Abandon - Meg Cabot [88]
I realized now what the glow was in his eyes. It was triumph.
No wonder my heart was beating so fast. He was fire, and I was kindling.
I was doomed.
“All that means,” I assured him, struggling to wiggle out of his arms, “is that it’s possible you aren’t as big a jerk as I may once have accused you of being.”
To my relief, he let go of me. He didn’t look happy about it, just like the time I’d made him let Mr. Mueller go. But he did.
“It means you care about me,” he said.
“I care about everyone,” I retorted. “You said so once yourself. I’m a very caring person.”
“When can I see you again?” he demanded.
Of course he’d seen right through me. My sarcasm was just a defense mechanism to hide how truly unnerved I was at my body’s reaction to his.
I’d known from the fact that I hadn’t been able to keep away from the cemetery that I was drawn to him.
But I’d been telling myself it had just been because of the unfinished business between us. And the fact that he kept going around trying to kill people on my behalf. How could I ever have anticipated what I’d heard in Richard Smith’s office? Or this…the immediate chemical reaction that seemed to occur when our lips met? My mouth was still tingling.
What did any of it mean? Where could it go? He was a death deity. I was a senior in high school.
This was never going to work.
He didn’t share my pessimistic views.
“Tomorrow,” he said, climbing to his feet. His gaze seemed to consume me. “I will see you here tomorrow. At dawn.”
“John,” I said, shaking my head. This was happening way too fast. “No. Not dawn. That’s when normal people are still sleeping. Plus, I have school.”
“Dusk, then.” The silver eyes flashed. “Meet me here at dusk.”
“John. We need to talk about this rationally. You warned me last night,” I said, “not to go back to the cemetery. That it wasn’t safe for me there. Was that just hyperbole?” I had looked up the word. It means an exaggerated statement not intended to be taken literally. “Or did you really mean it?”
He stepped forward, wrapped an arm around my waist, pulled me against him, then kissed me some more.
It was impossible to think about the cemetery or Furies or Coffin Night when he was kissing me. It was impossible to believe anything bad could happen, ever, when he was kissing me. All I could think about was him.
He let his mouth linger on mine, neither possessively nor sweetly…like his mouth just belonged there on mine.
And he was right. It did. It always had.
I couldn’t believe I hadn’t known this before. Maybe I had.
Maybe that had been the problem all along.
When he finally let go of me, I felt as if my skin might actually be giving off the same shimmery reflection as the pool water.
“You should very, very definitely stay out of the cemetery,” he said in a slightly raspy voice. “That is not hyperbole. I’ll meet you here tomorrow night at seven o’clock. I won’t wait a minute longer. Wherever you are then, I’ll come looking for you.” He looked down at my pajamas and frowned a little. “Wear that dress you had on last night, the one with the buttons.”
And then he was gone.
And as the wings of starlings bear them on
In the cold season in large band and full,
So doth that blast the spirits maledict…
DANTE ALIGHIERI, Inferno, Canto V
The next morning, I didn’t get up so much as float up.
“You’re in a good mood,” Mom said as I poured milk on my cereal.
“What?” I asked her distractedly.
“You’re humming,” she said with a smile. “You seem like you’re in a good mood.”
“Mom,” I said. “You know that guy Tim?”
She raised her eyebrows. “Yes?”
“You should totally go to the boat show with him. I think it would be good for you.”
“Really?” she said, looking amused. “What caused this change of heart?”
“Oh,” I said. “I don’t know. You should be happy.”
“Well,” Mom said. “Thank you, Pierce. That is so generous of you to give me your permission to be happy.” She looked thoughtful. “Maybe I will give him a call later, though. I was