Unforgiven (Wanderers #3) (43 page)

“What?” I smacked him on the shoulder. “Roman, I so
did not. You were the one who threw me against the washer.”

“You are such a slut.” He laughed when my jaw
dropped.

I hit him again and tried to shove him off the bed.
“You are such a –”

He cut me off by grabbing my wrist and slamming his
lips to mine. I smiled and pulled him down on top of me. He sighed
and pulled back laying his head on my chest. “I need to go.” I
could hear the strain in his voice and new it was just as hard for
him to leave as it was for me. He kissed my shoulder and looked up
into my eyes before giving me one more kiss on the lips. He sat up
on his knees and I followed his lips with mine. He laughed pushing
me back gently. “You’re trouble.” He kissed my forehead and grabbed
his shirt. “I’ll see you at breakfast,” he winked and took off
quickly.

I fell back on the bed smiling. It’s been a while
since I smiled that much and my face was starting to hurt. I rubbed
my jaw and got up to get in the shower. I showered as quickly as
possible not wanting to waste any time getting to breakfast with
Roman. Once again I didn’t bother to dry my hair. That would have
been another half an hour of wasted time. I practically ran out the
door and across the quad. I inhaled the sweet scent of the morning
dew as I walked briskly to the cafeteria.

I arrived before Roman had and wondered if I should
wait for him before I sat down and ate. As hungry as I was I
decided to wait. It wasn’t long before Roman showed up. His eyes
lit up when he saw me and he hurried over to where I stood. “Hi,”
he said smoothly with his most brilliant smile.

“Hi,” I smiled, blushing. I felt like a high school
girl with my first crush. He just had that effect on me.

“Ready?” I nodded as he opened the door and escorted
me into the cafeteria. To our surprise everything was dark. I
looked around the room wondering why nothing was on.

“Um…this is different,” I said, curious as to what
was going on.

The doors opened and I turned to see Cameron dragging
her feet down the stairs, oblivious to us or even the fact that it
was almost dark as night in there. When she finally realized she
wasn’t alone and the lights were out, she stopped and looked
around, muddled. “Hey guys, what’s going on?”

“We wondering the same thing,” Roman said,
uneasy.

We heard footsteps and then another person came into
the room. We all stood silently until Aidan came into view. “I
thought I’d find you guys here,” he said a little too chipper.

“Why is nothing on?” I asked.

“It’s summer so everyone is home, including the
workers.”

“Then what are we supposed to do about food?” I asked
a little panicked. I could skip a meal if I had to, but more than
one and I would suck dry everyone there.

“Follow me,” Aidan waved and walked to the corner of
the room. He led us to the employee’s entrance and through there
into a small kitchen.

“How do they cook everything in this small kitchen?”
The size of the kitchen was not very accommodating to the amount of
students they had to serve on a daily basis.

“The meals they cook for the students are done over
there,” Aidan said, pointing to a set of double doors to my left.
“This is the private kitchen for the staff and now students who are
stuck here for the summer. You can help yourselves to anything in
the fridge but just remember to clean up after yourselves when
you’re done and you have twenty minutes to eat before class so I
wouldn’t take too long.”

“Where will class be held?” I asked.

“In Ms. Kraft’s room and don’t be late,” Aidan said
before he left.

I opted for cereal since it was fast and easy. Both
Roman and I were a little disappointed about our impromptu
breakfast, but we made the most of what we had. Roman didn’t have
to make up his classes. He just had to work with the landscaping,
but he walked me to Ms. Kraft’s room before he had to meet the
groundskeeper.

“I’ll see you later?” I nodded. He gave me a quick
kiss on the cheek and left on a happy note.

“I see you two kissed and made up,” Cameron said,
with a bright smile on her face.

“Something like that,” I smiled back.

“So are you guys back together?”

“Yes and no. We’re taking things slow. Starting over
or at least trying to.”

“Well that’s good, right?”

“Definitely,” I said, once again unable to unscrew
the smile from my face.

We took our seats in the front row and waited for
class to begin. I projected to Dean, asking him where he was and he
said he was on his way and to stop bugging him. I so loved this new
power.

When the door opened, I half expected it to be Dean,
but to my surprise or should I say disgust it was Mackenzie. “What
are you doing here?” I asked as she plopped down into a seat in the
back.

“I’m here because you went all ghetto bitch on me,
remember?” she said in her usual snooty tone.

“Okay, first off, you deserve a lot worse and second
I thought your punishment was to work on the grounds and around the
school.”

“It is.”

“Then why are you here?” I asked again.

“Why are you here?” she asked, ignoring my
question.

Clearly I wasn’t going to get a straight answer.
“We’re here because we have to make up the classes we missed.” I
looked at her. She shrugged her shoulders. “Wait,” I said, getting
it. “You’re here because you failed. Why else would they make you
retake this class?”

“I didn’t fail,” she said defensively.

“Wow, that’s incredible. A witch who failed spells
and castings.” I laughed so hard I almost snorted. “Maybe if you
would have spent more time paying attention in class your spell
might have actually worked.”

“It did work,” she spat. “It was just because you’re
too much of a freak that something went wrong.”

“Uh-huh,” I said, no longer bothered by her.

Dean showed up after Ms. Kraft and tried to schmooze
her over but she wouldn’t stand for it. She lectured him on his
tardiness and told him she would only let it slide for today. Then
she got right into the lesson. We spent the next three hours
working on spells, casting, history, and power control. Ms. Kraft
and Mr. Grant traded places for the different lectures. After the
final lecture, they gave us a two hour break for lunch – since we
had to cook our own food – and after that we had class with Mr.
Cormac to finish the rest of our studies. Then we had to clean the
first floor classrooms and then training. By the time we were
finished I was too tired to even cook myself something to eat.

I had forgotten about Roman and ended up crashing in
my bed. I half expected him to sneak in again, but he kept his word
about maintaining self-control. I must say I was a little
thwarted.

I made sure I woke up early enough to make it to
breakfast. I ran into Roman in the kitchen. “Hey, good morning,” he
said pleasantly.

“Hi,” I breathed. “Sorry about last night. I fell
asleep after training,” I said apologetically.

“I know,” he smiled. “I stopped by to check on you
and I saw you were asleep. I didn’t want to disturb you so I let
you rest.”

“I wouldn’t have mind.”

“I believe you still owe me a breakfast,” he winked,
pushing the eggs in my direction.

“I wasn’t aware that this involved me cooking. If I
would have known that I would have told you to make your own.”

“I could cook you breakfast?” I smiled at the
gesture, liking that idea better. “Or we both could?” he
suggested.

I agreed to meet him halfway. I made the toast and
bacon and he made the eggs. We had a nice, private breakfast, just
the two of us. We sat across from each other sharing smiles, but
not talking. It was the best breakfast I had ever had. The food was
pretty good too.

We parted ways and agreed to meet later that night. I
promised I wouldn’t fall asleep. The rest of the day went by pretty
much the same as yesterday and despite how tired I was I was able
to stay awake for Roman. We spent about an hour talking until I
couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore. We parted ways and he gave me a
kiss goodnight. That was how the rest of the week went. Every
morning we had breakfast together, then separated, and hung out
together at night talking.

By the end of the week I was physically exhausted and
didn’t think I could do this for the whole summer. I was also tired
of Mackenzie sitting around and doing nothing. “If you think you’re
going to sit there the whole summer and not do any of the work
you’re wrong. I’m not dealing with your shit.”

She put her nail file down and glared at me. “Look,
I’m only here because of you. I’m being punished unfairly. So I
volunteered myself to be the person who watches over the workers
and from what I can see you’re not doing a very good job.”

“Get up,” I growled. She laughed. “Get up now and
start doing your share of the work.”

“I’ll tell you what, I’ll go wait out in the hall
until you two are done,” she said, standing up.

I grabbed the bucket full of soapy water and shoved
it at her. “You are not going anywhere and you are going to
help!”

She pushed the bucket back at me and made a disgusted
noise. “As if,” she whined.

“Hey, the nineties called and they want their catch
phrase back,” Cameron snorted.

“Whatever,” Mackenzie said.

I pushed the bucket back at her and she huffed,
pushing it back. “Get that thing away from me you freak.”

We kept shoving the bucket back and forth. Water
spilled over the sides. “Stop calling me a freak!” I yelled, giving
the bucket one hard shove.

Mackenzie slipped, spilling all the water in the
bucket all over her. She screamed and stomped her feet. Cameron and
I busted up laughing. “Stop laughing you freaks! It’s not funny.”
She held her arms out at her side, grossed out.

“It is,” I said, still laughing.

“UUGGHH!” she screamed, leaping for me.

I managed to dodge her first attempt, but she hopped
on my back, and pulled my hair. “Get off me you crazy bitch!” She
let out a battle cry and pulled harder, biting my shoulder. I
flipped her off my back and she crashed into the desks. “Gross, did
you just bite me!?!”

“Please, your kind likes it.” She reached for my
feet. When I tried to back away I ran into a desk, blocking my
path. She clawed and pulled at my legs. I bent down smacking her
and tried to get her away. We wrestled on the slippery wet floor,
kicking and screaming, while Cameron sat back and watched –
occasionally giving me pep talks.

Not a minute later Dean and Ms. Kraft showed up with
more cleaning supplies. “What is going on?” Ms. Kraft cried.
“Girls, stop that this instant!”

Neither of us stopped. Dean tried to pull us apart
but got caught in the crossfire. He jumped back and held his hand
to his cheek. “Fine, you have at it,” he said. One of us had
scratched him, but which one I didn’t know.

Ms. Kraft having enough, stepped in, and separated us
using her powers. Both of us slid across the floor. Mackenzie hit
the wall and I slammed into the blackboard. “Stand!” Ms. Kraft
demanded and we did. I could feel a force wind push me and hold me
against the chalk board. I noticed Mackenzie looked like she was
being restricted as well.

“May I remind you that this is what got one of you
here in the first place,” Ms. Kraft said, narrowing her eyes at
Mackenzie.

“She threw the bucket of water on me,” Mackenzie
ratted.

“I did not! I was tired of her sitting on her ass not
helping. I pushed the bucket to her and she slipped and fell on her
own spilling it.”

“Cameron, is that true?”

“Yes Ms. Kraft, it is,” she said.

“Of course she’s going to say that. Dykes always
stick up for other dykes,” Mackenzie squealed.

My jaw dropped to the floor.

“Miss Hilliard, I will not tolerate that kind of
discrimination and terminology used in my school. You will now
clean this entire room on your own and I will be here to make sure
you do it right.”

“That’s not fair. Why am I being punished again
because of her?” She glared at me, practically burning holes in my
head with her eyes.

“Because this time it was your foul mouth and
attitude. You did this one all on your own and for the rest they
will be punished as well. You will all be attending a sensitivity
class to work on your manners.”

“What!?!” Cameron and I said together.

“She started it, again. She’s the one who has been
causing all the problems since the beginning,” I argued.

“Regardless of who started it, I feel you all need to
learn how to respect each other and that includes you too,
Dean.”

The look on Dean’s face made it all worthwhile. “I
respect others,” he exclaimed.

“Ha,” I said, letting out a harsh laugh.

“I have seen the way you treat others and I feel you
are the one who needs this the most,” Ms. Kraft said to Dean. I had
to cover my mouth to hide my laugh. Dean glared at me before he
walked out. “Girls, you may be finished for today. Mackenzie, get
to work, now.” Ms. Kraft released us from her hold and I gladly
left without looking back.

I had an hour before training so I thought I would
head out to the quad to see where Roman was. He was near the
entrance to the maze shoveling dirt. He had his shirt off and
tucked into his back pocket. Sweat was pouring from his face,
dripping down his torso, and boy did he look ever so sexy.

He leaned on his shovel and wiped the sweat from his
brow. That’s when he noticed me. He smiled wide and gave me a small
wave. I ran up to him wanting to throw my arms around him, but I
had to resist. We needed to take things slow and attacking him with
my lips would not help.

“Hey,” I said when I reached him. “Do you get a break
soon?”

“Um,” he looked over his shoulder. “Hey Bart!” An
elderly man with soil covered jeans and scraggily white hair looked
up. “Mind if I take five?” He nodded his head in approval and Roman
propped his shovel against one of the hedges. He grabbed a bottle
of water and offered me one but I declined. He gestured over to one
of the larger tress that offered more shade.