Grounded (Grounded #1)

by Heather Young-Nichols

  Most days, I left Aric to train with Jensen. It gave me time to work on Dad or figure out another way to give away some of the copper. Finally, after a week of discussions, I decided it was time for a day off.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Dahlia had been hanging all over Aric since we had our little ‘talk’ in his room. I could guess what he’d be doing with his time. I had other plans for Jensen. Dahlia and I only had a couple of ‘girl nights,’ where she’d come to my room and we’d stay up late, catching up. I’d already made it clear that it was a hands-off policy when it came to Jensen and when she asked about Aric, I hesitated. I didn’t know why; I had no claim on him, but the thought of Dahlia, who’d already gone through her fair share of Gremalian guys, and Aric made me nervous. Still, I did what any good friend would do and said have at it.

  Dahlia asked a million questions about my time in New York and I tried to give her as much detail as I could except where Aric was concerned. That I left out. No need for her to know that I could have climbed that mountain first.

  Jensen and I hadn’t been out on a date since before we got home. It was time to stop worrying about everything. The weather was warm and beautiful, a perfect day in Michigan. I told him to dress comfortably; we were leaving before lunch.

  I drove the fifteen miles out of town, only stopping after we hit the Bête Gris Preserve. We’d walk from there. I pulled a picnic basket out of the trunk, which Jensen took from me right away, and we strolled, hand in hand, until we reached the water. A small canoe, pulled up on the shore for us to use, made crossing the water a snap.

  I hadn’t been absolutely sure that the canoe would still be there, but it was. He wouldn’t even let me row. I’d done it a million times, alone even, although the way his muscles strained with the work was enjoyable to watch. Every time I offered to help, he’d brush me off. We made it to the other side just after the sun crossed its midpoint in the sky.

  I kicked my shoes and socks off to dip my toes in the cool water. It felt good. Our lakes remain pretty cold, even in the intense summer heat, so sometimes it was too cold to go in, but getting my feet wet was just enough relief from the sun.

  “This is the Bête Gris Lighthouse. Your dad bought it for us a while back. We use it to light the way once in a while. I like it because no one ever comes here. It’s quiet.”

  “It’s beautiful,” he mumbled from behind.

  He let the info about his dad go without asking questions, which was surprising. I expected he’d want to push me for more information as much as I wanted to, and often did, push my mom for more info. I lifted my eyes to him. He wasn’t looking at the lighthouse.

  “Hungry?” I asked. He nodded. “I thought you would be since you did all the rowing to get here and carried the food I packed and basically let me do nothing.”

  I laid out the oversized blanket from the basket, then set out lunch. I tried to bring everything: sandwiches, chips, drinks, anything we might need, yet things I could manage. We sat on the banks of an inlet that led to Lake Superior, the clearest water I’ve ever seen. It was quiet except for the rush of waves and our voices. Isolated, we got to spend time together in a way we hadn’t since leaving Putnam Valley.

  We talked a little about Gremalian history and the progress Jensen had made since arriving in Michigan. He told me that he’d talked to his parents and everything was the same back home. His mom pushed to get a return date. When he didn’t give her one, she apparently threatened him, saying that he better not come back married.

  That made me laugh. She’d warmed up to me a little, but even if she hadn’t, her son’s wedding was something she’d want to be at. We weren’t even close to getting married, so I didn’t know why she was concerned about that. Mother’s fear, I guess.

  Sometimes I got the impression he wanted to ask about his other parents, the people who actually created him. It was like the words were forming in his head and never made it to his mouth.

  “I don’t know much about them,” I said. Clearly, he knew who I was talking about. “Since they died before I was born.” I paused. “My dad knows everything, though.”

  His head whipped around. “What do you mean?”

  “Our dads grew up together. He’s never said much to me. I think it makes him too sad.” We’d finished eating long enough ago that I had no idea what time it was. “He’d answer any of your questions.”

  “I feel kind of selfish, you know?” I shook my head for him to explain. “Wanting to know anything. I have great parents; I didn’t have a bad childhood, but here I am, wanting to know about people I’ve never met just because they’re part of me somehow.”

  “I think that’s natural. I’d want to know. Hell, I grew up with my parents and still have questions.” That made him laugh. “Wanna see inside?”

  We hopped onto our feet, packed the basket back up and headed inside the keeper’s house. I expected it to be dirtier. I hadn’t been inside in years. While the air was a little stagnant, even that cleared with the breeze we let in through the door.

  We wandered around and headed upstairs to the loft area. The view was spectacular from up there. We could see far out onto the water and, with the sun beginning its descent, we safely had about an hour before we really had to head back. He wrapped his arms around my waist from behind. I noticed a slight glow from the old lights that hadn’t worked in decades.

  “Hey,” I turned around, “did you do that?” He nodded. “Impressive.”

  “Yeah, that would have been really handy in high school.” I laughed into his chest. “You would have been handy to have around in about tenth grade.”

  “No, I wouldn’t have.” I squeezed tighter.

  “Why not?”

  I pushed my shoulders back so he could see my smirk. “I was in middle school.”

  Shock crossed his face. He often forgot about the small age difference. “Right. That wouldn’t have been great. I’d have ended up in jail or something.”

  His kisses were gentle at first, then grew deeper and more intense before moving down to my collarbone. My hands went up his shirt, feeling the muscles jump under my touch. With experienced fingers, he undid the two buttons holding my light blue shirt together, then pulled it off and lifted the orange tank top over my head. I knew where this could go, but I didn’t want to stop and talk about it first. I just wanted to let whatever happened, happen.

  He scooped me up into his arms and held the back of my head to keep me right where I wanted it to be, kissing him softly. He returned me to Earth and pulled his own shirt off. My hands caressed his chest slowly. I felt his heart beat, almost as fast as mine, against my skin. He only left me for a quick second to spread the blanket out for us to lie down on.

  Once we were situated, his fingers brushed the hair from my face. His lips found all the right places. It felt like they were burning into my skin. His hand went down the length of my body until he found the bend of my knee, which he hooked over his hip.

  I closed my eyes and let him bring our bodies closer together. We’d only taken our shirts off, but everything we were doing was sensual and intimate. Neither of us made any move to remove more clothing. This wasn’t about getting completely naked with each other. This was about taking a small step toward getting completely naked with each other.

  Time seemed to stand still. In reality, time continued, and when I finally forced my eyes open for the quickest second, I saw that the sun was beginning to set. I didn’t want to stop what we were doing, but I knew I didn’t have a choice. I wanted to stay there forever, the place where no one else existed. I could think of worse things than having to spend the night there, with him, but I don’t think my dad would agree with that sentiment.

  “We have to go,” I said. My lips were slightly swollen from all the kissing. Those words didn’t come naturally after going so long without talking.

  “Have to?” He squeezed me even tighter.

  “If we don’t, it’ll be too dark and we’ll be stuck here.
”

  He groaned, keeping his eyes closed. “I know.”

  I hopped up to put my shirt back on. We’d gotten far enough to be half naked, yet not far enough to satisfy our needs. “Don’t be a baby.”

  “I’d really rather just stay here with you.” His eyes focused on me, full of need. I could tell he meant every word he said.

  “Me too, but they’ll send out search parties and probably think the Gobel had something to do with us being missing.” I looked down at his bare chest, mentally convincing myself we really did need to go. “We are pretty important, you know.”

  “I love you, Alyssum.” There it was. He said it just like that. No build-up, no hesitation, just firm and confident.

  I’d thought those words many times, allowing them to sit on my lips until I felt too ridiculous to say them out loud.

  “I love you, too,” I replied. I lay back down beside him. His lips found mine again in a way that got me so distracted I had to push myself away from him again. Sometimes it sucks doing what you have to instead of what you want to.

  We were slow getting home. Clearly, he wasn’t trying too hard. He rowed slower than a snail moves and watched me, smiling until my stomach went crazy with butterflies and I had to look away. Funny thing, though; we didn’t talk much, as if our glances said everything. Even in the car, which he drove home, we held hands. I did my best to get as close as I could by laying my head on his shoulder. It was perfect.

  He rolled the ends of my hair between his finger and thumb as we stood outside the house. It was just past dark. Our goodnight had to happen outside; otherwise we’d risk being seen, not that we cared. People knew we were together. Still, I preferred that particular moment to be private.

  Our lips met, a gentle coming together of earlier declarations, then he pulled back to see my face, leaving me again wanting more. I was never ready for his mouth to leave mine or prepared for the way he turned me to complete mush with just a touch.

  “I don’t want to go in,” I whispered, standing on my toes with goose bumps covering my body, and not the kind Gobels give me.

  “Me either. I’d rather stay with you.”

  I smiled up at him. “I wish.”

  After another few more stolen moments, we went in and up the stairs. I paused outside my door to watch him continue down the hall, then went inside. I felt his absence right away. The room became too big and empty. I decided to push ahead, tossing some pajamas on the bed, and as I started to unbutton my shirt, the door swung open, then shut quietly. Jensen stood just inside.

  I ran and jumped on him, wrapping my legs around his waist and arms around his neck, squeezing tight with both. He walked me over and we fell on the bed, kissing again. The only thing that could, and did, bring us out of our perfect night was the loud banging on my door. We were both already gasping for air.

  “Yes,” I called out, trying not to sound breathless. I hoped whoever it was didn’t come in without being invited. That could be uncomfortable.

  “Alyssum,” my father called out, “please ask Jensen to meet me in my office.” Our eyes found each other’s. We listened until the dull thud of his footsteps was gone.

  “He saw you come in here?” I whispered even though I knew my dad was long gone. Jensen shook his head.

  “There was no one around. I made sure.” He pushed off to lie next to me and stare at the ceiling. “What does he want?”

  “I don’t know. I’ll go with you.”

  “I think he wants me alone. Does he own any guns?” He cracked that half grin that I’d come to adore.

  “He doesn’t need one.” I wasn’t being funny or flippant either. If my dad wanted someone gone, he could make it happen without traditional weapons, though there were firearms in the compound. I didn’t want Jensen to know that.

  “I just wonder if it’s gremlin stuff or you stuff.”

  Sitting up, I looked at him seriously. “Do not say gremlin to my dad. You’ve got to stop calling us that.”

  With a quick kiss to my forehead, Jensen got up and headed for the door.

  “Do you want me to walk you?” I asked. I wanted to give us a few more minutes together.

  “I’ve been here long enough to find it.”

  “Come back when you’re done.” I hope I sounded normal. He nodded before leaving me in my room, alone again. The boy I loved was off to a private meeting with my father. I’m sure nothing could go wrong.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Just after he left, there was another quick knock on the door before it opened and Dahlia poked her head through.

  “Am I interrupting anything?”

  “No.”

  “Too bad.” She pranced over, plopping onto the end of my bed. “So, where’d you guys go?”

  “Out to the lighthouse.”

  “Oh, I love that place. Romantic, if you want it to be.” I gave nothing away. “So, did you want it to be?”

  In all our years of being friends, I’d never really been able to hide anything from Dahlia. She knew me too well, could read me like a book and every other cliché I could think of.

  “It was great.”

  “Did you finally—”

  “No. And I think too many people are concerned with that aspect of my life.” With her raised eyebrow questioning me, I told her about the conversation with my mom and highlighted the things Aric said to me about Jensen. “So, he’s got experience and I’ve got nothing.”

  “No, that means he’s got skills. That’s good. It won’t be some bumbling ball of hormones like Sage.” I snorted, as if Sage had ever been an option for sex. “So, what’s the hold up? Not ready yet?”

  “Oh no. I’m ready, but we’re never alone with all this other stuff going on. And it was getting dark tonight, so we had to head back or, you know, possibly die. It just hasn’t happened, is all.”

  “Well, Aric and I—”

  “Ahh,” I clasped my hands over my ears, “I can’t hear you, I’m not even listening.”

  She pried my hands back, then pulled the long dark mane of hair over her shoulder. “Nothing has happened. Well, not nothing, but not that. Yet. And I do stress yet.” She gave me a look that said she meant business. I swallowed hard and hoped she didn’t notice. “When the time comes, we’ll compare notes.”

  “I’d really rather not.”

  Jensen didn’t come back, at least not when I was awake. I waited as long as I could, talking to Dahlia in a way we hadn’t since before I left for New York. I fell asleep sometime after midnight.

  I woke to her hogging my bed and covers, causing me to teeter on the edge. I didn’t see Jensen until it was almost lunch time, so I still had no idea what he talked to my dad about the night before.

  I felt commotion from downstairs. I heard angry voices and ran down the stairs, toward the noise. The air felt eerily reminiscent of when the Gobel had shown up before.

  My dad had Sage, Aric, Jensen and a lot of others with him. From what I could put together, there’d been another breach, an uninvited Gobel on the property. Not smart to try to attack us inside the building. We had copper stashed throughout the house. If something happened, the Gobel would be able to heal quicker, but, to me, that was still a pretty big risk. It made me start to seriously question our security. Normally, Flint and his guys were impenetrable.

  Sage, Aric and Jensen were heading out to bring Aric’s brothers back, the ones who would help us. Only the three of them were going, which I protested. There was no way they were leaving me behind. As a side note, I tried not to notice my mom giving me the dusty eyeball. She was likely picking up on how my relationship with Jensen was progressing. I didn’t like my mom being privy to every freaking thing that went on in my life without me having to tell her. Worse, I never knew how much she told my dad.

  With mock concern, my dad scoffed at the idea, saying the Gobels would love to take me captive as a way to make the Gremalians bend. If that happened, if I were actually kidnapped, The Counsel would remove my father
from power and elect a new leader so that my dad wouldn't be able to give in to the Gobel demands even if he wanted to. The Counsel would leave me to die. I didn’t care. I was going either way. If they were leaving after Sage did a quick sweep of the house to make sure everything was safe, then I planned to pack my trusty backpack, put on some sensible shoes and go with them.

  After giving an unspoken order to each of the guys in the form of a nothing-better-happen-to-my-daughter glare, he stopped just in front of Jensen. “Oh, by the way, I forgot to wish you a happy birthday yesterday.”

  My eyes widened in surprise and I gasped quietly, recovering quickly when my dad’s gaze honed in on me.

  “Thanks, Mr.—”

  My dad cut him off. “I told you, call me Ash.” He clapped Jensen’s shoulder the way a proud father would a son. So unfair. I never got that kind of attention from him anymore. “It’s not every day a man turns twenty-two.”

  “Thanks, Ash.”

  We weren’t far apart, but I marched over to Jensen with a tense jaw. Aric turned away, smirking. He knew me well enough to understand that Jensen was in trouble. He’d been on the receiving end more than once.

  “Why didn’t you tell me yesterday was your birthday?” My voice was quiet and angry.

  “It’s just a day.” He smiled, touched my elbow and said, “Hi, by the way.”

  “It’s your birthday. I would have done something special.”

  He gave me a smug half smile. “Do you really think I didn’t thoroughly enjoy yesterday? I mean, sure, there’s one thing I can think of that I’d have loved for my birthday, but I’d love that any day.”

  I fought off the blush I could feel rising at the mention of that. He pushed a lock of hair behind my ear, making my cheeks burn even hotter.

  “I would have…” Then I pulled something out of the air. “Worn a sexier bra or something.”