I Wish... (12 page)

Her head whipped to him. "You will watch your tone or you will find yourself an enemy of this Family."

"Yes, ma'am." It hurt me to see him bow his head in defeat.

The woman addressed me again. "My name is Cora Spencer. I am the Matriarch of this house. Evan is a good boy and has always been an asset to me. He can have his pick of any woman in Desire. I will not have him align himself with someone such as you."

I clenched my hands until I felt my fingernails puncture my skin. Even then my desire to lash out was nearly uncontrollable. "I think it's awfully early to be concerned with us 'aligning' ourselves anytime soon, but even if we did plan to get married and have dozens of girl babies I'm a good match. I'm a First Daughter in line for a place in the Coven. Like you pointed out about Evan, I'm not hurting for potential dates either. I can have any man I want in this town."

Her smile was grim and didn't reach her eyes. "Ah, so you are fiery like Ramona. That's a relief. Vanna was such a disappointment in nearly all respects."

I took a step toward Cora and I'm not sure what I would have done if I hadn't been knocked down to the floor by an unseen shove.

Cora snapped, "Lydia, control yourself."

"But Mother--" She whined.

Cora interrupted impatiently, "You need to leave the room now."

Lydia opened her mouth to argue, but shut it abruptly. She narrowed her hazel eyes at me and I felt as if an invisible someone had just kicked me in the ribs. She turned then and stormed out, as if the normally composed blond teen was now being possessed by a cranky toddler.

Evan offered me his hand and helped me to my feet. He didn't immediately let go of my hand and I didn't pull away either.

Cora nodded at our linked hands. "Would you be so quick to throw your potential away if you knew that young Miss Madison comes from a long line of tramps? All of them since Georgina and probably before that have been fatherless bastards."

He turned to me and said helplessly, "I'm so sorry for all this."

She asked me, "Has your mother told you who your father is yet?"

I shook my head, mute. Our sweet study date had turned into a nightmare and now I was incapable of doing anything, but watching it play out.

Her laughter was throaty. "Well, I won't tell. I'd hate to spoil the surprise. I'd love to be a fly on the wall when that conversation happens."

I willed my numb legs to carry me toward the door and after a concerted effort they finally responded, slowly at first and then more deliberately.

"Evan, walk your guest out. It was a pleasure to meet you, Thistle. You seem delightful. If you weren't from such a trashy Family, I'd be glad to see him linked to a strong girl like you."

Evan did as Cora told him and I knew now that he always did what she told him. Dating him would mean more run-ins with his Family. I could deal with something like that, but I wasn't willing to date a boy that wouldn't stand up for himself or me.

We paused on his porch and he said, "Wait here and I'll go get the car."

I stepped away from him. "I'd rather walk."

He looked vulnerable when he asked me, "This is it, isn't it? There's no point in asking you if you'd like to go out with me."

I might have cried, but I felt drained. "I'm sorry, Evan. I just don't see how we can work through something like this. Lydia attacked me psychically and your Mother is the biggest bitch I've ever met."

He looked miserable and I felt awful for turning him away. "Do you still want to sit with me at lunch and have me walk you to classes?"

I managed what I hoped passed for a smile and said, "Sure, as a friend. I really like spending time with you; I just can't deal with the drama that would come from being a couple."

"I understand. See you in school, then?"

I turned my back before my heart broke. "See you then."

I was only a few blocks from Evan's house when I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around expecting to see Evan there hoping to talk, but the street was empty. It was a built on a hill and I could see back the way I’d come only to a certain point and the dark moonless night didn't increase visibility at all. I waited for a moment to see if whoever I heard hadn't yet breasted the hill, but nobody came. I shrugged and started on my way again.

A gust of wind sent several dead leaves cartwheeling down the street and almost muffled the sound of footsteps, but then there was an unmistakable chatter of a kicked stone skating over pavement. I spun around and this time I saw a man I didn't recognize at the top of the hill. We made eye contact and he turned into an alley and disappeared from view.

I pulled my hoodie closer to myself and tried not to shiver. I wasn't cold, but I was thoroughly creeped out. I started walking again, head down and faster than before. I wasn't surprised to hear the footsteps behind me again. I looked over my shoulder, but the man was still out of sight. Besides, these footsteps were much closer. In fact, they sounded like they were right behind me, but nobody was there.

I started to sprint. There weren't very many heavily traveled streets in Desire, but this sharply inclined side street intersected with a main drag. I knew I'd feel safer if I walked along it and cut onto a side street closer to home. I was nearly to the intersection when I felt pressure between my shoulders, pushing me forward. My feet tangled over each other and I was rolling down the hill with no way to stop myself.

The next few seconds blurred together like someone had pushed a fast forward button. I attempted to stop my roll with my hands and feet, but the incline was too steep and I had too much momentum. I saw headlights coming towards me and as the car passed under a street lamp I had time to see that it was packed with teenaged girls who were laughing and passing around a joint. They looked like goblins in the dim glow of their text messages.

Great, when I'm dead they can post about it on Twitter.

If I had just let myself continue my roll, I probably would have rolled right out of the path of the car and lost speed as the hill leveled out just past the intersection, but I was still operating in panic mode and flailing my hands and feet wildly in an attempt to stop myself from rolling in front of the car. My efforts finally succeeded when my foot hit the curb.

Pain, bright and fierce exploded in my ankle. I was sure that it was broken and for a heartbeat I forgot about the car barreling toward me too fast for the residential streets it traveled. After the initial shock wore off I had the presence of mind to attempt to scramble to my feet and out of the path of the car, but my ankle couldn't bear my weight and I collapsed again.

I closed my eyes in anticipation of being hit. My life didn't flash before my eyes. Instead I thought,
Oh my God, my ankle really hurts.

Rough hands grabbed by the arms and yanked me forcefully to my feet and pulled out more than a little of my hair in the process. I immediately took the weight off my sore leg and started to fall, but due to luck more than any planning on my part, I fell away from the car and toward the sidewalk and safety. Arms were around me before I hit the ground, supporting me and pulling me the rest of the way out of the street. The car flew by close enough to touch and I saw that none of the girls even noticed the life or death struggle that happened right in front of them.

I stood there, weight on one leg, trembling wildly. As I realized how close I came to being hit and seriously injured or even killed I leaned over and promptly vomited nearly on top of the shoes of my rescuer.

It took a few minutes for the heaves to stop. "Are you hurt?"

I swiped the loose hair from my face and looked into the concerned eyes of Ben Foster. "Yeah, my ankle hurts pretty bad, but I think I'm in a lot better shape than I could have been. You saved me."

He pulled me gently a few limping steps away from the street and then squatted down to examine my injured foot. I realized it was because otherwise he'd have been kneeling in my vomit. Now that my life wasn't currently in danger I had time to feel mortified that I hadn't even bothered to leave the circle of his arms while I threw up. "I'm so sorry I threw up on you."

He chuckled and gently began pressing on my ankle and rotating my foot slowly. The pain had already subsided quite a bit and I told him so.

"It doesn't look broken. I'm not a doctor, but I think it's probably just a sprain. Can you walk on it?"

I attempted it tentatively and found that I could now put most of my weight on it without too much discomfort. I took a step and then another and found that I could walk under my own power in a sort of hopping-sliding motion.

Ben slid a strong arm around my side, under my arms. He held me steady against his side and guided me forward. "Try it with my help. Let's see if we can get you home."

Although my ankle was still tender, I was hyper aware of his hand flattened against my chest, just under my breast. A change of subject was in definitively in order. "I didn't even see you there. It's like you came out of the shadows like some kind of super hero and saved me."

"There's no nice way to say this, but you couldn't even pay attention to where you were walking and ended up tripping and falling down the hill in the first place so I wouldn't be too hard on yourself for missing me."

I stopped hobbling and glared at him. I noticed that he was grinning and realized that he was joking. He was so dead pan sometimes it was nearly impossible to figure out when he was kidding. "Hilarious."

Now he laughed openly. "I thought so."

"Someone pushed me."

Now he stopped. "What? Who?"

"I don't know. I couldn't see anyone, but I heard footsteps. I think it was Lydia Spencer."

"Why do you suspect her?"

My ankle was feeling much better now, I thought I could probably walk on it without help, but I didn't want Ben to let go of me yet. Instead, I continued to limp. "I was over at the Spencer house working on my speech project with Evan and there was a confrontation with his Mother and Lydia."

I was gratified to see his expression darken when he heard I was with Evan.
Are you jealous, Ben?

"What kind of confrontation?"

My hands fisted as I got angry all over again thinking about it. "Cora Spencer called my mother a disappointment and said that every woman born in my family for generations has been a bastard."

"Ouch." His arm tightened around me and he took my left hand in his.

"She asked me if I knew my father and said she'd never tell me because she doesn't want to ruin the surprise."

"So she knows who it is?" He asked.

"Seems like she must and it must be bad if she enjoys the idea of me finding out that much." My voice was becoming shrill. I took a calming breath. "She was so smug."

"And what about Lydia?"

"She shoved and hit me without touching me. I assume that's her Talent."

He whistled. "She could have been following you and pushed you without you ever seeing her."

I gritted my teeth. "That's what I think happened."

We were in sight of my house so he eased me down onto the curb. "Look, I feel like I need to say something because you're like a lamb in a den of wolves here. People in Desire are not what they seem. A sweet old lady might encase you in ice or a tiny girl might wipe your memory. And just because a person won't kill you themselves doesn't mean that they won't throw you under a bus to form an alliance that might give their Family more power."

I sulked and refused to look at him when I said, "I get it. I don't know why you think I'm so naive."

He put his hands on my cheeks and forced me to look at him. "Thistle, you
are
naive. That's not an insult, it's a fact. You didn't even know you were a witch a week ago and even now you don't know which Families are allies or enemies or else you'd never have gone home with Spencer. Everyone in town knows that Madisons and Spencers have been feuding for years."

I was hurt and angry even though he was right. Especially because he was right. He had let go of my face, but I still tingled from where his skin had touched mine. Frustrated, I put my own hands on his neck so that my thumbs pressed lightly against his jawbones. He looked surprised, but I didn't give either of us time to think. Instead I kissed him.

I never dreamed my first kiss would be born of anger and frustration, but if anything it seemed to fuel my passion. My emotions were raging. His lips were soft against mine and it was a pleasant shock when he ran his tongue across my lower lip. I felt a shiver of excitement run through me and a fire ignited in my girl bits.

His hands tangled in my long hair and he pulled my mouth away from his so that he could kiss his way down my throat. He licked the side of my neck and gave it a tender nip. I was still gripping him and I held him still as my mouth found it's greedy way back to his. My aggression found an outlet as I bit his lower lip. He growled and pulled me onto his lap.

We continued to kiss in this new position, me straddling him. I kneeled above him so that I was taller than him, which lent the kiss a new level of excitement. I liked the feeling of being in control. I took a cue from him and started working my way down his throat. I settled myself back onto his lap and realized that he had an erection.

This new knowledge excited and scared me in equal parts. He moaned when I rocked my hips experimentally and lifted me off of him.

He deposited me onto the curb beside him. "I've got to go."

"Wait!"

He paused. "What?"

Tears stung my eyes, but I grabbed a double fistful of grass and tried to concentrate on feeling the coolness of it and smelling the tang of the broken blades. "Why do you do this? Why do you show up and reveal this sensitive side of yourself and then ignore me the rest of the time?"

"See? This is what I mean. This is you being naive again. We can't be together no matter how much I like you or how attracted to you I am. It's for your good and my safety."

I laughed bitterly. "Do you honestly think that some jealous guy would attack you for a chance to be with me?"