Neither one of us moves, but we continue singing. I take a deep breath and sing out the next part. I watch as Ryanne mimics what I do. She can hold her notes longer than I can. She continues to hold out a note, while I sing. I’m amazed by how well our voices blend together. I’ve sung with her before, but this feels different, more intimate. The music fades and we are left with silence. Neither one of us move. She continues to stare at me, and I can’t look away either. The next song starts to play, but the room remains quiet.

Ryanne tears her eyes from mine and looks at those around us. Her face turns every shade of red possible. She hops down from the counter, and with her head down, she silently walks out of the kitchen. I hear her footsteps go up the stairs. When I stop staring at the spot on the counter where she was just sitting, I realize all eyes are now on me.

“This waiting thing is getting more and more difficult,” I mumble before walking out of the room as well.

I know that I shouldn’t have started singing with Colton, but I couldn’t help it. I saw him staring down at the counter, singing quietly, and I wanted him to sing louder. I love his singing voice. I remember when he made me play the piano and how well our voices sounded together. I wanted to experience that again, and it was great while it lasted, but it is making things difficult. I like Colton so much. It hurts being around him all the time but not actually able to be with him. I don’t know what to do anymore.

I look down at my clock and see that it is getting late. I’d slept through the whole morning, so it is already night time. To avoid going back downstairs, I decide to just go to bed. I am already tired; it wouldn’t be surprising if I fall asleep. I change into a pair of athletic shorts and a black cami and brush my teeth. Emma comes into the room with Olive following her. “Are you ok? You left the kitchen pretty quickly.”

Spitting the last bit of toothpaste out, I wipe my face off and turn the bathroom light off. Getting into bed, I reply, “Yeah, I’m fine. Just tired. I’m going to go to bed.” Emma places Olive onto the bed with me. With a sigh, she walks out of the room and turns the lights off.

Are you really ok?

“No, but I will be. Don’t worry, Olive. Goodnight.”

Goodnight, Ryanne.

Closing my eyes, I let myself drift into sleep.

“Long time no see.” Tensing at his voice, I slowly turn around and see Adam staring at me in a very lustful way. I shiver and take a step back. Hitting the wall, I freeze. How the heck do I keep getting into these situations?

“How did I get here?”

“I pulled you here. You’re not the only one with magic.”

“What is this exactly?”

“This is a dream, of course.”

“Oh.” I need to keep this conversation going, but I don’t know what to ask.

“I’m sure you’re wondering why I brought you here.”

“I’m pretty sure I already know, but please enlighten me.” He smirks and begins walking toward me.

“I heard about your little visit with Dravin.” Adam crosses his arms and stops a couple feet in front of me. “Now, he’s mad. If you don’t want anything to happen to your friends, I think you should tell me your location. We just need you. Your friends will be left alone.”

“Why should I believe you? You’ve done nothing to make me trust you.”

“Smart girl. You can’t trust me, but if something happens to your friends because of your stupidity, everyone will blame you.”

“You called me smart and stupid in the same sentence.”

Ignoring my comment, he asks, “Where are you?” He takes another step toward me. I take a step forward, meeting him. He’s not going to intimidate me that easily. I’m no longer a scared little girl.

“Currently, I’m in a dream that you dragged me into.” He smirks and while looking down at me, I notice the look in his eyes change. I take a step back; I recognize that look. He had the same look when he attacked me in the cell. He takes a step forward and slams me into the back wall. Hitting my head, I wince but don’t cry out.

“You will tell me where you are!” He is seething. Pupils dilated, nostrils flared—he is a walking billboard for intimidation. I try to punch him, but he grabs my hands and pins them above my head against the wall. Stepping on my feet so I can’t move, he leans forward and whispers in my ear, “Feel familiar?” He’s referring to the first time in the park. I don’t know how to get out of this situation. Considering I can’t read his mind, I’m pretty sure I can’t use any magic here.

“Why are you doing this, Adam? Why me?”

“You mean in the beginning? Because of Colton. He got everything. When I found out that he was interested in you, I had to prove that he can’t have everything he wants. It worked out perfectly. Until he found out that you had magic. If I found you first…well we’d be in a different situation. Though I’d want it to be similar to the one we’re in right now. The fact that you turned out to be a mage was just an interesting turn of events. ”

“What? You forcing yourself on me?”

“I’m not forcing myself on you. Do you see me doing anything?”

“That’s bull crap, Adam, and you know it. You’re holding me against my will.”

“You got yourself into this position.”

“I wouldn’t be in this position if you didn’t bring me here!”

He leans forward, and his lips brush against mine. I freeze. “Tell me where you are, and I’ll let you go.” I spit in his face. If I can’t fight back, I might as well make him angry enough. If he’s angry, he won’t think about what he’s doing. He’ll just react. On cue, he reaches out and slaps me with the hand that’s not pinning my wrists to the wall.

My head jerks to the side. The slap stings so bad that I feel tears welling up in my eyes. With a hiss, I blink rapidly, making the tears disappear. “That’s the best you can do?”

“I’ve not even started.”

He lifts his leg and knees me in the stomach. It friggin’ hurts, but it gives me the advantage I need. When I double over, his grip on my hands loosen. Pulling my hands out of his reach, I thrust my palm up and break his nose. Blood squirts onto me while he yells and moves away. Saying a bunch of obscenities, he rushes forward and swings his leg out and kicks me in the shoulder, knocking me into the wall. My head connects with concrete, and I slump to the ground.

The room around me starts spinning. I am too dizzy to try and get back up. Walking over to me with predator like finesse, Adam steps onto my hand and deliberately applies more pressure, crushing the small bones with a piercing snap. I cry out as the pain shoots up my arm.

Crouching down, Adam whispers in my ear. “Don’t mess with me. You’ll never win.” Because I am losing consciousness, he can’t keep me in this dream. I needed him to attack me so I can get out of here.

I smile up at him and whisper, “I already did.”

Gasping, I bolt up in bed and then quietly cry out in pain when my body starts aching everywhere. I glance to my right and see Emma sleeping. My cry didn’t wake her up; Olive, on the other hand, sits up when I move.

Something wrong?

“I’ll be right back,” I whisper. I try to keep my voice steady; I don’t want her to worry. Closing her little blue eyes, she snuggles against my pillow and falls asleep once more.

Getting out of bed proves to be extremely painful. Each movement causes pain to shoot through my entire body. My head aches from hitting the hard wall, my cheek is swollen from being slapped, my hand is broken, and my stomach aches from the punches. Thankfully, my legs are fine, so once I am able to get out of bed, I am able to get out of the room.

Opening the door, I peek down the hallway. It’s empty, and the coast is clear. Colton’s door is closed, and the lights are off. Thankfully, he won’t see me tonight. I don’t really want to hear him freak out again. I walk down to Logan’s room and lightly knock. Logan opens the door and gasps when he sees my appearance. I must look as bad as I feel. “Can I come in?”

“What the hell happened to you?” Logan whispers loudly. Moving out of the way, he lets me come into the room. Liam and Colton are sitting on the ground and both of them jump up when they see me.

“Shoot.” I turn around and point to Logan. “Why didn’t you tell me that they were in here?”

“You didn’t ask.”

“What happened to you, Ryanne?” asks Liam. I look toward Colton. Oh dear, he’s livid. I open my mouth to talk, but the room starts spinning. I can’t tell where the ground is as the dizziness takes over. A pair of arms wrap around me as I sway backwards.

Knowing that they are Logan’s, I ask for him to heal me as more black spots start to cloud my vision. Logan sits down on the ground, taking me with him. My head slumps back against his chest as I feel the early stages of the healing begin. A numbing sensation moves through my body lingering on the obvious injuries. I gasp when I feel the bones in my hand mend back together. A hiss echoes through the room at the sound of my discomfort. I’m not sure which guy it came from. A tingling sensation sweeps through my stomach and moves upwards toward my head. The swelling on my cheek decreases, and the dizziness and the headache go away.

I feel Logan tense behind me when he is done healing. I turn around and look at him. He has his angry face on. In my mind, I picture Mr. Potato Head pulling out his angry eyes. “I provoked him on purpose, Logan. It was the only way I knew how to get out of there.”

“Logan, what happened?” Colton demands.

“It wasn’t as bad as it looked!” I turn around and point to Colton, “See, I’m all better.”

“All better? Are you serious? You come in here looking like someone used you as a punching bag.”

“Well, someone kind of did. That’s what I was trying to get Adam to do.”

“Adam?” Colton and Liam both yell.

I jump up and run over to them. “Shhhhh. Can you please be quiet? I don’t want to wake anyone else up. The less people that know, the better.”

“Did he…” Colton starts.

“No, I spit in his face before he could do anything.” The corner of Colton’s mouth moves up slightly. I see the smile that he is trying so hard to hide. He is still angry but not as much as earlier.

“What did he want?”

“My location,” I say. “Dravin’s mad because I didn’t give him any information last time, so it was Adam’s turn to try and get information from me.”

Colton reaches down and lightly swipes his thumb across my cheekbone. “You have blood on your face.”

I take a step back. I don’t like the tingly feeling that I get when he touches me. Well if I’m being honest with myself, I do like it. A little too much. Logan’s room is set up exactly like mine, so I walk over to his bathroom and splash water onto my face, cleaning away all of the blood. “It’s not mine,” I call out. “I broke Adam’s nose.”

“Really?”

Drying my face off, I walk back into the room. “I do know how to defend myself. I just have to improvise when I’m pressed up against a wall with my feet being stepped on and arms pinned above my head. So, I provoked him. When someone’s angry, they just react. They don’t think.”

“You purposely tried to get him to attack you?” Colton asks.

“Yes.”

“You’re crazy,” Colton says. I can tell that he is no longer angry. I think finding out that I broke Adam’s nose put him in a slightly better mood. At least I didn’t just let him brutally beat me.

“Thank you.” I sit down on the floor and lean back against the wall. “Do you think they’ll ever stop? I don’t remember the last time I had a normal dream.” Colton walks across the room and sits down next to me against the wall.

“Can I suggest something?” asks Logan as he gets comfortable on the floor a few feet in front of us.

“Sure. Suggest away.”

“I think you should try sleeping with Liam.”

“Huh?” I say, right as Liam says, “What?” and Colton lets out a “Hell no.”

“Wait a second. I don’t mean it like that. I mean, I think that she should go to sleep with Liam. Just sleep. I think that if he touches her while she’s sleeping they won’t be able to get to her. It’s just a suggestion.” Colton starts shaking his head, so Logan goes on, “Would you rather she keep getting attacked in her sleep?”

“Well, no, but—” Logan interrupts him, but I stop listening to their conversation. My eyelids are starting to feel heavy. Curling into a ball, I lie down on my side and rest my head in Colton’s lap.

With a yawn, I say, “Wake me up when a decision is made.”

Colton

Ugh, I’m not ready to be awake. Squeezing my eyes shut, I try to fall back asleep. My back aches like I’ve been sitting in the same position for a long time. Leaning back, I hit something hard. Oww, I open my eyes and look around. Logan is on his stomach, sleeping with his head on his arms across the room. To my right, Liam is asleep on his back. My leg is numb; I start to move it when I hear a small breathy groan. Ryanne is sleeping on my leg…why? When I see her, the previous night’s events come back to me. She was attacked by Adam again.

My whole body is stiff and sore, but I don’t have it in me to wake her up. I lean my head back and close my eyes again. “I knew it. She gets to have all the fun,” Emma says as she enters Logan’s room. Hearing voices, Logan jerks awake and sits up.

“Ugh, it’s too early. Go away.”

“Did you guys have a party without me last night?” Emma asks. She sits down on the floor next to Logan and looks around expectantly.