Secret Worlds (38 page)

“I’m okay,” I said, which could’ve been true, depending on what one’s definition of ‘okay’ was.

We wedged into a small opening in the crowd near the speakers. The burning scent of hot electrical wires replaced the fruity aroma of liquored drinks. He tilted his head down toward me as he stepped tentatively closer, then he rested his hands firmly on my hips, his arms bent at the elbow, relaxed.

I was decidedly not so relaxed.

I peered up at him, unsure what he expected. I’d never danced with a guy before.

Awkwardly, I placed my hands on the front of his shoulders, steadying myself as I swayed with him. A shiver flashed down my spine at the firmness of his body. How could he be so solid and still so graceful? His hands easily covered my hipbones, his fingertips pressing just behind my sides, into the muscles of my back. In that moment, I felt another kind of vulnerability.

He leaned forward and pressed his lips to my ear. “You all right?”

I nodded, stepping closer and sliding my hands around to the back of his shoulders. I buried my face against his chest, safe from his imploring gaze. He smelled like vanilla and musk and sandalwood, and I tried to commit the intoxicating scent to memory.

What the hell was I doing? I hesitated backward, away from him, but he easily guided me right back, and I had to stifle a gasp as an unexpected shudder ran through my body. The heat radiating from his flesh burned through my dress, the warmth igniting in my stomach and snaking outward in an involuntary arousal.

“My friend is probably looking for me,” I said unconvincingly.

“Ivory?” he asked.

“You know her?”

“Well enough to know she’ll wait.”

There went my iron-clad excuse for getting away from the moment without revealing what an idiot I was.

The seduction of the music wound around us, sinking into my skin and pressing us closer. Each bass note reverberated along my spine, playing over every nerve in my body, and every time his hand grazed a new place on my skin, my want for control melted away, replaced by a desire to return his touch. He trailed his finger across my collarbone, over my shoulder, down my arm.

Soon, the music muffled beneath a cottony sensation in my head. His hands slid up my waist, over my ribs, his thumbs barely grazing the sides of my breasts. My breath caught in my throat, and I smiled nervously.

His jeans rubbed against the bottom of my dress and my bare legs, and the heat there spread over my thighs. This was more than I could handle.

“My name’s Sophia,” I said. It was a little late for introductions, but I wanted to shift the conversation and move as far away from the arousal as possible. “Yours?”

“Charles,” he whispered. His voice sounded clear, as though the music in the room had faded to make room for him to speak. He cleared his throat and dipped his gaze to mine. “I saw you in the woods the other night.”

I swallowed around the lump in my throat. “And through my bedroom window.”

“Yes,” he replied.

“So you
were
stalking me.”

“I was unaware the woods belonged to you alone,” he said against my ear, his hands moving to the small of my back. “Is there anywhere else I shouldn’t already be when you get there, in the event you might continue with your accusations?”

“Jack’s Diner,” I said, fighting to hold onto the conversation instead of the arousal. “I work there, so you might want to stay away unless I invite you.”

“Then invite me.”

I bit my lip. Of course I wouldn’t have shared that gem of information with him if I didn’t want to see him again, but I hated that he realized this.

“Sure,” I said quietly, hoping he wouldn’t hear me over the music as easily as I could hear him.

“That night in the window…you looked so…strange.”

Was that supposed to be a compliment?

I started to pull back, but it only brought our faces closer together—so close our lips nearly touched.

“And in the woods?” I asked carefully. “Did I look strange there, too?”

“No,” he said, his voice cold now. “I hadn’t expected to see anyone else out there. I stayed only long enough to make sure you were all right.”

“
Why
?” I asked, like it was a bad thing.

“Why not?” He closed his eyes, tensing his jaw. “Do you always assume the worst of people? Or is it
yourself
you think so poorly of? Perhaps you might consider life is complicated enough without you helping things along.”

Damn him. Yes, I could be immature and even a little insecure sometimes. Okay, a lot of times.

His eyes flashed on mine, and he stepped away, his expression shifting to something apologetic and regretful. “You should go, Sophia.”

“GO?” I ASKED.

“That’s what I said,” Charles replied.

His sudden mood swing left me bewildered. I searched his eyes for answers, but there were none.

“If you don’t want to dance anymore—”

“I didn’t say that,” he snapped. “I just said you should go. Now, please, get out of here.”

“I don’t under—”

His eyes flashed with the anger of a storm. “Leave!” he shouted. “Go. Home. Forget about this place. Back out of any agreements you have before it’s too late.”

He started off, but then backed up two steps, turned around, and grabbed my arm.

The cursed whispers invaded my thoughts all at once, scattering like marbles down a staircase, making it impossible to think…impossible to make out what they were saying. Just the shhhing and the fragments again—a word here and there…
dangerous…too late
.
The rest of the words overlapped and tripped up my own thoughts. I couldn’t push the voices away—only press them into the background.

A pulsing sensation tapped against my mind, followed by a compelling voice:
Come here, little mouse.

I stepped back, but Charles slipped his hand to my elbow and shouldered his way through the crowd, ushering me past my table. He snatched my purse and thrust it toward my chest. The room spun as I staggered beside him.

“What’s going on?”

He didn’t answer, and I didn’t get a chance to tug my arm free until after we were already outside, standing beside the forest with the club’s storm doors clanging shut behind us.

I glared at him. “What the hell are you doing? I’m not leaving without my friend. You can’t just tell me when to leave.”

He spun toward me and placed his hands on my shoulders. “Sophia, listen. Whatever brought you here, I won’t judge you, but now—”

The club doors flew open again, and his grip tightened. A couple rushed out, stumbling for the parking lot in a cloud of drunken laughter. Lipstick smeared the woman’s flashing white teeth.

“Sophia,” Charles said, his voice gentle now.

“What?”

His eyes steadied on mine. “You’ve associated yourself with the wrong people.”

“
Obviously
,” I said, thinking mostly of him.

“We should get you out of here. Ivory will catch up.”

“Get out of here
why
?” I asked, unable to keep the edge from my voice.

His hold loosened. “You don’t know what you are involved in. I will pay you double just to leave.”

A fog settled over my mind. I blinked rapidly, bringing his face back into focus. My thoughts were muddy. “Huh?”

“Do you understand me?” he asked. His voice was far away, ominous.

“I’m drunk, not stupid.” I didn’t feel drunk though. I felt…confused.

His jaw tensed. “Why did you come here?”

“
Me
?” I raised my eyebrows. “You’re asking why
I’m
here?”

The doors opened again, and this time one of the guys from the lady-collector’s table stepped outside. He smoothed his dark, thick, shoulder-length hair away from his face and grinned with pale lips.

“Charles. Good and well to see you,” he said, but he was looking at me, not Charles. The man clasped his hands in front of him and leaned forward with a slight nod. “Marcus would love her company.”

Charles clenched his jaw, and a quiet growl reverberated in his throat. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Cody.”

“Marcus won’t be very happy if she declines,” Cody said in a playfully warning voice. He turned to me, smiled, and hooked his arm out. “Care to join us?”

It didn’t sound like a request.

“No thank you,” I said, inching closer to Charles. “I’m only here to spend time with my friends.”

“Marcus is your friend.” His smile twitched on one side. “But if you are certain?”

The more he pushed the issue, the more certain I became.

Charles pulled me back a step. “We’ll be in shortly. Tell Marcus to order us a few drinks.”

Like hell.

I opened my mouth to speak, but Charles gave me a measured glare. He
offered the man a tight-lipped smile. “He’d want you to deliver that message, wouldn’t he?”

Cody studied Charles for a long moment before disappearing inside.

“We need to go.” Charles’ voice sounded more demanding now. “You’re putting us both in danger.”

“We were just dancing,” I said. “And Ivory—”

“She’ll meet us.”

“No.” I shifted away. I’d read things like this in the paper; it never ended well.

“You’re in no place to argue. Unless you
want
to visit Marcus’ table,” he said, as though it were an accusation. His eyes narrowed. “Perhaps you do not understand the extent of what you’ve gotten yourself into.”

Another seductive whisper prodded at my mind:
Come back inside.

Was that the same voice I’d heard earlier? It was more demanding now.

“You need to come with me,” Charles said. “
Now
.”

If I had to choose between an unknown voice and the man standing before me, my choice was clear.

The air reeked of pine and rotted wood. I squinted into the forest’s darkness. A spider web created a lacy barrier between two claw-marked trees, remnants of an afternoon shower beading along the silk strands and glittering in the moonlight. A glowing fog shifted over the forest floor.

Charles grasped my hand and plowed forward. My arm stretched until my feet finally got the message to move, and I stumbled after. In a miserable attempt to keep my balance, I reached with my free hand for every tree I passed. Tree bark chafed my fingers, but the cold and confusion numbed the pain.

“Move,” he said over his shoulder.

I pointed to the strappy black heels. “You try walking in these. And for what? I don’t even know why I’m following you!”

My cell phone chimed in my purse. A new text message from Ivory.

One of my heels sunk into mud, and thanks to the firm grip Charles kept on my hand and the way he continued onward without consideration, I nearly fell over while trying to pull free.

“Where’s your car?” I asked.

“Not in the parking lot.”

Boy, that was helpful. “I asked where it is, not where it isn’t.”

He huffed sharply. “I don’t park in the lot. Sometimes they block people in. Now would you please—”

“Block people in? Why the hell would they do that? Is Ivory going to get stuck?”

He stopped, and I bumped into him. “They’ll be searching for
you
, not her. She’ll be fine.” He rubbed his forehead. “Can we hold off on the questions? We need to find the main road.”

“Don’t have to be so snappy,” I said. If anyone had the right to be annoyed, it was me. His words sunk in. “Wait. They’re searching for me?”

He kicked some forest underbrush out of our path. “Don’t play stupid. I don’t even know why I’m helping you.”

“Don’t get shitty with me. You’re the one who asked me to dance and then shoved me out the club two minutes later.”

He growled under his breath. “Walk faster and keep quiet.”

Maybe I should’ve gone back. I didn’t need help from some nut-job who thought he was doing me a favor. “Why are we going through the woods?”

He lowered his voice. “Listen.”

Branches cracked somewhere behind us. Adrenaline flushed the alcohol from my system. I felt as though a veil had been lifted from my eyes and cotton extracted from my ears.

My breathing quickened, and Charles jolted forward. “Run.”

His urgency propelled me, but I couldn’t keep his pace. I wasn’t even sure why we were running, though I feared stopping to find out. One of my heels snapped, and a few steps later, the strap on the other heel popped.

As I continued forward, my shoes tumbled off, and the ground scraped the soles of my feet. Small pebbles and dried pine needles entrenched inside the small wounds, and pain shot up my legs. Branches whipped against my shoulders and stomach. I inhaled one sharp breath of icy air after another, my chest aching with cold.

The path abruptly ended. A tangle of brush and entwined trees blocked our way.

“I thought you came in this way?”

“Thought this path would be faster,” he replied between efforts to rip the branches away.

I pulled him from the natural barrier. “Follow me.”

“We can’t run toward them, Sophia.”

“We can’t wait for them to corner us, either.” Whoever
they
were.

I gave him a final, measured look, then turned and ran. Hair clung to my face and neck. My legs burned nearly as much as my lungs.

Another trail, paved with mud and dead leaves, veered off our current path, and we followed the curve into a more densely wooded area. Footsteps thudded behind us, louder with each step.

At first, my heart pounded more from fear than exertion, but soon my whole body ached. Fear could propel me no further.

I leaned forward with hands on knees, sucking in huge gulps of air. “Have…to…stop.”

My heart was nearly bursting in my chest. Moonlight pierced through the forest canopy, revealing gashes and lacerations staunched with mud. My stomach lurched, and I blocked my mouth with the back of my wrist.

“Please, Sophia, we must continue.”

“I can’t.”

Charles bounced on his toes, looking in every direction. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

I took a couple steps toward where he had retreated into darkness. “Hey!” I hissed. “Where are you going?”