Deadly to Love (20 page)

“I changed my mind, I win,” I said, my voice filled with happiness.

Kai groaned as he rolled over, staring up at me frowning at my laughter. “Yeah Yeah, you cheated and took advantage of my kind and helpful nature.” He folded his arms over his chest clearly not caring that he was getting soaked.

“Well there was no chance I’d beat you in a fair fight was there. And you cheated first by dumping me in the snow, I thought it was non contact.”

“Non-contact? How can a snowball fight be non-contact?” He held out his hands in the same gesture I had performed when wanting a hand up.

“Not a chance, you can get yourself up.”

He rolled his eyes at me before shuffling onto his side and pushing himself to his feet.

“Draw?”

Reluctantly I nodded and he wrapped his arms back around my waist.

“Do you want to go back because your lips are turning blue and you look like you’re freezing?”

“Yeah okay.” I wrapped one of my arms around his waist too as we began walking back towards the house.

The heat from the fire was a welcome comfort as we walked into the house and began stripping off the outdoor clothes. Kai of course stripped down to just his boxers, clearly not self conscious at all but I left at least one layer on. We both headed towards our rooms when I heard my phone ringing from somewhere inside mine. Rushing to the door, my arms full of jumpers and socks I dropped them onto the floor and tried to follow the ringing sound.

Opening the draws I searched through the odd things I had put in them. I turned over my bed, rummaging in the sheets but had no luck in finding it. I then turned to the bags of clothes we had bought and throwing everything out I found my mobile finally at the bottom of the last bag I looked in. Not wanting the person to hang up I answered it before I had chance to question how the phone got to be where I had found it.

“Hello?” I answered, once again forgetting to check the caller ID due to my rush to answer before the caller hung up.

“Rea! Oh my god it’s so good to talk to you again.” Chloe’s over dramatic voice rang out from the other end of the phone.

“I’ve only been gone a few days, you can’t be missing me that much.”

“We’ve seen each other every day for the past five years Rea, of course I miss you. So where’s he taken you?”

I sighed. It was true that we had been inseparable for the past five years and I was missing home too, I had just forgotten about it for awhile, something I guessed Kai was trying to do.

“You know I can’t tell you that Chlo. I wish I could but for everyone’s safety I can’t.”

“I know, just thought I’d ask anyway.” She sounded slightly defeated as she spoke.

“So was there a reason for this call or did you just want to hear from me?” Talking to Chloe was making me a little upset and home sick so as much as I wanted to speak to her, I also wanted to end the call as soon as possible and go back to forgetting about home for a while.

“Um, a bit of both really. I wanted to make sure you hadn’t died yet, especially with this freaky weather changing constantly. I also wanted to hear from you and there’s some stuff happening here that I wanted to talk to you about.”

It was never a good thing when Chloe covered up certain things so I was put on edge by her evasive manner.

“Well as you can hear, I’m not dead and not planning on being so any time soon. Yeah the weather's weird but it’s not like we can do anything but wait it out I guess,” I lied.

“It’s good to hear from you too, I’ve been missing home a lot recently. What’s been happening there that you needed to talk to me about?”

There was silence on the other end of the line for a while and I was beginning to think Chloe had hung up on me.

“OK, you’re not going to like it but you are probably the only one who can stop it.”

“Stop what...” I said warily. Once again there was a long silence before she began speaking again.

“Ian has kind of lost it. When you weren’t in college he went mental, shouting, storming out of lessons and questioning everyone. Of course the others and myself were the first people he turned to but we wouldn’t tell him anything. Now he’s forgotten about Mel, Becka and Lindsey and he’s just bothering me with questions. He follows me home sometimes and just refuses to leave until he hears from you. I haven’t told him anything and he assumes you’ve run off with Kai. I don’t understand why he doesn’t just call you though.”

She paused briefly.

“Sorry I didn’t want to bother you with this, especially with whatever is happening to you but he’s starting to freak me out.”

I was not expecting what she had just told me. I thought it would have just been some gossip, not that my ex had lost his mind.

“He probably hasn’t called because he knows I wouldn’t answer. I made the mistake of doing that once and I think he could tell that when I hung up on him I wouldn’t chance my luck again. I’ll call him though, I don’t know what he’s thinking. Sorry Chlo. One question though, why is he still bothering you? Didn’t your usual foul mouth and bitchiness stop him?” She laughed at my question.

“Believe me I tried but he’s not listening to anyone, just focused on answers.”

I nodded, even though she couldn’t see me. It sounded exactly like Ian, he always was hot headed.

“I understand, I’ll talk to him after you go.”

“Thanks.” I could hear the smile in her voice as she livened up a bit. “So I know you can’t tell me where you are but can you tell me what you are living in?”

I rolled my eyes at her inquisitive streak. “I’m in one of Kai’s houses. It’s really quite nice; basic as he very rarely stays here but it’s really modern.”

Chloe was speechless on the other end of the line and I started to worry as it was normally impossible to shut her up.

“Wait you’re living with Kai?”

“Well what did you think I was doing? He’s the one keeping me safe and I would have nowhere to stay, no money or anything without him.” I was confused by what she had assumed was going on.

“I guess but you are only seventeen Rea and you’re already living with your boyfriend!”

I sighed, believing that this could go on for a while.

“Believe me it’s not the situation I imagined myself in either and yeah it creeps me out too sometimes but it’s out of my control. Look I’ve got to go now. I had only just got in when you rang and I’m still soaked and cold from the snow.” I was leaning against the radiator but it was doing little to warm me as I was still in my damp clothing.

“You’re somewhere in the country where it is snowing, that narrows it down slightly...What were you doing in the snow anyway? You hate snow.”

I cursed under my breath for the slip up in narrowing down my location. On the news this morning only five areas had been a

ffected by both air and water Elementals.

“Just walking around with Kai trying to lift our moods. I really have to go Chlo, I’ll call Ian after I’ve had a shower.”

“OK but keep in touch yeah?”

“Yeah, see you.” We hung up and I threw my phone onto the bed so I could use both of my hands to peel myself out of the clothing.

Once I had finished in the shower and was no longer shivering I got changed into my pyjamas. I wasn’t planning on doing anything for the rest of the day so wanted to be comfortable when curled up by the fire. I was just hopping around my room as I pulled my last sock on when a knock came from the other side of the door.

“Yeah?” I was a little out of breath when Kai appeared in my room, and he looked at me strangely as I finished hopping and stood up straight.

“I was just checking on you as you seemed to be taking awhile...” His words trailed off as he took in the sight of my room.

“What happened in here? You’ve only been here a few nights.”

“My phone was ringing when I got in but couldn’t find it, hence the room. I haven’t been down yet because I was speaking to Chloe for a while, I’ll be there in a minute.”

He nodded and turned to leave, pausing as he reached for the handle. “You want a drink or anything?”

“A hot chocolate would be nice thanks.” He left the room and I moved towards my bed, trying to build up the courage to call Ian.

It was no surprise that Ian answered after only two rings, his voice filled with urgency and anger as he answered.

“How could you do this Rea?” He was almost shouting down the line before I had even uttered a word.

“Hi to you too Ian and how could I do what? If anything I should be asking you that question.” I wasn’t planning on being so aggressive but he took the choice out of my hands with how he answered the phone.

“How could you run off with him, that’s what?!”

“Just calm down and stop shouting otherwise I’m just going to hang up and leave you with all of your questions.” I sighed, trying not to shout back at him.

Collapsing on my bed I waited for his response.

“Okay, fine. Explain then, how could you run off with him?”

It wasn’t much of an improvement but I could deal with a cold, annoyed Ian better than his anger.

“I haven’t run off with him. I have every intention of coming back when it is safe. Look you’re going to hate hearing this but I really can’t tell you a lot about what’s happening. At the moment it’s not safe for me to be around you guys and Kai can keep me safe.”

“I could keep you safe better than that asshole. Tell me the truth Rea, he’s not letting you leave is he?”

I almost laughed at the irony of Ian stating I was being held captive by Kai, when I was the first person to accuse him of kidnapping me. I tried to stop myself but in the end couldn’t.

“How can you protect me from something you know nothing about? Hell, you don’t even know what I’m running from exists and just for your sanity, no Kai is not keeping me here, not that it is any of your business.” I was beginning to get irritated by Ian’s obvious thought that he had some kind of claim over me.

“I don’t like you being with him Rea. Your mum’s going crazy with worry too. How can you do this to us all?”

“First of all, this has nothing to do with you, we broke up remember and we weren’t truly friends when I left. Secondly, my mum knows everything and is fine as I spoke to her recently.” I heard him growl and it was obvious he wasn’t going to be able to control his anger anymore.

“It has everything to do with me! You’re my girlfriend not that assholes you’re with.”

I could feel tears starting to well up in my eyes and I hadn’t even got to the part about Chloe yet.

“Shut the hell up Ian. I’m not yours, you lost me when you cheated on me. If you haven’t got over me then that’s your problem but it doesn’t mean you have some possessive claim over me and you have no right to bother anyone I know. Especially Chloe, you understand?!” I tried to cover up my tears by shouting.

“How many times do I have to apologise for that Rea? Just let it go.”

“I never asked for an apology Ian, I didn’t even want one as it would just be another lie. I thought there was a small chance we could stay friends but there really isn’t and your reaction in the past week plus the treatment of my friends just proves how unstable you are.” I sniffed not able to hold back the noises anymore.

“Aww don’t cry Rea, I’m sorry. I’ll stay away from Chloe from now on, I was just going out of my mind not hearing from you. I love you Rea.”

I was considering throwing my phone at the wall as he spoke but refrained as I knew I would regret it later on. I was about to reply when Kai entered my room again, his face morphing into a look of concern and worry as he saw me sitting on the bed crying.

“What’s the matter Rea?”

I just pointed to the phone and held up a finger to say I’d be a minute. Ignoring me he strode across the room in a few steps and sat behind me, pulling me against his chest and silently offering me strength, even though he didn’t understand the problem.

“That’s him isn’t it Rea? Has he been there the whole time, not letting you leave?” He sneered down the phone as more tears fell from my face.

“Just stop it Ian. I’m not doing this anymore. I only phoned to get you to stop bothering Chloe. Did you know you’re scaring her half to death? Because you are and right now I can see why.”

I felt Kai stiffen at the mention of Ian’s name and his grip on me tightened.

“Just leave everyone alone okay? If you wanted to keep me you should have thought about that before you went and slept with Alesha, but you didn’t. Everything that has happened is your fault Ian and acting like a moronic psychopath isn’t going to do you any favours.” I hung up on him as soon as I finished as I couldn’t deal with him anymore.

Kai didn’t speak for awhile, he just held me while I cried, soothing me by playing with my hair.

“Sorry you had to hear that,” I said after a minute or so.

“What’s been going...” His words were interrupted by my phone ringing once again. I looked down at the screen and reached to press the end call button when Kai reached for the phone.

“Do you mind?” I turned to look at him, shaking my head while shrugging my shoulders, leaving the decision up to him, while I curled up against him.

“If you want to live past the end of this week I suggest you stop calling Rea and leave anyone you have been bothering there alone.”

I was surprised by how quickly Kai had caught on to what was happening and by the coolness in his voice. He didn’t shout but instead kept a level, serious and menacing tone that was probably worse. I couldn’t hear what Ian’s response was but by the sounds of it he wasn’t getting the message.

“You don’t know what you’re getting involved with. You want to help Serena, then back off because I’m what she needs right now. No. I’m not even going there so don’t bother.” Kai spoke over the top of Ian.

“Shut the hell up and listen to me. Rea is no longer your girlfriend so that makes her none of your business. Stop calling and harassing people because if you don’t then you’ll be facing me and I won’t hold back like I did in the car park. Got it?” Kai didn’t wait for a response and just hung up on him instead.

“Let me know if he bothers anyone again OK?”

I nodded.

“Thank you.” I stretched up to kiss him, my resentment for him bringing me here slowly slipping away as he demonstrated his care for me even more.