Authors: Tara Brown
Tags: #Romance, #romance and ghosts, #romance and paranormal, #romance adventure fantasy young adult science fiction teen trilogy, #romance adventure drama series magic wizard witch
Blake sat there looking very lost at the end of
the story.
I looked at him pleading with him, “Blake I want
you to think about who is telling you this, look at me Blake. Have
I ever given you cause to not trust something I was telling
you?”
He shook his head slowly, “What are you becoming
Aims?”
I didn’t have an answer so I shrugged still
watching him take it all in.
“You ran from the bus stop at Millers Crossing
all the way here in two days?” His voice was empty, no accusation
or feeling.
I nodded wanting him to believe me just so that
I could finally rest a bit. I wasn’t tired in the regular sense but
I was tired of not feeling safe.
He took a deep breath, “Okay I am going to go
with you on this one until I can either disprove or solve it.”
My eyes lit up as I sighed, “I can stay here
with you?”
He frowned at me, “Why wouldn’t you stay here
with me? You thought I would kick you out because you drank alien
blood from that guy and don’t require sleep or food anymore?”
I nodded as he got up from the couch and grabbed
my hand.
“I need sleep Aims and I suggest you try
too.”
I let him drag me to his room, we climbed on top
of his queen-sized bed. He turned the lights out and lay beside me
on the bed.
“How’s things with Alise?” I asked tired of my
ridiculous life.
He laughed, “Oh man your sister is crazy. I have
no idea what to do with her. It’s like having a two year old around
and you know how I feel about other people children in my house.
She touches things and breaks them. She has to be doing something
at every second of every day. I seriously think she might need
Ritalin or something.”
I burst out laughing as he turned to look at me
with a serious face, “Aimee I’m not kidding. She broke my vintage
Luke Skywalker, it was in the box still and she took it out and
broke it. She said it was an accident but I think she misbehaves on
purpose to start fights with me.”
He had hit the nail on the head, I chuckled
feeling sorry for him.
“You cant choose who you love Blake, I’m a prime
example of that.”
“Do you love him Aims, even after he left you in
the hospital, lied to you about what he did for a living and let
Jaime die?” Blake’s voice wasn’t cruel, he truly was curious.
I felt close to tears as I spoke, “When I’m with
Shane I feel so in love with him but when I’m with Aleks I feel in
love with him too. I don’t know what to do.”
He sighed, “Aimee love is supposed to lift you
up, not bring you down. If you are obsessively in love with this
guy then you need to end it. No relationship that’s healthy puts
the other person above you. The relationship that ends all of the
good things in your life is the wrong relationship. You’re choosing
the wrong guy if you love Aleks.”
“Look at you Mr. Love Guru.”
He laughed, “I saw it on Dr. Phil.”
I closed my eyes, “I do love Aleks but not as
much as I love Shane. I wish I didn’t because I truly think that if
he’d never come along I would have found my way to Shane naturally
and would be happy right now instead of dying, alone.”
Blake pulled me onto his chest and kissed the
top of my head, “You’ll never be alone Aims, not ever. Besides you
can see ghosts now, you're good.”
I whacked him in the gut and snuggled into his
armpit.
“How’s Giselle?” I asked scared to hear the
answer.
“She’s great as far as I know her body has
accepted the liver with no problems. Alise said your dad was there
again today to see her, I guess him and Shane stayed in the city a
few days. She’s doing amazing. He doesn’t even worry about you
though. He believes that lie about you being at the celebrity liver
clinic. I knew it was bullshit the minute your sister told me about
it.”
“Yeah I couldn’t believe that weirdo had been
able to trick my dad, of all of the people in the world I would not
call gullible. He bought it though, it was strange.”
“I was scared you were dead or something and he
just couldn’t cope with it.”
I hugged him tighter, “I would have haunted you
a little, you would have known.”
He laughed, “Yeah I expect you to haunt me when
you die.”
I felt so happy for Giselle, if anyone deserved
a happy ending in all of this nonsense it was her.
I must have fallen asleep as I woke many hours
later to an empty room and daylight streaming through the huge
windows.
The room was warm, I felt revived and
rejuvenated. I didn’t know how to respond to waking without the
feeling of wanting to go back to sleep. It had been so long since
I’d been healthy and not depressed. Sleep had been my companion
over the course of the last ten months. I worried Blake was gone
but I climbed out of his bed and walked to the family room hoping I
would find him at the computer.
He was no where to be found in the basement so I
climbed the stairs hoping his parents were still in the city or at
the very least on a vacation somewhere. I didn’t think I could face
his chipper and perky mom, not after everything the past month had
entailed.
Blake’s house was completely empty. I searched
every room, starting to really panic I sat on the peach leather
couch in the front room and watched out the front window for him to
come home with either my sister, dad, Shane or worse. I assumed he
had panicked when he woke and ran from the house thinking me either
crazed or drugged out.
I sat there for a long time not moving; I
noticed my lack of need to move. I wasn’t restless or fidgeting, I
wasn’t feeling the need to change positions, I barely needed to
breath. I held my breath just to see how long I could go for and
started to feel weird about not breathing but not desperate for
some air. When I breathed I felt better but it wasn’t as if I
couldn’t have made it another twenty minutes without the breath. I
decided to test it out and walked to the backyard. I stripped down
to my underwear and tank top. I jumped into the cool crisp pool and
let out all of the air in my lungs. I sank like a stone to the
bottom of the deep end of the pool and waited for desperation and
panic to set in. Nothing happened so I waited some more.
I saw a dark figure at the edge of the pool and
felt my stomach fill with nerves. I pushed myself up to see Blake’s
frowning face.
“You were down there for seven minutes Aimee.”
He didn’t flinch.
I frowned at him, “I thought you were Dorian,
not cool. I could have gone longer, were you spying on me?”
He nodded, “I wanted to see what you would do
when you were alone. I watched you hold your breath on the couch,
this is crazy.”
I shrugged, “I know but what can I do
Blake?”
He sat at the edge of the pool and hiked up his
pants. He dipped his feet into the pool and cringed at the cold,
“My dad hasn’t turned the heat on yet, this weekend he said. Its
fifty degrees Aims, fifty. The chemicals were just balanced
yesterday in preparation for summer.” He pulled his legs out after
a couple seconds.
I shook my head, “It doesn’t feel cold to
me.”
He looked worried, “What if this is a nervous
disorder and you’re hurting your self but you just can’t feel it,
like an after effect from the drugs.”
I swam to the edge nervously, what if I injured
my body and was stuck for all eternity with a deformed body. I
climbed out of the pool using almost no effort to lift myself up
and out.
Blake raised his eyebrows at that, “Not so
feeble huh?”
I smiled, “One benefit so far is I’m
stronger.”
“Want something to eat?” He asked handing me one
of the lush pool towels. I had always laughed at how his pool
towels were nicer than most peoples “Good” towels that you weren’t
even allowed to use. I wrapped the towel around me and followed him
into the house.
“How long was I sleeping?” I asked as I sat at
the bar like always and waited for him to feed me.
He looked puzzled, “Twelve and half hours. You
slept like the dead too because I tried to wake you up and it
didn’t work.”
“Did I breath?” I asked feeling pretty worried
at this point.
He shook his head, “Nope not really and none of
the usual snoring either. Waffles or grilled cheese?”
I frowned at him and crossed my arms, he
shrugged and made me grilled cheese.
I had slept at Blake’s house for five nights and
hung in his basement playing World Of Warcraft and watching TV as
he went to school and hung out with my sister.
In his free time he spent every minute trying to
solve my issues.
Drug induced brain tumor was in the lead for
things that could be wrong with me. I let him believe I had
imagined it all but my heart knew Aleks was real. I wondered where
he could be everyday. I never left the safety of the basement even
for food, Blake brought it to me on a regular schedule believing I
would end up hurting myself by only eating when I really needed to.
The food filled me up but something inside me felt a need. I felt a
thirst or a hunger I couldn’t explain. It grew whenever Blake was
around but I had been able to hide it.
I lay on Blake’s bed not sure of what to do with
all of my free time when suddenly I felt it.
Someone was watching me.
Scared it was Dorian but hopeful it was Aleks I
looked around the room.
I didn’t know what to do beyond sit there and
wait for whomever it was to show them self to me.
Suddenly Shane stood in the entrance to the room
looking at me with a burning but also an intense pain. He looked
weak and sick almost. I sprang off the bed and grabbed him, hugging
him. Suddenly as if he needed to touch me I was off the ground and
dragged up into his arms. He wrapped me around him and held me like
a child. I wrapped my legs around him and buried my face into his
shoulder. I didn’t know what to say, I owed him an apology I
honestly didn’t think I would do justice.
I made the attempt anyway, “I’m so sorry Shane,
I didn’t mean to leave. I just didn’t have any choice. I didn’t
mean to hurt you like that.”
He carried me to Blake’s bed, which felt really
wrong.
“No there is a guest room down the hall, lets
lay there. This just feels wrong.” He obeyed still not speaking and
carried me down the hall.
He sat me on the bed and knelt on the floor in
front of me, “Aimee I can’t understand why you left, why you
trusted Blake and not me with your problem?”
“I don’t want to hurt you?”
I cuddled into him trying desperately to lug him
on to the bed with me.
He stood and closed the door. He walked toward
me picking me up and laying me down on the bed back where the
pillows were. His mouth crushed mine with a kiss that was so
forceful I could barely keep up with him moving my tongue like he
did. His hands went up my fleece tearing the shirt right from my
body. I shivered slightly, mostly from anticipation. He sat up for
a second looking down on me as I tried to cover myself. He smiled
the most dangerous smile I had ever seen cross his lips and he
ripped his shirt off revealing his soft firm body. I ran my hands
along his ribs and chest as he came down upon me again. His skin
felt just as I imagined it would, warm and strong under soft skin.
His mouth caressing mine while his hands roamed my arms down to my
stomach. He rolled on his back pulling me on top of him. I loved
the feeling of his soft skin against mine with his huge hands
roaming my back, pulling me into him. I felt his needs and answered
with my own. I felt him undo my pants and as my stomach flopped in
fear I knew it was what I wanted. The hunger to be with him seemed
to be out weighing the hunger I couldn’t quite describe. Something
about all his naked skin against mine was filling the void.
Chapter Fourteen - THAT
WAS AMAZING, UHHHGGGG
The perma grin that plastered my face was
ridiculous I looked like the joker. I felt my red hot cheeks that
flashed, “Hey I just lost my V-Card” to anyone who would see them.
I hope the hot water in the shower would rinse off at least that if
not a few other things. I was glad I had done what I had done but I
felt weird, it had distracted me from everything but now in the
wake of it all I was still doomed in someway.
I soaped up as the shower door opened. I covered
myself as he entered my shower taking all of the room and hot water
with him. I sighed looking at him, obviously only from the belly
button up. I may have had sex with him but I was still the innocent
naïve girl I had been only hours before. I looked up at his face
blushing harder and smiling even goofier. He frowned at me as he
kissed me softly, “What?”
I shook my head, “Oh nothing. Just feels weird
you being in my shower, seeing me naked with the lights on, you
know that sort of stuff.”
He laughed, “We just had s-“
“STOP!” I put a hand up to his mouth, “I don’t
want to talk about it. Lets talk about other stuff.”
I had stopped soaping and was rinsing with what
little water I got off of him. He laughed taking my hand away and
kissing me slowly, sensually.
Realizing he was taking all of the water he
moved around me fluidly pushing me into the water. It splashed down
onto my face before I realized what was happening. I sputtered
slightly as I backed up into him.
This was not my idea of a shower. I wanted to
wash my nether regions, which I couldn’t do with him in the
shower.
I gave up on trying to get clean and hoped to do
a quick mini scrub of the area after he got out.
“Aimee where have you been?” He asked softly I
gulped knowing this was going to have to be talked about at some
point? His eyes filled with fear.
“I had to get away before Dorian hurt you or me
or all of us.”
He stepped close to me again sucking up all of
the hot water and pinning me against the cool tiled wall, “You’re
the only thing that makes me feel like the person I want to be. I
need you Aimee. Without you I have a hole in my chest.”