“Wait so it’s okay if he’s a mafia don but not a drug dealer?”
“Is he a drug dealer?”
“Of course not. What do I look like to you?”
“My best friend who likes a guy but knows something dangerous and that’s why she’s staying away.”
And that’s why no one should have best friends because they can read between the lines and upside down apparently.
“You might have a point. He’s not with the mafia or dealing drugs. The easiest thing to say is he is with the government and a foreign government has a price on his head and whoever he shows interest in.”
“That’s not funny Jade. In fact, that is scary as hell. Someone is trying to kill him?”
“Yeah.” Her shoulders slumped and the urge to give into tears was there but she fought it. Looking at it from this point of view was an eye opener she didn’t want. To be with him meant disappearing from everything she knew.
“No man is worth that Jade.”
“What if it’s not about the man Em, but it’s about me?”
“What do you mean?” She stood and plopped herself down on the couch next to Jade.
“What if I want something different? Something that can’t be found in the conformity of these four walls or the job where I work.”
“Why? You have a good job, you make good money. Anytime you want you can buy a house or a better car. I know you can find a man who doesn’t have a price on his head if you try.” She gave a soft laugh. “Come on Jade, daydreams, and reality are different.”
“Are they? Or are they only different because we put them into different boxes and refuse to allow them to intermingle with each other? A long time ago Em when I was in college. I stood on this edge with some of my friends. We called it the edge of nowhere and made up stories about it. Many years later here I am and I am just beginning to understand that unless you're willing to step off that edge into what might be nothing you will never find what you’re looking for.
“Don’t ask me why. I just know that I want more from life than I have. I feel like the Christian who wants to see God’s power flow through her. Use me, Lord, to heal or raise the dead. I feel like the medium who wants to speak to spirits on the other side. I feel like someone who wants more than the world says they should have. Maybe I’ve been drinking and I’ll be more level headed tomorrow.”
“I don’t understand Jade, maybe I never will. But you’re my best friend and I don’t want to lose you. Since I’m here, why don’t I raid your fridge and see what I can make.”
“Did you think you were leaving without cooking? Silly woman! Last one to the kitchen.” They took off running. Em got there first, just like Jade planned.
It was hard for her to tell Em what lived deep within her soul. It was so different from what the world deemed as acceptable. Over the years she had learned to keep up appearances, but not to really fit in.
They laughed cooked and ate, then it was time to say good night.
“Hug,” Jade opened her arms wide as Em walked in them. “I love you Em. I love all my friends, but you have always been by my side.”
“This sounds a little too much like goodbye for me.”
“Nah, it’s just a reminder. A long time ago you gave me a lecture about Icarus. Do you remember that?”
“I do. I told you not to fly to close to the sun.”
“I thought about that long and hard. What it meant, the moral it’s supposed to represent.”
“You never did like it.”
Jade looked at the mirror hanging on the wall where they were standing. In it, she saw Em with her paler skin her head resting on Jade’s shoulder. Then she saw herself with her darker skin hugging Em like tomorrow would never come for them. There was a time that their friendship, their love as sisters was flying to close to the sun.
“In the end, Em he got off the ground. Most of us never will. We're so worried about how far we can fly we forget to see if we can even fly.”
“I wish I had your strength or convictions.” Em kissed her cheek and wiped her tears as she walked through the door. “I love you, Jade.”
Jade stood staring at her closed door for a long time, memorizing what it looked like to see Em walk through it. When she was sure her voice wouldn’t crack, she called up the paranormal restaurant and made a reservation for Friday. Dinner for two.
Chapter Six
Friday night couldn’t come fast enough…until it was here. Jade was in her car winding through the streets remembering how much she hated driving on the weekend and how much she hated drivers in general. She was not going to succumb to road rage even though she wanted to give the guy who cut in front of her the one-finger salute. Not because he cut in front of her, but because if she hadn’t slowed down, she would have hit him.
It was her absolute pet peeve. How people sped up to be in front of you then hit their brakes to slow down. “Loser,” she grumbled under her breath.
If she didn’t know any better, she’d think she was nervous about going to the restaurant for dinner. That was crazy. Her hands tightened on the wheel as she paid extra attention to where she was going. She was in a high-end area of town. One of the places you went to when you had money to hang out. No seedy bars here, but there were plenty of bars and clubs with young people wearing the hottest and trendiest clothes waiting to get in.
Restaurants lined the streets and two or three blocks away was the cultural district with theaters and plays. The further down the street she got the fewer bars and restaurants until there was none. When she turned the bend all she could see was The Theme. It was close enough to the others that it shared the same neighborhood and far enough away that no one was coming here by accident. In other words, it was perfectly located.
The outside was done in a dark blue that almost looked black as the evening settled in on it. It had hints of gold, giving it an elevated touch of class.
She turned her keys over to the valet and greeted everyone with a smile. They opened the door for her and she walked in to see a different Maitra d from the first time she was there.
“Name and restaurant?”
“Hi, Jade Steele, paranormal restaurant.” Jade watched the brunette search for her name until she lifted her head with a speculative look.
“Follow me, please.”
They walked back to the elevator from the first time she was there. This time she didn’t push the button for the second floor. They got off on the third.
The room was large with dim lighting. There were seven booths in the room from what she could tell. Each booth seemed to be surrounded by tall plants that gave it privacy as well as being away from the other booths. There was a white noise generator in the background that would keep conversation from traveling.
“Are you sure I’m in the right place?” Jade asked when she was escorted to the most private booth on the floor.
“Yes, Ms. Steele. Your dinner companion will join you shortly.” She left two menus on the table and walked away.
Jade looked around before she sat. She wasn’t as surprised to be here as she should have been. When she made the reservation for dinner, she made it for two but declined to give a second name. She thought, hoped that Lyrek would find out about it and see it as the invite it was to dine with her.
Now she was nervous. Plotting this in the comfort of her apartment was one thing, living it out was another. She knew that by dining on this floor, Lyrek was endeavoring to keep her identity a secret. That wouldn’t last for long if she kept seeing him. A choice was coming, it was going to be thrust into her life. Before she came, she thought she was ready to make that hard choice, now not so much.
“Jade.” She shivered at the way his tongue curled around her name.
“Lyrek.” She stood so he could wrap her in his powerful arms. The strength of him made her feel safe and protected. His masculine scent made her feel even more feminine.
“Were you surprised?” she asked after she sat down.
&nbs
p; “I was. That you were able to surprise me is intriguing. I never expected to see you again after the other night. The risks.” He gave a slight shrug to his shoulders and greeted the waitress with a smile when she came for their drink orders.
Jade wanted to do a lot, but rush towards death wasn’t one of them. So why was she here? It was the question she needed to be able to answer by the end of the evening.
“Jade? A glass of merlot?”
“Yes, please.”
The low hum of voices she associated with a restaurant wasn’t there. It made her agitated. Why was she here? The waitress brought their drinks and left again with their dinner orders. She took a sip of her merlot and calmed down. It was smooth with a pleasant taste.
“You confound all those you meet.”
He said it as a statement and not a question, that made her smirk.
“Maybe. Let’s say I’m different.”
“From the casual thrill seeker or the more dedicated one?”
She processed those words. There was a time someone saying something like that to her would have pissed her off. She acknowledged his need to know what she was looking for and what he was getting into.
“I have lived my life quietly. I have the quintessential good job, money, and a nice place to live. I am by no means rich, but I won’t starve or freeze if I lost my job tomorrow. Some would say that I have achieved part of the American dream. I don’t have the husband, the two point five kids or the dog, but I have or can have everything else. I don’t chase excitement. Some do, I’m content with friends, books, and television, not necessarily in that order.”
“You are sitting here with me after I told you to be seen with me was a death sentence.”
“I had hoped that part of that night along with the otherworldly guns was a dream.” She gave him a wry smile letting him know she forgot nothing. “Yet I am here. At first, I thought maybe it’s the decision that happens before someone decided to knock over their first liquor or corner store. The more I thought about it the more I realized I’d be the criminal that did it because I needed milk and pampers for my baby.”
They sat quietly as the waitress brought their dinner as well as another round of drinks.
“You would do something criminal for another but not for yourself.” He looked her over with a slow nod to his head.
“That doesn’t make it right.”
“You’re not going on a killing spree.”
“No,” her laughter was light and high. “I definitely am not killing anyone, if I can help it.” She went with seafood. The lobster was to die for.
“That gets us no closer to why you are here.”
“I then thought of the government. The CIA or the FBI and the spies that work for them. That sounded more plausible. I could help my country I could help your people. Someone needed to work against the Hydal.”
He laughed when she said the name of his enemy.
“What?” He pronounced the name. “There is no way I would ever be able to say that.”
“Your voice box and your tongue weren’t meant to speak the extra sounds. I laughed because hearing you say their name was cute.”
She blushed, there was no way her dark skin was going to hide this.
“You’re doing your civic duty being here?”
“That’s a possibility. I assume that anyone being recruited to spy is given a choice.”
“What choice would you make?” His gold eyes looked her over before entangling with her gaze.
Jade found herself needing to take deep breaths to control her breathing although it did nothing for her heart that was racing. The slow wicked smile on his lips said he knew what was happening.
“I’d say no. I don’t need danger or excitement in my life to be happy.” She was telling the truth. Danger never excited her and dangerous men left her cold. She’d seen too many instances of abuse and knew of too many deaths from running around with the wrong person. She was boring, she would rather sit by the fire and drink hot chocolate as opposed to ski down the hill in winter. She loved roller coasters and feeling her heartbeat careen out of control as she screamed her head off. But that wasn’t why she was here.
“You’re not here for the thrill of it or the adrenaline dump. Why are you here Jade?”
This was the answer she needed, the one she had been trying to avoid all week. To come clean was to lay herself bare.
“There are a lot of things in this life I can do without. I proved that to myself when I kept my eye on the prize. I knew what I wanted, and I let the things that wouldn’t take me there go. I had plans. Not big plans, but plans. You work and you die, but at least I would have lived life according to what I believe is right.
“Have you ever heard the statement, ‘life is what happens while you plan?’ I never believed it till today.”
Jade stood the need to move was riding her hard. She paced in front of her booth noticing for the first time that they were all alone.
“Come with me.” Lyrek took her hand and led her to the elevator. It let them out on the roof. The warm city air surrounded her while the darkness of night offered her a layer of comfort. The stars seemed that much closer. She closed her eyes and lifted her hands hoping she might touch one.
“The stars are more of an illusion in the city. You can’t really see them, they’re a tease. Still, this is one of my favorite places in the city. The noise is muffled, we use a white noise generator up here too. The stars play peek-a-boo with you. If I close my eyes and breathe deeply of what’s being cooked downstairs, I can almost believe I am home again.” The sorrow in his voice threatened to rip her apart.
She took a step, then two and three towards him until her hands were pressed against his chest. She hugged him pressing her face against him as tears she didn’t want to control began to flow. She had never lost a home, but she had seen the devastation from fires and floods. She had never lost a planet, but she had seen the devastation of cities and countries from war. There was no way she’d understand what it was like to watch your whole family die in front of you, but empathy. She had that in spades. Loss, she understood it, just not at his level.
His pain reached out to her finding a home within her soul. If it was just his pain, she’d run and never look back. It was his joy too and his laughter. She felt him in a way she never felt another person. When she wasn’t with him, she felt like she was drowning. The need for him was that strong. How do you confess that?
“When I am around you, I feel like together we can handle any problem that comes our way.” She pressed her face against his chest both wanting to look at him, but not ready. “I know that doesn’t make sense. I can live my life without a lot, but I don’t want to live it without you. The last two weeks every color has been brighter, every minute alone has been painful. There are days I wake to the scent of you imprinted on my skin. I can live without a lot, but I don’t want to live without you.”
“Abraza,” he whispered in her ear. “I didn’t think, I couldn’t hope to meet you under the circumstances. I was prepared to live and die with no hope for me or my people. A life with me won’t be easy. It will mean giving up everything you know, turning your back on your friends. Are you sure I’m worth that Jade?”
“Yes.”
Chapter Seven
Jade woke up early Saturday. The sun was shining through the curtains in her bedroom that she forgot to close last night. She never expected to see this place again. Lyrek had insisted that she take one more day and think about what she was giving up to be with him. Her mind was made up, but she respected him enough to take the day.
She had placed her resignation in her boss’s Inbox knowing she would find it Monday. The management company knew she would be moving. The person who didn’t know was Em. That was the one part that hurt. Jade was a coward, there was no way she could tell her friend goodbye. She would send her an email asking her to clean out her apartment and tell her she was okay but she couldn’t look into Em’s big blue eyes
and say goodbye. She loved Em like she was her twin sister. To hurt her was like hurting herself and Em would be hurt.
She would take her with her if she could, but she’d never do anything to put her life in danger. She shivered; soon quiet, dull Jade would be hunted. All her life she avoided the drama and now she was living in the midst of it.
Lyrek better be worth it. The smile she wore at the thought of his name told her everything she needed to know. The fact that she would probably die wasn’t going to stop her. Her government was after her and his enemies were after her. Her life expectancy had taken a sudden and severe dive.
She was going to live the one life she had to the best of her ability. She spent the day getting together the things she couldn’t live without. There was a picture of her posse. They were all smiling that day. Laughing over being large and in charge. The collection of sandcastles Em had given her over the years.
“One day you’ll be a queen, Jade. I want you to have your choice of castles.”
She choked down her tears and kept gathering her possessions. She left distinct things for Em. She could have whatever was left but there were a few things she wanted her to have, like the bracelets she loved. Her early Christmas gift was already wrapped and hidden, she took that out.
The last thing she did was sit down and write Em a letter. The old-fashioned kind that couldn’t be traced. One last look at her place, then she walked out with only the things that were important to her. In her one hand, she clutched a picture of Em and her favorite sandcastle.
Lyrek was waiting outside. She walked into his arms. He held her tight before he wiped the tears that came.
“I’m not weak,” she sniffed and told him.
“You just turned your back on everything you know for me and my people. You’re the strongest woman I know.”
She handed him the key to her apartment and got into the car.
“What now?” she asked after he pulled away from the curb.
Melody Embraced Page 4