The Promise (The Coven Series) (22 page)

“Not
much.”
 
Something I could answer
honestly.
 
“The only thing I really know
is that you don’t want to mess with them if you don’t know what you’re
doing.
 
They’re supposedly dangerous.”

“These
wards were more than dangerous, Cassie.
 
They could have killed you.”

“And
you think I stole a book guarded by those kinds of wards?
 
Or Jeff for that matter?
 
He’s still in the Junior Coven.
 
It’s a fairly safe bet, Ethan, to assume he
doesn’t have that kind of skill yet.”

“That’s
exactly what I told them,” he snorted, “but you know more than you’re saying,
Cassie.
 
You’re smiling so hard, it looks
like your jaws might meet your eyebrows.
 
I’m guessing it’s to keep your lip from quivering.”

Dammit!

“You
lie to me, Ethan.”

He
didn’t deny it.

“I
didn’t take the book.
 
I couldn’t have if
I’d wanted to.
 
You said it
yourself.
 
The wards were dangerous and I
know zilch about the craft.”

“I
agree you and Jeff didn’t take it, but I wish you’d tell me the truth.”

“Are
you going to tell me everything?” I countered.

Silence.

“Thought not.
 
So
what’s so important about it anyway?”

He
settled back against the tree.
 
“It’s
very old and holds many ancient spells and rituals that were handed down
through generations of Coven members.
 
There’s one in particular they’re concerned about.”

“Oh?”
I tried very, very hard not to sound too interested.
 
I failed miserably.

“It’s
a ritual for Samhain.”

“Halloween,”
I echoed.
 
A ritual to
be performed on my birthday.
 
Coincidence?
 
Hell no.

“They
were going to attempt it once before, but the timing wasn’t right.
 
They need the book to make sure everything is
as it should be.”

“So
they can’t perform the ritual without the book?”
 
No book, no curse?

“No,
they can.
 
Mr. Martin remembers the spell
and the ritual.
 
The Coven just wanted to
double check the details.”

Damn.
 
There went that happy thought.

“Well…”

He
put a finger to my lips.
 
“No more talk
about the Coven, okay?
 
Let’s just enjoy
the evening.”

“Did
you bring me flowers to soften me up?” I teased.
 

He
gave me that slow, lazy, wicked grin of his and his eyes heated to pools of
molten steel.
 
I swallowed.
 
Hard.
 
The butterflies took flight and my face
flamed.
 

“Soften
you up, Cassie Jayne Bishop?
 
Are you
back
to having indecent thoughts about me?”

“I…I…”
 
Damn.
 
I was back to stuttering like an idiot.
 
Why could he make me tongue-tied?

“Hmm…”
 
He leaned in and kissed me lightly, his teeth
catching my bottom lip.
 
I put my arms
around his neck and pulled him closer, needing to feel his arms around me.
 
He obliged and I ended up in his lap. His
hand tangled in my hair and pulled my head back to the angle he wanted.
 
His kiss deepened, becoming almost
bruising.
 
I didn’t care.
 
All I cared about was the emotions running
rampant through me.
 
I needed him like I
needed the air I breathed.
 
My blood
heated to a boil as a fire exploded within.
 
I wanted…

He
pulled away, breathing harshly.
 

“No…”
 
Why did he stop?
 
I wanted to scream in frustration.

“Shh,
Cassie,” he soothed, his voice full of the same need I felt.

“Is
it so easy for you?” I cried, enraged that he had the will to stop and I
didn’t.

“Easy?”
he bit out.
 
“Do you have any idea what
you do to me, my little hellcat?
 
Stopping
just then was the hardest damn thing I’ve ever had to do.
 
You make me insane, woman, drive me to do
things…”
 
He took a shaky breath.
 
“No, it’s not easy.”

Did
I really have that kind of effect on him?
 
“You make it look so easy.”

He
kissed my forehead.
 
“Nothing about you
is ever easy, Cassie.”

“Am
I such a bother, then?”

“Only when you try and start something in a public place.”
He hugged me to him.
 

My
face burned and I hid in the broad expanse of his chest.
 
I hadn’t thought about that.
 

“The
Fates were with us, love.
 
No one saw you
try and seduce me.”
 

I
pulled back, a shriek escaping.
 
“I was
doing no such…I’d never…”
 

He
grinned.
 

“You
say the most outrageous things…”

“Just
to see you all riled up, Cassie Jayne.
 
You’re so cute with your golden eyes spitting fire and your face beet
red.”

I
opened my mouth to yell at him, but he cut me off with another kiss.
 
I melted, the outraged gasp turning into a
whimper.
 
Damn, but he was a good kisser.

“I’ll
make you a promise, Cassie,” he murmured, his lips nibbling their way down my
throat and leaving a blazing trail of fire behind them.
 
“When I decide to start something, you can be
damn sure we’ll finish it.”

“Promise?”
I whispered against his ear.

“Guaranteed.”
 
He
pulled me close, his chin resting on my head.

I
sighed and wrapped my arms around him.
 
I
wished to the Fates I could forget my doubts and just let myself enjoy the love
that consumed me.
 
If only he weren’t
lying to me.

Dad’s
words of ‘for now’ came back to haunt me.
 
How could I be safe with him for now and not later?
 
I didn’t know and it scared me.

“Ethan,”
I whispered.

‘Hmm?”

“Don’t
hurt me.”

He
was silent for a long time.
 
At last he
said, “I’ll try, Cassie.
 
I promise I’ll
try.”

Chapter Seventeen

Jeff
glared down at me.
 
I grinned.
 
I couldn’t help it.
 
He looked ridiculous.

“CJ,
I swear if you don’t pay attention, I’m going to leave right now!”
 
He’d been trying to get me caught up on
rudimentary magic over the last week.
 
If
I wasn’t with Ethan, I was with Jeff here in the tree house.
 
It had become a makeshift school house.

“I
can’t help it!” I collapsed backward, rolling with laughter.
 
“You look like Mr. Herndon.”

He
gasped in outrage and stalked toward me.
 
“You take that back!”

“No,
you do,” I managed to get out.
 
“Remember
when he tried to teach us about the differences in the triangles and droned on
and on with that ruler tapping the board every other second?
 
That’s you!”

Mr.
Herndon, our old tenth grade geometry teacher, seemed to think that it was
still 1959.
 
He wore thick wire rimmed
glasses and kept his hair slicked back with so much grease he could have fried
enough French fries to feed a third world county.
 
The kids made fun of him all the time.

Jeff
growled and launched himself at me.
 
I
rolled and scooted backwards.
 
His hand
caught my ankle and dragged me back.
 
Before I could do anything, fingers dug into my sides and he proceeded
to tickle me until I cried, “Stop, stop!
 
I take it back!”

He
smirked.
 

“So wrong.”
 
I shoved
him and sat up, still laughing.
 
“Do you
promise to stop waving that ruler around?”

“Nope,”
he grinned.
 

“Then
how can you expect me to learn which physical properties each Element stands
for?”

“By paying attention.”

“I
can’t!”

He
rolled his eyes and wiggled his fingers.
 
“Do I have to use negative reinforcement?”

“NO!
 
I promise I will try to stay focused and not
see you as Mr. Herndon in his underwear.”

“CJ!”
He looked outraged.
 
I laughed and suddenly found myself thinking how much I’d come to depend
on him over the last week.
 
He’d done so
much for me.
 
My Neighbor Boy really was
a great friend.
 

“Thank
you,” I smiled.
 

“For threatening to tickle you into submission?”

“No, for everything.
 
You’ve gone out of your way to help me when I know how hard it is for
you.
 
You’re a good friend, Neighbor
Boy.”

“I
aim to please,” he winked and then his face grew serious.
 
He pulled a small bag out of his coat pocket
and handed it to me.
 
“Happy
birthday.”

“My
birthday’s not till next week.”
 
I took
the bag and shook it.
 
I loved
presents.
 
“You didn’t have to get me
anything.”

“I
bought it before you started dating Ethan.
 
I figured I’d give it to you anyway.
 
Go ahead, open it.”

The
most gorgeous piece of jewelry I’d ever seen fell into my palm.
 
It was the necklace straight out of the movie
Titanic.
 
The one Rose wore when she was
about to jump overboard that first night.
 
An exact replica.
 
I loved that necklace.
 

“It’s
zirconium,” he said in a rush.
 
“The ruby
in the center is real, though.
 
It
reminded me of your hair, blazing in the sun. Plus, you went on and on about
that necklace for months after the movie came out.”

“Jeff…I…”
 
I just didn’t know what to say.
 
“You…”

“Just
say thank you.”
 
He looked down at his
lap.
 
I could see a faint blush on his
cheeks.

“Thank
you, but I can’t keep this.”
 
Oh, but I
wanted to…maybe…no, I couldn’t.

“No,
CJ, it’s yours.
 
I had it made for you.”

Damn.
 

“Look,
I know you don’t think of me that way, but please, just take it.”

“Jeff…”

He
did something I didn’t expect.
 
He kissed
me.

There
was no fire as when Ethan kissed me, but I felt a warm heat seep into me and
flow through me.
 
The boy had learned to
kiss.
 
His lips were no longer wet or
slobbery.
 
They were hard and firm as
they took mine in a gentle assault that left me breathless.
 
Not good.

“What
did you do that for?” I demanded, tearing my mouth from his.
 

“Because
I wanted to,” he told me simply.
 
“I
wanted you to know that you have other choices, CJ.
 
Ethan…”

“…
is
my boyfriend, Jeff, and I love him.”
 

It
crushed him.
 
His big, blue eyes filled
with pain.
 
He looked like I’d taken a
knife and stabbed him.

“He’ll
hurt you, CJ,” he said at last.
 
“I can’t
explain it, but he will.”

“I
know he could hurt me,” I said softly.
 
“I know that and I don’t care.”

“You
should.
 
You’re the smartest girl I know,
CJ, but when it comes to Ethan, it’s like you’ve lost all sense of
reality.
 
You don’t care?
 
Since when do you not think things through?”

“I
have thought things through.
 
I love him,
Jeff.
 
There’s no reasoning to love.
 
It’s not something you can control.”

“I
know.”

Shit.
 
He did know.
 
I saw it in his eyes.
 
I
recognized it because it was the same look I gave Ethan.
 

“I’m
sorry, Jeff.”

“Don’t,
CJ.”
 
He pushed himself to his feet.
 
“It’s not your fault.”

I
knew he’d had a crush, but not this.
 
“Jeff, I…”

He
laughed harshly.
 
“Just promise me you’ll
be careful.
 
He’s dangerous, CJ.”