The Roses Academy- the Entire Collection

by Tara Brown

  His movement was a fluid motion. He reached down and swept me up into his arms, laying me back on the bed and kissing me.

  Chills filled me as his tongue found its way into my mouth. Everything about Aleks was sex. The sheer size of him was enough to make most women moan. His soft lips set my skin on fire as they roamed my neck.

  We were blazing hot one moment and then frigid the next when he pulled back, cold air filling the void.

  “What?” I opened my eyes.

  “I can’t do this.” He sounded as shocked as I was.

  “What?”

  “Us.” He was still close enough that his words were my air.

  “What about us?” I frowned. “I thought this was what you wanted. I thought I was the only thing that made you feel anything anymore.”

  “You were. But in my heart I know you don’t love me, Aimee.”

  “I do love you, it’s just that my heart is pulled in different directions.”

  “I know that now.” He jumped up. “I know what it is. It’s a soul-stealing demon. I have to go.”

  “Are you kidding me—right now? Aleks, you’ve wanted this since we met. Shane isn’t in the picture. What are you doing?” Sexual frustration built inside me. “Why did you start this if you didn’t want to finish?”

  “Oh, I want to finish this, Aimes.” He laughed bitterly. “But it isn’t right. I need to see Lydia and Lorri.” He turned and walked out of the room, leaving me completely confused.

  “Whatever,” I grumbled, pulling my laptop over. I clicked on World of Warcraft and tried to play but the battleground I was in sucked. I typed some cuss words at my teammates and exited the game without finishing, taking the deserter punishment.

  I sat on the bed for several moments before I got up, shouting, “ALEKS!” I stormed from my room.

  I didn’t even wink myself downstairs. I wanted the full effect of my high-heeled boots on the wooden steps. I clomped down into the den to find Aleks and Lucas sitting with Lydia, huddled.

  “Aleks!” I demanded.

  He lifted his head, looking completely normal and untouched by the annoyance I was displaying. “We need to go to New Mexico.”

  “What?” I snarled.

  “New Mexico,” Lydia chimed in. “We have someone we need to acquire. We don’t know what we’re dealing with completely, but Aleks is right. It reminds me of that movie with Bill Murray. It’s as if I can’t get past this year or I’ve lived it several different times.”

  “I need to talk to you first.” I narrowed my gaze on Aleks.

  Lucas grinned. “You guys can have make-up sex later. Aimes, this is important.”

  “Stay out of this, Luke.”

  “I can’t do this right now.” Aleks shrugged. “This is important.”

  “And I’m not?”

  “Aimee, you don’t love me. Why do you care if I stop loving you back?”

  Lucas stood up, holding his hands in the air. “Okay, this is awkward. I’ll be in the kitchen when you’re ready to go.”

  Lydia frowned. “You two again?” She stood and left as well.

  I folded my arms, leaning on the doorframe.

  “I honestly don’t want to do this anymore. I can feel it. There’s a finality to it all for me.” Aleks stood and walked to me. His eyes were filled with pain, as they always were when it involved us. I had gone back and forth between him and Shane until I’d finally given up and chose no one.

  And we all suffered because of it.

  If I was a hundred-percent honest with myself, neither felt right. But I didn’t want to be honest; I wanted to feel good. I wanted simplicity.

  “Aimee, I know you don’t love me.”

  “You’re the right choice.” It was what I always said when it came down to him and Shane.

  “Wow.” He laughed bitterly. “Convincing material. Anyway, let’s do this mission and I promise we will talk after. I just need to fix this feeling of being stuck. It’s driving me insane.”

  He rubbed my arm like my father would have and walked out of the room to the kitchen.

  “Fine.” I sighed and followed.

  In the kitchen, I put my hands out for the three of them to touch me and winked us to the spot in the picture Aleks held in front of my face.

  We were on the outskirts of a large town next to a highway sign saying, “Welcome to Hobbs. It all happens here.”

  Tumbleweeds rolled across the highway where we stood, making Lydia giggle quietly. “Well, this is truly the Old West, isn’t it?”

  “It’s something.” The dry heat was the first thing I noticed.

  “It’s hot here.” Lucas frowned.

  “Wolf heat and desert heat not friends?”

  “Nope.” He shook his head. “Let’s get what we came for and get home.”

  “What did we come for?” I asked.

  “A demon,” Aleks muttered, glancing around.

  “And that demon is here?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “I don’t think so. We need to get moving. Lucas, can you smell anyone?”

  Lucas frowned. “I need something to smell, Aleks. I need a reference point. I’m not a hound.”

  I laughed.

  “Jal,” Lydia spoke softly. “It’s in Jal.”

  “How do you know that?” I crossed my arms.

  She smiled. “I’m psychic.”

  Aleks walked away.

  “Where you going?”

  He turned, shrugging at me. “To rent a car.”

  “I can wink us there. Why a car?”

  “You have no idea where we’re going for one thing, and for another, what if it’s a trap? We need to be discreet. Winking downtown isn’t discreet.” He continued to walk away.

  We continued our trek until we saw an airport. Lydia went inside the Enterprise booth and rented the car.

  I watched Aleks, wondering if he had his cloak up. I got lost staring at him. He was truly beautiful. And magnetic. The smell of him was enough to—

  “Stop it.” He turned to me, frowning.

  “Stop what?”

  He rolled his white-blue eyes. “You know very well what.”

  Lucas groaned, “Both of you stop it.”

  Lydia came out with the keys to a suburban truck. It seemed an odd choice for a small old lady, but it was difficult squeezing Aleks and Lucas into regular cars. They were huge.

  “We just go into town and take the highway exit to the right. It’s a short drive apparently. Just under an hour.”

  Lucas climbed into the driver’s seat and Lydia got shotgun.

  As I got in next to Aleks he sighed. “You’re killing me, Aimee.”

  I watched him breathe, look out the window, and sigh again. All done in a sexy manner. When he did turn back toward me, he rolled his eyes.

  “Aimee!” Lydia spun around and grimaced. “Stop bugging him. His sighs are getting annoying.”

  “I didn’t do anything.”

  “I can hear your thoughts, young lady. Now cut it out.”

  Lucas grinned at me in the rearview.

  I knowingly watched as I made a fool of myself, unable to stop from doing any of it.

  The worst happened about fifteen minutes into the trip when I leaned in and kissed Aleks on the cheek. “Give me a chance,” I whispered.

  He turned, examining me closely. “No.”

  “Why?”

  “I want your whole heart, not a piece of it.”

  “You are the right choice for me. Shane’s going to age, he’s going to want kids, he’s going to want to buy a house and a car, and I barely exist. I could get caught up in everything and kill him at any moment. I can’t be with Shane. I see that clear as day.”

  “I won’t play second fiddle, Aimee. I’m too old for that.”

  “You aren’t second to anyone. I will eventually stop loving him.” Why was I begging Aleks to love me? Why was I so desperate to have someone in my life? What the hell was going on with me, and why couldn’t I stop and get some
self-control?

  “It’s the demon, Aimee. It’s affecting us all.” Lydia turned and gave me her grandmotherly smile.

  Chapter 26

  Home is where the heart is, if you can find it

  Ari

  Relieved, I strolled down the road, satisfied with the new memories I’d made. In the new version of his life, Missy had dumped David when she caught him making out with another girl. Missy left to go to Yale that fall. David was a jerk like always. Nothing new there.

  Everything worked out the way it should’ve.

  While I was heartbroken about Cookie being dead, I got it. I understood why he needed that.

  And because of reliving the same few years on repeat, I’d gotten control of my hands and hunger enough so I didn’t attack my uncle. I sauntered into the diner and smiled at Lorna who was taking two plates of food to a table.

  “Sense of urgency, Ari. What’s with you today?” My uncle frowned at me through the window. He was cooking and clearly stressed. He hated cooking.

  But seeing him in the diner—my uncle who loved me and cared for me—made me happy. It was selfish, but I couldn’t stop being grateful this was my outcome.

  I grabbed the plates. “I was just thinking that I might go to college after all.”

  “Really? That’s fantastic news. Where?” His eyes lit up.

  “New York.” I knew it didn’t matter what I told him, only that I stayed as far away from him as I could. A safe distance was what I needed. I was still a Rose and danger seemed to follow us all, no matter where we went.

  “Well, admission for January starts now.”

  “I’ve applied already.”

  He clapped his hands together. “Hot damn, you got in?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Congrats, kid.” His face full of pride and happiness made everything I’d been through worth it all. He was safe, home, and happy again. Well, as happy as he could be minus a cook.

  Just as everything clicked into place, the door opened to the diner. Hot air shot in, letting all the bought air out.

  I turned, seeing a face I recognized from the crowd of people who had rushed in at the last second when Mitch had freed me.

  A tall thin man with dark hair and sunglasses entered with a few other men dressed similarly behind him. They wore dark clothes—too many clothes for the desert. People in the diner stared at them suspiciously. No one in a small town in New Mexico liked strangers, or outsiders. Not since Area 51.

  And even though these men did look like government workers, I knew better.

  Lorna walked up, smiling her country-girl smile. “Hey all, table for five?”

  The thin man removed his sunglasses and smiled softly. “Just here to speak to the young lady, actually.”

  I heard it and walked over, trying to smile and reassure Lorna. “Hi there. You must be from the college I applied to.” I winked at him, hoping he caught my hint.

  “Yes.” The thin man smiled. “We came for your interview for the scholarships.”

  “Great.” I smiled brightly, desperately fighting the urge to take them all out at once. My stomach screamed in fear. “Let me just tell my boss.” I glanced back at my uncle. “I have to interview for a scholarship.”

  He nodded once, not saying anything.

  “Lorna, you good?” I forced a smile.

  “Sure, sugar. You go on.”

  “Okay.” I pointed to the dusty parking lot. “Let’s talk outside.” I stepped out into the hot desert air with the men. I wondered if any of them were able to recall what had happened.

  “That was quite the act there, Miss Pastern. Obviously, sending the cook back was a bad idea. We had no idea you would leave our cells so easily.” They remembered everything, even though I had changed the past.

  “What do you want?” I walked with them to a bench out on the grass to the side of the diner.

  “We want you to come with us. No fighting. No one will get hurt if you cooperate.”

  “Okay.” I didn’t care what they did to me. Nothing would hurt as much as everything I’d already done.

  “I will come on one condition: I need to tell them I got in with late admissions, I got a full scholarship, and have to leave immediately. Otherwise, they will look for me. I won’t fight you, and I won’t try to escape if you let me leave tonight, after I convince my work of where I’m going. It has to be believable.”

  He tilted his head, reading me, his dark-blue eyes examining my every movement. He conceded after a moment, “Meet us here tonight, or else we kill them all.”

  “It has to be the bus depot. My boss will suspect something otherwise.”

  He nodded. “Last bus out of town.”

  “Fine.” I turned and walked back to the diner. I knew I had put everyone’s lives back to normal in Jal, and I had to go with them, even if it meant pretending to join the dark side. I wondered about Mitch, if I could save him too.

  My uncle gave me a weird look as I got inside. “So?”

  “Yeah.” I acted excited. “I got accepted with late admission and a full scholarship. I have to be there tomorrow though.”

  My uncle frowned skeptically. “Late admission?”

  “Apparently.” I tried not to be too obvious. I was a terrible liar. “The kids that drop out open up spots for the wait-list kids. I was a wait-list kid from being a late admission. They let me in and will help me for a week to get caught up.”

  Lorna hugged me. “Congratulations, honey. You’ll be the first in my family to get a degree.”

  I hugged her back and fought the urge to cry.

  My uncle continued to seem doubtful. “So you leave tonight?”

  “On the bus. They gave me a free ticket.”

  He frowned. “I think I should drive you. I can help you get settled in.”

  “In New York?” I wanted to protest but I knew him too well. I rolled my eyes. “Vince, dude! Be cooler than that. And who would run the diner for the week it would take for you to get me there and settled in?”

  It took a moment before he agreed. “Fine, but I want daily phone calls, weekly video chats, and report cards mailed to me.”

  “Deal.” I hugged him. I still sensed his hesitation. He’d be trouble if I weren’t careful.

  I packed my bags, leaving nothing behind that could link me to him. I wanted him as safe as possible. My stomach ached from pretending to be excited to go.

  When I was done I went down to the diner to do the dinner shift. I tied on my apron and rolled my shoulders back, getting into my zone. In the corner I noticed a face I would’ve recognized from a mile in a sandstorm.

  He stood up from his chair, wiping his mouth on his paper napkin. He brushed a hand through his dark hair and smiled as the woman next to him spoke. He was wearing distressed jeans with small rips and a green tee shirt. I could only imagine how it matched his green eyes, making them stand out against his dark hair. His smile made small creases around his mouth like dimples. He walked toward me. He was going to the bathroom, but I wanted to pretend for a moment that he still knew me, even if he didn’t.

  The woman he’d walked away from turned her head and smiled directly at me. Tears formed in my eyes as Lydia read all my thoughts and gave me a wink.

  I nodded subtly, knowing she saw everything.

  Lucas walked up to me, frowning when he saw my face. He paused, seeming nervous.

  I smiled back, but he shook his head, telling himself he didn’t know me as he strode to the bathroom. My heart was skipping beats as I turned, letting my gaze follow him. It hurt that he didn’t recognize me, but everything on the path to righting things had been hard. In a small way I was glad I hadn’t dragged anyone with me, not yet anyway. Lydia knew who and what I was, which would change everything again.

  I picked up the coffee pot and walked slowly to Lydia’s table. As I got past the other patrons, I noticed Aimee. My heart fluttered.

  She ignored me, staring out the window.

  “Do you all want some
coffee?” I asked nervously. “Or something else?”

  Lydia looked up and smiled. “Aimee, this is Ari. Ari, of course you already know Aimee. I’d love a coffee, dear.”

  Aimee glanced up at me and then back at Lydia. “How does she know me?”

  “It’s a really long story.” I wanted to cry as if I was at the end of the longest journey ever.

  Lydia touched my hand. “Honey, we need to get you out of here before they come for you.”

  “They will kill my family and friends if I don’t go with them.”

  Aimee looked back and forth, confused. “What’s going on, Lydia?”

  “This is the soul stealer we came for. Ari is a Rose. Well, she was a Rose, until she erased her own past and changed all of ours. How many times now, Ari?”

  “Three times now, I believe. Maybe four.” Tears filled my eyes. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered.

  Lydia smiled gently. “No need, honey. We’re just glad we found you. The déjà vu has been driving us all crazy.”

  “I know that feeling.”

  A warm wind crept up next to me as Aleksander strolled up and sat beside Aimee. He looked at me like I was no one. “I’ll have some water, please.” The smell and beauty of him always tugged at me.

  “Aimes, sweet tea?” I asked blankly, still staring at Aleks.

  “This is creepy,” Aimee muttered.

  “Yup.” I turned and walked back to my uncle and put in their food order. I did it without them even ordering and got drinks for everyone, including Lucas, who I still hadn’t officially met.

  He walked back to the table as I brought their drinks over.

  Aleks narrowed his gaze when I got there. “It’s you?”

  “I’m so sorry if it’s been hard on you guys. It’s entirely my fault. Your meals will be ready in a minute.” I placed the drinks down.

  Lucas scowled at his root beer.

  I walked away from the table, frightened and unsure about what to do. I wanted to go with them, but if I ran, my uncle and Lorna and my friends from school were as good as dead.

  I served my other tables, and when their food was up, I brought it to them.

  “What’s the plan?” Lydia murmured.

  “Not sure. I know they want me for whatever reason. They captured me before. They made me do terrible things.” My voice broke mid sentence. I tried to keep it together. Lydia touched me, soothingly.