Divine Mortals

by Allison, J

  “Naturally sneaky?” I narrowed my eyes at him,

  “Me? Never.” he answered, full of pretend innocence.

  With that he grabbed my hand and almost dragged me through the back door, I felt a thrill at his searing touch. Everything felt so right when I was with him, he healed a part of me that had been hurting since Mom and Dads death.

  We burst onto the back porch, the sun blinding me temporarily and I squinted, waiting for my eyes to adjust.

  “Wow!” I couldn’t believe it, I looked back at him to find him grinning down at me, his perfect lips pulled up at one side in a cheeky half smile.

  The stable was gone, I had expected a pile of smoldering ash and timber, a total mess, but there was nothing, not a single burnt beam, all that remained was a black scorched stable sized patch on the dirt. The site was completely clear.

  “I guess I don’t really need to ask who…” I enquired innocently, trailing off at the end.

  “I’ve arranged for timber to be delivered this afternoon to build the replacement.”

  “You’re going to build a whole new stable before Pops back?” My voice sounded a little shrill, I swallowed, embarrassed at my own tone.

  “Ava,” he chided gently, the smile never leaving his face.

  “That would be a little hard to explain don’t you think, there might be a few questions if less than forty eight hours after I tell Fred his stables burnt to the ground he returns home to find a nice new stable and only you and I to build it.”

  “I guess,” I mumbled feeling a little stupid,

  “We’ll just to have to build it the regular slow way.” he rolled his eyes, the smile never leaving his face, he didn’t seem to be capable of anything except extreme happiness today and it made my heart beat a million miles a minute every time he turned his dazzling smile my way. I was really going to have to consider investing in a cardiac monitor if I was going to spend a lot of time with him, I didn’t know if my poor heart would be able to deal with all this stress.

  My stomach grumbled loudly and I covered it quickly with my hands.

  “Ready for Breakfast?” he ventured.

  He was hiding something, I could see it in his eyes, his thoughts were slipping away from the stable and towards something else.

  “Sure,” Breakfast was definitely something that appealed right now, “I was thinking maybe…”

  I began to tell him of my plan for scrambled eggs, I didn’t see his hand move until it covered my mouth gently, cutting me off mid-sentence. He lowered his face to mine kissing me softly on the forehead, all conscious thought abandoned me.

  “Don’t think,” he whispered, his arms came around me as he lifted me off my feet, holding me easily in front of him as if I weighed nothing at all.

  It was like last night, we were flying, or so it felt, the ground moved so quickly beneath us.

  I was terrified once more, holding tightly around his neck, probably almost chocking him. I took a glimpse at our surroundings, we were heading towards the hills and quickly started to ascend the steep rocky track I had taken with Beaut. The trees overhead formed a canopy, immersing us in the dim interior of the forest. The only sound was the whistle of the wind as we cut through the perfectly still morning air, I couldn’t even hear Roberts feet hit the ground, he wasn’t breathing hard, it didn’t appear to cost him any effort to move like this, even carrying me. Turning my face into his muscular chest I waited, this was too much like flying and it terrified me. The bonus of turning towards him however was that I could also breathe in the scent of him, he smelt wonderful, like sunshine and hard work and something underlying and sweet.

  I felt the suns heat on me again and I dared a peek. We were walking now, I hadn’t even felt him slow, we were also back at the plateau paddock.

  “You’re going to have to get used to that.” he chuckled, his voice breaking my train of thought.

  “I don’t think I could ever get used to that!” I laughed.

  “Ready to walk on your own again?” the ever present smile brightening his voice again. Looking up I found him gazing down at me, his eyes smoldering. I pulled myself up in his grip until my face was even with his, and then I leant forward, reading his posture, waiting for the rejection that I was still sure would come from someone as beautiful as him. He stayed still his eyes never leaving mine, I moved the last inch and kissed him gently, just for a moment. When I pulled back it took him a moment to open his eyes, his face was literally reflecting the light.

  “I’m ready to walk on my own again now.” I beamed at him, feeling slightly goofy about the size of my smile.

  “I don’t know if I’m ready to let you walk on your own if that’s what I get for carrying you.” he laughed, although he was already setting me on my feet.

  “Breakfast is served.” He announced with a sweep of his arm.

  I turned to where he indicated, just ahead of us, next to the log he had sat me on that afternoon not so long ago, a picnic breakfast was set up. Croissants, fruit and Danishes with steaming hot coffee were set out on a checkered blue blanket.

  I felt like a fish, my mouth opening and shutting numerous times before I could properly form a sentence.

  Walking slowly towards it, I took in all the small details,

  “When did you get time to do all this? What with cleaning up the stable as well…”

  “Oh I’m all done,” he gloated, sitting swiftly on one side of the blanket and gesturing for me to sit next to him.

  “What do you mean ‘all done’?” I asked, sinking to the ground beside him and feeling somewhat less gracious in my movements. To tell the truth I was still feeling a little motion sick from our trip up here, my legs were trembling, Robert noticed, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth but he didn’t say anything.

  This was the best breakfast I had had since coming to the ranch, no scratch that, since last Christmas.

  “My jobs,” he continued, “Everything on the farm that needed done today is done, we can just hang out together and make the most of our day without your grandparents or anyone else on the property, if you want to?” he added quickly, looking a little unsure.

  So it was my choice.

  I narrowed my eyes at him.

  “Just how quick are you?”

  “Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive,”

  “Yeah yeah yeah, can jump buildings in a single bound,” I laughed “you said you weren’t superman.”

  “And I’m not,” he was a little more serious now, his dark eyes clouded but he seemed to shake whatever thoughts were behind this,

  “But if the shoe fits,” he beamed, “Now let’s eat.”

  I dug in, my hunger from last night came back quickly, I had no idea why I was so hungry lately, I suppose I was doing more physical work during the day then I ever had in Chicago.

  The Danish pastries were delicious.

  “Coffee?” Robert asked politely after I had picked up the last Danish.

  “Sure.” I managed between mouthfuls, the coffee was incredible, far better than the instant I had been having on the ranch. I closed my eyes in appreciation.

  When I opened them the food had been cleared away, I had only closed them for a moment and I hadn’t heard a thing, I looked from side to side but there was no sign of any of it. I looked back at Robert who was now lying on his back soaking up the sun, he opened one eye comically, lazily gazing up at me, I must have looked a little shocked because he chuckled softly under his breath before closing his eye again.

  “I can hear your mind working from here,” he joked, a light breeze stirring his golden hair. “Go on, ask the rest of your questions.”

  “Have you got a while?” I grinned,

  “I have all day.” he smiled, never opening his eyes. I lay down next to him, although I didn’t close my eyes, I lay on my side, watching him.

  The sun danced over his face, and my heart began to pound as I took him in. I didn’t know if I would ever get
used to being so close to Robert or whether he would ever cease to make my heart race whenever I was near him. Secretly I didn’t ever want it to stop.

  “Okay,” I started, taking a deep breath, I watched his smile grow in anticipation although he stayed silent.

  “When or actually where did you get all this food for breakfast?”

  “Denver.”

  “Denver!”

  “Yeah, well I haven’t seen them making Danishes at the diner lately have you?”

  “How…”

  “I ran.”

  I couldn’t quite get my mind around this, so that was how fast he was. He watched my reaction, his eyes narrowing a little, like he expected me to run screaming at any moment. I mentally shook myself, trying to digest this information, I pushed it to the back of my mind for contemplation later.

  “What else would you like to know?” he invited, his voice soft.

  “Okay… so you can move… well, fast,” that was the understatement of the year.

  “You can hear things from miles away, what else can you do? I mean there must be more… more things that us mere mortals can’t do.”

  “Oh I’m mortal enough,” his voice sounded particularly sweet today, it carried beautifully on the breeze, smooth as velvet.

  “I can be killed Ava, don’t be fooled into thinking I’m totally bullet proof.”

  “Okay, bad choice of words,” I corrected, although with that he had answered another one of my questions, I mentally ticked it off my list.

  “You know what I mean though, do you have any other gifts?”

  His mouth twitched a little as I said the word ‘gift’. Rolling slowly to face me, his dark eyes swallowed my soul in one warm look.

  “I can see things…ah, things that are a great distance away.”

  I stayed silent, hoping that I was giving him my best ‘carry on’ expression. Robert stilled, focusing on the mountains behind us as he gathered his thoughts. His eyes shifted to a point somewhere past me, towards the ranch and fields below us, quickly they pin pointed something and his eyes shifted back to my face causing the butterflies in my stomach to flutter and take flight again.

  “See down at the bull pens, back down by your house,” I looked over my shoulder down the slope of the hill to the floor of the valley and back towards my new home, the buildings and pens looked very small from here, you couldn’t make out the details, just the shapes.

  “Ahhh huh…” I answered, squinting at them.

  “The tree in the middle pen,”

  “I see it, I guess.” I could just make out the soft green spot that was the tree from this huge distance.

  “There’s a birds nest in the top, with three chicks in it, Wood Peckers I think, although I’m not much of a bird person.”

  “Wood Peckers.” I mused with a smile. That was a long way away, I gazed from the green blotch of the distant tree back towards Robert, I would have to look for myself when I was home again.

  “Okay.” I kept my voice even, I didn’t want to sound disbelieving. A breeze came up blowing a strand of hair across my face, Roberts hand was there before I could reach up to get it, pushing it gently behind my ear, his fingers lingered on my cheek for a moment, I felt myself blush at his warm touch and he smiled, continuing quickly.

  “I can see things down to the minutest detail,” he turned, looking back towards the house again.

  “The timber truck has been,” he added thoughtfully, I squinted back towards the space the stable used to occupy, I sure couldn’t see anything that would indicate there were bundles of timber there now.

  “The stock code on the side of the pallets is GH425.”

  “OKAY, okay…” I said holding up one hand to stop him, his smile grew instantly at my reaction.

  “You can’t seriously see that, that is…well its physically impossible!” I squinted again, nope I definitely couldn’t see any piles of wood. Robert laughed at my attempts to see.

  “Physically impossible for you perhaps,” he chuckled, “but for me, well, I promise you I can read that from here and that’s what it says, I’ll show you when we’re back.”

  “I’ll hold you to that.” I murmured, I was going through my questions again in my head, prioritizing them.

  “How old were you when you realized you were, er, different from other kids?”

  “I’m not sure,” his answer was slow, I watched him carefully, he was concentrating, his gaze focusing on something unseen from his past. A bee buzzed around his arm and he swatted it away absently, still deep in thought.

  “I have always known I guess. I remember realizing that I could move more quickly then everyone around me, I could see further, and hear better, but I also realized that I was different because of this, and I was in foster care, I didn’t want to do anything that may have made a family disown me even more quickly than they normally did. So I would only experiment with my skills when I was completely alone.”

  “That’s really sad.” I said softly, reaching out to touch his hand, he raised his eyes to mine smiling.

  “No it wasn’t too bad, I’m glad I never showed my real self to anyone, I don’t know how that would have gone down. Until now though of course.” His eyes penetrated to my very core, I felt my breath catch. I wonder if he knew how he affected me. If he knew how quickly I was falling for him.

  “My turn,” he announced sitting up, he had caught me at my weakest, I nodded slowly, knowing I could never refuse.

  “Okay.”

  “What made you take Beaut out on your own when you’re so obviously terrified of horses, and more to the point why ride him up here of all places?” The question hit home and I cringed.

  “I’m sorry,” he murmured in my ear, “I should have thought that through before just coming out with it, if you don’t want to tell me that’s okay.”

  “No. I mean, it’s okay.” I sniffed, trying to sound more confident then I felt, “Are my thoughts that obvious?”

  Robert chuckled, “Everything you think shows on your face, you’d make a terrible liar.”

  I had known that already, my mother had told me many times, I swallowed and carried on.

  “Obviously you know my parents passed away and that’s why I’m here…”

  “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” he breathed into my hair.

  I continued though, telling him about my life in Chicago, about my brother and Julia and my other friends and then about the call from the lawyer right before I had decided to ride up here.

  When I finished I felt better, telling Robert everything made me feel as though a weight had been lifted from my shoulders and I felt lighter and in better spirits then I had since arriving.

  “So as you can see,” I finally concluded, “I’m a bit of an emotional freak these days.”

  “I think you’re braver then you give yourself credit for.” He said softly, holding me close, his fingers curling into mine.

  “Soooo,” I turned in his arms until I was facing him again, “let’s not have me bring the mood down with all my problems,” my tears were safely locked away again, for now.

  “By the way you’re a master at changing the subject.” I teased.

  “A guy can only talk about himself for so long before his ego explodes.” he laughed.

  I pulled myself away from him slowly, instantly missing the warmth of his touch,

  “Well what are we going to do?” I asked, stretching luxuriously, the day was ours after all.

  Robert leapt in the air so quickly my heart almost gave out, the movement so swift, he seemed to vanish for a moment before landing on his feet in front of me again and pulling me quickly to my feet.

  “Let’s go for a swim.”

  15.

  The river was just as beautiful as every other time I had been here, although today the water seemed a little clearer, the trees hanging over its banks just a little more majestic. I knew Robert was responsible for making me see everything through rose tinted g
lasses today, his ecstatic mood was definitely rubbing off.

  He had slung me on his back this time, on our race from the top field, talking to me over his shoulder the entire way. I hadn’t made much conversation, it took all my will power not to turn into a quivering mess. I wasn’t sure if I would ever be able to come to terms with traveling like that.

  Lying back on the small sandy bank, stretching out and closing my eyes, I let the sun hit me full on.

  “I love the sun.” I sighed, opening my eyes as a shadow fell across the light. Robert had stripped off his shirt and was standing in only jeans before me. His body was incredible, toned and tanned and absolutely breath taking, the sun made the edges of him glow, my heart began to speed.

  “You coming in?” he tipped his head exquisitely,

  “Or are you going to sit there and bake to a crisp?”

  I looked away for a moment, realizing I had been staring. I felt my checks burn, an all too frequent occurrence these days. Robert chuckled again, which didn’t help my blush recede any faster.

  “I’ll come in.” I jumped up, stripping my top and shorts quickly and making my way to the water as fast as I could, I was a little uncomfortable being so undressed in front of him and I didn’t want to linger any longer then I had to on the edge of the bank. I got to the waters edge and dove under, the temperature was perfect. Breaking the surface and turning back towards the bank Robert was nowhere to be seen, but his clothes were, his jeans in a pile next to his shirt. I blushed yet again, glad he didn’t see it this time, he must only be in his underwear. My butterflies reared up again, twisting violently in my stomach, this was a little scary, I didn’t know how to react in this situation.

  “Where are you now?” I asked with mock irritation.

  I felt his lips skim the back of my neck and across my shoulders, I shivered despite the warmth of the water as his arms came around me.

  “I’m here,” his voice silky smooth in my ear, I turned in his arms, very aware of my body pressing against the length of his. Even in the cool water his skin seemed to burn.