“Did you miss me?” he asks with a cocky grin, realisation flickering in his eyes. “Oh, you did.”
“You’re a ghost; there is nothing to miss,” I bite back.
“That says a lot about you more than it does about me,” he counters. God, I hate my ghost friend right now.
Why couldn’t I have an imaginary friend like all the other weirdos? At least he wouldn’t abandon me and come back all cocky and shit.
“Shut up,” I snap. “Why did you kill that vampire and then ignore me?”
His demeanour changes, and I can’t read him for a moment. “It’s safer if I stay away from you.”
“What if that’s not what I want?” I ask, and he shakes his head, stepping back.
“If you invite a vampire into heart, you will never get back out alive,” he softly warns me before disappearing once again.
Staring at the empty room, my words are only heard by me. “Too late.”
Chapter 25
“Did you really cook this?” I ask after swallowing another bite of the pasta and immediately getting another piece on my fork.
Thallon chuckles from the other side of the table. “I’ve been on my own here for years, and as much as the cooks at the academy are good, they only have a set meal. It’s nice to cook something different.”
“Well, I’m thankful,” I reply and finish off my food. Like the perfect gentleman Thallon is, he takes my empty plate to the sink and waves off my offer to help him wash up. After cleaning up the table, I move to his sofa and sit down, curling my legs underneath me. I watch Thallon in the kitchen, noticing how his crisp white shirt reveals a lot of his muscle underneath, and how his jeans suit him. His sleeves are rolled up as he washes the dishes, which is crazy sexy to watch, and his brown hair is curlier today, like he spent time in the pouring rain that’s now hitting the windows outside. Thallon Cross has the face and body of a heartbreaking boy, and for some crazy reason, I’m in his home, on a movie night date nonetheless.
“I have a gift for you. Well, two actually,” he tells me before disappearing into his bedroom and coming out a few moments later.
“I don’t have a gift for you,” I reply as he sits down and offers me two packets of Parma Violet sweets and a DVD of Jumanji, my favourite movie growing up. I only told Thallon about it in a passing conversation, and I can’t believe he not only remembered but got the DVD for me. I place the sweets and DVD in the middle of us before throwing my arms around his shoulders. “Thank you,” I whisper into his ear, and after a while, I pull back, meeting his gaze.
“I know it’s difficult to come here and leave everything behind. I wanted to make it easier for you with some home comforts,” he softly tells me. “And I’ve never eaten a Parma Violet or watched Jumanji.”
“We have to correct that right away,” I say with an excited chuckle. Thallon takes the DVD and goes to set it up in the DVD player as I open my sweets. I all but inhale a couple of the sweets before Thallon comes back. I take one out of the packet and hold it in the middle of my hand for him. He grins as he leans down and presses his lips around the sweet in my hand. The gentle touch of his lips makes me shiver and feel things I haven’t before for any guy. I mean it wasn’t like there weren’t guys at my school growing up, but they never wanted anything to do with me, and I assumed I wasn’t pretty for a long time. I stuck my head in books, and Riley dated half the school.
“They taste delicious,” he whispers to me, and I suspect he wasn’t just talking about the sweet. What the hell do I say back to that?
“I kissed Henry, and I’m feeling bad because of this”—I pause, waving between us—“I think is becoming more.”
“I can’t say I’m not jealous, but we never agreed to be exclusive,” he replies, but his eyes betray him. They get brighter when he is mad or angry or in this case, jealous.
I pause, knowing that the same anger and jealousy burn in me. “Can I be honest?”
“Yes, always with me,” he quickly answers.
“The thought of any other girl touching you makes me want to hunt them down and drop them off the side of the academy.” To my surprise, he laughs, and I end up chuckling with him.
“Kaitlyn, I have no interest in anyone else,” he starts off and then hesitates for a second. “I don’t want to scare you off, but I really like you. If you need to figure out whatever is going on with you and Henry, then okay. I’m not going to lie and say it makes me happy, as it doesn’t. It makes me want to rip his angel wings off, but I get that you need to search the connection you have with him as much as you do with me.”
“I’ve honestly never had a relationship or any sort of one before,” I admit to him. “You were my first kiss, and since then, I can’t stop thinking about you.”
“I’m honoured,” he replies, and I sense he is being sincere even as he smiles. “And for the record, we are on a date now, and this is our third date, if I’m counting right.”
“Do you include the game night with Ves?”
“I’m not sure, considering a night where your best friend ate all my food, nearly cried because she lost the board game, and then fell asleep on my sofa can be counted as a date,” he answers, and I laugh. “But I’m counting any time with you as kind of dating.”
“Kind of dating,” I chuckle. “I like that.” My laughs die off as we stare at each other, and I don’t know who moves first, but we kiss as I climb onto his lap. His hands sink into my hair as he deepens the kiss, kissing me like he is desperate for more. I glide my hands down his chest to his buttons, but he covers my hand with his, breaking the kiss.
“Kind of dating means taking this slow. As much as I want you, I want us to do this right more,” he warns me.
“Right?” I breathlessly question.
“You tell me when you want more,” he whispers to me, kissing me softly one more time. “And until then, I will try not to kill Henry.”
“Got it,” I whisper back with red cheeks. He grins, tugging me to his side as he presses play on the movie. The Angel Academy always seemed deadly, cold and downright terrifying most of the time, but in Thallon’s arms, it feels like home.
Chapter 26
Still smiling from my evening with Thallon, I slowly walk back to the academy to go to bed. Wrapping my arms around myself thanks to the cold air, I pause when I hear a noise. I turn around just as someone grabs me and shoves something over my head. I scream, lashing out with my hands, but someone grabs them tightly and shoves a hand over my mouth. Tears fall from my eyes as I’m pulled against a hard body, and then we are in the air, that weightless feeling hard to miss. I don’t struggle as I feel the cold air, knowing if I managed to get free, that falling to my death is a moot point. Eventually, my feet touch the ground, and something hard smacks into my face, knocking me to the floor.
“Don’t hurt her!” Riley desperately shouts, and hands slowly pull the covering off my face. I blink at Riley as he leans over me and offers me a hand, which I don’t take. Betrayal stings like a knife as I stare at my best friend, the realisation he just had his friends kidnap me coming to light.