Waken (The Woods of Everod Book 1) (14 page)

“I’ll be fine.” He tucked the edges of his hoodie under my legs. My entire body was convulsing and despite the shivers coursing through me, I could feel the sweat beading along my forehead.

“She’s going into shock,” Tristan told Justin. “There’s a blanket under the backseat.”

Justin jogged back to the truck, yanked out a wooly blanket, and tossed it to Tristan who replaced his hoodie with the itchy blanket and then prevented my insane urge to scratch by rubbing my hands between his larger ones.

“You sure we shouldn’t try to get to town? I could head that way,” Justin offered.

Tristan gazed down the darkened road, his eyes narrowed. “No. It’s safer if we stay together, besides it’s Friday night, half the town is either heading out of Everod or back in. Someone’ll be by.”

He was right. Ten minutes later, a dark SUV approached. They came to a stop inches from the mangled truck. Tristan didn’t wait for anyone to get out, he simply picked me up and carried me to the vehicle, threw open the door, and stepped up, still holding me close. Kyle was in the front seat with an older man I’d never met.

The independent side of me wanted to sit on the seat under my own strength, but it lost out to the comfort of Tristan’s lap. I was safe and warm. And after facing a moment of near death, or as near to death as I’d ever been, I clung to those feelings with everything in me. I kept my eyes closed. His voice rumbled through his chest and I focused on the deep vibrations within him, letting them lull me to sleep.

It was the soft notes of a piano resonating around me that woke me. My eyes fluttered open and I blinked rapidly to clear my blurry vision. An old mahogany coffee table was directly in front of me, faint scars marring its glossy frame. I sat up and winced as the soreness of my muscles screamed in protest. Glancing around, I realized I was at Lisa’s house. Behind the couch was the upright piano where the man from the SUV sat. I tried to place the song he was playing, but the arching notes wouldn’t give themselves a name, despite the vague remembrance of their melody.

“Hey, Sleeping Beauty awakes.” Tristan, followed by Lisa and Justin, came into the room and wrapped his arms around me. The man at the piano stilled his hands, letting them hold the last note until it faded.

“Janie! Are you alright?” Lisa’s arms enfolded me, drawing me away from Tristan. At the loss of his touch, panic returned, but I fought to keep it down, refusing to be a clingy girlfriend.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” There was no way they could see my hands trembling so slightly, or hear the quiver in my voice.

“Are you sure you’re not hurt?” she asked again. “Do you want to go to the hospital?”

“No!” I nearly shouted. Then softer, “No, Tim would just worry, and I’m fine.” I was beginning to sound like an echo, constantly repeating the same words and I wasn’t entirely sure if I wasn’t trying to convince myself of it.

“I can’t believe Tristan didn’t see them coming,” Lisa said.

“They came out of nowhere. There’s no way they had their lights on.” I shook my head in disbelief then turned to Justin. “Did you call Tim?”

“No, he’s out for the night, remember? Some kind of night photography project he was doing. I’ll call him later and let him know we’re going to stay over here.”

Lisa raised an eyebrow. “Lukas suggested it in case Janie’s freaked out and stuff, but isn’t your dad going to have a problem with this?” She motioned between Tristan and me.

Justin and I snorted in unison. Tim probably wouldn’t even have his cell phone on.

“All right. You put on a pot of water.” She pushed Tristan towards the kitchen. “Come on, Janie. I’ve got some clothes you can change into. We’ll have some hot chocolate after you get cleaned up.”

“Was I asleep for long?” I asked as she led me up the staircase.

“Nah, you guys only got here a few minutes ago. Lukas thought the music might be a gentler way of waking you up. And since he doesn’t play very often, no one had the heart to say no.”

Guiding me to the left, she led me to a room at the end of the hall. Obviously decorated by the secret old-fashioned Lisa that hid under her unconventional appearance, it was cozy with a full-sized bed, white three-drawer dresser, and an antique lamp sitting on top.

“Where are you sleeping?”

“Across the hall,” she said, and then added with an impish smile, “So no hanky-panky.”

“Hanky-panky?” I rolled my eyes. In the weeks we’d know each other, Lisa had been even more of an enigma than Tristan. One minute she was acting cool, throwing slang around, and the next she was using words I doubted Tim had even used as a teen. Considering the time I’d spent with her, her drastically shifting personality shouldn’t be surprising.

There was a commotion in the hall and Justin came barreling in, lugging a huge comforter. He was limping slightly. Instantly the humor was gone and I felt tears welling up as I realized how close we’d come to dying. Tristan had kept that at bay with his comforting shield, but seeing Justin hurt was just too much. He took one look at me, dumped the comforter on the floor, and wrapped me in a bear hug.

The tears started falling. Tristan had made me simply forget it, only to be flooded with it when he left. With Justin, I was able to feel the shock and fear. I could feel what was normal and I could release it.

Justin just held me. Even when I felt my skin tingling, the tell tale sign that Tristan was there, I didn’t let go of my brother. I needed to get this out and I couldn’t do that with Tristan. Eventually there were no more tears, just a sense of peace from knowing we had all survived.

Chapter 12

When the tears dried, Justin let me go and I glanced around the room, seeing only Tristan standing near the door. Lisa had left, giving us privacy, and I could hear a muffled conversation from downstairs. Justin gave me a gentle pat on the shoulder, then left Tristan and me alone.

Tristan came forward and sank down onto the bed beside me. I rested my head on his shoulder and he took my hand between his, rubbing his thumb in hypnotic circles. I lifted my other hand and rested it on his chest, over his heart, needing to feel the strong pulse to know it still beat.

A sharp prick on my palm drew me back and I gasped at the unexpected pain. Tristan gripped my hand and we inspected my palm. A sliver of glass stuck out at an odd angle. Carefully holding my hand in one of his larger ones, he used the other to pinch the shard and pull it out, a small bead of blood formed in its wake. He wiped it away with his shirt adding to the other streaks of blood made by his earlier attempts to clean me up.

Both of us were filthy, our clothing spotted with blood and we were shedding glass. Tristan opened his mouth, but I cut him off before he could ask the question I saw in his eyes.

“I’m okay. Really. I just need to get cleaned up. Give me twenty minutes and I’ll meet you downstairs. If I can find the stairs.” I smiled ruefully.

“You don’t have to come down. If you need to rest it’s alright, everyone’ll understand.”

“I’m sure.” I stood and made my way to a pile of towels sitting on a wicker chair in the corner. “Anyways, I need to not think about it anymore.”

He smiled and stole a kiss that made me completely forget the terror that had happened.

“I’ll see you in twenty minutes then.” He paused outside the door and nodded towards the end of the hall. “Bathroom is down the hall.”

Once I hit the bathroom, I shed my clothes, turned on the hot water, and when the steaming water filled the tub, I pressed a button and bubbles exploded under the surface. I sank in; the jets positioned perfectly to massage muscles I was only beginning to feel tense up. They felt nearly as good as Tristan’s magic touch, but since I wasn’t about to ask him to give me a full body massage, this was the next best thing.

My eyelids drifted closed and an image of Tristan, cut and bleeding to death flashed before me. My eyes flew open and I jerked upright in the tub, water sloshing over the side. I hadn’t imagined him being hurt. His blood covered my clothing. But how was that possible? In the bedroom, his skin had been as smooth and unmarred as the day before.

No. I’d panicked, saw things that I expected. That was the only logical explanation I could think of. The only explanation I would accept.

When I got back to my room, a neat stack of clothes sat on the bed. Socks, jeans, a tank top, and a large shirt that must have come from Tristan’s closet were all there. I pulled on the clothing, leaving the shirt to sleep in, and headed back downstairs.

I sat next to Tristan on the couch and Lisa pressed a warm mug of steaming hot chocolate into my hands then went to the kitchen to get one for herself.

“How are you holding up?” a soft voice from behind me asked.

I twisted around and saw Samara, looking tall and elegant. Her skin was milky white, her hair nearly colorless. It always amazed me how she looked like an angel. Only the halo was missing.

“I’m...a bit sore,” I admitted.

“Well, I’m glad we were still here when it happened.” She came round and sat on the corner of the couch, making it easier to look at her.

Kyle wandered into the room and stood behind Samara, dropping his hands onto her shoulders.

“Are you telling stories?” Kyle asked her.

“No, but that’s a good idea.” She smiled up at him and then looked back at me. “Have they told you how they became friends?”

“No. Tristan seems to get away with not telling me much.” I glanced at him with a mock glare. I swore his face flushed and he gave a small cough, ducking his head. “I think I’d love to hear this story.”

Kyle chuckled at Tristan’s embarrassment. “Why don’t you tell it, Tristan? That way you can skip over the gushing parts.”

Tristan postured up with a fake growl. “No, no, this is your story. I’ll just keep it straight.”

I smiled at their playfulness.

“It was west of here just outside Telluride.”

Tristan nodded. “Yeah, but-”

“Ah-ah-ah, my story.” Kyle grinned crookedly. “Anyways, I was out hiking when Tristan stumbled across my path. He was with a group of other kids from town on a camping trip, but managed to get lost. When his horse threw him-”

“I couldn’t help that he’d been spooked by a snake.”

“Yeah, but then you started walking in the wrong direction!”

“Get on with it,” Tristan said.

“Well, he’s walking around the mountain, entirely oblivious to the rattling going on around him.” Kyle shook his head as if even now he couldn’t believe it.

“Hey, in my defense I was only fourteen.”

“I guess. Anyways, I see him and stupidly go over to offer some of my extremely good advice on being careful about walking off the paths. So I fill him in on his stupidity and after he brushes me off, this massive rattlesnake, must have been a good six feet-”

“Try two,” Tristan corrected him.

“Hey, I thought this was my story? Like I said, six feet. This snake lunges for Tristan, but I jump in front of him and it sinks its teeth into me. I could actually feel the venom pumping into me. Tristan grabbed the thing and threw it at least twenty feet.

“I was pretty freaked out about everything that happened and Tristan managed to get me back to his campsite and his dad fixed me up. I don’t know what I would have done if Tristan hadn’t helped me out.”

Tristan reached one hand out and Kyle meet it midair, clasped in a show of brotherhood. “You’ve covered my ass enough times to make up for it,” he said laughing.

“Men,” Samara sighed, rolling her eyes.

“I thought you guys went to school together?” I glanced between the two guys.

“Nah.” Kyle shook his head. “I lived with my mom over in Ouray until I finished school, then I moved here.”

“How did you and Samara meet?” I asked him.

“Just after Kyle moved here, I came to visit my aunt and we ran into each other at the diner.” She smiled at Kyle and what I saw in their eyes was what I wanted. I glanced at Tristan and saw him watching me. Maybe I finally had a chance at that.

A little later, Samara and Kyle headed home and Tristan walked me up to my room. His kiss was more passionate than it had been earlier in the evening and I wondered if it was fear I tasted on his lips. He had stayed so calm that I hadn’t considered he might have shared some of the anxiety I’d felt. I leaned into him trying to return some of the comfort he had given me.

“Hey, hey, hey, break it up you two.” Lisa’s voice tore us apart. “I don’t need to go to sleep with that mental picture. I’ll be having naughty dreams for a week.”

“And you’re complaining?” Tristan joked.

She laughed, but didn’t leave, obviously waiting for him to go. He shot her a teasingly resentful look and said goodnight. Lisa and I watched him until he turned the corner, disappearing from our view.

“Thanks a lot,” I said, a little miffed that she’d interrupted.

“I don’t want you to get hurt, Janie. And Tristan needs to tell you a few things before you get any more involved.” She opened her door, then glanced back at me. “Just be careful, alright?”

“Okay,” I said, hoping to pacify her but with no intention of stepping back from Tristan.