Suppressed (Suppressed Saga) (18 page)

“
I’m not being crazy. The way you said it just rubbed me the wrong way.”

He hesitantly took another step towards me; it was almost like he was scared I was going to hit him or something.

“
I told you earlier how I felt about you. Why would I say that and then go back on it?”

“
Because you’re a guy and you live with the biggest man whore of all time. He’s bound to rub off on you.”

A smile almost came on his face. “You really think I’m like him?”

I was losing this argument. I felt stupid for even starting it. He was right; I was being a little crazy. Maybe I was just scared of losing him. I couldn’t lose him. I needed him to keep myself together, being with Seth made everything fade away.

“
Well, no. I just…I don’t know. I’m sorry. Forget I ever said anything.”

I was hoping that he would drop it and let it go but I wasn’t that lucky. He closed the space between us and started on me. “No, tell me the real reason you made a big deal out of this.” His eyes bore into mine and I tried to look away but it was hard to not look.

“
It’s nothing. I was just overreacting.” I went to turn away but his arm quickly went around my waist and pulled me up against him. It all happened so fast it almost felt like the wind was knocked out of me.

The grin he had been holding back earlier finally surfaced. “You have a hard time with expressing your feelings don’t you?”

I swallowed and looked down at his chest. “I’m afraid I’m going to lose you. I don’t want to lose you.”

He pressed his cheek next to mine and I felt the warmth spread throughout my entire body. Then he started to whisper in my ear causing me to go insane. “You’ll never lose me.”

I felt his mouth on my neck kissing all the way down to my collarbone. My skin tingled and I thought I was going to lose it.

“
Do you promise?” I breathed out.

He pulled away and started walking me backwards to the bed all the while looking into my eyes.

“
I promise.”

Chapter 11

I got up early the next morning and took a shower. I had no soap or anything so I would have to smell like Dial for Men the whole day. It actually didn’t smell that bad. I got dressed and looked over at the bed where Seth was still passed out. I didn’t want to wake him so I walked out and shut the door quietly. When I got into the living room I saw Eric laid back in the recliner fully dressed and asleep.

I picked up the remote and threw it into his lap causing him to jump up. For a second he looked like he might start shouting at me but was still half asleep and thought better of it.

“
Are we leaving?” I asked.

“
You know my first class isn’t until eleven so I’m doing you a favor by getting up this early to take your ass to school.”

“
I didn’t ask you for any favors. Go back to sleep for all I care, I can drive myself.” I grabbed his keys from the table and started for the door.

This seemed to wake him up and he rushed over to me, snatching the keys out of my hand. His body seemed to get closer to mine and my heart sped up as he towered over me. “You know one of these days you might regret saying half the stuff you say to me.”

“
Oh please, I would love to see you try and do something to me.” I said glaring at him.

“
You should be nicer to me.”

I snickered, “Or what, you’ll take me to Declan yourself?”

His face fell at my remark. I heard Seth coming down the hall and brought my attention to him.

“
What are you all fighting over, who’s going to drive, or something else stupid?”

Eric pushed past me and headed towards the car as he yelled over his shoulder, “No, her just being annoying as usual.”

I gave Seth a smile. “He’s cranky.”

“
I wonder why,” he said sarcastically. “As entertaining as it is to see you two go at it, do you think maybe you all could get along just a little.”

“
Nope.”

I gave him a kiss on the cheek before walking out to the car. The driver window was fully restored. I guess Eric got it fixed while we went to Maine.

I made Eric take me to get a coffee before we went to school. It didn’t seem to bother him because I think he needed it just as much as I did. After he had his coffee he seemed to lighten up a little bit. The little argument Eric and I had yesterday was already forgotten. I was still a tad bit pissed off but let it go. We were so hateful to each other that something like that was nothing but a regular day to day thing for us.

“
What were you so pissed off about last night?” he said randomly.

I glanced his way, “Nothing that concerns you, it was just a thing between me and Seth.”

“
I see you all made up. Or at least I heard you all make up.” There was a hint of amusement on his face but his eyes didn’t look amused at all.

I looked over at him and felt a little embarrassed but quickly got over it. “You’re such a jack ass.”

“
It’s why you love me.”

“
If you call this love than you are seriously warped.”

He turned up the music and threw me a smile. I wanted to smack it off his pretty little face but we had just pulled into the school parking lot so I quickly hopped out instead. I heard him yell something to me as I closed the door but couldn’t make it out over the blaring music.

I went to my morning classes and afterwards went up to my dorm room. After all the fuss I got from Seth and Eric about being alone it didn’t seem to bother them that I walk the campus during the day. I guess there were so many people around me in school that they thought I would be safe.

Ashley was unlocking the door to go in the same time I got there. I was afraid she was going to give me crap about being gone this whole weekend but when I came up beside her she gave me a bright smile and didn’t say anything about me not being home last night.

I started to get a little suspicious of her when I noticed the extra bag she had with her. As I took a closer look I saw she had clothes in it. Looks like I wasn’t the only one who was gone last night.

“
So where have you been?” I asked slyly.

She gently tucked her hair behind her ear and her face got a little red. “Sorry I didn’t come home last night, I stayed with a friend.”

I cocked an eyebrow, “A friend? Like a girl friend or a guy friend?”

“
Guy.”

“
Anyone I know?”

“
No, I met him Saturday night at the bar. We hung out all day yesterday and he asked me if I would stay with him…so I did.”

I could tell she was a little embarrassed that she had stayed with him after just meeting him but it didn’t matter to me, I wasn’t going to judge. Plus I wasn’t really one to talk, Seth and I hadn’t been together that long and things were moving fast.

“
Am I going to get to meet this mystery guy?”

“
Maybe,” she said sheepishly.

The conversation slowly dissipated and I got up to leave for my next class. I told her I didn’t know what time I would be home and to not wait up for me. I wasn’t sure if I was staying at Seth’s again tonight or not. Even though I liked staying with him I still missed my dorm room.

When I got out of my last class for the day Eric was leaning against the wall outside the classroom waiting for me. He started walking beside me and nudged me with his elbow. “How was your day hun?”

“
Bite me.” I snapped.

He laughed rather hard and leaned into me. “You really don’t want me to do that, do you? Writhing in pain doesn’t seem like it would suit you well.”

I pushed him away. “You’d probably enjoy seeing that.”

He started laughing again as we made it into the parking lot but quickly stopped and grabbed my hand to hold me back.

“
What?” I asked a little startled.

I followed his gaze and saw a man leaning up against the hood of Eric’s car. My stomach turned and I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. I had never seen this man before but after taking one look at him I knew he was bad news. Eric kept walking while still holding tight to my hand. Any other time I would have smacked him for it but right now I welcomed him being this close.

The closer we got to the guy I was able to take a good look at him. He had light brown, almost gold, eyes. They were actually very mesmerizing. His brown hair was very messy and I could see tattoo’s of all kinds wrapped around his neck and kept going down under his shirt. There were words I couldn’t read and dice, along with numbers and what looked like a small pin up of a naked lady. His arms and hands had even more tattoos. The only thing that wasn’t covered was his face. I’d hate to say it but he was actually very attractive. The fact that I knew he was something otherworldly made me look past that.

Eric slightly shoved me behind him but never let go of my hand. The tattoo guy tilted his head slightly and gave Eric an amused grin that made his eyes glisten. “So is she yours or his?”

“
What kind of question is that?” Eric asked.

The grin grew wider on his face, “Oh, I get it.”

I was confused at his words but tried to focus on the rest of the conversation.

“
Why are you here?” Eric said sounding a little agitated.

“
You’re boy made a mistake the other night. Tell him I want him back or she’s next.” He finished with a nod my way.

Eric let go of my hand and got closer to him. “What are you talking about?”

The guy leaned off the hood and went up to Eric, “You all are close right? Why don’t you ask him? Maybe you’re not the only one who’s keeping secrets.”

With those words he walked away and headed towards the way me and Eric had come from. As he walked by me I glanced over and saw the wink he gave me. I should have been scared or maybe even repulsed but I just stood there and watched him walk away like nothing fazed me.

“
Get in the car.” Eric said bringing me back to him.

I complied and slid in the passenger seat as he squealed tires out of the parking lot. I had never seen Eric deep in thought before; hell, I didn’t think he had a big enough brain to string two thoughts together. Right now I could see his mind was reeling.

“
So I take it that wasn’t a good visit?” I said breaking the silence.

“
You’re a smart one.” He mumbled.
I disregarded his remark, “So what was that about?”

“
If I knew I probably wouldn’t tell you.”

“
Well can you at least tell me who he was seeing as he made the comment that he was going to come after me?”

There were so many threats against me these days I wasn’t fazed by another one added to the list. If I was any kind of normal I would have been but I felt like I was slowly losing my sanity and for some reason it didn’t bother me one bit.

“
His name is Graham. He’s an apprentice.”

“
An apprentice?”

“
Yeah, he works for an Alchemist who is employed by Declan.”

An Alchemist’s apprentice, well now I’ve heard it all. “And what does an Alchemist do exactly?”

“
They deal with potions. It’s almost like magic. Dangerous stuff, they can pretty much do anything with it.”

I cringed inside, “So is he a friend of yours?”

He let out a cold laugh, “As a matter of fact, he is.”

It didn’t surprise me one bit. I lifted my bag from the floor as he pulled into the driveway next to Seth’s truck. In the blink of an eye Eric was out of the car and bounding into the house. I jumped out and rushed in after him, something was about to happen, something not good.

I ran into the back of Eric as he stopped dead just inside the door. He chunked his keys on the coffee table and stared Seth down with his bright green eyes.