“Ember…?” His voice felt like a whisper against my lips.
He was going to kiss me. I knew it. My entire body tensed in anticipation, my pulse hummed deliciously. But on the fringes, things start to blur. Even as I felt like I would burst through my skin any second, my head started to swim. Then he pulled away so fast I nearly fell off the desk.
Panting heavily, Hayden stepped back and stared. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Did I hurt you?” I asked, surprised by how husky my own voice sounded.
He looked at me like I’d grown a hand out of my head and it’d wiggled fingers at him. “I was hurting you, Ember. I could feel it.”
“No,” I said slowly. “I was just a little dizzy. You didn’t drain anything, right?”
“I wanted to.” He looked away. “Don’t you get it? I did. I could feel it happening and I would’ve held on. I would’ve done it.”
I wished he’d pull me back into his arms. I liked it there. And I didn’t see what the big deal was. “It’s okay. Nothing happened.” I sounded a little disappointed.
“I could have seriously hurt you.” He ran a hand over his head, clasping the back of his neck.
“Do you realize how weird this is? I’m the one who could’ve
“You wouldn’t hurt me. I haven’t told you this, but my gift would kick in before you did any serious damage. I don’t think I’d even be able to stop it from doing so.”
Well, that was good to know. But it didn’t bother me. It actually made me glad that he was protected in that way. I chewed on my lower lip and watched him. Regret strained his face. That kind of stung. This probably explained why I asked the next question. “Are you still mad that I told Mr. Theo and not you?”
Hayden took a step back, eyes narrowing. “I think it’s ridiculous that you’d confide in a complete stranger. I thought you trusted me.”
“I do trust you, but Mr. Theo isn’t a stranger.” I hopped down from the desk and brushed past him.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I thought you didn’t want to hear about it anymore. That you were done dealing with it.”
“What?” He spun around. “Why would you think that?”
“I don’t know. I just didn’t want to bother you.” I folded my arms. “I just thought it would make us argue more.”
Hayden shook his head. “I don’t understand you sometimes. If you could just let go of how you feel about my family for two seconds—”
“Not going to happen.”
He groaned. “Do you know—do you even care how disappointed he was in me? What that meant to me?”
My head jerked up. “What? You didn’t tell him you knew about the stuff in the locker, did you? I told him I didn’t tell anyone, Hayden. Oh, God.”
“He didn’t appreciate the fact that I’d been hiding what was happening.”
“Then why did you tell him?”
“I needed to tell him the truth, Ember!” he said, equally frustrated. “It’s bad enough that I’ve been lying to him about helping you.”
“I never made you help me! You pushed it on me!”
He stared at me for what seemed like forever. “My father was on the phone with every contact he has ever made in the last ten years after he reamed my ass out last night. He sent Kurt to find out who’s behind the stuff in your locker.”
That meant nothing. I’d do the same thing if I was guilty and wanted people to believe I wasn’t, but the look on his face stopped me from letting those words get past my lips.
“And I know none of that means anything to you.”
I flushed. There was no point in denying it. I folded my arms and glared at him.
“But I wish it did. Then you could see that my family isn’t against you.” He stepped forward, catching the edge of my sleeve. Only the tips of his fingers brushed my skin, but it felt like a thousand touches in one. “They’ve been watching over you for so long. My father wants to help you. He’ll do everything and anything to keep you and your sister safe.”
I unfolded my arms, and Hayden let go. He didn’t step back. My hands found the sleeve of his shirt.
Mimicking his early movements, the tips of my fingers brushed the skin of his wrist. I closed my eyes, but I could tell the shadows in the room were breaking apart as the sun started to rise over the mountain.
“Please. Ember, you have to trust him. Trust
The moment I opened my eyes, Hayden knew. Neither of us spoke. There was just too much that pointed at Cromwell for me to ever trust the man, and Hayden would always remain loyal to him.
Our eyes connected for the briefest moment. Then he left without saying a word. I turned to the balcony. The sun had crested the mountain, casting an orange, fiery glow over the woods, and in that second, everything burned.
“I spoke to Principal Hawkes,” Mr. Theo said, eyeing two students in the hallway who had their tongues shoved down each other’s throats. For a teacher, he didn’t seem to mind the PDA like every other adult did. “She said everything is being taken care, and you shouldn’t have any more problems.”
Feeling a strange pain in my chest, I pulled my gaze from the couple. The ache transferred to my temples. “Yeah.”
He looked at me sharply. “You don’t sound too convinced of that.”
I squeezed the coin between my fingers, wondering how things had gone from Hayden almost kissing me this morning to not even speaking to me. We’d argued before, but they’d been different. “I’m just tired.”
Mr. Theo turned and faced me. “You left school early yesterday. Was it because you wanted to, or were you made to?”
His question caught me off-guard, and between the pain in my head and lack of sleep, my brain wasn’t up for the challenge of lying or talking in general. I just wanted to finish this day and go to sleep.
“Ember?”
I blinked. “No. I think I’m coming down with something.”
“Well, at least you have Thanksgiving break to rest up and feel better.”
Yeah. A whole week of being stuck in the house with people who hated me sounded like a restful experience. “I hope you have a nice break.” I could hear the emptiness in my own voice. No emotion. I was that tired. Or maybe it was something else. I pushed away, swinging the bag onto my shoulder.
“Ember?” he called out. I’d gotten about a yard away before twisting back around. “Take care of yourself.”
Chapter 21
I stared down at my cup of hot chocolate, watching the darker chocolate swirl. She might be an evil child- stealer, but Aunt Liz could make some kick-ass hot chocolate. Setting the mug aside, I picked up the pad of paper and turned to a blank page. My mind wandered as I started etching lines across the paper.
Liz had taken Olivia to the library after lunch and they had yet to return. I’d been invited to go, but I’d turned them down. Stupid. I needed a new copy of
So I sat outside on the porch, huddled down in a corner so the chilly breeze couldn’t reach me, waiting for Olivia to come back. Or, at least, I kept telling myself it was because of Olivia. I was totally not waiting for Hayden to come home, hoping to catch him. I’d seen him leave with Phoebe and Gabe a little after noon. I hadn’t been invited.
The pencil slid over the page, a line here, a stronger line there.
