Garda - Welcome to the Realm

by Stacy Eaton

  “What did she say?” Corey leaned against the balcony, her mid-back against the rail, her arms crossed over her chest.

  “She finally agreed it would be best. She didn’t know I was dying, no one did. I never told my family.”

  “Why not?”

  I shrugged, “I don’t know. I guess I didn’t want to put a damper on the baby coming. Right after Chase was born, I came to see him. The guilt I felt made it too hard to stay around, so I went back home. A few months later, I was driving home from a chemo treatment, and the tumor put pressure on a section of my brain that controlled my eyesight. I crashed my car, died instantly.”

  The quick intake of breath from Corey told me I had surprised her.

  “I guess when the police contacted Mitch, they only told him I had died in a car accident. At the time, they didn’t know about the tumor. The police never gave it a second thought since no one else was injured.”

  Corey’s head fell forward, her chin almost to her chest, “Oh, Brock.” She lifted her head and I watched from the corner of my eye as studied me, “Why didn’t you want to tell me the truth?”

  “I’m not proud of what I did.”

  “But you could have told me the truth. You’ve been hurting for a long time, and Mitch and Beth have no idea why you did what you did. You need to tell them.”

  I pushed off the railing, “Are you kidding me? Mitch doesn’t want to hear it, and Beth was so hurt, I’m not sure what I could even say to make it better.”

  She turned to face me head on, “You need to tell them the truth. While what you did was wrong, there were reasons why you did it. I think they would understand it and eventually accept it.”

  Was Corey right? Could Mitch forgive me? Would Beth be able to understand why I had chosen to distance myself?

  ~ Corey ~

  Finally, Brock was opening up and telling me the truth. While it was horrible to know what he had done, I was able to understand it and forgive him. I knew that I wasn’t the one who needed to forgive him, though. He needed for Mitch and Beth to forgive him, and, most of all, he needed to forgive himself.

  “I don’t know, Corey, I don’t think they would forgive me.” He turned and walked back to the glider. The muscles in his back were pulled tight with tension. If I wasn’t so afraid of touching him, I would have gone to him and tried to ease the suffering he was feeling.

  After he sat back down I walked over to him, “What if I try to talk to Mitch about it?”

  He shook his head, “I can’t ask you to do that. I know I need to try and talk to him, try to get him to understand, but I don’t know how.”

  I sat down beside him, “Don’t worry, Brock, we’ll figure something out.”

  The two of us sat in a somewhat comfortable silence for a while. I wasn’t angry with him anymore, and I wanted to somehow help him. My thoughts rolled over and over in my mind as to what I could do without any concrete plan coming to mind.

  Brock left not long after, one of his charges needed some assistance, and one that he would have to deal with more directly. I smiled as he left. For once we parted without anger or frustration.

  Still thinking over what he had told me, I phased down below and watched Mitch for a while. He was standing at an overlook high up on a mountain road. His face appeared to be relaxed, but his body posture told a different story.

  His motorcycle sat quiet behind him. I smiled. Maybe this was my chance to go for a ride. I stepped over into the living arena.

  “You’re in deep thought there, mister,” I said softly from behind him.

  He spun around, his heart racing.

  “Sorry, I forgot how startling my popping in can be.”

  He laughed and his body visibly relaxed. “Hi, Corey. Yeah, it is a bit frightening to be standing alone on the side of a mountain and then not.”

  I noticed that the lines around his eyes seemed harsher than the last time I had seen him. I got closer and touched his face gently.

  “Are you alright? You seem tired.” My thumb grazed over the soft skin of his lips and he grinned.

  His slid his arms around my waist and pulled me closer to him, “I’m much better now.”

  His lips met mine in a soft seductive kiss. My body melted towards him. No matter how many times he kissed me, my body always wanted to respond to it. My hands wound around his neck, and I deepened the kiss.

  He pulled back after a few moments. “Let’s go someplace a bit more private.”

  I gazed into his handsome face and smiled. “Sure, as long as I get to ride on the back of your bike.”

  “I do owe you one, don’t I?” he laughed as he spoke.

  “Yes, you do, and I now plan to collect on that promise you made me.” As I finished speaking, I watched the smile fade from his expression. “What’s wrong?”

  “I made you other promises and didn’t keep them,” his voice was hoarse as he replied.

  “What are you talking about?” I pulled back so I could see him better.

  “I promised to keep you safe, instead I caused your accident.” Pain washed over his face.

  “Oh, Mitchell,” I put my hand on his cheek, “you didn’t cause my death. I made the choice to do what I did. This wasn’t your fault.”

  He shook his head, “No, it was my fault.”

  My left hand reached down for his, and I pulled him toward his bike, “Look, let’s go someplace else, and we’ll talk.”

  He climbed on and started the engine. I waited until he nodded at me and I stepped up on the foot peg he pointed to. The vibration of the bike filled me, and I took a seat behind him.

  The bike had a backrest, but I wanted to hold onto him, so I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around his waist. He pulled out on the road, and we started heading down the mountain.

  The wind whipped my hair, and I reached back with one hand to gather it tightly and tuck it into the collar of my shirt. I held on to Mitch, inhaled his musky scent, and felt his back move as he drove. The sun shone down on us, lighting our way.

  We drove for an hour before he slowed down and pulled into a lot. I sat up and recognized the stone lot near the creek we had once visited. When he stopped, I climbed off the back and waited while he dismounted.

  “So, what did you think?” he asked when he turned to me.

  My mouth split open with a huge smile, “I loved it!”

  He threw his arm over my shoulders, and we made our way towards the path. “Glad you enjoyed it.” He placed a kiss on my temple.

  We stayed quiet as we walked; holding hands and following the running water to the place where we had once sat, the rock ledge where we had confessed our love to one another, the memories bittersweet with all that had passed in the intervening months.

  After we got settled on the rocks, Mitch tucked me into his side and rested his head against the top of mine. His heart beat steadily in his chest, and the sound of birds filled the air around us. The water gurgled over the rocks, and we both remained silent.

  “I didn’t think I would ever see you again, Corey,” he whispered into my hair right before he kissed my head.

  “I know.” I pushed away enough so that I could observe his face. “I know you were hurting, Mitch. I saw some of it after the accident.”

  “What did you see?” His hand played with the ends of my hair on my back. I loved the almost-tickling sensation of his fingers’ movements.

  “I was at the funeral.”

  His brows rose, and his hand stopped moving. “You were there? Did you talk to me?”

  “I did.”

  His hand resumed the movement along my back, “I felt you. I heard you, only, after a while, I thought I had imagined it. When you disappeared after that, I thought the pain had produced the sound and feelings.”

  My head found its way back to his chest. “No, I was there. You needed my strength.”

  “I did.” He kissed the top of my head again. “I need you.”

  For a while we didn’t talk. “Mitch, I
need you to understand that what happened was meant to be, and you can’t blame yourself for it.”

  He pulled away and put his hand under my chin to lift it. “You can say that all you want, but I still feel responsible. You are so important to me, and I had promised you I would keep you safe, but I didn’t.”

  “Mitch, honey, it was my time, my destiny to die that day.” I thought briefly about how Brock had made the call a bit early, and I decided not to tell Mitch that part.

  “I can’t accept that. Your destiny was with me. What am I supposed to do now?” he asked, hurt threading his words.

  I sighed, “I don’t know.”

  ~ Mitchell ~

  When Corey just popped in on me, I was more than surprised. Happiness filled the emptiness of the past half year.

  When she wrapped her arms tightly around me, I knew exactly where I wanted to take her. The drive to the creek was smooth, and for once, I didn’t have to pretend that she sat behind me. I actually felt her body tucked tightly to mine.

  The smiles she gave me put light back in my heart. The kisses she placed on my lips ignited me with a peace that I didn’t know could be felt.

  I almost forgot that she was dead. Her body felt so real, her scent drifted around her and completed me.

  When our conversation turned back to her death and the promises I had failed to keep, we both tensed.

  “I can’t accept that. Your destiny was with me. What am I supposed to do now?” I felt like I was being a whiney child, but I had to know what happened now.

  I felt her sigh as she spoke, “I don’t know.”

  “Neither do I.” I turned my head away from her. I didn’t want her to see the pain on my face.

  “Mitch, can you just be happy that we have these few moments together.” She put her hand under my chin and turned my face back to hers.

  “But how long are we going to have them, Corey? Do I have to die to be with you forever?” Shock crossed her face as the words left my mouth.

  “No! Mitch it isn’t your time to die. Please don’t say those things.”

  “Why not? I want to be with you, Corey. If I were dead, we could be together. Maybe you should have let Joe kill me.” The thought of dying didn’t frighten me, not as much as the thought of living without her did.

  She pushed away from me, “Mitch, stop! Don’t talk like that. You are going to die, but not now. You have a long life to live—and what about Beth and Chase?”

  “What about them?” I challenged back to her. “Chase isn’t mine, wait—” he stopped talking and stood up, “you don’t want me with you because of Brock. Is that it?” I felt the anger pump in my veins as the thought occurred to me.

  She stood up and faced me, “Mitch, your brother has nothing to do with this.”

  “He doesn’t, does he?” I spun away from her, wiping my hands over my head. “Tell me you don’t care about him.” I waited tensely for her to speak.

  “Mitchell, you are making more out of this than there needs to be. Of course, I care about Brock, but it’s not like you think.” I felt her hand on my back and shrugged it off.

  “It’s not what I think!” I snorted a laugh, “Not what I think.”

  She stepped around me and grabbed my forearms to hold me still. Her grasp was stronger than I imagined it would be.

  “Mitch, there are things that you just don’t understand, a lot of things that you don’t know about. Brock is my Garda. He watched over me and protected me for years. He didn’t pick me, he was assigned to me. This is just destiny that we all came together the way we did.”

  “Destiny?” I couldn’t hold back the hard laugh, “Are you buying your own words, Corey?”

  She stepped back as if I had slapped her. “Yes, I do believe in destiny, Mitch. I believe in fate, I believe in things happening for a reason. What’s wrong with that?”

  What was wrong with believing in fate? I hung my head, as I tried to calm myself down.

  “I’m sorry,” I stepped closer to her and put my hands on her hips. “I’m sorry. I just miss you so much, and I don’t understand where things go from here. Seeing Brock with you was a shock.”

  She put her hands on my chest, “I know. You need to speak with him. There are things that he needs to tell you, things that he needs to explain to you.” Her eyes were pleading with me as she spoke softly to me.

  “Maybe someday, but not right now.” I pulled her into my chest and held her.

  “Just think about it, okay?” she whispered into my chest.

  “I will.” My stomach growled loudly just after the words left my mouth, and we both laughed.

  “Looks like you need to eat.” She pulled away and I glanced around us, darkness had begun to settle in. I hadn’t even noticed.

  “Do you eat?” I asked her as I took her hand, and we started walking away.

  “I sure do, and I would love a hamburger.” She winked at me, and I pulled her close to wrap my arm around her waist.

  “I think I know just the place.” By the time we got back to the motorcycle, the sky was getting really dark.

  We climbed on and hit the road. She snuggled up to my back again, and I tried not to think about what would happen in our future. Instead, I concentrated on the bike and the feel of her arms around my waist.

  I felt her sigh deeply behind me. I took one hand off the handlebars and reached down to squeeze her hands that lay against my stomach.

  I glanced down at our hands touching for only a moment, but when I lifted my head back up, two headlights were coming straight at us.

  ~ Brock ~

  For the first time since Coralenna had joined the Realm, I felt that we had peace between us. The fact that she didn’t judge me for what had happened but instead seemed to sympathize with what I had done made me feel almost inadequate in her presence. What an incredible woman she was.

  I sat next to Billy, he was one of my newer charges, and he needed some direct assistance from me. I glanced over at him and, while he was drunk, he appeared to be doing alright behind the wheel of the car.

  I leaned my head back on the seat and stared out the window. The stars were coming out in the heavens above, and I smiled. I closed my eyes as I remembered the sincere expression on her face.

  When Billy made a noise beside me, I turned from the window to see him messing with the buttons on his dashboard console. He punched one preprogrammed button after another on his radio, taking his focus off the roadway while he did.

  A sound registered in my mind just as a flash of light struck the windshield. A motorcycle was coming straight towards us. The fact that a crash was imminent was not my concern. The real concern was that the people on the bike were Mitch and Corey, and Corey was in a mortal body.

  Without another thought, I phased out of the car to Corey and yanked her from the bike and into the level above just a split second before impact.

  The shocked expression on Corey’s face as she met mine sent a pulse down my spine. My arms encircled her tightly and her hands had gone to my waist.

  We stared at each other. One electrical burst through my body quickly became two and then three. Her mouth opened, and she dropped her head back as if it were too heavy to hold up.

  If I felt them, then she felt them, too, and they were quickly becoming overpowering. I glanced to my left just long enough to see a motorcycle wedged under the front of a car and a body lying on the side of the road. Before I could realize what the scene was, both Corey and I phased back to the Realm.

  ~ Corey ~

  Yanked from the serenity I had felt while riding behind Mitch, my body was suddenly a minefield. My nerve endings burned through every inch of my body. A surge traveled with each beat of my heart.

  I barely saw Brock’s face in front of me, his features contorted in a similarly painful way as mine. The random thought that my body would combust into a bright fireball twisted through my mind.

  My head dropped back, and I felt myself falling. The landing was soft, but t
he body that ended up on top of mine was anything but.

  “Coralenna,” a husky pain-filled voice reached my ears, and I struggled to open my eyes as the intensity rushed through me. Brock’s face came into view as my lids opened into slits.

  His jaw was clamped tightly, and the urge to kiss his lips to relax him filled my mind. My hands reached for his face, sliding over the hot skin of his cheeks and into the hair on the sides of his head.

  I pulled his lips to mine, the urge a sudden need that filled me from the bottom of my toes to the top of my head. Our lips met, and colors exploded behind my eyelids. I heard him groan as he slid his hand around the side of my ribs and pulled me tighter to him.

  The kiss deepened, both of us allowing this insane hunger to sate the other as our tongues tangled and our lips crushed against one another’s.

  The pain started to recede and pleasure slowly replaced it. His body called to me, and mine responded. There were no thoughts, no questions to ask. There was only the need to feel what we had.

  My arms slipped over his shoulders, pulling his body as close to mine as it could get, but not sating the need to feel him.

  His lips left mine and traveled down to my throat, my pulse raced under his lips and my eyelids blinked heavily. Stars filled the sky above me. I closed them again, wanting only to feel the passion we had together.

  As he kissed my neck lower, I turned my head to allow better access and cracked open my lids again. With a start I jerked, and Brock lifted his head.

  Fifty or so people stood watching us. I gazed around and realized we were lying on the beach in the Realm—and we had an audience.

  “Some privacy, please,” I whispered, and while Brock started to laugh, we phased from the beach and landed on the bed in my quarters.

  “Better?” he said as he stroked my face.

  “No,” I pulled his head down to mine, his lips just a fraction of an inch away, “now it’s better.” He closed the distance between our lips, and all other thoughts melted from my mind.