I held my hands up creating an Abby-bubble. “No! If those touch me, I’m cooking tonight!”
“What’s wrong with you, Caleb?” Hannah held him back. “Drop the guts, Caleb, drop them! She’ll do it, I know!”
Caleb feigned panic. “No! I’m sorry, Abby. Don’t cook. Whatever you do, don’t cook, woman!”
They laughed again and I rolled my eyes, which made them laugh harder.
Hooting and hollering ruined our fun as two guys pulled their aluminum boat to shore and dragged coolers onto the bank. After setting up chairs and grabbing beers, they got louder. The Wrights glared at them. Even wasted, they caught fish, and I was surprised their loud obscenities didn’t scare them away. The bigger guy took no shame in blessing a spruce tree with three women in visible distance.
Xander grabbed me and grunted. “Come on. Let’s keep those cute ears and beautiful brown eyes innocent.” Taking my hand, we left for camp.
Xander started a fire, Caleb cooked, and I helped the girls get the picnic table ready. Some of the forest animals devoted to the Fabulous Four swooped in and grabbed the scraps from the dirt.
A blue pick-up truck rolled in and we heard the familiar drunk voices pull into the next site. By their stumbling and lewd gestures, I guessed they hadn’t improved on their sobriety. This might be a long night.
The angels were anxious for nightfall, and I had to laugh at their faces, like kids ready to open birthday presents. Calista and Hannah changed and the boys were shirtless. We walked to a remote part of the woods so the angels could reveal their true forms.
Xander lifted me up and we were off. It was a beautiful, clear night with a half-moon haloed by deep blue rings. If there were any campers looking up, they might have seen four lights darting around the sky. I wondered if the angels had ever been seen before.
“Can you fly fast with me?” I asked.
“You sure?”
I nodded, smiling.
His smile matched mine, and it seemed as though he had been waiting for me to ask. Xander changed his hold with my back to his chest and he linked both arms around me.
“Let me know if you feel sick,” he whispered. His lips skimmed my ear, then my neck. Tingles shot down my body and my skin warmed as I craned for more, but he stopped and I cooled, embarrassed for my enthusiasm.
He bolted in the sky, more daring and faster than normal. The ground blurred and the individual trees were indistinguishable. Below looked like a dark green carpet underneath the midnight sky. Xander swerved and rolled expertly through and around the treetops. Intermittently, a light swirled in front of us, but I couldn’t tell who was who.
With a few more turns, my stomach twisted and I felt too hot and confined. Xander sensed my nausea and slowed down, turning me, his skin warming. Placing my hands under his wings, the immense power of them beat against me and his feathers tickled my skin. I snuggled into his bare chest and breathed in his Heavenly scent. The increase of air rushing by my ears alerted me to our quickened pace.
His voice vibrated against my forehead. “Do you know when I chose you?”
“No, when?”
“After I asked you on our first date. I was flying and stopped on a hill that overlooked the city. I spoke to God about you and told Him that I wanted to stay with you. I wanted to share the spot on Earth where I chose to make you mine.”
My head snapped up. “Our lookout point?” He nodded and I said, “There’s so much about you I don’t know.”
He blinked, considering my observation. He knew I was right. He still kept secrets from me. “The most important thing you must know is how much I love you, and how much I can’t wait to spend our lives together.”
Risking the rejection, I kissed his jaw and followed down the column of his throat, feeling the slight scratch of hair against my lips.
He groaned, “Oh, why do you have to do that?”
“Sorry,” I mumbled, feeling another sting of refusal.
“I’m not. Let’s get back to the tent.” His voice was deep and husky.
Finally! “Such a guy.”
It didn’t take long to realize his siblings followed us and I fought to hide my disappointment. When someone uttered, “s’mores,” I knew whatever moment I had was gone. Food won out and we sat and ate by the campfire. I lost count after Caleb’s tenth. “S’mores have to be the best thing ever!” His blue eyes lit up, sucking marshmallow from his finger.
“Don’t you guys ever get stomachaches?”
They smiled and shook their heads. Xander assembled more sandwiches.
Armed with my toiletries, I headed to the bathroom structure and Bozo trotted along. I brushed my teeth, used the facilities, and changed into a pink sleep shirt after exhausting two baby wipes per body part. I was grimy from one day in the woods, desperate for a shower already. Two more filthy days to go.
I started back to camp.
“Hey, pretty little thing,” a man’s voice I didn’t recognize drawled.
Swiveling, the two drunks leaned against the structure, on the opposite side of the one flickering light coated in moths. The men were hefty but lacked the muscular definition of Xander and Caleb. I distinguished scruffy faces, dirty nails, and unfocused eyes.
Bozo stood by me with hackles raised and a growl emitted from his throat. My stomach dropped. Our site was on the other side of the structure; no one could see me over here.
Coming toward me, the taller one said, “We saw you down by the water today. What’s your name?”
My pulse jumped. “Going back to my camp,” I snapped.
Tall Dude held his hands up in mock innocence. “Ho. We’re just being neighborly. I’m Tim. This is Freddy. You from around here?” Both thumbs hooked in his belt loops.
I attempted to step around them, but they came closer and blocked me. Tim looked me up and down, stopping at my chest, and then licked his lips. Bozo bared his teeth and growled again.
As much as I tried to fight it, my voice shook. “My boyfriend’s going to look for me any minute.”
“Well, lucky for us, this will just take a minute,” Freddy slurred. In one movement, his leather belt went slack on either side of his open zipper.
Bozo barked.
Tim shifted behind me and snarled, “You should shut your dog up before I do.” I heard another tinny sound and flipped to Tim. His hand went down his underwear and gripped himself, an evil grin splitting his cracked lips.
“Xan—” Rough flesh that smelled of dirt and sweat covered my mouth. Freddy’s hot breath was sickening, bittersweet on my neck, his arousal pressing into my back. “He ain’t gonna hear you from here, sweetheart.”
I struggled, feeling my pulse jump to unsafe levels and air left my lungs.
Tim’s head craned back and his eyes widened. Freddy let me go, Xander landed in front of me, and I felt Caleb drop behind me with two thuds that vibrated the ground under my feet. Caleb gripped my wrist with a hot hand, calming my rapid heart.
“What do you assholes think you’re doing?” Xander growled, and by the position of his shoulders, I imagined he had on his scary eyes.
Tim’s hand left his pants. “Just sayin’ hello.”
Xander stepped closer, his body coiled. “Really? ’Cause I’ve never said hello to a pretty girl alone in the woods at night with my pants unzipped, holding my dick. You, Caleb?”
“Can’t say that I have. But I have said hello by breaking arms before. It has the unfortunate side effect of impairing one’s ability to hold their dick.”
“That sounds painful,” Xander observed.
Caleb said, “Ah. That would explain the screaming.”
Xander tilted his head at Tim. “What do you say, shit stains? May my brother and I say hello to you?”
Even in the little light, I could see the men blanched. Xander’s hand shot out to Tim’s neck. Looking behind me, Caleb had Freddy in the same hold.
After a long pause, Freddy stammered, “My apologies. We were just going back to our ca
mp and we’ll leave as soon as we’re sober.”
Two pants zipped up.
Caleb seethed, “Next time you find yourself in this situation, don’t even think about saying, hello.” Caleb watched the two men stumble back to their camp.
There was further movement in the woods and rustling leaves; I assumed that because the boys weren’t concerned, it was Calista and Hannah on the perimeter.
Xander turned and held my face. “Are you okay?”
“No. They were about to—” I tried to be strong, but tears burned my eyes. “Xander…”
“What is it?” he asked.
My voice trembled. “I didn’t scream.”
Xander held me tighter. “Yes, you did. We heard Bozo, and right before we dropped down, you called me.”
I shook my head. “No, I should have as soon as I saw them waiting for me and I didn’t. Not until they undid their pants. I knew I was in trouble, but I…I don’t know why.”
His thumbs wiped the tears away. “I hate that I have to say this, but you’re too innocent, too trusting that the good will win out the evil in people. It’s what I love about you and never wish for that to change. But evil exists, Abby, and people do bad things. You can believe in humanity, but trusting them is something different. Trust yourself and what your heart tells you.”
Changing the subject, I asked, “Did you do something to them?”
Caleb nodded without apology, still staring after the men. “We wiped their memory of us jumping over the structure and made a suggestion to leave.”
“Calista and Hannah might be adding to that suggestion as we speak.” Xander looked to the other campsite.
“Oh.”
Xander held out his hand to take me back to camp, but I paused. As if reading my thoughts, he reassured me again, “I’ve never done anything like that to you. It isn’t something we enjoy doing, but to keep you safe, we won’t think twice.”
I nodded, taking his hand and the three of us went back to camp. Leaving Xander by the fire, I went to our tent to calm down and think. How stupid was I? I knew I couldn’t run. I should have been smarter. I should have screamed for help as soon as I saw them. To distract myself, I began fixing the one sleeping bag on top of the wide cot, still unsure of our sleeping arrangements.
Xander came in and I fidgeted. “I’m sorry I didn’t bring a bag. I can sleep on the ground,” I offered.
His brow creased and shook his head. “I assumed we would share it. But if you’re uncomfortable—”
“No. I just didn’t understand the sleeping arrangements.”
His shoulders fell and he sighed. “I would never let you sleep on the ground. Come on, beautiful, it’s late and we’ve all had a long day.”
Xander and I snuggled into the bag and kept it loose, but it warmed quickly from our body heat. I craned my neck to kiss him, but he pressed a kiss to the hollow of my cheek, muttered for me to have sweet dreams, and wrapped his arms around me. Xander didn’t do any more than hold me. I tried to reason that his siblings were a few feet away and they heard our every move, but the fear crept in.
I was an anchor.
57
Xander
I didn’t know if the frequency of her dreams correlated with how tired she was, or it meant something more disturbing—something I didn’t want to consider yet. Her eyes closed, and not long after, Abby’s heart raced, air puffed on my skin, and she gripped my chest. I knew it was coming, the end.
Before she screamed, I took her into my thoughts. Last time she wasn’t quiet, which I would never complain about, but I didn’t want to embarrass her. I took us to a small island with warm blue water, white sand, and a hut on the beach. We swam in the ocean, lay under the shade of the coconut trees, and collected seashells.
I let sleep take me, thinking my intervening would be enough, but she woke up screaming later. My siblings shifted outside and I told them I had her.
Twice in one night, my sweet Abby. It gutted me to see her this way.
“I’m sorry,” she sniffed.
I kissed her and salty tears dripped onto my lips. “Don’t ever apologize. You can’t control it, Abby. I’m sorry you have to suffer like this.” She looked at me with those brown eyes and I wiped her cheeks. “What did you dream?”
The tears flowed faster and her lips wobbled. “It changed again. He found me, before I could get to you. It’s been taking longer and longer to find you, but I always do, always. And I couldn’t. You weren’t there. I was alone with him.”
Crying into my chest, I smoothed her hair down, but I had to fight my own tears forming, her words echoing my fears.
“Can you help me?” she pleaded. Her exhaustion was painful, having no clue the last decent night’s sleep she had.
“Of course I will.” Kissing her forehead, I put my hands to her temples and took her to our spot. Her birthday.
The rest of the night, we slept.
Caleb wanted to go on a fly before the sunrise. I let Abby sleep in, and with Hannah and Calista to watch over her, Caleb carried Bozo.
The scenery here was breathtaking. We sat on top of a flat mountain and Bozo sniffed around, staying close to us.
Caleb and I watched the sunrise, one of our favorite things to do on Earth, marvel at His Creations. From where we perched, His mountains and deep green forests stretched for miles. I wished Abby could have seen the Earth before it was overrun with humans and pollution. Areas like these reminded us of God’s intentions for the human race.
“Her dreams are getting worse, Caleb. She said she couldn’t find me and she was alone with him.”
“Yeah, I heard.” He sighed. “There’s so much we don’t understand. Her existence, her dreams, and that Cresil attacks her in them. It…scares me.” His eyes flashed what I knew. It would come true. Cresil was hell bent on getting my Abby.
We arrived at our empty camp. Caleb and I went to the fishing spot from yesterday to look for the girls. Abby held up a large fish with a full smile, lighting her up beautifully. Light purple rings stained around her eyes from lack of sleep; I kissed them away and planted another on her lips. We stayed a while longer until we had enough fish for dinner.
Sometime during the morning, those two drunks packed up and left the campsite. I made sure to give Bozo extra treats for keeping Abby safe again. She thought that dog was a menace, but he was one of us. He had earned a spot amongst her Guardians.
We had a late breakfast and decided on a hike. I carried Abby most of the way since it was uphill, but she was able to walk downhill. After dinner, I flew her to the spot Caleb and I were at this morning. We brought a sleeping bag and cuddled together under the stars with her head resting on my arm.
“How many kids do you want?” I asked, running my fingers through her hair.
She giggled. “We’re not even married yet!”
I remained serious. “I know, but how many?”
“I don’t know. We can’t even do what we need to do to have kids.” An edge laced her voice, a hardness that I had put there.
Pushing her hair to the side, I kissed her neck, finding that sweet spot behind her ear. “We will one day. I told you, we need lots of practice.”
With a sigh, she thought. “Three like you.” Her eyes sparkled under the stars as she gazed at me.
I drew back, laughing. “I don’t think even you could handle four Xanders. What if we had two like me and one like you?”
Her face fell, bit her lip, and looked away.
“What did I say?”
She shook her head in response.
“Abby?” I tugged her chin up.
Her bottom lip quivered. “I don’t want kids like me. I want them to be strong like you.”
I didn’t realize she would take it like that; I never knew that was a fear of hers. My heart hollowed and I traced her bottom lip. “Abby.”
Without thought, my mouth covered hers and my tongue swept inside. Abby gripped onto me and our kiss became consuming, desperate. I couldn�
��t help but think how much I wanted her, and could have her here and now. My core clenched and I felt thick and swollen with an all-encompassing need for her.
Abby’s hands went under my shirt and mine went to her backside, hauling her against me, feeling so damn good. I thrust my hips into her and she let out a quiet moan. That moan reminded me of what happened last time. I hurt her.
I slowed our kiss down, took my hands off her, and backed my hips away. I gritted my molars out of frustration. Pulling away from her caused an ache in my chest, but I was selfish by allowing my desires to take over.
Her hands fisted my shirt. “You’ve been holding back lately.”
“I know.”
“You’re not putting everything into these practices. What does a girl have to do?” Her playful tone couldn’t mask the sadness in her eyes.
I said, “You only need to be you.”
“Do I stink?”
I kissed the tip of her scrunched nose. “Well, I didn’t want to say anything.”
“Funny.” She whispered, “Am I doing something wrong? Are you not…attracted to me?”
“How can you think that?” I waved to the obvious contradiction to her statement. With a shrug, she looked away and I pulled her face up to mine. “You had to tell me to stop last time. I should know. It shouldn’t have happened.”
“I know I push the limits. I let things get to a dangerous point. It isn’t your fault, Xander. I asked you to take me to your room.”
I interlaced our fingers. “I didn’t do anything I didn’t want to do. I was already thinking it, Abby. Long before you even went into the pool, I wanted it more than you.” I rested my forehead against hers. “I’ve been struggling with certain feelings. This is all so new to me. Too easily, I lose control and I can’t let that happen with you. I want us to wait, but once I kiss you, touch you, it’s damn near impossible to stop.”
“What does that mean for us?”
I didn’t answer her or look at her.
Nodding, she sat up and faced away from me. “If I were normal, we would have made love by now. I’m keeping you from experiencing that.” She swallowed and my anger rose at those awful thoughts swirling in her head. “Xander, maybe it would be best for you if we—”
To Fall (The To Fall Trilogy Book 1) Page 36