Paradox (Unearthly Paradox Series Book 1)

Chapter 28

                 
A knock at the door killed the moment. "Yeah," Jett said, his lips brushing over my forehead as he breathed me in.

The door opened, and Jenna stood on the threshold. "Do you want me to take Lilly down to the hospital? Or should I just call Doctor Brennan?"

"Shit." In all the chaos, I had completely forgotten about Lilly. She had just had her world ripped apart. I felt like a pretty crappy friend. I slipped around Jett. "Where is she?"

"She's in the other room." Jenna grabbed my arm as I walked past her. "But I don't think her seeing you right now is a good idea."

I slumped against the doorframe. "Lilly's afraid of me, isn't she?"

Jenna glanced at Jett. "Yeah, she is. But don't worry. I've given her something to mess with her memory." She patted my arm. "Don't worry. I wouldn't give her anything that would harm her, especially after what she's been through."

I backed up until I hit the foot of the bed. "Take care of her for me?"

"Of course." Jenna pushed off the doorframe. "I'll call you when we're finished," she told Jett, then she left and closed the door.

Jett sat beside me and put his hand on my back.

"Where's she taking her?" I asked.

"To the hospital. She needs to be checked out, and it's best that she has all of this on her medical record."

I never heard Jett tell Jenna to take her to the hospital, but other concerns came to mind at that moment. "What about Tyler and his friends? The police are going to come for me. What I did must have been caught on CCTV footage." Actually, I was surprised they weren't already banging down the door.

He put his arm around my shoulders, leaned his head on mine, and inhaled deeply. "You don't need to worry about any of that. The cleaners are dealing with that problem."

The cleaners? "Do I even want to know who they are?"

"All you need to know is that they'll clean up all the mess, and no one is going to come looking for you."

That explained how his family seemed to get away with murder. It didn't seem right, but I also didn't want to go to jail. I raised my hands and held them out in front of me. I studied both sides then my fingernails, wondering if some claw-like razors were hiding under there.

"What are you doing?"

I shook my head. "How's it possible for my fingers to go through a person's skin?"

He pushed my hands down into my lap and covered them with his. "You've got to stop thinking of yourself as human. You're a lot stronger than a regular human, and you're capable of so much more."

Strong didn't even begin to explain what I'd felt during that dream-like state when I massacred them. It was one thing to hear Jett explain it to me, but it was another to wrap my head around it. What I needed was time—and maybe a clearer head.

Jett's phone buzzed in his pocket between us. He pulled it out and looked at the screen. "I've got to make a phone call. I'll just be out in the lounge room." He squeezed my knee as he stood. "You'll be okay?"

I ran my hand over the bedspread. "I'll be fine."

Something held me back from having a full-blown panic attack, and I had a pretty good idea that was because of the pill Jett had given me. Crawling up to the pillows, I lay down and pressed the button to turn off the main light, leaving only the dim glow from the bathroom. Just as I'd done when I was a child and wanted to keep the monsters away, I pulled the covers over my head and squeezed my eyes shut. But even with my lids closed, blackness took over, and the images of what I'd done on the beach replayed in a continuous loop.

I threw the covers off and turned on the bedside light, hoping the brightness would wash away the dark images my mind wouldn't let go of. But that was only good in theory. In reality, it didn't do a thing to erase the haunting memory.

The mattress dipped as Jett sat beside me. He put his hand on my knee. "I thought you would be asleep by now."

"I can't sleep. Hang on. Why would you think I would be asleep?"

A sheepish grin crept over his lips.

"Was that a sleeping pill you gave me?"

"Calm down. I wasn't trying to knock you out or anything. I was just giving you something to relax."

Did I really need something to subdue me?

Jett's eyebrows drew together. "What's wrong?"

I bit my lip. "Am I dangerous? I mean, am I safe to be around Lilly? Will I hurt her?"

"Come here." Jett wrapped his arms around me. "You're not an unstable psychopathic killer who can't be trusted around anyone. You only killed those guys because of what they were doing to your friend. Sure, you may not have reacted as badly had you been used to what you can do, but they still deserved what they got. I mean, that last time they attacked you, you didn't rip them apart. And you've never done anything like that before, have you?"

I shook my head. "Why is all this only happening now? Does it have something to do with me coming of age or something?"

He grinned then quickly tried to look serious. "No, it's not like that. It's believed that a half-breed needs to go through a traumatic event where they experience a strong fight-or-flight reaction, where the consequences are usually death. And that's when your alien side surfaces. You were being held underwater. They could have easily killed you, even if that wasn't their intention. When I got to you that day, you had changed. Your alien side had taken over. And from that moment on, people responded to you differently."

I pulled my eyebrows together. "How do you know?"

Jett scratched his forehead. "I saw how those girls reacted to you in the classroom the next day."

My eyes widened in surprise. "You were there that day?"

He nodded.

What I was about to ask him would sound really stupid if it wasn't true, but I had to ask. "Can you change your appearance? Like morph or something?"

"You saw me?" He laughed. "Most people think we're just vapour."

That wasn't the only time I'd seen his other form. "You're the one who saved me when I got shot."

"Yep. You have your very own knight in shining armour here."

"Or my very first stalker."

He laughed. "Just admit it, you wanted me from the moment you laid eyes on me."

"I don't know if I'd go that far."

"Really?" He gave me a flirty smile.

Yep, I was completely and utterly hooked on Jett, but I wasn't about to admit that to him. "Tell me, what parts of the rumours about your family are true?"

A devilish grin spread across his face."Everything and more."