A Man of Honor (A Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (The Honor Trilogy)

by Grider, J. P.

  He places his pen down and meets me eye to eye. “Mr. Sutherland, do yourself a favor and get your own girlfriend. Honor belongs to your brother…no?”

  This distracts me momentarily. I shake it off. “What does that have to do with my question?”

  “Jealousy. Resentment. It’ll eat away at you. Make you do things you wouldn’t normally do.” He peers deep into my eyes. “Leave it alone now, Storm. Before it’s too late.” He picks up his pen and goes back to his work. “We’re done,” he says, keeping his focus on his work.

  Pounding my fist on his desk, I attempt intimidation. He merely raises his eyes at me, not his head. “What are you talking about?” I ask, suddenly mentally exhausted.

  “Brothers, Storm. I’m talking about brothers. Back away from your brother’s girl before it turns you into a monster who only wants revenge.”

  I shake my head. “You’re crazy, you know that? You think I’m worried about Ethan? If you haven’t noticed, we’re pretty much indifferent toward each other.” I lie.

  “We’re done, Mr. Sutherland.”

  Pushing his desk right into him gets his attention. He stands. “That’s enough. Leave or I’ll call the principal and get you suspended.”

  “Go ‘head. I don’t care if I get suspended. Besides, I’ll just tell them you took three vials of one of your student’s blood.”

  His face shows little sign of being affected by my threat. “That’s right. Of course you don’t care if you’re suspended. You’ve already done this high school scene.” He shakes his head. “So let me ask you. Why are you here, and what do you want with Honor…besides that sexy body of hers?” He smirks, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

  “That’s right, Mr. Sutherland. We both have secrets, don’t we? If you don’t want the school finding out who and what you are, and what your precious Honor is…you’ll back away from me. You come to class, keep your mouth shut, you leave class. Got it?”

  I feel my shoulders drop but hope he doesn’t notice. He knows. He knows we’re empaths. And that’s why he wants Honor’s blood. Who is he?

  My eyes stay on his, and I want so much to shake information out of him. But I won’t. Who knows how serious he is about outing us? Until I have something substantial to hold against him, I need to keep my mouth shut.

  Dropping my gaze first, I turn and walk out. But I’m not done with him. I will find out who he is. And I will find out why he’s here.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The doorbell rings, and my hands are covered in blood. Pouring blood into a two-inch wide mouth, even with a funnel, is messy. The blood plops. It doesn’t pour. And since it’s thick, it doesn’t flow consistently, overfilling the funnel and spilling over my hands every time.

  When the doorbell rings a second time, my soapy hands are under the hot water. Mentally, I wish the person to go away, but since my car is parked out front, they probably realize I’m home. I’m just about done scrubbing all the blood off when it rings again.

  Damn it. “I’m coming,” I yell, not too pleasantly, silently hoping it’s not someone looking for the elixir.

  “What!?” I say abruptly, opening the door and stilling. My chest tightens. My breath hitches.

  “Hi, Storm.”

  Standing outside my door, Honor’s smile is as bright as the sun shining behind her. “Hey. Uh. Yeah. What’s up?” Her presence at my home has me stumbling over my words.

  “I just…” She averts her eyes again, looking as nervous as I am.

  “Sorry, Honor. Come in.”

  “Is my bike okay here?” She points to her boardwalk-style bike leaning against my house.

  “Uh, yeah. It should be, but what are you doing riding a bike? Honor…I keep telling you…you need to rest.”

  She smiles again, and my heart does another flip. “It’s only like a mile. No biggie.”

  “Yeah. No biggie.” I sigh. “Come.” Holding the door for her to walk in, I close the door behind me – nervous as all hell that I have her alone in my apartment.

  “Soda or water?” I ask, pointing to the couch for her to sit.

  “Oh, water’s good. Thanks.”

  When I go in for her water, I slip the jugs under the sink and quickly wipe the counter to get rid of the spilled blood.

  Gulping the rest of my cola, I attempt to gather my composure – something I’m not used to losing.

  “So, princess,” I swallow, walking toward the sweet-smelling angel sitting on my couch. “What brings you here today?” Trying hard to hide my sudden uneasiness with being alone with Honor, I sit, throw my elbow onto the top of the couch, and turn my body to face her.

  “I, uh,” she hesitates.

  “Oh. I wanted to ask you,” I interrupt, kicking myself afterward. “Uh, no, never mind. I’m sorry. You first.”

  “No. No, that’s okay. What?”

  “About this afternoon. First, I’m sorry I took off like that, but Moore really pissed me off.”

  “Yeah, why?” She crumples her face, obviously not seeing in Moore what I see. Which is odd. Honor’s an empath. She should be able to read him well.

  “Honor. He’s…” I stop. My intent has always been to keep her from worrying. I can’t now tell her what I think I know about Moore. “Why…did you let him take your blood like that?”

  She tilts her head and shrugs. “I don’t know. I didn’t see anything wrong with it.”

  “Really?” I’m amazed. Honor is intelligent. She’s earnest and resolute. To take in Moore like the rest of the flighty girls in this town is so unlike her.

  “Really. He’s a good guy. I don’t understand what you and Ethan have against him.”

  “You don’t feel anything from him? What are his emotions, Honor? Do you sense something good about him? I’m curious.”

  As she is now facing me, sitting in mirror position to me, she leans her elbow on her thigh and tucks her curled hand under her chin. “I don’t know. I guess I feel curiosity coming from him. I sense something, but I’m not sure what. No pain or anything like that. No sadness. Just. I don’t know. I trust him.”

  I nod and gnaw at my inner cheek. “You trust him?” Shaking my head, I let out a “hmmm,” then utter, “I don’t get it, but…be careful, princess. I don’t trust him. I know I don’t have my powers,” I use my fingers to make air quotes around the word power, “anymore, but I still have my intuition. Don’t get too close to him, ‘kay?”

  “’kay.” She smiles. “By the way, are you, like, going to a tanning salon or something? You’re, like, so tan. And your hair…it’s almost brown. You were, like, bleach blond. Did you dye it?”

  “Nope, and nope. I think it’s ‘cause I’m not an empath anymore.”

  “What?” She chuckles.

  “Yeah. Feeling everyone else’s emotions is draining. Maybe it drains all your color too. Who knows? I mean, look at how pale you are. You’re almost ghost white.” I laugh, making sure she knows I’m just teasing her, despite the fact that she really is void of any color.

  “Ha, ha,” she retorts, but laughs along with me.

  “So, why’d you ride your bike all the way here? I’m sure it wasn’t just for a pleasant visit. Ethan wouldn’t allow that.”

  “Well, Ethan doesn’t know.” She darts her eyes to the floor. “He went straight to his apartment after school.”

  I raise my eyebrows, wondering conspicuously why she’s here. “Oh?”

  The lower part of me stirs when her breath hitches and she turns to me with half-lidded eyes. I inhale – taking in the sight and smell of her. Quickly she shakes her head back to reality.

  “Um.” With the tip of her tongue, she darts it over her bottom lip – an act I realize is unintentional on her part. “Some man gave this to me to give to you.” She holds out a small envelope with “Storm” written in block letters across the front.

  “Some man?” I take the envelope from her. “Why didn’t he just give it to me?”

  “That’s what I a
sked him. He said he needed the letter to come from me. That you’d understand.”

  The blood must be draining from my face, because I’m suddenly lightheaded. With a trembling hand, I slide my thumb under the sealed flap. For a moment, staring at the open envelope is all I can do.

  “Storm,” Honor nudges. “You’re white as a ghost. What is it?”

  Still unable to pull the letter from the envelope, I keep my gaze on it while I whisper, “What did the man look like?”

  “Older. But nice looking. He had like light greyish hair, but nice. Almost blond. He was all dressed in a suit and, like, he had a driver and everything. I don’t know. He was kinda creepy too. I remember that. Not just ‘cause he was intimidating, but what I felt when he handed me the letter.” She shakes her head and crunches her face in disgust.

  “What did you feel, Honor?” I ask, finally taking my eyes off the envelope and focusing on Honor.

  “Odd. A mixture of fright and revenge.”

  “They’re two completely different emotions.”

  “I know. But…maybe I was confusing my emotions with his. I don’t know.”

  Gulping down some courage, I close my eyes and pull the letter from the envelope. My hands are clammy and shaky. When I unfold the letter, small black block letters spread across the page. The words cause a shiver down my spine.

  Ah. So you got my letter. Sweet girl, that Honor. I’m going to love having her all to myself soon – having her blood all to myself. I hear she’s quite powerful. Yes. I’ll be having some fun with that. Unless of course you have that elixir of mine. You know, the elixir that was stolen from me.

  So you hand that over and precious Honor will be saved…maybe. I just may need them both. Hmm. Something to think about, don’t you think? One thing is for sure – I don’t get that elixir, you won’t see Honor anymore.

  And obviously…I know where to find her.

  Tootles,

  G.

  Gaffer. The man himself. Holy shit, what am I going to do? He’s seen Honor. He’s following her. She’ll never be safe. Handing over the elixir is not going to be enough. If I don’t think of something, Honor will never be safe.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Storm…Storm.” The sound of Honor’s voice pulls me from my state of shock. “What…what… is it?” Her question is wavering. She doesn’t really want to know. My heart pounds in anticipation. Not sure what to say, I say nothing.

  “Storm, c’mon, what is it? I’m scared. I wanna throw up, so I know it’s something bad,” she insists.

  How am I going to hide this? “Honor, it’s nothing.” Not the best explanation, but all I can think of.

  “You’re lying. I know it’s bad.” She nudges my knee. “Tell me,” she nearly cries. “I’m feeling you. What is it? Please, you have to tell me.”

  Bringing my head down, I’m ashamed. How do I keep her from worrying when she can feel every emotion? I wrap my hand around the inside of her knee. “Honor.” I pause a long while. “You’re just gonna have to trust me. Yes, I’m scared, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. So please, don’t worry. Everything’ll be fine.”

  She pushes my leg harder. “This is about that man who wants the elixir, isn’t it?”

  I shake my head. She shouldn’t know this. Ethan must have told her. “What are you talking about?”

  Honor pushes my leg one last time and stands. “You and Ethan are lying to me. I know it. I feel his anxiety every day. He’s scared. And I just know it has to be that man. He came back. Or he sent his men, didn’t he? Who was that guy who left me the note?” She’s standing with her hands on her narrow hips.

  “I’m not sure.”

  “He was one of them though?”

  I nod. “Yes.”

  My body grows warm when she sits back down, this time right next to me so that our thighs are touching. Her hand grazes my leg when she asks, “Why are you hiding this from me? Do you think I can’t handle it?”

  Crossing my arm over hers to place my hand on her thigh, I take a breath. “I know you can handle it. I just don’t want you worrying. Your heart doesn’t need the extra stress.”

  “Stop.” She raises her voice. “You treat me like I’m going to break. I’m not made of glass, Storm. I’m stronger than that.” I watch her eyes roll. She’s annoyed. I get it.

  “I’m sorry…I just…it’s bad.” My voice drops at the end of my sentence. Disheartened and out of control, I cannot bring myself to tell her that her life may be in jeopardy.

  “How bad?”

  “Very.”

  “Is there anything we can do?”

  Her scent is so sweet, it’s overwhelming, and I cannot help but bring my hand up to her face to touch her. Since she doesn’t back away, I let my fingers caress her ear and her neck. She’s beautiful. And so soft. “I’m trying.”

  When her head leans into my hand, I pull her close and wrap my arm around her. With her head on my shoulder, I hear her whisper, “What are you trying?”

  “I’ve concocted another elixir.”

  Her head pops up. “What?”

  “Yeah, well, since you wanted Ethan to get rid of the original…and he actually listened to you,” I shake my head in disbelief, “I had to come up with a new one.”

  “How do you make an empath immortal elixir?”

  “I have no idea. But I used the blood of empaths,” I say, silently asking her to believe the unbelievable.

  “Whose?”

  “Ethan’s. Tom’s. Hunter. Eli.”

  “Oh…well…that’s all you need to make one?”

  Shaking my head and pulling her back to me, simply because I want to be holding her again, I tell her about all the organic ingredients I had to buy.

  “Turkey tail?” she asks. “What the heck is that?”

  “What it sounds like.”

  “Yuck.”

  I laugh. “Yeah, tell me about it. The whole process was yuck.”

  Popping her head back up, realization sets in. “You had to mix all that blood with all that stuff?” Her eyes narrow, trying to comprehend what I’m telling her.

  “Yup. And cook it too.”

  “Eww. Gross.”

  “Yeah,” I answer, trying hard not to remember the stench.

  “So now what? You have to give it to them?”

  “Yes.”

  “When?”

  “Whenever they show up. It’s ready though.” I get up and walk to the kitchen, signaling for her to follow me.

  “This is it,” I say, lifting the jugs and placing them on the table.

  Her fingers reach out to touch the old glass. “You think it’s gonna work? Will it really make someone an immortal empath?”

  “No, princess. It won’t. I’m just hoping to trick them for fifty years or so.” I say it as a joke, but we both know it’s not.

  “Aren’t they going to be able to tell?” Honor pulls a chair from under the table and sits.

  Sliding out another chair, I sit too. “Maybe,” I say, wishing I could know definitely. All this worrying has exhausted me. So when I rest my cheek in my palm, Honor asks me if I’m okay.

  “Don’t worry your pretty little head, sweetheart. We’ll be fine.” But the words come out monotone and she frowns.

  “Don’t talk to me like that.”

  My head jerks up. “Like what?”

  “Condescendingly.”

  “Where in the hell did that come from?”

  “I don’t know.” She sighs. “Like calling me pretty-little’. I’m nearly as tall as you, so obviously you meant it in a way that you think you’re superior to me.”

  “Oh my god, Honor. Really? How ‘bout I say my pretty large sweetheart? Oh, but wait, then I’d be calling you fat.” Making sure I smile so she doesn’t get offended, I bat my eyes at her.

  It works. She laughs.

  Relief washes over me when she finally breaks into a smile. Then tingles stream up my arm when she reaches for my hand.

  “I’m so
rry, Storm. I’m just touchy because of all this. Your emotions and Ethan’s emotions – they’re scaring me. And until you just told me, I didn’t know why. You always try to protect me and…” She shrugs. “It makes me feel stupid.”

  I drop my shoulders in realization. “Oh, Honor, that is not my intent. At. All. I just don’t want to see you hurt. I know you can take care of yourself.”

  “Then stop treating me like I can’t, and tell me things. I can handle it.”

  Turning my hand to grasp hers, I squeeze it. “Okay. You want the truth?” I ask with as much warning as I can, just to give her a chance to change her mind.

  Her teeth graze her bottom lip. “Yes,” she says resolutely.

  Taking both my hands in hers now, I scoot closer and look her dead in the eyes. “If this man doesn’t get the elixir,” I pause, hoping for courage to continue, “he will come after you. He knows your blood is powerful. I don’t know how, but he knows you’re different. Maybe because your grandfather was, I’m not sure. What I do know is, if he takes you, that’ll be it. He’ll use your blood for his good only.” I wait for her reaction. It’s just a swallow. “There’s even a chance that when he gets the elixir…he’ll still take you.”

  This time her hand shoots to her mouth, and I hear a soft gasp.

  “I will do my best to keep him from doing that,” I promise, now taking her one hand in both of mine. “Even if I have to find him and kill him myself.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Her bulging violet eyes scream at me in terror, arresting my heart and suspending my speech. My own chin trembles in fear along with her. My deep love and concern for her causes empathy I’ve never felt before – even when I actually could feel the pain of others.

  My throat closes and my lungs are tight. Honor’s eyes, still unblinking, glisten with tears as she sits there zombie-like at my kitchen table. I need to find my voice. I need to suppress my own fear in order to provide her comfort.

  Though my chest is tight, I force myself to inhale big and slow, exhaling even more slowly before I speak. “Honor,” I whisper, pushing out my chair to stand and pulling her up with me as I do. “It’ll be okay. I promise. We’ll figure it out.”