Forbidden To Love (The Erosians) (4 page)

The other guys howl with laughter. I close my eyes, dip my chin to my chest and wish I were invisible.

“
Hey, you ok?”

I gaze up to find Josh standing in front of me, his hand reaching out towards my arm that I'm currently wrapping around my sides in an attempt to hold my body together; as this crunching threatens to destroy me from the inside. I lock eyes with him and the pain melts quickly away leaving me in a newly familiar state of tranquillity.

Josh isn’t in his football kit anymore. His dark jeans are baggy on his hips; held up by a black leather belt, his thin white t-shirt sits snugly at the waist of his pants. Josh’s fingers graze my arm as he waits for me to answer him. A quick blast of fire shoots through me. I almost let out a scream, but the pain is already gone. Now there is a new sense; a pulling, a yearning to be closer to him.

Something must have been funny about my expression as Josh laughs lightly and looks away. My eyes are released from his hypnotic stare. I focus anywhere but towards him, embarrassed to be staring so openly at him. There
’s no use trying to decide now whether he is good or evil, mortal or immortal or undead; my mind is far too scrambled to make sense of anything. I can practically envisage the chasm opening up before me; daring me to jump in, to give in to these strange unnerving emotions for Josh.

His face is so close to mine, his breath dances before me and slips easily down my throat; reaching every part of me, making every part of me want to touch him.

The rational part of my brain screams at me to stay strong no matter how freaked I’m getting. But my primal need for his touch is threatening to overpower my mind's reality check.

This could all be a trick. He could be using powers to put me in this state; to make me vulnerable so kidnapping me would be easier. Right now I think I
’d willingly give into any diabolical plan he has mapped out for me.

No,  Acacia wake up!

“What are you?” I barely hear the words escape my mouth as they are the quietest whisper but Josh laughs and raises his eyebrows.

“
Erm….a senior?” He answers still laughing nervously.

I burn red and mentally fix my feet to the floor and force my eyes to stare down
as I try to keep my mind clear so his closeness doesn’t distract me! I need to stay in control; I need to figure this out. I do not need to touch him. I do not need to press my body against his.

I start to run my eyes up his body, hoping I
’ll find a clue to what he is. Nothing in his clothing gives him away. There are no emblems of allegiance to any race. I'm not sure I’d recognize one if I saw one anyway. The parts of his skin naked to me, mainly his arms, show no hint as to what he is.

Taking a deep breath in I approach his collar bone, ready to look further up back into his beautifully crafted face. I force myself not to pause on his full lips or the hypnotic power of his eyes; just in case their power has returned.

Instead I focus on the messy cut of his hair, but it doesn’t work; my eyes follow the strands as they fall across his face, leading me straight back to his eyes, and once they lock with mine I'm lost.

We
’re all alone in the hall. All the other students are at their classes. He’s still staring at me, shifting his weight from one foot to the other as he looks anxiously around; obviously uncomfortable, obviously not wanting to be seen talking to me!

“
Erm, sorry yeh course you are” I glimpse around the corridor hurriedly trying to make sense of what to do. Stand here and make small talk, ask him outright if he’s an Underworld demon or throw my arms around him and kiss him until neither of us can breathe.

“
You sure you’re ok, you seem a little worked up” Josh tilts his head to the side trying to get me to look at him, but I'm too terrified to lock eyes with him. What if I'm never released from his hold? No,  I won’t be a prisoner to another arrogant God. I swallow my fear in the same way I did when I was presented to  Eros; I didn't let him bully me, I'm sure as hell not going to let some jumped up minor God intimidate me.

“
Is that what you want me to be?”

He smirks, taken aback at by questioning, but he quickly composes himself.

“There are a lot of things I’d like you to be”

My mouth falls slack as his turns up into a grin. I hold no answer for him, and he doesn't need one. He winks as he starts to walk backwards away from me. Just as he gets to the corner he turns on his heel and disappears.

What in Hades?

My insides are like ice. What did he just do? The scorching fire was so intense, but he stopped the burning with his touch. Maybe the pain was my body
’s way of telling me to get the hell out of there, and he silenced the warning. Or were the fiery sensations trying to tell me to get closer. Does that happen?

I did notice in the midst of my acting like the biggest loser and staring at him  in a trance, he most definitely had no aura. I need to figure out who or what he is, and why he
’s here. I need to make sense of things fast before these urges growing inside of me turn into something more; something I can no longer control.

Reaching my class at the end of the corridor, now ten minutes late so there is no way I can sneak in. I try to open the door, but it creaks loudly as if my being late needed any further announcement. Mr. Simmons is standing at the front of the class. He turns to glare straight at me.

“Ah Miss Rose how lovely of you to join us” He folds his arms, waiting for my excuse.

“
Erm … sorry, sir I got couldn’t find my um … text book,” I reply hopefully. I blush as I observe the rest of the class staring at me. I wish he’d hurry up and just give me detention or whatever punishment fits my lateness.

“
Why don’t you take your seat and make sure you’re on time in the future?” He turns his back to me and continues writing on the board. I don’t move, the non-punishment must be a joke. After five seconds,  Simmons still makes no motions to reprimand me. Wow, that’s never happened before. I rush to my desk before he changes his mind, careful not to trip over Stacey Elling's deliberately placed bag strap as I do.

Stacey whispers to Melissa sitting next to her,
“Simmons probably feels sorry for her 'cos she’s such a loser.” Melissa stifles a giggle. Maybe they’re right. Something about me gave him the impression I needed sympathy, for him to let me off. Or he and I suspect the rest of the student body; just don’t think I'm worth bothering with.

Simmons continues his lesson rolling down a world map and pointing out the different continents giving us facts about each one that no one in the class is bothering to write down.

I half-listen as I stare out of the window, grateful now I sit in the back corner of the room. Never did I think a blue plastic chair and beech wood desk would provide me such a welcome haven -, but at least here I can’t embarrass myself anymore.

I wonder what Josh is doing. I still don
’t understand these almost painful tinges of desire that are now alight within me. I was hoping that being away from him might help clear my head then perhaps I would be able to figure things out, but no such luck. Is this what love is like?

Don
’t be stupid! I can’t fall in love with anyone especially not at this speed! I’ve only seen him twice. Love at first sight can only be caused by Eros or Allana. They’re the only ones who can create instantaneous attraction. Nausea begins to invade me as that little voice I silenced earlier yells at me this is a trap.

Perhaps he planted the idea of me being in love with him in my head. He hasn
’t got an aura, and he isn’t undead. Out there in the hall I noticed his pulse as I took in every inch of him; meaning he could be from Olympus.

True I stalled on his body and pictured myself again being wrapped inside his embrace, imagining how his warmth would reach inside my body and take hold of the loneliness buried away inside. His touch would drag the string of emotion out of me, and he’d whisper in my ear how he loves me. Whoa tripped into that abyss again!

A sigh escapes my lips.

“Miss Rose, is there something you would like to share with us?” Simmons stands in front of my desk, tapping his black biro on the edge. Gulping, I look around to be met with all eyes staring at me. I’d become so lost in my daydream I can’t even remember what lesson I'm in.

“
Erm, can you repeat the question?” I hopefully plead with my eyes for the second time this hour.

Simmons tuts shakes his head and returns towards the front of the class. I drop my head to my hands as my class let out a hushed giggle and a few whispers go out. I hear every word clearly. A cocktail of,
‘She’s a bit of a freak’ with, ‘How is someone so hot so weird’. Never am I so relieved when the bell rings, meaning not only the end of class but the end of the day.

The whole school swells into the hall, madly manoeuvring around each other, all trying to be the first to get away. Their auras dance above their heads in their own private ballroom, doesn't matter how many matches I can see with the rush they
’re all in I’ve got no hope of pairing any up. Stopping at my locker to throw my books back in with more force than necessary I let out a deliberately long sigh. Perhaps, if, I breathe all the air out of my body, some of the thoughts of Josh might leave with it.

Out of the corner of my eye I recognise Cassidy fiddling with her locker combination. She
’s clearly struggling. Her dark brown eyes furrow together in confusion. She keeps pushing her slender fingers through her straight black hair, gripping it tightly as the lock refuses to open for her. She looks around in frustration and unexpectedly meets Keagan's eyes.

Cassidy
’s annoyance quickly turns to shyness as a small blush reddens her cheeks and the faintest of smiles creeps onto her lips. Keagan smiles in return and bravely walks across. I remove the shield I put up in my last lesson and allow their conversation to seep into my mind.

“
You having some trouble?” Keagan asks with an unusual edge of formality to his voice.

“
I think the doors jammed. I put my combination in, but the lock won’t budge.” Cassidy’s calm response settles Keagan’s nerves.

As he gazes at her, her smile grows, and her shoulders slump as she relaxes against the locker. Keagan laughs and rests his hand close to hers, momentarily hiding his face in his arm to mask his embarrassed at so blatantly staring at her.

“Let me take a look.” He takes hold of the lock. “Sometimes they’re just a bit stiff, and you need a little extra force to get them to work.” Cassidy rolls her eyes, but her smile remains. She’s trying to feign annoyance at having to be helped out by someone she perceives to be a mindless jock, but her smile betrays her and the flirtatious glint in her eyes shows she’s secretly enjoying their little rendezvous.

Keagan pulls on the base of the lock, and it pops out, springing the door open, just as three of Cassidy
’s friends come around the corner all comparing their freshly painted nails. They stop dead when they catch sight of Cassidy and Keagan, their faces full of disapproval.

Cassidy gulps at their expressions and starts to fiddle with the strap on her bag. Fully aware of Keagan trying to continue their conversation, she cuts him short.

“Thanks,” she snarls, “but you and your meathead friends were probably the morons who jammed it in the first place.” The poison hits its mark and Keagan can’t hide his genuine hurt. He stares at Cassidy open-mouthed, unsure of what to say. Then he spies the black cloud at the end of the hall. Realizing what’s going on, he shakes his head. “Right,” he mutters sadly

As he walks away, the aura around him swells with disappointment turning it back to more his shade of green than the new one I created only an hour ago. Cassidy
’s aura pushes through, tainting it with regret and restoring the almost defeated shimmer to the colour of their undiscovered love. There may still be hope for them.

“
So, let me guess. You actually have a thing for Keagan, and you wanted me to find out what he thinks of you?” Josh is stood right next me. I was so wrapped up in staring at Cassidy and Keagan I didn’t even hear him walk up, and the echoes of footsteps in these corridors are usually deafening. Especially when they’re empty like now. And my body didn’t warn me either. I didn’t suffer any spasms or sickening crunches. I felt nothing.

I angle myself towards him as his scent washes over me and the pull to touch him continues to get stronger every second. I open my mouth to deny his assumption.

“No, don’t interrupt. Obviously you were too shy to come and ask me, and that’s why you were standing staring earlier outside. Then in the hall you didn't want to talk much 'cos you were wishing it was Keagan talking to you.”

He stares at me with the smuggest grin I
’ve ever seen plastered across his face. I've seen some pretty smug grins living with Amora.

Whatever pull I had towards him has gone. The only pull I feel now is in my hand, and that wants to slap the smirk right off his face. He
’s got to be a God like me; his arrogance is way above mortal levels.