Remmie blushes and I laugh. Everything seems to be more relaxed now that we are all eating and doing normal things. I finish my share of the pizza and yawn. My drink is almost empty and I don't remember drinking it.
"Does anyone else think it's weird that we are drinking alcohol while underage inside the house of two cops who we usually avoid because cops are the enemy and yet here we are?" Derrin asks.
Jase laughs. "Dude that didn't make any sense at all."
"Dude? Man, you gotta get hip with the lingo if you're going to keep your cover. We don't say Dude anymore."
I shake my head as Jase and Derrin argue back and forth over what is and isn’t the right lingo to use.They are insane, all of them are insane."I'm going to go for a bath."
Twenty-Three
Areyna
"Thought I'd find you in here."
"Torren! What the hell?" My entire body is blushing, I swear it.
"Oh, don't be such a prude. I've seen plenty of naked girls before."
"What do you want?"
"I thought that was obvious." He leans over the edge of the bath, his eyes taking on a darker shade of blue. His full lips brush the curve of my ear, sending shock waves through my entire body. "I want to talk."
"You what?" I gasp. I'm half disappointed, half afraid he might try something. "It couldn't wait until I was finished?"
"How was I supposed to wash your back if I hadn't come in while you were in the bath?" He picks the loofa up off the bath shelf and dips it in the water. Taking his time adding soap to it, he begins to talk, "You know, Remmie wasn't always the way he is now. When he was younger, he was one of the sweetest guys, all the girls wanted him, but he only had eyes for one girl." Torren gently rubs my back with the loofa. My eyes drift shut, enjoying the sensation of his warm breath on my neck and the press of the loofah on my spine.
"She, however, didn't even see him." Torren smiles sadly. "Remmie had finally gotten up the courage to ask her out, he was so sweet about it, he waited for Valentine's day, brought flowers, a box of chocolates and waited by her locker. She smiled sweetly at him, accepted his flowers and chocolates then leaned in, in front of the students gathered in the hall, she didn't even bother to be kind. To let him down gently."
Torren runs the loofa along my arms, gently massaging the soap into my skin, I close my eyes, listening to his voice as he continues, "She placed her hand on his chest, looked him right in the eyes, and said in a loud voice, "You're beneath me, why would I want someone like you as a boyfriend?" Remmie was devastated, he's not shown any interest in a girl until now."
I gasp, tears forming in the back of my eyes.Why would anyone say something like that to Remmie? It's so cruel.
"Ever since that day, he's tried to figure out what true emotions are. He spends almost every waking minute trying to understand why people do the things they do."
"Doesn't he know that you can't quantify an emotion? No two people react the same way." I shake my head, splashing a bit of the bathwater onto the floor. If only Remmie would stop trying to analyze people, he might actually stand a chance at being a normal guy. Well, as normal as us Hybrids can be. Although, the more I get to know Remmie, the less strange he seems. I actually like his quirks. I like the way he sees things.
"Areyna are you in there?" Derrin calls out through the bathroom door. My entire face goes red, I'd forgotten I'm naked, in the bath alone, with Torren. He just seems to have a way about him that relaxes me and makes me forget all the current problems I’m dealing with.
"She'll be out in a few minutes." Torren calls back.
"What the fuck are you doing in there?" I sink further below the bubbles, trying to hide.
"Washing her back."
"Torren!" I growl.
"What, it's the truth."
I huff, "Yeah, but you didn't have to tell him."
"Yes, I did, it's part of the rules remember.”
Umm when did we set actual rules?
Derrin’s voice pops into my head,just after you took off, we all sat down and went over the best ways to deal with our situation. I told the others that I’d explain it all to you. I guess Torren thought I meant through our mental link.
Torren places a finger beneath my chin, tilting my face up to his, “We stay open and honest about everything. It’s the only way we’ll be able to stop the fighting between us all." My stomach growls. "Here." Torren presses his wrist to my lips and without thought I sink my fangs into his skin. My heart beats in time with the pulse beneath my lips, the more of him I drink in, the more I can feel him. His desire bleeds through our touch, igniting my own desires.