“Come to me now, tonight.” he repeated.
“Can you find out where my mother is?”
“Maybe, I don’t know for sure.”
“If I agree, if I will come to you, it will be to find out where she is.”
“He won’t let her go, Charlotte. Not when it is the only way for him to have his own mother back.”
I thought about my next words carefully. It was true, Hayden only wanted me but this didn’t mean that he was squarely on my side, especially if my side didn’t involve surrendering myself to him for eternity. “I just need to know…I need to know that she is all right. That she is okay and being treated well. I will never be able to be with you so long as I’m afraid for her safety.”
“And when you know that, that she is safe and being well cared for…you will just give my father what he wants? Hand him that…yes, it’s a box, hand him that box? Because he will not stop Charlotte, even to leave you alone with me, until he gets what he wants.” He moved towards me, took my hand and pulled me into him again. His hands slid down my back and rested on the swell of my hips. His lips brushed against mine and sent another wave of heat through my body. His hand moved to cradle the back of my neck as the force of his kiss drove his body against mine. When he pulled away, I was breathless and shaking with conflict. “I want to leave Charlotte. Leave it all, with you. If I never see my father again that will suit me just fine.” He ran the back of his finger down my cheek. “But we will have to give him what he wants first.”
“Find her,” I said resisting the sudden urge I felt to kiss him myself. “Find her and I will give him what he wants.”
“And come away with me,” he added. “You will give him what he wants and come away with me.”
I did not hesitate, I didn’t dare. “Yes Hayden. I will come with you.”
He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against mine. Slowly, his head began to nod and a satisfied smile touched his lips. “I love you Charlotte. You are the only person I have ever loved.” He opened his eyes, stared into mine, waited for my response.
A coldness ran through me, an aching dread, like ice slipping through my veins. I swallowed, “I love you too.”
A small laugh of delight blew from his lips. “Say it again. One more time.”
“I love you Hayden,” I could barely whisper the words.
Back on the balcony outside our room, I stood staring at myself, my body, still sitting where I’d left it, so peaceful, so serene, so completely unaware of Caleb sitting on the couch right in front of me.
A sickening worry made my heart pound loud in my head.
What had my body said while my mind was gone?
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
On Guard
His face looked confused, maybe even hurt. He leaned forward and tried shaking my shoulder gently. My body swayed, like a sleeping child unwilling to wake, then settled back to where it had been. Caleb sat back against the couch, ran his hands through his hair and left them there, like he was trying to figure out a tough problem.
As soon as I came back, there would be questions. Questions I had better be prepared to answer. But why was he looking at me like that? Could he somehow know what just happened with Hayden? I needed more time, time to think, time to adjust all the emotions I had about what had just happened with Hayden. I didn’t yet know what to think myself—how could I possibly explain anything to Caleb?
Moving through the glass door, I reentered my body, felt my skin and bones settling around me again, my eyes moved behind my lids for several seconds before I opened them and stared back into Caleb’s worried expression.
“What did you do?” he asked.
“I was trying to find my mother.”
He didn’t say anything, only held my gaze, considered my words. “Why didn’t you tell me you were going back in there?”
“I thought you would try and stop me.”
“You’re right,” his voice boomed. “It’s dangerous.”
“I know how to protect myself.”
“And did you?” there was the slightest edge of accusation in his tone.
“Yes,” a shiver of guilt shot though me. “As best I could.”
"From what?" he leaned forward. "What is in there that you have to guard against?"
I couldn't shake the feeling that Caleb was angry with me. Angry about something other than just going into the astral plane without telling him and, again, I wondered if he somehow suspected what had happened while I was gone. "The darkness," I finally answered. "The astral plane is full of darkness."
He sat back against the cushions again, "And you've always been so afraid of the dark."
That night, I waited until everyone was asleep, then watched the numbers on the digital clock change for a half hour more. I had to be certain they were all asleep, if Sophie or Caleb even stirred enough to sleepily ask me what was going on, I wouldn't be able to do what I was about to.
I could barely bring myself to do it without any questions.
Quietly, careful to not shift the bed, I sat up. A bright flutter of panic erupted at the back of my throat and spread like tendrils of nerves throughout my body. My eyes closed and I took a breath, I can't do this.
You have to.
Forcing myself to not think, I stood up and felt my legs, weak from nerves, strain to move through the necessary motions that would get me out the door. Before bed, I was careful to put clothes I could easily slip on at the top of my case. In the dark, I lifted open my case and grabbed the folded pair of jeans and sweatshirt. Once they were on, I picked my black flats up from the floor next to the side table and crept barefooted towards the door.
The box, Hayden was expecting me to hand the box over to him in exchange for the information about where Emerick was keeping my mother. It was on top of the dresser—I picked it up and tucked it under my arm. I could only hope that Hayden would be true to his word and tell me what I needed to know about my mother.
A few steps from the door, the box began to slip from my arm. Trying to catch it and shift the weight, I dropped one of my flats onto the wood floor and a sickening slap echoed through the room.
I froze. Sophie and Aaron slept like they were dead, but Caleb had always professed to being a light sleeper. At the door, I stopped to watch his form in the darkness, straining to catch any sign that he might be near waking. I couldn’t see his face, only the curve of his back and his mess of hair, he was facing the other direction. His torso expanded and contracted, up and down, several times before I dared to turn the handle.
During the day, the handle seemed to make no sound at all. But in the dead of the night, when I was trying to be as silent as possible, it seemed like the clicking and sliding of the mechanisms shouted my departure into the darkness. I held my breath, took one last look at Caleb to make sure, then slipped out the door and into the brightly lit hallway. Holding the handle open until the door was back against the frame, I released it a centimeter at a time until the door was completely shut and locked behind me.
Slipping into my flats, I ran quietly on the balls of my feet. Halfway down the hall I stopped. The realization hit me like wall.
I’d locked myself out of the room.
The card key I’d meant to take with me was sitting on the side table next to my glass of water. Stupid, stupid Charlotte. I sighed at my clumsiness and started running again, I would have to worry about getting back in undetected later. Right now, I had other things to worry about—like seeing Hayden, in the flesh, for the first time in almost a year.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
False Promise
Hayden’s hotel was one block from where we were staying. The moment he saw me, he began to move. Long, fast steps that charged the distance between us. He was a tidal wave rolling straight towards me. There were several people in the hotel lobby, tourists mainly, up having a late night drink. A few glanced up from their conversations as Hayden swept past them, curious about the scene he seemed about to create.<
br />
When he was only a few steps away, I gently put up my hand, as if to slow him, prevent him. He grabbed that hand in his and used it to pull me into his arms. His chest pressed hard against mine as his arms snaked around my back, his hand pressed the back of my head, it felt like being swallowed alive.
He was bigger than I remembered, taller, broader, but when I managed to wedge my hands between us and push him back a few inches, I could see his face. His eyes looked wild and bloodshot, his face gaunt. Like he was sick, hungry, and desperate all rolled into one. He tried to pull me back to him but I pushed back, “Stop Hayden.”
He closed his eyes and I noticed for the first time the near constant tremor that radiated through him. His hands were shaking.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, surprised by my own concern for him. “Hayden, you don’t look well.”
A closed mouth smile pulled at the skin around his mouth. “I’m fine,” he whispered. When he opened his eyes, I could see a glazed satisfaction settling him. Like he was drunk, or high. I knew he was neither of these things. It was me, it was us. I knew this because I could feel it too—like a profound sense of balance.
“Everything is going to be perfect now,” he leaned forward to kiss me.
I leaned away from him, “Wait.”
His brow deepened and I saw his impatience flare, “I don’t want to wait Charlotte. I’ve been waiting for a year.” He tightened his grip around me and pulled me closer. He lips moved near my ear, “I know where your mother is.”
My heart began pumping hard against my ribs, it was impossible to tell if it was because of Hayden’s presence or his words. “Where?”
Hayden loosened his grip on me, slightly, just enough to use one of his hands to push my hair from my face and neck. “She’s safe.”
“Where is she?”
His finger trailed across the tendon in my neck. He lowered his mouth to the bare space just below my ear. “I’m not supposed to tell you until you give me the box.” I felt his lips hot against my skin.
I didn’t want to, but his kiss made me shiver. Without thinking, my hand moved to his waist and rested there. His mouth moved across the line of my jaw until his lips pressed against mine. When he was this close, it was too easy to forget everything but the rush of being connected to him. When I opened my mouth, he did the same and pushed hard against me.
He was intoxicating. He always had been. His scent, his feel, his presence—the hunger he had for me. The fire that ignited inside my traitorous body. Hayden could always make me forget everything but the physical crush of being with him—almost everything.
“No,” I said, and pulled far away from him with two large steps back. I shook my head and wiped my mouth, embarrassed by the stares we had attracted from some of the people near by. I needed to focus on why I was here. “Where Hayden? Tell me now. Where is she?”
He looked better, like he was suddenly healthier somehow. The smile he now wore was smug, more like the cocky confidence I remembered from last year. He raised his eyebrows and nodded to the box still clutched under my arm. “Is that for me?”
I looked down at it, realizing that in the mad confusion that was Hayden, I had managed to forget its presence against my side. I shifted it to the front of me and held it out to him. “Here, take it.”
Hayden looked at the box, as if he were curious, then shrugged and took it from me.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he shook is head. “It’s just not exactly what I was expecting.”
Cold fear slipped over my skin. I almost protested, almost raised my voice, but quick enough realized that would only make him more suspicious. Instead, I forced my body to relax, smile. “How could you expect anything about an item you’ve never even seen?” I asked trying to make my voice easy and light. The fact was I had no idea how much of my mind Hayden was able to see.
He held the box in his hands, inspected it. “It felt like it would be heavier.”
I laughed to cover my nervousness, “Oh, now your mind reading ability comes equipped with a scale? Now I’ve given you the box, but you still haven’t held up your end.”
His eyes moved from the box to my face. He watched me, waited to see something. I put my hands on my hips and tried to look more impatient than scared.
“Don’t play with me. I want to know now Hayden,” I ordered. “Or I won’t ever be going anywhere with you.”
He took a breath and stood up straighter. “She’s in a…home. Near Belgrade.”
“In Serbia?” Now it was my turn to be suspicious. “What do you mean? Who’s home?”
“More like a hospital.”
I didn’t breathe. My mind raced to figure out what he was saying. “Why would she be in a hospital? Did someone hurt her? What is wrong with her?”
Hayden took two big steps and closed the distance between us. “No one hurt her. Believe it or not, I think my father wants her to be safe. She’s not well I suppose.” He reached for my hand, laced our fingers together. His thumb trailed across the sensitive flesh on my palm. He leaned forward and kissed my forehead. “Come with me now,” he whispered. “I’ll take you to her. Once my father has this box, he’ll let you see her. You can make sure she is okay and then you and I can just disappear into this world.”
This snapped me from my confusion. “What do you mean…disappear?”
“I mean, as soon as we give my father what he wants, you and I will be set up for life Charlotte. We can go anywhere, do anything…we can be together and never have a care in the world.”
I stared up at him, still not sure I understood what exactly he was saying.
“He will give us money Charlotte. Lots of it. He will pay for us to live, very well, for the rest of our lives.”
“How do you know this?”
“Because he sat me down and made the offer. If you will come with me, give him this box,” he lifted the box into the air. “And stop doing whatever it is you’re doing with that drudge and his sister, he is prepared to pay for us to live in luxury forever. You’ll never have to do another thing for the rest of your life.”
“Or will you, I suppose.”
He smiled and with his free arm, pulled me close. “No,” he said and kissed my lips. “I won’t either. We’ll find somewhere warm, on the ocean.” He kissed me again, longer this time. “I’ll buy you a house right on the water so it will remind you of your home in Venice Beach.” His finger ran down my cheek. “All day, we will only do whatever we like, and every night I’ll have you next to me. That’s all I will ever need Charlotte. You and me, together, for the rest of this life.” He leaned close to my ear, his warm breath sending a cascade of nervous shivers down my back. “For the rest of forever.”
His fingers latched into the waist of my jeans and pulled as he kissed me again. I kissed him back, intently, with longing, because I needed time to think. I hadn’t anticipated Hayden thinking I would leave with him right now—tonight. How was I going to back out of this situation? As we kissed, I reached up and held his face in both my hands—think Charlotte.
A moment later, I pulled gently away. “Hayden, I can’t go with you tonight.”
He jerked back, “Why?” he asked, his features already gathering into a storm.
Because I love Caleb. Because I choose him.
“Sophie,” I said. “She’s like a little sister to me. I won’t just disappear on her without an explanation. Leave her terrified that something awful happened to me. Leave her without saying goodbye.”
He made a face and started to protest, “I don’t—”
“And my father,” I interrupted. “After what he went through with my mother…I would never do that to him. I need time,” I said. “To go home and explain.”
His expression softened. “I’ll go with you. We’ll explain to him together. You didn’t think I’d never let you see your father again? Plus, you’ll want him there when we get married.”
His words floored me. Married? Did Hayd
en Wriothesley just say married? This wasn’t the time to discuss it so I let it go, pretended he hadn’t just said something so completely earth shattering. I needed to continue my escape. I forced myself to smile. “Well that is good to know,” I tried to joke.
I pulled my hand from his. “But still. I meant what I said about Sophie. She is important to me, even if you can’t understand that.”
“And her brother? What about him?”
The weight of his question, the importance of reacting, with both my words and body, in a way that would make Hayden believe I was telling the truth. “Caleb?” my voice sounded too high to my ears. I shook my head, “He’s my friend,” I shrugged. “But it’s not like us.” The lie, it was like a stone sitting on my chest, but judging from Hayden’s heavy sigh, it was a lie that seemed to work.
“How long?” he asked.
“Till what,” I took a step backwards, straightened my shirt and tried to look casual.
“How long till you’re done? When can I expect you back here?” he pointed to the floor at his feet.
I didn’t know what to tell him, I had no intention of ever being back here. There would never be any leaving with Hayden, living with Hayden—certainly not marrying Hayden. He was insane, but I couldn’t say any of this. “I need a few days—”
“No,” he interrupted and shook his head like an angry toddler. “I can’t wait that long.” Hayden looked at his watch, like he was counting the number of hours he felt would be necessary for me to say goodbye to the life I knew—and everyone in it. He looked back up at me, “Ten o’clock.”
“A.M.?”
“Yes. That will give you enough time to go back, get some sleep, wake up, pack your things, and tell them all goodbye.”
He was ridiculous, but it didn’t matter anyway, it didn’t matter what time Hayden thought I would be coming back because I wasn’t ever going to do it. I only needed the easiest, scene free plan for escaping him right now. He told me what he knew about my mother and he thought he had the box his father would want. “Fine,” I said raising up onto my toes and planting another kiss on his pouting lips. “Ten it is.”
Midheaven (Ascendant Trilogy Book 2) Page 17