by Elin Peer
“Yes. She has informed the Council in the Motherlands.” His eyes were fixed on his index finger that tapped the side of his glass. “They want a meeting.”
“Do you think they’re going to shut down the Matchmaking Program?”
“They might,” Khan muttered with his face stern. “Unless we can talk them out of it somehow.”
“I told Boulder and Finn about Josephine’s death. They’re at the school reunion and wondered what was taking us so long.” Magni pushed his empty glass away and called for the bar-bot. “Another round over here.”
Zasquash had never met Finn and Boulder, who were Khan’s and Magni’s best friends, but I knew I had told him about them.
“You’re right, Magni, we should get going.” Khan’s head turned to me. “What about you?”
A fist-sized knot formed in my stomach. “Me?”
“Yes. Everyone is already at the reunion. We’re the only ones missing.”
Magni groaned. “Why the fuck would you ask him that? Solo can’t go and you know it. Besides, it’s past midnight; they’ll all be sleeping now.”
The thought of Willow sleeping made me look down. I missed her so fucking much. What I wouldn’t give to see her one more time.
Khan leaned back and crossed his arms. “I say it’s time we lifted Solo’s restraining order. He’s not going to hurt Willow.”
Magni stiffened. “But…”
Khan’s raised hand silenced Magni. “What happened was unfortunate but I think we can trust Solo now. He should go to the reunion.”
“But he’s not invited,” Magni objected.
“Not true.” I spoke up with hope in my chest. “Mila invited me. I told her I had too much work.”
“Yeah, well, Mila and the others don’t know about your restraining order.”
Khan leaned his head back and looked up at the ceiling. “It’s been long enough.” He refocused on his brother. “Magni, we’ve all made mistakes and Solo paid for his. It’s been seven years and he’s a grown man now. I say he can go.”
Magni’s deep inhalation made his chest rise up. “And what do you think Hunter is going to say about that?”
Khan’s only reply was a shrug.
“You sure you want to face him again?” Magni challenged me.
Pushing out my chest a little, I snorted. “Don’t insult me. I’m not scared of Hunter.”
“Why would you be afraid of seeing this Hunter?” Zasquash asked with his eyebrows drawn close.
“I’m not,” I insisted. “He might be a great soccer player, but I’ve always been the better fighter.”
“Hang on,” Zasquash slammed his glass down on the table. “You’re not talking about Hunter Hercules, are you?”
“Yes. The soccer player.” Khan leaned to the side when the bar-bot reached in with four new beers.
“I fucking love Hunter. That man is brilliant with a ball.” My friend lit up like a little kid. “I’m his biggest fan.”
“Maybe in height,” I muttered, since Zasquash was seven feet tall like me.
“Hunter is Willow’s twin and he’s very protective of her.” Magni squinted his eyes as if the beer was blurring his sight.
My jaw hardened. “It’s been seven years.”
“So? You think a man ever forgives you for stealing his sister away?”
“I didn’t steal her.”
“If you go to the reunion there will be drama. It’s guaranteed.” Magni dried his mouth with the back of his hand. “I hate drama.”
“This isn’t about you, Magni.” Khan leaned toward his brother. “Solo wants to see Willow again, but at the same time he’s scared that she won’t talk to him.”
Magni scoffed. “Since when did you become a fucking expert on his feelings? All he should worry about is not getting killed by Hunter.”
“What the hell, Solo.” Zasquash gave me a blameful look. “Why did you have to get on Hunter’s bad side? He seems like the nicest guy in every interview I’ve ever seen.”
My body tensed and I pulled back in my seat. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Zasquash turned to look at Magni and Khan. “I know about the restraining order. I’ve been given instructions to report it if Solo ever goes missing, but all Solo tells me is that it was a misunderstanding. Would one of you tell me what the fuck really happened?”
Magni wiped his beard of beer foam and leaned his elbow on the table. “Did Solo ever tell you how he got to be part of my Huntsmen unit?”
“Sure. He was the best, brightest, and strongest of his generation. He tells me every fucking day.” Zasquash grinned in his usual casual manner, his dark eyes full of mischief.
“There’s some truth to that, but it was how he used his skills that made the difference. You two are partners and it’s only fair that you know.”
Zasquash agreed with Magni while I sank back in my seat with a displeased grunt. If it hadn’t been Magni and Khan in front of me, I would have asked them to shut their mouths. My past was my past and even though Zasquash was my best friend, I hadn’t told him everything.
“When Solo was fourteen years old, he was handpicked to be one of the ten Nboys to take part in the first experimental school where we mixed children from the Motherlands and the Northlands. At the school, there was a girl called Willow whom Solo fell in love with,” Khan began, and just the mention of her name gave me heart palpitations. Looking down in my beer, I said nothing as I listened to Khan and Magni tell my story while my mind took me back ten years.
CHAPTER 2
Meeting Willow
Year 2437 – Ten years earlier
Solomon
We had walked through the forest to meet the Motlanders. All ten of us boys were tense with excitement and still in a bit of a shock after being told that we would get to meet real females in person. Nathan was the only one of us who had a mother and sisters. For me and the other eight boys this would be our first meeting with the mysterious “other” gender that we had only seen in movies.
As the oldest, I led the way forward and stopped when four kids suddenly showed up between the trees.
“I found them,” a girl shouted and stared at us with curiosity.
I stared back, taking in her short height, brown skin, and puffy hair with tiny black curls before letting my eyes move to the three other children beside her. One was a boy but he looked young and wouldn’t challenge my position as the alpha among the boys. Of the other two females, the one to the right stood out to me right away. The girl was the tallest of the four. With her long legs and curvy figure, I guessed her to be my age or older. It was like a chemical explosion in my brain and my spine straightened. Why did this girl give me the same tingling sensation in my stomach as when I dove from cliffs with my friends? My palms were tingling and my heart was pumping fast as we stared at each other.
She was beautiful with the way the soft light from the sunbeams shining through the tree crowns reflected on her gorgeous brown hair, which fell down to her navel and looked thick and impossibly straight. Like all boys in the Northlands, I had long hair too but mine was often tangled, and it wasn’t uncommon to find pine needles in it from fight training, where we rolled around on the ground. Hers looked soft and perfect.
More women and girls were showing up behind the four children but I only scanned them before my eyes went back to the stunning girl. She was looking at the other boys behind me, but when her eyes found mine again, I forgot to breathe. Even while we all played some initial games to get to know each other, I couldn’t stop looking at her every five seconds. Often, she looked back at me; sometimes with a small smile.
Willow. Her name was Willow. I heard one of the other kids say it and tasted it on my tongue, wishing I could say it aloud.
Kya, the female mentor, instructed us, “We’re going to learn each other’s names while we walk back to the school. You only have one minute with the person next to you before we switch. There will be a quiz when we get back to the school and whoev
er can remember the most names wins, so pay attention.”
I pushed Storm back when he tried to get in front of me to pair up with Willow. He shoved back at me with a side glance at the pretty girl, but there was no way I’d let him win the right to be the first to walk next to her.
“I’m Willow.” Her smile was blinding as we began walking side by side in front of the long line of children.
“I’m Solo. I’m fourteen. The oldest of the boys. Strongest too.”
“I’m twelve but I’ll be thirteen soon.”
That surprised me. I had guessed her to be older. “When?”
She blushed a little. “In March.”
We were in August but I understood her need to grow older fast. I couldn’t wait to be an adult either. No more mentors telling me what to do or punishing me for having an opinion.
“Have you ever met a girl before?” I loved the sound of her pleasant soft voice.
“No. Only you.”
She laughed. “We are eight girls. Nine if you count Shelly, but she’s fifteen and an assistant teacher.”
I had seen Shelly and although she was closer to me in age, she was in no way as intriguing as Willow.
“They say Shelly is a genius.”
I gave Willow a smile but her words didn’t really register. It was like I couldn’t think straight around her.
“Switch,” Kya called out and I had to walk to the back of the line while Hunter moved up to talk to Willow.
“Hi, I’m Sky.” The girl was pretty too, but my eyes wouldn’t stop searching to see if Willow was smiling or laughing with first Hunter, then Storm, Plato, and every other of the Nboys that she was introduced to.
Before the day was over, I had appointed myself the protector of Willow. That’s why when Nero made a comment about her that night in the boys’ room, I made an example of him. Using my size and strength, I pressed his face down on his pillow long enough that he couldn’t breathe and got scared. “Don’t ever make comments about Willow’s looks again.” I sneered and went back to my own bed.
A few other boys were slow to get the message. Two weeks into the school year, I caught Storm using his hands behind Willow’s back to imitate her curvy shape while grinning. It didn’t surprise me that he showed an interest in Willow. He was almost fourteen like me and she had that effect on pretty much all us boys.
Storm wasn’t grinning when I pulled him behind the school and pressed him against the wall while twisting his arm back. “Don’t make gestures like that behind Willow’s back, or I’ll fucking break your hands, do you understand?”
Finally, he and the others understood that when it came to Willow, I wasn’t amused.
She made me feel out of control and emotionally unstable. A smile from her could make my day and release a swarm of butterflies. But seeing her partner up with someone else for morning massage gave me a headache and a burning sensation in my throat.
I couldn’t touch her and I never knew what to say to her. From the first time I saw her, Willow had been the first thing I thought about in the morning and the last before I fell asleep. It was like a sickness with no cure.
And then one Wednesday morning it was my turn to partner up with Willow for morning massage.
“Feet, hands, shoulder, neck, or scalp?” she asked me with a shy smile.
“Shoulders.” I had known since the first time Raven gave me a massage that I wanted nothing more than for Willow to do it. Raven had asked me to lie down flat on my stomach and then she had simply planted herself on the small of my back and begun massaging my neck and shoulders.
I figured that it might be the only way I’d ever have Willow sit astride me and even though there was nothing sexual in our morning massages, I fantasized about feeling the weight of her body on top of mine.
“Do you want me to take off my shirt?” I asked her.
“If you want to.”
I stripped out of the shirt. Feeling proud of my already muscular body, I lay down on my belly looking around at all the other students who were being massaged while listening to calming music.
Willow kneeled down close to my head. “Solo, can you turn on your back?”
It was a different way of doing massage and I knew she wanted me to place my head in her lap. When I turned and positioned myself against her, she began applying soft strokes down over my shoulders and neck. I was a teenager full of raging hormones, and her hands on my naked skin had an immediate unwanted effect that quickly resulted in a visible problem when I felt a tent rise in my pants.
I sat up to hide my predicament. “Ehm, Willow, would you mind doing it the other way?”
“You wanna be on your stomach?”
“Yeah, if you don’t mind.” I was already turning around and although it was uncomfortable, at least I was hiding the boner in my pants.
I didn’t breathe when Willow crawled onto my back, her legs on either side of my body, her hands rubbing my shoulders with more force than before.
“Does it hurt?”
“What, the massage?”
“This one.” She pressed her finger down on a spot.
My ears reddened.
“It’s white. Can I pop it?”
I was mortified that Willow, whom I wanted to impress, was staring at a white pimple on my back that I hadn’t known about. Of all the days, why did I have to have one today?
“Solo, can I? It’s fun to pop them.”
“No.” I reached for my t-shirt and pulled it over my head with Willow still on my back.
“What’s wrong? All teenagers have some. Everyone knows that. I’ll have them too soon.”
“What are you doing?” Kya approached when I rolled on my side, making Willow fall down.
Embarrassed I got up and didn’t look back when I walked out the room. “I have to take a piss.”
It took me five long minutes to swallow my pride and go back. By then the kids had swapped and it was now my time to massage Willow.
“What do you want?” My voice sounded much too serious.
Willow wasn’t smiling either. Her eyes were fixed on the mat on the floor and, chewing on her lower lip, she gave a low answer, “I don’t know. You choose.”
A tingling in my hands began as I kneeled down and signaled for her to get down too. “I’ll massage your scalp then.” It was supposed to sound like it wasn’t a big deal, but my tone revealed the eagerness that I felt when she lay down and brushed her long brown hair behind her. At least she couldn’t see how my hands trembled when I touched her hair for the first time. It was as soft as I had imagined and when she closed her eyes, I bent down to soak up the fragrance of her long strands.
Women and girls were still a mystery to me, and to sit here and touch Willow’s hair was among the top three things that had ever happened to me. Only the time I hunted down and killed a wild boar came close to giving me the rush I felt at that moment. My fingers played with her silky hair before massaging her scalp.
Her hands were folded on her belly, a small smile on her face.
“Ten minutes left,” Kya said and I looked up at the clock with confusion. Had it really been twenty minutes since we began the morning massage? How could I have wasted so much time pouting in the bathroom when there was so much I wanted to experience with Willow?
Her hands. I had to hold her hands.
“Do you mind if I massage your hands?”
Willow opened her eyes and gave me a small smile. “That would be nice.”
Moving to sit beside her I reached for her right hand and swallowed a gasp when she didn’t lift it from her belly but let me touch her blouse. We weren’t allowed to touch a girl’s belly. Not even during massage. It was always limited to hands, shoulders, neck, scalp, and feet. My fingers had briefly touched a forbidden part of her and it made me almost dizzy.
Willow turned her head a little and watched me as I massaged her hand. In the beginning I was too shy to look at her face, but when I interlaced our fingers and she squeezed my hand, I
stopped breathing for a second and locked eyes with her. I had massaged other kids, but the others had been passive and never squeezed my hand back.
Time stood still when I looked into Willow’s green eyes. They had the same bright color as the moss that covered the trees around our school this time of year. Like those trees, I felt covered in a blanket of beauty and softness. And when a smile grew on her face, my heart grew with it.
“What’s so funny? Solo, why do you have that goofy smile on your face?”
“Nero, mind your own business,” Kya reprimanded. “No talking while massaging. We still have six minutes left.”
For those six minutes, I massaged Willow’s hands and exchanged long smiles with her. She was gorgeous, and I studied everything about her from the symmetrical arch of her brows, her long black lashes, the silver and brown specks in her eyes, to the freckles across the bridge of her nose.
“Thank you,” she said in a soft voice when our minutes were up.
I inclined my head, unable to speak with my throat bursting to scream out with joy. I had held the hand of the most beautiful female in the world and she had smiled at me. Not just a small polite smile like I’d seen others do. Willow’s smile had been genuine and lit up both of her eyes, making small crinkles appear around the edges.
We moved on to reading time and for the first time ever, Willow chose to sit next to me on the floor, leaning against the wall with her feet stretched out in front of her.
I kept my head in my book but didn’t read a thing. My full attention was on how close Willow was. Shifting the book to my other hand, I put my hand down next to my body, desperate to feel closer to her. I held my breath for seconds, hoping she wouldn’t move away.
After a few minutes, she put her hand down next to mine. We weren’t touching but every single nerve ending in my body was on full alert.
With hope in my pounding chest and the slowest of movements as to not scare her away, I moved my pinky finger closer to hers. When our fingers brushed against each other I looked down to make sure it was really happening.
She didn’t move. Instead she kept reading with a tiny smile on her face.