by Juno Wells
“One shake of what?” he said, as a puzzled look spread across his face.
“Nothing. Never mind. I’ll be right back,” I told him.
I grabbed some cotton balls, rubbing alcohol, and Band-Aids out of the bathroom cabinet, and when I returned Asterion was staring intently into his glass of whiskey. He lifted up his eyes to meet mine. “I’ve never tasted whiskey before.”
“Really?” He shrugged, and gave me a cute, sweet smile. “You live in Georgia and you’ve never had whiskey before?”
“I don’t live here, in Georgia,” he said. “I live… Someplace else.” He brought the glass of whiskey up to his lips, then took a sip that was way, way too large. He started to cough immediately, and his blue eyes began to water.
“Slow down, there. You can’t gulp that stuff like water. Just take tiny sips,” I instructed him. I took a seat next to him on the couch, then unscrewed the bottle of rubbing alcohol and wetted a cotton ball. “Where the heck are you from that you’ve never had whiskey before?”
“Far away,” he muttered. “Very far away.”
“I figured as much. I don’t hear accents like yours around here too often. Let me guess…” I studied Asterion’s face: his strong jaw line, his high cheekbones, his brilliant blue eyes. He was gorgeous, but like no one I had ever seen before. He might as well have been from Mars. “Somewhere in Eastern Europe?” I guessed.
“Close.” He shrugged. “Where I’m from, I doubt you’ve heard of it. My home is nothing like this place. This place is… It’s different. It’s strange.”
“Well, yeah. The South is an acquired taste. I was born here, and even I sometimes find it kind-of weird. You know what William Faulkner said about the South…”
“Who?” He looked at me like he had no idea who I was talking about.
“Nothing. Never mind. He’s a writer.” I dabbed the alcohol-soaked cotton ball at his temple, soaking up the dried blood. “Anyway, this wound doesn’t look so bad. It bled a lot, but the cut is shallow.”
I cleaned the blood off the side of Asterion’s face as he slowly sipped the whiskey. “You have a gentle touch, Ava.” He raised his eyes to look at me, and it felt like there were a million butterflies churning in my stomach.
“Thank you,” I said. My voice came out a little higher pitched than I wanted it to. Being so close to such an incredibly attractive man was more than a little overwhelming. As I ran the cotton ball over his temple, I could feel his warm, sweet breath on the side of my face. “So what brings you to my neck of the woods, Asterion?”
“Please, call me Aster.”
“Okay, Aster. What brings you to my sleepy little suburb at this time of night?”
“I was looking for someone. Someone very important. I was just about to give up, to return home, when…” He sighed, and a smile spread over his face. Why was he smiling? He’d just been mugged, hadn’t he?
“Well, I’m a private investigator, you know. Maybe I could help you find who you’re looking for.” I was more than happy to offer my services, especially if it meant spending more time in the presence of such a gorgeous man.
“That’s okay,” he said. He gave me a grin that was so sexy it almost lit my panties on fire. “I think I might’ve found her.”
Aster looked into my eyes so deeply that for a moment I thought he was talking about me. But that was ridiculous, I told myself. Why would this man be looking for me?
Chapter Four
I finished cleaning the blood off Aster’s face, then walked into the kitchen and chucked the cotton balls into the trashcan. As I looked down at them, sitting atop of the garbage, something about his blood on the cotton struck me as odd. Yes, it was red – blood red – but there was a strange tint to it, almost an indigo tint, not unlike the color of his eyes.
I looked at Aster, sitting on my couch sipping whiskey. Who was this man?
“You’re a pretty mysterious guy, you know that Aster?” I walked back into the living room and took a seat on the opposite side of the couch. Pepper was snuggled up next to Aster, practically sitting in his lap.
“I know this must be strange for you, finding me in your backyard,” he said. As he spoke, he stroked Pepper’s fur, and I heard her let out a small contented sigh. “You must’ve been terrified.”
“Well, yeah, it’s not every day that I find an unconscious man bleeding on my leaf pile.” An incredibly hot man, I thought to myself as my eyes drifted to Aster’s sizable bicep, which strained against the thin black fabric of his t-shirt. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”
“I’m glad I ended up in your backyard,” he told me, breaking out that panty-dropping grin once again.
“I’m glad too. If you would’ve landed in one of my neighbors backyards, I doubt they would’ve been so kind.”
“But you’re kind, Ava. Incredibly so. You took me into your home, you treated my wound, and you gave me this whiskey.” He raised the glass to his lips and took a sip, and smiled. “Which I really like, by the way.”
“It’s really good stuff,” I told him. “Top shelf.”
“You know, on my…” He paused, and took another sip of whiskey. “Where I’m from, there’s a saying. Roughly translated, it’s ‘never turn your back on an adventure.’ And I think this drink here counts as an adventure. I’m glad I tried it. And I’m glad you invited me inside, which is its own kind of adventure.”
I laughed, and leaned my head back on the couch. Why did this feel like a date all of a sudden? “I know I shouldn’t bring bleeding strangers into my house in the middle of the night, but I do love a good adventure. And I know you don’t have nefarious intentions. I trust you.”
“You trust me?” Aster looked at me, his blue eyes searching my face, as if to say, why? I wasn’t sure how to answer that. I just did.
“Pepper seems to trust you,” I told him. “And I’m pretty good at reading people. And I have a good feeling about you. You’re…” I let my voice trail off, lost in his eyes.
Again with that weird heat, that intense sizzle between us. When I looked in his eyes, it felt like something monumental was happening. I’d never felt that kind of pull towards a man before. But it was unmistakable. And it wasn’t because I was lonely, or reading too much into things. This strange man – Asterion – felt it too. I knew it. As his entrancing indigo eyes searched my face, I felt that that thing, that mysterious thing that I’d heard other women talk about. That instant attraction, that strange pull, that certainty that you feel in the pit of your stomach when you know you’ve met someone important.
“I have a good feeling about you too, Ava. Do you believe in fate?”
I didn’t – at least, not in the past. But my tune was quickly changing. “Maybe,” I said.
“I think we were meant to find each other, Ava.” He leaned forward, and took my hand in his. “I know we’ve just met, but I feel like I’ve known you for so long. Like I know you in the deepest part of me. Do you feel it too?”
It was cheesy and overdramatic, and I should’ve thought it was ridiculous. But I didn’t. What he said made sense. I felt it too. As I traced my finger over the back of his large hand, it felt so natural to touch him. It felt natural to be next to him. Aster was a stranger – an absolute stranger – but here he was, in my house, and it all felt so natural. Maybe what Beth had said to me on the phone earlier about fate and love had done a number on me, or maybe I really did just need to get laid. But I felt it. I felt like I knew him. In the deepest part of me.
“I do feel it,” I whispered. “It seems absolutely crazy, but I feel… I can’t understand it…”
“Ava, I think you might be the woman I’ve been looking for,” he said.
Aster reached out his hand and touched my cheek. I let my face fall against his palm, then I felt his hand pulling my face closer to his, pulling me to him. Our lips were just inches apart.
Then, suddenly, I heard a loud boom, and all the lights went out.
Chapter Five
We were plunged into total darkness. And almost instantly, the strange humming noise I had heard earlier returned, and with it came intense physical pain. It felt as if my body was being squeezed, every muscle from my head to my toes cramping. I felt lightheaded, like I might throw up.
“Fuck,” I heard Aster hiss.
A wave of nauseous panic overtook me, and I grasped for Aster in the darkness. “What the hell is happening?” I managed to choke out.
“He’s found us,” Aster said.
“Who?” The humming noise grew louder, and I began to shout. “Why… This pain… What…” I could barely think straight.
“I don’t have time to explain.” Aster pulled me up from the couch and led me to the back door. He took my face in his hands and pulled me close. The moonlight streaming through the window illuminated his face, and I could see worry in his eyes, but also strength, and determination. “Look at me, Ava. I know you’re hurting. Try to take deep breaths. Listen, we need a body of water, fast. A river or a pond or a pool… Is there anything like that around here?”
“Water,” I murmured. The humming noise felt like it was scrambling my brain, and my entire body throbbed.
“Please, darling, you need to focus.” Aster brushed a stray strand of hair away from my face and looked me deep in the eyes. Did he call me darling? Like a pet name? Before I had time to process that, the humming noise intensified, and with it came another undulating wave of brain-scrambling pain. I saw Aster wince, just for a moment, then his face regained its steely composure. He felt the pain too, I realized. But obviously, he was way tougher than me. The only hint that he was in any discomfort was in the way his strong brow furrowed and the way he clenched his jaw. “Ava, look at me. Concentrate. Water. We need a body of water, now.”
Water… Water… I looked into Aster’s blue eyes and tried to concentrate. The humming noise felt like it was a part of me, like it was my own body that was humming. I couldn’t understand what was happening, or why. All I knew, apparently, was that we needed water. Then it hit me.
“My neighbors,” I said. “They’re out of town. They’re… fuck… somewhere. I can’t think. They have a pool. A swimming pool.”
“We have to go there. Now. Show me.” Aster grabbed my hand and practically pulled me out the back door. My legs felt like jelly, and I stumbled and almost fell in the dirt. He put his arm around me and helped hold me up as we made our way through the backyard. “Right or left?” He asked. I pointed to the left, to the swimming pool beyond my row of hedges.
“I don’t think I can walk,” I said, as my feet buckled underneath me once again. “Why is this happening?”
“Come here,” he commanded. Then he scooped me up in his arms, lifting me effortlessly, as if I weighed no more than a feather. I wrapped my arms tight around him and buried my face in his neck. He smelled like the ocean, like a rainstorm. The pain was still there, but in Aster’s arms my panic subsided. He carried me through the yard toward my neighbor’s pool, his feet stomping hard on the grass. I could feel his heart pumping slow and steady against my body, and it helped calm me even more. Even through the pain, the confusion, the fear, in Aster’s arms I felt safe.
He put me down next to the pool, and took my hand in his. “I know this doesn’t make any sense to you, Ava. I know you’re afraid. But you have to trust me. Do you trust me?”
I nodded yes and squeezed his hand. I didn’t know why I trusted him, but I did.
“I can make the pain go away. I can make it all go away. But we have to get in the water.”
If water was going to make the pain go away, then I was more than ready to cannonball into the pool. “Okay,” I said, my voice hoarse and scratchy.
“Don’t let go of me, Ava.” He took both of my hands in his and laced his fingers into mine. “This is very important. No matter what happens, once we’re in the water, don’t let go of me. Do you understand?” The pool wasn’t deep, and I knew how to swim, so I didn’t understand why it was so important to hold onto him. But the look on Aster’s face was beyond serious. It was a life or death look. I nodded and squeezed his hands.
Then, before I knew what hit me, Aster pulled me into the pool.
I let out a deep, desperate gasp as I plunged into the water. And then an amazing thing happened: the pain went away. At least, the pain went away in every part of my body that was submerged under water. I felt my muscles unclench and relax, and I looked at Aster, my eyes wide.
“The pain… it’s…”
He nodded and pulled me close to him. “We’re safe in the water.”
“What the fuck is…” I couldn’t even finish my sentence. My body was no longer in pain, but my head and shoulders still throbbed. Every inch of me that wasn’t submerged under the water felt pulled and squeezed. The ever-present hum was still as loud as ever, and as the tone undulated and shifted, so did the pain in my aching head. Whatever was happening to us, Aster seemed to understand it. He understood what to do. He understood what it was.
“We need to go below the surface of the water,” he said, squeezing my shoulders. “We need to be completely submerged. But Ava, do not let go of me. Don’t try to swim away. Do you understand?”
I nodded. I didn’t understand, not at all. All I knew was that I wanted the pain to go away, and Aster seemed to know how to make it go away. The parts of me and that were submerged in the water weren’t painful – they felt good even – but my head still felt like it was in a vice. It seemed I had no choice. I let Aster wrap his arms around me, and then he pulled me under.
As soon as I was completely submerged in the water, all the pain went away, every bit of it. My body had never felt so good, actually. I felt light and tingly all over, and when I opened my eyes in the water Aster was looking at me, smiling. My brain began to un-scramble, and I could think clearly once again.
My hero. My fucking hero. I still had no idea what had happened. Maybe, I thought, it was some sort of strange electromagnetic current. I’d read articles about people who claimed to be allergic to technology: cell phones and Wi-Fi signals gave them blinding headaches. Maybe it was that. Or maybe it was some sort of top-secret military weapon and Aster was an undercover government operative. I had no idea. All I knew was that Aster was smart enough to dunk us in the water to shield us from the effects. And the pain was gone. The fear was gone. I floated underneath the surface of the water, Aster’s arms wrapped around my waist, and he pulled me to him, enveloping me in a deep hug. His body was strong and powerful, and in his arms I felt so safe, so protected.
Then I started to run out of air.
I wiggled against him, and attempted to float to the surface for a breath of air. But he held on to me. I squirmed harder, pushing against him, and opened my eyes again to look at him. He shook his head from side to side, as if to tell me no. No!? My eyes widened, and I tried to pull away from him, but he continued to hold me under. His face was calm – serene, even. He shouted something to me under the water, little air bubbles escaping from his mouth. It was hard to make out, but it sounded like he said ‘It’s okay.’
It was definitely not okay. I needed to breathe, bad. I twisted and squirmed against him. I tried to kick him, to punch him, but in the water my blows landed like gentle thuds. It was useless. He was so much bigger than me, and so strong.
He shouted something else at me, something that sounded like ‘eeee,’ then I realized he was saying ‘breathe.’ Breathe?!
Well, this is it, I thought, I’m gonna die. It was my own fault for trusting a complete stranger. I knew he was too good to be true. I thought the universe had sent me my dream man, but instead apparently it had sent me a crazy person who was going to drown me in my neighbor’s swimming pool.
I stopped fighting. I gave up. Aster looked at me under the water and smiled, and I took in the breath that my body demanded, knowing that it would be my last.
But then a truly incomprehensible thing happened. I didn’t choke, and I didn’t die. I felt the water go into
my lungs, then I exhaled, expelling the liquid. Then I took in another deep breath.
I could breathe. I could breathe underwater.
Chapter Six
I breathed the water in and out, in and out, staring into Aster’s indigo eyes. Was I dreaming? No, I wasn’t dreaming. This was really happening. I had no idea how, but it was really happening.
It was because of Asterion, I knew. Somehow, because of this strange and otherworldly man, I was able to breathe underwater. It must’ve been why he told me not to let go of him in the water. But how? How was this happening?
At first I was scared, panicked even. I took in quick, sharp gasps of water as my heart pounded with fear. Aster held me, rubbing my back in slow circles. And slowly, as the minutes passed, a feeling of peace began to settle inside of me. It was a strange sensation, to breathe underwater, but once my body got used to it, it felt good. My muscles unclenched and my heart began to beat slower. I felt calm. I felt safe.