"How much further?" Kobhye asked. I think she was just as anxious as I was. She hadn't offered any advice on how to get Adam back, but then again, we'd never tried to hang on to men; we were usually trying to get rid of them.
"The lake stretches this far out from town; they just built the town closer to the dam. Adam's lake house is about a mile straight ahead. His is the only house on this road."
Kobhye turned and looked at him. "You seem to know him pretty well."
He shrugged. "When I tapped into his brain to find him in the cave, I got his memories as well." He was silent for a moment then said, "There aren't many good ones."
I looked in my rear view mirror at him. "Am I a fool for doing this?"
He looked at me and shook his head. "He's the fool. I would give anything to be your soulmate. Anything."
That made me feel good, but it didn't make me anymore confident about the task in front of me, literally in front of me. Adam's lake house came into view and my jaw dropped. How the hell could he afford all of this and the apartment in the city? I knew the answer. He worked all the time and he got paid very well.
I parked behind a blue mustang that was parked behind his car in the circular drive. I cut the engine to Kobhye's truck. She looked at me and I shrugged. "The Shelby is his, but I don't have a clue who drives the other one."
We both turned and looked at Rhyan. He leaned his head back and looked at the ceiling of the cab, as though he didn't want to tell me.
The motion lights lit up on the front of the big house. I glanced at them then looked back at Rhyan. "Tell me who's in there with him."
He chewed on his lower lip for a moment. If he stalled much longer, I was going to find out anyway, because Adam and who-ever-else were going to walk out to greet us. He met my eyes, and there was desperation in them. "I figured they would fight, and she would leave before we got here. I didn't know they would make up…and be having sex right now." He shook his head. "I'm so sorry. I don't know how to fix this or I would."
I was stunned. "Sherri." I said, and pressed my lips together. I made it a statement rather than a question, because I already knew.
He nodded and I got out of the truck. I heard two other doors open to the truck, then they closed. I didn't know what I was going to do, but I had to interfere. He was my soulmate, not hers.
I walked up on the front porch and paused only a moment before ringing the doorbell. I looked back at Kobhye and Rhyan then the door opened to Sherri standing there in nothing but Adam's button-up shirt. I averted my gaze from hers and cleared my throat. Blood was racing through my veins and I was visibly shaking. I was mad. I was really, really mad, but it wasn't her fault. She'd been with him before I even came into the picture. I was actually stepping on her toes, but he was mine. He was meant to be mine.
I cleared my throat again, and forced myself to look at her. "May I speak with Adam?" She gave me a dirty look then glanced at Kobhye and Rhyan. Evidently she didn't think we were here to have a big orgy with Adam because she let us all in.
"He's getting dressed. You can make yourselves comfortable in the living room." she said.
My eyes shot to Rhyan. "She did that shit on purpose, didn't she?"
He nodded. "She's jealous of you. She doesn't catch Adam's attention the way you do, and she knows it."
That made me feel better, but it didn't change the fact that I just walked into the house of the man I loved to find he'd just finished having sex with another woman.
"He's coming," Rhyan said as he sat down on the couch.
"Can't we tell him that you and Kobhye are together, and what Mason showed him was all made up; that it wasn't real?" I said pleadingly.
He looked at me. "You want to lie to him?"
"I wouldn't exactly be breaking one of the Ten Commandments," I said, then crossed my arms over my chest.
"No, but would you be able to sleep beside him at night knowing that he believed a lie you told him?"
My shoulders slumped in defeat. He had me there. My conscience always ate at me until I told the truth. I actually lost sleep over little white lies.
I heard footsteps coming toward us, and I looked up just in time to meet Adam's eyes. He was upset, but other than that, he looked fine, really fine. My heart gave a little flutter and I pressed my lips together. What was I supposed to say to him?
"Ask him if Murry hurt him. He'll remember that he didn't believe you."
"You look all right; I guess Murry didn't hurt you too bad." I said in a shaky voice. It was obvious I was nervous, but I couldn't help it.
"Why are you here, and who told you where my lake house was located?" he said. He didn't come any further into the room. He just stood there and scowled at me.
I was losing the nervousness, and it was being replaced by anger. "Do you not even care that I almost died again? I told you about Mason and you didn't believe me. Do you believe me now?" I didn't know where Sherri had gone. I assume he had told her to stay in the bedroom until I left. She probably hadn't liked it, but he was mad at me, so that would make it a little better for her.
"When I heard that you were brought in, I made sure your injuries weren't life threatening, then I left. I told Mason to stay away from me, and I told your boyfriend here to tell you the same thing." He pointed at the door. "Get out of my house or I will call the police."
"Do you love her, Adam?" I whispered.
"I don't love anyone," he said, but a muscle twitched above his eye as he said it.
"You're lying." I challenged and began walking toward him.
He didn't back up, I knew he wasn't afraid of me. "What are you doing? I told you to leave."
I didn't stop walking and I kept eye contact with him the whole time. "Yeah, you did, but ask my friends how well I mind when someone tells me to do something."
He looked a little nervous now that I was so close. I was standing only a few inches from him, and he didn't have a clue what I was going to do. I looked up at him. "If you don't believe that we're soulmates, then kiss me; prove me wrong." I had to admit that I was doing this on a hunch, but surely something had to happen when soulmates found each other and kissed for the first time.
His eyes grew wide and he stepped back from me. "You're insane. You need psychiatric help, Kendra."
"Tell me, with me standing here now, that you don't want to look at me, that you don't want to touch me. Tell me that you don't want to kiss me, Adam. I know you still feel that way, because I still feel that way about you. I'm in love with you, Adam. We were meant to be together, and you know I'm telling the truth. You just don't want to believe it. I'm not crazy, because if I am, that means that you are too. You've seen your guardian demon and my guardian angel, just like I have. You feel the same emotions I feel for you. So, if I'm crazy, then so are you."
"I can't love you, Kendra," he whispered, and I could tell he was scared shitless.
"You already do," I said back to him; he shook his head and backed away from me. "What are you afraid of?"
"If I love something," he pointed to the ceiling. "HE will take it away from me!" He shouted then turned his head away from all of us in the living room. I was betting his eyes had misted over.
I flinched, but I didn't back away from him. "Just kiss me. I know that you..."
He turned to look into my eyes and I had been right, his were gleaming with tears. "I've tried to hate you since Monday night. I've never felt so strongly about anyone before, but when Mason brought me to your room…" His eyes shot daggers at Rhyan. "And I saw the two of you like that; I didn't have the will to live any longer. I realized when I was sitting alone in the cave that you may have turned to him because of the way I acted. I can't hate you. I still want to hate you, but I can't." He shook his head. "No, I don't love Sherri."
I took in a deep breath in and let it out. "Kiss me, Adam."
"I don't have to kiss you, Kendra!" he shouted. "I know that I love you. I already fucking know that! Kissing you will only make it harder on
me when you die Friday."
I felt like he'd slapped me. I was stunned and I couldn't breathe. He admitted that he loved me, but he also admitted that he wasn't even going to try to save my soul. I got my breathing regulated and squared my shoulders. "Do it for me then."
"Do what?" he said a little more calmly.
"If I'm going to die Friday, I would like to know what it's like to kiss my soulmate at least once. Kiss me and you will never have to see me again. I promise to leave you alone."
He huffed. "Dammit…fine." he said, but made no move to come any closer to me. That was fine, I could go to him; no big deal.
I was nervous as I closed the space between us, like I was about to have my very first kiss.
His muscles tensed up when I touched him, then he let out a breath soon after and relaxed, as though my touch was the best feeling in the world. I had to agree; it felt really good to touch him. I didn't want to ever let go of him, and the rush was almost too much. I hadn't even touched his bare skin yet. I moved my hand up his chest and touched his neck. It felt like there was a magnet in my body pulling me closer to him. I slowly slid my hand behind his neck and waited. I wanted him to look at me, but he wasn't. I waited until he finally opened his eyes to look at me. They were a considerably lighter shade of brown than they'd been the last time I'd looked into them. I could see that he was afraid of me, but I could also see love in his eyes. I stretched up on my toes and gently touched my lips to his. The magnet became much stronger. Adam wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close to his body, taking the kiss to a whole other level. He devoured my mouth with his and kissed me like I was his last breath that he wasn't going to let go of without a fight.
If I had any doubts about loving him, or that he was my soulmate, they were all gone. If I had ever been in love with anyone else, I wasn't any longer. I belonged to the man in my arms, and I was never letting him go.
Adam abruptly shoved me away, and Kobhye caught me before I fell over the coffee table.
"I can't do this. I…I can't, please leave." He turned and walked out of the room.
He was gone. I had promised to leave him alone if he kissed me. He had done his part, and I had to let him go.
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Chapter Thirty-six
Rhyan had to carry me out of the house. I was in shock and I couldn't move. The only thing I felt was my heart shattered in a million pieces. I'd done everything I could do to help Adam, and my best wasn't good enough. I guess the guardians didn't mind Rhyan touching me now, because he climbed in the back seat of Kobhye's crew cab and made me comfortable on his lap. I could feel his soft breathing against my body, and every once in a while, I felt his body shudder as if he were sobbing silently. All was really lost. I was going to die and Rhyan would lose my soul. I would belong to Patrick in Hell. It was too much to comprehend, so I didn't try anymore. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.
The moment I opened my eyes, I knew I was dreaming. Murry was sitting in a chair across the room from me, and he was laughing. I jumped to my feet from my own chair. "Kill me you bastard, kill me now!" I shouted at him.
He stopped laughing, and turned his head to the side. "No." he said.
"You have him; you don't need my soul too." I whispered through sobs.
"You know, I really thought you had a chance back there. I thought you were going to steal his soul back from me. It was like watching a really suspenseful movie. I was biting my nails the whole time. The ending was perfect. I would actually pay good money to watch it again."
"Kill me, please." I pleaded with him.
"I will…in about thirty-five hours." he said as he looked at his watch. "Give or take a few, I don't want you to know exactly what time you will die. That would drive a person crazy, wouldn't it?"
I sat back in the chair and cried. If he wasn't going to kill me so my soul could go to heaven, I wasn't about to sit here and chit-chat with him.
"Oh, now, Kendra…don't cry." I looked up then rushed him with every ounce of energy I had left. I knew I couldn't hurt him, but maybe I could make him kill me. I wouldn't stop till he did.
He grabbed my arms when I got to him, then spun me around and held my hands in place with one of his hands at the small of my back. His other arm was around my neck. I was pressed firmly up against his body, and could feel his heavy breathing by my ear.
"You don't have to worry about Patrick, Kendra. I'm going to keep you as my own. I won your soul fair and square. Therefore, you belong to me." He placed a big smacking kiss on my cheek. "We are going to have lots of fun, don't you worry your pretty little head about that."
"I couldn't take your photo because you're dead right?"
He laughed. "No, sweetheart, you couldn't take my photo because I don't have a soul. Your precious Rhyan's photos would probably turn out just fine. Tell me, how's he taking the good news?"
"He hasn't given up, Murry."
He smiled. "Have you?"
"Not until I take my last breath." I said, then turned and bit myself on my arm.
I woke up in my bed, with Rhyan lying beside me. He wasn't touching me, but he was staring at me intently. "Did he visit your dreams again? You were struggling."
I nodded. "He said he's keeping my soul for himself when he takes my life. He said I will be his, that he will own me because he won my soul."
Rhyan closed his eyes and sighed as I sobbed. "I'm going to talk to the guardians again. I didn't want you to be alone when you woke up. Kobhye is in the guest bedroom, but she's out cold."
"All right, but if it isn't good news, I don't want to know about it."
He nodded again.
"I tried to get him to kill me now, but he wouldn't do it. Will you do it? Will you cause something to happen so I can keep my soul?"
"If I thought you would be able to keep it and go to Heaven, I would do it for you. Even though it would mean my soul would be sent to Hell. If they know it happened intentionally, they would send your soul to Hell anyway; and mine too for helping you."
"Well, shit." I said. "Go talk to the guardians. I'll be fine." He looked at me like he wasn't sure if I would be fine or not, then he popped out of my sight.
I wouldn't be fine, though. Some people wonder, and actually think they want to know when they are going to die, the year, the day, and even the exact time they will parish and leave this world. If you are one of those people, stop. I promise you don't want to know.
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Chapter Thirty-seven
It was almost dawn when I was awakened by a sound. I looked at the clock on my bedside table. It was 5:15 a.m. I'd gotten less than four hours of sleep all together, but then again, I'd slept for twenty-eight straight hours before that. It wasn't a pop that woke me up; the sound had come from outside, so I knew it wasn't Rhyan.
I heard a car door shut. My head shot up from the pillow and I held still so I could hear better. Who the hell was at my house so early? Everyone I knew would let me sleep in until at least eight. I was suddenly afraid of whom it might be, but I didn't know why. I wanted Murry to kill me today so I could go to Heaven. If it didn't happen before tomorrow, my soul would be gone.
I swallowed my fear and crawled out of bed just in time for the doorbell to ring. Hercules looked up from the foot of my bed and began to bark. I was pretty sure that whoever was at the door didn't want to hurt me or they wouldn't have rang my bell. Then again, Murry rang the bell Monday night. I walked barefoot to the door, then realized what I was wearing. Kobhye or Rhyan had dressed me in my nicest black lingerie. Hardly anything was covered. I was betting it was Kobhye. She slept in crap like this. I asked her why once, and she replied: "You never know who is going to show up at midnight." This coming from a girl who fixes her hair and wears makeup to bed for the same exact reason.
I quickly ran back to my room to get something to put over it with Hercules at my feet. He was undecided whether to follow me or eat the monster at the door. He came with me. My black satin robe
was laying on the bed. It went with what I was wearing; Kobhye had thought of everything. I wondered if she dressed me like this then called Aven to come over for me. Maybe she thought it would cheer me up.
I shrugged my shoulders and put on the robe. The doorbell rang again and I ran out of my room and to the front door before it could ring a third time and wake her up.
I did not, at all, expect what I saw when I opened the door. Adam was standing on my porch with his back to me. He was looking toward his car, but he turned to look at me when I stepped on the porch. There were tears in his eyes and he looked like hell warmed over. Had Kobhye known he would stop by?
Hercules growled and I cleared my throat, because I didn't know if my voice would be steady or not. "Why are you here?" I didn't say it in a rude way like he had earlier. I was merely curious as to why he was at my house after the way he'd reacted to me visiting his.
"Your, uh…guardian angel," he frowned. "He stopped by my house again a few hours after you left." That must have been when Kobhye was dressing me, but when I'd talked to Rhyan earlier, he hadn't mentioned anything about it.
Had he driven all the way here to complain to me about Rhyan. Didn't he have my phone number? "I didn't know that, I'm sorry. I'll talk to Rhyan and tell him to stay away from you," I said then turned to go inside.
"No, wait," he said in a panicked tone. He started to grab my arm, but I turned back around to face him and he froze. "He didn't wake me up or anything. After you left, I made Sherri leave. I told her to leave me alone, that I didn't love her and that I never would. I told her…that I was in love with you. She left without much of a fight. I couldn't stop replaying the scene in my living room, and the more I played it, the more I hated myself for hurting you. I was scared, Kendra." He looked away from me. "I am still scared. Everyone I've ever loved has been ripped away from me." He turned back to me. "I don't think loving you or not is a choice I have. I've tried not to, but I love you anyway." He turned and looked out across the yard. "I was struggling with what to do, then Rhyan stopped by." he laughed lightly. "Well I guess I should say that he popped into my bedroom."
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