Talking to my Ally about Laura, her best friend, is uncomfortable, and I’d rather not do it. Her eyes twinkle at me as she awaits my response. “I know you’re right.”
A smile slowly forms on her plump, red lips. “Good, then that’s settled. You are my protector, and no physical stuff can happen between us.”
My eyes roll as I look away from her. “God, Ally! I know it can’t. That’s what’s so damn hard. I’ll get over it, I guess.”
‘And yet I don’t want you to,’ she thinks, and I snap.
I grab her by her shoulders and pin her back to the sofa. ‘Tell me to stop,’ I send to her.
Her eyes search mine as I move my lips closer to hers. ‘I don’t want you to stop,’ she sends back.
Achingly slow my lips move to taste hers. ‘Just one kiss, Ally. All we need is one, last kiss. We’ll never do it again,’ I send her.
My eyes close as my lips are so close to hers, I can feel her warm breath on them. A flash fills my head, and there are the faces of Laura and Eden.
Sadness radiates from them, filling my heart with heavy sorrow. One small action could cause them so much pain. I pull my face back from Ally’s.
She’s seen the same thing I have, and we look at each other, knowing it isn’t in us to hurt people we love and care about. I lay my head back on the sofa.
“Well, at least we know what’ll happen if we try something like that again. The Creator will not allow it to happen anymore. I’m glad, it’s beyond our control,” Ally says.
The pounding in my chest almost hurts as I realize I’ll never touch those lips again. I have to get out of here, and away from her. “I need to go, Al.”
“I understand. We can talk about everything later,” Ally says as she moves her legs out from under her, and places them on the floor. “You asked me where you could live, and the answer to that is anywhere you want. I don’t have to have you right next to me. Only when we go on dangerous missions will I need you. Other than that, feel free to live your life as you wish, and where ever you wish.”
Her damn, gorgeous legs take my attention, and I have to get the hell away from her before my heart bursts from my chest. “Catch you later, Al,” I say as I get up, and walk towards the door. “Have a good night.”
“You’re leaving?” she asks as she catches up to me.
Her hand on my arm as she stops me sends a chill through my entire body. I turn back to see her eyes looking sad.
“I need some time to adjust. You’ll be in my life for a very long time, yet I can never have you. This isn’t easy for me. I can see it’s not for you either,” I say, then I caress her pink cheek. “I’ll leave you to have your honeymoon with your mate. Call me if you need me. I have to get back to my life, and figure out what I’m going to do with it. I also have to decide what I’m going to do about Laura. It’s not fair to her, she deserves someone who can give her all of him. I’m not that guy.”
“Please don’t hurt her, Kyle. Think about this a lot before you make a decision about breaking up with her. There’s a slight chance that in the future she can be told our secret,” Ally says. “She and I are also very close. It may be she can be a part of this as well. Don’t count her out just yet. As far as you not being able to give a hundred percent of yourself just yet, don’t let that get in your head. One day you will.”
Slowly, I move my hand up her arm, relishing her soft skin. “Ally, you will reside in my heart forever. Your presence there takes up space, and it makes it impossible to give one hundred percent to anyone else.”
Her voice is soft as she says, “Kyle, you also reside within my heart, yet I love Eden with all I have. You will learn how to do that too.”
I kiss her cheek and hug her tight. “I love you, Ally. I’m going home after Laura gets up. I don’t know if she’ll leave with me or not but I have to get out of here for a while.”
Letting her go, I turn and open the door. Right before I close it, I hear her say, “I love you too, Kyle. Be safe.”
Tears cloud my vision as I make my way down the long hallway.
How am I supposed to live over a hundred years with this pain in my heart?
Chapter 42
ALYSSA
Pain radiates through my body as my Kyle leaves our home. I woke as he left this house. His goodbye waking me from a deep sleep. Laura decided to go with him back to Cloudcroft. He doesn’t know how he’ll deal with what we have. Nor do I.
How can I feel so much love for my mate and still have love for another?
What a cruel thing to do to us all. Eden struggles with the knowledge, and if we decide to let Laura in on our secret, she’ll have difficulty with it as well.
This life will be long, and I have to wonder if our want for each other will ever go away. Kyle has a permanent place in my heart. I don’t see our feelings ever leaving us, entirely.
For now, he’s gone. Eden and I can concentrate on each other and making a strong bond. Perhaps in time, I will grow into a creature who can make sense of things of this nature.
Love, lust, and friendship are all complex relationships.
A quick flash of Kyle and me runs through my head and I shake my head to make sense of it. I was very round bellied. Like I was pregnant and his arm was around me.
But that could never happen. Could it?
Chapter 43
ALYSSA
It’s been a month since we had our first mission and nothing else has come up. My Kyle, I’ve left alone, letting him deal with things in his own way. I can’t lie and say his absence hasn’t changed me in ways.
Eden and I have settled in nicely to our marriage. We seem to be waiting here to see what comes next for us as the Phoenix couple. It’s an odd thing to be waiting for and I feel a little lost about what we’re supposed to really be doing.
No one seems to be stepping forward and letting us in on what we’re supposed to do when not on a mission or planning one. Eden thinks it’s because we have to work on being the birds. Learning how to fly and transform more quickly and becoming stealthier are things we’ve been practicing at night around the mansion.
But there’s a little pain in my heart with Kyle being so far away and us not talking at all. It’s a thing Eden is aware of as he’s able to see my thoughts which roam all too often to wondering what Kyle is doing at that very moment.
I suppose some day in the future I’ll learn how to deal with this thing.
***
The light streams in through the window, waking me up from a deep sleep. I feel Eden’s leg thrown over mine and wiggle to move out from under it. Once freed I sit up on the edge of the bed. My entire body aches with every little movement. Muscles are sore I didn’t even know I had.
“Owww!”
I walk slowly, and painfully to the bathroom, starting up the bath. Once it’s full of piping hot water, I push the button on the wall, turning on the jets for the next twenty minutes. The hot water helps to soothe my sore muscles. Thankfully, I don’t have to work out today. I get a day off between each workout.
Yesterday I found out Eden’s personal trainer, Beck, is a demon from hell. It’s no wonder Eden has that freaking hot body but good Lord he has to work hard for it. It was my bright idea to start working out with him, so there’s no one to blame but myself.
The bathroom door opens, and I see my sleepy husband walk in, going straight for the shower. I’m beginning to think he didn’t notice I’m in here. I can hear him humming some kind of tune as the shower starts. The jets in my tub turn off by themselves as the time I’m supposed to be in here has run out. I can hear him much better now.
He’s mumbling, “Doctor, you have to…. I can’t lose her….. Help her…..,”
I get out of the tub, wrap a towel around myself, and walk to the shower to find Eden’s eyes closed. He’s standing under the water but there’s no soap on him. He’s just standing there as the water falls on him.
He yells, “No…. Don’t say that…. No!”
I realize he’s asleep and remember hearing somewhere you should never wake up a sleepwalker. I gently take his hand, leading him out of the shower. The feel of the water on my skin jolts me as its freezing cold.
How in the world did that not wake him up?
I place a towel around his shoulders, then lead him back to bed, lying him down as gently as I can. I pull the blanket up to cover him as his skin is freezing, and he’s shivering. I climb into bed, and snuggle up next to him, trying to warm him up. His body tenses up as I move my body close to his. He reaches out to touch me.
“Alyssa?”
I giggle. “Yes Eden, who else would it be?”
He turns over. Then sits up, looking down at me. His usually happy face has a very distraught look to it. Then he almost falls down on me, hugging me to him, tightly.
“God, I’m so glad. It was just a dream. You are here, right? Say something, say something, please.”
“Eden, what’s wrong? Whatever it was, it’s just a dream. It’s not real.”
He shakes his head, making his brown waves dance above his broad shoulders. “I have to not think about it. It can’t happen like that. I won’t let it.”
“Eden, please tell me what has you so upset.”
He stands up rather abruptly, his bare body taught and rippled with new muscles draws my attention, and admiration. “I have to take a shower. I have to clear my head,” he says as he walks away from me. “Don’t leave our suite!” Then he disappears into the bathroom.
Guess he doesn’t remember being in the shower.
I get out of the bed and get dressed. As I sit at my vanity, fixing my hair, I find myself wondering what kind of horror my husband has just witnessed in his head.
Why does he want me to not leave our suite? Was it a premonition? What can be done to change the outcome if it was?
He’s still in the shower when I finish getting ready, so I go to the living room of our suite. A knock at the door startles me. I jump, then laugh at myself for being so silly.
As I open the door I find a short man standing there. He’s just a little taller than I am, which is not tall at just five foot four. Thinning, grayish hair is swept to one side, trying to camouflage a growing bald spot.
Why do men do this? Just cut it right and be natural or get some implants!
A large bouquet of wildflowers, the man holds as he stands in the long hallway, scanning my entire body.
In an effort to get him to look me in the eye, I say, “Oh, how nice. Please, put the flowers on the table.” Then move back so he can come into the room.
He sets them down, then turns towards me. “Allow me to introduce myself, Alyssa Fontaine. I am Darren Stiles. I read about your marriage to Eden in the newspaper.”
I extend my hand to shake his, but he backs away from me.
Okay, maybe he’s a germaphobe!
I drop my hand. I’m not trying to offend him, after all. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Stiles. Thank you for the flowers. They’re beautiful,” I tell him, as I admire the large bouquet.
He stammers, “Uh, yeah, anyway, I just wanted to let you know that Eden used to see my daughter, Karen.”
What? What the hell is he talking about? Eden told me he never dated anyone.
The man sees the surprise in my eyes. A smirk forms on his thin lips. “Maybe he didn’t tell you? I’ve never heard of you. You’re not from around here, are you? I mean you talk funny.”
“I’m from New Mexico. Perhaps that’s why you’ve never heard of me.”
He fidgets for a second. “Too bad about your weird accent, other than that you’re very pretty.”
I find myself walking towards the door as he’s making me uncomfortable. “Mr. Stiles, while it was very nice of you to drop by, and bring flowers, I’m afraid we’re very busy today,” I say as I open the door. “So, if you could please see yourself out.” I gesture for him to leave.
He walks past me, then turns back to me. The smirk still has not left his chubby, red face. “See you around, Mrs. Fontaine.”
I close the door then lock it. Then push the button with Eden’s father, Lyle’s, name on it, for the intercom which is wired all over the mansion. “Papa?”
His soft French accent with just a touch of southern to it answers me after a few moments. “Yes, Darling.”
“A man was just at my door with flowers. Do you know who let him in?”
“A man! What? Alyssa, lock your door. Where’s Eden?”
“Taking a shower.”
“Go tell him to get out and get dressed. Don’t come out of your room until you hear me at your door. Make sure your balcony doors are locked as well. Do not open your curtains at all and stay away from the windows. Get Eden now,” he commands.
Oh God, what the Hell is going on? No one let him in? How did he get in? How did he know where to find us?
I see Eden’s closet door open with a light streaming out of it. I go into it, finding him with black slacks on, and nothing else.
“Eden, a man was just here. He brought flowers. He told me you dated his daughter,” I say, and find I’m clutching at my stomach as it feels like I’ve just been punched. “Anyway, the problem is no one let him in. He acted weird, too. Your father said to lock the door, and not to come out until he comes to get us. He said you’d know what to do.”
I turn to go make sure everything is locked, but he’s at my side, his arm tight around my waist. I struggle to get away from him as I find I’m mad at him for not telling me he dated someone before.
“Alyssa don’t,” he commands me, as he moves me to the bed, sitting me down on it. “Stay right here, do not move. Do exactly as I tell you to.”
He goes to check the balcony doors, then moves quickly, to one side. “Shit, he saw me,” he hisses.
The glass blows inward as something strikes one of the glass panes which make up the French doors that lead out onto the balcony. Eden runs right at me, grabbing my hand, and taking me somewhere down the hallway. He opens the last door at the end of the hallway, then quickly locks it behind us. There are no windows in the room, it’s pitch black. I hear a click, and a dim light comes on.
“What is this place?” I ask him, having never ventured through the whole suite of rooms we have.
“It’s a safe room, Alyssa,” he tells me, as he reaches to press a button on the intercom hanging on the wall.
“So, we have a safe room?” I ask.
Eden nods, then speaks into the intercom. “Papa, he threw something through the balcony doors. Papa, can you hear me?”
I look around the dimly lit room. There are shelves on one wall with canned foods on them, and twelve gallons of water. In the corner is a small single bed with two pillows, and a blanket. I look over in the corner closest to us to see what I believe to be a portable toilet. A ceramic bowl sits on a small table next to it.
Finally, someone answers on the intercom. “This is Niles, sir. Your father and several others are searching the grounds for the intruder. The item which was thrown into your room has been removed. You need to stay in your safe room until further notice.”
“Is my mother safe?” Eden asks.
“Yes, sir, she’s in a safe room in their wing.”
With a relieved look on his face, Eden comes to sit next to me on the small bed. “Alyssa, what did that guy say to you?”
I cross my arms over my chest. “He told me his name was Darren Stiles, and that you dated his daughter, Karen. Is that true Eden?”
“In a way, yes,” he answers.
Something in me snaps. “In a way, Eden? It’s either yes you did, or no you did not, simple as that.”
“You remember when I told you several of the girls expressed interest in me in high school, right?”
I shake my head as I’m so pissed I can’t talk.
How could he leave that information out?
“Karen, begged me to take her to the senior prom,” he says. “She was not a very pretty or popular girl. I felt sorry for her, you know
? No one would take her, and she wanted to go very badly. She already had her dress purchased, but she had no date.”
“I can’t see how that was your problem to solve.”
“If you will remember about what I told you before, the common thought about me was I was not heterosexual. So she didn’t expect anything physical, just a boy to take her to the prom. I thought that was all she wanted, so I didn’t see any harm in taking her.”
“I see,” I snap.
Eden’s hands twist together nervously as he says, “Unfortunately, after the prom, she still wanted to hang around with me. Like I said, I felt bad for her, so I let her come over and play in the game room with me some. I guess she took it as I liked her. She began to tell everyone we were dating. I couldn’t have that, so I stopped talking to her. She didn’t take it well. She told her father I took her virginity then refused to see her anymore.”
My jaw drops and my eyes go wide. “She did what?” I gasp.
He shakes his head, looking down. Finally, his eyes come up to meet mine. “Well, you know that isn’t true.”
“I don’t know. I mean, why didn’t you tell me this before?”
He throws his hands in the air. “Alyssa, you know damn well I didn’t do that. Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve shown you how much you mean to me. I would never have jeopardized us, not on purpose anyway.”
“So her dad, he’s a psycho, or what?”
“Well, I didn’t realize he was this bad,” he says as he sits down next to me. “He came to see my parents after his daughter told him that about me. He was upset. I thought he believed me and my parents when we told him there was no truth to it. You see, the date to the prom was completely chaperoned by them. My father was in the game room with us whenever she came over. There was not a single time we were ever left alone.”
I shake my head. “Eden, this is so much to take in. I wonder what this man is thinking.”
“He’s thinking money, Alyssa,” he says as he wraps his hand around mine. “Because that’s what he wanted from us before. Of course we refused to give him any as nothing wrong was done to her. Far from it, what she was doing was wrong.”
Quartet Complete Series: Billionaire Romance Box Set (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) Page 91
