Enchantment (15 page)

“With the amount of lust you’re generating, Chastity’s curse should have knocked you unconscious. Your shield protected us until you touched my bare skin. I guess it can only do so much.”

“So, what’s your curse doing now? Is it trying to zap me?”

“Yes, but since I already emptied my power-well, I can control it.”

“Come here, you.” Josh grabbed Channie’s wrist, above the cuff, and pulled her into his arms.

Her belly tightened involuntarily, shooting a wave of heat over her skin, until even her toes felt hot. Chastity’s magic protested, but it wasn’t back to full power yet, it was still manageable. Her mind screamed, ‘get away,’ but her body insisted she get closer — until Josh’s stomach growled.

Channie giggled and leaned back against his arms. “You’re hungry.”

“Yeah, but not for food.” His voice was deep, animalistic, with just a hint of aggression.

She squirmed out of his embrace, but kept her hands on his chest. She didn’t want him to think she was rejecting him. “I got a new phone. Can you show me how to use it?”

Josh moved his hands to her shoulders and gave them a gentle squeeze, sighing as he exhaled. “Sure. Let’s go outside for awhile. I need some fresh air.”
 

Channie nodded. Fresh air and a little less privacy was exactly what they needed.

Josh sat on the end of a folding lounge chair and pulled Channie onto his lap. She’d seen lots of boys with girls on their laps at school and here, today at the race. No one seemed to care, not even the girls’ parents. But back home, you didn’t sit on a boy’s lap if you cared about your reputation.

When she leaned forward to get up, Josh grabbed her hips and said, “Where do you think you’re going?” But then he sighed and let go, holding his hands out to the side, palms up. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

Channie settled back onto his lap, but slid closer to his knees. “It’s okay, I’m just a little nervous. I’ve never sat on a boy’s lap before.”
 

Josh said, “I’m sort of new at this, too. If I ever do anything you don’t like — just tell me and I’ll stop.” He sounded sincere … but then he slid his hand from her back around to the side, curling his fingers over her ribs. “If I do something you especially like — be sure to tell me that too.”
 

Damn it! Channie liked it alright. And he wasn’t touching anything he shouldn’t. But her eyes were almost level with his. If she fell into those sapphire depths, who knew what might happen. All he had to do was slide his fingers up a few inches …
 

Channie arched sideways and pressed her arm against her body, nudging his hand lower with her elbow. “I’d especially like it if you showed me how to use my phone.”

Josh sort of growled, but he got the hint. “Fine, hand it over.” He didn’t even need the instruction book. He grinned and took a picture of himself then programmed Channie’s phone so his face appeared on the screen whenever he called her.
 

He said, “Do you like Nickelback?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never heard of them.”

“I have just the song for my ringtone.”
 

She didn’t want to read too much into it, but when Josh dialed her number and “Gotta Be Somebody” started playing, Channie’s heart skipped more than a couple of beats.
 

He handed her phone back to her and said, “When you want to call me, just press and hold the number two button.”

“You should be number one.”

“That’s really sweet, but I programmed that number to call nine-one-one, which is the first thing you should do in an emergency. It’s not unusual for people to panic during a crisis but even if your mind goes blank, you can remember to press the number one because it’s …”

“The first thing to do in an emergency. Got it.”

Josh took a picture of Channie with his phone and reprogrammed it with her number stored in the number two spot. He used the same song for her ringtone and said, “This is our song now, so you can’t ever use it for anyone else’s ringtone.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

~***~

Josh plugged a set of earbuds into his phone and handed one of them to Channie then played their song all the way through. When it ended, he said, “Channie, I need to know if my shield can protect me from the full force of your curse. We need to test it.”

“Now?”

“I need to allow time to recover before the award ceremony if it doesn’t work.”

“Alright.” Channie’s whole body trembled as she relinquished control of Chastity’s power. It rushed out of her like water through a broken dam. But this time it was different. This time, there was no horrifying jolt as the curse shot out of her like a bolt of lightening. This time, there was no sudden, debilitating weakness. And this time, there was no writhing victim on the ground, clutching his chest on the verge of a heart attack.

Josh said, “It’s working. I can feel your magic pouring into me, but it doesn’t hurt.” He slid both of his hands to Channie’s waist and lifted her off his lap. “In fact, it feels so good it should probably be illegal — I’m sure it’s addicting.” He stood up and ran his hands through his hair. “I’ve never felt anything like this before. It’s amazing. It’s—”

Josh opened his mouth and gasped as his shield pulled the last of Chastity’s energy out of her power-well. He didn’t grab his heart or cry out in pain. He closed his eyes and ran his hands over his chest, across his belly and down his thighs.
 

Channie had to sit back down to keep from falling over. Or charging Josh like an angry bull. Except … she wasn’t angry. She was … she was wanting to tackle that boy, wrestle him to the ground and rip all his clothes off.
 

Where did that come from?

Channie shook her head to clear the lust from her mind, but it didn’t do much good. She’d felt attracted to boys before, but not like this. She sniffed the air looking for traces of magic. Had somebody cast a come-hither spell on her?

Josh paced back and forth in front of the trailer. “I feel … super-charged. Like I could win a dozen races, one after the other. Like I could—”

Josh stopped — mid-stride, mid-sentence, mid-breath — and stood perfectly still, all expression wiped clean from his face.
 

“Josh? What’s wrong?”

He blinked and said a very bad word. But he said it without emotion, without raising his voice. “I have to go tell my coach to forfeit my races before the award ceremony.” His voice was flat, monotone.

“Why?”

Channie’s question seemed to resurrect all Josh’s emotions. He pointed his index finger at her like a gun and yelled at her. “Because there is no way this isn’t cheating!”
 

“Josh, calm down. Let’s go back inside the trailer and talk—”

He swore again and kicked the trash can next to the trailer. “I’m going to lose all my effing sponsors.”

Chastity’s magic thrived on rage almost as much as lust. It latched onto Josh’s fury, pulled it into Channie’s power-well, then poured it right back into him. If he weren’t already shielded — if this amount of power had been delivered in the form of a focused curse instead of an energy infusion — it would have killed him.

“Josh, please calm down. You're scaring me.”

Josh dropped his chin to his chest. He ran his hands through his hair then looked at Channie. He said, “I’m sorry. But this is about as calm as I’m going to get.”
 

Channie closed her eyes, but Josh’s image was burned on the inside of her eyelids. She knew he was mad at her, furious even. But all she could think about was how strong and powerful he looked. She wanted him in the worst way. She wanted ... She wanted to have sex with him.
 

No. No. no no no noooooooo. Stop it. Focus. Channie got up and forced herself to walk — then turn and run — away from Josh. She caught a whiff of rotting garbage and remembered what he’d said about controlling his lust by thinking of disgusting things. By the time she got downwind of the privies, Channie had herself back under control. Now, what was Josh so angry about? Oh, yeah…

She walked back to the trailer, but stopped when she felt her attraction to Josh intensify. He was sitting on the ground, his head in his hands.

“Josh, you didn’t cheat. You weren’t …” what was the word he’d used …? Oh, yeah … “You weren’t super-charged until your shield absorbed the energy from Chastity’s curse. We didn’t test the shield until after you won your races fair and square.”

He looked up at her, as if she had the power to deliver him from the gates of hell. “Really?”

“Yes. Really.”
 

She sat down on the lawn chair and put her hands on his shoulders, kneading his muscles without even stopping to think about what she was doing, or asking Josh if it were okay for her to touch him like this. Her desire for his body was still there, but as long as she focused on what Josh was feeling, she could keep it under control.

He said, “Oh, man, that feels good.”

The radiant heat from Josh’s shoulders soaked into her fingers through the fabric of his shirt. She stood up and readjusted the lawn chair so it was level like a cot. “Lay down. I’ll rub your back.” Channie knew she was acting like a common whore, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself.

Josh laid down on his stomach and said, “You’re the best girlfriend ever.”

Channie’s heart didn’t just skip a beat. It stopped. A warm tingling sensation spread from her chest outward all the way to her fingers and toes. It was better than magic. “Girlfriend?”
 

“Yeah. I figure since you’re so hot for me, I better make an honest woman out of you.”

“What are you talking about?”
 

“This shield you made for me seems to work like a mirror. It shows me what you’re feeling when you’re energizing me.”

“You know what I’m feeling?” Channie’s hands froze and hovered about six inches above Josh’s back.

He looked over his shoulder and smirked at her. “It’s about all you can do to keep from jumping me right now.”

A flash of horror tore through Channie’s gut like a wild animal — followed by a bolt of white-hot rage. It flowed straight into Josh’s shield and converted her anger to lust. Her desire for him increased tenfold. Channie closed her eyes and thought of rotting garbage and overflowing privies.
 

Josh chuckled, but at least he didn’t say anything. It was bad enough he knew what she was feeling, she couldn’t stand it if he started gloating about it.

Channie’s hands drifted to Josh’s back without her permission. “You said I was the best girlfriend ever. Just how many girlfriends have you had?”

“Ow. Not quite so deep. You’re my first. If I don't count Nadia Hensen.”

Channie had no idea who Nadia Hensen was, but she wanted to kill her. She gave herself a couple of minutes to calm down then said, “Tell me about Nadia.”

Josh chuckled. “She was my girlfriend for two weeks when we were in the fifth grade.”

“Do you still have feelings for her?”

Joshua rolled over onto his side and squinted his eyes at Channie. “Are you kidding me?”

The rational part of Channie’s brain kicked in and she realized just how crazy that sounded.
 

“Of course I’m kidding you.” Her laugh was forced, but Josh seemed to accept it. He rolled back over onto his stomach and Channie started rubbing his back again, carefully keeping at least one layer of fabric between them.
 

She was in a lust-filled haze when the pliable muscle she was massaging turned to stone.
 

“Um … Channie?”

“Yes.”

“That feels a little bit too good, if you know what I mean.”

She didn’t realize she’d closed her eyes until they flew open. She was shocked to find her hands firmly planted on Josh’s butt.
 

She jerked her hands from his body and balled them up into fists.
 

“I’m so sorry.”

Josh propped himself up on his elbows and looked over his shoulder at her. She expected more gloating, but his smile was sympathetic. His considerable lust was tempered by an even stronger flow of compassion.
 

“Don't be sorry. I’m not. But maybe we better stop for now.”

“Okay.”
 

“Would you mind grabbing a blanket out of the trailer?”
 

Channie tossed him the blanket from the door. He wrapped it around his shoulders, moved to the foot of the stairs and stared into her eyes. “I’d like a do-over.”

“A what?”

“A do-over.”
 
Josh’s shoulders twitched as he studied the ground and stirred up a cloud of dust with the toe of his shoe. “I screwed up — the way I just announced that you’re my girlfriend — as if you didn’t even get a vote.” He lifted his chin and met her gaze. “Will you be my girlfriend, Channie?”

She nodded.

Josh’s grin spread across his face. He pulled the blanket over his head and said, “Kiss me.”

Standing on the top step, Channie was almost as tall as Josh. She traced his hidden features with her fingertips and kissed the general area of his lips.
 

It was not the least bit satisfying.
 

Josh yanked the blanket off his head, stuck out his tongue and plucked a piece of lint out of his mouth.
 

He grinned at her and said, “Was it as horrible for you as it was for me?”
 

“Probably.”
 

Josh’s mischievous grin widened. The sparkle in his eyes intensified igniting sparks under Channie’s skin.
 

He said, “I wonder just how much of a barrier we really need? Do you think a sheet would be enough?”

Channie was ashamed of the impure thoughts his innocent comment inspired. Josh was producing plenty of lust too, but it was a flickering candle compared to her own raging inferno.

Josh smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. “I can’t believe how stupid we are.”

Even though he included himself in the insult, Channie didn’t appreciate being called stupid. She put her hands on her hips and glared at him.