Professor Perry looked up, surprised. “I am well, thank you for asking.”
“Is there anything else you need from me?”
“No, that is it. Have a good evening. Let me know if anything changes. Oh, and I forgot this morning to give you this.” He pulled a card from his pocket and handed it to me. “My cell number is on the back. I’m available twenty-four-seven. Call me if you need anything or are having any problems with the medication.”
“Okay then. Have a good night.” I turned and walked away in confusion. I have his cell phone number now? What does this mean?
Come to think of it, I already had his cell phone number. My mother gave it to me when I went home after the hospital. I wondered if she’d found out I’d switched doctors.
Traian stood by a tree near the street when I went outside. He took my hand and stayed with me right until I reached the entrance of my building.
“Want to come in?” I stopped and turned to him.
“As much as I would love to, I need to get work done tonight. I will be here in the morning.” He let go of my hand for a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Sleep well, my love.”
I nodded, forcing a smile.
Sometime in the course of the previous four hours, I had realized that I never wanted him to not be a part of my life.
“See you tomorrow,” I said and went inside the building.
As I reached for the door handle to my apartment, an arc of light hit the metal and exploded into hundreds of tiny, white sparks.
Chapter 19
I shook my hand. All my skin buzzed from the energy release.
“Jesus Christ,” I said through gritted teeth.
That should have been enough electricity to stop my heart, but the faulty ticker in my chest continued to thump away like nothing had happened. Was that the reiki energy Perry mentioned this morning?
The door opened, and my mother stood inside my apartment. “That is not how I taught you to speak.”
I drew my attention to her hand on the doorknob. “How are you not being electrocuted?”
“Huh?” She blinked.
I pointed to her hand. “I just had the Holy Ghost shocked out of me when I tried to open my door.”
“Everly, your language,” Mom hissed.
Storm appeared at my mom’s feet and jumped out to me.
“Whatever.” The buzzing feeling zinging through my body had subsided. “Hey, baby.” I picked her up, rolled my shoulders and walked past Mom into my apartment.
I’d been so wrapped up with Traian, I’d forgotten to check my phone and hadn’t noticed her car parked in front of the building.
God dammit, why haven’t I changed the locks?
“Where have you been?” Mom closed the door behind me and followed me into the kitchen. “I’ve called, texted. Your sister called and texted. But no answer.”
“I went out and then I went to class.” I shrugged and hung my purse on the hook by the door.
“You went out?” Mom had her hands in fists, resting on her hips. “What about your new little pet? You’re already abandoning it while you go do heaven-knows-what around town.”
As calmly as I could, I turned to her and looked her directly in the eyes. “Mom, I live here. This is my home. I can come and go as I choose. I’m an adult. And Storm is just fine.”
“Pft, nineteen is hardly adulthood.”
Storm hissed at Mom, but Mom ignored her.
“You had Stella at nineteen,” I pointed out.
“Yes, and I had to grow up quickly. But that doesn’t mean you need to.” Mom grabbed my arm and pulled me into the kitchen. “Now come on, I brought Chinese takeout.”
This time, Storm growled at her. Mom let go of my arm and sneezed.
“I already ate, but thanks.”
Mom put the small white boxes in the fridge. “You can eat them tomorrow. Now get to bed so I can go home.”
“Mom, I don’t want you coming in here and bossing me around like this. No more.” I shook my head. “This ends tonight.”
She frowned and pulled a tissue out of her purse where it sat on the kitchen bar. “I’m not having this discussion with you. You need me, and you desperately need help. You cannot take care of yourself.”
“Mom, I can take of myself. Look at these plants.” I waved at the jungle that was my apartment. “I work, I pay my bills, and I even passed my midterms in school, even though, I was in the hospital for a week.”
“You wouldn’t have been in the hospital had you waited for me to take you to your appointment.” Mom blew into her the tissue.
I sighed. This is pointless. “I’m going to go take a shower. Make sure you are gone by the time I come out.”
“Why, you ungrateful little brat!”
I walked into the bathroom with Storm and slammed the door, locking it behind us. Next, I turned the shower on so I wouldn’t have to listen to her ranting on the other side of the wall. A few moments later, I heard my front door slam shut. I breathed a sigh of relief and finished washing up. Storm curled up on the bath rug.
When I came out into the living room, I grabbed my phone and texted Mindy.
I went on a date today.
Thirty seconds later, Mindy was calling my phone.
“Tell me everything!”
I sat down on the futon, wrapped in my fuzzy, green bathrobe, with Storm snuggled into my lap. “Well, where shall I begin?”
“Where did you meet him?” Mindy asked.
“Funny thing….” I laughed and made up a lie. “We met at school in the library. Pretty romantic, eh?”
That was partly true. She didn’t need to know he had been stalking me. I told her mostly everything, leaving out the parts that would have made her worry.
“When can I meet him?”
I hadn’t thought of that… Traian would need to eventually meet my family and friends.
“Soon,” I answered vaguely.
We chatted about work and a few other things before hanging up. A knock came at the door the moment I ended the call.
Who could possibly be at my door? Mom and Stella had keys to my apartment and usually just let themselves in unannounced. My neighbors kept to themselves.
Storm raced over to the door and mewed excitedly as I padded over. I peeked through the peephole, and my heart nearly stopped. I couldn’t open the door fast enough.
“You came back. What changed your mind?” I threw my arms around Traian.
“A man was leaving as I approached the entrance.” He wrapped his arms around me.
Storm head-butted him and disappeared into the living room. I pulled him inside and locked the door behind me.
Traian’s hands cradled my face. My breath caught in my throat.
“I had to come back. May I stay with you tonight? I promise I won’t do anything disrespectful.”
I couldn’t speak, so I nodded.
“May I kiss you?”
Oh, dear lord, please do!
I made the move, shutting my eyes and closing the space between our mouths without another thought. Maybe it wasn’t lady-like of me to initiate the kiss, but who the hell cared? Well, maybe my poor heart. But if it were to go out now, what better way than this?
Traian pressed me against the back of the front door. His cool lips moved slightly against mine. “Breathe,” he whispered against them.
Oh yeah, that might be a good idea.
I drew a breath through my parted lips, and his taste filled my mouth. Tangy with a pinch of salt and pepper.
Lord, have mercy.
My hands resting against his chest tingled as my whole body vibrated. I didn’t know I had wanted him so much until that moment. Right then, I didn’t care about my ailing health or anything else. All I wanted was to be with him in every way humanly possible.
One of his hands trailed down my neck to my collarbone. I felt his thumb brush the top of my scar, and I froze. My eyes flew open.
Chapter 20
“Don’t.” I
squawked.
Traian lifted his head to study my eyes. I could feel my cheeks burning. Dammit. Why did my insecurities have to get in the way?
Without saying a word, his gaze lowered to the top of my chest. In slow motion, he unfastened the bathrobe until it covered only my breasts, revealing the entire length of the scar that started at the top of my sternum and went to my bellybutton.
Thank goodness I put underwear on.
Traian lowered his head to my chest until I felt his cool lips caressing the mangled strip of skin right below where my grandmother’s cross hung. His hands came to my hips, holding the sides of my robe in place, as his mouth traced every inch of the scar I had lived with most of my life. Heat built at the base of my spine and trickled through my entire body. The shame I had felt a moment ago morphed into raging desire.
I braced my hands against the wall at my back. I couldn’t believe this was happening—how could a person make me feel so alive and make the thing I had been ashamed of most of my life feel sexy?
Traian stopped at my belly. By this point, he was kneeling before me. He kissed my belly button and then met my gaze.
“You are so beautiful, Everly.” His words on my abdomen sent sparks of energy through my body. My palms burned and buzzed. “I promised I wouldn’t do anything disrespectful, my love.” He closed the sides of the robe and tied the belt into a tight knot.
“I don’t care.” I found my voice. “You can have me.”
He rested his forehead on my abdomen before standing up. “Not like this, my love. There are a few things I must do before we continue this relationship.”
“What do you need to do?” Relationship? My heart bounced as it raced.
“It’s more complicated, but I promise when I return from my trip, I will tell you everything. I want us to be together, if that is what you want.”
“I do want that.”
“Good.” He kissed my forehead. “You must rest now.”
I slammed my blazing palm against his chest. “Hang on a second. You can’t just get me all excited and then tell me I need to...”
His mouth was over mine before I could finish my sentence. Words, thoughts, insecurities, and all logic flew out the proverbial window as one of his arms swept under my knees and the other around my waist without breaking contact with our lips.
Traian carried me up to the dim-lit loft bedroom and laid me on my bed before breaking away. “I care more about you than I do about my desire to have my way with you right now.”
“What if this is what I want?”
He laid down next to me, his arm still under my upper back. “You need rest. You’ve had a long day. Now is not the right time.”
“Ugh,” I grumbled. “This is torture. You’re not very nice.” I sounded like a whiny child. That’s when I noticed that the fire and tingling in my hands had left.
“It’s torture for me, too,” he whispered into my ear before gathering me into his arms.
I rested my head on his chest and sighed. At least he is in my bed. Traian wrapped his other arm around my body. The leather of his coat felt soft, which surprised me.
He hummed a soft tune, and soon, my eyes closed.
That night, I dreamed Traian had sprung wings from his back and wrapped them around my body like a protective cocoon. It didn’t feel weird, either. It was like I’d known he had wings. Eventually I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep—the deepest I’d experienced without medication.
The next morning, I woke up in my bed alone, tucked under the covers and still in my robe. I sat straight up. Storm lay curled at my feet on the soft chenille blanket I kept there. She lifted her head for a moment, winked at me, and then rested her head back. That’s when I smelled the aroma of bacon and potatoes. I tossed back my blankets and padded over to the railing.
Traian stood in my kitchen, working the two skillets I have in my house. One had bacon, the other had hash browns. On the far-left back burner, the teapot whistled merrily.
Can this guy get any more amazing?
Traian wore jeans under a long, black, tunic-like shirt—the first time I’d seen him without his coat. Oh my. His denim pants showed off his fine posterior. I wondered where his wings went and shook that thought away. Must have been a dream.
He tilted his head back and caught me ogling him. “Good morning, gorgeous.”
“Morning.” I felt silly standing there still in my fuzzy robe. “Wow, way to change up the wardrobe.” I giggled and turned to head downstairs.
He smiled when I reached the kitchen. “I have a little adventure planned for you this morning, but first, breakfast.”
“Great.” I grinned back. “I didn’t know you cooked.”
“Not enough.” Traian pulled me to him and kissed me. “I hope you slept well,” he said as he turned back to the stove.
“Good.” I got out plates, cups, and silverware. “Had some weird dreams.”
“About what?” He flipped the bacon.
“Well, there’s one with you and me in this moonlit meadow… I’ve had that one almost every night since I first saw you.” I regretted saying the last part out loud. “Sorry, that was kind of weird.”
Traian took one plate from me and transferred some bacon and hash browns onto it. “Do we talk in this dream of yours?”
“Yes, but it changes each night.”
As he took another plate, I heard the locks turn on my front door.
Mom.
I set the rest of the plates down on the counter and turned to Traian.
“You have to hide. My mother cannot know I have a guy in my apartment.” I pressed him away from the stove, toward the storage closet in the corner. I quickly opened the door and pushed him inside. “I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.” And I shut the door.
“What in the world?” Mom came around the other corner into the kitchen. “Since when do you cook?”
“Oh! Um, since I live by myself.” I moved to the stove and turned off the burners, pretending like I knew what I was doing. “Haven’t you heard of knocking first?”
“Please, like you have anything to hide from me, except this horrible cat.” Mom motioned up to Storm, who peered down from the loft and hissed at her. “It’s too wild. You must find a new home for it.”
“She is here to stay. But why are you here?”
“Can’t a mother check on her child?” She grabbed a piece of bacon and nibbled on one end. “Hang on, there are two settings? Are you expecting someone, or did you go through all of this for me?”
The nerve. I bit down a plethora of choice words. “I’m expecting a friend.”
“How is it that you go through all of this trouble for a friend, but make no effort for your sister or mother?”
I wanted to slap her. Instead, I gripped the spatula handle with all my might. “Please leave.” I would have a lot to explain to Traian when I finally got my mom out the door.
“Everly Grace Greene.”
“I can’t deal with this anymore, Mom.” I shook my head. “I moved here to spread my wings and learn to be more independent, but I can’t do that if you are here every day.”
Guilt flooded my entire being when I saw tears welling in her eyes. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings or sound ungrateful. She’d done so much for me. Does she know I’ve changed physicians yet? It didn’t matter right now.
“I see.” She sniffled and fussed with her handbag. “Since you no longer have time for your mother, I will leave.”
Gut-punch, mom style. My mother had mastered that skill long before I moved out. She came around to the other side of the counter, peering into the living room.
“What’s this?” She walked over to the coffee table and picked up the paper with the rubbing of the symbol.
“Oh, just something interesting I found.” I sighed in relief when I realized she hadn’t noticed the black leather trench coat draped over my futon.
“Where?”
“On a stone. Why?” I didn’t want to tell her e
xactly where.
When Mom met my gaze, her were eyes wide, like all the times I’d ended up in the ER and she didn’t know what was happening.
“Honey, this is the symbol of witchcraft my mother had gotten into before she died. This is satanic.”
“Grandma was a witch?” Mom had mentioned Grandma had been involved in devil worship.
“Yes. That’s why I don‘t want you involved.”
“It’s not satanic, Mom. It’s a cross. That’s Christian. You know that.” I set down the spatula and walked over, plucking the paper from her hand.
She grabbed my wrist. “I’m serious. I don’t talk much about my mother, because the last few years of her life, she totally lost her faith in God and went down an evil path. And she died because of it.”
I didn’t know what to say. I just stared at her incredulously for a moment. “Mom, she wasn’t evil. She gave me this cross, remember?” I pulled back the robe enough for her she to see the necklace.
She released my wrist to reach out and touch the silver pendant. “I wondered if this was the same one from her. I saw it in your belongings bag at the hospital.”
I stepped back I had someone in my broom closet. Poor Traian.
“I need to get dressed before my friend arrives.”
“Very well. Come home Saturday for lunch. Please.”
I hadn’t been home since my hospitalization, and I wasn’t in the mood to go back, but if it would make her leave, I’d agree to just about anything.
“Sure.”
Mom stepped forward and kissed my cheek. “I’ll see you Saturday. Love you.”
“Love you too.” I escorted her to the door. “Say hi to Stella.”
“You should spend more time with your sister, you know.”
“I had lunch with her the other day.”
“It’s not enough.”
“Okay. Bye, Mom.” I closed the door and turned the locks. I leaned my back on the door, hoping she didn’t decide she had more to say.
Traian.
I ran around to the storage closet on the other side of the kitchen and flung open the door. Traian stood there, leaning against the side wall.
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