Pretend With Me (Midnight Society #1) (46 page)

The sensation grew and grew until I was insane with it.
I didn’t know where I was or who I was, I only knew that
Eric and I was now one. I wasn’t even aware when my
own fangs had pushed out and I bit into the base of his
neck. I was completely lost, rising higher and higher until I
thought I couldn’t possibly get any higher – that this
feeling couldn’t get any better.
I barely remembered the rest of that night, or the other
day for that matter. All I knew was that the forced
wedding went without a hitch, I walked down the aisle,
Eric and I said our second ‘I do’s’ and then we had our
reception.
“What are you thinking about?” Eric asked at my side,
pulling me out of the little trance I was in as I rested my
elbow on the table in front of us, I propping my face on
my palm, staring at him.
“Nothing,” I smiled.
“That’s not a look of nothing,” Eric frowned as he
took my hand under the table, wrapping his fingers around
mine tightly. “Are you regretting last night?”
“Never,” I said before he could finish the sentence. I
leaned in closer to him, pressing my lips against his. “I love
you, Eric,” I whispered.
He raised our interlocked hands from under the table,
his thumb skimming the bite marks he’d left on my wrist
through the glove and then kissed the back of my hand.
“Love you too, Jen.”
Just then someone cleared their throat in front of us. I
didn’t have to look to know who it was, yet both Eric and
I looked up at the same time to find Katalin standing at
the other end of the table. Instinctively, my hand tightened
around Eric’s. “What do you want, Katalin?” I asked, my
voice going hard and cold.
“I’d like to say congratulations... and also have a private
moment with you, Jenifer.”
“Are you actually asking or demanding?” I snapped and
a long silent moment stretched on and then sighing, I gave
in. Katalin was an evil bitch yet at the same time, she
wasn’t to be taken lightly.
Ignoring her, I turned to Eric sending him an
apologetic smile. “Be back soon, Mrs. Eric Wilson,” he
grinned, winking. “That sounds so amazing, Jen,” he then
smirked at me. That was going to take some getting used
to.
I leaned closer to him, kissing his cheek lightly, then
got up and followed Katalin out of the crowded massive
hall, into the garden at the side of the house. As soon as
we were out of the mansion I stopped walking, staring at
Katalin’s back as she continued on. “If you’re here to
threaten or hurt anyone I love, Katalin, I won’t hesitate
again,” I threatened, not recognizing my own voice. It had
gone deadly and so serious I scared a little part of myself.
Suddenly I was a warrior, a cold-hearted killer.
Katalin stopped walking, but didn’t turn to face me.
Instead she plucked out a flower and held it up to her
nose, inhaling. She was silent for a short second and then
she turned to me, twirling the flower – a pure white rose –
between her thumb and index fingers. “I know what
you’ve seen, Jenifer, and I also know what you’ve done…”
she trailed off as she began walking again, trailing her hand
along all the leaves and flowers at her side.
“And?” I asked coolly, following her. I wasn’t going to
let her know that I was about to freak out. Eric and I had
topped Thirdworld from the bottom, and they weren’t
going to let that go.
“I’ll keep your secret… if you’ll keep mine, from Eric
included,” she said, turning to face me and my eyes began
to scan her, looking for any sign that she was lying. I found
none. Instead, what I saw confused me a little; everything
about her was calm and collected. Katalin seemed to be in
total peace. It was the opposite of what she had been in
the vision.
“Okay,” I agreed.
She stopped suddenly, making me almost walk into her
back. The silence stretched on but Katalin did and said
nothing for a long while. Then, after what left like forever,
she turned to me smiling - a warm, genuine smile – as she
held out her hand to me, palm facing the sky. I remained
unmoving, not sure if I should take her hand or not. “It’s a
wedding gift, as well as token of our agreement,” she
mused. “Besides, this is something you need. I swear you’ll
want this chance…”
I took a deep breath, staring at her. Again I could only
see honesty, yet after what I’d seen her do - even if
technically she didn’t do it in reality - I couldn’t fully trust
her. Katalin stretched out her hand further to me. “My
time is running out…”
I nodded and hesitantly held onto her hand lightly. The
moment our hands touched, she grabbed me roughly with
both hands as everything around us faded into a blinding
light. Then, before the light could fully engulf me, it was
gone and I found myself standing in an open space directly
under a huge, protective, tall tree.
Immediately I knew where exactly in Trinidad I was
and as soon as I was steady on my feet, I circled the tree,
knowing he was here. When I found him, I dropped to my
knees directly in front of the tombstone, not caring that I
was getting dirt all over my wedding dress.
“You've never came,” Katalin muttered behind me.
“Even at his funeral, you stood outside the cemetery. I
understand, you weren’t ready, but we all deserve the
chance to say goodbye and let go of what was at some
point.” I turned around, wanting to thank her but found
that she was already gone, sitting on the wall at the other
end of the cemetery. I turned back to Daren smiling.
“Hey Daren,” I said running my fingers along the
letters of his name, carved into the tombstone. I didn’t
know what to say to him. There were so many things I
wanted him to know, yet I didn’t have the words. I decided
that it was better to start at the beginning.
I swallowed and then took a deep breath. My heart was
heavy in my chest. “So you died,” I blinked back tears.
“You left me alone… to face a world I knew nothing
about… and for a very long time I hated you for it. I was
so angry and mad at you for leaving me, for being so
selfish… and selfless at the same time.” Tears spilled out
now. “What you did, Daren… it wasn’t heroic, it was
stupid… but I’m grateful and now I’m no longer mad at
you - I understand now… so thank you. Thank you for
saving me…
“I want you to know I’m happy right now and you
made that possible. Eric is an amazing, warm and kind
person that I’m in love with him… He’s not a douche,” I
laughed slightly, remembering his letter.
“I got your letter and the birthday gift - it’s beautiful. I
love it. Just so you know I don’t hate you, I never could,
not really anyway. I still love you even though you lied to
me. I always will love you. You were my first love and your
place in my heart is forever. I’ll never forget you, the bond
that we have is unbreakable and nothing can change that. I
love you, Daren,” I whispered, “but this is goodbye.” I
closed my eyes and stayed still, focusing on breathing as
the words sunk into my skin. After a moment, I opened
my eyes and pressed the tips of my fingers to my lips, then
pressed my fingers to his name. After I got up and began
walking to Katalin.
Before I could take a footstep, she was suddenly
standing at my side. She placed the rose she’d picked on
the tombstone and then turned to me.
“Shall we get back?” she asked. When Katalin was this
person, it was almost impossible to hate her. I wanted to. I
had seen her kill my family without hesitation or remorse
to prove a point to me, and I wanted to hate her so much
for it, yet I couldn’t.
“Thank you for this, Katalin.” Her only response was a
half hearted shrug. “What are you going to do now…
because I know I’m not the only one who has learnt
something from that vision...”
“Now?” she paused, looking to the far side of the
cemetery where she had been sitting while I was talking to
Daren. I followed her eyes and saw Dean. “Now,
everything changes…”

I opened my eyes, breathing in her intoxicating scent.
This was the best feeling in the world - waking up next to
Jen. She had no idea what she did to me, just how much I
cared for her. I swear I would go to Hell and stay there if
she asked me to. I hugged her closer to me, wrapping my
arms around her protectively as she slept.

Then I pressed my nose into her hair, inhaling her
scent. I wondered sometimes if I would ever get used to
her - her scent, her touch, the things I felt for her, the
things she could do to me. I didn’t think that I would. I
hoped not.

It had been exactly one month and three weeks since
we’d gotten married and she could still set my soul on fire
just as she could when I had first met her. Every touch was
like flames licking my body, every kiss like having liquid
fire pulsing in my veins. Every moment that we had, she
treated it as if it were our first and last. I couldn’t keep my
hands off of her, not that she was complaining.

Every little meaningless thing she did turned me on.
Like when she chewed on her lower lip or when she
looked up at me from under her eyelids frowning. Jen was
damn hot and the sex was amazing. Best sex of my life and
trust me when I say; I got around… a lot.

It wasn’t just the hot sex though, it was her. I doubted,
in fact, I knew there wasn’t another girl in the world that
could make me feel the things she made me feel. Before
Jen walked into my life, I was a player and a damn good
one at that. I slept around, got drunk, partied with Jason,
did things I’d never let her find out about. I was horrible
back then, but I met Jen and in just one moment, she
turned my life around. It was like a switch had flipped in
my head and I could no longer stand to look at other girls.

“Hmm…” she moaned, waking up yet not opening her
eyes. “Eric…” she groaned and I felt desire for her awaken
inside me. “I’m cold, hug me.” I chuckled at that. Of
course, she was cold; we were floating in an ocean
somewhere in the middle of a frozen wintery forgotten
world. Tell her she can go anywhere in the world for her
birthday present and this is where she drags my ass to, the
fucking North Pole, crazy-ass psycho girl. I mean who in
their right mind chooses the North Pole over a nice sunny
warm place like Hawaii or Brazil.

She turned in my arms to face me and buried her face
in my chest. “Eric…” she moaned again. God, she needed
to stop moaning my name. I draped my leg over her,
slightly covering her body with my own as I dragged the
thick blankets over our heads, completely covering us. She
let out a breath and I knew then that she was fully awake
now.

“Hi,” she smiled back, opening a pair of blazing blue
eyes. It was hard to believe she was mine.
“Eric?” she sighed, studying me. She was silent for a
long moment and I couldn’t help but feel as if she was
staring right through my body. “Are you happy?” Jen
asked suddenly.
“Of course I’m happy,” I told her instantly.
“Oh,” she sighed, “okay then.”

“Why do you ask?”
“Well…” she mused frowning and bit down on her
lower lip. “Before we got married… I’d put you through a
lot. I know I was hurting you back then… even though
you never showed it or told me… I’ve tried making it up
to you ever since… You deserve to be happy, Eric…”
I smiled at her insanity. Jen could be so crazy and
absurd sometimes… Ever since I’d met her, I had been
nothing but happy - there was nothing to make up for.
Sure back then she had been in a really horrible place... She
had just lost Daren and was still grieving… She had just
found out that she was engaged to me and that almost her
entire life had been a lie… That had been a lot to take in
and I understood. Having an inheritance like mine, made
me understand people – their pain, happiness… their
suffering.
Back then, had also been one of the most terrifying
times of my life. Jen was struggling to keep herself
together. There were times when she would sit for hours
behind her bedroom door, holding herself in one piece where she would cry in her sleep. There were numerous
times in that period, when I would come home and hear
her sobbing. I would always turn around and leave her to
herself. I knew the minute she knew I was around, she
would put on a fake smile and pretend she was okay.
Every day I stared at her, wondering if it was the day, she
gave up and stopped fighting. I'd constantly watched for
anything that told me she had stopped taking her meds
again.
I knew she was broken and scarred. I knew she thought
she would never be able to forgive herself for Daren’s
death. None of it mattered though. All that mattered was
that she was slowly beginning to heal - even if she didn’t
see it. I knew because every day I saw the little changes in
her. Jen didn’t know about any of this and I didn’t tell her,
instead all I said was, “I am happy, Jen. Are you?” Her
only answer was a nod, but I could see her trying to
analyze me, trying to figure out whether or not I was lying.
Without saying anything I took her hand and slowly
began pulling off the white glove she wore. She looked at
me confused, but didn’t pull away or say anything as I
continued doing what I was, being extra careful not to
touch her fingers. When her hand was all the way out of
the glove, I looked at her, linking our fingers. My hand
wrapped around her hand as I pressed my palm to hers
watching amazed as her eyes glazed over into blankness
for a moment.
Jen’s gift was amazing and she was getting so good at it.
It freaked me out at what living with the third eye was like.
Now I knew how annoying everyone else in my family
found it when I peeked into their heads. Usually, I wanted
to throttle her when she peeked into mine. And that was
just the power of the actual third eye; there was still the
other inheritance that came along with it. So far only one
had awakened fully. She was having visions but they were
being triggered by her sense of touch - mainly her fingers.
That was why she had to constantly wear gloves at the
moment - until she learnt to control this.
“So,” I asked when she blinked out of the haze staring
at me with her mouth hanging open in pure amazement. I
wish that she’d let me read her - I’d love to see the things
she saw. “What did you see - tell me, Jen, am I happy?”
“I don’t know whether you’re happy or not Eric… but
I saw…” she trailed off in wonder and then shook her
head. This caught my interest. What had she seen? Just as I
was about to ask, she opened her mouth to speak, but then
shut it almost instantly. I decided I would give her a little
time to take in whatever she had seen.
It was almost a full five minutes before she re-opened
her mouth and I was just about ready to cheat a little and
read her. “Eric I saw… a little girl… she called us mom
and dad…”