I frowned, which was followed by a wince.
Smiling and frowning were out of the question. The slightest movement caused discomfort. I became the center of Chase’s attention as he picked up on my pain, because the next thing I knew, I was being plucked off my feet and we were flying through the trees. I closed my eyes before I puked my guts out.
Chapter 6
“That was a dumb move yesterday,” Lexi told me as we walked down the halls at Hell High, I mean Hall High.
Yada. Yada. Yada. “I’ve already been grilled to the bone,” I said dryly.
“But…” Her heels clicked in time with the clomping of my Converses.
“But what?” I gave her a sideways glance.
She had her blonde hair in a perfectly tied ponytail, not a strand out of place. Unlike mine. My hair was also in a ponytail, but it looked like I had stood in front of an airplane engine. There were flyaways everywhere, and no amount of hair product helped.
She hugged her pink leopard notebook to her chest. “For what it is worth, I don’t think that your idea sucked, just your execution.”
Surprise crossed my face. “He told you, huh?”
She nodded, sending her silky ponytail swinging. “Well, it was more like he was letting off steam and it slipped out.”
“I just bet. Chase wasn’t exactly thrilled with me.”
“Whatever.” She waved a French-manicured hand in the air. “At least we have matching holes in the wall now.”
I snickered, though it really wasn’t funny.
“Seriously. Chase will be pissed if he finds out what I’m about to say, but tough titties.”
She had my full attention now. If it was going to get under Chase’s skin, then you can bet I was game.
She grinned, dimples and all. “I want to help you.”
I did a double take. “Let me get this straight. You want to help me compel Emma?” I lowered my voice over that last bit.
Her turquoise eyes lit with mischief. “You got it, sister.”
She didn’t mean sister literally, but it hit a little too close to home thanks to her dad dating my mom. Becoming sister’s looked more and more like a possibility.
Ugh.
I screwed up my face. “We’re not sisters yet,” I mumbled.
She rolled her eyes. “We will be. I just know it. We are going to have so much fun. So what do you say, sis? Are we going to do this?”
Lord, help me. This was definitely one of those things that was going to come back and bite me in the ass. I just knew it. “What the hell. Let’s do it.”
She gave me the brightest smile and hugged me right before we walked into class. “Thank you.”
I gave her a quick squeeze even though I wasn’t much of a hugger, Chase being the exception.
It went without being said—the big guy was not to know. And there lay my first dilemma.
Crap.
Keeping secrets when you were bonded in some hellish voodoo was not precisely easy. I just hoped I could at least pull it off until the dirty deed was done.
Assuming Emma didn’t kill me before then.
***
After school, Chase dropped me off at my house and told me he would be back in a little bit. Code for “I need to go check on my off-the-handle cousin.” I nodded, not knowing what else to say. Between him and me, our emotions were ping ponging all over the place. There was no point trying to filter through them, so I went inside and attempted to distract myself.
The house was empty when I walked in, just me and the creepy creaks and groans of my house settling. It was extra windy today, making the house eerie. Two Twinkies later, I sat in the kitchen licking the cream off my fingers while attempting to work on my calculus homework. This was not my type of distraction. If anything, it made my head hurt.
After twenty minutes of biting the end of my pencil, I decided I needed a distraction from my distraction. Since Chase wasn’t around, I went for the next best thing. Xbox.
I sighed when my fingers touched the buttons, and before long, I was lost in the world of Borderlands 2. Gaige and her red pigtails were bouncing across my screen, kicking ass and taking names—my new motto. Like the remote was an extension of my hand, my fingers moved without real thought. It was a great, mindless diversion from whatever bizzaro stuff was going on next door.
I was in the zone when I felt the tingles, a sure sign that Chase was near. I saved my progress before someone decided to try to pull the plug on me again. So not cool. That still burned my butt.
I glanced up to see Chase leaning in my doorway, watching me with a come-get-me grin. All thoughts of Gaige disappeared. There was never room for anyone or anything else when Chase was in the room. I couldn’t take my eyes off him as he walked to my bed. Sitting up, the mattress shifted under Chase’s weight. His eyes were direct and intense on me.
“Hey. How’s Tr—”