Denial (Goblin's Kiss Series Book One) (21 page)

“Stay out of
this and you
’
ll be just
fine.”

Wicker
’
s eyes shot to hers. “What is she
doing here?”

Emma stiffened, hands on hips.
This is her standard ticked off look. I liked it more than I
should. “Look, buddy. He told you to stay out of our bizz-ness.
Find someone else who can float your boat.”

I blinked at her
blazon attitude. She hadn
’
t shown much in the way of
shyness other than when I made her blush, but her confidence made
others stand up and take notice. She was all
tiger.

I took her arm.
She was full of...passion. She wanted what she wanted and
wouldn
’
t relent even if her enemy could tell she was a soft kitten.
That could be very dangerous since inside she could take down a
grown man with the flick of her tiny wrist.

“Emma. Let me take care of
this.”

She huffed.

Ames
“
took
” care of it all right.

“You
’
re going nowhere with her,
Cahn.”

Ames growled at Wicker and started
pulling me through the trees again. His body was blocking mine
forcing heat to rise in me. Stepping in unison to keep up with me
instead of vice versa, my heart began to pulse rapidly from his
nearness and not the rush of unwanted exercise. I was a runner for
goodness sakes.

“If you take one
foot away right from where you
’
re at, I am coming with you.”
Wicker flashed a toothy grin unlike himself.

Ames stance loosened a little, but
not completely. Like a ragdoll, I waited on. “What will you do,
Paul?”

Paul? Thought his name was just
Wicker. Dummy me.

“I know what
you
’
re doing. I saw it in your eyes the day you brought her here.
You care for this girl and I admire what you
’
re doing. But if you
choose this, there is no going back.”

“Don
’
t you think I know this, Wicker?”
Ames, the ticking time bomb, switched back to the other name with
the same force in his voice the other guy held when they said each
other’s names. Was it Wicker Paul or Paul Wicker? Both sounded
funny.

“Just saying, Ames. Is she worth
it?” His hand squeezed around mine. First names aside, why was this
conversation so intense?

Ames tilted his
head to me with his Adam
’
s apple bobbing in his throat and
only halfway diffused from his large breathes of air he kept
taking. His voice shook just a little, “More than you could ever
know.”

I
didn
’
t know what to say. Was it because I was the next contestant
on the Joshlin list, or because he might actually care what happens
to me? Was he risking more than he might be telling
me?

“Then I will come with.” Wicker
was now reaching back for various weapons that he seemed to pull
out of nowhere.

“
NO! You
can
’
t risk it.
”

“Like you are
man. I may not have the chick, but it doesn
’
t mean I
don
’
t back your cause. This little hot number packs quite a
punch.”

The growl resurfaced.

Wicker
’
s hands flew to the air. “Just
saying, bro. Her power is lethal. Once Joshlin gets wind of it,
you
’
re dead meat. You
’
re going to need back
up.”

Now they were “bro”. Names were
weapons to them.

“I
’
m in too.” A voice from behind the practice camp area came up
close to us. There stood the one he called Trigger earlier clad out
in armor and weapons I
’
d never seen
before.

“
Ah, crap guys.
Don
’
t make me take you down with me.”

Her hand jerked
out of mine sending cold chills down my spine. She
wasn
’
t the only one who craved a calming touch. “What do you mean,
take down? You never made this to be a kamikaze type
thing.”

What did she
think this “thing” was? The current goblin king wants her for
un-exclusive power that could drop a building to the bottom floor,
use her like a tool in all manner of ways, and make her an idol.
Didn
’
t she see the danger?

“Your guy there
is the prince-y boy. Straight from the top. Nothing is gonna happen
to you girlie with Ames around. And if it did, I
’
m standing
behind
you
first
and foremost. I saw what your body can do,” Trigger shouted his
mouth off telling her too much information. What
’
s with all my buddies
spilling stuff she didn
’
t need to know
yet?

She looked at me
for answers. My narrowed death glare at Trigger, the spineless
neutral ground wingman, was all daggers. That’s where his name came
from, not his good aim with a weapon. His mouth was a bloody
friggin
’
waterfall that never cuts off.

“I am not that
person anymore,” I gritted my teeth at Trigger. I
didn
’
t want to be my father
’
s son. I didn
’
t want run a kingdom
of freaks like myself who didn
’
t appreciate what they have or
would probably let themselves turn the same greed my father had to
make another war between the realms. Evidence by the fact of who
runs it now. They could do that all on their own.

“Dude. She will
be putty in your hands with that.”
Did he not see that
she
was standing right here? And he
didn
’
t know her tiger side. I ought to let him have it from her.
And I doubted the puddling putty part. “First, I will tell her
myself. Second, if you
’
re coming you
’
ll refrain from making
any comments about her or making her
uncomfortable.”

I slammed my
fist into Trigger
’
s jaw. “And as for the other
part,” he pulled back and took in a breath ready for my next blow,
“that is for the comment on her body.”

“Okay, okay,”
Trigger rubbed his jaw. “I
’
ll leave you to her body. Sounds
like you have it covered.”

I slammed my fist into his
stomach.

“Um, Ames. If you beat up all
these guys before they volunteer to help us, where will we
be?”

“Oh, she is sassy,” Trigger said
with a drawl going on even bent over in pain.

“Told ya,
man,”
Wicker
laughed.

I flipped around to take care of
him too, but she stepped in the way. She put her hand right to my
cheek. I froze in mid-punch and dropped my hand. Mostly because I
wanted to see what she would do next.

She leaned into
my ear. I could feel her breath close to my skin. “You
don
’
t have to fight everyone to have me. I
’
m already
yours.”

Three little
words. They stopped me cold. She couldn
’
t have meant what it did to
me. I couldn
’
t help myself. I took her in my
arms and pulled her too tight. She squealed just enough for me to
hear and then melted in my arms even more maybe than I was doing in
hers.

“Get a room, bro,” a voice of one
of the morons behind us now announced. For once, I ignored
them.

“If you two are done with the
explosive PDA, we could be going. Time is an issue
here.”

She smarted off to them giving me
the lowest blow for the day. “Just friends here Oprah and Jerry.
Any more advice?”

“You sure about that?” Trigger
huffed.

“Are you really
sure about this?” I whispered close not wanting her
“
friendly
” nature to leave my side. The others would do well to butt
out. I can
’
t let them see she is that
important to me. They might use it against me, friends or not. It
would help if I could stay away from her, but that was not an
option.

“Very.
”

I
don’
t know how many times in one setting I
will ask if she is sure, but Emma seems dead set on being
sure
. I hope she knows
the meaning of the word.

I called in a favor before it
would make me insane to know nothing. Deep in the book room of my
realm, I hoped someone would find me some answers.

We left heading towards the side
of the park that would open up to the highway. I kept a vehicle
there in times of emergency, i.e. time off. Rare, but sometimes I
liked getting away from it all. Now...I see only getting away with
Emma. I wanted to take her all kinds of places. Show her
things.

A
cave was buried deep in
a part of the
forest that I knew most could never climb too. It meant climbing,
but there wasn
’
t an alternative at the moment.
That was my best hope until more of the plan folded out in my head.
Not that I was telling her that last part.

Crap-o-la! I’d
just told Ames I was hot to trot for him. I didn’t even want to
admit to myself yet that I might actually like him. Like,
like him
, like
him.

And no, I wasn’t
sure this was okay. But something told me my life wasn’t working
out trying to be normal. I didn’t like Joshlin, but the rest seemed
okay. And I couldn’t help asking myself,
What if this is where I belong?
If I
leave, I won’t know.

He drove me to my house first to
gather a few items. When he was a street away a red flag went up in
my face. I never told him where I lived. He knew the other day and
I never noticed. “How did you know where I live?”

He doused the alarm in my face
with one of his deadly smiles, “I’ve known about you for a while
longer than you think. Remember when you came to live
here?”

See? He had that kind of power.
The power to creep me out and make me blush tides of red all in
one. I leaned more on the butterfly feelings my stomach shot
through me than the stalker-like part. But he still didn’t answer
my question the right way.

I was most appreciative either way
with him being thoughtful enough to cater to my needs, but saying
goodbye to an empty house was depressing though I knew I’d be back
soon when this was all over.

We walked for
hours after parking back where we
’
d just left. We went through
trails, places where they weren
’
t any trails, and up, up, up.
When we started to climb even steeper terrain, I got a little
antsy. I wanted to be hidden. Over an hour had passed and I
remember what the time frame included for Mr. King Rude
Dude.

I stopped to get
a breath, resting one leg in the air against a rock we were
climbing and wished like anything I hadn
’
t skipped my run all first
three days of school.

“Are you okay?” he
asked.

“Just wishing
I
’
d
not missed my run the last few days.”

“You like to run?” he stopped
resting a foot on the rock beside me.

He didn’t know
me
that
well, I
see. “Yeah. Makes the world seem like it is still running and
I
’
m
the one standing still looking in. I get to be in charge instead of
it in charge of me.”

“You control
your own path, Emma. You don
’
t have to think everyone will
hurt you.”

I raised my
eyebrow and crossed my arms. “Isn
’
t that what
you
’
ve spent the better part of your time with me
saying?”

I have powers that will hurt me.
Hurt others. Powers that others want to hurt me to get. And a guy
who has a few powers of his own that screamed heartache all over
and easily the “hurting” type.