Seclusion (8 page)

He put his hood back on.
“Well, if I could help it I would.”

I sighed. “Yeah, it’s a
problem for me, too,” I said as I tapped my pen on Professor Stark’s desk.

“I don’t understand. You
can read thoughts, but why can’t you read mine right now?” he asked.

“I have to be touching the
person,” I said.

“You touched me last night
in the library.”

“I got a small glimpse from
your fingers. It only works skin-to-skin for me.” I inwardly groaned, waiting
for some perverted skin comment.

“Interesting.” He quickly
glanced out into the classroom. “Are things serious with your boyfriend? I
don’t know how you can stand that…tool.”

“So, where do you want to
meet and when?” I asked, trying to hurry along this little meeting and ignoring
his rude comments.

He looked at me and
focused, like he was trying not to be distracted. “Can you have the chapter
read by tomorrow night?”

I nodded.

“Okay, meet me at my quad
at five, and we’ll get food to go. This might take a while.”

“Okay.”
Hmm…might take a
while?

Damen gave me one last
curious look. My face and body began to heat up under his steady gaze, and he
smiled. I didn’t think a genuine smile could change his face so much – he was
breathtaking. I turned and left, attempting to get away from him as quickly as
I could. I was mortified that I was still blushing.

That was really weird.
I continued to analyze our
conversation all the way up to my room.
He didn’t even give me his room
number!
I knew that Chase was a good guy.
What could he have been
thinking that annoyed Damen so much?
I’ll have to ask him.

“Oh, shoot!” I said aloud.
I was supposed to meet Chase. I ran to my room, hopped on the bed, and grabbed
the phone. The light on the handset was blinking.
I must have a voicemail
.
I punched the keys to my password, expecting an irritated Chase.

“Raegan, it’s Damen. My
room number is 502. I didn’t mean to scare you off today. When you get food to
go, I want four tacos and an order of nachos. Thanks. And tell your boy toy I
said hi!”

Ugh…apparently they won’t
be getting along anytime soon
. Although Damen was infuriating, I let myself
listen to his deep voice three more times before I realized I needed to call
Chase. What was I doing? I really needed to figure out if I was leading Chase
on. Did I even want to be with someone like Damen? The answer was easy – no. He
was a player, and he wasn’t even nice. Well, he was only nice to look at. If
that was the truth, why couldn’t I convince myself of this?
His suite is
directly under mine
, I thought.

I looked up the number for
Rec Room 2 and called the phone there. Chase answered. “Hey, where are you? I
was just about to go find that freak!”

“Chase, don’t be rude. I
forgot I was meeting you, and I came to my room instead,” I sputtered. I really
didn’t want to go hang out. “Chase, I’m going to jump in the shower. Let’s hang
out this evening.”

“Oh, actually I’m playing
basketball tonight with some guys I met. You could come watch! Cheer me on!”

“Oh, okay. Sure, I’ll make
it!”

“Great! Take care, Raegan!
Let’s make a date soon!”

“Okay. Hey Chase, did you
notice all the girls were after you today? Your partner, especially.”

“Oh, Chloe. Yeah, she might
have a little crush, but don’t worry, you’re my girl and she knows it. Later,
Rae.”

I grabbed my textbook and
started reading the chapter on my abilities. It was pretty extensive. It
discussed how my powers were just a starting off point, and that with practice
and training I could actually manipulate things with my mind – like that pencil
during my tests. It also gave suggestions on how to protect our minds from
being read, and how to use that same tactic in order to prevent an intrusion
into others’ thoughts. I practiced this technique. I thought it could be useful
with Damen.

I closed my eyes and took a
deep breath.
Close your mind. Focus on calming yourself. Relax and breathe.
Build up walls around your mind. Calmly focus on protecting yourself from
others. Imagine a hallway leading away from them...

By this time, I was so
relaxed that I let myself fall asleep. In my dream, I was walking down a long
corridor, and I arrived at a door that said 502. I walked through the door,
thinking,
502, that’s familiar.
I could see Damen, shirtless. His
muscles flexed as he flipped through his textbooks. He was listening to rock
music. He grabbed some headphones, lay down and fell asleep.

I thought it was odd that I
was dreaming about Damen sleeping. You’d think my mind could be a little more
creative with a hot guy and all. I woke up with a start when I heard an alarm
go off. It was unusual, because I never set an alarm, but I could still hear it
in my mind.
Hit snooze,
is what I thought when I woke up. That dream was
embarrassing. I felt like I was being a peeping Tom, yet I knew it was just a
dream, so I pushed it out of my mind.

With Damen still on my
mind, I jumped into the steaming shower.
What a crazy dream, so intimate and
wrong
. The wild part was that I felt like I had dreamt about him before.
Eerie
.
I got out of the shower and chose a short black skirt and a cut-out shoulder
top with my black boots. I curled my hair and did my make-up. I was just
putting on my lip gloss when E. barged in.

“Hey girlie, how was
orientation? How are you liking things? Are you going to the game? Connor is
supposed to pick us up in a few minutes if you’re coming.”

“Yep, I’m ready!”

“Well you look hotter than
usual! Trying to impress anyone?”

“N…no,” I murmured as I
grabbed a diet soda and a bag of chips and stuffed them into my purse.

“I’m gonna go change real
quick. Let Connor in when he gets here, will you, friend?”

“Sure.” I went to the door
to the suite and let it swing to an open position.

A few seconds later, I
heard, “Hello? Els? Raegan?”

“Come in, Connor! Elsie is
just changing.”

Connor came in, grabbed a
soda out of the fridge, and sat down on the other couch. Connor had auburn hair
and light blue – almost grey – eyes. He was pretty tall and lanky, but his arm
muscles were well-defined. He was pretty cute. No model, though, which made me
like Elsie even more. She had chosen her BF based on personality and values,
not just looks like Princess Asshat back home did.

I flipped through the news
channels on the television. Nothing was going on here in Texas. “I wish I could
watch the news in my hometown,” I told Connor.

He looked at me and
laughed. “You can when I’m around. Hand me the remote.”

He pointed it at the TV,
and there I was watching the Orange County news!

“Wow! You’re awesome!” I
said.

Connor blushed. “Yeah,
that’s what Elsie says.”

I smiled. “So where is this
basketball game?”

“It’s in the gym. It’s
about four floors lower than here.”

“Oh…this is all still a
little creepy!” I said as a shiver ran down my spine.

“Yeah, you get used to it.
Chase is already there warming up.”

E. came out and we took off
for the gym. As we walked in, I could see Chase doing some drills. Then I saw
Chloe run up to him in her cheer uniform and throw her arms around his neck.
She whispered something in his ear, and he laughed and gently pushed her away.
I could feel the flames in my face. I pushed them away as I saw a hooded figure
walk out through the side exit door. Before I could think of what I was doing,
I ran across the gym. I stopped to give Chase a hug and kiss, and I told him
I’d be right back. Elsie looked at me and shook her head as she sat on the
bleachers with Connor. I had no idea what I was doing. All I knew was that I
was chasing after Damen.

“Damen!” I yelled. As I
slowly caught up to him, he entered a room off the hall. He pulled his
sweatshirt off, displaying his broad shoulders in a fitted black shirt. He sat
on one of the rec room’s couches and started flipping channels as he held a
soda in his hand.

“What do you want?” he
asked as he tossed me an extra Dr. Pepper he must’ve gotten from the rec
fridge. I tried focusing on the walls so he couldn’t read my mind.
Was Dr.
Pepper a lucky guess?
With him, I didn’t think so.

“I just thought if you
weren’t doing anything, we could start practicing now. I just want to stop
trespassing into private thoughts ASAP, ya know?”

He looked at me with a smug
look. “Oh, but I like reading your mind. It helps my ego!” He paused for a
second. “Nice! I can feel a wall. I can see that you’ve been dreaming about me,
though…”

Ugh, you are so arrogant!
I thought straight at him,
behind a thicker wall.

“Oh, reinforced walls…I’m
impressed! I guess you’re figuring it out. Odd dream, though. Hopefully there
will be more action next time. If you decide to stalk me, let me know first.
Maybe I’ll give you a better show,” he said with a smirk.

“Okay, I can see this was
pointless.”

“Five o’clock tomorrow, then?” he asked.

“Yes.” I sat there in
stunned silence, staring at him with my mouth agape, hopefully without drool. I
wasn’t sure if I should be completely furious, or flattered.
Grrrr… I feel
like such an idiot.

“Your boyfriend is getting
upset that you’ve missed five baskets made by his highness. He’s thinking about
hanging out with Chloe after the game, if you aren’t into him,” he said.

“What? You can’t know thaa…
uh… talk to you later! Oh, and he’s not my boyfriend… yet, anyway.”

“Oh really? ‘Cause he’s
ready to slay me for you!” he growled. His growl sent shivers down my spine.
Was he jealous, or just upset at Chase?

Great
, he probably thinks I’m a
freaky stalker and that Chase is losing his mind.
Wonderful, Raegan, just
wonderful.
I was really confused by the mix of new feelings I was having.

After the game, I watched
as Chloe went running up to Chase. It aggravated me, although we weren’t
technically exclusive. I thought it was a little rude to be leading Chloe on,
knowing he was interested in me. I walked up to the cheering, high-fiving team
with Elsie and Connor. I smiled at Chase, and he brushed Chloe off and walked
over.

“Congratulations on the
win!” I said.

“Thanks! I’d give you a
hug, but I don’t think you want one right no… I’m all sweaty. You look really
nice, by the way. It’s a bummer you missed the beginning,” he said, his head
lowered.

“Sorry about that! I had to
clarify the time I was meeting with Damen,” I said.

“Okay, do you guys want to
meet at Zeke’s place in an hour? We can go grab some burgers,” Chase said,
dribbling the ball mindlessly.

We all agreed. I grabbed
Elsie’s arm and we started walking out of the gym.

“So, what was that all
about?” Elsie asked.

“I’m not really sure. That
boy is kind of a jerk. I hope this assignment ends soon.”

“Uhh…” Elsie said. “I was
talking about what was going on with you and Chase, but I can see now you have
another sexy devil on your mind.”

“I’m so confused. I
understand Damen. I feel a connection to him; it’s weird. I know he doesn’t
feel anything towards me. If anything, he’s rude to me.”

“Really? He’s never rude to
me,” she said as lightly swung her elbow into mine. “Seriously, he’s that way
with everyone. In fact, I think he refuses to speak to most people. The
interest he’s shown toward you has been the most attention I’ve seen him give
to anyone.”

“Really?”

We decided to take the
stairs to our floor since we were already dressed and we had extra time to kill
before meeting the others at Zeke’s. When we got to floor 5, the door swung
open, hitting Elsie in the leg. Damen came around the corner, hood falling off
his tousled hair. His lips parted in surprise at Elsie sprawled out on the
floor. I was planted on my butt, trying to block the door from opening any
further, but failing. My eyes hadn’t left his lips.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t
hear you coming. My iPod was on the loudest setting, and I was practicing!”

He picked Elsie up like she
was a doll and sat her on the steps. He lifted her leg. I could see there was a
large bump that was reddening and bruising already. I felt a pang of jealousy
shoot through me.
Did I wish he would show me that kind of attention?

“Raegan, you can heal her,
right…? Please?”

He looked at me with his
green eyes, and I don’t think I could’ve denied him anything, least of all this.
I pushed him aside and grabbed Elsie’s leg, concentrating. She was completely
healed in a few seconds.

“Wow! You’re…that’s
amazing, Raegan,” he said.