The Innocent

by Michelle K. Pickett

  He sat there looking at me, his hands behind his head. A small smile played at the corners of his mouth.

  “Okay.” I plopped down on the swing next to Chay, putting my elbows on my knees and my head in my hands. “It wouldn’t be as easy as it sounds. They’re actually kind of cute in a spawn-from-Hell kinda way. Except for Scarface. He’s just a pain in the—”

  “Did I hear my name?” Scarface growled.

  Chay belted out a laugh. “They know their names?”

  “It may have come up in conversation.”

  He laughed harder.

  He’s finding this entirely too funny.

  “What do you want?” I snapped at the goblin standing next to me.

  “Azazel and the Brothers are pissed.”

  “Good.”

  “There’s a game coming.”

  My blood ran cold. Games were never fun—at least not for humans. “Oh? When?” I asked.

  “Soon. You’ll like it. It’s not for one, but for three.”

  “Huh?”

  “For three it shall be,” he said with a deformed smile.

  Now he’s really talking in riddles.

  “Whatever. I think the sulfur fumes are taking their toll on you.” I waved him away.

  “I’m sorry to hear of your grams,” the demon said, still smiling.

  I froze with my hand in mid-air where I was going to put my hair behind my ear. I just sat there, still and silent, staring at the demon.

  “I guess that game didn’t turn out too fun for her.”

  I launched myself at him, catching him by complete surprise. He went down and I landed on top of him, knocking the air from his lungs with a whoosh. I could smell his halitosis from rotting teeth and burnt flesh.

  His stumpy little arms and legs tried to kick and hit me, but he couldn’t connect. He tried biting, snapping his teeth at me. I flipped him over and placed my knee in his back, holding him against the ground.

  “Get me a rope,” I told Chay.

  “Milayna, what are you doing?” Chay said, chuckling.

  “I was wrong. I can kill this one. Please get me a rope.”

  “Let him go.” Chay gently grabbed my arm. I jerked away from him.

  “Did you hear what he said about my grandma?”

  “Yes, but you know he isn’t the one who hurt her. You already took care of Brann. He’s dead. This thing,” Chay nudged the demon with the toe of his shoe, “is just an annoyance. Nothing more. Just a way to get under your skin… and you’re letting it.”

  Chay reached his hand out and helped me up. Scarface scrambled up and turned to look at me. His face was hard, angry… evil.

  “You’re just a bitch, Milayna.”

  “I’m gonna kill him,” I said, running after him.

  I heard Chay chuckle behind me and Scarface growling in front of me. In my head, I heard Grams:

  Child, don’t be looking for trouble. You’ll do good getting outta the trouble that finds ya.

  I stopped running and let the little miscreant from Hell run and hide in the woods or go back to Hell where he came from. I walked back to Chay.

  “Give up?” Chay asked with a grin. He folded me in his arms and kissed my forehead.

  “No… sort of. I just remembered something Grams told me.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Just something about enough trouble will find me without me looking for more,” I told him.

  “Your grams was a very smart woman who has a very smart granddaughter.”

  “You know something else Grams used to tell me?” I looked up at him and grinned. “Never pass up a chance to kiss a handsome man.” I pulled his head down to mine.

  “Oh, really?”

  “Most definitely.”

  “We wouldn’t want to disappoint.”

  “No…”

  Chay’s mouth grazed over mine, his tongue lapping at my lips. They parted for him. His mouth moved over mine, gentle and hungry all at once. His hands moved from my arms to caress my face, run his fingers through my hair, down my back and still lower… cupping my rear and lifting me off the ground. He pushed my back against the wall of the garage. I wrapped my legs around his waist. His fingers squeezed my thighs and I sighed his name, arching toward him. He kissed my neck and across my chest. I threaded my fingers through his hair, holding his head to me.

  His lips moving over my skin was luscious. Every nerve in my body was aware of his mouth and what it was doing. A warmth started to build in my belly. It grew until it filled me and I ached for more. My body craved Chay. There was a spot in my soul only he could fill and with each kiss, each caress, I felt him filling me. Little by little, it was less and less Milayna and Chay, separate people, and more and more Milayna and Chay, the soulmates. Together.

  “Milayna,” Chay whispered against my neck. “I love you.”

  I cupped his face in my hands and guided his mouth to mine. Kissing his lips, I sucked his full lower lip into my mouth before letting it loose and kissing him a second time. “I love you.”

  Chay’s gaze locked on mine. We looked into each other’s eyes for a few seconds. Our hands roamed, our breaths mingled. Chay slipped his hand under my hair, cupped the back of my neck, and pulled me to him. His kiss was so gentle and so soft, it belied its intensity. But it held a devotion that went beyond what could be explained, or even completely understood.

  “Milayna,” my mother called from the patio door.

  Chay let go, and I slid to the ground. He stepped back with a guilty grin.

  “What?” I answered with an exasperated sigh.

  “Curfew,” she called.

  Curfew? I’m in college!

  “What are you doing out there anyway?” she asked.

  “Watching the goblins in the woods.” That wasn’t a total lie.

  “Okay, well, come on.”

  “I guess the fun’s over,” Chay said.

  “Yeah. It was just gettin’ good, too,” I said with a wink. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

  “I hope so.”

  I was lying on Grams’ purple couch reading when my phone chimed. Reaching behind me, I felt across the floating table until my hand landed on my phone. I glanced at the message and smiled.

  Chay: Want to do something?

  Me: Always.

  Chay: Be there in ten.

  I rolled off the couch and quickly changed clothes. Dabbing on a little makeup, I misted some perfume on and stretched out on the couch again with six minutes to spare. I heard the doorbell ring and smiled.

  He’s early.

  I grabbed my shoes and pulled them on. The door to my bedroom creaked when he pushed it open.

  “You’re gonna get us in trouble by coming up here,” I said and smiled.

  Geez, I’m always smiling. My cheeks hurt. But, oh, does it feel good.

  I looked up and my smile fizzled. Xavier.

  “What are you doing here?” My voice was cold. If my breath were as cold, icicles would have formed on the ceiling.

  “Hi, Milayna.”

  He walked into my bedroom like he owned it and sat on my purple couch, next to me. I shot off the couch like it was a springboard. He settled back into the cushions and put one ankle on his knee. Looking up at me, he smiled.

  “Get out,” I whispered. My mom was always scariest when she didn’t yell and scream. When she whispered, you’d better watch out. I thought I’d try that tactic. It didn’t seem to work for me. Xavier’s butt still sat in the same place. “Now,” I said a little more forcefully. Not quite a yell, but more than a whisper.

  “Your dad said I could come up here and talk with you for a few minutes. You know, clear the air, make things right, work through our problems, that sort of thing,” Xavier said with a small shrug. He picked at an invisible piece of lint on his black cargos.

  “Consider the air cleared.” I held the bedroom door wide open. I wasn’t moving from the door as long as he was inside the room. “Leave.”

  “See,
it doesn’t seem to me that the air is clear between us, Milayna. You seem rather hostile.” Xavier stood and walked toward me. A small smile tugged at his lips.

  “Seriously, Xavier, I’m telling you to leave.”

  “Or?” He stopped in front of me and ran two fingers up my arm. I grabbed them when they reached my shoulder. I held his fingers in my hand for a few beats, staring into his blue eyes. Then… I smiled. He let out a breath, a sign he’d let his guard down. Letting go of his fingers, I grabbed both his upper arms. I jerked my knee upward, stopping just as I made contact with his… um… bat and balls.

  “Feel that?” I asked, nudging my knee against him.

  “Yes.” He swallowed hard. His Adam’s apple bounced in his throat.

  “That’s the answer to the ‘or’ question. Don’t screw with me, Xavier. I’d like us all to be friends, but if you keep acting like an idiot, the friend thing will be out the window. Got it?” I nodded my head up and down when he nodded his. “Good. We should chat like this more often.” Letting go of his arms, I dropped my knee. I saw movement in the hallway. Turning, I saw him watching.

  Oh, for the love of Pete! Not again!

  “Chay, this isn’t—”

  “What it looks like? I know. I heard the whole thing. Personally, I was hoping your knee would connect a little harder, but there’s always next time. Right, Xavier?” Chay slapped him on the shoulder as he walked past, stopping long enough to kiss me thoroughly. I suspected some of the kiss was for Xavier’s benefit, but I was enjoying it far too much to care.

  “So, how is it that I have two guys in my room? Isn’t my father downstairs playing guard dog?”

  “Yeah, he’s down there. He just trusts this one,” Chay jerked his finger at Xavier, “too much to care if he comes up, and he figured with an audience, you and I would stay out of trouble so he let me up, too.”

  “Ah.”

  Xavier rubbed his hands up and down his thighs. “So, what are you two lovebirds doing today?”

  “Dinner and a movie, I guess,” I said, grabbing my purse off the bed.

  “Really?” Xavier looked at Chay with a smirk. “That’s all you could come up with?”

  Chay rolled his eyes. “What’s your master plan, angel boy?”

  “Well, before you came around and interfered with my plans,” Xavier said, glaring at Chay, “I had planned to ask Milayna and Ben to go bumper bowling with me. But you showed up and somehow, you tagging along just doesn’t sound quite as fun.” Xavier turned and looked at me. A small smile lifted the corners of his mouth. “You two should take Benjamin to the all-night bumper bowl. It’s lit up with nothing but neon and strobe lights. Ben’ll love it.”

  It sounds like migraine central if you ask me.

  “No, that’s something you wanted to do—”

  “Nah, that’s water under the bridge now, Milayna.” Xavier interrupted. “I should go. I’ll see you guys later.”

  “‘Bye, Xavier,” I said.

  “See ya,” Chay said, not bothering to look up from the trashy tabloid he found stuffed between the couch cushions. When Xavier was gone, Chay looked at me through his lashes and smiled. “I didn’t want to say anything in front of the angel boy, but I’m all for this bumper bowl thing. I say get Ben ready and let’s go. We can get pizza on the way.”

  Ugh. I should have known.

  “Really? Because I was thinking about something a little… I don’t know… quieter.”

  “As much as I hate to admit it, and I never will to his face, Xavier was right. We need to mix it up a little. The standard dinner and a movie isn’t gonna cut it. Let’s go bumper bowl! It’ll be great.” Chay clapped his hands and rubbed them together.

  I sighed. Loudly. It didn’t matter. Chay was still excited about the damn bumper bowling. You’d think he was the seven-year-old.

  I threw my arms in the air and walked out of the room. “Fine. I’ll get Benjamin.”

  I trotted downstairs and found Benjamin playing army men in the dining room that we’d converted to a family room until the repairs were done to the house. Ben’s little green army men were all lined up. He was just getting ready to run them over with his remote-controlled truck when I walked in, saving the little plastic men from getting crushed by a monster Tonka.

  “Ben, you want to go with Chay and me?”

  “Is there going to be kissing?” Ben asked, not looking up from plotting the demise of the army of plastic soldiers.

  “Most definitely,” Chay answered.

  “Then doubtful,” Ben said, revving his monster truck.

  “Don’t you want to know where we’re going?” I asked.

  “I already know. It’s somewhere that allows kissing,” Ben answered. Chay’s mouth twitched. He tried, but failed, to hide a grin.

  “Okay. I guess it’s just you and me, Chay. I think we’ll have fun bumper bowling even if it is just the two of us.” I turned to walk away when I heard a squeal behind me.

  “Why didn’t you say it was bumper bowling? My friend Zachary went there a week ago and he said it’s so cool. Every light around the whole place is neon, and then there are strobe lights everywhere. It’s epic!”

  “Man, too bad you don’t want to go.” Chay shook his head.

  “Who says?”

  “You did. You said you didn’t want to go where they allowed kissing,” I said and walked to the door.

  “Yeah, but the bumper bowl will be dark. I won’t have to see you if I don’t want to,” Ben said, his eyes wide.

  “Okay, I guess you can go if you think you can handle it. Go ask Mom and Dad.”

  Ben jumped up, squealing with laughter. He ran around the corner so fast his feet slipped out from under him and he hit the floor with a hard thud. He got up, still laughing, and bounded into the living room to ask permission to go bowling.

  Of course, my mom and dad agreed. An afternoon alone—what parent wouldn’t like that? Then I thought about what they might do with an afternoon alone and grossed myself out. I quickly tried to make my brain think of something else, anything else, than my parents having sex while we went bowling. My dad was already giving my mom the look. My mom was smiling and her cheeks were turning pink… yep, I shouldn’t have thought about it. Now I had pictures. Awful pictures. The kind that landed kids in therapy.

  “Let’s go,” I said, reaching out and grabbing Chay’s hand. “Ready, Ben?”

  “Yeah,” he said with a smile so big I thought he’d swallow his head.

  We stopped for pizza before going to the bowling alley. Benjamin inhaled two pieces of cheese and pepperoni pizza before Chay and I even started eating. Then he spent the next half hour making our meal torture.

  “Are you done yet?”

  “Am I still chewing?” I asked.

  “Yes, but you chew too slow, Milayna. Hurry up,” Ben said, fidgeting in his seat.

  “Benjamin Jackson, I swear if you kick me under the table one more time, we’re going home.”

  Ben looked at me wide-eyed. For a split second, I felt bad for snapping at him—until I heard what came out of his mouth next.

  He laughed. He laughed so hard he snorted and soda came out his nose. “You sounded just like mom!”

  I stared at him with my mouth open. Chay chuckled. Benjamin was still laughing.

  “That wasn’t very nice,” I said, narrowing my eyes at Ben.

  “But you did,” Ben said between fits of giggles.

  “Did not.”

  “Yeah, ya did.” Ben held his stomach, still laughing.

  “You kind of did,” Chay agreed.

  “Oh, you’re on his side?” I asked Chay. “We’ll see whose side you’re on when it comes time for a good night kiss.”

  They both groaned—for very different reasons.

  “Gross, Milayna. Why’d ya have to go and ruin it with kissing crap?” Benjamin grumbled.

  I smiled and took another bite of my pizza. Ben glared at me.

  We left for the bowling alley t
wenty minutes later. Partly because we were all too stuffed to eat even one more piece of pepperoni and partly because our ears were ringing with the sound of Benjamin’s voice asking if it was time to go yet. It reverberated inside our skulls until it was the only sound we could hear.

  The inside of the small bowling alley was pitch black except for the strings of neon lights running the length of the lanes and the colored disco balls that rotated above. Strobe lights were strategically placed throughout the building to give maximum migraine potential. Even the bathrooms were lighted by neon and disco balls, only somewhat brighter than other areas in the building.

  Ben could barely contain his excitement. He hopped from one foot to the other while Chay and I paid for our lane and picked up our horrendously fashionable, puke-brown bowling shoes.

  “Do I get shoes? Milayna, do I get shoes, too? Do I get—?”

  “Ben! Yes, you get shoes.”

  “Lemme carry them, ‘kay? Okay?”

  “Yes.” I handed the brown and red rental shoes to him and he held them against his chest like they were expensive Jimmy Choos. They weren’t. They smelled like something had crawled inside them and died.

  “What now?” Ben bounced up and down. “What now, Milayna?”

  “We go find lucky lane number thirteen,” Chay said.

  “Oh! It’s at the end.” Ben took off down the hall toward the lane. I rolled my eyes and sighed. Loudly. Again.

  I got Ben laced up in his fancy bowling shoes, Chay took him to pick out his ball, and before long, we were in the middle of a surprisingly fun game of bumper ball.

  “He got another strike.” Ben watched with wide eyes as Chay walked back to the seats. I swear I thought stars were going to sparkle out of his eyes. They were twinkling in awe at Chay’s awesomeness. It was almost disgusting… of course, I agreed, so I was just as disgusting.

  “Your turn, Ben,” Chay said, sliding onto the seat next to me.

  “‘Kay.” He hopped off the seat and ran to the ball return. Lugging his ball up to the lane, he sent it spiraling down the polished lane. He knocked down seven pins.

  Chay leaned over and whispered in my ear, “And here I thought we were going bumper bowling for Ben. Turns out, you need it more than he does.”