Gently slapping her face, Skye quickly got Charlotte to open her eyes.
“What the hell happened in there, Charlotte?” Aiden demanded, from the front, once Charlotte’s eyes came into focus.
Skye quickly held her red-tinged hand up to Aiden. Blood had seeped through Charlotte’s jacket onto her fingers. Skye pulled Charlotte’s jacket back, only to see the blood-soaked, bunched-up sleeve tumble out.
Charlotte grabbed Skye’s wrist. “Stop. It doesn’t matter. It was an accident. Let’s just get back to the mountain.”
“Hell, no. We’re going back to the hotel so we can look at this.”
Skye stayed in the back seat, propping Charlotte up after she passed out again. At the hotel, there was no sign of Triaten. After getting Charlotte inside to her room, Aiden insisted they stay there the night, to let Charlotte’s wound properly heal. A long, jarring trip home would do her no good.
It was deep into the night when Triaten snuck into the room. He had called Aiden, just to make sure Charlotte was okay. He had no intention of coming to the hotel. But Aiden’s assurances hadn’t been enough. He had to see her.
Triaten let the door rest against the frame, not letting it close completely. He wasn’t staying long. The light in the bathroom was on, the door cracked, and the rays of light lit Charlotte’s face as she slept. He walked silently across the floor.
He stopped at the bed, looking down at her face. Her brow was furrowed, even in a deep sleep. Leaning over her, his eyes travelled down her body. She was naked, but a sheet, pulled up just above her breasts, covered her.
His eyes rested on her left chest. The wound was hidden under a thick bandage, wrapped tight to her body, and it went up and over her shoulder. Dots of red soaked into the white of the bandage. Triaten couldn’t stop his arm from reaching out, and his hand slid gently onto her.
He touched her chest lightly, tender in the slight movement it made over the wound. Triaten’s stomach churned. He did this to her. He almost killed her. He drew his hand back.
She rustled at the touch, groaning, but she didn’t wake.
Damn her, he thought, she was never going to change. She was always going to act without thinking. Act without the slightest regard to her own safety. He didn’t know if he could do this. Have her and lose her. He wasn’t ready to be forced to face such a possibility.
“God, Char. You bring me to my knees again and again,” he whispered at her. His throat collapsed on him as his brain flashed to Africa, when he held her, dying, and then to that split second in the hut where he thought he had killed her.
Her head shifted. “Don’t...Don’t leave, Tri.” She mumbled into the pillow.
He knew she was talking in her sleep and wouldn’t wake — she slept hard while healing. And he couldn’t stop himself from softly answering her. “What I did to you…I almost killed you Char — it’s unforgivable. It’s killing me and I can’t be around you. Not now.” His fingers brushed hair off her forehead. “Just go back to sleep.”
She gave the softest moan, but her eyes remained shut.
Triaten fought himself, but he eventually pulled his hand from Charlotte’s face. He stepped away from her, and went back to the door.
Her cracked mumble stopped him. Even asleep, the angst in her words was palpable. “You know my heart, Tri. I would never choose Horace over you. Never.”
Her body curled up in a shudder. “Don’t leave me, Tri.”
Hand on the door, Triaten could not tear his eyes from her. Her cheek nestled into her blond hair, spread on the pillow, and she gave the slightest quiver as she inhaled.
He would not let death be her reward for loving him. And that’s exactly where he feared they were headed.
Triaten walked out the door.
~~~
It was days. Five days passed after the scene with Horace in the Badlands, and neither Triaten nor Horace had shown back up on the mountain.
Skye had finally made some inroads with Shiv. Every day, she and Aiden would head up to the ranch. And no matter how much pain Shiv would try to inflict on Skye, Skye held her ground, not leaving, no matter how harsh or cold it was being in a room with Shiv. Hour after hour, day after day, Skye eventually just wore Shiv down, the both of them discovering that there actually was a bottom to the bottomless pit of anger Shiv felt toward Skye.
Charlotte, on the other hand, bordered close to insanity. She would have gone after Triaten immediately, but had no idea where he disappeared to. There wasn’t the slightest trace of him.
So she was stuck going back to the mountain. Going back to worry and wonder about when she would need to start searching for him, even though she didn’t have a clue where to start. Worry and wonder if he could really believe she would ever choose Horace over him.
Hotel Auric was constantly buzzing, as the elders were pulling in forces from all parts of the world. While they didn’t know what the next move of the Malefics would be, they were readying forces. Without an appearance by Triaten or Horace, and no one to rebuke to DeLisio’s allegations, Edmund chose to vilify Horace’s actions and the subsequent deaths in the refugee camps.
So when Triaten was finally spotted going through town, word quickly got to Charlotte at her clinic. She took off in search right away.
Up the mountain and back down, and no Triaten. Outside of Joe’s, she stood in the chill that was not cut at all by the morning sun. She half-leaned against her suv, pulling her coat up around her neck, while staring at the pine trees swaying in the nipping wind. Where could he be? She’d been to his house, to the ranch, to Aiden’s adventure shop, to Hotel Auric, to Joe’s, and no Triaten. Had he skipped back out of town while she was searching?
She tapped her car key on her teeth, scanning her mind.
Then it hit her. One place on the mountain she didn’t check.
When she pulled up to the time-beaten house, with grey clapboards falling in, she heaved a sigh of relief. Triaten’s jeep was parked alongside the decrepit two-story building.
She spotted him instantly, or at least the back of his head. He sat atop the roof of a first story wing that jutted off from the main structure. He was facing the backyard. Charlotte parked, and tightened her wool coat around her as she got out. She plucked her way into the house, side-stepping fallen lumber, rotted remnants of what was once a magnificent home. A magnificent home that now housed birds and critters, and looked it. She kept to the inner wall as she went up the staircase, hoping that the few steps she found that could hold her weight wouldn’t just snap under her feet.
She stepped into the room to the left at the top of the stairs, and closed her eyes as memory after memory washed over her. It had been at least eighty years since she’d been in the house, in that room. Triaten’s room.
She opened her eyes and the ajar window opposite her, top pane long broken, beckoned her over.
He sat, footing tapping, on the low slant of the rooftop, arms resting casually on his knees. She wasn’t going to give him a chance to request to remain solitary, so she quickly went through the window, stepping lightly so as to not dislodge any of the old roof shakes. Triaten glanced up at her, but didn’t say anything.
She sat down next to him with a sigh, and even though she rubbed her hands together to force some heat into them, she was already warmer just being next to him. She pulled her legs up, wrapping her arms around her shins.
Triaten looked over at her. “Hey.”
“Hey,” she replied softly, and took in her surroundings. The house may have crumbled, but the towering pines were the same, only bigger. Her nose wrinkled at the thick smell of decaying wood. She wondered if they would fall through what little was left of the roof.
“You found me.”
“Took some searching. But you knew your coming through town wouldn’t go unnoticed.” She looked over at him, contemplating. “Did you want to get found?”
Triaten’s gaze moved to the needles of the trees. He shrugged. “Not sure.”
Charlotte
nodded with resigned understanding. She picked at the fold on the front of her crisp black jeans. Her eyes went to the right, taking in the crumbling house. “How long has it been since you were last here?”
Triaten followed Charlotte’s gaze. “I don’t even remember.”
Charlotte looked at Triaten, then back out to the woods. Silence sat upon them.
“I stabbed you, Char. I almost killed you.” His words were flat, but Charlotte could feel him shudder as he stared at the green pine needles.
“Tri — no — it was my fault. It’s okay.”
He looked down at her. “What I did to you. It’s not okay. It’s unforgivable. I’ve been so worried about others harming you, I didn’t see that the true threat was me.”
“Ridiculous, Triaten. I stepped in front of it — I wasn’t thinking — it was stupid, but I’m fine.”
Triaten’s eyes narrowed at her. “It’s not fine, Char. Two inches lower, and I would have killed you. Killed you. That is not okay, and it’s not something I can live with.”
Charlotte was momentarily stunned at the ferocity in his words. And she had no idea what they meant. Fear invaded her chest. She looked away from him, her eyes settling on a squirrel, busy scampering about the overgrown clearing, nuts in cheek.
He added nothing on to his last comment.
Minutes passed, and Charlotte grew antsy. What had she done? In trying to save everything, had she ruined everything? She glanced at him, noting that his jaw was set rigid. “Where have you been?”
“Out. Nowhere. Nowhere that mattered.”
“I was worried. And mad. You left me, Tri. I wasn’t sure how long I could wait until I came searching for you. Especially after...” Her voice trailed as her heart flew high in her chest. With a cough, she cleared her throat and continued. “Where was your mind?”
Triaten didn’t answer her right away, and the occasional bird caw crept through the air, exasperating the silence. The faraway look in his eyes told volumes. He sighed with a slow shake of his head. “I thought about disappearing, Char. Disappearing out in the field. Leaving the elders. Leaving the mountain. Leaving you.”
Charlotte straightened even as her gut dropped. She forced her voice steady. “Hmmm. That’s a little too honest.”
“Is there such a thing with you?”
“No, I guess not.” She paused to study his profile as she forced the next words to leave her mouth. “So why didn’t you leave?”
Moments ticked by, and heart in her throat, Charlotte watched Triaten’s jaw flex and unflex. Then he looked down at her.
“You’re home.”
The words flooded into her body, heating her blood. Words that meant the world. She smiled in relief as she leaned into him. “I think you also know I wouldn't have let you disappear. Space, yes. Disappear, no. I would have found you, no matter what.”
Her words coaxed a small smile from him. He looked down at her. “Yes, I kind of knew that. And I would be lying if I didn’t admit I considered it as a course of action. Letting you come to me.”
She grinned. “Then you could have left me a better trail.” Her smile faded. “So what were you considering while you were gone?”
“I was questioning us — aside from the stabbing. Char, you know I have always loved you. But I didn’t know, didn’t anticipate this would be so different. After we were together...I just didn’t expect the depth of what happened to me after you were truly, wholly, mine. Body and soul.”
“Why would that make you question us?”
“You need to feel this.” He grabbed her hand and positioned it over his heart. Even through his jacket, she could feel the out-of-control heartbeat. His voice was rough when he looked down at her and slid a hand along her jaw line. “Char, you wreck me.”
Charlotte’s eyebrows angled in question.
“All my control. All my logic. You wreck it. This is too raw. I didn’t anticipate the worry, the endless possibilities of what would happen to me if you were ever taken away from me. And then I stabbed you.”
He closed his eyes, drawing a steadying breath. “You know my mind works at a thousand-miles-an-hour. You. Horace. It made a storm. And then he threatened you — introducing you to Evan — he wasn’t at all subtle. And suddenly, I wasn’t sure I could take the fear that I would have to own. The fear that comes along with us being together.”
Charlotte hesitated, considering her words carefully. “Tri, you know I can’t take that fear away, because we can only control so much.” Her hand slipped from his heart to his knee. His foot tapping ceased. “But here’s what I can promise you. I fought death for you once, and I’ll do it as many times as it takes in our lives. But there are no guarantees, Tri.”
“I know. And that’s what I can’t come to terms with. I had honestly been judging Aiden for trying to keep Skye so sequestered from danger, and now I’m in the very same frame of mind with you.”
Charlotte’s palm slipped down to his inner thigh, caressing it as she watched his face intently. “But you can’t concentrate on the end like that. It could be tomorrow. It could be a thousand years from now. But we’re not together for the end, Tri. We’re together for the life lived before it.”
He wrapped his arm along her shoulders, his hand curling into the warmth of her hair. He leaned down, taking her lips on his, gently caressing the depths of Charlotte’s nerve endings. He pulled back only slightly. “And that is the reason I came back. You are not only my home, you are my logic when I need it.” His mouth went back onto hers.
When he eventually pulled up, a twinkling smile was touching his cheek. “Besides, it was driving me crazy — not having you, not touching you. It was actually stupid of me to be questioning things. Even though I probably needed to do it. And it took some days, but I realized it was selfish for me to be staying away. Not fair to you. Not fair to Shiv. I still have responsibility to her. We never ended things.”
Charlotte nodded. “Skye has been making some inroads with her.”
“Really? That’s good for both of them.”
“It is, but apparently it hasn’t been easy, according to Aiden. He is not exactly a fan of Shiv’s.”
“He just hates it when he has no power over Skye’s happiness,” Triaten reasoned. “Shiv’s a good one — Aiden will come around once she and Skye reconcile.”
Charlotte leaned her head on his shoulder, which prompted Triaten to wrap his arm even tighter around her back. On the grey roof shakes in front of their feet, black shadows of the trees flickered in the slight breeze.
“Do you remember how much time we used to spend out on this roof?” Charlotte asked as she watched the stillness of the forest.
“I do.”
“We were such little buggers then, running rampant through this town.” She nestled her head further down into the crook between his arm and chest. “I always used to envy you. I know Aiden did to. You had this house. This family. While Aiden and I just had the elders and randomness at the hotel, you had the father. You had the home.”
“I did for a little while.”
Charlotte paused, then dove in. “Tri, you never told me how Susan left. You had always said you woke up that day, and she was gone.”
“I didn’t want you to know what Horace had done.”
“Why not?”
Triaten wavered, burying his face in the top of Charlotte’s head. It took a minute before he spoke again. “I was embarrassed. Embarrassed that I loved her so much that he had to take her away from me. Embarrassed that he would do such a thing.”
“Even then, you were protecting him.” Spite laced her words. “You were five, and you were protecting him.”
The shrug he heaved visibly moved Charlotte’s head.
Minutes passed before Charlotte spoke. “I’m sorry.”
“About?”
“That day he took her away. We sat out here, and I tried to convince you not to go after her. I was too little and too afraid. But if you had told me what happened, I would ha
ve gone with. I just didn’t believe it when you said she would never leave you willingly. I didn’t trust you. I didn’t believe she could love you that much.” Charlotte stopped, swallowing hard. “And I didn’t want to believe it, because my own parents had tossed me aside so easily. I was so wrong. I was wrong and you went after her on your own.”
“Char, it’s the past. And for how well that turned out, it’s a good thing you didn’t come with me.” His arm tensed around her waist.
She crooked her head so she could look up at him. “Maybe, but you know, you didn’t see Horace when he brought your limp body to me. He was a wreck. You were my first real heal, and it took me a long time. By the time I was done, and you were awake, he had his composure back. You never saw how destroyed he was when you were broken like that.”
“That was a long time ago, Char.” Triaten’s body tightened. “And after the altercation in the Badlands with him — it just set off a storm in my mind where I’m doubting, questioning, everything in my life. Everything I do. I can’t help it, because like it or not, my whole life touches off of him. And if I can’t trust him, what his motives are, how can I trust what my life is? It’s a storm I can’t get rid of.”
“It’s okay to question, Tri. You’ve been so busy running around saving everyone else. You should be taking the time to question what Horace and the elders want out of you.”
“And what about what they want out of you?” Triaten’s fingers had slipped to the back of Charlotte’s neck, tracing the symbol — triple infinity, raised in a fluid, hard line of scarred skin.
She usually jumped when someone touched it, but she hadn’t even realized the motion of Triaten’s fingers until he noted it to her.
She sighed. “What they want out of me hasn’t changed. I’m still a one-trick pony to them.”
Triaten didn’t accept her levity, keeping his voice serious. “Why did you never carve it off?”
“I couldn’t.” Charlotte shrugged. “Too weak, I guess.”
“Believing in something bigger than yourself isn’t weak, Char.” His fingers still gently looped the symbol on her neck.
Triple Infinity Page 25