Lord of Chaos (The Dragon Demigods #7) - Charlene Hartnady Page 0,65
okay. We can’t keep running from Gaire forever. I have that thought strongly in the back of my mind. “You know what to do if he turns up.”
“Yes, and thank you,” Rage says as Death disappears in a cloud of ozone. The scent dissipates quickly out in the open air. We’re outside Rage’s house. He pulls the sheet more tightly around himself. “Good thing I don’t have any neighbors nearby,” he says, looking down at himself.
“What did Gaire want?” I ask him.
“He wanted to bargain with me.”
“A bargain? What kind of bargain?” I swallow thickly. “It was probably something you really want. Gaire is good at finding a person’s weakness and exploiting it.”
“Let’s go inside.” Rage gestures to the door.
I feel my mouth turn dry. Is Rage about to tell me that he’s accepting the offer? Is this him letting me down gently? Maybe I misread the emotions I saw earlier. Or maybe whatever it is that Gaire has offered is just too important to Rage to pass up.
We go inside.
“You should really stop wearing my shirts.” When I look at Rage, there’s humor glinting in his eyes. I’m still in the t-shirt Rage discarded earlier.
I get straight back to the question that’s sitting at the forefront of my mind. “What did Gaire want? What did he offer you?”
“Do you want something to drink?” He goes to the refrigerator.
Why is he stalling? “No.” I shake my head. “I need to know what happened. You’re making me nervous here.”
“You have nothing to be nervous about.”
I give him a look.
“Okay, I’ll take that back; you have a lot to be nervous about.” He grabs a soda and opens it, closing the refrigerator with his elbow. “You sure you don’t want one?” He holds up the can.
I feel too anxious to drink. “I’m sure.” My stomach feels tightly clenched.
“Let’s sit.” He gestures at the sofa. It’s the same one I slept on the night before last. It feels like forever ago.
I sit on the edge of the seat. My full attention is on him.
Rage puts the can down on the coffee table. “I’ll be back in a sec.” He disappears into his bedroom, returning half a minute later wearing a pair of sweatpants. He sits next to me. Rage just sits there for a few moments. It’s like he’s composing himself. I have to bite my tongue to stop myself from saying anything. My palms are starting to sweat. Rage finally pulls some air in through his nose. He’s squeezing his thighs in his big hands. His whole stance is rigid. Oh my gosh! This is bad. “When I was sixteen, something terrible happened.” He’s looking down at his lap. “I really liked this girl. We went out a bunch of times. I felt like she was the sun, the moon, and the stars, all rolled into one.” He’s rubbing his thighs. It’s nerves.
“What happened?” I say. It doesn’t sound like there was a happy ending. I almost don’t want to know.
“In hindsight, it was a whole lot of hormones, but back then, I thought she was the one. We’d gone to third base, and I felt like it wouldn’t be long before…it became really serious between us.” He chuckles, but it’s filled with pain and suffering. “I was so excited about finally having sex. About being with Bella. I was so stupid!” he growls the last.
“That’s not stupid; it’s young love. My brothers wouldn’t let anyone near me, but I can understand what it must have felt like.”
“It was stupid because Bella didn’t feel the same way about me. Not even close. My best friend also liked her, but I started dating her first, so he stayed away. I played down what I was feeling for her. I didn’t want Warrick and our friends to laugh at me. I pretended it wasn’t a big deal, that I didn’t care for her as much as I did.” He scrubs a hand over his face. His eyes are on a spot on the far side of the room. I can see that he’s thinking back. He grips his thighs again. “So, there I was, feeling all in love. I went over to Bella’s place, thinking this would be the day we went all the way. The day I would get to tell her that I was in love with her. There were stars in my eyes. My palms were sweaty. I was so excited. No one answered the door, So I went around back.