Dark Seraphine (The Seraphine Trilogy) (17 page)

“
You wanted a kiss
,
”
she whispered. No more words were necessary after that statement.

I crushed her lips down on mine
,
parting them. Her breath was sweet
,
and she tasted the same way. Heaven sent me an earth
ly
angel. My heart sped up when she moved her hands up under my shirt
,
caressing my skin. Tingles erupted
across
my
chest
.

She is mine.

We
’
ve both waited long enough.

Electricity shot through me. Someplace deep in my mind I realized that I should ease up. I didn
’
t care at the moment. All I wanted was right here with me. Her skin was so soft
,
her lips sinfully tender. It didn
’
t matter one bit that she belonged to a group of strangers I
’
d yet to understand. We lip locked that way for a good five minutes or so before she pulled away
,
gasping and glancing at me
,
those baby brown eyes with the strange
blue
highlights tearing through my soul.

“
Slow down
,
Wave R
ider. Save a
little for next
time.
”
Only Gia would say something sassy after a moment like the one we just shared. Burying her face against my shoulder
,
she eased down beside me on the bed. Wrapped in each other
’
s arms we stayed that way until we fell asleep.

The next morning she was gone.

Chapter Ten

Our first F
all Ball l
acrosse game was scheduled for tomorrow nig
ht. I was pumped up and ready. Thoughts of t
he kiss I shared with Gia a couple of nights ago
still lingered
in my
head
. That was until she walked by the practice field with Thorne by her side.

Standing among the cheerleaders and my teammates
,
I tried to hide my disgust. Everybody started filing off the field
,
testosterone in full swing in anticipation of tomorrow night
’
s game. I stalked toward my car
,
my head spinning.
Girls make no freakin
’
sense.

“
Caleb! Wait!
”
Erica trotted toward me.
“
I thought you said you needed help with those
trig
formulas
tonight.
”

“
Yeah
,
sure.
Do you need a ride?
”
I asked.

“
Geez
,
do I ever need one
.
The girls want me to teach the newbies how to flip
,
and all that. I told them you needed me more
,”
she said
,
smiling.

My eyes followed Thorne
’
s Silverado with Gia inside (
something I couldn
’
t even get her to do
) until it left the parking lot and disappeared around the bend. Scoffing a laugh
,
I turned my full attention to Erica
,
and said
,
“
You
know what? I do
think I
need you. We can study at my house.
”
When we reached my car
,
I opened the door for her and loaded her cheerleading gear into the trunk.

“
Wow. Your arm healed really fast
,”
she noticed.

Oh snap!
I forgot that I was supposed to be using my right arm to lift things instead of my left one.
“
Yeah
,
well
,
the break wasn’t as bad as the doctors thought
. It has
been
a month
,
you know.
”

“
Are you all right? You seem dazed
,”
she said.

I shrugged.
“
Yeah, s
ure.
”

Sitting at the table in my kitchen
,
Erica and I plowed through my
study guide
. Well
,
she did
,
anyway. She was a natural at math. The medical schools she applied to
will
be lucky to have her as a student.

Gia.
The name just wouldn
’
t stay out of my head no matter how hard I tried to focus on Erica
’s instructions.

“
Then the cow jumped so far over the moon
that
his heels touched the surface of Mars
,”
Erica said
,
her hazel
-green
eyes boring a hole
in
me.

“
What?
”
I asked
,
focusing on her words.

“
You
’
re out there
,
Caleb. Come back to me.
”
She placed her hands over mine.
“
Have you thought anymore about what you wanna be for
All Souls
? I figure
that’s
more interesting to you than trig
,
right now.
”

“
Yeah. Sasuke
,”
I said.

“
The
ninja from
that
manga show
?
”
She made a light laugh.

“
It
’
s a lot better than a sparkly vampire. What about Thorne
?
What
’
s he going to be?
”
I asked. She moved her hands away
,
lowered her eyes
,
and sighed.
“
I
’
m sorry. That wasn
’
t fair.
”

“
Thorne and I are both haunted by pasts that were colored by abuse. That doesn
’
t mean we
’
re right for each other. We
’
re both moving on
,
though. I mean
,
Gia is great for him. She
’
s gritty
,
beautiful
,
popular
,
and
—
”

“
That
’
s ridiculous. No one is good for Thorne
,
but himself.
”
Gia was right. Jealousy was too nice of a word to describe the way I felt about the scene I witnessed
earlier today. I needed space—l
ots of it. I
wanted a father
who
I could easily approach about these
relationship
things
,
a man to give me advice instead of his attitude when I tried to talk to him. I stood
,
feeling my body heat up.
“
I need some fresh air. Will you be ok here for a bit?”

She sighed
,
but her facial expression wasn
’
t a blasé one.
“
Take your time.
”

Walking down the driveway
,
I purposefully tried not to calm down. My body was heated up again
,
and it didn
’
t take long before I felt her presence.
“
I
’
m getting pretty good with that heat
trick
,”
I said without turning around.
“
Why are you here
,
Gia Jones?
”

“
There are things about me
,
and my people that you just don
’
t understand
,”
she said quietly. I spun around and stalked toward her.

“
Gia
,
for the first time in my life I have a conn
ection with someone besides my m
om
,”
I admitted
,
hating that my voice was almost at the begging level. There was no way I
’
d let her off easy this time. Pulling her into my arms
,
I kissed her. Yeah
,
she could probably zap my lips off or something; but I also felt she needed me in the same way that I wanted her.
T
he kiss winded me
,
making me feel a touch dizzy.
What the heck?

“
No
,
Caleb. This is goodbye
,
I
’
m so sorry
,”
she whispered
,
pulling herself out of my arms.

“
Fine. Go on then. Run away. Or rather
,
go hide in that
mask
thing t
he way you love to do
,”
I snapped.

Her eyes filled with tears just before she slipped into the veil
,
leaving me with a chest full of rocks tumbling inside me. I stood there for about ten minutes before I realized that my mouth had struck home
,
yet again.

Behind me
,
Erica
’
s voice broke through the silence
,
that deafening noise as Poe described it in
one of
his poem
s
Gia read to me when I was in the hospital. That
’
s what it felt like
—
a scream quietly floating across the night
,
falling on deaf ears and dead hearts that don
’
t give a shit.

“
Can you take me home
,
now?
”
Erica asked.

I forced my body to move back toward the house. We didn
’
t say a word to one another during the drive to her place. Easing the car to a stop outside of it
,
I said
,
“
Thanks for the help.
”

She gave me a sad smile.
“
You know
,
I might not be as shapely and pretty as Gia
,
but I have a lot of heart.
”

“
Where
’
d that come from?
”
I asked
,
a sinking feeling creeping through my chest. Did she catch me talking to Gia?
Nah.
We would
’
ve sensed her presence
,
right?

“
I just thought it was something you might need to hear.
”
She leaned toward me and planted a lingering kiss on my cheek.
“
Good night
,
Caleb.
”

Could life get any more complicated?
One of the most popular, attractive girls of Ashley-George High
just put herself down because of me. It
was
retarded in a
way
.
Why should I cry over the unreachable girl
,
someone who isn
’
t human
,
when I have a living breathing person right here beside me
,
aching for some affection?

* * *

“
What
’
s wrong with you
,
Wood? You
’
re way too easy to trash tonight
,”
the guy with the dreadlocks yelled at me.

“
Is that right? Keep on talking
,
man
,
and I
’
m going to
cram my
garbage
down your throat
,”
I warned. Dreadlocks (aka Zeke) and his teammate (aka Ethan) glared at me through their helmets.
The visiting team was beating the crap out of us on our own turf. We trailed them by one stinking point.
Mom always worried
about the violence in l
acrosse: the swearing
,
the sticks
,
the direct hits to the chest. But until tonight
,
I never realized just how much of a stress relief it could be.

Somewhere off to the side
,
Kyle yelled to me about concentrating and staying against the rush. My mind was screwed. All I could think about was Gia.
Nah.
I also thought about my dad
’
s sudden absence
,
and my mom crying herself to sleep. At some point my life spiraled out of control. I didn
’
t even see it coming
,
just like Paige pointed out that day in the gym. Was it all connected?

Across the field
,
a few members of the football team arrived.
Oh no.
Gia held
on to
Thorn
e
’
s arm
,
throwing her head back and laughing
. She acted like nothing had happened
between us at all. I
clenched my jaws shut
and huffed. The chill in the air that bothered me earlier in the night didn
’
t seem so bad anymore.