Scorching Secrets (32 page)

Slowly getting out of bed, I walk out of my room and tip-toe down the hall toward Logan’s. Stopping in front of his room, I lean an ear on the smooth surface of his door trying to hear if anyone else is inside. The door flies open, and I stumble into someone’s chest. I arch my head up and look at a very surprised Logan. “Ahh, don’t scare me like that.”

“Can I help you with something?” Logan smiles down at me. I straighten myself up and peek into his room.

Seeing Liam and Colton sitting on his floor again, I say, “Uh, never mind. I’ll see you in the morning.” I try to turn away, but Logan places a hand on my shoulder to stop me. I try really hard not to cry out, but a small hiss escapes. Logan pulls me into the room and closes the door.

He reaches over and moves the jacket to the side to see the skin underneath the fabric. When he sees the large bruise, he looks back at me. “Adam?” Liam and Colton stand up when they see the black mark on my pale skin.

“No, I fell out of bed. I’m pretty clumsy. Goodnight.” I try to leave the room again, but Logan reaches around and blocks my exit.

“Ryanne, come here,” Logan says. I turn around briefly and see two very angry guys standing there. I slowly walk toward Logan and let him heal me. When he is done, he cracks a smile.

“See, it’s not as bad as it looks! I knocked him out this time.”

“Why can’t I tell when you go into those dreams with him? I don’t even feel your injuries afterwards,” Liam asks. I have no idea how he can feel my injuries sometimes and not other times.

“So, you knocked him out?” Colton says. I sit down on the ground similar to what I did the other night. Colton sits down beside me. Logan goes on to explain everything that happened. Liam reaches out and high-fives me when he hears what I did to Adam.

“Those training things are helping a little. It still hurts like none other to punch someone without any magic, but I’m getting used to it.”

“You shouldn’t have to get used to it,” Colton says to me.

“Well, until I find a way to keep Adam from pulling me into those stupid dreams, I’m going to have to get used it.” I look up at him, “I can handle myself.”

He wraps an arm around me and pulls me closer. “I know that,” he tells me. I let him move me. It’s getting harder to fight this attraction to him. I lean my head against his chest and close my eyes. I know that we are still in Logan’s room. Someone will take me back to my room later. I let his rhythmic breathing lull me to sleep.

Colton

“Is she asleep?” Logan asks. I glance down at Ryanne—she definitely looks asleep. Her breathing is slow and steady, and her hair is falling across her face while her limbs are limp against me.

“Yeah, I think so.”

“What are we going to do about this Adam situation?”

“I don’t know. It just angers me how easily he can get to her. He’s always been able to get to her. He’s always there to hurt her.” I rehash what she told David and me when Adam delivered a pizza to our house at the beginning of the summer. Logan knows the gist of the situation but doesn’t know everything. A girl should never have to go through that, and no one should have to experience it multiple times.

“I’ll never understand how someone can do something like that,” Logan says. He is watching Ryanne, and I know Liam is too. Liam is upset because the past two nights he hasn’t been able to sense that she was hurting.

“I want to know why it started. Because it started before she came into her powers,” Liam says from the corner of the room.

“I actually know why it started…” Logan says very quietly. Liam and I both turn our attention to him. He knows, and he hasn’t told us? “You’re not going to like it.”

“Why?”

“Adam told Ryanne that he attacked her to get back at you. He said that you got everything. When he found out that you were interested in her, he set out to prove that you can’t always get what you want. He spread those rumors about her, and you believed them. He said that it worked out perfectly…until she came into her magic. Then Ryanne spit in his face.” I don’t realize that I am squeezing her until I hear her groan and feel her moving. I loosen my grip around her shoulders, and she sighs and snuggles closer to me.

I’m the reason she was attacked by Adam? I’m the reason that her senior year was ruined by those rumors? It was because of me. This all needs to end. Adam needs to be stopped. He can’t keep this up for long.

“When did he tell her that?”

“Last night.” He told her yesterday? Ryanne knew the reason that Adam attacked her was because of me, and she hung out with me all day? She attacked me this morning with cake and then joked and laughed with me in the forest. She almost kissed me after finding that out. Even now, she’s in here, sleeping against my chest. She isn’t mad at me because of what happened…why?

“She doesn’t blame you, Colton,” Liam says.

“How do you know?”

“Because that’s just what Adam told her. Adam’s not known for being truthful. Honestly, it doesn’t matter to her why he did it. She wants to move on and forget about it, but there’s always something reminding her. She didn’t even know you when it happened, but she does know you now. There’s no way she could blame you. Adam acted alone, motive or not.
He
is the only one that hurt her.”

“He’s right,” I tense as Ryanne mumbles into my shirt. She lifts her head from my chest and looks at me through sleep laden eyes, “I don’t blame you at all.” Yawning, she reaches up and rubs her eyes. She pushes herself into an upright position. When she starts to lean forward, I reach out to steady her. She is so tired. I laugh and pull her back against me. “Adam’s a jerk, Colton.” With one last yawn, she closes her eyes and falls back asleep.

Logan and Liam start cracking up. They try to remain quiet enough to not wake her up again. “You should listen to her,” Logan says, “because if you don’t, she’ll soak you, throw cake batter at you, or kick you in the crotch again.”

Liam starts laughing all over again. “Oh man, that was hilarious.”

Hilarious isn’t a word I would use to describe it. Granted, I did get a laugh once I thought about it, but it wasn’t
that
funny. “Yeah, you wouldn’t say that if it happened to you.”

“I remain on her good side for a reason.” Liam throws his hands up in surrender.

“Good choice,” I mumble to him.

“What’s a girl got to do to get in on this party?” Emma asks. I open my eyes and look toward the doorway.

“Get attacked in your sleep by someone,” Logan mumbles from the floor. He is lying on his stomach, his face literally in the carpet. I bring my right arm up and rub my eyes, trying to rub my sleepiness away. Based on the amount of sunlight streaming in from the windows, it is mid-morning. When I look up, I realize that I am in a different position than I remember falling asleep in last night. I’m lying on my back, looking up at the ceiling. I don’t know how I got here. I lift my head up and find Ryanne curled up in a ball, lying with her head on my stomach, still asleep. I look across the room and see Liam, asleep against the wall.

“Adam got to her again?” The sadness and anger in Emma’s expression is palpable.

“Yeah, she defended herself well this time. She knocked him out and was able to pull herself out of it when he was unconscious.”

“Wait, are Adam and Dravin only able to get to her when she’s alone?” Emma asks and looks between us.

“I don’t know…” Liam says. I didn’t know he was awake.

“Have either of them contacted her when she’s with you guys?”

“No…I don’t think so,” I say.

Ryanne stretches her legs out and rolls over so she is lying on her back. “Why is my pillow moving?” she mumbles and glares at me.

“Sorry,” I say, while trying to hide my smile. She reaches up to push her hair off her face, but the sleeve of my jacket hits her face first. She screams and then starts laughing.

Rolling off my stomach, she lays on her side as she tries to calm her laughter. I can’t help but join in on the laughter. “The sleeve scared me. I thought a spider fell on my face or something. Why are your arms so long anyway?” She pushes the sleeves up and sits up, still laughing. “I don’t think my brain works properly when I’m tired.”

She pulls her knees up and leans her head against them. I sit up and look over at Logan and Emma. They are still laughing. I see a small cloud forming over them, and little droplets of water start to fall. It shuts Emma up pretty quickly. Ryanne giggles but remains sitting with her head on her knees.

“What happened to the sweet little morning girl?” Emma asks. Ryanne doesn’t reply to her. She’s gotten pretty quiet. Emma crawls over to her and pokes her in the side. She gasps and jumps backwards into me.

“Goodness gracious. You almost gave me a heart attack.” She scoots forward a little and shakes her head at everyone. “You’re all impossible. I’m going to go take a shower.” She gets up and jumps over Logan, who is sitting in the doorway, and leaves the room.

Emma turns to me, “I don’t think you’ll get your jacket back any time soon.”

“That’s fine. It looks better on her anyway.”

After getting dressed in my Team Edward…Scissorhands t-shirt and a pair of black shorts, I mosey on downstairs. For some reason, I’m still incredibly tired. Fighting off Adam and Dravin at night is starting to take a toll on me. I feed Olive and sit down at the table with everyone else.

I scoot my chair really close to Liam and rest my head on his shoulder. “You ok?”

“Peachy,” I say with a yawn.

“You know there’s a thing called sleep…maybe you should try to get some,” Larkin suggests.

“Wow, I never thought of that. Thank you, Captain Obvious,” I say with my eyes closed. If I don’t move, I’ll probably fall asleep right here.

“You’re welcome. It’s what I’m here for,” I glance over at Larkin. He’s giving me his arrogant smile. I’ve noticed that Larkin has about three different smiles. One, his
I’m awesome and I know it
smile. The second one being the
you’re crazy, and I don’t know you
smile. The last one being a genuine smile that was reserved for a select few people. He doesn’t use that last smile often. He has an image to uphold after all.

“You know what?” I tell him.

“What?” He flashes the you’re crazy smile.

“You—” I start but stop when my head starts pounding. I gasp and grab my head as the pain intensifies.

“Ryanne, what’s wrong?” Colton asks standing up.

“Not again. Not again,” I start crying and fall out of my chair. I scream as the pain intensifies even more. I can’t focus on anything. I can’t hear anyone talking to me, though I know that they are freaking out. The image of my mother’s death starts flashing through my mind again.

This time, when the images go away, it doesn’t stop. New images start to form. Dravin is standing over me while Gadramicks hold onto Colton, Liam, Emma, and David. We are standing in the backyard. He smiles down at me and says, “You could have stopped this.” Men walk up to all of them and simultaneously slit their throats. They all fall to the ground, blood gurgling out of their mouths as they slowly die. I scream and try to run over to them, but Dravin grabs me and makes me watch.

Deep red blood slides down their throats and pools into the fabric of their shirts. Emma is the first one to stop moving. Tears are streaming down my face as I watch my family die in the yard. The men holding Liam, Colton, and David let go of their bodies so all three of them drop to the ground. Colton’s eyes remain open as he stares in my direction and takes his last breath. The last thing I see are his green eyes piercing mine as blood continues to flow onto the grass beneath him.

The images dissipate into darkness, and the pain starts to fade. I whimper as someone tries to help me up. I push away from them and scoot myself into the corner. I curl my knees up and put my head on them. I start sobbing. Dravin knows where I am and wants to show me what he will do if I don’t bring myself to him. I’ve received the message loud and clear. Someone reaches out and tries to comfort me. I flinch away from their touch. I need to get away. I jump up and try to run out of the room, when someone grabs me and pulls me into their embrace. I tense until I get a whiff of the familiar cologne. Leaning into his chest, I let out the rest of my tears. This can’t be happening. I can’t let that happen. I push away from Colton and look for Larkin.

“
Please
.”

Without elaborating, he knows what I’m asking. He shakes his head, refusing my plea. I bite my lip to try and stop the tears that threaten to fall again. “Dravin?” Colton asks me.

“He doesn’t know where we are exactly, but he knows I’m close. He…he…” I hiccup. I can’t think about that. I need to do something. I need…I don’t even know. Everyone is still watching me. My eyes land on Liam. His breathing is labored. I slowly walk over to him and hug him.

“I’m sorry you had to experience that,” I tell him. He wraps his arms around me and rests his chin on my head. “Did you see the images too?” I quietly ask him.

“No, I just felt the pain. Though, I’m sure it wasn’t as bad as what you felt.”

“Ryanne, what images did you see?” Larkin asks me. I tense and turn toward him, shaking my head. I can’t tell anyone.

“Just the car crash,” I lie.

“There’s more to it than that,” Larkin says and takes a step toward me.

“How would you know?”

“Your aura. It darkens when you lie.” It’s like I have a light up sign above me alerting him to my every move.

“Ryanne,” he repeats my name again.

“It was just a warning. I’ll figure everything out,” I try to walk out of the room, but Larkin grabs my upper arm and pulls me back.

“You’re not going to give yourself to Dravin. No matter what, you can’t do that.” He is scared that I’m going do something stupid. I yank my arm out of his grip and walk out of the room. I can’t promise that I won’t do that. I don’t know what I am going to do at this moment; I just know I have to do something. I’m not giving up until I can at least say that I tried.

Colton

I am trying really hard to not let myself go invisible. Negative thoughts keep swarming through my mind. I keep seeing her crying on the floor, holding her head. Think positive. “If I ever see that freaking as—”