by A R Hall
“I told you so.” He didn’t even look at her. “I don’t know why you pushed him away. I told you last night to go after him. I told you this morning, too.”
“I said I don’t want to hear it.” She huffed as she sat down next to him.
“I’m going to give big brother advice whether you want to hear it or not.” He picked at the label on the water bottle. “Maybe you don’t remember but human lives are short. We’re only still here because of the curse. You may think you have unlimited time to grow up but you don’t. The Gods just offered you something that the rest of us have been waiting for and you said no. You can’t expect the guy to wait around. Not when you haven’t given him the option to.”
She didn’t say anything. He was right, and she knew it. “What’s wrong with me?” She waited for him to turn and face him. “Why am I screwing this up so royally?”
“He’s not like the others.”
“But how do you know?”
“He was chosen for you. Astrid, you’re an amazing girl. But give the guy a break. He hasn’t done anything wrong. He’s not like the others.”
Astrid had built the walls up a long time ago, and she wasn’t sure how to take them down. How do you give someone a chance when all you know is heartbreak? Being vulnerable wasn’t something she was good at. History taught her that allowing herself to be open like that often ends in death or heartbreak, sometimes both.
“Flynn. Astrid.” Kristopher walked up to them from behind the bar and placed a bottle of water in front of Astrid.
“What’s it like not having to return to the lake?” Flynn joked. “Seriously, though. I’m happy for you. I can only hope I don’t have long left in there either.”
Flynn and Kristopher continued to chat, but it didn’t reach Astrid’s ears. She was too focused on that door she watched Latham walk out moments earlier with that girl. She couldn’t blame him. She pushed him away.
Astrid reached her hand up to her lips. The memory of his kiss from yesterday lingered. Looking around the club she realized this was definitely not where she wanted or needed to be. A big part of her wanted to chase after him. And say what? She made a mistake? Her head and heart were still in disagreement. She wanted to believe she wasn’t the same, naive, little girl that first took that journey that resulted in the curse.
She knew that by seeing her mark it was the Gods way of saying he was the one. Her true love. Her soul mate. Yet it was so hard for her to think the time had finally come. Her time. He seemed to want her yesterday but what if he changed his mind? What if he still wanted her but changed his mind a year from now?
The thought of the curse breaking only to have her heart break again held her back.
“Earth to Astrid.” Flynn interrupted her thoughts. She turned to face him. “You’ll never know until you try.”
“How?” She shook her head.
“Sleep on it if you must. You know what tomorrow is, though.”
She couldn’t forget. The clock was ticking. Tomorrow she’d have to return to the lake.
* * *
Astrid didn’t know when the switch flipped. She hadn’t been able to sleep and ended up at the gym hoping to see him. It was her last day of the month, and she felt defeated. Part of her didn’t want to return if she had to go back to the lake. There was no point in being here if her mate didn’t want her.
She sat against the wall outside of the gym building. She’d hoped that at some point he’d show up since it was his place of business. A few people had held the door open for her thinking she had just locked herself out, but she shook her head. She couldn’t go in yet.
Finally, she spotted the old pick-up pull into the parking lot, and he stepped out. He wore the same clothing he wore the night before. He’d spent the night with that girl. It was all her fault, and she felt her heart shatter. It broke her.
“Astrid.” Latham rushed towards her, barely closing his truck door behind him.
She stood up and shook her head. “Never mind.” She turned away to leave.
He pulled her back towards him and she raised her hand, her damn reflexes. He was faster though. He grabbed it and brought her hands to her side and held her. She screamed, and he did nothing to stop it.
Her emotions were all over the place, and she didn’t know how to react or what to say. She felt like that naive girl that left her homeland all those years ago. It was as if she’d learned nothing and hadn’t aged in maturity.
“Why? How could you be with someone else after seeing me? All of me!” She jerked her hands from his grasp and hit his chest in frustration.
He let her.
“It hurts,” she cried out as she continued to hit at his chest.
He let her.
“I don’t want to hurt anymore.” Her hands finally stopped and rested against his hard chest. She didn’t want to cry, but he was supposed to be hers.
Latham was supposed to be her soul mate. Her true love. Her cursebreaker. Astrid’s only conclusion was that the Gods had made a cruel mistake. She’d never have her curse broken. She was doomed to spend the rest of her life in that lake.
“Are you done?” He looked down at her.
“You left with that girl last night. You spent the night with her.” She looked up at him with tear-filled eyes.
“Nothing happened.” He leaned down slightly, his forehead resting against hers. “It was stupid. So stupid.”
“What?”
“It was supposed to make you jealous to see me dance with someone else. I sat outside the club for a long time expecting and hoping to see you run out of there looking for me. It was stupid on my part. Selfish. Childish.” He ran his hands down her arms. “I never want to hurt you. I want to be with you.”
She shook her head. It made no sense. “A ruse?” Her brows furrowed. She understood the concept but didn’t like it one bit. “How do I know you’re telling the truth? How do I know?”
He brought her hand to his chest where his heart beat fast. “This is yours.” She was delicate, and he knew he needed to be gentle with her. He’d seen the life she had lived and the heartbreak that came with it. Others had broken her heart, and he had something to prove. He wanted to prove to her that he was different.
Chapter 7
Latham didn’t know how he managed to convince Astrid into a date, but it gave him hope. This was the chance to tell her about himself. He could tell she was struggling, and he didn’t blame her. She’d been put through the ringer and if opening himself up to her and showing her more of him helped, then he didn’t have another choice.
He held the door open for her as they made their way into Burgers AF and up to the counter to order. Latham always ordered the same thing there: a Double Dude and extra order of fries. Astrid asked for the same, and they walked to a corner booth away from everyone else.
They sat in silence for a few minutes waiting for their order. Not that the food made much of a difference. Astrid picked at her fries and eyed him curiously when they got their order. He didn’t realize how bad of a plan it had been to try and make her jealous.
Latham also wasn’t the best with words and didn’t know how to talk through these things. “I want you to know that I didn’t mean to hurt you like that. It wasn’t the best choice I made last night, and that’s all on me.” He meant every word. “This is new for both of us, and I don’t want to mess this up.”
Astrid took a few bites of her burger and continued to listen. She didn’t know what to say. She was nervous of how badly things could end, how quickly things could go south. He was different; she felt it deep in her core. It didn’t change the fact that she was scared of things going badly like before. If being alive for a thousand years taught her anything, it was that history often repeated itself. That was what scared her the most. She couldn’t handle the inevitable heartbreak.
“Growing up my father told me stories. Stories of his childhood, the curse, and living in the lake. He had a way of making those stories play vividly in my
mind. I didn’t realize at the time how much he had lived before meeting my mom. At the same time, though, he hadn’t lived. He had been stuck in the lake.” Latham knew it was truly a curse. He knew they had lived to see it all but didn’t truly experience life, watching loved ones leave this world behind.
“It hasn’t been easy. That’s why I’ve always slept for longer periods of time. After my best friend found her soul-mate and left, I couldn’t watch anymore. I was happy for her, of course, but I couldn’t keep watching the look of defeat on the others’ faces when they returned to the lake month after month and year after year.”
Latham knew this was going to be difficult but he hadn’t realized by how much. The rest of the date continued in a mix of awkward silence and pointless small talk. He asked her to go for a short drive near the lake and she nodded. There was something he wanted to show her and he hoped it would make things easier. Maybe she would begin to understand or it’d be easier for him to find the words to open up to her. He needed to make himself vulnerable for her.
There was a spot at the top of a hill that had a beautiful view of part of the lake and the falls. It was on the property line of where some cabins for those still in the lake ended and a small few acres of land his parents owned began. It was a place he always felt comfortable at, as if he were in two places in one.
“It’s a beautiful view.” Astrid got out of the truck and walked to the end of it where Latham had put down the bed of it for them to sit. “Why are you showing me this, Latham?” Her blue-green eyes looked up at him through long lashes.
He sat down next to her and pointed towards some trees. “Those trees mark the property line.” He pointed to the other side where a fence started. “This is where the land that part of the cabins are on ends and my parents’ land starts. I like coming here because the view is nice, but it also feels like I’m in two places at once, sitting on both pieces of property. My father lived a life before my mother, and it was so long ago that I don’t feel like I fully belong here, in this time. It’s like, part of me is meant to live a long time ago, another time and place. My mom’s not from that time, though. It’s why I like this divided area. Part of it has remnants of the past and part of it is in the present.”
“That makes sense. Similar to how we feel in the lake, being both of the past and present. What made you decide to open a gym?” Astrid turned to face him, criss-crossing her legs.
“It was my father’s idea. Something we could do together since I wasn’t around. I’ve spent every year since school in the military. He thought it’d be a good idea to also have something to do when that was over.”
“The military?”
Latham turned to face her, leaving one leg dangling off the tailgate. “I wanted to get as far from here as possible. I saw what the lake did to people. I wanted away from it and up in the sky.” He pointed towards the clouds. She raised an eyebrow. “I joined the Air Force and worked hard. I didn’t stop until I could be in the sky more than the ground. I guess you could say it was my way of running from things and not having to face them.”
Astrid had never thought of that, being able to fly. She knew people today did that all the time, for fun. “I prefer my feet planted firmly on the ground.” She laughed and looked up at the darkening sky.
The sun had already started to set, leaving streaks of orange, purple, and pink in the sky amongst the clouds. The call of the lake had started and if Astrid put it off too much longer it would cause physical pain.
“It’s almost time, isn’t it?” Latham looked back at the lake. He could see her nod from his peripheral. “Will you come back next month?” He didn’t want to wait another ten years to see her. He wanted to break the curse now so he’d have more time with her but her walls were still up.
She bit down on the edge of her bottom lip and looked away. Astrid hadn’t made a decision yet. She thought she’d have time to think things over in the water, to talk herself in or out of what could happen.
Latham reached over, his hand softly lifting her chin and turning her to face him. She parted her lips, unsure of what to say, if anything. He wanted to kiss her and hoped it would be something that lingered. He wanted her to not be able to stop thinking about it over the next month, and come out of the lake with the next full moon.
“Latham,” his name came as a whisper across her lips before he leaned in and closed the space between them.
His lips met hers, soft at first. Astrid lost all thought as she melted into his kiss. One of his hands slid to the back of her neck, holding her in place as he kissed her. The other trailed down her arm, leaving goosebumps in its wake. He leaned them back on the tailgate, her head resting in the crook of his arm as he continued to kiss her.
He kissed across her jawline, down her neck, then across her collarbone. He kissed and nibbled his way back to her lips. She moaned with anticipation and he smiled against her lips.
“Say the word and I’m yours.” He pulled back just enough to look into her blue-green eyes that reminded him of the ocean.
She smiled at first but her expression turned to pain.
“What’s wrong?” He looked over her.
“I have to get back to the lake.”
“Okay.” He nodded.
“Now!” She closed her eyes, her face scrunching up. “Help me.”
Latham jumped up, pulled her with him and into the cab of the truck. “Talk to me.” The engine roared to life, and he sped off towards the lake. They were less than half a mile from the lake but the trip felt longer. He could see the pain on her face and it made him hurt. “We’re here.” He attempts to help her to the lake.
“Stop.” She held up her hand for him to keep his distance.
“Will you come back next month?” He wanted to say more but didn’t know how to put it into words.
She ignored him as she took careful steps across the pebbles. Leaving her dress behind on the ground she headed to the water. She looked back over her shoulder. “I don’t know.” A few more steps and she was in the water, swimming away from the shore.
Latham immediately realized his mistake. He should’ve begged her to come out next month. He knew she’d no doubt swam to the deep, and he didn’t know when he’d get the chance to see her again. Ten years would feel like an eternity.
Chapter 8
Latham kept to himself over the next few days. There were a few vets he had to train at the start of the week, and then his schedule was clear until after the holiday weekend. Thanksgiving was a day away, and the gym was slow since most members were spending time with their families. He was thankful for it being less crowded so he didn’t have to stay around. He didn’t even crash on the couch in his office at the gym like usual.
He stayed at his house for the first time in a while but kept to his room. The older house had once belonged to his parents, but they chose to sell it so they could travel. Latham appreciated the old bones of it and decided it needed to stay in the family. He bought if from them and remodeled it himself.
It wasn’t a small house. The two-story Victorian home had five bedrooms and three bathrooms. It was meant for a family but he had never thought that was in the cards for him. Not until Astrid. He was always in his head too much to think he would be a good fit for anyone.
Now, Latham wondered what Astrid would think of his home. He wanted her to like it. He wanted her to live there with him. He hadn’t known her long but it was as if he’d known her all his life.
The house was still a little bare, and half the bedrooms were empty. She could help turn it into something for the both of them. Maybe that was why it was unfinished. He needed his other half. She was needed to truly turn it into a home.
His parents were supposed to be back in town at some point that day since Thanksgiving was the next. The thought had him rushing around picking up a few odd things and dusting. It also made him realize he had yet to pick up the turkey.
There went the rest of his afternoon. Thankfully, their local gr
ocery store had planned for a few last minute turkey purchases and he managed to get the perfect one. Tomorrow was going to be a special day and not just because of the holiday time with his parents.
He invited Ivar and Makenna over for Thanksgiving. It would be the most family he’d ever really been around. He only wished Astrid would be there too. It had been years since his father and uncle had seen each other. His father never talked about it and he didn’t push the matter.
Latham was so in his thoughts he didn’t hear the front door open and close.
“Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” an older voice spoke softly from behind him.
He didn’t need to turn around to know it was his mother. “Mom.” He finally turned and walked to her to give her a hug. She held onto him for a solid minute before letting him go. He turned to face his father and held out his hand. “Sir.”
“Latham.” His father shook his hand. “It’s looking nice in here.”
“Thank you.” Latham had put a lot of work into the house since the last time they were home. “Let me take you to the guest room.” He grabbed his mother’s suitcase from the floor next to her and led them to the guest room at the top of the stairs.
The guest room was quaint and nautically themed, from its blue bedspread to the large longboat painting that hung on the wall. This was the room decorated especially for his parents with his father in mind. It was also the only room in the house completely finished. A bookshelf at the corner of the room held some of his mother’s favorite books and family pictures.
“It’s beautiful.” His mother beamed behind him.
He left his parents to unpack and unwind and excused himself to his workshop out back. He didn’t spend a lot of time out there, but Latham also didn’t spend time at his home like he did his gym. The last time the workshop doors had been opened was a month ago. Inside, sat unfinished furniture. Most of it was built and only needed sanding and staining or paint.