“So, I’ve been feeling the slight depression that is within you all night long. You want to tell me what happened?” Jules asks, swinging around the counter with the bowl of popcorn in his hand. He smiles softly as he makes his way to the loveseat to sit beside me.
I shake my head and hand him his mug of hot cocoa. “I really don’t want to talk about it tonight, Jules,” I sigh.
“Tomorrow then, when we get settled with everything?”
I nod. “Yeah, sure.” I smile as he places the bowl of popcorn on his lap.
“I’m sorry—I should have told you myself that I didn’t want to rush off to London but I just couldn’t. I didn’t want to argue with you. I’m sorry that you’re angry with Felix for my demands.”
“It’s fine, really. I understand. We don’t have to rush into things over there. We can just take it slow and when I’m ready to train, you can take me. Deal?” I ask, grabbing the remote control for the DVD player.
“Deal,” he says as I hit play. I sit back and begin to reach for the popcorn but he stops my hand and holds it in his. I look up at him slowly as he looks at me with those eyes again—the eyes that I love and the eyes that always make me melt inside. He lifts my hand to his lips and kisses it. He then wraps his hand around the nape of my neck and pulls me in softly. I stare at his lips just as he’s staring at mine. We both want this and we both want to kiss each other. It’s been a long night and all I want to do is drown it out by the plushness of his pink lips, the taste of the hot cocoa on his tongue. He stops moving in about an inch away from me. “I know that you’re worried. I know that you’re scared about all of this, but I’m here for you. And I promise that I won’t let anything happen to you. When we are over there, I will explain everything. I will show you the ropes and make sure that you understand. Nights like Thursday night will not happen again—not without you trained.”
“Okay.” I nod, still staring at his lips, feeling the heat of his as he breathes on me.
He bites at his lower lip then dips in and kisses me. I kiss him back as he reaches for the popcorn and places it on the coffee table. He immediately cups his hands around my face and presses his lips against mine with more passion than I’ve ever felt from him before. But it’s beautiful, it’s powerful, and it’s saying something.
It’s telling me that he won’t go anywhere, that he will never hurt me again. That he won’t lose me or hide anything from me. All of these years, he’s known me more than anyone but I didn’t know him at all. And now it is my turn to get to know him. I pull away from him and we both pant heavily as we eye each other.
“I’m sorry. Am I making you uncomfortable?” he asks while studying my face.
“No. I love it.” I grin. “It’s just . . . I want to know more about you. More about our past. I want to know how we were when I had my angelic gifts.”
His eyes soften but they are still on me, studying my face, but mainly my lips. His lips press against mine again. Softly. Gently. “I’m sure you will know everything that I’ve gone through, what we’ve went through together, and even more once we are in London, Alexandria. And that’s a guarantee.”
“I hope so,” I tease, but I can’t help but to stare at his lips. I pull him into me and we collide again. I crash my lips against his and rake my fingers through his curly hair. He twists the hair at the nape of my neck with a groan and a soft grumble while also smiling behind it. I can tell that he’s enjoying this.
“You want to know something?” he asks me.
“Yeah,” I breathe, pulling away.
“That fight with Braxton made me realize how hard it was to live without you before. And now that it’s over, I feel terrible for Stacy because she has no one to protect her and I know that her heart is beyond shattered.” His eyes become distant as he grips my hand. “I almost lost you, Alexandria—twice—but with Braxton, it was too close. I was afraid, but I refused to give up because I know that if I am to lose you, I am losing everything. My life will not be the same without you. If anything, I’m sure that it will only get worse and I won’t want to live on anymore.”
“What do you mean?” My eyes narrow softly, confused by his last sentence.
“I don’t know. If I don’t have you, there is no reason for me to live. I will sacrifice everything for you because you are the only person that I have left in my life. I can’t lose you because losing you is like losing myself. I won’t know how to live on . . . I won’t know what to do. Everything for me will be blank. My soul will no longer be intact and we all know that a person without a soul is no one at all.” His eyes are now staring off at a wall behind me. They’re wide, expressionless.
I tilt my head as I bite at my lower lip. He reaches forward to stop me from nibbling on it. “You mean that if I end up dying, you’ll kill yourself?” I mumble, hating the words.
“That, or I’ll cause hell to the ones that refuse to help me,” he says simply. I nod as he grips my hand.
“Well, let’s just hope that nothing happens and that we both live happy lives,” I say, reaching in to kiss his cheek.
“Yes, let’s,” he agrees. He releases my hand to shift himself around and lean his back against the arm of the deep love seat. I lie back and rest the back of my head against his firm chest.
“You want to know something?” I ask.
“What’s that?”
I sigh softly. “When you told me that you loved me—before we were facing Braxton—I realized something.”
“And what might that be?” His thumb rubs along my knuckles. I can almost feel him smiling now.
I twist in his arms to tuck my forehead beneath his neck, letting my cheek press against his warm chest. “I realized that you were the one all along. I don’t know why it took me so long to let Felix go.” He cringes but I grip his hand to let him know that I’m not finished speaking just yet. “But I’m glad that I did. After all of that, I realized that no one can love me the way that you love me. As time passed, I knew that at the end of it all, you would be the one that I could really trust. We all make our mistakes, Jules, and I forgive you.”
“Forgive me?” I pull back to look at him and his head is tilted.
“Yes. I know that you hate to make me angry and hate to have me unhappy but you can’t control it. Life happens, whether we want it to or not, and being Guardian’s will only make our lives harder. We argued four years ago over something that you can’t even remember—that I will never remember. I don’t want that to happen again. I don’t want one stupid argument to break us apart and possibly cause us to hurt ourselves. I don’t want to forget you again.”
He nods softly, reaching his hand up to caress my cheek. His fingers run across my ear and twist through the edges of my short hair. “Even if you were to lose your memory again, I wouldn’t give up. No matter how many times you may forget me, I will keep making you remember. I will never give up on you.” He smiles adorably, revealing a tiny glimpse of his beautiful teeth. He leans his head down, pulls me into him, and his lips embrace mine. I fall against him and try to get as close as I can to him but it’s impossible. I want more of him—I need more of him—but this is probably going to be as good as it gets. He doesn’t stop kissing me until I pull away to look at him again. “I love you, Alexandria Marshall, and I will never let anything that stupid come between us again. No argument is worth losing you over.”
I nod in agreement. “I love you, too, Jules Maddox.”
As he smiles this time, all of his teeth show. He plants a gentle kiss on my lips, my cheek, and then my forehead. “I know you mean it.”
I twist around in his arms again to face the television. The movie is still on and I pretend to watch it but I’m truly just lost in thought. There is so much to this life, so much that I have to understand. But I can deal with it. I can do this, for Jules and myself, because I love him and I want to live the rest of my life with my mate—with someone that understands me and accepts me for who I am. He meant everything that he’d said an
d for some reason, I feel like I have no choice but to believe him.
****
I kiss Liam goodnight before taking off. I don’t want him to wake up but he does and catches me by the sleeve of my grey zip-up hoody.
“Zandy, already?” he asks as he spots his alarm clock that reads 1:20 A.M. in bold green.
“Yeah, we have to get there early and make sure everything is on board.” I smile as a spill of moonlight strikes his gloomy face.
“Oh,” he mutters, his eyes saddening.
I sigh as I sit on the edge of the bed. “I’ll be back soon, Liam, You just worry about that new job of yours. I’m sure it will occupy most of your time now.”
“Yeah,” he breathes through a small smile. “Just be safe over there, okay?” His hooded eyes grow serious.
“I will. I promise.” I stand then reach down to kiss him on his cheek again. “I’ll call you when we arrive, okay?”
“Sounds good. I’ll miss you,” he murmurs as I make my way towards the door.
“I’ll miss you more, Lemon.” Groaning, he pulls his blanket over his head. I giggle. “I love you, Liam. Always.”
“I love you too, Zandy Bear.”
I press my lips together softly before shutting his door behind me. The last time that I remember him calling me Zandy Bear was in the police station the night when he was trying to get me to trust him. Did Felix know about Liam, too? Did he want me to remember certain things so I wouldn’t be completely alone? Maybe he really did have a soft spot.
I shake my last thought away as I head for the living room. I shut all of the lights off then make my way out of the apartment, locking it up first before clambering down the steps of my complex. I pass Braxton and Stacy’s apartment but I hesitate to walk past. All I can do is stare at it.
It still hurts to know that things had to go that way. I hate that Braxton is dead. It makes me feel guilty because everything that’d happened is because of me. I told Stacy that it was my fault but she brushed it off and said that none of it was my fault—if anything, she feels like it is her fault. She’s still grieving and she hasn’t talked to anyone since Thursday night. She told us that she was leaving for Paris the next morning after everything that had happened.
“Are you alright?” I spin around quickly and face Jules in his black leather jacket. His cheeks are flustered and his eyes are wide with curiosity.
“Uh, yeah,” I say, shaking out of my stupor. “I was just . . . thinking. Sorry.”
“Don’t be. I understand how hard it can be to leave everything behind.” He steps in further until I can feel the heat of him next to me. “You know we can always postpone?”
“No, it’s not that,” I sigh. “I was just thinking about Stacy.”
“Oh.” His eyebrows lift as he reaches for my hand. “She’s alright, Alexandria. You and I both know that she’s just going through a hard time. She’ll contact one of us some day.”
I nod, staring down at the wooden steps. “She didn’t deserve it. She didn’t deserve any of this.”
“We never deserve some of the things that are thrown at us. Most times, the things that are thrown at us are lessons. They happen for a reason.” He reaches his hand up to cup my cheek. My face burns with fire and slight satisfaction. “Other times, disasters happen to make us better . . . stronger. In the life of an Angel, terrible things happen to only make us better. She just needs time to cope. That’s all.”
I nod slowly, staring into his soft brown eyes.
“Are you ready?”
“Yeah,” I breathe. “Let’s get out of here.”
He smiles softly, wrapping his warm fingers around mine. He leads me down the stairs of the complex and as we cross the black asphalt to make our way towards his car, I feel a bit more exhilarated than ever. After all of this time, I’ve found my place. And my place is with Jules Maddox in London. I need a new start. We both do. We just need a vacation. We need to escape New York for a while and live it up. It’s always been my dream to go to London and now, it’s happening. I can’t be any happier than to go with him.
But I know that even if I do go, I will have to return. All of the problems will still be here, Felix will still be here and if I am to arrive, he will know. But I will come back as a new person. I will come back as a supernatural Alexandria. I will train as much as I can and if I have to, I will fight because Felix’s father is still out there, the Hellions are still searching for me, but it will all end soon. It will all be over once I develop my wings and once I’m out of the states.
And by my side, I’ll have Jules.
I know that he won’t let me down. I know that he will be there to carry me along through every part of it.
He will be there for me because he loves me, because he cares for me, and because he is my one and only soul-mate.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I seriously just want to take a moment and thank everyone that has supported me throughout this process of OBTAINED and will continue to support me, even throughout the years when the series is over. You all are seriously amazing. Honestly, without a group of supporters, I don’t know where I would be in this writing world. All of you mean so much to me; my family, my readers, my friends, my author friends, my reviewers, and even the ones that like to call themselves fans of mine. (That saying is still weird to me!) But first and foremost, I have to thank God for providing me with this wonderful talent. It’s always been a dream of mine to have people reading my book and it’s finally happening.
I was so anxious with OBTAINED. I wasn’t sure if everyone would catch my drifts, like my writing style, or if they would even think it was a creative idea. Some may hate it; some my love it, but to me, OBTAINED was an enjoyable experience.
I have to thank my family, most of all because they’ve pushed me to reach for my dreams and my goals. I’m still reaching but when the day comes that I don’t have to reach anymore, I know that I still won’t be able to thank them for everything they’ve done for me.
To my Street Team, you ladies are the bomb. I swear you are. Without all of your sharing and kind words that keep me motivated, I wouldn’t be where I am. Y’all have to be the best ladies on the planet.
To Stephanie White for creating this beautiful cover for me. I’m still in love with it, girl! You rock!
To everyone that bought the book, whether you disliked it or loved it, I just want to thank you for giving me the opportunity.
Without the reviewers and readers, my dreams would be pretty pointless so I have to thank you all as well. You are never forgotten in this big head and large heart of mine.
To keep updated with Shanora and her future books, find her on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/ShanoraWilliamsAuthor
Or on her blog:
http://shanorawilliams.blogspot.com/
OBTAINED (Book One) Page 29