Goddess Sacrifice (8 page)

“Legacy! Here’s a Grecian goddess outfit. You and Adin should go as Greek gods!”

“Hmmm…it’s not really dressing up if I go as myself.” She laughed at the thought, but figured it’d be a cute idea. They rummaged around the stockpile and found one for Adin too.

After she’d purchased the costumes, Legacy and her BFF headed back to her house.

“So, have you heard anything from Zach?” she asked Calli. She figured Calli would have said something if she had, but it was her responsibility as a best friend to ask.

“Er, yeah.”

“What?” Okay, she hadn’t been expecting that.

“He, ummm, called to apologize for his behavior at the football game and for not escorting me to the dance.” Calli shrugged while she watched the road.

“When did he call?”

“On Sunday.”

“Why are you just now telling me this?”

“Because it doesn’t matter,” Calli said as she glanced at her.

“What else did he say?”

“That he missed me and wanted to see me.”

“What did you tell him?” Legacy wasn’t sure how she felt about this revelation.

“I, er, told him I needed to think about it.”

“Have you thought about it?”

“Yes. I’ve thought a lot about it. I miss him, but I don’t want to get caught up in seeing him again. I think I still need a little time before I’m ready for that.”

“Calli, if you think you need time, then you should tell him that.”

“I probably will.” She shrugged. “How are things with you and Adin?”

“Really good. I told you about our fight and the things we talked about the next day. It has really helped.”

“I’m not talking about the serious talk stuff.” Calli chuckled. “Have you two…you know…” She trailed off suggestively.

“Umm…no.”

“Have you gotten close?”

She felt herself blushing. Though she usually talked to Calli about everything, she hadn’t really talked to her about any of the specifics of her intimate relationship with Adin. But she didn’t see a reason not to indulge her BFF a little. “Yeah,” she breathed, “the other night, but then Lissa came home.”

“Wow.”

She shrugged, but smiled.

“So how did it, er, happen?”

Legacy proceeded to tell Calli about the zipper incident, and she understood her initial embarrassment. As the story progressed, Calli’s eyes grew.

“Oh, Legacy. You weren’t kidding when you said you two have come close to doing it.”

“Yeah.” She shrugged again. “I think it’ll happen soon, but I need to figure out a way to keep my cool. I mean, I don’t feel nervous, but it seems like every time things get…
you know
…there’s a heat wave.”

“I haven’t felt any heat waves this fall. Maybe it’s just right around you.”

She had a point. She could always try to figure out how far the heat wave extended, but in that particular moment, she doubted she’d care enough to want to put on the brakes to find out.

“You could ask River what he thinks about it.”

“Are you insane? No way. Besides, now that I know more about my change than he’s supposed to know, I’m worried he’ll figure it out. His mom already wants him to figure out how I was able to shock him when he fought with Adin. If he figures out
how
, he’ll figure out
why
.”

“I guess that’s true.”

She and Calli hung out the rest of the afternoon, and she continued to vent about everything. It felt as if they hadn’t had any alone time in ages, so it was fun being by themselves.

The next day at school, however, River was right there with them as they talked freely, so of course he heard Legacy and Calli talking about the Halloween party.

“How are you doing your hair tonight?” Calli asked her at lunch.

“Umm, I’m thinking about leaving it down and naturally curly. I think it’d look cute with the leafy vine that I’m going to wrap around my head,” she said, glancing at Calli, but seeing River’s eyes angled in her direction.

“Oh, Legacy, that’d be too cute!”

“What’s going on tonight?” River asked nonchalantly.

“Adin is taking me to a Halloween party. I’m going as a Grecian goddess.”

River sighed through his crooked smile, and she could sense he was envisioning her in her costume. “You’ll look beautiful,” he whispered.

She shrugged. “It’s just a costume. I had a hard time coming up with something. It was Calli’s idea.”

“Are you going as any particular goddess?” River asked, leaning closer to her.

“Myself.” She smiled.

He grinned and nodded.

By the end of the day, she was eager to get home and get ready. She had only seen Adin briefly throughout the week, so she was really looking forward to spending the evening with him.

She put on her white, flowing gown, gold sandals and accessories, and fixed her hair just like she’d told Calli she was going to. She also wore earth tone makeup to play up the Mother Nature aspect of her costume.

When Adin knocked on her door, she slowly opened it. As soon as he saw her, he laughed, stepping up to her. “You look perfect!” he threw his arms around her and held her tightly.

“So do you,” she said, laughing.

And he did look perfect. His costume matched hers, and he’d left his hair natural too.

“Come here!” Lissa yelled from the living room.

“She wants to take our picture. She’s already gotten several of me by myself.”

Legacy and Adin walked into the living room and posed for photos. When they were done, they headed to the party.

And a college party, it was. It was so crowded and loud that it was hard to hear any of the conversations. But she met all his fraternity brothers at Zeta Omega and several of the women from their sister organization Zeta Nu.

After they mingled for a few hours, she and Adin went outside to get some fresh air. There was a small campfire in the backyard, so they found a boulder to sit on that was by the woods but close to the fire. Adin sat behind her and rubbed her shoulders while they talked.

“How did your midterms go?” she asked as she leaned back against him.

“I passed. How was your school week?”

“Uneventful.”

He chuckled. But as he continued to gently massage her shoulders, his breathing changed. He slowly brought his lips to her ear. “You look beautiful, my Grecian princess.”

She caressed Adin’s knees as she turned her head to smile at him. When she did, he slowly traced his lips across her cheek until his lips touched hers. He kissed her softly.

While they kissed, she suddenly thought about the conversation she had with River about her energy. She pulled away from Adin and smiled. “Um, can I ask you something?” Great, she felt herself blushing.

He chuckled and stroked her cheek. “Anything.”

“I know that I shocked you when you were fighting with River, but do you feel any other electrical energy coming from me at other times?”

Adin leaned his head down to her and rubbed his lips against hers. “I’ve always felt sparks,” he whispered as he kissed her.

That answer was good enough for her! She twisted toward him and wrapped her arms around him as they kissed. She’d never tire of the way he felt in her arms or tasted on her lips. He was her addiction. They hadn’t been kissing too long before she heard voices by the campfire, so she pulled away from Adin.

“Someone’s coming,” she whispered as she opened her eyes. When she did, Adin looked shocked. “What is it?” she asked, concerned.

Adin didn’t answer, but his shocked expression morphed into irritation. Legacy frowned at him. What was wrong with him?

She turned around and saw a small group of people walking beside the fire. As she scanned the group, she gasped, a pain shooting in her chest as she locked her eyes on the source of Adin’s sudden demeanor change.

Venus.

Adin squeezed Legacy tightly to him.

“She’s here,” she breathed. She only looked for a fraction of a second, but that was long enough for her. Legacy hadn’t seen her in months. Even her newfound understanding with Adin hadn’t prepared her for this possibility.

“I’ll be right back,” Adin muttered as he started to get up.

“No!” she whispered, turning toward him and pulling him back down. “Let’s just pretend like she’s not here.”

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered back. “I—”

“Shhh…” She put her fingers up to his mouth, shaking her head.

She wasn’t sure how she looked because she was trying to maintain her composure, but she wasn’t sure if she was fooling him.

Adin leaned his forehead against hers and sighed against her fingers. She slid them down his lips, staring into his eyes, and when her fingernails grazed his bottom lip, he pressed his lips against hers. He kissed her softly, but she sensed an edginess to him.

This was the first time that Venus had been around them like this. She wasn’t sure if his conduct was due to how she was reacting to Venus or if he was contemplating Venus’s reaction to seeing him with Legacy. She didn’t like that possibility, but bonded as they there, she knew it was possible.

As she thought about the possibility of Adin being concerned for Venus, she felt her mood shift. Only seconds had passed since Adin started kissing her, so she figured it wouldn’t hurt if she enjoyed it a little more than she probably should.

Legacy slid her hands up Adin’s arms and into his hair and moaned as he kissed her.

If he was thinking about Venus before, he wasn’t now. Adin’s hand knotted into her hair as his other hand pressed her up against him. They kissed passionately, holding onto each other as if they’d never let go. Well, until someone interrupted them.

“Adin, maybe you should take her upstairs,” a man said.

Adin broke away from their kiss and flashed narrowed eyes in the man’s direction. “Don’t be crude, Jonah.”

Legacy turned around and looked at this Jonah guy. When she did, his eyes popped.

“Wow, you never said your girlfriend was hot!”

Yeah, she was vain…she liked hearing she was hot when she was in the presence of the skank. Legacy stood up, and Adin stood up behind her. She stuck out her hand and gave Jonah a half-smile. “Hi, I’m Legacy. It’s really nice to meet you.”

Jonah shook her hand and nodded.

“It’s nice to see you again, Legacy,” a female voice said, and Legacy didn’t even want to look at her. She knew it was the diseased skank in question.

She slowly glanced at Venus and smiled. When she did, she noticed V.D.’s costume. That evil wench came as a goddess, too! No doubt she’s Aphrodite to Adin’s Adonis.

Legacy felt her forced smile slipping, and as it disappeared from her face, she got a chill. It came out of nowhere like it had at that first football game when she was sitting between Adin and River. She had been uncomfortable then, and she assumed it was because of the tension in the air. River even said it was her energy that caused it. After this moment, she figured he was on to something because she definitely felt the tense atmosphere. She shivered as she looked away from V.D.

“Are you cold, sweetheart?” Adin asked, wrapping his arms around her.

Legacy smiled at him. “I’m not anymore.”

He smiled back and kissed her forehead as he walked them closer to the fire.

Their crowd of fans followed.

“I’m Lizzy,” the other girl said, waving at her from beside Jonah.

“Hi, Lizzy.” Legacy smiled at her.

She could feel every set of eyes on her—but she was only keeping track of two sets in particular. Adin was watching her like a hawk, and Venus was glaring at her. She tried to engage in conversations with Jonah and Lizzy. They kept asking her all kinds of questions, and she laughed and smiled and was the charming guest. Adin jumped in the conversation when he could, but Venus didn’t speak. She just stared, and after ten minutes of having her cold, glaring eyes on Legacy without speaking, she’d had enough.

“Can I help you?” Legacy snapped, cutting her eyes in Venus’s direction.

Adin’s arms tightened around her waist.

“Oh, there’s plenty you can do to help me,” Venus said, matching Legacy’s tone and stepping toward her.

Oh hell no, bitch.

Legacy tried to take a step in her direction, but Adin had his arms locked around her. His head was still angled toward her, his eyes still watching her protectively.

“
Really
. Like what?” Legacy said mockingly.

“Go to Hell. It’s where you belong, and it’s where you’ll end up…
again
.”

“That’s enough!” Adin yelled at Venus, glancing briefly at her and then watching over Legacy again.

Legacy laughed sarcastically at the disease. “You wish. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Hmm…too bad you can’t see things from my perspective,” Venus said, taking another step toward her. Legacy tried taking a step again, but Adin wasn’t letting go of her.

“Yeah, well, unfortunately, I can’t get my head that far up my own ass, so I’ll just have to take your word for it.”

Jonah and Lizzy both laughed at Legacy’s comeback, and Venus threw them both evil looks.

Venus stepped closer to her, out of Jonah’s and Lizzy’s earshot. “I’m going to enjoy watching you suffer. When you’re gone, who do you think he’ll turn to?” she asked with an evil smile on her face.

“Aw, how sad. You really think he’s going to turn to you?” Legacy whispered and laughed. “If I am going somewhere, Adin’s coming with me. We’re together, and there’s nothing you can do about that. Adin will
never
turn to you.” She leaned her head closer to Venus since that was the only part of her body not locked tightly in Adin’s embrace. “And it’s pretty pathetic to act like you have a chance.”

“Ugh!” Venus yelled, and stepped up against her.

Adin let go of Legacy, stepped in between them, and put his hand on Venus’s shoulder. “I asked you not to come tonight, and you promised me you wouldn’t,” he said to her.

Legacy did
not
like seeing Adin touch Venus, but she was relieved that he tried to stop her from attacking—not because Legacy didn’t want to kill her right here and now, but because she couldn’t really destroy her with these witnesses.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered sincerely to him. “I shouldn’t have come. I just wanted to see you.”