Coven (16 page)

When I didn’t reply, he shifted upward, his
mouth recapturing mine and he kissed me deeply. My fingers tangled
into his hair and I wrapped my legs around him intimately and he
groaned, pushing himself against me.

Gasping, I couldn’t believe I had the
capacity to even remotely control the reaction of Seth’s body to
mine. Knowing what I was doing to him was somehow powerful. Of
course, he was making me feel exactly the same way.

A light flicking on caught my attention and
I glanced toward the house, noting that it was my parents’ bathroom
window. “Someone’s up!” I said, pushing frantically at Seth.
“You’ve got to go! Go! Go!” Spying his shirt, I tossed it at him
and he shrugged into it.

“Do I need to go through the front again, or
can I just jump the back fence?”

Glancing toward the rear of the heavily
treed lot, I stared at a large bolder in a flowerbed by the back
corner. “I’ll come with you and remove the ward.”

Panic seized me as I grabbed his hand,
glancing briefly at the house before we scurried to the area I’d
just been eyeing. Searching for the ward, I located and deactivated
it.

“Hurry!” I said in a loud whisper.

“Kenna, I . . .” He hesitated.

“Text me!” I suggested, encouraging him to
hurry, but he still grabbed me and kissed me, making me go weak in
the knees.

“See you soon.” Watching, I made sure he was
clear of the fence and on the run before reinstating the ward.

Turning back to the house, I gasped,
realizing I was missing my shirt. Had Seth still been holding it? I
raced to the gazebo, checking under the pillows, but found
nothing.

Damn it! I needed to do something fast.

Racing toward the house, I paused at the
back door, removing the barrier and slipping inside, reinstating
it.

“
Kenna?”
My dad’s voice filtered into
my head as I ran into the laundry room, digging through the clean
clothes and grabbing the first tank top I saw.
“Where are
you?”

Dragging the shirt on, I raced into the
large kitchen, near the open space by the table
. “Dining
room,”
I replied to him in like fashion, knowing he would
instantly be able to detect my heart rate.

Cheer coming to the rescue, I began going
through the movements of the latest routine we’d been learning. The
steps came easily and effortlessly to me, but dad didn’t need to
know that.

Pausing in the doorway, he stared at me for
a few moments before going to the fridge and opening the drawer
that held his synthetic blood serum. He seemed on guard and stiff.
That made me nervous.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I promised the girls I’d be ready and know
all the routines by the first game. I have limited time between
practice, homework and now adding a job, too. I just wanted to make
sure I kept my word.” Okay, it wasn’t really an answer to his
question, but that was the point wasn’t it? Saying, “Oh, I’ve been
in the gazebo making out with Seth. He wanted to eat me,” probably
wasn’t going to do any good for anyone.

“At four A.M.?” Raising the vial to his
lips, he downed the contents and I noticed he instantly calmed, as
did I. It was a blood thing, not a “mad dad” thing.

“Couldn’t sleep.” I continued moving through
the routine, counting it out in my head. “How about you?”

“Time for my . . .
medication.”

“At four A.M.?” I echoed.

Grunting, he disposed of the container. “I
try to do it before you wake up, so there won’t be any
temptation.”

Eyeing him closely, I paused, my attention
riveted. “Seriously? Are you tempted around me?”

“Do you not remember anything I said to you
in training when you were a child?”

Dropping my arms, I walked over to the
large, granite island counter, slouching against it. “Yeah, but
that was years ago. I’ve never noticed you suffering with it, so I
thought maybe it was a thing of the past.”

“You don’t see me suffer with it because I
plan it that way. I do it to keep you from seeing things you
shouldn’t have to. I don’t want you to be afraid of me.”

Moving beside him, I threw my arms around
his neck, hoping it showed how much I trusted him. Immediately it
made me feel guilty because I knew I was being dishonest with him.
“I trust you, Dad. I’d trust you even if you didn’t have the
synthetic stuff. You’re my dad. You love me and I love you. Nothing
will change that. I know you won’t hurt me.”

A wry chuckle escaped him and he hugged me
back. “I’d rather die than hurt you, Firecracker. Now what do you
think? Shall we make your mom an early breakfast in bed before she
has to leave for work, or are you going to try and catch some more
sleep?”

“I’d love to help make breakfast,” I said,
excited to do something nice for my mom.

Man, I was going to be tired today.

Chapter Fourteen

“What’s the matter with you today?” Jett
asked from his “private” booth at his parents’ restaurant. Megan
was apparently out sick and Seth had vacated the table to go refill
his drink. Even though there were still several other students
milling around, it was just the two of us sitting together—if you
could count across the table from each other as “together.”

Glancing up from my barely touched pizza and
salad, I stared at him, giving a slight shrug. “I was up most of
the night.”

“Is something wrong?” he asked, actually
sounding concerned.

“No.” I didn’t want to say anything to
anyone about the ghost, which I guessed was an accurate term. I
still wasn’t convinced I hadn’t dreamed it all up. “Seth and I
snuck out last night.” I wasn’t sure why the idea of shocking Jett
brought me such inane pleasure; but, for some reason, seeing the
alarmed look on his face followed by a thunderous scowl was
rewarding.

“Really? And how did that turn out—the G
rated version, please. I don’t think my heart could handle hearing
the X rated one.”

His words surprised me, but still managed to
bring out my inner bitch. “I wasn’t aware you had a heart,” I
replied nastily, immediately regretting it when I saw his pained
expression.

“Well, I do. And right now you aren’t being
very nice to it.”

“It’s not my job to be nice to your heart.
It’s Megan’s.”

“Did you do him?” Jett asked point
blank.

“Excuse me?”

Leaning in closer, his eyes flashed as he
enunciated every word. “Did. You. Do. Him? I don’t know how much
plainer I can say it.”

I was completely offended. “That’s none of
your business.” Heat flooded my body, and not in a good way. Anger
streaked through me. How dare he ask me something like this? The
dude seriously had no boundaries whatsoever.

“I’m thinking no,” Jett said still staring
at me. “Otherwise Seth would’ve called to tell me about it.”

“Maybe he didn’t want you to know.” Gosh, I
hope Seth didn’t tell him these things.

“He tells me everything.” So much for that
idea.

“Somehow I doubt that.” Rolling my eyes, I
wondered where Seth was. I quickly glanced around, looking for
him.

Jett read me perfectly. “Lover boy is taking
a phone call outside. I saw him answer it and step out.”

Instead of replying, I took a big bite of
pizza. I couldn’t talk to him with my mouth full, right?

Wrong.

“You didn’t answer my question.” It was
obvious he wasn’t going to let this go.

“What’s it to you?” I spoke rudely over my
mouthful of food, just to gross him out, but he seemed unmoved.

Frustration crossed his features. “What’s it
to me? Well, let’s see. Seth is my very best bud in the world—and
he’s trying to bang the girl I want more than anything.”

Choking, I coughed hard, spraying pieces of
pizza onto my plate like an idiot. Jett reached across the table
and politely pushed my bottle of water closer to me. Taking it, I
chugged for several seconds before lowering it and coughing some
more.

“Are you okay?” Seth asked, appearing next
to me, but all I could manage at the moment was a nod as the
coughing continued.

“She just swallowed wrong,” Jett added
casually, as if he weren’t at all responsible for my current state
of distress.

Seth nodded. “Hey, I hate to bail, but my
dad just called from work and he forgot some of his drafting paper
and blueprints at home. He needs me to bring them to him and help
him out with something really quick. Do you mind catching a ride
back to school with Jett and I will meet you there?”

I tried to protest, but was still coughing
too hard. Seth absently reached out and began pounding on my
back.

“I can totally take her,” Jett volunteered
before I could get a word out. “Not a problem at all.”

“Thanks, man,” Seth said, obviously
relieved. “I’ll catch up with you both in a bit. It shouldn’t take
too long.”

With one last pat on my back, he leaned over
and bumped fists with Jett and was gone before I could even speak
the word, “Bye.” Great. This was just great.

“Well, that worked out nicely, didn’t it?”
Jett smirked, leaning back against the booth, spreading his arms
out behind him. “Now we can have a little more alone time.”

“So help me, if you lay one finger on me, I
swear I’ll kick your ass.”

Laughing heartily, he shook his head. “I’d
like to see you try.”

“Why?” I glanced up as one of the football
players walked by, headed toward another table. Lowering my voice,
I continued. “So you can throw the fight again?”

“No. This time I’d let loose and give it to
you good.”

“Then you have my permission to touch
me.”

“Excuse me?” It was his turn to look
surprised. “Did I hear you correctly? Was I just given permission
to touch the Holy Grail of Witchiness?”

Gathering my plate, I nodded and stood.
“Yep, but only because I’ve been dying to kick your ass.”

Laughter erupted from him once more. “I
should’ve known you’re only interested in fondling my body parts.
You know I’d let you do that without fighting, right?”

“I give up.” I muttered under my breath.
Turning away, I didn’t wait to see if he was following; instead, I
disposed of my items in the trash and headed downstairs to wait by
his car. I couldn’t sit in there a moment longer.

Heading across the lot to where the sexy
white Charger, with its masculine black racing stripes was parked,
I leaned against it. I didn’t want to like the car because it was
Jett’s, but I’d inherited my dad’s extreme love for all machinery
that could be driven. I couldn’t hate this car any more than I
could hate myself.

“Hey, watch the paint job!” Jett called out,
pointing to where my butt rested.

“Whatever. You do realize the paint is
actually dry, don’t you? It doesn’t stay wet all the time.” It was
like a
need
with me—a
need
to annoy him to the
highest level possible. For some reason he just got under my
skin.

Coming around to my side, he paused to stare
at me, casually glancing between my butt and the car. “The way I
see it, either you move of your own free will, or I will happily
come drag you against something else I’d love to have you lean
against.”

Instantly I was off the car.

“See now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out
at him as he popped the lock and opened the door for me. “Gee, what
a gentleman you are.” I batted my eyelashes furiously, as if I were
stupidly twitter pated over him.

“Hey, uh, you’ve got something in your eye,”
he replied snarkily, not even slightly put off by my act.

I gave a huff and slid into the car, leaning
away as he closed the door behind me. Reaching into my bag, I
grabbed my cellphone and pretended to read it. Other than a handful
of old texts from Seth, there wasn’t really much else to do on my
phone. My Facebook, while getting many friend requests after the
fight, was full of a bunch of people I didn’t know. It’s kind of
weird to comment on a complete stranger’s status when I’d never
even spoken to them.

“Uh oh. No phones,” Jett said as he slid
into the driver’s seat and neatly picked it from my fingers.

“Hey, give that back.” Lunging toward the
phone, I was stunned into silence when it disappeared.

Sighing, I stared at him. “That’s not fair
to use magic.”

“Why not? You’re just as magical as I am.”
Without pause, he started the engine. That was promising, at least.
Maybe he was finally sick enough of me that he was ready to ditch
me as quickly as possible.

“Can I please have my phone back?” Holding
my hand out expectantly, I waited.

Jett pulled from the parking place and out
onto the street, heading in the direction of the school. “So you’re
polite when you want something?”

“I’m polite all the time, except for when it
comes to you, for some reason.”

“Why do you think that is?” he asked.

“What is this? Therapy? You’re an ass,
that’s why. Now give me my damn phone!”

“No. I want to talk to you. If you’ll just
pipe down and be decent, you’ll get your phone back when we get to
the school.”

“You’re going to blackmail me into talking
to you?” He really was an exhausting piece of work.

“If that’s the only way I can get you to,
yes.”

“Why? I don’t understand why you feel the
need to annoy me all the time.”

“I
annoy
you?” He sounded
frustrated.

Looking over at him, I stared. “This can’t
be news to you.”

“It is, actually. I haven’t been trying to
annoy
you.”

“Really? Because you’re damn good at
it.”

Sighing heavily, he stared out the
windshield and I noticed his knuckles tightened on the steering
wheel. I could tell he was upset and, for some reason, I felt badly
about it.