Aidan. Shit, shit, SHIT! It seemed like Micah and I started to speak at the same time, then stopped, looking at each other, then started again. Finally, I glared at him to shut him up and stepped toward Aidan.
“Looks like you caught us!” I tossed out, trying to sound like it was no big deal that he had walked into a scene that looked just about as bad as it actually was, but for completely different reasons. Aidan stood in front of me, still mostly in the shadows of the dark locker room. His stance and posture were exuding his rage at finding me with Micah. He had me reeling at the myriad of emotions that rolled off of him. Anger. Frustration. Hurt. I had to force myself to keep moving toward him, pushing through it all and knowing that there was absolutely no way around having to lie.
“I thought you would like it if I learned more about MMA, so I convinced Micah to start teaching me some of the moves and the lingo. I want to be able to understand what you’re doing. I know it’s important to you.” I didn’t bother to explain that I already held all of this knowledge and I could probably teach Micah a thing or two, even in the ring, because of Cole. I just prayed that Aidan wouldn’t ask too many questions.
“You…asked Micah…to teach you about MMA?” The raised eyebrow and stone-cold expression made it obvious that he didn’t believe a word I had said, but couldn’t really dispute it. Without turning away from Aidan, I sent a message to Micah, Tell him that you’ve been teaching me. Things like the proper way to defend an arm bar.
I could feel Micah’s confusion and hesitation, but he delivered the statement with utter confidence. Even adding that I was a better fighter than most would expect.
I puffed up a little, knowing that Cole’s training would come in handy one day. He’d love hearing this story in a few years when I could admit to dating Aidan. I gave Aidan a big smile and challenged him, bouncing on the balls of my feet in a Southpaw stance.
“Whatcha got?!” I poked with a forced grin. He let out a little snort, snatching me up, bringing me flush with his body, and pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “Alright then, doll. You win. I’m not gonna fight you. But, I do need a minute with your training partner over there.” I could feel him channel everything into protecting me — us — as he faced down Micah. I was certain he didn’t believe a word I’d said. He wanted to, but there was just no way.
I kept my smile going, leaving them as if I had no reason to be concerned, though I was almost certain Aidan could probably dismantle Micah. Micah might have had a few inches, but Aidan had more muscle and certainly more emotion at this particular moment. I was lost in my own thoughts and didn’t realize I had made my way to Cole’s office. He looked up, surprised to see me, and instantly was up and around the desk. “Ame, what’s up? I can feel it, some thing’s wrong. What happened?”
Cole was giving me that look that was half “Dad”, half “who can I beat up because I’m your big brother?”
I still didn’t know how to explain the attack. It was only just now occurring to me what it could mean, so I didn’t say anything. I just walked into his arms and buried myself in my big brother’s chest. While I could feel his confusion over why I was so upset and his anger at whomever had caused it, he gave me a moment with his hand on the back of my head. Finally, I disengaged myself and stepped back.
“Cole, there’s so much to say, so much that’s been happening these last few weeks that I haven’t had the chance to fill you in on. But, Aidan’s going to be coming to find me soon and this is going to take a while to explain.” I sighed, looking around for Aidan but knowing Cole wasn’t going to let me off easy. He clearly wasn’t happy with my build up and let down.
“Amelia, you come into my gym after dark with your power on full tilt, sand all over you, no shoes on, looking like hell, and you expect me to just let you walk away without an explanation because one of your friends is coming to look for you?” he asked.
It hadn’t sounded so ridiculous in my head, but I also had no clue that I looked so terrible. Cole’s face took on a pretty frightening expression; the one he reserved for the hoodlums who tried to infiltrate his gym… or when his sister stepped out of line.
Of course, Aidan decided at that moment to come around the corner and step into Cole’s office. He actually wore a similar look to Cole.
“Amelia, you know Cole?” Aidan’s shock was apparent. Then, he kept looking from me to Cole, and back. It wasn’t really that hard to see the family resemblance when we were right next to each other, and I visibly knew the moment it clicked for him. I hadn’t exactly hidden the fact that we were related, I just hadn’t given it up willingly. I hoped that he didn’t connect the fact that I might have already known the things Micah was supposedly teaching me. The lies just kept getting harder to maintain.
I gave Aidan a tentative smile but Cole didn’t wait for him to verbalize the pieces he’d put together. He just stepped in front of me, crossed his arms over his chest, and said, “Yeah, she’s my little sister. And, we’ve got stuff to deal with. So, I need you to beat it, Montgomery. I know you guys are friends, but we’ve got some family stuff.”
“We’re friends?” Aidan repeated slowly. From behind Cole, I nodded frantically at Aidan, trying to make him understand that the last thing I needed was to have that conversation now. In front of Cole. “Uh, yeah, we’re…friends,” he said, nodding at me. “Amelia, just call me later and you can finish filling me in on that other thing.” Those last few words were punctuated with such an angry undercurrent, I shivered.
I had to be the only person on the planet capable of pissing off every guy in my life on the same day while managing to get them to all lie to each other — while lying to them myself. And, the fact that Aidan and Cole were giving me the exact same look did not bode well for my future.
Chapter 12
Aidan left the office and it took a moment for Cole to turn around to face me. I could tell from his stance that he was trying to control his temper. Finally, he turned and simply said, “Sit.”
His tone had said enough. I sat.
“Would you like to tell me what in the hell is going on?” Cole’s tone was patronizing as he leaned against his desk, his arms crossed.
“Well. The funny part about all of this is that I don’t actually know.” I wanted to play it off, but thoughts were bouncing around inside my head like someone had let every pinball loose in the machine. Every day just brought more information. More to think about. More questions. I had done an okay job of compartmentalizing everything up until now, but it all came crashing into me at once. Being the last Elder. Making friends with a Mage. Lying to my best friend and the guy I liked. Being attacked. Being attacked.
I looked up at Cole, my eyes filled with barely restrained hysteria, expecting to see anger. Instead, I saw empathy, frustration… sadness.
He sighed and sat down next to me. “Talk to me, Ame. We both know you’ve been avoiding me for weeks. Did I dump too much on you too fast? You know we can’t just wait around for you to get comfortable, right? You’re too far behind.”
Anger replaced fear as he once again resorted to big brother behaviors. I stood, this time looking down at him. The emotion filling my chest choked my words, making them feel thick and hard to push out.
“Comfortable? You think I’ve just been hiding out in my room waiting until I can handle all of this, do you? You don’t get it, Cole. You’ve been running around the country for last ten years. Granted, it was for me, but for you, too. Don’t deny it. And, all the while, I’ve been dealing with Dad. With this.”
I intentionally allowed my power to flood my system in a huge tidal wave that dropped my head back and sent crackling fever to my fingertips. I looked back down at him knowing my eyes were glowing, the iridescent purple likely giving me my own demonic quality. I held my hands up, watching the energy pulsing around them and losing myself for just a moment in the heady feeling of it all. I wanted to blow something up. Now.
I felt Cole coming toward me and before I could pull
away he locked each of his hands around my wrists. “Calm down, Amelia. Don’t do this.” He stood nose to nose with me, looking more controlled than he probably should have. I’m sure I looked like a wild woman — wide-eyed and crazy. But, his energy immediately sapped away the hard edge of my power, placing layer after layer of smothering tranquility on top of the feral fire I had started.
The longer he held my wrists, the more I came back to myself. Instead of a powerful being, I was a scared girl who had just been attacked. All of the facade I had showed Aidan and the calm my power presented to Cole dropped away and I collapsed into him, sobbing into his chest as he hugged me and told me it would be okay. I pulled away, realizing we hadn’t even had the worst part of the conversation yet.
Sniffling, I pushed back and sat back in my own chair. “I look like this because Micah and I were attacked. We were working on the beach and suddenly someone just started throwing bolts at us. Blue ones. None of our people have blue power! Mages have shades of green and red, and we talk about violet but few actually realize that’s only Elders. What does that mean, Cole? Who are they?”
Cole was pale and quiet. He should have been ranting and raving at me for how stupid it was of us to be out in the open, or questioning the how’s and why’s of what had happened, but he just sat there with a glazed look, taking short, quick breaths.
“What aren’t you telling me, Cole?” More secrets. More information I deserved to know but didn’t.
He finally looked at me, saying, “I don’t know yet. There were rumors but no one ever believed them. It’s probably nothing. What about Micah? Does he know what happened? I think we need to get him in here. We need to talk about what happened and see if he saw something different from what you did.”
“You’re serious? You want me to just let that whole reaction go and then you want to bring Micah in so you can verify that I’m not just making all of this up? You’re amazing.” I stood up, shaking my head. “I need to go home.”
He vaulted out of his chair. “No! I’m taking you home. You go nowhere alone. You are always with someone. We don’t know what happened tonight or why it happened. Don’t you get it, Amelia? They could be after you. Someone could know what you are. They could want you for all the same reasons the queen does.”
I dropped back into the chair feeling like a bigger idiot than I had when Aidan caught Micah and me. “What should I do?” It came out much wimpier than I would have liked, but all of my bravado had been used up for the day.
Cole and I talked for a long time. We argued about whether or not we should talk to Rynna about everything. We talked about who those people could have possibly been and what they may have wanted with me. We talked and we argued until I was exhausted. It had been hours before either of us realized that we hadn’t eaten and it was getting very late. Cole finally agreed it was safe enough to leave and he brought his car up to the front door so I could just run and dive right in. We went through a drive-thru and I demolished a giant burrito in record time.
As Cole dropped me at my apartment, he made me promise that I would set up a meeting between him, Micah, and me for the next evening to determine what Micah had seen and what he might know that we didn’t. He hugged me tightly before letting me out of the car. “I love you, Amelia. Keep your phone on at all times and call me if anything weird happens.”
I laughed. “I know, Cole, I’m on high alert. I won’t go anywhere alone and I’ll keep my eyes open. I don’t think they would try anything in broad daylight and in public. At least, I hope not.” He gave me a look that made it obvious he wasn’t amused at my line of thinking. I gave his arm another squeeze and got out of the car. With one last wave, I went through the outer door and into my building.
My smile faded as I turned to find Aidan sitting on the steps leading up to my floor. His eyes were cold steel, none of the warmth and comfort I normally found in them, and I couldn’t read his expression.
“Aidan. Um… hi.” I had no idea what to say. Exhaustion was beating on my door, especially after that burrito. All I wanted to do was curl into bed and sleep for a week. Unfortunately, I had one very unhappy…boy? Friend? God, I don’t even know what to call him, let alone how to handle his reaction today. There’s no way I could be as honest with him as I was with Cole and I wasn’t sure I could keep any more lies straight.
Aidan slowly rose from the steps and came toward me, his eyes never leaving mine. Just as I thought he was going to reach out, he spoke instead, “Come walk with me.” Each word was enunciated, his tone making it obvious that it wasn’t a choice.
He turned down the hall on the first floor without waiting for a response. I sighed and rolled my eyes at his back, sick of being told what to do. He led me out the back door of the complex toward the small park facing our building. There were a few little trails with some picnic tables and benches scattered throughout. He continued toward the first table and sat on the tabletop. It reminded me of that first night; his outline in the shadows, how dangerous but alluring I found him then.
Now, I was tired and mostly irritated. As I stood facing him, my irritation only grew as he glared at me, as if he were warning me. It was just too much and I found myself pacing in front of him. Nervous energy had me wringing my hands and I refused to look his direction as my voice dropped, the words strangled as I searched for ways to tell the truth without telling the whole truth.
“Aidan, I can’t do this. I can’t do this right now. I know you want answers and you don’t understand what happened earlier today, but as much as I wish I could explain it, I just can’t. It’s complicated, it really has nothing to do with us and…I just can’t. So, don’t sit there, giving me your ‘death stare’, thinking that you’re going to intimidate me into doing whatever you want.” I finally pivoted on my heel and faced him as my frustration from the day poured out and onto the last person it should have. “You know what, on that note, I’m so sick and tired of the men around me thinking that they can just muscle me into doing whatever they want. Just screw you. All of you. I need a break. I need to breathe. There’s a lot going on with me right now and it sucks! I just need…”
I didn’t have a chance to finish my tirade before he grabbed me by both arms and crashed his lips to mine. Just like that, the entire world exploded. My power leapt, erupting through and around me with ferocity that rivaled my night on the cliffs, but it was all happening internally. I was so full of electricity and energy that I thought I might burst, but I didn’t have time to analyze it because all I could feel were his lips. His passion crushing me while his lips melted against mine.
It wasn’t even a thought as I opened my mouth to his and his tongue swirled and danced with my own. He let go of my arms to wrap his around me, pulling me between his legs and pressing me as close to him as he could get. I wrapped my arms around his neck, my fingers twisting in his thick hair. I was trapped between walls of muscle — between his legs, inside his arms — and for the first time in days, I felt absolutely safe. I gave myself wholly to a kiss that I knew would change everything. That was changing everything.
My power reached outside me and enveloped us both, wrapping around him. A second later, he shoved me away. Shoved me so hard that I found myself looking up at him from the ground where I had landed. “What the hell, Aidan?” I stuttered, still reeling and confused about the literal pain in my butt as well as the fog in my brain.
He actually looked a little panicked. “Did you feel that? What happened?”
He was looking around, staring into the trees as if he expected someone to come rushing out.
“What are you talking about? The only thing I felt was the most amazing kiss of my life turn into me landing on my butt in a pile of sticks. What is your deal?” I asked as I tried to brush myself off and pick twigs from my hair. I wanted to throw something at his head I was so annoyed. He finally stood up, still looking around.
“Are you sure? I mean, it felt like…well, it was as if something was…never mind.” He s
hook his head as he gave up trying and I suddenly realized it could have been me. I still didn’t really know how to completely control my telepathy and I could have gotten inside his head. My anger turned to concern.
“Aidan, I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m sorry. And… uh, I’m sorry if the kiss wasn’t as good for you as it was for me.” I ducked my head a little, embarrassed that I was so inexperienced that he could be distracted — even if it was my Immortal voodoo freaking him out.
He stopped looking around and stared down at me. He didn’t speak, just tilted my chin up to force our eyes to meet. He continued to hold my eyes, his gaze melting my insides. His lips met mine once more, and only then did he close them.
These kisses were slow and sweet, not near the heat of the first. He tilted and transitioned back and forth, from left to right, stopping to press kisses to my jawline and down my neck. I leaned back, hands in his hair once more as I sighed his name. Finally, he lingered one last time, slowly scrapping his teeth over my bottom lip as he pulled away.
He touched his forehead to mine and said, “Amelia, I don’t think I ever want a kiss from anyone else again. I’m sorry for before. I don’t really know what’s happening, but I feel it, too. I can’t explain it, but I feel like something is happening. And, I know you weren’t doing anything wrong with Micah. I don’t know why I know or why I can’t stay mad about it, but some part of me knows that it’s okay. I just hope that you decide that you can tell me the truth. But, I know all about secrets and I’m not going to push. For now.”
He pulled me into his chest, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. I was confused. I was exhausted. I had just had the best kiss of my life. I could think about the rest tomorrow.
Bound by Duty (Bound Series Book 1) Page 12