FULL NOVELXO Chapter Chapter Thirty-Five
“No one is angry with you, Angela.”
I lowered my head, avoiding looking at Fred, Apollo and Strider who were sitting with me in the backyard of the college. “I made an entire mansion to fall apart and kill ten people, Fred,” I said weakly, “I don’t see how you can forgive me such a thing.”
“You yourself said it was Tempest who lost her mind,” Apollo pointed out. “It happens to Spirits - they’re not a stable bunch and never have been, especially not your Spirit, who was born to be unstable, what with her title as harbinger of Chaos, Calamity and Disasters. Even my Pyro isn’t exactly the most stable of the lot. Have you already forgotten what I told you? I burned my own parents to crisps when Pyro lost it. It wasn’t my fault, and I know it now. Forgive yourself, Angela.”
I couldn’t look at them. I was too busy feeling sorry for myself. But Apollo’s hand on my shoulder made me raise my gaze. “How do you get rid of this kind of guilt?” I asked, my voice cracking. “I don’t think I can live with this. Not like that.”
“I know,” he pulled me into a hug, and I realized Fred and Strider left us alone. “I know, kiddo. I know.”
I hugged him tightly, and even though I didn’t feel the same sense of safety I usually felt with Fred, I felt comforted. “What do you say,” he suddenly murmured, “I’ll take you out of her and make you feel better?” he pulled away, caressing my face softly, his chocolate eyes warm.
“All right,” I murmured, flushing slightly.
We went back to the room while Fred and Strider were gone to some Alpha-Beta of the Millennium business-wise activities, and I went to the bathroom to take a shower. I then wore simple clothes - jeans and sweatshirt - and pulled my hair, which was still soft from the ball, into a tall ponytail. When I left the bathroom, I saw Apollo was ready, clothes in worn-out jeans and a simply black tee. “Shall we go?” he asked with a warm smile, giving me his hand.
I nodded and took it, letting him pull me closer.
Apollo drove us to a small local cinema. He bought us tickets for some new comedy film, and bought us each a huge bowl of popcorn, and we entered the theatre. I noticed many girls - werewolves - checking Apollo out, and sending me looks of jealousy. I smirked in return. So what if I was currently in the Mating Race - at least I could enjoy it somehow. My giddy vengeance at seeing those she-wolves burning with envy toward someone like me who somehow made three hot men want me was very well deserved.
Sure, I still believed Apollo and Strider only wanted to believe they wanted me, but I chose not to take any chances confronting them about it, because there was still the option they might actually have feelings for me, and I didn’t want to hurt them more than I already did.
We sat in the theatre and chatted for a while until the trailers started. Apollo commented about the editing of the trailers in a dry voice that made me laugh and realize that, despite his somber, indifferent nature, he did have a sense of humor.
When the movie started, we already finished the popcorn, but it didn’t matter because we were invested in the movie. It started out funny as hell, but the longer it progressed, it was obvious it wasn’t just a comedy, but a romantic comedy. What’s the difference? Tempest asked in my head.
The difference is that it has romance it, and romantic moments that makes you want to upchuck, I responded.
Really? She yawned. I’ll go to sleep, then.
I rolled my eyes at her and heard a chuckle. I glanced at Apollo and raised my eyebrow in question. “Ignore me,” he smirked, “but don’t ignore Tempest.”
I shoved his shoulder lightly in reprimand. “As if you don’t have silly conversations with Pyrokinesis,” I folded my arms.
He rolled his eyes thi time. “Don’t call him that, his name’s Pyro,” he said dryly, “otherwise he’ll be angry.”
“He reminds me a little of Tempest, with his short temper,” I commented.
“You mean Tempest reminds you of him. After all, Pyro is much older than Tempest,” this time it was him who arched an eyebrow to me.
Instead of replying like an adult, I stuck my tongue out at him. He let out a snort of laughter that made a few people around us to glance annoyed at us.
The movie continued, and I realized the scenes were turning to be more and more… erotic. My cheeks blushed when the first sex scene appeared, and I flinched in my place. I glanced at Apollo, who at the same moment glanced at me. His expression was unreadable, but his eyes were full of passion that made me redden farther. When I opened my mouth to say something - I didn’t know what - he pulled me over so I was sitting on his lap. I sucked in a surprised gasp when he wrapped a hand around my waist, and with his other cupped my chin and made me lean closer until our lips crashed.
He kissed me with such intensity, my heart hammered from both the thrill and the powerfulness of it. It was so unlike Strider’s sensual kisses, and I was a little angry at myself for having to compare the two. Then, when he started to explore my mouth, all thoughts evacuated the premises of my mind and I put my hands around his neck. I sighed into his mouth, and his hands landed on my ass. I grabbed his shirt, tightening myself to him even more, and he, the man he was, wanted me even closer. His hands sneaked under my shirt and started caressing my back. My skin tingled a little where he touched, and at the same moment I realized something.
I felt much more things to Apollo than I felt to Strider. Okay, maybe not much more, but more for sure. With Strider I hadn’t felt this way. There were sparks, but I didn’t tingle like that. Strider was like a friend who was a great kisser. Apollo was slightly beyond a friend, and not only he was an amazing kisser, he made me moan and shudder lightly.
After an eternity of making-out, he pulled back from me and put my head on his chest, hugging me. Like that, in this position, we kept watching the movie, which already came to its end, at the romantic moment where the heroine told the love interest she loved him, and the man kissed her face off with passion.
Once it was over, Apollo and I left the theatre hand in hand, and when he asked me if I wanted to have dinner at a nearby place, I agreed, unable to cover my smile from him. I liked fast-food, and I didn’t think I got to eat such food with Apollo, who’d always wanted me to be so healthy…
We reached McDonald’s and Apollo paid for hamburgers, fries and drinks. We sat at one of the booths at the cornet and at together, speaking from bite to bite. I was sitting next to him on the couch, and he had one arm around me as we ate. It was nice and comfortable, and the epiphany from before was made even more prominent when he started caressing my hand up and down, sending currentes straight to my heart.
We talked about different things, and it was nothing like it had been with Strider. The air was different, more romantic, even though were in some diner instead of a sophisticated coffee shop. The connection between Apollo and me was more intimate than with Strider and me. Strider might be prettier than Apollo and Fred, but he attracted me the least of the three. He was my friend, and nothing but a friend.
My attraction to Apollo was far stronger than to Strider. It was obvious to me now.
My time with Apollo made me feel like I didn’t want to go back to college, but we had to, so Apollo drove us back. But before we returned to our room, we stopped and stared at each other.
He didn’t say something like, “I had so much fun tonight” or anything, and the truth was, I didn’t expect him to say that, because it just wasn’t him. Apollo was a man of action rather than words, and that’s why he took me in his arms. He was leaning down, his lips getting closer to mine, and I opened mine, my eye fluttering shut -
The room’s door opened and Apollo and I jumped, letting go of each other, and turning to see Strider and Fred standing there. Strider looked at us with complete shock, and I saw pain entering his eyes while his lips pursed. Fred was cold and indifferent, his face more inscrutable than ever, and when he said, “We have a problem,” his voice was so freezing, I could feel a frostbite coming.
“What happened?” Apollo asked, trying to recollect himself.
Strider pulled himself together as well, lowering his eyes, and making my heart break. I didn’t want to hurt any of them. I didn’t want to hurt anyone, period. But here the first strike came.
Fred walked around us, starting to head to the exit. “Evander attacked in the east,” he said simply, his desolate voice making my stomach tighten from pain. “And this time we can’t keep overlooking the threat, because people died.”