Confined (A Tethered Novel, Book 3) (7 page)

I sat on the counter in Kace and Adam’s kitchen, watching
Kace as he rummaged through his fridge for something to make us.

“Thought you said you had food here,” I teased.

He poked his head out from the fridge, and glanced at me
over his shoulder. “I do. I just don’t know what you’re in the mood for.”

Dibs lifted his head and cocked it to the side, while he
listened to Kace talk. I snickered at him. He’d toned down his hyperness a lot
since I’d been coming over more often. I was glad, because getting power-lined
by a golden retriever nearly the same size as me each time I came over was not
fun.

“Do you have cheese?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“Bread and butter?”

“Okay, I see where this is going,” Kace said. “You want a
grilled cheese?”

“Bingo,” I said. “With double the cheese please?”

Kace gathered everything he would need to make me one of his
famous grilled cheese sandwiches, and turned to face me. He strode over to
where I sat perched on the counter, and crushed my lips with a chaste kiss.

“You don’t even have to ask. I know just how you like it,”
he said, a sinful glare entering his icy eyes.

Warmth slid through my lower region at his words. His little
sexual innuendo was not lost on me.

Smiling, I looked up at him through my lashes. “That you
do.”

After eating what was probably the best grilled cheese I’d
ever had, Kace and I moved into the living room to lie around on the couch and
listen to the thumping music Adam had turned on. Callie poured me another glass
of wine, and sat on my other side so we could talk.

“So, you haven’t said much about working with Admer now that
you know he’s your dad. What’s that been like?” Callie asked as she put her
lips to her glass for another sip.

“Awkward, in more ways than one,” I answered with a small
smile.

Story of my life. What about my life wasn’t awkward at the
moment?

She nodded sympathetically. “I bet.”

I noticed Dibs pacing back and forth in front of the door,
as though he had to go outside and relieve himself.

“Looks like someone needs to go for a little walk.” I nudged
Kace with my elbow.

As soon as I said the word “walk,” Dibs’s eyes darted my
way. I’d said the magic word.

Kace flopped his head back against the couch and sighed. “I
know. He's been doing that for a little while now.”

Dibs sat in front of the door and watched fixedly as his
owner stood up to retrieve his leash.

“Wanna come with?” Kace asked me as he hooked Dibs up.

I crinkled my nose at him. “And be on pooper scooper patrol,
no thank you.”

“Suit yourself.” Kace chuckled.

“Pooper scooper patrol, I like that.” Callie laughed as Kace
left the apartment.

Adam flipped through a few songs without giving us a chance
to listen to more than the first few seconds of them, and then stormed off to
the back of the apartment, muttering something about this not being what he
wanted to hear right now.

I shifted to glance at Callie once Adam was out of earshot.

“What’s up with you two? Are you guys having problems or
something?” I asked. The wine made me bolder with my words than I normally
would be.

“No…why?” she asked, perplexed.

“Just curious. I noticed you thanked me when I said I’d
offered for you to stay at my place until things cooled down with you and your
mom.”

Callie glanced over my shoulder at the hallway, and then
drew her eyes back to me. “Honestly, it’s just that since you’ve come to town
and we can feel the magick flowing through us while touching, things have
gotten…a little
intense
.”

“Oh,” I said quickly, understanding exactly what she meant.

“Umm, and very easily at that. I think staying here would
only make it that much more extreme,” she admitted. Her cheeks flushed a
little, shifting from the pink tint of drinking to the red shade of
embarrassment before my eyes.

“I’m sure,” I said with a slight nod of my head.

Adam came back into the living room, balancing a case of CDs
on his forearm as he flipped through them one page at a time. I hadn’t realized
he was such a music buff.

“Wow, that’s a crap load of CDs,” I said as he walked past
us.

He glanced up for a split second and flashed me a sideways
grin. “Yeah. I know.”

“I can’t even remember the last time I bought a CD—I just
download songs from iTunes now—but he’s always buying them,” Callie said. She
took another swig of her wine.

Kace came through the front door with a happy Dibs at his
side. He unhooked him and placed the leash back on its hook by the door. After
ruffling his hair with his fingers, Kace walked over to the dining room table
where he’d set his beer and scooped it up.

“It’s starting to rain out there,” he said as he crossed the
room to sit beside me. “Glad I took him out when I did.”

I curled into Kace, and we sat unspeaking for a while,
listening to Adam shuffle through song after song. When he finally settled on
something, it was not what I’d expected to hear—“Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the
People.

“Why are you babysitting that?” Kace asked as he tapped my
glass with his knuckle.

“I’m not.” I tipped my head back and finished the remaining
little bit, then reached for the bottle Callie had set on the coffee table.

Pouring myself another glass, I decided I’d have some fun
tonight and worry about telling Kace about my kiss with Theo another night…if
ever. It wasn’t as if it was going to happen again. I’d already agreed to be
initiated tomorrow night, which meant that pull between us would be gone.

My throat tightened at the thought of becoming initiated.
Sitting back against the couch, I propped my feet up on the table. Kace
squeezed my thigh, and I sighed at the feel of my magick rushing to meet with
his touch.

“So, I have to watch my neighbors’ kids for a bit tomorrow
while their parents go to lunch and a movie in the afternoon. To be honest, I
seriously think they go do it in their car somewhere, because the Fourth of
July was when they met,” Callie said to me. “Wanna stop by and visit me while
I’m there?”

My jaw slacked. Give Callie enough wine and apparently her
words slipped freely through her sweetness filter.

“Sure,” I said between chuckling at what she’d just said.

“We could go shopping for something to wear to the
initiation afterward,” she suggested.

My stomach tightened and my laughter ceased. Going shopping
made everything to do with the initiation seem that much more real.

“Sounds good,” I said, hoping no one noticed how off my
voice sounded.

I took another swig from my glass, and eyed the remainder of
the bottle in front of me. That wouldn’t last long at all, not with the way I
was feeling.

The next day I woke in Kace’s bed with the worst headache
ever. Pressing my fingertips to my temples, I began to rub the headache away.
It didn’t work. Kace’s hand slipped over my bare hip and traveled across my
stomach, before stopping just below my navel. The awakening of my magick sent
shivers through me.

“Morning,” he whispered in my ear as he pressed himself
against me.

My body went into overdrive at the skin-to-skin contact with
his chest, and
other
areas, pressing against my backside. Not a bad way
to wake up in the morning.

“Morning,” I muttered.

“Happy Fourth of July.”

I’d forgotten entirely that was today.

“Happy Fourth of July,” I said back.

“Did you sleep well?” he asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, I guess, but I have one hell of a hangover
headache this morning.”

“Wine will do that to you.” He chuckled. “Especially with
the way you two were putting the glasses back last night.”

Rubbing my hand over my face, I flipped over onto my back.
“Ugh, I know.”

Kace lifted up on his elbow to look at me. “I can fix that.”

“How?” I asked. “Is there some type of magickal cure you’ve
been holding out on? That would be awesome right about now if so.”

“Nope, nothing magickal.” He smiled. “Just some peanut
butter toast and a tall glass of orange juice.”

“Ah, orange juice does sound good,” I said with a yawn.

“Stay here. I’ll be right back,” Kace insisted.

Breakfast in bed? That sounded like a hangover cure all in
itself. I scrunched up the sheets beneath my chin, and rolled onto my side so I
could see him better.

“I can handle that,” I said as I watched Kace riffle through
the pile of clothes on the floor.

I’d always thought guys' bodies were nice to look at from
the waist up—unless you were staring at their backside in a pair of tight
jeans—but Kace, he had the first male body I was attracted to every inch of,
naked or not.

I smiled as I committed the sight to memory.

“Be right back,” he said as he left the room in a pair of
shorts and nothing else.

My eyes flicked to the clock on his nightstand as he walked
out; it was nearly 12:30 in the afternoon. Really, this constituted brunch and
not breakfast. I closed my eyes and waited for him to come back, wondering if I
could talk him into feeding me my toast and a little morning quickie before I
left to meet with Callie.

Closing my eyes, I snuggled deeper into the pillow, which
smelled strongly of Kace, and sighed. The pounding in my head didn’t lessen as
I’d hoped it would. I must have dozed off, because the next thing I knew, Kace
was trailing kisses along the exposed skin of my inner thigh.

“I fell asleep,” I grumbled.

Kace murmured something, but I couldn’t make it out as he
continued upward in his trail of kisses. As soon as he reached the crease
between my thigh and pelvis, I burst out laughing and pushed him back.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, a wide grin spreading on his
face.

“You really need to shave.” I chuckled while wiping the
tickling sensation that still lingered there away with my hand. “That tickled.”

“I thought you’d find it hot. Guess not,” he said, faking
mock hurt.

I sat up on my elbows. “It was hot, but it also tickled.”

Kace shook his head and reached for the napkin with two
pieces of peanut butter toast he’d at some point placed on the nightstand. My
stomach growled and I smiled at him, knowing he had to have heard it.

“Ah, the scent of peanut butter toast…it does it every
time,” he said. He handed me a piece with a smile.

“Is this a favorite of yours?” I asked, taking it from him.
I sunk my teeth into the toast and stared at him.

“It is,” he said.

He took a large bite and smiled at me with peanut butter
gooping up his teeth.

“Eww, gross!” I laughed.

I took a sip of my orange juice, and within a few minutes,
realized Kace had been right—peanut butter toast and orange juice were a
hangover cure.