touch (34 page)

Stephen’s suggestion of a different dress made sense.  But
I’d spent the majority of the tip money on that dress.  When I’d asked to
express ship it, the sales associate made it clear the order couldn’t be canceled. 
Now what?

I would need to talk to Mom after work.

*    *    *    *

Unfortunately, when I returned to the house, Mom and Stephen
had just left to go out for a late lunch.  Aunt Danielle supplied us with the
information with Aunt Grace and Gran also missing.  Gran visited with her
widower down the road and Aunt Danielle surmised that Grace left for a joyride
since Morik had picked me up on his motorcycle.

Finally allotted free time with Morik, I asked Aunt Danielle
if she minded if we went to Morik’s house.  She encouraged me to write a note
just in case Stephen returned with my mom first, but she approved of the idea.

On the short ride to Morik’s house, I continued to ponder my
mark, the discussion I need to have with Mom and the talk I should have with
Morik.  The Morik talk didn’t concern me as much as the talk with my mother. 
Or how to deal with the outside world’s knowledge of my mark.

We pulled into the garage and Morik helped me from the
bike.  Unstrapping the helmet, he noted, “You’re very pensive.  Will you share
your thoughts?”

He blinked us into the living room.  Very rarely did I
actually see him use a door.

“I was just thinking about the dress I bought.”  I watched
swirls of black invade his gaze.

“I do like that one,” he said softly.

“Me too.  I thought I could wear it to the dance and to
Mom’s wedding, but now I’m not so sure.”

“Tessa,” he said sounding concerned.  “I thought you
understood the rules of the deal.”

Confused, I shook my head and frowned at him.  “What deal?”

“I removed Ashley’s memories.  The price is the chant until
a week before you turn seventeen.”

My expression fell and my eyes watered.

“Please don’t cry,” he whispered, setting my helmet to the
side and helping from my jacket.  “I didn’t realize you still thought you would
attend the dance.  I never meant to trick you into agreeing to something that
you didn’t understand.”

I didn’t really care about the stupid dance.  Well, maybe a
little.  What really bothered me was the fact I wore Ahgred’s mark and now had
nothing to show for it.  All that pain for nothing.  No extra time with Morik.

Yellow flooded his eyes.  He watched me with a helpless
expression as a single tear slipped over the edge.

Seeing his concern, I swiped the moisture away and reached
for his face.  He bent giving me access.  My lips found his and I teased his
lower lip.  His hesitant hands roosted on my sides.  I smiled at his
uncertainty.  My mercurial mood probably had his head spinning.

If I couldn’t count on extra time next Saturday, then I
wanted every minute today to matter.  We needed to have a talk about our
feelings and I thought a kiss a good way to start.

Deepening the kiss, I inched closer letting my hands slip
from his face to his chest.  I pushed his already unzipped jacket off his
shoulders.  He broke the kiss pulling back to look at me head canted in
question.  Lingering threads of yellow danced in the darkness of his gaze.  I
loved his expressive eyes.

Not ready to answer his questions, I tugged him back to me. 
Again, he gave in willingly.

Our lips met on a warm exhale.  He took possession of my
mouth, his tongue teasing my own.  A tingle spread to my limbs.  My hands found
the hem of his shirt and ducked under sliding upward gliding along his smooth
warm skin.  He shivered.  Encouraged, I explored all the way up to his
collarbones.

Panting for breath, I pulled away.  He released my lips, but
didn’t loosen his hold.  Trailing kisses along my jaw, he found the sensitive
skin just below my ear.  Withdrawing my hands from his chest, I grabbed one of
his hands prying it from my shirt.  He growled faintly and I smiled.

Heart pounding, I daringly guided his hand under my shirt so
his hand rested on the bare skin of my side in the exact place it had rested a
moment before.  He stilled and pulled back.  His eyes ran with a kaleidoscope
of colors.  Every color I’d ever witnessed swirled together toward a black
core.

“I love watching your eyes,” I whispered.

He made a sound, part groan, part growl.  “Ask me for a
reprieve the night of the dance.  I will give it in return for just a few
minutes more of this touch.”

The colors, the sound he made all made sense.  He didn’t
want anything to harm me, but he truly did not want to deny me anything.

Slowly, I stood on my toes and with my lips almost touching
his, whispered, “Morik, allow me to dance with you at my school with my
classmates Saturday night, please?”

“Yes,” he breathed.  The hand on my skin twitched.

“Morik?”  I leaned forward and kissed him lightly.  “Don’t
forget to use your other hand too.”

With a strangled cry, he claimed my lips again.  My heart
ached with what I felt for him.

A tingle started in the sway of my back, just where the old
mark left off.  When the burning sensation started, I kissed Morik deeply to
distract myself.  I didn’t want the mark to stop growing.

Morik moved his other hand under my shirt placing it on my
side.  The burning began its slow crawl upward, millimeter by millimeter.  I
pushed the pain aside and focused on the other sensations.  Taking charge, I
nudged his hands with my arms and set my own hands back on his stomach
exploring their smooth planes.

The burning intensified.  But when Morik moved his hand
slightly toward my stomach, the exhilaration distracted me from the
conflagration.  My stomach quivered.  I struggled to breath.

He pulled back slightly again kissing my neck.  Without the
extra distraction, a panting gasp escaped me when the burning sensation hit my
bra line.

As soon as I fully acknowledge the pain, it left.  The
tingle of the new mark remained.

Morik stopped his advance pulling away to look at me.  The
colors drained from his eyes as I watched, leaving only three.  Black, brown,
and ochre.

“The mark grew.”  I smiled at him.

“May I see?”

I nodded and turned my back to him.  He lightly tugged my
shirt up and ran his finger along the mark’s twists.

“It’s beautiful.”

“It is, but it will also cause problems with people who
don’t understand.”  He dropped my shirt so I could turn around again.  “People
will think it’s a tattoo and someone my age shouldn’t have one.  At least, not
legally in this state.  I need to talk to Mom about it.  She’ll be the one to
get into trouble if I wear that dress and people at school see it.  We’ve moved
a lot so the likelihood of us living in a state that approves of a tattoo on a
minor with parental consent is high, but I don’t know if that will be good
enough.

“People might think of her poorly after that.  Like she’s a
bad mom or I’m a problem child.”  My stomach chose that moment to growl.

Morik grinned, laced his fingers through mine, and led me to
the kitchen.  Directing me to sit on a stool, he made us a snack.

“Would it hurt you if I tried covering it up for the dance?”
I asked.  “I’m not ashamed of it,” I quickly assured him.  “I just don’t want
to cause any more trouble for my mom.  I think she’s going to have enough of it
explaining it to Stephen.”

“I won’t mind at all,” he assured me sliding a plate with a
stacked turkey sandwich my direction.

*    *    *    *

Morik and I blinked back into my bedroom just before
dinner.  He listened for several moments and then assured me we could join the
others in the living room.

Mom sat on the couch with sad eyes when we entered the
room.  Whatever conversation they’d been having stopped abruptly with our
appearance.

“Okay…” I said eyeing them all.  “Since when do we clam up
when there’s an issue?  Come on.  Spit it out,” I said playfully sitting on the
carpeted floor facing them all.  Morik sat behind me, nudging me so I leaned
back on him.

Aunt Danielle, bless her, didn’t leave me waiting for long. 
“Your mark is stressing your mom.  Even if you choose Morik, she’s not sure how
it will affect your school or our lives.”

I laughed at Aunt Danielle’s choice of words.  ‘Our lives’
as if she had one.  She grinned back at me.  “Well, their lives affect me too.”

“Morik and I were talking about it.  I’m going to try
covering it up when I wear the dress.”

No one looked overly happy by the announcement.

“Stephen already saw it this morning when Morik helped you
with your jacket,” Aunt Danielle clarified for me.

“And?”  This time I looked directly at Mom.  Why was she
suddenly acting like this?  She’d never backed down from anything before.

“He was upset.  I didn’t know what to tell him,” she
admitted in a teary voice.  “I’m thinking of calling off the wedding.  There’s
just too much…”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” I scolded her, taking them all by surprise. 
“He doesn’t understand.  If you want him to, you need to explain.  If you want
to keep him in the dark, then don’t hold him accountable for his ignorance
without sharing the blame.  He loves you.  He probably thinks I’m just trying
to find a way to rebel against your plans.”

Mom’s sniffling stopped.

“Make this work.”  I looked at all of them.  “You all need
to make this work.  I can’t spend time playing guessing games if there’s a
problem.  I’m very aware of the time I have left and I know you are too.  Let
me stay focused.”  Staring at my mom, I added, “I’m trying really hard to do
what’s right for us.”  I didn’t clarify who I meant by ‘us.’”

Morik rested his hand on my leg and gave a gentle squeeze of
support.

Monday morning I woke curled around Morik who opted to sleep
next to me without a shirt.  Peeling my cheek from the skin of his arm, I
grinned at him.

“Nice look,” I said sitting up.

“Your mother didn’t appreciate it when she checked on you,”
he murmured placing his hands behind his head.  The move brushed back his hair
exposing his ears and horns.  Black and brown twirled in his silver irises.

Both my brows shot up.  “I imagine not.  Though I’m not
opposed to it, maybe we shouldn’t push her.”

“You kiss me in your sleep,” he added with a slight smile.

“Seriously?  I thought I just laid there all night.  I never
remember dreaming.”

He shrugged guiltily.  “Sometimes, when Ahgred’s not around,
I lift the spell slightly to check on you.”

I shook my head at him and tossed back the covers.  “And
when you lift the spell, I animate enough to start kissing?”

“Sometimes,” he said with a boyish grin that tripped up my
heart.

Trying to ignore him, I gathered my clothes and went to the
bathroom to get ready.  He met me in the kitchen when I finished.

Gran had a quick breakfast waiting for me, which I wolfed
down while putting on my coat.

“Morik, can you take the car today?” Gran asked him while I
quickly finished my milk.  “The temperature dropped further and I don’t want
Tessa to get sick.”

Morik’s eyes slid to mine.  I returned his earlier shrug
leaving the decision completely up to him.

We drove the car.

*    *    *    *

Beatriz waited for me when Morik dropped me off on the
school steps.

“I showed Brad my dress last night,” she spoke with a barely
contained laugh.

“I thought he went back to school.”  We made our way to my
locker.  The first bell rang and I hurried to switch out my books.

“Video chat,” she clarified.

“What did he think of it?”

“He might come home from school that weekend.  Want to take
him to the dance so I can go with Morik?” she teased.

I laughed and shook my head closing my locker.  “Sorry, not
this time.  Who are you taking?”

She grew a little serious.  “I was hoping I could tag along
with you guys and be a third wheel.”

“Of course,” I agreed as we walked into first hour.

Each time we met throughout the day, we talked about the
dance.

And again on Tuesday…

And Wednesday…

By Thursday, I begged Morik to help me ditch school.  Since
he knew Beatriz and her endless chatter about the dance was behind my attitude,
he laughingly shook his head no.

At lunch, the boy who firmly believed Bea and I an item,
walked over to our table.  He didn’t say anything, just handed Bea a note and
walked away.  Beatriz read it and then handed it to me.  It simply asked her to
the dance.  She wore a huge smile when I looked up.

“It’s probably to see whether or not we’re really lesbians,
but I don’t care.  He asked me and I’m going.”  She looked at the boy who sat a
few tables away and called back her answer.  He flushed pink, but smiled and
nodded.

After that, Beatriz spent most of her day catching him in
the hallway.  I enjoyed the reprieve.  We met at my locker after the last bell.

“So what’s his name?” I asked while tossing books in and
pulling out the things I needed for homework.

“Ted Brinnet.  Do you know what I like best about him?”

I shook my head as merged with the other students flooding
toward the main doors.

“He doesn’t know who my brother is.”  At my puzzled look,
she explained.  “Brad graduated last year.  That’s why most of the boys here
won’t give me the time of day.  He just about threatened bodily harm on them
all.  Ted’s new.  He doesn’t know.”

“Poor Ted,” I laughed.

“Poor me!” she cried with a smile as we walked outside.

I spotted Morik leaning against mom’s car and said good-bye
to Beatriz.

Moving to my side of the car, he held the door for me.  “She
liked Ted asking her to the dance, then?”

“That was you?

He didn’t answer until he sat behind the wheel.  Heat blew
from the vents.  The temperate really had dropped.