Shift (The Neturu Chronicles) (42 page)

               
“Yes, bacon is the food of the devil.”

               
They both burst into laughter.  Kayla sighs. “Let’s go to sleep.”

               
“All right,” Jackson says.
“
Come
on.”  He lifts her off the ground, and she follows him.  They stare
at the bed, neither of them taking initiative to make the first move toward
it.  Jackson looks at her.  “We need to actually get into the bed.”

               
“You go in first.  I don’t know which side you sleep on.”

               
Jackson smiles. “The right, I always have to sleep on the right.”

               
Kayla nods. “Okay.”  She walks over to the left side and pulls the blanket
back. “Here goes nothing.”

               
“I’m not going to attack you.  Relax.  I’ll wait for you to fall
asleep.”

               
Kayla exhales as she climbs into bed.  Taking the pillow, she fluffs it up
and then lies down.  Jackson gets into the bed next to her.  He pulls
the blanket over them and then flops down.  Kayla rolls over and looks at
him.  “Who would have thought you would have me in bed so soon?”

               
Jackson laughs. “I’m just talented.”

               
Kayla smirks.  “I’m tired.”

               
“Then go to sleep.  I’ll stay awake until I know you’re really not in
Shima.”

               
She closes her eyes. “Thank you, Jackson.”

               
“No problem, now go to sleep.”

               
Pulling the blanket up to her chin, Kayla snuggles into the covers.  After
a while, sleep finally finds her.  When she wakes up, Kayla finds herself
in Jackson’s arms.  She looks up and he’s looking down at her. 
“What’s going on?” she whispers.

               
“Obviously, we can’t control ourselves,” Jackson murmurs.  “I know I
can’t.”  He lifts her up and brings his lips to hers.  The kiss is
soft.  Kayla wants to protest, but no words come out.  They kiss each
other softly, but as time goes by the energy between them intensifies. 
Their kisses turn desperate. Kayla shoves Jackson’s shirt up and pulls it off
him.

               
He rolls them over, so that he’s on top.  She inhales sharply.  His
hands run up her legs and grip her hips.  “I want you,” he whispers into
her ear.

               
Kayla exhales. “I want you too.”

               
His hands start to pull at the top of her pants.  “Tell me to stop,” he
says in a strained voice.

               
“No.”

               
Jackson leans down and kisses her again.  Kayla hesitates for a minute and
then gives in.  She lets herself and everything else go.  Her hands
grip the sheets the whole time.  Being with Jackson is everything she ever
imagined and more.

               
Everything changes when she hears, “Kayla, hey, wake up.”  She opens her
eyes to find herself on top of Jackson.  “Hey,” he whispers, “wake
up.  I think you’re having a nightmare.  You’re going to rip the
sheets with how hard you’re tearing at them.”

               
“Holy crap!” she exclaims sitting up.  “I can’t believe I just did that.”

               
“Did what?  Drool on me? Yes, you did, which is kind of gross, but I guess
if it was going to be anyone, it may as well be you.” He laughs.

               
“No, not that; everything else.  I can’t believe we just did that!”

               
With a confused look, Jackson says, “What are you talking about?  What did
we just do?”

               
“What do you mean, what did we do?  You can’t tell me you forgot already!”

               
He looks at her, perplexed. “What are you talking about?  We slept all
night.”

               
“What?” Kayla gasps.

               
Jackson tugs on his shirt. “We slept and you drooled all over me.”

               
“We didn’t…you mean…it was a dream?”

               
“What was a dream?” Jackson asks.

               
Exhaling loudly, Kayla clenches her chest.  “Holy hell, I thought
we
…”

               
“We what?”

               
“Nothing, I’m sorry I drooled on you.”

               
Jackson gets up on his elbows. “What did you think happened?”

               
“Nothing.  Don’t worry about it.  I just had a weird dream.”

               
Narrowing his eyes, Jackson stares at her and then laughs when he realizes what
Kayla was dreaming about.  “Damn, you thought we had sex.”

               
“No, I didn’t!”

               
“You were making soft noises in your sleep and gripping me and the sheets like
you wouldn’t believe.  I
thought
you were having a
nightmare
. 
Wow, was I wrong.”

               
“Shut up!  This is not funny.”

               
He laughs. “Yes, it is.  You need to tell me about it, play by play.”

               
“Hell no!” Kayla screams.  “I can’t believe this is happening.  I’m
going to die.”

               
“You have to tell me something,” Jackson begs.  “Come on, one juicy
detail.  Was the sex good?”

               
Kayla covers her face in mortification. “SHUT UP!”

               
“Come on, tell me
something
.  You drooled all over me, I should at
least get one detail.”

               
 “Shut up, Jackson,” Kayla whimpers.

               
He gets on his knees and sits in front of her.  “Come on, tell me, Kayla,
or I’m going to make your dream come true.”

               
“No you won’t, stop it!”

               
Jackson pushes her over and gets on top of her.  “Yes, I will.  Tell
me, Kayla.  Did I rock your world?”

               
“Get off of me.” She giggles.  “I’m not going to tell you anything.”

               
He bends down and starts kissing her neck. “Tell me, Kayla.”  She closes
her eyes and the dream comes rushing back.  Her heart rate speeds
up.  “Tell me, Kayla.”

               
“Yes,” she whispers.

               
He laughs against her neck. “Awesome, well I’m glad you enjoyed your sex
dream.  Now, I have to tell you mine.”  

               
“
What
?” Kayla exclaims, pushing against him.  “If you had one too,
how do you know that we
didn’t
do it?”

               
“Because it wasn’t last night.” Jackson sighs, holding himself over her. 
“This is too fantastic.”

               
She shoves him over. “Get off me!”

               
Jackson grabs her and pulls her on top as he rolls.  “Why fight it? 
We can give into indulgences.”

               
“No, we can’t!” Kayla giggles.  “Shut up.”

               
His shoulders shake with laughter.  “You are so red right now.”

               
“Stop it!  You are awful.”

               
“Or incredible from what you say,” Jackson teases.

               
“It was all right, don’t boost your ego too much.”

               
Jackson holds his hand to his ear. “What?  I can’t quite hear you over my
awesomeness.”

               
Kayla bursts out laughing.

A knock on the door causes
both of them to freeze. “Jackson, do you know where Kayla is?”

               
In shock, Kayla quickly scrambles off of Jackson, but in doing so, falls off
the edge of the bed.  She slams against the floor.  “Ow,” she yells.

               
The door flies open and Damien walks in.  He looks at Kayla and then
Jackson.  “What in the hell is going on?”

               
“I think I just broke my hip,” Kayla moans, rolling over.  “Ow.”

               
“Are you okay?” Jackson chuckles as he leans over the edge of the bed. 
“You fell pretty hard.”

               
“What was she doing in bed with you?” Damien yells.

               
Jackson puts his hands up.  “We didn’t kiss.  We didn’t do anything,
I swear.  Trust me, she had a rough night.  There isn’t anything you
need to worry about, other than she may have just hurt herself.”

               
Damien walks over and kneels next to Kayla.  “Are you okay?”

               
“Yes.” She rubs her hip.  “I think I’m going to have a huge bruise,
though.”

               
“Sorry to hear that, but would someone like to explain what’s going on?”

               
Kayla frowns.  “Instead of going to sleep last night, I went to
Shima.  William was there.”

               
“What!  What happened?”

               
She sits up. “He tried to tell me I should be with him and then he…forced
himself on me.  He kissed me and I couldn’t stop it.  I also couldn’t
leave; he was holding me there.”

               
“Damn it,” Damien groans, flopping down.  “I could have helped you. 
I should have been helping you.  Wait, why didn’t one of you wake me up?”

               
“Because, honestly, I just wanted to go to sleep.  It was too much. 
I wasn’t sure it was appropriate for you and I to sleep in the same bed, and I
didn’t want to be alone and risk going to Shima with William again.” Kayla sighs.

               
Jackson snorts.  Damien turns to him. “What?”

               
“Nothing,” Jackson replies. “Nothing happened between us last night, but I
don’t know if I could have said the same if she had slept in your bed.”

               
“I would not take advantage of her in that way!” Damien snaps.  He takes a
deep breath and exhales loudly.  “All right, I’m sorry.  You can do
whatever you want, Kayla.  I swear I’m not controlling.  If you
needed to sleep in Jackson’s bed, then that’s fine.  Just next time,
please let me know so I don’t come and find you like this again.”

               
“Technically, I wasn’t in his bed, I was on the floor,” Kayla quips.

               
Damien gives her a look. “Really?”

               
“We weren’t naked!”

               
Jackson starts to laugh.  “I have to go to the bathroom.”  He hops
off the bed and walks away, still laughing.

               
Damien looks at Kayla.  “Are you okay?”

               
“In what way?”

               
“Every way. Someone forcing their energy into you is not an easy thing to
take.”

               
Kayla grimaces. “Yeah, I got sick.”

               
Damien throws his hands up. “And no one thought to tell me?  Do you not
trust me?”

               
She scoots over to him and puts her arms around his neck.  “No, I trust
you, and I’m sorry for not waking you up.  I didn’t want you to freak
out.”

               
“I’m freaking out right now!  It wouldn’t have mattered if it was last
night or this morning.”

               
“Again, I’m sorry.  If anything else happens, I promise to wake you up.”

               
Giving her a kind look, Damien says, “You could have stayed in my bed.  I
would never have touched you
inappropriately.”             

               
Kayla giggles.  “Even if I asked you to?”

               
“Okay,” Damien admits, looking to the side.  “Yes, if
you
started
something, I would have finished it.”

               
“See, that’s exactly why I slept with Jackson.  He won’t touch me because
he doesn’t want you to kick his ass.”

               
Sighing, Damien says, “I would only kick his ass if you were my girlfriend and
he made a move on you.  You’re free to do whatever you want.”

               
“I know.  When Jackson is finished, I have to use the bathroom.  Then
I want to eat breakfast, and
then
you’re going to teach me about what I
can do in Shima to better protect myself.”

               
“Sounds like a plan.  We need to figure out who William is.”

               
“Your guess is as good as mine.” Kayla sighs.  “I need to use another
bathroom, before I pee in my pants.  Come on.”