I Wish... (15 page)

I hugged him. What a terrible position.

"Interesting development we have here." I turned around to see Mattie Carter and some girls I didn't know eyeing the two of us speculatively.

"Oh, I-- uh-- I mean--" I sputtered. My brain was working, but deciphering my thoughts felt like trying to read text through a layer of gauze.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Matt. Thistle is here as James' date. If you'd ever let me take you out sometime I'd woo you so hard that you'd never question my love for another woman." I wanted to hug him again. The girls were laughing coyly and all the attention was off of me for the moment. I hoped to keep it that way.

I was sidling past the group which had absorbed Zane into their midst when I overheard one of them, a short, dumpy girl say, "Who invited a Second Daughter? I didn't know this was a mixer."

I looked at where they were all looking and saw Darcy standing in a room outside of the kitchen. She was standing with a tall, dark haired guy who looked like he might be a little older than her. He had his arm draped absently over her shoulders. She happened to glance our direction and she spotted me. She narrowed her eyes in a hateful glare before looking back at the man she was with.

"Did you see her looking over here? Doesn't she know her rank? I think we should tell her to leave." A willowy, raven haired girl said.

Mattie took a peek and said, "No, she's here with Ryan Middleton. I'm not sure what he's doing with her, but it's his house so she stays."

The short girl who spoke first replied, "I'm positive that Tatiana doesn't know about this. I doubt she'd let one of her sons slum it like this if she knew. I think I'll have a talk with my Mother and let her know what I saw tonight."

The second girl laughed shrilly. "I don't think we'll be seeing her at the next party."

The walls started to close in on me. I needed air.
No wonder Darcy hates me. This is what I represent to her.
I staggered through the still open French doors and past the couple that Zane pointed out to me earlier.
Guess nobody's caught them yet.
I made it to a row of bushes before I vomited. An unknown amount of time that felt like eternity passed before my convulsions quieted to dry heaves. Eventually, those tapered off too.

I reached in my purse and had my hand on my cell phone when an arm slipped around my shoulder. The music outside was as loud as the music inside and it smothered the sound of my startled shriek. I assumed that the neighbors must not frown upon a houseful of First Daughters and Coven sons disturbing the peace.
They probably aren't Coven Families anyway.

I spun out of the grip of the arm that held me so quickly that I almost tipped over on the hateful heels. If hands hadn't grabbed me, I would have surely fallen. I saw that it was James. I was only slightly less ready to pummel him than when I thought he was a stranger.

"Great party, bro. So glad that we've spent all this quality time together tonight." I tried to walk around him, but he stepped in front of me, blocking my retreat. Clearly my sarcasm was lost on him.

"I'm sorry, Thistle. It was a douchey thing to do to you. I've been looking around for you for the last twenty minutes, but nobody knew where you were." He looked sincere, but I thought he was probably full of crap.

"I think this was a mistake. I'm sorry, but I've got to go."

His dark eyes were pleading. "Seriously, come inside for a little longer, let me make it up to you. If you still want to go after that, I'll find someone sober enough to drive you home." At my dark look he added, "I've had a lot to drink and I don't want to endanger you because of my irresponsible actions. Honestly, I'd love to drive you home myself."

I must have still been tipsy. It's the only way I can justify going back inside with him.

I perched on overstuffed arm of a couch in the living room with one foot hooked behind my ankle, a cup in my hand. The drink inside was untouched. I still wasn't as sober as I wanted to be.

James was standing beside me. Unlike me, he was drinking frequently from his cup. More frequently when a friend passed by with an offer of a fresh drink. In the twenty minutes since I joined him in the living room he'd finished three cups of beer. I was now listening to him as he told me delightful stories.

"So then I was like, 'You don't know who you are talking to, bro. My Mother is Tatiana Middleton.’ I tried to warn him, I really did. He wouldn't back down though so me and my boys had to jump him later. We put such a hurt on him that I heard that Natalie thought she couldn't heal him."

I wonder how good you are in a fight without your "boys"?
I thought, disgusted.

He must have mistaken my silence for awed admiration because he leaned close and whispered, "Don't be scared of me, Thistle. I would never hurt you."

I might have laughed except I didn't have time. His mouth was on mine and his hand was pawing at my breast, trying very hard to get underneath the thin material. I attempted to gasp, but unfortunately, he took it as an invitation to stick his tongue in my mouth.

"Oh
hell
no!" A voice bellowed and I was shoved backwards. I fell off the arm of the couch and onto the lap of a very surprised and pleased looking kid. My first fuzzy thought was that James must have pushed me, but I saw that he looked as startled as I felt.

"You slut! You were coming onto my brother just a couple of days ago and now you're hooking up with my boyfriend? Mother was right. You Madisons are a Family of whores."
Ah, Lydia. That explains a lot.

I gritted my teeth as I picked myself up off the lap of the gentleman who appeared to be far more interested in staring at my cleavage than he was in helping me up. I would give Lydia that one since she didn't really understand the context of the situation and it really did look bad, but the urge to throttle her was strong. "Lydia, you don't understand."

She tossed her perfectly coifed blond layers and made a show of looking around the room. I followed her gaze and realized that the entire room was watching our confrontation. I knew she was feeding on the attention and that things were almost certainly going to get ugly.

"What I understand is that here you are with my boyfriend, at his party, making out with him, in front of all these people."

I shot James an accusing look. "You said that you guys broke up." He shrugged, smirking. "Really? That's it? Are you serious? I mean,
really
?"

Lydia rolled her eyes. "Well, don't worry about it. We're finished now because I'm dumping his ass. He's all yours."

Zane yelled from his spot on the side lines, "Are you getting this one, Thistle? 'Guy lies about breaking up with girlfriend, girlfriend finds out, hilarity ensues'!"

Although the situation wasn't really humorous, I snickered. It must have really pissed off Lydia because she said, "This is funny to you? I hope you realize that none of this was about you. James would go out with anyone who's next in line for the Matriarch title. It's pathetic that you thought he sincerely liked you."

That comment hurt because I really did think he liked me. I asked him, "Is that true? Tell me you have more emotional depth than that."

James smiled at me, evidently finding himself to be unfailing charming. I made a mental note to tell him that it's far less cute when he's got bleary red rimmed eyes and beer breath.

"It's nothing that every other guy in this room has been thinking about. Word is that you have the most amazing power of our generation. That it surpasses anything we can imagine. Hunters verified that before you left town, but nobody's been able to figure out what it is that you can do. If the Coven believes it, it has to be true."

He grabbed my arms and started speaking inches from my face. "It's not like I don't have anything to offer you. My mother is--"

I interrupted, heavy sarcasm coloring my voice, "Tatiana Middleton. I know."

He beamed at me. "That's right! She's the youngest member of the Coven in generations. That doesn't happen if you aren't extremely powerful. With your power and my blood lines we could have a daughter who has no equal. She could rule Desire. Don't you want that?"

I wrinkled my nose in disgust. "Ewww, no. What a horrible thing to base a relationship on. What is wrong with the kids at this school? We're teenagers, for God's sake. Why is everybody always talking about getting married? If it happens that you fall in love with someone who is uber powerful and all knowing, then that's great, but you guys are just short of having arranged marriages. I feel like I've fallen into a time warp to Europe in the middle ages."

Astonishingly, James didn't look at all upset by my outburst. Instead, he actually wrapped an arm around me. "I'll bet you'd be surprised by how many of those couples fell in love after they were married."

I shoved his arm off of me. "You know, it's really too bad you burned your bridges with Lydia because the two of you really do make a lovely couple."

Ignoring the hoots and catcalls from the sidelines, I pivoted on my high heels and stalked toward the door. My mind was full of confused thoughts and weird impulses that didn't even feel like anything I'd ever want to do. I had images of scratching James' eyes out and choking Lydia. I wasn't normally a violent person at all. I vowed not to drink anymore.

"I don't know why everyone thinks you're so special." Lydia called after me. "Nobody even knows what your power is. Your Mother would never tell anyone if you had a useless power."

I was tempted for a minute to make a wish so big and obscene that nobody would ever doubt me again. The words were on my lips when I finally talked myself out of it. The violent feelings made it hard to bite my tongue. I wanted to wish Lydia a painful bloody end. My urges were starting to scare me, they felt so unlike me and yet so persuasive.

 Instead, I walked away. Or at least I
tried
to. The couch, with people still sitting on it, flew across the floor and cut off my escape route. I clenched my fists and didn't dare look at her. "You need to let me leave now."

Her laughter tinkled merrily. She was in control now and she clearly enjoyed it. "But you can't go now. The party would be so boring without you."

Uneasy murmurs from the people around us, but nobody moved to intervene. I didn't say anything. Engaging seemed like a bad idea. I didn't want to have to solve this with magic. Even if the after effects didn't level me, I didn't trust myself not to do something I'd regret later.

I walked around the front of the couch intending to circle around the side and continue on my way. It brought me near Lydia. I eyed her mistrustfully, but she didn't make a move to stop me. I thought my odds of getting out without further conflict were getting better. That’s when she hit me with her power again.

It was a solid hit to my chest. I flew backwards and landed on the floor at Lydia's feet. My dress flew up and my panties were on display for the room. I was numbly grateful that I'd opted for a pretty black pair that were neither racy nor prudish.

"Aww, you should be more careful. People get hurt sometimes when they are careless and it's so sad." Her mocking voice filled me with quivering rage.

I slowly stood up. I straightened my dress for a moment before I met her eyes. She was smiling broadly. She never even saw my fist flying as it connected squarely with her jaw.

Her eyes rolled up into her head and she fell to the floor. Hard. It was beneath me, I knew it when I said it, but still I couldn't resist telling her unconscious form, "You should be more careful when you piss off people who can kick your ass, bitch. People get hurt and it’s so sad."

I stepped over her body, ignoring the screams and the panic that seemed to have some of kids in thrall.

"Great job!"

"Oh my God, that was the coolest thing I've ever seen!"

"I've wanted to do that for the last four years!"

I shrugged off the hands and praise. My fury was choking me. I was afraid I might do more than just punch the next person. I needed to be alone. Now.

I stormed out the door without looking back.

I took long cleansing breaths as I walked. The click of my heels on the concrete was rapid, but it helped me focus on slowing the pounding of my racing heart. Within a couple of blocks I started to feel back in control of my emotions. I was still angry, but the chilly night air went a long way toward soothing me.

As I calmed, I realized I was, yet again, walking alone along the darkened and deserted streets of Desire. But, of course, Lydia was in no position to attack me at the moment. That was reassuring since I hadn't given a minute's thought before I stormed out of the house.

I winced and paused to examine my feet. I unstrapped one of my shoes and took a peek at the damage. As I was buckling the thin strap around my ankle again, I realized that I heard the faint sound of footsteps. The sound of my own steps must have drowned them out.

I spun around in a crouch, prepared to defend myself. This time someone was behind me that I could see. It was Evan.

He flinched from me. "Jeez, Thistle. It's just me."

I punched his arm, a little harder than was entirely necessary. "You scared me to death. Why are you creeping up on me?"

He rubbed his newly injured bicep. "It seemed like a good idea at the time. Next time I'll remember to yell at you from three blocks away."

"Where did you come from?" I asked.

"I was at the party."

"Oh." Heat raced up my neck and flooded my face. "Why didn't you say anything? I didn't see you there."

He looked away. "I heard you were there with James so I didn't want you to think that I was crowding you or obsessed or something."

"Seems like everyone heard that rumor." I growled, angry all over again.

"Anyway, after that scene I just wanted to make sure you made it home ok."

"Why didn't you say something to stop it before it got to this point?"

I attempted to walk off in an angry huff, but my blistered feet made all but a pathetic limping impossible.
It's amazing how much faster I could walk when I was too mad to feel them.
Evan watched me hobble for a second before he scooped me up in his arms and started to carry me.