Maybe I was an archdemon.
“I know what you are,” that Abrus demon had said.
My wings burst from my back and I took to the skies. This was only my third time flying, but it came back like muscle memory. I pumped higher and higher as I flew away from the school. The night of The Falling, when the archangels fell from Heaven and warred with the demons, power had lashed out at random. Monsters had been created, and I was one of them.
“I know what you are.”
I flew harder, heading for the ocean.
“Brielle!” The wind carried Lincoln’s voice to me, and I soared faster. He was the last person I wanted to see right then, the last person I wanted to know what I’d done, what I was.
When I hit the beach, my legs crash-landed, and I sort of fell onto the sand. The moment I righted myself, I started running for the pier. I wanted to hide, to crawl into a hole, and be alone.
“Brielle!” he shouted again, closer that time.
I didn’t dare look back when I reached the pier. Slinking down against one of the pillars I pulled my knees up, wrapped my arms around my legs, and buried my face between my knees. Sobs racked my chest as I curled inside of myself and hid from the world.
I stayed there for a full minute, listening to the crashing of waves, and letting the emotions crash through me. Then he found me.
“Brielle.” His voice was so warm, so understanding, it made more tears spill out onto my knees.
“Please go away. I want to be alone.” My voice was muffled, hiding against my legs.
I could feel his body heat against my left side and then his hand on my back. “Shea told me what happened. It’s going to be okay. Just come back to school where it’s safe. Please.”
My head snapped up. “Nothing about this is going to be okay.”
I’d never seen him look so… caring.
“So you have demon-gifted powers. We guessed that with your black wings.” He tried to sound nonchalant, and failed.
I shook my head. “No, Lincoln. I nearly killed Tiffany with black magic that flew from my throat. Those are not demon-gifted powers. That’s some other kind of next-level evil shit.” I turned away from him, looking out to the ocean.
He gripped my chin and forced me to face him. “Brielle, nothing about you is evil. Trust me.”
My breath caught in my throat. His hand on my chin was sending warm tingles down my back, and he wasn’t pulling away. My tears suddenly dried up, and I swallowed hard. “How do you know? Maybe I am an archdemon,” I told him, holding his gaze.
He didn’t waver. “Because the worst thing you’ve done since I’ve known you, is save your best friend and steal fruit from me. You’re harmless.”
I laughed, and his hand slid from my chin to my neck.
“You’re also way too beautiful to be an archdemon,” he added, eyeing my lips.
Beautiful. Lincoln Grey called me beautiful.
Maybe it was the sound of the waves, or his hand on my neck. Maybe it was the way he was looking at my lips like he wanted to taste them, but I grew bold then. Wrapping my hand around his bicep, I leaned in and kissed him. The second my lips hit his, he parted them, deepening the kiss. Pleasure filtered out into my body, and butterflies danced in my belly. As his warm tongue stroked against mine, his hand trailed from my neck, down my arm and settled firmly at my waist.
I’m kissing Lincoln Grey.
I moaned in pleasure, and in one swift move, he leaned back onto the sand, pulling me on top of him. Straddling his waist, I kissed him with a hungry passion; it felt like I’d been waiting to unleash it my entire life. I reached up into the sand and stroked the back of his neck just as his hands slipped into the back of my shirt and he grasped my rib cage. Heat traveled in a downward expressway to my groin.
The kiss was epic, all-consuming—and gone all too soon. He seemed to realize what we were doing, and abruptly stopped, using his strength to pull me off him and sit up.
“Shit. Bri, I shouldn’t have done that.” He stood, sand falling off him.
I touched my swollen lips, still warm from our kiss. “Why?” Is he crazy? I want to do that all day, every day.
“You’re my student, and you’re too young,” he said to the sand, unable to meet my eyes.
I stood, all talk of archdemons forgotten. “I’m nineteen in like two months, and you teach me thirty minutes a day.” Was I pathetically arguing to reinstate the kissing? Yes. Yes I was.
That time he did meet my eyes. “It was a mistake. Let’s get back to the school, or I’ll have to call Raphael and send the army.”
I wasn’t sure which hurt more, the word ‘mistake’ in relation to that life-altering kiss, or the threat to send the Fallen Army to make me go home.
I stepped closer to him and he flinched, like I was going to kiss him again, and the thought scared him. “Kissing you will never be a mistake,” I declared. Then my wings sprung out, and I burst from the sand, airborne.
Shea better be buying two tubs of chocolate peanut butter ice cream, because I have a feeling I’m going to cry myself to sleep for many, many reasons.
Chapter Fifteen
I did cry myself to sleep. Luke, Angela and Shea tried to reassure me that I wasn’t an archdemon, and that Lincoln would come around. It did nothing to help. The worst part? Shea and I were broke, so I’d had no ice cream to drown my sorrows in.
Now it was Friday. The beach games were imminent, and I was trying to think of a hundred reasons to back out. I didn’t want to see anyone, couldn’t bear the archdemon whispers that had sprung up at breakfast that morning.
“This paycheck is burning a hole in my pocket,” Shea said.
We’d both gotten paid that morning, the checks left in the mailbox on our door.
I nodded. “I can’t bear to see Lincoln at my Celestial master studies class, or Noah, or any of them. I need time.”
Shea shrugged. “So cancel. Tell them you feel sick.”
“Great idea,” I agreed with a nod. “And I’ll cancel the beach games too.”
“Whoa, girl.” Luke shot his hand out to stop me. “Don’t take it that far.”
My voice mixed with a groan. “I don’t want to go.” Shea rolled her eyes and snatched my phone. “Hey, give that back!” I shouted, but she got up and circled the table, texting away like crazy as she walked. “Shea, I will kill you if you embarrass me.”
“There, done. Now, let’s ditch and go shopping,” she declared.
Luke laughed. “This is college, so it’s not really ditching.”
Shea glared at him. “Don’t take away my fun.”
“What did you do with my phone?” I asked her.
She set it down in front of me, and I hurried to read the email.
To: Lincoln, Noah, Blake, Darren
Hey, guys,
Let’s cancel our Celestial studies class today. I just realized my boobs have grown so big since last summer, that I need a new bikini before the beach games.
Cheers,
Bri
“Oh. My. God. You’re dead,” I growled. Has she lost her damn mind?
Luke and Angela busted up laughing, and I realized they’d been reading over my shoulder.
My phone buzzed with a reply.
From: Noah
Totally understandable. ;)
See you later.
It buzzed again.
From: Blake
Girls.
Another buzz.
From: Darren
Whatever. Cool.
Just as I was setting the phone down, it buzzed with Lincoln’s reply.
From: Lincoln
Nice try. Your boobs are tiny. See you at the beach.
“Ahh!” I screamed, earning some stares from people around me. He was back to being an asshole. “My boobs aren’t tiny, they’re petite,” I told the table, slamming my fist down.
Luke grinned. “You know what this means?”
I wanted to die. “What?”
“Lincoln’s totally been checking out your boobs.”
Well, I guess that’s the silver lining.
Wait, did Luke just confirm they’re tiny?