Burdened (A Burdened Novel) (35 page)

Her face shows anger
, but she doesn’t push him away.

They don’t say anything out loud for a few minutes. It irritates me that I’m not included in this conversation either.

Forever passes and then she smiles and slaps his shoulder. He hugs her and kisses her cheek.

“Tracey
, I am sorry I startled you, but I do not do well with my children keeping secrets from me or trying to cover things up. Now, you two go back upstairs and do nothing but look at schools. I’ll call you when dinner is ready.”

“Okay
, Mom. Thanks.”

He walks over
, throwing his arm around me, shaking his head. We walk back to his room and I close the door behind me. “So are you going to let me know what just happened?”

“She
just thinks we bound,” he says nonchalantly.

“You mean
knows
.”

“No, she thinks. She doesn’t know anything.”

“So, what did you tell her?”

“You want to know the truth?”
he asks deviously.

“Yes.”

“You’re not going to think good of me.”

“Mr.
BeatAroundTheBush, can you please tell me?”

“I made her forget
—only the part that she wanted to beat me over. But she thinks that we got to—what do they say…” He thinks for a second. “Second base.” He walks up to me. “You know, when I take off your shirt and kiss on you.” He kisses my neck and his hand creeps up my side. “And you let me grab your—”

Almost
had me. “Nathan.” I push him back. “You did not do that to your mother.”

“Baby, I have been doing
that since I found out I had the ability to. It keeps her happy. No one in this house likes to see my mother upset—believe me. Everyone else has me do it too.”

I punch his arm
. “That is
not
okay.”

“If you knew what she was saying to me
, you would agree with me. Plus, if she knew the truth, she would really blast me into the front yard. She was getting ready to.”

“She has done that before?”

“Yes. To me, Taylor, Nathan, and Roseland.” He shrugs. “It’s not like spanking us would do her, or us, any good, so at some point—with Roseland—she found out it was the next best thing. We’ve had these walls fixed many times.”

“Which
is why you don’t want her upset. What did she say to you?”

He calms
. “She said I was not performing as I was raised to with my mate. I was taking advantage of you, not providing you with the full understanding of what you are getting into. I should have waited until we were ‘made,’ which means married.”

He half
-rolls his eyes. “I’m supposed to show you respect, and if I loved you, I wouldn’t have taken you so quickly, and doing so shows my lack of love and my instinct for lust. What made it worse was the tone she was using. She was hurt and disappointed in me. I couldn’t take that.” He pushes his hair back. “But, the killer part of it was, she had it all wrong. See, I was the victim in the situation.”

I hold my smile
. “So what did you replace her thoughts with?” I push him back.

“I already told you. She
also doesn’t want us doing that because of what it can lead to—children. Can you stop pushing me away? Please? I think I had enough of that last night.”

“I’m sorry about that
, but if you hadn’t blown me off because I lost it with Pepper, I wouldn’t have been alone; hence, I wouldn’t have gone for a run; hence, you wouldn’t have tricked me into making me think you were you when you were really someone else. Then, the ‘you who wasn’t you’ using me to get to you. But I still don’t know how I couldn’t remember you or how I couldn’t want you. So really, this whole thing is your fault.”

“Wait
, I heard everything you said, but my focus fell on this information that you didn’t include me on. I made you think I was me, to trick you, to get to me?” He squints, then stops. “Can I look in your head? I just want to see the face you saw.”

“When did you start asking?”

“Tracey—”

“Go ahead
, Nathan. Just know, you still owe me for leaving me alone when I needed you.”

“I already made up for that.”
He focuses, until recognition crosses his face, then a flash of anger. “I’ll be right back.”

“No, Nathan
, wait!” I side-step him when he tries to walk around me “What happened?”             

He stops. “I really need to handle something
right now.
”

“Okay
, tell me.” I grab his hand and he relaxes.

“I know who it was, and I know he hypnotized you. He’s a full
-blooded Sephlem. His name is Eddlen. It looks like he can hypnotize with the swirl of his eyes—it may be his ability. He can also take on images of others. His abilities seem pretty powerful, considering I almost had to fu—”

“Don’t say it.” I cut him off.

He laughs. “What I did was nothing serious, but a kiss wasn’t enough. That was the next step.”

“You kissed me?”
I don’t remember any of it.

“Yes.” He looks down at me through his lashes.

“Hmm, I don’t recall. Maybe you can come show me what it was like.” I pull his shirt.

“I think you are using yourself as a distraction.” He comes to me reluctantly.

“You have all day tomorrow and Friday to do whatever you want.” He’s right in front of me now. “You can give me today, and take care of whatever you need to do then.” I rise on my tip-toes to kiss the bottom of his chin. It’s as far as I can reach.

“I don’t know
, Tracey. Dinner will be ready soon.”

I push him and
he quickly grabs my hands forcefully, not moving. I ignore it. “You
are
right, babe, and considering how I take advantage of you, I don’t want you to be the victim.”

He blocks me with his arms
, anticipating my exit plan of moving around him. “I
was
the victim, baby. You used those lips,” he brushes his thumb over my mouth and I kiss it, “and those touches. Then you would say those things that make me fall in love with you, and give you the world and the box it comes in. How could I tell you ‘no’ to anything?”

“Considering you weren’t getting anything out of it,” I add.

“So your antics were beneficial for both of us.” He bends down to kiss me, and I turn my head.

“Are you leaving
, or are you staying?” I’m serious.

“Come on
, Tracey,” he says, throwing his head back.

“If you leave me, you
are
going to regret it.” He steps back. “Nathan, really!? We have today, and you have the next two days to do what you want. I’m not even asking to help you find him. So the least you can do is respect that.”

He looks down at me again. “Okay,
I’ll check on it tomorrow. And since you have spent all this time talking, it is now time for us to eat.” I laugh as he opens the door behind me.

Everyone meets in this massive dining room that’s half the size of the great room. Everyone is here, except Nathan’s aunt—the school nurse—and his dad. We eat his mother’s food and thoughts about going back to school grind in my head. This test to see how long I can stay away from Nathan digs at me as well.

He’s right
—we can’t be around each other
all the time
, but how can we avoid that? I at least want to be around him the majority of the time.

“So
, Tracey, how is the school hunt going? I see you all have been working on it all day,” Little Nathan starts. “No downtime?” he asks with a smirk. My eyes widen.

His head whips back quickly
—as if he was smacked—and he holds it there momentarily. “Not cool,” He says, as he moves his head back forward.

“Shut up and eat your food
,” Nathan says to him.

The two o
f them go back and forth, slapping each other without actually hitting one another. Everyone laughs. It’s pretty fascinating for me to see and equally entertaining.

Everyone calms as Nathan’s dad walks in the room and sits
down at the table.

“Excuse
my late arrival.” He picks up his fork.

He is back being standoffish. Wha
t is up with this man? Watching him, he takes frequent looks of repugnance at Nathan and Taylor. I can’t figure him out. I know he’s tried to kill them, and they have tried to kill him, but it’s like he has a personal vendetta against them.

There
has to be more to it than what Nathan had told me. The look in his eyes, as he stares at them, holds regret, revenge, and resentment. He genuinely loo—

“So
, Tracey!” I jump in my seat at the sound of his voice.

It sca
red me; it was dark and deceiving. I hate the way my name sounds coming from him. Nathan looks at me—his cheerful expression gone serious.

“Have you decided if you
will join our lovely family?” I look back at Mr. Newcomb, wearing a plastered smile as he awaits my answer to his question.

I cough
, trying to clear my throat, caught off-guard by his unexpected question.

Nathan speaks for me
. “She doesn’t have to make a decision right now. There is no rush.”

“There isn’t?” he
asks sarcastically.

“Father
,
this
is not your concern, Tracey’s and my decisions are just that. They are not to be discussed
with
the family, just to be updated
to
the family,” Nathan states sternly.

“Well
, son, I’m sure we are all just a little curious to know what you two plan to do. Tracey is such a lovely girl and we are happy that you have her. We just want you to be happy, and we know that you will be, with Tracey at your side.”

It all sounds scripted. I look around the table
, feeling uncomfortable. Everyone is looking at him with scolding expressions. I look at Nathan. He is staring at his father like he wants to turn him to dust.

I reach over
, touching his hand, and he gives me a crooked smile. He shakes his head and uses his other hand to rub his chin. I look back to his dad and he is smiling a wicked smile—as if he has something planned.

“Tracey!” I jump again, his voice is traitorous. “Aren’t you interested in my son’s happiness?”

“Excuse me?” I say with aggression. Is he really asking me that?

His eyes buck
. “Did I offend you, Tracey? My apologies.” His words say nothing behind them. I wish he would
stop
saying my name.

I let Nathan’s hand go
, sitting forward in my seat. Everyone is quiet and I am about to let Papa Nathan have it. I push my plate forward and lean over the table. “Let me—”

“Don’t
, Tracey.” I look at Nathan, and he gives me a look like he knows what I was going to say. I sit back. “Nathan, this is inappropriate,” Nathan says to his father, his voice stern. “If you would like to speak with Tracey and me, we can talk after dinner. Nothing else needs to be said right now.”

The amusement on his father’s face
wipes away as he says, “Nathan, I—”

“
Nathan, that
is
enough. And
nothing
else needs to be said right now,” Natalia cuts him off.

“Thank you
, Mom,” Nathan states, as he rises from his seat, grabbing my hand. “Excuse us. Let me know when you are ready to talk.” He looks at his dad. I do the same, and his face is full of anger and disbelief.

I get up and Nathan walks us from the room. Ciaos erupts after we leave the
room.

We walk out
of the house to the backyard, and over to a gazebo that sits off to the side, equal distance from the house and the fence. There are cushioned benches and a beautiful water fountain surrounded by lilies. It’s dimly lit and the rest of the light comes from the remainder of the setting sun.

“I’m sorry about him
, Tracey.” He sits down, pulling me to sit across him.

“No
, it’s okay. There’s something off about him though. I know you know him better than I do—him being your dad and all. But there is something about him that doesn’t sit well with me. Why all the questions all of a sudden? Just the other day he was the least bit interested in us.”

“He’s an ass
. That is how he is. He is one way one day and a different way the next. Fortunately, you were not able to hear what he was really saying—only what came out of his mouth.”

“And what was that?” I’m curious.

“‘This isn’t about you. This is about Nathan.’” He points to himself.