I was in the seat beside him in record time. Tyson placed the box on my lap and sat back. He studied my face as I studied the box. I lifted the top off and dug through the white tissue paper inside.
Inside the tissue paper lay the most gorgeous dreamcatcher I had ever seen. The circle was black, the inside intricately woven with silver beads placed sporadically. Silver and black beads were hanging down on long strings ending with black and white feathers. There were white markings and words written around the black circle. I picked it up out of the box and held it close to my face so I could make sense of the tiny markings and read the words.
“What are these?” I asked quietly as I ran my fingers over one of the markings. The words were in a different language, one I couldn’t read.
Tyson’s fingers curled around mine, stopping my movements. His heat hit me, sending a tingle up my arm.
“It’s for safety and protection against all things,” he murmured quietly. “Even when you are asleep. Especially when you’re asleep.” He ran his thumb gently over the top of my hand in a slow circle. “I got this for you a few weeks ago. It took me a couple of days to put the spell together because I had to find the right books for it. The one I needed was hiding under Uncle Quint’s bed. I found a lot of interesting things under there.”
I cocked my head to the side in curiosity at how annoyed he sounded there at the end.
“What does Quinton have under his bed?” I asked with a burning curiosity and a desperate need to know. What did scary Uncle Quint have hidden under his bed? What would make Tyson sound so disgruntled? I hadn’t even seen Quinton’s bedroom yet and I was already planning on when I could find the opportunity to go digging for treasure under his bed.
“Ty?” I asked, and his fingers tightened around mine, squeezing gently.
I pulled my hand free so I could put my beautiful new dreamcatcher back into the tissue paper filled box.
“You don’t want to know, girl,” he said in an angry voice. “You’re going to have to trust me on this one, you don’t want to know.”
He was wrong. I did want to know. In fact, I think it was going to bug me until I found out.
I was learning that when it came to my friends and the people I cared about, I didn’t like being kept in the dark and I didn’t enjoy secrets unless I was in on them. I wouldn’t ask Tyson to tell me again when it was something he clearly didn’t want to share with me. I would bide my time and wait until I could find out for myself. Invasion of privacy? Yes, absolutely. Did I care? Nope, not in the least bit. This was Quinton we were talking about. Quinton who spied on me, invaded my dreams, stole my underwear, which I never got back, by the way and he’s done numerous other things that made him out to be a certifiable crazy man. He made people sick one second, then the next he made them fall in love. Against their own knowledge or even willingness, mind you. He was unapologetic in everything that he did, and I didn’t doubt for one second that he would not hesitate to go digging through my closet at the first opportunity he came across. With Quinton, all bets were off. He had it coming.
“Do you like it?” Tyson asked, breaking into my thoughts and pulling me away from what mysteries his Uncle kept hidden under his bed.
“What?” I asked stupidly.
He frowned at me.
“The dreamcatcher,” he said slowly. Then repeated, “Do you like it?”
I grinned at him and nodded furiously. “Do I like it?” I said. “No, I don’t like it.”
His face dropped, and his eyes filled with hurt and pain.
“I don’t like it,” I hurried to explain myself so I could take that l
ook out of his eyes. “I absolutely love it. It’s beautiful. Really. I’ve never had anything like it before and I’ve never been given a gift this lovely before.”
I left out the part about only ever being given shoes and pretty headbands from one of my mothers’ boyfriends before. That had been the only time I had been gifted with something from someone, but he already knew that story. My mother had never bought me a birthday present or a Christmas present before. Not that I had ever bought her anything either, because I hadn’t. It had never bothered me until now. I didn’t need to be thinking about my mother and all of the things I didn’t have while growing up.
The past was the past and in order for it to stay in the past, I needed to stop constantly thinking about it. I needed to focus on the here and now and being happy.
I looked into Tyson’s dark, dark eyes. Eyes so full of fire when they looked at me that it made my breath catch in my throat.
I swallowed thickly, quickly looking away from him.
“Can we hang it up, please?” I whispered.
I long finger touched my chin, pulling my head back towards him. I blinked in surprise. He was a lot closer than he had been before. Too close. I tried to scoot back but there was nowhere else to go.
“What are you doing?”
“Did he kiss you? That’s the only thing I can think of that makes sense of his behavior lately.” He asked in a dark voice I hadn’t heard from him in a while.
My eyes squinted in confusion and I sounded confused when I asked, “What? Did who kiss me? Whose behavior?”
I was entirely confused.