Emerald (The Silvia Saga Book 1)

by Jenna Lee

  “Hey lady, stop ignoring everyone and get me a whiskey on the rocks,” a guy further up the bar snaps at me.

  “Yes, coming right up!” Wishing I could say what I really wanted to, something along the lines of how about you get it your fucking self, jackass. Luckily, I am getting a decent pay here otherwise I wouldn’t put up with this shit. I would much rather be on the other side of the bar getting wasted and having a good night for once. I hand the jackass his drink and continue getting through the other drink orders.

  Usher’s song ‘Yeah’ starts blaring through the speakers. Kayla jumps up, running down to the dance floor. “Hell, yes! This is my jam,” Kayla hollers. Rex and Johnny follow her onto the crowded dance floor. Fuck this, I need a drink to get me through my shift. Finishing my tequila shot, I look out into the crowd when someone catches my eye by the table in the back corner.

  He was fiddling with his drink and stares straight at me, blonde hair cut to a medium length and the most beautiful crystal blue eyes I have ever seen. They look unbelievable like I am looking into a clear blue ocean. There is something familiar about him that I can’t figure out. Like I know him from somewhere, but I can’t quite place it.

  Rex, of course, chose that moment to come back to the bar and stand right in front of me, breaking my view. “Hey there gorgeous, we miss you on the dance floor.” He winks and tries to move in to kiss me on the cheek. I push him aside to find the guy I had been staring at, he was gone. Like he was never there. Ah damn, thanks a fucking lot Rex, you wanker.

  Rex is easy on the eye but this other guy, there is just something about him that I couldn’t quite figure out, that excited me. Now Rex didn’t seem as pleasing. God, what was wrong with me? Rex was perfectly fine five minutes ago. The mysterious guy just threw that out the door and has me all confused.

  The night went by, same as every other night, dealing with drunk, horny guys and legless girls, falling all over the place. Finally, it’s 3 a.m. Closing time. Everyone starts to clear out. “You okay with closing up Marnie? I have a drunk friend to get home.”

  “Yep, I got it! Get out of here and have fun taking that one home,” Marnie chuckles, pointing toward Kayla. Yep, I always get stuck with the shitty job of dragging her drunk-arse home.

  Saying my goodbyes to everyone, I go in search of Kayla. She’s making her way back from the toilets. “Dar, why did you have to work? I missed you,” she yells a little too loudly. Rex and Johnny close behind her.

  “Okay, I think it is time for you to head home sweetheart,” I say, hugging her side.

  I overhear the boys, “She wouldn’t be any good now, let’s get out of here.” They quietly slip out without even having the decency to say goodbye. They were obviously just after one thing and didn’t think they would get it now. Oh well, their loss. No way would I leave Kayla with them in this state anyway.

  I take Kayla out the front. I more like carry her out, she is ridiculously blind. She can’t even walk right now, and she is mere minutes from passing out stone cold. I hail down a cab and give the driver our address.

  We live in a very small apartment, nestled in the suburbs of Melbourne in the beautiful country of Australia. It wasn’t much, but it was home to us. After growing up in different foster homes, you learn to appreciate the small things, that most would just take advantage of. I didn’t need much to call it a home. I didn’t even need a roof over my head. I would sleep with the stars every night if I had it my way.

  Kayla is already snoring her head off five minutes after getting in the cab. She is a one-drink-screamer, always the life of the party but always the first to pass out. The first few times after meeting her, when she passed out, I literally thought she was dead. She passes out stone cold. After freaking out the first few times, I finally let it go and realised that it was just her. She wasn’t dead, just passed out.

  I’ve known Kayla since I can remember, you see, I don’t remember anything before I turned ten years old. It was just blank, no matter how hard I try, I just can’t remember being alive before then. Weird I know! I met Kayla at school before I had to leave. The foster family I was with at the time couldn’t afford school any longer. So, I had to pull out and start working to pull my weight. Kayla kept in contact and once she finished school we moved in together.

  She came from a well-off family, completely opposite to me. Yet somehow, we clicked and have been inseparable ever since. Everyone always has that one best friend that is like a sister to them. Kayla is mine.

  We pull up to our apartment complex a short twenty minutes later. I give the driver the fare and pull Kayla out, careful to keep her in one piece. She isn’t light, so it is always a struggle to carry her. I stumble, carrying Kayla into the foyer of our building, and feel an instant shiver.

  I have been having this same feeling the past few weeks. Almost like someone is watching me. Which sounds completely absurd. I just have this feeling that someone is there, watching my every move lately. Freaky shit.

  As usual, I look around and can’t see anyone. I need to figure out who or what the hell was going on. I couldn’t stand it anymore. We make it to the elevator in record time, since I am power walking. All the while trying to carry a drunk, sleeping, Kayla. I manage to get her into the elevator and ride up to our floor. After struggling, I finally get her inside our apartment and put her to bed.

  I turn on the tv and pour myself a glass of wine. What a night, I still couldn’t get that mysterious guy out of my head. There was just something about him that felt so familiar. I have no idea who he is, but something just felt right.

  It is a big world and I would probably never see him again, but I bloody hoped I did. Next time I wouldn’t be so shy, I would walk right up to him.

  Let’s hope there would be a next time. Yeah right Dara, keep dreaming.

  Chapter 2

  Dara

  My feet sink into the forest floor, enjoying the feel of the soft ground. It’s such a beautiful day with the sun shining through the trees. Suddenly, I trip on a tree root and tumble down a black hole. I feel like Alice in Wonderland.

  I keep rolling down and down until I finally hit the ground, I await the hard impact and am shocked when it’s a soft landing. I sit up, trying to get my bearings. Instantly I know I am in another world. I have landed on the most luscious grass that is a beautiful vibrant green. Not the usual green you see on the grass. This was vibrant-luscious.

  I look around to take in the rest of the forest. It was the most beautiful forest I have ever seen, and that’s saying something. I have hiked a lot of forests. The trees are the tallest and biggest I had ever seen. They have huge pink, purple and blue flowers that are connected to the leaves.

  Looking closer at one of the trees, I notice that each one is a house. The doors attached to the house are beautiful, made of grass. Hidden well, not noticeable unless you look closely. They look like my dream home. The home that I constantly daydream of. Living in the forest, having it at your doorstep is a dream come true, for someone like me.

  This place was mystical, something out of this world. But it felt familiar to me. It felt like home, like I had been here before. But I couldn’t have been here before. I would have remembered, right?

  I am about to go in through the treehouse door to see what is inside when an arrow whizzes past my head and lands in the tree.

  “What the hell was that?” I thought as I quickly duck out of the way. Looking at the arrow stuck into the tree, I notice that it is not your typical arrow. It has three arrowheads with red leaves attached to the end. More arrows continue shooting right at me. I try to move out of the way, but my leg gets caught on something, stopping me in my tracks.

  Trying desperately to loosen my foot, someone grabs my leg and removes it from the trap. Next thing I know I am being lifted and carried away. I can’t see a thing as I am hauled over some guy’s back. I did, however, have a nice view of his arse. “Hold tight, Princess, we are nearly out of sight,”
the mysterious guy yells over his shoulder at me. We make it to a huge tree and slip into a groove.

  He sits me down and finally turns around to look at me.

  That’s when I wake up in a state of shock. Running my hands through my hair, trying to calm down.

  This was the same dream I’d been having for the past few weeks, every night. It always felt so real, like it’s happening. I knew it couldn’t be. It was just my crazy imagination.

  I sit up straight as I’m suddenly realising why Mr. Mysterious at the bar last night looked so familiar. He was in my dream as the one who rescued me. The guy with the nice arse. God, I need to get laid. Shaking myself off, I jump out of bed to have a cold shower and try to clear my mind.

  After showering, I get dressed in my comfy clothes. Heading to the kitchen to make some breakfast, my tummy rumbles, telling me I most definitely am hungry. Coffee first, that is necessary to help get my head clear.

  I look up at the clock and to my surprise it's 11 a.m. God, I must have been out of it to sleep in that late. I never sleep in. I’m always up at the crack of dawn. Last night must have done a number on me.

  Kayla is nowhere to be seen, she’s probably still in bed sleeping off her hangover. I don’t know why she does it to herself every weekend. You would think she would learn her lesson. She is always complaining how hungover she is and how it’s such a waste of a day. Yet, she never learns.

  I make myself a coffee and cook up some bacon and eggs. This should wake Kayla up; the smell of bacon always gets her arse out of bed. I make a plate up for her and leave it on the bench knowing she’ll be out shortly.

  Bringing my breakfast with me, I head over to the kitchen table and open my laptop. It’s Saturday today, and I have the daytime off until my shift starts at 7 p.m. This gives me some time to start planning my hiking trip. I want to head out of town to explore some new forests. I have explored all the ones around our area, so much so, that I know every path and every little detail.

  I don’t know what it is, but I felt most at home in the forest. It’s like I was meant to live there. It brings me peace and a wave of new energy. I always feel so alive once I return from hiking, like a whole new person. Kayla sure did love when I returned from hikes, she always commented on how happy I was.

  I continue searching on Google Maps, sussing out where I am going to go. I hear Kayla stumbling down the hallway toward me, “Did you smell the bacon? Is that what woke sleeping beauty?” I tease.

  “Not so loud Dara, you don’t need to yell,” she snaps back at me while rubbing her head.

  “Ooh, did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Here, have some breakfast and coffee. I don’t want to put up with your mood swings today,” I say as sweetly as I can muster, even though I want to strangle her.

  “Thanks, Dar, I need me some greasy food to suck up some of this hangover.” Kayla makes a huge cup of coffee and brings her food over to the table to sit down next to me. “What are you doing? Still planning your trip?” Kayla mumbles around a mouthful of food.

  “Yep. I think I have it all figured out, going to go higher up east way, to the Wet Tropics, part of the Dandenong Ranges,” I explain, knowing full well that she will have no idea where that even is.

  “Ooh, sounds good, how long are you going for this time?” She asks scrunching up her nose. Kayla hated being home alone. Every time I went away she had to go out or invite someone over to entertain her. The girl couldn’t stand being alone.

  “Not sure, I told work that I would be away for four weeks. So, I am going to see how it goes but at the most, four weeks,” I admit, breaking into a smile. I am so bloody excited to go on this trip it was just what I needed. Some me time with nature, ahh, bliss.

  “WTF four weeks!!! You can’t leave me for that long, Dara,” Kayla yells, getting all upset.

  “You could come with me you know.”

  “Yeah, right Dar; me and nature do not gel. You know that from our last trip together.”

  Ha! Yes, she was correct, you should have seen her. She couldn’t stand sleeping in the outdoors, having no shower or luxuries. That was the first and last time she ever came along on my hiking trips.

  “Yes, you’re right. You’re never allowed to come with me again,” I tease.

  Checking the time on my watch, I quickly jump up. It’s midday, shit I better get moving. I want to go into town to get some supplies for my trip. I was planning on heading off next Friday. I needed to get all my shit together and sorted out.

  Yes, I am a planner and you need to be when you plan a long hiking trip. You can’t afford to forget anything. That’s why I had a long list ready to go.

  “I’m heading to town before work to get some supplies, do you want to come?” I ask Kayla, even though I know she wouldn’t be keen. She still looks hung as fuck.

  “Yeah, nah I think I will pass. Just going to laze around today,” she mumbles with a yawn.

  “Just like you do every weekend after a big night,” I tease back, walking out of the kitchen before I get a backhander that I probably deserve.

  I head down to my room and get dressed in a pair of denim shorts and a black tight t-shirt. It was Spring here and it looked like a nice day outside.

  The sun was shining, and I was glad to be going out to enjoy it.

  Chapter 3

  Dara

  I make my way outside, put on my runners and start walking into town. I must admit, I love walking and it was only ten kilometres into town. It wouldn’t take me too long to get there. It was such a nice day, blue skies all around with the sun shining. Perfect weather to be out enjoying it. I didn’t understand how kids these days could stay indoors on phones. They sure were missing out.

  I decided to walk through the bushland to make the walk a bit more interesting. The birds were out singing, and the air smelled of freshly cut grass and pinecones. My favourite smell, it calmed my entire body from head to toe. I seriously wished I could just live out here in the wilderness. Life would be bliss living amongst nature every day.

  A branch snaps behind me and I quickly scan the area. After several moments, I give up searching and continue my route. I am so on edge lately and feeling very paranoid. It was probably just a kangaroo or some animal passing through. But I just couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched.

  I take a deep breath as I walk, trying to calm down my beating heart.

  I make it into town in record time. I may have run the last two kilometres, just to get here quicker. I had a bad feeling after that branch snapped and wanted to get out of the area quick smart. Out of breath, I stop at a drinking fountain and gulp down some water. Once I have my breath back, I continue down to Ray’s Outdoors, which is the local hiking wear store here.

  I am a regular and every staff member knows me well. I come here a lot to stock up on clothing and equipment before my trips. Bryce sees me walking in and gives me a wave. “Hey Dara, long time no see,” he jokes with me.

  “Yep, I missed your face so much I had to come and visit again so soon,” I sarcastically say back, earning a smirk in return.

  Bryce is a tall lanky red head, not attractive at all. He does have a heart of gold though, and that’s what I liked most about him. Sometimes you had to look past a person’s looks and focus on their personalities. Most hot guys around here had bad attitudes and were arrogant as hell.

  That was one thing I couldn’t stand in a guy, arrogance. Yeah, they had to be confident within themselves, but there was a fine line between confident and over-confident. Over-confident was such an off-putting trait to me.

  “Can I help you with anything or are you happy browsing?” Bryce asks, snapping me out of my thoughts.

  “I’m good thanks, Bryce, I know what I’m after,” I yell back, as I walk toward the clothing department. I need to buy some thermals, long-sleeved shirts, a big warm jumper and some new hiking boots. I went hiking that often that I wore my boots out quickly, I needed new ones a
lmost every month.

  I am busy looking through the clothing when someone bumps me, making me fall into the racks, making a huge mess. I quickly sit up and spin around to give whoever it was an earful. When I see the culprit, I freeze.

  What the hell is going on? It’s the Mr. Mysterious from my dream. Some weird shit was going on, how could this be happening? Seeing him twice in the past 24 hours? Shit was getting weird, was I losing my mind? I could never forget those blue eyes.

  “Sorry sweetie pie, you just caught me off guard. I was too busy staring at that nice arse of yours, that I ran into the stand and it fell over hitting you. My bad,” he says, with a huge mischievous grin on his face. Which has me in turn smiling, I can’t help myself.

  That beautiful blonde mop of his and his crystal blue eyes is what I liked most about him. Liked? Get a fucking grip first, you have wet dreams about this guy, now he keeps showing up. I don’t even know the guy. Somehow, he keeps showing up.

  He has a 5 o’clock shadow and the cheekiest grin that instantly tells me he is a jokester. I rake my eyes down the rest of his body and draw in a breath. Fuck, it should be illegal to make men that sexy. His body looks as hard as a rock. He looks to be about 6ft, towering over me.

  Looking back up his body, I catch his heated eyes and instantly blush, hard.

  “Did you get a good look, like what you see?” He questions, giving me a wink, breaking me out of my daydreaming.

  “Shit sorry, must have lost my bearings for a moment,” I stutter.

  He chuckles, rubbing his facial hair, “Well, it sure was nice bumping into you, short stack, hope to do it again soon.” He laughs and disappears without a trace. It was like he was never here.