Reese looked up at them. Ellie's smile widened. “He taught me a new punch,” she said around a mouthful of food. “And he helped me perfect my hook.”
“By hitting her so hard he knocked her to the ground,” Shane finished conversationally. Edward looked at Reese, his eyes narrowed. Ellie shot a look at Vetler.
“So how did you learn to fight, huh, Vetler? Did you play fisties with a punching bag all your life, or did you climb in the ring with somebody who whooped your ass?” Ellie asked putting him in his place and taking another bite. Shane simply smiled.
“You have to stop thinking that I am some helpless baby who can’t take care of herself,” Ellie grumbled. Her eyes slid to her brother, who was still glaring at Reese. “You too.”
Charlie sighed. “Do I have to remind you that fighting at the table gets you no dessert?” she asked staring all of them down. Silence fell over the table. Ellie kept staring at everyone. Annoyed, she looked at Reese.
“Tell us a story,” Ellie demanded.
Reese leaned back and met her gaze. He took a drink of his lemonade, thinking back. Reese smiled at a memory. “All right. Vince was maybe six. He was always trying to run with us, big boys. So my buddy, Jimmy Macentide, tells him, if you can get the keys and drive your dad’s new farm truck, we'll let ya play with us. We all had a good laugh. Vince puffed up his little chest and told him, I ain’t afraid of the truck.”
“Now, mind ya, from the day Pop brought the truck home, every time Vince heard the sound of the engine rumbling, he would run and hide under my mother's skirt. So, Vince goes running around the back of the house, and we went back to what we was doing. Five minutes later the engine revs loud as thunder, and the truck comes swinging around the side of the house. It looked like a ghost was driving. Vince was so small he couldn't touch the peddles and see out the window at the same time. We all scatter, dodging out of the way of Pop's brand new, possessed Ford. It slammed into the corner of the barn, knocked poor Vince out cold. Mom came running out the house screaming like he was dead!”
“When he comes to, Vince blamed the whole thing on me! I get my ass beat and me and my friends spent the rest of the summer rebuilding the barn.” Reese chuckled. “The truck still had the dents when we shipped out,” he said with a shake of his head.
Everyone, including Vincent, laughed. The story cut through the silence and tension that had built up like a storm cloud hanging over the table. Ellie looked up at Vincent with a smile. “Awe, wee lamb,” she said. “I can almost picture you all tiny.”
“I can't,” Vincent said with a chuckle and a wink of his eye at her.
Ellie took another sip of her water. She got up, grabbing her plate. Her hand reached for Reese's. “You done?” she asked with a raised brow. Reese nodded his head sitting back a little. Ellie plucked his from the table. Walking them into the kitchen, Ellie scraped the leftovers into the Birdie's bowl before she set them in the sink. Reese came up behind her, his eyes still twinkling with the memory of his childhood. She gave him a smile.
“It's nice to hear about something happy from that place,” Ellie said. Reese turned to look at his little brother sitting at the table with the others.
“It wasn't all bad there. Harder for him,” Reese conceded. “As kids, we had some good times,” he said with a smile of his own that pulled at the corner of his sensual mouth. His blue eyes shining, Reese touched the outside of her eye with two fingers. There was a dark bluish-purple ring around the inside of both her eyes. “Sore, huh?”
“Isn't that what a fight is supposed to make you?” Ellie asked rhetorically, rinsing the plates in the sink.
“How did ya know I was a golden gloves champ?” Reese asked.
She smirked at him. “You told me.” That was half-true. Her Reese told her about being a champion. It was Vincent that gave her the dates. Ellie looked at Vincent laughing with the others.
“Is that why ya…” Reese paused, trying to think of the right words. “With the cut?” he asked, looking down at her.
“I know you’re not my Reese. I just- I can’t think of you any other way. He was my best friend. It’s not fair to you. I know. I’ll work on it.”
“I may not be him, Sunshine. That don’t mean we can’t be friends.” He flashed her that skin-tightening grin of his.
She nodded. Ellie reached into the freezer and pulled out the tub of Cool Whip. He watched her walk back to the table. Reese watched her join in on the jokes and happiness. He let out a sigh, sliding his hands into his pockets. Reese felt that loneliness drag him down. This made it worse, almost belonging, almost being a part of something. He watched Ellie smile, fling cool whip at her brother and was reminded of how Vince had fallen so head over heels for her.
The way Vince looked at her. Reese hated himself for how he’d been thinking about her, hell, dreaming about her. He saw Ellie take Vince's hand under the table. She pulled it up to her lips and laid a kiss against his knuckles. Then she turned those shining green eyes on him. Ellie gave him a shy smile. Her mouth falling open just a touch with the sharp breath she took in. Reese could feel how much she missed him. Missed that personality, he corrected. Vince called it a ghost. Reese couldn’t help but think that was a better adjective. Ellie loved a ghost that was supposed to be him.
Reese felt damn guilty for needing it so much, for needing her so much. He tried to breathe past it. He tried to push those shields into place. Block out her emotions. Block out her light. Reese had gotten lost in her once already. He couldn't let that happen again. No matter how much he wanted to. Reese blinked his eyes at her. He couldn't help the smile that pulled across his mouth. What was it about her? Why couldn't he stop thinking about her?
He took in a deep breath, headed for the back door. Reese slid it closed and stood under the moon. Snow fell gently around him. Reese thought about Ellie. Her long blond hair, how it framed her heart shaped face. Made her emerald eyes seem that much bigger. The way she looked at him sometimes. It wasn't just that terrible loneliness. He felt something for her. It wasn't hard, not with the way she longed for him. She made him feel wanted, needed. Ellie made him feel loved.
It was wrong. Vince loved that girl with everything he had. And yet, Reese sat out here in the cold winter wind longing for her touch. He longed for that look in her eyes. He took in a deep breath, blowing it all out into the frigid March air.
He heard Vince’s footsteps coming up behind him. Reese didn't turn when the glass door slid open, and then closed again. He stared up into the sky. Vincent came up beside him. He looked up at the thousands of stars that hung suspended in the shadowy heavens above them. Vincent folded his arms over his chest.
“What, did ya get lonely?” Reese said, jokingly.
“I was worried about you,” Vincent told him, still staring up at the sky. The wind tore at his wild dark hair.
“Let me guess, you're pissed I gave your girl a black eye,” Reese stated. “I personally think it makes her look prettier,” he poked.
Vincent raised a brow at that. “She's not,” he said simply. “If you taught her something that will help her stay alive, I'm not pissed either,” Vincent told him. “We're dangerous, and she is adamant about taking care of herself.”
“Yeah, that she seems,” Reese agreed with a chuckle. He folded his arms across his broad chest. “That girl is a walking element of sass.”
Vincent laughed. It was a sentence that described her perfectly. “It's strange being around them,” Vincent admitted. He looked over his shoulder at the burgeoning family unit, sitting and laughing at the table. “I want to fit in. Another part of me knows I never will,” Vincent said. “I think El feels that way sometimes too.” Vincent stared through the glass door at her. Ellie’s head rested in the palm of her hand. She stared off into the distance, then remembering herself she started laughing a beat later than everyone else.
Silence stretched between the Hale brothers. They could hear the laughter and storytelling come from inside. The cold wind b
lew across them. Reese sighed. He was beginning to feel guilty for thrashing Ellie earlier. The more she stuck up for him. The worse he felt. That wasn't the only thing he felt guilty for.
“I should a’ let her go,” Reese admitted. “When she offered up her arm, I couldn't believe it. She knows what I am. She knows what I'll do, and she didn't care. It's like she’s got no fear of us.”
Vincent shook his head, giving him a smile. “Not even a little,” he agreed. “Not anymore.”
“I'll be honest, it’s nice not having her fear me,” Reese said. “Most people, it's like they can feel it. They cross the street to get away from me without knowing what it is that they're even afraid of. Her. She accepts what we are. She knows what it is, and just refuses to be afraid. She looked at me, as me, not a monster,” Reese said, his head moving back and forth slightly. He gave his long hair a flip over his shoulder.
Vincent could hear it in his voice. He couldn't blame Reese. Loving Ellie was as easy as breathing. Reese's ghost loved her, so Reese would too. Vincent heaved a sigh so heavy that his shoulders moved with it. He rolled his bottom lip, his tongue darting out to wet it. He stomped down hard on his anger, his jealousy. He shook his head at Reese. Ellie was his. He was not going to give her up without a fight. Not this time.
“The problem is, we are,” Vincent told him. “One slip, one second of lost control, and we are that monster.” He sighed. “She is so damned fragile, even if she won't admit it,” Vincent growled.
Reese's eyebrows came down over his blue eyes, his lips tensing. “I wouldn't a’ hurt her,” Reese defended. “I know ya don't believe that,” Reese said his voice softening with the last. He breathed in deep looking down at his feet.
Vincent shook his head. “I'm not worried about you hurting her,” Vincent told him in all honesty, giving Reese his patented wide-eyed stare. “I'm worried that she will be like everyone else in our lives.” Vincent turned to him for the first time. “I'm worried she will love you and not me.”
“Vince,” Reese said. “That girl loves ya! Everything about ya.”
Vincent shook his head. “Yeah, but she loved you first.” That familiar anger burned inside him. “I'm so fucking jealous of you, and you're in my head.” Vincent pointed at the side of his head, his eyes wide, full of raging emotions. “When she looks at you, I just want to tear my eyes out!” he cried. The darkness in his eyes swirled and thundered like approaching storm clouds.
Reese looked at his little brother confused. He grabbed Vincent by the shoulders and stared into his face. Reese told him the same thing he told Ellie earlier that day. “Vince, I ain’t him.” He sighed. “That ghost is a part of ya, not me,” Reese reminded his little brother.
It was like he didn't know. Like Reese had no idea what he had been doing to him for the past sixty years. Vincent gave him that glaring stare, his lips tensed into a sneer. The ghost in his head was just that. Reese's ghost. It wasn't some alternate personality like Susan and Henry Tiegler thought. It was a part of Reese shunted down through that line that connected them. Vincent was so ashamed, so heartbroken by what he’d done. He let Reese in just so he wouldn't be alone. And Reese had been haunting him ever since. How could he not know that?
“You got to be kidding me, Reese. You know damned well that isn’t true,” Vincent growled.
Reese looked at him confused. His head shook slightly. He hadn't the slightest clue what the hell Vince was talking about. His eyebrows knit together, mouth pulling down at the corners. “What are ya talking about, Vince?”
Vincent stared at him, vibrating with betrayal and dejection. How could he not know? Vincent licked his lips, exhaling through his nose. “She is everything to me,” he told Reese. Honesty rang with his words. Reese felt only a shadow of the love she had for Vince, and he knew exactly what drew Vince in. He knew why Vince protected that girl with everything he had. Unconditional love from another when you despise yourself is the only thing that will keep you going. And he damn sure knew how much his little brother needed that girl. Reese swallowed the lump in his throat.
“Vincent, I would never do that to ya! What you're thinking. It didn't matter if I knew she was my soul mate. She’s your girl,” Reese told him. “And damn it, I ain’t him!” Reese wasn't sure who he was trying to convince, Vincent, Ellie, or was it himself he wondered. Reese slid his hand over the back of his brother's neck. He pulled Vincent close, touched his forehead to Vince's. Something he hadn't done in such a long time. “She loves ya, Vince!”
Reese pulled back, staring at his little brother's face. He didn't understand what Vince meant about the personality. Reese exhaled a smoky breath and laid his forehead back against his younger brother's.
“I'm sorry!” Reese cried hanging his head. “I'm so fucking sorry about everything ya went through. I'm sorry those people hurt ya. I'm God damned sorry that I was so weak! That I couldn't be there for ya. The only thing that I’m happy about, is that girl found ya. That she loves ya. Ya fucking deserve it! Ya deserve her love. Nothing I do is ever going to change that. Even if she does love the Reese in here,” Reese said poking at the side of Vincent's head. “She loves ya more! Ya can see it in her eyes every time she looks at ya. I can feel it coming off her in waves. That. Girl. Loves. Ya!”
Vincent laid his hand over the hand Reese had wrapped around his neck. He blinked. Vincent nodded. A breath fell out of him. Reese sighed, shaking his head. He looked over Vincent’s shoulder at her. Ellie watched them from the table, her head in her hands.
“I'm jealous of ya,” Reese admitted. His azure eyes shined. “Ya are so damned strong. Ya got her. Ya got the beginnings of a second chance, Vince. Take it!”
Vincent frowned. “There is no white picket fence. There is no happily ever after. This is all we get.”
“Then make the best of it,” Reese told him.
Chapter 10
Charlie sighed. Her breath hung heavy in the air in front of her. She watched them walking along the tree line. Birdie ran in front of them, barking at nothing. Charlie wished that Edward would get over himself. She wished that he would just make his move, and tell Anna how he really felt. Anna wanted it so much. Anna needed it. It was like watching your two favorite characters in a TV show, kiss, almost fall in love, then come up with some stupid reason not to.
But this wasn't TV. This was real life. And Edward didn't have enough time to be stupid. And Anna deserved some happiness in this life. Charlie pulled up her collar against the chill wind. She wanted to reach out and push them together. She wanted someone to be happy. Charlie wanted there to be some reason that they had all been through the pain that led them here.
Snow fell gently. Charlie felt like she was trapped in a snow globe. She heard crunching footsteps. Turning to look, she saw Shane. In his heavy quilted vest, long sleeves, and tight jeans, it was a good look, she decided. Her lips pulled up in a smile.
Snow sparkled in his short brown hair. He was so handsome it made her teeth hurt, with his strong arms, and pretty eyes. She thought about Edward and Anna. Thought about what Vincent said. The reasons she tallied for Edward and Anna worked just as well for her. There didn't seem to be much time left for any of them. Since her horrible marriage, Charlie hadn't thought about being with another human being in the last ten years, except for Shane. When he smiled at her it made things low in her body tighten.
She took in a breath, licking her lips. Charlie watched him for a moment, standing in the deep snow. Shane turned to her, gave her that killer smile. It made her decision for her. Charlie ran her hand over the rail, the piled snow falling down. She took the steps down, closing the distance between them.
Charlie looked up into his smiling, slightly confused face. Pain. That was the one thing that drew them all together. They all needed healing. They all needed love. Shane’s words echoed inside her head. His story was so sad. He’d lost so much, and just given up. She lost so much, and just gave up. If there was one thing Charlie was sick of, it was giving up.
Shane let his loss hold him back for so long. Barely holding onto a life he didn't give a damn about with slipping fingers. This new world was different. It was almost right. Now with her staring up at him with those bedroom eyes, he didn't want to let her go. Shane kissed her. His lips brushed against hers. Her mouth opened to the press of him. Her soft lips on his were just that, soft and gentle. The taste of her was wonderful. Fear, longing, and raw elation, mixed with joy, and passion. That concoction had him drunk on her. And he could see it in her eyes. She wanted him almost as much as he wanted her. He kissed her with lips and tongue, his hands sliding over the soft line of her body. Charlie pulled back, gasping for breath.
One hand sliding between her hair, Shane touched the side of her round face. His other hand slipped around her waist. Shane pulled her into the circle of his arms. His smile beamed down at her. Shane chewed the side of his cheek, not quite knowing what to say.
“Come on, handsome,” Charlie said, raising her eyebrows. “I'm pretty sure this has been a long time coming.” Her smile was infectious, bright, lovely, and just a little nervous.
Shane laughed at her and leaned in for another kiss. This one was different. It was full of a passion that had built up over years of denial and heartbreak. Months of sidelong glances and shy smiles had only made it that much more powerful. This felt right. Shane kissed her with everything he had, his arms sliding around her back drawing her to him.
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