Crossing Hudson (The Guardians Book 2)

by Mandy M. Roth

  Hers was a weapon depot.

  Eliza followed me. “Ryan, you’re leaving things out.”

  “Uhh,” I bit my lower lip, “I think he hears me when I sing.”

  “You sing to him?” She waved her hands. “Forget I asked. You sing to everyone. How do you know he hears you?”

  “Because whenever I start to sing, he gets one of his guitars out and plays along.” My eyes lit up. “He sometimes sings along too. It’s weird, he’ll start by humming and keeping time then he picks up with me. He has the best voice. It’s fun to get him going on the call and answer. He also has a tendency to pull one of his guitars out and sing when my dreams have been so bad that I can’t even fall asleep by just being in the same house as him.”

  Eliza smiled. “Boy, they sure knew who to send him. If the man is musically inclined, he’ll be a very happy guy with you. Other girls your age would be focused on his abs and ass. You pay attention to his pitch.”

  “Oh, it’s excellent. I think he plays by ear too, because if I introduce a new song, he picks up instantly.”

  Putting her hands in the air, Eliza sighed and looked up. “You had to send me the Virgin Maryann, didn’t you? Just turn the sexual switch a bit. Hell, wiggle it. Only enough for her to recognize him for what he is—drop-dead gorgeous.”

  “I’m not touching that comment.”

  “Fine, tell me why you call him Cowboy. I’ve asked you a billion times but you always say you don’t know why.”

  I shrugged. “I don’t really have a better word for him. When he sings, he has a slight drawl, like I do all the time. He tries hard to hide it but it suits him. It makes him especially good at country songs and classic rock. He must think I’m butchering them horribly when I play and sing them. I snuck a few eighties songs in there. He doesn’t seem to mind most of them. He even laughed when I played Hungry Like the Wolf for him.”

  Eliza went still. “Why did you play that for him?”

  “I don’t know. It makes me think of him.”

  “Is visiting him more and more now how you’re gaining weight? Because you sure the hell can’t keep food down here.”

  It was true—another side effect of being reliant on Cowboy’s energy to stay alive was that if I wasn’t getting enough of his energy, I couldn’t keep food down and my weight dropped. “Yes, I take fruit and veggies in my backpack and eat while I study. When I’m there, it stays down. I haven’t gotten to the point I can tolerate much else. I’m working on it.”

  She smiled wide. “That is a very good sign, Ryan.”

  I bit my lower lip. “Something weird happened the other day.”

  “Tell me he didn’t have his new girlfriend over,” she said, sounding pissed for me.

  I shook my head. “No.”

  “Then what?”

  “He said something about having babies with me.”

  She froze. “Say what?”

  I sat down on my bed and she sat next to me. “Cowboy was working late on a new project. I feel bad about going there like I’m still a baby and need a night light, so I stay on the other side of his workshop to give him his privacy. I try to go further away, but he normally stops working and ends up in the same room as me. Whenever he’s really into something, he works through when he should be sleeping. I think he does something in law enforcement. But I’m not sure what. I just wish he’d stop looking like he volunteered to be jumped by a gang when he gets home. I’ve come in to find him sitting at his kitchen table pouring antiseptic on some nasty cuts.”

  “He’s a Guardian, Ryan.”

  “Oh,” I said quietly. Guardians were pretty badass warriors for the side of good in the fight against evil. I wasn’t sure how I felt about him being one. They were on the frontlines in the battles. “That seems a bit rough for him. Do you think he’ll be okay?”

  Eliza snorted. “I think he’s fine.”

  I gave her a wide smile. “You’d be proud of me for this. Since I go right through him and vice versa, I hold the bottles of antiseptic and fill them with my healing energy. He doesn’t pay much attention to his wounds, he never has, so he doesn’t seem to notice them healing within minutes now. Anyway, he was working past when he should have already gone to bed. I told him he needed to get some rest, and as usual he nodded. But he didn’t go to bed. He sat down on that big sofa I told you that he made but didn’t put in his living room. He acts like he’s waiting for something. I told him to put it in there and he said not yet.”

  She bit her lip and nodded.

  “He fell asleep sitting up—again. I had to use my power to lay him flat because my hands go right through him. I took his boots off him with power too. They’d get the sofa he worked so hard on dirty. Anyway, I moved those to the floor and went to grab a blanket for him before I left. He said my name and I froze, sure that I’d imagined it. He said it again and he called me Ry-Mack a bunch of times. It was just odd. I warned him. I told him not to eat that ice cream he thinks makes a great breakfast. He gets wicked headaches and has weird dreams. He has selective hearing. Kind of like Dad when Mom tells him to stop eating all that junk food because it’s making his cholesterol too high.”

  Eliza bit her lip harder, trying not to laugh. “He probably is able to sense you enough that he’s picked up bits about you naturally. I’m guessing he got Ry-Mack from Maryann Mackenzie.”

  “He said some weird things, Eliza. He told me he was sorry that his job would keep us far from my family. Uh, I just stood there as he went on. I was scared to leave him. He talks to me all the time when he’s asleep or almost asleep, but he never rattles off craziness like he did the other day. Normally, he’ll ask how my class was or if I did okay on some test I was stressing about.”

  I balked. “He asked me to pick out colors that I liked and he’d get to work on changing things around the house to better suit us. He wanted to me to go through and pick out things that should stay or go. I asked him why he even had everything he did have. Not one bit of it struck me as things he liked. He agreed and told me that he didn’t care what was around him for the longest time, but when I started to come around, that changed. He told me that’s when he went back to making things again. I told him that as fabulous as his stuff is, he really needed a new hobby. With the way he was talking to me just then, I was worried he might be breathing in too much sawdust. I snickered and he laughed too. He then told me he’d just make the place over again, the way he’d have done it when he gave a—” I didn’t want to repeat his words.

  “Shit is the word you’re looking for. It’s okay to say it, Ryan. The bad-word police won’t come and get you.”

  I shot Eliza a nasty look. “As usual, I’m ignoring you. You have a terrible mouth.”

  “Did he say anything else when he was lying there?”

  I averted my gaze, wanting to talk about something else. “How are you doing with studying for Chem? I could help.”

  “Ryan, you always change the subject when you don’t want to talk about something. Spill it.”

  With quiet reservation, I spoke, “Well, he was obviously having some sort of dream because…”

  She folded her arms and stared at me. “Because…?”

  I turned red. “Because he told me that he loved me and that I gave him a purpose again. He also said that I really needed to tell him things to change or build around the house. He needed something to focus on while he waited for me. He’s worried he’ll go mad before I actually get there if he doesn’t work off some of his pent-up energy. I have no clue what he was talking about. He’s odd like that sometimes.”

  Eliza put her head down laughing. “That’s some dream.”

  “I know,” I said shaking my head. “I went closer to him to make sure he was okay, because that was just weird. I strongly suggested he get better ventilation in there. I think the polyurethane fumes mess with him sometimes.”

  “I’m sure that’s the problem. You should call the manufacturer and have at them, Ry.”

  “Do you t
hink?” If it was a safety issue they needed to be informed.

  She shook her head and glanced up at the ceiling again. “Oh, she’s so sweet. At times she makes me sick.” Glancing at me, she winked. “Carry on with the baby thing before I need a bucket.”

  I gave her a ‘ha-ha’ look and continued on, “When I went to check on him, my leg brushed past his newest project and I instantly got hit in the head with a vision that jerked my body forward. I tripped on his boots and fell. My arm and head went right through him.”

  I glanced away, my cheeks heating more.

  “A vision of something happening when I’m older hit me.” I gulped and turned a bit red. “I saw a slightly older version of me walking out into this big living room and laughing as I found Cowboy asleep on the floor with a wide-awake, little brown-haired boy next to him. The little boy was using him as a road for his trucks, but Cowboy was out cold and didn’t seem to mind. I laughed and picked the little boy up.”

  The entire ordeal had left me unsettled, to the point that even retelling it was strange. “I then told the little boy that Daddy was supposed to get him to take a nap, not the other way around. He giggled and called me mommy. I didn’t seem to be upset by that. I watched the older version of myself turn to walk out of the room with the boy and that’s when I saw my stomach, Liza! It was like someone took my body like it is now and pasted a basketball to the front of it. I mean, yeah, I want to gain weight but not that much!”

  She sat there grinning as I continued on, “Cowboy laughed and told me that he was just resting his eyes. I told him that if he’s having issues keeping up with one child, wait until the next two arrive. And then I scolded him for wanting a houseful. But he told me that we were running behind—something about making up for years that were stolen from us and that I’d better hope the next two pregnancies were twins as well to make a dent in what he wants children-wise. I used my power and sent every pillow in the room flying at him. The little boy in my arms did the same thing as he laughed.”

  My eyes widened. “Needless to say, the second the vision receded, I thrust myself off Cowboy. Eliza, he reached out and grabbed me while he was still asleep. He touched me and didn’t go through me. He just held me there. I froze like a deer caught in headlights. He laughed in his sleep and told me not to be scared, that it would all be fine. Then he thanked me for giving him projects to work on to keep himself busy. He asked me what color I wanted all the baby furniture to be. I smacked him in the forehead, but I went through him. He let go of me and laughed again. I ran from his workshop and came home so fast that I knocked my own body off my bed hopping back into it.”

  I paled considerably. “I think I might be spending too much time with him. You know how your insanity rubs off on me? Why the heck would I have a vision like that?”

  Eliza looked at me with so much compassion and love on her face that I was worried what she might say. She wasn’t exactly the huggie, lovey type. “Ryan, there will come a day very soon when things change dramatically. Some of your views on people will expand and others will narrow. You’ll find yourself more jaded, less sunshine. It is the way it must be. It’s said that the transition will be smooth. That when I’ve taken you as far as I can, your new Guardian, your mate, will be there to protect you and help you learn to control your powers. You know this already.” Eliza narrowed her gaze on me. “But should that not occur…”

  My stomach tightened. “Everything will be fine.”

  Eliza sighed. “I’m getting this sinking feeling and need for you to understand what to do should things not go as planned and I not be there to help you. If you really, really, really need help, place-jump to Cowboy. You can pull him back with you, Ryan. You can move objects and people through the planes. It’s a gift you have but haven’t completely grown into yet. Should you be in a desperate situation, should you really want it, it will work. Just take hold of him and don’t let go. He’ll come with you. Ryan, and if that doesn’t work, call Porter to you. Promise me.”

  I nodded. “Sure. I promise.”

  Eliza bear-hugged me and then blew raspberries on my neck as if we were children again. We laughed and laid there, looking up at the ceiling.

  I sighed. “I don’t understand why I can’t meet him yet. I’m an adult now,” I said, already knowing the string of reasons I’d been given over the years. “If I could meet him now you could live your life and stop having to watch over me nonstop.”

  “I love watching over you. Your union with Cowboy will be a powerful one,” said Eliza, always knowing far more than anyone else though I wasn’t exactly sure why. Sometimes I wondered if my sister had a direct line to The Powers. “Powerful enough that a lot of the Elders didn’t even want it to happen. They put some rules on the joining and we all get to adhere to them or else.”

  “Or else what?” I asked.

  “Bad shit will happen,” she answered. Her cell rang. She rolled off the bed, bent and kissed my temple and withdrew her cell from her back pocket. Eliza pulled her phone from her ear after talking for a minute. “I need to go out for a bit. Are you okay?”

  “Slayer duty calls?” I asked.

  She nodded.

  “Go kill lots of bad things,” I said and then grinned. “Do it quick—you have to study for Chemistry.”

  She groaned and then began to load up on weapons. My sister was a badass. No question about it. I shut off the music and waited until she was gone before heading to the living room area. Our apartment was within walking distance to campus, and with the recent increase in paranormal activity there, my money was on Eliza heading in that direction.

  Eliza had been gone nearly an hour before I took a seat at my keyboard, my guitar propped next to it. I was majoring in music and loved just about any instrument I could get my hands on.

  Positioning my fingers on the keys, I thought long and hard about Cowboy and his new girlfriend. I didn’t like being petty and jealous, but it was hard not to be. My life was on hold, waiting for him and our preordained meeting day, but he could live his life fully. More importantly, he didn’t need energy from anyone. I did.

  Another pity-party factor.

  I got lost in my thoughts, thinking about Cowboy and what he’d said while he was sleeping. I visualized him in my head, as best I could as his face was always a blur. I clung to the image of him as I started into Desperado by the Eagles. It was a song that Cowboy seemed to enjoy hearing me sing. My power flared, but I didn’t think much of it. Sometimes that happened.

  “What the hell?”

  I froze at the sound of a familiar male voice.

  I’d been told all my life that bad men would harm me in an instant to get back at my destined mate. I knew I should have screamed, something, anything, hearing a man’s voice in my apartment when I was home alone, but I knew that voice.

  It couldn’t be him.

  Turning slowly, I found a tall man standing there, shirtless and shoeless, wearing only a pair of jeans that weren’t buttoned. I knew that torso. I’d seen it enough in my life. Forcing my gaze upwards, I said nothing. The minute I saw his face clearly, I gasped and scrambled off the bench, backing up fast and hitting the wall.

  “Oh shit,” I said, deep down knowing Eliza would be shocked by my use of a curse word. Not as surprised as I was to see Cowboy standing in my living room, but surprised all the same.

  He tipped his head, his dark hair going over one chocolate brown eye. “Where am I? How did I get here?”

  “Ohmygod,” I said softly. “I didn’t mean to pull you here. I thought my sister was crazy when she said I could even do something like that. I have to put you back. We can’t meet yet. It’s not time.”

  He stared at me, his gaze raking over me slowly. If I didn’t know better, I’d have said hunger entered his eyes. He sniffed the air, his chocolate gaze shifting instantly and then returning to normal. “You!”

  I stood perfectly still, unsure how to respond.

  “You’re real?” he asked, uncertainty in
his deep voice.

  I managed a nod.

  “I thought you were a ghost,” he said softly, easing forward.

  I yelped and he stopped his progression towards me, putting his hands up instead.

  He shook his head. “I won’t hurt you.”

  That helped me out of my stupor. “I know that, Cowboy.”

  His lips twitched. “Why do you call me that?”

  “Long story,” I replied, still stuck to the wall like glue. “You really shouldn’t be here right now. My sister will flip her lid if she finds you here.”

  A large smile broke over his face. “Oh, sweet-pea, I’m not going anywhere. I thought you were a ghost, a dream—hell, my mind snapping on me. You’re real. No chance in hell I’m walking away from you now.”

  His words brought a smile to my face. Nervous, I cupped my hands and swallowed hard. “Thank you.”

  He snorted and took a small step in my direction. “I tell you I’m not leaving and you thank me?”

  I lifted my shoulders slightly. “I’m not really sure what to say here.”

  “How about you tell me your name?” he asked. “Because I’m damn certain I know who you are to me and who I am to you. Mates.”

  I shook my head. “No names! Don’t tell me yours.”

  “Why?”

  I exhaled slowly. “Whenever someone says your name around me, I don’t hear it. I hear a loud squelching noise. Sometimes it makes my ears bleed.”

  He gasped. “What? Why the fuck would that happen?”

  I put my hands on my hips. “Really, Cowboy, we’ve had talks about your potty mouth.”

  He stiffened and then laughed. “Yes. We have, haven’t we, Ry-Mack? I can call you that, can’t I? Does that hurt you?”

  “You can call me that,” I said evenly.

  “You planning to fuse yourself to that wall?” he asked, motioning to the wall behind me.

  “I considered it.”

  He licked his lower lip. “How about I sit? Will that help you feel more comfortable?”

  “I’m not really sure anything will help my comfort level right now. This is super awkward and we’re breaking, like, ten levels of rules here.”