Blossoms of The Heart

by Khardine Gray

  “Probably best to allow us to go on ahead,” Scott offered. “We’re rock climbing experts. This is our thing.”

  I looked at the three of them and decided to back down. “Okay.”

  I watched them go and then turned back to the assistants who had begun taking pictures. I took some more and continued my admiration of the scenery. When I got closer to the waterfall I noticed another path just behind it. Anyone could have missed it because it looked like a part of the rock formation, but I could see that it was definitely a path. It was also quite dark but the ground looked smooth.

  I looked back at the assistants and then to where Tai went. Maybe I could go and check out the area. Everyone else was doing something. The assistants were now writing down notes in their books.

  I turned back to the path and decided I would investigate. Shining my flashlight ahead revealed that the ground was definitely smooth, so I walked on, keeping my flashlight steady in front of me. After a few minutes I stopped and thought I should turn back. This was clearly somewhere we could all go as a group.

  As I turned to go my flashlight revealed yet another path and my interest started to pique. I thought of the map and the area where the samurai was found.

  Could he have come down here?

  I bit the inside of my lip, knowing Tai would probably tell me off, but proceeded anyway. I could handle myself and hadn’t needed any help or protection before now. Not coming down here would be torturing my zeal for adventure and exploration.

  Something on the wall caught my eye. It was a groove. No…

  I shone the flashlight over it and gasped. It was a drawing. An actual drawing of some letters in… Arabic?

  There were Arabic characters in the journal.

  On the wall was the sign for the word attention. I looked at it and stared for a few seconds. Looking closer I saw another mark. This one looked like the clan symbol I’d seen on the samurai.

  “Shit,” I gasped, completely fascinated. I shone the flashlight around to see if there were any more drawings but couldn’t see any.

  A sound just above my head made me look up and I could swear I saw the ceiling move with the dark.

  It was stupid of me not to have considered why the ceiling moved, especially given my experience. I knew that the one thing you should never do in a cave like this that could potentially have bats is raise up my flashlight to the roof.

  However, I did. The flashlight and my headlight focusing up at once on the roost of bats disturbed them and sent a number of them flapping down.

  I screamed from the depths of my soul and stumbled over myself, dropping the flashlight. I could be brave for a number of things, but not when it came to bats. That image of having my eyes pecked out flashed into my mind and I couldn’t stop screaming. The flapping around me made it a hundred times worse.

  Managing to get up, I ran, leaving the flashlight, but the bats followed me. Fear propelled me and I lost my sense of direction. I must have verged down another path adjacent to where I’d come from. Then suddenly the path started to crumble beneath my feet and I was falling.

  Falling to my death.

  I screamed instantly reminded of the last time death came for me.

  Darkness surrounded me then water.

  I plunged straight in and went down deep into the dark depths of its stomach losing my hat.

  The current sucked me in then snapped me forward. The trepid waves slapped against my head making me feel dizzy as I tried to swim and gain some control.

  Someone called my name.

  Who?

  There it was again, and again. A panicked voice.

  “Phoebe!”

  It was Tai.

  I pushed aside the sick dizzy feeling, gathered my strength, and called back to him.

  Suddenly I saw him come into view. The light from his hat shone around him but he tossed it off and dived into the river, swimming powerfully towards me. I tried to swim to him too, but the pull was too strong. I looked down the trail of the river as light from outside peeked in, brightening the area.

  Instantly I saw why the pull was so strong. I was heading straight for a waterfall.

  I was a good swimmer, but falling down a waterfall that hadn’t been explored yet was a terrible idea in all books. Especially one in a cave that was covered with sharp rock formations. It could mean more rocks awaited me.

  Tai’s powerful Marine arms gripped me.

  “Tai.” I threw my arms around his neck and held on to him.

  I was surprised at the strength he exerted as he flipped around with me and swam backwards against the direction of the river. Scott and Kenny stood by the bank and threw us a rope, which Tai caught and managed to pull us both to safety.

  “Are you guys okay?” Scott asked.

  “I’m good,” Tai replied.

  I couldn’t answer. I was shaking too much from the terror of everything.

  I was expecting a serious telling off and all the insults imaginable from Tai, but he didn’t say anything. He just looked at me and pulled me into his arms.

  Chapter 16

  Phoebe

  “I’m sorry,” I said for the tenth time. And still he said nothing to chastise me.

  He just shrugged and sat opposite me. He’d built a small fire to warm me and given me blankets to wrap up in after I changed out of my wet clothes.

  I hadn’t given my usual protest because I knew that, not only was I in the wrong, but that I put both our lives in danger.

  I’d acted irresponsibly and deserved whatever abuse he had brewing for me.

  His usually neat hair was all messed up, but it added to the cool edge he displayed. I was sure I looked like a drowned rat.

  “Are you seriously not going to make some comment about my actions?” I asked, pulling the blanket closer to my neck. Although it wasn’t cold, the late afternoon brought a slight chill on the edge of the wind.

  Tai leaned forward and brought his hand up to his chin, running his fingers over the slight shadow of his beard. I took a moment to look at him properly and absorb the perfect angles of his face.

  Those rich, warm eyes beamed at me with a hint of a sparkle. Those high cheekbones and his chiseled jaw captivated me like always. He looked like someone had sculpted him that way, perfect. And he knew it. Men like him always knew it.

  “What do you want me to say, Phoebe?” He raised a brow.

  “Something. I don’t know which is worse, the you that talks and irritates me to no end or the silent you that’s just sitting there looking.”

  “Okay, Princess Phoebe, you should have listened to me blah, blah, blah.” He chuckled.

  I drew my brows together and grimaced. “That’s a lame telling off.”

  “Can’t I just be grateful you didn’t die? Or even better that this time you hurt yourself it seriously wasn’t my fault. Although you are somehow accident prone.”

  I frowned. “I’m not.”

  “Yes, you are.”

  I narrowed my gaze at him. “Unbelievable.”

  “Last night I forgot to mention that the year after you broke your arms and leg you came back the year after just to break other leg.”

  “Tai you told me to jump in the creek.” He was talking about that.

  “Phoebe, I specifically told you to wait for the signal to jump but you jumped in anyway.”

  “You did give me the signal. You waved your hand, I remember.”

  “I was telling you to wait. Then you told everyone how I tried to kill you.”

  “I was fourteen.” I was sure that was no excuse. Fourteen was a good age to have sense. I was just a girl who couldn’t help herself around the super-hot Tai.

  “And you sneaked away from your mother’s bosom to hang out with me.”

  I just stared at him and tried not to laugh but failed. “My mother’s bosom?”

  He nodded. “She guarded you like the alien queen guarded her spawn, and I was just the innocent victim. Can I point out that you sneaked off aga
in today?”

  “You think my mother was like the alien queen?”

  He made a tsking sound. “Really? You’re asking me that? In my book she is the alien queen.”

  I sighed and looked away, ahead to the cave entrance. I couldn’t argue with him and honestly the mishaps of the past were on me too.

  The clicking of his lighter brought my attention back to him as he lit a cigarette.

  He took a deep draw, closed his eyes and seemed to savor the nicotine first before blowing out the smoke away from me.

  “Can I tell you that I hate that you smoke?”

  “Because of the smell?”

  “No, because it could kill you.”

  He took another draw, held on to it, exhaled, and then put the cigarette out. “Happy now?”

  “You’re stressed,” I noted recalling what he said to me the other night.

  He laughed, then the seriousness returned to his face. “I started smoking in the Marines. A friend of mine got me into it. I smoked for years because it helped take my mind of stuff. It eased the stress. Serious stress. I stopped when my dad found out and cursed my ass and I was smoke-free for four years. Started up again three weeks ago when Candace turned up on my door step asking me to take her back.”

  I didn’t realize what he was trying to tell me until he said it.

  “Did you take her back?” After last night I didn’t know.

  “No. That’s why it’s complicated.”

  “Because you have feelings for her?” Had to be that.

  He chuckled. “I wish it were that simple, but no. I actually don’t. I feel nothing. But I used to. I once did. That’s why I need to…” His voice trailed off but I understood what he was trying to say.

  “That’s why you need to think about things properly.”

  He stood up, took out another cigarette from his back pocket, and lit up.

  “Let me know if you need anything. I’ll check back on you in a little while.” That was his answer.

  I pulled the blanket closer around me as I watched him go.

  Tai

  “You got to give the guy credit. He took that style and owned it, even if he does sing cover songs.” Scott beamed looking Phoebe over with complete appreciation.

  I didn’t like the way he looked at her.

  Hated it. Fucking asshole. Who did he think he was?

  And look what he was wearing too. A polo shirt and black slacks, like he was going out. Also looked like he’d done his hair too. It looked extra whipped up today. More like a bouffant that a faux hawk.

  “I completely agree. Michael Bublé is absolutely a favorite of mine. I love anything by Frank Sinatra and The Rat Pack,” Phoebe gushed. The sound of her voice filled the office, as did her laughter.

  I seethed in my chair, looking at them, wishing like fuck that they’d shut the hell up.

  Since when did she like that kind of music?

  I always thought it was…

  I couldn’t remember the name. I just knew it wasn’t that crap she was going on about. Heard my dad mention something about Sinatra before. But I didn’t know anything about a rat pack. I guessed they were a band but who the hell called themselves that.

  Rat Pack.

  Couldn’t they think of anything more original than that? Might as well be the Guinea fowl Pack in my book.

  “I sing their songs all the time at the jazz bar,” Scott continued. “I sing and play lead guitar in our band.”

  “I can’t believe you have a band.”

  This was what I’d had to listen to all day. All damn day and to put sugar on top of the cake Princess phoebe barely said two words to me.

  All day, all damn day.

  No, actually roll back they’d been like that for the last two weeks, and here we were again with the same shit.

  It irritated the hell out of me. I had to try to get on with my work and block out the flirtation between her and Scott.

  That visit to the cave opened up the door for more investigation so we set up there and continued our journey down the unknown paths.. That’s what we did for the last two weeks. That meant my two weeks were taken up with work, and my emotions were on high alert since I felt just as depressed and repressed as Akito pointed out weeks ago.

  We decided the characters Phoebe found in the hidden path had to mean something, like a message of sorts. They were the same characters that kept popping up randomly in the journal.

  Then we came to a dead end.

  I’d been busy doing my part to help the team but these two just talked and talked, and talked.

  Last week’s conversation was movies and favorite celebs. Who was tougher Silvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger?

  That talking started off with talk of Jurassic Park.

  I hated that film. Just because I may be into archeology didn’t mean I had an automatic love for anything that sort of fit into that category. When I said I couldn’t stand that film last week everyone looked shocked.

  Like I said something unheard of. I was pretty certain I’d said worse things than that and within the walls of this office too.

  Maybe I could have been a little less abrasive if I wasn’t going fucking mad. This scenario here with Scott and Phoebe was driving me that way.

  This morning I messaged Candace to ask to talk but she didn’t message back. At lunch I went to her place but her roommate told me she went to Osaka and wouldn’t be back until Friday morning.

  I called her, but no answer and I realized she was avoiding me again.

  I knew my answer, and it was no different to what it was weeks ago when I told her it was over.

  It was still over but I wanted to tell her face to face. I wanted to make sure I told her and she understood that I tried.

  Until I saw her I had to undergo this torture and hope like fuck that Phoebe didn’t go falling for Mr. Rat Pack.

  Her laughter caught my attention, again.

  I was trying to design the proposal for the exhibition ideas, and the budget. I had to do an outline so far based on what the ideas the marketing team had emailed.

  I straightened up in my chair and full on stared at Scott as he reached out and touched the ends of Phoebe’s hair. She giggled.

  Fuck, she liked his pansy ass.

  What could she see in someone like that?

  Scott had that Malibu Ken look about him and clean cut. He was just too clean and well put together. The man even shined his shoes every morning.

  That was just too much for me.

  “You should come check our band out on Saturday. Then if you don’t hate us we could go out for a drink after.”

  I looked at Phoebe.

  Would she tell him no?

  The smile on her face told me I was in for a surprise. It told me she liked him enough to accept his invite.

  Must have been the intensity of my stare because she broke eye contact with him and glanced over at me.

  I couldn’t even look away. I should have spared myself the embarrassment of being caught looking at them but I didn’t. I continued to hold her gaze until she broke the stare.

  “Yes, yes to both.” She said to him. “I can’t imagine anyone who can talk so passionately about Frank Sinatra sounding bad.”

  “I can assure you we don’t sound bad. At least I don’t.” Scott nodded with affirmation.

  “Want to give me a taste?”

  My pulse tensed.

  Want to give me a taste?

  My cock hardened as I imagined her saying that to me and then putting her gorgeous lips on my cock to give me head.

  I needed to get my mind out of the gutter. The taste she was referring to was not a damn blow job. She wanted to hear Scott sing.

  Mr. Love Himself looked so proud in that moment. When he opened his mouth to croon out some lyrics I’d never heard even the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

  I couldn’t sing for shit and if I could, I doubted I would have sounded as good as him.

  How was it
that I’d known Scott for nearly eight months and never heard him sing?

  Had I known he would have sounded like that I would have at the very least been prepared.

  I picked up a pen, snapped it in half, and then continued to grind it in my hands as Phoebe clapped and squealed with delight.

  “Oh my God, you are amazing. What are you doing working here?”

  When people asked questions like that it was usually in places that were dumps. This was no dump. We were experts at what we did.

  “Love digging around for old stuff too much. Singing is my thing I do for me. If I were to change it into anything other than for pleasure it wouldn’t be the same.”

  How noble of him. If I had a fucking voice like that I’d be raking in as much dough as I could. In fact I’d do both.

  “You are super talented. I will enjoy every minute of listening to you sing.”

  “Great it’s a date.”

  “Yes, it’s a… date.”

  I looked away from them and focused on the row of shelves holding books of all sizes. Old books new books, journals.

  Then I looked to the window. It was already dark outside. I planned to be here for another couple of hours.

  Phoebe just agreed to go on a date with Scott.

  A date.

  What a shit day.

  First I that fucking shit with Candace, then I stopped by the garage on my way here and heard that Dante had lost my Ferrari in a race last night.

  I nearly lost my shit and beat him up, but I held back. He was trying to impress some girl when he got distracted and lost my car.

  Then I came in to this.

  Kenny came through the door grinning from ear to ear with his hair too long again but that was how he liked it.

  “What you still doing here, man?” he asked me.

  “Working.”

  He chuckled. “Grab some sleep, looks like you need it. Or come with us and get your ass kicked.”

  “How so?”

  “Billiards.”

  “Nah, I have to work.”

  “Sucks to be you.” Kenny moved over to the stairs and shook his head. “Hey lover boy, you coming?” he said to Scott.

  He was right to call him lover boy.