"In case you hadn't noticed," I said, closing the gap between us, "I'm not your typical girl. And this whole jealousy crap you're pulling isn’t going to fly with me. Grey is not interested in me, he's helping me out, that's it."
She lifted her chin, her eyes narrowing. "Say what you like, but you're playing with fire."I shook my head and left the bathroom. Talk about jealous banshee, and over what? Grey? Yeah he was hot and it’s not like the thought hadn't crossed my mind a time or two now that Aaron was out of the picture, but Grey wasn't into me. He'd kept his eyes to himself, which said a lot about a man’s interest level. He was choosing to keep things professional. Kind of."You alright?" he whispered, barely loud enough for me to hear.I nodded, forcing myself to stab a chip with my fork and take a bite."So Fayle," June said, looking up from her half eaten plate, "Why did you run away to your... What did you call him? Rude sod of aI bit my lip. "You make me feel like a girl.""You are a girl," he said, his warm breath tickling my skin. "I mean a normal one... I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when June called me pretty. I've never been called that in my life. I was just happy not being a freak." "You're not a freak."I closed my eyes, frustrated with him for being so close and not touching me. I wanted him to kiss me, and I wanted to hit him for not doing it. Why wasn't he doing it?"Will you kiss me already?" I whispered, opening my violet eyes to look at him."I can't." "Do you even want to?""You have no idea how much," he said, his hand hovering a breath away from my bruised cheek. I felt my insides boil. He was refusing me out of duty? This can't be happening. Again. Would I never come first? I rolled away from him and sat up."What are you doing?""Nothing," I said, stripping off the last of my clothes before lying back down."That's no
My fingers drummed against cracked leather as I stared at the bolted door, willing it to open.The boys should have been back by now. Not just hours ago, a day and a half ago. I closed my eyes, squeezing them against my rising panic. Daylight was fading fast, and with it, my hope of their safe return.I shook my head, trying to dislodge the worry as I looked back at my twin, her body still except for the occasion twitching of her fingers. We'd been identical once, right down to the freckle behind our right knee and it was strange, almost surreal looking at her, knowing she should be what I saw when I looked in a mirror.My sweet sister cried when she’d seen what I'd done to myself. She'd tried reasoning, pleading, everything she could think of to make me change it all back, but I'd liked tinting every hair on my body black and I'd liked the feel of my short pony tail tickling the edge of my shoulders.For the f
I’d slipped out of everything but my hipsters and singlet then sprawled across the only bed left, making sure I took up as much room as possible. Aaron came out a few minutes later, getting himself something to eat before double checking the room’s lights and packing his things for the morning.Forcing my breaths into steady, even intakes was hard, especially when I was trying to keep the thrill of my small victory under wraps. But he wiped the smile off my face when he put his sheathed knife on the side table and got in next to me, his legs crushing mine until I was forced to wriggle over and give him room."And here I was thinking you were offering.”"Not if you were the last man on earth!" I hissed back.He laughed at my easy rise, the sound teetering on forced as he rolled onto his back. The deep notes faded and within minutes he was asleep, leaving me alone and awake, listening to him breathe. The steady
My shoulder burned, blinding me to everything but the pain, throbbing beneath a bandage wound way too tight. I forced open my gritty eyes, my fingers trailing the thin gauze and flinched. I was surrounded by rock, white rock that seemed to radiate a soft blue glow. The entire room was made of it, the ceiling, the walls, all of it, pressing down on me, suffocating me.I turned my head and stared at the swept ground, my quickening breaths easing as I caught sight of two bedrolls, their blankets clean but slept in. A pile of clothes by the far wall was the only sign of colour and even that was mostly black and denim, punctured by a scatteringof Lill's pink and green singlets.Lillith.A pained grunt escaped me as I rolled onto my good side and forced myself up. The heavy curtain covering my only escape parted the moment I'd made a sound and Aaron strode in, his face furious."What are you doing?""Finding Lilli
He spun from me and took off, leaving me doubling my usual pace to catch up. It seemed that our room was the last in a skinny, cul-de-sac hallway, both sides packed with the same curtained alcoves as ours. The butchered doorways were all evenly spaced and it looked like the whole place was made out of the same rock as my shared room, right down to the purplish-blue light, licking its edges."This place is massive," I said, passing through our second cavern. It had to have been at least two stories high, and long enough to leave the fittest man breathless. Unlike the first massive cave, this one had eight corridors sprouting from it, not counting the one we'd just come from."This one's the biggest."I looked up, surprised to see asmooth white ceiling, completely sealed off."I'm not asking where we are," I knew that question was utterly pointless, "but did you guys build this place or what?""M
Aaron was a voice of influence down here and nothing short of a celebrity, which was the reason behind this stupid party. Dave had received a similar welcome to his cousin and since everyone could see his infatuation with Lills, she too had been cautiously accepted. It was me that they had a problem with, and it wasn't just the dirty looks or the twitching fingers wishing they could skin me alive that gave it away.It was Aaron's obvious avoidance and the frustration that radiated from him every time he looked in my direction. I was pretty sure the only reason I was even at this infuriating waste of time was because of Lills. And Burney.I could accept the Scorchers general dislike of me. They needed someone other than their beloved Aaron to blame for putting their home at risk of exposure, and him slapping me with a permanent babysitter had done nothing to soothe their nerves over the situation. What I couldn't understand was
"So what's the deal with you and Aaron?" Lillith demanded.It was the third time she'd tried this line of questioning in as many days, and so far I'd managed to avoid both it and her."Nothing."Burney snorted and I shot him a dirty look."What? We all know it started when I took you to see him.""It did?" Lills asked, latching onto the new information."They were yelling at each other from the moment we got there.""They're always doing that," She said, dismissing it with a shrug."Are you serious? No wonder he's been crabby since he got back."I raised an eyebrow. "You mean he's not usually so... pig headed?"I'd noticed his decline in mood on the outside, it was hard to miss, but I thought that was just our restless lifestyle taking its toll on him like it had on the rest of us."Nope. Well, he's always had a temper, but not like this. What were
His eyes flew open, but he didn't say anything.I took that as a sign to go ahead and unfold the edge of the damp cloth, dabbing at the blood on his split lip."He hit hard, huh?."He nodded, still silent as he watched me find another clean spot on the hand towel."You're lucky he missed your nose. I would've needed more than this to clean that up."He ran his tongue over his swollen lip as he watched me inspect the damage to his shoulder. I winced. The wrist sized welt was purple, verging on black with its budding bruise."This whole not yelling at me thing is a little unnerving," I whispered, folding up the cloth and putting it back on his shoulder. I stood in front of him a minute longer then sat beside him, giving up on talking."What are you doing here?" He finally asked, his voice thick from his fat lip."Lills said I needed to apologise to you.""For what?"I waved a hand