by Box Set
His face lit up. Adorable. He was completely adorable.
I wanted to bury my head in my hands and cry. Or scream. I wasn't quite sure which.
He climbed in, started the truck, and backed out. "I have no idea where you live now."
"Oh. Right. So, not far from here, actually. If you just want to hop on the highway and head south, we're only about ten minutes away."
We rode in silence for one entire song. "I swear this station isn't usually all mushy. It's supposed to be rock." He glanced at me quickly and back at the road. I hadn't even noticed the music until then but yes, it was definitely a love song.
"Your tastes have changed," I teased.
His lip quirked but he didn't respond. I leaned my against the back rest and stared out the window. Luckily, I saw no demons and only a few wandering spirits. That was pretty normal.
"So... are you... are you thinking of going out with him again?"
I rolled my head slowly so I could watch him in the glow of the dashboard lights. A muscle worked in his jaw. I could play games. I should play games. Isn't that how this whole social thing worked? I should tell him that yes, I was going to go out with Bryson. Reese would tell me to make him jealous. But I couldn't figure out why he even cared. Why he'd spent four years pretending I didn't exist, but the first night we hang out... he says he missed me. I was confused. And I'd never been good at games. "I just spent the night talking to you. Not him."
The tense set of his shoulders relaxed. "You spent most of the night singing with him. With his arms around you. He kissed you. I didn't."
"It's different. He and I don't have the history that you and I have. Turn here."
He raised an eyebrow as he signaled to turn left. "You know me better so he gets to kiss you and I don't?"
"You didn't –I didn't know..." Words failed me. "Yes."
"But you don't know me anymore." He sounded positively triumphant. "So I get to kiss you now, right?"
"You're driving," I pointed out like my heart wasn't pounding hard enough to convince me I might need medical attention. "And I don't know. Maybe I do know you."
He pursed his lips. "You think so, huh. What's my favorite color?"
"Dark blue."
He winked, "Close. Navy. Navy blue has been my favorite color since I met you. How many brothers do I have?"
"None."
He grinned, thrilled at my apparently-wrong answer. "No. My mom and dad adopted a little boy right after we broke up. What else?"
I tipped my head to the side, considering him. "You're an electrician. You drive a big, black truck. You apparently like 90s love songs now instead of rock. You have one roommate named Bryson. You've lived in the same city your whole life. Our apartment is right up there."
"Wrong." He was ecstatic.
"What? What's wrong?"
"I moved to Denver for a year to help a friend." He parked by Reese's SUV.
"Took you long enough." Reese growled as I climbed out. "I thought I was gonna freeze to death waiting for you to show up. Konstanz isn’t home yet. Big surprise. I always do the heavy lifting around here."
I kissed her temple. "Yes you do. And we love you for it."
Alec pulled Terrie out. At this point none of us even tried to muster enough energy to worry about her skirt. I dug my keys out of my purse and hurried to open the door so Alec didn't have to stand in the cold holding an unconscious girl who may or may not vomit on him at any given time. The blast of warm air felt wonderful after the chill of the night. I got out of the way as Alec came through the door and followed Reese to Terrie’s room.
"Nice place." Alec said, smiling as he reemerged sans Reese.
"Thanks. Four girls. One house. Things get interesting." I twisted my hands awkwardly. Did I sit? Would he think I was asking him to stay and he wanted to go home? Or did I stand and hope he realized I wasn't hurrying him off?
"I have work in, like, two hours," he said, pulling his phone out to check the time. He ducked his head, peeking at me through his long lashes. "Can I have your number?"
My heart. It was going to quit on me if he didn't go soon. It was definitely not used to all this action.
"I mean, if it's okay. If it isn't pushing you..."
I didn't mention that he'd just been arguing about whether he could kiss me or not. Instead I took his phone from his hand and sent myself a text. Sneaky little ploy on my part to get his number, too. "There you go." I handed it back to him.
"Thanks." He tucked it in his back pocket. "I... I guess I should go. You need to sleep."
Don't go. Stay with me. "Yeah, and you should sleep while you can."
He pulled me closer, wrapping me in a hug. I could feel his heart through his jacket. It was beating as hard as mine. That made me feel ten thousand gazillion times better. "It was good to see you, Navi."
And he was gone. And our apartment was empty and sad and dark. And I felt like half my soul had gone with him. "Oh dear," I mumbled as I sank to the couch.
"Navi, bed. Now," Reese ordered as she half-stumbled past. I wasn’t sure she was even still awake to be ordering me around.
I stood obediently and padded off to get ready for bed, tossing my purse onto my dresser. I was in the middle of spitting toothpaste when I heard my phone buzz. I rinsed my toothbrush and retrieved my phone.
"Glad you came tonight." I smiled as my fingers trembled over the keys. He couldn't be home yet, not unless he drove like a demon.
"Me too."
Seconds later, my phone buzzed again. "You should come back."
"I should?"
He took long enough to respond that I had time to change into my pajamas. I climbed into my bed, pulling the covers up to my chin. When my phone buzzed again, I practically attacked it.
"Yes. Tonight. You should come back tonight."
He had no idea how much I wanted to do just that. "I'm in my batman jammies. In bed. Not attractive."
Five minutes passed and I was almost asleep when he finally wrote back. "I want to see you in batman jammies."
I sucked in a breath. How, exactly, did one respond to that?
"Navi. They come." My scratchy, exhausted eyes flew open to see Elizabeth, standing silently in the doorway. Konstanz was still gone and Reese was in her own room, but even so it was dangerous for Elizabeth to be here. She could open Reese’s eyes to the ghost world. To demons. I threw myself out of bed, leaving my phone in the heap of blankets. Yawning, I felt my swords humming to life on my back as I threw off my batman jammies and grabbed my fighting jeans and my crappy, holey sweatshirt. "I’ll meet you outside," I whispered.
Elizabeth nodded and disappeared.
I assumed they would be already fighting at the beach, like last night, but my army waited impatiently outside my door. "They are slow this night," Elizabeth said by way of explanation.
I peered around at my ghosts, mentally trying to tug some energy from the rapidly dimming moon. "What do you mean?" I always felt super smart when I had to ask the dumb questions.
She raised an eyebrow. "We’ve been watching them fight their way from the doorway to the beach for hours. They have yet to make it, but they are close."
I blinked up at the moon. "If they don’t hurry, the sun will rise and they won’t get to fight." Get to fight. Like it was a privilege. Smiling to myself, maybe because I was exhausted-loopy-slightly-stupid, I realized that to me, fighting was a privilege. One I enjoyed very much when I wasn’t in designer jeans and my favorite boots. "I’ll meet you all there." I didn’t wait to watch her disappear into the darkness. I took off running, realizing belatedly that I had forgotten to put shoes on. I felt many rocks dig into my feet, but the moon healed me faster than the blood could flow. By the time I reached Devil’s Gate, I was fairly positive I had a whole new set of skin on the bottoms of my feet.
I leaped up the rock, much easier to do shoeless, and sat at the top, staring down at the water. Elizabeth joined me, watching silently. The asuwangs were just below the surface,
barely visible in the wild waves. I checked the moon, but the sun wouldn’t be up for at least three more hours. They had time. I grinned at Elizabeth, who heaved a long-suffering sigh. "Don’t think I can’t see the excitement under that scowl." I waved my finger in her face and the smile she’d been hiding found its way through. Yes, this was terrifying fighting demons on a regular basis. Yes, we could all die. Facing it with a sense of humor was the only way to not go completely mad. Plus, there’s a teensy, tiny little chance that I got a rush from demon killing. I wonder what Alec would think if he knew… I banished the thought immediately. If Alec knew, he’d be in a ton of danger. It wasn’t worth it. My secret had to stay my own.
We sat silently, watching while they sludged slowly to the surface. My army paced the sand below, some of them randomly swinging weapons. This was new. We’d never seen the asuwangs have so much trouble before. As the sky lightened, most of my army was practice fighting with each other, which amused me. I’d have to mention this to Death.
Elizabeth looked to the east, where the sun’s first rays were penetrating the darkness. "We should go down there. I see their claws in the sand."
I nodded and jumped off the wall, landing in a crouch, my swords already in my hands. It was odd not sprinting across the beach to throw myself into battle. "I feel that they are testing us. Again." Elizabeth swung her swords nervously while we stood shoulder to shoulder, watching them come. The first wave of demons escaped the water and crawled toward us, but even then they didn’t seem to be in a hurry—usually when they attacked, they moved slowly at first but faster and faster until their speed is almost blinding.
Luckily, my army and I are even faster still.
But this time, they just moseyed on up to us, almost falling on our swords. I swirled my blades through the hair, slicing the thick necks of two at once. Elizabeth shot into the horde of demons, her swords catching the moonlight and humming viciously. The ghosts were barely a mist they moved so quickly, falling on the demons and devouring them. Jesse and another ghost—he had a name and I couldn’t remember it—were tugging dead bodies out of the way as fast as they could and still my army was leaving piles of dead asuwangs beneath them. I paused, panting, to brush black blood off my cheek, and realized that the second wave of demons was retreating.
"We scared them off!" one ghost squealed. I frowned, glanced at the sun—which wasn’t even entirely up yet—and back to the water. I couldn’t see them anymore. They’d retreated much faster than they’d come.
"They’re definitely testing us. But for what?" I murmured as Elizabeth wafted to my side. Since they were ghosts, they never got icky black acidic blood on them. She was as clean as she had been before.
"I will ponder it while I am haunting today." Elizabeth smiled grimly as we clambered up the huge rock wall. By we, I of course mean me, and she politely floated next to me. The rest of my army were slowly sinking through the sand and back to their cages. If I didn’t hurry, I’d have to walk all the way home instead of running.
"What do you do all day, anyway?" I asked as I jumped over the other side and landed in the sand.
"I wander. I visit relatives. I learn." She shrugged delicately. "Pretty much the same thing you do."
I opened my mouth to object, but I had no words. I did wander. And visit relatives. And learn. She laughed quietly, one ghostly finger brushing across my open jaw like she was trying to push my mouth closed. "Go home, Navi. We will fight another day."
Chapter 10
Alec
"Dude..." Bryson stumbled out of his bedroom, holding his head. I tried not to glare at him. He'd made a total ass of himself the night before and Navi didn't deserve that.
Like I know what Navi deserves.
Already, after one short conversation in the dark, one short car ride, and a few short text messages, I was protective of her. She's mine.
But she isn't.
Not yet.
But after last night, I was determined that she would be.
"What happened?" he mumbled, squinting at me. His hair stuck up all over his head and his eyes were bloodshot. If Navi could see him now, she'd never let him kiss her again. I thought briefly of taking a picture for her, but my hands were full of empty beer bottles and red plastic cups.
"Next time we have a party, you're cleaning up on your own. It wasn't even my stupid party and I've been cleaning up since I got home from work." Lucky me getting to work a half shift on a Saturday and then coming home to clean up the party I hadn't even wanted to have.
Except that now I was so grateful we'd had it, I would gladly clean up for the rest of the day.
"Did Navi kiss me?" Bryson completely ignored the mess and peered at me blearily.
I gritted my teeth and swore under my breath. "No. You attacked her and then passed out at her feet. I would have left you in a heap on the floor but she's more compassionate than I am. What's the matter with you? Do you have any idea how stupid you are? Do you know what you're pushing away?"
Navi. You're pushing away the one girl I'd give anything to have another chance with.
"She—oh shit." He turned and ran to the bathroom, worshiping the porcelain god as he deserved. I dug my phone out of my pocket, finally letting myself text her. I'd held off all morning, hoping she'd write me first.
She hadn't.
Bryson is sufficiently embarrassed about last night and he's paying for his idiocy.
There. That didn't sound desperate. Why hadn't she written me? I'd long since given up on trying to pretend I wasn't—in the light of day it was harder to admit to what I'd realized last night. But I definitely didn't hate her. I never had, which was clear by the fact that my resolve had melted the second she'd walked through my door last night and I'd pretty much thrown myself at her feet. At least I hadn't passed out at them like Bryson had.
My phone buzzed and my heart leapt. Glad that there was no one around to see my hands shaking, I dug my phone out of my pocket.
Good. Maybe he'll stop drinking so much. How are you?
An idiotic grin spread across my face as I re-read her message. "Does she hate me?" Bryson asked, staggering into the kitchen for coffee. He was in really bad shape. I almost felt bad for him, until I remembered that he'd kissed Navi last night.
And I hadn't.
"No, she doesn't hate you. But I told you she doesn't like alcohol," I answered, distracted because I was trying to think of something clever to respond with. I'm good. How'd you sleep?
Oh yeah, that was clever.
I ran a hand over my face and stared at the ceiling. What did this girl do to me? Four years later and she still made me a complete moron with one text message. I couldn't think straight. I couldn't sleep. It was like I was falling for her after just one night.
That, of course, was ridiculous. No one fell after one night. Unless they'd never unfallen...
Which I'm fairly positive I had determined last night was the case.
Yeah. You alternate between watching her die and watching her live in your dreams every night. That's perfectly normal for a guy who ever got over her. I shut up my inner critic as my phone buzzed again.
I just got up. Got called into work early this morning and didn't get back 'til about two hours ago. U?
I remembered how tired she'd been the night before. And she'd had to go to work. No wonder she hadn't written me yet. My heart thumped in my chest like it was celebrating.
Bryson slumped down on the barstool with his head in his hands, staring bleakly at the counter top. "I really like her," he mumbled. "I don't remember... I kept thinking she wanted someone else..."
Me.
I grinned again and stuffed the garbage in the recycle bin, but couldn't for the life of me figure out how to answer him.
Navi was mine. She might not know it yet, but I'd convince her. Sounds like you need someone to take you to breakfast. I'll be there in ten minutes.
"You should try to sleep off that hangover, man. It looks pretty wicked." I smacked hi
m on the shoulder, grabbed my jacket and shoved my wallet into my back pocket. He groaned as his head sank onto the counter, and I allowed myself a wicked grin.
I had my keys in my hand and was halfway out the door when she wrote me back but I ignored it. I knew what she'd say—she'd just got up and she looked like crap. But I couldn't wait. I'd waited all morning to see her again, and each second had seemed like an eternity. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't stay away from her.
Chapter 11
I leaned against her door frame, waiting for someone to answer. I knew they'd heard my knock, because there'd been squealing and panicked footsteps on the other side. My lips quirked in a grin even as my heart tried to beat its way out of my chest. If she didn't open the door soon, I'd have to break it down.
I was that desperate to see her.
The door swung open and her dark, dark brown eyes slowly traveled up my chest to my face and finally met my gaze. She sucked in a breath and forced a shaky smile. "You ignored me, didn't you?"
I pretended to be wounded by her words, pretending too that I didn't feel my heart speed up and pretended that the blood roaring in my ears wasn't damn near deafening. I tried to take in every detail of her like I'd been drowning and she was my angel pulling me free.
Save me.
"Never," I said, my smile widening as she raised a skeptical eyebrow. Her long, thick curls were piled on top of her head in a messy bun, and as adorable as she looked right then, I wanted to tug it loose and let the silky strands free so I could run my hands through them. Her hair had always been my undoing. We used to watch TV while she laid her head in my lap and I would wind the curls around my fingers.
She was in yoga pants and a tank top. My breath caught and held in my throat and I couldn't swallow. She had absolutely no business being so damn gorgeous when she'd only gotten two hours of sleep. "You're gonna freeze if you go out like that," I told her.
