Hidden (Hidden Series Book One) (18 page)

He looked down at me and smiled. I couldn’t
return it. My bottom lip was trapped in my teeth. His smile faded,
and he leaned down to kiss me, like he knew what I wanted without
me saying it.

It was sweet and soft again, and I
immediately wanted another. He smiled when he pulled away, and I
tried to watch the testosterone-soaked movie and not think about
being in his arms, or how gorgeous he was, or how his lips felt
exactly like they had in my dream.

“Chris, do you believe in God?” he asked, as
a guy with guns in both of his hands shot up a house.

I turned away from the movie to answer his
random question. “Uh … yeah. Why?” He hunched his shoulders. It was
easy to forget that everyone didn’t believe in God, living at St.
Catalina. “Do you?”

“I didn’t. Well, I guess I didn’t give it
much thought before.” He touched my nose and smiled. “I can’t stop
thinking about it now. All of this seems too unbelievable to be
happening by chance. Me getting captured by a hunter who would snag
a witch with a guardian angel a day later. That same guardian angel
took a beautiful girl from school and put us under the same roof.
I’m becoming obsessed with the idea of there being someone up there
controlling all of this. I thought it was luck the first night, but
after kissing you …”

He paused and moved his eyes to open space.
I filled in the rest of his sentence in my head. After kissing me …
he felt there had to be a God. That this was more than luck. I
agreed. This had divine written all over it. So wonderful you had
to believe in something bigger, in someone who knew the end before
it came. Everything I’d gone through in my life was worth it if it
led me here, to a date with Nathan Reece. Being hidden, teased, the
disaster during the fire alarm, all of it. I turned back to the
movie so he wouldn’t see my eyes water. I held the tears in,
refusing to cry on my first date.

After the guy ransacked the house and found
the safe he’d wanted, he went on another killing spree – its cause
I wasn’t sure of. He came to his next victim, a guard dog at a drug
lord’s house. Of course, being the manliest man of all time, he
punched out the dog. The poor thing collapsed next to his doggy
bowl. It looked nothing like Nate in that form, but I still had to
laugh.

“You better not be laughing at what I think
you’re laughing at.” I covered my face, laughing even harder. “I
turn into a dog. So what? I don’t eat dog food. I don’t take potty
breaks outside. What else could you poke fun at?”

“Nothing, Nate. It was … sorry.”

He peeled my hands away from my face, his
serious now.

“If it makes this less weird, I’m not …
attracted to you as a dog.” I rolled my eyes. He didn’t need to
make this less weird. “When we played, I remember not even thinking
of you as pretty. I just wanted you to have fun and throw the
paper. That’s all. I swear.”

I didn’t think he noticed his very human
hands drawing circles on my arm. Instead of reassuring him about
the shifter thing, I closed my eyes and let the feel of his fingers
on my skin sweep me up.

“Oh … did Sophia steal your money to buy
this house?”

“Inherited,” I said, struggling to hide the
tremor in my voice. Embarrassed, I peaked at him with one eye. He
smiled and held two fingers against my neck, checking my pulse.

“You okay? Your heart is flipping out worse
than it did upstairs.” I groaned. I’d forgotten how great his ears
were and that he would hear me reacting to him. “Don’t worry about
it. You make me way more nervous than I could ever make you.”

“Not possible.”

He laughed hard, throwing his head back.
“Are you kidding? I freak out and act like a dork every time you
come near me, and I didn’t sleep at all last night after I struck
out with that kiss.”

I pulled myself up and closer by his neck.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t realize what you were doing. I feel
awful.”

He pressed his forehead against mine and
brought his hands to my face. “I think I’ve recovered nicely.”
Frozen with our lips moments apart, he smiled at me. I’d seen that
smile for days, I’d want to see it forever, but his lips had a far
more interesting purpose now.

I learned the difference between kissing and
making out then. I’d thought the terms were synonymous. Kissing was
what we’d done in his room. Lips moving in sweet harmony. Making
out was
not
sweet, even when our lips moved slowly.

There was the occasional soft bite. He did
it first, and I imitated it later. And hands were more stationary
during a kiss. Our hands were everywhere. This sort of chemistry
was as fast and easy as our friendship.

I
liked
kissing. I
loved
making out.

“Damn you, Sparky!” Nate and I jerked away
from each other. We’d gotten carried away. The movie was off,
replaced by a show with laughter in the background. We’d been
publically breaking Sophia’s rule about hanky panky long enough for
my lips to be numb. “You stole my girl!”

Paul laughed as I crawled out of Nathan’s
lap. Emma and Remi were standing there, gawking, too. Embarrassed
was not the word. Nathan smoothed my hair down, probably to no
avail, and I flattened the top of his that I’d messed up.

“Is this what you two do when we’re gone?”
Emma asked, smiling.

I hid my face in my hands. “Does this mean
you can’t be my second wife?” Paul asked.

“That’s exactly what this means,” Nathan
said. His warm hand grazed my stomach as he tugged at the ends of
my shirt that had been hiked up. After, he grabbed my hand and
laced his fingers through mine.

“Awww,” Emma crooned.

“Yuck. So this is what you like? That’s
really gross. I think I might vomit,” Remi said. My muscles
clenched, like she’d poked Leah with a stick and yelled at her to
wake up.

I may as well have been sitting in a desk at
St. Catalina, fighting the innate murderer inside of me and calling
it the devil. I could almost feel the knee socks cutting into my
calves and the itchy fabric of my skirt against my leg. My eyes
could only see fire, then and now. My thoughts couldn’t get passed
what it could do, how fast it could do it. And my chest, tight and
heavy, wanted me to scream and make someone feel more pain than me.
Like it was an order, like I had no choice. But my guilt begged me
to focus on something in my classroom that wasn’t death, on
something in this living room that wasn’t Remi.

Nate rubbed a thumb across the back of my
hand, across my scaly snake skin, bringing life to it, bringing
life to Christine. I willed myself to feel her, that little flower
bud fighting to bloom on a thin and fragile stem. She couldn’t do
this alone, be something she was never meant to be. She needed me
to try. Nate brought my hand to his lips and kissed the center of
my palm. I clung to that feeling, of blooming, of life. For him.
For me. For Remi.

“I know right. Chris is slumming it. I was
surprised she liked me too,” Nate said, owning the rough end of her
comment because he was perfect. Remi grunted and left the living
room. It was quiet until she slammed the door I allowed her to
have.

“Is she ever
not
like that?” Paul
asked. Emma shook her head. “Why are you friends with her?”

“Sophia and my parents think I’m so weak
minded that I need someone like Remi around.” She rolled her eyes.
“That’s not it at all. I am fully aware that she is out of her
mind. But traveling the world and partying with her is better than
being in Paris with my parents. All day it’s ‘Edith used to party
too much at eighteen too. Edith wore too much make up too. Edith
rolled her eyes and missed curfew too, and she
died
from
it’. They are waiting for me to turn into my sister. That’s enough
to make someone like Remi seem pleasant.”

“She’s annoying, but I understand that,”
Nate said. “I can’t imagine living at home anymore.”

“Amen, brother,” Paul said. “My parents are
younger, meaner versions of Nana. They act all sweet like you’re
their baby boy. Then the moment you start a fire in the house when
you’re drunk, they turn on you.”

We all laughed at him. He had the least
tragic life here, and he acted like it. Carefree and a little
spoiled.

“Shut up, Paul,” Emma said. “Lovebirds, I
have you know, you guys owe me big time for this hook up. Don’t
worry, I’ll remember that we’re friends when I make my
request.”

“Excuse me?” Nate said.

“I gave you her number, Nathan. This is my
doing. I’m the matchmaker.” I smiled at her. We were officially
friends, it seemed, bringing my lifelong total to two. Possibly
three if I could count Paul. A door slammed, and Remi stormed down
the stairs. “Where are you going?” Emma asked.

“Out … with people who actually like me.”
She glared around the room, at me the longest, begging me to fix
her face. “You four have a nice time together, calling
me
crazy. Pretending,” she said, pointing at Emma. “Like you’re not
exactly like your sister.” She jerked her finger over to Paul.
“Like you’re not the misfit of your do-gooder family.” She pointed
at Nate and smiled. “Like you don’t belonged tied up outside.” She
paused and nodded to me. “And you-”

“And
her
, nothing,” Nate interrupted,
pulling me closer.

Remi laughed and nodded, like her point had
been made anyway. “Goodnight, kids,” she said and walked calmly to
the door like she hadn’t verbally stabbed them and almost me.

We just sat there for a minute until Paul
burst out laughing. “She clearly belongs in an institution,” he
said.

“Totally, and I’ve been patient,” Nate said.
“But the next time she says something to or about Chris, I’m going
to shift, jump on her bed, and forget that I’m housebroken.”

They laughed, but nothing was funny to me. I
didn’t want a rival because every cell in my body was sure she
wouldn’t survive a fight with me – the fight she’d threatened me
with if I didn’t stay away from Nathan. And she’d just walked in on
me doing exactly the opposite of that.

Maybe she really liked him. Maybe I should
apologize.

Emma perched on the floor by Nate and I,
smiling like we were the cutest things in the world. “So what are
you guys … just hanging out? Or an official couple?”

“She’s my girlfriend. Officially. I even
asked her if she was sure,” Nathan said. I gasped, too fast to
stifle, and they all turned to me. “Did I speak too soon?”

“No. No. It’s fine. I just…” I shook my
head. I wanted to say thank you or scream or something that would
express how amazed I was. I just couldn’t form the words.

He leaned in, shielding our faces with a
pillow. “I’m sorry, Chris. I just thought-”

“No,” I whispered. “I
want
to be your
girlfriend, of course. I was just surprised. Pleasantly.” My
boyfriend kissed me behind the pillow, soft ones that felt like his
lips were melting against mine.

“I can hear you kissing my ex, dude. Not
cool,” Paul said. Nate pulled away and tossed the pillow at his
head.

I guessed I really had to apologize to Remi
now. I hadn’t just taken Nate off the market for the night. He was
mine
now. Officially not hers.

“I love it,” Emma said. “A witch and a
shifter. Your kids will be crazy strong. Hunters are going to hate
them!”

The three of them laughed, but I didn’t. I
couldn’t breathe all of a sudden. Kids? My kids will be … human.
Well, since I couldn’t think of a single reason why anyone would
ever break up with Nathan and not marry him if he asked, they’d
also be half shifters.

I couldn’t just fight against Leah and hope
my other problems would go away because one thing would never
change – I was human. And my boyfriend of three seconds knew
nothing about me, thought copies were horrible and disgusting, and
had just made out with one.

“You two need to be more careful. Nana would
be pissed about this if she found out,” Paul said. “She’s so weird
lately, especially about Christine.”

They gave their words that they’d keep Nate
and I a secret from the usually sweet Sophia. I wasn’t worried
about getting kicked out of course, but I didn’t want to upset her.
She’d risked so much already, and a guy she’d brought to live here
made a whole lot of contact with a human tonight.

According to Nate, I wouldn’t be considered
human to everyone. Did that mean I didn’t need to worry about
violating the treaty?

Emma and Paul left smiling and waving, and
he pulled me back to his lap. “Where were we?” he asked. I pulled
myself closer to remind him, and for the next hour, I forgot to
care if the treaty applied to me or not.

We managed to watch another episode of the
crime show he liked during the breaks we took from each other.
After we picked up the popcorn we’d knocked over at some point, we
turned off the lights in the living room. We held hands as we
climbed the stairs to the second floor. We couldn’t find the end to
our goodnight kiss. No part of it felt final, every pull of our
lips felt like another should follow. I lost track of time as I
strained myself closer, running my fingertips along his muscular
shoulder line.

“This could go on all night,” he said. He
kissed my cheek and pulled away. “Goodnight, babe.”

“Babe?” I asked, still holding on. Still
breathless.

“Yes, babe. And baby. And honey. And any
other name I can come up with for my beautiful girlfriend.” He
kissed me once more, with his hands at his sides. He was gone when
I opened my eyes. If my lips weren’t tingling, I’d swear I imagined
the whole night.

I missed him before I made it to my room.
Luckily, my phone was ringing.

“Hey, babe,” he said. I smiled and crawled
under the covers.

We talked all night, leaving me no time to
plan what I’d tell him about my powers. He was really goofy and
thought buggers and bodily functions were hilarious. I’d laugh with
him, then we’d talk about something serious. Our pasts were both
empty and dark. I had the dead parents who I knew nothing about and
the other tragic part of my life – being Leah. He had John and
Theresa who never paid him any attention. I was sure, maybe
psychically sure, that they weren’t his parents and something
strange and heartbreaking went on there. But then we’d talk about
earwax, and everything would be okay again.