Maybe the Incredible Hulk

 

Chapter Fifteen

 

A whole mess of emotions rushed at me when Demetri walked through the door. Someone may as well have thrown a bucket of water (soapy and disgusting water…like after you wash a car and you keep dipping the rag back in the bucket) in my face. It would have had the same effect.

No one said anything for a moment, and I tried to get up from the infirmary bed but Chase held up a hand, effectively stopping me from rising. Um, hello, free country?

Chase walked around the side of my bed so that he was standing on the other side, the one nearest to the door. And, surprise, nearest to Demetri. He was blocking my view of the white-blond devil that apparently wasn’t so bad after all.

Yeah. Good joke, right?

“Demetri.” Chase says in a controlled voice. I can hear the coldness in just that one word, and I can also see it in his balled-up fists.

I shift my weight so that I’m kneeling on the bed, and I can see around Chase, despite his attempt to block me from the devil.

“Oh hey, Chase.” Demetri says, sounding bored. “I didn’t know you’d be here. Listen, I need to talk to your sexy little friend for a minute, so if you wouldn’t mind…” Demetri trails off, seeing me, and smiles quite evilly. Even for the devil.

I can see a muscle flinch in Chase’s forearm as he gets ready to throw a punch and I try to Persuade him to drop his hand to no effect. Damn it. I reach up quickly, snatching Chase’s wrist and creating a vise around it with both of my hands, pulling it down to his side. Demetri looks amused but then his good-natured eyes turn towards me and I swear the temperature drops a few degrees.

“Chase,” I say in my sternest voice, keeping it quiet so Demetri can’t hear what I’m saying. “Don’t.”

The muscles don’t relax in Chase’s arm, and just then I realize that I’m holding his hand. Not romantically, of course, but still. I drop his hand, keeping mine prepared to snatch his up again should he start throwing punches.

“Hey, babe.” Demetri says to me, and I feel myself flinch. God, his voice is so creepy.

I get up from the bed slowly, stepping onto the ground beneath it, close to Chase.

Before any of us can say or do anything more Mrs. Davenport—ahem, Margaret—appears in the door, her face bright.

“Chase, I need your help with something downstairs.” She says cheerily, looking at her son with profound meaning in her eyes.

“Ask Brody or Logan. I’m not leaving Skye right now.” Chase says, his eyes not leaving Demetri. Anybody could hear the distaste in Chase’s voice when he said “him”. Like Demetri was a diseased rat or something. Okay, sorry. He totally is.

“Chase,” Margaret says firmly and Chase’s eyes flicker to his mother. “Now, please.”

Some unknown argument passes through the mother and son, the way only parents and children can argue silently. And then, to my surprise and Demetri’s, Chase takes a step towards the door. I feel my stomach drop as Demetri’s eyes light up mischievously.

Margaret leaves the room and walks out into the hall, Chase a few steps behind her. He turns at the door and looks coldly—so freaking coldly—at Demetri.

“If you even think about touching her, you’ll be sorry you ever did. Got it?” Chase spits at Demetri.

Demetri raises an eyebrow. “I’m not sorry I touched her last time, Chasey boy. That’s the best I’ve felt for months.” He says, smirking.

I feel two things form in the pit of my stomach then. The first: anger. And the second: fear.

Chase cracks his neck in a very intimidating way and takes a few threatening steps towards Demetri, who flinches back. Chase then smirks and takes a step away from Demetri, happy with the reaction he got. He then walks out the door without as much as a backward glance at me. I can’t help but feel a little hurt. I mean, come on. I’m precious.

And he also left me alone with the devil. Real nice.

Demetri turns toward me and takes a few steps in my direction so that he’s standing only inches from me. I try to shrink back but then the piercing sound starts in my head again. I look at Demetri, and he’s smiling sickly.

“I can make it go away,” he says in a, what must be for him, dreamy voice.

I close my eyes to try and block out the pain but then I realize I don’t want to have my eyes closed around Demetri like, ever.

“But it’ll cost you.” He says.

I open my eyes and for a second the sound stops. Then it’s back. “I don’t have any money.” I whisper, already knowing that that’s not what he’s talking about.

“We both know that’s not what I want.” He says quietly, his brown eyes growing a little warmer for half a second.

I press my lips together and try to fight the pain that is now consuming me, once again.

“Please,” I say. “Stop it.”

And then something amazing happens. Demetri presses a finger to my temple (which okay, makes me flinch again) and then the pain is gone. Disappeared. I feel better then I have since I opened my eyes. And I don’t mean at birth.

I blink my eyes, getting used to the feeling of no pain, and then look at Demetri. He looks the exact way that somebody who just won the lottery does. I sigh.

“What is it that you want?” I ask Demetri, already knowing his answer. I need to get out of this room. Why did Chase leave me here?

Demetri smiles and takes a step closer to me, virtually leaving me with no room to breathe. I try to take a step back but my bed is there, blocking me from doing so. Demetri’s eyes flash with anger and the pain in my head starts up again, worse than before. I keel over, fighting the nausea that comes with pain. I heave, trying to throw up, but realizing that I probably haven’t eaten in a couple of days, nothing comes up.

“Please!” I cry. “Stop it.” It hurts….”You can have whatever it is you want. J-just stop the pain.”

Demetri lifts me up by the arms and pulls me to his chest. Which is muscled, not nearly as much as Chase’s, and is exactly the place I do not want to be.

His lips press against mine once again and the pain disappears as soon as his hand travels to my hair. I can’t help but shuddering (not from pleasure…ew….but from fear) but Demetri just pulls me closer. I know that if I pull away, kick him where it hurts, and run, the pain will start up (and how much more can I take?) so I stand completely motionless while Demetri moves his lips down my neck and over my collarbone. I feel like I’m going to throw up.

Again, like the time at the party, his hands slide up my shirt and his lips move up and down my neck. I squeeze my eyes shut and when Demetri’s hand lowers to my pants I opened my eyes wide, pushing him away. I shove him as hard as I could; sending him stumbling backward a little bit and then I run out of the room and into the long hallway.

“Chase!” I yell as loud as I could. He would help me. Before I could reach the stairs pain hits me, crippling me, making me drop to the floor. I crumple into a ball, unmoving, unable to call out for help.

It feels like someone is driving over my head with a truck. And then slamming it into reverse and running me over one more time. I whimper. Chase.

I hear two pairs of footsteps then. The first were Demetri’s, who walked toward me angrily as if he was going to kill me. And the second pair of footsteps were Chase’s, who I saw turn toward Demetri and concentrate on him.

Ah, I thought to myself. He’s a Controller; he’ll get it to stop. And it did, right after it got worse and I scream out loud and curl into an even tighter ball.

Chase then drops down next to me on the floor, and pulls me, shivering, onto his lap. Margaret appears in front of Chase and me then, and I see her crouch down on the floor, and ask Chase what happened. Demetri stand, watching us, from a few feet away, his anger having faded into arrogance.

Chase shifts my weight so that I’m sitting on the floor and stands up slowly. I catch a glimpse of his eyes to see that they are burning with hate and for a second I’m actually afraid.

Chase levels his glare on Demetri, whose arrogance has slightly deterred. If looks could kill, Demetri would be dead and buried.

The corners of Chase’s mouth lift slightly, and his eyes focus in on Demetri, who is shifting his weight uncomfortably from foot to foot. In a fight of Talents, Demetri knows that he wouldn’t stand a chance. All Chase would have to do it say, you have no Talents, and Demetri would forget that he was a Piercer—he’d forget what he could do. Or Chase could say, Give up, and Demetri wouldn’t bother to even fight Chase. See what I mean?

Nobody, except maybe the Incredible Hulk (and not him, even, I change my mind) stands a chance against Chase.

So, when Chase looked at Demetri with that look in his eyes, all I could think was that Demetri is so, so dead.

But Chase surprised me. As he always does.

“I could teach you a lesson by Controlling you,” Chase starts, eyes zeroing in on Demetri’s shaking hand. “But that’d be less satisfying. So, we’re going to sort out our…disagreements the traditional way.” Chase smiles.

Demetri looks as Chase cracks his knuckles and he swallows nervously. “The traditional way?” He questions. Chase grins.

“Yeah, Demetri. We’re going to fight. With our fists and not our Talents.” Chase explains. Demetri pales a little. And okay, if I thought a fight using Talents was unfair, then a fight using fists was just completely in a different ball park. Demetri must know this as well as I do, because he looks like he wants to run. Nobody would want to get into a fist fight with Chase; far less when he’s pissed.

So, sensing no other option, Demetri does what anybody in his position (okay, just him) would do. He levels his gaze on me and smiles.

The pain that hits me is double the pain from the last time. It’s a good thing I’m on the floor, or else I would have fallen and probably cracked my skull open. Which would probably feel pretty good right about now.

The pain…stop the pain…

I can’t even breathe anymore. It’s more of a gasping, like I can’t get air to my lungs. Margaret pulls me up, so as to support my head, and I groan at the burning sensation it creates. Chase doesn’t explode in anger like I expected. Instead, in a very calm voice, he says to Demetri.

“If you value your life, you will stop what you’re doing to her.”

The way he says it has chills running up my spine, and if I were Demetri, I would totally be stopping right now. I mean, hello, I’m in pain!

Chase chuckles without humor and then I hear a great big crack and what sounds like a body being thrown into a wall. Literally. Like, if I could see right now, there would probably be a big old hole in the wall. Told you Chase felt like redecorating. But forget hammers, we use people!

Chase teaches Demetri a “lesson” and in less then five minutes the pain stops. I sag against Margaret, who is rubbing my back soothingly. She immediately puts her hands on my forehead in a motherly gesture and my temperature is lowered. Oh yeah, she’s a Healer.

“Brody, Logan.” I hear Chase say. I guess the other brothers have appeared for the show now too. Why am I always such a damsel in distress when I’m at the Davenport house? I couldn’t be that bad-a*s punk chick that fights for her rights? No, instead I’m the chick that collapses on floors and gets sexually assaulted by guys. So very, very bad a*s.

“Get him out of here.” Chase says, and Brody and Logan heave a bloody and bruised Demetri out of the wall (ha, literally) and pull him, snarling, away from me and down the stairs.

Margaret finishes healing me the best she can and then gets up to leave. She brushes my cheek with her hand. “You’ll be okay, Skye.” She reassures me. I smile. She’s a sweet lady.

Chase again sits down beside me on the floor and pulls me into his lap. Is it weird to say that I can picture myself spending the rest of my life in his arms? Because I can. There is nowhere I’d rather be—not even home—that isn’t Chase’s arms.

“You don’t need to fight so much,” I say quietly to Chase, who chuckles. I can feel the laugh through his chest and I press myself a little closer to him, wrapping my arms around him in an embrace. The flutters in my stomach turn into flurries and I take a deep breath.

“I’ll always fight for you.” Chase tells me, his voice low. I feel another flutter in my stomach and I press my face against his wide chest.

“Chase?” I say so quietly I don’t think he hears me. I am still hiding my face from him.

“Mm?” He answers, hands running through my hair comfortingly. I take another deep breath, which is as shaky as I feel.

“Something’s happening.” I whisper, reaching up to trace his collarbone. I feel him sigh in contentment.

“What’s that?” He asks me, lazily running his hands up my arms. I shudder, but not in fear this time.

This is it. The moment of truth. “I think I’m falling in love with you.” I say, so quietly this time that I’m positive he didn’t hear me. For a moment Chase doesn’t say anything, just keeps running his hands up and down my arms. I shiver and he then pulls me even closer, if that’s possible.

“The funny thing is I didn’t think I’d ever be able to love again.” Chase says to me, and I can feel my intake of breath, almost as if my heart is breaking a little. So he doesn’t feel the same way, Skye. That’s fine, I tell myself. But it’s not. It’s really not. “But Skye, you’re making me really, really doubt that.” He says.

And—for freak’s sake, it’s about time—Chase’s lips are on mine.

Reviews

[Anya]

""Ask Brody or Logan. I'm not leaving Skye right now." Chase says, his eyes not leaving Demetri. Anybody could hear the distaste in Chase's voice when he said "him"." Is the only mistake I could see :) I assume it must be;
"Ask Brody or Logan. I'm not leaving Skye with him." or something like that rather then ""Ask Brody or Logan. I'm not leaving Skye right now."

another awesome chapter! Poor Skye and I'm so glad that she and Chase FINALLY kissed :D I mean they needed to, right? It was a very sweet chapter but also very powerful :)

I LOVE this book sooo much :)

[Rusty]

Too short, I want more. I really dig this demitri character. I'm a huge romance lover so this love story is keeping me hanging. Your a talented writer......keep it up!!!!!!