Air: Elementalist Book 1

by Rebecca Wolf

  This man just keeps pushing, I thought to myself, maybe it’s time I take a more aggressive approach, and see how far I can push him. “So, Aiden,” I said raising a brow quizzically, “would you rather screw me or get to know me?”

  “Actually, I have plans to do both. Just not in any particular order,”

  “Well, I have a particular order. “I said, knowing that I sounded bitchy and half hoping I would get a reaction that would end this supposed date before it really began, “First we get to know each other, then maybe if you’re lucky you’ll get lucky.”

  “But what does it MEAN to know each other?” He asked philosophically, completely ignoring my tone. “Technically we know each other right now.”

  “your right,” I quipped. “Knowing each other is like having a piece of each other’s soul. I guess you won’t get lucky till I see some of that artwork.”

  “Touché,” he said.

  He started looking around the bar and his eyes caught on the empty stage. “What kind of shows play here?” he asked curiously.

  “All different types. The one that was supposed to be on tonight was a group of lunar worshippers. They were going to do a dancing drum circle clothed only in the alabaster rays of the moon- yes, that was a direct quote from the group leader.”

  Aiden gazed up and noted the skylight directly above the stage, “aha” he said, “so what happened?”

  “Last minute they called in a panic because the moon was not the hue they were anticipating. They were worried a drum circle might confuse the natural cycle.”

  “Mmmhmmm,” Aiden said nodding sagely “the moon is such a fickle friend…”

  I got called over to take someone’s order, and after that we hit a busy streak. Time slipped away from me as I balanced serving customers with conversation with Aiden. He didn’t actively seek to dominate my time, yet I found myself eager to get back to him to resume our conversations. Penny gave me a pointed look when I snapped at a customer who was taking too long, and I shrugged sheepishly before pointing to Aiden. Aiden grinned unrepentantly, and Penny couldn’t help but smile back, giving me a thumbs up.

  It delighted Penny to see me date anybody. She had been hounding me for years to put myself out there. She shooed me out of the bar early that night, insisting she was capable of locking up herself, then whispered that I better give her all the juicy details when she got back to our place. Aiden held out his hand to me, and after being promised there would be no more “funny business” I took it, and we walked the five blocks to my place.

  We kept up lighthearted conversation for the first few blocks before it took a more personal turn.

  “Tell me about your life growing up,” I said. Thinking about how idyllic it must have been to grow up on a farm.

  “I’m an only child.” he started. “I grew up in the country, mostly with my mom. My dad died when I was five in a drowning accident. Overall, I’d say I had a pretty good childhood. My mother is a bit overprotective, but I guess that’s because she cares,” he said, smiling ruefully.

  “A drowning accident?” I asked, clearing my throat before tentatively asking, “was there an aquatic elementalist involved?”

  Aiden clenched his jaw before answering through gritted teeth, “yes, there was.”

  I nodded and gave his hand a squeeze. It was weird to realize we might have more in common than I thought.

  “Can I ask you something?” he asked, glancing at me from the corner of his eye, to gauge my reaction,

  “Sure.”

  “Why did you and your mom live in a group home?”

  I sighed, “do you want the quick answer, or the long and complicated one?” I asked.

  “whichever you feel comfortable sharing,” I appreciated that he didn’t push.

  “The short answer is because my mom had special needs. The long one.” I hesitated but the late hour made me feel more open than usual so I continued, “the long answer is that my mom was born with cerebral palsy. Her family was affluent, but they didn’t want her, and they didn’t want anyone knowing about her. I think in their eyes her condition was an embarrassment. Maybe they felt that it made them seem weak to have a baby born a cripple.” I shrugged, “anyhow, they put her in the group home in the projects with instructions never to contact them about her.”

  “That seems really cold.”

  I snorted “that’s an understatement.”

  “Ok, so your mom was raised in the group home, and then what? Did your father live there too?”

  “I change my mind,” I said abruptly “I’m not ready for this conversation.”

  “I’m sorry if I overstepped.”

  “No, don’t worry about it,” I said, taking a deep breath in, “you couldn’t have known.” The wind picked up and Aiden shivered, “are you cold?” he asked in concern. “Nah, I have a high tolerance for this kind of weather, don’t worry about me.”

  We walked up the steps to my porch and he opened my screen door for me as I fumbled with my keys. I unlocked the door and turned to Aiden. “Thanks, I actually had a good time tonight,” I said.

  “Oh really?” he said as he leaned in towards me, wiggling his eyebrows, “I can think of a few ways you can show me your appreciation.” I stuck out my hand for him to shake and he clasped it in his large callused one. He shook it politely, before turning it over and brushing his lips across the pulse point of my wrist. Heat traveled up my arm from the place that his lips touched. “Goodnight Zephyr,” he said.

  I’m pretty sure I got out a muttered g’night before hastily going inside and closing the door behind me. I leaned against the door and let out the breath that I had been holding. The place he had kissed me tingled. Just wow. I closed my eyes. This felt like I was playing with fire. I had only ever told a few people about my mom. I had no idea what about Aiden made me share intimate details like that, but it felt dangerous. I needed to be more careful.

  Chapter 9

  Three weeks passed. I continued trying to establish boundaries and Aiden continued toeing the lines I had drawn. Every night he showed up at the bar as we were locking up and walked me home. Surprisingly, for all the innuendo and sexual teasing, he always stopped when I said no more. He talked about an eclectic range of topics, and sometimes, especially after a long shift, I had a hard time keeping up with him. He would spend one visit talking about space and the likelihood of alien life forms, and the next he would discuss music and artwork and their political ramifications, the next time he might talk about agriculture and the accuracy of his farmer’s almanac. He was a cerebral beast, and it was magnetic. I began feeling like he was an actual person instead of just some hot guy who wanted to get in my pants. Worse than that, I started to actually like him.

  The soup kitchen wars continued, much to everyone’s glee. The patrons had caught on to what was going on, and often tried to pull one over on both of us, pitting us against each other. Even Rusty began treating Aiden with a little less suspicion. Often, he just pointed to his crotch in warning before going to find himself a seat. I was hoping he was pointing at his crotch to remind Aiden of the cow prod, but I didn’t ask to confirm.

  After a while, I started to trust him. It was scary. I had never really trusted anyone before besides for Penny and Brian. Penny was thrilled for me, asking me when I was going to get it on with “that tall glass of handsome,” settle down on Aiden’s farm and raise his babies. But getting serious with Aiden while hiding a core element of who I was felt wrong and deceitful. There were reasons why elementalists almost never married a norm. And look at what happened to Penny and Ben. What a disaster.

  I realized if I wanted our relationship to work, I was going to have to tell him. And if I was going to tell him, I would have to share the whole of it with him. That night, instead of saying goodbye at the door, I invited him inside. Ignoring his raised eyebrows, I pulled out a bottle of whiskey and offered him a seat at my kitchen table.

  “didn’t we just leave a bar?”

  “Yes
, but the conversation we’re about to have requires alcohol.”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you drink, come to think of it.”

  “I don’t usually,” I said before pouring us both a shot, "this occasion requires it.”

  “I need to tell you something. It involves a lot of different things that I don’t like people knowing about me, so I need you to swear to me you’ll keep this story between us. “

  He nodded seriously, “I swear it.”

  I took the shot, and then poured myself another, which I downed as well. I grimaced as it burned down my throat. “So, the story of my father and how I came to be.”

  “Ah” was all Aiden said. He waited patiently for me to continue.

  “The man who fathered me is a well-known fire elementalist in society.” I paused and looked at Aiden to gauge his reaction, but his face remained expressionless as he waited. “He and his family are very influential and apparently well liked. One of the places his family donated funds was to my mother’s group home. He came for a photo shoot with the paper, because as you might be aware, publicity is everything to these folks. Anyhow, while he was there my mother caught his eye. Despite her disability he was extremely attracted to her, and later on in the day after the ceremony had dispersed and all the residents had gone to their rooms, he followed her and made advances. She declined, knowing the perils of getting involved with an elementalist, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer so...” I paused and swallowed hard," Yeah. Anyhow,” I continued, trying to power through the story, “I think he thought he could get away with it because he was an elementalist. He wasn’t worried about fathering a child on her, he could only do that with another elementalist. Any accusations she made he could easily pay to sweep under the rug. What he didn’t realize, and couldn’t have known, was that my mother was actually an elementalist too. A disowned null because of her disability, but her physiology was the same. She became pregnant, and voila, here I am.”

  I took another shot for liquid courage before peeking up at Aiden from beneath my lashes, unsure of how he would take everything. He gazed at me steadily, and there was no judgement in his eyes, only empathy and maybe a little pity. I didn’t want his pity, but I expected it, and I decided I could live with it. After a moment of silence, I still felt the need to ask, “now that you know, do you wish you hadn’t asked me out?”

  “On the contrary,’ he said finally, “you are the most intriguing person I have ever had the pleasure of dating. Your self-worth is not defined by where you come from. It is defined by where you choose to go‘’ there was a pause in the conversation as I soaked that in, or maybe it just took me longer to process because I had just taken two or three or maybe four shots.

  “So this means you’re an elementalist too, right?” he stated.

  “Yes, I’m an air elemental... I know it would throw most people off, finding out they were dating an elementalist. It would also mean I can’t have children with you,” I said blushing slightly at bringing the concept up. We had never really spoken about how serious our relationship was getting. Just in case he was hoping for more, I wanted him to realize the full ramifications of what dating me meant. I didn’t want him to have any regrets.

  “I’m not concerned about that.” Aiden said reassuringly.

  “About which part” I asked, needing the clarification.

  “About any of it. If it comes to it, we can always adopt or try a surrogacy, right?”

  “Right,” I said. I sighed in relief, feeling a weight lift off my shoulders. He knew, and he didn’t care.

  “Listen, while we’re on the topic-”

  “So just to conclude this horrifically personal-” we started talking at the same time.

  “You go first,” I said in embarrassment. “I think I’ve dominated the conversation long enough with my sad tale of woe.”

  “No, you go first,” he said chivalrously “It's better if you conclude the story now so that you feel you have closure.”

  “Wow, were you a psychologist in a past life?” I joked,

  "what man uses words like closure when speaking of emotions?”

  “Oh, I’ve had my fair share of therapy sessions. I guess I’ve picked up the linguistics,” he said laughingly “please finish what you started saying.”

  “Well, I guess if it isn’t obvious, I loathe elementalists. I know it’s ridiculous because technically I AM one, but after what they did to my mother, both her own family and my father, I am quite certain I want to have nothing to do with them.”

  “Oh” he said, his voice sounding a little strange. “What about your mother’s family though? Aren’t they involved in your life at all? I mean, how else did you learn to use your element?” When I looked up at him, I thought I saw a flicker of unease pass across his face.

  I mentally hit myself over the head, ‘duh’ I thought ‘he is probably worried about my family finding out about us. Elementalist’s didn’t take kindly to their own marrying out, and most norms didn’t want to draw the attention of the elemental elite. Generally, when they were noticed it didn’t go well for them. “Don’t worry about the elementalists,” I said reassuringly, “trust me when I say they don’t even have an inkling about me, k? And I didn’t need their help to learn about my element. My mother knew enough to guide me through the basics.”

  He nodded slowly in response “What about your dad, does he know about you?”

  “That sperm donor?” I scoffed, “not a chance. Anyone who knows is either dead or sworn to secrecy.” I sighed, “ok, your turn, what did you want to say?”

  He hesitated for a second. “I’m taking you out to lunch tomorrow," he said taking my hand, threading our fingers together and giving it a kiss.

  “How about twelve pm? you can dress to dance.”

  “Who says I like to dance?” I challenged.

  “Babe, I can tell from your kisses you want to dance,” he said with a wink. I shook my head, smiling. His ego was going to be his downfall.

  “Ok, twelve pm tomorrow,” I reiterated.

  “Yes. I’ll pick you up” he said, standing from where he sat at the kitchen table. “I have to get going, I’ve got a hot date tomorrow and I need my beauty sleep,” He winked at me and smiled before leaning down and giving me a gentle kiss. “Thanks for telling me everything,” he said, and I could tell by the look on his face that he meant it. I walked him to the door and gave him one last kiss before he left. I squealed to myself. Someone was taking ME dancing.

  Chapter 10

  He picked me up from my place at twelve on the dot. He drove a motorcycle, which I stared at for a second, before turning around and heading back to the house. He jumped off his bike after me, a confused look of alarm on his face. “Wait… where are you going?” I gave him a look that said, “seriously?”

  “Yes, seriously. We haven’t even gone anywhere, and you’re already leaving. I haven’t even gotten to do anything inappropriate yet!”

  “Aiden, I’m wearing DANCING clothes. a short dress that flares up when I twirl and your motorcycle? That is a recipe for showing the world wayyy more of my body than they deserve to see.”

  he still had a confused look on his face

  “I’m not ditching you,” I reiterated, I’m just going to put leggings on.”

  “put on LEGGINGS?” He said in horror, “hiding legs like yours should be a criminal offense! I could feel him moving up behind me as I neared the door. He reached me as I gripped the door handle, pushing me up against the door so that my chest and pelvis were flush against the hard, cool wood paneling. He kept me there with his thigh and hip pushed up against mine. Reaching around me he grabbed my arms and held them firmly behind my back with one of his hands.

  “Shall I make an arrest?” He asked, teasingly, his stubble tickling my ear. His voice had an edge to it that I hadn’t heard before.

  “Or we can take my car...” I said partly appalled at his reaction, partly alarmingly aroused.

  “I think
I need to do a strip search,” he said, his voice sounding low and husky. He slid his thigh between my legs, nudging them apart. Heat zinged through my body as he slid his free hand up under my dress along my inner thigh.

  “Or we can just not go at all,” I countered, feeling in way over my head and determined to bring things back under control. “Good idea,” he muttered, “at last she sees reason.” He moved to turn my door handle and found it locked. “Aren’t you going to let me inside?” He whispered, kissing me right behind my ear.

  “Nope.” I said breathlessly.

  “Are you sure?” he asked, promise filling his tone. He lifted my leg up to the side, and pushed up with his thigh against my center.

  “Yes!” I cried…" I mean... I’m sure,” I said, trying to steel my resolve.

  He hesitated for a moment, knowing if he pushed I would probably relent and let him in. He let out a breath. “Ok fine, we’ll take your car.” He let go of my hands and backed up reluctantly.

  I turned around and faced him, my back against the door. “You drive since you know where we’re going. Also, that way your hands will be where I can see them,” I stated, giving him a no nonsense stare.

  “Hey, I was just trying to do my civic duty,” he said.

  I continued to stare, not moving from my position by the door.

  “Fine,” he said.

  We headed towards my car.

  “Spoilsport,” he whispered, right before we ducked inside.

  My car was an old silver Honda. I had inherited it from my mom when she died, and I didn’t have the heart to sell it. I found I didn’t really use it much, since I bummed rides to work with Penny, and flew to all my smuggling jobs. After two false starts and some explicit curse words, it sputtered to life, and we started chugging along to our destination.

  It was an upscale Italian restaurant on the harbor, and the music they played was classical jazz and swing. I had half been expecting an underground hip hop club from his behavior earlier.