This was the chapter that I started and got deleted. That’s why it took me so long (plus my break from the Watt) because I loved what I’d written and couldn’t recreate it… Über frustrated.
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Thirteen – Temptation or Trouble?
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Four hours and three thorough examinations and scans later, I was released from the hospital with the diagnosis of two fractured ribs and a load of bruising. There were fancier words but I preferred layman’s terms. I had no wish to become a doctor so there was no point in me learning any medical terminology.
Dante led me outside, his hand around my arm in case I had a sudden dizzy spell. Well, that was his excuse. I hoped someone would actually be here to pick me up. Dante said that Pulse had rung my sponsor with the news and time of release. Whether Kale had bothered to make any plans for a ride was a mystery.
“Make sure to take it easy,” he muttered, “and don’t let your guardian push you into anything strenuous. I understand your loyalty but… just try to keep your health in mind, okay?”
“Hm,” I replied indifferently, peering around for Kale. I should be able to hear him by now.
“I’ll see you tomorrow at school. Your throat will have swollen up over…”
When he trailed off, I looked up at him impatiently. His grip tightened on my arm and I followed his gaze to find Rowan out the front of the hospital, his arms folded, watching us. I scowled at him. Creep.
“What the fuck are you-” Dante was cut off.
“I’m your ride. My car’s just down on the street.”
“After what you’ve done?! She’s not going with you!”
To my surprise, I didn’t feel irritated when Dante shifted in front of me. I didn’t like it but I didn’t get the urge to smack him upside the head.
“I’d rather walk,” I said without inflection.
Rowan tilted his head back and gritted his teeth. “Oh, I’d rather you did too. Save me this goddamn hassle.” He lumbered forward and grabbed my arm, pushing Dante back at the same time. “The faster you quit arguing the faster we get this over with”
I saw Dante reach for him and nudged him with my foot. He caught my eye and I shook my head. And I watched while he shot a heated glare at Pierce’s back while I was being dragged away. Ah Dante, he was like a knight in shining armour. Too bad they were from medieval times and had no place in my modern world.
Rowan all but shoved me into his car, scraping my head on the roof as he bundled me inside. After slamming the door behind me, he stomped to the other side. I huffed and stared out the window on my side. The engine thrummed to life and he pulled off the curb.
“I’m sorry.”
I knew he wasn’t talking about his rough handling of me and banging my head so I waited.
“It’d be dishonest of me to admit that I didn’t enjoy our fight today but it was wrong and it isn’t what I do. I didn’t enjoy the aftermath. And being a bully is not my way of passing time.”
“Bully, ha,” I snorted.
“Picking on the weak,” he clarified.
Some fine apology.
“Whatever, I asked you to do it,” I dismissed.
“And I took it too far.” He turned his head towards me and then quickly looked back at the road. “The bruises around your neck don’t look too hot.”
My fingers automatically went up to where the throbbing was the worst just above my collarbone. I pulled my collar tighter and scowled. “I bruise easily. Just let this go, Pierce. I’m not gonna spend my night thinking about it.”
“But you will think about it when it holds your training back with Pulse.”
He pulled into my house and I got out, racing for the door. I grunted when I heard him follow. Pity I couldn’t just be rid of him already.
I headed straight for my room at the back of the house, desperate for some time alone.
Ash’s voice stopped me from the kitchen. “Get in here, scrap. How did today go?”
Ah, hmm. Ash didn’t know about my hospital visit yet. So he hadn’t been the one to tell Rowan to pick me up…
I tentatively stepped into the room. “Fine.”
“Fine? Huh, come on. Of course, I’m going to ask for…” He trailed off as he took in the bruises around my neck. His eyes narrowed and he stood up.
“I would have thought that she had called you before she visited the hospital.”
I nearly jumped. Rowan had sneaked in behind me.
“Did you do that to her, kid?”
I was pleased to find his eyes spitting fire. Come on, Ash, bring out your cleaver.
“Yes sir. I took my assignment too far, I’m sorry.”
I was disappointed when the spark went from his eyes and he smiled slightly at my enemy. “Oh, I understand. It’s quite enjoying to wallop her, it’s hard to stop. I’m just frustrated because this’ll mean she’ll be delayed in her lessons and you’ll have to report this to the boss.”
“Oh fuck you,” I muttered bitterly.
Ash gave me the look that told me he wanted hit me upside the head. “Did you find out how long you’ll be out?”
“A week of nothing and then a week of holding back.”
“A week? Who diagnosed that?”
I scowled when Rowan answered for me. “Dante O’Brian.”
“That intern? Did you get a doc to check you?”
“My ribs are fractured. My organs are tender. I haggled it down to one week from two. He is a doctor.” I felt like yelling but kept my voice down. Yelling wouldn’t solve anything.
“I think you should get that reanalysed.” My guardian narrowed his eyes at the bruises on my neck.
“In case you’ve forgotten, Dante was the one who diagnosed the poison in my cuts. He’s the one that treated me for an entire week. We can trust his diagnosis,” I said flatly.
Rowan butted in. “He’s, ah, also the one who developed that poison you were talking about.”
I glared sharply at him. “Are you trying to say that we shouldn’t trust the guy? Because he is the brother of Pulse, the guy you’re using to draw out the resistance. If there’s no trust, then we are in trouble.”
He raised his hands in a gesture of harmlessness. “I’m saying it would’ve been pretty easy to diagnose you when he produced what was harming you in the first place.”
I shot him another look and glanced at Ash. “I don’t need a second opinion. If you’ll excuse me.”
Ash studied my face. He’d take in the bruises, the washed-out features and my tired eyes. I was exhausted. “Go.”
I didn’t wait for another word and left the room with a final dark look towards Rowan. The last thing I heard before I was out of hearing distance was Rowan muttering something about my sour disposition. How was I supposed to act in front of the guy who humiliated me physically and mentally in front of others? Did he expect me to act friendly towards him? Fat chance of that ever happening. Rowan was my nemesis, my adversity, my reminder that if I wanted to move up the social ladder in this society, there were challenging people I would have to surpass. I couldn’t like him. I had to defeat him.
** **
To my surprise, Missi showed up on my doorstep the next morning looking geared up for a hike; broad hat, tough-looking boots and socks up to her thighs. Although the mini-shorts – almost briefs – she wore didn’t seem practical.
“Where are you going?” I asked curiously, finding it difficult to get the words out of my swollen and sore throat.
She smiled and her cobalt eyes sparked with worrisome intent. “We’re walking to school together.”
I snorted. “Where’s your car?”
“I said, we’re walking. My car’s at home.”
“Then how the hell did you get here?” Missi was all but allergic to exercise. We would never make it to the school grounds in time for the first lesson, if at all.
“The twins dropped me here.”
“Call them back. You’ll never make it.”
She put her hands on her hips. “We’re WALKING!”
I cracked my neck, wincing as the bruising protested the motion but sighing with relief when the tension eased. “Fine,” I croaked.
I pulled out my phone and quickly texted Dante.
Ten minutes later, Pulse pulled his car up into my driveway and Dante got out of the passenger seat.
“Glad you contacted me,” he said with a grin, “I don’t think walking to school with those ribs is such a good idea. Not that it’d stop you.”
I smiled sarcastically at him.
Missi all but ran to the car and took Dante’s vacated seat, apparently over her determination to walk with me. The not so subtle eyes she was giving Pulse told me why she no longer cared and made me a little ill.
“I thought you wanted to walk…” I growled at her, annoyed. If driving to school meant putting up with her extremely forward and slightly sadistic style of flirting, I’d pass.
“What I wanted was to talk,” Missi said with a feeble whine attached to her tone.
I grunted and got into the back. I shifted uneasily when Dante sat beside me and placed his large warm hand on my neck, using it to tilt my head so he could see the bruising a little clearer. A thrilling heat went through me as he lightly brushed the pads o his fingers over my bruising and it wasn’t entirely comforting.
I was certain that he could feel me tense when Missi put one leg up next to the gear stick and rested her chin on it, fluttering her eyes at Pulse. It was too early in the morning to be subject to this…
Pulse glared at her fiercely and I nearly sighed. By pushing her away, he was only encouraging her more. He’d learn that quickly. He turned up the music, the fast and loud music shouting through the different speakers within the car. Dante leaned over, still holding onto my neck so I couldn’t shift back, and murmured something into my ear that I couldn’t hear over the music.
“What?” I half-shouted.
He leaned a little closer, his chin coming close to resting on my shoulder. I felt the tips of his flyaway hair brush my temple and stifled a shiver. I caught Pulse’s eye contact in the rear view mirror but he only smirked and looked away.
“I’m going to kiss you before you leave this vehicle,” Dante repeated.
Emotions thundered into my head, along with a rush of blood. I was dumbstruck, confused, riled and a little aroused. The cocky arrogance in his tone put my back up but the idea of being kissed by him didn’t disgust me as much as I thought it would. I’d been distracted by the idea of it ever since he’d touched his lips to mine the first time. I had to get it out of my system and maybe a simple kiss would do that. Hopefully. But still, I shot him an exasperated look.
“Oh, are you?” I asked drily.
He grinned smugly and nodded.
I felt stunned when a spark of heat flushed through my stomach and I developed a jittery feeling, like a pre-teen girl thinking about holding hands with her crush. The strength of the feeling surprised me. I’d done this kind of thing before. What made Dante any different?
“You did say that you didn’t like spontaneous kisses,” he explained. “And I’ve been holding back the need to touch you intimately for a while now. So I’m getting it done now. And you can expect more. You’re cute, Jax.”
I sputtered. Cute? No one, ever, never, ever, had called me cute. Where did he get that from? What part of me was cute?! “Thanks but I’m liking the solo thing I have going. I’ll grant you this kiss, because you asked so nicely, but, buddy, once we get out of this car, its hands off.” He knew nothing about me, obviously. Cute? He needed to check his eyesight or something.
He chuckled, clearly amused, and his thumb came up to brush over my lips. Once again I was shocked by my reaction. My lips parted automatically and throbbed with need for more.
“You can forget the solo thing, princess, and you can also dispel any thoughts about making this more than a duo. I’m not one for sharing.”
Did he think he could just step up and boss me around? Ooh, he had another thing coming.
I was about to reprimand him when Pulse suddenly turned his music down. “Please stop attempting to put your hand down my pants and give me some space, you goddamn idiot,” he snarled coolly.
I stifled a laugh and kicked the back of Missi’s chair. She turned and rolled her eyes at me as if we were sharing the knowledge that he was playing hard to get. The girl was often daft.
“You said you wanted to talk, Missi, and now we’re practically at school,” I said to change the subject and ease her attention off of Pulse. And to distract me from the leering Dante. His hand hadn’t moved and it almost felt like he was leashing me to him. No escape. And I liked his touch too much to brush him off. The alluring git…
“So then we’ll talk during the first class break.” She shrugged, uncaring. “You know what we have to talk about.”
Ugh, yes, I did.
We turned onto our school’s road and as Pulse slowed the car, Dante leaned closer to me, shifting his body so that our legs touched. I retreated, pressing my body against the door. I was going to teach this boy a lesson.
“I thought you said you would grant me a kiss,” he purred wryly.
“Huh,” I snorted, “but I changed my mind.” Once the car stopped, I opened the door and fell backwards, using momentum to roll outside. The impact with the ground made me whimper aloud, unable to stop myself, and getting up in order to run away was excruciating. I found it hard to breathe and I stopped at the gates to wait the pain out.
A hand slipped past me and rested against the wall. The warmth of Dante’s body emanated from him as he stood inches from me, his chest brushing my back. I turned slowly and frowned up at him.
“No,” I wheezed, trying to sound firm but the ability was out of my reach at the moment.
“I remember a certain person saying that you shouldn’t exert yourself for at least another week so that you could recover,” he said lowly, turning his head to watch the other students coming and going through the gate. His voice was vibrating with a menacing undercurrent. He was probably disappointed that I’d outwitted him. Not that I’d really been successful.
“Mmm, yeah,” I said non-committedly.
“So…” He turned his head back to me. “I guess if you wanted to smooch in front of all these people I can concur. I suppose it’ll only concrete my wish to make sure everyone knows you’re off limits.”
“Possessiveness, huh?” I growled weakly.
He showed his teeth, I wouldn’t even call it a grin although it was definitely happy. “I know I don’t own you, princess, but you can tell all your friends that I’m yours if that’s what you’re into.”
His other hand came up to cage me in. Yeah, he was definitely going for it.
“Please, don’t,” I groaned, turning away and closing my eyes. I’d made up my mind. If the first kiss had booted up my hormones, wouldn’t the second keep them that way? Wouldn’t they die down if he left me be?
Air caught in my throat as his lips pressed against its outer, sensitive skin. Shit, I’d never known the skin above my pulse was so damn sensitive. My knees were suddenly shaky and my chest was on fire. My entire body was instantly toasty. When his tongue swirled against the skin, my eyelids fluttered closed and my head went AWOL amidst the sensation. Oh shit, the scrape of his tongue against my neck was akin to an orgasm itself!
My hands slammed against his chest but instead of pushing him away, I held on, gripping tightly onto his shirt. One of his hands came away from the brick and slid around my back, pulling my lower body into him. When his lips brushed against mine, all I could do was growl, but it sounded a lot more like a purr. His touch was igniting and my reaction was inflammatory. I pushed back at him, moving my lips against his, my tongue darting out, seeking his.
My response made him squeeze me closer and his kiss became sure and strong, pushing his tongue past my lips and running over the inside of my mouth, exploring the new territory. He tasted tangy and… delicious. I couldn’t get enough. I moved a hand up to his neck, pulling his head down to me so that I could kiss him deeper. My stomach rolled with anticipation as his hand brushed the top of my behind, shaping the curve, the heat of his hand feeling like there was no barrier in between.
When I felt him withdraw, I opened my eyes like a newborn, discovering a new world. I’d never been kissed like that before. His eyes were smouldering, desire and frustration prominent amongst the plentiful emotions. I caught my breath back and blinked dumbly.
“Well…” was all I could muster.
He seemed to recover, straightening his head and removing his hand from me. The heat remained.
“That was pleasant,” I spoke again, trying to fill the tense air with meaningless words.
His eyes searched mine and his brows furrowed. “More.”
“What?”
His lips smashed against mine again, my head suddenly held steady by his hand. His fingers knotted with my short hair and held tight, his emotions clearly getting the better of him. Once again I was lost in his dominative kiss, his tongue searching, his teeth grazing, his lips smoothing. His lower body pushed against mine, making me stumble slightly. He yanked me back upright with his spare hand and released my lips with a sigh of aggravation. His hand on my hair pulled back gently and his mouth pressed softly against my bruises, trailing over my neck and up to the line of my jaw.
I trembled against him.
That took me out of my reverie. He was sending me into helplessness. At first, when I turned my head and pulled back, he only explored the newly exposed skin. The sparks shot through my chest again but I remained determined and pushed on his shoulders. He stopped immediately.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked hoarsely.
I glanced quickly up at him, a little edgy at the sight of the desire and passion in his eyes, and shook my head, no.
He lowered his head, bringing our eyes close and our breaths tangling. “Did you not like it?” There was a smirk in his voice.
I would be admirably honest. “No. I just… want to stop, Dante.” I stared back at him with what I hoped was an emotionless mask. He needed no encouragement from me.
“Fine.” He said surprisingly, and suspiciously, lightly. He took a step back, releasing me. “I think the message is clear enough.” He looked around and I followed his gaze.
Every body in our proximity were appraising us in some way; with smirks, wrinkled noses, frowns or disinterest.
I narrowed my eyes at him.
“I’ll see you during the midday break, honey,” he said overly sweetly, and loped off towards the education buildings.
I should be incensed. But a lop-sided grin crept onto my face. Whew, he had a polished technique.