The Covenant, B.N. [epub ebook reader TXT] 📗

Prologue
Blackwell, South Carolina, two weeks earlier
Pepper sat back on Jess’s sofa, his feet lounging on the coffee table. To an outsider it might have looked as though the boys were bored, but they were deep in thought. “Maybe we could find one at our school…” Peter thought out loud. Pepper simply ignored the dumb comment while the other two boys stared at Peter with facial expressions that said ‘are you serious?’ “If there was one at our school we would have found it by now” Jess insisted in an agitated tone. Mitch pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. “This is a waste of time…we should just leave everything how it is” the pitch in Mitch’s voice was argumentative. No one commented on what he had said. Pepper sat up then, flipping his dark shaggy hair out of his face. “I had a dream the other night about one…I think we could find her, I have a feeling she’s close” he stated, looking upward as if thinking it over. The other boys sighed in unison. “How many times are we gonna have to look?” Mitch groaned. “Who’s going to be the one to do it?” Peter asked. Suddenly all three boys laid their eyes on Pepper. He cracked a small smile that seemed almost taunting. “I was hoping you’d choose me” he said smoothly.
Chapter One
Keller, South Carolina, present day
Delilah got out of her silver Toyota Camry and made her way into the school. Tess, her closet friend, waved and waited for her at her locker. Tess looked the complete opposite of Delilah. She was pale, curvy and brown headed with blue forget-me-not colored eyes. Delilah was olive toned; model sized skinny and had raven black hair with honey brown eyes. “Did you do your English essay?” Tess asked, as they walked to class side by side. Delilah nodded. “Finished it last night, you?” before Tess could answer someone ran right into her, knocking her backwards. “Watch where you’re going” Tess frowned as she stood. “Sorry” the boy apologized, handing Tess her books from off the ground.
Delilah was sure she had never seen him before, she would have remembered him. He had stylish dark shaggy hair that covered most of his eyes, which from what she could tell were a gray so dark they seemed black. He was fair skinned and at least a head taller than her. She wondered if he was a freshman or sophomore, then she noticed his lean but muscular build and decided he had to at least be a junior. Tess must have noticed what Delilah had because the next thing that came out of her mouth was, “Who the heck are you?” The boy eyed Tess then Delilah, as if deliberating to tell them or not. “Pepper James” he said in a matter of fact way. Tess smiled, in what Delilah had once called her flirty smile. Tess put her hand to her chest, “Tess Gables”, then she pointed to Delilah, “That’s Delilah York” Delilah stared at the boy named Pepper and gave a weak smile, and then she looped arms with Tess and tugged their way to their classroom. “Don’t want to be late to class” she mumbled when Tess seemed to tug away.
At lunch Tess couldn’t seem to stop talking about the new boy. “Isn’t that a weird name?” she went on. Delilah shrugged as she took a sip from her tea. “Pepper…hmm…Tess and Pepper, how does that sound?” Tess asked as she ran her hands through her golden brown hair. Delilah sighed in exasperation. “Sorry to tell you this but he’s not your type” she took another sip of tea. “What do you mean?” her forehead creasing. Delilah rolled her eyes. “Remember what you said at the beginning of the year?” Delilah asked, toying with her mashed potatoes. Tess cocked her head to the side, narrowing her muted blue eyes as if trying to remember. “No…remind me” she demanded. “You said that you were only going to date football players and he is definitely not a football player” Delilah pointed her fork at Tess for emphasis. Tess grinned. “Your right…did you see what he was wearing? Converse, dark jeans dark shirt, he’s not my type at all, but there’s an exception to every rule” she winked. Delilah smiled as she eyed Pepper from across the crowded lunch room. “Speaking of exceptions” Delilah said, slyly pointing behind Tess with her fork. Tess turned her head, scanning the lunch room. “I hope we have some classes together, it will put a damper on our relationship if we never get to see each other in school…” Tess’s voice tolled off. “Not to be the bearer of bad news but he puts off a certain…vibe that screams ‘back off’… and if you ask me he looks like trouble” Delilah admitted. Tess rolled her eyes. “I love trouble” Tess said with a devilish smile on her face.
At the end of the day Delilah was surprised to see Pepper in her chair. She eyed Tess, who was at the back of the class. Tess simply shrugged and began doodling in her notebook. Delilah sighed and took the seat next to the strange boy. The world history teacher, Mr. Gale walked in as the bell rang. His class was the easiest class to pass because all they had to do was take notes and watch videos. He eyed the class room with his bird like eyes; Delilah always thought he resembled a hawk. “Where’s the new student?” he asked in his monotone voice. Delilah looked over at Pepper, who was slouched down in his chair and looking like the definition of comfortable. He looked over at her and held her stare long enough to make her olive skin warm, she looked away, feeling uncomfortable and oddly nervous. She fidgeted momentarily then began copying notes. Mr. Gale picked up a piece of paper off his desk and eyed it. “Pepper James, is he here?” he scanned the room again. Pepper sighed and lifted his hand, but held his slouching stance. Mr. Gale narrowed his eyes then gathered a stack of papers off his desk and gave him the papers. “This is what you’ve missed so far, this class isn’t hard so you should catch up rather easily” Mr. Gale said, then went to his desk and began typing on his computer in a dull rhythm that the class had grown use to. Pepper stared up at the board then over at Delilah. She felt his dark eyes on her and tried to ignore him. She heard him sit up and out the corner of her eye she saw him leaning his elbow on the table with his head in his hand, facing her. She turned her head slightly towards him and gave him a look that asked ‘what do you want?’ He flashed a smile that looked part teasing and something else that Delilah couldn’t put her finger on.
“You’re going to take all those notes?” his tone was close to disbelief. Delilah furrowed her brows and nodded, making her ponytail bob. “Why wouldn’t I?” she asked, feeling slightly defensive. He stared at her a second longer then sat up and began taking notes. Delilah fought against a smile, she felt like a good influence. Then he slid his notes toward her and she stared at what he wrote. She frowned. He hadn’t been taken notes, he had written down his phone number. “What’s this for?” she mumbled. “What do you think?” he asked in a tone that implied Delilah was slow when it came to these types of things, which in retrospect was true, but she didn’t want him to know that. That’s when a thought came to her. She smiled, which seemed to make him curious of what she was thinking. He leaned in, waiting for her answer, making her uncomfortable. “I know what you want” Delilah stated nonchalantly. He raised his dark brow, which was not visible because of his hair. “And what’s that?” he pushed, a slight smile threatened to show. She turned in her chair and looked at the corner of the room where Tess was applying make-up. Pepper followed her glaze and realized what she was implying. He frowned. “I don’t want her, guess you’re clueless when it comes to me” he shrugged, seeming satisfied that Delilah was clueless. “I don’t even know you” she muttered. Delilah wondered what he was talking about. What did he want?
When the bell rang, Delilah walked out of the class room, leaving Pepper’s phone number on the table. Delilah wasn’t dumb and when it came to her instincts she followed them. She had the feeling that Pepper was trouble and she should stay away, she planned to listen.
When Delilah got to her road her eyes went to the driveway. Josh, her older brother, wasn’t home. Delilah had lived with Josh ever since their dad had walked out on them. He was most likely at work, towing cars and what not. She sighed as she went into the house. She usually spent most of her time alone nowadays. After she did her homework, ate, and took a shower she started on a load of laundry. As she was emptying her pants pockets she pulled out a folded piece of paper. It was the pants that she had worn to school. She didn’t remember putting anything in her pockets. She unfolded it and frowned at the paper in confusion. It was Pepper’s number. She remembered leaving the paper on her desk. Had she absentmindedly put it in her pocket? She shook her head. There was no way she had put it in her pocket. Delilah jumped at the sound of the front door slamming closed. “Oh baby sister!” Josh called. Delilah rolled her eyes, she was hardly a baby anymore, they were only four years apart. She threw the pants in the washer and closed it. She made her way to her brothers voice, Pepper’s number still in her hand. “You’re home early” she said, eyeing her brother as he made a sandwich. He shrugged as he searched around the fridge for more fillings for his sandwich. He grabbed the mayonnaise and pickle jar. “It was a slow day” he said as he opened the mayonnaise and spread it on his bread with a butter knife. Delilah stared at him a second longer. They had some comparisons. He was olive skinned and raven haired, but he had deep green eyes like their mother while Delilah had bright honey eyes like their father. He had a muscular build from laborious work; Delilah on the other hand was what most of her family called a ‘skinny minnie’ and she came off as fragile to most, which was true. She then turned and made her way to her room.
As she walked pass her dresser, she placed Pepper’s number in her jewelry box; which she used for a piggy bank and memo holder. She had never been one to wear jewelry, unless she counted the top of her ear which she always had an earring in. She flopped down on her bed and stared at her small room. The walls were a powder blue color, the carpet was a royal blue and her curtains and comforter were stripped with both colors. The walls and carpet had already been that color since she lived here and she had never felt like changing them so she just got