Touched (Sense Thieves) by Corrine Jackson

Author:Corrine Jackson [Jackson, Corrine]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp
Published: 2012-11-27T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Asher waited in the school parking lot the next morning, and I moved towards him like a pigeon to a homing beacon. He straightened with a sweet smile that warmed me from the inside out. As he took my book bag, his hand reached for mine, giving me ample time to reinforce my defenses before he folded my small, mitten-covered hand into his larger one. A million reasons existed why we shouldn’t do this, but not one of them mattered as we stood there smiling at each other.

He nodded toward my friends. “Would your friends mind if I walked you to class?”

“Probably.” Absolutely, if Lucy had anything to say about it. She’d given me an earful the night before when I told her I intended to see Asher. She’d warned me he would break my heart and assured me she’d be there to pick up the pieces because that’s what “loving sisters did when their idiot siblings made a huge, frickin’ mistake.” The short ride to school this morning had been a silent, awkward one.

Sure the hole I felt being bored into my back was accomplished by Lucy’s angry glare, I shrugged. “Let’s do it anyway.”

Asher’s forehead wrinkled in concern, but I distracted him by tugging his hand. Of course, he wasn’t pulled off balance. He merely tugged back, and I was thrown against his chest. He grinned down at me and teased, “I’m stronger, remember? Me, Protector. You, Healer.”

I gave him an innocent smile. “You’re lucky I’m wearing mittens right now, or I’d make you pay for that.”

His lips curved in a smirk as if he doubted my ability to do so.

Still smiling, I eased my walls down and created a very vivid mental picture of a video game version of me flexing bulging arm muscles in a threatening manner.

Laughter bubbled out of Asher, loud enough to draw stares, and I imagined what the others saw. Like me, they had to have noticed that popular Asher Blackwell kept himself from them. Always in control, always in check. The Asher before me was a different one from the boy I’d met on the beach—still beautiful, but somehow more relaxed. More touchable. In fact, my fingers itched to trace the scar that slashed through his eyebrow.

He stripped off my mitten, lifted our joined hands to his face, and folded my palm along the curve of his cheek with the tip of my finger near his brow. The remnants of a smile lingered at the corners of his mouth. “You have an odd fascination with my scar.”

I’d forgotten to raise my guard again, distracted by his easy laugh, and he’d read my mind. Worried my touch hurt him, I tried to pull away, but he held tightly. He pleaded, “Don’t go,” and I knew he wasn’t referring to my hand in his. “Trust me, Remy,” he whispered. “I won’t hurt you.”

For a long moment, I stared into his eyes, wavering. It wasn’t him I didn’t trust, and I raised my shield, hoping no one noticed the green sparks shooting from my skin to his.

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