The P.J. Stone Gates Trilogy (#1-3) (16 page)

He flashed me a smile. “It’s my school now, too. My family and I moved here a week before our date. I started that following week. Didn’t I mention that?”

I frowned. “No, you didn’t.” That I would have most definitely remembered.

“Well, here I am. And just in time, I see.”
Yeah, just in time to witness my complete and utter humiliation
.

“Ahem.” Jenna cleared her throat, reminding me she was still there. “You never answered if you’re okay. Eddie is such an asshole. Just ignore him. I always do.”

I turned and met Jenna’s dark eyes, which despite her outward calm, were narrowed with tension. “Yeah, just fine.”
Mostly, anyways.

“So what was that all about? A Guardian shouldn’t be treating you like that.” Jeremy clenched his fists with anger.

“Oh—you haven’t heard. There’re some rumors going around about P.J. and—” Jenna started, but I certainly wasn’t going to let her finish.

“Shut up, Jenna,” I hissed, turning to look at Jeremy, who now wore a slightly bemused expression. “It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”

“I’ve already heard the rumors, P.J. As the new guy around town, everyone was more than happy to fill me in on all the latest gossip.” He took my bag from my shoulder and started walking, and since he had my stuff hostage, I had no choice but to follow. I assumed Jenna wasn’t far behind us. “So what’s the real deal? Because I’m not the type to buy into that kind of stuff.”

I met his eyes briefly before studying my shoes as we walked. “I don’t know. What’ve you heard? Although, I’m almost afraid to ask.”

“Just that you’re an easy lay, you prefer to do Guardians, you were sleeping with your no longer future Guardian amongst a host of other guys, that he was shipped away after he got you pregnant, and your parents forced you to have an abortion.” He paused briefly to inhale. “Also it’s not just our kind that’s talking. You seem to be the talk of both worlds. The Regs apparently have labeled you a slut as well, not that there are that many Regs at this school.”

I turned and glared at Jenna who was walking a few steps behind us. “You never said anything about me sleeping with a host of other guys, or the abortion, or the Regs.”

Jenna at least had the decency to look a tiny bit sheepish for once. “I didn’t wanna upset you anymore,” she mumbled.

“Because finding out this way was so much better,” I snapped.

Jeremy touched my arm, and I met his deep brown eyes that burned with curiosity. “So what started these rumors?”

I mulled over what I should say to him. He seemed like a nice enough guy on our date, and he had come to my rescue with Eddie, but how would he react once he knew the truth? Our school was very clique-ish. None of the Regs realized most of the cliques were primarily divided between my kind and their kind, because we didn’t look any different or dress any differently. We just had a tendency to gravitate towards people we could be more ourselves around without worry of exposure. I usually just hung with Bryn and Jenna, preferring to stay out of the clique game, that way I could be friends with whoever I wanted.

Unfortunately, my little group had just been majorly downsized without Bryn as a member, and it was sounding more and more like I was the hot topic of conversation within all the major cliques in my school. I could use as many allies as I could get. “Bryn was shipped away, and you know people talk. All of a sudden I’m the biggest slut this school has ever seen, apparently.” I scuffed my shoe along the ground angrily. “I’ve only been with one guy, for fuck’s sake, and I’ve only had sex once. I was a virgin until recently.” I inhaled and exhaled deeply, trying to calm myself. “It’s so not fair.”

“But it was Bryn, wasn’t it? Who took your virginity?” Jeremy asked softly.

I whipped my head up and met his gaze sharply. I’m not sure what I saw there, but suddenly I wanted to tell him the truth. “Yeah, it was.” I began studying my shoes again.

Jeremy’s hand reached out and tipped my chin back so he could look me in the eyes. He held his power in check for the moment, which I really appreciated. “It’s okay. I won’t judge. I already knew you had feelings for someone else when we had our date. I was just hoping I could compete. And you were a virgin then, I could tell.”

“What? How?” I asked incredulously.

He smiled. “I’m a very strong Gatekeeper. Not only can I sense and manipulate energy around the gates, but I can sense and manipulate
other
energies.”

Oh, that was just fabulous. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Yeah, because that wouldn’t have freaked you out or anything. By the way—P.J., I—”

I interrupted him with a laugh, already knowing where he was going with his line of thought. “Yeah, you may have a point there.” I couldn’t help the smile that cracked across my face. “I’ve never heard of a Gatekeeper being able to do that before.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Most can’t. I can. No biggie.”

Obviously no longer feeling very sheepish, Jenna took that opportunity to push in between Jeremy and me. She looked up at him and batted her eyelashes. “Hi, I’m Jenna.” Her voice had gone lower and huskier, and there was no doubt what she wanted from him.

Jeremy’s lips twitched up into a wry smile. “You have all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop, don’t you?”

Jenna blushed, and I laughed, causing Jenna to shoot me a glare. “That’s our Jenna, blunt as can be.”

“Well, I can be pretty blunt myself. Sorry, Jenna, don’t waste your time on me, I’ve already got my eye on someone else.” He looked at me and smiled, and it was my turn to blush.

“Jeremy, I—well, I—”

He slid my bag back onto my shoulder and winked at me. “Don’t sweat it. I know you have feelings for Bryn, otherwise you wouldn’t have slept with him. I can tell that’s the kind of girl you are. But he’s gone, and I’m here. I have every intention of wooing you to the best of my abilities.” He crowded my space by stepping up to me, and for a second I thought he was going to try to kiss me.

Instead he leaned over and whispered in my ear, “I’ve been on a lot of dates with a lot of Seers lately because of my Sudding
,
and none have piqued my interest like you have. Not only are you smart, funny, and stunning, but also, your power calls out to mine. You’re who I want P.J., and I don’t mind waiting around until you can be mine.”

My heart thrummed in my chest with him being so close to me, and it wasn’t just because he was a hot guy and my hormones seemed to be set on overdrive lately. No, it was something else . . . something more. It made me think about what Khol had said to me about me eventually craving . . . well, more. Was it his power that was calling to mine like he just claimed that mine called to his? Would the yearning to discover more grow with my developing powers? “Jeremy—” I tried again, but with a smile, he turned and trotted off down the hall.

“Wow,” Jenna said as she fanned herself. “Some girls have all the luck.”

I grimaced. “Yeah, but it’s not necessarily
good
luck.”

“Only you would complain about having multiple hot guys vying for your attention.” Jenna stuck her lower lip out at me.

“Too bad the one I really want has been shipped off to who-knows-where, and I’m the one left here to deal with the fallout of everything. Or do you consider it lucky, too, that everyone in school thinks I’m such a big slut now?”

“Oh, stop being so over dramatic. We’re seniors, and school’s ending in less than a year, not to mention when you graduate, you and Bryn can do whatever the hell you want. Things could be worse. At least you have Jeremy to keep you occupied.” She smiled wistfully, and I rolled my eyes.

“Seriously, what don’t you understand? I’m not interested in him like that.”

Jenna sighed. “Speaker here, something that you keep forgetting. I’m totally awesome at reading body language, and yours was saying something completely different just now. You might love Bryn, but Jeremy could definitely get you going. Why not use him until Bryn gets back?”

My jaw dropped—she couldn’t be serious. “Are you suggesting that I sleep with Jeremy until Bryn gets back?”

She nodded her affirmation. “Yep, that’s exactly what I’m suggesting. It could be the solution to all your problems. You could marry Jeremy and take Bryn on as your lover slash Guardian.” She clapped her hands together excitedly. “It would be perfect.”

Jenna was worse than a guy sometimes. Her plan was a horrible idea, even if it were something that I was interested in, which it so wasn’t. I could just imagine trying to explain it to them.
Oh, hey, Jeremy, even though you’re my husband, I’m going to keep on having sex with Bryn. Hope you don’t mind sharing. And Bryn, you know I love you, but I need to have sex with my husband in order to try and get pregnant with his baby. You know, duty calls and all. You okay with that?
“You’re absolutely insane, you know that, right?”

“Insanely smart.” Jenna giggled as she absentmindedly worked some of her rainbow hair into a curl with her fingertips.

“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that.” I grappled with swapping some stuff out of my locker and into my bag before I turned in the direction of homeroom with dread.

Something must have shown on my face, because Jenna looked at me with sympathy. “The first day is always the worst. People will move on to the next big thing really soon.”

I inhaled and exhaled deeply, trying to center myself. Who does that ever really work for in real life? It certainly wasn’t working for me. “All right, here I go.” It wasn’t just the rumors and whispers that I’d have to deal with that were bothering me; it was also my first day back at school without Bryn at my side. There was an emptiness like a huge gaping hole in my chest left by his absence. I moved forward on shaky legs, ignoring the small groups of people whispering about me as I passed them. The first warning bell rang, and I hastened just a little, looking back only once, wishing that Jenna could come with me. She wasn’t much, but at least she would be some kind of buffer. She waved at me with fake cheer and turned to go off in the opposite direction towards her own homeroom.
Okay, I can do this.
I mentally steeled myself. Oh, for the days when my biggest worry was someone getting wind of my middle name and telling everyone.

As I entered homeroom, every pair of eyes looked up to stare. Some tried to do it more covertly, and others openly gawked. A weird kind of quiet settled over the room as I made my way to my seat. I slumped down in my chair and dropped my bag at my feet, staring straight ahead as the final bell rang. Everyone’s eyes burned into me, and my face heated as the whispering began when I couldn’t help but glance to my right at Bryn’s empty desk. Why was everyone so completely obsessed with what was going on with me? I understood my kind being thrown for a loop with the whole Seer hooking up with a Guardian thing, but we didn’t make up all of the school, and it seemed like more than just my people had taken an interest in the gossip surrounding me. It hadn’t escaped my notice that not one person had greeted me when I entered the room. I had become the local pariah.
Yay, me!

A chime echoed three times from the loud Speaker, signaling the morning announcements were soon to follow. “Quiet, everyone,” Mrs. Averton said loudly. I simply slumped in my seat even lower and waited for homeroom to end. This was going to be a very long day.

It was official: I was never going back to school again. Not one single person had asked me how I was doing all day, and when anyone, male or female, deigned to actually utter a few words to me, it was always some kind of lewd remark or insult. The guys all wanted to sleep with me, and the girls all wanted to scratch my eyes out because the guys all wanted to sleep with me. I was beginning to think that Bryn was the lucky one, getting shipped off to somewhere where nobody knew who he was. But then again, he’d probably be getting all kinds of pats on the back if he were the one who was left behind instead of me. It was all so unfair.

“Hey there, my little Seer.” I looked up from my spot under a tree in my backyard to meet Khol’s vivid green eyes. I had come to sit here after school because I wanted to be left alone, but my parents obviously wanted to be able to keep an eye on me. I guess they were worried I’d throw myself at the next available Guardian now that Bryn was gone.

“I’m not your little Seer,” I snapped, focusing back down on the ground and ignoring the almost suffocating pressure Khol’s appearance caused in the air. I also wasn’t going to acknowledge the buzz of excitement that burned through my entire system.

Khol sat down beside me, but not close enough to touch. “Oh? But you are. We’re linked, you and I.”

I lifted my head to glare at him. “Look, I’m in no mood to deal with you right now. Why did you come this time? What do you want? Wait—” I glanced over towards my kitchen window to see if either of my parents had spotted Khol yet. “You better get out of here before my parents see you. After what happened with Bryn, they’ll blow a gasket if they see me out here with some guy they don’t know. Apparently, I can’t be trusted around anyone with a penis anymore.”