Calmer, I gunned the engine and took off. I stopped by a five-dollar pizzeria, grabbed two pizzas, and headed home. I had reached a decision by the time I pulled into our garage, so I made one phone call.
No one came out to see if I needed help with groceries, which was typical. Talia and Wes often waited until I yelled out their names and the word groceries.
I knocked on Talia’s room.
“Groceries, I know,” she yelled.
“No, dinner,” I called back.
Wes must have heard me because he opened his door. “No groceries?”
“Nope. We need to talk.”
Chapter 8
I glanced at my watch. I was cutting it close. Mr. Wiggler might decide to close his shop despite my phone call. As soon as I got the money, I was telling Wes and Talia the truth about Mom and Dad, Syn, and our dire situation.
“There’s something I want both of you to consider while I’m gone. If we decide to do something about it, we do it as a group. We’ll discuss it, weigh the pros and the cons, and vote. If one person says no, then we don’t do it.”
Wes nodded. He was probably thinking I was talking about the fight club. His safety depended on runes and his gifts, the two things he couldn’t count on now. I’d become a bounty hunter first, like Dad and Mom, before I let him fight.
“You’re acting weird, again,” Talia said.
I smiled and wiggled my gloved hands. “I am weird. I have something for you guys to look at.”
I reached inside my bag for the two letters and handed them to Wes and Talia. They studied the outside and threw me questioning glances, but I didn’t explain.
“While you read them, I’ll run one last errand. When I come back, we can discuss what to do next.”
I doubted they heard me. They were busy reading the invitations to Mystic Academy. I left the kitchen and went straight to our parents’ bedroom. The jewelry box was on her dresser. The top part had cheap earrings and necklaces from the flea market and local vendors. The false bottom hid the more expensive jewelry. I frowned when I saw most was gone.
Memories rushed through my head as I lifted a pearl bracelet and necklace set. Mom had worn them the first time she’d come to the group home where Wes and I had been staying. I remembered thinking how dark they looked against her skin. She and Dad could have adopted any one of the other children at that home, yet they’d chosen Wes and me. It wasn’t until we met Talia and recognized her that we’d realized the Longhorns’ decision to adopt us had not been random.
Talia had been in the foster system and at the same home Wes and I had lived in a year before we were adopted. Wes had punched some older guys for trying to mess with her. A younger Wes had always spoken with his fist. He would hear people’s thoughts and react since he couldn’t tell the grown-ups the truth. After that incident, we’d taken Talia under our wing until the Longhorns adopted her. She’d never forgotten and had told her new parents about us.
The pearl set would always mean something to me, but I couldn’t afford to be sentimental. It was the only valuable piece left, and we were desperate. I grabbed a jewelry case and left the bedroom.
Talia and Wes’s voices reached me as I crossed to the garage.
“They have horses,” Talia was saying. Excitement laced her words. “I get to ride horses. Play tennis. Have you seen the rooms?”
“Yep. There’s a dojo with a boxing ring,” Wes added. From his voice, he was in, too.
Telling them the mistakes Mom and Dad had made was not going to be easy, but they needed to know. We couldn’t depend on runes anymore. The blade we were sharing was probably the reason our gifts were messed up.
I left the house and headed downtown. Wiggler’s Pawnshop was three doors from Dad’s office, and I’d walked past it often on my way to a pastry shop. I never thought I’d use his services.
“You are the oldest Longhorn girl, aren’t you?” Wiggler said, studying me. “Do your parents know you are doing this?”
“Do they need to know?” I shot back and shoved my ID under his nose.
He smiled, showing me crooked teeth. “No, miss. As long as you are of legal age.” He accepted the jewelry case, a gleam entering his eyes as he studied the black pearls.
I filled out the paperwork and offered to shake his hand after I gave them back. “Thank you for staying open for me.”
He stared at me strangely but shook my hand.
“How much is it?”
“Uh, let go of my hand.”
I did and hoped he had enough dosage of my serum to speak the truth. I pulled out my phone and pressed record. He was so busy staring at the jewelry he didn’t even notice what I was doing.
“It is an expensive set.” He frowned and cleared his throat. “I’m going to offer you three hundred dollars for both of them when I should pay you three times that.” He shook his head and stared at me in shock. “I don’t know why I said that.”
“Because it’s the truth. Are you an honest person, Mr. Wiggle?”
“No, I wouldn’t call myself that. I’m a businessman, and I only care about profits.” He looked ready to cry. “I was planning on finding a buyer tomorrow. I know a couple of people who’d pay much more for it.”
I replayed the recording, then pressed send to two numbers. “I just sent that to my parents because they’ll be back in two weeks to collect the set.” I’d reached that decision before I entered his shop. I didn’t know yet how I’d get the money, but I would find a way. “Do not sell the pieces.”
The transaction went smoothly after that. My dad might be eccentric, but he had a reputation because of what he did for a living. I left the store with eight hundred dollars after compromising with Wiggler. Tomorrow, I’d go grocery shopping and pay with cash. No more keeping money in the bank.
Syn’s SUV was parked in our driveway when I pulled up. He’d agreed to take a rain check, so why was he here? Warmth unfurled in my core, and my heartbeat shot up.
Talia rushed out the door before I closed the garaged door.
“Can we go to visit the academy this weekend? Please?” Talia asked.
“What does Wes think?”
“He’s being difficult.”
“How?” I asked when all I wanted to ask about was Syn. I closed the garage door and followed Talia inside the house.
“He said we hadn’t seen your invitation, and he’s not going without you.”
I grinned. “I received one.”
“Then we can go?”
“If we all agree it’s the right thing to do. When did Syn get here?”
She frowned. “After you left. He brought the groceries. He said you asked him to bring them.”
Oh crap. Syn had witnessed my humiliation. I stopped. I didn’t want to see him yet. He’d probably want an explanation for the grocery store fiasco.
“So do we go on Friday or Saturday?” Talia asked.
“I don’t know, Talia. We still need to discuss it like I said.” I felt bad for being short with her. “Let’s discuss it after Syn leaves, okay?”
She nodded, her attention shifting to the brochure in her hand. She was already in love with the school.
“Where’s Syn?” I asked.
“Kitchen. He helped bring in the groceries.”
I was the first to reach the kitchen, and the gorgeous reaper was arranging grocery bags on the counter. I stopped, our eyes meeting. Everything else blurred, except Syn. My face grew hot with embarrassment, yet I was happy to see him. He was the gift that kept giving. Kind and caring, and despite the fact that I continued to give him a hard time and mistrust him, he kept coming back.
Talia walked past me to rummage through the bags. “Did you buy my fruit snacks, Lana?”
I shook my head. “Talia—”
“Right in there.” Syn pointed at one of the bags.
Talia pulled out a family-sized box. “Yes! Thank you.”
She ripped open the top and fished inside for a bag. I had returned that box, alo
ng with the other items Talia was removing from the shopping bags. Rocky Road ice cream. Bags of cheese doodles. Canned cheese and a box of crackers.
“I returned those,” I whispered.
He nodded. “I know.”
How long had he followed me in that store? I should be outraged, yet I couldn’t be. Talia, completely oblivious to what was happening, threw me a bag of cheese doodles. I caught it.
“She loves them crunchy and spicy,” she explained to the man still standing across the kitchen table, watching me as though he didn’t want to miss a single expression on my face. “Me? I like them sweet. I could…”
I tuned her out, and from Syn’s expression, he wasn’t listening to her either. After my parents had died in that horrific accident, I’d kept everyone at a distance because I’d been scared to touch them and cause them to hurt each other. That slowly changed when a cocky white boy kept smacking anyone who made fun of me in the group home where I’d ended up. I’d started covering my hands and screaming at anyone who touched me or brushed against me until Wes had told me he was weird, too, and explained how. He became the first person I’d trusted after my parents died. Then the Longhorns had adopted us, and I’d slowly learned to trust them. Their disappearance had shaken my world. Finding out they’d made a mistake turning us was flipping it upside down. Now Syn was asking me to trust him and depend on him. He might not have come outright and said it, but every time he helped me or refuted everything I’d been taught to believe, he was asking for my trust.
“Talia, could you give us a moment?” I asked.
“Why? You two have been having a moment since you walked in. I could be dancing naked, and neither of you would notice.”
I sighed. “Talia.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m going. Sheesh. Just remember, he brought in the groceries. That means he’s a keeper.” She walked past Syn and added, “If she turns you down, I’m calling first dibs on dating you.”
Sister from hell.
Once I was left with Syn, a knot formed in my stomach. He didn’t move toward me, and I seemed to have developed roots.
“Thank you for the groceries. I can pay you back now.” I reached inside my purse for the envelope with the wad of cash.
“Put your money away, sheshen. I have enough money and have had no one to spend it on—until now.”
Did he mean me? I studied the groceries behind him and frowned. I wasn’t a moocher, and I was still going to find a way to make a living so that Wes wouldn’t do something stupid.
Syn leaned against the counter, and my attention moved to him. He studied me from under heavy lids until I began to fidget.
“Would you like some help putting away the groceries?” he asked.
It would give me something to do other than stare at him. Gah, this was new to me. Keeping men at an arm’s length had become so normal that I wasn’t sure how to behave when one stormed right through my defenses like Syn was doing.
“It’s okay. You’ve done more than enough,” I said.
“I don’t mind doing things for you.” His voice was husky, and the room appeared to shrink. I became aware of many things at once. The way his shirt stretched across his broad chest and draped over his broad shoulders. His tattooed, masculine arms. He was built like a triathlete, perfectly proportionally masculine without being too buff.
What would it feel like to have those arms wrapped around me? Would I feel safe and protected again? The Longhorns had been my safety net, but their disappearance had yanked that away.
“Come here,” Syn said.
I wanted to bolt to analyze what was happening to me, but I didn’t think I could. He held me spellbound. Fear that my legs wouldn’t work compounded the problem.
“I don’t think I can,” I whispered truthfully.
Syn cocked his head and smiled. “Why not?”
“I’m scared.”
He straightened, the smile disappearing from his face. His gaze grew intense, and his aura became so blindingly bright my breath caught.
“Don’t be. Take a leap of faith with me, gàlò. We’ll catch each other if we fall.”
Yes, I needed to run. Not away from him and what he signified, but to him. To embrace the passion burning in his eyes and the love changing his aura, and to be a part of something much more powerful than fear. I’d been running and hiding all my life from who and what I was. Yet from the moment we’d met, this man had seen through the outer trappings to the real me.
“Take the chance with me, Lanókà,” Syn whispered, his voice cajoling.
Feeling a bit dizzy, I took a giant leap toward the unknown. At least that was how that step felt. He closed the gap between us.
His fingers feathered my skin, and the gentleness broke me. I started to shake. He tilted my chin and stared deep into my eyes. Feeling exposed and vulnerable, I stared back and waited for him to say something or do something to pop the bubble around us. I hoped it was a kiss. I needed him to claim me so badly it hurt to breathe.
Then he lowered his head, taking his time. The anticipation was too much, and I fought the urge to grab his shirt and initiate the kiss. Then his lips brushed across mine in a whisper of a kiss, and I exhaled.
I wanted more.
As though he knew it, he gave me what I needed, angling his head as he swept his tongue between the seams of my lips to tease me. I threw my arms around his neck and hung on as sensations rocked my body. His kiss was even more intoxicating than his touch. I let him redefine my world as he took over my senses until he was all I could feel. I gave him everything in me and took from him, savoring him.
When he eased off the kiss, I was clinging to him like a wet rag, still craving more. I grabbed his dreadlocks and brought his mouth back to mine. The taste of him, the feel of his tongue caressing mine, the warmth of his body pressed intimately against mine, and those masculine arms crushing me to him drove me straight out of my mind with need. I never wanted to stop kissing him.
A groan escaped him as he gave me what I needed. He nipped my lower lip, giving me a new sensation to appreciate. I loved how it felt. It was like he was devouring me. He nibbled his way along my jaw to my ear. He took my earlobe into his mouth and sucked on it. A moan escaped me. He was introducing me to amazing new feelings, and I was greedy to discover more.
“I want to open a portal to the beach house now,” he whispered, kissing my neck.
“Yes.” He could say anything, and I’d agree to it.
He chuckled, and his warm breath fanned my skin, sending a delicious shiver through me. Everything he did teased my heightened senses.
He lifted his head to give me a heavy-lidded glance. “Soon, sheshen. Right now, I need to know what’s going on here, and how I can help.”
“You’re kissing me. That’s helping a lot.”
A groan rumbled through him. “I don’t want to stop either, but we need to talk about your parents.”
I didn’t want to think or talk about them. I’d rather get lost in his kisses. I burrowed in his arms. His hand held the back of my head as he cradled me close to his chest, yet I felt more than the hardness. There was warmth. Comfort. Security.
My entire body sighed as I relaxed against him and listened to his heart pound. A reaper was my safe harbor. My anchor in the stormy sea I called life. How ironic.
“I’ve got you, my sheshen,” he whispered, his cheek pressed against my hair. “Always.”
It was a ridiculous promise, yet I believed him. I wrapped my arms around him and smiled. He was always calling me unique names.
“What does sheshen mean? And Lanókà and gàlò?”
“Lanókà is a Nubian nickname, a corruption of your name. Gàlò means dearest, or sweetheart, or beloved.”
“And sheshen?”
“Blue Lotus, the gift of the Nile.”
Something in his voice had me leaning back to study his face. He pressed a kiss on my forehead.
“It was the first living thing to emerge from the primeval water
s of Nun, and from its yellow core came Ra, the sun god. With its delicate petals, sweet taste, and calming scent, sheshen healed, nurtured, and nourished everyone. The pharaohs, the gods, the little people, it didn’t discriminate. It gave anyone who carried it divine blessing and good fortune, which is why in every painting and statue from my time, the people carried it. The petals soaked in wine added sweet aroma to the drinks for the pharaohs, the roots eaten raw or cooked gave sustenance, and the seeds ground into flour for bread. Every night when Ra went to the underworld, it closed its petals, and when he reappeared, it opened, representing renewal. The death of the old and the start of the new.”
Keeping one arm around my waist, he reached up to gently stroke my cheek, but his aura grew murky. I knew whatever he was about to say would be personal.
“My mother was my father’s third consort. They met and fell in love when he visited Egypt after he became the High Priest of Amun at Jebel Berkal. She was Egyptian, not Nubian. We didn’t live in a fancy home with a pool filled with flowers and ducks like his first two consorts. So every time I visited his other homes, I’d borrow the sheshen from one of the ponds, bring it home, and try to nurture it. It was the most beautiful and perfect of all creations.”
Was that how he saw me?
“Maybe I associated it with my father or maybe I’d hoped he would visit us more if we had a pond with sheshen and ducks like his other homes.”
My throat closed, my heart breaking for the little boy he once was.
“But each time, it would whither and die after a few days. That didn’t stop me. I experimented, trying to find the perfect environment for a flower that grows in water in the middle of a desert. It took me years, but I finally created a portable pond, and my sheshen flourished.” He smiled. “My mother got to see the blooms before she died, and it made her very happy. I joined my father at the temple to help him with his duties and train to become a high priest after that. When my uncle took over our home, he continued to take care of my sheshen. But when I became an Immortal and joined the Grimnirs, I had to leave them behind. I thought I’d never touch, smell, and taste them again, until last week when I looked through a portal into a classroom and saw the personification of my precious blooms.”
[Mystic Academy 01.0] Fated Page 8