Starbound (17 page)

Drunk dialing was always a bad idea.

Chapter 17

Seth

A month went by.

And another.

Then another.

Three months since Kat had found out the truth. Three of the longest, most agonizing months of my life.

The holidays came and went. Snow dusted the South Dakota plains. There was nothing friendly about South Dakota winters. And Kat and I continued to ignore each other. When one of us walked into a room, the other turned a blind eye—though my body was hyper-aware of her every move. I never felt more alive than when we were together. Even while giving her the cold shoulder, a piece of me thrived on her presence.

So consequently I was moody, grouchy, and an overall asshole to be around. My family gave me space, Zeke tried to pull me out of my constant state of grump, and Eddy put my butt to work. He said that if I was going to bite everyone’s head off, then I could take my aggression out on the cars. I was deemed unfit to deal with customers until I cleaned up my attitude.

It had been three months, and I was still confined to the garage.

I could tell that Eddy was worried about me—my parents and Mya too—but there was nothing anyone could do. The small amount of spare time I did have, I spent with Zeke pouring over any ancient books of spells, magick, and curses I could get my hands on. I knew others had tried to break the binds of the curse, but I felt like I had to do something. This was a different age, a different century, and one with more technology than the nixies of the old could have ever fathomed.

I was praying to every god and goddess possible that there might be a loophole or a new spell that would break us from the curse of death. It was a long shot, but I would do just about anything to be able to have more than I had now. Oh, I definitely wanted Kat more than I wanted life itself, but at this point, I would take the smallest sliver of hope.

But I was also prepared to fail.

Hey, I was a realist, and my heart could only splinter so many times in this life. People dealt with pain in their own ways; it just so happened I became the biggest dick of the century, and Kat…she became the girl I used to remember. The one I fell in love with in sixth grade. That in itself was like shoving a knife into any open wound and throwing salt on it.

It burned like a mother trucker.

She still hung out with Claudia and Harper, but I could see the things she used to hold important slipping away. I was glad to see a renewed friendship between Zeke, Olivia, and Kat. She needed good people like them surrounding her, and as far as I was concerned, there weren’t two better people than Zeke and Olivia.

The weekend Kat left with Bimbo One and Bimbo Two was the longest day and a half of my life. I swear the winds howled in mourning. Pacing like a caged animal, I had to stop myself multiple times from jumping into my car and racing after her. There was this sudden caveman inside me that roared to the surface and wanted to drag her back home by her hair, beat my chest, and scream
mine
.

If I felt like this with her leaving for a weekend, what would it be like to put an ocean between us?

“Are you going to pout the entire weekend?” Zeke asked, casting his pole into the lake.

I glared at him from my side of the boat, contemplating rocking his grandpa’s pontoon and spilling him into the murky waters. Fishing wasn’t really my thing, but I’d been a shitty friend recently, and I felt like I owed Zeke, so here I was, floating on the Vermillion lake, freezing my ass off. The water lapped against the boat, occasionally sloshing icy H2O in my face.

We were having unseasonably warm weather for this time of the year. The lake never froze, and the weathermen were blaming it on global warming. But I knew better. There was something brewing in the air, something dark, sinister, and frightening lingering in the shadows of Vermillion. Waiting…

I wasn’t the only one who felt it. Everyone was on edge. Olivia and Elena had both mentioned something to me about the shift in the winds.

“I can’t believe I let you drag me out here,” I grumbled not for the first time. A shiver gripped my body.

It was official, Zeke was crazy. We were the only damn boat stupid enough to be out on the lake. The fish were biting, but only for Zeke, and I was pretty sure he’d charmed his pole. I wouldn’t put it past him. I cursed as Zeke hooked another walleye, and I threw my pole into the water.

Zeke laughed. “You’re a sorry excuse for a fisherman, you know that?”

I watched the fishing rod sink. “Maybe, but I’ll kick your butt in nixiecraft every day of the week.”

He shook his head. “Show off.”

“Are we done? You have enough fish to feed a small country.” I looked into a bucket of slimy fish.

He smirked at me. “Yeah, you can help me clean them.”

“Don’t hold your breath.” I thought about throwing a handful of wormy bait in his face for even suggesting it.

“Do you ever think about dating?” Zeke asked. “It might take your mind off other things…”

Meaning Kat.

Elena had just recently started talking to me again after the whole Kat-Elena fight, and I was pretty sure I couldn’t handle the drama of a relationship. I didn’t think there was a girl out there who would understand my obsession to keep Kat safe, or the complexity of our non-existent relationship. They would just think I was some kind of stalker freak.

The boat rocked as he took a seat. “We could double date,” Zeke dangled as if it was an incentive.

Dating was the furthest thing from my mind. “Thanks, Zeke, but I just can’t right now.”

He slapped me on the back, rocking the boat again. “If you change your mind, I’m here for you.”

I smirked, the first smile of the day. They were rare these last few months. “I bet you are.”

By the time I got home, it was well after midnight. I tried to push my body past the point of exhaustion. It had yet to work, betrayed by rampant thoughts and profound unfairness. I couldn’t sleep, and I had been making pictures out of the shadows on the ceiling cast by the moonlight when my phone buzzed. The sight of Kat’s number at one in the morning was alarming. My fingers fumbled with the buttons.

“Kats? What’s wrong?”

“Hmm. I love the sound of your voice. It makes my belly feel all fuzzy inside,” she said in a languid tone that was both sexy and sleepy.

The corners of my mouth twitched. “Oh yeah. What else do you love?” I didn’t know what I was thinking, flirting like this. I told myself it was harmless. She was miles away, but obviously she and I were tuned into the same wavelength.

For a moment, I didn’t think she was going to answer, and then she sighed. “Your eyes. Your stupid grin. Your lips. I love all of you.”

I swallowed.
Shit
. This was going to blow up in my face. I should have hung up. I never should have answered her call. I should…

Stop everything and pick her up.

My pulse hammered in every part of my body. I squeezed my eyes shut, fighting to control the swift wave of desire that hit me.

“Seth?”

“Yeah,” I replied huskily.

“I miss you so much.”

I groaned. “Kats. You’re killing me.”

“Good.” I could hear the smile in her voice, and I pictured the dimples I knew would be on either side of her cheeks. “I just wanted you to know. Night.”

I listened to the click of the phone as she hung up. Clenching the phone in my hand, I lay on my bed and swore. There was no way I was going to sleep tonight. Not after that stimulating, unexpected call from Kat.

***

Everything seemed to be going fairly smooth considering the circumstances, which were anything but ideal. We were over halfway through our senior year and graduation was creeping up around the corner.

Then Kat changed the rules.

Leave it to a girl to mess up the plan.

Katia

It was Valentine’s Day, and I was feeling like a lonely loser. While all the girls on the squad talked about their plans with their boyfriends, I got looks of pity.

Me
.

They didn’t have the slightest clue what love was. What they had with their lame boyfriends wasn’t even a quarter of what I should have had with Seth. He wasn’t just a teenage crush or my first love.

He was my epic love.

My starbound.

A piece of me that I could never have.

I wanted to tell them to take their pom poms and shove ‘em. Yeah, I wasn’t feeling very lovey-dovey at the moment. I was bitter and mad. If I saw another pink heart, cupid arrow, or red rose, I was going to vomit.

No, I was probably going to start breaking shit.

Three months had gone by without so much as a
hi
. We avoided eye contact because it was too painful. Just being in the same classroom with Seth made my heart bleed. It got to the point where I thought about talking to my dean about switching teachers.

But today of all days, I just wanted what I couldn’t have.

Seth
.

One day.

And that set a plan in motion…

A stupid plan that, at the time, sounded brilliant and just what the psychologist ordered. Of course, there were always consequences for our actions.

I just didn’t realize how enormous mine would be.

***

“Mandatory meeting at my house on Saturday, bitches. And, girls, bring your pom poms, ‘cuz it’s going to get rowdy,” Claudia announced at the beginning of practice.

God hates me
.

She stood in front of the squad with a bright smile and her hands on her hips. “First up, strap on your harnesses, ladies, because we’re going to the top of the pyramid today.”

Goody gumdrops
.

She was evil.

That meant I got to be the needle on top of the haystack. Reluctantly I waited as the bottom row took position. This group of girls used to be everything to me; now I felt nothing. Around me there was unity, giggling, and team spirit, but I never felt less a part of the group as I did this year.

And they noticed.

If it wasn’t for Claudia and Harper, I would have been singled out completely.

One by one the human pyramid took shape until I was the last piece. Placing a foot on the shoulder of one girl and the back of another, I made my delicate climb to the top. Then steadying my feet equal lengths apart, I centered myself, fighting for poise, and stood up with my arms in the air.

Claudia clapped below. “Perfect. Don’t break form.”

I don’t know what happened. Maybe my foot slipped. Maybe one of the girls below lost her balance, but the next thing I knew I was free-falling through the air. It wasn’t until my butt hit the mats under me in a breath-stealing force that I even realized I had fallen.

My eyes closed, and I groaned. When I opened them again, there were a dozen faces hovering over me. Their lips were moving, but I couldn’t hear anything except for the sound of the ocean, like when you put a seashell to your ear.

I just lay there. Taking inventory of my aches and pains, I verified that most of my body was in working order and I hadn’t busted anything.

“Holy crap. Are you okay?” Claudia asked, squatting down beside me.

I blinked. “I just fell like nine feet. I’m not okay,” I groaned.

Claudia’s lips thinned. “Fine. I’ll give you a hall pass, but…just this once.”

Really
? Oh, how gracious of her.

For the remainder of practice I sat on the sidelines and took the opportunity to send Seth a text. It was all part of the brilliant Valentine scheme I was brewing. I was playing with fire, but it was the first excitement I’d felt in months.

I guess being dropped from the top of a pyramid and having the wind knocked out of me somehow made me realize that I didn’t want to live my life safe. I wanted to
live
. I wanted to take chances, experience love in ways I never dreamed possible.

I wanted Seth.

The gym cleared out after practice, but I hung back, lingering. Nervously I nibbled on my manicure while I waited for Seth. The waiting game totally sucked. I had asked him to meet me after practice, and I finally sent the last girl’s scrawny butt packing. Now I was a bundle of nerves. Time seemed to stand still as I listened to the clock tick each passing second.

I was just about to pick up my phone and chew him out for making me wait, when every nerve ending in my body went erratic. It was like being jolted by a livewire. I glanced to the double doors and watched him saunter in. My heart back-flipped.

Holy mackerel.

“You wanted to talk to me.” The sound of his dark voice had my mind floating.

In just a minute
, I thought.
First, I need to drink up the sight of you.
And it probably wasn’t the time to mention that talking was the furthest thing from my mind. How could he look so sinful and so sweet at the same time? How could tattered jeans and black T-shirts be so damn knock-me-over sexy?

He looked me over from head to toe in slow blissful torture, before landing back on my face with green eyes so dark they almost looked black.

Sweet wicked moonbeams.

I was going to need to be revived before the
fun
even began.

Before my heart stopped fluttering, I did what I had longed to do every day for the last three months—I threw myself into his arms. He caught me around the waist, and I wasted not a spare moment. Under half-closed lashes, I closed the distance between us, planting my lips on his. My fingers dug into hair as black as the wintery night, and I sighed in sheer paradise. Our bodies pressed together, and I felt him soften into me. His fingers tightened on my hips, pulling me closer against him.

All the tension left me as his lips moved hungrily over mine. It had only taken a simple taste for things to escalate. We had essentially been starve-crazed for one another.

I never wanted to stop kissing him.