Chapter III

Love or Lust?

"Let's see, let's see," Jamie murmured to herself as she slid her slender fingers over the binding of the books, some incased in old faded leather with raggedy corners while others boasted of newer materials, plastic preserving them protectively.

"Hmm, the King should be around here somewhere," Reid said, clicking his tongue.

"Shh!" Jamie said, spinning around with a finger at her lips. His eyes went from her moist, red lips to the flawlessly manicured nail before them. "Library," Jamie hissed. "Quiet!"

Reid rolled his eyes with a grin and mimed strangling her.

Jamie laughed quietly and bent to look at the books lining the bottom shelf. She knew Reid was checking the view from behind, a hushed whistle escaping his ever defiant mouth. She whipped her head around, trying to fake irritation but she found she was laughing again. Funny, she had been laughing a lot lately with Reid. He made her feel good again, alive. They had been 'dating' now for two weeks and they were six weeks into the school year. Jamie had arrived after the first week of school, avoided Reid for three weeks, and been dating him now for two weeks.

"Need some help, Jame?" Reid asked and began scanning the shelves beside her.

She smiled at the old pet name, something only Reid and Tyler called her, and was amazed by him actually helping her. "King, King, King," he muttered. "Stephen King…"

"Jesus! Where the hell is he?" Jamie sighed, exasperated.

"Who?" Reid asked.

"What do you mean, who?" Jamie asked, annoyed. "The King, duh."

"I'm right here," Reid said with a smirk. "You looking for me?"

"I said The King not whatever you are," she teased. She watched his bright blue eyes sparkle and his lips curl up into a smirk. "What are you thinking?" Jamie asked wearily.

"I don't think, I act," Reid replied. It was certainly true.

"That's what I'm afraid of." She turned back to the shelves and let out a little cry of delight as she came across the book. "I could've swore I just checked that shelf. It's like it just, I don't know, appeared there!"

"Maybe it's a sign," Reid said, his lips at her ear, his breath hot in her head. "Things to do besides looking for books all day. Let's go do something, Jame."

"Huh?"

"Let's go. Now."

"Reid? What are you talking about? We have to get this paper done by like, Thursday! And we're supposed to go with Tyler and his new fuck to that dinner party the preps are having for the start of the semester." Tyler had grabbed himself a new girl, tall, blonde, curvy with the short skirt of a cheerleader. They, the cheerleaders, were having a cutesy dinner for a few "select" people to celebrate.

Reid snorted. "Who wants to celebrate coming back to this school?"

"Hell with fluorescent lights," Jamie mused. Not Spenser in particular but school itself.

"Right," Reid said and his arms came from behind, coiling like a snake around her hips. "There's a party going on at the beach tonight."

"Reid there's a party at the beach every night."

"And?"

"Tyler asked us to go with him and we said we would so that's that," she said firmly, slapping his hands away. And he said he'd changed! Tuh!

"Fine, fine," Reid said and grabbed a book at random from the bookshelf and pulled Jamie to the counter to check out their books.

They walked side by side back to their dorms. Reid bumped her with his hip and Jamie bumped him back. Reid laughed and grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the school into the open yard. Jamie giggled and let him haul her out into the middle of the yard and twirl her around, swinging her about with a playful smile. "My little dancer. Dance for me, baby. Dance for me like you used to dance for me."

Jamie blushed and said, "That would get us a few days of detention. My mom would have me dragged out of here by my ear. God, I almost want to just to see what she'd do."

Reid took the book from her hands and threw it aside along with his own. "Fast or slow?"

"Excuse me?"

"Fine, slow," Reid said and pulled her closer, hands on her hips, swaying to music only he heard. Jamie was gaping at him. He smirked and put her hands behind his neck.

"Reid! We're really gonna dance right here? In front of everyone?"

"It's not the kind of dancing I like, I admit," Reid said, "but I really feel like dancing. You're the only girl that could dance to my beat," he said, raising his brows mischievously. "My partner. I'd ask you to dance every time. Those other girls don't even begin to compare, Jame. You dance like no other. Fast, slow, any way in between."

Jamie felt her entire body grow hot and her inner beast roared.

"Not getting embarrassed, are you?"

Ignoring him, Jamie shut her eyes for a moment in an attempt to silence the raging beast inside of her. No, not now! Not in front of everyone! No! I will not use. I am in control. I can tame it. Shut up! Please stop! Shh!

"Jamie, are you feeling okay?"

His voice brought her back to reality and she looked away, determined not to let him see the black of her eyes. He would be disgusted. If anyone ever found out she was a witch and could summon up odd powers, make things happen that was to be left to nature, they would hate her, fear her, kill her and run her out of the city, the state, country. If only she'd never read that old book in her great grandfather's library. It had seemed to draw her to it, and as soon as she held it in her hands and turned the first page, she could not put it down. That had been when almost a year ago. Now here she stood, seventeen, six months from her eighteenth birthday, struggling to control her massive, vast powers.

Reid took her silence as ignorance and he swirled her round and round, humming a sunny tune Jamie recognized as "My Girl". She waited for the feeling to edge away, waited another minute for safe measure, and looked at him with a sweet smile. "Reid, am I your girl?"

He looked confused and blinked. "Yes, yes you are."

"How much do you care for me, Reid Garwin?"

"A lot, Jamie. I love you so much."

"I love you too, Reid," she replied with a sincere smile. "I really do but I am worried about you, about us. I remember how you used to be. I knew you fucking inside out, Reid. You are my best friend in the entire world and there is little I wouldn't do for you."

Reid looked uneasy. "Are you sure you're okay, Jamie-baby?"

"Yes, I am sure. I just never realized how precious you are to me, how much I want you, need you. Reid, I want there to be an us, not a 'you'. Not a 'me'."

"I know, and we are. There's some shade over there if you need to sit down, honey." He steered her to a tall tree and they sat beneath it. Reid fanned her apprehensively.

Slapping his hands away, she glared at him and said, "I changed too, Reid. More than you have, I'm sure."

"What's this about? You didn't like, have a kid or something did you? Get involved in gangs? Drugs? Are you an alcoholic? Did you kill someone?" Reid said, voice growing louder with humor with each item he added to the list.

"No, no, no. Reid, I'm not ready to tell you."

"Well then, I guess I'll have to wait, Jame."

She stared at him trying to decipher if he really had changed. He was staring her in the eyes, meeting her blue eye for blue eye, serious look matching her own, his hands clasping hers. His voice was smooth and even, not honeyed like it was when he'd told his lies last year.

She loved him, she knew it. She didn't know if she loved him because he was handsome, hot, with the best looks in the school. She didn't know if it was because of the way he strutted about like he owned to world, ruled it from a high throne made of solid gold. If it had been the Reid from last year, it would have been the same high throne with all the glorious décor but instead of being made of pure, solid gold, it would have only been painted in gold. Splotchy gold, full of the places where he had missed a spot or two. Or three or four.

But he appeared to have changed. He was looking at her like she was the most fragile, treasured thing in the world. He looked like he would worship her, his eyes glowing with adoration and passion. She hoped what she saw in there was the love she felt for him and not lust. She desired him but she didn't want to date him for a few long nights. She wanted to call him hers, to brand her name in his flesh, his heart, call him hers. She wanted to believe that above all things he felt for her, love was at the top of the list. If Reid was the same as she had left him, he was only after one thing. His eyes promised, his words promised, but she did not know for sure how he could feel. A tongue was like a snake in more ways than one, slithering in the mouth in the throws of passion, making promises, making up lies.

"I love you. I swear it to you."

She couldn't help it. Jamie leaned over and put her hand on the side of his face and to Reid's surprise, she was kissing him. A slow, sensuous kiss that rocked his world to the very core. He pulled her into his lap and his hands were on her luscious ass. She was kissing him hesitantly, reluctantly at first, then persistently, her hands wrapping around his neck and then sliding to his shoulders and Reid stood, tugging her up to her feet, lips never leaving hers, and slammed her against the tree. Slamming women into hard surfaces was obviously his signature move, Jamie noted. He kissed her hard until she was whimpering against him.

Reid drew in her air, sucked it into his lungs, and gave it back. She sighed and her hands flew up his neck into his hair, her fingers tangling in it, her nails grazing his scalp, and it felt so good that Reid let out a groan and shuddered.

"Get a room you two," a familiar voice chuckled.

"Just reacquainting ourselves, Tyler," Jamie panted.

"Yeah, we knew what we were doing. When am I not in control of my actions?" Reid said and they laughed.

Jamie smoothed her boyfriend's hair and kissed him slowly on the lips, rejecting his tongue into her mouth. Her lips were a brick wall that he could not slam her into. For once.

"So, are you and Jamie still going to that dinner with me?" Tyler asked his best friend. "Because there is going to be way too much giggling and flirting in there for one man to handle. Reid, Jamie, I need you!"

"Problem, dumb-ass," Jamie said, hands on her hips. "I'm not a man."

"No, but you're one of my men like a soldier, you know? Men being a word that I use to mean-"

"Yeah, we get it," Jamie said, rolling her eyes.

"So, are you gonna turn all preppy now and deck out in your helmet and jersey? Football?" Reid asked, almost hopefully. If Tyler set out to play that sport, Reid could use him as his excuse to play.

"Nah, he's going for the skirts and pompoms," Jamie teased. "Pretty enough. So cute, little Ty-Ty."

Tyler huffed and stamped away from them.

"Wait!" Reid called.

"You forgot to tell me your size! How am I supposed to know what size to buy when I shop for your birthday? What about Christmas? Ty-Ty!" Jamie laughed.

He shot them the finger and walked off. "Seven o'clock!" he called over his shoulder. "And don't forget to shave Jamie. You're a man. Got the mustache!"

"Good one, Tyler," Jamie called back.

"Let him be a baby," Reid said and grabbed their books off the ground. "Let's go study some more under the tree, shall we?"

"Oh we shall," she replied with enthusiasm.

"What subject, this time, Jamie-baby?"

"Anatomy? Chemistry?" she suggested. "Maybe the language of love?"

They ran to a tree in the far corner in the back of the yard and studied for a long time.