Devils Roses 01 - Cursed

"What are you doing standing there with your eyes closed?"
    He looked amazing—chinos, a baby blue t-shirt, and his sandy hair was messy from whatever he had been doing. Seeing him made me want to smell him. I knew he would smell good. He always smelled like laundry soap and deodorant with a subtle mix of windblown sea air.
    “ I didn’t know your yard came over this way.” I looked around trying to see his house.
    He held a hand out to me when he got close. “Yeah, it's twelve acres. Let me get you out the easy way, you’re bleeding.” He pointed to my forearms. “Just there.”
    I looked down, noticing my arms were scratched up very badly. How had I not felt it? I had been so insane to find Wade, I couldn’t feel the branches scratching me that badly? I started to worry about lasting side effects of the drugs, such as partial paralysis and hallucinations.
    “ Is Wade here with you?”
    He shook his head, looking upset. “No, I’m alone. What the hell are you doing out of bed?”
    “ I needed some fresh air. I couldn’t stay cooped up anymore. I would really like to meet your friend Wade; can you take me there?” I asked.
    Shane nodded looking down on me with his beautiful blue eyes. “Yeah for sure, we can go now.”
    He seemed irritated with me for some reason.
    “ Really, you don’t mind?”
    He shook his head. “No. Since your sister started dating that nerd friend of yours my calendar is wide open.”
    My heart stopped. “Dating? He isn’t a nerd—he’s a nice boy.” I was freaking out inside, no wonder he was angry with me—my sister had broken his heart. I couldn’t believe her and Blake were dating. I didn’t believe it. My heart should have been broken but something seemed wrong inside of me. My reactions weren’t what they used to be. I was more upset that Shane was hurt, than anything.
    Shane laughed again squeezing my hand, which I didn’t realize he was still holding. I blushed looking at it.
    “ Yeah, I guess they’ve been secretly dating for a few days or whatever. She’s been lying and saying she was going to her friend's place to your dad, but meeting him this last week. I guess something happened yesterday that sealed the deal.”
    His grip tightened on my hand as he pulled me through the woods.
    I pulled back a bit. “Shane, I know she hurt you, but it is hard for me to walk fast like that. My body is exhausted still.”
    He let go of my hand. “Oh my God—I’m such an idiot. Here let me help you.” He reached down and picked me up, before I could protest. He looked into my eyes. "Your sister never hurt me, Aimee. I knew what she was like all along."
    I gulped feeling the heat radiate from him. I changed the subject. "This isn’t necessary. I can walk, just slowly.”
    “ This is faster, Aimes, and I am not a patient guy,” he said it in a throaty way, which I chalked up to him exerting a lot of energy to carry me through the woods.
    I had managed to gain back four pounds of the fourteen I was down. I was disgusted when I had weighed myself. I weighed what an eight-year-old should weigh.
    “ Can you tell I’ve gained weight?”
    He laughed as we reached the forest’s edge and he placed me down on the grass. “No. You’re still light as a feather.”
    I straightened my jacket and smiled. “I’m trying to get back up. I might even go about ten over my healthy weight, in case something like this happens again. I didn’t have any extra weight to lose.”
    "Protein shakes and meal replacements. It's what we use on the football team to gain."
    "I might have to try that. I hate being this thin."
    He nodded looking serious now. “Yeah, Giselle is pretty tiny now too, huh?”
    I looked down at my feet. “Yeah, she isn’t doing well. They have her on some meds now, but they’re discovering she has allergies to quite a few things. I’m going in a week with Alise to see her.”
    “ Is Blake going?” Shane sounded jealous.
    I shook my head. “I don’t think so. I didn’t know they were dating. I’m sorry she hurt you, I know you liked her.”
    He scoffed at it again. “Like I said before, she didn’t hurt me, just embarrassed me. I hate that she hurt you, her and that friend of yours.”
    I was taken aback. “You’re worried about me?”
    He nodded and I felt the air between us fill with something I couldn’t name, tension perhaps. His eyes were definitely full of an intensity, I had never seen before.
    We walked the huge backyard to his truck in