“So Tristan’s a total douche,” Piper declared after our laughter had died down. I looked down at his sleeping form next to me and highly doubted that.
“What now?” I sighed. I couldn’t stop myself from brushing my fingers against his jawline, feeling the rough hair against the pads of my fingers. He let out a quiet sigh and pulled me tighter against his chest.
“He totally ruined the night after we left you guys last night. Bree was so excited to go on a date with him, but as soon as you and Seth left he just moped around and wouldn’t even talk to her. We dropped him off as soon as the movie was over, but then Bree was in a bad mood so then I felt bad…. She asked me to stay the night with her, and I couldn’t say no, especially after how Tristan treated her, so then my night with Lincoln was ruined.” Piper huffed angrily and I wanted to feel bad, or at least feel kind of bad for Bree, but I couldn’t help the happy little dance my heart did knowing that Tristan moped around after I left…. even if it was because he knew I was in mortal danger and for no other reason.
“He is just the most aggravating person ever!” Piper continued and for a minute I had no idea who she was talking about so I just listened. “It’s just like, we don’t want to sit here and arrange our lives around the fact that he won’t go after what he wants. You know? Maybe he doesn’t want to ruin the friendship, or I don’t know what the hell is wrong with him, maybe he’s just afraid, but you don’t deserve to be strung along. And Bree especially doesn’t deserve it.”
It took me a minute to get my head around what Piper was saying, and that she was defending Bree more than she was defending me until I realized what she was saying. But when then light bulb clicked I knew I had to control the damage.
“Piper, Tristan doesn’t like me,” I said adamantly and then regretted it immediately when he stirred next to me.
“Please don’t play this game with me, I had to listen to Bree talk about herself for eight hours straight. I’m not kidding, the girl talks in her sleep and she dreams about herself! I can’t take anymore self-denial this morning….” Piper whined, and I couldn’t help but laugh and feel a sick sense of relief that Piper still liked me better than Bree.
There was something wrong with me.
“Pi, I’m not in denial. Tristan and I have only ever been friends…. that’s all we can be otherwise the world just might explode,” I sighed and hated how sad I sounded. I looked down and Tristan was looking up at me, some emotion so volatile in his eyes that I couldn’t even distinguish it. “You know this better than anyone.”
Only she didn’t know it better than Tristan and I or that the world might actually explode.
“And I’ve always been fine with the whole destined to just be friends thing. That is until Tristan started ruining my dates with his big ol’ pining heart. I can’t take it anymore. Can’t you just make out with him so you both realize it would be like kissing your sibling and we can all go back to normal again?” Piper argued.
I looked down at Tristan who had smiled a little at Piper’s comment. She was talking so loud he could hear everything she was saying. He had slid his hands under his head and looked up at me with an eager expression, waggling his eyebrows. My eyes flickered down to his lips and I nearly forgot how to breathe.
“That is not going to happen, Pi,” but even I didn’t believe my overly breathy voice.
“Whatever,” she grumbled. “Just, next time you see him tell him he better get his crap together and stop emotionally tormenting my best friend or I’m going to castrate him.”
“I’m sure Bree is just fine,” I laughed.
“I’m not talking about Bree,” Piper sighed sadly.
“Bye, Pi,” I said absentmindedly, still transfixed in Tristan’s naughty gaze. His expression was so cocky and suggestive, that I suddenly felt I was being pulled into very dangerous territory.
“Bye, Stel,” she mumbled, but I was already clicking off the phone.
“What did Piper have to say?” Tristan asked in a deep voice that sent common sense far, far, far away.
“She said to stop leading Bree on,” I paraphrased. Tristan found that amusing, his lips twisting into a smirk.
“Mmm…. Is that all she said?” he asked. Suddenly he grabbed me around the waist and flipped me onto my back effortlessly so that he hovered over me. His green eyes had turned a deep forest green and when he licked his lips nervously I knew I was in trouble.
Still I couldn’t bring myself to move from underneath him.
“Oh, she said something about how you and I should just go ahead and make out so we realize it would be like kissing our sibling,” I said casually, tearing my eyes away from his to look away and pretend like it was no big deal.
“Maybe she’s right,” Tristan mumbled, pressing his body down to mine and nuzzling my ear with his nose. A gasp escaped my lips before I could stop it and my eyes fluttered closed without my permission. “Do you think kissing me would be like kissing your brother?” His voice was a hoarse whisper of desire and I found myself struggling to remember how to make words come out of my mouth.
I shook my head, turning my face back to his. He looked at me for a moment more, making a decision somewhere in the soul of his being that would forever alter the course of my life.
That would shatter me.
His lips were just a breath away from mine. My mouth parted just the tiniest bit, and Tristan moved into me just a fraction of an inch more.
“Stella, honey?” My mom called from the hallway and the realization that I was about to be in huge trouble hit me hard. I snapped back to reality but it was too late to push Tristan away. My mom pushed the door open and announced, “Stella, Jupiter’s wait-“
Tristan shot up off me, his eyes darting around the room looking everywhere but at my mother who stood in the doorway with her mouth dropped open.
“Morning, mom,” I squeaked. Her eyes shot back and forth between Tristan and me and I instinctively knew I was about to be grounded for the first time in my life.
“Good morning, Stella,” her tone had turned deadly serious and her pale blue eyes had turned to ice. “Good morning, Tristan. It’s awfully early to be paying Stella a visit, don’t you think?”
“Um, yes ma’am,” Tristan stuttered, his eyes falling on the window as a dead giveaway. I groaned. “I should uh, get back home anyway…. I have chores.”
“Then yes, please get back to your chores,” my mother demanded, each constant clipped.
Tristan moved to the window, in a hurry to get away from my mother. She realized what he was doing and her entire body snapped rigid with anger. “The door Tristan! Use the door!”
“Oh right,” Tristan blushed. He turned to me, before he made it all the way across the room. “Bye Stel-“
“Goodbye Tristan!” my mom cut him off before he could finish and he ducked around her like a puppy with his tail between his knees on his way out.
Yep, she defended the galaxy. She was kind of scary.
“Tristan!” I heard my dad exclaim from the kitchen. “What are you doing here?”
“Uh, just leaving,” Tristan barely replied and I heard the kitchen door open. “Bye Mr. Day.”
I shot out of bed, pulling on a sweatshirt over my running tank top and throwing my hair into a tight pony tail on the top of my head. I slipped into some snow boots that didn’t actually go with my athletic outfit, but were necessary for the day of training I face and grabbed my katana that still sat on the bedside table. My mom stood in the doorway watching every single one of my movements, her arms crossed and her foot tapping frantically on the wood floor.
“Does he sleep over often?” my mother asked, struggling for calm.
“No, mom, I swear, it was the first and only time. He just came over to see if I was alright…. We were hanging out with him and Piper before Aliah showed up and he could tell something was wrong. We fell asleep, it was innocent, I promise,” I begged her to understand, to believe that nothing happened.
 
; Because nothing did happen.
The disappointment that was dragging my heart into the pit of my stomach reminded me exactly how much didn’t happen.
My mother’s eyes scrutinized my entire face while I struggled to hold my gaze up to hers. I really didn’t have anything to hide.
“We will talk to your father about this after training, Stella. Don’t keep Jupiter waiting any longer,” she demanded and I obeyed.
I bounded down the stairs and into the kitchen. My father was still staring at the door over his newspaper as if he still couldn’t believe Tristan had just left his house. I almost laughed at his incredulous expression until I noticed Seth standing at the kitchen sink in the same kind of shock.
Crap.
He looked up at me and our eyes met but I immediately wished they hadn’t. Seth looked hurt…. no worse than hurt.
Seth looked betrayed.
Chapter Eighteen
Training was brutal. Not only did Jupiter refuse to let me start with a weapon, but he was a relentless drill sergeant that shouted his orders like I was experiencing my first day of boot camp. And like I had no feelings. I wanted to suggest to Jupiter that reminding me of how close I came to failure was not a motivational factor in my life, but I feared that would only egg him on. And in truth he was pissing me off.
And then there was Seth.
Seth….
Seth was definitely taking out some anger and pent up aggression on me.
“You’re dead,” he announced as I lay on my back with his sword at my throat. He stood over me inserting all kinds of male dominance and a low growl escaped me before I could stop it. “Get up,” he ordered.
I grunted a reply without making an effort to move. I was pretty sure the ground was so frozen and my fall had been so hard that I left a permanent Stella-shaped indentation in the earth. Seth pulled his pirate sword back to his side and then offered me his hand. I took it and he pulled me swiftly to my feet, depositing me in a standing position so that I was ready to go again. His eyes cut away from me, and he shrugged his shoulders getting ready to attack again.
Ugh.
“Get rid of your weapon,” Jupiter called from across the field. “And this time try not to die!”
I tossed my sword like a javelin into a snow bank on the opposite side of the open field and closed my eyes to center myself. Seth wasted no time and before I could even inhale an entire breath I had to duck out of the way from a brutal swing of his sword. I stood up straight ready to run toward my weapon, but had to leap into a back flip instead.
Before I started actively fighting, I used to watch action movies and laugh at the theatrics of some super heroes. I never believed there was an actual, real life moment when a back flip would be essential to one’s survival.
Until today.
A back flip just saved me from the wrath of Seth.
“Are you trying to kill me?” I shouted as I jumped to the side, avoiding another sword slice. He caught my sweatshirt, ripping a huge hole in it as he plunged his sword deep and withdrew. I let out a frustrated scream. I liked this sweatshirt!
“Just making sure you’re prepared,” Seth panted with a twisted, cruel curve to his usually charming smile.
He continued to attack as I moved in the general direction of my weapon, keeping my eyes focused on him the entire time. I desperately wanted to watch his sword; my eyes betrayed me in the way they naturally sought out the sharp tip plunging toward me. I forced myself to keep my eyes trained on his body, the direction his hips and shoulders were pointed, the place where his eyes fell, gave away his own moves just a fraction of a second before his weapon would follow.
“I get your point,” I grunted, jumping high off the ground as he swung his cutlass toward my feet, hoping to unbalance me. It was how he won the last skirmish and I wasn’t going to fall for the same trick twice.
“And what point is that?” He half grunted, half shouted with the effort to continue to attack me.
“I messed up,” I tried to whisper so Jupiter couldn’t hear us, but I was practically running for my life, even if it was just a training exercise and I was heavily out of breath. I risked wiping the sweat off my brow with my sleeve before continuing, only then I had to take a second more to twirl behind Seth, our backs brushing as I dodged another one of his potentially lethal blows. He missed me, but now I was further away from my weapon than when I started. Dang it. “Nothing happened with Tristan last night. He just came over to make sure I was alright, and we fell asleep,” I explained quickly while he stalked toward me, letting me talk. “It was innocent,” I finished meekly.
Wrong thing to say.
Both hands gripped his sword above his head and he brought it towards me angrily. Oh good God, he was actually going to kill me. Apparently I didn’t need to be scared of Aliah after all.
I let out a very girly, very unprofessional scream and dived out of the way, landing on the ground in a painful, sliding softball move that I learned back in junior high. It turns out sliding into home plate on rock hard dirt is actually much nicer than the jagged cuts and frozen burns ice is capable of. No time to think about my injuries, I rolled up to my feet and sprinted across the field to my weapon.
Thankfully the katana had landed with the hilt sticking out of the snow and I was able to grab it as I ran by and circled around to meet Seth. His eyes were hard honey-colored granite as he circled around me, waiting for the opportunity to strike.
“Finally!” I heard Jupiter holler from where he watched us engage. “It should not have taken you that long to get to your weapon Stella!”
I brushed off his words of “encouragement” and gave Seth a pleading look. “I’m sorry Seth,” I groaned and then flinched when he jerked his arms to the right.
He didn’t strike though, instead he continued to circle with me. “He doesn’t belong in your bedroom, Stella,” Seth growled, the muscles in his jaw ticking angrily. “He doesn’t belong anywhere near you. I am your intended.”
It took a moment for me to swallow back the rush of feminism that blinded my vision in red. Was he kidding?
“Seth, that may be true, but Tristan has been my best friend for as long as I can remember. He practically grew up in my room. That was not his first sleep over and it won’t be his last,” I spat, finishing just as his sword clashed with mine.
Seth let out a feral, caveman like sound and attacked me with the full force of his skill level. He came against me, swinging his sword faster than I could keep up with and I grudgingly gave up ground as he pushed me back toward the forest.
Our swords met time and time again as I struggled to keep him from completely overtaking me. But when my back hit the rough bark of a tall pine tree that lined the field I knew I was in a bad place. I tried to hold my ground and match Seth’s sword swings, but it took all of two more skillful maneuvers on his part before he completely disarmed me, my katana clattering against another tree ten feet away.
He stepped forward, but let his weapon drop to his side. He hovered over me, his golden eyes blazing and his neck glistening in sweat from the effort it took to pin me against the tree. We were both breathing so heavily that with every intake of breath his muscular, sweat soaked chest brushed mine.
I forced myself to look into his eyes, trying desperately not to be a sore loser. His jaw was still ticking and it did nothing but enhance the masculine lines of his jaw. I was no closer to catching my breath but it wasn’t because of the battle anymore.
“It will be the last time another man is in your bed,” Seth warned, tilting his head down to stare into my eyes, bringing his mouth inches from mine. “I’m trying to be understanding about your relationship with him, Stella, but I cannot and will not tolerate him in your bed.”
I wanted to snap back with something angry and full of twenty-first women’s rights liberalism, but the words died on my tongue with his warmth completely enveloping me and his eyes looking at me like I was a prize he was sworn to protect with his life.
/> Which was kind of true.
He stayed close to me, his body pressing against me now.
I started having thoughts that had nothing to do with Tristan or training and more to do with the perfection of Seth’s lips and what they would feel like if he wasn’t being so gentle with me.
Not that he was being gentle now…. which was kind of the point….
“Stella, you lost again?” Jupiter snarled, catching up with us in the tree cover.
Seth broke away, still breathing heavily. He gave me a sideways glance and from the heat of his eyes I wondered if he was having some of the same thoughts I was.
Which was crazy. We barely knew each other.
And I had seven years before I had to get serious with Seth.
“Again!” Jupiter called out. “And Stella if you lose this time I will call Aliah myself and specifically ask him to take you away so I don’t have to deal you anymore!”
I grunted a jumble of curse words that I was well aware were not proper Star-behavior and pushed off the tree with my elbow. I shook out my hair, pulling it back into a new ponytail and deciding I had to forget about Tristan, Seth and Aliah and figure out how to win this damn training so I could be done for the day and get back to bed.
----
I walked into the house hours later sweaty, exhausted, disheveled and with my sweatshirt ripped to shreds. It hung awkwardly off of me; since the collar was still fully intact but every other part of it donned jagged, saber shaped gashes.
Note to self: Don’t wear sweatshirts to train in.
Way too much fabric.
Especially when you have a pissed off Angel trying to teach you an annoying lesson.
I bristled again at Seth’s words. I couldn’t deny the attraction between us, and I certainly wasn’t going to ignore the role we played in each other’s lives both now and in the future. But it was still obnoxious to have to deal with it all now.
If things had gone according to plan, I wouldn’t have to worry about Tristan sleeping over or the feelings I had for him that used to feel so normal and suddenly felt forbidden and dangerous.