Free Linked by Heather Bowhay Page B

He might not know it, but his
heart belonged to me.
    Suddenly,
my mouth felt like it was on fire. Jason groaned and his head snapped up,
forcing me away. Quivering with desire, I looked at him in quiet disbelief. His
return gaze was one of shock and alarm.
    With
his breathing uneven, he said in a faltering voice, “Damn! What were
you—No…What was I thinking?”
    “Thinking,”
I exclaimed. “Who had time to think?” I brushed the sides of my cheeks. “What
happened?” I demanded. “You said my touch wasn’t hurting you.”
    “What?”
    “You
heard me,” I said forcefully, feeling the heat rushing to my face as tears
gathered in my eyes.
    He
held his head between his hands. “Your touch wasn’t hurting me – at first. But
when I started to re…my God, I can’t believe I responded,” he said angrily to
himself and hit the wall behind him with his fist. Inadvertently, I jumped. A
little scared of his sudden temper, I watched him tearfully, my lips trembling.
Meeting my eyes again, his expression softened. “I didn’t mean to scare you
Alex. I shouldn’t have let…when I continued kissing you back that’s when I felt
the burn. Your natural, Amethyst defense kicked in, and I got the painful,
burning sensation.”
    “I’m
sorry,” I said in a distant voice. “The last thing I want to do is hurt you.”
    Waves
of emotion washed over his face. He tilted his head back and stared at the
ceiling and said in an impatient, almost chilly voice, “I’m fine. Don’t worry
about me. You need to stop concerning yourself with me.” He glanced down the
hall. “I need to get dressed and get prepared for everyone’s arrival. How can I
make you accept the fact that we can’t…”But he never finished his sentence. He
just shook his head, picked up his white towel and hurried away. When his
bedroom door slammed shut, I cringed.
    As if
reality hadn’t already burned right through my skin, Lady Gaga’s voice came
wailing down the hallway with a blatant statement:“You and me could write a bad
romance.” Uncanny how my iPod on shuffle mode seemed to be completely in tune
with every moment of my emotional morning.
    Jason
avoided me for the next few hours. I tried reading some of the Guardian
historical accounts in the library, but even those couldn’t hold my attention.
Watching a movie was exasperating. Excessively frustrated, I went for a walk,
eventually planting myself on a large boulder overlooking the ocean. As the
waves smacked against the rocks below, I stared blankly out at the glistening
sound. All alone, I spent quite some time absorbing the heat of the day before
I heard Jason approach from behind.
    “I’ve
been looking everywhere for you,” he panted.
    “Looks
like you’ve found me.” I didn’t turn around but could hear him sliding down the
bank. He came to a halt directly behind me.
    Then
he said those four little words that anyone in a relationship doesn’t want to
hear. In fact, a wave of anxiety crawled across my skin, causing the hairs on
my arms to bristle. Those four words that, when spoken by one person in a relationship,
always makes the other person immediately nauseous and ready to bolt for the
nearest door. I knew this, because I’d been there before. Only this time, I had
no door to run through. My only option was to dive 15 feet into the water
below, and while that option sounded pretty good, I knew I needed to stay so he
and I could work this out.
    “We
need to talk,” he repeated the four words with consternation.
    Turning
my head slowly, I gazed up at him. He still wore his faded blue jeans but now had
on a short-sleeved, light-blue button down shirt. His neckline was exposed,
some of his chest hair was visible, and he stood before me looking annoyingly
handsome. Cursing my heart rate’s rapid acceleration, I knew I was doomed to
experience sudden spikes in blood pressure from this day forward – all because
I was too familiar with what his chest looked and felt like