He seems upset, and not just because he had to sit out the fight, if that’s what it was, but because I might be hurt. Because he cares?
“It’s not just me he wants.” I twisted the sleeve of his shirt in my fingers and held it firmly. “You have to be careful. Promise me.”
He let the knuckles on one hand slide down the side of my face, and I tried really hard not to lean into it. I mean, my crush was Jake. Not Chay. I tried so hard to pull away. I did. But my eyes closed, and I leaned into his hand. “I know. I heard.” His voice glided over me like silk. Soft and husky—and so damn sexy. Liquid fire moved through my body.
I heard Muriel’s small chuckle from somewhere in the room. It couldn’t have said, “I told you dark and brooding was your type,” any louder if she’d screamed it. Forcing my eyes open, I cleared my throat. “Lily’s eighteen, right?” I asked.
“Yeah, we all are, except you,” Chay answered. His hand rested lightly on the curve of my shoulder, his thumb rubbing my neck.
“Then why did she change? I mean, I thought we were immune to Azazel when we turned eighteen?” I moved away from Chay and reached into the refrigerator. Pulling out Cokes, I handed them to everyone. Chay’s fingers moved over mine when he took the can from me. His gaze never left mine.
“No, you’re immune because of your higher rank. The others gained some strength when they turned eighteen, and the group as a whole will be stronger when you’re eighteen, but they’ll never be immune.” My dad took a long pull on his Coke. “But any one of us can turn at any time. It’s a personal choice, regardless of age or rank.”
“Oh.”
Crap. There’s so much to learn. This is worse than studying for the SATs.
“Another thing I don’t understand—why don’t our neighbors hear or see what’s going on? I mean, we just had five fat, red goblins running around our yard, squealing and acting like a bunch of brats who OD’d on Red Bull and Fun Dip candy, but no one seems to have noticed.”
“Well, it helps that the lots in this subdivision are an acre each and the perimeter of ours is mostly wooded,” my dad said, easing into a chair. “But the truth is, most people are blind to otherworldly things. What you see and hear as a demi-angel is much different from what their minds are capable of understanding.
“That’s one reason we can keep Ben from being tainted by what we see and do. His mind isn’t ready to accept the situation. But the closer to the age of accountability he gets, the more he’ll understand, and the more he’ll see.
“Demons are around us every day, but people don’t see them. It’s the same when they’re here. We can have all the fury of Hell in our backyard, and the neighbors won’t see it.”
Chay took a drink of his Coke and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “We probably will.”
A frown pulled at my dad’s mouth. “True, this is going to get ugly.”
Four weeks, two days until my birthday.
Compared to what was happening in my life, school was even more of a bore than usual. The visions took over. I had them at school, at home, and anywhere I happened to be. If there was a human in danger and I could step in, I had to. I was learning to let the visions have their way. It became easier with each one. Not fun, necessarily, but easier. I’d do what they wanted me to, and then go about my life like normal. Because it was normal. At least for me.
The only bright spot in my school day was Chay. Jake had become a distant memory. Oh, he was still gorgeous and charming, but he wasn’t Chay… who also happened to be gorgeous but was definitely not charming most days. He had his moments, though, and I was beginning to think more and more about him and less and less about Jake. That made me feel off-balance. I knew where I stood when it came to Jake, which was nowhere. He had Heidi, the cheerleader. Rah-frickin-rah. I wasn’t in the picture.
But with Chay, I had no idea where I stood. Did he have any feelings for me beyond our duties as DAs? If so, he didn’t make it obvious, but he did flirt subtly—or maybe I read into things because that was what I wanted. Crap! Relationship stuff sucked. I wanted to go back to first grade when we just wrote, ‘Do you like me? Circle yes or no.’ on a piece of paper. Things were simpler then.
A large book bag slammed on the tall, black table next to me in chemistry. I didn’t bother looking up. I knew it was him. I could smell his cologne. I could feel his presence. And then, I could hear his mouth.
“You look better today. Not like you usually look.” He slid onto his chair next to me and started pulling his book and supplies out of his backpack.
Was that supposed to be a compliment?
I sighed and turned toward him, drumming my pen on my thigh. “How do I usually look?”