Unbound (20 page)

I woke up at seven-thirty. I felt much better just from that short nap. Romeo had climbed up in my bed and fallen asleep on my feet. I slowly moved them without waking him up. No one was home; Mom was probably still at work and Dad was watching Harrison’s game.
I should go watch his next one
, I thought, feeling guilty for having no desire to go to anything school related, even though my brother was on the team. I changed into barn clothes, got something quick to eat, let Hunter out and drove to the barn. Laney had left a note in my tack locker saying “I miss you! Come to the movies tonight!!” that made me smile. Still, I was glad I skipped out on the movie.

Amanda was putting her stuff away at the same time I was getting mine out. She and I were the only ones at the barn right now; I guess other people had more social things to do on a Friday night. She smiled hello and gave me a tiny wave before sneaking out the door. I brushed and exercised both of my horses.

At nine-thirty I said goodbye to Mystery and planned to go home and sleep. What a boring Friday, I know. Suddenly the door flew open. Ethan burst through and ran straight to me. He put both hands on my shoulders and looked me up and down.

“I’ve been calling you for hours!” he said. He was panting, as if he had been running.

“Well, I’ve been calling you for days!” I snapped. He looked shocked and a little hurt. “Sorry,” I said. I looked out the open door into the parking lot. I didn’t hear the gravel crunch and I didn’t see a car. “How did you get here?”

“I ran.” His shoes and clothes were muddy and he had little scratches on his face and arms from running through low hanging branches. A huge bruise and a deep cut bled on his right bicep. I looked him straight in the eye.

“Ran from what?”

 
He cast his gaze down. “I can’t tell you that.”

I felt suddenly angry. “What is going on? You tell me to call you, then you don’t answer for days, then you show up all muddy and bloody, and can’t even offer me an explanation!” I was yelling by the time I was done saying this. Ethan looked at me like I was a crazy person. “Sorry,” I said again. “I don’t know where this anger is coming from.”

“You have every right to be mad.” Ethan put his hand on my waist. I resisted the urge to shiver. “I’m glad you’re ok.” I put my hand on his chest. He pulled me a little closer.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Just a weird feeling.”

“Ok, whatever.” I shook my head and let him pull me even closer. It felt so good to be close to him. From far in the woods, several coyotes howled.

“I’ll go and let you get back to whatever you were doing,” Ethan said, looking out the door as if he expected something to be there.

“Let me at least drive you.” I took hold of his right arm and inspected the cut. Extending down from his shoulder, it was about four inches long, jagged, and very dirty. It didn’t look deep enough for stitches, but it definitely needed to be cleaned and bandaged. “And let me take care of this.”

“You’re ok with blood?” Ethan sounded a bit surprised.

“You really should stop stereotyping me, Ethan,” I said with a half smile.

“Ok, thanks.” He looked outside nervously again. “Listen, can you do that after we leave?”

“Sure,” I said, confused by his behavior. I ran into the tack room and pulled out my horse first aid kit. Neither of us spoke much the way to my house.

“So you didn’t answer my calls just because I didn’t answer yours?” Ethan asked suddenly. I turned into my neighborhood.

“Of course not. I’m not petty like that. I left my phone in the car.” I pointed to the backseat. “It’s in my purse. I forgot about it actually, it’s been in here since I got out of school.”

“Oh, good,” Ethan said. I parked and opened the garage door. Thankfully no one was home yet. Dad and Harrison must have gone out after the game.

 
“Come on, let’s get you cleaned up before an infection grows.”

Ethan looked at his arm. “It’s not that bad.”

“Yes it is. It’s packed with dirt.”

He shrugged and followed me in. Hunter ran over to greet me but barked when he saw Ethan. “It’s ok, sweetie,” I told him. “Ethan is a friend.” Slowly, Ethan crouched down and let Hunter sniff him. After deciding he wasn’t a threat, Hunter wagged his tail and licked Ethan’s face before returning to me for another pet.

“I’m no dog expert,” Ethan said as he stood, “but isn’t he a lot bigger than normal?”

I nodded. “Yes. I don’t know why, but he just kept growing and growing until he outweighed me. He’s healthy though, and even at his large size his joints are fine, which is a common problem with Shepherds.”

“He’s cool.” Ethan pet Hunter again. “He looks fierce.”

The three of us went upstairs. I made Ethan sit while I cleaned up his cut. I pushed the hem of his sleeve up—he had on a black T-shirt, which he looked wonderful in, mud and all, by the way— and saw that the cut was a lot longer than I thought. It went clear up to his shoulder to nearly the base of his neck. Three long scratches that looked suspiciously like claw marks ran diagonally down his back.
 
What the hell happened to him?!

I scrunched his shirt up, finding it hard to wipe away the dirt while holding the material out of the way. I flipped the hem into the collar, accidentally swiping the fabric across the cut on his shoulder. He barely winced. I rolled up his sleeve; it allowed me to work on his arm but got in the way of his shoulder.

 
“Here,” he said and removed his shirt, careful to avoid his wounds. I tried to keep my face neutral as I took in the full beauty of his muscular chest, abs and back. He had a tattoo on his left arm, on the outside upper part of his bicep. I looked at it curiously for a moment.

It was pentagram. In between the four outer points of the star were zodiac symbols: Capricorn, Aries, Pisces and Scorpio. ‘OMR’ was in between the bottom points. A cryptic eye starred at me from the center of the star.

 
I opened the first aid kit and got to work, starting with the cuts on his back, which turned out to be nothing serious. Ethan didn’t so much as flinch as I scrubbed the dirt out of the gash on his arm. I slathered on Neosporin, pressed a thick piece of gauze over the worst part of the cut, and tapped it around his arm.

I threw away the dirty gauze and packed my kit back up. I closed the bedroom door and opened Romeo’s cage. “So you really can’t tell me what happened?” I asked as I sat down on my bed next to Ethan. Much to my chagrin, he put his shirt back on. He turned towards me, his beautiful brown eyes staring intently into mine.

“I really wish I could. Please believe me,” he said quietly. His eyes told me he was telling the truth. I closed mine to read his energy: He wasn’t lying.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Thinking.” It wasn’t a total lie. I opened my eyes and found his face just inches from mine. With my guard being down and him being so close, I got hit with a wave of his emotions. I felt sad, lonely, regretful, angry and powerful all at the same time. “I hate having to lie all the time,” was spoken in my head. Startled, I jumped back. That never happened before.

“You ok?” Ethan asked gently.

“Yea.” I took a deep breath. “I’m fine.” I put my head in my hands. What was going on? I desperately wanted to know. I felt Ethan’s warm hand on my shoulder. I raised my head and turned toward him. I wished I could tell him everything. I wanted to tell
someone
.

“I’m glad you’re back from Indiana,” Ethan said.

“I’m glad to be back.” I smiled. Though we’ve had very little face time, all the hours spent on the phone together made me feel very comfortable around Ethan. He too smiled and reached over to push my bangs out of my face.

Our eyes locked. His hand that was on my shoulder slid down my back and around my side. He twisted more toward me and I put both hands on his waist. He moved his other hand down my cheek and behind my head, gently pulling me towards him. He leaned in as if to kiss me but suddenly stopped an inch from my face.

“You have tarot cards?” I turned to follow his gaze. Sure enough, my cards and the book were sitting on my nightstand.

“Yea.”

“You any good?”

I wasn’t sure if he was being serious or not. “Um, I’m not sure yet. I got them for my birthday.”

“Oh.”

I gazed back into Ethan‘s intense eyes. There was something different about him, something I couldn’t place. Ethan snapped his attention to Hunter, who pawed at the door letting me know he needed out.

“He needs out,” I said, though I’m sure it was obvious. I was a little disoriented when I stood; the energy between Ethan and I was unlike anything I’d experienced before. Silently, he followed me down the stairs, through the house and out onto the deck. Hunter leaped down the steps and dashed to the back of the yard. A dome of shinning stars topped the crystal clear night. A cool breeze gave the air a fresh crispness that made goose bumps break out over my arms.

Ethan stepped close behind me. His aura meshed into mine, blanketing me in warmth and comfort. I closed my eyes and relished in the quiet safety. I didn’t even realize I was slowly leaning back into him until my head rested on his firm chest. His arms automatically wrapped around my waist. Everything felt so right.

“Anora,” Ethan began, his voice heavy with longing. I turned to face him and with his arms still locked around me I was pressed tightly against his body.

“Yea?”

He stared unblinking into my eyes. The years of pent up emotion he was holding back threatened to unravel. His grip on my waist tightened and he looked away, stoic once again.
 
A gust of cold, fall air rustled my hair and made me shiver. Ethan’s strong arms tightened again around me, trying to keep me warm. Feeling his gaze upon me, I looked back into his eyes.

The wind blew my hair in face and Ethan gently tucked it behind my ear. Gingerly, he pulled my face towards his. Without needing any direction, I moved closer and let him kiss me. It was warm and gentle and wonderful and was the best kiss I’ve ever had (not that I’ve kissed that many people, of course). My arms flew around him and I pressed myself against him, wanting to be as close as possible. He ran his hand through my hair and then to my waist, dipping me backwards a bit.

We didn’t even notice a car pulling into the driveway until a door loudly slammed shut. Startled, I jumped back and saw Harrison, looking annoyed, making his way towards us.

“Annie, you parked in front of my spot again,” he complained. He let himself in through the gate and hesitated slightly when he took in the sight of me with Ethan, who still had one hand resting on my back.

“Harry, Ethan. Ethan, Harry,” I said quickly, looking back and forth from Ethan to my brother. Hunter raced over to greet Harrison.

“You must be her brother,” Ethan said as he took a step in Harrison’s direction.

“Yea.” Harrison straightened up. To my delight Ethan introduced himself with perfect ease.

 
“Want to go inside?” I asked Ethan, who nodded and followed me in. A crash came from above us. “It’s probably my ferret,” I said before I quickly dashed up the stairs to see what Romeo had knocked over. My can of colored pencils and several books were on the floor. Romeo innocently sniffed at me was I picked them up. I scooped up Romie and raced back downstairs, hoping Ethan didn’t feel weird around Harrison.

I could hear a conversation going so I slowed to listen. They were talking about football; Harrison was giving Ethan a hard time about being a Chicago Bear’s fan. I tried to sneak in the kitchen unnoticed but Hunter ran over to greet me, acting as if I had been gone longer than the few minutes it took to deal with my trouble-making ferret.

“I’m going to a party at Luke’s,” Harrison told us. “Want to come?”

“I think I’ll pass,” I said. “Have fun and try not to get sick this time. And call-”

“-me if you need a ride,” Harrison said over my voice. He made a face, said bye to me and Ethan and went up to his room.

“Who’s your friend?” Ethan asked.

I almost looked behind me to see who he was talking about before I realized he meant Romeo.
    
“Oh,” my cheeks turned slightly red, “Romeo.” I turned and motioned towards the stairs. I sat on my bed next to Ethan. Desperately wanting to be near him, I inched closer until I was nearly touching him. Feeling the same surge of desire, Ethan ran his hand up my thigh and around my waist. Suddenly, he pushed me back and we were making out again. Not even two minutes later, his phone rang.