Demon Kissed by H.M. Ward Page B

was floating around me, inside me, brushing against my consciousness. His defenses of charm and wit flew by, as I fell deeper into his mind. Secret thoughts flew past, as I saw the things he guised from the rest of world. Then I found myself settling into his memory from a few moments ago. I felt the pure joy he felt when he had knocked me on my butt. Collin’s chest rose and fell, as he breathed slowly—his blue gaze intense. He stood stone still, watching me, allowing the invasion into his mind. I looked at him, eyes unseeing, sensing his memories through my touch. They had his voice, and his perception of reality.  
    Then, I saw last night, but from his eyes. He heard my voice in his mind, as he sat laughing with friends. Then my crushing sadness washed over him. He was flooded with raw emotion that was too painful to ignore. He battled it, but it was consuming him. The wave of remorse, anger, and fear that washed over me as I sat crying on the stone floor of the old church, consumed him. My anguish became his anguish. Unable to ignore it another second, he was suddenly running toward me. I felt his feet pounding the ground, as his heart heaved. He ran, not knowing where I was. Everything happened so quickly. The version of the memory I saw wasn’t in real time. It flew by like a TiVoed commercial that no one wanted to watch.
    Suddenly, he found me alone in the dust. The old church surrounded him, dropping into his memory like a blanket, coming slowly into focus. The change of pace jarred me, as the sensation of my brokenness surged through him in full force. It was more intense than before. He loomed in a dark corner, watching me, unable to move. Remaining hidden by shadows, he thought he was safe. Unseen. He watched my back, as I breathed deeply with my damp shirt clinging to my skin. My ponytail flopped over my shoulder, as I slumped forward. The emotions he felt flooding from me were filling him in unrelenting waves, and caused his body to tense. His sentiments were too tangled to read, but as he watched me I knew that he was torn.
    Suddenly, the memory scattered like tiny grains of sand blown away by the wind. My contact with his skin broke, as my fingertips touched his collar. I rested my hands on his shoulders for a second, breathing heavily, before dropping my arms and stepped back. A cold wash of panic rinsed over me, as I accepted the truth.
    It was real. Oh God. I could feel everything he felt, see what he saw, and it was more vivid than being there, watching it myself. It was like I was inside of him, experiencing it with him. I nervously chewed my lip. Thoughts flew like drunken bats, crashing incoherently through my mind.
    Heart pounding, eyes wide, I asked, “Did you read my mind, too?”
    He shook his head, with his eyes downcast. “No. Not really. It seems to go one way, for the most part.”
    I released the breath that I didn’t realize I was holding, looking at his face. Sapphire eyes watched me, before Collin broke the gaze. He possessed a melancholy nature that I was too shaken to notice. I’d seen it in his mind. No I felt it in his mind. It weighed on him, baiting him, making him reckless. Collin’s arms folded over his chest, as his hair slid into his face. He pushed it back, eyes darting between me, and the floor.
    Swallowing hard, I thought about him doing the mind speed-read to me. The idea made it feel like someone poured ice down my back. I closed my eyes slowly, not knowing what to think, too afraid to move.
    His voice broke the silence, “That’s why I couldn’t kiss you.”
    Shock washed over me, overriding my fear. I looked straight at him. That was the last thing I expected him to say. “What?”
    His eyes were so blue, and his expression was tormented as he spoke. “Ivy, your emotions flood through me when we aren’t even touching. A slight caress from you, something I would barely notice from other girls, is so intense that … , ” his words trailed off. “I don’t know