Love Bites

LOVE BITES Chapter 14: Distance

Chapter 14 : Distance

I shook my hand, motioning for him to take it.

Huffing, he pulled himself to his feet without taking my hand. This time, he didn't fall back down.

"Thanks," he mumbled gruffly to me.

The vision repeated itself over and over in my mind, like a song stuck on replay.

Klein Larson? My best friend's father, and also, the man I had envisioned as my own fatherly figure since my real parents were taken from me, was a Hunter?

I couldn't comprehend the weird scenarios my brain was creating now. The thought was maddening, literally, because no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't shake the memory of it all. Or the inexplicable emotions that now weighed on my shoulders. It was driving me crazy. Last night, I could barely get a full hours worth of sleep. It was pulling me apart at the seams, I could feel it.

And it scared me.

I just wanted someone to confirm that what I saw wasn't real. Despite my reasoning, there was this sliver of belief I felt for these visions plaguing my mind. And I couldn't extinguish it. They were suffocating, forcing upon me a fictional world that I didn't want to be a part of.

Someone, anyone, just make it all stop.

Something suddenly prevented me from taking another step.

I blinked, eyes accustoming to the sight before me as the pounding in my eardrums ceased and a deafening silence took its place. Directly in front of me was a spiralling stairwell that trickled down to the first floor. I stared at the foot stretched out in front of me. It was hovering nothing but air.

It took me a few seconds before I could comprehend that the foot was no one else's but mine. The realisation that I was about to plunge down a flight of stairs hardly fazed me.

"Nikki." The voice startled me. It came from behind me, soft and smooth. I became aware of the hand wrapped around my wrist.

I was doing it again, wasn't I?

This was happening more often then not now. I'd walk, seemingly lost in a dream, forgetting time and space. And that one person constantly reminding me of reality...

"You need to be," Alastair murmured, tugging on my hand, "more careful." I stumbled back, falling into him.

I registered the heat from his body as soon as my back touched him. His chest was strong, supportive and unfortunately, encouraging. Before I could help myself, I was leaning into it, giving him all my weight. The beating of his heart was a contrast to the erratic hammering of my own. I almost shivered when his breath, warm as sin, fanned the nape of neck. It swept thin strands of hair across my skin. It tickled. Had he purposely done that?

His hand that was wrapped around my wrist rubbed up the side of my arm, trailing heat that made my skin prick. "You have goosebumps," he said with a hint of amusement. "Cold?"

The closeness of our bodies was fogging my brain with a different kind of emotion.

I wanted him to touch me more.