UnEnchanted (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale #1)(42)

When he called her name, she knew that he must have seen her. Mina ducked into the marked stage doors hoping he would pass her by when he turned the corner. Mina walked up the steps onto the stage and sat down amongst all of the decorations the student council had started creating for the dance.

There was a tinseled park bench with lights strung around it. A giant gingerbread house with life size candy, a vine covered wishing well, a large stone tower. Mina sat on the bench and pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her face in her knees, gently rocking herself. She wished desperately that there was a way she could turn back time. Maybe if her mother had never signed the stupid permission form, she wouldn’t have gone on the field trip. She wouldn’t have saved Brody’s life and would never have been noticed by the curse.

She might have made it all the way through high school without having been attacked by a stranger, and with what Jared said earlier, Mina became all the more skeptic of surviving this curse because there was a wolf pack plural as in more of those crazy tattooed biker guys after her.

Mina thought she was alone on the stage, but the sound of a stage lever being pulled, made her glance up in alarm. The stage was flooded with lights as the dance displays lit up in all of their beauty. They shined, sparkled and dazzled Mina speechless. She actually had to raise her hand to cover her eyes to make out the person who triggered the lights.

His dark form walked out of the shadows and stood before Mina tall and handsome. Mina actually shivered when she looked at Brody as if her body had gone without water for days and he was the answer to her thirst. His blonde hair and blue eyes stood out upon his strong chiseled jaw. His hands were in his designer jeans and he walked casually out to her on the bench. It was as if she was under a spell, mesmerized by his movements. Closing her eyes, she tried to block out his glorious being. Maybe if she didn’t see him he would disappear. Her heart thudded in her chest and if felt like it would burst forth.

“Mina.” Brody’s voice sounded husky to Mina’s ears.

“Go away,” she answered weakly.

“I need to speak to you.”

“You’ve done enough talking. You made your point on the whole situation last night.”

“No, I didn’t.” Brody kneeled before her and stroked the back of her feather soft brown hair. Brody loved the feel of her hair, loved the feel of her breath on his shoulder, loved the way she said his name. It took everything he had to not pack her up and take her home with him. He would have locked her in his home to protect her from what was after her. That was until he realized he couldn’t really protect her.

“Mina, please hear me out.” Brody reached out and wrapped his hands around her, she was so small, so delicate that he had no problems maneuvering her so that he sat on the bench with her tucked across his lap. She tried to squirm at first but Brody held onto her nuzzling her ear, which made her freeze. “What your mother said last night frightened me.”

“I know it frightened you away.” Mina tried to move away again but Brody nuzzled her again, making her freeze. It was both an intoxicating feeling and overwhelming rush.

“Not like you think. I went home, destroyed a few classic guitars, rode my motorcycle across the county and ended up in another state and I still couldn’t contain my thoughts. You are all I think about and last night I had an uncontrollable rage warring within me. I want to fight this battle for you, but I know that it's not my fight. You will tell me what you are afraid of when you feel ready. Your mother's right, I have no right to judge your family. I haven't proven myself yet. And I made it worse by leaving last night the way I did. I’m sorry, I shouldn't have left.”

Mina’s heart soared to new heights. He hadn’t run from her because he was ashamed of her or didn’t see a future with her, he ran because he wanted to protect her. This time it was Mina who felt protective of Brody. “I’m sorry that I doubted you. You confuse me.”

“What is there to be confused about?” Brody asked.

“I thought for sure you had ended our friendship or relationship or whatever this is.” Mina looked into his deep blue eyes and felt herself begin to drown.

“So you started to build up that wall between us again, I can tell. You like to hide behind that wall, locked inside that tower.” Brody cupped Mina’s face and whispered softly, “I’m going to have to work on tearing down that wall, brick...” he kissed her eyelids, “By brick,” he kissed her pert little nose, “By brick.” Brody continued to kiss her cheeks, her chin and finally her lips.

Mina knew it was coming but was still startled by the feel of his lips on her mouth. It was glorious, sweet, beautiful and Mina felt herself go lightheaded with joy. He pulled away from their gentle kiss and she felt saddened by his parting, until he placed another quick kiss on her lips. “Brick,” he whispered.

~~~

She was on cloud nine. Mina had never felt so wonderful; in fact nothing Jared could say would ruin her mood. He even noticed the change in her and tried to make a comment that would rile her, but she blew it off. Everything would turn out right, because Brody was there for her, she could feel it.

Mina was supposed to meet Brody by his locker after school, and as soon as the bell rang she practically floated toward him. But a rough hand on her elbow stopped her.

“What do you think you’re doing?” She turned and wasn’t the least bit surprised to see that it was Jared grabbing her elbow. “Let go of me.” She tried to shake him off but Jared squeezed tighter.