by Shelly Crane
“My cousin came at me with a mower blade.” He clucked his tongue. “It was the first thing he could get his hands on.”
“Seth,” I hissed.
“Thirty-one stitches and a night in the hospital. One day you can see all my scars because there are lots more.”
My bottom lip quivered and I was afraid to ask. I could see that he wasn’t going to tell me without my asking. I wondered if Harper had given it to him and that was why he was so upset and weirdly protective of it.
He sighed. “It wasn’t Harper. My Mom gave me this.” He rubbed his thumb across his chin. “She had been fighting with Dad and it was the worst fight I’d ever seen from them. They were in the kitchen and I could hear them yelling. I couldn’t even tell what it was about, but it was bad. I came in to act like I was getting something from the fridge and saw him reach back and hit her.”
I gasped and covered my mouth, my eyes watering. I shook my head. How was that even possible! He waited for me, his eyes softening as he rubbed my arm.
“I ran and grabbed him by his collar. I caught him off guard because he hadn’t seen me coming. I punched him in the jaw, Mamma screaming at me to stop the whole time. She grabbed me and slapped me.” He chuckled, shaking his head. “When she grabbed my shirt, her wedding ring had turn around in the process so when she slapped me, her rock was on the underside and I got a nice scar. That was the night I moved out and got my own place. I just couldn’t do it anymore. My mom picked her husband who had just hit her over her son who was trying to defend her. And I know you’re confused because I fought so hard for them, but…I thought if anything and anyone could make them see that all this was stupid and we can change things if we wanted to, it was you and me. I wanted to give them one more chance…” he looked down, “to actually be my family. To not let everything I’ve been through be in vain.” I was already crying before he was finished. He looked surprised. “Ah, sweetheart, I’m sorry—”
“No.” I sniffed. “No, there is absolutely nothing for you to be sorry about. I’m crying because I’m sad for you. I’m mourning the life and childhood you never had. I’m crying because you’re an amazing person who the Watsons got to spend their whole life with and they so didn’t deserve it.” I was full-blown sobbing now. Seth looked distraught as for what to do with me. “Those bastards just took advantage and tried to break you, but you just fought back and came out on the other side, finding me and doing what you were always destined to do. They didn’t deserve you. I’m so sorry that they took you from your mom, and that you never got to know her. It’s not fair. You’re so amazing and it’s not fair that you had to have such a crappy life.”
He cupped my face. “Sweetheart, breathe,” he ordered. “I already told you—I would do everything over a hundred times if it led me back to you. It was worth it.”
“And then you say things like that.”
He smiled. “It wasn’t all bad. When I was little, there was this ghost that used to come and she’d have this little girl with her. Ava.”
I smiled, too, and hiccupped. “Do you think we’ll ever see Ashlyn again?”
“No. I think she’s gone.”
I took a deep breath. “I just want this day to be over.” I squeezed my eyes shut. “I just want to forget it.”
He pulled me to him even as he put his elbow on the other side of my head and hovered over me. “Ah, come on now.” He smiled. Smirked, really. “It isn’t all bad, is it? It’s starting out pretty good.”
I couldn’t help myself and sighed as I let him settle over me, combing his short hair back. He closed his eyes, putting his head on my chest like that night he slept, enjoying my ministrations. “You always know just what to say to make me feel better.”
“We’re going to be okay, Ave. I’m going to figure out what my family is planning and we’re going to stop it. And then you’ll get your happily ever after.”
_ _ _
After breakfast, which my mom insisted on cooking, Seth had an inquiry at the fire station he was called to that was apparently mandatory. When the police called you in for questioning, you didn’t tell them that your soulmate had had a rough day and you needed to skip it. So I was determined not to mope and was taking my laundry downstairs when my cell rang. I got the biggest grin on my face. It was Lilith. Problem solved.
So bored so I came out for some studies. At the school library. Here with a few others already. Get your cute chastity belt wearing butt here.
I rolled my eyes.
Coming. Maybe you can meet my BOYFRIEND Seth later too.
OHMYGOSH! You R N so much trouble missy!
We’re taking things slow…
Oh I’m sure ;)
I laughed and tossed my basket in the laundry room. Mom eyed it from the kitchen and gave me a look. I bit my lip. “Um, I’ll get it later?”
She laughed. “Seth is right.” She pointed at me. “You do do that a lot.”
“When and why did you talk about me biting my lip?” I said as I grabbed my keys and jacket, wrapping my scarf around me.
“Where are going?”
“Study group.”
Her eyes went wide, not expecting that answer. “Oh. Well, where are your books?”
“In the car, Mom.” I went and hugged her. “Thanks for saving the world again, but I have to run.”
“Ava…” she shook her head, “I really don’t like you being alone. Besides, it’s winter break. Don’t you wanna take a break from school?”
“Seth said the Watsons are waiting for the reunification to do anything. And they’ll be giving us pop quizzes left and right when we get back. No, I don’t want to take a break.”
“That doesn’t mean that the Watsons are going to let you be…” She sighed. “I’m not saying I don’t trust Seth at all; I don’t trust them.”
I sighed. “What if I leave my phone on the entire ride there until I’m in Lilith’s care? Then you’ll know I’m safe and sound in a boring study group. And I’ll tell Seth where I am so he can come when he gets out of his inquisition.”
She sighed louder. “Okay. You better go before your dad gets out of the shower or you’ll never leave.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
I practically ran. It wasn’t that I was tired of my home or my family or Seth at all, but school was my one normalcy. My one place to be completely normal and human.
I almost slipped on the ice in the driveway so I slowed down and walked more carefully, rolling my eyes at myself. I scrunched my nose and looked down at my cute little ballet slip-ons. My family was right about me and my shoes…
I dialed my Mom’s cell number from my UConnect as soon as I got in and we talked all the way to school. She told me some stories about when she and Dad went to school. I shook my head. Those two were so freaking adorable, especially back then. The things that Dad used to do was so ridiculous on the sweet-o-meter.
“Okay, I’m here. And…Seth’s here,” I said, confusion in my voice as I looked at Seth leaning against his truck, relaxed and natural. He smiled when he saw me coming.
“I texted him. He must be done already.”
“Thanks, Mom. I’m all safe now. I’ll see you later.”
“Okay,” she said softly. “See you guys later. Be careful, okay?”
“We will. Promise.”
I got out and shut my door gently, leaning against it. “Hey.”
“Hey. Your mom—”
“Yeah, I was on the phone with her.”
He smiled in a cutely, kind of embarrassed way as he stopped in front of me. “I just didn’t want you to think I was following you around, couldn’t be without you for five minutes, just, in essence, being a pathetic creature.” He shook his head. “No, that’s not what’s going on here.”
I smiled and bit my lip, but let it go, realizing I was doing it. “Sorry,” I mumbled under my breath.
He scoffed. “Don’t ever stop biting that lip.” He leaned into me and lifted my chin. “What you and that lip do to m
e…”
I grinned and went on my toes to reach him, our arms winding around each other. It didn’t matter that it was freaking freezing out there and the car window on my back was like a sheet of straight up ice. All that mattered was Seth and his lips that were warming me in more ways than one.
Seth pulled back, but stayed close. “All right, go on in. I’ll wait for you. I told your mom I would.”
“I’m not going inside to study and leaving you out here to wait for me.”
“I interrupted your plans and I don’t want you break them because I showed up.”
“Come with me.” He gave me a look. “I’m serious. It is a library. I’m sure there’s something you can find to read in there.”
“And what’s going to be the reason for dragging me along?”
I scoffed and gave him my best doe-eyed look. “Baby, all they have to do is look at you.”
I reached back up to kiss him as he laughed against my lips. I didn’t know how long we stayed like that.
“I’ll go get coffee and lunch. Deal?”
“Deal.” But I didn’t let him leave. I continued to keep him there so close, my hands going into his jacket pockets.
“This is taking things slow?” someone quipped from behind us. I looked behind Seth to see Lilith. She looked Seth up and down. She came forward and held out her hand. “Hi. I’m Lilith. You must be Seth.”
“Lilith,” Seth said, his arms around me tightened painfully as he growled, “what the hell are you doing here?”
My blood turned to ice in my veins. “You know her?” My voice shook.
“She’s a Watson, Ava.” He put me behind him and pushed me as Lilith came closer. We marched backward, her grinning at us the whole time, in between the cars, Seth pushing me harder and harder as I tried not to slip on the ice, until we were between two buildings.
Why are we running from her?
I’m not the only one who they did experiments on. She has abilities, too. She can shock you, but she can only do it once. When she puts me down, because she will—I’m the biggest—run like hell.
Seth—
Run like hell, Ava. I won’t be here to protect you. Oh, God, I’m sorry. I didn’t know they were planning this.
Lilith has been my friend since I started college here, Seth.
He looked back at me, shocked. What?
“Enough of the chatter.” She smiled and it was so not the Lilith that I have grown to know. “Gosh, you two are freaking adorable.” She blocked our way, but walked back and forth. “Listening to Ava talk about how she was saving herself all these years. I mean—I call it chastity belt chatter. Even tempting her with frat boys didn’t work. And then you. You were the one all along. It couldn’t have been more perfect. I was the in for the family. I was the one who was going to take her down by being her friend, but then you bonded with her. And then you went soft.” She clucked her tongue. “She never even talked about you until today so—if that tells you what kind of an impact you’ve had on her—”
“Lilith,” he growled and moved forward. I grabbed his arm. “I’m gonna—”
“Gonna what?” She lifted her hand and let the charge show. The little charges of lightning danced on her fingers. “Come on, Seth. I’ve wanted to do this to you at full charge all my life. Ever since we were kids and you used to make me look bad because you’d never fight me.”
He scoffed. “Yeah. I’d go to bed without supper and let you have yours. I wouldn’t hit a girl and that makes me a bad guy.”
“It makes you weak,” she hissed so close to his face. I tried to pull him back. “And it made me look weak in the process.”
“You proved today more than any other day that I am not nor was I ever a Watson,” he whispered.
“Truer words have never been spoken,” she spat back and then reached up, letting her palm slam into his chest.
He tried to move back, but couldn’t get away fast enough. I screamed as I watched him convulse. When he stopped moving, she leaned back against the wall, looking like she might pass out for a second. I remembered what I promised Seth. He was down for the count, but still.
Seth!
He never answered me. It was like he was asleep. But then I felt it. His heartbeat… He was alive.
I couldn’t carry him. I had to get help. I pushed past her, slamming her into the wall as I passed. I heard her head slam into the snow-covered bricks and her calling me some colorful names as she tried to chase me, but it was like a baby chasing a puppy.
As soon as I reached my door, someone grabbed me by my hair and snatched me back against them.
“The fact that you thought it was going to be that easy is actually kind of sweet.” Gaston pulled my hair harder, making me hiss. “No, no, sweet, stupid, naïve Ava, we’re just getting started.”
And then my head was smashed against the car door. Everything went black as I called my significant’s name, begging him to get up, begging him to run.
_ _ _
I coughed. It was hard to breathe. I covered my mouth with my hand, but that didn’t help. Maybe I was getting sick. Ugh, to get sick over winter break just blew…
I opened my eyes to see smoke. I sat up quickly but my heart beat so sluggishly. I didn’t understand why. I could hear Seth’s voice, but I didn’t see him in the room. He was saying that he didn’t know why Lilith attacked him, but his plans were the same. He wanted to use me until he got the info he wanted and then throw me away. I looked around until I found that my phone was on. It was calling a number I didn’t know and the speakerphone was on so I could hear the conversation. What?
The smoke was getting worse. I pulled my shirt over my nose and mouth and ran to the nearest window to see if I could see anything.
We were at the school. This must be the library attic or something. The library was on the back of the property and the school was deserted for winter break. There had been no one else meeting me to study. I knew I wasn’t getting out of this.
Seth and the Watsons stood out on the lawn and just watched as the placed burned. Seth couldn’t know I was inside. He must have thought I ran off like he told me to, but he was fidgeting. Nervous. I wondered what they were doing. There had to be a point to this.
“So what are we doing here?” Seth asked. “This is Ava’s school, but they’re on winter break.” He looked up. “Why are you…burning the library?”
“It’s not the library burning that’s important, Seth.” Gaston grinned. “It’s what inside it.”
Seth didn’t even try to keep his cover intact. He gripped Gaston’s collar. “What the hell did you do? Where’s Ava?”
Seth!
Ava, I’m coming.
Gaston laughed as a couple of Watsons pulled him off. “Wow. So disappointing. And after that laughably convincing speech you gave us the other day. It was Harper that gave you away, by the way. She told us to put a listening device in your phone. So we did. We heard it all as you told them everything.” He sucked his lip. “A Watson woman scorned is a powerful thing, huh?”
“Let me go!” Seth yelled, not even listening to them.
“There’s no way out. All the doors are sealed and nailed. All the windows, the same. We made sure of it. She’s going to die in that fire. This is your last chance to prove to us—”
Seth groaned. “Then I’ll die with her. I’d rather die with a Jacobson than live with a Watson. Let. Me. Go.”
No, I begged him.
Gaston was so red. “We took you in. We raised you.”
“You trained me. And you always made sure I knew I didn’t belong! After you killed my mother!”
“Your mother is the woman who raised you.”
“You mean the woman who faked a heart attack so I’d have to leave Ava? And the woman who texted me and lied, told me there was a family emergency when there wasn’t any so Ava would be angry with me?”
He kept going as if Seth hadn’t spoken at all. “The woman that gave birth to you was not your mother.
She couldn’t give you what we could. Power. We helped you become the man you are. And this is how you thank us? You betray us? For her? We can fix this for you, son. All you have to do is let her die. We’re doing all the work. You don’t have to do a thing.”
“No!” Seth growled.
“There’s no coming back from this. You will die in there. I will not open that door for you, no matter how much begging you do. Think about this. Just stop for a second and think.” He put his hand on his shoulder. “This is your bond talking. You don’t really want her. She’s our enemy. That’s just your body. Choose your family over that. Be stronger than that.”
Seth jerked against them. “You are not my family. My family is in that library. Let me go, you evil bastard!”
Gaston nodded his head. “Do it, boys.” They forced him to his knees, him fighting them the whole way, and held him down. One of them put Seth’s arm across his knee and yanked his sleeve up. I understood exactly what they were about to do. I shook my head violently, but it all happened so fast. He pulled out his knife and sliced a viciously sloppy “X” through Seth’s wrist tattoo. Seth tried to yank away, but it was no use. They wasted no time once the deed was done. Gaston gripped his jaw and got right in his face. “I knew you weren’t going to pull this off from the beginning. We’ve always had a plan to move forward without you. You’re more than a failure. You’re such a disappointment. Let him go, boys.”
Seth started running toward the building the second their hands were off of him.
No, Seth!
Gaston bellowed, “So he can die with his little Jacobson like he always should have! We should have let you die all those years ago! We wasted years on you, boy.”
I yanked my phone down and tried to call 911, but they had disabled it. I tossed it to the side and ran to the hall to meet Seth. I heard the door slam below me and then saw him coming up the stairs, two at a time, that were usually restricted to students. I knew we were going to collide when he reached me, but I still wasn’t prepared for it. He put his uninjured hand on my back to take some of the blow as my back was slammed into the wall and his mouth ascended on mine.
