ICE (The Benders Series) (11 page)

He’s probably just picking up Bryce, she figured as she began to feel a tension setting in her limbs… but Bryce hadn’t been at school that day, she quickly remembered.

As she stood there to ponder other possible reasons, the driver’s side door of the truck suddenly shot open, and her ex-boyfriend came marching out.

They made eye contact for a brief moment before Kenna turned herself around and began in the opposite direction twice as fast as she’d come. She could hear him coming behind her and quickened her pace even further so that her walk almost took on a flight phase.

“Kenna,” she heard him call.

He was close now, but Kenna knew that if she made it back into the school building that she’d be free from him. The only problem was that more and more people were bustling around her, making her new escape a difficult one to achieve. She didn’t really care if people were gawking at the pursuit, she only wanted to get into the damn building and away from the stupid boy.

And just when she thought she was in the clear, a strong hand gripped the sleeve of her jacket and hurled her around so that she was facing him.

“Leave me alone,” she fired quickly as she attempted to turn away once more, but Jon had a tight hold on her arm now and made it clear that he had no intention of letting her go.

All the students around her were too busy scurrying off to their vehicles to notice the situation. And the few that did were worried about observing and gossiping than helping her get away from the Colewell.

“We need to talk,” he demanded, his hold getting tighter as she began to struggle a little.

“Jon, you will let go of my arm, right now,” she warned under her breath, doing her best not to make more of a scene than she already had. “That hurts,” Kenna notified as she went still but for her other arm reaching to remove his grip from her aching limb.

Jon looked down at his hand as if he hadn’t realized how forcefully he was holding her. Upon the realization, he let her go and let out a short, “Sorry.”

Before he could add anything further, Kenna turned herself again. This time she was met by a softer touch to the shoulder, but nonetheless, a touch that would turn her around to face the boy.

“We need to talk, please?” he asked sternly and apologetically at the same time. His jaw was tight as he spoke, and Kenna could see an urgency and determination in eyes that she hadn’t ever seen before.

When she looked at him, Kenna wanted to forgive him, to talk with him, to understand him. Unfortunately, she’d promised herself that she didn’t need him and was now reminding herself of the fact. “No,” she answered. “I needed to talk to you on Saturday. But I don’t need to talk to you now. Why don’t you try Chelsea? Or have you already been all over that?”

His eyebrows fell into anger at her response. “I’ve never spoken to her, and you know that. Please, can we talk? Somewhere else?” he asked again, his voice maintaining its firmness.

“No,” Kenna said again. “I don’t want to talk to you, Jon.”

Kenna could feel her eyes beginning to glisten with tears. She swallowed hard at her words, doing whatever she could to hide her longing for him and the hurt he’d caused her.

“Please?!” he begged. “Just give me five minutes!”

“I don’t have to give you anything. You couldn’t give me a simple explanation! I owe you nothing,” she said, her hurt morphing into anger. After all, it was easier to be mad than it was to be sad.

“Give me a chance, Kenna!” Both Jon and the girl glanced around them to see that several people had quieted to listen in on the conversation. Kenna didn’t seem to care about the attention, but Jon was not pleased with the amount of people staring in their direction. “Five minutes,” he whispered, still begging for her to agree.

Kenna shook her head. “Do you have any idea how badly I’m hurting right now? If you have any respect for me, you’ll just let me work it out on my own. I don’t need to hear about the other girl or about how your family hates me or about all the other reasons that we can’t be together. I just want to be alone,” she choked, unable to contain the pain and tightness in her chest.

She could see his eyes scanning her own as a few tears dripped down her cheeks. She wiped them away before he could act on the show of vulnerability. “Fine,” he said under his breath as if the word was breaking his heart.

“Fine?” Kenna shot back, her anger resurfacing. “That’s all that you have to say is fine?”

Before she could finish on her rant, Jon grabbed her hand and began to drag her towards where his truck was parked.

“We are going to talk,” he stated. There was no question in his voice. He was going to talk to the girl whether she would agree to it or not.

“No, we aren’t,” Kenna disagreed though she found herself walking willingly next to him as they got closer to the vehicle.

“Get in,” he ordered.

Kenna glared at him, but her scowl had no effect. He stood holding her hand until she took a seat on the passenger side. He then sprinted to his side and locked the doors as if he needed to hold her hostage.

“Knock it off, Jon. Unlock the doors!” she yelled as he shifted into reverse and began a rather erratic drive away from the school…and witnesses. “Jon, you are scaring me! Stop it!” she hollered again.

He looked away from the road and towards Kenna, who had positioned herself as far away from him as she possibly could. Seeing the slight panic come across her face, he unlocked the doors and let out another short apology.

“You have five minutes. I’m timing you. Go,” she instructed coldly, her arms folded across her chest with anger and hostility.

“Not here,” he rebutted.

“Four minutes,” she threatened, her eyes locked on the watch on her phone.

“Please put that away,” he begged as he rolled a few stop signs. And in a matter of three short minutes, he pulled up to the park and shifted gears with haste.

“One minute,” Kenna noted. “You have one minute left,” she repeated, her arms still folded in anger. If there was one thing that her relationship with Jon had taught her, it was how to protect herself. And she had no intention of letting her guard down ever again. However, her threats and her anger had yet to make any noticeable impact on the Colewell. But she knew what might. “You know, Jason’s not going to be happy about me talking with you for even five minutes.”

The trick worked immediately. He opened the driver’s side and slammed it behind him, rattling the entire vehicle in the process. The fuming boy then proceeded to the passenger’s side where he practically threw the door off its hinges upon opening it. “Jason?!” he hollered. “Did you really move on that quickly? Did our relationship mean nothing to you?!” Kenna pivoted herself away from him, her arms remaining folded.  “Forget it! If you would rather be with that pompous ass then go ahead!” he hollered as he slammed her door. Jon stormed back to the driver’s side of the truck, practically growling in animalistic rage as he went.

Once inside, Kenna noticed that his eyes were beginning to change color, and that somehow his pale skin was growing more ghostly than she thought possible. The thoughts of vampires and werewolves quickly resurfaced as she felt an urgent fear take hold of her. As a result, the girl rethought her previous statement. “I lied,” she muttered, fighting every word that she spoke. “Jason asked me on a date today, and I turned him down.”

She had turned away from him again, but could hear his rapid, snarling breaths begin to slow. “Why would you lie?” he asked. Kenna didn’t need to see him to know that his teeth were clenched in an attempt to gain control of his thoughts.

Kenna only shrugged her shoulders although she knew exactly why she’d turned down the rebound. She would never admit it, but buried beneath her feeling of anger were still feelings of affection and hope and attraction. Her heart still yearned for Jon, even if her mind didn’t.

“Do you still want to be with me?” he asked, wasting no more time with her rather effective attempt at making him jealous.

She paused. “I don’t know,” she replied, her fury still evident in the way she spoke.

He seemed to note her pause, probably taking it as a sign that she was lying and did indeed want to be with him. She could tell that he didn’t believe her reply as he became suddenly very calm and confident. “Let’s talk,” he said again as he left the vehicle one more time, this time much more slowly and peacefully that the first.

Kenna reluctantly stepped out and began to stride alongside the boy. She couldn’t believe how insensitive he was being, how unapologetic and almost confrontational. When she half-agreed to communicate with him, she certainly expected some kind of remorse. She didn’t need him to get on his knees and beg for her forgiveness, but it would have been a nice touch.

Yet, here she was with none of the above.

The thought just angered her as they moved rather quickly about the hiking trails that they’d done so many times before.

“Okay, I changed my mind. I’m so done with this. You don’t even care and I’m done trying to make you,” she said sharply.

“Why are you trying to frustrate me?” Jon shot crossly. “You don’t know anything.”

The Colewell came to a swift stop and gave her a slight push to indicate that she should sit. It didn’t take long for Kenna to recognize the old, decaying log that she was sitting on as it was the same one she’d sat on when Jon revealed the truths behind his conception.

“I don’t want to talk,” she mumbled, her anger softening into sadness. The log caused a flood of memories to invade her mind, good memories, happy, real memories.

“Yes, I realize that,” he sneered. He was pacing back and forth in front of her, biting his nails and occasionally kicking the snow as he went.

Kenna was silent for a moment as she observed his obvious anxiety. “Just out with it then,” she ordered without a hint of sympathy. “The sooner you talk, the sooner I can go home and forget that you exist.”

He stopped pacing and looked at her as if trying to read her soul. She turned away at his gaze without another word. “We both know that’s not what you want,” he said matter-of-factly.

“You don’t know what I want,” she rebutted, her eyes finding enough rage to glare directly into Jon’s.

“Yes, actually, I think I do,” the arrogant boy replied, giving her an equally hard stare.

Kenna shook her head as they glared at each other for a moment. But seeing that he had no intention of apologizing or taking back his words, Kenna shot, “Screw you, I’m leaving.” She got up quickly and with every intention of following through with her declaration.

“No!” he hollered. “Wait. Wait. Please, I’m sorry!”

The word made her stop in her tracks. Jon wasn’t one to apologize so he was indeed desperate to talk to her, though he had still released no clues as to why he needed to converse with his ex.

She turned around and walked slowly up to him. “What do you want to say? No more games. Just out with it,” she ordered again.

He took a deep breath as he stared into her eyes as if searching for a clue of his own.

“How much do you know?” he asked, an investigative look still on his face.

Kenna returned the expression with a similar one of her own. “What do you mean? I don’t know what you want to talk about.”

Jon proceeded to purse his lips and search her eyes once more.

“You aren’t a spy?” he inquired.

Kenna almost laughed at the question. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Jon shook his head and stepped away from her. “How can you not know? You have to know. You have to be an infiltrator. It’s the only thing that makes sense,” he said, rambling off the thoughts as if he expected her to retort with a confession.

But Kenna remained confused and even angry. “Sense? You don’t make any sense, Jon. Are you dumb? Spy? Infiltrator? Are you in the FBI or something?” she interrogated. The girl felt a jerk of fear take hold as the words passed her lips. She suddenly realized that something was wrong and that Jon was very serious in whatever was causing him so much anxiety.

He was pacing again. “No. How can you really not know?”

“Know what?!” she shouted, her irritation and curiosity trumping her fear.

He stopped to search her again, but again found no answers.

“If I tell you, Kenna, I don’t know what will happen,” he choked, his nervousness beginning to strangle his once angry and confident voice.

Kenna sighed and felt a wave of unwanted sympathy spread over her. She collapsed to a sit on the log and patted on it to signal that he should sit next to her.

He was reluctant at first but soon found himself next to her, fighting the urge to put his arm around her and hold her.

“I never told anyone,” she said quietly. “What you told me when we sat here. Even after we broke up, I was never going to tell anyone.”

He nodded and put his head in his hands. “Kenna, I want to be with you. But… there is so much that I don’t know and that maybe you don’t know,” he said solemnly. “I really, really want to be with you. I think I love you, but I don’t know what you’ve been hiding.”

Kenna felt her stomach turn into a tight knot as he said it.

He thinks he loves me
, she repeated to herself.