Blood Debt (Touched Series Book 1) (20 page)

BOOK: Blood Debt (Touched Series Book 1)
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One year. 
I thought a
year would be a piece of cake.  When I escorted her to the wedding
,
I knew that the most beautiful woman at the wedding wasn’t wearing white, she was holding my
bicep
, walking in lock
step with me.  We were milling around making small talk when she said, “I’m anxious to meet Camille
Strayer
.  I hear she’s new to our kind.  Tonight will be her first introduction to the Centaur
s
ociety.”

I wanted to appear interested, but I couldn’t have cared less. 
“Who

s she?”

“Apparently Will
Strayer
had a Centaur
m
istress

Camille is his daughter.  I hope
we get to meet her.

My interest was piqued.  “A Centaur mistress?  Really?”

“Everyone’s talking about it.  She just arrived this week and
,
from what I heard, knew nothing about us.”

No sooner had Bianca’s words escaped
than
I saw Will escorting
Camille
from the house.  She looked nervous, pre-occupied
,
as they stood on the porch and looked out into the crowd.  My eyes locked on her
, her blood called to me,
scream
ed
to me. 
She took her first step down the stairs and something in the distance caught her attention. 
I saw her take her second step
and something wasn’t right, her footing looked wrong.  I
knew she would tumble if no one did anything.  Will wasn’t paying attention

I could see Brent and Beau
were
much closer than
I was
,
but neither was watching.  I let Bianca’s hand go and sprinted to her
,
stretching both my hands out to catch her before she could miss the last step.  She landed squarely in my arms
,
and I froze. 
   

She would have gone face first onto the ground had I not caught her in mid-air.  Her body was light

I
seized
her with my right hand on her face and my left on her stomach. 
Time felt as if
it
had slowed down

I placed
her
carefully
on her feet.  In that single second it seemed as though we were the only two in the universe.  As she stood upright an
d
looked at me
,
I saw the most beautiful, milk-chocolate eyes staring at me.  When she thanked me
,
it was hard to breath

I muttered something in reply
,
and she held her hand out to thank me.  I was horrified

I knew our customs didn’t allow for the two of us to touch
,
and in that second I knew why.  Bianca had chosen me

I was betrothed
, p
romised
,
and
I
felt an irrational desire for
Camille.  I
couldn’t explain
it

I wanted to
grab her in my arms and never let her go.
  Somehow my mind found the strength to override my heart’s urges.

When I returned to Bianca, I expected her to be furious with me.  Not only had I touched another woman, I had touched her in front of two hundred others.  Bianca surprised me with a sweet smile and  a gentle caress on my cheek

“Thanks so much for catching her
.  T
hat was such a
kind
thing to do.”  I was floored
-
she wasn’t upset in the least.  Bianca caught me watching Camille several times
through the ceremony
.  Never once did she show the slightest concern that I was so
obviously
captivated with the newcomer. 

After the ceremony, Bianca prodded me to
pay attention to a conversation between Will
iam
Strayer
and Kyle
Richardson. 
The conversation
had been strained initially
,
then Camille said something hateful to Gage’s dad.  Without thinking it through
,
I sprinted to her, gathered her in my arms, and ran as fast as my legs would take us. 
I stopped a mile away, set Camille on her feet, but didn’t back away from her.  As I stood looking in those milk-chocolate eyes
,
I felt my world starting to unravel.  I
tried to tell myself that I would have done the same thing for any woman about to be attacked by a Centaur.

Seconds later, Brent arrived and reminded me of Bianca waiting at the reception.  I knew I had screwed up
;
there would be repercussions.  I had touched a woman Centaur,
twice, in front of my fiancé.  Without another word
,
I ran back the way I
had come
, trying to think of a plausible excuse for my actions. 
Any other
Centauride
in the world would have
threatened our engagement,
or at the very least
chastised me
,
but Bianca seemed both thrilled and approving of
my
stepping in to help Camille

Yesterday it had been
easier to hide my eye’s interest in Camille where there were so many others.  But today
,
on the boat
,
with Bianca, Camille,
and
Brent
,
it would be impossible to
conceal
.
  I needed to find a reason not
to
go, to keep away from Camille, to keep from losing Bianca.

I heard the doorbell ring and knew I was out of time.  I’d just let Brent know something had come up.  I e
ased my front door open, fully prepared to tell Brent I couldn’t go when I looked down into
those same captivating,
milk-chocolate eyes. 

She wore a wide smile,
“Hi, Drake. 
Brent’s on the phone
,
so I thought I’d let you know we’re here. 
I’m so glad you’re going with us today.”

My heart leapt
trying to escape
from my chest
,
and all excuses I’d found to stay at my apartment evaporated in front of me.
She stood in a swimsuit covered by a see-through wrap that left nothing to the imagination.  S
h
e seemed oblivious to the way she looked
,
standing an arm’s length away
.  In that moment I didn’t care about my
blood line
,
my engagement to
Bianca, my parents
,
or anything I valued as a Centaur – I was filled with blind lust.
  My arms ached to pull her to me.  I froze
,
unwilling to say or do anything – I didn’t trust myself.

Camille waved her hand in front of my face with an enormous smile.  “Hello?  Are you
feeling
okay?”

I could feel beads of sweat forming on my forehead

I was sure my heart had forgotten how to beat.  When I hadn’t responded quickly enough for her, she placed her palm on my cheek, and whispered, “Drake, do you need to lie down?”

Explosions went off in my head
,
and electric pulses raced through my body.  I stepped away from her
,
nearly tripping over a pair of shoes patiently waiting by the door.  I wasn’t at all in control of my motor functions but knew I couldn’t possibly trust myself to be near her. 

“You know, I think you guys might need to go without me today.”  I could feel my face flushing bright red.

“Are you sick?  Do you need to go to the doctor?”

“I’m sure it’s nothing.  You have fun today.”  I closed the door gently while she still stood there.  I backed up against the wall and slid to the floor, trying to get a handle on myself.  After just a few seconds
,
I realized I could breathe again, my pulse was slowing
,
and I squatted there with my back to the wall for
support while my body came under control again
.
  What in the hell just
happened? 

“Drake, we aren’t leaving you,” Brent’s voice called through the closed door.  “I’m giving you to the count of three
,
and I’m coming in.”

I shook my head, knowing I could create a decent explanation for my absence to Brent.  I opened the door and was fully in control.  “Sorry, man, I can’t go today.”

“Camille said you looked sick
.  Y
ou don’t look sick to me.”  Brent furrowed his brows
,
his instincts telling him there was more going on than what his eyes saw.

I made an effort to sound normal,
“I’m fine

I just have a lot to do today.”

“Hello-o-o-o, Bianca’s coming.  Tell me you don’t want to see
her
on a deck chair!  Grab your shorts
;
let’s go.”
 

I should have punched him for his comment about my fiancé, but she wasn’t the one my eyes were interested in seeing
,
and I couldn’t bear for him to know that I didn’t trust myself around Camille. 
“Yeah, I don’t know how her father would feel about us out to sea without an escort.”

“What are you, dense?  Camille and I will be there.  You have an escort.
  Let’s go
.”

“I’ve got a ton of work to do around here today
.  M
aybe next time.”

Brent knew something was up
.  H
e turned his head to the side
,
considering possibilities

“Drake, is there something you aren’t telling me?”

“No, I’m just not a
Strayer

I can’t go for a sail whenever the mood strikes me.”

“Look, you know the rules as well as I do.  I can’t take your fiancé out on the boat without you.  Camille doesn’t have any friends
,
and Bianca was nice to her last night.  Do this for me.  None of us want Camille to go back to California
.  I
f she and Bianca hit it off, she’ll be less likely to leave.  I promise you can hang out in one of the state rooms and do whatever work you need to
.  J
ust come
along
.”

I wasn’t accustomed to deceit, but when Brent said it was possible Camille m
ight
go back to the west coast
,
I felt my heart lurch again.  Even if she w
ere
never to be mine, I knew I would go through withdrawals with her so far away.
  That was all the coaxing I needed.  “Give me two minutes.”

Within an hour we had picked up Bianca, made it to the
Y
acht
C
lub
,
and were out on blue water.  Brent wasn’t kidding
;
Camille and Bianca were fast friends. 
Although
Brent and I
had never been
extremely tight, he was fun to be around
,
and it was great to hang
out
with another guy since I’d lost my closest friend following the news of my engagement to his
covert
girlfriend
.  The ladies were tanning on the deck while we talked about the upcoming Clemson / Game Co
cks
seasons. 

“Hey
,
Drake,” Bianca called, “why don’t you two come and join us?”

We were on the upper deck
,
and
I
waved down my acknowledgement,
then said to Brent,
“I guess duty calls.”

“Maybe for you.”  Brent said with a smirk.

“You’re going down there with me
.

“Who’s going to drive the boat, Dumb
A
ss.”

I looked in all directions.  We were easily five miles from shore
with
not another boat of any kind within sight.
  There was no way I was going down there by myself.
  “Just anchor it
and
c
ome
o
n.

  Brent cut the engines and turned up the music a
s
the waves rocked the boat gently in the breeze.

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