“You sent flowers? I wanted to see you, not flowers. What the hell, Nara?”
Whether he realizes it or not, the deep scowl and tension on his face is more like the darker Ethan who’d left an indelible imprint on me a few days ago. I haven’t been able to get that version of him out of my mind. These traitorous thoughts instantly raise my defenses. “You lied to me for a month, Ethan. What the hell back.”
Houdini whines, drawing my gaze to the tight grip I have on his collar. “Sorry, boy.” I ease my fingers away and pat his head. “You remember Ethan, don’t ya?”
As soon as he’s free, Houdini instantly jams his big head against Ethan’s thigh, demanding to be rubbed.
A brief smile flits across Ethan’s face as he looks down at Houdini. “You got a dog?” he says in surprise, scratching behind Houdini’s ear. “This big guy’s got a scary bark. I like him already.”
When his gaze meets mine once more, I see total nonrecognition of Houdini, which reminds me how pale he’d looked when I first opened the door. “I can’t believe the hospital let you out so soon.” I glance around for Samson’s car. “Where’s your brother?”
“At the hospital, sleeping in a chair in my room.”
My gaze jerks back to Ethan’s calm one. “What? How’d you get here?”
“I walked.”
“You walked five miles? In the freezing cold?” I stare at the frost coming out of his mouth, yet he seems completely unaffected by it.
He shrugs, his expression resolute. “You said you’d talk to me when I’m home, so I came home.”
“Are you crazy—?” I start to say, then quickly move to the kitchen to grab my keys and wallet from the island. “Meet me at the garage. I’ll take you back to the hospital before they discover you’ve gone AWOL.”
Ethan’s face sets in stubborn lines. “I came here to talk to you. I’m not leaving until we talk.”
“Fine.” I point to the garage, trying hard to contain my composure. I’m scared for his health, angry with him, frustrated, and hurt. When it comes to Ethan, I’m so emotional it’s hard to think straight. To keep from freaking out, I focus on maintaining a tough stance. “You want to talk. The only way that’s happening is while I drive you back to the hospital.”
“Nara—”
“I mean it, Ethan.”
Without another word, he turns toward my driveway.
I don’t say anything at first. I just drive with both hands gripping the wheel tight so Ethan can’t see just how shaken I am.
“What happened to your hand?” Ethan brushes his fingers across the back of my hand. His light touch sends heat to my face, making me grip the steering wheel tighter.
I barely hold back the wince of pain lashing across my palm. “It’s nothing. You wanted to talk, so now’s your chance. You have four miles.”
Heavy wet snow starts to fall as I pull onto the main road. The fat white flakes splatter on my windshield, scattering into feathery patterns that remind me of the white feather tattoo that appeared on my shoulder blade the morning after Ethan had left me this past weekend.
The feather looks like the one he had on his shoulder before it transformed into a sword, except mine is white, not black. Why isn’t it black? And why had he marked me like that? I can only assume the feather came from him. I’d been waiting for him to come back so I could demand answers.
Ethan exhales a sigh and rakes a hand through his hair. “I don’t know why I left town. I remember having a driving need to, but not why. If I didn’t tell you, the only reason I can think I’d do that is to protect you.”
Once I turn onto the interstate, I snap my attention his way. “Protect me from what? The truth?”
Ethan starts to say something, then sets his jaw and glances out the window. “I don’t know. Maybe once I get home I can see if I left anything behind to give me a clue.”
I snort. “I doubt that. You were too good at covering your tracks. Erased everything on your hard drive that would give your brother any bread crumb to follow as to where you might’ve gone.” Come on rice, do your job faster!
As a look of anger flashes in his eyes, I continue as I take the hospital exit off the interstate. “Don’t you even think about getting mad. The only reason Samson did that was because he loves you, Ethan. He cares what happens to you. Just like I do.”
A sudden smile appears on his face and he brushes his fingers down my cheek in a soft caress. “Glad to see you admit you still love me. That kiss you laid on me in my dream would’ve singed that lion to ashes if he’d actually bitten down on us. But after the way you acted in the hospital when we woke up, I was beginning to wonder.”
The arrogance flitting across his handsome face mixed with his teasing makes me want to hug and smack him at the same time. Instead, I grind my teeth to stay focused. “I’m mad at you. And…” I smack his hand away. “Stop trying to distract me. The only reason I’m talking to you right now is because this isn’t just about you anymore. I need answers and you’re going to deliver if I have to drag them out of you.”
“The only reason you’re talking to me?” His brow furrows. “Wait…not about me anymore. What are you talking about?”
Tension creeps into my shoulders and I shrug to ease my muscles. I pull into a hospital parking spot and cut the engine. Facing Ethan, I exhale slowly. “It’s too long and involved to get into here. You told me some stuff, showed me a couple of things. Anyway, once you’re officially released by your doctor, I’m going to do my best to help you remember the parts you didn’t tell me.”
“I told you stuff? Showed you a couple of things? So I wasn’t completely absent for the whole month.”
Ugh, how much do I share right now? As far as Samson knows, Ethan’s been gone the entire time. “You ah, called a couple of times and came home this past weekend to take me to the school winter dance.” I search his expression for any recognition of our time together and just how far our relationship had progressed.
Frustration fills his face. “Why can’t I remember? A dance, huh?” His eyebrows suddenly shoot up. “Did we—?”
“You told me you’d tell me everything when you got back,” I jump in, cutting his question off. “And then you were in the accident before you could make it home.”
He slowly shakes his head. “Right now nothing makes sense, but one thing I’m certain of…” Ethan touches my injured hand, then lifts it from the steering wheel to press his lips softly to the bandage on my palm, his dark blue eyes holding mine. “We’re connected, aren’t we, Nara? I’ve always known that, since before we officially met.”
Even through the gauze, his warm mouth sends electric tingles racing down my arm. Memories of all the intimate moments we recently shared return. I can’t resist reacting to them and a shiver races through me. “It’s freezing out here. You need to sneak back inside.”
I try to pull my hand away, but Ethan tightens his hold. “I’m not letting go until you at least admit that about us.”
I nod. “Yes, we’re connected.” As a smile of male satisfaction starts to form on his lips, I pull my hand from his. “But not in the way you’re thinking.”
I open my car door and dash through the snow, heading toward the building. Ethan quickly catches up, demanding in a harsh tone, “What do you mean by ‘not in the way I’m thinking’?”
Stepping into the main doorway so the automatic sliding glass doors glide open, I sweep my hand out. “Take the back stairwell. You can get up to your room without the nurses seeing you. Hopefully your brother is still asleep.”
Flakes of snow quickly salt Ethan’s pitch-black hair as he stares at me stubbornly, unmoving.
“Focus on getting better, then I’ll do what I can to help you remember.” When I turn to walk away, Ethan’s question—and the sadness in it—halts my steps. “Why weren’t you in my dreams last night?”
The snow pelts my skin with cold, wet kisses as I turn to face him. I bite my lip and shake my head. “I’m not dreaming my
next day anymore. I haven’t been since you left on Saturday. I’m having ‘normal dreams’ and sometimes weird, out-there dreams, but they have nothing to do with my next day.”
His lips press together for a second, then he steps close. “I’ve been meaning to ask you…when did you learn to manipulate your dream world? Creating an escape door in the wall from that lion was sheer genius.”
I shrug and try not to let his closeness affect me. “It’s only happened in extremely emotional circumstances. I seem to have some control over manipulation in your dream world and in Fate’s, but in mine it was entirely out of my control. It just happened.”
His eyes widen. “You controlled your future inside your dream?”
I lower my eyes to his chin, unable to meet his gaze. “I didn’t plan it. It happened by accident, and of course now that I’ve done so, I’ve moved to number one on Fate’s enemy list.”
“What were you thinking?”
I stiffen and look up. “I said it was an accident.”
He holds my gaze for a couple seconds, then he lifts a strand of my snow-coated hair and says in a low voice, “You wear snow well.” His gaze settles on mine, searching deep. “You’ll always be my light, Nara. Whatever is coming, whatever truths we uncover, please don’t let it change us.”
I can’t promise him what we’d always said to each other in the past: “together ’til the wheels fall off”. The fact he lied infuriates me. Even if he did it to protect me, I believe we’re stronger together. Pushing up on my toes, I whisper close to his ear, “Together ’til”.
As I lower myself to the ground, then take a step back, Ethan frowns. “What about the rest of that promise?”
I spread my hands wide and start walking backward toward my car. “That’s up to you.”
Chapter Eight
Nara
I drag myself in from school. Mondays are usually hard, but today was killer. I haven’t slept well the last few days, and having little sleep has finally caught up with me. Houdini plops down on my bed beside me, resting his chin on my ankle. I throw my arm across my eyes and give in to my exhaustion, where I dream of looking endlessly for Ethan all over again.
Except this time, I’m running through a frozen forest that grows colder with each step I take. Just when I feel like I’m freezing to death someone grabs me from behind and wraps strong arms around my waist. I’m pulled back against a hard frame, and I scream and kick until Ethan whispers in my ear, his breath warm and inviting. “I’m here, Nara. You’ve found me. All you have to do is turn around.”
“Ethan,” I gasp in happiness and turn…
My eyes fly open and Ethan’s leaning over me, hands pressed into my bed, his dark hair slightly flopped to the side instead of spiked. As my eyes lock with his deep blue gaze, a cocky smirk lifts his lips. “If you’re going to have normal dreams, it’s good to know I’m in those.”
“How’d you get in here?” I quickly scramble back and lean against my headboard to put space between us at the same time I search for Houdini. My dog’s laying in the doorway, facing outward in “guard” position, just like Ethan had him do on Saturday night when he’d stayed over. I stare at Houdini’s rump accusingly. “What kind of watch dog are you?”
Ethan chuckles. “An excellent one. He let me know right away that you’re his number one priority. Made me an instant fan.” Returning his gaze to me, he continues with serious eyes, “You should change the code on your garage every once in a while.”
Lainey said something similar. I’ve got to change that code! Grabbing my hot pink pillow, I wrap my arms around it to put another buffer between us. Or maybe it’s because I don’t want Ethan to hear how rapidly my heart is beating. In my own ears it sounds like one of those huge band drums being hit by a mallet. Bong, bong, bong, bong.
He looks more like his old self today…except more muscular, his gaze sharper, more intuitive. I wonder if he’s noticed the changes in himself. It’s been a few days. Surely he’s looked in the mirror by now. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to help you find answers. That’s what you said you wanted from me, right?”
The sharp bite in his comment makes my stomach clench, but I refuse to feel guilty for upsetting him. “Are you officially released from the hospital this time?”
Ethan flicks his hands from his head to his thighs. “Do I look injured to you?”
Unlike the cut on my palm that’s definitely going to leave a scar, no cuts or bruises mar his handsome face. He’s wearing his army jacket over a navy Henley-style shirt, so the wrap on his arm must be gone. He might appear healed on the outside, but he certainly came filled with sarcasm. Great. Now I know how he reacts when he’s really upset. “I’m serious.”
His expression settles. “Yes, I’ve been released.”
“Did you finally speak to your parents?”
Surprise flickers. “How’d you know—?” He cuts off, then sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. “Samson told you. I told them enough to get them off my back.” Shrugging, he grunts. “And now they’ve decided to rent a place in Blue Ridge to watch over me for a while.”
I sit up straighter, brightening. “That’s great. Maybe then they’ll see—”
“I don’t want them here.”
He sounds so annoyed, I smile. “Well, too bad. Maybe they really do care and you’re going to have to accept that.”
“Why are you defending them? I heard what you said to my parents while I was under.”
He did? What else did he hear? My hands curl tight on the pillow. “That wasn’t my best moment.”
A grin flashes. “I thought it was great. Finally they heard the same truth from someone other than their screwed up son. Thank you for that.” He pauses, sincerity creeping into his expression. “And thank you for talking to my brother. He told me about the guy on the plane. How weird and random is that?”
Drystan’s comment about randomness comes back to me and I blink to clear away the creeping suspicion. “I’m glad he told you. Maybe now you’ll be more comfortable telling him about the tattoo on your back and how it appeared.”
Ethan snorts. “It’s bad enough I can’t explain to him why I cut my hair or what I’ve been doing this past month.” He lifts his arm and flexes, the bunched muscles pulling tight against his jacket. “Something physical obviously.” Lowering his arm, he continues, “But I don’t think my brother’s ready for the full truth of my overall inexplicable weirdness.”
I press my lips together in annoyance, thinking of this unknown Danielle girl and his “physical” comment, but something in his deprecating tone distracts me. Is he talking about more than the tattoo, more than his ability to absorb negative energy? “Is there something else, Ethan?”
He jams his hand through his hair and blows out a frustrated breath. “That’s what I’m here to find out.” Blue eyes hold mine with mesmerizing intensity. “Seems you know far more about me than I do right now.”
Not everything. Who the hell is this Danielle chick? I want to demand. Instead, I inhale deeply and scramble off the bed to grab my laptop. Queuing up the Virality link that Lainey sent me, I sit down and turn the laptop toward him. “Okay, let’s start with this. Check these pictures out of the sophomore locker hall. Someone anonymously posted these. The school has been making students pull down all of the ones they can find, but they haven’t found out about this link yet.”
Ethan’s blue eyes flash with emotion as he scans the horrific damage to the ceiling, the dented and claw-marked lockers, the broken floor tiles. He jerks wide eyes my way. “That’s at school? What happened?”
I point to the screen. “You happened.”
Denial flares in his eyes and he shakes his head. “I didn’t do that.”
I nod slowly. “Actually, you did. You were fighting a guy named Drake who attacked me in the hall when I was on my way back to the dance from the bathroom.”
“He attacked you?” Fiery fury spills across his face. “Why?”
I point to my laptop. “Look at it again. Try to remember.”
“That’s not a fight scene, Nara.” Ethan jams his finger toward the screen, his face stiff with disbelief. “That’s a war zone.”
“If you hadn’t stopped him, he would’ve killed me. He’d already killed an old man I knew named Freddie, and he planned to do the same to me when you showed up.”
Ethan’s shoulders tense and his hand fists on his thigh. A lethal calm rolls through his features. The coldness is scary. “He planned to kill you? My God, Nara! Why didn’t you start with that?” Ethan slides close, his thigh brushing against mine. “Why did this guy want to kill you? And why did he kill an old man? What happened while I was gone?”
“A lot.” I exhale in a fast breath. “I met Freddie while researching ravens. He was a local author here in Blue Ridge. Drake killed Freddie because he was looking for a book Freddie had about ravens. But Freddie didn’t have the book any more. He’d given it to me. That’s why Drake came after me.”
“Why did he want a book on ravens?”
“We’ll get to that later. First I want to help you remember.” His dark gaze narrows. “There’s no way you told me any of this. Otherwise nothing could’ve kept me away.”
Ethan’s dead-on statement, combined with his piercing gaze and appealing smell of spicy deodorant and outdoors makes my heart race. “You told me you were making things right with your parents. I didn’t want to screw that up for you,” I say quickly before I slide off the bed and glance at the computer. “I’d hoped the pictures would help trigger your memory. But maybe something closer to home will.”
A stubborn look settles on his face, as if he planned to push me for more answers, but as I pull the long silver chain from under my shirt, Ethan quickly stands and approaches. I turn the medallion so he can see it. “Look familiar?”
He stares, his gaze transfixed in excitement. “That’s the same symbol on my sword tattoo. Where’d you get it?”
“You gave it to me and told me to never take it off. That it would protect me.”
Destiny, YA Paranormal Romance (Brightest Kind of Darkness Series, Book #3) Page 7
