Waken (The Woods of Everod Book 1) (13 page)

I groaned in embarrassment. Justin was enjoying this too much.

“Oh no, you go right ahead.” Tim waved his hand at Justin motioning him on.

I closed my eyes, wishing they would stop and at the same time, thanking God Tristan wasn’t there to witness the two of them teasing me into mortification.

“Well, you see it’s like this. If he tries to touch you, hit him, then call me and I’ll beat the shit out of him.”

“Justin-”

“No, it’s okay, really I won’t mind at all.”

“Should I get my camera?” Tim broke in with a grin, egging Justin on in my torment.

“Tim! Don’t encourage him!”

He laughed at my expression, “I’m sorry, Janie. We’re done.”

“Don’t worry, a bunch of us are heading up to Montrose to see a new action movie. So, I’ll keep an eye on him just in case.”

Tim dragged Justin out of the room before I could turn violent, leaving me to pace while constantly checking the clock. At exactly five-thirty, the doorbell rang and I raced for the door, determined not to give Justin the opportunity to continue his fun.

I pulled open the door in a rush.

“Hey,” I said.

“Hey, you look beautiful.” His eyes roamed over me, pausing on my bare legs. I was right about the skirt.

“Thanks,” I mumbled, lowering my head. I reached behind the door to the closet and grabbed my cardigan.

“Do you want me to come in? Maybe talk with your dad?”

“No! Tim’s threatened to pull out his camera. It’s better if we escape quickly.”

A silly grin spread across his face, crinkling his eyes. “I don’t mind pictures.”

“Don’t you start, too.”

“All right, let’s go then. But don’t say I didn’t give you a chance. We could have shown that picture to our grandkids.”

Heat filled my cheeks. Was he joking? Didn’t he know that girls take that kind of thing seriously? I didn’t have a chance to dwell on it. He grabbed my hand and led me to a massive truck with an Andersen Carpentry logo along the side.

“Seth is driving up to Montrose too with a bunch of friends, so it made more sense for him to use my car and for us to take Dad’s truck. You don’t mind do you?”

“No.” I wondered if Rachel would have minded. Probably. The truck was kind of beat up. A few years back it would have been impressive, now it was just a typical work truck.

The drive to the movie theater was long. I sat with my hands folded in my lap, picking at the hem of my skirt. I wanted to reach over, to run my hand along the length of his thigh, but I lacked the courage to close the distance.

Sitting in the theater wasn’t any better. The first part of the movie flew by. Some generic romantic comedy that didn’t hold my attention at all. I was too aware of his warm body only inches from mine.

The tingles gliding along my skin began to burn and the more I tried to ignore the effect he was having on me the stronger they grew. Finally, I couldn’t stand it. I slid my hand to the edge of the armrest, gently brushing his arm. Before I could pull back, he had my fingers locked between his. The sensation was beyond anything I’d prepared myself for.

A sharp stab of pleasure hit my stomach and it felt like every little butterfly that had been spinning a dance inside me was released, filling the space around us with their fluttering, masking the sound of my thundering heart. I turned to look at him and he was watching me, his eyes almost black in the darkness. One side of his mouth tilted up, yet his expression was intense, like he was trying to memorizing me.

“Are you enjoying the movie?” he asked softly.

“Oh, yeah sure.” Did I even know what it was about? Just some insipid girl falling in love at first sight with a completely unattainable guy. During the first part, I’d tried to pick up some pointers, but the girl was incapable of making rational decisions, jumping to conclusions, which seemed to be leading to some kind of misunderstanding.

His smile spread. “You have no clue what is happening do you? Let’s just go.”

Ignoring the disgruntled murmurs of the people in our row, we snuck our way out. He held my hand clasped in his and for the first time I could remember, I felt safe. It was like being in my bubble with no one else was around. Except there was Tristan and the feelings rushing through me.

We walked out of the theater and we headed towards the strip mall, the parking lot lamps lighting a path across the lot.

He looked at me from the corner of his eye. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Well, you’re so quiet,” he said.

I couldn’t help the curl of my lips. “I’m just enjoying being with you.”

“Good,” he said smugly.

I laughed at his response, this little bit of conceit was unexpected but it was nice that he had a silly side. I didn’t feel as self-conscious knowing he liked being with me.

“Your dad does a lot of moving for work, doesn’t he? Do you like that? Going from place to place, I mean?” he asked.

“It’s alright. A bit frustrating since high school credits don’t transfer so easily between countries or even states sometimes.”

He stopped under one of the street lamps. The lamp rays from overhead bathed us in a soft yellow glow. I gazed up at him, drowning in his icy blue eyes. I blinked rapidly, hoping to break the intensity of the look. The fluttering slowed as I watched his face come closer.

Our mouths met somewhere in the middle. I rose up on my tiptoes and let him take my weight. His arms wrapped around me, lifting me effortlessly and I wove my fingers though his curls, loving the smooth thickness.

A moan escaped from between our lips, separating us, and I couldn’t tell if it came from him or me, but it gave me the courage to reach for him again. This time I moved to him. He put me back down on the ground, not breaking contact, and trailed his fingertips along the curve of my waist. My stomach quivered and I pulled back, letting him catch my lower lip with his teeth before he let me go. I breathed in heavily, letting the cool air fill my lungs. I dropped my forehead to his chest, taking in another shaky breath.

I wanted this moment to last forever.

Chapter 11

The world surrounding me felt different.
I
was different.

In the four weeks since making that bet with Justin, everything had taken on a completely different quality. It had been ages since I went to the library. Instead, my days were filled with Tristan, and when I wasn’t with him then I’d found that Lisa and even Seth were fun to hang out with. While the gym had been interesting the few times I’d gone, it wasn’t anywhere I wanted to go regularly. But being with people was nice. The only time I had issues was when Rachel came around. She still hung out with the others, though she always made a pointed effort to leave when Tristan and I showed up.

Tristan sat beside me, holding my hand as we drove back to Everod. We’d gone up to Telluride for the annual music festival, which had been amazing. My ears were still a bit fuzzy from the loud music, but it had been worth it to see Tristan do a little shuffling dance. As cute as the boy was, he could not dance.

The windy roads were deserted and the dark night created an intimacy that had me leaning closer to Tristan. The only thing spoiling it was Justin in the back seat. He’d shown up at the truck, begging for a ride. He’d caught a ride up with Seth and some of the other guys in town, but somehow Seth’s car was fuller on the way back than it had been going, and lucky me, they’d spotted us and ditched Justin.

Darkness encompassed the truck and the headlights beamed brightly, lighting our way. I’d turned the music off when we veered off the highway and the stillness of the evening filled the truck. The dirt road narrowed and the trees closed in on us. Justin gave a loud snore from the back and Tristan and I looked at each other, having a hard time containing our laughter.

The impact was sudden. I slammed sideways into the door, my seat belt cutting into my stomach and shoulder. The window cracked under the sharp blow of my head. The airbags exploded out from the dashboard and the doorframe, clouding the air with a fine white powder. I flailed like a rag doll, unable to control any part of my body. The high-pitched grinding of metal shattered the night, and then stopped as suddenly as it had begun.

“Oh my God. Oh my God.” I couldn’t say anything else, the words forming a prayer, a thanks.

I was stunned, unable to rationalize what had happened. A trickle of wetness oozed down my face. I swiped it away. Blood. I looked at Tristan. He was slumped in his seat, the airbag deflated in front of him. Blood was flowing freely from a large gash on his forehead, and his nose was bleeding as well, but he was breathing, barely. I quickly unbuckled my belt and turned to look in the back at Justin. He was sitting up, dazed, trying to get his seatbelt off.

“Are you okay?” I asked shakily.

“Yeah, you?”

“Tristan’s hurt. Oh God, he’s not moving and he’s bleeding badly.”

“I think we should get out. I can smell gas.”

Justin opened his door, jumped to the ground, and yanked my door open. I hopped out and we ran around to Tristan’s side, which was completely crumpled.

Tristan still hadn’t moved. Through the smashed window, I could see the gash across his forehead. The tear was ragged and gaping. Blood etched a crimson path down his temple to his neck. His cheek was a mess of small cuts, some with glass still imbedded. I frantically tugged on the door, but it was damaged too badly, it wouldn’t open. Justin shoved me aside and began pulling, but refused to budge.

“Open it!” I yelled with a sob, my fear transforming into terrified frustration. Justin raced back to the passenger side, but as he scrambled into the truck, the driver door flew open.

I gave a cry of relief as Tristan hopped out. I went limp as he enfolded me in his arms.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

“I’m fine, but you’re bleeding.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Dude, what happened to the other car?”Justin asked, looking around the area, searching for the vehicle that hit us.

“They must have taken off.” Tristan said.

“How is that possible?” I asked, feeling as confused as Justin looked. Tristan ignored the questions. Instead, he opened the back door and grabbed the first-aid kit from under the seat.

“Sit down,” he said, firmly pushing me toward a fall tree a few feet away.

“You’re the one bleeding.” I tried to snatch the first-aid kit from him, but he held it high above my head. Justin joined me on the tree and grasped my hands, restraining any more attempts to get the kit.

“I’m not bleeding.” Tristan opened the kit pulling bandages and alcohol swabs.

“You are,” I insisted. “You’re covered with it.”

“It’s not mine, Janie.” He swiped at his forehead showing his smooth, unmarred skin. “It must be yours. From when I got out of the truck.”

“That’s not possible.” I hadn’t imagined it. There was no way I could have imagined such a horrible injury. “I saw the cut on your forehead. There was bone.” Was that my voice? Was that hysteria coming from me?

“Calm down.” He placed his hands on either side of my neck and gently rubbed his fingers along my skin. His touch instantly soothed away the panic. Magic fingers, I thought, closing my eyes. Such a simple touch and he could take away any stress or fear.

“Justin, are you hurt?” he asked.

“Nah, man,” Justin answered in a trembling voice. “But I may have shit my pants.”

I gave an involuntary laugh. That was such a Justin thing to say.

“Where’s the other vehicle?” he wondered again.

“They must have taken off,” Tristan replied distractedly. He released his comforting hold on me and opened a swab. Dabbing at a cut above my eye with one hand, he used the other to brace my head, preventing my instinctive evasion of the stinging alcohol.

“I can’t believe they just drove away.” Justin picked his way around the truck, inspecting the massive damage to the driver’s side. “Damn, this thing is totaled.”

“That’s what insurance is for.” Tristan continued cleaning the blood from my face, using the hem of his shirt to wipe away the remaining blood. I didn’t move, enjoying his tender ministrations.

“How far are we from town?” I asked.

Tristan looked up the road, staring into the darkness. “About fifteen miles.”

“Should we walk? Or just wait for somebody to come along?”

“Don’t worry.”

Not worry? We’d just been in a huge accident, the other driver had taken off, we were stranded in the middle of the Rocky Mountains, the three of us were covered with blood and none of us knew where it had come from. At this point, worrying was at the top of my list.

I shivered beneath my cardigan. I was cold. Freezing. The loss of sunlight had lowered the temperature, but not enough to explain my chattering teeth or the numbness spreading from my toes and fingertips. Tristan ripped off his hoodie and wrapped my legs in its glorious heat.

“N-n-no, you’ll get cold,” I protested.