CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
I hurried home to find the SUV parked in the driveway. It was a long shot, but I had to try.
I stepped inside. “Uncle.”
“Here.”
I turned and found him lying on the sofa. He was watching football and from the looks of it, the game had just started.
Perfect!
I sat down beside him, pushing his feet to the side. “Can I borrow the car?”
“Why?”
“I just need it.”
He eyed me silently for a moment and then turned back to the game.
I sighed and flopped back against the couch. “You’re not even using it. C’mon. And we both know that you’re not going to enjoy the game with me sitting beside you nagging you all day.”
He grimaced and reached for the end table. “Take it,” he said as he tossed the keys at me.
“Thanks.” I jumped up and hurried for the door.
“Wait,” he said. “Where are you going?”
I paused. Why did I never think to come up with something before the questions were hurdled my way?
I spun and smiled. “Jane’s house.” I shrugged. “Where else?”
He eyed me suspiciously and then very slowly nodded. “Okay.”
I darted for the door. “Okay, bye.”
I followed the dirt roads leading to the blinking red dot. I was never more thankful for GPS than at this very moment. Burnwood’s dirt roads and trails were like mazes, each path looking indistinguishable from the next.
Finally, I pulled into a lot that had to be roughly the same size as two football fields. There was a beautiful two-story house in the center of the lot, unique in the way it stood out from the rest of Burnwood’s Victorian-styled homes. Instead, it was modern and polished.
I parked in the circular driveway even though the space next to Carter’s Charger in front of the garage was available. This made for a better get away.
Slowly, I made my way up the porch steps and to the front door. I held my fist up high, but I couldn’t knock. I just froze there with my hand in the air.
I stepped back and paced in little circles, wiping my sweaty palms on my jeans. I took a deep breath.
You can do this.
I walked up to the door again, feeling more confident. I raised my fist and again, I froze.
What’s happening to me? Why can’t I face him?
I lowered my fist and tucked my hands into my pockets, sighing in defeat. I knew what I was afraid of and I wasn’t ready to face that fear just yet. I was about to turn back when the front door flew open and Carter came rushing out of the house, crashing into me. I fell to the floor and slid across the porch. He caught me by my hand just as I was about to go over the stairs. He looked surprised to see me and I couldn’t blame him. For all he knew I was still navigating my way through the woods where he left me. He pulled me up to my feet, staring at me like he had just seen a ghost.
“Hi,” I said brilliantly.
He grabbed hold of my shoulders, smiling. “You’re okay.”
I furrowed my brow. “You knew I was okay. You’re the one who saved me.”
He shook his head. “No. That’s not what I was… never mind. It doesn’t matter.” He pulled me into his arms and held me so tightly that a slight wheezing sound came with every breath I took.
“Carter,” I said, wiggling from him embrace. “What’s going on?”
“The sheriff just left a message for my dad. A female’s body was found in the woods today… close to the Mill Bridge.” His gaze fell to the floor. “Right where I left you.”
“Someone died? In the woods where we were? What? When?”
He pulled me into his arms and held me again. Of course, I was completely fine, but he smelled so good and felt even better pressed up against me that I just enjoyed the moment.
He rested his forehead against mine. “I’m just so glad you’re okay. I…”
I took his face in my hands. He looked sad and maybe a bit guilty. “I’m okay,” I assured him.
“I never should’ve left you.”
I laughed. “You kind of have a habit of that.”
He placed his hands over mine, pressing them against his face. “When I heard the message from the sheriff… I thought it was you.”
I shook my head. “I’m right here. I’m okay.”
He was quiet for a moment and then he took my hand. “Come with me.”
We walked across the lawn to the corner of the property. The east side of their lot was a sandy shore framing a small portion of the lake. The other sides were walled by the same dense forest that covered the rest of Burnwood, and right in between the lake and the trees stood a small log cabin.
It looked like a guesthouse with its two glass windows and small wooden porch. The main house, where Carter and I had just walked from, had a similar appearance, but in a much grander fashion.
He opened the door to the cabin and I stepped inside. It wasn’t at all what I had expected. There was a large flat screen television mounted on the far wall with a leather sofa positioned in front of it. There were signed football posters on the walls and metals and trophies on top of almost every flat surface in the room. There was a small bathroom near the entrance and an unmade king-sized bed next to that.
“Is this your room?”
Carter nodded. “I like my privacy.”
“You’re dad’s okay with this?”
He gave me a questioning look and I realized then that our upbringings must’ve been very different.
“You know, with you being this far away from him,” I explained. “My uncle always made me take the room next to his no matter how many rooms were in the house we rented.”
Carter chuckled. “My dad knows I can take care of myself.”
He didn’t say it as an insult, but I couldn’t help but take it as one. It wasn’t like I couldn’t take care of myself, I just never had the chance to try. I’d been in Girl Guides before and karate for years. I definitely had survival skills, at least in theory.
“Not that you can’t take care of yourself,” he said, his cheeks the slightest shade of pink. “I’m sure you can.”
I forced a smile on my face. “It’s okay.” I shrugged. “Uncle Felix means well. He just wants to keep me safe.”
“Of course he does.”
I sat down on the sofa and once it was clear that he wouldn’t be joining me, leaning against the dresser on the opposite side of the room, I got right down to business.
“Carter, I know what I saw and I know something is going on here.”
Carter opened his mouth, surely to dismiss my trail of thought, but I continued anyway.
“I’m not here to interrogate you. There’s no point. You’re as stubborn as me.”
His serious look diminished and he gave me a slightly less tense half smile. He crossed the room and joined me on the sofa, keeping to the far left. It was a small step, but at least it was progress.
“Wait.”
He slouched back into the sofa and ran his hand through his hair. “I knew that was too easy.”
“There’s one thing that is absolutely nonnegotiable.”
“And that is?”
“You can tell me as little or as much as you want, but whatever you tell me has to be the truth,” I said firmly. I swallowed hard and continued, “It has to be the whole truth. No white lies and no half-truths.”
He looked at me and it felt like he was seeing right through me. It was uncomfortable, not because I had anything to hide, but because no one had ever looked at me like that before.
“Why are you doing this?”
I took a deep breathe in and let it out. “Because I trust you, Carter.”
My gaze drifted from him to the floor. I linked my fingers and slid my intertwined hands in between my knees, the way I always did when I was nervous. I felt his fingers gently tug on my chin until our eyes met again.
“But why?” he repeated.
I moved closer to him
. “Don’t pretend like you do feel it.”
His lips brushed against mine. “What do you feel?”
I quivered. It felt so good to be close to him, to feel his hands sliding up my thigh and his lips against the skin of my neck. I wanted more and the feeling was as undeniable as it was irresistible.
He pulled me in and kissed me hard. For once, I didn’t think. I acted.
I slid my hands over his arms and then down his chest until I found the hem of his shirt. Slowly, I slipped my hands beneath it and felt the warmth of his bare flesh.
He grabbed my leg and pulled it across him so that I was sitting with one knee on each side of his body. His hands ran up my back, sending shivers through my body.
I felt his breathe warm against my neck and his soft lips. Our bodies were so close I could feel his heartbeat, quick and strong.
He lifted me into his arms and carried me cross the room, gently lowering me on top of the bed. He kissed me again, his hands intertwined with mine. I closed my eyes and thought of nothing but the way his fingers felt slowly tracing down my body until they reached my hips.
I felt his lips against mine and I opened my eyes to embrace him, but there they were again. Staring back at me with the same fiery redness I’d seen at the bridge.
He caught my stare and quickly closed his eyes and stepped back. He turned to the window and grasped each side of the frame with his strong hands. The wood cracked and the broken chips fell to the floor. He ran his hands through his hair and leaned his forehead against the glass window.
I placed my hand on his back. “It’s okay. You don’t need to hide from me.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he scoffed.
I slipped in between him and the window, trying to position myself in front of him, but he just pivoted in the opposite direction.
I rested my forehead on his back, wrapping my arms around his waist. “You can trust me,” I whispered.
He said nothing for a very long time. He didn’t turn to embrace me, but he didn’t pull away either.
I sighed. “I made you a promise and I intend to see it through. You don’t have to explain anything, but if you ever decide you want to, you know where to find me.”
I knew he wouldn’t face me, but I couldn’t help but to look back at him. I knew his struggle was internal, and something he needed to decide for himself. As helpless as I felt, I knew it wasn’t my place to push him on this.
I reached for the doorknob, pulled open the door, and suddenly he appeared before me. It was as quick as a blink of an eye and my body instinctively stumbled back in surprise.
He looked at me, his eyes glowing red like embers. “You want to know? Fine!”
He grabbed my hand and stormed out of the cabin with me in tow. I followed him into the woods behind the cabin until we came to a large meadow. The meadow was covered in tall pale green grass and white wild flowers growing amongst the shrubs and trees.
“What are you doing?” I asked, wiggling my hand from his grip.
He looked back at me. “You wanted to know the truth, didn’t you?”
His voice was angry and his eyes continued to blaze red. “Here’s the truth!”
He sped through the woods in a zigzag fashion, moving so quickly that I registered nothing more than a blur of motion. One second he was beside me and the next he was standing on the opposite side of the meadow. He dropped his fist to his side and when he opened his hand, a ball of flame burned from his palm.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. I winked twice, but the fire was still there, burning for the center of his hand. I had to be imagining this.
He pulled his arm back and then threw it forward in one quick motion. The ball of flame soared through the air and slammed into the center of a large oak tree, sending thousands of wood slivers raining down around what remained of the tree.
I gasped, looking back at Carter just in time to see him disappear into another blur of movement. He appeared beside me, creating a breeze that tossed my hair wildly. My eyes wide and my mouth gaping, I couldn’t look away. I knew there was something incredible about Carter, but this was far beyond anything I had ever imagined.
“Now you know! Now you’ve seen the monster for yourself.”
I stumbled back, frightened not by what I had seen, but by the tone of his voice and the pain in his eyes.
His gaze fell to the ground. “Go ahead. Run.”
I stepped forward and took his hand. I could still fell the warmth in his palm from the fireball. “I’m not going anywhere.”
He tried to turn away, but I wouldn’t let him. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him close.
“Why would you stay? You saw what I can do. You’ve seen the monster inside me…” he began.
I shook my head. “You’re not a monster.”
He looked away. “You say that now…”
“I say that because it’s true! You’re different, yes, that’s a given; but that doesn’t mean you’re a monster.”
“You don’t know what this means, do you?”
I paused. He was right. I didn’t know what this meant. He was fast, strong, and had some kind of control over fire, but I didn’t understand any of it.
“I guess I don’t, but I do know you and that’s enough for me.”
“It shouldn’t be, Annabelle.” He stepped back and out of my reach. “You need to be careful about who you trust. You can’t open yourself up to just anyone.”
“You’re not just anyone,” I said, recognizing the anger in my voice. “You can try and shove a wedge between us as much as you want, but I know you feel it.”
He shook his head. “You don’t know what you feel.”
His words had the power to make me feel like nothing more than a child experiencing some kind of juvenile crush.
“Why do you have to do that?” I yelled. “Why can’t you just accept that I care about you despite your differences?”
“Because she couldn’t!” he blurted out.
The words escaped his mouth in such haste that I was sure by the look on his face that he hadn’t meant to say them. The regret was marked on every inch of his expression.
I took his face in my hands. “Who couldn’t?”
His body slumped and he started back for the cabin. “If my own mother couldn’t accept me, how could anyone else?”
I followed him, not sure what to say, not sure if there was anything I could say.
I knew Carter’s mother was absent, but I had never guessed it had anything to do with him. I know the pain of losing a parent, but not of having one walk out on you.
We returned to the cabin and sat on the couch. He looked out the window and the silence filled the room with an intensity that almost felt tangible. After a while, I did the only thing I thought would help.
I slid closer to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. He lifted his arm receptively and rested my head on his chest. We sat there, silently wrapped in each other’s arms. The tension and space melted away without a single word spoken, and even though the pain was still present in his eyes, something had changed. He rested his chin atop my head and I closed my eyes, letting the rhythm of his heartbeat lull me to sleep.