The Sunshine Chronicles: Forgotten Flare, page 40
“Come on! No one is that good.” His smile was spread from ear to ear as he watched my laughter ease. He reached up to tuck my hair behind my ear, and I took in the happiness on his face.
“Thank you,” I said, barely a whisper. “I needed a little fun today. It was—” I couldn’t tell him exactly what made the day chaotic because it would bring up too many questions that I couldn’t answer, “—a hard day full of information and exhausting situations.”
He pulled me closer, and I wrapped my arms around his waist as he cupped my face in both hands. “You deserve to celebrate your birthday no matter how hard the day before is.” His eyes switched focus between mine as he held me there. “I know how hard this day is for you, but we wanted to make sure you knew just how much we care about you, no matter where you are.” He kissed the tip of my nose and laid his forehead against mine.
Tears welled in my eyes as I relaxed into him with a deep breath. He was so thoughtful and kind, and looking at him now, I asked myself how I hadn’t seen it before. Or maybe I had written it off as being my best friend rather than anything romantic.
Butterflies started gathering in my stomach as my eyes fell to his lips, and I moved to close the distance between us.
The tears disappeared as he returned the kiss, and his fingers tangled their way into my hair. Knowing whose room was across the hallway from his and not wanting to get caught again, I reached behind him and turned the knob on his door to let us in, never breaking the kiss but backing him into the room. He spun us around once we were inside and shut the door with his foot.
His kisses became more frantic as he removed his hands from my hair to trail them down my back instead. The feeling sent a frenzy of internal goosebumps down my entire body, and I never wanted him to stop.
His tongue touched my lips, and my chest heated as I parted my lips for him. The moment his tongue touched mine, that heat in my chest turned to a raging fire, making me move my hands to his chest to push him up against the door.
All these feelings were new to me. The kisses. The fire. The emotions. Kaleb’s hands were still trailing down my spine, sending waves of electricity throughout my body. No one had ever kissed me like this before, let alone touched me in a way that made my body sing. I could see why it was addictive. The need for more of him. The way I wanted to crawl all over him and explore every part of his body with my own.
He must have followed my train of thought because his hands found the bottom of my sweatshirt, and his fingers touched my bare skin, trailing along the spot above the waistband of my leggings. His touch made me shiver with excitement.
He broke our kiss. “We can stop,” he panted. His forehead leaned against my brow, eyes locked on mine. His hands stopped trailing, fingertips resting on my bare skin. He waited for permission. I could see the want in his eyes—the question. I was sure it reflected my own.
Instead of answering him with words, my eyes fell to my hands on his chest, and I watched them trail down and around his back before looking back up to him. His eyes had also followed my hands, but they locked with mine again as my fingers grabbed the hem of his shirt in the back, and I slipped my hands underneath to lay precisely where his hands were on my back. His warm skin sent waves of heat into me as our gazes locked. But I didn’t stop my hands there. I ran them slowly up the curve of his back and around his sides against the soft muscular skin and found my way up his chest until he lifted his arms so I could remove his shirt, revealing eyes full of desire.
I’d seen Kaleb shirtless at pool parties or during a hot summer day in the heat of a backyard war. Hell, I saw him shirtless last week at his house. This time, though—this time it was different. I wanted to study every inch of him, touch every curve and dent along his body. I dropped his shirt on the floor, and my hands found their way back to his bare chest, which was now on display. I ran my fingers along his naked torso. The feel of his skin was so soft and warm against my fingertips, his skin a shade darker than my own. His muscles were defined enough to let me know he’d been working hard in the gym this year.
He let my fingers explore for a moment before he got impatient, and his hands found their way back to the hem of my sweatshirt. He ran them up my back, lifting the sweatshirt away from my body just as I’d done to him.
It felt reminiscent of earlier when I had removed it myself.
For a very different reason.
My breath caught in my throat.
The bond mark.
My eyes snapped to him. “Stop!” The word came out harsher than I meant, but his hands stopped immediately, and confusion replaced the desire on his face.
I couldn’t tell him. I couldn’t show him. Yes, Kyler had to run his fingers across the mark to make it visible, but did I have to do something to make it disappear? Would Kaleb be able to see it? I didn’t want to find out and explain it to him right now.
“Is everything okay?” He was furrowing his brow, looking at my hands pressed on his bare chest as I pushed myself away, pressing him back into the wall again. “Ow!” He hissed. I must have pushed harder than I thought.
I dropped my hand from his chest and used it to fix my sweatshirt back into place while taking a few steps back. “Sorry! I just—”
He stepped away from the wall and turned around to examine it, finding nothing there. But when I saw his bare back, my hand flew to my mouth. A long, jagged scar ran across it that I had never seen before. My jaw went slack as I took in the raised scar tissue there.
“Kaleb,” I whispered, reaching out to trace my fingers along the scar. It looked old, but when my fingers brushed it, Kaleb whipped around with another hiss of pain.
He sneered at me, which made me recoil, pulling my hands with me. When he saw how I reacted, his expression dropped to one of resentment. “Sorry, that’s just—” his eyes flashed with pain before he focused on me again, and they softened. “It’s tender.”
“What happened?” My voice was barely there. I knew I had scars he didn’t know about, but they were more recent, and I wasn’t sure how to tell him how I got them. As far as I knew, he didn’t keep things from me, and I thought I knew about all his scars. When we were younger, there was a day in the tree house where we were all comparing scars, telling stories about how we’d gotten them, and seeing who had the most. I won, being the most adventurous and clumsy of all of us, but Kaleb didn’t have many to share that day. And he never mentioned a scar on his back, nor had I seen it when he’d been shirtless around me. Or maybe I hadn’t been paying close enough attention.
His head dropped, and he stared at the ground for a while before speaking. “I don’t know that I’m ready to talk about it,” he whispered.
Acid boiled in my stomach. That meant it wasn’t an accidental injury like most of mine were. This was serious. The fact that Kaleb hid this from me made my heart hurt. I thought we told each other everything. I realized then that it could be much more traumatic to talk about than I was thinking, and I reached to tilt his chin up.
“Kaleb, you don’t have to tell me what happened, but I want you to know I’m here for you.” My voice cracked, thinking of what could have happened to him. He was avoiding my gaze, but I pushed on. “Your secrets are safe with me. You are safe with me. Always.” When he still didn’t meet my gaze, a thought popped into my head, and I clenched my jaw. “Did someone do that to you?” My voice was rough. The idea of anyone putting their hands on Kaleb made me want to throat-punch them. Who would want to hurt him? What could leave a scar like that? Kaleb was silent, which gave me my answer. “Was it your dad?” I seethed.
He whispered, “I said I don’t want to talk about it.” His eyes met mine, tears pooling and then spilling down his face. “Please don’t make me.” He choked out.
I dropped the tension in my shoulders and cupped his face in my hands. “Okay.” I rubbed my thumb along his cheekbone. “Okay. I’m sorry. I won’t bring it up again.” The tears spilled down his cheeks at whatever horrors he was keeping from me. He didn’t need me to focus on that, though. And I didn’t need to know right now. He needed me with him in the moment. To meet him right where he was. “I’m with you,” I recited his words. “Right here.” I placed one of my hands over his heart on his chest. “You’re safe.” I slowly wrapped my arms around his torso and pulled him close, holding him tight and laying my head on his shoulder while he laid his cheek on my head.
I thought I knew everything there was to know about him. We’d spent so much time together that it was almost impossible not to know. And it hurt that he didn’t feel like he could share his trauma with me as I could with him, but I knew it was a different kind. One that happened behind closed doors. Everyone knew about my dad and sister dying, but only those closest to me knew how it affected me, and only Kaleb truly knew how bad my panic attacks were. Kaleb’s past was different, but it was also his to share. I couldn’t force him to do that. He would never do that to me.
His body began to shake, and I felt the sobs working through it. I squeezed him tighter, carefully keeping my hands away from the tender scar I now knew was there. I pressed kisses along his shoulder and neck occasionally, trying my best to comfort him.
We stayed like that for a while before his body finally relaxed into mine. I kissed his shoulder again and pulled away to look at his face. His eyes were puffy and red, his cheeks still wet from the tears, but the sniffling had stopped. I’d never seen such sadness on his face before. This guy only showed happiness most of the time. It just goes to show that even some of the happiest people in your life could be going through something awful, and you would never know.
I helped wipe away his tears and led him over to his bed. “You should sleep,” I told him, pulling back the covers for him.
He crawled over to the far side of the bed, and I pulled the covers up over his legs, but he stopped my hand and met my eyes. “Stay with me.” If the look in his eyes didn’t do it, the crack in his voice did.
My shoulders dropped, “Of course.” He lifted the blanket for me, and I crawled in next to him.
He wrapped his arm around my hips and pulled me flush against him in one swift movement, making me his little spoon. He settled his chin between my shoulder and neck, his other arm worming under my body and around my waist. One of his legs nudged the back of my knees, and I obliged with a small laugh, letting his leg slip between mine. He took a deep breath, and his body relaxed into me as he released it into my ear. “Goodnight, girlie.”
I shook my head and suppressed a smile, but I heard a smile in his voice. I wanted to keep that smile, so I said, “I thought I told you that this won’t work if you keep calling me that.”
He turned his head to kiss my cheek. “Yet here we are.”
I turned to meet his mouth with mine and kissed him quickly. “I’m starting to regret my decision,” I teased.
He let out a laugh through his nose. “Don’t lie. It’s growing on you.”
I turned my head back to lay on the pillow and adjusted myself in his arms to be as close as I could. “Goodnight, goobis.”
He chuckled in my ear, then buried his face in my neck, kissing me there once before laying his head back on the pillow behind mine. I lay there listening to his breathing slow and felt his arms loosen around me before I allowed myself to close my eyes. I hoped that his dreams were free of nightmares and that the horrors of his past wouldn’t appear in them.
XXXV
Little Girl Gone
I woke the following day to a loud banging on the door. Kaleb’s arm was still draped across me, but he jolted at the sound and rolled out of bed as the pounding continued. I groaned loudly to ensure whoever was at the door knew they were unwanted. Swinging my feet to the floor, I sat on the edge of the bed when the door creaked open, and Kaleb let out a long breath.
“Is she in there with you?” Kyler demanded. I rolled my eyes and started rubbing my temples. It was too early in the morning for his attitude.
Kaleb stepped aside so Kyler could see me and gestured with his arm. “Right where I left her,” he said with a sleepy smile. “In my bed.” He glanced back at Kyler with that smile still on his face, but it turned into more of a grin.
My cheeks flushed. It was way too early for this drama. Kyler’s nostrils flared as he took me in. “Breakfast meeting. Five minutes.” Those words seemed to take a lot of restraint from him. Like he had meant to say more but could only manage those four. He disappeared from the doorway, leaving Kaleb dumbstruck at the encounter.
“Well, that was awkward,” Kaleb mumbled, closing the door and making his way back to the bed.
“You didn’t make it any better,” I grumbled, feeling the heat fade from my cheeks as the sleepy brain fog cleared and a caffeine headache settled in.
“What do you mean?” He strode straight for me on the edge of the bed, arms outstretched. I stood before he got there, stepping out of his reach with my arms crossed. He paused before me, furrowing his brow.
“You made it seem like we slept together,” I said.
“We did sleep together,” he shrugged, but at the look on my face, he dropped his shoulders and covered the distance between us, placing his hands gently on my arms. “I’m sorry,” his tired, whiny voice came out. “He’s just— he gets under my skin and makes me nervous when it comes to you. I mean, look at the guy. He looks like he stepped out of a men’s fitness magazine!”
I pursed my lips at his assessment of Kyler. “Well, I can’t argue with that because then I’d be lying. But his personality came from a dumpster fire.” I didn’t want to mention that he’d been growing on me. Last night was enough of a confirmation. Kaleb hadn’t mentioned it, but I could tell it bothered him that I was being more friendly with Kyler. “Besides,” my arms loosened their hold on each other, and I moved them around Kaleb’s waist, pulling him closer to me, “I’m dating you, goobis. And I think you’re way better looking.” I winked and captured a kiss from him.
He smiled beneath my kiss before returning it and pulling away. “What is this breakfast meeting anyway? Am I allowed to attend?”
I shrugged, “He didn’t say you couldn’t.” Slipping out of his grasp, I walked to the door. Kaleb may not have mentioned it, but I needed to brush my teeth. “I’ll be right back.”
The hallway was empty when I entered it. Kyler’s door was shut, and he was nowhere to be seen. Didn’t matter, though. He shouldn’t have been so triggered by me sleeping with Kaleb, even if that was all we did. I didn’t know what a bonded dragon and rider relationship was like, but my dating life definitely shouldn’t affect it. I’d have to make sure that was clear when I got the chance.
When I got to my room, I headed straight for the bathroom. The clock said it was barely past six when I was done. I glanced at the clothes I slept in and opted to change after the meeting.
As I crossed to the door, something on the desk caught my eye. It was the present I hadn’t opened last night. It must have slipped my mind after the Nerf battle. I paused in the doorway momentarily before deciding I could open it after the meeting.
Kaleb was waiting for me at his door. I hooked my arm through his, and we joined everyone in the kitchen. They were all seated around the island, sleep in their eyes, exhaustion seeping from each of them. We all sat around the island while Kyler and Theo faced us from where they leaned against the sink. Kyler still seemed to be seething from the encounter at Kaleb’s door because he avoided looking at either of us.
Theo clapped his hands, causing my headache to spike at the loud noise. “The events at the dance this weekend will be crucial to our success—”
“Ugh…” Leighton yawned from her seat. “Why are we discussing this so early on a Tuesday?” I looked over to see her rubbing her eyes.
“Yeah,” I yawned. “Can we at least get some coffee?” I said, my voice strained as I spread my arms wide and stretched. Lord knew I would need coffee if they wanted me to remember the details of this meeting.
Kyler turned around and produced four cups of coffee, placing them in front of us. He put the cream and sugar directly in front of me but still didn’t look at me. I rolled my eyes and made up my coffee, passing the creamer to Leighton’s tired but outstretched hand when I was finished. I took my first sip, closed my eyes, and sighed audibly.
“Everybody satisfied with their morning joe?” Theo smiled, his eyes bright. I still thought it should be illegal for someone to have that much energy this early. But we all nodded, and he went on. “As I was saying, the dance is crucial to our success with transferring Jordin and Mitch. We must make it seem like you are solely there to enjoy yourselves. They will indeed suspect that there is something else going on, but you going,” he looked pointedly at me, “will hopefully draw them out—”
“WHAT?!” Kaleb sputtered his coffee. “You’re using her as bait?!”
Shit. I hadn’t given him a heads-up. I laid my hand on his forearm, “Kaleb, I already kne—”
“That’s supposed to make it better?” He shouted back. “You were kidnapped and tortured by these people. While these guys were supposedly protecting you!” He gestured toward Kyler, Mari, and Theo. “What makes you think it’ll be different this time around?”
“Kaleb,” I started, but Kyler interrupted me.
“Because you know about it,” he stated, capturing Kaleb’s attention immediately. “And you won’t let anything happen to her, right?” He raised his eyebrows at Kaleb. “You want to protect her? Here’s your chance.” Kaleb eyed Kyler, the tension from this morning still lingering. But he didn’t want to deny anything Kyler was saying. I could tell he was fighting an inner battle. “We will all be on watch, but she’s yours to protect, got it?”
Kaleb shifted his gaze between Kyler, me, and Theo, presumably searching for a way to argue, but eventually, he gave Kyler a curt nod. “On one condition.”
Kyler raised a brow, waiting for him to continue.
Kaleb lifted his chin and set his jaw. “Teach me to fight.”
