When he reappeared, his arms were around Lotus and she shrieked with surprise.
“Come on love,” Michael said into her ear, “let’s take you back home.”
Before Lotus could say anything more, her world was spinning. The red sand that had once stretched out as far as she could see was replaced with deep blue ocean and a pale blue swimming pool. They were back at the Stelter penthouse and standing at the ledge of the patio so that nearly every tower’s rooftop was illuminated by the sun.
“I cannot believe you took me to see that!” Lotus wailed pulling away from him as fast as she could. “I thought you were going to let him die!”
“Well, I didn’t.” Michael replied sharply.
“Oh, because you think slamming him into the ground is a way of justifying falling to your death?” spat Lotus. “I cannot believe you!”
“Lozey, I don’t see why that bothered you!” Michael objected. “I told you where I was going. I told you I was the King- What did you expect? Sunshine and dasies?”
Lotus wasn’t sure how to respond to that. She had forgotten how scary the underground was until she saw the BOA up close. Even then, what had truly terrified her was Michael.
“Look,” Lotus began cooling herself before she became too heated, “I appreciate the fact that you are being honest with me now… but Caster, I don’t like that life style. I was so uncomfortable the entire time I was there. Then you made me watch a man fall off a ledge. I don’t care that you caught him. That image is still going to be stuck in my mind. Just… the next time you do anything street related, leave me out of it.”
Michael gazed at her for a long moment with a half opened mouth. She was sure he needed to say something but at the same time, he knew she was right. Just because he told her the truth about who he was, didn’t mean that he had to drag her into his world too.
“Michael,” she began again. “This isn’t going to work. We can’t be more than friends. I’m sorry.”
Michael’s expression hadn’t changed. His eyes slid to the space on the ground separating their feet. He had thought that being real and honest would be a way of bringing her back into his life. In reality, it did the exact opposite. She was farther away from him now more than ever.
“I think you should go,” Lotus remarked when he said nothing. “I need to check on my sister.”
Again Michael said nothing but slowly he turned and when Lotus looked up, he was gone.
Chapter 12 The Stelter Fire
~The day before had drained Ace so much that he slept in even though the Heleow sun had risen to near noon. Normally when the sun came up, so did he and even the faintest knock on a door was enough to make him stir. But in that late morning he awoke for the first time with bright light streaming in from the window and slender fingers raking through his hair. The moment he realized he was not alone, Ace bolted upright and glanced at the person beside him.
Lee’s wide emerald eyes gazed at him from her seat on the corner of his bed. Her eyes were tired and worn out but a faint smile managed to creep on her thin lips. “Babe,” she cooed reaching for him and wrapping her slender arms around his shoulders. “I’ve missed you.”
Ace said nothing. He hadn’t seen her since they last fought, and for her that might have felt like an eternity ago. He set his hand on her back and felt the familiarity of fabric over her shoulder blades. “I missed you too,” he finally murmured before giving her a light peck above the brow.
At his kiss, Lee pulled back just enough the stare up at him. She could see her sad reflection in his weary sapphire eyes and it would only be a moment before he asked her what was wrong.
His free hand slid up to her cheek and he stroked the softest part just over her cheekbone with the pad of his thumb. “Angel you look unhappy.” he noted softly.
Lee inhaled deeply before nodding. “I am unhappy.”
In that moment, the previous night’s memories came spiraling back into Ace’s mind. Had she seen what Ithaca had done? Lee would think he was cheating on her. Now was the time to explain before things began to spin out of control. “Lee it have to tell you-”
“Shhh…” Lee cut him off instead. “You don’t have to tell me anything.” She assured him as she brought her hands around to cup his jaw. She held eyes with him for a long moment and with each lingering second, her eyes seemed to fall deeper into sorrow. When she spoke up again her voice was on the brink of tears. “I just… I just need you to show that you love me, okay? Please Ace?” then she leaned into his chest as a tear stained his shirt.
Ace had seen her cry many times and had always known what triggered the tears. But this time he was utterly confused. “What’s wrong?” he asked petting her thin silvery hair. “Is this about last night with-”
Again Lee cut him off, “The fight?” she filled in. “I forgive you and I’m sorry. I don’t want to fight with you anymore. I just need you to make me happy Ace. I need you to love me.”
“I do love you Lee!” he exclaimed leaning back so they could hold eyes for another moment. “Tell me what’s wrong and I’ll make it better. Lee, I love you.”
Lee sniffed though no tears decorated her face. Only the rims around her nose and eyes were puffy and pink. “We haven’t done anything in a while.” She finally confessed.
The last time they had gone on a date, a random journalist had taken a snapshot of them kissing in the sand and Lee had been left with a nasty sunburn. But she looked fine now aside from the sad face. Ace wanted to remind her that their walk on Sunset Beach wasn’t even a week ago, but considering all that had happened, it seemed like it had been a long while.
Ace nodded. “Okay, I’ll take you out.” He said sliding his hand from her face to her fingers. “Right now. We’ll go wherever you want to go. Let’s have breakfast. I’m starving!” he climbed to his feet and meant to pull Lee along with him, but she remained seated next to his pillow. When he turned around, her gloomy green eyes continued to hang.
“That’s not what I meant.” She frowned.
Ace exhaled deeply before asking, “What do you mean then?”
Slowly, Lee stood up and padded her way to him. Her hands went around his hips until she was able to lock her fingers behind his back. With him being a whole head taller, Lee had to stand on her toes before whispering a single command. “Kiss me.”
Puzzled but wanting to make her feel loved, Ace obeyed and their lips touched where they stood. They started out as gentle kisses. Their lips touching just long enough for him to show how interested he was and gentle enough to stay within their boundaries. Regardless of how sweet he was being with her, Lee still wanted more. A piece of her body craved for something that kissing alone could never satisfy. Her head tilted to the side and she nibbled on his lip as an invitation to do more.
Ace pressed his lips harder against her. It wasn’t overbearing, his touch was just enough to force her lips open. Their teeth nearly clashed as his familiar breath warmed the inside of her mouth. That’s when she decided to take the kissing to another level. With her hands around his waist, Lee pulled him closer to herself. In another half step back, she was able to sit back down on the bed and Ace followed right beside her.
The only time he pulled his lips from her mouth was to catch a breath. He wanted to ask her why she was being so persistent. It was so unlike her. When Lee had first told him to kiss her, he hadn’t been remotely in the mood. But now her touch was growing to intoxication and he could feel himself losing his mind by the way he was holding her. The familiar way her body curved in just above the hips, and how his hands managed to hold onto her figure so perfectly sent his fingers aching for more. But he couldn’t allow it. She wouldn’t want that…
Lee sighed deeply against his mouth and she couldn’t stop her hands from exploring the hard muscle beneath his shirt. She wasn’t sure how many times they had circled over his chest, but for the first time her fingers had stopped at the collar of his shirt. Without a second thought, she pushed him down har
d before sliding her body atop of his. Before he could say anything, her lips were entangled with his.
In that moment Ace wanted her more badly than anything ever before in the past. And who was to say he couldn’t? She was his girlfriend, he loved her. They hadn’t spoken a word since they started kissing, but everything she was ding implied that she wanted more. The only thing holding him back was the amount of true untainted love he had for who she was. And she was not being her usual self that morning. Ace knew better. He needed to stop her and remind her why they were in love before things could get out of hand once again.
He pulled away from her just as her name hung on his tongue. But before he could say anything, another voice chimed across the yoga studio. He recognized the voice before his eyes even flew open. But that was impossible! Instantly Ace sat up straight and shot his eyes to the doorway where the woman he was just kissing should not have been. He gazed at her in shock as the lean athletic body and long brown hair rolled off him and vanished from the scene. Then it made sense. Ithaca had the ability to make people do what she wanted them to do to the extent that she could make them see what she wanted them to see. He had just let her fool him again.
Once Ithaca vanished, the room seemed dangerously quiet yet he managed to glance back at Lee in the doorway. Time seemed to stop when their eyes met and all Ace could think about was how no amount of wording could capture just how inconsolable her entire essence was. Ace had seen her cry, but he had never seen her face so wet, her expression so devastated, nor her voice so horse to the point that no words came from her gaped mouth. She stood there more shocked than Ace as a heartbroken wail clung to the back of her throat.
“Lee,” Ace finally began, “I can explain.”
Tears only continued to pour from her eyes as she shook her head. Finally she was able to choke on her breath and that’s when the real crying began. Lee had never even heard herself sound like that; half choking and bawling as if she had just lost the life of someone truly precious to her. And for all she knew, she had. Ace meant the world and more to her. But this was the second time she had seen him kissing the epitome of her greatest fear and the pain was unimaginable.
Her lungs felt as if they were about to burst. Her knees trembled almost as bad as her hands and her eyes had watered so much she couldn’t see a single thing before her. Her face felt sticky with tears but none of that compared to the misplacement of her heart. A murderer could have stabbed her in the chest a million times and that would have only been a portion of how she felt because a piece of her had died after seeing him with another woman.
As she stood there unsure what to do next, it finally dawned on her that this was the cruel world that lay outside the orphanage. This was the kind of heartlessness Ace had warned her about so long ago; even before setting her free. He had sheltered her from it for so long but that had all been in vain. He had now become the one to betray everything she knew.
“Ace…” she gagged on her own voice. “How could you?”
Ace couldn’t bear looking at her devastation any moment longer. His heart was still hers though she didn’t know it. He loved her like he had never loved a soul before her; as if she had been a part of him forever. It tortured him to see how heartbroken she was and he quickly climbed to his feet to hold her.
“Don’t you dare touch me.” Lee hissed. Her voice harsh and it was enough to stop him in his tracks. It was a side of her Ace had never seen. It was a side he that he created.
Ace gaped at her wanting more than anything to tell her the truth. That it was a mistake and it meant nothing. Everything Ithaca had done was unreal, but everything he loved about Lee was real and it always would be. “Lee…” he called again, his voice reaching out for her even though he was nearly an arm’s length away. “Please listen to me. I can explain.”
“No!” Lee bellowed forcing back tears. “There is nothing you can say! I saw you with her last night, and I see you with her now. But thanks for showing me the real you. Thanks for letting me know the kind of person you truly are so I can cut you from my life now rather than look back and know that I fell so hard for a liar.” For a moment Lee hesitated. Though her heart had been ripped out of her chest, breaking up with him hadn’t been her intention. Seeing the love of her life being unfaithful was the most inconsolable pain she had ever experienced, but even as she stood there, she didn’t want to take back what she said. “We are done Ace! Is that what you wanted to hear? Now you can have her and you won’t be breaking me while you’re at it.”
We are done. Of all the things Lee shouted just then, those were the three words that clung to him. It was as if Lee had just shot a flaming arrow through his heart and it was going to fester inside him forever. “Lee, don’t. Please just listen to me. I love you.”
At those words Lee’s face twisted into the most aggravated expression Ace had ever seen. “How dare you?” She spat in a voice as dark as it was hurt. “I just watched you break my heart in the harshest way you know how. And yet you’re going to lie to my face again?” Just from the change of topic, Lee’s voice molded from livid to sorrow. “If you loved me Ace… If you truly loved me, you wouldn’t have done that.” She swiped a river of tears from her cheeks and gazed up at him one last time. “Feel free to hurt Ithaca like the way you hurt me. Don’t forget to treat the next woman with the same respect.”
Between all the emotion clouded into the air, all Ace could do was take another step towards her. “Please… Lee… I-”
“Leave.” She said sternly taking a step back to allow Ace through the door way. “Now.”
Ace looked up at Lee for one of the last moments they had together. Suddenly she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Her hair was done up and her slender body was covered by a beautiful platinum gown as an emerald locket hung perfectly around her neck. She was alive. His friends hadn’t made it through the shooting, but she had and he never wanted to let her go again. But it was his turn to go. And she didn’t want him back. There was one reason for that. Her name: Ithaca. The fists by his sides clenched and before Lee could say another word, Ace was gone.
He had disappeared right before her eyes. Lee had never seen him do anything like that before, nor had she any idea he was capable of it. What else did she not know about him? Ace had wanted to explain something and she had never given him the chance. Now she would never get another opportunity.
Suddenly she was alone, and though this was the populated city of Heleow, she had never felt lonelier in her entire life. With so many emotions coursing through her veins, Lee couldn’t stand any longer. Her back slumped against the wall just outside the doorframe then she was sliding to the ground. Ace was the truest thing that ever mattered in her life.
What had she done?
~“Ithaca!!” Ace’s voice was furious before he even appeared in her mountainside home. His head was still spinning from jumping all over the island trying to find her, and he was still getting used to the new ability. After appearing on seven blank beach shores with no success, he finally remembered that Ithaca had taken him to her hideout in the mountains during their excavations the day before.
“Ithaca!!” he raged once more. He had landed on the second floor patio of her home and when he turned around, a set of sliding glass doors reviled a living room with the ceiling fan on full blast. To spare his energy, Ace hurried across the stone patio threw the door open rather than melting through.
The inside was the same as Ace last saw it. It was a humble room with only one couch, bland carpet, and no pictures hanging on the walls giving it a ‘still renovating’ feel. The living room should have been entirely empty, however the only difference was that atop the knitted sofa was a girl he had never seen before. Her head turned over the couch cushion and her wide almond shaped eyes gaped at the stranger that had just come to her home.
“Who are you?” she barked, her Spanish accent present. She was a pretty girl, not as striking as Ithaca, but comparable. Her dark auburn hair hung
down in gorgeous waves over her shoulders and they seemed to be the exact same color of her eyes. Long dark lashes fanned out with curiosity as she nibbled her lip and with her head turned around, Ace could see the striking sharpness of her jawline up to her cheeks.
“I’m looking for Ithaca.” He growled.
But before she could reply, another voice filled the scene. “In the kitchen, Ace.” And the boy flipped around quicker than a gun shot.
“You!” he raged as Ithaca leaned against the wall beside the fridge.
Ithaca smiled, “Yes, me. How may I help you Mr. Diachi?”
“Diachi?” echoed the Latina voice behind him. “Mason Diachi?”
Ithaca giggled, “Oh, I’m a terrible host. Mason Diachi, meet my cousin Larissa Iglesias-”
“What have you done?!” Ace bellowed before she could change the subject.
Ithaca raised one of her perfect brows. “Introduced you to my cousin?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about!!” he continued to shout.
Ithaca looked up thoughtfully. “Oh… yeah well we could talk about your little girly or we could talk about getting your hands on some element. Personally the latter sounds-”
“Was that a part of some plan?” Ace raged, “To get me on your side? I love her, Ithaca. Do you not understand that? You may hate the Stelters, but ruining my life to fit your agenda will never change me!”
Ace was too fumed to receive chills from the look on Ithaca’s evil smile. “All in good time, Mason. All in good time.”
“Que pasa, Ithaca?” Larissa asked from the couch.
“Nada,” snapped Ithaca, “No preocuparse.” Then she cleared her throat and turned back to Ace. “Now about that element…”
“No!” Ace bellowed. “You have got to me out of your mind if you think I want to take anything you give me after what you have just done.” He had meant to say more but Ithaca’s cold voice sliced his next words.
“Now.” Ithaca began slowly, her voice so chilled her teeth were practically clenched. “Or. Never. Mason. You decide. Do you want your memories back?”
The Stelter City Saga: Ultranatural Page 33
