The Covenant by B.N. (best authors to read .TXT) 📕

nodded, then began bubbling answers on the sheet Mr. Gale had passed out. “What do you like about him?” he demanded. She shrugged. “He makes me smile…” Pepper cut in. “I make you smile” he stated. She nodded. “Yeah, but it’s not the same…and he’s really sweet, I don’t think I’ve ever had to open a door while I was with him, and he…” Pepper put his hand up to stop her. “I think I’ve heard enough, your bruising my ego” he said, disappointment in his expression. Delilah covered her mouth to stifle her laugh. He eyed her and frowned. “It’s not funny” he muttered. “I think it is” she said, trying to stop her laughter.
The last twenty minutes of class Delilah spent thinking. Thinking of what Josh was going to tell her, but mostly she thought about what she felt at that moment. Last night she had been terrified of Pepper but now she felt as she did before she had that dream or whatever it was, mildly suspicious. Maybe she had had no reason to feel afraid of Pepper, maybe it had been only a dream and maybe he had only been checking on her last night…it almost made sense. Except she had a feeling that she had been right to react the way she did last night. She sighed. Why would he break into her room only to tell her she looked tired and suggest that she needed sleep by cutting off her light? Looking back now, she felt dumb for reacting so radically. It wasn’t even a big deal. She couldn’t seem to control her emotions anymore and Pepper had to be the cause of it.
When the bell rang, Tess and Delilah made they’re way to the parking lot as usual. When they got near Delilah’s car Tess stopped her. “Looks like someone wants to talk to you” she said pointing to Pepper, who was leaning against her car, with her chin. “Wonder what he wants” Delilah mumbled walking towards her car. “You mean besides you?” Tess teased as she walked off towards her car. Delilah ignored the comment as she came to a stop in front of Pepper, who was leaning against the driver’s side door. “What?” she asked, wishing he would move so she could get home. “Do you work tonight?” he asked, ignoring her sudden grouchiness. She nodded, not liking where he was going with the question. “Why?” she demanded. “Is…Jake working with you?” he asked, a sudden defiance flashing across his eyes. She nodded again. “Whatever you’re planning, stop, ok?” she asked, pulling her keys out of her pocket. He pushed himself up off the car. “I don’t know what you’re talking about” he said with an expressionless face. She felt suddenly agitated and saw only one way to deal with him. She pushed him against her car, taking him by surprise. She leaned against him, trapping him. She stood on her tip toes so they would be eye to eye. She stared at his smooth face and cocked her head to the side as if noticing something. He seemed too surprised to do much; instead he stood very still, waiting for her next move. She looked deep into his eyes as she leaned her face in. She felt not only her heart pounding but his too. She smiled; surprised that she had that affect on him. When her lips were close to his she turned her head slightly, causing her lips to brush across the side of face. She felt him take a deep breath. Her lips stopped near his ear. “You look tired” she whispered, then leaned back a bit to see his reaction. He seemed surprised that she had gone out of her comfort zone to tease him, but as usual he kept most of his emotions hidden. His lips twitched and his eyes were tightened around the edges but that was it. She was beginning to back away when he grabbed her waist and swapped places with her, spinning her around, penning her between her car and his body.
She gasped and looked around to see who was watching. Most of the lot was clearing but the one’s that were out of their cars and socializing seemed to pay them no mind. “You’re right, I am tired…” he whispered, releasing her waist and taking hold of her face. “I’m tired of playing games” he said, his voice low. Delilah knew he was about to kiss her and there was no stopping him this time. Her heart thrummed loudly, and her body pulsed with unwanted nervousness. “Who’s winning?” she asked suddenly, not sure where the question came from. He paused, and pursed his lips. He was actually thinking about it. She took that time to push him away. “I’ll give you some time to think about that and you get back to me” she said, relieved that she had held him off. She unlocked her door then climbed in. He frowned then turned and walked away.
Josh was already home when she got there. He patted the place beside him on the couch. She took it, feeling nervous. “Got a minute?” he asked. She looked at the clock then nodded. She still had around an hour until she had to be at work. “I’ve noticed that you’ve been acting strange lately” he informed, suspicion all over his face. She looked away, feeling guilty. “You’re crabby all the time now and I could have sworn I heard you crying when I came home last night…so do you care to tell me what’s going on?” he asked, staring at her. She shook her head. “Nothing’s going on and the only reason that I’ve been crabby is because I haven’t been getting any sleep” she answered, slyly changing the direction of the conversation. Josh narrowed his eyes. “All you seem to do is sleep…and you still didn’t tell me why you were crying” he said, refusing to get distracted. Delilah knew she couldn’t tell him about Pepper or her weird dream, if that’s what it was. So she came up with the closest lie that would be relative to what was going on. “You know when I went to the movies?” she asked, staring down at her feet. She saw him nod. “Well, Tess brought her date and when she left to go to the bathroom he tried to kiss me…I know it sounds dumb but I kind of feel embarrassed about it” she whispered, looking over at him to see if he bought it. He ran his hand through his short raven hair and let out a sigh. “What’s his name?” he asked suddenly, his voice sounding gruff. She shook her head. “Josh just let it go, it’s ok now…he…umm, apologized and I just want to forget it ever happened” she said, struggling to keep up with her lies. If she thought about it, it wasn’t entirely far from the truth. He surprised her by putting his arm around her shoulder. “You should have told me…just because I’m your brother doesn’t mean we can’t talk about other things besides who left an empty milk jug in the fridge” he smiled, relived that the talk had gone well. She playfully elbowed his side and stood. “Wasn’t me” she teased, making her way to her bedroom. She felt as if a huge weight was lifted off of her chest, he hadn’t wanted to get rid of her.
Chapter six
Delilah worked with Jake and Chelsea today. Chelsea had a huge crush on Jake and always followed him around. She had strawberry blonde hair, a light trail of freckles over the bridge of her nose and had bright blue eyes; she had a bubbly personality that sometimes annoyed Delilah. Though Delilah was sure Chelsea could care less what she thought, after all her crush did like Delilah. Delilah sighed as she recounted the new shipment that was in. Mr. Pent always made them recount the shipments at least three times before they could even bring them to the front. She was glad to be in the back again. Though the shop was a pretty decent size, she couldn’t distance herself far enough from Jake, she never felt comfortable with Jake when Chelsea was around. If Jake would help Delilah with something or just simply talk to her, Chelsea would glare at Delilah as if Delilah controlled what Jake did. After a while of working together, Jake noticed and when working with Chelsea he kept to himself.
Near closing time, Delilah went to the cash register, where Chelsea was working and bought a jarred candle. Chelsea was in a good mood and gave her a small smile as she put Delilah’s candle in a bag and handed her change to her. Just then the bell on the shops door rang, signaling that there was a costumer. Both girls looked to the door. Delilah saw who it was before he got through the door. Her heart fluttered and she felt panicked. What did he want now? Delilah turned back to Chelsea then. “Where’s Jake?” she asked, her eyes scanning the shop. Chelsea frowned, not liking her question. “He left early” she answered, clearly displeased that Delilah wanted to know where he was. Delilah sighed in relief and turned as the door closed behind Pepper. He smiled as he walked pass the cash register. Delilah wanted to know what he was up to so she followed him. “What are you doing?” she whispered, as he turned and stopped on the Christmas candle aisle. “Looking at candles, what about you?” he said innocently. He began walking again, back towards the cash register. Chelsea was eyeing them and Delilah could tell she was straining to hear. “He’s not here” Delilah muttered, aggravated. He stopped, staring at Delilah. “Who?” he asked, his tone too innocent. They were close to Chelsea now and Delilah wondered if she could hear them. “Jake” she whispered, looking over at Chelsea to see if she was listening. “Why should I care if he’s here or not?” he asked his tone accusing. Delilah flushed, wondering why she felt rejected. She turned then and made her way towards the door. He stopped her, putting his arm around her waist. She looked up at him, surprised. Chelsea coughed a rather phony cough. Pepper turned forcing Delilah to turn with him. He smiled. “Delilah I didn’t know you had a boyfriend” Chelsea stated, sounding cheered, probably thinking that Jake would go out with her now. Delilah tried to pull away from Pepper but his grip tightened. “I don’t…” Delilah began to say but Pepper had begun to talk over her. “I wouldn’t call what we have a relationship, it’s more of an attraction…she can’t seem to get enough of me” he explained with a straight face. Chelsea looked uncomfortable but smiled politely. “Well good for you” she stated, clearly not knowing what else to say. Delilah was speechless, feeling too mortified to do much of anything. It suddenly became clear what Pepper was doing. Now that Chelsea thought that Delilah was having some fling with Pepper she would tell Jake and Jake would be upset. Pepper began to pull Delilah out the door. “Have a nice night” Chelsea said as the door closed behind them.
“Why did you do that” she whispered, too surprised to yell. “I don’t know what you mean” he said leading them around the shop, to where the parking lot was. Her anger was boiling and she was having trouble containing it. She came to a stop in front of his car. “Don’t play dumb” she warned, never feeling so frustrated before. He sighed and sat on the hood of his car, his arms crossed over his chest. “It wasn’t a lie” he said, as if that justified anything. That pulled her up short. It was true, mostly. She resisted the urge to smack him and