Luminescence (Luminescence Trilogy) (8 page)

Reaching the edge of a lily pad immersed pond, I paused in my search. My lungs were ragged from chasing and losing him. Maybe it was time I hit the gym. He snuck up behind me, encircled his arms around my waist and spun me in dizzying circles. His arms felt amazing. Real or not I still appreciated being held by him. Collapsing us on the ground he took full advantage of his position and tickled me till I couldn’t breathe – choking on my laughter.

“Stop,” I sobbed between giggling gasps.

His fingers hitting just the right spots to make me curl in tickled torture. “What did you say more? It’s hard to understand you when you’re laughing so hard,” he teased in his honey smooth voice.

“For real – can’t – breathe,” I spit out between gasps. Playfully I knocked at his hands.

“Okay, okay… I give,” he conceded but grinned impishly. He rocked back into a sitting position, swiping grass off his clothes.

Smiling into his emerald eyes I felt a huge boulder lifted from my back. A few stolen moments of childish pleasure relaxed my body. I felt weightless.

“You have no idea how special you are.” His dreamy voice had softened.

Who doesn’t dream of a guy saying those exact words? The problem was… it was a dream. I fleetingly pictured Gavin’s dark looks and his smirk that was becoming all too sexy.

“I’m really not,” I protested. “I’m just some girl.”

“Not just any girl – trust me.”

Trust him. Did I, trust him? How could some mysterious guy show up in my life and I trust him uncomplicatedly, but Lukas who I’ve dreamed of forever, I couldn’t decide if I did indeed trust him.

Our feet dangled over the ponds edge. He sighed, the carelessness gone. “Who was the guy that showed up last time?” There was a disapproving edge to his tone. He tried to hide it.

Strange that for only a moment Gavin had been on my mind and now Lukas was asking about him. Anxiously I shrugged. “A new guy at school,” I confessed.

His lips thinned in a straight line. “Is he something more?” There was a detest quality about the way he asked, like a bad after taste.

“No,” I said shaking my head. “Just a friend. Why?” I wanted to know why he even cared.

“It was just… weird.”

I assumed he was referring to the nightmare ending from our previous encounter. Weird was an understatement. I was still unclear how my mind came up with these dreams. “It was weird. I don’t understand any of this.” I threw my hands in the air on a whim of aggravation.

“Were you thinking of him while you were with me?” he asked, a speck of jealousy lacing it.

I didn’t like the insinuation behind his tone, like I’d done something wrong. Chewing at the bottom of my lip, I contemplated my answer. No matter that Lukas was being unreasonable I didn’t want to hurt him. Was it possible to hurt a dream’s feelings, because that’s what I was afraid would happen – craziness.

“I don’t know…I guess I was,” I grudgingly admitted. “Does it make a difference whether I was or not?”

The expression in his face fell and it sunk my heart. “Not really. I’m just not using to sharing you. You’ve never brought anyone else into the dreams.”

True I hadn’t, but I never really realized that I could. I mean it hadn’t been intentional. I thought about Gavin and somewhere my subconscious thought it was a good idea to include him to the mix. Regardless that it ended in a very strange nightmare. My mind was playing tricks with me.

I’m sorry,” I said sincerely. “I’ll try not to do it again.” Was I really apologizing for something I couldn’t control? I wanted to appease him – to see the lightness in his emerald eyes. Not the heavy emotion that shone. It didn’t feel right upsetting Lukas, I mean what harm could it do appeasing my imagination and he seemed satisfied with my admission – for now.

Entwining my fingers with his, he played with our hands. “I believe you.”

Well that only made one of us, because I wasn’t so sure I could stop thinking about Gavin
any more
than I could stop dreaming about Lukas. Just his name was enough to have my heart race even while I was sleeping. As guilty as it made me feel to think about him when I was dreaming of Lukas, I couldn’t stop my mind from drifting. Lukas used to be all I dreamed of and I don’t know what changed, which made it worse because he was also aware of the alteration. The whole thing bothered me more than it should, considering none of it was real.

As if on cue from my straying thoughts of Gavin – a growling roar erupted.

I awoke with the sound still ringing in my ears.

Chapter 7

THE FOLLOWING WEEKS AT SCHOOL were the most exciting. Gavin made the day. His mysterious presence in my daily life was becoming something I depended on. My friends casually accepted the newcomer as part of our group as easily as he fit into mine. Austin found him extremely sexy, like a magazine cover he could ogle and appreciate. Tori was more watchful. She was aware that there was something between us but couldn’t figure us out. There was no denying the attraction we sparked, yet both us tried to tramp it.

And Rianne, well she continued to eye me with disdain.

There was a connection between Gavin and I that I couldn’t ignore. However, I was no closer to figuring his angle. And meeting his sister only amplified my inkling that something was different about them and it had nothing to do with his dark and dangerous front. I couldn’t pinpoint what it was. Something inside me demanded there was more to him than he let on.

I met his sister in the parking lot Wednesday morning on my way into school. She had ridden with Gavin. I caught my first glimpse of her as I stepped out of my car. He pulled in next to me. Each morning the rumble of his engine announced his arrival, sending my innards on a roller coaster. I wouldn’t be surprised if I started getting ulcers from the amount of activity my stomach went through around him. It couldn’t possibly be healthy for me.

Stepping from the passenger side, she wasn’t at all what I expected. I pictured a hardass with purple hair, raccoon makeup and Goth wear. What I got was an eyeful of an intimidating beauty. She had shiniest midnight hair that blanketed her shoulders and framed her delicate face. Her eyes were the same piercing blue as Gavin’s but outlined with thick lush lashes. The floor length dress she wore had a hippy vibe and contoured to her perfect body in way that I envied. She was downright stunning and immediately inviting.

“You must be Brianna.” Her voice sung in the morning air like a hummingbird. “I’ve heard so much about you,” she admitted before Gavin jabbed her playfully in the side. “What?” She batted her lashes innocently. “You’re all he’s talked about since we moved here,” she softly added as we walked toward the lockers.

“Sophie,” he growled low in warning.

She was unfazed by him. “I’m Sophie.” She smiled genuine and warm.

“Wow, you are really pretty,” I lamely complimented and cringed inside. Sometimes things shot out of my mouth that I could thump myself over the head for. This was one of those times.

She tossed her head over her shoulder at Gavin. “I like her already.” He trailed behind us. Glancing back at me she enclosed me in her liveliness. Sophie was such a disparity to Gavin’s dark and brooding looks. I wouldn’t have guessed them brother and sister if it weren’t for the eyes. “I don’t know how you stand this brutes company.” Her musical tone lit with bantering affection.

“It’s a gift. I’m irresistible,” Gavin stated smirking.

We both snorted and then smiled at each other over our duel action.

“Please, don’t flatter yourself,” she countered. Their sibling repartee was amusing and reminded me how much I missed out on not having a brother or sister.

Her hand causally looped my arm with hers, spurring a zing comparable to the one I occasionally felt with Gavin. Yet not exactly, with her it didn’t have the essential tension. It lacked the zeal of intensity. Everything with Gavin was intense. Her familiar eyes quickly sought mine – judging my reaction. I knew then that the energy, or whatever it was – meant something. Recovering quickly, I didn’t want to let on that I thought something was amiss. We walked side-by-side into the school.

“I don’t know many people yet and I know you’re a senior, but… maybe we could hang out sometime? My family would love to meet you.”

“Sure, I would like that.” And I was being sincere. I initially thought her beauty would intimidate me, but just as quickly I realized there was kinship I rarely felt, something in her hummingbird voice that I had an affinity with.

Her smile twinkled in excitement. “See you later.” She gave me a quick hug. Sophie was impossible not to like. I sucked with people, but I felt like I had just made an ally and hopefully a friend.

“I’m going to kill her,” he half-heartedly threatened when Sophie was out of reach.

Walking next to me, he brushed my arm occasionally. “Why?” I wondered aloud. He smelled like heaven.

“Why – because that was embarrassing,” he confessed, grinning sheepishly.

I laughed at his uneasiness. “Hardly…she’s amazing.”

“Amazingly annoying.”

“She’s your sister. What does that make you?”

He smirked recovering his insolence. “Dashing.”

So true. I rolled my eyes as he opened the door to my first class. “See you in Chem.”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” he assured, strolling across the hall to his class.

Chemistry soon became my favorite class and it had nothing to do with atoms, molecules or particles. I always thought of myself as an English buff, how quickly that can change. Gavin somehow had found a way to finagle his way into becoming my lab partner. I haven’t the slightest idea how. Before he joined the class my partner had been Adam Joyhart. The class had been equally divided, with Gavin’s addition he should have been just added to a group. Instead Mr. Burke moved Adam to another pair and assigned Gavin as my partner. I was tempted enough to ask Gavin about it, but he just shrugged it off.

We walked into class together and took our seat at our table. He made a habit of showing up at my locker each day and walking me to class – a gentleman behind the badass.

Mr. Burke immediately started in on his lesson about Conversion of Mass. I glanced down at my notes for the last week. They were practically non-existent. I had found that with Gavin beside me, my note taking abilities suffered. He clogged my brain cells. Even with the extra studying at my house, I’d be lucky to pass this class. A hard concept for an almost straight A student.

“You want to hang out tonight?” he whispered, leaning in close to my ear. His breath tickled the back of my neck, causing the little hairs to spike. If I turned my head a fraction in his direction, it would be incredibly simple to press our lips together. Failing this class was proving to be worth the risk.

Focusing my thoughts on inhaling and exhaling and not on his pleasurable proximity, I softly replied, “Sure.”

At this point I am completely lost in the lecture – my dilemma clear. Mr. Burke shoving the glasses back up the bridge of his nose rambled on in monotones about isolated systems – no idea.

“Better bring your notes,” he smirked, gesturing to the blank page in front of me.

Groaning, I laid my head on my arms. How had he woven his way so intently in my life?

Chemistry always ended too soon and it had absolutely nothing to do with the topic. The remaining of my classes
was
a drag compared to third period. I should be thankful he was only in one of my classes. I couldn’t imagine how my grades would suffer.

During the middle of my French lesson ninth period, I started to daydream. I don’t know why Lukas came to mind, yet as in most of my thoughts of Lukas, I couldn’t help smiling and imagining his boyish charming looks. The sunny warmth I always found with him, not like the eruptive feelings Gavin gave me. Lukas was calm, steady and spirited. Everything I wasn’t.

Our conversation the other night started playing through my head. The way things ended tugged at my heart as I remembered the hurt and disappointment swimming in his eyes. I never in my wildest dreams (no pun intended) thought that my day life would compete with my night life so to speak. The fact that Lukas knew about Gavin, but Gavin didn’t know about Lukas in some bizarre and misplaced way made me feel dishonest and regretfully. Like I was cheating on one of them, which was completely insane since in reality I wasn’t dating either one of them. Not that I wouldn’t if I was given the opportunity. Maybe that was it. Maybe somewhere deep inside me I was holding out for one of them. Again how any of this made sense was beyond my comprehension. It was inhumanly possible for me to even have a
normal
relationship with Lukas. Why did I continue to torment myself with possibilities that weren’t there?

My impractical internal struggle was interrupted by the familiar buzzing of my phone. I carefully snuck it from the front pocket of my jeans. We weren’t allowed to text during class, but that hardly stopped anyone. The trick was to not get caught.

Tori’s name blinked under new messages.
Mall on Friday?
It was followed by a line of smileys.

We hadn’t hung out in a millennium. My life lately was divided between Gavin and the shop. He’d come over on the nights I didn’t work in the disguise of doing our chemistry assignments, which of course we did – or I did. There were always a few tense moments that boiled my blood. The short amount of time we spent together felt nothing comparable to a few weeks. Our friendship or whatever we had going progressed rapidly. I didn’t want Tori to feel ignored. And the blame weighed heavily on my decision.