Talented (26 page)

“Sans clothing?”
Erik teased, but I could tell that he was kidding.  I really wanted to say yes, but I wouldn’t have been serious and I didn’t want the situation to get awkward.

“I want you to have something to look forward too when I come back,” I said instead.  I’d been
laying on my side facing him, and he gently pushed me over on to my back, our fingers still intertwined.  He kissed me softly at first, and then harder, devouring my mouth.  The weight of his body, warm and heavy, on top of mine felt amazing, and I pulled him tighter against me.

“You’ve got yourself a deal, Pledge,” he grinned, when he finally broke off the kiss.  I beamed and leaned up to kiss him again, even though I had yet to catch my breath from the last one.  Erik gently pushed me back down and shook his head.  “There’s no way your clothes are staying on if you keep kissing me like that.” I tried to reach up again, and he gave a deep laugh that I could feel reverberate through his body.  He rolled off of me, but didn’t let go completely.  I flipped over, turning my back to him, and curled my body into his.  He tightened his arms around me and buried his face in my mess of brown curls.

“Erik?” I said, after a minute.

“Hmmm?” he mumbled.

“Thank you for staying, even though we’re keeping our clothes on.” I felt him smile since his cheek was resting on my head.  “In all seriousness, I really don’t want to be alone tonight.”

“I know the feeling, Tal.  I felt the same way before mine.”

I tried to snuggle closer, even though I was already pressed completely into him.  I was too amped up to sleep, from the combination of being so close to Erik and my nerves over the Mission.  I knew that I was projecting towards Erik, and tried to control it so that he could get some rest.  I guess I was doing a poor job of it, because he gently detangled himself from me and scooted back a couple inches.  I assumed that the physical separation would make it easier for him to block my mind, but I sighed with disappointment.  Surprisingly, I felt Erik gently roll up the bottom of my tank top and I experienced the now-familiar heart pounding, shortness of breath, and crackles of electricity that shot through me when his skin touched mine.  I was, of course, nervous as he started to undress me, but I didn’t want him to stop.  Only he did stop, as soon as he’d pushed the back of my shirt up over the place where my bra would have been, had I been wearing one.  Suddenly, a thought struck me –
Did Erik think I was easy, because I wasn’t wearing a bra?

“There are lots of words I’d use to describe you,
Tal, easy is not one of them.”
He lazily traced a design on my back. Blood rushed to my face, and my body went rigid.

“Relax, Tal,” he chuckled.  He drew undistinguishable shapes up and down my skin.  I concentrated on the rhythmic movements of his fingertips, and felt my whole body unwind.

“Erik?” I asked, after his hand had stopped moving and rested gently on my hip.

“I’m awake,” he answered, starting to move his fingers again.

“Can I ask you question?”

“Sure,” his voice was relaxed, but I felt his body tense behind me.

“Why didn’t you go home for Festivis Day?” I asked.  His teeth ground together.  I knew why Harris didn’t go home – his parents didn’t think being a Talent was a good thing.  He’d actually had spent several school breaks with me and Donavon at the McDonough’s house.  I also knew why Penny didn’t go home – she didn’t have a real home.  Henri never missed an opportunity to spend time with Frederick, so that explained why he’d stayed, but it had been nagging at me why Erik had stayed.

“It’s complicated,” he finally answered, his words measured.

“Are your parents still alive?” I pressed.

“My dad and both of my brothers are.”  I could tell that he didn’t want to elaborate, and I suddenly realized how little I really knew about Erik, outside of Toxic.  Then I remembered something that Penny had told me.

“You didn’t come to the school when you were five, like most kids, right?”  Even as I said it, I knew that I was on shaky ground.

“Neither did you.”  Well, this was going famously.

“How old were you?”  I pried.

“Fourteen.”  This was like pulling teeth.  I should’ve stopped, but my curiosity was already piqued.

“How did it happen?” I asked.

“It’s complicated,” he repeated.  I considered probing his mind, but thought better of it.  Before I could open my mouth to ask another intrusive question that he wasn’t going to answer, he pressed his palm flat against my stomach and dragged me into him.  He kissed the side of my neck, and I no longer cared that he was being evasive.

“Why the twenty questions?” he whispered, his breath tickling my ear.  He nibbled gently on my earlobe.  I wiggled closer to him.

“I just want to know you,” I whispered back.

“You do know me, probably better than anyone.”  He kissed my neck again.  I craned my head around to find his mouth, and I kissed him softly. I looked into his eyes, more green than blue in the dark.  His mind was carefully guarded, and I knew that I wasn’t going to get anything out of him tonight.

“Will you tell me one day?” I asked softly.  Our faces were so close that my lips brushed his when I spoke.

“One day,” he promised, “When you’re ready to hear it.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Penny came over to my room that afternoon so that we could get ready together, for our night out in the city.  I selected a simple, long black-and-white floral dress, and a black to keep my arms and shoulders warm.  It was another dress that Gretchen had purchased for me that, I had yet to wear.  Penny helped me put on makeup, just enough that I still looked natural.  She selected a black head-topper of floral lace from her collection, and fastened it into my long curls.  I tried to protest, but Penny argued that we had so few chances to dress up that we might as well take advantage.

For herself, Penny chose a short, navy dress with long, billowy sleeves that wrapped around her slender body and tied on one side of her waist.  She managed to sleek her bright red hair into a neat bun, but decided against a head-topper for herself.  She looped long chains around her neck and wrists, made of fake gold and pretty glass beads, the same lime-green as her eyes.

I’d seen Penny every night for the last week, but that was strictly
business; we hadn’t had a chance to talk about anything except my upcoming solo Hunt.  Penny correctly surmised that I didn’t want to talk about that today, so instead she filled me in on all of the details of her rapidly-progressing relationship with Harris.  Neither was ready to call the other boyfriend or girlfriend, but they were definitely into each other and moving in that direction.

Penny gently pressed me for details about Erik.

“Is it obvious?” I asked.

“Well . . . yeah.  It’s totally obvious when we’re all together.  He can’t take his eyes off you, it’s totally hot,” she laughed.

“Do you think Henri knows?” I worried.  Dating, or whatever we were doing, wasn’t against the rules or anything, but I worried that Henri still might disapprove.

“Um, I know he knows,” she answered.  “Don’t worry he is cool with it.” I smiled.  Hopefully that was true.

“I’m so totally jealous,” Penny continued, with a pout.

I laughed, “Jealous?  You have Harris!”

“I know and it’s not like I like Erik or anything.  Well, I mean I do like him, he’s really cool, and obviously hot, but I don’t like him like him,” she rambled.

“Then why are you jealous?” I laughed again.

“Because every girl talks about him!  He’s like the closest thing to famous that we have here!?!”

I didn’t respond right away.  That was the problem – I didn’t want a bunch of girls crushing on him.  I didn’t want him to have his pick of girls, because then he might not pick me.

“Harris won’t be able to keep his hands off of you in that dress,” I teased, changing the subject.

Penny blushed, “You don’t look so bad yourself.”

Erik was waiting for me in the lobby, with Henri and Harris in tow.  He looked amazing, as usual, wearing jeans and a navy-and-white gingham button down.  His sleeves were rolled up, showing off his muscled forearms, and the white of the shirt contrasted nicely with his tan skin.  His dark hair was getting long and he kept running his hands through it, in a fruitless attempt to push it out of his eyes.  I had to resist the urge to run over and kiss him the moment we stepped off of the elevator.

“Hey,” Harris said to Penny, his whole face lighting up with a smile as we approached.  She returned his smile with a high-wattage one of her own.  He bent down to kiss her on the lips, and jealously twisted knots in my stomach as I watched their interaction.  I knew that Erik wouldn’t kiss me in public and, in truth, I didn’t want him to; I definitely wasn’t ready for everyone to know about whatever was going on between us.  Still, it hurt that Erik treated me the same way now as he had previously, before we’d started rolling around in my bed together.

“Ready to start the celebration?” Erik asked, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Celebration?
  Shouldn’t we wait to celebrate until she gets back and well, you know, actually passes her solo Hunt?” Penny asked, looking perplexed.

“Nah, we always celebrate before the Solo Mission – it’s just a formality anyway.  Once a Pledge gets his solo assignment, it’s pretty much a given that he – or she – will graduate,” Harris explained to her.

“But, I thought Talia’s Hunt was like super dangerous and – ”

“Tonight is a celebration of all her hard work to this point,” Erik cut her off, shooting her a warning look.  Erik and Henri knew about my assignment because they’re my teammates, and
Penny knew about it because she was part of the Crypto team compiling the intel.  No one else knew the specifics of my assignment, and I wanted for it to stay that way.

“Thank you, Erik,” I smiled gratefully up at him.  He gave my shoulder a small squeeze, something that he does in public all the time, but he rubbed his thumb across my collarbone before letting go, and I shivered as goosebumps erupted all over my body.  Erik suppressed a laugh and blood rushed to my face, coloring my cheeks with embarrassment.

“Let’s get this celebration started,” Henri said, speaking for the first time.  I could tell that he wasn’t in a festive mood, but he was trying for my sake.

Henri had been agonizing over my assignment all week, and even tried to talk Mac out of sending me alone, begging Mac for us to go as a team.  He’d also been arguing with Erik, because Erik refused to speak to Mac as well.  Henri hadn’t actually told me any of this; he was such a strong projector that I’d learned it in practice, when my mind was open to him.

I’d been careful to keep my personal reasons for wanting this Mission to myself.  Erik wasn’t fooled; he could tell that there was more to it than I, or Mac, was letting on.  He was aware that this assignment was personal for me, but he wasn’t intrusive enough to ask me outright.  I guess we both had our secrets.

Frederick was already at the restaurant that Erik had selected when we arrived.  He jumped up when he saw us approaching the table, and instead of giving Henri a hug, he folded me in his slender arms.

“I hear that congratulations are in order,” he said excitedly to me.

“Thank you,” I smiled back at him.

Henri ordered pitchers of lemon flavored mixed drinks for all of us to share.

“You’ll love it – gives you a nice drunk, but you won’t have a hangover tomorrow,” Henri promised.

Our little group drank all of the pitchers that Henri ordered, and then several additional ones.  I tried to eat enough to soak up the alcohol, but I was having such a good time that I let myself drink more than I had the first night I’d met with Penny.

Harris and Penny both had so much to drink, they kept touching and kissing, but in a cute way, not a gross, making-everybody-around-them-sick-to-their-stomach way.

Erik sat next to me, and kept reaching under the table to tickle my side or run his fingers over my leg when nobody was looking.  The more I had to drink, the harder it was to keep a straight face when he touched me.

“
Stop,”
I mentally pleaded with him when he ran his fingers lightly over the crook of my elbow, taking my breath away so that I couldn’t answer a question that Frederick asked.

  “
You like it,”
he insisted.

“
They’re going to know.”

“Tal, everybody sitting at this table knows – you have the worst poker face.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Every time that I get close to you, the look on your face is a dead giveaway,”
he laughed out loud.

”
Mighty full of yourself aren’t you?  Maybe whatever look I have on my face has nothing to do with you,”
I shot back, trying to sound indignant.

“
Trust me, I know that look.  Lots of girls give me that look.”

“Maybe if they know,”
I gave a pointed glance around the table, “
it’s because of the look you have on your face when you are around ME,”
I gave him a smug smile.

“
You might be right about that,”
he conceded.  “
Let’s just say that it’s a good thing you’re the only one who can read my thoughts.”

I gave him a light shove in the chest and attempted a disapproving stare, but it was hard when, in reality, it thrilled me.

I’d been so engrossed in my mental conversation with Erik that, I didn’t notice that everybody else at the table had stopped talking.  At first, my alcohol-muddled mind thought that it was because they were watching our exchange.  Unfortunately, I was wrong.  I followed the direction of their frozen gazes, and saw Donavon standing several feet from our table, staring at me.

My stomach dropped, and I had to fight the urge to be sick.  I’d know that I would have to see him again one
day, I’d just hoped that the day would be WAY in the future.

I stared straight at him, the alcohol giving me courage that I otherwise lacked.  After several long seconds of awkward silence, Donavon finally spoke.

“Congratulations, Natalia.  My dad told me that you leave for your solo Hunt tomorrow,” he spoke to me, but looked at Harris, the only friendly face for him at our table.

“Yes, I do,” I replied tightly, refusing to accept his sentiments.  Erik’s hand tightened on my leg.

“
Please be safe,”
he mentally added.  I closed my mind off to him completely, before I was tempted to reply, and turned my back on him.

“Nice to you see you guys.  Harris, I’ll see you back at the cabin later tonight.”  I don’t know if it was wishful thinking, or my newfound love of overanalyzing everything that guys said and
did, but I swear he emphasized the fact he planned on returning to his cabin tonight – i.e. not staying with the blonde slut in the city – for my benefit.

Donavon’s presence put a damper on my celebration.  Penny made an effort to get us back on track, by ordering Electric Shock shots, but I wasn’t in the mood anymore.  Erik was good at affecting a care-free attitude, but the way his fingers dug painfully into my arm told me that he wasn’t pleased.  I tried to take part in the conversation, but I couldn’t concentrate; I kept thinking about Donavon.  My lack of verbal communication
left plenty of time for me to down several more glasses of the lemony drinks, and I was completely toasted by the time curfew rolled around.

Penny asked if I wanted her to stay with me when we got back to Headquarters, but I insisted that it wasn’t necessary.  She wanted to spend more time with Harris, and I wanted to spend the night with Erik.

I clung on to Erik’s arm as I stumbled to my room.  He would’ve carried, I think he actually offered several times, but I refused, arguing that I was perfectly capable of walking on my own.  Of course, I wasn’t, but Erik indulged me. He even sat crossed-legged on the floor of the elevator with me, when the ride made me too dizzy to stand.

It took me three tries to scan my palm to open the door to my room.  Erik smirked, but waited patiently since I demanded that he let me do it on my own.

Once we were inside, I gave up my independent act and fell into Erik’s arms.  He scooped me off of my feet and carried me to my bed.

“Did you have fun tonight?” he murmured into my hair.

“Yup!” I nodded my head vigorously as he settled me on my pillows.

He slid my shoes off of my feet, before kicking off his own and climbing in after me.  He leaned over and bent his head down, until our foreheads touched.  I giggled, as I reached up to pull his lips to mine.  He hesitated for a brief second,
then gave me one of his toe-curling kisses.  I boldly reached for the waist of his pants to untuck his shirt.  I ran my hands over the hard muscles of his stomach and back, and I felt raised, puckered flesh, marking scars from past Hunts that hadn’t been removed.

His heart was pounding against his ribcage in time with my own, he pulled away from the kiss for just long enough to pull his shirt over his head, and I stared in amazement as his muscles rippled with even the smallest movement.

I looked up into his eyes, and I saw the same indecision that I had the other night.  I reached my hand out to him and he took it with only a little hesitation.  He lowered himself down on top of me again, careful to balance most of his weight on his free arm.  He never took his eyes away my mine as he released my hand, and reached up behind my neck to untie my dress.  He slowly pulled it down.  With one shaking hand, I reached up and traced the lines of his face.  He gave me a huge grin, and pulled the dress the rest of the way down.

My mouth was dry, my hands trembling, and clammy.  I couldn’t stop quivering with the mixture of nerves and anticipation.  Waves of heat spread over me every time that his skin made contact with mine.  I bit the inside of my cheek to keep myself from saying something that I might regret.  Erik’s eyes crinkled and his mouth quirked into a smile, enjoying the effect that he was having on me.

Once my dress was nothing more than a pile of gauzy fabric on the floor next to my bed, Erik sat back, looking me up and down.  It’d always made me nervous when Donavon looked at me without any clothes on, but something about the way that Erik’s eyes drank in every detail made me feel special, and I didn’t mind at all.

A flicker of something that I couldn’t pinpoint flashed across Erik’s eyes.  He hesitated, before bending down and kissing me, slowly, softly.  I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me, but I feared that he would never get close enough to satisfy me.