Ocean's Fire

by Stacey Tucker

  Joshua chuckled quietly. “Another time for sure. And I won’t take no for an answer then. I seldom do. I am intrigued by you . . . making me wait.”

  “Wait for what?” she asked, turning back to face him—and then realized he had closed the distance between them. She took a step back, but even then she could feel his breath on her face and his scent engulfed her. She could taste the musk of him; it made her mouth water.

  “For you, Skylar.” He stared into her eyes. “You are making me wait for you.” He leaned in and audibly inhaled. “God, you smell great.”

  Skylar swallowed hard. “You just met me,” she whispered.

  “So?” He leaned in closer still. “Attraction exists outside of time.” He grazed her ear with his lips. “You smell like sex.”

  Skylar gasped. She was out of her league. She stood paralyzed, afraid to move.

  “Or maybe it’s the desire for sex. They smell the same, you know.” He read her silence as an invitation to make his way down her neck, each kiss burning her skin with the heat generated by the charge between them. “You don’t know what to think right now, do you?” he asked as his hands grabbed her hips with force. “That mask you wear is all prim and appalled, but secretly, down deep, in parts you pretend don’t exist, you’re coming alive.”

  Skylar trembled. Part of her wanted to run. A bigger part of her didn’t. She was too young to handle herself with calm confidence. No, she would have to reply with awkward inexperience. Joshua leaned toward her, stopping within an inch of her lips. His breath filled her parted mouth. He stopped a fraction away from contact. She wanted his kiss but waited. Not letting her break away from his stare, he slipped his hand into the waistband of her pants and paused. Her body remained frozen but for the pulse growing beneath his hand.

  The voice in her head begged him to keep going. It didn’t matter that they were in a public place. The thought only turned her on more. He slid his hand down from her navel until he reached her tuft of hair. His stare hinted to a dark secret he wouldn’t share with her. A sly smile broke out across his face. His hand started moving again, farther down, deeper, until it reached what it was searching for.

  “Ahhhh,” he said. “That’s it. I know you’ve been thinking about how I could satisfy you in ways you haven’t experienced yet.” He pushed Skylar back against a door in the hall and closed the black curtain that hung from the door jam. She was relieved to have privacy but wasn’t convinced she would have stopped him had they stayed where they were. He rocked her body back and forth on his hand, switching intensity between his thumb and his fingers, until Skylar was on the brink of explosion. She let out a quiet moan when she let herself exhale.

  Joshua withdrew his hand. “I knew you would like that. You aren’t the good girl you think you are, Skylar.” He released her from his grip and licked his fingers. “Mmmmm. You taste so sweet.”

  He didn’t give her a chance to respond. He turned and left without a word. She slid down the wall to the floor and hugged her knees. She remained there, staring trancelike at the wall in front of her, letting her body recover. She was uncertain it ever would.

  She wasn’t sure how much time passed before the curtain swung open and Suki appeared above her. She started talking incredibly fast. “Thank God you’re here! I was hiding in the ladies’ room, but I was afraid they’d lock up and leave me in here. You were right, I never should have come, but Kyle said he was playing drums and I should come see him and . . . well,” she stumbled nervously over her words. “The girls I came with were complete jerks and left without me! Then I lost my purse. Thank God my phone was in my pocket.” She paused with a quizzical look. “Why are you sitting on the floor? I knew it was you back here from those god-awful gold Toms you bought the other day.”

  Skylar stood up. “I need to get out of here now.”

  “Uhh, yeah,” Suki said. “Let’s go.”

  It was sometime after three in the morning and Skylar was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling. She couldn’t understand how it had all happened. One moment she was talking to Joshua, the next his hands were on her body. She should be horrified, but she wasn’t. She was too consumed with hitting the replay button in her head. Joshua’s lips, his hands, the things he said . . . Every time she thought about it, a rush of adrenaline shot up her body.

  And then Argan walked into her thoughts: his smile, his goodness, his deep love for her. And she saw his smile vanish when he learned what she had done. I am a terrible person. She rolled over and buried her face in her pillow. Her face still covered, she fumbled for her phone. She grabbed it and typed out a text:

  I need help.

  “I find this all incredibly fascinating,” Ronnie said. “I have to say, Skylar, if I were your mother, I would be very concerned. You are so young to be dealing with all of this. This reader thing is completely bizarre, but I’ve seen wilder things. It’s very telling that you purposely avoided seeing Joshua and a situation presented itself to make it happen anyway. Your free will seems to be getting trumped by something. Fascinating.”

  “Ronnie, please stop saying fascinating,” Skylar said. “I need to know what to do here. I’ve just started my relationship with Argan, and I care for him deeply. The last thing I want to do is ruin that.” Although I think I already have, she thought. “I’m so happy with him.” She put her head in her hands.

  “Are you? Happy?” Ronnie asked. She took a seat next to Skylar. “Happy people don’t cheat on their boyfriends.”

  Skylar’s head snapped up. “I didn’t say I cheated.”

  “You didn’t have to. You don’t wear guilt well, Sky.”

  Skylar blushed. “Okay,” she said. “The book says in a few short weeks I’ll give in to Joshua and we’ll sleep together. A few weeks? What does that say about me? And of course my relationship with Argan will end if that happens.”

  “And you’re with Joshua for how long? A week? A month?” Ronnie asked. “It doesn’t seem like this could be a long-term relationship. He’s a young musician. We all know how that goes. And so you give in to lust and ditch Argan for a short-term relationship, and then you are left with none. Except maybe that’s okay. You’re only twenty-one. That’s way too young to tie yourself to someone forever.”

  “Too many forces had to come together to reunite Argan and me—”

  “And opposing forces have smacked up against that,” Ronnie said. “I’m sure you think you can fight any desires you may have for Joshua with willpower. We all believe we’re stronger than our hormones, and that flirting is innocent. But these instances build on each other, and before you know it your ass is in the air in the backseat of his car and you’re wondering how the hell you got there. Stop it now, before you even know his last name.”

  “I already know his last name,” Skylar said.

  “I’m making a point. If you have a few more run-ins with him and he tries to seduce you in a way that I’m sure a hot musician can, it might be impossible to say no. Especially if you don’t want to.”

  “You’re saying I want to be with him.” Skylar already knew the answer to this. “I wish I knew more about what’s going to happen. I tried to read present day, but the pages were smudgy and my reader didn’t work.”

  “We can take a look now if you want,” Ronnie said.

  Skylar hesitated. She didn’t want Ronnie to see how far things had gone with Joshua. “Umm. Well . . .”

  Ronnie could see it all over Skylar’s face. “Yes?”

  “Oh Ronnie, it’s worse than you think,” Skylar confessed. “He was so commanding and all-consuming. He started saying things to me, and before I knew it he had his hands on me, and . . .” Skylar stopped to breathe. Recounting the night’s events sent chills up her spine.

  “Did he force you?”

  “Not . . . exactly. He sensed my attraction to him. It all happened so fast.” She paused, then began again in a whisper. “It was mind-blowing. It’s all I’ve been able to think about, and I completely hate myself for
it.” She avoided Ronnie’s eyes.

  “Skylar, I’m not going to judge you. You can love your partner with everything you have but if a Joshua comes along in a dark corner of a club, looking and talking the way he does, the word no may never come up.”

  “What happened to ‘happy people don’t cheat’?” Skylar asked.

  “That’s a crock.” Ronnie smiled.

  “It wasn’t even dark,” Skylar whispered. “Every light in the place was on.”

  “Hot,” Ronnie said.

  Skylar shook her head. “Oh yeah, I completely forgot,” she said, taking the Book of Akasha out of her bag and placing it on the table. “When I got the translator working, the title page said Sophia. Who’s Sophia?”

  Ronnie just stared at the book. After a full minute of silence, she whispered, “I didn’t get that when I had it the other night.”

  “I’ll show you,” Skylar said. She held her phone over the title page. Once again, her phone translated the word to Sophia.

  “May I try?” Ronnie asked.

  “Sure,” Skylar said, handing her the phone.

  Ronnie repeated the steps, but for her the title page translated to Life.

  “That’s weird,” Skylar said. You’re getting a different read than me.”

  “Sophia means ‘wisdom,’ not ‘life,’” Ronnie said. “I don’t understand the correlation there.” She twirled her curls around her fingers nervously. “This is officially out of my league, hon. I think it would be a good idea if I hooked you up with a friend of mine. She has a lot of experience with things like this. If you’re interested, that is.”

  “Sure,” Skylar said. She was open to meeting anyone Ronnie called a friend, especially if they could help her figure out what was going on.

  “Can you come back here Saturday?” Ronnie asked. “I’ll bring reinforcements, and hopefully we can get some answers for you.”

  Skylar hadn’t even brought up seeing Cheveyo at her house. I’ll tell her later, she decided. “Saturday sounds good.”

  “Mind if I keep the book until then?” Ronnie asked.

  “Of course.” Skylar handed it to her.

  Ronnie got the rest of her things together and hurried toward the door. She turned back to Skylar with a deep look of concern on her face. “We’ll figure this out, okay?”

  “Thanks, Ronnie. I really appreciate your help.”

  That Saturday, Skylar tracked down Kyle at the barn and got right in his face.

  “You!” she said angrily. “What the hell have you been doing nights? Drums at Garage? You’re supposed to be here! This is your job.”

  He pulled her into the tack room. “Hey, listen, I’ve got to do this,” he said unapologetically. “You think I want to be working at the barn my whole life? No offense, but I’ve got bigger dreams than this. And Rider’s going to be big. I know it. I don’t mind getting in on that, ya know?”

  “Yeah, I get it,” Skylar said. “But that doesn’t help us here. You should quit. Or I should tell Ronnie.”

  “No, please don’t,” he pleaded. “Look, Argan’s back today, and the next time he goes I’ll work something out, I promise.”

  “And what’s with you and Suki?” Skylar asked accusingly, not ready to let him off the hook yet.

  He chuckled. “Oh, I invited her to come watch me play. I think she has a crush on me,” he said, puffing his chest up.

  Skylar wrinkled her nose. “You trolling for groupies?” she asked in disgust. “Not her.”

  He put his hands up in surrender. “It’s not like that at all. I really—”

  Skylar put up a hand. She was done listening. “You’re on thin ice with me. I’ll be watching, ya know?” she said. Her phone rang in her pocket, and Kyle took the opportunity to make his exit.

  The call was from Argan.

  “Hey, beautiful. I’m making my way back, should be there in a few hours.” He sounded incredibly happy.

  “Oh, thank God. I missed you, Argan,” she said. The words lumped up in her throat.

  “Me too. When can I see you?”

  Hearing his voice made the very core of her ache. She couldn’t speak.

  “What’s up?” he asked. “I thought you’d be sitting on my doorstep all day.” He chuckled.

  She cleared her throat. “Yes, I want to see you. I have a meeting with Ronnie at five. Not horse stuff. I don’t know how long it will take. Can I come after?”

  “I guess, if that’s my only option. Are you okay?”

  “Sure, sure,” she said hastily. “I’ll call you when we’re finishing up. We’ll be in the Round Room, so I won’t have any travel time. Argan . . . I am really glad you’re back.”

  She hung up with a knot in her stomach. She knew she hadn’t given Argan the excited reaction he was expecting, and she knew could have seen him for an hour before meeting Ronnie—but she was stalling. She didn’t know what was going to happen when she saw his face, and she was afraid to find out.

  Skylar stayed at the barn all day and arrived early to meet Ronnie, who met her outside the Round Room.

  “We’ll try to make this quick,” Ronnie said. “I know Argan’s home; you must be anxious to see him.” She lingered in the doorway, looking awkward.

  “Are we going in?” Skylar asked.

  “Yes,” Ronnie said, unable to hide her uneasiness.

  They walked into the Round Room. “Skylar, I want you to meet one of my greatest allies, Ocean,” Ronnie said.

  Skylar stopped and stared. It was the frizzy-haired woman she’d met at Art Bar.

  “Hey, I know you!” Ocean yelled loudly across the table. Her appearance had grown even more odd since their first meeting; she had seemingly spent the past week wearing oversized sunglasses in the sun, because she was now sporting a raccoon look she hadn’t had at the bar.

  “Hi, Ocean. It’s nice to see you again,” Skylar said, unable to match Ocean’s enthusiasm. She took a seat across from her.

  “You know each other?” Ronnie looked confused.

  “We met at Art Bar,” Skylar said, refraining from mentioning Joshua.

  “Ronnie showed me your book, and we were able to decipher some of it,” Ocean said. “But I hear the mystery deepens . . . Sophia?”

  “Yes,” Skylar said. “Is it meant for someone else?”

  “Sophia isn’t a person, Skylar,” Ocean said. “Sophia is the divine wisdom of the soul, as well as the feminine aspect of God.”

  Skylar stared at her blankly. “I thought this was a book of Akashic Records.”

  “Yes, they overlap,” Ocean said. “As above, so below. Akasha is the record of below, here on earth. Sophia is the wisdom of above, the heavens. They work together to create the masterpiece of life.”

  Ocean got up from her seat and walked around the great table to sit next to Skylar. She picked up her phone. “I find it interesting that you read from above and we could only read from below. May I try?”

  Skylar pushed the book over to Ocean. “I’ve only been able to read about my life. Any wisdom you think is in there doesn’t seem to be surfacing. The app doesn’t work on every page.” She handed Ocean her phone.

  Ocean stared at the phone like she’d never seen one before. “Aren’t you the slightest bit curious how this app came to you? I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  “My mother said I would read this one day. She didn’t say how,” Skylar said assuredly. “I assume it’s from her too.”

  “I admire your faith in your mother,” Ocean said. “That’s good enough for me.” She skimmed the title page with Skylar’s phone. “I’m getting the same result as Ronnie.” Ocean leaned across the table and studied Skylar intently, invading her personal space. At one point, Skylar could have sworn the older woman was trying to smell her.

  Ronnie spoke for the first time. “A love triangle is her most immediate problem, Ocean,” she said in a stern tone. “She’s in a new relationship with a wonderful young man, but now a provocative alternative has popped up.”r />
  “Who is the dark horse in your story, Skylar?” Ocean asked.

  “Joshua Rider,” Skylar said.

  “Oh my. You are in deep shit, dear.” Ocean squeezed Skylar’s arm.

  “That’s why I’m here,” Skylar said.

  “Sky, spend some time with Ocean,” Ronnie said. “She can really help you.”

  “How much time do you have tonight, dear?” Ocean asked as she patted her red frizz back out of her face with fingers also tipped in red. Skylar could see perspiration on her forehead.

  Skylar looked at the clock. It was just after five. “I’m meeting Argan after this, but we have no timetable.”

  “Wonderful.” Ocean beamed. “Well, let’s start with below, as that is much more relatable material. We can save Sophia for a bit later. The records started in the aethers. Aether fills the region of the universe above the terrestrial sphere. It has also been called the fifth element. From the aethers came Wind, Water, Fire, and lastly Earth, the four elements. From the four elements, all other life was formed.” Ocean paused as she noticed Skylar glancing at the clock. “Is something wrong?”

  “I’m sorry,” Skylar said. “I appreciate your help, really. I just have no idea what I’m going to say to Argan, and I’m seeing him any minute.” She blinked back the tears welling in her eyes. “I’ve ruined everything.”

  “We’ve all been there,” Ocean said. “Affairs of the heart are messy. It wouldn’t be life if they weren’t.” She shared a knowing look with Ronnie. “I’ll tell you what, go see your boyfriend. No matter how it goes, sitting on the edge of this is worse than whatever you’ll face. Let’s make a date to meet tomorrow. I’m around in the afternoon. Can you come to my yoga studio on Main Street?”

  “Let’s Yoga is your studio?” Skylar had seen it a hundred times. “I can be there after the barn, around three o’clock.”

  “Great,” Ocean said. “And tonight, don’t jump to come clean about whatever weight you’re carrying. Let the night unfold and see.”

  Skylar looked to see if Ronnie concurred. She nodded her head.