Free Mind Games by Christine Amsden Page B

answer. “Or did you find someone better? A sure thing?”
    “I’ll get you free from him,” Evan said, ignoring my question. It made me wonder if there really was someone else. Someone better.
    “I don’t need your protection.”
    “You’re getting it anyway.”
    “Oh yeah? Who protects me from you?”
    He stared at me for a long moment, his eyes full of tortured thoughts I couldn’t begin to understand. Then he groaned, and tugged me closer. “No one.” With that, his lips descended toward mine.
    I didn’t meet him halfway, or even lean forward. But I didn’t turn away, either. In the instant before I felt his lips on mine, my heart jumped. I closed my eyes, ready for the mind-numbing sensation.
    It didn’t disappoint. I think I moaned into his mouth as heat seared through my veins, running down arms and legs, and pooling somewhere low in my abdomen. There was a flutter, a moment of joyful pain, and then the explosion.
    We fell to the sofa, him slightly on top, me too intoxicated to care. He continued to kiss me everywhere he could reach – ears, throat, hands, and even the inside of my elbows, which I found I liked quite a bit. He devoured me with hands as well, touching me as if his life depended upon it. Or as if he might never get the chance again.
    Under the influence of the kiss, I allowed it. I would have allowed anything, though he stopped where my clothing began. More or less. After a while, he slowed, forcing himself to ease away by small degrees. Finally, the two of us simply lay together, my head on his chest, his heart pounding in my ear.
    Sense returned, but to my dismay, the anger did not. Or at least, not to the same degree. I should have felt angrier with him after he took advantage of me like that, but I only felt a stinging sensation behind my eyes that I desperately tried to blink away.
    “Why did you do that?” I shouldn’t have asked, not when I knew my defenses were down.
    “You told me you were dating a mind mage. I hoped it might shock some sense into you.”
    That’s what it had been about? And there I was, foolishly thinking that maybe he still wanted me.
    “Get. Out.” I drew away from him, not letting him see my face, one finger aimed at the door. To my surprise, he actually listened.
    With Evan gone I had no reason to hold back the tears, but I found I no longer needed to shed them. Instead, I reached for the phone, seeking out a friendly voice.
    Matthew answered on the first ring. “Hello?”
    “Can you read minds over the phone?” I asked.
    He laughed. “No, but please don’t tell me that means you want to get to know one another that way.”
    “No. I was just… Evan stopped by tonight.”
    The laughter died. “What did he do?”
    “Nothing, really. He just messed me up. I thought he was out of my life.”
    “Cassie, that man is dangerous. I’ll try to protect you from him, but only if you tell me the truth.”
    “He kissed me,” I said, in barely a whisper.
    Matthew cursed. “Do you want me to come over?”
    “No, not tonight. I just… wanted to hear your voice.”
    “Of course. Anytime. Why don’t you tell me about your day?”
    See , I thought defiantly, I could say no to him . If anyone was trying to mess with my mind, it was Evan Blackwood.

6
    A NGIE MUELLER HADN’T SPOKEN TO ME since June, when I’d killed her boyfriend. He was a vampire. Not that she believed me. She and I had always had an on again, off again friendship. She had been among my childhood tormentors, but transformed into a decent human being during high school. We both joined the cheerleading squad in the ninth grade, managing bare civility until the day of the infamous cheerleading bus incident in the tenth grade. I had handed out crosses and other symbols of protection to the entire squad that morning and somehow, we had all survived unscathed when a semi crossed the median and hit us head on at speeds upwards of sixty miles per hour.
    The next day, Angie went out of her way