Jackson lifted her shirt up to her neck and ran a trail of slow kisses over the top of her breasts that were exposed around the edge of her bra. She moaned again and pressed her hips into him again letting him know she wanted more. She needed more. He leaned back and tore his shirt off. Lilah would have been mesmerized by his chiseled physique, but something flashed across his face that caught her attention instead. She didn’t know what it was, but it scared her.
She lifted herself up on her elbows causing him to lean back. She didn’t say a word because she didn’t know what to say. Whatever it was she saw had terrified her, and that’s not the type of thing you want to tell a guy when you’re in this position.
After a minute, Jackson fully sat back and put his face in his hands which were covered by his shirt. He took a couple deep breaths then looked up again across the room where the movie was still playing. He put his shirt back on and leaned back into the couch. Lilah slowly brought herself up sitting cross legged facing him.
He reached out his hand, and Lilah eagerly took it. She pulled his hand down into her lap and held it. She couldn’t take her eyes off his fingers wrapped around hers. She was still at a loss for words.
Luckily, he wasn’t. “Hey, look at me,” he told her softly.
She hesitantly looked up at him. She had been avoiding looking directly at his face since whatever it was she saw flash across his features minutes before. When she lifted her eyes, she saw the same handsome man she longed to be with.
“It’s okay,” he told her.
She searched his face for clues. Did he know what she saw? Could he tell her what it was? She didn’t fully know what had happened. It could’ve been a reflection from the television or maybe even her own imagination. That made the most sense.
“It got pretty intense really fast. I,” he paused and looked away for a second, “I hadn’t planned on this…when I invited you over…I wasn’t trying anything.”
“I know,” she reassured him. “It just happened. Like you said. It happened fast.”
“I’m glad you stopped. I’m not sure I would’ve,” he looked at her with his face filled with guilt. “That sounded bad.”
Lilah shook her head and leaned forward until her forehead touched his. “No, it sounded honest.”
“Yeah, but it makes me sound like some kind of animal or something.”
That was it. That was the clue Lilah needed. The flash on his face was more the look of a wild animal than anything else. She had never seen anything like it before. “Not an animal,” she told him, thankful he was unable to read her mind. Yet. “An animal wouldn’t have stopped.”
He lifted his head up and kissed her forehead then pulled back. “What now? Finish the movie, or…” His voice trailed off. He was looking at her to make the decision.
As much as she wanted to stay, she knew she should probably head home. Her family would be very upset with her as it was, and if she stayed, they might not stop the next time. She had an eternity to spend with Jackson. There was no need to rush anything now.
“I should probably head home. We should-“
“Take a little break and cool off,” Jackson finished her sentence with a twinkle in his eye.
“Maybe a cold shower?”
He threw his head back and laughed. “I may need two,” he joked.
They drove back to the farmhouse in silence, but it was a comfortable quiet not the awkward kind that usually occurs when people are still getting to know each other. Lilah sat next to him in the middle of the truck’s bench seat with his arm around her the entire drive. She barely knew him, but already couldn’t imagine her life without him anymore. She had the insight to know they’d never part, but that was something she would have to keep from him for a little longer. They shared many glances and smiles along the short trip. Lilah had been feeling like she had ruined the evening by causing it to be cut so short, but he made sure that she knew she hadn’t.
When they reached the end of her drive, he put the truck in park and pulled her close for one last kiss. She didn’t want to leave him, but she had to. Their time would come, and she would have to wait patiently for it to arrive.
After she shut the door behind her, reality quickly set in as she saw the look on her mom’s face. She had temporarily forgotten how angry her family would be over her shutting them out.
“I’ve been texting you,” her mom’s voice was sharp as knives.
Lilah took her coat off to hang by the door, and in doing so, she brushed her hand across the top of her shirt. Images of Jackson’s body on top of hers, and his mouth roaming over her chest filled her mind. A heat began to spread through her again, and her cheeks flushed. She couldn’t stop the smile that formed thinking about it.
“You think it’s funny? What you did?” her mom was infuriated even more.
“No, mom, I don’t. I wasn’t smiling because of you.”
“You had us so worried when you didn’t answer,” her dad joined in.
Lilah sighed. There were eight people in the living beside herself, and only two of them needed to be present for this conversation. She walked into the kitchen knowing her parents would follow.
“I left my phone in my coat, so I could enjoy the evening,” she said without turning around.
She heard her mom sigh. “Lilah, I know it’s unfair to you. There’s just so much going on right now.”
“It’s not that. I don’t need an audience for this.”
Her mom nodded in understand. “Okay, maybe we can work something out in the future then like if you promise to check in? At least until we hear from Marcus.”
It sounded reasonable, so Lilah agreed.
“Now the real question on everyone’s mind is did you learn anything?” her dad asked.
Lilah was lifting the glass to her mouth when she heard her father’s question. She stopped and set it back down. “About that,” she said.
“What is it?” her dad sounded worried.
She turned to look at her parents knowing the reactions she was about to receive. “I wasn’t at Everleigh’s.”
They didn’t say anything. She could tell by the looks at their faces they were waiting for her to explain. Lilah shifted her weight uncomfortably and quickly said, “She sent the text to get me out of the house, so I could hang out with Jackson. But I swear I didn’t know anything about it until after I left.”
Her parents weren’t near as mad as she expected them to be. Lilah wasn’t sure if she should feel relieved, or brace herself for it to hit when what she said sunk in for them.
Her dad shrugged and left the room. Abby told her, “Yeah, we know.”
“You know? How?”
“Meredith is here visiting Luke. She showed up not long before you did.”
Lilah had been so caught up in what she was feeling toward Jackson that she paid no attention to the cars parked outside or if any of them were different then what were normally parked out front. Now that she thought about, Meredith’s little red car was parked on the side near the barn.
“So how was your night? You’re home earlier than I expected.”
She thought about what to say. She knew better to lie. Everyone in her family could spot a lie before it was even spoken. She also wasn’t sure how much she wanted her mom to know.
“It couldn’t have been that bad,” her mom was picking up on her hesitation.
‘Maybe her mom could tell her why she saw what she did,’ she thought. She told her mom about what happened leaving out some of the details, but she described what she saw flash across Jackson’s face. “I don’t know what it was, mom, but it scared me.”
Just then she could hear her Uncle Joseph in the next room say as clearly as she could hear her mom, “Tell her.”
“Tell me what?”
“All men are animals,” her mom answered.
Lilah raised an eyebrow at her mom. She knew that wasn’t what her uncle was talking about.
“I’m not sure what you saw, honey
, but think about what you’ve been through the last few days. It’s a lot to take in at once, and you’ve had plenty of emotions to deal with as well,” her mom shrugged and shook her head as though she wasn’t sure how to explain it better.
“I thought that too.”
Her mom smiled and held her arms out for a hug.
Lilah accepted and while they were hugging, she asked, “What did Uncle Joseph mean when he said to tell me?”
She could feel her mom tense up. Abby backed away. “I, well, we were hoping you’d have news that could clear things up for us when you got home.”
“What happened?”
“Meredith. She told us something when she arrived.”
“Mom? What? Happened?” Lilah wanted her to just spit it out already.
“That’s the thing. We don’t know what it was exactly. We only know that something happened at the Return.”
Abby repeated the story that Meredith had told everyone. Eloise has an antique locket that once belonged to Anya. It’s how Everleigh’s family learns the news about the Return year after year. Eloise holds the locket to get an impression of the events that happened on the rock. It’s a type of psychometry.
Lilah was fairly familiar with psychometry. Her family used it themselves quite often and without always meaning to do it. If they pick up an object, any object that belongs to someone else, they could get some form of vision. It’s usually a memory related to the object itself, but not always.
“That’s how they knew it was Fire who was a no show?”
Abby didn’t respond. She rubbed her palms together in the same fashion she always did when she was nervous or upset. It was a tell of hers. Lilah learned at a young age that something was up when her mom did it.
Her mom went on to say that Meredith had been curious. Water has been a mystery to everyone for so long. She picked up the locket herself to take a look. She only had it in her hand for a second before Eloise yanked it away from her in anger and kicked her out of the house.
“What did she see?”
“A struggle.”
Lilah looked at her mom wanting her to continue, but her mom said nothing. “With Marcus? What struggle?”
“That’s all we know. Meredith said there was some kind of struggle. She said it was a fleeting image, too quick to really see it.”
She turned her back to the counter and looked out the kitchen window on the far side of the room. She could see nothing except the darkness that draped over everything. It always unsettled her how easy it would be for someone to spy on her in the dark. You can’t see out, but they can see you. Jackson’s changed animal like face flashed in front of her on the window for a fleeting second. She closed her eyes and turned away. It was only her imagination.
“This is why you were disappointed I wasn’t with Everleigh? Not because my plans changed, but because you wanted news?”
“Yes, but if Eloise didn’t like Meredith finding out, she surely wouldn’t want you to know either. We knew it was a long shot.”
“I’ll text her.”
Lilah grabbed her glass and headed up to the privacy of her room. It was late, and she had a lot on her mind before she had even come home. Now, there was even more weighing on her. She didn’t need her entire family gathered round waiting for her phone to chime.
Chapter Thirteen
Marcus ran as fast as he could through the growth on the hillside. His side was screaming at him with sharp pains that told him he needed to rest, but he couldn’t. There was barely enough time to make it to her. Marcus had to keep going.
His breath was heavy and labored. He could feel the burn throughout the muscles in his legs. Marcus would be sore later, but all he could focus on now was getting to Leena in time.
He still had a long way to go, but he could see everything playing out ahead of him. Leena had found a cave to make camp in for the evening. She left to fetch water, but the search party from her village had found her cave while she was gone.
Leena had taken off with the men from her village close behind her. She almost lost them several times, but they always managed to find her trail again. She ventured off the path to try to make some time on the cliff when she lost her footing.
The search was now over. Her people were returning to the village where it would be decided to not look for her again. She would be disgraced from her people which was worse than death, but death was what was in her future now.
Leena clung to the side of the cliff not knowing how much longer she could last. Her fingertips gripped to a crack in the rock and her right foot was resting on something unseen in the dark cloaking the rocky wall below. She couldn’t move.
Tears stung her eyes. She wanted to scream out, to cry for help, but she couldn’t. Even in what was sure to be the last moments of her life, she couldn’t call out to the men she was running from. Not only would her insolence be punished with a public lashing, but it would send her back to Yaxkin. Leena found herself making the decision to let go and end her life quickly rather than the agony of a lifetime as one of Yaxkin’s wives.
As she prepared to push back off the cliff, something brushed past her face. Even in the darkness, Leena could tell it was some sort of garment like a dress, but she didn’t recognize the material. She grabbed hold, and the feel of it in her fists was new. Leena did not know who was on the other end pulling her out of danger, but it was not anyone from her village. She was afraid of who may be on the other end, but at least it was not Yaxkin or one of the other men who had been chasing her.
Marcus pulled Leena from the side of the cliff using his robes. His bronze skin nude against the light of the moon, he strained down until he could reach her arm. Effortlessly, he grabbed her, and with one sturdy yank, she was safe beside him. His heart raced to finally be next to the woman he had longed to be with for an entire year. He stared at her not knowing what to do next until he remembered his robes were on the ground and not on him.
He scrambled to gather the robes and drape them over his body again. This was no way to meet the woman he had pined for the last year. He could only hope that the darkness protected most of his physique from her eyes.
Leena quickly sat up without taking her eyes off of him. As she pulled her legs close to her, she winced. She reached out for her ankle which throbbed hot beneath her hand.
Marcus eyed her ankle carefully. He knew her language, all languages for that matter, but he was afraid if he spoke to her in her native tongue, it may scare her away. He didn’t want Leena to think he was in any way associated with those who had chased her to what should have been her death.
Instead he motioned to her ankle trying to tell her he wanted to take a closer look. Leena nodded. Marcus carefully examined it. Nothing was broken. Marcus breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at Leena and smiled. It was only twisted. He motioned again for her to stay where she was.
Marcus left to find sticks sturdy enough to make a brace for her. He smiled the entire way. He was with her at last. He was with Leena. After an entire year of wishing his circumstances were different, he had his chance. Marcus stayed focused on her mind, so he knew that she was not scared of him and welcomed having a companion right now.
He made a makeshift brace for her ankle, and helped her to her feet. She winced again and cried out. Marcus pulled her to him preparing to carry her. Before he did, he motioned again with his hands asking her where to go.
Leena looked around unsure. This territory was new to her and in her hurry to lose the men following her, she got turned around. Perhaps if it were light out, she could find her cave. She needed to find her cave. All of her provisions were tucked safely away inside of it.
Marcus nodded at her and smiled. He carefully swooped her up into his arms and began walking. He pretended to look this way and that to give the impression he wasn’t sure where to go. Marcus even checked a cave he knew wouldn’t be accommodating. He set Leena down inside and went in to investigate. He emerged moments later shaking his head t
hen carried her off again.
Finally, Marcus neared Leena’s cave, and she recognized the area. She started pointing to show Marcus where to go. He brought her inside the cave and set her down gently. Leena was scared that her people might come back. Marcus knew they wouldn’t return, but she did not. There was no way Marcus could explain to her how he knew this either.
He looked around and motioned to himself and then a spot on the other side of the cave nearer to the entrance asking if it was okay to stay. He knew her answer would be yes. She didn’t know him, but something drew her to him just as he felt drawn to her. She wanted Marcus there. She felt safe with him.
Marcus helped ready the cave with her. They would have to move on soon, but not before her ankle had healed. He started a fire and looked around for the water bucket. She had dropped it in the chase. Using hand motions, he asked her about a drink. She looked around frantic then upon remembering what had happened, tears fell from her eyes.
He ran to her and took her in his arms without a moment’s thought. She welcomed his embrace. She cried and cried. No doubt the sadness, fear and anger of her father’s death, and her unwanted engagement that had been building up were finally being released.
Marcus just held her and let her cry. He stroked her hair and rocked softly. When she had calmed herself, he looked deep in her eyes and smiled. He knew their future together would be long. It was hard to know for sure because the future changes every second, but he knew Leena’s heart would belong to him just as his heart had always been hers.
He communicated as best he could that he would go find water. He made a torch from the fire and left. Marcus walked straight to the dropped bucket then the nearest stream to fill it. All the while he kept his mind on her thoughts.
Leena was thankful he had saved her. She was mad at herself for deciding to give up in a moment of weakness. She was glad Marcus stayed with her and somehow she knew he could be trusted. She also liked how it felt when he held her. Leena grew flustered wondering if he would try more partly because the thought scared her and partly because she wanted him to which scared her even more.
Air: The Elementals: Book One Page 16
