Iridescent Chaos (Enchanted Chaos 3)

A smile tugs at my lips, but I bite it back and narrow my eyes at him. “Well, just so you know, I sometimes feel what you’re feeling too.” When his expression plummets, I grin. “It’s not so funny when the roles are reversed, is it?”

His eyes briefly widen, but then he goes right back to his joking self, a grin taking over his face. “Nah, it doesn’t bother me.” He backs away from me with his hands stuffed inside his pockets. “Nothing ever does. And if you could really feel what I was feeling, you’d know that.”

I follow after him. “Everyone feels stuff, East.” As if responding to my statement, the link fleetingly falters with both confusion and excitement. “Like right now, I can tell you’re confused about something. And excited. Although, I don’t know what the last feeling is about, other than maybe you like being in the fey world.”

He slows to a stop, biting at his bottom lip and assessing me with a crinkle at his brow. His confusion grows and mixes with the excitement the longer he assesses me. But beneath the sensations, a hint of worry stews inside him.

“Maybe I’m excited to be here because I know I might get lucky tonight with some hot fey.” A malicious smirk rises on his lips. “The fey are kinky as hell and make awesome fuck buddies. Seriously, some of the shit they’re into…” He bites down on his bottom lip. “It gets me excited just thinking about it.”

I smash my lips together, a bit hurt, even though I have no right to be. And I’m not quite sure why I feel this way.

He leans in, his malicious smirk amplifying. “Is that embarrassment I feel?’ He searches my eyes. “And a hint of hurt? Are you jealous, lightning eyes?”

Back when I first met East, he was a jerk to me, but he stopped being one as soon as he found out what I am. He’s been pretty nice to me up until this point and while I think I may have upset him by telling him I can feel what he’s feeling, it pisses me off that he’s being a dick about it.

“Glad to see you can still act like you did when I first met you. Maybe you should drag me back to the tree house and lock me in the attic. It can be just like old times.” I dodge around him and hurry away, unsure of where I’m going, but don’t care at the moment.

I make it about ten steps before he jogs after me.

“Sky, wait a sec.” He calls out, but I accelerate my pace.

But he moves quicker and snags a hold of the back of my shirt.

“Let go of me,” I growl out, spinning around to face him and snatching my shirt from his grasp.

His lips start to turn up into a smirk, but then he sighs. “Look, I’m sorry.” He tensely massages the back of his neck, looking everywhere but at me. “I didn’t mean to be a jerk, but some of the stuff you were saying was making me feel… uncomfortable.”

“Why? All I said is that I could feel what you were feeling,” I say, watching as he squirms. “Why is that bad, especially when you said you could feel what I was feeling too?”

“I know, but…” He scratches at the back of his neck. “Look, I’m not a huge fan of feelings, okay?”

“Me neither. Mostly because feeling something intensely used to mean I’d end up accidentally setting off my powers. And since I didn’t know how to control them, there were a couple of times some really bad stuff happened.”

“Like what?” he asks curiously.

I contemplate how much I want to confide in him. Do I feel as comfortable with him as I do with Foster? Not completely, but I do trust him, even if he was a jerk to me only moments ago. But I think I understand why.

“You remember the day you guys came to move me out of my house and a huge storm had blown through the town?”

He nods. “Yeah, that was from you, right?”

“It was. And it happened because I kind of tried to hit on Foster the day before and he rejected me, and that’s what happens when I’m upset. Or, well, it used to happen. I’ve gotten a better lately with all the practicing we’ve been doing. Well, at least I’ve gotten better at controlling my powers. I still have zero control over my emotions, which is annoying.” I give a shrug like it isn’t a big deal. And it isn’t now, but back then it was.

He observes me with his silvery eyes. “Does Foster know about this?”

I shrug. “He knows his rejection hurt me that day, but I don’t know if he knows that I unleashed a storm because of it… Why?”

“I was just wondering.” His gaze burrows into me, a move that seems out of character for the usual joking Porterson brother. But then his entire mood abruptly shifts in the snap of a finger as he relaxes. “Come on, let’s finish our walk. There’s some stuff I need to tell you.”

I nod and we start through the trees, the air between us growing silent. I would wonder if he’s still upset with me, but I can sense his calmness through the link.

The farther we hike, the more

relaxed I become. That is until I spot a strange looking creature fluttering above us. The paper thin, glittery wings make me wonder if it’s a faerie, but it has a tail and furry skin…

“It’s a falopixie,” Easton says when he notices the direction of my gaze.

I blink at him. “What?”