Free Darkness by Joann I. Martin Sowles Page B

doubt you are.” And she was able to give me a pretty evil glare.
     
    I sat up a little straighter. “What is your problem? Why do you insist on hating me?”
     
    She stood, a little unsteady, to leave the room, but before she did she said, “Why should you be able to have what I can’t.” She began to take a step away then added, “Plus, you make it so easy.” And with that she was gone.
     
    Alrighty, now she was back to her bitchy-self. I rested my head back on Oliver’s shoulder. He was sitting behind me, holding me. I felt exhausted. Lola rested her head on my lap just before I was swept off the chaise and carried down the hall. Oliver set me down on the edge of the bed and then knelt before me. Lola came padding in behind us and flopped onto the floor with a huff and stared up at me with her big golden eyes.
     
    “Are you okay?” Oliver asked.
     
    I nodded.
     
    “I’ve never seen that happen before. Something between the two of you caused that sort of reaction.” His eyes focused on mine. “I’m really sorry,” he started and all I could think was that I was so tired of hearing the word “sorry.” He continued, “That’s not what was supposed to happen.” He sat beside me on the bed then and held my hand.
     
    “Why did you want me to do that? What where you hoping I’d see?”
     
    He sighed. “I was hoping you could see into her life and her relationship with Oscar so you could see why I need to protect her and her family. I was hoping you’d understand how important it is that you stay away from him. So you could see how dangerous he is. So you would fully understand why I am so protective over you. He’d do anything to get her back. Including taking you from me.”
     
    “And you thought just telling me this wasn’t enough?”
     
    He shrugged. “It didn’t quite work out the way it usually does. Were you able to see anything?”
     
    I nodded and we lay back on the bed and I told him all that I’d seen. Minus the getting married part. I don’t know why I didn’t share that. Maybe I felt she’d been through enough. That maybe she needed one thing that was hers. Or maybe it was because I knew he’d freak. Oh, and I left out the sex part too. I felt violated enough as it was. I knew it wasn’t real. I just wished that hadn’t been my first memory of the experience. I hoped all the feelings would fade, and soon. I didn’t want any part of her life in me. Ever.
     
    We talked some more about other things. Things I’d been wanting answers to and things that weren’t even important, and I relaxed at how normal that was. I fell asleep with my head in the crook of his shoulder and that’s where we stayed for the next several hours.
     

Chapter 10 - The Great and Almost Disastrous Hallway Incident
     
    Felix returned the following afternoon. While we were sneaking me a bowl of Lucky Charms and hoping the psycho queen wouldn’t hear or smell it, Felix swung open the bedroom door and sauntered into Oliver’s room with a large box of Jujyfruits in his hand. Well, it would have been a large box had it been in my hands. But in his, it looked small, really small. In our conversations, the previous day, as we relaxed in bed the rest of that afternoon and into the night, Felix’s shady candy addiction was mentioned. Oliver mentioned it had been really difficult to be around Felix so much in the beginning because of his obsession with sugar. But after time, it didn’t even faze Oliver. He didn’t crave junk food at all anymore.
     
    “Hey,” he said with a big smile before he popped a few candies into his mouth. Chewing happily, he asked me if I wanted to see Carter. I know, you’d think such a vampire would have better manners. I literally jumped at the chance to see Carter, which was a bad thing because I still wasn’t feeling one hundred percent after the Julz experiment. And that’s what I was calling it, because that’s what it felt like, an experiment gone wrong.
     
    I