They Who from the Heavens Came (The Wisdom, #1)

Around midnight, Itzy and her mother said goodnight and went to their rooms. A half-hour later, Itzy heard something being thrown at her window.

‘Seth,’ she grumbled.

She headed downstairs as quietly as she could and attempted to open the front door without making a sound. When she took in Seth’s appearance, she was shocked. He looked like he’d been drinking. He smelled like it, too. In light of her mother’s former habits, Itzy wasn’t impressed.

‘What are you doing here?’ she hissed at him in a whisper. ‘Mum’ll be furious if she finds you.’

Seth pushed his way past. ‘She won’t find me,’ he said.

Itzy stared after him, livid, and shut the front door. ‘You didn’t answer my question.’

‘What question?’ He looked confused, like he’d just realised where he was and wasn’t sure how he’d got there.

‘Why are you here?’ she repeated herself.

Seth blinked at her stupidly. ‘Oh yeah!’ he exclaimed too loudly. ‘That’s right. See, I was at home. And the funniest thing happened to me.’ He burst out laughing, like he’d remembered a joke and couldn’t wait to share it. ‘See – see – all I could think of was you.’ He pointed one of his long fingers at her chest. Then he poked her, and he laughed again.

Itzy didn’t share his humour. ‘Why is that funny?’ she asked tightly.

Seth shook his head like he was dealing with a child who didn’t understand something very simple. ‘Oh, Itzy,’ he said. ‘Itzy, Itzy, Itzy…see, it’s funny because I didn’t even know you last week. So why can’t I stop thinking of you?’ His laughter was gone now, replaced with something more serious. He sounded like he truly expected her to give him an answer.

‘You’re a mess,’ Itzy declared.

Seth shrugged like maybe he agreed. His eyes darted, trying to find something to rest on.

With a deep sigh, Itzy said, ‘Let me get you some water.’

She went into the kitchen and filled a glass from the tap. When she brought it out to him, he was gone.

But she hadn’t heard the door. So where was he?

With a sinking feeling, she went upstairs to her room and found him lying on her bed with his eyes closed. He was cuddling Parson Brown.

She wasn’t sure what to do about this. She’d never had a boy in her bed before, even if he was just asleep. She had no idea how she was going to explain it to her mother, if she found out.

She set the glass on her desk and sat next to him on the bed. She nudged him, but he didn’t stir. She nudged him again, but still nothing. Then she found herself just looking at him, watching his blond hair fall over his closed eyes, rising and falling in time with his breath. His face was all innocence when he was unconscious, fragile. For a moment, she could see the little boy he had once been.

He was lovely, she decided. And despite her frustrations with him, he really was nice. So why didn’t she feel that same tug on her heart when she looked at him, the way she had with Aidan? What made Aidan so special?

She searched her heart and found the answer. It was the way Aidan had probed without trying and somehow found the way to unlock her emotions. And it was the way he had spoken to her so candidly about himself, about things that were so personal.

Seth, on the other hand, was charming and disarming and flirty. There was a carefree spirit to him that made her feel like there was nothing worth worrying about and everything would be alright in the end. But he didn’t share much of himself. Sometimes, he started to, but then that humour would filter back in and mask what he’d been about to reveal before he could get too deep.

But not Aidan. He didn’t even know her, and he had been unhesitatingly personal with her. And he hadn’t made her feel like she owed him anything, like she had to tell him anything. Itzy felt like she had actually shared something with him. With Seth, everything felt like a bit of a game.

She was so lost in thought, she didn’t notice Seth’s eyes fly open. He folded his arm around her and drew her to him. Before she could stop him, his mouth was on hers. His hand ran up her spine and found her hair. He pushed her head toward his and kissed her more deeply. Despite how unconscious he had seemed, he managed to kiss her with more passion than she’d ever been kissed before.

Without breaking the kiss, he hauled her on top of him, one hand still in her hair and the other making its way down her back. She wasn’t sure what to do. Her body was responding, but a voice in her head shouted that it was all wrong. She felt like she was on autopilot, like all the emotion that had been building up inside her since her father died was now exploding out of her – but in the wrong way.

Itzy broke apart from him just as his hand found its way under the black spaghetti-strapped top she’d been wearing for bed. ‘Stop,’ she said, her breath short.

His hands froze where they were. ‘Is that really what you want?’ Seth asked. Disappointment dripped from his eyes.

‘Seth,’ she whispered, too aware that she was still pressed against him, wearing very thin pyjama bottoms. ‘I care about you. I really do. But I can’t do this.’

He gazed up at her with a look she’d not seen anyone give her before. It was almost like…worship.

‘You’re so beautiful,’ he said. ‘I’ve thought that ever since I first saw you. I’ve never met anyone like you before. Never. I don’t even know what it is about you, just….’

She slid off him and drew back, putting a foot of space between them. ‘Thank you,’ she said awkwardly.

Seth laughed the way one might laugh at a bad joke. ‘Thank you? Is that it?’

‘Well, what do you want me to say?’ she grumbled.

He heaved himself upright to face her and grabbed her hand. ‘How about, I’ve been wanting you, too.’

‘Is that what this is? You just want me?’

Seth shook his head. He released her hand and rubbed his temples. ‘No. I’m not good at talking about my feelings. It’s just…. Look, I promise I haven’t had as much to drink as you think, alright? It just all went to my head because it’s not something I do much. But I couldn’t stand it today. All day long it’s just been going round and round and round in my head – thoughts of you and him – and then of you and me. And…I don’t know which is worse.

‘Then there I was, waving my hands and making myself a drink. After that, I made another, because the thoughts were going away and that was all I wanted. Then somehow I was on my way here, because –’ He broke off there to look and look and look at her. He grabbed her face. ‘There’s something about you. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something.’

Itzy pulled away. ‘You’re scaring me.’

Seth held his head in his hands like he was fighting off something only he could hear. ‘No no no no no,’ he said. ‘That’s not what was supposed to happen. Damn!’ He struck his fist against the bed, making Itzy jump. Then he exhaled heavily and stared around the room like, again, he’d forgotten how he’d ended up there.

‘Please,’ Itzy said in a small voice, ‘don’t do this. Let me be your friend without it getting weird.’

That last word seemed to hit a nerve with him. The vestiges of love were replaced with hard angles and Seth’s face returned to its usual unreadability. He’d allowed her a glimpse of his heart, and now he was closing it to her once more, just as he always did. It made her sad, even if his openness had frightened her.

She didn’t know how to tell him that was a very big part of why it couldn’t work between them. She needed that fine balance between too much and too little. She couldn’t live with extremities anymore. That had been the world of Stephen Loveguard, and for too long it had been Itzy’s world, too. She’d had enough of all the emotional blacks and whites. All she wanted was that beautiful grey area.

As this thought, her head filled with the image of Aidan’s grey eyes.

‘I should go,’ Seth said.

Itzy looked down at her hands. ‘I think that’s for the best,’ she agreed.

She sensed him staring at her, as if waiting for her to change her mind. When she remained silent, he climbed off the bed. ‘I’ll see myself out,’ he told her. And he left.

Itzy listened to his footsteps dart down the stairs. When she heard the front door close, she let out the breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding.