Queen awakens dark secre.., p.3
Queen Awakens (Dark Secrets Book 1), page 3
“Charlie,” Alyssa said, raising her eyebrow at me.
I groaned again as she stuck out her lower lip and attempted the puppy dog begging look.
“Please,” she whimpered.
“Jesus, Alyssa, you are twenty, not ten!” I pretended to be mad, but I really wasn’t. I scrunched my face up for but a second as I looked at her, continuing her begging, and ended up smiling at her instead. “Okay, but then we go home after they leave, because it is hot as hell here.” I held up my half empty bottle of water, which had once been cold. I could feel the sticky sweat trailing down my back even though we stood in the shade of trees.
“Yes!” Alyssa jumped up, grinning from ear to ear.
I laughed harder. Alyssa had a childlike joy to her that made me love her even more. I didn’t have a sister, or any sibling to be exact, but Alyssa had always been the closest I’d ever had to one, which was one reason I couldn’t like Ronan.
There were other reasons, but they were harder to describe. It was the way he stared at me sometimes. It was odd. Like he was a predator, and I was his prey. Alyssa said it was his trademark mystery boy look, but for me, it screamed creeper. He had brown hair, cut short on the sides and combed over on top; one of those hairstyles you would expect a tool to wear. He had brown eyes, the kind that made me think of mud, not the soft warm eyes some people sported. No, his were intimidating in a way. It unnerved me, and it made me wish Alyssa would get over this obsession. Years later, here we still were.
“Hey,” I called to her, pointing near a grassy spot people had yet to fill. It was close enough for Ronan to see her, but not too close to lose our hearing. “Let’s drop our things there. I’ll get us drinks and…” I trailed off, waiting for her to say what food she wanted, but she didn’t. Alyssa turned her gaze to the stage, waiting.
“Oh, nothing for me,” she murmured over her shoulder as she bounced up and down trying to catch a better of view.
Alyssa always ate. She wasn’t a rabbit food kind of girl. Neither was I. We liked the usual; burgers, fries, hot dogs, and anything dipped in grease.
“I’ll be back,” I said as she headed over to save our spot.
I returned with two cokes, chili cheese fries, two burgers, and cheese sticks, and if she would not eat, it would not be wasted. I was starving. I was always starving.
“Really, Charlie. I do not understand how you can eat like that and remain thin.” She reached for a chili cheese fry before popping it into her—just a few moments ago—not hungry mouth.
“I do not have a clue,” I said between bites of my burger.
Ketchup dripped down my face as Ronan and his crew passed. Only, they were dragging around a new face. One I’d never seen before. I looked up to meet his eyes just as I was shoving another huge bite of burger into my mouth. His eyes were as green as an emerald caught in the light, and his hair was dark, black even, as it fell long over his eyes. He had what looked like a five o’clock shadow. It screamed, ‘I forgot to shave this morning,’ as it trailed along the edge of his squared jaw line.
My eyes trailed down, and he stood in a black fitted t-shirt and distressed jeans. His tanned arms rippled with muscle. I always thought I wasn’t into guys like that, but as I forced my eyes back, I realized he was smirking. He knew.
I inhaled then, with food still in my mouth, causing myself to choke. I dropped the burger and stood hunched over, coughing as I desperately reached a hand near my neck while trying to cough and hitting my stomach with my other hand to dislodge the food.
“Oh my god! Charlie!” Alyssa shouted into my ear loudly. “Someone, please help her!”
I couldn’t breathe and, at this point, I was also freaking out. Before I knew it, I felt someone behind me. They put their fist on my stomach and hemlock maneuvered me as they shoved me up and into their hard body. Finally, the piece of burger that had blocked my airway shot out and across the grass, at the tons of, now staring, people.
I felt my face heat as I turned to thank my savior, only to be staring dumbly into the same emerald eyes I’d been admiring before. He was saying something, but I couldn’t hear it.
“Huh?” I asked, not taking my eyes off him.
“Are you okay?” he repeated. His voice was smooth and deep, with an edge of huskiness to it from his proximity. Then he leaned in next to my ear and whispered. “You have ketchup all over your face.” Then he stepped back, steadying me with his hands on my shoulders, as if I would topple over otherwise. I wiped my face quickly with my hand.
“Uh, thanks,” I mumbled, embarrassed but also grateful to be alive as I tried to, as discreetly as possible, check if there was still ketchup on my face.
He smirked at me as if he knew exactly what I was doing.
I don’t know why I couldn’t stop staring. I felt compelled to stare into those bright green eyes. It was as if they glowed green. They were so bright; I couldn’t look away. I heard Alyssa talking in the background, noticed her sneaking brief glances at me with worry in her gaze. We watched out for each other, but with one look at me, she relaxed her stance as a smile stretched across her face.
“Hi.” He smirked again. One side of his lip going up. His thick, dark eyebrows rose slightly as his emerald eyes stared at me, framed by long, ebony eyelashes, which looked too long to be real. In all of my short time as a woman on this earth, I had never, not once, found anyone more than mildly attractive, even celebrities who Alyssa and other girls fawned over. But the man in front of me made my pulse quicken and my throat go dry, as if parched for just one sip. Of what, I wasn’t sure.
“Hi,” I breathed, still staring; mesmerized from the anxiety spreading through me or the fact that the guy was seriously hot, I couldn't tell.
“I’m Wyatt,” he finally said, not caring what anyone thought.
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.
“Her name is Charlie.” Alyssa pushed through to stand next to us.
He didn’t take his eyes off me. “Charlie,” he let my name tumble from his lips slowly.
I nodded, realizing I was making a fool of myself.
“And I’m Alyssa, her best friend,” Alyssa interjected. “Are you here with Ronan?”
Ronan had already moved to the stage with the rest of his band. His eyes were squared on me as I briefly glanced his way. They were predatory again. It made me shudder. I really didn’t like him. It wasn’t as if he looked at me because he liked me. I was a lump of dried coal next to Alyssa. But Alyssa really liked him, so here we were.
“Ronan, yes,” Wyatt said, still staring at me before backing up.
Looking down, we both noticed the mess my leftover food had made when trampled under our feet. I frowned, realizing my meal was nothing more than a mushed up pile of garbage now and, just as I thought it, my ever-hungry belly growled.
“Hey, I was just about to grab some food and, since you now have lost your… uhm….” He looked down at the mess under our feet. “…food, allow me to buy you dinner.”
Before I could decline, Alyssa answered for me, “She would love to.” Then she spanked me on the butt as she pushed me toward Wyatt’s already disappearing form.
I glanced back at her, frowning as I followed him. Her response was mouthing a ‘you’re welcome.’ I had to admit that, as I followed him, his backside was as hot as his front. The usual fear in that moment quelled just slightly, giving me a small reprieve.
“Charlie,” I heard him say as he turned around, forcing me to run into his front. I guess I was staring too hard.
“Uhm, yeah,” I said, pushing rogue strands of hair from tickling my nose as I backed up from his hard as a rock chest. It occurred to me then that I was just running off with a man I didn’t know to get food. I wearily glanced back at Alyssa, but I could no longer see her long blond hair and the pink sundress she was wearing.
“You must be starving. I am sure I ate a horse every day when it was my time,” he announced as he grabbed my hand and pulled me through the crowd to the nearest concession truck. Displayed in big red letters, the words ‘steak burritos’ dangled from a vinyl banner.
I must have misheard him, so I mumbled, “Uh huh,” in reply.
“Steak helped the most.”
It confused me, but I didn’t want to seem dumb. “What do you mean? Helped you with what?” I asked.
I looked wearily at him, backing up just a step. That creeping, familiar feeling crawled up my spine, but the need for food won out against it, and I sighed, forcing myself to relax enough to appear normal.
“You know. The change,” he nonchalantly answered before turning back to the plump man selling burritos, who stepped forward with a net containing his dark, unruly beard and a similar one on his dark head. “Two large steak burritos, please,” he said to the man, handing him a twenty.
“Coming up,” the man replied. Sweat dripped off his rough, tanned face and into the hair net covering his chin. In just a few short minutes, a man in the back passed him two aluminum foil wrapped burritos, and the beefy man handed them over the counter to us.
Wyatt guided me away, where there was a shaded picnic table nearby. I felt bad for leaving Alyssa, but I was also still starving. So much so, I didn’t think twice about running off with this new acquaintance, Wyatt.
My hunger had been a standing joke between Alyssa and me. We shared a dorm room, and I practically lived at the cafeteria. My dad even brought me imperishable items to hold me over. Yet, I hadn’t gained one pound. I chalked it up to good genes. One day, it would probably catch up, and then I’d have to squeeze my fat rump into some mom jeans. Not that I was ever planning on becoming a mother.
I waited patiently for Wyatt to explain. I assumed he meant a change into manhood or a change in location, but it wasn’t really my place to ask, especially since we had just met. Whatever it was, he was assuming I was going through it, and I wasn’t a man or boy, so I waited, staying silent while I watched him.
“Yeah, it was tough.” He paused, unwrapping his burrito from the foil and taking a big bite before chewing it and swallowing it as if in one big gulp. “But it was nice to have others, you know, who were similar even if different.”
I stood there staring at him, confused as ever, but then my stomach growled loudly as the smell of the steak burrito he chowed down on wafted over to me. I sat down across from him and unwrapped my burrito.
“I’m not sure what you mean,” I finally said, my voice muffled as I rudely spoke between food-filled bites. I was really hungry, and once I started, I couldn’t stop.
He just smiled as if he understood. “The transition,” he announced with a shrug.
“Transition?” I asked, puzzled.
I looked up at him as I shoved the last bit of food into my mouth, closing my eyes in pleasure and then wiping my hands together as if to rid them of any leftover food bits. There were none. I had assaulted that burrito in the most unladylike way; I hadn’t even left a drop. I rolled the leftover aluminum foil up into a ball and walked over to the green garbage can, overflowing to the brim as trash spilled out, and added it to its bounty.
“You don’t know?” he questioned. Then, mumbling quickly, “I didn’t so much mean transition. I meant, like, you must have just moved here… like me.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but Ronan gently pushed me aside. I glanced at him and saw that he was staring daggers at Wyatt. Alyssa was close behind him.
“There you are, Charlie!” she called from behind Ronan. The look on her face told me everything I needed to know. She had figured out what I had already suspected, what baffled me to no end, that Ronan was a tool. Which kind of made me want to punch him for hurting her feelings. I could see the sting of the realization plastered across her features, even though she hid it well.
Ronan continued to ignore Alyssa; his eyes set on Wyatt. I glanced over at Wyatt, who was still standing beside me. He stared back, not with anger like Ronan, but as if he couldn’t care less. There was a glistening of dare in his eyes. His mouth even tugged upward slightly on one side.
I shifted my gaze back to Ronan. Alyssa had a crush on him for a reason. He wasn’t hard on the eyes either, but his features were different. They were lighter, golden almost. There was more than one girl here with her eyes on him, with a look of need in their depths.
Before I could say anything or ask what he was doing, Ronan jutted his head swiftly to the side at Wyatt. Wyatt shrugged, and as Ronan walked off, he followed.
“Wow,” Alyssa muttered as she moved to stand next to me. Her blond hair swayed behind her, and her innocent face twisted in confusion. “You know, on second thought, maybe Ronan isn’t so hot after all.” She was lying but trying to save face after her rejection.
“Alyssa,” I drawled, taking my eyes off Wyatt and Ronan, who were speaking far enough away that we couldn’t hear their voices. They were arguing, it was obvious, but they were being as quiet as possible about it. “I don’t like Ronan. I don’t know why he is acting this way. I’ve said it more than once that he is a jerk.” She nodded from beside me.
“I kind of thought it was odd,” she lowered her voice even more, “When we were around each other, he always asked me questions about my friends, but he would always bring the conversation to you.” She glared at Ronan as she admitted it.
"What kind of questions?" I asked as I crossed my arms over each other awkwardly, trying to keep myself from clenching my fists and then pulling at my fingers nervously. I would move and fidget when I was nervous or anxious, which I now was.
"Where you were, who you were with. Weird stuff like that." Alyssa shrugged, not meeting my eyes as she stared daggers at Ronan from a distance.
“That is weird. Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked. Still watching Ronan and Wyatt argue. Wyatt laughed as Ronan stormed away. He shot an angry glance our way but didn’t come toward us.
“I just thought I interested him,” she said, watching him storm away. She grabbed my arm as she put her golden head on my shoulder. Wyatt was still standing near the tree, his eyes on me as if to invite me over with him. Instead, I rolled my eyes at him and turned with Alyssa in tow. I was sure I heard a deep laugh behind me.
“Well, that was odd,” Alyssa finally said as we opened the doors to her bright red Volkswagen Bug; a graduation gift from her parents, complete with the yellow swaying flower on the dashboard. I didn’t have a car yet, which was fine since everything I needed was on campus. My dad would pick me up when I would go home, or I would hitch a ride with Alyssa.
“Yes,” I agreed as she sped out of the parking lot. The crowd was thin here, as we parked farther away. So, there wasn’t a need to be as careful of pedestrians.
“I really thought Ronan was interested in me.” She sighed.
“I’m sorry,” I offered, glancing over toward her.
She chewed on her lip, something she would do when she was trying to distract herself from something, usually an emotion. In this case, I could guess what it was.
“Alyssa.” I tried to draw her away from the inner turmoil of her hurt feelings.
She glanced over at me but said nothing in return for a moment.
“Do you like Ronan?” she asked slowly, with care. Taking her eyes off the road for just a moment, a look of acceptance in the bright blue depths of her icy blue orbs.
“Seriously?” I groaned, aggravated, then rolled my eyes at her. “You know how much I don’t like him.” I would have scoffed, but I didn’t want to upset her any more than she already was.
“Yeah, I know,” she admitted. “But I… I thought maybe… I don’t know. Never mind.”
“No, you thought what?” I demanded, but there was a softness in my voice.
“Well, here lately…” she stopped, acting as if she would continue but pursing her lips together instead.
I groaned loudly. As much as fate had blessed Alyssa with beauty and brains, there were still times when she was very insecure. Rarely, and only around a select few she felt comfortable with.
“It’s just that you, well, you’re different,” she mumbled quickly, as if she didn’t want to say it. "And I don't mean because of what happened to you."
She turned her head to drive down a dark road barely illuminated by the occasional streetlight. We were in deep woods country, and the roads here were long and dark. It was a short distance to the highway, but the pitch blackness always unnerved me and intrigued me at the same time.
“What do you mean?” I asked, curious but distracted at the same time, feeling a heaviness in my gut as I looked around.
“I mean, well, you, yourself, are not different per se. It’s how some people respond to you, and sometimes you look—”
She quickly stopped speaking, slamming on the brakes as something big and black shot out across the road. But as quickly as it had come, it was gone. We weren’t near it, so it was hard to tell what it really was. It slinked fast across the road, like a shadow. Alyssa shrieked briefly as she slammed the brakes hard once again, throwing us forward.
“Alyssa!” I cried as my head lurched forward violently, my body catching on my locked seat belt.
“Did you… did you see that?” she whispered; her eyes wide as she twisted her body around to lock all the doors. Her breath heaved as her gaze swept the darkness around the car before landing on me.
“See what?” I stared back at her. “The shadow?”
“It wasn’t a shadow,” she said a little louder, her brows furrowing as she practically scoffed at me. “It was a cat, a really fucking big one.”
I laughed. “A cat?” I knew I had seen something, but what that was, I wasn’t entirely sure.
“A big one!” she said.
She smacked me through my laughter, then, with a roll of her eyes, she took her foot off the brake and continued down the road.
