Forgotten Specters

by C. R. Jane

  "You were the one who was incredible," I said, loving the feel of his arms around me. He gave me a kiss and pulled away.

  "I have to go talk to the press for a bit," he explained. "Wait for me after the game?"

  I nodded my head and smiled as he jogged away, totally forgetting to mention that Beckham was here.

  "What the hell is in your ear?" came a snide voice from the left of me.

  Pain laced through my head as one of my ear plugs was yanked out, the roar of the crowd pulsing through my ear drums. Selena was examining the ear plug in her hand puzzled until Lexi came and snatched it away from her.

  Lexi handed it back to me and I quickly put it back in, giving a slight sigh of relief as the overwhelming noise was muffled. Lexi began to open her mouth, presumably to tell Selena off, before another voice cut her off.

  "Still putting your hands where they don't belong I see, Selena," said Beckham from behind me.

  Selena looked embarrassed to have been caught being nasty by Beckham, immediately changing her face to one that I supposed she thought was alluring.

  "Here to see Damon?" she cooed at Beckham. "I haven't seen you in what seems like forever. Not since that night…" she said.

  Dread curled in my stomach. It seemed that all of the guys were intimately familiar with Selena, well maybe not Mason, he seemed to despise her.

  I turned to walk away with Lexi, but Beckham had other ideas. He pulled me away from the crowd, ignoring whatever Selena was saying to him as we walked away. He didn't stop walking until we were back in the tunnel, and I was being pulled into a supply closet.

  Suddenly Beckham's lips were devouring me. All the frustration from his radio silence faded away as I melted into lips that were so achingly recognizable to me, they were like my own. He pulled away gasping.

  "Why didn't you reach out to me this week?" he asked mournfully.

  "Reach out to you? I didn't know I was supposed to. Why didn't you contact me?" I asked, my voice rising at the end in annoyance.

  "I was giving you space. I thought after everything that we discussed that you would need time to think and that you would reach out to me when you are ready. I finally couldn't stand not hearing from you and came out here," he responded.

  "Oh…," I said, relief flooding my features at his explanation.

  "So does that mean that you wanted me to call?" he said, a look of vulnerability shining through his eyes.

  I nodded shyly and his face lit up. He was almost…glowing? Before I could mention anything he was kissing me again and everything around me faded. It seemed like it was hours before we emerged from the supply closet, both of us slightly rumpled from our passion. We walked out of the tunnel and stopped short. Damon and Lexi were waiting there, both wearing twin looks of annoyance.

  "There you are!" called out Lexi, now looking relieved rather than annoyed. "Where have you been? I had to cover with Coach. Thank goodness you totally rocked that routine today, or she would have been fuming at you for disappearing!"

  "It was my fault," said Beckham, flashing his trademark grin at her.

  I couldn't help but laugh watching Lexi go sort of cross-eyed under the weight of Beckham's charm.

  "Hey Beck," said Damon, sort of stiffly.

  I watched Beckham let out a breath, seeming to be bracing himself for some sort of confrontation. But much to both of our surprises, Damon didn't say a word about me disappearing with Beckham. He simply clapped Beckham on the back with a grin and gave him the man hug that all of them were so fond of.

  "The team will be celebrating tonight, and I'd really like for you to be there with me," he told me, his face bracing for disappointment.

  "I was just going to ask if she could do dinner with me, and then I can bring her right back," interjected Beckham. He looked at me. "Would that be alright?"

  I nodded eagerly, and then looked at Damon to make sure he wasn't upset. His face was hard to read.

  "Call me when you're done?" he asked. "I can text you the address of the party."

  He looked at Beckham.

  "You're coming too since you're in town I assume?"

  Damon's face clearly stated that he was just asking to be polite.

  "I actually have some scripts to go over," said Beckham.

  I couldn't help but feel sad that I wouldn't be able to be with both of them all evening. Beckham and I said our goodbyes to Damon and Lexi, Lexi promising to meet me at the party later on. Beckham took my hand excitedly and led me to a waiting town car.

  Chapter 18

  I realized as we were walking that I was still in my uniform.

  "Can we stop by my dorm so I can change?" I asked Beckham.

  "You will want to keep that on. All the rest of the team will have them on at that party tonight," he explained as I stepped into the backseat of the car.

  "Oh ok," I said, a little nervous at the thought of the party, and how many people were going to be there. I had about reached my limit for the day with how packed the stadium had been for the game.

  Beckham must have noticed my unease.

  "If you're not having fun, text me at any time and I'll pick you up angel," he said sweetly, wrapping his arm around me.

  I laid my head on his shoulder, so happy to see him again. We chatted as we headed to dinner. Beckham wouldn't tell me where we were going, only that it was a surprise.

  We pulled up in front of a high-rise. A doorman in a bright red uniform hurried over to the car to open our door. Beckham led me inside as the town car pulled away. I looked around in awe at the lobby of wherever we were. Everything was sleek and shiny…and very intimidating in its elegance.

  Beckham led me into an elevator and I watched as the numbers slowly went up as the elevator moved. The doors opened, and I stepped out into a gorgeous apartment. From the enormity of the space, and how high the floor to ceiling windows rose, it looked like he had led me to a penthouse similar to Mason and Damon's.

  "Where are we?" I asked, as I gaped at the lavish furnishings of blacks and greys around me.

  "Home," he said simply, staring at me in amusement as I continued to gape and explore the space.

  I looked at him quizzically.

  "What do you mean?" I asked.

  "I bought this place," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "I knew as soon as you left that I needed to be wherever you were. You just started school, so I came here. You can see me or not see me whenever you want," he explained hurriedly. "I just needed to be near you."

  Beckham looked young and vulnerable, standing in front of me with his hands in his pocket, waiting for my response to his huge announcement.

  "But what about your career?" I asked, moving towards him hesitantly. His face lit up.

  "New York is actually a great place to make movies. I had a script I was thinking about taking even before I met you. You just gave me the nudge I needed. I start shooting on it next week."

  With that obstacle removed, I ran the rest of the way towards him, jumping up and throwing my arms around his neck.

  "Does this mean you're not mad that I'm stalking you, angel?" he asked, grinning.

  "Stalk away," I told him, crushing my lips against his exuberantly.

  More so than with the other two, it was easy for me to get carried away with Beckham. Everything we did just seemed so familiar that it didn't require any thought to slide into the next step with him. We had ended up on the couch, Beckham's shirt off, my hands sliding up and down his perfectly sculpted body, when the doorbell chimed.

  We froze. I realized how far, and how fast, we had gone, and slowly sat up, smoothing out my hair.

  "That will be dinner," said Beckham regretfully. I nodded, blushing as I observed his gorgeous body and realized that I had been all over him. He winked at me and went to get the door.

  I started laughing hysterically when I heard a squeak and some bags cra
shing to the floor. I could just imagine what that poor delivery person had thought when the door opened, and a shirtless movie star appeared. We were probably lucky she hadn't fainted and was injured.

  Beckham came back into view holding a few enormous bags. He looked chagrined and was blushing slightly.

  "What is all of that?" I asked.

  Beckham reddened further with embarrassment.

  "I wasn't sure what you would want," he said, beginning to unload the bags while keeping his eyes averted from mine.

  I watched in amazement as he opened boxes of sushi, tacos, barbecue, orange chicken and fried rice, burgers, pasta, and Thai food. I didn't even know where to start.

  "Dig in," he said as began to put a little bit of everything on two plates. "One thing you should know about me is that I'm going to do whatever I can to make you happy. Even if that means ordering from ten different restaurants to make sure we eat something that you want."

  I stilled his hand.

  "One thing you should know about me is that I'm happy just being around you."

  I gestured to the penthouse around us and the food.

  "All of these things are amazing, but they are like frosting on a cake. The cake is what I'm really after, and that's you."

  Beckham beamed, his face brightening. Looking closer I realized that it was literally lighting up. Like I had done earlier, his skin was actually glowing.

  "Um, Beckham…you might want to look in the mirror," I told him hurriedly.

  He looked at me puzzled, but stood up and walked over to a mirror on the wall.

  "Oh!" he said, sounding shocked. "Well, this is unusual," he muttered, examining himself in the mirror.

  "It happened to me earlier at the game," I told him. "It didn't go away until I started taking deep breaths and relaxing. What do you think it is?"

  "Well I told you that Mason thinks we are something similar to each other, correct?"

  "Yes?" I answered.

  "This rarely happens to me. I can probably count it on one hand in thousands of years. I have to be supremely happy to light up for even a second. I guess it would make sense that it would be happening now, since I've never been as happy as I am with you," he said affectionately.

  I thought for a moment. I had been supremely happy at the game today. Maybe that was it. Beckham looked over at me, his glow fading now that he was relaxing.

  "Did you know you always seem to have a faint glow about you?" he asked me, studying me closely now.

  I stared down at my skin.

  "I do?" I asked.

  "It caught me eye at the Grammy's. I was talking to someone and I saw a glow from across the room. It was like you were a light flickering in the dark, drawing me in."

  "You definitely have a way with words," I told him, hopping into his lap and giving him a kiss.

  "I don't like how he looks at you," said Beckham, his voice oozing with frustration.

  "He isn't looking at me that way," I answered, equally frustrated in having to have this conversation with Beckham again. "I have to deal with him since Mother is ill. That's all this is," I told him for what seemed like the millionth time.

  "Let me at least come with you to the meeting," he implored. "The more Lord Tiberius sees us together, the less likely he will get any ideas about opportunities available to be king."

  I didn't like this insecure side of Beckham. I sighed, and tried to see it from his point of view. I had never done anything that I could think of to purposely make him jealous. I hadn't even so much as admired someone else since I had met him as a child. Beckham was older than I was, and I had suffered through watching him in several relationships before I reached an age that he could take me seriously as actually being interested in him more than a child's crush.

  I turned and touched his cheek softly.

  "If I'm to be taken seriously, I must do this myself, my love. I can't imagine a world existing where you aren't waiting for me at the end of that aisle on our wedding day. Please support me by trusting me now."

  Beckham signed and nodded reluctantly. I kissed him on the cheek succinctly, needing to hurry off to the meeting with my Father and Lord Tiberius. My mother had always told me "A queen is never late," but I didn't want to start off my first meeting in her role by being tardy.

  Looking back at Beckham, I frowned. He looked troubled, as if he sensed something in the future that I was missing. I flashed him a smile and blew him a kiss as I walked away.

  "Eva?" Beckham's voice pulled my from the vision.

  "Sorry," I said, smiling ruefully, my mind going over the latest addition to the scene unfolding before me. "Just in la la land as usual," I joked.

  For some reason I didn't want to share what I had been seeing with him yet. Not until I figured out what they meant, what Beckham was to me. A text sounded, Beckham frowned as he picked up his phone.

  "Damon's wondering when he's going to get to see you, "he explained.

  By the pursed look on his lips, Damon's comment was obviously a little more than that.

  "I should probably go," I said.

  As much as I was soaking up every second with Beckham after a week apart, a piece of my heart still wanted to be near Damon, especially to celebrate his performance that day.

  Nodding reluctantly Beckham stood up and held out his hand, explaining that he would put the food away when he got back.

  We got into the back of the town car, the driver whisking us away to where the party was being held. Beckham gripped my hand extra tight as we drove, obviously unhappy about the situation. How was I going to make sure that I balanced my time with each of the guys? I had already had to skip my call with Mason today due to the game and how busy I had been, something he was really upset about. I decided to think about that problem tomorrow and just enjoy the rest of the night. Hopefully it would be something that just evolved naturally.

  Chapter 19

  The air was a bit chilly as Beckham led me across a lush lawn, into a house on the "fraternity row" on campus. This was the football fraternity, Beckham had explained. Most of the after-football parties would be at this location unless Damon decided to throw one at his place.

  Beckham didn't want to leave until we saw Damon.

  "These parties can get a little crazy," he said. "I'll feel more comfortable when powers beyond making every person go crazy from wanting you come in," he teased.

  I stuck my tongue at him, but inwardly braced myself. I could hear the music booming from inside. There were a couple of huge guys manning the door. Their eyes grew big as they saw us. One of them stumbled to open the door for me. The other tried to follow us before Beckham shot him a hard glare.

  My eyes grew wide as we ventured in. Tommy's party seemed almost tame compared to this one. The air was a haze of cigarette smoke and booze. I was actually kind of surprised that Damon could handle it with how sensitive I assumed a supernatural's senses were after the disaster with my ears I had experienced today. There was a bar in the back room. Beckham got me a drink, watching closely as it was made to make sure nothing was slipped into it. Several large football players were stumbling around in a drunken haze. Others had several girls crawling all over them.

  Beckham checked his phone and led me down the stairs into a large basement. Tables were set up in one of the rooms, and people were playing what I presumed was beer pong. A dance floor was in another room. The ground was slightly shaking as we walked into the crowd. I gasped as I saw there were actual strippers performing for the crowd on a stage set up in the far side of the room. Looking around, I wondered why Damon hadn't come up to meet us if he was so eager to have me at the party.

  My eyes caught something and I saw red. Damon was having a heated exchange with Selena in a corner. She had changed out of her uniform into a tube top so small, it left absolutely nothing to the imaginati
on. She still annoyingly looked pretty though.

  Damon for his part, seemed nothing but annoyed as he told her something sharply. I was tempted to stay back and watch the scene play out, but I couldn't help but bolt forward when she tried to kiss him.

  Sidling up to Damon, I slid in between them. Damon let out a sigh of relief, and wrapped his arms around me.

  "As you can see, Eva's here. Run along now, Selena," he said, annoyed.

  Selena looked furious to see me.

  "Damon, I saw her with both of your friends. In fact today, she was slipping into a closet with Beckham. How does it make you feel that your girlfriend's fucking your two best friends?" she asked spitefully.

  I reddened in spite of myself, her words hitting a little too close to home. How did he feel knowing that I was dating his two best friends? Guilt flooded me. This was never going to work.

  "What Eva does or doesn't do is not your business. I trust her and that's all you need to know," he said.

  Selena stared at us angrily. At that moment I felt sorry for her. If Damon, Mason, or Beckham ever decided they were done with me, I would be just like her, always trying to get their attention again. Selena was a terrible person, but she would probably be ruined from ever finding love in her life after she experienced Damon…and apparently Beckham.

  I looked around for where Beckham was and saw that he was being mobbed by girls asking for autographs. He caught my eye and motioned that he was leaving.

  "Are you okay?" he mouthed. After I nodded, he began to work his way out of the wandering hands. I watched as he finally slipped from the crowd, hustling back up the stairs, taking a piece of my heart with him.

  Turning back towards Damon, who was watching me anxiously, I resolved to put all my thought towards my time with him. I couldn't control how this was all going to end, but I could give my all to each man during the time we did spend together.

  Giving him a smile I asked, "So what do you usually do at these parties?" Damon looked relieved at my question.

  "We pretend to be human," he said with an answering grin.