Dream Bound: Book One | ✓ [COMPLETE]

Dream Bound - Chapter Twelve

                                   Dream Bound

                                 Chapter Twelve

                                      day seven

        The wrinkled photograph was warm in my hands. I stared at it. My mind was still numb with surprise. Surprise over the fact that Colton had fished this out of his special box, and placed it in my hands himself. Now, as I stared at it, he paced anxiously. His eyes kept tracing over my face, as if expecting to find something.

    “Your friends?” I repeated, a bit thrown off. The two boys in the picture, though, appeared as if they could be a buddy of Colton’s.

    “Yeah.” He grunted. “Marcus and Adam. My friends.”

    “Which one is which again?” I frowned, rubbing my thumb over the photo. Colton stood behind my shoulder, his breath fanning across my neck.

    “That one is Marcus.” His finger crossed a quick ‘x’ over the blond haired boy’s face. The one who wasn’t smiling -- in fact he didn’t look the least bit thrilled. In his hands, he held a can of beer and a ping-pong paddle.

    “And Adam.” I smoothed my finger over the red haired boy. He wasn’t as intimidating. A calm smile was stretched across his face. One hand was jammed into his Levi’s, the other clutching the opposing ping-pong paddle.

    Freckles dotted his face, sprinkled across his nose and across his cheeks. His hair was cut close to his scalp, buzzed down to the very last layer. He had sharp, high cheek bones. While his skin was a fair, pale color, he looked fit and healthy.

    He wasn’t overly toned, but the muscles bulging from his biceps would be enough to send me running should we cross paths in a dark alley.

    “Funniest guys you’ll ever meet.”

    I doubted that. It wasn’t right of me to judge Marcus just by looking at his face. Adam, maybe. But Marcus? Something about him sent tingles crawling along my skin -- not in the good way, either. Adam looked like best friend material. Someone you could tell everything, and wouldn’t have to worry about him running his mouth.

    Almost like a puppy. Loyal, faithful, adorable.

    Marcus, on the other hand, looked like a Pit Bull.

    “Friends?” I leaned heavily on the word, cocking a brow. Colton frowned, but caught himself in the act.

    “Yeah, I--”

    “You have friends?”

    My tone was overly curious. Soon, another hundred questions would be formulating. I had to rid myself of this surprise -- and fast. Suspicion clouded Colton’s face.

    “What, I can’t have friends?” he muttered, a look of disbelief crossing his face. I lowered the photograph, pacing across the floor. I stopped at the glass doors, overlooking the boardwalk below.

    “I just find it hard to believe you had enough time to make friends.”

    “Ivy, I don’t--”

    “Marcus and Adam are angels, aren’t they?” I spun to face him, hair whacking my cheek.

    His jaw worked. “Nephilim.”

    “Nephil--what?” I exclaimed, feeling my own eyes pop open wide. The word tasted funny, lacking familiarity. I was certain I’d never heard it before, but all too soon, that familiar feeling came creeping up. The one that told me I was wrong. That Nephilim, was, indeed, a familiar word I tossed around daily.