by A D Seeley
“It will be three years this fall. I’ve been out here for four years, though. I was working at a restaurant as a waitress until I got my residency. I couldn’t afford the out of state tuition.”
“So how did you manage to become their number one bartender at the club?”
“Crystal was my roommate, and she’s been there for a few years. As soon as I was old enough, I started working at the club as a waitress. While doing that she secretly taught me everything she knew so Vinnie would give me a chance.”
“I bet he’s glad that he did.”
She shrugged. “Most of the time….”
“So where did you live before?”
“I grew up in the country in New Hampshire.”
“I bet that was beautiful,” he said as they meandered down the sidewalk, trying not to get run over by any of the students focused on making it to their classes.
“It was. I really miss the greenery. Where I lived, we were perched next to this forest with a creek, but the other side was just meadow after meadow after meadow. It was gorgeous. Very peaceful.”
“So why did you leave? Especially to come out here?”
“Well, I was born here, and I always planned on coming back out here if I could. I was really excited when I got accepted here, but deferred enrollment until I could become a resident; I knew that becoming a student here was the only way I could have come back.”
“That’s brave to come out here all by yourself.”
“But I didn’t. Tracker came with me.”
He feigned surprise for a moment. “Really? Were you two an item?”
She laughed. “No way! We’re more like siblings. You see, I was raised in an orphanage. After his parents died and nobody would take him in any longer because of his acting out, he was shipped out to us.”
“Why were you in an orphanage? If you don’t mind me asking?”
“I don’t mind,” she said, not losing any of her exuberance. It seemed that losing her family wasn’t a big deal to her. “When I was three, my entire family was killed in a fire.”
“Wow, that’s terrible! I’m so sorry about that,” he said, mustering up fake sympathy. “How is it that you survived?”
“I wasn’t there. I was out with my aunt and uncle, but they couldn’t take me in.”
“So only your parents were killed?”
“No. I had two brothers, and I guess there was a neighbor girl that my parents were watching who was there too because of some emergency her parents were having. I’m told that she was my age and even looked a lot like me.”
Squeezing her hand, he said, “Then she would have turned out to be beautiful.”
She laughed again. “Yeah, maybe. Anyway, it’s been nice being out here. I’ve been able to visit my family’s graves.”
“That’s good.”
“Yeah. It’s been nice,” she said as he opened the door to the history building for her and they walked out of the blazing sunshine and into the wonderful air conditioning.
“So it was only a fire?” He knew better than that. Micah had sliced them all up first, only setting the fire to burn any evidence.
“Yup.”
The Order must have lied to her. She obviously had no clue anyone had ever been after her, let alone was after her now. Another one of Their idiotic mistakes. At least if she’d known, then she’d be wary, rather than throwing herself into the explosive volcano that was Inac.
“What about you?” she asked, though she was hesitant about it.
“What about me?”
“Do you have family?”
He shook his head. “Nobody that’s closer than like a great-great-great-great something or other.”
“What happened? If you don’t mind me asking…?”
“Well, my parents had lived quite a long time before I was born, so we weren’t exactly the typical family.”
“What were they like?” she asked with shining eyes.
He did his best to keep his annoyance from his voice, but he knew it was still laced with it when he replied, “Hara, I’m not trying to be rude, but I can’t talk about them. It’s not like it is with you. You never really knew your parents so there weren’t ever any hard feelings. All you have are fantasies of how your life would be different if they hadn’t died. I have to remember how mine looked at me the last time I saw them; when they were pretty much disowning me. There are just too many emotions and I can’t talk about it.”
“Okay,” she said, stopping to face him because they were to her class.
“Okay? That’s it?” he asked, not really buying it. Experience had taught him that women never really dropped a subject. They would bring it up at the least opportune times…like when he was trying to get sex.
“Mm-hmm. I’m not going to pry, Inac. You can tell me when you’re ready. And, if you never become ready, that’s okay too.”
Nobody had ever before really understood that he couldn’t talk about it. With wives he’d had, they’d always continuously pressed the issue until he would finally just abandon them and their kids. It’s why he hadn’t been in a “relationship” for fifty years.
“Really?”
She gave him a small peck on the lips. “Really.”
Hara truly was an amazing woman. He could see why she had been chosen to do God’s work.
Still unsure if he believed her or not, he said, “Thanks. I appreciate you dropping it.”
“No problem.”
Eager to change the subject, he tucked a tendril of her hair behind her ear and asked quietly, “So when can I see you again? I wouldn’t want to bother you too soon and make you sick of me, but I really don’t want to wait to see you again.”
“I could never get sick of you, Inac. It’s more like I don’t want you getting sick of me.”
“Then how about dinner tonight?”
She made a face, like something nasty had just been forced under her nostrils. “I have study group tonight.”
“How about tomorrow night?
“Tons of homework before work. Then I work Saturday and Sunday too.”
“I’m sure the boss will let you play hooky,” he said with a sideways grin.
A smile blossomed across her perfect face. “I’m sure he would, too. But I need the money. The money from my parents’ life insurance needs to last me as long as possible. I try not to touch it.”
Before he even thought about what he was saying, his mouth ran off and said, “I can just pay your bills.”
Hara’s face was set and stern when she replied by saying, “Inac, I can pay my own bills.” Then, her face softening, she lightly touched his forearm and said, “We’ll talk later and figure something out, okay? Right now I better get into class.”
It was only then that he realized that they’d moved until they were standing in the doorway of her classroom, and no longer down the hall a few feet. “Okay. Call me later when you get a free moment. I’d really like to spend some time together. Just me and you time.”
Her face flushed, telling him that she’d caught the insinuation in his words. But, ever the innocent, naïve little Hara, she said, “Lunch was just you and me.”
“I know. But we were on a deadline.”
Just then, a man around Inac’s “age” stepped out, rubbing at his unremarkable chin bare of any hair—Inac wondered if the guy even had to shave. “Are you going to join us, Hara?” the guy asked with a kind smile.
“Yeah. Sorry, Professor.” She then gave Inac a confidential grin that spoke of how much she’d rather still be with Inac and their picnic.
“And who’s this?” the sandy-haired man asked. He looked very familiar. And not just because Inac had slipped into his class once when he’d been following Hara.
Without skipping a beat, Inac offered his right hand. “Inac Adamson. I’m Hara’s boyfriend.”
Both Hara and the professor looked taken aback. But Hara also looked pleased. The professor, who looked like he was wearing glasses though he wasn’t, d
idn’t.
“You said Inac Adamson?” he asked, his sorrel eyes narrowing.
“Yeah. Do we know each other? You do look familiar.”
“No. No we don’t,” he replied as he nervously raked his hands through his slightly wavy hair, his eyes taking in the tattoo on the arm Inac had offered. “I’ve just heard of you.”
“How so?”
“I’ve done a lot of research on yachts and your name always seems to come up,” he said, finally grasping Inac’s hand. The professor’s was cool and slick, as though he was afraid of something. Then, his face cleared and he smiled, saying, “You have some of the best in the world.”
“You’re interested in yachts?” Inac asked, wiping the boy’s sweat from his palm by inconspicuously putting his hand in his pocket. For some reason, he didn’t quite believe this guy. Maybe because all of the yachts that were in the name of Inac Adamson would have been purchased twenty years ago. The one they’d used last night was under a different name.
“Yes, I am. I could never afford one as exquisite as your Nina, but that doesn’t keep me from researching them. That’s a very apt name, by the way.”
He believed the guy now. Maybe the professor believed he was the son of the Inac Adamson who’d purchased the yachts.
“So you know what it means?” he asked the professor.
“I’m guessing that you’re going with the Sumerian meaning?”
“And you know what that is?”
“I teach Ancient Civilizations,” he said with a small smile that was almost endearing. “It means Lady of Water, am I correct?”
Inac nodded. “It does indeed. I’ll tell you what, she’s docked in Greece right now, but I’ll bring her over and you can take her out for a spin. She has a crew of sixty, so you’ll be taken care of.” She may be older, but she was continually updated. Even the worst of his yachts was better than the most expensive ones other people could afford.
“Oh, I couldn’t. I appreciate the offer, though.”
“Anytime. And the offer still stands. You can borrow any of my yachts or sailboats anytime you’d like.” Inac then turned and gave Hara a quick yet intimate kiss, using it as a promise of more to come. He held her hand, lightly squeezing it before saying, “We’ll talk later.”
She nodded and gave him a grin that showed him just how much she was falling for him before going into class with her still shocked professor.
Chapter Eleven
***
“You won’t believe what happened today!” Hara announced to Crystal the moment she walked through the door.
Crystal set her tabloid magazine down and patted the couch.
“What happened?”
Hara bounced onto the couch, folding her legs beneath her as she proclaimed, “Inac introduced himself as my boyfriend!”
“Get outta here. Are you serious?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Okay, you have to tell me what happened last night that made a male do such a thing,” she teased.
Hara then proceeded to tell Crystal everything, holding nothing back.
“Does that make me easy?” she asked once she was done. She had been going to say “slut,” but even thinking that word made her feel guiltier than she felt for what they’d done to make her think that.
“No. But I think we should go buy you some new bras and underwear for the next time it happens.”
“It’s not going to,” Hara answered.
“And why not?! You liked it, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. But that’s beside the point. I need to go to confession. I have to confess about that as well as for hitting Tracker and yelling at both him and Inac.”
“Why bother? You’re gonna end up doing all of the above again.”
“No I won’t. I’m planning on having somebody with us all the time,” she said as she played with a rampant thread on the couch, gazing at it because she was now too embarrassed to look Crystal in the eye. Quietly, she finished, “I don’t trust myself with him.”
“Then why don’t you just end things?”
The thread forgotten, she looked up at her friend in shock. “Why would I? He’s amazing! I’m falling hard for him.”
“Then who cares if you two sleep together?”
“God does. I was raised being taught that ‘It’ is wrong.”
“‘It’? What? You can’t even say the word?” she said, laughing at Hara.
“You know I don’t swear.”
“Sex is not a swear word.”
“Crystal! Please?!”
“Honey, I really wish you hadn’t been brainwashed all your life.”
If Hara hadn’t known that Crystal was kidding, she would have been upset. As it was, she just ignored that comment.
“I have to call Inac to tell him when I’ll have time for him because he wants to see me again as soon as possible. What should I say?”
“Tell him to come over tonight and share your bed with you.”
“Crystal!” she said, laughing as she lightly smacked her friend.
“What? I’m just saying what you really want. You know that got you wanting him to do just that.”
“So? I need your help to not do that. I don’t need you egging me on.”
“Okay. Okay,” her friend said, her hands raised in mock surrender as she rolled her eyes. “I’ll behave.”
Hara grabbed her faux-leather purse the exact color of her eyes so that she could call Inac to tell him who knew what. She rummaged through it looking for her phone, but it was nowhere to be found.
“What the…?”
“Whatcha looking for?”
“My phone. I can’t find it.”
“Where was the last place you had it?”
She thought back. “I accidentally spilled my purse in Ancient Civilizations. I must not have grabbed my phone.” She looked at her cheap, fake-gold watch. “I bet Professor Sampson’s still there. I’ll see you later.”
Without waiting for Crystal to respond, she ran out the door. She almost sped to the campus—one mile over wasn’t technically speeding. Once there, she jogged to the history building. But as she was approaching her classroom, a voice that didn’t belong slowed her steps.
“I’m telling you, she’s in deep!” the voice said.
What was Tracker doing there? He didn’t have Professor Sampson for any of his classes.
“You were brought in to help keep her on the right path! Why didn’t you tell me he’d found her?! We would have gotten her far away from here before he could have gotten his teeth in her!” That was Professor Sampson, and boy, did he sound livid!
“Tongue, more like.”
“Exactly. You know everything about the situation she’s in. We told you everything when we brought you in. And you know your place in it. So how come you didn’t do your job?!”
“I’ve tried!”
“If you’ve tried so hard, then how come we’re in the situation we’re in? There’s no way we’ll be able to convince her otherwise now!”
“Me trying got the opposite reaction! How could I know that she would turn all rebellious and stubborn all of a sudden?”
“Tracker, you don’t seem to realize that this is five hundred years’ worth of planning that you have single-handedly ruined by not telling us!”
“I wasn’t sure!”
“Of course you were sure! You knew that he’s used that name, didn’t you?!” Tracker didn’t make a sound. “We made a mistake bringing you in. I told Them not to trust you. I told Them you were too young, and that you didn’t believe.”
“I’m sorry, okay?! I messed up!”
“Your mess-up might cost her her life.” This time, she could hear Tracker grunt before her professor continued. “I just want to know why he hasn’t killed her yet. That’s what he’s been planning for the past five hundred years.”
“I don’t know. He’s playing with her.”
“This is what we’ll have to do….” Professor Sampson was no longer yelling,
so it was difficult to hear. Hara had to concentrate as hard as she could to even catch the two words that prickled the hairs at the nape of her neck. Those two words were, “…Kidnap Anahara….”
Her stomach dropped at the same time that she almost passed out. They were planning on kidnapping her?
In a frenzy, she turned and ran down the hall, unsure where she was going; she was just going away. She was outside, sprinting down the sidewalk, leaving her car and the school far behind her. They were crazy. Professor Sampson and Tracker were completely certifiable.
She didn’t slow down until her lungs were burning as much as her legs were. Now practically stopped, she took the time to look around, but she didn’t recognize a thing. Across the street, two scary looking men in grungy clothes as dingy as they looked were watching her with appreciation. From the hungry leers on their faces, she could tell what was going on in their minds. She had let her panic run her right into a dangerous situation.
Just when she thought she was going to die of fear, she noticed a gas station just ahead of her. The dirty men, now walking toward her, were closing in fast so she picked up her pace until she was safe in the gas station. Through the unwashed and graffitied windows, she noticed the men setting up camp. They were going to wait her out.
“Um…do you have a phone?” she asked the cashier. He looked creepy and unkempt too—his long, dark, greasy hair was falling into his eyes. You probably had to be tough to not get robbed here.
“You got money for it?” he demanded in a tone she imagined would fit better in a prison than a gas station in L.A.
Scared out of her wits, she began fidgeting through the coin purse key-ring attached to her keys, surprised that she’d held on to them during her escape—her purse was still in her car.
“Um…is this enough?” she asked, holding up the few coins she had.
He held out his sweaty hand, his tattooed knuckles cracking as he did. “Over there,” he said with putrid breath smelling like stale cigarettes and alcohol mixed with rotting food, pointing to a phone down the counter obviously not meant for customers as he pocketed the change.
