Synching With the Devil's Son

Chapter 24

Bella's P.O.V.

When Trish interrupts our little tête-à-tête I have to laugh at the irony of it. Here I am in a tent with arguably the hottest guy in our state, making out with him when yesterday I wanted nothing more than to switch places with any of my friends so I didn't have to breathe the same air as Lucien. Everything about this situation is ludicrous. I haven't been alone with a man other than my father or brother since I was fifteen, right before being the victim of rape, so I can't believe I am lying in a tent with Lucien. What I thought was an insurmountable mountain of anxiety has melted into a puddle slowly drying up under the heat of Lucien's attention.

Apparently Lucien thinks being interrupted by Trish is funny too, and his deep laughter makes me laugh harder. Trish, satisfied that I am alive and well, walks away, and I stop laughing when Lucien pushes my tangled hair off my face to look at the gash over my eye. I must look a mess, if my clothes are any indication. I suddenly feel self-conscious, but Lucien seems more concerned with how I'm healing than what I look like. How have I been so wrong about him?

He asks me if he can heat water so I can take a bath and get into some clean clothes, and I am completely floored. Hot soapy water sounds amazing, how is it he thought about that before I did? "Who are you and what have you done with Lucien?" I ask. As soon as I say it I feel bad. He grimaces and begins to apologize for being so mean, offering a small explanation but no excuses for his behavior. Of course out of 450 students, I had the misfortune of being the first person he could lash out at. It figures. I tell him I've got terrible luck and to not worry about it, but he insists he wants to change my perception of him. If he only knew my perception of him is quite favorable, he might not be that eager to change it. I take his proffered hand and we exit the tent.

I look around our campsite, stupefied. Our food has been wrapped up in a tarp and hung over a low branch of the tree near our fire pit. Our dishes have been stacked and placed in the sealed bin our food was stored in, and our garbages have been triple bagged and are hanging over the branch of a different tree situated about ten yards from our campsite. "You did this, didn't you?" I ask Lucien as our friends begin to stumble out of their tents, stretching in the the fresh morning air. Having been awake for a while, Trish is at the car getting breakfast items out of the cooler, and Ryan is working on the fire.

Lucien looks down at me and gives me a slight shrug. "Now that I know there are bears here, I don't want to attract them to our campsite, somebody could get hurt." The fact that he thought of this and put everything away after carrying me back to camp makes my heart painfully contract. He's not as selfish and self-serving as I labeled him to be. He must have been exhausted, yet he spent the time to clean up the campsite in case wandering bears found us while we were sleeping.

I nod. "We've been coming here for years and have never encountered bears before. I am so thankful you were with me last night when the bear chased us up the slope," I tell him as I reach for his hand. His fingers tighten around mine and I flash him a smile. "I've never heard anything like that scream you emitted...it scared the bear and half of the surrounding forest. How did you do that?" His smile falters on his face and I wonder what's suddenly made him so nervous. He starts running his hand through his hair, looking at everything but me.

"How about we heat some water for your bath, and then eat breakfast before we talk about last night?" he suggests, staring at the fire Ryan has started. I look at him, confused for a moment, but the idea of a hot bath, clean clothes and food in my empty stomach changes the desire to pursue my line of questioning, so I softly agree.

Trish walks toward us with eggs and bread in her hands. She takes one look at me, bloodied and bruised, and rushes over to me. She sees Lucien holding my hand, and her eyebrow quirks, but instead of commenting on it, she thrusts the food she's holding at Lucien who has no choice but to take it from her. When her hands are free, she grabs me and crushes me in her embrace.

"Are you okay? You look like shit," she informs me, looking me up and down.

I chuckle, hugging her back. "I'm fine, thanks to Lucien," I tell her. He's got a soft look on his face as he watches our interaction, and then a surprised one when Trish envelops him in her arms.

"Thank you for taking care of my best friend," she tells him sincerely, kissing his cheek.

I laugh out loud at his stunned expression, and he glances at me while Trish takes back the eggs and bread she thrust into his hands. She leaves us to start preparing breakfast, and I turn to look at Lucien. He's got an expression in his eyes, something I cannot put my finger on, but my thoughts abandon me when he laces both of his hands into mine, and stares into my face. "How about that bath?" he asks, looking into my eyes. I nod eagerly and he lets go of my hands, heading over to the pots on the table. He grabs the biggest one, turns to me and says, "I'll be right back." Then he walks off into the woods, heading toward the river.