Dangerous Love

Chapter 23: A Sneaky Homecoming

Eric was right, the walk was long and cold. But not that I'm complaining, I hadn't gotten fresh air in two weeks and the coat Eric lent me was warmer then I'd expected with his strong metallic scent all over it. Balancing on a fallen post I walk alongside Eric telling him more about my horses. I don't think he's entirely interested in them but I can tell he still listens and smiles when I says something stupid or weird I did when I was little.

"So yeah one of my friend's older brother's told me that if a horse ate chocolate it would explode, and I being the 5 year old I was believed it," I hop of the post and walk alongside him.
"How long did it take for you to figure out that it wasn't true?" he smirks down at me.
"I tried it," I shrug with a small smile.
"You tried it? So you purposely fed a horse chocolate when you thought it would explode?" he questions raising his eyebrows at me.
"In my defense the horse I fed it to bucked me off earlier," I smile and he lets out a short laugh.

"When I was younger my cousin tricked me into thinking that if my middle finger has longer than all my other fingers then every time I waved at someone I was flipping them off," he grins and I let out a gut wrenching laugh.
"What did you do?" I ask between laughter.
"I waved at everyone I hated," he laughs which only causes me to laugh harder. He rarely talks about his childhood in Erudite and I smile a little knowing that he's actually beginning to open up bit.

I didn't even notice how close we were to the gates until they were only five feet in front of us. Starring at the small door that only few people know about I begin to wonder if I actually want to go back.
"Mercer," Eric says quietly and I look up at him, "You're not allowed to see anyone, I mean it's only to visit the horses and animals. If they find out I took you here we'd be in trouble, they'd begin to question your loyalties and mine which we can't have especially since we're on edge with them."

I look at the gate and nod slowly, I understand where he's coming from and I don't think I'm ready to confront my parents just yet. I'm such a different person now I think it's best if I find out who I am now that I'm in Dauntless before I can make an appearance again. Eric takes a step forward and opens the small door with a key he has, except this key wasn't attached to his usual chain of keys and I begin to wonder if he stole it.

As Eric holds the door open I walk through it feeling the sense of freedom that I had back in Amity, the kind of freedom where you can ride away and never look back if you really needed to. We walk through the fields in silence and it feels like I haven't been here in ages when it's only been two weeks. Looking around it almost felt like one of those distant childhood memories, like once you move houses, you know every single detail every corner of that house by heart, but if you went back it wasn't your house anymore, it belonged to someone else. That's the feeling I have as I walk through the orchards with Eric close behind.

I let out a small gasp and a smile creeps onto my face as I see the stalls, turning around to Eric he sees the smile on my face and in an instant I turn and break into a sprint towards the stables. Sliding open the barn doors just enough that I could squeeze through I run over to where Angus's stall is. Hearing the door slide open a little more I know Eric's in hear and perusing me quickly.

"Does anyone work at night?" he whispers as I slide into the stall with Angus.
"No we have curfew, I mean I should know I'm the one who always broke it," I laugh as I hold Angus's head against mine. Eric's boots crunch under the hay as he approaches Angus, reaching out to pet him Angus moves his head a little until he finally let's Eric's hand rest on his head. Our hands rest only an inch away and soon Eric strokes Angus's head, brushing his hand against mine as he does so.

"Hey buddy," I smile at Angus and stroke his mane then kiss his nose. Eric raises and eyebrow at me and I smirk, "Jealous?" This earns a grin from him and he stops petting Angus and wraps his arms around my waist, "No I'd prefer a kiss on the lips," then his lips are on mine and I'm left in the intoxicating feeling that I've become so addicted to. It feels like I've loved him forever when I realize that today was the first day we ever kissed. I guess ever since the night we danced I felt the strange pull towards him, like a magnet that was being held back but now I've finally been released and hell does it feel good.