by Erin Danzer
Chapter Sixteen
Ronnie still felt nervous and edgy by the time Shawn pulled up in front of her house. She glanced out the window and was relieved to see that all the shadows had faded back into the night. The moon shone down once again and everything looked so normal, Ronnie fought not to cry. She wondered if Shawn would think she was crazy as he walked her up to her front door. The porch light was on again, but so was the living room light, meaning someone was waiting up for her. Shawn wrapped her into his embrace as they stopped under the porch light.
“Will you call me tomorrow?” he asked. She nodded.
“And will you please tell me what happened tonight,” he requested. She nodded again, unsure of what to say; she was just so scared anything she came up with would make Shawn turn away from her.
“As soon as I can wrap my mind around it, I’ll call you,” she promised brokenly and squeezed her eyes shut as he kissed her forehead. A tear escaped and he wiped it away with his thumb.
“Hey, this doesn’t change anything,” he declared. “I just want to know if I can help you.”
She nodded and looked up at him, biting her lower lip to keep from breaking down. The porch light flashed, meaning it was time for her to go inside, and Ronnie frowned as another tear escaped down her cheek. She had to stop this; her parents would freak out if she came inside crying. She sniffed and wiped her eyes as Shawn cupped her face between his hands. Her breath caught in her throat at the tenderness of his expression. He kissed her until her tears were forgotten and the porch light flashed again. Reluctantly, she stepped back from Shawn.
“I’d better get inside before someone comes out,” she told him. He grinned, his hands falling away from her face.
“Just don’t forget to call. I’d like to take you out again tomorrow night,” he replied.
“Okay, I won’t forget. I had a good time tonight. And I’m sorry for freaking out.”
“I had a good time, too.” He kissed her lips one last time and then walked away into the night. Ronnie watched him until he was in his truck and then waved and opened the door. Her mom stood just inside with her hand poised over the light switch.
“Hi, honey, have a good time?” she asked as she dropped her hand. Thanks to Shawn’s intoxicating kisses, Ronnie was able to smile at her.
“Yeah, Mom, I had a really good time.” She wondered if her lips were swollen from kissing in the park, or on the porch for that matter. Her mom smiled knowingly as Ronnie blushed.
“That’s good, sweetie. I was just going to bed. If you call Andi, please keep it down.”
Ronnie said good night and watched her mom walk down the hall that led to the master suite at the back of the house. Then she decided her mom had a great idea and pulled out her phone as she walked upstairs. She knew Andi would still be up; she promised to call when she got home. She walked into her room and dropped her phone when something moved on her bed. Her eyes widened as the black shadow crossed the room with amazing speed and a human hand covered her mouth to keep her from screaming.
“I’ll let you go if you promise not to scream,” Gavin said in a low voice. She nodded.
“What the hell are you doing here?” she hissed as soon as he took his hand away. “Were you following me?”
He arched an eyebrow. “Yeah, I was following you. I managed to slip by while you were making out on the porch and get passed your mom to get up here before you. Try again, Princess.”
She glared at him, a little unnerved by his close proximity. He may have removed his hand but he hadn’t stepped back. Her heart beat a little faster having him so near. He was close enough to kiss. She closed her eyes as she realized this and wished he would move away. She didn’t even want to know what that thought said about her.
“Problems, Princess?” he asked, a smirk evident in his voice. She opened her eyes and glared at him again.
“Yeah, you,” she growled. “Why are you here?”
He finally stepped back, his trademark smirk in place as he looked her up and down. Ronnie tried not to squirm under his scrutiny. Her heart pounded as something she refused to acknowledge flashed in his eyes. He took another step back and she could breathe again. She stepped into her room enough to close the door behind her and then flipped on the overhead light, blinking in the sudden brightness. When her eyes finally adjusted, she saw that Gavin had reclaimed his place on her bed, sprawled over her pillows in a way that was entirely too inviting. She continued to glare at him.
“You know, I thought you had a good time tonight, Princess,” he commented. “You don’t look very happy.”
“I’m not; I came home and found you here. And you still haven’t told me why you’re here. You can’t just show up out of thin air.” She ran a hand over her hair and started pulling out the bobby pins that held it in place. She needed something to do before she entertained the thought of choking Gavin and throwing him out. He really knew how to ruin an evening. She crossed the room to sit at her vanity table and laid down the pins in her hand. She knew Andi had used close to two dozen; this was going to take a while.
“Consider me your guardian angel; I just wanted to make sure you got home all right,” he finally told her as he sat up, swinging his feet onto the floor.
“Well, I’m home safe and sound so you can leave.” She pulled another pin out of her hair and felt a few strands pull out with it. She winced as she set it down.
“Here, let me do that before you rip out half your hair.” Gavin scooted off the bed and stood behind her. She lowered her arms and sat still while he took down her hair, thinking it was the weirdest thing in the world to have happen. The pins dropped onto the table in front of her in rapid succession and before she knew it, her curls were down around her shoulders. Gavin sat on the end of the bed as she turned around.
“How do you know how to do all this stuff? You know as much about hair as I do,” she told him. He shrugged.
“I told you before; I was raised by my sisters and mom. I learned what needed to be done,” he explained. “It’s no different than learning to muck out stalls or use a sword; it’s just something I had to do.”
“You can use a sword?” Her eyes widened as she looked at him and part of the dream from the beginning of the week flashed in her mind. She remembered Gavin using a sword in that shadowy world to defeat whatever came after them… and she had used a sword, too. He nodded. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, completely defeating her glare.
“I could totally see that,” she admitted. He grinned.
“Yeah, I know.” He stood up and moved to the door. He bent down, retrieved her phone and crossed back to hand it to her. “Text Andi to let her know you’re home but you’re tired and you’ll talk to her tomorrow. I’ll be right back.”
She took her phone and was about to ask where he was going when he opened the door and slipped out, flipping off the light as he left. She frowned after him, thinking how weird he was, but then shrugged and did as he said. Andi immediately texted back saying she couldn’t wait to hear all the details. Ronnie shivered as she remembered that some of the details hadn’t been all that great. The shadows still freaked her out. She closed her door again and prayed Gavin had the decency to knock before entering as she quickly changed into her pajamas. She pulled on a hot pink camisole over her head as a soft knock sounded on the door. She crossed the room to let Gavin back in. He looked her up and down, admiring her Hello Kitty pajama bottoms and camisole, and grinned.
“Nice,” he teased. She rolled her eyes.
“My house secure?” she asked as she turned away. She needed to brush her hair before she went to bed or her hair would resemble a rat’s nest in the morning.
“Yep, nice and quiet,” Gavin replied as he closed the door behind him and sat on the edge of her bed again. She turned with her brush in her hand.
“So why are you still here?”
“Why, do I make you nervous, Princess?”
Ronnie rolled her eyes and sat down at her
vanity table to brush her hair. She didn’t need to answer that. He chuckled and she blushed, hoping he couldn’t see it in the dark. She turned to look at him and realized her room was a lot darker than it had been a minute ago.
“Don’t move,” Gavin instructed as she gasped. She froze. Her heart pounded and she started trembling again as the shadows closed in around them. She couldn’t see what Gavin was doing but she heard him move off the end of her bed. He muttered some words too low to understand and a bright flash of light illuminated her room long enough for her to see Gavin standing a few feet away from her, his arms raised with something silvery glinting in his hands. He slashed down across the air between them. An unearthly scream rang out and Ronnie cowered against her vanity. Gavin swore and slashed again, another shot of light blinding Ronnie. Fear froze her, rendering her unable to look away from the light and whatever Gavin attacked. A sharp pain shot down her bare arm and she cried out, looking up to see a black tentacle retract into the corner of the room. Something dark trickled from a long gash on her arm and she covered it with her opposite hand, applying pressure as tears stung her eyes. Gavin moved to the corner and slashed an ‘X’ into the air there. Another unnatural scream sounded and then all was quiet.
Gavin crossed the room back to Ronnie, turning on her bedside lamp. He slipped whatever he held into his cargo pocket and then took her arm into his hands to examine the damage done. She stared at him with wide eyes, unable to believe what just happened. What had just happened? He sighed and looked at her, his dark eyes assessing as she trembled in front of him.
“This is going to hurt for a moment,” he said warily and placed his hand over her wound. A hot stinging sensation shot up and down her arm. Ronnie gasped. When he removed his hand, the wound was healed.
“What did you do?” she whispered in awe.
“You wouldn’t have healed that on your own,” he replied. “Most shadow tentacles are poisonous.”
She blinked and shook her head, the beginnings of shock washing over her. The trembling turned to shaking and her heart pounded as she tried to understand what he was talking about. Nothing made sense; the shadows, Gavin fighting them, Gavin healing her. It was all too much to take in. She stood up from her place at the vanity and stumbled onto her bed, keeping as much distance between her and Gavin as possible.
“Trust me, I’m not the one you want to be afraid of,” he told her as she scooted to the top of her bed. She hugged her knees to her chest and stared at him with wide eyes. Her breaths came shallow and too fast. She knew she needed to calm down, but she didn’t know how. Calming down required her to accept everything that happened in the last five minutes, something she wasn’t sure she could do. She shook her head as he sat on the edge of her bed.
“You need to sleep,” he said calmly. “I can make sure you don’t have any dreams, but in the morning, you need to call me and we need to talk. Can you do that?”
She tried to understand his words, thought she did and nodded. Her mind was so boggled she had a hard time comprehending anything. She hugged herself tighter as he stood up and moved to stand over her, fear of him coursing through her.
“I have to touch you to let you sleep. Just like I healed you, it will only take a moment,” he told her patiently. He slowly reached out to touch her, giving her plenty of time to move away, but she didn’t and his hand landed on her shoulder above her wound.
“Sleep now, Veronica,” he said. “Sleep dreamlessly this night. Awake refreshed and free of fear.”
Drowsiness overcame her as he softly spoke and her eyelids became heavy almost immediately. Ronnie relaxed and allowed Gavin to help tuck her into bed. He pulled the blankets up to her chin as sleep overtook her. She thought she felt him kiss her forehead but she couldn’t be sure. A sigh escaped as she heard the click of her bedroom door closing. Then she fell into the oblivion of sleep.