by Shelly Crane
Seth wiggled next to me until he got his phone out of his pocket. I grinned as he pressed his thumb on the screen several times until the camera was up. He looked at me with an easy smile.
“Ready?” I nodded. He held his phone in his hand up high above him and said, “Smile, little bird.”
Click.
_ _ _
“So, you have to get away from me today at some point and go see your family, before you get ready for the summit. They don’t know about the fire, they don’t know that you quit the fire station. None of it. You make out like it’s all just too much right now, that I don’t understand your job, that my family is pressuring you to be a spy for them, just like we said.”
He rubbed his hair. “I don’t know. Things are really weird. Your family kinda ambushed me.” He chuckled and looked up. “Your grandpa—”
I sighed. “Grandpa Jim. Of course.”
“Yeah. They started in on me at the bar-b-que and you lost it.”
“They did that at the bar-b-que!” I cried. I was livid.
Seth just laughed. “Don’t worry. You took care of it. You let them have it, trust me. And I passed your grandpa’s test with flying colors.”
“Of course you did.” I rolled my eyes. “Where are you now?”
“I took you back to my place. We’ve been staying at your parents because of my family, but your mom didn’t argue when you said we were leaving. I think she knew you needed to get out. And she knows I’ll protect you.”
I smiled, biting my lip a little thinking about it. “What do we do together?”
“Last night we watched our first movie.” He raised his eyebrow in challenge. “Dodgeball.”
“I love Dodgeball,” I squealed. “Did I say half the lines?”
He laughed and quirked his eyebrow instead this time. “No.”
“I was just holding back. Don’t worry. You’ll get to experience that next time.”
He laughed again and looked out the window. “It’s time. I’ll go to my family today. The plan will work. I promise. It has to.”
I nodded and hugged him around his middle. “Be careful. Please. See you soon.”
“Bye, Ave,” he said into my hair.
“Bye, Seth.”
_ _ _
I woke in soft, dark sheets in a dark room. I’d fallen asleep on Seth last night and he carried me to bed. I woke as he was laying me down. Talk about swooning. There’s nothing like being carried and put to bed.
He gave me a pair of his shorts to put on so I didn’t have to wear my jeans with snow and salt on the bottom to bed. His boxers were huge, but the elastic kept them up. I kept my thin yellow shirt on and when I came out, he was just pulling a shirt on.
I missed the show. Mmm.
He looked at me as he settled on the bed. “All right,” he said, though I could tell he could laugh at any second. “That’s enough out of you.”
“I said not a word.” I smiled as I crawled across the bed to him. I probably could have walked over but… “The thoughts in my head are private. You can’t use that against me. It would never stand up in court.”
He chuckled and did this growl, groan thing as he reached over to turn off the lamp at the same time.
“Your case is on shaky foundation,” he said into my hair as he laid down on his back. His massive frame took up a great deal of the bed. His arm was around my back, tugging me so I just curled up against his side. He yanked a blanket that he had pulled out around us.
With my face in his neck, I could breathe him in all night and didn’t even have to try. I moved one of my legs and rubbed it against his cautiously. He sighed a little when I did.
I felt so safe as I slept that night, and now as I woke, I felt just as safe. We never moved in the night. I noticed that before—we always woke in the exact same spot as when we went to sleep. And as if he knew that I was now awake, his eyes popped open and he glanced over at me. His smile was small and immediate, crooked, like I’d put his whole world off its axis but he was somehow okay with that.
“Morning, beautiful,” he murmured.
I started to bite my lip, but when his eyes went to my lip, I stopped. He smirked, so smug and cute. “Good morning, gorgeous.”
He chuckled, but I moved up on my elbow and poked his chin with my pointer finger. “You don’t think you’re gorgeous?” He just stared at me, his hand moving up my back.
“I’ve never been called that before, no.”
“What have you been called?”
He thought. “Hose dragger. Roughneck. Hoser. ”
I laughed, letting my forehead fall on his stomach. “Oh, my gosh. Stop.”
“Whacker. Bulldog. Skater. Doorway dancer. Nozzle Jockey.”
“Seth!” I fell back on the pillow next to him. “My guts hurts!”
He chuckled as he leaned over me a little. “Can I say something?”
“Always.”
His entire body and being sighed at those words. “It may be a tad too soon, but it has to be said,” he breathed his words and swallowed as he looked down at my collarbone and neck, and finally my eyes. He leaned down, brushing my hair back behind my ear. It occurred to me that I hadn’t even adjusted it when I woke. My eyes went wide. Oh, gosh. There was no telling what he was looking at right now. He smiled and shook his head. “That’s what I’m talking about.” His fingers combed behind my ear once more. “You are…absolutely edible in the mornings.” His eyes roamed around my face while his hand went down to wrap around my neck gently. “No wonder significants run to get married because,” his eyes met mine, “this is almost torture.”
I felt his hand on my pink neck and his eyes on mine and couldn’t find a thing to say that made sense. “I’m sorry?”
His smile grew. “I like to be tortured by you. Waking up to you every day doesn’t suck. You keep being edible and I’ll keep buying the coffee. Deal?” He leaned in and kissed my stunned lips once before rolling off the bed, grabbing some clothes from the drawers, and leaving the room. Before long I heard the shower turn on in the hall.
I closed my eyes and tried not to think about it.
I got up, making his bed neatly and even picking up his clothes that he’d thrown on the floor last night. When I stood, above the dresser was a mirror. My hair was all tussled, like someone had had their hands in it maybe. My neck was flushed from blushing, my brown eyes stood out with no make up on. My lips were a soft pink against my tan skin.
Edible, huh. I grinned.
I turned to put my jeans back on, finger-combed my hair, and then went to find the coffee pot. His kitchen was small, but packed in and functional. He had a Keurig and I practically jumped when I saw it. Hazelnut or not, I could get down with any coffee that had flavor.
I was looking through the cupboards to see if I could find his cups when he came up behind me and grabbed my hand. “We can get some coffee on the way to your house.”
He had his fire station shirt on. I squinted in confusion. He shrugged. “It’s just a shirt. Now, I hate to rush you out, but I do have a few things I have to do today.”
“Yeah,” I replied thoughtfully. “And I’m sure my family will be trying to either apologize or tell me they were right to try or…something. I might as well face that.”
He moved until he was right in front of me and took my face in his hands. “Everything is going to be okay, little bird. Thank you for trusting me.”
“Of course,” I said. There was no other answer.
He looked at me, his eyes searching my face, roaming all the specks of my eyes, my lips, until he settled back on my eyes and I knew that something was different today.
“Is everything okay?” I gripped his wrist.
He smiled at my concern. “Everything’s fine.” He kissed my forehead and stayed there. “I’m fixing everything for us.”
That statement should have made me feel better, but it somehow made me feel a little shift of unease.
I grabbed my bag and he drove me to my ho
use. The whole way there, though I sat up against his side, I felt like there was something wrong. I couldn’t put my finger on it. Something just wasn’t quite right. I could go digging around in his mind and find what he was doing. I became suddenly angry. It wasn’t fair that my body didn’t let me see his mind the way that he saw mine all the time. It wasn’t fair. But he wouldn’t want me digging for this. I knew. And he’d know that I was digging and would just shut me out the second I began. It was pointless to even try. Besides, I didn’t really want to take things from him, I wanted him to give them to me. If he thought this was something he didn’t want me to know, then there had to be a reason.
He parked the truck and turned to me. “Everything is fine,” he soothed, feeling how anxious I was. He took my chin captive by that thumb. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
“Seth.”
“Don’t worry about anything. I promise. Everything’s okay. Just tying up loose ends. I’ll see you in a little bit,” he said, releasing me. He leaned in and kissed my shaky mouth.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but please be careful. Don’t be a hero.”
He smiled a little and looked down, and I knew—something was definitely going on. He looked back up and cupped my face fully with both hands. “I love you, Ava.” Neither of us had said it since the fire. “And I’ll see you tonight, at this house, all in one piece. I promise you, sweetheart.”
I sighed. It was as if I could finally breathe. “I love you more.”
He grinned before he laughed softly. “Oh, we’re going to play that game?”
“No,” I shook my head. “I just win. I love you more.” I gripped him around his neck tightly, trying not cry. I wanted to believe him that he would be back in one piece. He seemed so confident. There could only be one place he was going.
His arms went inside my jacket around my sides to crush me to him. His face pressed into that place where my neck and shoulder met and spoke into my hair and skin, his breath warm. “If you want to battle it out for who loves who more, we can do that, but I just want to know what I get when I win.” He sighed. “I’ve got to go, sweetheart.”
I leaned back and kissed him once. If he wanted anything more than that, he had to come back.
He snorted at that.
“I’m coming back,” he breathed into my hair. “I promise.” He kissed my hair and that was my cue to scoot over and get out. I looked at him through the open door once more before shutting it. He backed out and stopped in the road. He looked at me, that gaze so intense, even that far away.
Everything’s fine. Promise.
I’ll be here.
Bye, little bird.
Bye…
He drove away and I pivoted on my driveway to face my house.
And Ember, Dawson, Maria, Laurelyn, and Drake, too, apparently. I sighed, my aggravation manifesting in a huge puff of cold smoke in front of my mouth.
“We had nothing to do with that—that—ambush,” Ember said and ran down the stairs, almost slipping on the melting snow as she greeted me. “You have to be—”
“I believe you.” I rolled my eyes as we made our way into the kitchen. “Did you guys stay the night?”
“We felt terrible.” She looked at our cousins. “And so did Daddy. And so did Uncle Kyle. Grandpa was the only one who was still so adamant that it was the right thing to do. But when we all saw your face. And his face.” She shook her head and looked down. I balked. Ember looked like she actually might cry.
“Ember,” I breathed and went to her, hugging my cousin. Weird, I was comforting her when it was me and my significant who were being pounced on.
“Everything’s okay. Seth wasn’t even angry.” She leaned back in surprise. I shrugged and leaned back against the counter. “He said he understood that my family would want to know his intentions, and he was actually surprised that we hadn’t ambushed him already.”
“Seth is a freaking saint,” Dawson muttered under his breath and shook his head. “If that had been me, I wouldn’t have been so calm. The boy was too calm.” He met my eyes. “I guess he was being good for your benefit so you wouldn’t freak.” He smirked. “Well, any more than you did, anyway.”
“From day one, Seth has been so levelheaded about things,” I said softly. “When we imprinted and both figured out who the other was, he knew I was a Jacobson somehow from his visions just like I knew that he was a Watson from mine, but he didn’t know that Mom was the Visionary.” I crossed my arms and stared at my shoes on my Mom’s grey stone floor. I missed my Chucks. “He told me then that he was sorry, that he understood if I hated him, that he might hate him to if the situation were reversed. That he’d wait for me as long it took.”
“Wait for you?” Maria asked, glued to the story, her eyes wide.
I swallowed before I spoke. “I ran. I didn’t know what else to do. We were in the coffee shop by my school and I…imprinted with a Watson. At first, he was just a boy and I was so happy. So was he. And then the pieces started to fall into place.” I shook my head and laughed once without humor. “I didn’t know what to do or what he might do or… But I never got any ill will from him. I only ever felt like he wanted to help me and was interested in me like a significant should be. He let me go without a fight. And that night, when his family ambushed us, he fought them and saved me.”
“The whole thing is so romantic,” Laurelyn said and smiled. “Don’t worry about what anybody else says. Now you have a great story to tell. A real Romeo and Juliet. Your kids will love it one day.”
I smiled, remembering that Seth had called us that once. “I hope so.”
“Where is Seth?” Dawson asked, rubbing Maria’s shoulders just as I heard Mom start to bang pots in the kitchen.
“He had a few things to do today. He’ll be here tonight.”
“Brunch, anyone?” Mom poked her head in. “Everybody got a late start so I figured we’d have brunch instead of lunch today. We have the summit tomorrow. The council members will be here tonight, very late. And then tomorrow,” she straightened, “the torture begins.”
We laughed. The council consisted of Mom, Dad, Aunt Jen, Uncle Bish, Uncle Kyle, Aunt Lynne, and several members of the others clans. Mom tried to explain to them about a vision she’d had, about how the council was supposed to be set up, but they were having none of that. One family to rule the race? No. That wasn’t happening. They did, however, stop being so tight with the rules. For instance, they were coming here instead of us going there.
This summit was called because of me. I knew it. No one had outright said it, but I just knew it had to be. Because I had bonded to a Watson and that was in essence, against the law. Members of rival clans weren’t supposed to, um, canoodle. Because it just causes more strife between clans and you’ve all read Shakespeare. It doesn’t end well. Now, we hadn’t canoodled and we didn’t even know that we were rivals before we touched. But imprinting with a rival clan member was a whole other ballpark. I don’t think it’s ever even happened before. And I’m sure they were coming to see what the Watsons were up to.
So Mom was going to be on Visionary duty while they were here for the next three days. All the family was coming in. The Gemino clan was coming in, too, to help us with security, making sure that the Watsons didn’t use this as an opportunity, even though there’s no way they would we were even having a summit. Seth passed Grandpa Jim’s test, and okay, I got why they felt like they had to do that right before the summit, but everything was fine. We were careful as we always were. Aliases were used, the hotel and conference room where we were having it was being booked under an insurance convention.
It was foolproof. It worked every time. We kept tabs on them. Dad and his guys he sent out had seen them trying to track the summit before, so it wasn’t like they weren’t looking, they just couldn’t figure it out.
We all helped Mom cook brunch and then I went and did some homework while Ember and Laurelyn walked around my room and tried not to distract me. Yeah
right.
Eventually I gave up and tossed my books aside. We talked about school, we talked about their family stuff, they wanted to know every detail of my relationship.
“No, I am not telling you what scruff feels like,” I said dryly. “Ember, come on.”
“I may never feel scruff! Come on, Ava.”
“Ember, you’re not that much younger than me. It can happen any day now.”
“Every day is its own infinity, every hour, its own eternity, ever minute, its own forever.” I just stared, unable to breathe for a second. She sighed with a smile. “When I finally do meet him, I’ll be more ready for him than I’ve been for anything in my life.”
“Ember…” I didn’t want to stomp her good mood, but… “Sometimes it doesn’t happen the way we want. I mean, look at me.”
“Yes,” she smiled, “look at you.”
I felt immediately chagrined, so put in my place by her words. “You’re right. It has definitely worked out for us, after everything we’ve been through, and I love him so—”
They both gasped, hands to their throats. You would have thought I said the president was chubby or something. “What?”
“You love him? Does he know?”
“Yeah,” I breathed. “We both told each other for the first time at the fire. I guess it was wondering if we’d ever—”
“Fire?”
I scoffed. “I thought my mother was the gossiping queen and told you guys everything?”
“She’s been busy. So spill. You were in a fire? What the hell? Why wouldn’t you have told us about this?”
“It was the night before the bar-b-que. Seth is—was a fireman.” I bit my lip for a second. “I could feel his heart beating so hard and I just had to go to him. When I followed it, there was a burning building.”
They gasped. “No, Ava.”
“Don’t worry, I got scolded plenty.” I looked down and smiled a little remembering him as he begged to go, how much he tried to protect me, to sacrifice himself. “I had to do it, I had to go inside and find him.”
