Milayna

by Michelle K. Pickett

  I couldn’t concentrate on the movie. I thought about Jake’s shoes, picturing him at the restaurant, in the movie theater’s lobby, but I couldn’t remember them. I twisted my fingers together in my lap for ninety-three minutes—I know because I counted every one—before the movie finally ended.

  “You want to go get some dessert or something?” Jeff suggested as we walked out of the theater.

  “Um.” I looked down. White Nikes, not black boots. But still, Jake was wearing a burgundy Abercrombie hoodie, and I couldn’t shake off the funk I felt being around him.

  “This has been great, but I need to get home,” I said.

  “Okay, I guess that’s my cue.” Muriel gave Drew a small smile.

  “No, no, you guys are still having fun. I have to get up early for practice anyway. I’ll take Milayna home.” Jake fished his keys from his pocket.

  Muriel looked at me and raised her eyebrows. I rolled my eyes at her.

  “Thanks, Jake,” I said.

  “No problem.” Jake drove me home, talking and joking during the ride. I tried to keep up with the conversation, but the only thing I could think about was his damn hoodie. A few weeks ago, I would have been trying to figure out how to get it off him. Now I just wanted to get home as fast as possible.

  As soon as the car rolled to a stop in my driveway, I opened the door to get out when Jake said something that made my heart jump—and not in a good, swoony way.

  “Do you ever think of changing, Milayna?”

  The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. “No. Never.”

  “Even if it meant you’d save your family?”

  I turned to him. “My family wouldn’t want me to change, no matter what happened. Do you think about it?”

  “Hell no!” He shook his head and drummed his thumbs on the steering wheel.

  “Then what’s up with the questions?” I narrowed my eyes and studied him.

  He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck and shrugged. “You know, Lily and Shayla are going to try to get to all of us. Just got to keep tabs on everyone.”

  “Yeah.” I shot him a quick smile.

  Gray hands, burgundy Abercrombie hoodie, and black boots.

  My hands shaking, I shot out of the car and up the walk to the house. Jake followed me. My insides were swirling like someone took an egg beater to them, and Chay’s warning swam in my mind.

  Stupid, stupid, stupid. I should’ve been more careful after Lily and Shayla.

  “Thanks for bringing me home. It was a lot of fun being out with the group.” I tried to sound normal. My throat was so tight, I was sure my voice sounded strained. I wished he’d stayed in the car instead of walking me to the door. It wasn’t like we were on a date.

  “Maybe we could do it again?”

  “Yeah. The group definitely needs to get out and do fun stuff together. Stuff that doesn’t include demons,” I said with a nervous laugh.

  “Well, yeah. But that’s not what I meant.” He skimmed his hand up my arm to my neck. I was in too much shock to really follow along with what was happening. It wasn’t until his hand curved around the back of my neck and he leaned in, saying, “I was thinking next time it could be just me and you.”

  Oh please, don’t kiss me.

  I was never very lucky when it came to guys. Jake’s lips touched mine. I suppose it was a nice kiss. It was soft and sweet. But, it wasn’t Chay. His were perfect. The kind of kisses that made my heart fall into my stomach and my toes curl—a kiss that created warmth in all the right places. They threw me off-balance in a way that I never wanted to end. The kind in romantic movies when the gorgeous guy kisses the girl, the music swells in the background, and you think, ‘Yeah, that doesn’t happen in real life.’ But when I kissed Chay, it was as though it did happen. I heard music in my head. Our own symphony. Okay, totally too corny. But true.

  Yeah, Jake’s wasn’t like that.

  Jake rested his hand on my waist and started to deepen the kiss when I took a step back. “Um, that’s nice, but I’m with Chay. I really need to go…” I motioned to the house.

  There was no way in Hell, or, preferably, out of it, we’d go on a date together.

  “Yeah. Okay.” He frowned. “I’ll see you Monday. That’s if we don’t have any trouble over the weekend.”

  I laughed. It came out too loud and shrill, and I cringed. “Yeah, we don’t want any trouble.”

  “Right. ‘Bye, Milayna.” He lifted his hand in wave and walked away, watching me as he went.

  He’s gonna change. Maybe he has already and that’s why I felt so weird around him.

  “‘Bye.” I made myself stand still for seven seconds. I ticked them off in my head. Okay, I was going for ten seconds, but I didn’t make it. I wanted away from him.

  I all but fell into the house. I tried not to slam the door closed—I forced myself to push it closed gently, but as soon as it latched, I threw the deadbolts. Letting my purse fall to the floor, I leaned my forehead against the door, sucking in a deep breath to calm my nerves.

  My hands were still shaking. My entire insides felt like they were shaking. I was James Bond’s martini: ‘shaken, not stirred.’ Of course, that was said in the delicious Scottish Sean Connery’s voice, because everyone knew he was the best James Bond. Yeah, I totally watched too many of those old movies with my dad.

  “Milayna.” I flinched at the sound of my dad’s voice coming from the living room. “How’d it go?”

  “Uh, okay, I guess.” My face was still buried against the wood door.

  I’m never moving from this spot. As long as I stand right here forever, my life can’t get any weirder and I can’t screw it up any more than I have already.

  “Did you have fun?”

  Jumping, I slapped my hand over my mouth to hold in a squeal. I turned and let out a breath, dropping my hand. “Chay. What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be slaving over your project?”

  He slipped his fingers in his pockets and shrugged. “I should be working on my project, but there was something more important I needed to do.”

  We seemed to move in concert. He slid his hand under my hair and cupped the back of my neck, and I leaned forward and fisted my hands in his hair, pulling him to me. I tilted my face up to him, and he lowered his lips to mine. I lost myself in his slow, tender kiss. Fingers of warm electricity made its way through my body, sparking off the sides of my veins like the stars of sparklers, and I moaned into Chay’s mouth.

  When he broke our kiss—because, hey, we had to breathe sometime—I said, “Chay, not that I’m not thrilled you’re here, because I am. Beyond thrilled, actually. But, why are you here?”

  “Look in the backyard.” He jerked his head toward the back window.

  I rubbed my temples where an ugly migraine was building. “Ugh, again? How many of them? Just the two?”

  “Nope. Six.”

  “Six. Wonderful,” I sighed. I wasn’t planning to deal with the little red goblins when I got home. “What do they want?”

  “You. I’ve been sitting out there with your dad for an hour. They ignored us. They’re running around like normal, digging up flowerbeds, swinging, trying to climb trees. Someone should really explain that their legs are too short for that.” He chuckled.

  “Let me change clothes, and we’ll go see what they want.”

  “Can I come?” Chay winked.

  I stopped halfway up the stairs and looked down at him with a smirk. “My dad likes you, but I think that would definitely put you on his shit-list.”

  “You’re probably right. I’ll just stand here and enjoy the view.”

  That doesn’t make me feel self-conscious at all.

  I hurried up the stairs, stripped out of what I was wearing, and into my favorite faded jeans and a sweatshirt.

  “‘Kay. Let’s go see what the imps want tonight,” I said when I got back downstairs.

  “I like you like this better.” Chay looked me up and down.
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  “Like what?”

  “Faded jeans, your favorite sweatshirt.” He wrapped a finger around one of my belt loops and pulled me to him.

  “How do you know it’s my favorite sweatshirt?” I laid my hands on his chest.

  “You wear it a lot on weekends.” He kissed the hollow behind my ear. I curled my fingers into him and sighed his name.

  “Mm. Wait, how do you know?” I pulled back and looked at him.

  “I see you. I live behind you, you know.”

  “Hmm, I don’t know if that’s sweet or creepy.” I raised an eyebrow.

  He kissed the tip of my nose. “Sweet, definitely sweet.”

  I laughed. “Okay, whatever you say. Creeper.”

  “The only thing I don’t like is this.” He reached behind me, took the clip out of my hair, and ran his fingers gently through the wavy strands. “You should wear it down.”

  My voice stalled. I let my gaze roam over his face. I drank in his features, his odd-colored eyes that looked more green just then than blue, his strong jaw that had a day’s worth of stubble, and full lips—the bottom just a little fuller than the top, giving him a natural pout that was too damn sexy to be legal and begged to be nibbled on, his dark hair cut short on the sides but left longer on the top, giving him that natural bed head look that was hotter than hell itself. I reached up and smoothed back a lock of hair that had fallen over his forehead. “Okay,” I whispered when I found my voice.

  Chay tilted his head and looked at me. “What?”

  I shook my head. “Nothing. I’m just glad you’re here.”

  “Me too.” Turning me around, he threw me over his shoulder. I giggled as he carried me into the backyard. Chay put me on the edge of the deck and sat next to me, his arm wrapped around my shoulder.

  “Milayna’s here,” one of the hobgoblins cheered, smiling wide.

  “Yeah, I’m here. What are you doing here?” I rolled my eyes and buried my face in the curve of Chay’s neck. I was so over the pipsqueak duo.

  “Did you have fun tonight?”

  Burgundy hoodie. Black boots.

  “I had an okay time, why?”

  “Because Azazel said to tell you—”

  I jumped off the deck and kicked the goblin. He rolled head over butt in the air, cussing the entire time. I turned to Chay. “I need to talk to you.” When he didn’t move, I grabbed the sleeve of his suede jacket. “Now.”

  “What’s going on?” he asked when we were in the house.

  “I was going to text you when I got home. But then you were here and you started kissing me, and you really know how to use your lips.” I reached out and ran my fingers over his bottom lip. “I mean, geez. How’s a girl supposed to think?” His teeth bit into his full bottom lip to hold back a grin, and my eyes stalled on the sight. “Really? Like that’s helping.”

  “Sorry.” He laughed and wrapped his arms around my waist so tightly a whisper couldn’t have squeezed between us. “What’s up?”

  “Jake is changing. Or maybe not. I don’t know for sure.” I put my hand on top of my head. “I just had some flashes of a vision tonight, and I think the person in them was Jake. But, then, I’m not sure.” I flung my hand from my head out to my side. “I think they could be someone else. But part of the vision was definitely about Jake. But the other part wasn’t. I think. I don’t know.” I dropped my arm and my hand slapped against my thigh.

  “Milayna, slow down.” Chay cupped my face. “Start at the beginning.”

  “Okay. I had a vision of a gray hand and a burgundy Abercrombie hoodie and black boots with a silver buckle. You know, like motorcycle boots? So I know someone is going to change. Jake was wearing a burgundy Abercrombie hoodie—”

  He threw his hands in the air. “Damn it, Milayna!”

  I put my hand on my hip. “Let me finish. But he wasn’t wearing black boots. He had white Nikes on. So I don’t know if it’s him or not. I’m not sure what the vision meant. If it was about Jake or someone else. If it was about someone turning… who is it? The person in the hoodie or the boots?” I pinched the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger. “I can’t focus. There’s too much floating in and out of my brain.”

  I grabbed Chay’s arm. “Oh, I almost forgot. When we got here, he asked me the oddest questions. Like if I ever thought of changing or if I would change if it meant saving my family. So I asked him if he’d changed and he said, ‘Hell no.’ When I asked why he was asking me if I would change, he said he was just ‘keeping tabs’ on everyone.” I let out a breath. It felt good to tell someone else. The weight of the visions were crushing.

  Chay’s face turned hard. “I knew we couldn’t trust everyone in the group. But Jake?” Chay shook his head. “He’s one of our strongest. I just never thought he’d switch sides. You’re sure?”

  “No. I mean, I’m sure that someone is switching, but I don’t know who.”

  “Shit.” Chay rubbed his hand up and down the back of his head.

  “Yeah. Come on. Let’s go see what the goblins want before they tear the whole yard up.” I pulled him by the arm toward the back door.

  “Okay, guys,” I said when I walked into the backyard. “Let’s play.”

  They hopped up and down, clapping their fat little hands together. “Yay, Milayna’s playing. Azazel will be happy.”

  “No, I’m not playing with him. I’m playing with you. What’s your game?”

  “He said to tell you that he hopes you had a good time tonight,” Scarface said.

  My stomach sank.

  Chay threaded our fingers together. “Tell him I did, thanks for asking.” I smiled at the goblin.

  “And Azazel wants you to know that the two of them will be good workers.” The friendly goblin smiled at me. He squeezed his hands together so tightly that the tips of his fingers swelled and looked like little red balls.

  “What two?”

  “Nope, that’s no fun! You’ll have to wait and see,” the goblin sang before he popped out of sight, followed by his red, pipsqueak posse.

  Two weeks, three days until my birthday.

  My phone rang at eight o’clock Saturday morning. I pulled my comforter over my head. “Go away,” I mumbled into my pillowcase.

  It could be Chay.

  I snatched the phone off the table. “Hello?” My voice was still raspy from sleep.

  “Good morning, beautiful.” His voice sounded like decadent chocolate drizzled over plump, ripe strawberries. So very sexy.

  “You’re up already? You know, we actually get to sleep in on Saturday mornings.” I stretched in the warmth of my bed.

  “I want to see you.”

  “When?” I tried to hold back a yawn.

  “Now.”

  I laughed. “Now? Are you kidding?” The phone disconnected, and the doorbell rang.

  Pulling my hair into a ponytail, I bounded down the stairs. I opened the door and there he stood. Tall, ripped, and every girl’s dream of handsome.

  And he’s mine, mine, mine, I sang in my head.

  “Chay,” I said, laughing. “What are you doing here?” I tilted my head to the side and touched my fingers to my parted lips. Oh my. He sure beat the hell out of sleeping in. There was a feeling of weightlessness in my chest, a fluttering deep in my belly, and I knew I was in so deep with him.

  “I told you, I want to see you.”

  “Are you in your pajamas?” My breath hitched in my throat thinking of him sleeping… in bed.

  “Sweats and a T-shirt… yeah. So are you.” He grinned in a lazy way that sent my heart galloping.

  Ohmigosh. Hormone overload. He slept in those clothes. And his hair is still messy and he hasn’t shaved and…

  “Who’s at the door?” my dad called.

  “Chay,” I hollered over my shoulder, my voice a little breathier than usual.

  “Is he having breakfast with us?”

  Turning to Chay, I licked my lips and tried to smooth a stray lock of hair behind m
y ear. “Um, do you want to have breakfast with us? We have breakfast as a family every Saturday.”

  Chay looked at the ground and shook his head slowly. “I don’t want to crash your cereal party.”

  I laughed. “He wouldn’t have asked if he didn’t mean for you to stay.”

  He looked at me through his impossibly long, black lashes. “And you?”

  “I always want you,” I whispered. “Always.”

  His lips twitched and he gazed into my eyes. “Then I’d love to have breakfast with you, Milayna.”

  Geez, he looks way too good for this early in the morning.

  “Okay, I’ll be right back.” I started to close the door and then remembered he was still standing on the porch. Grinning, I opened it and rolled my eyes. “Come in.”

  I started toward the stairs when he caught my hand, “Don’t get dressed. I’d feel awkward sitting at your table in my pajamas.”

  “I won’t. I just gotta, you know… ” I made brushing motions in front of my mouth. “Teeth. Dragon breath and all.” I ran upstairs to my bathroom, brushed my teeth, splashed water on my face, and ran wet fingers through my ratted hair, leaving it down like he liked. I walked to the stairs and smiled when I heard him and my dad talking in the kitchen. I wasn’t the only one who liked him.

  “Milayna?” my mom called quietly from her bedroom down the hall. I turned. “Your guy’s here?” She tilted her head toward the stairs, a gleam in her eye.

  “Yeah.” I couldn’t help the smile that stretched across my face.

  She smiled back and winked. “I guess we’d better get breakfast going.”

  “Oh, it’s my week to cook.” I rolled my lip between my teeth.

  “I’ll do it. You two go do whatever it is people do this early in the morning.” She stifled a large yawn.

  “No, that’s okay. I want to.” I hurried downstairs.

  “Hey.” Chay held his hand out to me.

  “Hey.” I slid my hand in his and he pulled me to him, kissing my temple. His lips were soft and warm, and I had to concentrate on what I was going to say. “Uh, I forgot this is my week to cook, so we can talk in here.” I pulled him behind me to the kitchen.

  “Wherever is great. I could help.”

  I turned to him. “You want to?”

  “Sure, what are we cooking?” Looking around the kitchen, he picked up an egg-shaped timer. He turned it over in his hands like he’d never seen one before.