“You really shouldn’t fight it.”
Chapter 12
I jumped as Finn seemingly materialized next to me. I couldn’t tell if he was talking about the ocean or my desire to be close to him. I lost all train of thought as he fixed his blue eyes on me.
“What are you doing here?” I said, a little too spastic.
“Baking cookies,” he smirked at me.
“You shouldn’t tease me like that, it’s dangerous. I take baked goods very seriously.” A slow smile formed on his lips.
“Dangerous happens to be my specialty,” he said in a low voice, taking a step closer to me.
My entire body warmed. He was like my own personal bonfire. “Being afraid reminds us how alive we are. What makes you afraid, Stasia?” I felt my legs get wobbly.
“Nothing scares me,” I said with as much confidence as I could muster. He definitely terrified me, but only because I didn’t trust my body to function correctly around him.
“Nothing at all?” His gaze intensified.
“Nothing at all.” I straightened and held my chin slightly higher to prove it.
“You’re not a good liar.” He leaned in closer and I could feel his breath on my cheeks.
“What makes you afraid?” I whispered. I was having trouble breathing. His answer was another slow smile. If I moved forward even an inch, his mouth would be on mine. Trying not to hyperventilate, I noticed when his eyes glanced down at my lips. His smile disappeared abruptly and he took a step back. As he turned his attention to the water, I tried to figure out what had just happened. My entire body, humming with electricity, was instantly cooled by the distance he’d put between us.
“Come with me.” He took my hand in his, leading me down to the water. It fit perfectly in mine and warmth spread up my arm and into my chest. We stopped once the waves hit our ankles.
“Don’t move your feet.” He grinned down at me as I rolled up my jeans. He raked his fingers through his dark hair and the skull and crossbones trace on his forearm shimmered at me. In the pale light of the moon, it was dangerously alluring.
“I used to do this all the time when I was younger,” he explained with obvious nostalgia. My feet disappeared farther into the wet sand, locking me in place, while the water rushed onto the shore and then back out again.
“What happens if we need to go somewhere?” I asked. I could be buried up to my knees in no time at this rate.
“Who says we’re going anywhere?” He held my eyes and put a hand on my shoulder. Before I could come to grips with the tingling sensation his touch created on my skin, he lightly pushed backward. Too late, it dawned on me. Once set in motion, however, I had no way of preventing it. My knees bent and I fell right on my butt onto the wet sand. The water crashed over my knees, soaking my jeans. I tried to stand back up and failed miserably. I glared up at my assailant.
“What are you doing way down there?” He looked down at me with mock surprise. I scooted forward and pushed behind his knees with my hand as hard as I could. He came crashing down beside me. “What was that for?” he asked innocently.
“I told you I can be dangerous. Bad things happen to people who try to push me around.” If he only knew how true that was. I shook the thought and smiled at him. A piece of leather peeking out of the sand caught my attention. Wrapped around his ankle, it held four small black beads shining in the moonlight. I had a good guess as to which type of stones they were.
“If that’s all you’ve got, I’m not too worried,” he taunted me. I dipped my hand in the wet sand, grabbing a handful. I slowly raised it above his head threatening to release it. Before I even noticed, he caught my wrist and pulled it back down. Holding my eyes, he delicately threaded his fingers through mine, while the wet sand squished out. The gesture was somehow very intimate and a shiver ran down my spine. The wet sand ran down my arm but I didn’t even notice. We stayed like that, hand in hand, facing the ocean for what seemed like hours.
I had a million more questions waiting in the wings, but decided this wasn’t the time to open up that can of worms. So, I settled for the least complicated one.
“Why weren’t you in class today?”
“There was somewhere I had to be,” he answered simply.
“You missed a very important lesson. It was life altering.” I teased him.
“The only thing I really missed was sitting next to one very extraordinary girl.” I didn’t think I was breathing anymore.
“She sounds wonderful.” I tried some humor to shake off my nervousness.
“You have no idea.”
Someone laughed in the distance and I pulled my eyes away from his. I realized my roommates were probably getting worried about me.
“I should be getting back to the bonfire. They’re going to think I’ve been kidnapped.” He pulled me toward him in one quick motion.
“Kidnapped insinuates some sort of struggle.” He said in a low voice with a sexy grin. “You’d enjoy being captured by me.” My heart jumped in my throat, but I tried to remain cool.
“I’d like to see you try,” I threw back at him, “but first you’ll have to escape your own sandy death trap” I wiggled my feet out of the sand, stood up and washed my hands off in the water. He followed my every move with curious eyes.
“Sweet dreams, Anastasia.” I wasn’t sure if there was an underlying meaning to his words.
“Sweet dreams, Finn,” I responded, breathlessly.
Halfway back to the bonfire, I looked over my shoulder at him, but he was gone. Seriously, how did he do that?
“Stasia! What happened to you? You’re soaked!” Phoebe ran up to me in a panic.
“Just got a little too close to the water and a wave got me. I’m fine, I promise” I assured her.
Carmen watched me with skeptical eyes and I got the feeling she had seen what really happened to my jeans. When I got back to the fire, I rotated gradually, drying myself off.
“That wave sure was tall, dark, and handsome,” Carmen raised an eyebrow at me. “Who’s the mystery boy?”
“It’s nothing, really,” I tried to convince her. Her face told me she wasn’t buying it. “Okay, okay his name’s Finn. He’s in my 6th period,” I admitted. Her face paled.
“Finn? The Finn that’s a Son of Daimon?”
“As far as I know. I mean I haven’t asked him which Order he’s in but I saw four…” she grabbed my arm, interrupting me.
“Stay away from him, Stasia,” she said with urgency. I could hear an undercurrent of fear in her voice.
“What? Why?”
“He’s cursed,” she whispered. Cursed?
“Stasia! Carmen! Come on, we’re leaving!” Willow ran over and took our hands, literally pulling us out of our conversation. Once we drug our tired feet back up to our suite, I said goodnight, fell onto my bed, and closed my eyes. I could still hear his voice and see his crooked smile in my mind. It should be illegal to be that hot. Carmen’s warning disrupted my delirium. Cursed? People couldn’t really be cursed, could they? What was he cursed with? Devastating good looks and a dark, sexy smile? She couldn’t be serious. That’s just not possible. Of course, two weeks ago I wouldn’t have imagined any of this could be possible; yet here I was. Images from previous reveries flashed into my mind. His bloodied and beaten face, swinging an axe down on someone’s neck, standing by as a woman was killed on the beach. With a sense dread creeping down my spine, I had to admit, it was very, very possible.
The world was blurry when I opened my eyes, but I could see movement coming towards me.