Maybe that was for the best. His presence in her life shook up the core relationships in her family. The one she had with her brother was practically nonexistent by the time she left for the camping trip. She hadn’t spent as much time with her parents because she was busy with soccer, her friends, and her training.
If she wasn’t the seer, if Ollo hadn’t awakened her powers, this never would have happened. Right?
Before Reese could ponder that thought, a voice interrupted her.
“You’re awake.”
Reese blinked, and Piper came into focus. Her first friend in Onyx. Goalie on the Onyx High junior varsity soccer team. The girl who had stalked Henry with her.
Piper.
A small smile touched her face, and she managed a small, “Hey.”
“Hey.” Without waiting for Reese to say anything else, Piper pushed toward her until she reached the side of the bed. Reese didn’t notice a chair had been placed there until Piper plopped down on it and grabbed her hand. Reese twitched involuntarily at the contact; it was as though her body didn’t want to be touched by anyone at the moment, not even her close friends. “Ollo left a few minutes ago. He said he was going to get breakfast.”
Reese had always wanted Piper and Ollo to meet—especially since she knew Henry was secretly in love with Piper—and it sucked that this was how that managed to happen. Even worse was that Reese hadn’t been there to introduce them herself.
“I don’t really feel like eating,” Reese said, forcing herself to sit up. She felt a rush of dizziness tickle her head, but it helped her focus on the hollowness throbbing in her chest, so she didn’t mind it. “What happened?”
“You fainted,” Piper said. “At least, from what Ollo told me. Which is strange, since you’re the last person I'd expect to faint.”
“It’s not every day you’re told your only family burned to death,” Reese said, with more bitterness than she knew a seventeen-year-old girl could possess. “I’m sorry. That was rude.”
“No, I get it.”
No, you don’t. The caustic remark flitted through Reese’s mind before she could stop it, but something in her refused to take it back. She knew Piper was just trying to be nice, to justify Reese’s snippy response, but the fact of the matter remained; Piper couldn’t possibly understand what it was like to lose her family. No one could. And, to be honest, she was annoyed that Piper pretended to.
“But you need to eat,” Piper was saying, snapping Reese out of her thoughts. “You’ve been out for a good amount of time, Reese, and your body needs energy. Ollo said he was going to grab your favorite donuts.”
“I’m sorry I’m not hungry at the moment,” Reese said, her words slow but harsh.
“I understand, but—”
“No, you don’t.” This time, Reese actually spoke the words, and she didn’t feel even a little bit sorry about it. “Your family is still here. You are not alone in the world. Don’t tell me you understand what I’m going through when you clearly don’t.” A pause. “Why are you here anyway?”
“I wanted to be there for you,” Piper replied, her brown eyes pleading. “I am here for you. After you fainted, Ollo brought you here and called me. He called Carey, too, and we scheduled shifts to come be with you so you don’t have to be alone.”
“Did you consider the possibility that maybe I wanted to be alone?” Reese had no idea she could be so mean. But it was easy, and she was in no mood to care.
“You shouldn’t be,” Piper said, and Reese could tell she was getting defensive. “You’re not acting like yourself, Reese.”
“I’m sorry that my family was burned to death. I’m sorry I can’t pretend to be fine and bubbly and happy, but I won’t. That would be a disservice to my feelings.”
“A disservice to your feelings?” Piper asked incredulously. “Because from where I’m sitting, it just sounds like you’re trying to justify your behavior.” She paused, and Reese could tell she was trying to maintain her patience. “I’m sorry for what happened to you. Truly, I am. I wouldn’t want my worst enemy to go through what you’re going through right now, and you’re my best friend. I cannot even imagine what you’re going through, but I can sympathize with you. I can still have compassion for you. And to pretend otherwise would be a disservice to my feelings.”
At that moment, Ollo poked his head through the bedroom door, about to announce his arrival and the fact that he had breakfast with him. However, the moment his eyes fell on both girls, he closed his mouth and eased out of the room as quietly as he could. She knew he wouldn’t go far, though. If she knew him at all, she knew he’d be waiting adjacent to the doorway so he could listen to their conversation.
“I’ll wait for Ollo to come back, and then I’m going to head out,” Piper said, completely oblivious to Ollo’s return. “I’m going to give you some advice, whether you think I have a right to or not: eat breakfast. Mourn your family and be sad, throw things and yell and cry and do whatever you need to do in order to feel better. But there is absolutely no reason for you to be as mean as you’re being right now. I’m really sorry, Reese. And I’m here when you’re ready. But not until then.”
Without another word, she left.
“Well, that was awkward,” Ollo said, waltzing in the minute the front door slammed shut. “She said a hurried goodbye the moment she saw me, even though the schedule she and Carey came up with indicated she still had another few hours. What happened?”
“I wanted to be left alone,” Reese replied as Ollo took the vacant seat next to the side of her bed.
“Ah.” He pulled out a donut and offered it to her. She shook her head, still not in the mood. He shrugged and bit into it. “I love these things,” he said with his mouth full. “Sweet and airy. I could eat these all day.”
Reese almost managed a smile at Ollo’s obsession with donuts. Almost.
“I know I almost had you with that,” he said, he eyes twinkling mischievously. “Darl, you have to allow yourself to smile.”
“It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours, Ollo,” Reese pointed out in an uncharacteristic whine. “How am I supposed to smile after everything that has happened?”
“You force it,” he said, serious. “Maybe Piper hasn’t experienced what you’re going through just now, but I’ve been around a lot longer than you. I know death. I’ve watched friends and family die. I watched Pythia die. I know what you’re going through.”
“What am I supposed to do, Ollo?” she asked him, her voice cracking. It was the first time she allowed herself to be vulnerable since she found out what happened to her family.
“You survive,” Ollo said, his voice gentle. “You put one foot in front of the other and walk. You constantly remind yourself that while some people are gone for the moment, you’re still alive. And more than anything, they would want you to live your life.”
“I never even got to say goodbye,” Reese said as the tears finally started to come. “I never got to say I’m sorry to Brody.”
“They forgive you.” When Ollo took her hand, Reese didn’t flinch. “He forgives you.”
“How do you know?”
“Because once you get to Heaven, all the grudges and hatred, all the tension and suspicion, just fade away,” he explained. “If anything, you have an advantage, darl. You know Heaven exists. You know you’ll eventually see them again, whereas most people have to rely on blind faith.”
“So you’re saying I’m lucky?” Reese asked, her voice flat.
“Yeah, you are.” Ollo’s voice was firm, his eyes determined. “You know you get to see them again. You know they forgive you. You know they’re watching over you as we speak. Granted, this knowledge doesn’t make it any easier, but hopefully it’s enough to help you sleep at night, if nothing else.”
Reese was silent for a moment, looking at Ollo from the corner of her eye through the wall of blonde hair she really needed to wash. Even after everything she had been through, he still had this power to make her heart f
lutter, even though it wanted nothing more than to remain at a standstill because it hurt too much to beat.
“So,” she began tentatively. “What do I do?”
“For a start, eat your damn donut.”
Reese fell asleep shortly after that, and Ollo couldn’t blame her. She had been through a lot, probably more than she felt she could handle, but Ollo knew she was strong enough to get through it, even if she didn’t quite believe it. God never gave you more than you could handle; if anything was true, it was that.
Ollo moved to the couch, and flipped on the television. Carey wouldn’t be here for another few hours, but he would make sure Reese was up before she arrived. Reese was not allowed to start sleeping during the day. He would be damned if he let her spiral into depression.
When he called her friends, he made sure to call Andie as well. He knew she had some sort of relationship with Jack Phillip—Black Wing—and he hoped there was a point when the two realized they could confide in each other. But Andie’s phone sent him to voicemail. He left a message, but something felt off. When he talked to Carey, he found out why. Andie had been kidnapped by her ex-boyfriend, and had been returned by Black Wing to Phillip’s manor. So she would be out of commission for a while. He asked Carey to keep that to herself for the time being. Reese didn’t need to know about it just yet. Not until she was better. Not until she was ready.
It was an odd thing, calling Reese’s friends to tell them the devastating news in the role of her boyfriend. More than that, he was surprised Reese actually told them he was her boyfriend. He couldn’t keep the pride out of his voice as he introduced himself, and both Carey and Piper expressed excitement at meeting him, even under these circumstances. They asked if they could do anything, or if they could help in any way, and he made sure to reassure them that he was handling it. He hoped Reese knew how lucky she was to have friends like these. He hoped she knew better than to take them for granted the way he had after Pythia had died. She thought she was alone now, and he could understand why—if anyone could, it was him—but she had her friends. And she had him. And that wasn’t going to change.
He continued to flip through the channels, giving his mind something to focus on. A thought continued to pinch his brain, demanding attention like a petulant child. It was a thought he preferred to ignore but knew he could not.
Just because Reese was going through this trauma did not mean the brewing war was put on hold. She still had a role to fulfill, whether she liked it or not. He would support her, be there for her, and never admonish her if she needed to cry, but he wouldn’t sugarcoat things. She needed to train, whether she wanted to or not. It sucked, but it was necessary because, as of this moment, she was nowhere near ready.
Andie
“Hey beautiful,” Jack said in a quiet voice after picking up his cell phone. Currently, he was in the Five Crowns, a high-class restaurant he frequented a lot when he was home during his college years. The alcohol was top-notch, and he and his friends would get shitfaced nearly every weekend. As usual, it was crowded with couples, a couple of actors, and many supermodels, a few of whom he happened to have dated before Andie, as it stood. “Where are you?”
“I am so sorry, babe,” Andie muttered as she stepped out of the town car and into the blurring rain. “We just pulled up. I’ll be there—” She opened the door and met him at the entrance, smiling brightly when she saw him. “—now.” However, this did not distract him from the fact that she was drenched. Jack tried to keep his amused smile off of his lips, and Andie noticed before rolling her eyes. “Oh, I know. I’m wet, okay?”
“I actually like it,” Jack told her, coiling an errant strand of hair behind her ear. His eyes skimmed over every curve of her body. The black dress she was wearing was already tight, but due to the rain, it literally hugged every curve. The top of her chest along with the calves of her legs were shimmering with stray drops of rain. The corners of his lips pulled up mischievously as he leaned over and casually whispered in her ear, “You know, if this woman ends up being late, we could always take a nice, long drive in the privacy of the limo.”
“As much as I’d love to take you up on your offer,” Andie whispered back, her pale green eyes turning slightly dark with desire, “I think this is a very important meeting for my shelter.”
“I see your point,” Jack said dejectedly, placing his hand on her hip and squeezing.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t change,” Andie mumbled, glancing down at herself. She honestly had no idea how she managed not to fall in the high heels she wore on the way here, but didn’t want to think too much on it for fear of jinxing herself. “Right as I was about to leave, I got a phone call from that anonymous donor—I don’t even know how he’s heard of the shelter in the first place—wanting to look into making another donation.”
Jack pursed his lips at this, and his brow pushed down. “I don’t know about this guy, Andie,” he told her honestly. “I mean, who donates that much money in three weeks?”
“Can’t we just blame my art of persuasion?” she teased with one of her more brilliant smiles.
“I blame something, but it isn’t exactly your…persuasive ability,” Jack mumbled. “We have to be extra cautious, And. Lucas Burr—”
“I get it,” Andie said, playfully smacking him on the chest. Jack quickly grabbed her hand and turned it over so he could place a chaste kiss on the inside of her wrist.
“I just worry about you,” he said against her skin. Gently, he pulled her closer so he could wrap his arms around her waist, staking his claim on his girlfriend. He didn’t mind the fact that she was wet; in fact, he barely noticed it. He did, however, notice the male guests paying her hourglass figure a particular sort of interest, and gave a pointed look in their general direction. Andie didn’t seem to know what was going on, but she reveled in Jack’s touch, wrapping her arms around his neck. He pulled his head back before grazing his forehead against hers. “I don’t know what I’d do if anything ever happened to you,” he confessed softly, tightening his grip on her.
“I feel the same about you,” she told him. “Lucky for you, I’m not a masked vigilante patrolling the streets of Onyx in the middle of the night, hmm?” She tilted her head to the left only slightly, giving him an expectant look.
He chuckled, wrapping a damp lock of hair around his index finger. “Yes,” he conceded, “I am extremely lucky to have you.”
Andie gave him a genuine smile before glancing around. “So, where is this woman?” she asked, looking through the crowds of couples, hoping to find a woman waiting alone. “She knows where the Five Crowns is, right?”
“I’d imagine so,” Jack replied, pulling away from her but keeping his arm wrapped securely around her waist. He glanced down at his silver Rolex watch. “Our table’s ready for us, but….” He frowned upon realizing what time it was. “She’s fifteen minutes late.”
Andie frowned as well, but tried to keep her thoughts positive instead of focusing on the lack of professionalism this woman was showing. “Well, it is raining,” she pointed out. “Maybe she’s stuck in traffic or something.”
Before Jack could agree with her, somebody touched him on the small of his back. Quite intimately, actually. He turned and saw a very familiar face belonging to someone he wasn’t expecting to see for a long time, let alone here, at this moment. To say Jack was pleased would be a outright lie. Andie tilted her head forward, wanting to see what had caused him to shift his frame: an absolutely beautiful woman was standing there, her hand still resting on Jack’s—her boyfriend’s—back. Despite the fact that they technically hadn’t had that conversation yet, she considered him to be her man. And from the way his hand gripped her waist right now, she concluded that he felt the same way about her. Though Andie had tried to control her emotions, she knew that she would always be a slightly protective person. She didn’t care if this woman was worth bazillions; she shouldn’t be touching Jack that way. It was blatantly disrespectful, let alone lacking profes
sionalism.
She was older than Andie, probably more around Jack’s age, but it didn’t seem to matter where looks were concerned. She was also taller than Andie, probably five-foot-seven, with flawless pale skin, long, luxurious red hair, and cool blue eyes. She wore a red dress that dipped low, revealing ample cleavage. The hemline stopped at the middle of her thigh, showcasing beautiful, long legs. On her feet, there were a pair of bold red high heels that elevated her another four inches. Her make-up was perfect. Andie swallowed self-consciously; she was just plain wet.
“Vanessa?” Jack asked, subtly taking a step toward Andie and out of the young woman’s grasp. “Vanessa Barnes?”
“Jack,” Vanessa said, flashing a grin. “Jack Phillip.” Her eyes caught sight of Andie, her smile cooling if only for a fraction of a second. “And this must be the famous Andrea Shepherd.”
“Yes,” Jack said smoothly, his grip on Andie tightening for a different reason. “This is my girlfriend.”
See? They were on the same page. No conversation needed.
“Well, who knew?” Vanessa said, sticking out her hand and smiling at the young woman. “Jack Phillip, a made man. I never thought I’d see the day. You are a very lucky woman.”
“Oh,” Andie said, furrowing her brow but taking Vanessa’s hand in hers anyway. “Um…thank you. I am lucky, actually.”
“It’s I who’s lucky, Vanessa,” Jack said, giving Vanessa an unreadable stare. Andie recognized it but couldn’t describe it. She had seen him use it in business meetings when his employees got a little rowdy. He never yelled, but the look he was currently giving this Vanessa Barnes was one and the same. Luckily, she seemed to get the point, and nodded in agreement with his statement.
“Well, I am starved,” Andie stated, trying to ease the tension. She slipped her arm through Jack’s and glanced up at him. “What about sitting down, hmm?”
Catalyst: Book 2 in The Dark Paradise Chronicles Page 28