“What? You guys are staying, are you?” I laughed but wasn't terribly surprised. He jerked me to an abrupt stop, turning me to face him with a serious look on his face.
“If I have anything to say about it, we're staying with you always, Kitty Kat. These last two weeks have been… agony.” His forehead creased with a heavy frown, and his mouth pulled down in a heartbreakingly pained expression.
“Hey.” I slid my hand up to cup his cheek. “I'm sorry; I didn't mean to drag the mood down. Of course you can call dibs on my bed tonight. I missed you like you wouldn't ever believe…” His hand slipped around my waist, pulling me closer as he dipped his head down, lips just barely brushing against mine.
Pushing up on my toes a little, I threaded my hand around his neck and pressed my lips tighter to his, kissing him back tenderly, trying to show him just how I really did feel for him.
Which was hard, given I really didn't know what that was myself, but I just knew that I really, really cared for him. Also, kissing him was beyond incredible.
“Uh guys?” Wesley's tentative voice caused us to break our embrace and return to the real world. “It's getting pretty cold out here…”
My face heated with embarrassment as I realized we were standing only a few dozen feet from the townhouse and the other guys were waiting patiently for me to unlock the door.
“Sorry.” I grinned sheepishly and tossed the door keys to River so he could unlock the house. As we made to follow the guys inside, Wesley stopped me with a hand on my arm.
“Hey, um, I was wanting to ask,” he started, flicking a look over his shoulder to check that the others were inside, “if, ahhhh…” He hedged, rubbing at a crack in the sidewalk with the toe of his shoe. The hood of his sweatshirt was pulled up over his hair, and he had tucked his hands under his arms in an almost defensive pose.
“What's up? Why do you look so sketchy right now, Wes?” I poked him in the arm playfully, and he cleared his throat, dodging my eye contact.
“Okay, this is going to sound really weird, and if you don't know what I'm talking about, then I am going to sound like a total lunatic, but I have to ask you because it's driving me crazy.” The words rushed out of him in one long exhale, and a faint blush started creeping up his cheeks.
“You know you can ask me anything,” I assured him. “After everything we’ve been through lately, if you don't think I'm clinically insane, then we're good.”
He took a deep breath. “While you were gone, did you, um, have any dreams about me?”
I froze.
“Oh wow, that came out totally wrong. That's not what I meant. Holy crap, never mind; forget I said anything.” Wesley turned away from me and rushed up the steps to my townhouse while I still stood frozen on the sidewalk.
Get fucked. That dream can’t have been real! That must not be what he was talking about! But if not that dirty dream in the bath tub, then what? Oh, Jesus.
“Hey, are you coming inside?” Cole asked, jogging back down the steps to where I stood wide-eyed and freaking out. At a loss for words, I blinked at him owlishly.
“Are you okay, Vixen? You look like you've just seen a ghost.” He frowned, tilting my face up with a finger under my chin. “What did Wes just say to get you this stunned?”
“Umm.” I chewed my lip. How was this even possible? How could Wesley and I have shared a dream like that?
I racked my brain for an explanation. It had definitely been a dream; that much was clear from the facts that I had been in a completely different state and had made impossible things happen, like relocating him from the floor to the tub. A dull throbbing started behind my eyes.
This magic bullshit is going to be the death of me.
As if to punctuate my thoughts, there was a sharp screeching of car brakes and a loud explosion before my body erupted in pain, and I was thrown into a nearby lamppost.
When I came to, there was a loud, high-pitched ringing in my ears, and I could dimly hear someone saying my name.
“What the fuck…” I tried to say, but my jaw didn't seem to obey my commands.
“Shh, love, don't speak. Let your healing do its thing.” River’s warm British accent rolled over me, and my body began the itchy, painful process of knitting itself back together. There were so many places on my body that were crawling with the familiar sensation that I couldn't even pinpoint where I had been hurt. After what seemed like an unusually long time, given how fast my magic was acting these days, I finally felt okay enough to speak.
“I'm almost done,” I croaked to River, opening my eyes and blinking a couple of times to clear the fog over my vision. “What the hell happened?”
His face was grim as he looked down at me. “Someone drove right up beside you and exploded a car bomb. Austin saw it all happen when he was coming to see what was taking you guys so long.”
“What?” I gasped, trying to sit up but collapsing again when a wave of dizziness rolled over me. Taking a couple of breaths, I tried again. “Where's Cole? Is he okay? He was standing right there with me!” Frantically, I looked around for him. The spot where we had stood was a mess. Bits of debris were scattered everywhere, and the burnt-out shell of the van which had detonated the bomb was blazing with fire.
“Just take it easy,” River murmured, helping me stand as I began scrambling to my feet. I could see Wesley and Austin crouched a dozen or so yards farther down the street and could only assume they were tending to Cole.
“Careful,” Caleb warned, taking my other arm to steady me as I staggered towards the other guys.
Dodging burning pieces of debris, I threw myself forward to where Wesley and Austin were kneeling on the pavement beside Cole's very still form.
“No no no no no,” I gasped as I crawled the remainder of the way on my knees and ended up beside his head. He was still alive and awake, but judging by the jagged piece of metal stabbing into the side of his neck, I didn't imagine he would be for long.
“Cole, what the fuck?” I whispered, and his granite eyes met mine, silently trying to say something. “I don't know what you're trying to tell me right now, but I want to apologize in advance if you turn into something freaky like me, okay?” His mouth twitched just the tiniest bit, and I took that as his acceptance.
With shaking hands, I looked him over, deciding that the metal in his neck was really the only life-threatening injury. The rest of his cuts and breaks looked non-serious enough and would hopefully heal along with his neck injury.
“Princess,” Austin muttered, close to my ear. “Do you know what the hell you're doing? You just told us you have no idea how you healed that Romanian prick.”
“What other choice do we have right now, Austin?” I snapped back with a quivering voice, wiping my sweaty palms on my jeans and chewing the inside of my cheek. “We can't just let him die when I could save him. Besides, you probably had a point earlier about triggers.” Thankfully, he didn't question me any further. We didn't have the time to waste.