Evanescent (6 page)

I’m glad she’s amused. I’m pretty sure
Flanders is due for a beating one of these days. Grayson shot me a
picture of him cozying up to Laken after first. You couldn’t wedge
a toothpick between them the way his body was jammed against hers.
Although Grayson did text me a few minutes later and mention he
asked her to homecoming. Maybe Laken shot him down, and he asked
her as a reflex? There’s not one ounce of me that believes he’s
into Grayson. He wasn’t that into her when he was banging her.
Grayson’s not his type, and Laken very much is.

“Have you thought about homecoming yet?” I
groan a little as I finish the question. I should have asked her in
some memorable, romantic way and not brought it up like I was
asking which fast food joint she wants to hit for dinner.

“Funny you should ask. Homecoming has been
on my brain all day.” She bites down on her lip seductively, and a
flare of heat shoots through my lower half.

Knew it. Coop asked, and she said no.

“Anybody pop the question yet?” Crap. Can I
step in shit any faster? And what’s with making it sound like a
fucking wedding proposal?

“I was kind of hoping this one guy would
ask.” She casts a coy glance at the ceiling as she takes up my
hand.

“Am I this one guy?” I pinch my lips to the
side because this isn’t going how it should, and I know it. A part
of me is afraid I’m not the guy at all.

“You’re the only guy.”

My body relaxes as she says it. Laken lifted
a weight, and she doesn’t even know it.

I take her in with her hair pulled back in a
ponytail, bringing out the almond shape of her eyes. Her cheekbones
are cut high and sharp as they mimic a granite ledge. Laken is a
walking piece of art that has the ability to make me tremble. She’s
the only perfect being I ever want to sketch. I’d like to trace out
every inch of her, slow, with my mouth.

“Am I the only guy?” I steady myself over
her, relaxing my arms across her shoulders.

Laken’s brows dip as if she injured me and
doesn’t know how to make the bleeding stop. Shit. I need to stop
acting like a wounded pussy and accept the fact I need to fight for
her a little harder than I thought.

“
Wes
.” She pulls me in by the back of
the neck and sweeps her lips over mine. “There’s only you. I
promise.” She needles into me with a sincere gaze. “There’s only
ever been you. Please believe me.” She shakes her head, imploring
me to hear her words, to feel them.

I close my eyes and crash my mouth over
hers. Laken takes the initiative and thrusts her tongue into my
mouth in long, hungry strokes. I can feel her heart drumming over
my chest with a viral intensity as she wipes away any fear I might
have had that Cooper Flanders was digging in deep—that he asked her
to homecoming of all things. If he ever tried to snatch Laken, he’d
have to pay in broken limbs, a broken heart wouldn’t be good
enough.

Laken pulls back, and her eyes sharpen over
mine.

“That was some kiss,” she whispers less than
enthused.

“
Hey?
” Flynn barks from the other
side of the counter. “Is that what they pay you to do? I’ve got a
book that needs to find its way to the jackass writing my lit
paper.”

Laken bubbles with laughter as she makes her
way over. There’s a spring in her step, and I’d like to believe I
gave it to her but something about the look she just shot me
suggests otherwise.

They make small talk as she helps him with
his stack.

Edinger walks in and skirts the miles of
leather-bound encyclopedias on display mostly for decorator
purposes. I go over to see what he wants before he makes a scene
like morphing into a bat and crapping on me for the hell of it.

“Can I help you?” I’ve been pissed at him
ever since he let loose and scared the hell out of Laken a few
weeks back. He said he was just having some fun, but I’m pretty
sure holding your decapitated head falls under the category of
psychotic behavior, even for a Fem.

“Have you considered what we discussed?” He
bleeds a dark smile. There’s a pained look in his eyes as if it
took great effort to impart the false emotion.

He’s been after to me to think up a way to
stamp out the Spectators once and for all. I guess his botched
science project is bad for his ego.

“I’ve thought about it.” I nod. “And I think
it’s necessary.” The Spectators have been terrifying the population
for years. If we don’t move to eradicate them, we’ll have an
apocalypse on our hands one day. “It’s just a means to an end. They
don’t really want to live like that—nobody would.”

“Have your journeyman get their attention.
Make them believe a cure is on the horizon. Gather them in droves.
They must never see it coming.”

Journeymen. A dry laugh rattles through
me.

Coop’s all I got, and usually he’s all I
need with the exception that I don’t trust his ass anymore.

“Consider it done.” It doesn’t sound too
safe for Coop, but I’m starting not to care.

Guilt coats me heavy as lead.

So, maybe killing Coop isn’t high on my
priority list at the moment, but if he keeps pushing things, it
just might get there. A thought dawns on me. If he goes after them,
he might get bit and turn into the very thing we’re trying to
eradicate. A part of me wouldn’t feel too bad if it did happen. I
hate that I feel like a jealous thirteen-year-old girl. I used to
like Coop. He’s one of the nicest guys I know.

Edinger takes a breath and nods over to
Laken, still lost in her conversation with Flynn.

“She can hurt you, Wesley.” Edinger squints
into her a moment. “If I were you I’d be very careful. Women like
her have the ability to impress themselves over your soul, to
become a paralyzing obsession. I should know.”

“Laken and I are good. Things are moving in
the right direction.”

“If you had to choose the Countenance over
Laken, would you?”

“Of course.” I don’t hesitate with my
response. I knew it was the right answer, but it’s not the truthful
one.

Edinger gives dry laugh. His shoulders
bounce with disbelief as he walks out of the library and into the
rain. What my mother sees in him I will never know.

I make my way over to Laken, who’s busy
roping her hair around her finger, and slip my arm around her
waist.

I know for a fact I’ll never have to choose
between Laken and the Counts because she’s one of us now—she will
be forever—we both will.

“I’m out of here.” Flynn digs his palm into
his eye like he’s exhausted. His sandy hair is shagged out in wiry
curls like some surfer who forgot his way to the barbershop. “Think
about what I said.” He points into her before hitting the exit.

“What’d he say?” I’m only half-interested.
I’m more into what Laken is going to think when I give her a
private tour of the stacks in a few minutes.

“He said I should dump you and go to
homecoming with him. He said he has access to condoms in three
different colors, and he’d pay me ten grand to keep my cheer
uniform on.”

“I’d laugh, but it sounds like Flynn.” I
shake my head while inspecting the new crop of books that were just
returned.

“I might be teasing,” she laughs, relaxing
her hands over the back of my pants. “So, what’s this Ensign thing
about? Can anyone join?” There’s an innocence about her that lures
me in, disables me and leaves me down for the count. “Does it have
to do with the flag or something?”

I cut a look to the door where Edinger
stained the entry not too long ago. He goes ape shit if anyone rats
out his status as a Fem. I only found out through the Ensign
program once I became a cadet. If Laken goes down that thorny path,
she’ll have to deal with the fact her English teacher is a creature
not of this earth. I don’t want to set her brain on fire with all
this psychotic info, but in a way she has the right to know, to dig
in as far and deep into the Counts as anybody else. Besides, after
Edinger sliced off his head in front of her, he was practically
asking to be revealed. I don’t think for a minute Laken believes
she was hallucinating.

“The Ensign program isn’t school run.” I
swipe my thumb over her cheek. I’d much rather focus on the two of
us than discuss anything to do with the Counts, but she’s hungry
for something more, I can tell. “In fact, Ephemeral doesn’t have a
thing to do with it.” I let out a breath and examine her like this.
The final step before I pull her all the way in. She wants this,
and I want this for her—for us. “It’s an intimate branch of the
Countenance that only those showing true interest in the lineage
are privy to.”

“I have true interest. I want to do this
with you.” She says it so fast, she doesn’t leave room for dispute.
Laken is anxious to learn. I’ve never seen a new recruit
thirstier.

“Good. I’m glad. I really think this could
bond us as a couple, but you don’t have to do this for the sake of
our relationship. We could share other things. I would never hold
it against you if you weren’t into it.”

She brings my hand to her lips and plants a
kiss over it.
I wish Wes would see how serious I am. There’s not
a thing on this planet I don’t want to share with him, and being an
Ensign, whatever it is, will pull us that much closer.

I give a private smile.

“Wednesday night there’s a special meeting—a
gathering. The girls division is called the Treasures, so you
wouldn’t be an Ensign, but it’s essentially the same thing. I’ll
introduce you to the group. If you want, we can do an initiation
that night.”

“Wednesday?” Her gaze slips past my shoulder
a moment. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

I take her in and tighten my grip around her
waist.

“You won’t regret this. I have a feeling
this will bring us closer than you’d ever imagine.”

“Oh, I’m hoping it will.” She gives an
impish grin.

Eternal bonds are involved—monogamous
covenants that will link us together for the rest of existence
could be on the line if I make the proper arrangements.

And I will.

Laken

Rain falls in sheets, causing the lights at Austen
House to flicker every now and again, followed by a sizzle of
lightning bold enough to illuminate the secrets of the night. But
not even a lightning storm of this magnitude can detour Flynn from
bouncing onto my bed with expectations that will never be met.

“And by the way”—I take a seat at my desk
and flip open my laptop—“don’t ever come into the library and start
talking shop with Wes in the vicinity. That’s sloppy. One misstep
and I’ll be the offering at the next unholy slaughter.”

“Got it.” He groans while getting
comfortable on my mattress. “Let’s get my sister out of hock, and
we won’t have to worry about me interrupting your suck-face time
with Romeo. And what’s up with that? I thought you and Coop had
something going.”

“Nope.” I’m quick to deflect the accusation.
“The old Wes is trapped in that body, and it’s my responsibility to
get him out. He’d do the same for me. Besides, didn’t you hear?
Coop is taking Grayson to homecoming.”

Flynn gives a little laugh.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing.” A guilty grin spreads over his
face. Flynn is gorgeous in that surfer-boy-next-door kind of
way.

“Something’s up—spill it.”

“Last summer Coop was messing with her for
kicks, and I was, too.” He shrugs. “No big deal, unless you’re
Cooper keep-away-from-my-girl’s-crotch Flanders. He was pretty
pissed when he found out.”

My mouth falls open at the revelation.

Flynn averts his eyes for a moment. “Grayson
didn’t think it was that big of a deal either—so don’t go painting
me like some big bad wolf.”

“Cooper was messing with Grayson?” My dinner
does a solid revolution in my stomach, and suddenly I want to hurl
it across the room at Flynn for the hell of it. And in no way do I
want a definition of the word
messing
.

“Yeah, so? I was, too. Grayson gets around.
She’s not a trophy catch like you.” He tosses Casper’s old teddy
bear at me.

“What’s a trophy catch?” I’m pretty sure I
don’t want to know, but if my girl parts are up for a prize, I
should be enlightened.

“Trophy catch, you know—hard to get. You’re
probably a virgin, so it’s made of win.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not, so I guess my stock
just tanked.” Tucker Donavan runs through my mind like an armed
robber bagging my vagina and taking off with it like some million
dollar heist. Only, I gave it away for far less than a million
dollars—I believe a cheeseburger and the backseat of his Camaro
were involved.

“No kidding, huh? You sleep with that fake
Wes of yours?”

Fake Wes. I know I’ve referenced Wes that
way before, but I don’t like the way it sounds coming from Flynn.
I’m wondering if it was a good idea to let him in on everything or
if I should have taken Coop’s advice and kept him on a need to know
basis.