“Paige,” Nathan said.
I lifted my eyes to the anxiousness in his. He reached for me, but I raised my palm, halting him. My purse and jacket dangled from his hand. He looked at me in confusion.
“Not here,” I said. A group of people walked by and a few gawked, probably thinking we were having a fight. “Take me home.” I took my jacket and purse from him and headed toward the pickup.
“Please tell me why you’re so upset,” he said. “I heard what Tree asked you, but I don’t know anything else, and it’s killing me.” He leaned forward to see my face.
I slipped my jacket on. “I don’t want to talk right now.”
“Paige.” He was on the verge of begging; I could hear it in his voice.
“Wait until we get home.” I could hear the anger and hurt in my own voice.
He didn’t say another word, but I could tell by his quick gestures and how fast he drove, it bothered him. I didn’t say anything when we stepped inside the house, or when I put my jacket away. All I could think about was my fear of him knowing something about my father and not sharing it with me.
What if he’d known all along, but pretended like he didn’t? How would I be able to handle that? I didn’t think I could. I mean, to me that would be just as bad as cheating. I knew though, Nathan would never betray me. At least, I thought I knew.
“What do you know about my father?” I demanded when he opened his mouth to speak.
His eyebrows knitted. “Nothing, except for what you told me. Why?” He seemed bewildered by my question.
I hung my head and breathed out all my tension. Thank God.
“Why?” he asked again, taking my shoulders into his hands.
“There was a dark spirit in the restroom with me,” I said to the floor.
He dropped his hands. “What?”
“She trapped me.” I thought about how close I came to dying and shivered. “She said Anwar knows about my father and that you might too.”
He steered me to the couch, and we sat.
“I swear to you, Paige, I don’t know anything about your father.” He looked desperate, like he was afraid I wouldn’t believe him.
I held his hand to let him know that wasn’t the case. “I believe you and know you’d never lie to me, but what if Anwar knows something about him?”
“Why would Anwar know?” he wondered.
“I have to tell you everything she told me, so you can understand why she said that.”
He squeezed my hand and nodded.
I began to tell him what she said, but when I got to the killing me part, he jumped up in a fit of rage and paced the floor, startling me with his quick gesture.
“Let me get this straight. She said if you don’t promise to give her the ring in six weeks, she’s going to hunt you down and kill you?”
I nodded. “She also said if I say yes, but then change my mind when I become immortal, she’ll shackle me and take me away from those I love.”
He stopped in front of me, hands on his hips. “What does she look like again?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “You won’t be able to find her.”
He jabbed his chest with his finger, his voice raised. “I’ve been tracking dark spirits for a very long time. I think I can find her.”
“Okay.” I lifted my hands in surrender. “So you find her and cast her out, but then what? She’ll just find another human to possess.”
His face fell, and for the first time in my life, I hated to be right. He ran his hand through his hair. “Yes. She’d be out of the body for a while, until she regained her energy, but who knows how long that would take? And besides, she could switch bodies right now, if there’s an available vessel nearby,” he rambled to himself.
“They can switch bodies without being cast out?” The shock rose in my voice.
He nodded. “But they have to be near an able human vessel. Remember, it’s hard for the young ones to acclimate, so they don’t reside in one for a long period of time. What they do is they’ll leave the vessel they’re in, jump into another one, and stay in it until it becomes uncomfortable, or reenter the same vessel later.”
“The girl in the restroom must be young because her eyes didn’t glow like Matt’s.”
“She is, but she sounds cocky, and that concerns me.” He crossed his arms over his chest, hints of anger etched on his face. “Tell me everything she said.”
I told him the rest, and after I finished, he sat beside me.
“Do you think she was telling the truth about my father? Was he chosen to be immortal and decided not to?” My eyes were wide, brimming with tears. The thought of my father having the opportunity to be immortal and not taking it deeply disturbed me. If he had chosen immortality, he’d still be here with me and my mom, and we would have been the family I’d longed for. Why didn’t he want to be with us or with me? What was wrong with me? Maybe Ashley was right. Maybe he didn’t love me enough to want to be around.
“I don’t know,” he whispered, staring at me, lost in thought. He glanced away, then back at me. He had a troubled expression on his face. Abruptly, he rose.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to get my phone and call Anwar,” he said. “There’s no reason for you to go through this. If Anwar knows something, he’s going to tell me.”
He disappeared.
A few minutes later, I heard the faint sound of his voice from upstairs. I couldn’t really hear him though, and proceeded to go to him, but then he appeared in front of me.
“He didn’t answer, so I had to leave a message.” He tossed his cell on the coffee table in annoyance. It made a loud, plastic sound. “It figures. When I really want to talk to him, he doesn’t answer his phone.”
“What if he’s in trouble,” I said, imagining him being tortured.
“Anwar is a clever guy.” He paused and looked at me. “I’m not leaving you, Paige.” His voice was firm, his face hard. “So don’t even entertain the thought.”
I looked away, and then a thought occurred to me.
“I know you two are immortal, but can you still die? Fictional vampires are immortal, but yet sunlight and fire can kill them.”
“There’s only one way we know of and that’s being completely bled out.”
I recoiled at the mental picture. The whole blood thing didn’t settle with me, and I had no desire to think about it, or what I had to go through to become immortal, which was basically the same thing. So I focused my thoughts on what the dark spirit had said to me about my father.
What did my father know about the ring? Did he know anything? I needed to find out, and the first place to start looking was here in the house. I’d already searched through it years ago, but with Nathan’s help, maybe he’d find something I’d missed.
Yeah, that would work. I mean, there was no harm in trying, right? I could throw some sweats on and search until I got tired, giving myself a head start.
“I think we should start searching the house, but we should change our clothes first.” I headed for the stairs, but Nathan caught the crook of my elbow, stopping me.
“I won’t let her hurt you.” His voice was rough. “I’ll make her suffer if she tries to touch one hair on your head.” His eyes blazed with a fury of protectiveness. “I’ve made a huge mistake tonight, one which could have cost you your life. But I will not make the same mistake again.”
I swallowed against the guilty lump in my throat. “It was my fault. You wanted to walk me to the restroom, but I allowed my stubbornness to get in the way. So don’t put the blame on yourself.”
He shook his head in disagreement. I couldn’t stand seeing him being so hard on himself, so I stood on my tiptoes and gave him a soft kiss. His reaction was immediate. He pressed his lips to mine, and my heart raced from its intensity. It was deep and passionate, and during those few moments, all fear and time were lost. I didn’t want it to end, but we knew it had to. I cursed the dark spirits for that and for everything else as well.
We separated and stood there, catching our breaths. He bent his head and peeked at me. His eyes were bright with the same desire swimming inside me. He saw it on my face. The corner of his mouth turned into a crooked smile. He was so damned cute, I couldn’t help but smile back.
“As much as I detest saying this, I think we should refrain from temptation for a while,” he said, his chest still heaving.
“I think you’re right,” I agreed, and then flashed him a teasing smile. “I guess I won’t be kissing you for a while then.”
He snatched my hand and pulled me into his arms. “Now, we don’t have to take it to extremes. We just have to be careful not to allow our feelings for each other to distract us from what needs to be done.” He kissed my forehead and hugged me. “So, where do you want to start looking first?”
I thought about all the crap we were going to have to go through and became overwhelmed. Somehow, when I went through it years ago it didn’t seem like the huge undertaking it did now, and I wondered why. I decided it had to be in the matter of perspective, in how we looked at things. The key to it was to not stress out, and to take it in baby steps, one box and tote at a time.
“I think we should try to put a dent in the basement tonight, but be prepared to get dirty because it’s filthy down there.”
A daring grin formed on his face. “I’ll race you upstairs.”
I laughed. “Yeah, right.”
“Better yet”–he picked me up and slung me over his shoulder–“I’ll race upstairs with you.”
I continued to laugh and covered my face in fear he would run into a wall at the rate of speed he could go. But it seemed like he didn’t even move, so when he set me down, I was baffled we were in my room.
“That’s crazy.” I pushed my hair off my face. “I didn’t even feel you move.”
“That’s one of the many perks of being immortal,” he said, reaching into his overnight bag for a T-shirt. He pulled a gray one out and took off what he was wearing. I averted my eyes from his muscular arms and chest, and tried to think of something else before my desires took hold of me.
I went to the dresser to get my sweats. “Not that I wanted you to, but why didn’t you hit Matt before Tree did?”
He stood in the doorway now. “Because I was too preoccupied with thoughts of you. And to be honest, I didn’t realize what he said until Tree tackled him.”
“What happened to Matt anyway? I didn’t see him in the club after Carrie and I came out of the restroom.” I didn’t care, really. But I was curious about it and wondered how he would be on Monday at school. I did have history class with him, and he always sat next to me. I wondered if he’d even talk to me or if he would try to make up with Carrie.
“The security guards took him to the backroom and banished him from the club for six months.” He leaned his hand on the doorframe and rested his cheek on his arm, looking at me.
“What?” I hugged my sweats to my chest, suddenly feeling shy.
“Nothing.” He smiled. “Only that I love watching you.”
I dropped my eyes, my face flushing. “Well, I have to change so–”
“I’ll meet you downstairs,” he said, then vanished.
Beyond the Eyes: YA Paranormal Romance Page 28
