Triaten grabbed her hand and nodded to the jeep. “Just come and sit with me, in private, for the five minutes.”
She didn’t move.
“Five minutes.” Triaten implored.
She adjusted the chocolate leather bag she had over her shoulder and stepped off the stairs, allowing Triaten to lead her to the vehicle.
Both sitting in the front of the jeep, Triaten stared at her, wondering what he could do, what he could say to make her stay. Charlotte’s eyes were averted off to the plane, the sun reflecting golden shards off the silver panels.
“Charlotte, I still haven’t figured out what us being together meant, what it could mean. But I don’t want to try to figure it out alone.”
“Why does it have to mean anything?” She rubbed her forehead, her elbow resting on the jeep’s door. She was not about to look his way.
Triaten’s hand went gently onto her forearm. “It doesn’t, but it could. You are my best friend, Char, and I love you. Since we were kids we have been together through the worst pain and fantastic happiness. And for you to run off with this hanging between us — there are too many what-ifs attached to it — too many possibilities.”
Charlotte finally turned her head to him. Anger still tightened her lips. “Really Triaten? Of the thousands of women you’ve had throughout the years, why does this have to be any different? I’ve never known you to confuse sex with emotion.”
“Because it’s you Char.” Triaten’s voice cracked. “It’s you.”
He held her gaze for seconds before he was presented with a blond ponytail as she turned her head full away from him, back to looking out the open window.
Triaten wasn’t going take that as an answer. “What if some part of you really wanted me — me, those times — not what was in your imagination?”
Silence.
Silence until slowly, her head shifted and she looked at him again. All anger had disappeared. Beaten. Now she just looked beaten.
“You were right.” She choked on her words. “I was thinking of Thomas — both times. And you were also right — I was using you, and I can’t stay here and do that to you.”
"So stay and don’t do it to me. It’s a choice, Charlotte. I don’t know why, after all these years — a quarter of a century — Thomas still has a hold on you. You've elevated him to a pedestal of perfection — and you’re not willing to let go of that dead perfection.” Triaten paused.
His heart, his mind, had just shifted to a place he hadn’t expected it to go, nor was he sure he was even ready for.
But ready be dammed. He needed Charlotte to stay. “But you have a choice. Love the memory of someone long dead, or love the person right in front of you.”
His hand went to the back of her neck, just below the thick of hair pulled into the ponytail. He could feel her skin prick under his touch, as his thumb traced the raised skin of the triple infinity scar on her neck. “Love the one that can talk to you...listen to you...make you laugh...hold you...kiss you...touch you.”
“What you’re asking of me...” her head shook as her eyes moved down to the bag on her lap. She couldn’t look Triaten in the eye. “I don’t think I can love like that again, Triaten. I can’t. It was too painful. And with you. You are a part of me. And if we went there, and I lost you like I lost Thomas...I just can’t...don’t ask me to.”
“Even with all the pain, you’ve always said you would never trade away the time you and Thomas were together. It was worth it.” His fingers circled, caressing her neck. “We could be worth it, Char. We are a match in every way. You just have to take the chance.”
Moments passed, and Triaten held his breath. He could hardly believe the words that had come out of his mouth, but he knew they were truth. Whatever the past between them, no matter their paths in life, this was the moment it changed for him. He wanted her. Down to his core. Wanted her in his bed. In every aspect of his life.
He hadn’t planned the words, didn’t even realize until they came from his mouth, what he was saying. What he hoped for. He also knew he wasn’t about to take them back.
Charlotte’s eyes were brimming with tears when she finally looked up into Triaten’s eyes. "Just let me go.”
"So you’re going to martyr yourself...your happiness…to fear?"
She shook her head, her eyes not leaving his. “Just let me go.”
His hand recoiled from her neck. “I can’t make you stay.”
She grabbed his removed hand. “Tri, you know what I mean. You need to let me go.”
“That’s it, then?” He couldn’t help his voice from snapping.
Eyes closed, she nodded yes. Without another word, she opened the door and walked over to plane, up the stairs, and into the cabin. She didn’t look back.
~~~
Triaten pulled up to the river, late. He had stopped at home to change clothes; he owed that much to Aiden and Skye, to not show up haggard and wrinkled. Horace was there, standing next to his own black suv, looking impatient as always.
Triaten gave a nod of acknowledgment, and a short, “Father,” to Horace as he got out of his jeep. He walked over to where Aiden and Skye were waiting alongside the river. A stab of unnatural jealousy jolted Triaten as he approached them. They were laughing together, eyes focused solely on each other, while the river gurgled behind them. They had no idea Triaten was watching them as intensely as he was.
Skye caught sight of him first, and hurried over to Triaten, arms flinging around his neck.
“You look beautiful, love.” Triaten said in her ear as he grasped her tightly, and indeed, she did. A long emerald green dress, silk, hung delicately down her curves, ending in a flow around her ankles. Her chestnut hair dropped in soft curls down her back, with the hair just about her face pulled back in a braid that crowned her head.
At least mankind got one thing right, Triaten thought, when they elevated Panthenites to god-status thousands of years ago — this was exactly what a Greek goddess should look like.
Skye stepped back from him and looked over his shoulder at the vehicles, as Triaten grabbed Aiden’s hand and threw his arm around his friend.
“Ready for this, A?” Triaten asked, forcing enthusiasm into his words.
“More than.” Aiden answered.
“It’s good that you got Horace to officiate. Puts an appropriate stamp of approval on the marriage.”
“Isn’t Charlotte with you?” Skye asked Triaten, eyes still scanning the suvs lined up.
“No. She had to leave this morning for Africa.”
Skye’s face went to confusion. “Africa? Whatever for? I had assumed — hoped, she would be here. You two are the ones we want to share this with. She couldn’t even stay through the day?”
“I know, love. It was an emergency, and she’s sorry. The refugee camp she helped create, and spent years at, is in a desperate situation with thousands of new women and children. They need her medical skills. She just found out, so she left this morning on one of the jets.”
Skye turned to Aiden, eyebrow arched. “You guys have jets, too?”
Aiden shrugged. “A fleet throughout the world, but we always keep three or four at an airfield about a half-hour away. Helicopters, as well. Any of the Panthenites can use them.”
He turned his attention back to Triaten, concern evident. “Should we be going down with her? Any danger? Thousands of new refugees can only mean unrest in the area.”
Triaten shook his head. “I talked to her this morning at length about it, and I know why she went so quickly. And no, we don’t need to go after her.”
Both Aiden and Skye looked suspect at Triaten, but could tell from his face they would get nothing more from him on the matter.
Horace stepped into the group and cleared his throat. “Shall we get on with it?”
The three nodded in unison. Two smiling. One hiding a grimace.
{ Chapter 3 }
He was alone.
Alone, and the silence didn’t suit him. Triaten looked
at his lone figure in the mirror lining the back of the bar in Joe’s. He didn’t like having only himself to look at, to contemplate. Joe was in the kitchen grabbing his food, and Triaten was suffocating in his solitary bubble.
In the three months since Aiden and Skye had left for the Orient, only a week after their wedding, Triaten had allowed himself to wallow in a hermit lifestyle. And he had eaten way too much grease. The silence did him no favors, he reflected, as he leaned against the bar, thumb nail carving into the wood. Renovating the ranch and adding on an additional wing to accommodate more guests had kept him busy. But not busy enough. It was the singular meals that were killing him. He had found out quickly that he had, apparently, been taking for granted having Charlotte and Aiden, and then Skye, nearby.
Skye needed the hand-to-hand combat training that would best be taught by masters half-way around the world. So it was no surprise they left so soon. Since then, there had been little contact from Aiden — location updates, as they moved from ancient master to ancient master, and only the occasional side comment that Skye was learning quickly.
A wry smiled touched Triaten’s lips. Most Panthenites had gone through trainings by the masters at a young age, in the mountains of China, Japan, Korea — and Triaten didn’t know anyone that it hadn’t been brutal for. If Skye thought Aiden had been hard on her, Triaten wondered how long it had taken before she realized she was going to get her ass kicked to new heights by the old men.
And not only were his best friends gone, everything had gone quite since the flame moon. Everything. Nary a peep from the Malefics or Panthenites. So Triaten had allowed himself to be sucked into helping the elders broker a peace deal between two battling landlords — war lords, really — that had killed multitudes of innocents over the past decade.
Joe appeared in the doorway to the kitchen behind the bar. “To go, right?” he asked, holding up the brown bag.
“Yea, thanks, Joe.” Triaten grabbed the bag.
“Oh, and before I forget, there was a girl — woman — in here asking about Skye this morning. I told her Skye was out of town for a while — any news on when she and Aiden will be back, in case the girl stops back?”
Triaten’s guard spiked. “A woman? How long ago?”
Joe shrugged, “Two, three hours, maybe. Said she stopped by the hotels with no luck — don’t know if that means no room at the hotels or no finding Skye — but then she said she had an address and she’d stop by there.”
“She say what address?”
“That’s the thing, she was looking for Skye, but had your address. I pointed her up the mountain — didn’t know you’d be down here in town today.”
Triaten nodded. “A name? What did she look like?”
“Didn’t ask a name. Pretty. Dark hair, ‘bout so tall,” he held his hand up to his chin. “She headed out up the road right away, looked like. Seemed kinda harmless.”
“They all do, until they’re not.” Triaten shook his head in a sigh and stepped away from the bar with a knuckle rap. “Thanks, Joe.”
Minutes later and a burrito eaten en route, Triaten pulled into the drive to his house. He hadn’t been there for days — he’d been spending most of his time at the ranch — and was a little surprised to see the car parked in front. The girl had found the place, even though most of the houses on the mountain lacked address identification, including his.
She had propped herself up on the hood of her black Mustang, leaning back on the windshield, head turned up to the sky. Early fall sunlight reflected off her sunglasses. She didn’t move as Triaten pulled up next to her, and killed the jeep’s engine.
He paused to study her before he got out. He recognized her immediately, even with the sunglasses on. Skye’s sister. The one who had sent him the box — the box that had sprung the out-of-control spiral into action for Skye and Aiden. The one that hadn’t wanted to see Skye when Triaten and Charlotte first found her, and told her Skye had been injured and had no memory.
In fact, Triaten had entered her mind in that first meeting, and even though she tried to hide it, he knew she actually felt relieved upon learning of Skye’s amnesia. The relief was followed by emphatic refusal in not wanting to see Skye. That part, she didn’t bother to try to hide.
Napping on the hood was an obvious choice, as clothes and boxes demanded all the free space in car. And Triaten hadn’t noticed the last time they met, but Joe didn’t underestimate, she was pretty. Crossed at the ankles, long legs in skinny jeans blanketed up the hood, leading into a lean, athletic frame not concealed by the dark blue blouse she wore. A thick swath of dark, almost black, glossy hair was tied over a shoulder and curled down over her chest. Below her sunglasses, her cheekbones and chin were crisp, defining her face as refined. And, most importantly, she looked relaxed.
When last they met, Triaten could not see the true her, not through all the anger and resentment that had exploded when they told her they were there on behalf of Skye. The bitterness had been enormous, and it had not offered up any room for Triaten to see, or read in her mind, anything else. It hadn’t been attractive.
And what did she want now? Triaten thought with a sigh and got out of the jeep. Her showing up right now was highly suspect.
He stepped out of the jeep and closed the door, and she jerked up, almost slipping off the hood. She slid down the hood and bumbled awkwardly to her feet, nervous hands smoothing her clothes and hair, making sure all items were in the right place.
Triaten walked over and stood in front of her. He was a head taller than her in the flats she wore. He said nothing, instead, trying to focus in right away on her mind.
Her movements petered out as his silent stare took her off-guard. She pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head, and blinked at the harsh sunlight hitting her green eyes — teal green, Triaten noted, not emerald green like Skye’s.
“Hi, I don’t know if you remember me?” her voice started shaky, still discombobulated from her interrupted nap. She cleared her throat and started again. “I’m Shiv, Skye’s sister. We met a few months back.”
Triaten nodded. “I remember.” He answered short, as he was more concerned about lasering in on some solid thought in her brain. A firestorm brewed in her mind, and it was taking a lot longer than usual for him to read what was happening in her head.
Shiv’s eyes darted around at the woods surrounding them and Triaten’s house. It looked as though she was suddenly questioning her decision to wait here in the middle of nowhere, for a stranger she knew nothing about. “I...sorry...it’s just...it’s just that...” She stopped and shook her head, clearing her stammering. A deep breath and she started again, this time with a solid calm in her voice. “I know last time we met I was...uncharitable with my time — no, let’s be honest — a bitch. I’m sorry about that. But I do need to see Skye, and I’m hoping you can tell me where she is.”
“She’s in the Orient.”
“The Orient?” Confusion crossed her brow. “Like China?”
“Yes, among other eastern countries.”
“Oh...well, do you know when she’ll be back? She is living here, isn’t she? The bartender in town thought you would know. Or maybe how I could get a hold of her?”
“Why do you want to see her?”
“Why?” Shiv bristled in annoyance. “She’s my sister. Isn’t that enough?”
Triaten glared at her. “You’re right. Last time we met, you were a bitch. So I’m not so sure why you think I would help you see Skye. She’s turned into a good friend of mine, and I would prefer to protect her from any shit from you, if I can.”
“Wow. Really?” Her eyes rolled and her forehead bunched. “You’re going to judge me, and you don’t know anything about me?” Her hands went to her hips. “Listen, I just really need to see her. And soon.”
At that moment, Triaten finally pinpointed his mind-reading of Shiv, and only one clear thought reverberated through her brain. She’s all I have left. Over and over. She’s all I have left.
>
Shiv shrugged. “But if you can’t help — I don’t know. I guess I’ll go into town and sleep in my car until something opens up at a hotel. But I am going to wait until she comes back, or I’ll find someone else to help me get a hold of her. I’m sorry to have bothered you.” She started to slide past Triaten.
“The hotels are all full?” Against his instincts, Triaten could feel himself soften to her. He didn’t think it smart, but there was so much pain in those five words — she’s all I have left — he couldn’t quite help himself. He was always one for the injured.
“Yes, I guess, at least for a week, I was told.” She tucked a piece of dark hair behind her ear.
“And you’re going to wait around to see her, no matter what?”
“That’s the plan.” She stepped fully past him, and walked around to the car door.
He followed her and grabbed her wrist as her hand grasped the handle. She stopped and looked at him, annoyed.
“Okay, here’s the deal — I own the ranch at the end of the road up the mountain. We’re full right now of guests, but I do have one room left, it was slated to be renovated next, but that can wait. It’s yours if you want it until Skye and Aiden get back. I think they’ll be back in a couple of weeks.”
“Aiden? Who’s that?”
Triaten grinned as he let go of her arm. “Joe — the bartender — didn’t tell you?”
Shiv shook her head no.
“Your sister is married now.”
Shiv paused and her eyes met the ground, then moved to the sky as she took in the news. “Holy…” She bit her lip as sadness flooded her face, then she shook her head, resigned. “His name is Aiden?”
Triaten nodded.
“Good. I’m happy for her.” Her eyes shifted to the ground again.
Triaten wasn’t going to let her dwell. “So to the ranch? You can follow me up. Or would you rather hole up in your car in town?”
For a moment, she looked indecisive. “Do you have Internet access? I know my cell is spotty around here. I’m a programmer, and can do my work anywhere, but I’m finishing a major project and just need access once I finish coding.”
Triple Infinity (A Flame Moon Novel Page 3
