The next morning I awoke to an empty bed. Strangely, I no longer felt the fear of what I had become, although I still didn’t know what that was.
Somehow my rapid healing felt normal, as if that kind of thing had happened to me all my life. Even though I had gotten over my shock, I knew that I couldn’t say a word of it to anyone.
Pondering my newfound acceptance of my freakishly fast healing abilities, I made my way down the hall to the bathroom to get ready for school. Although I was sure Mum would allow me to stay home to recuperate, I would have to face everyone at school sooner or later. I figured I may as well get it over with. At least that way the rumour mill wouldn’t have hit epic proportions, and I might have a chance of convincing everyone it had been just a minor accident and nothing to gossip about. The less attention I received on the matter, the better off I would be.
After showering, dressing, and bandaging my non-existent wound, I walked down the stairs, bracing myself for a heated discussion. All I found was a note on the kitchen bench from my mum, saying she had to catch a flight to Sydney for some story and would be back in the evening, with a ‘P.S. stay home from school,’ at the bottom.
Yeah, right. I picked up my iPhone and called Aiden, hoping he hadn’t gotten to school yet. He picked up on the first ring. “Hey, beautiful. How are you feeling this morning?”
I heard a knock at the front door. “Better, thanks. You’re not at school yet, are you?” I walked to the front door to see who was there.
“Nope.”
“Good.” There was another knock at the door. “Coming,” I called to the persistent knocker.
I took a deep breath and braced myself for any onslaught he might throw at me for wanting to go to school so soon after the accident. “Can you pick me up on your way to school?” I opened the door and found my persistent knocker snickering. Aiden was standing there, looking as gorgeous as ever.
“Want a lift to school?”
I grabbed his shirt and pulled him inside. He wrapped me up in his arms, lifting me off the ground momentarily before setting me back down. All I wanted was to melt into his embrace and never let go.
“I’m glad you’re feeling better,” he said, then kissed the spot where the gauze was covering my stitches. I swear there was something more to what he was saying. Like he knew there was nothing under the bandages. Maybe he had taken a peep when I fell asleep last night. I knew I shouldn’t have asked him to stay with me. God, what was I thinking!
“Come on.” Aiden released me. “You’d better hurry before we miss first period.” He pulled me back into his arms, his body pressing against mine. “Unless….” He didn’t need to say any more.
I knew exactly what was on his mind. And no matter how tempting it would be to spend the day in bed with Aiden, I had to face everyone at school.
Not wanting to end our embrace, I forced myself to say, “Not today.”
I thought he would be disappointed, but I saw understanding in his eyes.
“God, you make it hard on a girl to do the right thing,” I said, looking at what I was passing up to go to school. His dreamy green eyes, short brown hair, chiselled jaw line covered in just enough stubble to be sexy. Add to that his tanned skin and perfectly-toned body—what could I say? I had to restrain myself from tearing his shirt off right then and there. I should have been locked up in a psych ward for refusing such an offer—maybe I wasn’t really human, after all.
I let go reluctantly, went back into the living room, picked up my bag, and headed for the front door, stopping briefly to look in the hall mirror to make sure I had covered the stitches properly.
Satisfied that nobody could see my non-existent wound, I grabbed my keys and joined Aiden in his black BMW convertible.