Seclusion (11 page)

“Only an hour or so? You
didn’t want to sleep over?”
I heard him say.

“Wow, do I get to hear your
suggestive remarks the rest of my life?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure if
we physically separated, our powers would be unable to link us over such a
distance, but I don’t think that’s an option for now,”
he said.

“Oh. Okay, on my way up.”

Although his snarky
attitude was mildly annoying, I thought it was just a coping mechanism for the
pain he was always suffering. I was curious to see if his attitude had changed
now that I had attempted to heal him. I knew that it had been working before I
passed out.

Damen opened the door
before I got to his room and pulled me in. “So, are you feeling okay?” he
asked.

He gave me a quick hug and
looked me up and down. For some reason the hug didn’t come as a surprise,
although it did make me a little nervous and excited. I could feel the warmth
and care he had for me through the link and knew my earlier hypothesis was
right: the pain he was constantly living with was masking his true personality.

“Stop thinking! I just
appreciate you healing me. No matter what, I’m not letting you do that again!
You won’t risk yourself to heal me, even if I have to leave this school, do you
understand, Raegan?”

The way he said my name
sent chills through my body. He pulled me down on his couch and faced me. He
had a dark t-shirt on that displayed all those muscles I had seen during my
dream. His jeans were dark and faded in the current fashion. He wasn’t wearing
any shoes.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look this sexy
, I thought. I
tried to put up a block wall between us. His green eyes were staring at me with
a knowing look.

“Why are you kidding
yourself with Chase? As far as I can see, you don’t want to be with him,” Damen
said.

“I guess your powers aren’t
that strong after all,” I replied.

He smiled. “Oh, by the way,
when you healed me you at least doubled my telepathic range. I can also move
things more easily now.” His fridge opened, two Dr. Peppers came flying out,
and one flew into my hand.

“Whoa, that’s creepy.”

“Yeah it is, but thanks.
The voices are no longer jumbled, and my pain is gone. The only problem I’m
having is ignoring all the crazy feelings you have. Oh, and the only reason
your curtain is working is because I’m choosing not to look in that direction,
but any extreme emotions show through!”

“What are we going to do?”
I whined.

“Research, and I think we should
tell Taylor. She’s always helped me in the past,” he said.

“I’m not sure that’s a
great idea. I don’t feel like I know her that well. I have a feeling that we
shouldn’t tell her, at least not yet,” I said.

“Okay. I can tell you’re
serious. You’re right, she reports everything to Dr. Zeke, and I don’t really
know him. When I’m around him I can feel anger and confusion, and that he has a
sense of familiarity with me that I don’t understand,” he said.

“Oh, that’s weird. Do we
tell your friends or my friends?” I asked.

“It’s up to you. But how do
you think Chase will respond when he knows we are connected 24-7?”

He took a sip from his
soda, and I found myself gazing at his mouth.

“Ugh! I don’t like keeping
secrets, and I won’t keep this one for long.”

“Well, we are going to find
a way to break this, okay?” He grabbed my hand and held it in his. “We’ll meet
again soon,” he said.

“Okay. Good night.” I got
up to leave. “Thanks for the soda.”

“Raegan, you should keep
your curtain up and work on making it stronger. I try not to eavesdrop, but
it’s difficult.”

“I thought you were
healed,” I said.

“Our link makes you
different,” he said as he shut the door.

I walked to the elevator,
practicing holding my curtain in place. It felt darker, and I felt more shaded.

I was cuddled in my bed
relaxing, almost asleep. I could feel that Damen was sleeping peacefully. I had
waited for him to fall asleep so that I could feel comfortable enough to
shower. Now that I was in my cuddly pjs, I could feel myself falling asleep.

I dreamt that Chase and I
were cuddling and he was kissing me, but we were in a very strange, dark cave.
Things got heated, and I felt nervous. I could feel something had changed. I
pulled back and saw I was no longer in a cave, but on a tropical beach. I was
in a black bikini, and I was with Damen!

“Rae, don’t be scared. It’s
just me,” he said.

I gave in to the emotions
of the dream and continued the hazy make-out session. Damen and I were on a
beach towel, lying in the sun. He was only wearing black and white board
shorts. There was no one around. He was running his hands through my hair and
down my back as I straddled his lap. All of a sudden, he stopped and guided me
back quickly as he sat up.

“Does this feel weird to
you?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, usually my dreams
don’t last this long or feel this real,” he said as he stroked one hand over my
shoulder and down my arm, sending an exciting thrill through me.

“Mmm…I’m pretty sure it’s
just a dream. In real life we wouldn’t be making out,” I said as I boldly
rubbed my hands up his chest and around his neck, pulling him closer to me.

His hands cradled my hips,
pressing me closer as he nibbled my ear. I heard him murmur, “Good point. Maybe
we should just get back to it then.” He brushed his lips against mine until
they were coaxed open and then began a deep kiss. When we finally separated, I inhaled
deeply and then sighed. Feeling a strong hand cupping my bottom, I returned his
kisses, but then realized something was wrong.

“I’ve never dreamt about
this beach before,” I said.

“Well, I know I have, and
I’m pretty sure this is my dream. If it were yours, you’d be wearing more
clothes,” he said as he playfully tugged on my lower lip with his teeth.

I looked down and saw that
I was wearing my black string bikini bottoms and black halter top with the
rhinestone heart center between my breasts.
I’ve never worn this in real
life
, I thought. When my aunt bought it for me, I hid it in the bottom of
my dresser.

“True…but shouldn’t I be
dreaming about Chase?” I asked.

“Didn’t we just say that
this was my dream? But if it was my dream, I think I’d have at least made it to
second base by now,” he said with a wink as his hands slid up and around my
neck to the clasp of my halter top. I shoved him down in the sand and we
started laughing.

“Well, I guess we could go
swimming if you don’t want to continue this,” he said, nuzzling my neck and
lightly kissing it. He stood up, lifted me onto his back, and ran toward the
water. It was perfect.

My alarm went off and I
tried to hit it, but when I looked at my nightstand, my alarm wasn’t on.
I
don’t get it, am I dreaming my alarm is going off? UGHHH!!! I just want to go
back to sleep! Maybe if I fall asleep fast enough I can get back to that dream
.

“Good morning, Sun Rae. I
think my alarm disturbed your dream… Sorry,”
I heard Damen say through the link.

“
Oh gosh, stop
.” I
threw up my best effort to shut my curtain, but then it dawned on me.
“Did
you just say sun Rae?”

“Yes, I just had an
exciting dream about you and it was good to wake up and hear your grumbling to
bring me back to reality.”

I sat up immediately, my
heart pounding.
“You dreamt about me? It wasn’t on a beach was it?”
I
asked.

I could hear Damen’s rich
laughter in my mind.
“Looks like I’ve made it further with you than your
boyfriend. Are you going to tell him? Should I be watching my back?”

“Oh my freakin’ gosh. Shut
up! No, we aren’t saying anything. It was just a simple mistake that won’t
happen again!”
I
said
.

“Are you sure? You seemed
like you were enjoying yourself.”

“Well, so were you!”

“I’m not the one with the
supposed boyfriend. In fact, I’m voting we make that dream come true. Do you
own that bikini or was that my part in the dream?”

“It’s none of your business.”

I could hear him chuckling
in my head.

*
* *

I walked into my first
session of Abilities of the Telepathic Mind class. I hadn’t heard Damen all
morning; I figured we were getting better at shielding things from each other,
or at least he was. I walked into the classroom and there was a crowd of girls
huddled in one corner, which I thought was odd since I knew Chase was not in
this class.

“Raegan, over here.”

I glanced toward the voice.
“Jay!” I couldn’t help the smile that crossed my face. It was nice to see a
familiar face, and I headed to the desk next to him.

“I knew you’d be in this
class, so I saved you a seat,” he whispered.

“Thanks! So, you have a
fortune telling power?”

“Well, yeah, that’s the
gist of it, and I can foresee what’s gonna happen in the future a few hours
ahead sometimes.”

“That’s really cool.”

“For instance, those girls,
they’ll be leaving soon. I also foresee us being good friends.”

He winked as I sat down and
pulled out my book, which I realized was the same book Damen had been reading
from last night.

It will be nice having at
least one friend in this clas
s, I thought.

“After last night, I would
call you a friend…”

I could hear the amusement
in his thought.

“Damen?”

“Yeah, I guess you couldn’t
see me through my cloud of admirers.”

I looked up, and sure
enough, those girls were crowding around Damen. He had the same dark leather
jacket slung over his desk, and he was wearing a black, fitted long sleeve
shirt with the top buttons undone like some male model. I had never seen him
look so hot, well, besides in my dream, but I could barely remember that. I
immediately tuned into the conversation he was having with…
OMG! Chloe! That
same skanky cheerleader who had been all over Chase
!

I heard her say, “I can’t
wait to go to summer fling with you, Damen. You won’t regret saying yes. I’ll
pick a costume out and everything, so you won’t have to do a thing.”

I could hear Damen’s smooth
laugh and see his cocky smile, although I could tell he wasn’t comfortable with
the attention.

Just then, I heard the
classroom door slam as Professor Travis walked in. She was a young, pretty
teacher with short, dark brown hair. She looked like she had just walked out of
Ann Taylor. She could have been Elsie’s older sister.

“Okay class, we are
starting. Anyone who doesn’t belong here can leave now.”

Almost all the girls around
Damen headed for the door. Damen got up and moved to the desk on the other side
of me, and then nodded his head at Jay.

“Hey, man,” Jay said. “I
don’t know if you guys want to hear this, but my power is flashing a warning
around you two. I can’t see further than two hours ahead usually, but I feel
like you two need to be careful. It could mean nothing though; it’s not a
science.”

“Thanks, we’ll remember the
warning,” Damen replied.

I wasn’t worried about the
warning. I guessed Jay just sensed my connection with Damen.

My thoughts went back to
the flirting that had been going on before the girls left. I was having trouble
fighting the anger and jealousy I felt rising in my chest.

“Whoa, slow down, Raegan.
Shouldn’t you be listening to Professor Travis?”
I heard Damen say in my
head.

“Aww crap.”
What happened to my
wall?

“First of all, you are with
Chase, and you have told me more than once that you are happy with him and that
last night was an accident. I know very well that you are already going to
summer fling with him – all I did was accept an invite. I don’t need to explain
myself to you!”

“Whatever,”
was my lame reply.

“Hey, anytime you want to
finish last night, let me know. If you’d rather do it in a dream, I can fit a
nap in later.”

Damen turned to face me and
flashed his sexy, disarming grin. The knots in my stomach started tightening,
and I was angry with myself for letting him get to me. I shoved up the strongest
shield I could muster.
He acts as if I’m some plaything. He’d just use me
and then go after the next chick
. I was upset, and I was hoping my feelings
weren’t spilling through.

I tried to focus on
Professor Travis. She was discussing with the six kids in the class that
telepathy was one of the strongest abilities.

“There are many abilities
that we might not know we have, such as seeing the future, manipulating objects
with our minds, seeing auras, or even the ability to erase or manipulate
memory.”

Professor Travis had all
the attention in the class now. She laughed at the mouths that were hanging
open. “Okay, so obviously many of these talents could be used for evil. In this
class we are going to be learning about each of these areas and testing ourselves
to see if we have any inkling of any of these abilities. There is also an
ethics class you must all take before graduation. Most of you might have an
affinity for some of these areas, but your powers will not be strong enough to
do much with them,” she said.

“Okay, now before we go
on,” she continued, “I want us to go around and introduce ourselves to each
other because these are the only people who will understand your ability and
the things you have had to go through.”

I was surprised that I hadn’t
noticed Elsie’s friend Sara in the class. She introduced herself first. This
was her second year, but she wanted to continue practicing these different
abilities of the telepathic mind, so she was taking the class again. Jay had
decided to postpone the class until summer. There were two other new students
in the class, a girl named Ruby and a boy named Carson. Until now, I hadn’t
realized that Carson had been smiling at me in a suggestive way.

“Looks like you have
another admirer, Rae. You gonna lead this one on, too?”
I heard Damen say in my
head.
“Second thought, stay away from him, Rae. There’s something wrong with
that guy.”

“What are you, my dad? I
can take care of myself. I don’t just throw myself at strangers like you do.”

“Ouch. You’d think you’d
get to know me before casting stones.”

“Okay class,” Professor
Travis said, “for homework, I want you to read the first two chapters. We will
be practicing in front of the class next week,” she said, dismissing us with a
wave of her hand.

I jumped up and headed
toward the door, but before I left, I saw Damen walk over to Carson. I stepped
out of the classroom and very quietly opened my curtain to see if I could hear
what Damen was saying.

“Hey Carson, leave Raegan
alone. I know what you were thinking, and if you go near her, you’ll wish you
were dead.”

“Damen!”
I yelled.

“Raegan, give me a break.”

“Fine,”
I thought as I stalked off
to Taylor’s office for my advising appointment.