Venom (The Reawakening Series Book 1) (12 page)

“
I thought we were leaving the past in the past,” I snap.

Her smile turns into a frown and I change topics before I say anything stupid. “Where are you staying?” I ask.

“
Harvey’s room.” She pauses. “He specifically asked me to stay in the house.”

‘
Great!’ I think to myself while staring at her.

“
I know it’s not ideal, but I’ll stay out of your way.”

“
Does Tyler know you’re staying here?”

She nods.

“
Huh.”

She shakes her head. “Goodnight, Nick. I’ll talk to Sarah tomorrow.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

SARAH

Neither of us say anything until we get to the farm. It’s pitch dark outside, except for the small area hit by the headlights. That’s what allows me to see that Ian parked at the same place as he did last time. He leaves the truck on and looks at me.

“
What now?” he asks. I can’t quite read his tone and I already have so many things going on in my mind that I just fall apart and start to cry.

I think he is in shock because he stays there, without moving at all.

Embarrassed, I open the door and get out of the truck.

Ian quickly gets out of the truck and rushes toward me. He leaves the truck on, probably so we have some light from the headlights.

“
Are you insane?” he says as he approaches me. “There are snakes in these fields. Not to mention that we can barely see anything.”

He stands in front of me, takes a look at my face, and pulls me toward him. His arms are tightly wrapped around me and I lean my head against his chest. It’s the sound of his heartbeat that calms me down.

When he realizes that I have stopped crying, he says, “Can you go back in the truck for a little while?”

I’m confused by the question. “I don’t want to go home.”

“
I know,” he says. “Please, get in there for a little bit.”

I do as he asks and I see that he grabs a flashlight and blanket from the backseat.

Through the window, I can see him put the blanket on the bed of the truck. He comes back around with the flashlight and leads me to the back, helping me get up in the bed of the truck. I sit on the blanket and he hops up, lying down next to where I’m sitting.

He sighs. “It’s funny that you asked me to bring you here.”

“
Why?” I ask, looking back at him. He is playing with the flashlight, now shinning it on my face and nearly blinding me.

“
Sorry,” he says as he puts the flashlight down on the back center of truck’s bed.

“
This is where I came when I ran away once.”

“
I’m not running away,” I say defensively. “I just needed to well—to get a way for a while.”

“
You can lie down,” he says. “I don’t bite.”

I laugh at his comment. I lie down next to him and stare up at the stars; one of the few things that, centuries after centuries, remains unchanged.

I feel his hand on mine and I close my eyes.

“
My first name is Sarah,” I say and I can feel a weight being lifted off my shoulders as I say it.

He looks to the side so he is facing me.

“
Noelle is my middle name,” I say before he asks for an explanation.

“
Can I ask you something? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

I nod.

“
It’s just something I heard. One of my mom’s friend, Ms. Lindsey, well, she has been saying that you and your family are in witness protection. That is the reason you live with your brothers and were home-schooled, and the real reason you move around a lot. I didn’t pay her any attention before because she is known to spread rumors and start drama, but—”

I think about maybe saying that is true, I mean, we are hiding and we are running away.

“
Is it true?” he asks. “I won’t say anything.”

I shake my head. “No, it’s not true.”

He nods. “Sorry. I should’ve known better.”

“
It’s fine.”

“
So I’m not going to get up one day and find out that you are gone, right?”

I don’t answer him. After a while, I can feel him squeeze my hand and I finally say, “My brothers are a little crazy. I can’t truthfully answer that question. In fact, I live in fear of that happening.”

Another truth, more weight lifted off my shoulders.

I pull my hand away. “Maybe we should end things now. I know you don’t want to deal with the craziness that is my life. I mean, who would?”

He turns on his side and grabs my hand, pulling it toward his mouth and kissing it. “Not a chance,” he says. “I’d rather live in the present and not think about the ‘what ifs’.”

“
But—” I stop talking when he leans over on top of me and I can feel his breath against my lips and then, he kisses me and for that moment, I forget about every single ‘what if’ that haunts me.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

We fall asleep under the stars. I wake up to find that Ian moved the blanket from underneath him and put it over me. I feel horrible that he slept like that, on the cold surface.

I look at my watch. We have to be in school in about two hours.

“
Ian,” I try to wake him up to no avail.

I put my hand on his arm. He feels cold and I have to fight the urge to put my arms around him. “Ian.”

He slowly opens his eyes and smiles at me, then he tries to move and he is no longer smiling. I can tell his whole body hurts from sleeping like this.

“
You shouldn’t have given me the blanket.”

He yawns. “I didn’t want you to get cold.”

I have to hold back the laugh. If he only knew I don’t feel temperature like humans do.

“
We have to be in school in about two hours,” I say.

“
Shit. My mom is going to kill me if I skip again.”

He gets up and jumps down from the truck. I move toward the edge and he puts his hands on each side of my waist and helps me down.

“
I would kiss you, but morning breath sucks.”

I laugh.

“
We need to get going,” he says.

We get in the truck and on the way to my house he asks how much trouble I will be in.

“
I’m honestly not sure.”

“
Should I go in with you?” he asks.

I laugh. “You would do that? You’re brave. Harvey is not even in town so you’d have to deal with Nicholas.”

He shivers. “I will if you want me to.”

“
You don’t have to. Honest. And you should probably rush to school anyway.”

“
Do you need a ride?”

I shake my head. “I will get there.”

“
What is his deal anyway?”

“
Nicholas’?”

“
Yeah.”

“
Bad break-up.”

“
Ouch. That bad?” he asks.

I nod. “Yeah, that bad.”

Ian drops me off and drives away. Poor guy. I think he was relieved to not have to see Nicholas again.

I walk in quietly to find Nicholas playing xbox.

“
Well, well, look who finally decided to show up,” he says without looking away from the screen. “Do I need to have the sex talk with you now or is it too late?” he asks sarcastically.

I know my face must be red from embarrassment. “No, it’s not too late and no, we don’t need to have that talk.”

“
Damn it!” he yells at the game and throws the remote on the couch before looking at me.

“
Do you really think I believe that you spent the night with him and nothing happened?” he yells.

“
Nothing happened,” I say firmly, looking him in the eyes.

“
What’s going on?” I hear another voice coming from the stairs.

She walks down the stairs and I can hardly believe that it’s Lexi I’m looking at! I now know what Harvey meant by trusting his decision.

“
Hi Sarah,” she says with a sweet smile.

I smile back at her, “Hi”.

I glance at Nicholas and he is staring at her in awe. Once he notices me watching him, he shakes his head and focuses back on me. “Alright, now that the mushy hellos are out of the way, what the hell are you thinking, Sarah?”

I ignore his question. “I need to get ready for school.”

“
I don’t freaking think so. You’re done with school.”

I don’t even know how to react, but I don’t have to because Lexi intervenes.

“
Come on, Nick. Let Sarah explain before you make crazy decisions.”

He looks at her and his tone changes. He is much calmer. “It’s not a crazy decision, Love. This school nonsense shouldn’t have happened to begin with.”

I notice she flinches when he calls her love but she doesn’t say anything.

“
Please, Nicholas. Nothing happened. I swear. I just needed time away.”

“
Nick, Harvey asked me to come for a reason. You said so yourself that Sarah needs help. Maybe—maybe I should talk to Sarah alone.”

This time he doesn’t look at her. “No. She is done with school. End of discussion.”

I’m now in panic mode and I hold on to Lexi’s words and the only chance I might have left.

“
What do you mean I need help?” I ask her. “Nicholas is the one who Harvey is worried about.”

“
Sarah!” he warns.

“
But you are. You need help, Nicholas. What you’ve been doing is not—”

“
Shut up, Sarah. Not another word. You want to go to school that bad? Fine! Go! But don’t come crying to me when you get hurt.”

He seems like he is about to leave but then he comes to a stop. He probably doesn’t trust me alone with Lexi, who watches us quietly.

“
I’ll take you to school. You have five minutes to get ready.”

CHAPTER THIRTY

The ride to school is the most uncomfortable ever. Nicholas makes it clear that if I say anything to Lexi about him and his ‘personal issues’, we will leave town that day.

I don’t respond but he’s not stupid. He knows his message came through loud and clear.

I get to school late and miss my first class, which I’m glad. That is the class I have with Megan, Cassie, and Ian… I feel bad for him to be stuck in class with those two. I head over to my Algebra class, which is drama free. Next, I get to my Economics class, where I feel relieved to see Chloe, the freshman who also came from out of town.

I sit behind her and she immediately turns around, facing me.

“
What happened between you and Cassie?” she asks.

I sigh.

“
That bad, huh?” she says, “I figured. I’m not sure what is going on, but I heard that Cassie was asking about you and she wasn’t happy.” She shakes her head. “There is something about her… I just have this feeling that she is up to something bad.”

I nod. “She is, but it’s best if you don’t know what.”

Chloe shrugs. “Good. The less I know, the better, but I do have to ask, are you dating that guy she was telling you to stay away from? I heard his girl—ex girlfriend was looking for you too.”

“
I—yes, we are dating.”

Chloe takes a deep breath. “Well, I have to say, we just started school here and everyone already knows who you are. That must be some kind of record.”

“
Yeah, I’d rather not have all the attention.”

She gives me a genuine smile.

“
Well, I brought my lunch today and it’s probably enough for two. We can hide out somewhere during lunch if you want.

I nod. “I’d love that.”

The class goes by fast and during lunch, we make our way to the table behind the gym when I spot Ian talking to Megan and Cassie. He stands against a locker with his head lowered. I stop Chloe and we watch them from a distance.

Ian raises his head and he seems upset. He says something to them and then once he hears whatever they say, he shouts, ‘I don’t have it!” He then smacks the locker and walks away.

Chloe asks no questions as we keep going toward the table behind the gym. Once we are there, she opens her lunch and I tell her I’m not hungry. I grab my phone and text Ian.

“
I’m here. I’m with Chloe at the table behind the gym.”

“
Do you want to talk about it?” asks Chloe.