Devils Roses 01 - Cursed

true.
    “ I lied to you about being a social worker, because I couldn’t tell you what I was. In my defense though, you should never have seen me. Your mom’s death has triggered a series of events that never should have happened. It wasn’t her time. Just like the night you choked and I saved you, it wasn’t your time. I was called to stay with your family, making you feel safe, and ensure nothing happened that had been caused by her death.” He held me tightly, not giving me an inch of space to struggle or flee, while he told me a fairytale.
    “ I got to you too late that night. You saw me because you were a spirit. That changes the whole thing. Once you see an immortal, it gets easier. Shane’s bloody yard was not making it easy on me, either. That shaman's blessing makes it impossible for my kind to cloak properly. I was at the party, but when you saw me watching you, I left to stay with your dad. I felt you cross into the other world and I got there as fast as I could.”
    I had stopped crying and started to laugh uncontrollably. He pulled me away and gave me an alarmed stare. It made me laugh harder, I couldn’t stop myself. My right ribs hurt so much where my liver was, but even the pain couldn’t make the laugh stop. I fell over into the sand rolling, as I laughed.
    He started to smile and laugh at me. “You’ve lost it—haven’t you. This was the straw that broke the camel's back and I’ve pushed you over the edge to insanity.”
    I didn’t know how to cope with anything he told me and laughing was making me feel better.
    Tears rolled down my face, as finally I was able to get a hold of myself. “The stupid shaman story was true?”
    Of all the things in his story he told me, that just seemed too ridiculous.
    He nodded smirking at me. “Shamans are very powerful, Aimee. A being nearly as powerful and equally supernatural, caused your mom’s death. Nothing in the world will ever be the same for you. You’ve seen the other side, which means you’re stuck now with visions from the in-between.”
    I shook my head. “No, it hasn’t happened, except for seeing you.”
    He laughed. “You could see past my cloak, Aimee, that’s a bad sign.”
    He shuffled forward on his knees to me, getting sand all over his jeans. I looked at him, trying desperately to see something other than what I saw. The sexiest man I could even imagine, crawling on the sand toward me in jeans that hugged him nicely and no shirt. His stomach flexed under his silky skin. I wanted to touch each ab muscle. I wanted to run my hands down his stomach, possibly dragging my fingernails a little.
    I shook my head. "You're a hallucination brought on by the drugs and the stress of yesterday."
    "You saw me before you were drugged." he grinned.
    I blushed looking at his lips, trying desperately to remember the man had weird powers. My brain argued that even past the creepy things, he was sexy. I sighed giving up and resigned myself to the fact I was a dirty-freak, flag-waving pervert.
    His smile reassured me. Even though my whole world filled with questions, I wasn’t sure I wanted the answers to them.
    He rubbed along my arms trying to warm me up, while looking down on me as we knelt on the sand.
    The moon, no doubt under his spell, drifted out from the cloud it had concealed itself behind. It shone down on us, making it easier to see his face. He looked to be wrestling with the idea of kissing me.
    As if he decided not to give it another thought, he lowered his face to mine. The kiss was passionate, rough and harsh. His teeth bit down on my lower lip, sucking it in his mouth before kissing me once more.
    I felt like a cat that had been stroked too much. I was over stimulated. I felt the swell in my lips worsen as our arms began savagely grabbing at one another.
    He pulled me up into him. His hands crept down my back to where his sweater ended and my legs sat bare. My arms were around his back, rubbing his hot, smooth skin. I tried desperately to keep my hands ‘north of the equator’.
    He lifted me up into his arms. I wrapped my legs around him. He lifted me with ease, his strength seemed unrealistic. I felt like my sister; out on the beach making out under the moonlight, with a guy people suspected of a terrible crime. I pushed myself away, needing breath and separation.
    “ I want to go home.”
    He smiled breathlessly at me. “I need a minute before I can get back.”
    I put my foot down on the sand and stood on shaky