by Lissa Kasey
I stripped out of my clothes and slid into bed, too tired to think about anything else. Sleepiness took over even while I missed Gabe’s arms around me. Some adventures just weren’t lollipops and rainbows, and that was okay. I closed my eyes and let sleep take the self-doubt away.
Chapter 4
I STROLLED through an unfamiliar garden, not remembering how I’d found my way there to begin with. Flowers bloomed in some Wonderland mystery, towering above my head. The sound of water flowing nearby relaxed me to the very core of my being. Bugs as large as me passed, ignoring me in favor of their work. The ground beneath my feet shifted like freshly turned soil, yet I seemed to float over it without stumbling.
Wandering through the towering flowers, I watched the sky’s dark-blue light weave between the giant blossoms and leaves. It changed to day gradually, like a slow-moving picture. The world spun as though it were moon free, restrictive magnetic waves gone. The change could have taken me at any moment, only I feared I’d trample some of the divine growth, so I fought it. Everything glowed with power, life, and strength. I used the light of the blooms above to guide my way, though I had no idea where I was headed.
“Lost?” a masculine voice asked me. I jumped back a step and looked around until I found a man leaning against the large stalk of an overgrown daisy. He almost seemed to blend in with the stem, though his skin was a pale cinnamon tone and his hair blood red. He wore only a pair of loose-fitting pants of some soft material that clung in places I was sure it had to be cheating to look at. His arms, shoulders, and chest were defined like a man who worked out regularly but not obsessively. His stomach was flat, with only the faintest outline of muscles, which led to straight hips, a nicely outlined package, and long legs.
“Like what you see, Alice?” he teased, forcing my eyes back up. His smile was bright. He shook his head, sending a cascade of his long red hair rippling down his back like some shampoo commercial.
“Alice?” I couldn’t help but study his face, triangular in shape. It bordered on beautiful with just the slight edge of handsome that saved him from really looking like a woman. His dark eyes, framed by a soft fringe of lashes, met mine without hesitation. Somehow I’d gotten closer to him, just feet away.
“Like the story. The little girl who got lost in a forest of oversized adventures.” He shifted and closed the distance between us. “I don’t think my ‘drink me’ potion is going to make you bigger than the flowers, but I’m sure I can show you a good time.” He looked to my crotch. “Maybe it will make you a little bigger. Temporarily, at least.”
His words hit me like a rush of lust. My body tingled and responded, cock hard enough to hurt, nipples taut and sensitive, heart pounding. He wrapped an arm around my waist and yanked me against him. His lips touched my cheek. I should have been pissed that he’d just called me a girl, but none of that seemed to matter while touching him felt like being wrapped up in the earth on a warm summer day. Nothing had ever been so perfect.
His fingers wove through my hair, which was somehow long again, but weightless. He didn’t try for more, just stared me in the eye, breathing my breath, offering his to me. “What is it you long for the most, little Alice?”
“My name’s not Alice,” I whispered, afraid to break whatever sort of bond we had. “It’s Seiran.” Would he kiss me? What would he do if I kissed him? Nothing mattered at that moment but how I needed to settle in him. Just like the earth, he was wound completely through my soul.
“Hmm,” he mumbled, nuzzling my cheek with his bowshaped lips. “Never had one like you. So strong. What do you long for, Seiran?” He repeated his question, my name sounding both foreign and heavenly on his lips.
“I don’t know what you mean.” He pressed his hips into my stomach. He was only a few inches taller than me, but everything about him seemed larger than the world. My cock ground into his thigh. A sigh escaped my lips as he gripped my ass. For the first time I realized I wore the same thing he did, just a soft pair of pants with no shirt. My hair was piled on top of my head in some odd updo that left the length of the back to tumble free and loose. I reached out to touch the black curls. They felt like silky darkness and my hand glowed with a pale inner light. What the hell?
I looked back to the red-haired man. “Who are you? What are you?” His smile was sincere. He spoke, but I couldn’t hear him. The night from above turned into brightness so harsh it blocked out everything else.
The sun shining through the window brought me awake like a flower opening for the first time. I stretched, rolled over, and basked in the luminosity of the morning sun for a while. Instead of waking up with a hard-on due to the erotic dream, I felt rested and satisfied. Odd.
The digital clock beside the bed, though ancient, still seemed to work; it read just after 7:00 a.m. Was it all a dream? Never in my life had I dreamt something so real. I could almost still feel his heat, recall the scent of his breath and the power on my skin.
What did it mean for my relationship with Gabe if I was dreaming about some mystery man? Sure, the man had been a personification of most of my fantasies, but he’d felt like the earth. That had been his biggest draw, a moonless night with nothing but carefree adventures to be had. I wanted to dream of him again, but feared it. The idea of completely letting go of control to the earth had been instilled in me since childhood. The Dominion taught that the element would take you, force out your humanity, and leave you as nothing but a simpleminded creature to be bent to its will. I’d lost myself to the power before, and the earth hadn’t harmed me. I couldn’t imagine it doing so now, but fear of the unknown remained.
I shook off the groggy memory of the dream, jumped in the shower, and cleaned up.
The many windows bathed the house in light. The ceiling above the foyer, all stained glass, let rainbows bounce around the entire lower level. I turned my phone on long enough to text Kelly that I was okay, then shut it off again, ignoring all the messages and texts. I plugged it in to charge and headed for the grocery store Timothy had pointed out last night. Cleaning supplies were a must.
The streets were warm and filled with life as I entered the shop. It was more a general store than just a grocery. I bought a small wagon, loaded up my groceries and cleaning supplies, and headed back to my father’s house. Something would have to be done with the grass and all the overgrown vegetation. Nature was good, but this was a jungle.
I got through the bedroom and my bathroom pretty quickly, then found the washer and dryer and put sheets in to be cleaned. The kitchen needed major cleaning, but it looked like something out of a cooking TV show, with metal counters, stainless steel appliances, endless cupboards, and four massive sinks.
Halfway through my cleaning of the kitchen, the doorbell rang. I didn’t even recall seeing a bell last night. I put aside the supplies for a minute and walked to the door, wondering how they’d gotten through the gate.
Two men stood on my doorstep. One was Timothy, the other an Asian man in a suit. “Hello, Mr. Rou. I’m Jonathon Odagiri.”
Oh, the lawyer. “Hello. You guys want to come in? I just put a pot of tea on.” They both stepped inside as I held the door for them. The crunch of leaves beneath their boots reminded me I needed to get this area cleaned up too. “Kitchen is this way.” I led them toward the back of the house and the mostly sparkling kitchen.
“Wow,” Timothy said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen this kitchen so clean.”
I motioned them to sit on one of the barstools at the oversized breakfast bar. “I’m just getting started. I hope it’s okay that I clean.” I looked at the lawyer.
“It is. I brought the paperwork that puts the house and the trust for it officially in your name.” Mr. Odagiri put his briefcase on the counter and opened it to pull out papers. “You don’t have to sign them right now, but I did bring them for you to have some time to read over.”
“Thank you.”
“Do you need help with the cleaning?” Timothy asked, though he didn’t appear to l
ike the idea of helping. Or maybe he just didn’t like cleaning. “There used to be a caretaker here, but Dad fired him four years ago.”
“Thank you for the offer, but I’d rather do it myself.” It would take a while, but I had time. “Perhaps you can recommend someone reliable to help with the yard. The trust will cover that cost, right?”
Mr. Odagiri nodded. “I also have an extra key to the gate and the door; once the papers are signed, I’ll hand them over to you. Any expenses for the house can be billed to this account.” He handed me a slip of paper. “Just have your contractors call me if there are any questions.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“I know a guy who does lawn care that I can have stop by. He’s always looking for work and can do what you need without a big crew to bug you all day.” Timothy pulled out his phone and appeared to text someone.
“That would be great.”
The lawyer got up, which made Timothy move too. I walked them to the door. Obviously they hadn’t planned on staying long. “You’ll be coming to the reading of the will next Monday?” Mr. Odagiri asked.
“Sure, if I can catch a ride with someone.”
“I’ll drive you,” Timothy offered.
“Thanks.”
They headed out the door. Timothy paused and waited until the lawyer was out of earshot. “Keep the gate locked, doors too.”
I frowned at him. “Does someone want the house?”
He shook his head. “Not the house. I’ve heard of you, Seiran. Even out here in California we know of the first male to ever become Pillar. You come from a long line of very powerful male witches. Not everyone likes that, and some like it too much. Be careful.”
“Okay.” Sounded like life as usual to me. Timothy left, throwing occasional glances back my way as he crept through the gate and got into the car. I closed and locked the door and had turned to return the kitchen when a tile snapped beneath my feet. To save my ankle from more damage and pain, I let myself fall, taking the brunt of my weight with my other knee. The lingering sting left my ankle as a deep, hot pain sprung up in my knee.
I sprawled back, landing on my butt with my back to the tree, sitting in the ring of earth and roots. The broken tile hadn’t sprained my ankle, thankfully, but the three-inch gash that went through my jeans and into my flesh oozed blood. It hurt too. I clapped my hands over it, wondering if I would need to call for help and get it stitched, or if I could just put a Band-Aid on it.
Taking a clean rag out of my hoodie pocket, I blotted at the wound. Just a bleeder, nothing serious. I pushed myself up, using the trunk of the tree, and limped to the kitchen to find the first aid kit I’d bought at the grocery store. Later I’d have to go back and clean up any remaining blood in the foyer, but resting until the sting went away wouldn’t hurt anything.
Chapter 5
AFTER I finished cleaning the kitchen, my phone beeped that the charge was complete, so I turned it on and listened to my messages. Only two, one from Gabe, one from Jamie. Both fairly calm, which surprised me. My only text was from Kelly, replying to my earlier text with a simple “Glad you’re okay.”
A ladybug, or maybe an Asian beetle, kept showing up in the kitchen, same coloring as the one in the bedroom: red with cinnamon spots. I finally left the window open, hoping it would find its way out.
I’d cleaned the entire kitchen and was sweeping the leaves in the foyer into piles to bag up when something buzzed. After a few moments of silence I continued sweeping, then the buzz came again, from a box near the door. It looked like the call box our building had back home. I pushed the button and said, “Hello?”
“Hey, is this Mr. Rou? I’m Caleb, a friend of Tim’s. He said you needed yard work done.” Oh. That was fast. I put the broom aside and opened the door to head to the gate. I could have buzzed it from the inside of the house, but wanted to look at the guy from a safe distance first.
My first thought was “wow.”
Caleb wore jeans like a man should wear jeans: tight, dirty, torn, but clinging in all the right places. His shirt, a button-up plaid, short-sleeved with a pocket, stretched across his chest and broad shoulders the way they did in cowboy movies. He wore a genuine cowboy hat over what looked like short blond hair, and squinted behind darktinted sunglasses. Fuzzy blond hair peeked out from the top of his neckline, and his tanned arms were covered in the fluff. He even wore some sort of snakeskin-looking boots. Had I flown to California or Texas? Wow, cowboy, wow.
“Mr. Rou?” he asked. I blinked a few more times at him before looking behind him to a truck parked in front of the house with a trailer full of yard equipment loaded on it. “Yeah. Sorry.” After unlocking the gate, I pulled it open as far as it would go, which wasn’t far. He stepped inside.
“I see the problem.” He smiled, head swiveling while he surveyed the work to be done. Up close I could see the scratchiness of a day’s worth of growth covering his cheeks, and wondered how good that would feel against my skin. I had to shake it off and remind myself that Gabe and I were still a couple, even if he wasn’t here, even if he had been ignoring me the past few weeks. Maybe he’d be willing to wear some cowboy-like clothes for a little evening adventure, if I could get rid of Sam for a while. Sigh.
“I don’t want to lose any trees or anything. Just cut the grass to a reasonable length. Vines trimmed so the gate opens. Path cleared of debris. If it’s possible to mulch the leavings and put them around the trees or if there are any gardens under this stuff, that would be great.” Earth recycled earth. I just wanted it to be more manageable. Hopefully the work would make the outside of the house a little less intimidating.
He nodded. “I’ve got a mulching machine. It will take more than a day or two to clean all this up, though. It looks like it hasn’t been touched in years.”
It probably hadn’t. “That’s fine. If I sweep leaves out of the house, can you take care of those too?”
“Sure. Is there a broken window or something? I can fix it.”
“No, but thank you. How soon can you start?” “Right now, actually. I’m sorta in between jobs. Tim gave me the lawyer’s number to call for payment, so I’ll work that out with him. The machines can make some noise, so I’ll try not to start before eight in the morning.”
“Thanks.” I would just keep the door locked when I wasn’t near it. Mr. Hot Cowboy or not, leaving the door open would only invite trouble. “I will get a copy of the gate key made for you. The gate needs to be locked whenever you’re not working within view of it. And once the project is finished, I will need the key back.”
“Got it.” I nodded to him and headed back inside while he went to his truck. Instead of bagging up the piles of leaves, I swept them out the door and told the tree I’d bring in some nutrients for it that weren’t quite so messy. After the leaves were clear and the door locked, I moved on to the next project.
The day passed into evening without me really noticing. Everything was dusted, swept, vacuumed, washed, scrubbed, and cleaned. The noise of Caleb and his machines had come and gone. A glance outside said he’d worked hard. The gate opened completely, free of the overgrown vines. The path was cleared of debris and wilting grass, and all the leaves I’d pushed out had vanished. A cobblestone walk led around the house toward the back, making me wonder where it went. It must have been covered, since I hadn’t noticed it at all the day before.
Not bad for a few hours’ work. Caleb had even begun trimming one side of the lawn to reveal a garden area that really needed some new life brought to it. Maybe tomorrow, I told myself, and went back to work. It gave me a lot of time to wonder about my family, the upcoming holiday, my future, and the unusual dream I’d had this morning. Maybe the dream meant I was horny or just needed to plant a garden.
The doorbell rang sometime after 10:00 p.m. I was in the third bedroom on the second floor, so it took me a while to get downstairs to the door. In that time, it rang twice more. Was it the lawyer again? I hadn’t given Caleb a key to the gate yet, and I was
sure he’d left hours ago since the noise from outside had gone silent. I opened the door a crack, surprised to see Gabe standing there. If Sam hadn’t been standing at the bottom of the stairs looking annoyed, I would have thrown myself at him, dragged him to my room, and made love to him all night.
I opened the door wide, but neither of them moved. “Are you going to invite us in?” Gabe asked. His voice sounded cold and detached.
“Are you going to yell at me?” I shot back.
“Yes.” I blinked at him, thankful for the honesty, but worried about the fight to come. “I don’t want to fight.” I didn’t handle confrontations well, and while I wanted him to talk to me, yelling wasn’t what I had in mind.
“Then you shouldn’t have left without telling anyone.” Still that deadly calm voice that said he was seething with anger.
“I’m a grown up. I don’t need babysitters, and I don’t need permission.” I’d sort of been hoping he’d follow without dragging Sam along. That maybe this trip would have forced him to open up. He never told me vampire stuff, not that I wanted all the gory details, but a relationship was about sharing each other’s burdens, right? I really hated feeling like I was the only one in the relationship sharing all the shit of my life most days.
“No, you don’t need permission, but you do need to act like an adult. You’re like a sulking child. Running away from things you don’t want to deal with. Not telling the people who care about you where you’re going or why. How should we treat you?”
I folded my arms across my chest, breathing deeply and trying to keep myself from screaming at him and slamming the door shut. This is not what I meant by him sharing with me. Finally I said, “I’m not running from anything. I wanted a vacation. I knew you would have said no. Plus you’re too busy with himto pay attention to me. I’m surprised you even noticed I was gone.”