Frozen In Love

Chapter 19

19

(JACK)

‘Why do you want me to promise so bad?’ Alice questioned me as I watched her closely with my eyebrows raised.

‘Because I need to know I can trust you.’ I replied under my breath, daring to move closer still, so close that we were almost touching. I forced myself to remain calm, composed, and not to stare at her plump, pink lips that tempted me more with every second.

‘You can trust me.’ she whispered back.

I wanted to believe her. I really did. But her words were far too vague for me to feel at ease. I needed confidence right then- I wanted to know the truth for sure before I fell too hard- I knew she could still be one of them, one of the Mask.

‘Convince me.’ I said.

As if on my invitation, she leant forward and attempted to close the gap between us, lifting her lips towards mine. The thought that she wanted to kiss me made me smile and her touch sent tingles shooting across my body. As much as I wanted her to, I knew that if I allowed her to continue I would lose all sense of the purpose I had come with.

So I found the strength to do something that I needed (though never wanted) to do. I put my hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her away from me.

She looked up at me, eyes clearly reflecting the hurt that I had caused. Aching inside, I forced my face to remain serious, my expression unchanged, as I spoke again, my voice hard.

‘Alice, convince me by promising  me you have nothing to do with that gang.’

‘Well, if you want to be like that.’ She whined, turning away and trying to escape from my grasp. I grabbed her arm and held her back. This was getting frustrating and I was growing tired- she was being far too evasive.

‘Promise me.’ I growled.

She sighed deeply. ‘I promise. There!’ she snapped.

‘Swear on your life.’

Kyle told me to say that. It was a binding contract that we had, Kyle and I. If he told anyone about who I really was or anything about me, I had his full permission to hunt him down and kill him. That was one of the main reasons I trusted Kyle with everything. He was confident and sure, straight and to the point, none of which Alice was presently being.

‘I swear.’ she whispered angrily.

Now that was more like it.

I twisted her around, so that we were back to how it was before. Then I stared right into her eyes, watching for any sign of a lie. I dreaded catching her avoiding my gaze or watching her cheeks change from pale white to bright red, but thankfully she just stared right back at me, refusing to look away.

I was right about one thing. We were both as stubborn as each other.

Finally, I was convinced. Either this girl was an incredibly good actor or she really was telling the truth. Either way, if she broke her promise I would find her and there really would be consequences. But right now, I didn’t want to think about that. Right now I wanted to think about the fact that she was close enough for me to touch, to hold, to kiss. She was stubborn, but she was beautiful.

And she still hadn’t broken her gaze.

Losing every shred of the control that I had used to push her away, I closed the space between us and leant hard against her, bringing my lips to hers and falling into the kiss we shared. She wound her arms around my neck, brushing them against my back and I caught my breath, smiling against her mouth. Then I deepened the kiss, intensifying the moment, as we sealed our promise, together. After a while, as I began to draw away, her teeth grazed my lower lip and a small sound escaped the back of my throat. Whoa, that felt good. My power soared inside of me, suddenly overwhelming, threatening to take over.