Chapter 52: Inseparable

Daphne

“Are you stalking me?” I asked, keeping my voice very quiet so as not to attract attention from the other students who were milling around the crime scene. There was no logical reason for my new roommate to follow me out into the woods, so, even if he answered negatively, he was, in fact, stalking me. And I was sure I was supposed to feel a certain way about that. Offended, at least. If I was an ordinary girl, I would probably be frightened.

I wasn’t feeling frightened though, I was feeling…excited. I breathed in deeply so that I could take in more of his delicious spicy scent, and I stared up into his eyes, which were such a dark brown that they seemed almost black as they stared back at me with an intensity that made me shiver. But not in fear.

He didn’t bother to deny it. “Maybe I am.”

My mouth opened to protest, but I didn’t know exactly what I was supposed to say. I could tell him that it was wrong, but clearly, he already knew that. I could tell him to stop, but actually, I didn’t want him to. Instead, I let my gaze drop to those lips. So firm looking, so succulent. They were close enough…

I knew it was a bad idea. I knew I was being foolish and impulsive. I knew it would be hella awkward if I would have to go back to the Bleakley house and share a bedroom with this guy. But I sucked in a quick breath and closed the distance between us, sealing my lips to his. I hummed in my throat as that warm, comfortable feeling spread through me like hot fudge dripping over a warm brownie, until it pooled between my legs.

I expected Nate to pull back and scold me. After all, Mr. Stoic Philosophy major was probably against such impetuous displays of passion. But he didn’t. He let his hand slip to the back of my neck, where the rough pads of his fingers added to that warming sensation, and sent the slightest tingles dancing down my spine.

Nate took over the kiss, his lips demanding more, his tongue dipping into my mouth. His other hand dropped behind my back to press me closer, and I went willingly, letting him mold my body into his.

I’ve kissed boys. Both the human and the werewolf variety. But not one of those distant memories could hold a candle to what Nate’s mouth did to mine. I melted in his arms, and that warm hot fudge-feeling started to heat up to the boiling point, until I felt desperately needy. I completely forgot where we were, what we were doing, or the fact that we were surrounded by a dozen other students.

“Jeezus, get a room!” A boy shouted.

“Do you have to be so damn disrespectful?” Another person hissed. “Someone died here!”

I pulled away and wiped my mouth, looking down at the ground in shame. “Sorry,” I mumbled. To whom? To the other students? To Nate? To the spirit of the dead girl for making out with my new roommate at the scene of her death? Maybe all of the above.

“Let’s get out of here,” Nate growled, and he laced his fingers through mine and started to pull me away from the taped-off area, back down the path, in the direction of the school trail head. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t let go, even when we had put a considerable distance between us and the other students.

When we were alone, he finally released my hand, and ran his fingers through his short hair. “Look, Daphne,” his voice had that tone of reluctance and regret, like he was breaking up with me or something. But he couldn’t break up with me, there was nothing to break. We had just met. All we had was one steamy kiss. And a weirdly hot chemistry. “You are obviously a smart, beautiful girl, but you need to know that I can’t get involved with anyone right now.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You mean you already have a girlfriend?”

“No!” He shook his head, and for some reason, I believed him. “It’s not that. It’s just… my life is kind of crazy, I move around a lot, and I won’t be here long enough to have a serious relationship.”

I tipped my chin up at him, challenging him, “Who said I was looking for a serious relationship?”

He stepped closer, and I felt something powerful practically rolling off of his body. He lifted a hand, and traced one finger gently down my cheek. “I just met you,” he said, his deep voice soft and strangely gentle. “But I can already tell you aren’t a one-night-stand kind of girl.”

I swatted his finger away. “You’re right, you just met me,” I said, trying to keep my tone cold and crisp. “You don’t know me at all.” I turned on my heel and continued to march down the path. Someone had ripped the tape off that had been blocking the trail, so there was nothing stopping me as I stepped out on the edge of the sports fields and directed my feet toward the school, toward the parking lot where I had left my car.

He didn’t say anymore, and he didn’t reach out to touch me again, but I could feel him moving just behind me. For a human, he moved very quietly, very efficiently. But I would have sensed him, even if he was perfectly silent. There was something about him, something I couldn’t put my finger on.

Something that made me feel hot and desperate, and I didn’t particularly like that feeling.

I refused to stop, I refused to talk to him. I saw his Jeep parked next to my car, and steeled myself against the curiosity that begged me to ask him why he had come to the school in the first place. Why was he looking for me? Why did he follow me? He must have had a real reason, something beyond simply stalking me.

I checked my rearview mirror when I pulled out of the parking lot, but his Jeep wasn’t following me. I wasn’t sure if I should feel satisfied, or disappointed.

Deciding to skip the cafeteria, I instead drove to a little deli that was tucked in the back of a gas station that made the best sub-sandwiches. The ladies that run it always piled it high with generous layers of meat and cheese.

I thought about ordering a sandwich for Nate, and then kicked myself for thinking of him at all. Granted, I had initiated the kiss, but he had, one-hundred percent, kissed me back. And then he had the audacity to tell me he wasn’t available! And I wasn’t a one-night-stand girl! What did he know? He didn’t deserve my thoughts, and he definitely didn’t deserve a fine sandwich from my favorite deli!

I could be a one-night-stand-girl if I wanted to be.

I just wasn't sure if I wanted to.

I drove back to Bleakley house and told myself that I was absolutely not looking for a Jeep in the driveway, or parked on the street nearby. I did not feel a heavy sense of let down that it wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

I didn’t care.

It was just a kiss, he was just a roommate. He was the one who tried to make a big deal out of nothing. I grabbed my backpack and the paper bag that held my grinder, and a bag of chips and a soda. After making sure my car was locked, I made my way up the stairs into the stately old house turned dormitory. As I let the door swing shut behind me, one of my other housemates turned the corner, his arm full of beers.

“Oh hey there, Daphne.” He grinned at me, and I could still see the discoloration on his teeth from a recently removed set of braces. His sallow face was covered with cystic acne, and his hair was greasy. The boy was thin and underdeveloped with a scrawny chest and legs like hairy chopsticks sticking out from under his gym shorts.

It took me a minute to come up with his name. “Oh, um, Rodney, right?”

“Yeah!” His grin grew wider, and he looked a little too pleased that I had remembered his name. “The guys and I were just gonna relax a bit. You wanna have a cold one?” He held out a beer in offering.

“Um, no, thanks,” I said, politely shaking my head. “I’ve got a lot of work to do. You guys enjoy yourself, though.” I darted past him and up the stairs. Out of the corner of my eye I saw three more guys lounging on the couches in the living room. I had introduced myself to most of the guys earlier, and I offered them a friendly wave now as I climbed the stairs. They seemed okay, but I felt their eyes on my legs and my ass, and I didn’t want to encourage them.

Up in my room, I set the food on my desk and sank into my chair. I spun around slowly to look at his side of the room. Neat, impeccable, minimalist, almost like he didn’t live there at all. Just that rolled up sleeping bag on the end of his mattress, and the bag shoved under the bed frame. Even the ballpoint pen that had been on his desk had been whisked away somewhere. I noticed, however, there was a new book on the shelf next to his philosophy textbooks. I sprang up to take a closer look.

A Guide to North American Bears.

One of the pages had been dog-earred. Sacrilege! What kind of savage dog-ears the pages in their books? I flipped it open to the marked chapter.

The Eastern Black Bear - A subspecies of the American Black Bear, Ursus Americanus.

Farther down the page, he had underlined one sentence with a blue ink pen.

Eastern black bears are rarely aggressive.

I kind of wanted to keep reading the chapter myself, but I carefully folded the corner of the page back into place and replaced it on the shelf. It was very interesting that Nate was taking extra interest in these so-called bear attacks. It seemed that he also had his doubts that a bear was responsible. But having been to the site of the attack myself, I hadn’t found any evidence to the contrary.

Returning to my desk, I flipped open a text book that I needed to study, and then carefully unwrapped my giant-sized roast beef grinder, loaded with everything except onions. It was so big that they had to cut it into three sections instead of two. I opened my bag of chips and set it beside the sandwich, and then twisted the top off my soda. With everything situated so that I could study and eat at the same time, I picked up the first section of my grinder, opened my mouth as wide as it would go, and took a bite.

Naturally, a bunch of the fillings spilled out the back side of the bread, and juices from the tomatoes, pickles and mayonnaise got all over my hands.

I bent to retrieve a napkin from the bag I had dropped on the floor. When I straightened, I found the third section of my sandwich was missing. I craned my neck and found Nate leaning casually against the window frame, my sandwich in his mouth.

“Hey! Who said I was sharing!” I protested. How the hell had he snuck into the room without me knowing? So much for believing that I could simply sense him when he was near.

He chewed and swallowed casually. He gave my body a dismissive look. “That’s a huge grinder, you couldn’t possibly finish it.” He gave me a jaunty smile before he went in for another bite. “I’m just helping you out.”