C H A P T E R | T W E L V E
Author's Notes: Thank you, as always, to all my readers choosing to leave reviews! I decided to get another update posted tonight as everyone was so patient with last chapter, which was mainly filler. There were some things that needed to be solved and explained before I could go on with the story, but I promise this chapter has a little more action. And I do mean action. ;)
I could not have been more grateful that he decided to rent a room for the evening, that night. The Mustang was beginning to corrupt my posture, my back aching mercilessly every morning, if I spent the night sleeping as he drove.
"Wait here," he instructed, leaving me behind as he always did while making our reservations and checking us into a hotel. I believe it had something to do with my detracting from the believability of whatever clever story he came up with to squeeze us in at the very last moment, but either way, I never argued. He disappeared into the lobby of the hotel, a substantial improvement from the last hellhole we had found ourselves confined to and always an improvement over the car. It was not the Ritz, but it was certainly nothing akin to some of the slummier places we had found ourselves, that week.
The woman behind the counter was alone, a situation that always put me on edge when James was involved. I may have trusted him with my life, but that did not mean I trusted him with the lives of others. She was young, perhaps a few years older than myself, and beautiful, by my standards - black hair that fell to the middle of her back and a uniform that left little to the imagination. I bit my lower lip and waited, impatience brewing on the inside, for James to return. It was cold and, though I did my best to deny it, I had grown accustomed to seeing him beside me, hovering around me at all times.
I attempted to keep my eyes off of them, biting back admitting that I had other feelings besides those of worry for this woman. The overly welcoming smiles she threw to him suddenly had me criticizing that particular shade of red she was wearing. The way she flipped her hair as she spoke to him made me wonder if it was actually a dye job. Cattiness flowed unchecked through my veins, and I could not for the life of me decide why. It could have been the way he leaned forward a little more than necessary as he listened to her speak, or it could have been the sly smile I caught as he peeked at me out of the corner of his contact colored blue eyes. I could only hope the strain I was feeling was not evident on my face, though, judging from his reaction, it was.
I hated him for that brief flash of a smile that decorated his expression, and I hated myself more, for putting it there. I was truly feeling jealousy – not harebrained and half baked feelings of lust and love, but jealousy – over the man who had taken me from my home, who had once tried to kill me. I was subconsciously contemplating new and fun ways to torture myself, it seemed. How could I possibly care enough, or want him enough, to feel so possessive over him? I knew he had dubbed me his new plaything, his belonging, but I was sure that was not a two way street. Edward and I had mutually belonged with and to one another; I merely belonged to James to ease his listlessness, it seemed. Certainly I had no grounds for laying claim to him, in return.
Still, was I to completely ignore the envy burning in the pit of my stomach as I watched the two of them shamelessly flirt? And, if so, did that same rule apply to the powerful want for him that threatened to overpower my sensibility? I was admittedly new to the game of being so heavily involved in a vampire who did not reflect those same devoted emotions, and my greenness was clearly showing, at the moment. I did not know how to play by the rules without feeling as though I was the one losing. It had always been so simple with Edward, though, as much as it pained me to admit it, it had never been half as exciting. The rush of anger I was getting from watching James and this… woman, I used the term loosely,
I resolved not to look at them again, to just wait patiently.
That lasted all of a minute. I found myself peeking back into the windowed room, disgust coming back full force as I noted the wide mouthed way the woman laughed at something James had said. Whatever it was, I decided, it could not have been that hilarious. Going with that in mind, and the excuse that it was bone-chillingly cold outdoors, I pushed open the door to the lobby. James turned to look at me, as did the perky young lady he was talking to, though it was less out of interest in whoever walked in and more so her following James' line of vision. His smile was thrilled, but mocking, as he turned on a momentarily innocent face.
"Thank you for all your help… Eliza," he said before I had a chance to open my mouth, smoothly leaning forward and reading her name off of the tag affixed to her right breast. He slipped the plastic room key from her hand, turning around to face me. He slipped his arm around my waist, holding me tightly to his side, and flashed a winning smile at 'Eliza'. She merely glowered at me in disgust, a reaction I had never directly received on the arm of a vampire, though I had often felt I was. We walked past her desk wordlessly, boarding an elevator that would take us to whatever floor we had managed to secure a room on. I refused to speak, though I did not have much of an opportunity to, either. As soon the elevator doors shut, James was pressing me against the wall, his lips devouring the skin of my neck.
It came as a shock, though I could not bring myself to pull away. He had fed a handful of days prior; I was not worried for my life. At that point, he could have been ravenously thirsty, and I was not sure I would have been able to keep my hands at bay. There was something inherently territorial coming out in me, though I was not sure I had any territory to mark, in the first place. I tilted his chin up, only able to do so by his will to be moved, to crush my lips against his. He had denied me affection for several days after the incident in which he nearly ended my life, focusing more on Edward and on plotting our next move. He had left more bruises on me in that time than he had kisses, and I slowly came to the realization that going without his affection did not work for me. It led to an explosive blow up like the one I was currently lost in, my hands exploring far more than was appropriate or prudent for an elevator make out session. Another one of the seldom heard purrs I so longed to draw out of him escaped his lips, and I almost thought I felt him smile. I soon found out why.
A third sound, mixing in with my short of breath pants and his appreciative purrs of pleasure – someone was evidently clearing their throats, at us. I instantly pulled back, examining my surroundings without having caught my bearings. The elevator doors stood open, a very disapproving older couple standing directly before us. If I had not been frozen on the spot, I would have untangled my arms from around James, perhaps put a centimeter of distance between our rather connected bodies. I gasped in horror, while James merely laughed under his breath, making no attempt to help me cover up the moment of passion we'd been very much caught in. I did not move until he did, following his lead as we stepped off the elevator. I mumbled an apology, though the only reply I got was something about 'those damned honeymooning kids, these days'.
James had to drag me to the room, my face on fire with embarrassment, and my feet frozen and immobile. He was laughing and snickering quietly to himself most of the way, though it was not a far walk. Once I had snapped out of whatever moment I had trapped myself in, I had little idea what had been going on with me when I practically attacked him. If I could count on James for one thing, and one thing only, it was to bring to life an array of emotions in me that I thought would be dormant, forever. Anger, lust, jealousy… they were all a relief to feel, after feeling nothing for so long. To have that lust reciprocated was even more heavenly.
"What's got you all hot and bothered, princess?" he cooed, though his voice was husky and dark. He sat our bags down immediately and tossed his jacket to the floor, quickly shedding his shirt and allowing it to pool at his feet, as well. The desire I had made no attempt to keep in line flared up again, my lips burning to be back on his. He sauntered over to me, pulling my body flush against his by the firm grip he maintained on my hips. A devious smile crossed his face as he spoke. "Did someone make you jealous?"
"No," I lied stubbornly, leaning away from his searching lips. I may have been easily swayed by his downright delectable looks, or even his antagonizing behavior in the lobby with that cheap thrill of a clerk, but I was not going to allow him to see how easily, without a fight. He chuckled and buried his nose in the hollow of my collarbone, inhaling deeply and sighing appreciatively.
"You smell so much better than she did," he complimented me just before kissing the same spot. That was as near a true compliment as I got, much of the time. I was, however, quite glad that my scent was less potent to James than to Edward. The census of vampires agreed, I smelled light and floral, a sweet blooded creature who no vampire would be unlucky to drain dry. But at least now I could be kissed, touched in a way that did not involve my blood being anyone's most pressing thought.
"It doesn't matter. I was not jealous," I insisted, voice weakening under his direct coercion. It was impossible not to melt under the surprisingly gentle way his mouth worked. As usual, nips of pain were thrown into the mix, never allowing me to get too comfortable with his pace. His being gentle at all, in any respect, showed me that I had to be something in his eyes. A fragile toy which he did not want to damage before he destroyed me, perhaps, but that did not stop my mind from imagining far more endearing possibilities.
"Oh, the look on your face begged to differ," he laughed as he said it, forcing my arms up and slipping my shirt over my head with only a small bit of cooperation from me. He drew an abstract trail down the valley of my breasts, just under the cup of my bra, leaving a stinging, cold path in his wake. "You looked as though you wanted to rip her throat out, if only you were capable. Why is that, I'm curious to know? Was it the way she complimented my eyes, or the fact that only two out of three buttons on her top were fastened? Say it… you were jealous."
I growled in frustration, which delighted him even further. He lazily backed me up until my legs met the edge of the bed, my knees buckling and allowing me to lie back as he approached over top of me. I couldn't have told you a thing about the room, what color the walls were, what the sheets below me looked like, nothing. It had all been a blur that centered in on his pale form as he had disrobed his upper half, as well as mine. He had dominated my thoughts with some sort of mind trick, forcing me to feel almost irrational jealousy and undeniable lust.
"Say it," he commanded, face inches from mine as he teasingly held back from further skin to skin contact. I reached up, running my hands briskly along the curvature of his sides, though I soon found them pinned to the bed. I groaned in pain at the sting this caused, the bruises left over from the last time we were in our current position still blooming colorfully on my wrists. He moaned lightly at the sound, though his eyes were locked on mine, still pressuring for obedience to his earlier command.
"I was jealous," I said through clenched teeth. He smiled, having broken through my strength of will. He firmly secured his hands on my middle and flipped the both of us so that I was now hovering over him. It was a position I was quite foreign to, never having been allowed to take the reigns, before.
"And why is that?" he teased, one hand resting in the back pocket of my jeans, the other tucked lazily behind his head as he stared up at me. His eyes were slowly becoming very red, his contacts melting away quickly, though I had grown accustomed to the scarlet hue versus the blue I would not have been surprised to have seen his eyes, had he been living and breathing as I was. I reached down and pulled loose the tie that fastened his long, blonde hair into a secure ponytail, marveling at how his hair fell around his shoulders when down. Slowly but surely, he was going to be the death of both me and my self control. "Why on earth would you be jealous, unless you wanted me, all to yourself?"
I buckled under the pressure, the constant onslaught of every detail to his perfection. The killer I knew he was had vanished from my mind, replaced by the quite literally perfect sculpture below me, who was very much speaking the truth. It was killing me inside, knowing just how wrong this all was, despite how right it felt. Even still, I could not bring myself to deny the truthful answer to his questions. "Because I do."
"You do what?" he parroted back, much to my frustration. The innocence in his voice was laughable, yet almost convincing. I closed my eyes and attempted something resembling a deep breath, though it failed miserably.
"I want you," I answered, voice faltering as his hand snaked up my stomach, cold and smooth against my skin. I shuddered slightly under his touch, though it was from anything but the cold. I had never pictured myself as the type of girl to indulge in this kind of deliciously sinful behavior, least of all with a man who I barely knew. I knew James, but I didn't know James. I knew little of his past, less of his plans for the future. But I suppose none of that mattered, as I very much knew what we both wanted for the present, as I gave my answer. "All to myself."
"Only me," he growled, pulling my lips towards his with a hand that knotted itself in my hair roughly. He kissed me deeply for a few moments before pulling back, allowing me air and a chance to agree with his summary of the situation. As far from my mind as Edward and anyone else was at that moment, I had only one logical, truthful answer. In the back of my mind, I realized the ramifications of my big mouth, but I was powerless to stop what was already in motion. He pulled sharply on my hair, hoping to speed my answer along. I flinched slightly as the words left my mouth, though my heart was confident in them, at the time.
"Only you."
