by S D Hegyes
“I love it when your eyes change colors,” he said in a low voice.
“What?”
“They swapped between orange and gray when we first met, when you were talking to spirits, but when we touch?” His thumb stroked her palm in a circular motion. “When we touch, your eyes turn yellow.”
Her eyes met his, and she felt warmth spread throughout her whole body. Her toes curled and she licked her lips, fighting the urge to press herself to him and taste him.
He smiled at her once more before he released her hand, breaking her from the spell. The smoke disappeared, and she knew her eyes had changed colors again when his smile widened further.
Sorsha shook her head and frowned, her brows coming together as she took a step back and cleared her throat. She held up the phone and the postcard. “What’s with this?”
He sighed. “I was hoping you’d take it, say thank you, and that would be that.” Her brows rose and he added, “I should have known better.”
“Abaddon,” she said and was surprised when he flinched. She took another step back, unsure what to do. “What’s going on?”
He looked around and turned back to her. “Come with me, and I’ll explain.”
She hesitated. Something about his behavior seemed erratic. “Is something wrong?”
“What?” He stopped and actually looked at her. “No. Should something be wrong?”
“You’re acting strange.” She shrugged. “Well, stranger than normal, I should say.”
He gave her a smirk. “Since when are either of us normal?” He gave her a wink and gestured for her to follow him. “Come on.”
She had no idea where he wanted her to go, but she knew she’d follow. What else did she have to lose? It wasn’t like he was her ride home or anything.
13
Was it necessary to follow Abaddon? Probably not. She figured he got a kick out of being mysterious. Maybe even liked freaking her out. It felt like it would be normal territory for him.
When Sorsha hesitated, he seemed to ponder his most recent actions before he laughed. “It’s not anything bad, I assure you. I don’t feel like discussing this out in the open.” He glanced around again. “We won’t even move from the parking lot. We’ll sit and talk in the car. Does that make you feel better?”
She laughed at him. “It wasn’t a big deal.” Then she shrugged and followed him. “I mean, you were being creepy, but I get the feeling that's an old habit.” She reached up and ran her fingers through her hair a couple of times before she tossed it over her shoulder.
“Sorry about that. I didn’t even think about how weird it might sound.”
He stopped next to the car and unlocked it, looking back at her. She still carried the phone and postcard in her hand, tucked against one another. She hadn’t settled into the idea of having either. She’d wait to make up her mind about them until after Abaddon explained.
“Shall we?” He gestured toward the passenger side.
Her laughter bubbled up from her chest, killing any idea that Abaddon might be a threat. “We shall,” she said with a wink.
They climbed into the car. Once they’d both settled in, Abaddon turned on the air to help them cool off from the late August heat.
“Alright, Creeper. I’ve gotten into your car. Is this the part where you tell me I’ll never live to see another day and knock me out before killing me in a cabin somewhere?”
He pointed a finger at her and returned her teasing. “That’s Mr. Creeper to you, young lady.”
They both burst out laughing, and when it subsided, he continued in a more serious tone, “So, it may or may not come as a surprise to you, I’m a bit. . .”
The man rubbed his hands over his jeans, trying to dry the sweat on his palms. Sorsha watched him, wondering why he seemed nervous all of a sudden. She bit her lip, not wanting to say anything for fear he might not explain anything to her at all.
“Well, I’m not poor by any stretch of the imagination. That’s the nicest way I can put it.”
Her eyes bulged. What was he saying? He was rich? She thought about it. It did make sense. He’d have to have some kind of decent backing if he and his cousins were always traveling. She hadn’t once heard him mention any kind of a job. She knew money didn’t grow on trees. He had to either do something to bring in money, or he already had a decent nest egg to live off of.
“So, I know you want to get out of Shaded Glade. I’ve been there.” He shook his head and waved his arms back and forth, criss-crossing them over one another. “Not in Shaded Glade—God, no—but in a situation like that, a home I wanted to escape. I’ve been there.”
She tilted her head to the side, watching him with a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. He was utterly adorable when he stumbled over his words.
As much as she tried to concentrate on his words, on what he was trying to tell her, she couldn’t help but let her mind wonder. She wanted to reach across the center console and kiss him. She wanted him to return the kiss. Part of her fantasized about them throwing caution to the wind and winding up in the backseat. Clothes off. Bodies pressed against one another.
“Sorsha?”
“Hmmm?” Her eyes widened and she clamped her mouth shut, afraid she’d been moaning as she’d been in the fantasy flitting through her mind.
Abaddon’s dark eyes flickered red for a moment, and he took a deep breath through his nose, as if he could smell her desire. She pressed her legs together instinctively, wondering why she felt the need to. There was no way he could smell the way she wanted him.
“Did you hear anything I just said?” He smirked at her and leaned close enough their noses nearly touched. “Or were you too busy fantasizing about me to hear?” He ran one hand through her hair before he traced the shell of her ear, the line of her jaw and her plump lower lip with the lightest touch that left Sorsha gasping for more.
“I heard you.” The huskiness in her voice didn’t surprise her. She cleared her throat and tried again. “I heard you.”
“Really?” He tilted his head to the side and moved until his mouth was against her ear. She felt a brush of his teeth against her earlobe, tugging before a small kiss pressed against her neck. “What did I say?”
Another small kiss against her skin distracted her. She shuddered, wanting more. Still, she tried to clear her mind and think about his question.
“You were talking about how you had help getting out of your situation. It was different because it was your cousins who helped you. Apparently you hadn’t been—” Her words trailed off as he kissed her throat, tipping her head back to allow him access even as she leaned toward him. “—close.”
“Who’s close?” Abaddon asked. “You?” He pulled away, meeting her gaze. She swallowed. “Are you close, baby?”
“Not even.” Her breath came out in heavy pants.
Still, he gave her a knowing smirk and sat back in his seat, watching her, and it only grew wider when she huffed in frustration.
“We made a deal, remember?”
“Then why did you do that?” She rubbed her face, pushing her hands up and through her hair. “That’s making this so much harder.”
Another flash of crimson in his eyes, and this time Sorsha saw his canines had elongated again. What was with that? She almost wondered if he was a vampire, but that couldn’t be right. Vampires couldn’t walk in the sunlight. Could they? She doubted it. He wasn’t human though, that she knew. Just as she wasn’t.
“I couldn’t resist. I’m trying. I really am. This is hard for me.”
She glanced down and grinned. “It’s not the only thing that’s hard.”
He groaned, rubbing his hand through his hair. “Sorsha,” he said. “Anyway, I’m trying to help you. That’s what I was trying to get at. That’s what this is all about.”
“Is that what this is?” she asked, holding up the phone and postcard. “This is you helping?”
Abaddon nodded. “That’s a burner phone basically. It’s so
you can have contact with those you give the number to. It’s a pay-as-you-go phone and has been paid up to a year unless you change the plan. It’s not the best phone plan, but it’s not the worst either. I figured it was a start. It also gives you a number to potential businesses and employers you’d like to work for.”
He pointed at the postcard. “That’s your new PO box. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s decent. Again, paid in full for a year.”
She narrowed her eyes at him and pursed her lips together, giving him a side-eyed look. “You already figured I’d run into trouble, didn’t you?”
A grin crossed his face. “I did. You live with a cult.”
She didn’t disagree with him, but she wondered if that was the whole story as well. Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn’t. Did it matter? She had further access to the outside world than she’d ever had before, all thanks to a near stranger.
“What’s the catch?” she asked, cocking her head to the side to study him.
“What do you mean?”
She held up the phone and card. “What’s the catch? We’re still strangers in a lot of ways, Abaddon. I’ve grown up realizing that most of the world works with the motto of ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’ mentality. So, what do you want me to do for you?”
“Not killing me would be a great start.” Somehow, even though she wondered if his words were meant in jest, they sounded true and honest. Interesting.
Sorsha shook her head. “I don’t plan on killing you.”
He nodded. “Good enough.”
The pair lapsed into silence, each caught in their own thoughts. Sorsha thought about what Abaddon had said about Shaded Glade being a cult. Was it? Cult’s brainwashed their members and made them believe they were doing good when they might not be.
Sorsha had often joked about Shaded Glade being a cult, but she hadn’t really thought of it that way. Abaddon seemed to fully believe it was a cult though. Maybe it was?
Her brows scrunched together in confusion. “What would you suggest I do, Abaddon?” she asked without looking up.
“I don’t know what you mean.” She could feel his eyes on her.
She sighed and her shoulders heaved. “I’m supposed to get married soon. Spring, if our fathers don’t change the rules about waiting until both parties are eighteen before being wed. I can’t stay in Shaded Glade until then.”
Ashamed, she looked away. “My engagement will last until Preston turns eighteen, but with his father being the community leader, that may change.” She shuddered. “I don’t want anything to do with Preston.”
Abaddon reached over and brushed a hand over her head, cupping the back of her neck. “It will all work out. You’ll see. Don’t worry.”
She smiled up at him, brushing her hair away from her face. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” His thumb ran over her bottom lip again. “It’ll be fine.”
She nodded, closing her eyes. “I believe you. Now, why don’t you tell me your phone number.”
He hesitated for a moment, but then he caught her watching him and shook his head. “Sorry. I had to remember what it was. Been a while since I gave it to someone.”
She laughed at that. “Now that I can believe, old man.”
Abaddon snorted. “I’m not that old.”
He watched her enter his number into her new phone and dial it. She put the device to her ear, listening to it ring.
A moment later, he jumped as his own phone buzzed and started to ring. He pulled it from his back pocket, grinning and holding it up to her.
She grinned, warmth spreading through her even as she hung up the phone. He’d already put her number in under the name “Sorsha Phantom”. How sweet was that?
“As for what I think you should do?” He paused and looked at her. “What do you want to do?”
That was easy enough to answer. “Get out of town.”
He grinned. “Done.”
Her face blanked as she stared at him. “What?”
“Done. Let’s go for a drive. Want to go for a drive?”
A wide grin crossed her face. Abaddon was offering to take her somewhere. She go anywhere if she didn’t have to go back to Shaded Glade anytime soon.
Then again, he’d already spoiled her enough, offering her breakfast while they waited for the recruitment office to open.
Still, that didn’t stop her from asking, “Got someplace in mind?”
His expression echoed hers. “Ever been bowling?”
The bowling alley was not as loud as Sorsha had expected it to be. When she inquired about it, the older gentleman working behind the counter pulled the unlit cigarette from his mouth and said, “Wait until tonight when the leagues come to play, or on the weekend when there’s a birthday party. It gets loud then.”
“What’s with the cigarette?” Sorsha asked, curious.
The man looked at it and then back at her. “Quit a couple of months ago. This helps, believe it or not.”
She nodded. She guessed she could believe it. She looked around the alley, taking in the scenery before her. It was different than she’d imagine it would be, but then again, she hadn’t the slightest idea of what to expect before coming.
As it was, there were only a small other handful of people in the bowling alley when she and Abaddon arrived.
Abaddon paid for shoes and a single lane before Sorsha could open her mouth and remind him she didn’t have any money.
“You’re spoiling me,” she pointed out after Abaddon got his change back and handed her a pair of the ugliest shoes she’d ever seen.
“I want to have fun with you. Money is not an issue,” he assured her.
Except for a roll of her eyes and a disapproving click of her tongue, she said nothing. Instead, she sat near their assigned lane and changed into the bowling shoes.
Standing, she admired herself. “I make these look good,” she said with a laugh.
Abaddon’s eyes swept over her, making her warm. “Of course they do, which is odd because I thought bowling shoes had magical powers to make anyone ugly.”
Sorsha grinned. “Maybe I’m just awesome that way.”
“Maybe you are,” he agreed. “Now come with me and we’ll choose a ball for you.”
Sorsha had never been bowling before and didn’t know the first thing about it. Abaddon was patient though. He explained that bowling balls had different weights and that the holes in the balls were different sizes as well. It took a little bit for Sorsha to find a bowling ball she felt comfortable using. Longer than it took him, but he told her it wasn’t an issue.
“Take your time. Find one that feels right. And if you start using it and it feels off, you can always change it out.”
After she’d finally chosen a ball, he explained the basics of bowling, showing her how to hold and release the ball.
“So, I just hold it to my chest, walk forward, swing my arm back and release it?”
“Basically, yes.” He grinned at her. “You’ve got this. Now, last question. Do you want the gutters up or down?”
“Gutters?”
He showed her the guides that could go up and down on either side of the lane. “Leagues leave them down. Beginners usually leave them up. It helps prevent the ball from going straight inside the gutter without knocking any pins over.”
She wasn’t sure. She chewed her lip debating.
“Why don’t we see how you do with the gutters up and then, if you feel confident enough, we can lower them. Sound good?”
She nodded. “Sounds good.”
It was a disaster, but it was fun.
The first couple of times, Sorsha nearly threw the ball down the lane. Abaddon corrected her stance and showed her when to release the ball so that it rolled rather then flew down the lane.
She was glad the gutters were up too because otherwise she would have missed several pins. The ball kept arching toward the right at the last minute, slamming into the gutter and staying there. It only knocked over the last pin be
cause the gutters were up and if any others fell over, it was because the pin itself hit them, not the bowling ball. He suggested she aim more toward the left to see if it helped. Sometimes it did. Sometimes it didn’t.
Watching Abaddon helped most. She studied the way he stood, the way he moved, the way he held the bowling ball, the way he released it. She copied his actions and by the end of the first round, she managed to knock down a total of five pins in a single turn.
She considered it a victory and did a small dance when she saw her dismal score next to Abaddon’s much larger one.
He chuckled. “Want to go again?”
Her eyes sparkled with delight. “Can we? Yes!” She hadn’t had this much fun in ages. If ever. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d gone out and done something just because she could. Had she ever?
Abaddon paid for another round on the same lane and they continued bowling.
By the end of the round, Sorsha managed to get one strike. Even she admitted was due to nothing but pure, dumb luck—even if Abaddon told her to claim it without question. She almost had enough confidence to drop the gutters.
“Man, you never mentioned how tired your arm gets when bowling,” she said as she rubbed her left arm.
He laughed. “By the way, your arm’s going to feel dead by the time we’re done.”
“Hardy har har. That’s so funny.” She rolled her eyes but grinned at him. “I think I’m done. My arm’s gonna fall off if I do anymore.”
Abaddon grinned and sat beside her, massaging her arm with expert fingers. “Sorry. I guess I should have warned you.”
She waved him off with her free hand. “I should have expected it. Bowling balls aren’t light after a while. Guess this means it’s time to go.”
“Only if you’re ready to.” He met her gaze, seeming to judge her fatigue.
She shrugged. “This has been great.” She shifted and threw her arms around his neck, pulling her body close to his. “Thanks, Abaddon.”
He froze for a moment, and then wrapped his arms around her to return the hug, drawing her close. She could feel her body temperature rise and warm her down to her toes.
