Duality: Vol 1, Melancholia (A New Adult Paranormal Romance) (24 page)

“Tell me!” I yelled, yanking on his hands, pulling him back into the conversation.  I couldn’t let it go this far and then fall apart.  I had to know.

“Tell you what?”  He stood there, acting like he wasn’t breaking my heart in two with his casual attitude about the whole thing.

I barely controlled my anger, near-insanity bubbling beneath the surface as I waited for the answer to the one question I’d been asking the heavens all my life. 
Is there someone else out there like me or am I all alone in the world?
  “Tell me how you know about the people!  About the hiding!  About
all
of it!”  I jerked his hands again without thinking, accidentally pulling him against me.

At first I was freaked out.  If he attached himself to me and attacked me now, it would be my fault.  He’d done nothing to make this happen, it was all me.  But as I stared up into his eyes and saw the concern there and the confusion, yet none of the fervor that usually came from Rainbows, fear turned to something else.  I wanted him to touch me again.  But more than that, I wanted him to answer my question.

His jaw muscle tightened and his voice came out strained.  “Fine.  You want to know?  I’ll tell you how I know.  I’m like you.  I have the same problem.  I am an agent of darkness.”

I pulled back slightly, confused.  I had been expecting about three possible answers to my question:  ‘I’m just like you’ or ‘You’re a nut job’ or ‘I don’t understand’.  But at no point did I expect to hear
that
.  “What?” His words banked the heat that had been building up between us.  I suddenly felt threatened, but I wasn’t sure why.

He pulled on my hands, drawing me near, and put them behind him, placing them on his lower back.  I left them there, gripping onto his belt, part of me wanting to run but a bigger part wanting to feel him against me again. 
Screw the risk.  Screw the weird answer.  Screw everything.  Just touch me, please…

He put his hands on my shoulders and leaned down.  His hard body pressed into mine.

I could smell him again.  The heat was back and stronger than ever.  I let it wash over me, welcoming the shiver it brought to my bones.

His eyes were dark pools of sadness mixed with a tiny spark of hope that I knew mirrored my own emotions.  Just coming into contact with him made bolts of energy fly out of my body and out into the night.  Something wild was happening, uncontrollable, destined maybe.

We didn’t break eye contact until his lips met mine.  My lids fluttered closed on their own as the last bit of distance between us disappeared into oneness.

His mouth was soft at first, almost questioning as he kissed me in little bits.  The tentative touches continued in longer and longer stretches, the sounds of our more frantic breathing making the whole experience more sensual, hot.  His touch became more insistent, and his lips were wet now, sliding along mine and causing tickling sensations to build deep in my belly.

He pulled away just the tiniest bit, making me think he was done kissing me, but then his tongue came out to stroke my bottom lip, causing me to gasp in surprise.  I know about kissing, I’d done it once before, but the results hadn’t been anything like this.

I pulled him closer to me, tilting my head to reach more of his mouth with mine. I wanted to consume him, feel him everywhere, go deeper.

My fingers roamed across his muscled back as his hands slid up to my neck and then to the sides of my face to hold me there tenderly, deepening our kisses and moaning when I tangled my tongue with his.

“Hey, what are you guys doing over here?” said an annoyed Kootch.  “You want to get arrested for underage drinking?  Come on!”

I jerked away from Malcolm, my face flaming red with embarrassment over being caught.  The cool night air doused the flames that had grown way too hot, and the presence of our friend woke me up to our reality.  We were getting all hot and bothered in the middle of a party and the cops were here to arrest people.

“Shit are they here?” asked Malcolm, looking a little lost as he ran his hands through his hair.  He was as flustered as I was.

“Hey love birds, what’s this all about?”  Jasmine had walked up behind Kootch and was pointing to both of us in turn with a huge grin on her face.  “Geez, we leave you alone for ten minutes and you’re over here making babies already.”

“Shut up, Butts,” growled Kootch.  “Come on, we have to get out of here.  Geneva does
not
like being towed.  She hates not sleeping in my driveway.”

I said nothing, too embarrassed at being caught climbing down Malcolm’s throat to find my voice.  I followed Kootch with Jasmine next to me.  Malcolm brought up the rear.

“You are going to spill every last bean you have, girl, or there will be blood.”  Jasmine was trying to give me a tough look, but I was too flustered to play along.

“Just get me out of here,” was all I could manage.

“Cops!”  yelled a guy, running past us.  “Go out back!  Over the fence!”

Kootch spun around and shoved Jasmine and me in a half-circle.  “Go, go, go!” he yelled.

I didn’t question him; I just turned and ran.  Malcolm was there, taking me by the hand and running with me.  I was glad for his touch and the sense of security he brought, rational or not.

We got to the fence, and I panicked.  There was no way I was going to make it over.

Malcolm laced his hands together and held them down by his knees for me.  “Step here.  Go!”

I grabbed the edge of the fence and put the bottom of my shoe on his hands.  He launched me up at the same time as I stood straight, and in a rush of air I found myself at the top of the fence, screaming in fright.

Jasmine popped up next to me, using Kootch as her launching pad.  “Climb over, dork!” she shouted in my face, just before throwing her leg over.  She lowered herself down and dropped to her feet on the other side.  “Now!” she yelled, gesturing for me to follow.

I lifted my leg up and straddled the fence.  Looking back, I nearly had a stroke.  Several police officers were coming out the back door and into the backyard.

Kootch climbed up the fence like a monkey and flopped over onto the other side, falling on the ground and just barely missing landing on Jasmine.

She kicked him once in the side as he tried to get up.  “You almost squashed me, dummy!”

“Stop right there, young lady!” one of the officers yelled, pointing a flashlight beam in my face as I turned around.

I froze.

“Jump down!” yelled Jasmine, her voice getting harder to hear as she ran away.  “Come on!”

“Go, Rae!” said Malcolm.

“No!  I can’t leave you here!”  I probably could have jumped down and escaped to the Gremlin with Jazzy Butts and the Cyclops, but I really didn’t want to leave Malcolm to the cops.  We were connected now, for better or for worse.  My only hope was to work some Rainbow magic on these guys to help us get out of this mess before either of our parents found out what we’d been doing.

I flipped my leg back over to the house-side of the fence and climbed down with Malcolm’s help.  We stood next to each other holding hands as the officers descended.

Chapter Twenty-Three: Malcolm

I HELD ONTO RAE’S HAND and stepped a little in front of her.  Normally when I interact with cops, I keep my distance.  They’re around negativity and violence all day long, and the last thing they need is a dose of darkness to add to the mix.  But this time, I had more than them to think about.  I had Rae, and I didn’t want any guy with a gun getting near her.

“Is this your residence?” asked the officer who was the first to approach.  Two more of them wandered around the yard, checking behind trees and in corners.  I could have saved them the trouble and told them that Rae and I were the only people left back there, the only ones not smart enough to jump the fence in time, but I didn’t bother.  They wouldn’t have listened anyway.

I blamed myself for us being there.  Kissing her, I’d been in some kind of weird trance that blocked out all sense of reality.  Now we were going to pay for it, me especially.  I had some very dark days ahead of me for sure.  Mrs. Gonzalez would never let this slide.

“No, sir, we don’t live here,” I said, gently squeezing Rae’s hand, trying to let her know that I’d take care of her.

“What are you doing here?”

“Just hanging out,” I answered, trying to sound respectful and non-threatening.

“Do you know the residents of this house?”  He rested his hands on his belt, one near his nightstick and one near his handcuffs.

I swallowed hard.  “No, sir.  I was just here visiting.”

“You’re visiting a place where you don’t know the residents, huh?  How old are you?”

“Seventeen.  Almost eighteen.”

“Did you have any alcohol tonight?”  His gaze slid to the keg across the yard.

“Uhh, no, sir.”  Of course he’d smell it on me if he got any closer, and any breathalyzer test would totally take me down, but I figured admitting it would be even worse.  At least I had from now until he tested me to be presumed innocent.

“You sure about that?”  The cop took a step closer.

Rae spoke up, stepping from around me to stand at my side.  “He hasn’t.  But I have, and I’m only seventeen.  I want to turn myself in.  Come on.”  She walked forward like she was just going to hug the guy or something.

He backed up, pulling his nightstick partway out of his belt.  “Stop right there.  Don’t come any closer.”

“Rae, what are you doing?” I said, instantly freaking out, thinking she was going to get clubbed or something.  That beer must have gone straight to her head and made her completely lose her grip on reality.  It made me sick to think that I’d taken advantage of her and kissed her when she was that far gone.  She probably never would have touched me if it hadn’t been for the beer.

She stepped around him and began walking towards the house.  “Come on, officer.  Let’s go to the station.”

He tried to grab her arm, but she danced to the side and he missed.  The other cops were too busy looking for kids inside now to do anything with Rae.  Our interrogator stood there looking from me to her, total confusion written all over his face.  She was already halfway to the door by the time he made his decision about how to handle the weird situation.  “Stay put,” he ordered, before turning to go after her.

I did as he said, but not because he told me to.  I didn’t want to abandon Rae.  She was off the rails and someone needed to be there for her.  No way was I going anywhere.

She reached the doorway and turned around, a huge grin on her face.  She waved.  “Bye, Malcolm!  See you on Monday!”  And then she spun around and ran inside.

“Hey!” yelled the cop.  “Chuck!  Banks!  We’ve got a runner!  In the house, coming from the back!”

I stood there not knowing what to do for a second or two.  None of this made any sense.  Who goes to a party, drinks a beer, and then surrenders to cops?  That’s just … weird.

But then Rae’s voice came from somewhere I couldn’t see and solved my dilemma for me.  “Run, Malcolm!  Over the fence, run!”

I battled with my conscience for a few more precious seconds, wanting to follow her into the house so we could go down in flames together.  But then I decided I might be able to do more to help her with some distance and time on my side.  Maybe I could get around to the front of the house without being seen and aid in her escape from there.

I turned and ran.  The fence loomed large, and I visualized myself leaping from three feet away, grabbing the top, and climbing up like Kootch had.

“Hey!  Where do you think you’re going?!”

I ignored the voice and grabbed the fence, the leap from three feet in my imagination much more graceful than it turned out in reality.  My sneakers slipped on the smooth surface of the wood, looking for something to grip onto.  I finally found the cross-bar of wood holding the upright parts together and used my toe to lift me to the top.  I was almost all the way over when someone grabbed my pant leg.

“Oh, no you don’t,” said the voice, grunting with the effort of keeping me on his side.

I kicked the police officer hard, catching him in the chin.

“Sorry!” I yelled, as his hand fell away.

I threw myself off the fence to the ground below.  I was on my knees when another officer came down the alley that separated the yard I had just left from the next section of neighborhood.  I took off running in the opposite direction, down the narrow road, planning to loop back around when I got to the end.  I easily outpaced the overweight officer behind me, and the one on the other side of the fence didn’t follow me over.  I was home free in under a minute.

At the end of the alley I turned left, acting like I was heading farther away from the house so they’d look on the wrong street if they were really dead set on arresting me.  After only taking a couple steps in the wrong direction, I crept back and peeked up the path I’d just come from to see if the cop was still pursuing me.  I was relieved to find him faced the other way, walking back to the other end of the alley.  I quickly crossed over to the other side, looping around to the front of the house that was about ten down from the party place.

Going from house to house, staying close to the front porches and bushes, I made my way back.  As I went, my gaze scanned the road lit by streetlamps, expecting to see nothing but a few remaining student cars and the officers’ vehicles.  This neighborhood is the kind where people tuck their SUVs away in garages, out of sight, so normally the street would be clear.

I almost looked away, certain I was seeing what I’d expect after a party raid, but then something caught my eye.

I froze, my body tingling all over.

My legs wouldn’t move as I took in the brown sedan with leprosy that stood out and so obviously didn’t belong.  It gave me the weirdest sense of foreboding; I could almost feel it rushing over me like a wave of awfulness. 
What the hell is he doing here?  He couldn’t possibly live in this neighborhood and drive that POS.