Things That Go Hump In The Night (78 page)

With a snarl, he gathered himself together and rushed out onto the balcony, then flung himself over the side. For a moment he was almost flying, his legs extended as air coursed across his fur. Then he landed, the impact jarring but easily taken in his supernatural form.

A few seconds later Jonathan landed behind him, his boots soft on the grass. “That was close,” he said aloud, his voice just a little shaky. “I had no idea you’d become so… uncontrollable. You used to be the calmest of all of us.”

Riker snorted, casting his thoughts away from the past. He shook himself, then slowly changed back into his human, glad that—for them at least—the changing of forms didn’t require nudity.

“Some things change,” he muttered once he was human again. “Especially me.”

Jonathan was quiet after that, and they didn’t speak again, parting in the night like two strangers. Internally, Riker made a vow not to let the panther take over him ever again. He would rather give up shifting than face what it felt like to lose control.

Especially since the people he lost control with were often those he loved the most.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Anticipation

I
was relieved when, upon walking into class the next day, Riker wasn’t there yet. It gave me some time to prepare for what I was going to say to him—if I got the nerve to even say it.

It’s just a date,
I reminded myself, trying to stay calm.
It doesn’t have to mean anything other than ‘Hey, maybe I want to learn more about you.’ It’s not going to ruin your life.
For a while, I busied myself with getting my things laid out.

“Wow.” Kayla joined me on the same side of the classroom as before, peeking over to look into my portfolio. Large, gold hoop earrings swung from her ears. “That’s a pretty great drawing. You even caught how sexy he is.”

Blushing, I zipped it closed. “It’s not done yet, really. I think I may have exaggerated a few things.”

As if on cue, Riker walked into the classroom. Kayla waggled her eyebrows at me and fanned herself. Her enthusiasm made me wonder how she’d react if she knew I’d slept with him—twice.

“I have to go ask him a question,” I mumbled, standing up. “It’s about the assignment.”

“Sure it is.” Kayla winked at me. “Go get ‘em. You’re braver than me.”

Sighing, I walked over to the front of the room, where Riker was putting his things away near the professor’s desk. “Can I talk to you?”

Turning towards me, he smirked. “This isn’t going to be another one of those stay-away-from-me-you-jerk speeches, is it?”

I could feel my cheeks heat up.
The jerk. I should just walk away now.
But some glint of humor in Riker’s eyes reassured me he was just teasing.

“Actually, about that…” Clearing my throat, I tried to calm the nervous quiver in my voice. “I, um, well. Do you like movies?”

For a moment, I thought I was going to die of sheer embarrassment.

“Princess,” Riker said, leaning in close to me, “are you asking me out on a date?”

Act casual. Be cool.
“Um, yes. If you were interested? I know we said just that time, again, but I thought maybe…” Trailing off, I stopped myself before I dissolved into further incoherency.

“I’m flattered.” There was amusement in Riker’s voice. The thought occurred to me that he could say no, embarrassing me forever.

“Just a thought.” I shrugged, trying to play it off, all too aware of how scarlet my cheeks had to be. “You know, if you want to.”

He grinned. “Aw, I can’t torture you like this anymore. Yes, I’ll go out on a date with you. Now get back to your seat before the professor shows up.”

“I’ll text you with the details later,” I said, spinning on my feet and walking back to my easel. My relief at his answer bubbled over, and I exchanged a happy little smile with Kayla, who threw me a thumbs up.

Maybe,
I thought, looking at Riker from my seat,
we wouldn’t be such a disaster together after all.
It turned out the bad boy had his charms.

Moments later, he walked around to my seat—casually, stopping at other students’ easels on the way—and leaned over my shoulder.

“Just so you know,” he said, bracing his hand on my easel, “I prefer comedies.”

“Really? Because I’m more of an action fan myself.” Glancing at his hand, I frowned.
Wasn’t that the one he injured?
It was perfectly healed, though, so it had to be my imagination.

“Maybe there’s a good comedic action flick we can check out.” His voice was warm and liquid, like honey. This close, I was drawn to the smell of his musky cologne and noticed the way the smoke dragon tattoo peered over his shoulder.

“I don’t think we’ll be paying attention to the movie,” I pointed out, and he smirked.

“Fair point. I gotta go, before anyone notices I’m giving you special attention.”

I watched him make a full circuit of the room, but my eyes were on his hands, not his face. Neither one of them was bandaged, and I couldn’t see any sign of the injury he’d gotten just the day before.

There was
definitely
something strange in the water in Belmont City. Curiosity had me wanting to figure out what it was.

I
couldn’t keep in the giddy little smile I made every time I got his texts.

“Whatcha doin’?” Nora peered over my shoulder. “Oooh, texting when you should be paying attention to our chick flick of the week. Sisters before misters, remember?”

“Sorry.” I put my phone away and nestled back into the couch cushions. Nora and I had a weekly tradition we’d kept up since being assigned as roommates freshman year: we sat on the couch and watched one of the silliest, goofiest rom-coms we could find. They never held our attention for long, but movie night wasn’t about the movies.

“Now, how about instead of
texting
him, you talk to me
about
him.”

Nervously, I chewed on my lips. “We’re going out tomorrow.”

Nora squealed, clapping her hands. “That fast? He must
really
like you. I guess you’re not the only one who thought the sex was super hot.”

“It came as a surprise to me, too. Right now we’re debating what movie to go see.”

Snorting, Nora shook her head. “Who cares about the movie? We both know you won’t be watching it.” She elbowed me, grinning. “You must be really excited.”

“Yeah.” In truth, I was
very
excited. But my face fell when I thought about Riker’s undamaged hand. “There’s just one weird thing that’s bothering me about him. It’s probably nothing, but I can’t get it out of my head.”

Reaching forward, Nora paused the movie. “That sounds serious. What is it?”

I hesitated, trying to put my thoughts together. “Yesterday, I bandaged up his hand because he’d sliced it open on broken glass. Today, there was nothing there. No bandage. No wound. Like it didn’t even exist.”

“Whoa.” Frowning, Nora seemed to consider the issue before her. “You know, my friend Henna has lived here since she was a little girl. She said the reason why so many natives leave is because there’s—”

“Something strange about Belmont City. It’s a familiar phrase.”

“And it’s real. I don’t know what exactly
it
is, but this isn’t the first time I’ve heard about someone around here having unnatural abilities. Maybe he should switch to bottled water.”

I snorted incredulously, the sound indelicate. “Considering the fact that his eyes are
yellow,
I don’t think that’s going to do any good. I’m betting it’s too late for a water filter to change anything.”

“You sure do know how to pick them. Hey—maybe his sculpted abs are one of the side affects.”

“Maybe
we
should drink the tap water more often.”

We both looked at our margaritas, which were half finished and melting. “I think I’ll stick to alcohol, soda, and bottled water,” Nora said, reaching out to finish her drink.

“I just hope that whatever it is that’s weird about him, it doesn’t come with any other side effects.” The thought was enough to make me shudder. Urban legends around here weren’t exactly gentle.

“Unless you’ve seen any gills, I say just go for it. From what I’ve heard, healing abilities and yellow eyes are some pretty mild changes to go through.”

Belmont City was something else. “Remind me to move away as soon as we graduate.”

Picking up the remote, Nora restarted our cheesy movie of the week. “You and me both, babe.”

The
next day went by in a blur of anxiety. Thankfully I didn’t see Riker in person, or he would’ve realized how much of a mess I was and run—not walked—in the opposite direction.

By the time my classes were over and I was home in the dorm room, a thousand reasons why I should cancel were running through my head. For one thing, Riker hadn’t struck me as boyfriend material from the very beginning, and what if I got too attached? For another thing, he had
horrible
taste in films. And finally, did I really have time for a boyfriend, with my class load?

“Calm down,” I told myself, standing in front of my closet and staring at all the possible outfits inside. “It’s just a date. A first date. Kind of a second, if you count the drinks. And you already know the sex is good.”

As I tried to decide if I was brave enough to show any cleavage, I reflected on how my life would be
very
different if that online date hadn’t fallen through. Finally, I settled on a loose black top and a knee-length blue skirt that set off my legs wonderfully.

Checking my phone, I realized it was time to go. Riker was picking me up outside the dorms and I didn’t want to be late.

“Good luck!” Nora called as I rushed out the door. “Don’t forget to spill all the details as soon as you get home.”

“Always,” I promised, stepping out into the balmy night air.

Our dorm was on the second floor, so had to rush down the stairs to the curb outside. Thankfully Riker hadn’t arrived yet; when I checked my phone, I had a message from him saying he was on his way over.

Another message alert caught my attention. This one was from an unfamiliar number. Frowning, I opened it up and stared at the words.

Leaving town. I’ll be back for you. Tell your boyfriend I’m coming for him.

The area code was Belmont City, but I couldn’t think of anyone who could’ve sent it. It was obviously a wrong number. For a moment I considered returning the message, but a car pulled up in front of me before I could think of what to write.

“Princess.” Riker got out of the car and strode over to the passenger side, bowing comically. “Your carriage awaits.”

He opened the door for me, the picture of gentlemanly behavior down to his toes—except for the tattoos peeking out of his shirt, of course.

“I hope this one doesn’t turn into a pumpkin at midnight.” I slid inside, noticing the sleek interior.
Where does he get the money for all this stuff on a TA’s salary?
I would have to figure that out while I was figuring out why his eyes turned yellow sometimes. Our conversations so far had mostly devolved into more physical things, but I was determined to change that tonight. I wanted—no,
needed
—to find out more about him. Where he was from, what his family was like, if he had any gills.

I had to giggle at the last thought.

“What’s so funny?” Riker asked, as he slid into the driver’s side and put the car into gear. “We’re not even
at
the movie yet.”

“Just a thought I had.” I slid my hands down the leather interior beneath me. Makes and models weren’t exactly my speciality, but even I could tell quality from crap. “This is a nice car.”

“It isn’t mine, to tell you the truth.” There was some strange caution in his voice.

“A lot like that apartment.”

Suddenly there was tension in the air between us, and the date hadn’t even started.

“I know you’re curious,” Riker said, surprising me with his insight, “but it’s a painful subject for me. I’d rather not talk about it.”

“Okay.” My voice came out quiet, whispered. I felt embarrassed for asking. Just as quickly as that emotion came, though, another replaced it: anger.
There’s nothing wrong with being curious.
“We are on a first date, though. It would be nice if you’d tell me a little something about yourself.”

Riker was silent for an agonizing moment. He pulled out onto the main street in front of the university, his attention fixed on the road; for a while it seemed like he was going to ignore the subject, but as soon as we’d stopped at a red light he turned to me.

“Alright. I’ll tell you.” He took a deep breath, and I could see there was pain in his eyes at some memory still unknown to me. “My parents died when I was young. They didn’t have much of anything to leave me, and there was no generous family member to take me into their home. So I wound up in the foster system.”

I swallowed, suddenly regretting that I’d pushed him so hard. “I’m sorry.”

Riker’s eyes were distant, almost as if he were looking through me and into the past. “Someone took me in, clothed me and fed me. He wasn’t my father, or much of a father figure, but I was grateful. The car, the apartment, they were his, and he left them to me when… when he died.”

The light turned green, abruptly ending our conversation as Riker turned his attention back to the road. I could tell that it had cost him to tell me about his childhood.

“So that’s why you said the apartment isn’t yours—because it was his? But isn’t it yours now?”

He cleared his throat. “Something like that. Let’s just say I wasn’t the only person in his will, and leave it at that.”

Compared to my stable nuclear family, his sounded like a huge complication. “I’m sorry if I pried.”