A Touch of Souls (Immortal Souls) (6 page)

"Actually, I would like for my BOYFRIEND to come pick me up. Hunter Martin? He probably left his phone number at the front desk. Just give him a call and let him know I'm ready to be picked up please." I smiled pleasantly at the thought of going home.

"Guinevere, I need for you to not tell anyone about what led up to the wreck. No one should find out about that guy. The only reason they weren't curious about the cut on your side is because it's typical for being in a wreck and retaining cuts, alright?" He seemed so genuine. I knew something had to be wrong with this beautiful boy. He seemed perfect, but I knew underneath the exterior was a man with a thousand secrets, hundreds of skeletons in his closet.

Standing slowly so as not to injure myself, I walked to my adjoining bathroom and looked in the mirror.
I looked as if I had been run over by a freight train. My hair was a crazy mess of gold locks. My eyes had bags under them, and my nose had tape on top of it, but just under the tape I could see the purple and blue of a bad bruise peeking out. I had definitely seen better days. I used to be the poster child of perfect skin now on almost every inch I had some kind of bruise or cut.

Walking back into the room, I was surprised to find another nurse standing next to my bed. Strange, I hadn't heard her come in. Walking to the bed, I noticed her holding a syringe and wondered if that was my last dose of pain medication before they sent me home.

"I'm just here to give you your last dose, and get you out of your I.V. And the doctor also said it should be safe to take your neck brace off. You've been here for almost two weeks, can you believe it?" She sounded strange, kind of far away, as though she was here but her mind remained elsewhere. I was wary when she stepped toward me and reached out toward my neck, but relaxed when I realized she was only taking my neck brace off.

"Now this is gonna hurt just a bit, but you won't remember it," she sang in that far off voice. I didn't even have time to react before she thrust the syringe into my I.V.

Suddenly, my world was upside down. I didn't know left from right. Up from down. Hell, I didn't even know my own name. I swear I saw an evil grin cross that nurse's face before I collapsed onto the ground in a heap, and the darkness closed in.

"Gwen! Gwen! Sweetheart, wake up! Please, baby, it's me, Hunter! Are you alright?" Hunter's panic scared me. I didn't know what was going on. The last thing I could remember was looking in the mirror in my bathroom. Suddenly, I realized I was on the floor of my hospital room, my neck brace was gone and so was my I.V. A nurse had to have come in here and help, but why would they leave me in a ball on the floor? I couldn't remember anyone being in here after I went to the bathroom. Something wasn't right. I just wanted to get out of here.

"Angel, I-" Dimitri's words were cut off by Hunter jumping to his feet and in his face in a matter of seconds.

"Don't you dare say another word! This is your fucking fault! You were the last person seen leaving this room. You did something and I WILL find out what! And you need to stop calling MY girl Angel. She is my girlfriend, not yours, so back the fuck off. Why are you even here anyway?!" Hunter's fury was a palpable thing at that moment. I was actually scared. But I knew something didn't fit. I remembered being fine when Dimitri left. He would never harm me, I don't know for sure how I knew that. But I knew it with all of my being that he was just as furious as Hunter, maybe even more. I also knew that saying anything wouldn't help anything, so I kept my mouth shut and let Dimitri deal with Hunter's rage.

On the drive home I realized I didn't really want to be at my house all alone, so I asked Hunter if he could take me somewhere else. He agreed to take me to his house, telling me how happy his parents would be to have me. In my mind, that translated to they had heard about the wreck my life had become and felt sorry for me, but I would take what I could get for now.

Walking into the house, I realized that Hunter must have called ahead, because his parents, Tina and Freddy, had dinner set up at the table with one extra seat for me. The house smelled absolutely delicious, and I realized I hadn't eaten anything at the hospital. I was overwhelmed by the crippling need to eat and I sat eagerly when Hunter pulled out a chair for me at the table.

With everyone around me, I felt a little at ease, knowing that not everyone in my life had been taken from me. Hunter's family had always felt like a second family to me, and vise versa. It felt nice to know my anchor was still there after everything else in my life had been stripped away.

Dinner passed pretty quietly with minimum talk, I imagined because everyone was scared they would say something that would upset me. But it wasn't an unbearable silence, it was comforting. Kind of how after a long boisterous day, you just want to
lay down and relax in silence.

After dinner, I decided I couldn't really impose much longer, so I asked Hunter to take me home. On the drive home, I didn't know what to say and as it seemed neither did he. Pulling up to my driveway, I leaned my head on his shoulder.

"I'm scared," I whispered. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. I just lost my parents and I was really expected to walk into my house and act like everything was okay? Of course, I could invite Hunter to go ahead and come in with me, hell, I was even sure he could stay with me if I wanted. But that was just the thing, I didn't want him here, but I also didn't want to be alone.

"Don't be, darling. It will be okay. I love you, okay?" he smiled at me before turning back around to the wheel. It was only about 7 o' clock, so I wondered why he was in such a hurry. Brushing it off, I climbed out of the car, and made my way slowly up the gravel driveway. The only light was the headlights of Hunter's Hummer, but soon enough those too were gone, plunging me into the surrounding darkness.

Walking into my house, I immediately felt the absence of my parents. There was no bickering and arguing. I never thought I would miss it, but here I was, standing alone in my house, and I wished I could take back the first morning of school. I wish I hadn't have skipped breakfast. I wished I had kissed each on their cheeks and told them that I loved them more than anything. But now that would never happen again. I would never get the chance to let them know just how much they meant to me before they were taken from me.

I would never see my dad walking out of the house every Sunday morning for golf. I would no longer come home to the smell of a dinner, with at least one burnt food, courtesy of my mom's inability to cook. Thinking about how they were gone made me feel alone in the whole world. No matter how many people I surrounded myself
with, my parents would always be gone, never to return. And I would be alone and without a family.

Walking up the stairs, I pulled out my cell from my pocket. I had two unread messages, both from the same unknown number.

 
Hey. It's Dimitri. I just wanted you to have my number in case you need something.

Gwen, I need you to know that it wasn't me that gave you the medicine that made you pass out. I would never do something like that to you.

Holding my phone close to my chest, I realized just how much it meant to me that he felt the need to explain that he wouldn't hurt me. I texted a quick reply with my address, I asked him to come stay with me for a little while, as I didn't want to be alone in the house, and we needed to talk.

I wasn't sure I wanted to know what he had to hide. But I knew that without a doubt I needed to know. I was going to find out Dimitri's secrets.

Chapter 5

Dimitri knocked on my door as I was eating a bowl of cocoa pebbles on my couch. Getting up and setting my bowl on the coffee table next to me, I took my time getting to the door so he didn't realize how excited I was to have him here, at my house. Just me and him. I had to hold back a tear that tried to fall at the last thought.

When I opened the door, the first thing he did was look me up and down. He
smirked when he saw my hot pink boy shorts and tank top, I immediately flushed. I had forgotten to change out of my pajamas that I put on out of habit. And now, here I was standing in front of a boy I hardly knew, yet felt a strange attraction too. Just wonderful.

Walking into the living room, I grabbed a blanket off the back of the couch as I sat down. I hoped he wouldn't notice that I was covering myself up from him. I did not want to flaunt my body to this guy. Hell, I hardly knew what overcame me and made me invite him over.

"So, you asked me to come over, what made you decide to do that?" Dimitri questioned with genuine curiosity. The same question I was asking myself... Shifting in my seat, I decided the best way to approach this was with the truth. I would just be completely honest, well not so honest I told him about the dreams.

"We need to talk... About a lot of things..." I trailed off looking away, hoping he would get the hint that this was pretty serious. I just hoped that we would be able to talk
with out him getting angry and storming out. I need to know the truth. I had to know how he found me that night in the alley.

"Shoot," was all he replied. Ugh, this was gonna be horrible.

"Well, first off, I wanna know how you knew where I was when that man was going to attack me," I stared at anything that would keep my eyes from meeting his face. I could not let him onto how genuinely freaked out I was about that. Or how grateful I was. I hardly knew him, but I could tell it would go straight to his head.

"I was following you," he simply stated, as if it were completely normal to follow some girl you had just met when she was running.

"What?!" I choked out. I could not believe those words had just spilled out of his mouth like nothing.

"Well, I saw you coming out of the bar in your running clothes, and I had seen that man exit just a few moments before. He sat in his car until you went off running. Watching him, I realized he was going to follow you. He started out walking a safe distance away from you, but then you turned down a street that led to the bad part of town, that was when he started speeding up. If he hadn't have tried to reach you, I would have simply left you to your run and out of harm's way. I cannot explain it actually. It's as though there is this incessant need to watch over you within me. To not let you out of my sight," he said the last bit out of breath, as though he were struggling with the words.

Stunned, I sat back. I didn't say any words. I knew I should been freaked out or scared, but all I felt was gratitude. If he hadn't have been there, there was no telling what could have happened to me. I shuddered just thinking about it.

Mistaking my shudder for a shiver of cold, Dimitri moved toward me. He pulled me under his arm and rubbed his hands up and down my arms to warm me up. I knew I shouldn't be doing this. I was with Hunter, but we weren't technically doing anything. It was just so nice being in his arms again.

"Why did you stay at the hospital?"

"I already told you, I wanted to make sure you were safe, that you were okay,"

"Why do you want to protect me?"

"I'm not entirely sure, I've never really felt this way before," he sounded strained. This must be really frustrating for someone who always seemed in control of everything.

Finished with my questioning for now, I stood up and walked across the room to get away from Dimitri before I did something I knew I would regret. Facing the empty fire place, I felt overwhelmed. Everything had happened so fast. What was I supposed to do now?

Turning around, I was shocked to find Dimitri standing right behind me. I hadn't even heard him move. Putting his arms on either side of me, he backed me up against the wall right beside the fireplace. He leaned down until he was almost kissing me. I tensed in anticipation as I waited for the kiss. I longed for the kiss. I could feel my heart pounding against my chest as his hot breath caressed my lips.

"You said you dreamt about me," he stated smugly. Sighing internally, I pushed him away from me as hard as I could. I couldn't believe I had actually wanted this cocky asshole to kiss me! He was just doing this for his own pleasure. He must have a need to have every girl lusting after me. I would not let him know how much he truly effected me.

"Ha! I was messed up on pain pills when I said that. I hardly knew my own name," I retorted, trying to hide the blush that was definitely staining my cheeks pink. So that was a total lie, but why should I give in to him? Let him have what he wants just because he's gorgeous?

"Yeah, whatever. I'm not buying that for one second." I wanted to slap that egotistical look right off of his beautiful face.

"Don't flatter
yourself," I said, brushing past him to the front door. "This was a nice chat, but I believe you should get going now. Your girlfriend is gonna have a cow if she finds out you were here." To my surprise, he actually turned around and walked out the door. Just as I was about to close it, though, he stuck his foot in it, blocking me from closing him out.

"For the last time, she is not my girlfriend." And with that, he was gone.

Gasping for breath, I sat up in
bed, it was almost three in the morning.
What the hell?!
It was a dream. Only a dream.
But it felt like so much more...