Page 32 of The Devil

“On my honor,” he declares, holding up one hand while placing the other one flat against his chest. “I won’t let any harm come to you, m’lady.”

When we walk through into the kitchen, there’s a strange smell in the air, a familiar scent that takes me back to Lucius’ parties. Huddled around the kitchen table sit Nate and a few of his friends, with a fog of smoke lingering suspiciously around them while they giggle and cheer at one another.

“Nate?!” I gasp in my best Mom voice. “Are you smoking pot?”

“Busted!” His best friend, Max, laughs at him while Nate rather stupidly tries to flap away the smoke surrounding him. He looks sheepishly at me, then back to Max before exploding in a fit of laughter. They high-five one another before returning their gazes to me with half-guilty expressions.

I walk right over to where they’re sitting, staring my brother down while the whole room silently watches on with bated breath. I reach down to his hand to take hold of the blunt that’s sitting limply between his fingers. Once I take hold of it between my own fingers, I look at it for a moment, then back to him before I bring it to my lips and suck on it. My eyes wince, filling with tears as I begin to cough and splutter. For the life of me, I cannot see what all the fuss is about. The crowd of high schoolers begin laughing while Nate and Max high-five one another.

“Yessss!” they both hiss in unison.

“What the hell?” I sputter before Evan takes the blunt from me and grins over my poor attempt to smoke weed for the first time. He says nothing but places it between his lips and takes a long drag on it before letting out a small cloud of smoke, and without the rather ungracious coughing and spluttering. “How do you do that?”

“When you take out the blunt, inhale deeply so it fills your lungs,” he says, handing it back over to me. “You’re a newbie though, so you’re going to cough.”

“Ok,” I mutter as I take it from him and try again, but instead of breathing out when I remove the stub, I inhale deeply, taking in a little fresh air with it. He’s right; I cough but not nearly as much as before. I feel it traveling down my windpipe and into my lungs. Shortly after, I take another inhale and it feels even better than before. “Ok, good, I’m being ‘wild’.”

Pretty soon, Nate and I are laughing uncontrollably at each other, even though neither one of us is making a lick of sense. Of course, this is mostly the basis for our laughter. Evan has had a few inhales but appears to be hanging back, much preferring to watch the show that is my little brother and me.

“Hel-, Hel-, Hel-…Helena!” Nate drawls as he slings his arm around me, all the while I laugh at him. “I always thought you were so dull!” He winces before emitting a ridiculous high-pitched laugh. “You never let loose; you know?”

“Nate, you are such a bitch!” I gasp and when his friends erupt into fits of giggles, the sound shocks me, and I literally jump out of my skin. “Fuck! When did all your other bitches get here?!”

“They’ve been here the whole time!” He sounds ridiculously pitched, so we laugh again. “Anyway, as I was saying, you never let loose. But since you lost the ol’ v-card, you have definitely chilled out. It’s ok though, we won’t tell Dad; he’s still a stick in the mud. But not you, Hel-, Hel-, Helaba. High-five, big sister!”

“Is he seriously expecting me to high-five that?!” I ask Evan, staring at Nate’s limp hand that’s still hovering up above me.

“What the hell, Helena?!”

Cam’s angry presence stands before me as he rips the blunts away from both my hand and the one in Nate’s. This time, it’s me and my little brother looking up half-guilty at him before bursting into fits of laughter.

“Busted!” I whisper shout to Nate.

“Jesus Christ!” Cam grumbles with exasperation in his voice. “Evan, can you take my sister up to her room before she embarrasses herself! I’ll sort my stupid little brother out.”

“Sure,” he says before smiling at me, adding a wink when Cam isn’t looking. “Come on, stoner.”

Without warning, he whips me up into his arms like I weigh nothing more than a small child.

“You’ll have to show me the way though.”

“I’ll try,” I sing song before lying limp inside of his arms. “You have a really strong chest; did you know that?”

He shakes his head and laughs at me while he carries me up the stairs. Shortly after, though I’m not entirely sure how, I manage to direct Evan to my room. He delivers me onto the bed before closing the door and switching the light on. I took my last inhale about half an hour ago, so the peak of my high is beginning to wear off, but I’m still a bit dizzy and very giggly. Evan comes over to me with a huge smile on his face, obviously finding the whole thing extremely amusing. He tucks me under the cover, then proceeds to lie down next to me.

“Hey, mister, what are you doing on my bed?” I laugh as I turn to face him, weirdly trusting the guy who I only properly met yesterday. “You wouldn’t take advantage of me, would you?”

“Nah, I promised, didn’t I?” He shuffles down and cups my face with his right hand. “Besides, I don’t tend to force myself on women who are high on weed.”

“Good to know,” I whisper, remaining still all the while he leans down to gently press his lips against mine. I reciprocate the soft movements and eventually open to let him slip his tongue inside my mouth. His hands slide down my body before stopping firmly on my hip. It’s a nice kiss, a really nice kiss, and I try really hard to be more into it, but at the end of the day, he’s not Lucius.

“I’m going to stop us there, Helena,” he murmurs against my lips, “I’m not risking fucking this up because I already know I like you…a lot. And as much as I could easily fall straight into you,” he begins before pausing to theatrically close his eyes and bite down on his lip, which makes me laugh over his dramatic compliment, “I want to respect your wishes, so I can get to be more than a one-night stand.”

I take a moment to study him, realizing he’s giving me the complete opposite of what Lucius gave me - a future. So why can’t I fall for him as I did for Lucius? Am I that masochistic? The fact that he is offering it to me makes me really want to try though. And I will.

Chapter 15

Helena

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