Forbidden, Tempted Series (Book 1) (18 page)

“Well, since I didn’t bring any cash, ’cause ya know, didn’t plan to sneak out with a delinquent—”

“Who me?” He wiggled his brows.

“That would be awesome. But next time it’s on me.”

“So what are you in the mood for?”

The movie attendant behind the glass just looked bored. An older woman with owl eyeglasses on, her mouth was set in a tight grimace. She obviously knew ditchers when she saw them.

Flint shrugged. “Guns, kisses, or blood. You choose.”

“Two for
Zombie Killers from Outer Space
, please,” he told the woman, who just rolled her eyes and punched their tickets in.

“
Zombie Killers
, huh?” Flint held her ticket, laughing. Not exactly what she’d wanted to see, but considering he was a boy, she hadn’t really expected him to pick the chick flick either.

They were just finishing up placing their popcorn order when a girl knocked into her shoulder, making her spill some of the soda down the front of her shirt.

“Oh, freakin’-a!” Flint growled as the shock of the cold, sticky drink soaked through her cotton top.

Abel frowned, eyeing the woman’s red-jeaned backside as she beelined to the ladies’ bathroom. “That was rude,” he said, loud enough the woman should have heard.

Flint grimaced as the soda started to squish through her bra. “Look, go get us seats in the front. I’ll meet you there.”

He nodded and she sprinted for the bathroom.

First thing she did was look for the woman, not that she had any intention of telling her off, more out of curiosity. But the bathroom was huge and appeared completely empty. Which meant the woman was ducking out in the back stall somewhere.

Frustrated, Flint wet a napkin and tried her best to clean her top. Lifting her shirt, she cleaned and dried her skin. Her cheeks and eyes looked flushed and she smiled, realizing she hadn’t thought about killing shadows, or Rhiannon, or Janet, and especially not about Cain since bailing with Abel.

Smiling at herself, she applied some ChapStick to her lips and was just headed out the door when she caught the blurry streak of movement in the glass. But it wasn’t the movement itself that caught her eye, rather the bright spot of red.

Which made her suddenly recall the red eyes of last night. A cold sweat broke out on her skin as she whirled back around, heart thudding almost painfully in her chest as she waited and counted her breaths.

But the bathroom was so empty the silence echoed with it.

Finally a shaky laugh spilled from her lips and she shook her head. “I’m going nuts.” Dusting her hands down her pants, she ran from the bathroom and went to find Abel.

She sat down just as the lights flickered off.

“You okay?” Abel whispered, but he needn’t have bothered, they were the only ones in there.

“Yeah, just thought I saw something.” She shrugged and gave him a light smile, trying to convince him and herself that her brain was just playing tricks on her eyes.

He nodded, but a thoughtful frown creased his brows.

The opening sequence was just starting—zombies were filing into a horseshoe-shaped spacecraft and chanting, “Must eat brains” when he leaned back into her, and for a quick second she caught a whiff of moss.

The smell forcefully reminding her of Cain so that her heart took an extra beat.

“So what’s going on with you, Flintlock?”

“Flintlock?” She glanced at him with a question in her eyes.

“I kind of like it.” He grinned, revealing his deep dimple, and she snorted. “My code name for you.”

“Why does everyone want to give me a nickname?”

“Cause Flint’s a weird name for a girl. And who’s giving you nicknames?” He mock pouted and she tossed a kernel of popcorn at his nose.

“Flint’s not a weird name. It’s unique.”

He rolled his eyes, shoving his entire fist into the large tub of popcorn.

“And everyone calls me by a nickname. Dad calls me Flinty—”

“See, even your dad thinks the name is weird.”

“Shut up, you.” She wagged her finger at him. “You called me Flintlock, and like, what’s that all about? Stupidest nickname ever, and...”
Cain calls me princess
.

She clamped her lips together, realizing she’d almost told him that. Not sure why she shouldn’t, but she instinctively wanted to protect him. Which was weird. And sick. But mostly just weird. She shouldn’t give a crap about protecting anything that happened between her and Cain, but for some unfathomable reason it felt important and personal and she refused to analyze why.

“And?” he prompted.

She stuffed popcorn in her mouth and pointed to it while she chewed obnoxiously. “Can’t talk now,” she mumbled.

“And you girls call us pigs.” Abel snorted and joined her in devouring the tub.

The movie wasn’t as bad as she’d expected; it was worse. Zombies sucking out blood, brains, and intestines—which actually looked more like linked sausages—which made her glad she hadn’t ordered the pizza she’d been eyeing earlier.

Abel, on the other hand, was grabbing his stomach and groaning.

“You okay there, featherweight?” She grinned.

He eyed her, a look of supreme disgust curling his lips. “I think I might have eaten one bag of candy too many. You ready to head home?”

It took a while, but they finally made it out to the parking lot. The second the breeze hit them, Abel looked marginally better. He was still holding his stomach, but he didn’t look so green around the gills anymore.

Starting to get worried for him, Flint touched his shoulder. “You sure you okay? You’re looking as white as a ghost.”

Abel leaned against the brick wall, taking in huge gulps of air. He planted his hands on his knees and bent over.

“Umm, Abel, are you getting ready to yack? Should I get water or something?” She rubbed his back, thinking maybe it was more than just too much candy. And when she touched his forehead, she knew it was. He was clammy.

“No.” He shook her away. “Been feeling like this the past few days, it’ll pass. Just give me a sec.”

Flint glanced up at the sky that suddenly looked to be frothing and churning with gathering storm clouds. A hard wind was driving in from the east, whipping her hair into her face. She wasn’t exactly superstitious, but it felt like a bad omen.

He was still breathing hard, huffing air through his open mouth, and when she rubbed his back again, she swore she felt his muscles slide.

And not just scrawny Abel muscles, it felt like thick cords of rope moving beneath her palm. “Abel, should I call Adam?”

He shook his head.

“Your... Cain?”

He glared at her, and she inhaled when she saw the size of his pupils—they were huge.

“Stop, Flint. Just give me a sec.”

His voice was thicker, gruffer, and she wrapped her arms around herself.

Tires screeched to a stop in front of them and her heart sank. Cain’s black Corvette rumbled in front of them.

“Did you call him?” Abel growled.

She shook her head. “I don’t even have his number.”

Cain shot out of the car, looking as frightening as a grizzly about to attack. “Where did you go?” he snarled, and he wasn’t looking at Abel.

“I...” Flint glanced at Abel, then back at Cain, brows dropping in confusion. “Excuse me?”

He made a grab for her elbow, which she found extremely annoying, and she sidestepped. “Hey, hands off! And why do you care?” she snapped back at him, finally finding her tongue.

“Do you have any idea how many places I had to search before I found you?” His voice was deep, really deep. Growly. And his arms, jeez, they were freaking ginormous. Like two flexing pythons.

All of which should have terrified her, but instead it only made her stomach swirl with knots.

She hated her body’s reaction to him. Her brain screamed, “Neanderthal, run away,” while her body yelled, “Must have, must have....” It was really rather pathetic, which pissed her off.

“You’re not my boyfriend, Cain. You’re not my anything, so why do you care?” She narrowed her eyes.

“I don’t care, princess.” He said it so cold that she flinched. “But I’m pretty sure Frank does.”

“Dad?” Her mouth dropped open, the sensation of a stone ripping through her gut made her grimace. “He knows?”

He ignored her.

Glancing at Abel, Cain snarled. “She’s coming with me. You follow. Adam’s not happy.”

Abel’s shoulders slumped and he nodded.

“Wait, I should go with him. Abel’s not well, or better yet”—she planted her hands on her hips—“he should go with you. I can take the ATV back.”

Shaking his head, Cain sauntered back to the car, saying louder than words that the conversation was over.

“Abel?” Flint looked at him. He looked fine now. His eyes were a little bloodshot, but nothing major. “You gonna live?”

He ran his long fingers through his blunt brown hair. “Yeah. Maybe not for long though. I’m sorry, Flint. But you should go. Cain’s not the most patient one among us.”

He jerked his chin, and when she looked over it was to see Cain drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, a mutinous expression twisting his lips.

“I don’t know why I can’t just ride with you,” she mumbled but headed to the Corvette.

The second she was in her seat, Cain was peeling out.

“How did you find us?” she blurted, refusing to cower to him, even though his frosty demeanor made her want to blast the heater to high. “We snuck out. The school shouldn’t have called anyway, I checked in this morning and...”

“Flint.” Cain looked at her, ripping his sunglasses off. And again she was stunned by the glass-like blue of his eyes. His jaw was clenched hard and she sensed he wanted to say more, but with a firm shake of his head, he turned back to the road.

Hiking her feet up on the chair, she tucked her hands under her thighs, not terribly concerned if she got dirt on his precious car. This sucked. Major.

“Why didn’t my dad come get me?”

Trees passed in a blur. She really didn’t have a clue where they were, but it didn’t seem like he was driving toward the circus. The mall wasn’t that far from the school or the fairgrounds. She glanced out the window at the towering spires of trees.

His woodsy scent wrapped around her nose. She swallowed hard.

“He wouldn’t have been able to find you,” he finally said, his voice still deep and resonant and making her belly quiver tight with nerves.

“So how did you?” she asked quietly.

He looked at her and she thought he wouldn’t answer, but he did. “I smelled you out.” Cain turned back to the road.

Clearly he was joking, which whatever, if he didn’t want to tell her, fine. She crossed her arms.

“Your father came to Adam for help. He looked for you guys for over an hour, but he’s new to the town and doesn’t know my brother the way I do.”

Offering up information without her first prying it out of him? Would wonders never cease? She dropped her arms. Cain turned on the blinker and then turned to the left. It was light out and the world looked so much different than it had the other time they’d been here with the storm and the clouds, but the broken trees gave it away. He was headed toward his bunker.

“Why are you bringing me here? Is my dad here?”

He didn’t say anything, just kept driving. In no time, she spied the top of the wooden bunker and her heart flipped as she remembered him shirtless.

The car rolled to a stop, then he jumped out and leaned against the car, tipping his face up to the sky. Flint sat in the car, not sure what exactly to do. He was acting weird. And more than just moody, he was acting like he’d actually been worried.

The longer he stood out there, not moving, just leaning against the car, the worse she began to feel. Fingers grown cold with the beginnings of shame, she got out of the car and walked around to join him.

He didn’t glance at her—his eyes were closed and she took the opportunity to really study him. Cain was so much bigger than the average guys at her school. His taut throat was tipped up toward the sky, his Adam’s apple rolled as he swallowed, a five-o’clock shadow dusted his strong square jaw.

Flint nibbled on the corner of her lip. “Look I’m sorry if I made you worry about Abel. It was stupid and irresponsible of me. He hadn’t been feeling well, and neither was I—”

Cain looked at her then. “What’s going on?” His tone was so much softer than she’d expected, no longer hard and growly.

What should she say? Thinking about it now, it all sounded pretty stupid. She hated her dad’s new girlfriend, school was driving her nuts, Rhiannon might be a killing shadow thingy, there were way too many people in this town with red, freaky eyes—including the boy she couldn’t seem to stop obsessing about. She was pretty sure she’d seen someone die last night.

But had she really, because when she’d walked past the blacktop there’d been nothing. No clothes, no teeth, no arms, skin, or blood. Just nothing. Rhiannon and Janet had laughed and talked like they didn’t have a care in the world and... ugh.

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I’m not really sure what’s wrong with your brother. He needed a time-out and so did I.”

He shook his head and a lock of black hair fell into his eye. Flint didn’t even think, simply reacted, and standing on her tiptoes, she brushed it back, then froze when she realized what she’d done.

Expecting him to snarl or growl, or heck... bite her finger off. She didn’t know. He wasn’t exactly a Boy Scout.

But he didn’t do any of those things. Instead, he grabbed her hand and, just like last time, traced the pad of her thumb with his. The contact of his hot skin on hers made her lashes flutter and her knees shake.

“I know what’s going on with Abel,” he murmured.

“Oh,” she breathed, realizing he’d been asking about her after all. Why did he want to know about her? What did it mean? Probably nothing? This was the same Cain who’d turned her into a laughingstock at school. He liked to tease her, got off on it for some reason. But even knowing that, she couldn’t compel herself to pull her hand away. His touch felt good.

Too good.

Dangerous.

Then he shoved his hands into his pockets and she wanted to pout, feeling strangely desolate without it.