Shadowed Strength: Shadowed Series Book One (8 page)

Melanie didn’t
tell her mom about the party. She left the house Saturday night with Tara as
usual, but not without a stern lecture about staying together and absolutely
not walking anywhere. Her mom thought they were going to the mall, then
cruising around. Tara was staying the night.

Melanie didn’t
tell her mom for two reasons. First, the last time she went to a party
something terrible happened. Second, it was at Chris’s house with no parents in
residence, much less present during the party. Melanie knew her mom would lock
her in her room and throw away the key before she’d let her go, so she lied.
She pretended to primp her hair in the mirror by the front door while she told
her so she wouldn’t have to look her mom in the eye.

They pulled into
the apartment complex parking lot and found a spot under a light. They could
hear the music bumping from the parking lot.

Tara opened the
front door and walked right in without knocking. Of course, the music was so
loud that no one would have heard the knock anyway. Chris had invited about ten
people, so the apartment wasn’t that crowded. As Mel scanned the faces for the
one she was looking for, she noticed that none of Sissy’s crew was there and
relaxed with a sigh.

She followed Tara
into the kitchen, where they found Chris. Tara jumped into his arms, wrapped
her legs around his waist, and gave him a lingering kiss. He carried her like
that back into the living room and Mel was left alone.

She walked to the
fridge to look for a soda. She reached in for a cherry cola and gave a startled
cry when a pair of arms banded tightly around her waist. She was released
immediately and found Jeremy standing there blushing with a chagrined look on
his face when she turned around.

“Ah! Damn it Mel,
I’m sorry. I keep doing that, don’t I? I see you and can’t wait to get my hands
on you. I don’t think it through and I freak you out every time.”

“Jeremy,” Mel said
as she swung the fridge door shut behind her, “please stop apologizing. I’m
just jumpy. I’ll get past it eventually and I don’t want you to walk on
eggshells around me. You can do whatever you feel like doing to…me...”

With that, the
sadness left his face and was replaced by a devilish grin. Melanie groaned and
rolled her eyes.

Oh my God! Did
I really just say that?

“Whatever I feel
like, huh?”

“Umm, yeah. Oh,
shut up! You know what I meant!”

His grin got even
bigger. “I’m sure I know exactly what you meant.”

She tried to give him a stern look, but
couldn’t pull it off with the big goofy grin trying to split her face. He took
her soda from her and grabbed her hand. Without saying another word, he led her
back through the crowded living room toward a closed door on the other side.

As she passed the couch, Tara let out a wolf
whistle and waggled her eyebrows from where she sat perched on Chris’s lap. Mel
crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue in response.

He opened the door, pulled her inside and shut
it behind her. Melanie released his hand before he could feel the sweat pooling
in her palm and took a quick look around. There wasn’t much in the room. A bed.
A dresser and a closed door that must be a closet. A nightstand.

Next to a bed.

Oh my God Melanie, stop focusing on the bed
already,
she thought furiously.

“Well?”

“Huh? What?”

“What do you think?”

“Think about what?”
Oh, God, what does he expect?
I’m freaking out here.

“My room, Melanie. What do you think of my
room?”

She turned away from the bed at last and
focused on Jeremy. The amused look on his face told her he knew exactly what
she’d been thinking. Her face burned hot with embarrassment.

She looked down at the floor to try to hide
her red cheeks. “It’s nice.”

He walked over and, setting her soda on the
nightstand, sat down on the bed. “It’s not much, I know, but it’ll do for the
next few weeks.”

“Mm hmm.”

She was still standing by the door looking at
the floor. He stood up and walked back over to her, put his fingertips under
her chin and lifted until her eyes met his. He must have seen the panic there
because he took a small step back and dropped his hand.

“Hey, are you ok? You seem nervous or
something. Am I making you uncomfortable?”

Melanie took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
“No, really, it’s not you. It’s me.”
Oh God, did I really just say that?

He arched an eyebrow at her. “Did you really
just say that?”

She backpedaled quickly with, “No, wait.
That’s not what I meant. It is you.” Both eyebrows went up with that gem of a
statement. “Wait. Oh God, I am such a dork.”

He shook his head slightly, grabbed her hand
and pulled her over to the bed. He sat down and pulled her down next to him,
where she perched on the edge nervously.

“Okay, Mel. This is me. Relax. Tell me what’s
wrong.”

She stared at her shoes and mumbled something
incoherent. She knew he wouldn’t understand. She tended to mumble when she was
embarrassed.  

“What?” he asked softly.

He pulled her hand into his lap and started
rubbing soft circles around her knuckles. It relaxed her enough to speak more
clearly.

“I’m nervous about what you’re going to expect
me to do. With you. In here.”

He squeezed her hand gently. “Mel, look at me.
Please.”

She looked up and was ensnared by those dark,
bottomless eyes. “I don’t expect anything from you. I brought you in here
because I wanted to spend some time together, just you and me, with no dark
designs on your virtue at all. I swear.”

“Oh.” She looked back down at her shoes and
willed her eyes to dry up.

“Why are you still upset? Did I say something
wrong?”

She pulled herself together and looked back at
his face. She couldn’t look into his eyes, so she focused on his chin.

“No. You didn’t say anything wrong. I‘m so
stupid. I should have known you wouldn’t want to do anything like that with me.
Sorry I made this so uncomfortable.” She plastered a fake smile on her face and
tried to sound chipper. “So, what d’ya wanna do?”

Before she knew what was happening, he had her
off the bed and straddling his lap. She couldn’t even take a breath before his
mouth was on hers and his fingers were tangled in her hair. She ran her hands
up and around his neck and held on for dear life.

He pulled back slightly with a low growl and
stared deep into her eyes. “Do not mistake what I said, Melanie. I said I don’t
expect you to do anything, not that I don’t want you. It takes a lot of
willpower and self-control to keep my hands off of you, especially when we are
alone on a bed. But I know you’re not ready, particularly after everything that
has happened, so I am trying to keep my paws to myself.”

He eased her off his lap and put her back
beside him. Then he stretched out on the bed and tugged her down next to him.
She settled her head on his chest and he squeezed her tight with both arms.

“This is nice,” she murmured.

He responded by lightly running his fingertips
up and down her spine.

“So,” she started, then paused.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Tell me.”

“Um, I was just wondering something.”

“What?”

“Well, we’ve been friends for a while now.”

“Yes.”

“Oh God, this is embarrassing, but I have to
tell you. I have had the biggest crush on you for, like, ever.”

“Oh, really?” He sounded smug, but she ignored
it.

“Yes, really. And, well, you always seemed to
have me pegged solidly in the friend zone. I guess what I’ve been wondering is,
what changed? When and why was I suddenly girlfriend material?”

His hand on her back stilled and she could
barely feel the rise and fall of his chest beneath her cheek. He didn’t say
anything for several seconds and she got nervous again.

“Forget it. Never mind. It was stup…”

“Don’t Mel,” he interrupted. “Asking about my feelings
for you is not stupid. It was just unexpected, that’s all. I needed a minute to
get my thoughts in order so there would be no misunderstanding like before.”

“Okay.” He still didn’t say anything. “Well?”

“Well, you’re right, we have been friends for
a long time and I have always loved hanging out with you. And you’re right, I
only thought of you as friend. I mean, I’ve always thought you were gorgeous.”
She almost choked on her own spit. He didn’t seem to notice.

“But like you said, we were just friends.
Then, at Karen’s party, when Sissy was so mean to you, I lost it. I wanted to
wring her scrawny neck for hurting you. Then you disappeared and I felt an
overwhelming urge to find you. I had to make sure you were okay. And when I did
find you…” He paused and took a deep breath.

When he spoke again, his voice cracked a
little. “When I did find you, you were hurt, unconscious, and…and, your clothes
were torn. I felt anger and regret and fear, a fear like I’ve never felt
before. I started screaming for someone to call 911, and I held you until you
woke up. And, well, you know the rest. I went to the hospital and watched you
sleep all night. I kept thinking ‘How did this happen? How
could
this
happen to such a wonderful, sweet, kind person? A girl who’s beautiful inside
and out?’

“I thought about all the many different
emotions I felt that night. The extreme anger at Sissy and the anxiety when I
couldn’t find you and the fear when I did. I realized that my feelings weren’t
just ‘friendly’ anymore. I had a primal urge to protect you, to hold you.

“When you woke up that next morning in the
hospital and you let me hold your hand, it just felt right.
So
right.
That’s when I decided I was going to go for it. I was going to ask you to be
mine, and if you said no, I’d keep hounding you until you agreed.”

This time she did choke. She sat up quickly,
coughing, and Jeremy sat up and pounded her on the back. Normally she would
have been mortified, but his speech had her giddy. She pushed him back down and
rolled over on top of him. She tried to keep most of her weight on her arms as
she dipped her head down and kissed him on the lips.

“That,” she said between kisses, “was the
sweetest, most wonderful thing anyone has ever said to me.” Another kiss.

“Well,” he replied, “if it gets me this kind
of response, I’ll be sure to say stuff like that all the time.”

She smiled and kissed him again. Her arms were
starting to tremble from holding herself up. Jeremy noticed. Before she could
even start to be embarrassed, he grabbed her hands from either side of his
shoulders and jerked them up above his head. Her full weight plopped down on
him, but he didn’t even seem to notice. He never stopped kissing her as he let
go of her hands and ran his hands up her arms and down her back. He hugged her
tight, then abruptly rolled her back to his side.

“Was I too heavy? Sorry, I mean, I was trying
to hold myself...”

He silenced her with a finger on her lips.
“Shh. Just. Give me. A minute.” He was still on his back, staring at the
ceiling.

“Oh, God, Jeremy. I’m sorry…”

“Melanie, please.” He was breathing hard.

Oh God, did I fracture a rib or something?
she thought miserably. Her eyes started to fill with tears.

With one last deep breath, Jeremy turned his
head to look at her. His eyebrows shot up when he got a look at her face.

“Why are you crying?” he asked when he noticed
her tears. He rolled over onto his side and wiped her eyes. “Did I do something
wrong? Push too hard?”

“What? No!”

“Then what’s wrong? I thought we were enjoying
ourselves. I know I was.”

“Until I landed on top of you and hurt you.”

“What? Are you serious? You think you hurt
me?”

She nodded. “You pushed me off and you were
breathing hard like your ribs hurt or something. What’s so funny?!”

He was trying hard not to laugh, but failing
miserably. She tried to squirm away from him and leave the bed in a huff, but
he wasn’t having it. He grabbed her around the waist and held on tight.

His eyes were still dancing when he said,
“Mel, you didn’t hurt me. You laying on top of me like that was the complete
opposite of hurting me. It was heaven.”

“Then why did you push me off? You were
breathing hard and your body was all stiff…oh.”

“Exactly. You’re not ready to go any further
yet, so I had to stop you while I still had the will to.”

She started blushing again. “Oh, sorry.”

“Will you please stop apologizing?” He
snuggled her closer. “I love everything you do to me.” Now she was the one
smiling.