"That settles it." Mr. Dorn ignored the petty spatting. "We keep in contact via telephones."
"Cell phones." The tiny words came from the dark haired girl next to tattoo dude. Reminded him of a timid church mouse. "It's called…cell phones." She flicked her eyes to Tyler's and he looked away. Hope her super power wasn't reading minds. He was kinda tired of that. Needed to guard his thoughts with this bunch.
Mr. Kassern leaned forward and looked at Francis a few seats to his left. "What about your little operation? How's that going?"
Tyler watched Francis' face from across the table. He seemed calm enough, but Tyler read people pretty well. And Francis was really nervous for some reason, and working hard to hide it.
"I have gained the…cooperation of one of the leaders that would like to see the boy out of the gang. They have agreed to help. We move to plan B this evening."
"Which is?"
Francis put his hands on the table and laced his long nearly elegant fingers together. "We obtain the boy. I needed to know if it was okay if we brought him back here. He has no home or family except the…person helping me. He currently lives with a friend of a friend of his dead mother."
Mr. Kassern nodded and sat back. "Good. We can use that kind of intel. Not to mention saving a soul from those brutal streets."
Everybody nodded.
"So, it's settled. The Ruby Quad goes to Florida and the Southeast. The Mercury Quad goes back to Montana. My Quad and I are heading for the Vatican to get Jessie that Papal audience. And the kids will take care of the local trash. Doc?" Mr. Dorn closed the giant TV screen. "Can you babysit the boy and the…the monkey…people? While you're working on your testing?"
Tyler almost laughed when the intelligent angel stuttered over those monsters. Seemed like none of them were very keen about them. He eyed Peggy on his right. Except her.
She seemed to feel him looking and glanced his way. Tyler had the sense to not hold her gaze for more than a few seconds. Long enough to not look like he was caught staring but not so long that it was…personal.
His heart raced when she took his hand in hers under the table. He glanced at her and couldn't help but smile a little at how innocent she looked. And beautiful. He also knew she was deadly and that idea made him feel just a tad inferior. A tad.
Babysit. Mr. Dorn's word sank in belatedly. How about babyshit? He'd had enough of the childish treatment, that's for sure. The problem was, how was he supposed to find where Francis and them were going? He had no idea where the place was or how he would get there without one of them to beam him up.
Damn. He hadn't thought of that. Maybe he could convince Peggy to let him go just once. He'd spend the afternoon practicing his little trick. If he could get into that territory, he could read the gang members' minds and answer questions that might take weeks to find. Then they'd realize what a huge asset he was.
The doc had said the humans were like deflectors when it came to supernatural powers. Did that mean his ability made him entirely invisible to them? He'd need to find out.
Excitement made his guts churn and his heart skip all kinds of beats. Peggy squeezed his hand and without thinking, he did the same back. He stole another glance at her. Everybody assumed he was young. And that was his fault, he'd lied about his age. But how did he tell her the truth without seeming like he was waving an I'm old enough flag in her face? But he was old enough. And he did want her to know. She treated him like a good friend, maybe even a brotherly type of good friend, the kind you looked out for, took care of.
How would she feel when she knew he was really sixteen? Would she be mad he lied. Three times? See him any differently?
Chapter Thirty-Two
"With practice, you can exit your body with a mere thought." Those had been the doc's words when Tyler had asked after the little meeting. And Francis and them were leaving for plan B in four hours. That gave Tyler a lot of practice time. But it was turning out to be a real pain in the neck. Literally. His head and neck ached for some reason. He'd have to ask the doc about that.
Other than that, Tyler was stoked. He was exiting his body in a record two minutes. The doc said it was easier when he was hooked to him because the doc acted like a portal to another world. Learning to relax enough to step out was the hard part, and doing it fast was even harder.
The only problem was that scary ass pulling he could feel all around him. It wasn't really a bother except in his head. There was only a massive wormhole sucking all around him, a giant dark drain wanting to devour him. That's all. All he had to do is not think about it. Right.
Peggy was the one and only thing that remedied that. One thought of her sparkly eyes and sweet lips curled in that secret smile and he was fine. Perfect.
Tyler decided to see if he could find her while out of body. He slowly roamed the halls, trying to hold on to things. The doc said in a few years, he might be able to do that. Might as well start practicing. It was nerve racking though. Every time his hand passed through an object, he felt that drain sucking at him. Freaky crap.
Tyler paused outside the room he was pretty sure was hers. He closed his eyes and listened. He suddenly felt like maybe being there in that form wasn't right. His hand raised in habit of knocking and he paused, realizing he couldn't. He cocked his head and listened. Was that talking? The mumbling was barely detectable. Frustrated, he leaned his head through the surface until he could hear better. A TV? He turned his head which put his face in the room. Singing? Humming. But there was another noise, like white noise almost in the background.
Where was she? He stepped through the wall and made his way inside. If she were doing anything private, he'd just leave. Fast. He noticed a magazine open on the little table. And a pen. Leaning in, he saw writing all over it. Scribbling mostly. He looked closer, trying to make out the mess. His heart skipped a beat when he saw his name on the page. Next to…hers. And a heart around them. He smiled, reaching toward it wanting to touch, and remembering he couldn't.
He looked around, fascinated with all the…human things strewn about. It looked just like a regular teenager's room. Messy. And full of…things. Books and magazines littered the coffee tables, the bed. The floor. His heart raced at seeing a scrap of light pink lace on a pink rug next to the night stand. Then it froze in his chest at hearing the shower. Shut off.
Shit. That's what that other noise was.
He panicked, turning left and right. He made a mad dash for the door, only he moved in slow motion. What the hell?
She entered the room and Tyler froze. With his eyes closed. Waiting. Waiting for her to see him somehow. The sound of the door in front of him made him pop his eyes open. Oh God. His eyes got stuck on the sight of her naked backside. She peered out of the door and into the hall. Riveted. He was horrifically riveted. While he screamed at himself to stop looking, he stared harder. He'd never seen a naked woman. Holy. Shit.
She shut the door and turned, a look of confusion on her face.
Holy. Shit. His eyes glued to her breasts. He was beholding perfection. He knew he was. She was perfect. Oh my God, breasts.
She headed straight for him and he thought he'd have a heart attack when she walked right through him. He spun around and found she'd paused with her brows furrowed.
"Tyler?" she whispered, seeming to concentrate. "I…can feel you. Where are you?"
Shit. Shit shit. Shit fuck. He swallowed.
"Are you…here?"
He shook his head. Unable to make himself speak. Terrified now. Then right before his eyes, he watched the tips of her breasts turn hard. She bit her lower lip then licked it.
"It's…okay if you are."
Tyler's sixteen year old body responded to her tone unlike anything he'd ever experienced. Oh, he knew what it was, he'd just not experienced it. But he was now.
She suddenly smiled a little and turned. She went about her business and desire pummeled him as he watched her. Watched her walk slowly. She climbed on her bed and he was sure she was giving hi
m a show. Her movements were slow and measured. And…graceful with a hint of…things he shouldn't be seeing. But she was showing him. He had no doubt. Suspected he was there and watching. Wanted that. Wanted him to…see her.
He gave in. And he watched.
She laid in the bed. Stretched herself out slowly. Arched her back. Dear. God. Her breasts.
"You sleeping, bro?"
Tyler gasped and sat up on the couch he'd reclined on.
"Sorry, didn't mean to freak you." Francis pointed at his groin. "Interesting dream?" He chuckled and shook his head opening the game room fridge.
Tyler's cheeks literally caught fire when he realized he had a massive erection. Jesus Christ, what an embarrassment. He sat up and grabbed the black throw on the back of the couch.
"It's okay. I understand."
Tyler looked at him. "You do?" How would he? "And how's that?"
Francis sat on the lounge chair next to Tyler, his elbows on his knees, his head lowered and shaking. But it was the smile on his face that told all. Then it hit him.
"That girl," Tyler said. "The one girl in the gang? You…you like her?"
Francis took a swig of coke and met his gaze. Tyler grinned. "Oh my God, you do like her."
"Am I that transparent?"
It was Tyler's turn to laugh while nodding. "Yeah."
Francis set his coke down and leaned back with a groan, rubbing his face.
"Oh my God." Tyler could hardly believe it. "You sound…really bad off."
"I am." Francis almost hid behind his hands. "I am…really bad off."
Tyler sat forward, excited to see him in the same condition as he was. Only there was sadness in his tone. "How bad off?"
"Extremely, extremely, bad, bad, off. Horrifically bad."
Tyler gasped once. "Wow. Did…something happen?"
Francis looked up then right for several seconds before whispering a reverent, "Yes."
Tyler grinned, shaking his head. "Oh my God. You…" He swiped his mouth, trying to remove the shit eating grin but it remained. He wanted to ask what happened, but they weren't a couple of teenage girls. They were teenage guys. What was the right thing to do? That was one thing Tyler didn't have knowledge in. What guys talk about when it came to girls, how far did you talk?
Francis stood and paced again. "I nearly did what men do."
Tyler followed his pacing while trying to figure out what that might mean to somebody like Francis. "What…men do?" Tyler decided to assume the best. "You mean sex?"
Francis spun and looked at him. "Very nearly." He nodded slowly. "I. Very nearly. Had. Sex. With. A…" Francis turned. "Not sex. And not a…" He turned back to Tyler, his red eyes brilliant and deeply troubled. He lowered his head. "Her. And made love, not sex." He shook his head, staring into space, seeming haunted. "She's the most…broken and beautiful angelic creature I have ever met." The final words were quiet, barely audible.
Tyler watched in awe as this man-being began to pace restlessly. He couldn't find words to speak. "What…I mean how far…or close did you get?"
Francis froze with his back to him.
"Sorry, that's none of my business."
"I kissed her. Everywhere."
Tyler's eyes widened. "Every…where? That's…that's it? That's a lot. Of…kissing."
Francis snorted, a sound of massive incredulity. "This wasn't just kissing. This was…" His head shook like his brain burned with the need to find the exact words. Tyler wanted to tell him there were no words for that stuff.
Francis looked at Tyler as though he finally figured that one out. "There are no words."
"I was…just thinking that."
"You've experienced this?" Francis rushed to sit and leaned close in rapt attention.
"Well…yeah, sort of."
"Then you know."
Tyler understood that emotion in Francis, the need to connect with somebody who understood something unexplainable. "Well…technically I've never…done anything but I still know."
Confusion drew his brows together. "How?"
Tyler shrugged. "You can have feelings for a girl without ever touching them. Just being around them. Near them. Hearing them. Seeing them."
Francis angled his head. "You said that last thing strangely."
Tyler jerked his eyes to Francis. He'd gotten lost in his mind, seeing Peggy. "Which part?"
"Seeing." Franics took up his soda, not letting his gaze stray from Tyler. He finally looked down at his can. "I'm sure if that's all I'd ever done with her, it would be…so tormenting. Now that I've tasted her, I can't imagine living without it. God, I don't even want to think about it."
Tyler nodded, knowing that torment now. "Yeah. I can imagine. So, she likes you? Like you like her?"
Francis let out a long and defeated sigh, and the way he sank into the chair wasn't a good sign. He sat forward then, elbows on knees, head lowered. "I'm not sure. She's…she's so mysterious and unpredictable. And yet I feel like I know exactly what she's feeling and thinking. And I can't stop myself from giving her everything she needs." He looked at Tyler. "She needs to be touched. And kissed. Held. Protected. She needs me to right all the wrongs, she needs me to be the hero she gave up on so many years ago, she needs…" Francis paused and lowered his gaze. "She needs me."
Tyler was moved. Really moved, as in inspired moved. The words called to things in Tyler, things he'd never felt before. Man things, he supposed. It was similar to when he got his first bow and arrow and was allowed to hunt. Alone. It was the same kind of feeling Francis provoked in him. And just like then, he was immediately addicted. It was one of those feelings that you knew was right, that you were supposed to feel, that you were destined to live. To become a man. To be a man. And now…to be a needed man.
Hunting was great, being on his own for a whole day had been great in ways he could never define. But this right here was more. It was like…this was the reason for it all. This was the why he was a man.
He was a man for a woman.
"What are you smiling about?" Francis made a come on gesture with his hand. "Tell me."
Tyler laughed. There was nothing else to do with the revelation he'd just experienced. "You're just…so right. And I understand."
"What do you understand?"
"What I'm to become."
"Which is?"
"A man."
Francis narrowed his gaze, like he was missing something. "You…didn't know that?"
Tyler laughed once. "No. I didn't. I mean yes I knew I was a male. But I didn't really understand my…calling." Tyler couldn't think of anything else to name it. "I understand the feelings that go with that now, I understand that it's my destiny to be that. And not just be that, but why I'm supposed to be that."
"For her." Francis' sad smile said it all.
"Yes. Exactly."
Francis leaned back slowly and became contemplative.
"So you um…going see her tonight?"
Francis suddenly got up and began pacing. "Yes."
"That's…a good thing, right?"
"I don't know. My body says it is but I'm afraid."
"Afraid?" That was an odd word for somebody like Francis.
He turned to Tyler, eyes wide. "The proper word would be terrified." He went back to pacing. "She's fighting it. Her feelings. She's probably more terrified than I am. What if I do something wrong and scare her further away?" He spun to Tyler. "I want her for my wife. To do all those things I'm destined for. But I have…" he shook his head, "near zero how-to knowledge in that particular department. I mean I know the technical things, but I can tell you right now, knowing and experiencing it, is-is five worlds removed from each other." Francis zoomed back to his spot and sat. "What can you tell me about it?"
Shit. "I…I really…" Tyler shook his head, fighting embarrassment. "Don't know to tell you the truth. I'm afraid I'm as clueless as you."
Francis flopped back in the chair. "Oh thank God."
"Thank God?" That was unexpected.
>
"I thought there might be something wrong with not knowing. I thought that meant I couldn't…couldn't be a real man."
"Oh." Tyler hadn't thought of that. "Yeah. That would suck."
"No shoot."
Tyler nodded a little. "Shit. You say it, no shit."
"No shit?"
"No shit."
They burst out laughing and Francis ruffled Tyler's hair, his red eyes twinkling with mirth. It felt good to have a friend like that. Tyler realized Francis was his first real guy friend. "So what is the actual plan tonight?"
Francis grabbed his coke from the side table and rotated it in his hands. "I meet her at her apartment to discuss the particulars."
"I see."
Francis eyed him, catching his tone. "I'm not doing anything more with her until I know for sure."
"Know for sure what?"
"That she feels the same as I do. Once I give myself to her…" Francis looked down, thinking. "…Who am I kidding? I am already hers. Whether she would have me or not. That's what I'm most terrified about. How will I survive is she doesn't feel the same? If tasting her has done this to me, I don't want to think what actually making love will do."
Wow. He really was in love. Bad. Horrifically bad as he said. "When will you know?"
"I…was sort of playing it by ear as they say. But hoping to be closer to knowing after tonight."
"How dangerous will this operation be?"
"We don't expect confrontation. She's delivering him to us." Francis dug in his jean pocket and pulled out a cell phone. "She called me on this." He held it up before him as though it were a thing of salvation. "I thought she'd never talk to me again after our…" He shrugged. "But she called. And said she arranged it. Talked sense into the boy and he'll be with her tonight. We're simply picking him up."
Tyler frowned. "You…trust her?"
"I used my powers to tell if she were lying. She wasn't."
"Can I go?"
Francis appeared surprised with the question. "My dad would shit."
"But it doesn't even sound like this is a mission, more like a casual date."
He shook his head and downed his coke then crushed it like paper in one hand. "I can't bring you there."
Summon Lyght (Archangels Creed) Page 26