Goddess Sacrifice (11 page)

Calli followed Legacy to her car and she left. On her way home, she hydroplaned in several places. She’d cried so much that there was standing water everywhere. She sighed and tried to calm herself. With this much rain, she knew it’d throw off the fall climate patterns.

When she pulled into her driveway, she slowly got out of her car and walked to her porch, but she heard a rustling on the ground. She looked down and shrieked. A snake! It was fall, for crying out loud. Snakes were not supposed to be out like this. She figured she’d cried so much that it flooded its seasonal hiding place. She slowly walked around it, trying to make her way to the front door, but then she saw another snake. She looked to the side, and it was staring at her, slithering out its tongue. What the hell? She stepped back and started walking backward toward her car.

She should have stayed at Calli’s house after all. Too late to worry about that now. As she walked away, she looked at her porch and saw several more snakes slithering by the front door. She realized this was not because of the rain.

This was because of Medusa. It had to be.

River was away with his mother, which meant he couldn’t be here to protect Legacy. This also meant he couldn’t be here to protect Adin either. She gasped and jumped in her car. She headed straight for his house. Even though she wasn’t ready to see him, she knew she needed to make sure he was okay before going back to Calli’s house. Because no way was she staying at home.

When she got to Adin’s house, she could see the light on in his bedroom, even though it was now the middle of the night. She knocked on the door and then heard him running down the stairs. He opened the door quickly and stared at her, his eyes filled with pain. He sighed and stepped toward her, but she stepped back, shaking her head.

“I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m not,” he whispered.

She sighed. They weren’t talking about the same thing, but he didn’t understand that. “I, er, went to Calli’s house to talk, and when I came back home, there were snakes all over my yard.”

“What?”

“River is out of town, so I figured Medusa thinks now would be a good time to attack me. Lissa and Olive aren’t home either, so it would have just been me there. I’m going back to Calli’s, but wanted to check on you first. I know Medusa isn’t happy about the prophecy, so I was worried she might have tried to attack you too, hoping she’d get lucky killing one of us if not both.”

“Come in,” Adin murmured.

“No,” she whispered. “I just wanted to make sure you were safe and to warn you about what I saw before going back to Calli’s.”

“Please stay, Legacy. You’re already here,” he said with his head cocked to the side.

“Adin,” she breathed, looking away from him.

“We don’t have to talk about what happened tonight, and I can give you some privacy if you need it. I’d just feel better if I know you’re safely here.”

He waited quietly for her answer, but his eyes were still pleading with her. After what felt like minutes had passed, her lids fell shut as she nodded. She would stay with him tonight no matter how difficult this would be.

Chapter Nine

Adin stepped away from Legacy, so she could walk in. When she did, she walked up to his bedroom with him following closely behind. She turned around and looked at him, but he walked over to his dresser, pulled out a t-shirt, and handed it to her.

She took the shirt into his bathroom to get ready for bed. When she walked back out, Adin had gotten ready too, now wearing his pajama pants with no shirt. She watched him turn down the covers for her. Then he pulled off a pillow from his bed and held it to his chest, walking toward her.

“I’ll be downstairs if you need anything,” he whispered. He leaned down, kissed her forehead, and started to step away.

She grabbed his arm as she started to cry. Gods, she didn’t care she was upset. She couldn’t bear the thought of sleeping alone in his bed. “Don’t go,” she whispered, holding onto his arm.

They stood still for several seconds while she clung to his arm, trying to control her crying.

Adin finally took a small step closer to her, and her breath caught. She knew he wanted to hold her, but he was waiting to see if she’d let him. When she took a step in his direction, it was apparently the confirmation he was hoping for. He slowly wrapped his arms—pillow and all—around her, and she sobbed uncontrollably in his embrace. They held each other for a few minutes, and then Legacy realized she wasn’t the only one letting go of her emotions.

“You have no idea h-how sorry I am, Legacy,” Adin whispered through jagged breaths.

She nodded against his chest. She knew he was beating himself up about this, and part of her felt like he should continue to do so. But the other part was emotionally exhausted.

She stepped away from him and walked to the bed. He followed her, pulled the covers over her, and then got in on the other side, facing her.

She stared at him, but didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to be mad at him, but she was still upset. She knew that Venus was a conniving witch, but Adin was her boyfriend. She wanted him to be strong enough to resist, even if the evil person was created in the likeness of the goddess of love. No matter how Legacy tried to rationalize what happened, her feelings were still hurt.

He sighed, shutting his eyes while tears leaked over. “I’m sorry.”

“I know.” He’d let himself down, but she believed the reason he was so upset was because he’d let
her
down. Hurting her feelings was what really upset him.

“I love you,” he breathed.

She nodded and cried while she covered her face. “I love you too.” And she did. Nothing would ever change that.

He scooted closer to her and wrapped his arm around her, and she held onto him as she continued to let go. After a few minutes of sobbing, she looked up to tell him goodnight, and he was looking down at her, watching over her.

Their faces were within inches of each other, so she could feel his jagged breath brush against her. Being this close to Adin would always make her heart flutter, and tonight was no different. No matter how sad she was, she loved him, and she loved being with him. She glanced at his eyes, and he was still watching her. She wasn’t sure what he was thinking—he probably had a million thoughts running through his head, and most of those were probably bad thoughts about himself—but she could feel his heart pounding.

As she stared, she moved her lips closer to his, and his breathing sped up. She barely grazed her lips against his for just a second and leaned back slightly. He inhaled deeply when she looked back into his eyes. Both of their breathing was jagged because they had been crying, but now they were also breathing heavily for another reason entirely. At least Legacy knew she was.

She shut her eyes as her lips nudged his again, and Adin rubbed his lips against hers, waiting for her to kiss him. And she wanted to. She wanted to feel his lips against hers and have him hold her while they kissed. Adin was her boyfriend. She could kiss him if she wanted to. He obviously was willing. As she parted her lips, she coaxed his to part for her.

Oh, how she wanted to kiss him, but as she thought about him being her boyfriend and no one else’s, she was having a hard time getting the thought out of her head of Venus doing this very thing. And as she thought about that, it became too much for her.

She sighed and looked back down as those unpleasant thoughts flooded her mind. When she moved away from Adin, he caressed her back, and then he gently kissed the top of her head, leaving his head buried in her hair. She squeezed him tighter as she tried to focus her thoughts on them and no one else. Then she considered if she just kissed him, it’d be easier for her to forget about
that bitch
and whatever influence she may have over Adin. Besides, Legacy just wanted to make up already.

She looked up again, and he shifted his head back, still watching her. She let go of his back and slid her hand up his arm and onto his face. He shut his eyes briefly as she caressed his cheek. Then he went back to staring at her with his swollen, red eyes. She moved her head closer to his until their lips touched again. She nudged her lips against his—several times—while he rubbed his against hers each time. The last couple of times, she pulled him closer to her and moaned as he rubbed his lips more eagerly, still waiting for Legacy to take the last step.

She finally kissed him, but it wasn’t a long, continuous kiss. They shared several small ones, breaking away after each one and looking into each other’s eyes. A few times they rubbed their noses together and glided their cheeks against each other before kissing again. After several smaller kisses, though, they started to kiss longer, deeper.

He already had one hand around her back, so he slid his other hand underneath her, wrapping his arm around her head and sliding his hand into her hair, never letting their mouths separate.

As they kissed, though, Legacy’s body began to tingle, hot warmth enveloping her, her mood shifting from one of despair to one of determination. She no longer wanted this to feel as if they were making up. She wanted to make out with him. She didn’t understand the immediate change, but it definitely happened.

She pressed herself up against Adin as she kissed him harder and slid her leg on top of his. He acknowledged the change in her mood and knotted his hand in her hair as he kissed her back just as eagerly.

He shifted his position so that he was partly leaning on her as they kissed. She slid her hand up and down his chest, and he clutched her waist while their legs intertwined.

Even though she was wearing one of his t-shirts and her panties, he kept his hand on her waist—on top of the shirt—or in her hair; she figured he thought those were the safest places to keep them, but she was beginning to feel a little frustrated that he wasn’t making a move. Adin’s reluctance in the past was centered on the hope that their first experience would be perfect. But right now, he seemed just as willing as she was, and they were alone without any possible interruptions.

Since he waited for her to kiss him, maybe he was waiting for her to be the one to move things along.

As they kissed, she slid her hand back down his chest, but this time, she didn’t slide it back up. When she reached his tummy, her hand kept sliding down until she reached the top of his pants. She slowly tugged on the drawstring, and Adin moaned, clutching and rubbing her side. His movement forced her shirt up, and he grabbed her bare waist.

Now they were getting somewhere.

She untied the drawstring as they kissed feverishly. But when she started to slip her hand down his pants, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand up over her head as he moved on top of her.

He devoured her with his mouth, taking everything she had to give. He let go of her wrist and wrapped his fingers around hers, holding her hand above their heads. He supported himself with this other arm to keep some of his weight off her.

She clung to his back and panted as he kissed down her neck. After several minutes of Adin kissing all over her neck and her ears, she slid her other hand from his back to around his front side. He moaned as she slid her palm over his cloth-covered erection, and the feel and sound of him caused her to ache in a way she had never before. She wanted him. Needed him. She moved her hand to grab a hold of his pants and started pulling them down, the fine hair on his lower abdomen tickling her arm as she began to expose him.

“Wait,” he breathed into her ear, and shifted his weight to his other elbow so he could grab her waist with his other hand.

She kept her hand around his waistband and pulled him closer to her, quite a feat considering how close he already was. “Why?” she panted.

He groaned in her ear as he clutched her bare waist. Then he glided his lips back over to hers and kissed her again.

Since he hadn’t explained his hesitation, she decided to go another route. She let go of his pants and slid her hand on top of his at her waist. She hooked her thumb underneath his hand and pushed it down to her hip. Some of his fingers slid under the side of her panties, and he moaned into her mouth. She let go of his hand and clung to him as she kissed him harder.

Adin’s hand continued to slide down a little without her coaxing, taking her panties with him.

But he didn’t get very far.

He let go of her panties and of the hand he was holding above their heads, and he rolled off.

She watched him pant and cover his face, trying to catch his breath.

“What?” she whispered.

“I don’t think we should do this.”

“Why?” Her voice cracked and her eyes moistened. This was something they’d both wanted. Or, at least, she thought it was.

Adin turned toward her and reached up to gently stroke her hair. “Because it feels like we’re trying to prove something.”

“So?” She was trying not to cry or take the rejection personally.

“Sweetheart, you’re upset with me about what happened. I wouldn’t feel right taking advantage of your vulnerability.”

“You’re not taking advantage of me. This isn’t the first time that we’ve come close to …”

Adin sighed. “Yeah, but it still feels like we’re trying to prove something to each other. I want our intimacy to be just about the two of us expressing our love for one another, not trying to prove that River and Venus don’t matter,” he murmured.

“But they do matter, Adin. If we wait until they don’t anymore, then
this
may never happen. Who knows how long we’ll be bonded to them.”

He half-smiled. “I just think we should wait until we have a better handle on our unwanted bonds. That way, we can be absolutely sure when they make love, it will only be about the two of us. I love you more than anything, Legacy. You know I never want to hurt you, and I know I did tonight,” he whispered, looking down.

“Yes, you did.”

Adin looked into her eyes, and she could see new tears forming in his. “I don’t want you to think I’m trying to prove that you mean more to me than she does.”