Entangled (Entangled Trilogy #1) (6 page)

“I’ve been waiting for
this moment for a long time. But first, Rosemarie, I want you to
stay away from the new guy,” James told me, still not facing
me.

“His name is Adrian,” I
muttered, unintelligibly and knowingly. James doesn’t care about
anyone else’s name; he doesn’t care about anything.

“Whatever. I want you to
know that you have to avoid him. He is not who you think he is.
Please, just listen to me,” James pleaded with a sad
voice.

“Fine! Anything else you
need to tell me?” I queried.

“How many more of those
theories do you have?” he asked, marginally entertained. I could
literally feel the smile in his voice.

“God of Death?” I
muttered. He seemed fitting for the job. His visibly tensed, going
rigid all over. James would usually come out right and answer me,
but this theory got some hesitancy.

“May I ask why you think
that, Rosemarie?” James asked. He had a way of answering questions
with questions. I hated it but at the moment, I really didn’t care.
So . . . he could be one of the God of Death or something. I smiled
and frowned and the same time. This could be a good thing, or a bad
thing. Depends on how I look at it.

“You seem very fitting for
the job but judging by your question, you are definitely no god of
death,” I said. “Anything else?”

“Yes. Rosemarie, I know I
may have frightened you in the past and you may not like me or
anything but I want you to listen to me first and then come to a
verdict,” James said although it sounded more like a demand. Why
did all these people speak in such immense and prophecy-like
words?

“Alright,” I said. Why
isn’t he facing me?

“Excellent. I know I’ve
frightened you in the past. Maybe that’s why you prefer to look at
me as a death deity. Do I frighten you?” James asked. I simply
nodded unwisely until I comprehended that he can’t see
me.

When I didn’t answer, he
sighed and his shoulders collapsed while he shook his head, feeling
as if he lost the most important battle of his life.

“I truly never meant to
terrify you. I just wanted you to stay away from me. I thought that
the closer you got to me, the more endangerment you’ll be in. I
thought that I’ll endanger you every second of your life,” James
said. I opened my mouth to protest but he cut me off.

“Now I apprehended that I
don’t need you away from me. I—,” James started just as Adrian
barged in through the door of the roof. I heard James mutter a few
inane words under his breath and ran his hand through that silky
blonde hair of his. He turned to finally face me and shot me a
remorseful look.

“We got to talk and I have
kept my promise but we are not done yet, Rosemarie. Perhaps, I
shall walk you home today after school. I will meet you at your
locker. Please, don’t bring you little blonde friend with you.
She’ll ruin our precious moment together like Prince Charming over
there,” James said, indicating Adrian who looked over at us with an
unreadable expression.

“Alright,” I sighed. One
of these days, I’ll find out the truth about James. Sensing my
uneasiness, James came over to where I was standing and took my
smaller hand in his larger one. Then, he kissed me on the cheeks,
not roughly like the other day, but gently, as if he was afraid to
get near me. The kiss was enough to leave me in a tingling and
confused state. I wish people would stop interposing the two of us
every time he got to the good part.

“Would you like me to stay
here and help you fix things between you and him?” James asked and
I shook my head.

“Alright,” James said one
last time before leaving the roof and leaving me alone with
him.

“What were you two talking
about?” Adrian scowled, rather a bit too harshly.

When he saw me recoil, his
eyes softened and he treaded towards me. I took two steps back,
still looking down, admiring the grass. It was like flattering what
your parents thought was the coolest thing ever. Very . . .
monotonous. He reached out to touch my face but I quickly took
another step back, wanting nothing to do with this jerk.

“What we were talking
about is none of your business, Mr. Ross. You don’t see me
following you around and poking my nose into your business now, do
you?” I asked, infuriated. Now, it was his turn to flinch. I hope I
didn’t hurt his feelings too badly. Wait, he doesn’t have
any.

“Roza, I-I didn’t mean
that. I-I’m—,” Adrian started but I quickly cut him off.

“Of course you’re sorry.
You’re always sorry for everything. You wanna know what I’m sorry
for? For ever agreeing to befriend you in the first place. I
thought that I should try to be nice to you since you’ve had a
tough time before. I was obviously off beam. I bet that you didn’t
even love that girl. You probably planned the accident to get rid
of her. You could’ve just broken up with her you know; that way,
she would still have her memories and live happily. And that story
you made up about ‘truly losing your soul-mate,’ you probably made
that up to get attention. If I was that girl, thank god I’m not
her; I would have never ever even wanted to have you back in my
life. I hate you Adrian Ross. I truly hate you,” I said,
panting.

Now, I really felt bad.
Hurt contorted his attractive features. Adrian looked as if he was
in agony. His eyes were glassy with unshed tears but one tear had
managed to escape.

“Say you were that girl,
the girl I loved. Imagine I came back just for you, after
everything I’ve been through. Imagine I asked you to come back to
me. Would you say yes? Just imagine that it’s all real, just for
one second. I jeopardized my life for you. Would you want to be
mine again? All mine?” Adrian asked in a beseeching voice although
his voice splintered when he said “mine.”

“Maybe,” I managed to say.
His eyes all of a sudden lit up like a Christmas tree. “But you’re
making all of these up and I’m not that girl.”

“Wow! You’ve changed a
lot, Roza. What did they do to you? You weren’t like this before,”
Adrian said, hurt coloring his husky voice.

“
What are you talking
about? I didn’t change at all. Did you know me before you relocated
here Adrian? Please answer me. I need to know,” I asked sincerely.
If he knew me before all of this, then he can help me find out more
about my accident and who he was.

“
What if you were? That
girl, I mean,” Adrian insisted, his eyes pleading with a dismayed
look and completely disregarding my question.

“But I’m not, Adrian. I’m
just not her. Please, stay away from me, at least until I get all
of this straight,” I said. Adrian just looked down at the ground at
nodded, looking defeated. I quickly picked up my backpack and left.
Once, I turned around to look at him and saw that he was watching
me go. I hastily left without looking back again.

* * * * *

As I gathered my homework
from my locker, abruptly, I felt someone wrap their arms around my
waist from the back. I almost jumped but that pacifyingly au fait
voice told me to relax, which I did. He still didn’t take his arms
off me when I was done gathering my books. I turned around to face
him and he finally took his arms off me. Instead, he offered me his
arm and asked, “Shall we?” I nodded.

As we walked, arm-in-arm,
Maddie came up from behind me and tapped me on the shoulder. I shot
James a rueful look before telling Maddie that James would be
dropping me at home tonight.

“Alice, are you sure about
this?” she asked as uneasiness shaded her voice. I nodded and
before leaving, she wished me luck and told me to be cautious.
Maddie, normally, would never let me do this but for some reason,
after Adrian had showed up at our school, she backed off and now
lets me do whatever I want to. It’s always Adrian. Adrian, Adrian,
Adrian. What is it with that guy?

When I returned to James,
he offered me his arm again which I took. Such a
gentleman.

“
I’m really sor—,” I
started, but he shushed me.

“
No need to apologize,
Rosemarie. Now, where were we the last time we conversed?” James
asked, smiling down at me.

“
Umm . . . You were going
to tell me something about not wanting to endanger me,” I said
happily.

“
Oh, right. I need to know
if I terrify you. Do I?” James asked once again.

“
Kind of,” I admitted. I
still didn’t know what he was so of course that would frighten
me.

“
Honestly, I never meant
to. I’m sorry. I just thought keeping you at a distance would help
keep you safe. I was wrong. I need you near me. I— Are you cold,
Rosemarie? You’re shivering,” James asked, alarmed.

“
I-I’m not c-cold,” I
said. I really wasn’t that cold. It was so dark outside that I
couldn’t see what it was that suddenly made me feel all warm and
fuzzy. But something silky draped around me and made me feel all
warm from head to toe.

“
What on earth is thi—,” I
began but James silenced me again by pressing a warm finger to my
lips.

“
Shhh. Are you warm now,
Rosemarie?” he asked me. He really has to stop calling me
Rosemarie.

“
Yes,” I said. “What is
this?”

“
Anywho, as I was saying,
I really don’t want to scare you. I want to make you feel like
you’ve never felt before. I realized that I don’t need you away
from me. I need you near me. I think of you as more than a friend,”
James went on, pointedly closing his eyes to my question. James
took a step towards me and I took a step back. I didn’t realize
where we were until I saw that I realized that I was only inches
away from him and he was backed up against a tree. An image of
Adrian and Krystal in the locker room flashed across my mind but I
dismissed it. James and I were in the same position now and this
was not upright.

“
Rosemarie, you mean so
much to me. You’re implausible and marvelous. You make me burn with
desire and I think I’m burning for you. I’ve totally fallen for
you. I can’t bear to be apart from you anymore. I need you. I yearn
for you,” James started. Oh. My. God. This whole thing just took a
right turn towards What-Should-I-Do-Ville. Actually, no. It’s more
like What-Did-I-Do-To-Deserve-This-Ville.

“
You make me feel all
young again. I care for you deeply,” James continued, pulling me
closer to him by wrapping his arms around my waist so I couldn’t
move back step-by-step anymore. What is he trying to say? I hate it
when guys are not candid. They delay with all the sweet talk and
then just drop the L-bomb. I also hate it when they ask you out for
dates. All you do is just sit around, eat and talk. Why not just
ask her to be your girlfriend, man?

“
I’ve felt this way about
you for a while, Rosemarie. I just didn’t know when to tell you all
of this. I guess now is the right time, huh?” James grinned,
revealing a set of perfect white teeth. His smiles were so
compelling, I wondered if my knees would give out soon. I put my
hands on his muscular chest to steady myself and he took it the
wrong way, his smile deepening, his hold on me tightening and the
sparkle in his eyes all . . . burnished.

“
What a-are you trying to
tell me, James?” I asked. He frowned a little, wondering why I
couldn’t decipher his message. Maybe, he should stop speaking
prophecy and start speaking English.

“
Are you scared again? Are
you cold again?” James asked, flipping us both over so that I was
stuck between him and the tree. Great, now there was no
escape.

“
No. I’m not cold again.
Please, stop trying to avoid my questions,” I requested. He really
has to stop. He’s been trying to tell me something for the past few
weeks and there was always some kind of distraction that would stop
him when he began to say “I.”

“
Rosemarie, I’m extremely
offended that you think I’m trying to shun your questions. You know
there is nothing else I would do than listen to you and answer all
your questions. If anything, I think that you’re the one trying to
avoid my questions, Rosemarie. Am I wrong?” James asked me
curiously, lifting an eyebrow.

“
You’re partially wrong,”
I said as he started laughing. His breath tickled my cheeks. I’ve
never heard him laugh before but now I did. His laugh was so . . .
enthralling.

“
All right. I might be
wrong to a degree. Rosemarie, you have a way to make me feel all
special again,” James said, finally getting his laughter under
control.

“
It’s not funny,” I said,
trying to step back and away from his embrace but he just pulled me
closer. Oh boy.

“
What I’m trying to say is
. . .,” James started as I leaned forward.

“
Rosemarie, I hereby
declare that I am irrevocably in love with you. I love you,
Rosemarie.” I can’t believe it. He called me Rosemarie instead of
Rose. Again.

chapter 5

a fistful of nightmares

I waited for him to go on,
to finish his sentence. I was so on the edge and I hated being kept
in the dark. I mean, instead of just taking your time, you should
just blurt out whatever it is that you have to say. James was the
kind of person who would take his precious time, but time is a
luxury no one can afford.