Awakening (The Magic of the Black Forest Book 2) (14 page)

After a few games we all piled into the truck to go back to our house. On the way, Colleen sat on Jesse’s lap to make room for Bradley and me. This time I jumped on Bradley’s lap. I gazed into his eyes lovingly, adoringly before resting my head against his chest.

He carried me into the house, right to our bedroom. After placing me on our bed he said, “Goodnight, Natalia. Have only sweet dreams,” then kissed my forehead and headed for the door.

“You’re not sleeping with me?” My voice cracked at the thought.

“No.” His voice sounded cold and distant. He didn’t look back as he shut the door.

“Bradley… I’m sorry. Please don’t hate me… I love you.”
I didn’t want to yell or sound desperate even though I was.
“I know what I did was wrong and selfish. Please forgive me.”

When he didn’t return, I got up and grabbed a change of clothes. Needing to brush my teeth and get Andrew off of me I headed into the bathroom. From the moment that sick bastard touched and kissed me, my skinned crawled. There was a desperate need to shower, to wash away his filth from my skin. Too numb to argue, instead I did what everyone else wanted and went out. Although, at least for a moment, the nightmare had been forgotten before it all came rushing back, haunting me.

I scrubbed my gums until they bled and then got undressed. Throughout the night my right thigh ached. Up high on the back of my thigh, it was difficult to see without a mirror. Now alone with nothing to occupy my mind, the burning drew my attention. Reaching back, touching it, it felt like it was cut. After calling for Colleen she came in to check it out.

“Oh my God, Nat! We better get that cleaned out.” She went to the sink and picked up my toothbrush. “Nat, why is there blood on your toothbrush?”

That was when I lost it. The drama of the day flooded from my eyes. Crying uncontrollably, Imurmured about Andrew kissing me, and how I desperately needed to get the germs and disgust from my mouth and body. I went on to say that Bradley saw it and has barely touched me since then. That he didn’t love me anymore.

Sympathetic to my situation, she told me to get in the shower, “You’ll feel better once you wash him off your skin. After you’re finished I’ll clean out that cut for you.”

She left and I got in the shower. At first I stood there letting the water cleanse me. It was then, while standing in the shower letting the water wash over me, I realized that Andrew wasn’t going to stop until someone died. I sat down and hugged my knees while crying, allowing the steaming hot water to continue to wash over and cleanse me.

“Natalia, please don’t cry.” The shower door opened.

I couldn’t look up. By now he’d seen my bruised and battered body and would be even more disgusted with me.

“Natalia!”

Sobbing even harder now, I wouldn’t have thought that that could be possible.

Bradley spoke softly to Colleen before the bathroom fell quiet. Moments later he climbed in behind me, gently sliding me forward he wrapped his legs around and rested them on the side of mine. Softly and gently, he washed my back while I cried.

My arms, back, and leg throbbed. My entire body hurt. The right side hurt a lot more than the left. That was the side that suffered the impact of each landing when Andrew tossed my body like a mere rag doll into the air.

After washing my back and arms, Bradley helped me to my feet and began shampooing my hair. My limbs felt too heavy to lift and move, they just hung, dangling. Even though my desire to flee and be alone remained, the reasons were different now. Ashamed, disgusted and desperate, I wanted curl up into a ball and hide from everyone.   

Finished with my hair, Bradley washed the rest of my body while I stood there, feeling numb as the tragedy of my actions hit me. Earlier, my concerns and anguish were focused on everyone else. Now, knowing the pain that I inflicted on Bradley and Andrew on me, it was a severe blow that left me broken.

Bradley stood before me, placed his hand under my chin, and tilted it up. Lifting my lips, he examined my mouth. “Oh, Natalia…” I could only imagine what my gums looked like. They were burning and throbbing painfully, but at least they felt clean unlike earlier when my mouth felt disgusting.

My body cleaned of Andrew, Bradley shut off the water and helped me out of the shower. Gently wrapping a towel around me, he caressed my left cheek with the back of his right hand before lifting me up and carrying me to our room. Massaging my head, he towel dried my hair before brushing it.

Laying me down in our bed, he told me he’d be right back. While he was gone I chanted a healing spell to try and heal my wounds. Nothing happened. The wounds and pain remained. Rolling over to hug my pillow, I buried my tear-drenched face in it, hiding my shame.

Bradley returned with Colleen. They put medicine and bandages on a few of my smaller wounds. When they got to my thigh, I heard Colleen say that it needed stitches and she was going to get Jesse.

“Wait until I get her dressed. Tell Jesse to get ready.” Bradley’s voice seemed softer but the disappointment was still there in his tone.

As he stood me up I said, “I’m so sorry, Bradley. It was so selfish of me to go out alone like that. Please know that I didn’t do it to put anyone, especially you, in danger…”

Dressing me, he put on my shirt. Placing his finger over my lips he gently spoke, “My sweet Natalia, you did nothing wrong. There is no reason to apologize. Please stop apologizing.” His eyes were soft and loving as they gazed into mine.

“But had I just stayed in he wouldn’t have been able to hurt me, which in turn hurt you.”

“Yes, I wish you had waited for me before you went out alone, but what’s done is done. Do you still love me?”

“What?” I asked, thoroughly confused by his question. How could he think that I didn’t love him anymore? After what I did, putting him and our friends in danger, I thought he was having doubts about us, about me.

“I didn’t get to you before he did, before he kissed you.” He ran his hand roughly through his hair. “I thought you were taking a nap.” Taking a deep pained breath he closed his eyes. “And, even though I felt anxious and my instincts told me to check on you I ignored them. I thought maybe I was being overly protective so I didn’t go into our room to check on you.” After a couple quick glances at me, he looked down at his feet. “I didn’t go until I felt that you needed me. I ran out the front door and followed your scent until I found you there in his arms.”

After helping me put on a pair of loose fitting jogging shorts, Bradley took another peek at my injury. The cut, high on the back of my upper right thigh, was hard for me to see.

Once I was decent, he called for Jess. “No, Bradley, wait,” I pleaded.

“We can talk later, Natalia. We need to take care of that wound. Neither of us did anything wrong. My feelings haven’t changed for you. Well, that’s not true… I love you even more.” He chuckled but the laughter did not reach his eyes.

“I love you and always will.”

Jesse stitched up my thigh. It needed twelve stitches. This time Jesse came prepared and had something to numb my leg first. I didn’t feel a thing as he sewed, sealing my wound.

For some insane reason Jesse thought it would be funny to slap my ass when he was finished. It hurt so bad that I pictured slamming him into the wall, and a second later it happened. This gave me an idea.

“Bradley, I have an idea,
” I mindfully said as he laughed, helping Jesse up.

We went into the living room where I told them about my idea to use me as bait. It needed some tweaking, but with everyone’s help we could make it work.

“Let’s hear it, Natty.” Colleen totally ignored the fact that Bradley wasn’t pleased with her encouraging me to continue.

“Well, it needs tweaking but… While Cheryl keeps Anthony busy, I was thinking that we could use me as bait. With Andrew alone we’d have a better chance to defeat him. I could use my magic to trap Andrew…”

Bradley interrupted, shaking his head and demanding, “No! You can’t even heal yourself!”

The words
You can’t even heal yourself
repeated in my mind. Although I knew he was right, hearing him say those words, I recoiled as if he had slapped me in the face.

“Bradley, we have to try something. We can’t just sit here and wait for him to get us.”

“No, Natalia, we’re not using you as bait. I mean it, no!” His eyes were hard as he pulled them from mine.

“I agree with Brad. It’s not a good idea.” Jesse seemed just as flustered by my idea. “Brad, why don’t you take Natalia to bed while Dave and I fine tune the plan you came up with earlier today. Then in the morning we can fill you in with anything we added.”

“No, I’m not ready for bed.” They were strategizing without me. “This is my fault, so why shouldn’t it be me to bait them?”

Jesse put his hands on my shoulder and I winced from the pain. “Nat, you just went through something very traumatizing today. You have bruises all over your body and let’s not forget about the twelve stitches I just added to your thigh. You need some rest. In the morning we will fill you in.”

I shook his hands from my shoulders and angrily went into our room by myself. Minutes later Bradley joined me. As he climbed into our bed he asked, “Why are you still dressed?”

“My body looks disgusting so I put on this nightgown.” I wrapped the blankets around my shoulders tighter as if I could hide my shame.

“Please turn around and face me.” He requested it so tenderly that I couldn’t refuse. He looked at my gums again before kissing me. I assumed to make sure they weren’t still bleeding. His kiss, filled with passion and hunger, was unlike any other kiss before. He held me tight against him and before I knew it my arms were wrapped around his neck with my fingers locked in his hair.

Suddenly, a desperate need to be touched by him, to feel him inside consumed me. Not because his kiss aroused me. It was more than desire. I needed him to be with me. To forget about everything that had happened.

Reaching down I took his shaft into my hand, gently massaging him. “Bradley…” I whispered. I’m glad that I wasn’t wearing anything under my nightgown. I needed to strike while the iron was hot, before he became concerned about my cuts and bruises.

With his lips back on mine, I pushed my body against his, rolling him onto his back. I climbed on top of him, never letting go of his erection.

“No, Natalia…”

Before he could say another word I kissed him again. Grabbing my hand, he gently pushed it away from him. Ignoring him I positioned and readied myself. Licking my lips and exploring my tongue with his, Bradley’s kiss filled me with passion and desire. It led me to believe he wanted this, too.

With my free hand, I lifted my nightgown up, took hold of his shaft and positioned it between my thighs. In one swift movement his cock slid up into my slick, wet center. A moan of pleasure escaped me when the warmth radiated throughout my body. Sitting up, moving my hips up and down, sliding his cock in and out, my thoughts scattered. Losing myself completely in our world of pleasure, I hadn’t realized that Bradley wasn’t responding to my touch.

It was the feeling of being watched that had me opening my eyes. When our eyes met, his black as night had me stopping dead in my tracks.

Slipping my nightgown over my head while smiling down at him, I grabbed both of his hands and placed them on my breasts. Not responding or reacting flustered me but I refused to let him know. He watched me closely while I slowly leaned down to whisper in his ear, “Bradley…” Using the tip of my tongue, I traced the rim of his ear. Rocking my hips and pressing butterfly kisses down his neck, he still lay there, not moving.  

“Please…”

He remained frozen.

“I need you,” I pleaded, grinding my hips against him again. After a few more failed attempts to get him to love me, I gave up. Sitting up, with his hard shaft still buried deep inside, we stared at one another. Bradley’s eyes were black and distant. His hands were lying open at his side, not clutching anything. Accepting that he wasn’t going to participate, I laid down on him, resting my head on his chest.

When Bradley didn’t wrap his arms around me my thoughts ran rampant. Does my body look worse than I thought? When he looked at me, did he see Andrew kissing me?

His reaction made my stomach flutter, my chest tight. In an uncertain tone I whispered, “I love you, Bradley.” Lying there listening to his steady breathing, I tried to figure out what had happened to make him respond so coldly. It was so unlike him.

Eventually, I drifted off to sleep.

Although my dreams were pleasant, I didn’t sleep very long. We were making love, he had me screaming his name over and over again, begging him not to stop. It felt so real that I didn’t want to wake. When I heard him calling me, pulling me from my dream, I became irritated, annoyed, thinking,
What now? I can’t do it in my dreams!

I felt his warm breath on my face, “Natalia, my love,” came out as his body moved under mine.

When I opened my eyes I was stunned to see that we hadn’t changed positions. His eyes were still smoldering black. Turning away, I closed my eyes to hide the anger. As I rolled off of him I could feel his shaft still hard inside me. Just the thought of him aroused me. Those feelings, emotions, always superseded all other thoughts, regardless if I was angry with him or not.