Jenny’s grin turned into a pout almost instantly.
Breena died a little inside every time she left Jenny here. But the other part of her felt a sense of…relief.
Am I a bad person?
She decided not to walk that rhetorical path right now. Instead, she opted for the semi-normal. “What did you do today?”
Jenny jumped onto the bed with a little less oomph than usual before dumping out the contents of the bag. “Watched TV, read, ate lunch with Myles, did chores–”
“You ate lunch with Myles?” Breena cocked her head to the side.
“Yeah. He brought me a Hardees’ cheeseburger.”
“Did he say why he stopped by?”
“He wanted to make sure I was all right.”
Breena raised an eyebrow at Jenny and bit the inside of her lip, then walked over to her sister’s side to tear the plastic off the cellphone for her.
“Thanks, Bea.” She giggled. “Now I can put his number in my phone.”
“You sure can.” Breena smiled. “So, did he say anything else?”
“Nah. But I did tell him his glow was brighter when we stayed over.”
Breena froze. “What did he say?”
“He was surprised. He didn’t know he glowed.” She plugged her new cell into the wall and played with the settings.
“Jenny, you shouldn’t tell people they glow.”
“Why not?” She looked at Breena like she’d grown a second nose.
“Because it could be dangerous.”
“How?”
She scooted Jenny off the bed and straightened the covers. “I’m not sure exactly.” Breena went down the hall to the bathroom to scrub something. Jenny trailed along behind her, leaving her new present to charge.
“He asked if you glowed too.” Jenny watched while Breena got the cleaner and brush from under the sink.
Why would he ask that?
As far as he knew she was totally normal. She’d never mentioned anything otherwise. “What did you say?”
“Yeah. Sometimes.”
Breena clicked her tongue before she sprayed the toilet bowl with cleaner. Didn’t take much elbow grease to bring out a sparkle since she’d cleaned it two days before. Never hurt to be overly thorough when dealing with Norma though.
“Jen.” Breena gave her sister a stern look before putting away the cleaning supplies.
Jenny shuffled after Breena all the way to the bedroom, blowing air out her nose. Pouting no doubt. Her eyes were probably squinted too. “What’d I do?”
Breena glanced behind her.
Yup. Narrowed eyes, thin lips, crossed arms. Jenny’s childish rants did nothing to help her case. But the rare tears she shed wrenched Breena’s insides into knots.
“Please don’t tell people about the glowing. Especially not about my glow.”
“Why?” Jenny never passed up an opportunity to ask why.
“Like I said, I don’t think it’s a good idea.” Breena sat next to her on the bed, handing Jenny the cellphone. “So, did he say anything after you told him ‘sometimes’?”
“Uh, yeah.” She glanced up from her new toy. “He said you were really brave. And that no matter what happens, he’d be there for both of us.”
Well, great.
Breena felt even worse, if that were possible. But as big a jerk-wad as she’d been, she couldn’t help wondering why Myles glowed. What normal human being glowed?
Unless neither of us is human, her mind offered.
Okay, it was one thing if Orin wasn’t human. And maybe she would come to terms with her own non-humanity…but, Myles? Not human? What the hell could he be?
She shook off the thought. No way could she deal with another paranormal situation right now.
After she’d vacuumed the living room, swept the rest of the downstairs–including the porch–she kissed Jenny goodbye and made her pinky-swear not to talk about the glowing thing to anyone else. She also gave her strict instructions to keep the cellphone hidden. No telling if it would set Norma off.
Norma and Susan passed Breena in their beater Jeep Cherokee as she flew by the gas station. She couldn’t tell if they’d noticed her. She prayed that Jenny would keep a low profile a little while longer. Just until Breena figured something out.
* * * *
When she got home, she found a forest green strapless dress with a pair of pewter strappy sandals on top of the card table. Folded in half, like a tent, was a thick piece of paper. She opened it.
For tonight. Can’t wait, O.
Smiling to herself, she took the gift back to her room to get ready.
Taking the longest, hottest shower possible, Breena scrubbed just a tad too hard, trying without success to scrub away some of today. Why would Myles just assume she’d spent the night with Orin? It’s not like she ever did stuff like that. Seriously, he couldn’t even give her the benefit of the doubt? And what had Myles expected her to say when he’d said he cared about her?
Ever since the blue light shot out of her hands and she’d woken up in Myles’s apartment, things were different between them. She couldn’t nail it down exactly, but her relationship with Myles had changed. What that meant, she didn’t know. But every fiber of her being told her something wasn’t right.
She dried off, put on a couple more layers of makeup than her norm then slipped into the billowy, satin dress. It was beautiful. She felt beautiful, and hell, she deserved to go out with someone who liked her wholeheartedly. Someone who didn’t pull back every time they got close.
Fussing with her hair, she heard a knock at the front door. She decided to leave her hair down.
Orin wore a charcoal gray, two-button suit with a forest green tie that matched her dress. His bangs were perfectly swept to the side and the golden ring around his green eyes almost twinkled as he looked at her
“You look stunning.” He held out a small clear plastic box.
A wave of heat flooded her cheeks. “What’s this?”
“For you.” He lifted the lid to pull out the corsage. African violets. “They remind me of your eyes.”
She let him place the flowers on her wrist. “Thank you. I love it. And the dress.” She did a quick twirl.
“I’m glad.” When Orin smiled, she couldn’t remember what she’d been worrying about earlier.
And she didn’t want to.
Chapter 10
Did Orin just order for her?
Hell’s bells.
So not cool. Breena knew how petty it seemed, but the little things turned into big things.
Of course, he had bought her the awesome dress, and she was pretty sure he’d spring for dinner too. She’d never been to Cafe 242 before, a fancy by-reservation-only kind of place with very little seating. The restaurant–a renovated Victorian house located at 242 Main Street in downtown Hickory–was the closest “big city dining” within an hour’s drive.
Still. She made her own decisions. Myles couldn’t tell her who to date, and Orin wasn’t going to tell her what to eat. Petty-schmetty.
“Excuse me, ma’am.” Breena looked at the waitress. “I’d like the fillet, medium well, and the potatoes au gratin with a sweet tea.”
“Certainly.” She took their menus.
Orin eyed her for a minute before his sexy laugh burst from his lips. “Feisty tonight.” As he reached across the table to stroke her knuckles, his ears rose. But they retracted in less time than it took for her to blink. No one would even notice, considering how dark they kept the room.
Cutting her gaze to him, she pursed her lips with a raised brow for added effect. A modified Jenny-move.
“Sorry, Breena. I don’t normally do this. I thought ordering for a woman was part of dating etiquette.”
“Um, maybe in the 1950s. What don’t you normally do?”
“Date, per se.”
“What do you normally do?” She immediately regretted the question.
He thought for a minute. “Stuff.”
Oh boy, d
id she imagine stuff. She even imagined them doing stuff. But she told herself that would be moving too fast. She wouldn’t make the same mistake she’d made with the computer geek.
“So you mean to tell me, in three hundred years you’ve never had a girlfriend?”
“Guilty.” He looked sheepish.
“Why?”
“My job keeps me…” He looked down at his hands, opened them flat, palm-side up. “Busy.”
“Here you are.” The waitress handed Breena her sweet tea and set Orin’s water in front of him along with a mini loaf of bread.
When the waitress flitted off to check on other customers, Breena turned her attention to Orin. “Why won’t you talk about your job? Are you part of the mob?”
“No. But I did realize the other night what I do for a living isn’t always right.” He sawed into the bread with a dull steak knife and lifted a piece in her direction as if to change the subject.
He wasn’t getting off that easily. “What exactly do you do for a living?” Tearing the slice apart with her fingers, she savored each warm chewy bite.
“Does it matter?”
Breena shrugged. “You tell me.”
“Someday I will. But tonight is about you.”
“What about me?”
His gaze devoured Breena. “I know there’s the pharmacy job, but what else do you do? What’s your major?”
It was all too easy telling Orin about her life. The way he listened, as if he clung to her every word, was exciting and hard not to get caught up in. “Right now Jenny, the pharmacy, plus class keep me pretty busy.” She took another sip of tea. “My major–uh, associate’s degree–is in Social Work.”
“Because of Jenny?”
“Also because of me. I know what it’s like to be in the system. To have no one. Every day is a new battle. Some days you feel like you’ll never win the war. A lot of the time kids don’t. They’re too broken to go on, or turn to a life of drugs and danger. Anything to make the pain go away.”
Good Lord, Breena, shut up much? Damn.
Her cheeks warmed and she stared down at her plate. She might never look up again.
God, he probably thinks I’m crazy. How could I just spew all that out?
Orin reached across the table and took her hand in his. She forced herself to ditch the embarrassment and look into his eyes. The simple gesture meant more to her than he could possibly realize. “I’m sorry, Breena.”
She nodded and bit her lip, trying to contain the emotions which stirred inside her, threatening to emerge. “Well, I’m luckier than most. I made it out.” Not exactly unscathed, but out. “I don’t want Jenny to suffer. She’s my life.” Breena squeezed his hand then pulled hers back. “Anyway, I didn’t mean to go all Debbie Downer. Basically, I chose Social Work because I want to be there for those who can’t help themselves.”
Breena finished her bread as the waitress brought out her steak and Orin’s veggie lasagna. Her stomach rumbled.
“New topic, please,” she joked in a singsong voice and cut into her steak. No blood.
Thank you, sweet baby Jesus.
She was okay with seeing her own blood, but anyone or anything else’s totally horrified her.
“If you could visit any monument in DC, what would it be?” Orin took his time opening his napkin and cutting into his dinner, like he could care less about his food.
She thought for a second before she answered, completely sure of herself. “The Washington monument.”
“Any special reason?”
“Yeah, to stand in the Mall and take one of those pictures where you hold out your thumb and index finger to look like you’re pinching it.”
He rolled his eyes and laughed.
“I know. Deep, right?”
“When I go back to DC, you should come. We’ll go there. Take the picture.”
“Hmm.” She scooted a piece of steak around on the plate.
“What?”
“I know you like me…at least, I think you do,” she said. “But I kinda thought this was, well, a fling of sorts.”
“It definitely isn’t what I’d intended, but it’s more than a fling. And I definitely like you, Breena. I think about you at the most inopportune moments. I can’t stop. It’s affecting my job.” A small grin played at the edge of his lips, but she couldn’t tell if it was a pleased smile or a smirk.
“You sound surprised.”
His eyes sparkled with lots of gold. No black. “I am. I just…never expected to feel this way about anyone.”
The look in his eyes was almost shy, and pride swelled in her chest. He’d shared something big. Admitted to his feelings. For her. This achingly beautiful boy had feelings for her. Giddy pleasure whirled through her. She reached for his hand and his smile was wide and delighted and unmistakeably not a smirk.
* * * *
The drive back to her apartment on the empty highway was silent but comfortable. The headlights of a passing car showed Orin glancing at her. The sight of his coy grin spread a smile across her face. He laced his fingers with hers and squeezed. The night couldn’t get any more perfect.
A wall of sound rammed the car, lifting Breena’s stomach into her throat. Her head slammed into the side of the door. The safety catch in her seat-belt locked, pinned her against the seat. A jolt of pressure, then a solid force like a giant fist punched her square in the face. She tasted blood.
Her head lolled back. To the side. Into the fist.
She lost track as they continued to flip. Everything spun out of control.
People say your life flashes before your eyes but hers didn’t. She only thought two things: Who would take care of Jenny? And, would Myles care if she died?
When the car finally stopped rolling, they’d settled upside down.
“Orin?” She barely got his name out. Her voice sounded raspy. Her throat was sandpapery and raw.
No answer.
As she eased her head to the side, a couple drops of blood splattered onto her face.
The driver’s seat was empty. Had Orin been thrown from the car? Was he okay?
A surge of adrenaline shot through her system. Enough to get her hands around the seat-belt and the button pushed. She realized her mistake as she fell onto the ceiling, head first.
Damn.
Pain blazed like fire up her back, concentrating along her neck.
Hunched on the ceiling of the car, she somehow managed to get herself turned around enough to see out the severely cracked windshield. Through her hazy vision she made out two figures. They stood a handful of yards away from the car, facing each other. One of the figures was Orin. A wave of relief passed over her. He’d survived.
* * * *
“I knew you hadn’t killed her. What’s happened to you, Orin? You used to be such a killer. Now, stop playing with your food and finish her,” Zadalia scolded. “Or I will.”
“There’s been a complication.” Orin crossed his arms. He needed to wrap this conversation up and check on Breena.
“What type of complication?”
He shifted from side to side.
“Please don’t tell me you’ve fallen for her?”
He huffed out a breath. “So, what if I have?”
“The queen will not be pleased, Orin.”
“Don’t tell her.”
The suicide blonde flipped her hair off her shoulder. “I don’t keep secrets.”
“I seem to recall a werewolf plaything that ended with a trip to the abortion clinic.” Orin took a step toward her. “Would be a shame if the Witches’ Council found out.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Try me.”
“Damn you, Orin. If she survives tonight, have your fun, and be done with her. You’ve got one week.” She apparated out of sight.
Orin heard Breena whimper. Not half a breath later, he was next to her in the car.
* * * *
Breena tried in vain to call out to Orin. Her eyelids felt heavy. Her body throbbed. B
lood made a dark circle on her stomach where it soaked through her beautiful dress and she knew she should be feeling something. Pain. Fear. Sorrow. Regret. Instead, she felt as if she merely watched from a distance. Teetering on the edge of sleep, she thought she would fall at any minute.
She wanted to.
“Breena.” Orin called to her. “Stay with me, baby.” She saw the sunflower-gold ring around his pupils. He sounded miles away. “Please...”
She fell.
* * * *
Orin’s arms were around her then he laid her down on something soft. The couch? Had she fallen asleep in the car? She was still so tired and she wanted to just curl up and go back to sleep, but there was a pain in her stomach that kept her flat on her back.
Myles asked, “What the hell, Orin?”
How did Myles know Orin?
“…lost too much blood.” Orin didn’t sound confident. “You… Save her.”
“Bree…hear me?”
“Myles?”
Something warm and thick…a liquid was on her lips. In her mouth.
She swallowed. Gagged.
Blood.
“Drink,” Myles ordered. Something pressed against her mouth.
* * * *
Breena woke with a start. She didn’t have to look over at him to know Myles was by the door. Waiting.
A floor lamp cast an eerie hue over her. The blinds were open and nighttime painted the sky black. She sat straight up, unease in the pit of her stomach. She was in Myles’s duplex. In his bed. In her underwear.
Omigod! I’m practically naked! What in hell?
Looking down at her bare stomach, she noticed...no cuts, no bruises, nothing. She ran her hands over her face–good there too. An odd deja vu washed over her. Waking up strangely unscathed in Myles’s duplex was turning into a habit. One she could definitely do without.
Between the car accident and here someone had removed her dress but she knew, without a doubt, nothing fun had happened.
Myles walked into her peripheral vision as he opened a dresser drawer and pulled something out.
“Lift up.” Myles slipped one of his t-shirts over her head. “Your dress was ruined.” But somehow she knew the smell of her blood had been too much for him to handle. That’s why she wasn’t still in it.
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