by Tara Brown
“So your family owns the grocery store hey?” she smirked at Shane.
He nodded looked at her quizzically, “Yeah.”
She laughed softly, “Your last name is Bagley and your folks own a grocery store. That’s kinda funny. This way please.” she walked us past a series of cubicles and small rooms to an office at the back where Williams was sitting on the phone. He put a finger up for us to wait a minute. I looked at Shane, whose face was red from the weird shopping bag comment the sleazy receptionist had made and I smiled as best as I could at him. He shook his head smiling back.
The corporal put the phone down and grinned, “We have a database of grifters and criminals from the area, if you just want to take a quick look to make sure Aleks isn’t in one of them that would make our job a lot easier.”
I nodded as he stood up and walked out of his office, “Okay the computer is over here that you can look at. It’s pretty straightforward. You scroll down and click next page.”
I laughed and sat at the large desk, “Yeah I’m good. How’s Jaime this morning?”
He shook his head, “Same thing as you and the other girl. She is out like a light, no signs of waking up and vomited for hours before passing out completely.”
“Was she raped?” The words left my mouth like I was spitting out a bad taste.
He shook his head, “I can’t disclose that kind of information sorry. She’s lucky you guys arrived when you did. I’ve had my men searching with the dogs for your friend Aleks and his crowbar. Nothing but the crowbar has turned up. The dogs haven’t found a single sent to track, even off the crowbar.”
Shane frowned, “You found it near the house?”
The corporal nodded, “Two hundred yards over with no trace of anything on it, it wasn’t used in anyway. The reason I am telling you this is that he may seem like a nice guy but I want you to ask yourself why didn’t anyone else see him that night, why didn’t he come back to make sure you were okay when he didn’t catch the guy, and why would he leave you with a hurt young woman in the bush alone in the first place if he had no intention of catching the person who hurt her?”
I felt sick to my stomach as his words whirled around in my head, they made perfect sense but my heart defended Aleks.
I scrolled through the photos, ugly mug shots of seedy looking people, I listened to the Corporal sell the police force on Shane in the far corner.
I heard them walk back to me, “How’s it going in here?”
I frowned, “No, no and more no. He isn’t in here.”
Williams shrugged, “Well you can’t always strike gold with the first hit. Keep in touch about anything you remember and I’ll let you know anything I can at this point.” The Corporal picked up the brochure for becoming a cop and handed it to Shane, “Son I’ve never told a single person they should take a look at this. I think you’ve got something.”
Shane smiled softly, “Thanks, I will look at the website tonight.”
He opened the door and we left but this time even the cold air didn’t seem to snap me out of the haze I’d gotten stuck in.
“I need some sleep Shane.”
“I’m taking you home now.” He opened the truck door and helped me inside. I felt everything but noticed nothing.
Chapter Eight - A IS FOR ADULTERY, INFIDELITY, TREACHERY, FAITHLESSNESS…
I dreamt that I was walking on a beach my hand was being massaged in someone’s hand and the air was filled with soft music. The sand filled the spaces between my toes with every step. I couldn’t hear the waves very well but the soft music seemed to ride the wind in waves. Moments it was louder than soft again.
“Aimee.” The music sang softly.
“Aimee you need to wake up I don’t have much time left and I need to talk to you.” It sounded less like music suddenly and I knew I wasn’t dreaming. My toes no longer felt the sand only sheets and my head was on a pillow with drool under my lips. I licked my lips frowning as I could feel the headache behind my eyes. It felt like I had been drugged again, I moaned, “Not again.”
A chuckle shook beside me, it was a sound I loved. I smiled and opened one eye. As the fog cleared and my vision fought against my headache and started to focus I opened my mouth to scream. His hand went to my lips.
Aleks was holding me hostage.
His intense blue eyes pleaded with me while his hand covered my open mouth. I didn’t really like people’s hands near my mouth and this was twice with him. I cringed closing my lips.
“Please Aimee don’t scream, let me explain.” His voice was a whisper.
I nodded as I was in too much pain to scream anyway. My heart was beating out of my chest but I wanted to hear what he had to say. For whatever reason I couldn’t be afraid of him. His lips moved sensually as he started to speak softly again. I realized I was in my room and my window was open, he had climbed up inside to talk to me. My dad was downstairs and I knew that I was safe.
At the very least my sister could attack with curling irons and hair spray and he would get one hell of a makeover.
He never pulled back from hovering so close to my face.
“Does your head hurt?” He asked looking worried.
I nodded, “Really bad, I think something is wrong with me.”
He put his hands up to my head, “I can’t heal you but I can take the pain from your head. You've been doing a lot lately, too much. You're tired.”
I wanted to pull away but his touch on my head sparked feelings everywhere.
His hands were burning intensely, my head nearly broke into sweat as he touched either side, his eyes stayed focused on me. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his smile, his upper lip was slightly fatter on one side making his lips always crooked. I wanted to suck that top lip. I blushed realizing what I was thinking about and cleared my throat as he pulled his hands away.
He smiled with the bigger side only giving me the crooked smile “Is it gone?”
I couldn’t remember what we had been talking about but I nodded anyway mesmerized.
I couldn’t snap out of the emotions I was suddenly full of. My nerdy geeky body was responding to him in ways I didn’t know how to operate, I needed a manual.
Something about him being this close to my bed and me being in nothing but my panties and a tank top made me think about him sliding into the sheets with me. His mouth was moving again, I decided this was my new favorite thing to watch.
“Aimee snap out of it.” He raised his voice slightly.
I twitched back to reality, “Sorry I’ve been funny lately.” I tried to cover up the fact I was becoming like a guy and blood was starting to leave my head. I felt ashamed, I had decided he was a bad guy and here I was falling for the bad guy when I had a very good guy who was falling for me.
He looked distracted by me too, his eyes were burning as he watched me. I realized he was waiting. He had to have asked me a question, I shrugged at him hoping that would satisfy his question and we could move on.
He leaned in very close suddenly, I was taken aback but I never budged as his hot breath tickled my lips. I gulped knowing what was about to happen.
He never closed his eyes even though he was an inch from my face. My eyes had blurred as he got close, I could imagine the taste of his mouth. He smelled like heaven, it was the smell of fresh air mixed with a smell I couldn’t place but I wanted that smell, incense almost but muskier. I wanted to fight my body and my urges and pull away from him but I was a snake caught in his music and stare. He had charmed every inch of me, inches I really didn’t know existed.
After a very long moment he moved in the last inch and his lips brushed mine so softly I couldn’t stand the torture. I leaned in but he seemed to pull back slightly keeping our touch light. His soft lips brushed mine, caressing them like a lover. His tongue slowly grazed my lips sending a shiver up my spine and then down again. I didn’t know what was happening but the control I worked everyday to maintain was gone, I wasn’t in charge, I had no sarcasm for this mome
nt it was raw emotion. I understood ragged breath as mine had become inconstant. I didn’t need air, I needed his kiss to deepen and relieve me of the build of tension.
He pulled away though, leaving me hanging there.
I watched him smile like a light had gone on. I felt my face curl into a frown, I wanted to cry. I understood crack addicts need for their addiction, I needed his skin to touch mine again. I wanted him to crash onto my face crushing me with a powerful kiss but instead he started talking.
“Aimee I am cursed.” I didn’t care, bad luck had rained down on me for so long it didn’t matter if he brought more into the relationship.
“I am like an angel of tragedy and accident.” His words never made their way to my brain, they stopped at my ears. I could hear him talking but I couldn’t comprehend I was still in a cloud of wanton lust.
He grabbed my bare shoulders and gave me a slight shake, “Aimee I am an immortal. Do you understand?”
I nodded watching his lips move. My brain was freaking out, I could hear the thoughts panicking in there as no one responded to their demands.
He smiled, “Aimee what’s your name?”
I nodded again.
He stood up taking the sudden warmth away from me. I began to shiver as all of the light inside of me went to the other side of the room with him, it was still attached to him.
He stood there by my door and held his hands out. He smirked at me one second and in another he was across the room, it’s not a big room but I didn’t even see him take a breath let alone a step.
He knelt at my bed again and smiled, “I am not like you.” His voice was a whisper.
I didn’t know what to say, he had lied to me about so many things I didn’t understand why he had to go to such extreme places to make up stories when the plain truth was there somewhere. He was a con man, I was cool with it.
"Aimee I don't know how to be with you but I can't seem to be without you."
He was toying with me, I was tired of going back and forth between him and Shane and I was tired of his act, maybe we can be together and maybe not.
The disappointment and severity of the feelings I was having were too much to take. I felt angry hatred filling me no doubt from the physical reaction I had to him every time I saw him. I lashed out at him hitting whatever I could make contact with. I hated him, I had such ardent feelings for him I didn’t even recognize what they were. I was able to go from love and adoration to despicable hatred in between the beats of my heart. As I clawed out at him in my fit of rage I felt the wet hot tears pouring down my cheeks. He pulled me into him to muffle the screams and picked me up. I tried to fight him but suddenly his face had grown stone hardened and stern looking. He looked at my open window and before I could properly talk him out of a murder suicide he jumped.
I saw the ground coming and then it wasn’t, I wasn’t falling anymore. My grip on him was hurting my hands and I felt like I would throw up any second. We moved so quickly I couldn’t see anything, the motion was too much for me to bear. I closed my eyes screaming into his laughing chest. I couldn’t believe he would laugh at this moment.
I felt a hard bump and then I felt myself being lowered and the soft sand, as I was laid on it. Lastly as the fear and terror started to subside I heard the ocean. I looked around me and I was at the hidden beach. It was an hour’s drive and a forty-minute hike through the roughest terrain but it was a sandy beach and on the north west coast we did anything we could to find one.
The night air was cold against my panties and tank top. The cold sand sat firmly beneath me but I still had to touch it to be certain I was really there.
I looked at Aleks who stood with his arms crossed watching me silently.
He stepped one small step closer, before I could even decide if it was what I wanted to do or not I jumped up and started to run from him. My bare toes hit the sand and dug in as I scream, “Someone help me. Please someone help me. Its Aimee James please help me.”
Aleks was in front of me somehow like he was toying with me. Defeated I dropped to my knees and started to cry.
He walked to me slowly with his hands out as if he were approaching a crazed person with a gun.
I wished for a second I had a gun but I wasn’t entirely sure who I would shoot, him or me.
He dropped to his knees in the sand, his hand reached out to my face and lifted my chin slowly, “Aimee I told you this once before I could never hurt you. I am here for you.”
I cried harder, “I’m dying? You’re here to take me to heaven aren’t you?”
I shivered in my under wear as he pulled his huge blue sweater off and put it over my head, I pulled away from his grasp but I was dressed in it before I could really argue. The warmth of the sweater was relaxing.
He put his arms around me and pulled me into his bare chest, “Aimee you’re not dying. I’m here because you’re not coping. You and your family, in a way called to me when your mom died in the accident.”
I sobbed, I couldn’t control myself, I knew what he was saying but it contradicted with everything I knew in life to be true, well except for the fact we weren’t coping, that part was true.
“I lied to you about being a social worker because I couldn’t tell you what I was but you should never have seen me. Your mom’s death has triggered a series of events that never should have happened. It wasn’t her time. Just like the night you choked and I saved you it wasn’t your time. I was called to stay with your family making you feel safe and ensuring nothing happened that had been caused by her death.” He held me tightly not giving me an inch of space to struggle or flee while he told me a fairytale.
“I got to you too late Aimee that night. I panicked and got to you right away but you saw me because you were a spirit. That changes the whole thing. Once you see an immortal it gets easier and Shane’s bloody yard was not going to make it easy on me either. That shamans blessing makes it impossible for my kind to cloak properly. I was at the party but when you saw me watching you I left to stay with your dad. I felt you cross into the other world and got there as fast as I could.”
I had stopped crying and started to laugh uncontrollably, I felt him pull me away and give me an alarmed stare. It made me laugh harder, I couldn’t stop myself. My right ribs hurt so much where my liver was but even the pain couldn’t make the laugh stop. I fell over into the sand rolling as I laughed. He started to smile and laugh at me, “You’ve lost it haven’t you. This was the straw that broke the camels back and I’ve pushed you over the edge to insanity.”
I didn’t know how to cope with anything he told me and laughing was making me feel so much better.
Tears rolled down my face, as finally I was able to get a hold of myself, “The stupid shaman story was true?”
Of all the things in his story he told me that just seemed too ridiculous.
He nodded smirking at me, “Shamans are very powerful Aimee. A being just as supernatural as a shaman caused your mom’s death. Nothing in the world will ever be the same for you. You’ve seen the other side which means you’re stuck now with visions from the in-between.”
I shook my head, “No it hasn’t happened except for seeing you.”
He laughed, “You could see past my cloak Aimee that’s a bad sign.”
He shuffled forward on his knees to me getting sand all over his jeans. I looked at him trying desperately to see something other than the sexiest man I could even imagine crawling on the sand toward me in jeans that hugged him nicely and no shirt. His stomach flexed under his silky skin. I wanted to touch each ab muscle, I wanted to run my hands down his stomach, possibly dragging my fingernails a little. I blushed trying to remember the man had weird powers. My brain argued that even past the creepy things he was sexy. I sighed giving up and resigned myself to the fact I was a dirty freak flag-waving pervert.
His smile reassured me even though my whole world filled with questions I wasn’t sure I wanted the answers to.
Aleks rubbed along my arms try
ing to warm me up while looking down on me as we knelt on the sand. The moon of course no doubt under his spell as well drifted out from the cloud it had concealed itself behind and shone down on us making it easier to see his face. He looked to be fighting something inside of himself as he bent his face down to mine and kissed me. This time it was a passionate kiss, rough and harsh. His teeth bit down on my lower lip sucking it in his mouth before kissing me once more. I felt like cat who had been stroked too much I was over stimulated feeling the swell in my lips worsen as we found our arms grabbing at one another, him pulling me up into him as his arms slowly crept down my back to where his sweater ended and my legs sat bare. My arms were around his back rubbing his hot smooth skin trying desperately to keep my hands north of the equator.