The House of Bells: The Essences Saga - Book #1

House: Chapter 19

Nineteen

Silas walked out of Min's apartment, straight through the house, ignoring the questions thrown at him, and down the porch stairs. He didn't stop until he was standing at the end of the driveway, urging his body to behave.

Min had looked directly into his eyes and kissed him. Like that! And she didn't utter one sound of protest as his body acted on old pent-up desires. The single fact that they were not alone saved him. That and the vagrant absence of music in his head. Min threw herself at him, and a whole blasted orchestra should have thumped his brain against his skull. Instead...silence.

As soon as he noticed what was missing, he noticed what was there. Or at least, who was in the other room.

He hung his head, remembering the taste of her lips, the curve of her hips, the smell of her hair, the soft mounds inches from his fingertips...

What caused the difference in her detachment? Why now?

Did it have something to do with Melissa's situation? Or had she finally stopped fighting him?

Whatever the reason, he now had confidence that she could possibly love him if he tried hard enough. However, his own sentiments were still too muddled to comprehend. Thank you, Sarah, he groaned, for screwing up my emotions. Loving Min would be as natural as breathing. He could almost grasp the concept...but no, it felt too natural. Nothing should ever be that easy. Nothing ever was.

Nevertheless, he knew it was going to happen.

Eventually...probably...sooner or later...

With a sigh and a skip in his step, he returned to the house to call Johnny and press kidnapping charges against Chris Webber.

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Ten minutes later, I was dressed unshowered and emerging from my apartment. I didn t take the chance to ask Silas about Melissa s disappearance yesterday, so it was the first thing out of my mouth when I saw the very next person.

"She ditched school - you know that part," Jennie told me. Only the two of us stood in the kitchen then. Mrs. Baker and Amber were setting breakfast on the dining table, and Silas had gone into the office to make a phone call. "But she called Chris, and he picked her up. We think that she was going to run away with him. They only made it to Johnson City before they were spotted. A police tried to pull them over for speeding, but Chris outran them on his bike. There was an accident -"

I gasped.

"Melissa's fine," she proceeded before I could say anything, holding her hands up to stop me. "She has some bad scratches and bruises, but nothing serious. Chris got away on his bike again, leaving Melissa there in the street."

Anger burned inside me. That little punk!

"And there is something else," Jennie hesitated. I waved at her to continue, not trusting my voice. "The police think they were responsible for holding up a gas station."

I closed my eyes and slumped against the counter. Oh, Melissa, how could you?

"We don't think Melissa knew about it at the time. Apparently, she was putting gas in the motorcycle when Chris went inside. At least, that's the story we got from the store owner. We won't know for sure until the police have confirmed everything. Silas is on the phone with them now."

I heard footsteps on the stairs and quickly walked in that direction. Melissa was not with the other girls. They stopped when they saw me. Each face was similar. Waiting.

"Where is she?" Did that sound too rough? I was still a little angry at Chris, but tried to not let it show.

Ashley answered me, "In her room. Mr. Blake brought her home a few hours ago." So he didn't stay with me all night. I felt a rash of disenchantment at the thought. Outside Melissa's bedroom door, I took a moment to breathe deeply and calmly before knocking.