Page 57 of Shattered Heir
Calm down, Emma, do not think violent thoughts. After all, this isn’t Shad. He doesn’t really like Karen,I told myself.
“Karen, you know, how about you get to class?”
“No,” she said in anger.
Shad turned to her, and said: “go.”
She sighed, and so elegantly walked to the door, bumping into me for good measure. I stepped aside.
As the door closed, I walked over to Shad and pulled on his not dress-shirt, taking him with me into the girl’s bathroom. He was laughing the entire time. This is different. That was not Prince Shad of Embra; it wasn't even a confused Shad, a Shad who was disappointed or feeling let down. He wasn’t mad, he wasn’t irritated.This Shad, I don't know him at all.Had he changed overnight? Had I been so distracted that I had not noticed the change in him? But Ryker had warned me, hadn't he? It was like Shad didn't care about anything at all. As I shoved him against the tiled wall, he was still indifferent. I was seething, glaring at him, wanting to punch him in the face. He was acting like Cade, and I hated it.
Violence check, Emma!
“Oh, Emma, so you do understand what I want?”
I looked into his eyes and double-checked that he wasn’t Cade.
He wasn’t.
“What do you want?” I asked, seething.
“You know, don’t be shy.”
“Shut up, will you?” I said, restraining myself from both kissing him and slapping him. “No girls.”
He pushed off the wall, moving my hands from off of him. “‘No girls’? Sorry, Emma. Whatever we had was cool and all, but ‘no girls’ just doesn't work for me.” He put his hands into his pockets and leaned against the bathroom mirror.
“Well, I don't care if it doesn't ‘work for you.’ You need to stop.” I poked a finger into his chest. The electric flow numbed me for a split second, and I pulled away.
“I don’t want to,” he glared at me.
“You don’t even like Karen. You don't know her. You are hurting me and her for no reason.”
“She’s pretty enough. Why would I have to know someone in order to kiss them? I mean, no, she’s noyou, but you are a little high strung, and you don’t want me.”
“Excuse me? High strung? I don’t want you?!” I squeaked.
“You know you say that phrase a lot: ‘excuse me’.”
“That’s because the things you say are insane, and I have to check to make sure you are really saying these ridiculous things that are coming out of your mouth.”
He put his shoulder against the mirror and the blue tiled wall and folded his arms across his chest. “So, you don’t want to make out right now? Cause I don’t know how much longer I can go here—”
I wanted to scream, ‘yes, of course,’ but I couldn't.Could I?Should I?No, I can’t; the corruption—
“No, I—do—don’t right now—and gross, Shad; this is a bathroom,” I said, faking disgust because I knew I would kiss him any time and anywhere.
“Yes, and we are alone. No one would even see us. You thought up a perfect solution to our problem.”
“Solution? What problem is that Shad?”
“I figured it out on your birthday. Yes, you want me; I want you, and here we are—together. I won’t tell anyone you are with me, a soulless, if that’s what’s holding you back. You are right, I don’t care about that girl—only you. But you were avoiding me, I needed to get your attention.”
My attention? He thought that was what was holding me back, him being a soulless? He was insane. The biggest reason for my hesitation was the corruption. I couldn’t afford any more corruption than I already had.
“Shad, I am not going to make out with you, not because you are a soulless. I am not going to kiss you because you are a jerk who just kissed Karen Manning! That isn’t how you should go about getting my attention!”
“Emma, are you telling me that you dragged me into the bathroom just totalk?” he looked confused.
