Jacob Michaels Is... The Omnibus Edition: A Point Worth LGBTQ Paranormal Romance Books 1 - 6

by Chase Connor

  Lucas turned his head to look at me in the dark as we walked.

  “Not the exciting answer you expected?” I teased.

  “Not exactly.”

  “That’s how most of my movies have gone. Soundstages, sets, green screens, editing geniuses throwing it all together.” I shrugged. “I mean, I’ve had scenes where the people I had dialogue with weren’t even there. It’s all just clipped together afterward. Movie magic.”

  “That seems…boring.”

  Laughing, I nodded in response.

  “Yeah.” I relented. “Making movies isn’t nearly as exciting as people think. At least not when you do those big budget movies with lots of special effects and stunts. I’m sorry I pulled back the curtain, Dorothy.”

  Lucas chuckled at me, pulling me more tightly into his body.

  “It’s okay,” He said, “I guess I was just hoping that you were as scared making it as I was watching it.”

  “Sorry. I almost always had stage fright when I did concerts, though, if that helps. Paralyzing, crippling fear where I wasn’t sure I could even take one step towards the stage without tossing my cookies. Or pissing down my own leg. Facing thousands of live people on a stage is much worse than being on a set giving reactions based on what was shouted to me by the director.”

  “Directors shout what to do?” Lucas laughed. “How the hell does that work? I mean, wouldn’t that end up in the audio or whatever?”

  “The audio is stripped,” I explained. “Then they add in ambient and environmental noise, sound effects, maybe music. ADR saves it.”

  “ADR?”

  “Looping, dubbing, whatever.” I shrugged against him as I snuggled deeper into his side. “I spent a lot of time in a sound booth, making breathing noises, stuff like that. Just so they could add it to the audio so that no one would know that the scene was originally silent.”

  “That seems like a lot of work.”

  “Time-consuming but not all that difficult,” I replied. “There are a lot of things you could do at work that are worse than breathing into a microphone.”

  Lucas laughed loudly.

  “I wish I could have been there with you.” Lucas sighed as he held me close, leading us along the trail. “If we knew then what we know now, we would’ve stayed together, and I could have seen it all with you. I hate that we lost a whole decade of being together, babe.”

  “Me too.”

  “Don’t sound so sure of yourself.” Lucas chuckled and kissed the top of my head.

  “I’m sorry.” I looked up at him. “I didn’t mean to sound unenthusiastic at the prospect.”

  “Good.”

  Lucas continued pulling me along beside him, our arms finally loosening and our bodies moving apart so that we could hold hands, fingers intertwined, and walk along the trail easily. We continued to walk in silence, no more questions about the less than magical process of making movies. Every now and then, Lucas would pull my hand up and plant a kiss on it before smiling at me as we walked along. The gesture, though it would have made me uncomfortable when I had first returned to Point Worth, now felt wonderful. Having Lucas show me affection in any way—especially now that I remembered everything from my teenage years—made me love him even more.

  The depth of my love for Lucas threatened to unnerve me deep down since Lucas and I had only been “going out” for a little over a year before I left for Hollywood. Then we were separated for a decade before we even so much as laid eyes on each other again. How did a love that barely had time to bloom pick up almost exactly where it left off—especially since we hadn’t remembered anything when I returned to Point Worth? Was that a sign of fate or destiny? That we were meant to be together? Or was it just proof of our love for each other that we never forgot how right we felt together?

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Lucas panted from above me, both of us naked, the rough ground in the woods our bed.

  “We may never have another chance,” I replied.

  “That’s not a good enough reason.”

  “It is for me.” I had said. “If I never get a chance to do this with the only person I’ve ever loved…”

  Lucas smothered my mouth with a kiss.

  Before I had left Point Worth for Hollywood, before I had jumped into the well the first time, Lucas and I had made sure to consummate our relationship. Maybe that was what made the memory of our love for each other so strong that it just couldn’t be broken. Even by magic. I wanted to be scared, realizing that mine and Lucas’ love affair might be destiny, but I wasn’t. My only concern involved what was to come—which I had no idea what was to come. Butterflies danced a rave in my stomach as I considered that Lucas might end up hurt. I could never live with myself. Especially if it happened before he had a chance to remember the same things I did.

  We got to the end of the peninsula, and I stopped, looking out at the dark lake and the darker Grassy Island in the distance. Lucas was pulling at my hand, urging me to round the trail so that we could walk back towards Cullen Park along the other side of the peninsula. Instead, I let his hand slide from mine as I stared out at the cold water, the moonlight catching the crests of the small waves as they lapped towards shore. My mind was made up. I just needed Lucas to go along with it.

  “What are you doing, babe?” Lucas asked as he stepped back over to stand beside me. “See something?”

  I turned to Lucas.

  “No.” I shook my head. “If I asked you to do something with me, would you do it? Even if it’s a little crazy?”

  Lucas grinned evilly in the moonlight, half of his face blue, the other nearly black.

  “Not that.” I smiled. “At least, not right now.”

  “Damn.” He sighed. “Then what?”

  “Come on.” I reached down and twined my fingers through his and stepped towards the water.

  Lucas started to follow me automatically before he realized that I was headed towards the water.

  “Wait.” Lucas jerked at my hand gently. “Rob. That water is freezing. Do you—do you want to go in the water?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “I can’t tell you until we’re in the water,” I said.

  “Why?”

  “Say ‘why’ one more time.” I teased.

  Lucas produced a gentle smile.

  “Explain, please.” He said.

  “I will.” I nodded slowly. “If you walk out into the water with me. Just up to our knees. We don’t have to get too wet.”

  “Why can’t we talk here?”

  “We need to be in moving water.”

  “Sure.” He nodded humorously. “Makes perfect sense.”

  “Do you trust me?” I asked. “Because I need you to trust that I’m not doing this to just fuck with you.”

  “Of course, I trust you.” He replied quickly. “Can I…at least take my shoes and socks off?”

  I chuckled. “Yeah. Let’s do that.”

  Lucas kicked his shoes off slowly, as though convincing himself that he really wanted to follow through with the thing I was asking him to do. I followed suit, kicking off my shoes, using the toes of one foot to pry off one shoe, then repeating the action. I stripped my socks off and tossed them down on top of my shoes, then held a hand out for Lucas to hold for support as he pulled his socks off. When we were both barefoot, I pulled Lucas toward the water once more, and he didn’t hesitate this time.

  The water was freezing. Lucas hadn’t been wrong. It bit at my toes and ankles as I stepped into the Maumee. Lucas hissed beside me as the water touched his bare flesh, but I kept my hand on his, pulling him deeper into the slowly moving water. Walking through the water wasn’t quite excruciatingly painful, but it was far from pleasant. However, I knew that having water moving past our legs was the only way I could tell Lucas what I needed to tell him. It would be the only way I could do what I needed to do if Lucas agreed. Carlita had said so—and I was prone to trusting Oracles. Especially if they also had a drag q
ueen persona.

  Finally, once we were standing knee deep in the water, the pants of our legs soaked and our feet freezing as we stood on the smooth pebbles under our feet, I turned to Lucas. He mimicked my action as my hand slid out of his. Reaching out, I put a hand behind his head and pulled him down to me, placing my lips gently against his. Lucas seemed unsure of what was going on, but his lips met mine. And when I finally pulled away, the confusion was replaced with happiness as his eyes fluttered open to look at me.

  “I love you,” I said.

  “I love you, too.”

  “No.” I shook my head. “I’ve loved you for nearly twelve years, Lucas. I’ve loved you since we were…I guess, boyfriends…before I left for Hollywood. You kind of know that part. But I’ve loved you since we decided the only way to be safe was for me to disappear.”

  “Wha—”

  “Since before we decided that I should use magic to make us safe. I’ve loved you that long, Lucas.”

  Lucas just stared at me, his face etched with worry.

  “I’ve loved you since we made love in the woods behind Oma’s house when we were sixteen—the night before I left for Hollywood.” I felt my throat clenching up. “I’ve loved you since Jason and his pack were trying to recruit you. I’ve loved you since I told you about the Kobolds in Oma’s house when we were sixteen, and you weren’t even unnerved. I’ve loved everything about you since we first met.”

  “Rob…”

  “Do you want to remember how long you’ve loved me?” I asked gently.

  “When?”

  “A few nights ago.”

  “How?”

  “I won’t tell you.” I shook my head slowly. “Unless you want to have your memories back. If you don’t want your memories back, then we will act like this never happened. We will go back up there—”

  I pointed towards shore.

  “—put on our socks and shoes, finish our romantic walk, then go home and make love all night.” I continued. “But I want you to make the decision for yourself which thing you want to do. Because I don’t want to force you one way or the other. Having your memories back can put us both in more danger. Not having your memories could put us in danger. And, who knows, maybe having your memories back will make you go whack-a-do. I don’t have the answers to any questions that might be flooding through your mind. But I have your memories. If you want them.”

  “Where?”

  I tapped a finger against my head.

  “Those are your memories.” He whispered.

  “I brought yours with me,” I said. “Just like I promised I’d do. Ten years ago. When we promised that everything was temporary and I would come back. I will never break a promise to you.”

  Lucas stared at me for the space of several breaths, then his arms rose, and he took my hands in his. He looked down at his hands holding mine, both of us chilled to the bone, though we couldn’t concentrate on the cold. I waited as patiently as I could as Lucas looked at our hands in the near darkness, only the moon shining down on us, then he finally looked up.

  “Why didn’t you tell me you got our memories back?”

  “I didn’t know how much danger it would put you in,” I said apologetically. “I didn’t know if telling you would make things better or worse. But now I know that either way we may be fucked. And I knew it was your choice to decide if you want to know everything you’re supposed to and be fucked, or be ignorant and fucked.”

  The corner of Lucas’ mouth turned up.

  “Are all the memories happy?” He asked, reticently.

  “The ones about us are.”

  That was the best answer I had.

  No one has only good memories.

  “Will they make me feel differently about you?” He was chewing at his lip.

  That made my heart soar—but I would not be distracted from the task at hand. Lucas had to make a decision.

  “I don’t think so,” I said. “But…you can remember everything. Know me as a complete person. Then you can decide if you still feel the same about me. I’m willing to take the risk that you won’t love me anymore if having your memories back is what you really want. I don’t want to take away your autonomy, Lucas. I want us both to be whole people. To know each other fully. I don’t want this relationship to go forward with anything but the full, unadulterated, ugly truth.”

  “Then, I want my memories.”

  “You sure?” I squeezed his hands. “I won’t be mad if you don’t.”

  “Rob,” He sighed, “I want to love you and everything about you. You telling me that you don’t want to take my choice away from me lets me know that this will not change how I feel about you.”

  I nodded and slowly slid my hands away from his.

  “Will this hurt?” He asked softly, barely audible over the sounds of the gentle waves of the lake lapping towards shore.

  “Just stings a bit.” I smiled.

  Lucas smiled back.

  “Look at me,” I said.

  Lucas squared his shoulders and planted his feet, his eyes locking onto mine as I stared back up into his. I’d never performed magic like this before, but I somehow just knew what to do. Lucas’ jaw seemed to clench as I raised my hand to lay it against the side of his head. His eyes bore into mine as I smiled up at him, hoping that he felt at ease, not scared. I didn’t want Lucas to be afraid of what was to come, because I knew that it would be okay. At least, I was pretty sure that Lucas would not be sorry for the choice he made.

  “Ready?” I asked gently.

  His nodded as I held my hand against his head, caressing his hair under my fingers. I nodded back and took a deep breath. Below us, I could feel the water insulating us from the world, ready to sweep away anything that we might do, to hide our acts from anyone who might use it against us. Setting a werewolf on fire doesn’t draw a lot of attention. Reversing a magical act would set off beacons all over the place. And there was one particular person I wanted to make sure wouldn’t notice it.

  With a small force of will, I concentrated on wanting Lucas’ memories, where they were trapped in my brain, to be returned to him. I wanted every decision he made moving forward to be informed, not based on something he just knew. Just knowing things is okay, if that’s how you’re wired, but memories and experience help to make informed decisions. Lucas could love me all he wanted, but it couldn’t be the only thing he based his decisions on.

  The jolt of magic that shot from my head, down my neck, around my shoulder, and up my arm, into Lucas’ skull was quick and powerful. But it was completely invisible, imperceptible—unless you were one of us. I winced at the pinching sensation that traveled like a bolt of lightning, only to find Lucas’ eyes rolling back in his head. Quickly, I moved my hands to his shoulders to steady Lucas so that he would not crash into the river, thoroughly soaking and chilling himself. Lucas swayed on his feet as his eyes flicked to the back of his head, the whites of his eyes appearing to shimmy in his head as I kept him on his feet. Suddenly, he was looking at me again.

  “Lucas?” I whispered.

  For a split second, Lucas looked confused, as though he had no idea who he was or where he was. Then he gasped, and tears started to well in his eyes.

  “Rob.”

  “It’s me,” I replied, simply.

  “Oh, my God.” He croaked. “I missed you so much.”

  I felt my eyes begin to well with tears as I reached out to pull his body into mine. But then we were both falling into the river, water gushing up around us in waves.

  Chapter 12

  Icy cold water gushed into my mouth and up my nose as my back slammed into the rocky river bottom. Lucas was torn away from my arms when he went flailing as well. Immediately, I began trying to spin in the water, searching him out, but I couldn’t push away from the river bed. In fact, it felt like I was being shoved harder into the river floor. As my arms flailed, they found purchase on the thing holding me down. Someone’s foot was on my chest, pushing into my sternum, h
olding me against the rocks that were digging into my shoulder blades through the layers of my coat and shirt.

  Water continued to gush up my nose, but I wisely shut my mouth tightly as the boot the person was wearing attempted to crush my sternum as it held me under the water. My heartbeat was thundering in my ears as I thrashed and flailed but still could not get myself out of the water. A headache started to form as my oxygen began to be depleted. I hadn’t had time to think to take a big breath before I was pushed under the water. I knew I would pass out quickly if I didn’t figure out how to get out of the water and take a breath, fill my lungs with life-giving air.

  With my last surge of brainpower, I wrapped my hands around the ankle of the person standing on my chest and thought: fire. Even underwater, the magic sparked in my hands and red and golden fire poured forth, enveloping the ankle and foot of my attacker. The person leaped away, and I pushed away from the riverbed with the last bit of strength I had.

  Breaching the surface of the water was quick—we had been standing in less than two feet of water—and I gasped loudly, water flying in all directions as I flailed. I continued to suck in air as I whipped my head around, sending droplets of water flying off of my head and body in a million directions. Screaming and the light cast by the fire caught my attention, and I whipped my head around, anger rising up within me. A man who I had never seen before was dancing around in the water, fire dancing up his leg as he did his best to extinguish it. But neither the slapping of his hands against his leg or the water itself would put it out. Water doesn’t extinguish fire if it’s started with magic.

  I rose to my feet in the water as the man’s eyes locked on mine, pleading with me to make the fire stop. Instead of feeling pity for the man’s agonizing shrieks and the fear and pain quite obviously displayed on his face, I felt rage. Willing more fire to the palm of my hand, I stared into the man’s eyes as they grew wide at the sight of me holding fire in my palm. Then I shoved my hand in his direction and fire shot out in a pillar of destruction towards him. The man howled like an animal as the fire washed over his body, enveloping him in red and golden flames. The shrieking seemed to go on forever, but it wasn’t long enough for me as I watched him burn, then fall to the water. The fire suddenly went out. Not because of the water, but because it had finished its job.