by Sarah Carter
“It’s my…escape,” Jackson murmurs.
“What do you mean?” Kayla inquires, pulling her sleeping bag tighter around her.
“Painting is almost spiritual. I may be successful academically, but painting is part of who I am. I connect in a place deeper than myself, and I allow myself to feel everything I don’t permit myself to feel the rest of the time.”
Kayla shivers. “What don’t you let yourself feel?”
He looks at her. “Are you cold?”
Kayla nods. “Yeah, even with the sweatshirt on.”
“Get out of your sleeping bag,” Jackson states, crawling out of his.
A little confused, Kayla says, “That’s not going to warm me up.”
“Just do it,” Jackson instructs. Kayla complies and watches as Jackson unzips both of their sleeping bags and then proceeds to zip them into one. “There, you can sleep next to me. I’m usually an inferno.”
“Isn’t that a little inappropriate?” Kayla asks.
“Seriously? We’ve slept beside each other in my bed at home. This is no different. Come on.” He slides in.
Kayla does the same. He grabs her and puts his arm around her, pulling her against him. “You’re warm,” she whispers.
“Told you.”
They lie there, staring out at the stars again. “So answer my question.”
“What question?”
“What don’t you let yourself feel?” Kayla inquires, rolling over to look at him.
He stares at her but doesn’t say anything at first. Finally, he breathes out, “What do you think?”
Her breath catches in her throat. Jackson brings his hand up to her face. He slowly traces his thumb over her lips. His small touch makes her nerves tingle. He gently slides his fingers through her hair and pulls her face toward his.
Their lips barely brush each other before Kayla whispers, “Just give in.”
Jackson backs away from her. “What about Damien?”
“I…don’t know,” Kayla says, pulling away even farther. “You keep telling me no, and he tells me yes. So what are you saying right now? I need to know where we stand.”
Jackson groans and closes his eyes. “If we do this, then our parents win and Damien gets hurt.”
“That doesn’t matter right this second. What do you want?”
He keeps his eyes closed and then finally says, “I don’t want anyone to get hurt, and I don’t want anyone to win.”
“That’s what is important to you?” Kayla snaps. “What about how we feel?”
“You know there’s more to it than that.”
Screaming in frustration, Kayla pushes away from him and turns around. She lies down and growls. “Go to sleep.”
“Kayla,” Jackson whispers, turning to her. “Please, don’t be angry.”
“I’m not angry,” Kayla spits out. But she’s hurt, more than she wants to admit. Jackson lies down right behind her, but she ignores him. “Go to sleep. I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”
He sighs and pulls away from her. “Don’t be mad at me. I just don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“You have nothing to worry about!” Kayla snaps. “We’re never bringing this up again. Happy now?”
Jackson groans. “That doesn’t make me happy. None of this makes me happy.”
“I’m not talking to you anymore. Go to sleep.”
Silence falls between them until sleep claims them.
Chapter 20
Kayla wakes up the next morning to the sun shining against her closed eyelids. She sighs and snuggles against her pillow, feeling Jackson behind her. His arm is wrapped around her, securing her back against his chest. It takes her a minute to decide how his closeness makes her feel. His touch feels so good, but after their conversation last night, it makes her mad at the same time.
“Jackson,” she says.
He stirs awake behind her. “Yeah.”
“Can you let me go, please? I need to go to the bathroom, and I don’t think you want me to pee in the tent.”
She feels him pull away and unzip the sleeping bag. He sits up and Kayla follows him. He looks at her. “Did you sleep all right?”
“Yeah,” Kayla whispers. “I’ll be right back.” She exits the tent, snagging her phone on her way out.
The walk to the bathroom is long, giving her plenty of time to think. She isn’t sure how she feels about Jackson other than angry and rejected. Her heart is filled with romantic feelings for him, but her head knows she isn’t supposed to feel that way toward him, and when she thinks about Damien, she remembers how happy he makes her. The more she thinks about her feelings for the two of them, the more frustrated she gets.
On her way out of the bathroom, her phone rings. She looks down at the screen, which indicates the call is from a private number. Curious, Kayla answers it. “Hello?”
“Hello, Kayla.” The sound of that voice makes her stop in her tracks. She can’t even speak. “Cat got your tongue?”
“How…how did you get my number?” she stutters.
“Numbers are easy enough to find,” William replies. “It’s you that’s harder to find. Are you having a nice drive with Jackson?”
Her hand flies up to her chest. “How do you know—”
“I know a lot of things, like your license plate number. That is so sweet of your boyfriend to buy you a car. Is that what draws you to him, his money? There are others out there who can lavish you with gifts too, you know.”
A sickening feeling washes over Kayla. “I don’t care about Damien’s money.”
“Mmm,” William hums. “Well, the real question is, does he care for you? How do you know what he’s doing right now?”
Kayla feels her anger build. “He’s with his family, you idiot. I talked to his sister. You’re never going to make me think anything bad about him, so you may as well shut up.”
“I like your feisty attitude. It’s a turn on.”
“Go to hell,” Kayla snaps.
“I’d rather be where you are.”
Trying to call his bluff, Kayla snarls, “You don’t even know where I am.”
“That’s not impossible to find out,” William murmurs. “Pay enough money to people who have satellite imagery, and they will do anything you ask.”
Kayla’s anger shifts into panic. “Why do you care where I am?”
“I am dying to meet you in person. You know…our physical forms.”
“I have no interest in meeting you. Leave me alone!”
“Now, now, no need to get all upset.”
“You are a pathetic loser, and I have better men to occupy my time,” she growls.
“Perhaps we’ll just meet up by chance then, like at the airport,” William replies. Kayla’s heart sinks. “We’ll be together soon enough, Kayla.” And the phone call ends.
It only takes a minute for Kayla to break free from her fear and run full speed back to Jackson. She spots him by the car. “Jackson,” she screams. Jackson turns just in time for her to fly into his arms and cry hysterically. “William, he called! He got my number and called!”
“What?” Jackson snaps.
“I was coming out of the bathroom and my phone rang,” Kayla forces out through her sobs. “He called me. He was at the airport. That was him!”
“Okay, calm down. What did he say?”
“H-He knows we’re driving together,” she stammers. “He knows what my license plate number is. He wants to track me by satellite.”
“We need to call Damien,” Jackson states, grabbing his phone out of his pocket. He dials a number and holds the phone to his ear. “Damien, we have a problem. We need the guard. Now. William called Kayla just a few minutes ago on her phone. Yeah, hold on.” Jackson hands the phone to Kayla.
“Damien,” she cries. “He’s scaring me!”
“I know,” he replies sternly. “I need you to get on the road. We can track you by your cell phone. I will have protective guards near you as soon as I can. They’ll m
eet up with you. I’m going to come to Vegas.”
With a shake of her head, Kayla says, “No, your sister needs you.”
“She’ll understand, Kayla. This thing with William is no joking matter anymore. We need to take it seriously without acting like anything is out of the ordinary. The last thing we want is for William to think we are taking extra precautions with you, because there’s no telling what he may do then. The security guards I’m sending will probably be in their twenties, so it won’t look too suspicious. When they get to you, act like they’re old friends. If William is watching, we don’t want him to think something is up.”
“How are they going to protect us if they aren’t much older than me,” Kayla yells.
Jackson touches her arm. “They are trained fighters. Don’t worry. There are no better guards equipped to protect you.”
“What if he comes with guns?” Kayla whines. “Our shifting abilities aren’t going to be able to compete with that.”
“Do you think we don’t have weapons of our own?” Damien asks. “We have spaceships but no weapons?”
“But aren’t we supposedly alien pacifists?”
Damien chuckles. “We may not like war, but war still occurs. We have weapons more sophisticated than anything humans have on Earth. The guards will show you proof. I do need to ask you one thing though, feel free to say no.”
“What is it?”
“Can we use the tracker inside of you?”
She shakes her head. “What tracker? What are you talking about?”
“Because of how special you are, your parents put a tracker inside of you. It has never been active, but we’d like to use it. That way we know where you are at all times.”
Kayla’s jaw drops. “I have what inside of me?”
“A small chip…a tracker. We can keep tabs on you in one of the ships. It has never been used. We promise you that.”
“You cannot be serious! What is wrong with you people? Get it out of me right now, I want it out,” Kayla yells, furious.
“That’s easy enough to do, but obviously we can’t do it right now. Just let us turn it on and keep track of you until you get here.”
Completely appalled, Kayla retorts, “No, you cannot turn it on!”
“But what if something happens to you? We can’t activate it without your permission. You have to do something on your end to turn it on.”
Not happy at all, Kayla inquires, “And what is that?”
“Somewhere on your body you have a birthmark shaped like a diamond. You need to find it. Call your mom and have her tell you where it is.”
“And then…”
Damien laughs. “You have to press on it for 60 seconds while we activate it.”
“I don’t want to call my mom! She will freak out hard core,” Kayla states strongly. “I’ll find it myself. Where do they usually put it?”
“It’s different on everyone. I have no idea. You need to find it, though. It’s probably nothing more than a freckle.”
Kayla turns to Jackson. “Ready to see more of me?”
“Wait,” Damien says. “I don’t want him to find it!”
“Tell me how else to figure out where it is!” Kayla snaps. “I don’t plan on getting naked, but he can search my body a lot faster than I can!”
Her response is met with dead silence on the other end of the phone. She hears him exhale a deep breath before finally agreeing. “Fine, I would appreciate it if you would keep your underwear on.”
“Really? That’s what you’re worried about? I’ll call you back in a minute,” Kayla fumes, hanging up the phone. Looking at Jackson she instructs, “Put the tarp over the tent. You’re about to get to know me a whole lot better.”
A few minutes later, they are both standing in the tent. “All right, I’m leaving my bra on, but let’s start with the top,” Kayla says.
“It’s not going to be any different than seeing you with your bathing suit on,” Jackson replies. Kayla nods and strips off her shirt. “Now, what am I looking for?”
“A freckle, a diamond shaped freckle or birthmark,” Kayla replies, putting her arms out.
“All right,” Jackson exhales. He slowly skims his fingers across her skin, carefully checking her out. “You have a lot of freckles. How am I supposed to tell?”
Glaring at him, Kayla snaps, “I don’t know. It’s supposed to be a diamond.”
Jackson makes his way around her a couple of times, tracing his fingers and looking at her skin. Every place his fingers touch tingles. It’s the most intimate feeling that she has ever had. “I don’t see anything,” Jackson says. “Do you want to try your legs?”
“Sure,” Kayla replies. She nervously takes off her pants, swearing at herself for wearing lacey underwear.
Jackson chuckles. “Sexy undies. My mind just dove straight into the gutter.”
“Keep your eyes and thoughts where they should be,” Kayla snaps playfully. “We’re on a mission to find a tracking device.”
With a laugh, Jackson says, “That may be your mission, but mine just became much different.” He runs his hand up her leg. She jumps away. “Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself.”
“Will you be serious? We need to find this thing so that Damien can activate it.”
“Do you really want him to activate it? He’ll know exactly where you are. No privacy,” Jackson states. “That’s a little unnerving for me. What if we want to get away and talk gossip about him? He will know exactly where we are.”
Kayla sighs heavily. “I’m going to make them take it out or deactivate it as soon as possible. For right now, I don’t want William to come near me. This is just in case something happens.”
Jackson stands up and looks directly into her eyes. “I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise. He would have to kill me first. I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you.” As soon as the words leave his mouth, his face lights up in surprise.
Looking at him thoughtfully, Kayla whispers, “You couldn’t live with yourself?”
Jackson hesitates only for a moment before replying. “My life would never be the same. If something happened to you, it would be like a piece of my life were missing.”
“Then I will never leave you,” Kayla murmurs. She puts her hands behind his head and pulls him to her.
When they get breathtakingly close, Jackson exhales, “Kayla—”
“Shut up,” Kayla murmurs.
“I need to find the transmitter,” Jackson says. “Let me do that.”
She pulls away, casting her eyes away from him. “Yeah, go ahead.”
With a heavy sigh, Jackson drops back down to the ground. Even through her frustration, having Jackson this close makes her breathless. Finally, he says, “Move your leg out a little.” His fingers move to the inside of her thigh.
“No, move your hand.” Kayla tries to smack his hand away from her leg. “That is closer than I want you to be.”
“Mmhmm,” Jackson hums. “No, I think I found it.”
Bending over, Kayla tries to see what’s he’s talking about. “What does it look like?”
“Uh, a diamond-shaped birthmark. What else would it look like?”
“Shut up.” Kayla laughs. “I better call Damien.” She moves away from Jackson and grabs her phone, quickly dialing Damien.
He answers on the first ring. “Did you find it?”
“I think so,” Kayla replies. “I can’t see it, though. Jackson found it.”
“Where is it?” Damien asks.
Kayla pauses for a second and then mumbles, “The inside of my thigh. It’s tiny.”
“Wonderful,” Damien sighs. “You’re really close to being naked right now, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, kind of,” Kayla replies. “Jackson can’t see anything, I promise.”
Damien’s next words sound forced. “Yes, well, let me connect us to the ship. Hold on.” Kayla waits patiently while Jackson stares at her. She can see the heat in his eyes. Kayla
quickly diverts her gaze. Bending down, she grabs her shirt and slides it back on. Damien finally comes back on the phone. “Kayla, Jacob is on the phone.”
“Hello, Kayla,” Jacob says. “I need to start the transmission. Please press down on the chip until I say stop.”
“Jackson, today is your lucky day. Come over here and press down on it,” Kayla tells him.
“He doesn’t have to do it!” Damien snaps.
Kayla rolls her eyes, even though he can’t see. “It just makes more sense.”
“What sense does it make? You can reach your thigh. Don’t let him do it!” Damien exclaims. Kayla hears a chuckle on the other end of the phone. “Jacob,” Damien snarls. “You do not want to laugh at me right now.”
“Sorry, sir,” Jacob says.
“Damien,” Kayla sighs. “It’s my body, and I say it’s all right. His hand won’t go anywhere it shouldn’t be.”
“Mmm,” Damien hotly hums. “Let’s just get this over with.”
Kayla waves at Jackson. He shakes his head and moves over to her. His fingers find the birthmark and press down. Being so close makes Kayla gulp. “Okay,” she says. “It’s being pressed.”
“Got the signal,” Jacob responds. “Keep pressing on it until I say stop.”
“Don’t let go,” Kayla whispers to Jackson.
He snorts and looks up at her. “You’re making it really difficult for me right now.”
“You think it’s not…awkward…for me?” Kayla replies.
“It’s not awkwardness that I feel right now,” Jackson mumbles.
“What’s awkward?” Damien asks.
“Nothing,” Kayla replies. “Does this work all around the world then?”
“It will work for the entire solar system,” Jacob murmurs.
Kayla’s jaw drops. “Of course it does.”
“Actually, a ways beyond that too,” Jacob states. “Though if you’re out there, we have a problem.”
“You think?” Kayla snaps.
Damien tries to reassure her. “None of the ships can move without my father’s permission.”
“Aren’t we sharing all sorts of secrets right now?” Kayla asks. “I mean, shouldn’t we be worried someone is listening?”