28. Macie

Chapter twenty-eight

Macie

M y heart beat like a bass drum, and once again, I felt alive . A sensation closely associated with Relic. Yearbook in hand, I crept down the stairs and was thankful for all the nightlights Mom had put up in the house after I came home from the hospital. I then did something I had never done before—turned off the alarm, which included the motion sensors and the outside cameras. Dad had given me the code years ago to put me in charge when he and Mom had gone on dates because Dad could never imagine me being so rebellious.

I went into the finished basement, closing the door to the kitchen behind me, went down the stairs, and then stood by the French doors. Every second lasted ten minutes. I looked upon the basement like I had never seen it before. A flat screen on the wall, a couch where my brothers spent hours playing video games, and the bed my parents kept here for overnight, out-of-town guests.

My cell vibrated: Here

My fingers felt tingly as I touched the knob. Yes, I had lied to my parents since February—daily, but this…opening this door…sneaking Relic in…I wasn't doing this to make them happy. I was doing this for me.

I opened the door and nearly sighed with relief when the motion sensor lights didn't turn on, which meant I had disarmed the entire system.

"It's me," Relic whispered, and his shadowed form moved from the gate to me. He stepped in, I closed the door behind me, and we stood there staring at one another. Was this real? Was Relic Aslanov really standing in my house?

"Hey," I said.

"Hey," he replied. "How are you feeling?"

I pressed the yearbook to my chest as if I could hide behind it. "Better. I wish I could handle what happened to me with some grace."

"Grace?" Relic's eyes narrowed at me. "Macie, if it had happened to me, I can guarantee I'd be so full of anger I would have been thrown in jail for the shit I would have pulled. Your stomach turns because you're trying to figure out what happened? That's nothing compared to how put together you are the rest of the time."

I focused on the floor. "I don't feel put together."

"That's the secret of life, none of us do."

Not wanting to discuss it anymore, I handed him the yearbook. "Per your request, one yearbook."

He took it from me, and the binding made a squeaking noise as he opened it. "You haven't looked through this?"

"I ordered it at the beginning of the year. Once I received it, there was nothing I felt like looking back on."

"That's fair."

Yeah, I guess it was. "What are you going to use it for?"

Relic closed the book and mashed his lips together like he didn't want to tell me. "It's to create a lineup."

Feeling like a hole opened up inside me and I was tumbling down it, I sat on the edge of the bed. "You think whoever did this goes to school with us?"

"It's either that or someone from the amusement park, but I'm leaning toward school."

It made sense as the thought had also crossed my mind. "We need to find who did this because I can't walk the hallways of school in the fall with them there. What if they hurt me again?"

Relic crouched in front of me. "We'll find them, Macie."

I couldn't think of finding them. I couldn't think of not finding them. To be honest, I didn't want to think at all, so I deflected. "And the best news is, when we do, you'll be fifty thousand dollars richer."

Relic gave me a sly grin. "Think being in the money will change me?"

I couldn't imagine Relic ever being anyone but him. "Yup. I bet you won't talk to anyone anymore. People at school will say you've become a snob."

"I don't talk to people now. At least, the money will give me an excuse."

"Do you have big plans when you get the money?" I asked, playfully.

"I'll do a full European tour. Paris, London, Milan. Want to come?"

Anywhere with him. "Sure, but only if we stay at five-star hotels."

"Only the best all the way." Then his smile waned. "I plan on getting me, Lyra, and Camila as far from here as I can. My neighborhood is dangerous, and we have to leave to survive."

My smile fell, too, as that sounded a lot like leaving me. "Can you move to a different part of the city?"

Relic shook his head. "That type of trouble knows how to cross streets."

Feeling stupid for the sadness, I glanced down at my toes. Didn't Relic and I promise each other no attachments? Wasn't I the one who first claimed I didn't want a relationship?

"But I'll have a working car then, Mazie Hutchinson," he added. "And I plan on coming back here as often as I can to see you."

Happiness blossomed within me, and I met his beautiful blue eyes that looked at me as if he desired to stare at me forever. But there was a ton a fear inside me, mountains of doubt. I thought I'd be okay not knowing what we were, but now…I had become attached. "Are we doing a relationship?"

The emotion in his eyes softened my soul. "I lied about waiting for Marsh to pick me up. I've been sitting on that curb for the past two hours because I couldn't stop thinking of you. I don't claim to understand love or relationships. But I do know that, besides Camila, you're the first person I think of when I wake in the morning, the last person I think of before bed, and I even dream of you. I'm not looking for you to change your plans and dreams, and I'm sure as shit not pressuring you to put any labels on us, but I like having you in my life. Even if that means I have to drive hundreds of miles to see you."

My heart exploded with warmth and happiness. "I'd drive hundreds of miles to see you, too."

Relic graced my lips with a kiss, and it felt more like a promise from his soul to mine. He was mine, I was his, and we were together. Maybe I was falling in love.

He pulled back and tenderly caressed my cheek. "I should leave and let you sleep."

Panic welled within me because I wasn't ready for him to leave…not yet. "I'm going to stay up and watch a movie. Would you like to watch one with me?"

Relic slowly raised one eyebrow. "I'm assuming you have parents somewhere in this mammoth house?"

"Yes."

His other eyebrow raised to join the first as he waited for the answer to his unasked questions. When I said nothing, he added, "As much as you've been playing on the lines of wild side, how are you going to feel if we get caught? At the end of the day, Macie Hutchins is the rule follower."

"Maybe I don't want to be Macie," I said slowly as I reached deep for courage. "Maybe I prefer being Mazie."

Relic's eyes flashed with something dangerous, something raw, something instinct told me meant he wanted to kiss me.

"My family is used to me coming down to watch movies when insomnia sets in. They won't bother us, but I understand if you want to leave."

Relic kept his eyes locked on mine, and his voice had a husky tone as he said, "I don't want to go."

Was this why Ariel rebelled and pushed boundaries like she did? Did she feel this exhilarating spark of being alive? "What movie do you want to watch?"

"Whatever you want as I only plan on watching you."

Electricity built between us, a gravitational pull like none I had felt before. "I lied. I don't want to watch a movie. I want to kiss you."

"Couch or bed?"

I wet my suddenly dry lips. "Bed."

He went to the coffee table, grabbed a remote, turned on the TV and then sat beside me on the bed. He gave me the remote, told me to pick a movie, and then my cheeks heated with excitement and slight embarrassment at what we were about to do as he unlaced his boots and slipped them off. I absently picked one of the first movies on my favorite's list and my pulse pounded through my entire body as Relic slipped up the bed to settle near the pillows on his side.

I could barely breathe with excitement, with shyness, with all the millions of questions involving my inexperience. Would I make a fool of myself?

"We can watch the movie," Relic said. "We don't have to kiss."

"I want to kiss," I admitted.

Relic tried to temper a wry smile. "Do you overthink everything?"

"Yes." With my answer, I found the courage to join him. I lay beside him, resting my head on the pillow as he propped his head on his hand. Relic wrapped an arm around my stomach, inching us together until our bodies touched, and every cell in my body sparked with electricity.

"I've never seen this movie before," Relic said, and true to his word he was staring at me.

"It's one of my favorites."

"I have a feeling it'll be one of mine, too."

Happy, bashful, elated, I focused on the TV. As the movie played, Relic began this pleasant exploration of my body. His fingers left burning paths as he slowly caressed my hands, my arms, and even my exposed skin near my bellybutton as my tank had ridden up from my pajama bottoms. I trembled in pleasure and cuddled closer, yearning for more.

Little flames licked through my veins with his light caresses, and he stirred strong desire within me. I wanted him closer, needed him closer. Longed to feel his body pressed to mine. Why hadn't he kissed me yet? The thought circled my brain, driving me to the brink, but then I realized he was waiting on me. The kissing would be my call.

Putting myself out there like that required courage and risk. Courage I possessed. As for risk, with Relic, he was worth risking it all. I glanced up at him, he met my eyes, and his gaze had this shadowed look of lust. One heartbeat, another, and then I leaned up and kissed him.

Relic cupped my face, kissed me back, and my head settled back on the pillow as we became lit sparklers in the night sky. Our mouths moving together, tasting, teasing, and my hands began their own curious inspection of his body, roaming over his muscled back, his arms, and my fingers slid into his hair.

He groaned then, a sound like he enjoyed my caresses, and joy burst through me. As my hands continued to explore, I lifted his shirt, and my fingertips came in contact with the hot skin of his lower back. There was something intimate about touching his skin, something that excited my blood. Relic's mouth left mine as he kissed along my neck and I whispered to him, "Will you take your shirt off?"

Relic rid himself of the fabric and my heart paused at the true beauty of his muscled chest and abdomen. "You really are beautiful."

He gave a shake of his head. "That title belongs to you."

I frowned, he noticed, and his finger rubbed near the corner of my mouth as if he could wipe away the sadness. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I was shot," I said before I could overthink it. "And it left scars."

His blue eyes swam with sympathy. "Scars don't bother me."

But they bothered me.

"Can I see?" he asked.

Unsure, terrified of his reaction, I bit my bottom lip. "What if you find me unattractive?"

"Absolutely impossible."

Relic seemed so sure of himself all the time, so confident. What would it be like to be him for a fraction of a second? Funneling his courage, I took off my tank, exposing my cleavage, my bra, and my scars. I swallowed hard and no longer had the bravery to look him in the eyes.

There was a heavy, weighted pause as he took in the two circular wounds as well as the incision made to repair the damage during surgery. He swore softly as he lightly brushed his fingers over my skin, over the swell of my breasts along my scars. "So close to your heart."

I still couldn't meet his eyes. "The doctor said if the bullets had been a fraction of a centimeter over, I would have died instantly."

Relic placed his fingers under my chin and forced me to meet his gaze. "You're beautiful."

I swallowed hard as I couldn't find words to respond.

"You're beautiful and I'm so damn glad you're alive." Relic caressed my cheek again, then leaned down and kissed my lips.

These kisses were different from any of the others we had shared before. These were soft, emotional—as if letting me know that he did care I was alive. Cared so much that the thought of me not here beside him caused him worry and pain. As I kissed him back, I no longer felt driven by this pulse in my body, but by a connection in my heart. It was as if we were opening up, sharing our souls with one another, and it felt as if we were creating a universe where only we belonged.

He settled the weight of his body over mine, and the sweet pressure was everything I had dreamed it would be and more. We kissed, we touched, and my legs tangled with his. As I became hazy with this growing need inside me, I shifted my hips, gasped at a new tingling sensation created, and Relic tightened his hold on me. He moved his hips along mine, the sensation heightened; I gasped again, and he moaned as if he also enjoyed that sudden movement.

I wanted that to happen again and again and again, but I paused, so did Relic, and we both took in air as we tried to catch our breaths. Relic searched my face. "Are you ready to venture into those new areas? Don't get me wrong, I'm very game, but I don't want you riding a wave only to figure out later you wished you had taken it slower."

I smiled because my immediate answer was yes, but then, after a second, I breathed out slowly and shook my head. "Soon, though."

"I'm a patient man." He kissed along my neck then nibbled on my ear. It tickled, I loved it, and I relaxed fully into him. "And I'm enjoying the ride."

"What's it like?" I asked, hoping he understood my meaning. "What happens next?"

Relic eased his body off mine and he cuddled me close as he returned to lying on his side. He kissed along the other side of my neck, up my jawline and then sweetly kissed my lips. "Going further?"

I swear my entire body blushed and my internal temperature reached a million degrees. I nodded.

"There's a million different answers for that, but the real answer is, whatever you're comfortable with."

"I liked moving with you," I admitted.

"Then, next time, we can do more of that. There's no pressure, though. We do whatever you're comfortable with."

No, I didn't feel pressure. Just a whole lot of curiosity and wonder. "I'm not ready for you to leave."

"That's good," he answered. "Because I don't want to go."

"Will you stay and watch the movie with me?"

"Yes," he whispered as he kissed my lips again. I snuggled into Relic, laid my eyes on the TV, and loved how Relic watched me.

***

Footsteps upstairs and my eyes snapped open. First thought, I had fallen asleep. Second thought, when had morning become so bright? Third thought, I loved how Relic was cuddled up next to me. Fourth thought, oh my God, we were about to be busted.

"Relic," I whispered in absolute panic and shook his sleeping form. "Relic, wake up! If my dad finds you here, he will kill you."

He cracked his eyes open, and in less than a heartbeat he went from smiling at me tenderly to blinking wide with the realization of what had happened—we'd fallen asleep. The basement door opened, the two of us scrambled, and my freaking heart pumped violently in my throat as I had no idea where the hell my tank top went. The footsteps on the stairs moved faster while I seemed to be stuck in slow motion.

Relic moved swiftly off the bed, swiped up his T-shirt, grabbed his boots and the yearbook, but before he could reach the door, my brother Seth emerged.

Seth froze, so did I, and we both stared at Relic.

"Stay or leave?" Relic asked me, and he wore an expression like he hated leaving me behind to handle the fallout. His shoulders rolled back as if he alone could take on any battle.

"You should leave," Seth said, and I scowled at him.

Ah, there was my tank. I picked it up and pulled it over my head. "Are Mom and Dad home?"

Seth didn't answer at first, only glared at Relic.

"Are Mom and Dad home?" I pushed.

"No," Seth snapped. "They're at work. They heard the TV playing and texted me to check on you when I woke as they figured that meant you had insomnia again last night. They didn't want to wake you in case you had fallen asleep."

Thank the heavens above they didn't check on me themselves.

I went to Relic. "Give me a second with Seth and I'll take you home." Actually, to the front of the neighborhood, but he understood my meaning.

Relic gave me the sweetest of kisses that left a tingle in my veins. He rested his forehead to mine and my heart gave a flutter of unfamiliar and awesome emotion. "I'll stay if you need me," he said. "I don't want you facing this alone."

"I'll be right out. I promise I'll be okay."

Relic caressed my cheek and regarded me as if were the rising sun. I felt all knotted up in my stomach in the best way possible. What were all these emotions? And was I reading Relic wrong that he was feeling them, too?

"I will kick your ass if you don't get out of here," Seth said.

Amused, Relic snorted, indicating Seth would never stand a chance against him. Seth, though, was as tall as him, as physically fit, while just a year younger. Thankfully, Relic left without feeling the need to posture against my overreacting brother.

When the door shut, Seth lost his mind. "What the hell, Macie?"

As his tirade continued, I ran up the stairs and reset the alarm. That set Seth off more. "You turned off the alarm to let in a boy ?" He said a lot of other things, too, but I ignored him as I slipped on my slides, grabbed my purse and car keys, and headed for the garage.

"Macie!" he shouted as he rushed to stand in my path. "What is going on with you?"

What was going on with me? I was living my life instead of blindly participating in it. "I'm going to take Relic home, and then when I return, you can yell at me all you want."

I pushed past him and went out the door.