Sparked (The Metal Bones Series Book 1) (18 page)

I relived our conversations in my head, slowly piecing together everything he had been trying to tell me, yet at the same time not telling me.

I paced in the narrow walkway. Back and forth. Back and forth. My feet shuffled along the worn down carpet. I gazed at the connector wall. On the other side of it was Alec. Or was he? I pressed my hand against the wall, trying to feel him through the other side. I pressed my ear against the surface, only to hear Peach’s steady snoring.

I sank against the wall.

Why didn’t you just tell me? Why did I have to find out like this? Why don’t you trust me?

Alec?

I rested my head on my knees.

Secrets destroy people. And secrets always make me wonder, how many more are you keeping from me?

Chapter 25

My stomach cleaved in two.

I doubled over. A shard of glass was tearing through me, shredding my stomach apart. Piece by piece.

I groaned into my pillow.

“What’s wrong?” Bonnie peered over me.

“Motrin?”

Bonnie’s face contorted.

“Tylenol? Advil? Anything?” I moaned. “Please say you have something. You have to.”

“Oh no.” Bonnie’s eyes widened and she raced out the door. “I’ll be back.”

I twisted into the blankets, my stomach muscles rocked beneath my arms, fully constricted, and emanating pain. Everywhere. My feet clawed at the sheets. I sucked in air.

The door crashed against the wall, shaking the picture frames. I jerked up in bed, my hair falling in knots in my face.

“What’s going on?” Alec stormed in.

I groaned and fell back into the pillow.

Go away.

“Vienna, what happened?”

“Go away.”

He knelt against the bed, and now my heart ached too. “Please tell me what’s wrong?”

“It’s my time of the month. Please . . .” I rolled away from him. “Just leave.”

I didn’t need this. All I wanted—I squeezed my eyes shut—was medication.

“Oh . . .” I felt his eyes on me, taking inventory of my fetal position.

I tugged the covers over my ear.

Just go away.

The bed sprung as he stood to leave.

I sighed.

He was leaving. I could be alone in my misery and alone with my thoughts.

And then, the bed gave way. He slid underneath the covers, next to me.

I crushed the pillow between my fingers. Why did he have to do this to me? I squirmed in the sheets.

His arm captured me around my waist, his fingers brushing against my skin and pulled me into him.

My eyes bulged out of their sockets.

What did he think he was doing?

I bucked against him as he tucked me under his chin.

“Alec”—I ground my teeth together—“I—”

His hand slid under my shirt, and I gasped. “Alec! What are you—”

His touch turned to fire against my constricted stomach muscles, warming them. His torso thrummed against my back, flowing heat into my sore muscles.

I relaxed against him, like a flower contented and satisfied that it finally found sunlight.

His warmth worked away at the tightness in my muscles, becoming a heating pad. He pressed his hot palm against my stomach and I felt my muscles unwind. The pain eased with his touch, and I sighed into the pillow.

“Any better?” His chin dipped against my head.

I nodded and hid my face in the pillow. After running away from him yesterday, he was here, at my lowest point, holding me. Not leaving me. Not walking away from me. Not allowing me to suffer.

How could he possibly think he was still a monster when he does things like this? Things that show what his heart is truly made of?

See,
I hissed at the voice
. He’s so much better than we are. Look! Look! The proof lies here before your eyes.

Yes,
the voice whispered back
, but does one or two good deeds discount every horrible thing he has done, or as a robot he is going to do? You still don’t know what he’s capable of. Why are you so eager to trust him?

Because he’s good and he’s kind. And I’m not eager to trust him at all. Which is why you are still in my head.

And with that, I shut the voice out and focused on the warmth of Alec.

Alec’s arm tightened around me. “Bonnie’ll be back soon with Motrin. I’m sorry, I forgot to pack it.”

“That makes two of us.”

I heard him chuckle.

The warmth of his fingers floated through my stomach. The warmth of his body closed around me, and I snuggled into him. Bonnie darted into the room with Motrin and a glass of water.

I scarfed down the Motrin and curled back down into Alec. His arms swallowed me up, and his hands resumed their place against my stomach. I waited.

After thirty minutes, I felt the drug start to kick in and the pain receded. My fingers rested on the sheets, my head tucked under Alec, and my body became limp in his arms, exhausted from the fight.

My eyes drifted open and closed. My breathing, slow and steady now. The pain finally gone. Finally free.

I stirred, then froze. His hard body slid against mine. His muscled chest against my thin T-shirt. The tickle of his chin on my head.

His touch. His feel. His body engulfing mine. His scent. Pinecones. So close. Everywhere.

“I, umm . . .” I cleared my throat and stared at the sheets, trying not to move, my heart beating in my throat. “I-I’m feeling better.”

“You sure?” His hands slipped out from under my shirt and my muscles contracted, warm tingles shooting up my body.

“Yes.”

I watched as he got out of bed. Alec’s muscles bulged, rippling across his skin, across the tan broad lines of his shoulders, showing the cut definitions of his back and arms.

Damn.

My face flushed and my throat felt dry.

“You’re not a monster,” I whispered. “Monsters don’t do things like this,” I said, from under the covers.

He turned, and I gaped at the curves and dips of chest and stomach that I had only felt through the fabric of my shirt, now completely visible.

I swallowed.

“You still don’t know the half of what I’ve done,” he said.

“I don’t care what you did. Or the things you did that you didn’t realize you could change. No more secrets between us. That’s all I want.”

“How can you simply forgive what you don’t know?” His jaw tensed and the cords of muscles rippled.

“Because.” I swallowed. “I see the goodness inside you.”

“But everything I’ve done—”

“You’ve saved me. You’ve made your choice. You chose.”

“I didn’t choose anything.” His palm slashed across the air with his muscles bulging in his arms. “I only saved you because I was starting to fall in love with you! That’s it. It wasn’t from the goodness of my heart.” He moved toward me and the veins pulsed in his neck.

Fall. In. Love?

My insides melted.

“What?” I whispered.

“Vienna, you’re still not getting it. I only saved you because I wanted to protect you. Only you. No one else. That still makes me a monster.”

“Are you even listening to yourself?” I asked, my hands whirling around in the air between us. “You wanted to protect me. Acknowledge that. And if you still refuse to see yourself as anything but a monster, then consider yourself my monster.” I quirked an eyebrow.

His hands fisted and he roared, “I don’t want to be a monster. Period. You’re still not getting it.”

“Then don’t be,” I yelled at him, vaulting out of the bed. “Be everything you want to be. Be everything you deserve to be. Stop holding yourself back. Why
are
you holding yourself back?” I shouted at him.

“Holding myself back?” Alec’s eyes flashed to my bare legs.

I groped at the hem of my shirt and tried to stretch it further down my thighs.

“Holding myself back, you say.” His voice became low and dangerous. “If I didn’t hold myself back, there would be no more you, Vienna. I’d rip every shred of clothing off your body, pull you into my arms and I’d—”

“And you’d what?” I challenged him. “Devour me?”

His eyes flamed and before I could blink, he thrust me into his arms.

His lips were on my lips. His hands were in my hair.

And I reveled in the sensation.

My hands found their way and dug into his hair.

His legs cemented us to the floor and my legs wrapped around him.

Him pulling. Me tugging.

My arms wrapped around his thick shoulders.

Our bodies boiled. Our bodies locked. Our bodies molded.

He breathed into me, and my eyes shut out everything but his touch. Sparks of electricity called to me from beneath his skin, and when his tongue glided over mine, the sparks flew.

He was the fuel to my fire, igniting every part of me with just his touch. My body switched on—burning, coursing, and blazing. Fire flamed up my arms, engulfing me. Warm and sweet and hot. My fingers clawed into his back. My body yielded into his.

“God, you feel good,” he whispered.

I ran my hands along the ropes of his biceps. “I’ve been waiting for you to do this, for so long now.”

He moaned. “All this time, I thought . . . I thought you were disgusted after our kiss in the mountains. I thought you were just saying you liked it to be nice.”

“How could I not?” I murmured into his ear. “You saved my life. You saved me.”

He growled into my neck.

Sparks flew around my vision and . . . I melted.

“I’m yours,” I groaned into his mouth. “Yours. Yours. Yours.”

“Mine.” His lips grazed over me. “You’re mine.” The walls creaked and cracked around us. “All mine.”

“What the heck is going on? The building is practically threatening to collapse on itself. I slip out for one—”

The door clicked and before either of us could pry our lips or bodies off each other, the door swung open to a flabbergasted, jaw-hanging Bonnie.

My heart stilled.

My hands were still embedded in Alec’s hair, his hands were still clutching my thighs, and our lips were hot, red, and fully chapped.

Crap
.

“Well.” She coughed. “At least all that yelling was able to turn into something . . . productive.”

I scrambled out of Alec’s arms and tugged my oversized shirt down just as Bear’s and Kyle’s heads and wide eyes popped in the doorframe.

Great.

My face flamed, and Alec stood in front of me, crossing his arms.

“We’re, um, going to the park.” Bonnie played with her massive curls. “And we, um, wanted to invite you, or at least give you the heads-up. Yup.” Bonnie clasped her hands behind her back.

“I’m thinking they’re not going to be interested.” Kyle winked, and Bonnie elbowed him in the ribs.

“You two really should come,” Bear said, “because any longer up here and I swear there’s not going to be a first floor anymore.”

I wasn’t sure if it was possible for my face to get any hotter but somehow it did.

“The both of you.” Bonnie rolled her eyes. “I can’t wait until you get girlfriends and then it’ll be Vienna’s turn to embarrass you.” She snapped her fingers in their face.

“The park?” Alec rubbed his face. “Yeah, I guess.” He looked at me, and I couldn’t read what was going on in his eyes. “A little fresh air would be good.”

I couldn’t help wondering if that meant he could clear his head and rethink about what just happened between us.

I backed away and pulled my shirt as far down as it could go without outlining my whole chest.

“All right then. Out. All you boys. Let her get dressed.” Bonnie ushered Alec out, and when she shut the door I met Alec’s hungry, possessive eyes.

That, Vienna, was only the beginning of a devouring. And you’re mine. All mine,
his eyes said.

My knees wobbled. His hunger reached down inside of me, fanning me to life. I tugged at the now-too-tight shirt and fanned it against my neck.

After that look, I was ready to rip my own clothes into shreds.

Tyler State Park was beautiful, even in wintertime.

The lake looked like a frozen sky. Iridescent blue ripples reflected along the shore. The trees were stripped of their leaves filling the air with a cool, minty musk.

Bonnie, Bear, and Kyle took off for a jog, leaving Alec and me alone. I caught their winks as they jogged away.

Alec had avoided my gaze the whole car ride. And I’m pretty sure it was better that way. Around him I felt like an animal in the middle of heat. And after that look in his eyes, it seemed my heat was ten times worse for him.

I kicked a rock on the path and shivered in the cold, clear, park air. Glad for the cold. For once.

“Where’s Peach?” I asked.

“Keeping watch at the hotel.”

And as far away from me as possible.

“You must be loving it here,” I said. The wind blew through the trees stirring up dirt and flew around my hair.

“I like the quietness of it.”

Ah.
The quietness. And here I was trying to talk up a storm. Men can be so complicated.

I leaned against the bark of a pine tree and watched him walk down to the ridge of the lake, giving him his space. I took in his broad shoulders and jet-black hair. Even though his exterior looked human, it was what was inside of him that made him more human than most humans even are. If only he could see it.

I turned to walk the other way and let my fingertips run across the rough bark of the trees and the dry leaves of the shrubs. My boots snapped over twigs and critters scuffled in and out of branches.

A leaf rustled, falling along the path, twirling through the beams of sunlight. I stopped and watched.

As it floated to the floor, everything around me slowed along with it. The rays of light shone in and out around the shadow of the spiraling leaf, making the park sparkle and shimmer.

The little leaf twirling through the air. Sparkling. Spinning. Spinning. Spinning.

Spinning. Spinning. Spinning.