Blessed (Book 2, The Watchers Trilogy; Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (16 page)

I stopped listening to everyone else talk and became lost in my own thoughts.

Did I really only have a little over two months to live? I couldn’t see any other explanation for the way Faust had told me about my fate. He acted and sounded like someone who was handing down a death sentence.

I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want to have my life end just when it was beginning. It never occurred to me I would have so little time left. I suppose all of the narrow escapes I’d had over the years should have clued me in to the fact that I might have a shorter lifespan than a normal person, but when you’re eighteen, death seems so far away. Even though I
could
have died in any number of accidents during the past few years, planned or not, I never really thought I could.

I had already cheated death so many times. I suppose I felt a false sense of invincibility. The closest I had come to actually dying was when I was with Justin, and even then, I found a way to escape a certain death sentence. It was that experience which showed me how short life can be. The information Faust just gave us made me realize my life could be shorter than I ever thought possible.

“Are you all right?”

I looked at Brand sitting beside me and shook my head slowly. I wasn’t going to sit there and lie to him. I was most definitely not all right.

Brand stood and took my hand, making me stand beside him.

“If you will all excuse us, Lilly and I need to talk privately.”

It wasn’t really a request, and Brand didn’t feel any need to wait for them to give us their permission to leave. He phased us to the lakeshore at the back of his house. The sun was just setting in the background. Any other day, I would have thought it romantic, but today I couldn’t shake the doomed feeling I had that it might be the last sunset I ever saw.

“Lilly,” Brand put his hand underneath my chin, making me look into his eyes. I could tell he was worried, but I also knew he understood what I was going through and wanted to help me in some way. He didn’t want me to give up.

“Don’t lose hope,” he begged. “You have to believe we’ll find a way to have the life we want together.”

“The more we learn, the harder it is for me to keep hoping everything will work out,” I admitted, not intending to hold anything back from him, not now. Not when I might not have a lot of time left to share all of me with him. “You heard him. Whether or not whoever is trying to kill me succeeds doesn’t really matter. Whatever Lucifer has planned for me isn’t going to be any better.”

“Neither of them is going to win.” The fierce determination on Brand’s face made me want to hope.

“How can you be so sure?” I whispered.

“Because I stand by what I’ve always told you. I refuse to believe we met by chance. We were meant to find one another, and I was meant to help you. There’s no other explanation for me. I have to have faith that together we can make things right, but I need you to trust me and believe in us and what we have together. If you don’t trust in us, we might fail.”

“I trust you,” I said.

“Are you willing to prove that?”

“Do you really need me to prove it to you?”

“No, but I think you need to prove it to yourself,” he said gently. “To erase your doubts. I get the feeling you’re still not completely sure you believe what I just said, even though you want to.”

“How am I supposed to prove it?”

Brand held my hand tighter and pulled me after him toward his boat moored to the dock a few yards away.

“What are we doing?” I asked, not completely understanding what his intentions were.

“It might be easier if you didn’t think about it too much,” he said. “Just trust me.”

Brand settled me in the seat beside the wheel of his sailboat before untying the rope that held it secured to the platform. He jumped into the boat and started the engines. Before I knew it, we were heading toward the middle of the lake. I tried to steady my nerves by keeping my eyes and attention focused on my hands in my lap.

What was he thinking? He knew I hated the water. Ever since almost drowning in the lake back home when I was eight, I had avoided any activity that would put me too close to deep water. Lake Serenity wasn’t a large lake, probably only a mile long and half again as wide, but it was big enough to make the muscles of my stomach knot into a tense ball and make me feel like I couldn’t breathe.

I think we were in the middle of the lake, its deepest point, by the time Brand shut off the engines. He knelt down in front of me.

“Are you ok?” He asked.

I nodded my head but didn’t look at him. I just kept focusing on my hands in my lap. As long as I did that, I could handle being suspended on top of something that could kill me and almost did ten years ago.

“Take my hand,” he said, holding out his left hand, palm-up.

“Why?” I asked, not seeing the point. I didn’t see the point to any of this. Why was he inflicting this torture on me?

“Trust me, Lilly. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

He held his hand steady, waiting for me to take it. It took me a good minute to even look at him. He was watching me as if he wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but hoping I would put my faith and trust in him.

Was this supposed to be my way of proving I trusted him? Well, we were on a boat. It wasn’t like I was in the water exactly. The force it would take to capsize us would have to be more like winds you would face on the open sea. There probably wasn’t any real danger on such a small lake, just my fear. I took a deep breath and put my hand in his. When I stood, I didn’t feel the boat shift. That had to be a good sign that it was big enough to move around on without worrying about falling overboard, right?

“Come with me,” he said, waiting for me to take a step closer to him.

I took a small shuffling step forward, unable to make my feet move too far from each other. We slowly made our way to the side of the boat.

“Do you trust me?” he asked, staring down at me.

“Yes,” I replied. “Why do you keep asking me that?”

Brand let go of my hand. I immediately grabbed the steel rail on the side to steady myself. The wind picked up, making the boat move slightly, but not enough to make me lose my balance. I watched Brand as he quickly shed his shoes, shirt, and pants. He stood in front of me, in just his underwear. In any other situation, the sight of him almost naked would have riveted my attention but, as it was, all I could think about was keeping my balance and not falling overboard.

“Trying to distract me?” I tried to joke.

“No,” he grinned. “You need to prove to yourself that you really do trust me. That you believe in us.”

He dove into the water, bobbing up to the surface a few feet away.

“Jump, Lilly, and I’ll catch you. Trust me.”

“Have you lost your mind?” I yelled at him, trying to control my growing hysterics. “Isn’t it enough I came out here with you?”

I hadn’t stepped foot in water higher than my knees in ten years, and now he wanted me to jump in water that was probably a mile deep? There wasn’t any other explanation. Brand had most definitely lost his mind.

“I can’t,” I murmured, not sure if he could hear me. I could feel my body start to tremble at the thought of flinging myself overboard. Just imagining the pressure of the water against my chest, pushing out the last bit of air from my lungs, made me spasm involuntarily. Even if my mind wanted to, I didn’t think my body would let me put myself in such mortal danger.

The sun was almost completely set now. Darkness was quickly falling. In a few more minutes, I probably wouldn’t be able to see Brand bobbing in the water in front of me.

“Jump, Lilly,” he implored.

Why was he doing this to me? Why did this have to be his test of my trust? He picked the one thing I feared as much as I did the mystery I found myself involved in. I guess that was the point. If I didn’t trust him to keep me from drowning, something he could definitely control, how could I trust him to save me from something he couldn’t control at all?

I closed my eyes, unable to look at him watching me anymore. I couldn’t stand to see his face filled with so much uncertainty and longing for me to put all of my faith in him…in us. There was only one thing I knew without a shadow of a doubt. Brand loved me and I loved him. Did I really believe what he said about us being brought together for a purpose? Did I dare to hope he was right, and put my trust in his belief that everything would turn out in our favor?

I’m not sure how long I stood there with my eyes closed trying to decide what it was I believed. When I opened them again, all I could see of Brand was a dark shadow in the water still watching me. I couldn’t make out his face anymore, but I didn’t have to see it to know what his expression would be. He would be losing hope that I did, indeed, trust him. It was that more than anything else that made up my mind for me.

I slowly let go of the rail, relinquishing my hold on the known, and trusting my fate to the one person in the world who held my heart completely. I took off my shoes, not wanting their added weight making what I was about to do any more difficult or cumbersome. It would be my luck to trip on a shoelace, hit my head on something, and sink like a rock.

I looked to the outline of Brand still treading water in the near darkness.

“I trust you,” I whispered, unable to make myself speak much louder. I closed my eyes, unwilling to watch what I was about to do. I put one foot over the side of the boat, letting gravity pull me the rest of the way forward. I felt a slight breeze lift my hair off my shoulders in my moment of freefall. My body tensed involuntarily, preparing to feel the water envelop me, but that moment never came.

I felt Brand’s arms around me almost as soon as my feet left the safety of the boat’s deck.

“I’ve got you,” he whispered, holding me tight against his cold, wet chest.

I wrapped my arms around him and started to cry. In that moment, I knew that, as long as we had each other, we could accomplish anything we set our minds to. Brand had been right. Until the moment I put my fate into his hands, I hadn’t completely believed in us. I hadn’t completely trusted in our ability to conqueror the obstacles that lay in our way. It was a freeing moment and one that ignited a determination inside me that I had never felt before. We would figure out what was happening and find a way to live out the rest of my life with one another. There was no other option for me now.

I stopped crying and looked up at Brand. I couldn’t see his face clearly, but I could feel how hopeful he was.

“Can we go home now?” I asked. “I still don’t like the water.”

I heard him chuckle and, before I knew it, he phased us, boat and all, back home.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Not long after we got back home and settled in for the night, Brand got a call from Malik.

“Lilly…” Brand called to me with the phone still to his ear.

I was sitting at the kitchen table, working on a jigsaw puzzle Brand had stored in a closet full of them. He said he picked them up along his travels but never seemed to find the time to sit down and do any of them.

“Malik wants to know if we would like to come to his apartment tomorrow night for supper.”

“Sure, that would be nice.”

“What time do you want us there?” I heard Brand ask.

Once the arrangements were made, Brand joined me at the table and started helping me with the puzzle.

“Malik said we could invite Tara over if we thought she would like to come, too.”

“Yeah…” I said, not really knowing if that was such a good idea.

“What’s wrong? You think she doesn’t like him?” Brand asked, taking my reserved response as a negative.

“I’m more worried about Malik liking Tara too much. It’s just not the right time for her to get tangled up with someone else. She’s still trying to get over what Simon did to her. According to you, Malik will be in my life for a long time, and Tara will always be a part of my life. I would hate for him to try to start something with her now. Odds are it wouldn’t work out.”

“Why not?”

“Tara’s emotions are just too raw. She might end up using Malik as someone to get over Simon. I’d rather see him wait a little while before he tries to start a relationship with her.”

“Well, why don’t we invite her anyway? You never know; Malik may just want a friend.”

I raised a quizzical eyebrow in Brand’s direction. “Fairy godfather or not, he’s still a man. How many men just want to be friends with a woman they find attractive?”

Brand grinned. “You’re right. He probably does want more than just friendship, but why don’t we let Tara make that decision for herself? She’s not exactly timid. If she doesn’t want him to make any moves on her, she’ll let him know in her own special way, I’m sure.”

I didn’t see Tara again until the next morning, when I returned home to get ready for school. When I asked her if she wanted to go to Malik’s with us, she told me she already had a date planned for that evening.

“You do?” I asked. This was the first I had heard of someone new.

“Yeah, he’s in the same class Simon and I have. I guess he figured out we weren’t dating anymore after I threw my book at Simon when the fool tried talk to me. Leroy picked my book up and asked me out right there on the spot.”

“What do you know about him?” I was surprised Tara wasn’t eagerly giving me the 411 on this Leroy character, and she didn’t seem very enthusiastic about going out with him.

Tara shrugged. “He seems ok.”

I didn’t push the issue. Maybe this was what Tara needed; a distraction to get over Simon quickly. At least, that was what I hoped.

When Brand and I went to Malik’s apartment that evening, I kept having this strange feeling that someone was watching me. Nevertheless, every time I looked behind me, there wasn’t anyone there. Brand noticed my nervous behavior, so I had to tell him what was putting me on edge. After that, he kept a more watchful eye on our surroundings.

Malik’s apartment complex was much swankier than the one Tara and I could afford to live in. The complex was divided up into ten two-story buildings, with only two apartments to each building. When Brand pushed the doorbell, Malik opened the door within in few seconds, wearing a white apron that said ‘Kiss the Cook’ in black script on the front.

“Welcome to Casa Malik,” he said, sweeping a hand, inviting us to enter his home. “Tara couldn’t make it?” he asked, closing the door behind us.

“No, she already had a date planned for tonight,” I told him, watching his reaction.

“Oh,” he said, clearly disappointed but quickly recovering. “Well, I hope you guys came hungry. I think I made enough food to feed the whole complex.”

Malik’s statement wasn’t an exaggeration. It felt like we were sitting down to a Thanksgiving dinner. I was sure Tara would be disappointed she didn’t come with us. Malik had made a feast of food she would have enjoyed, including beef tongue with caramelized onions, her favorite dish.

“So,” I said, while eating some of the best chicken and dumplings I’d ever tasted. They rivaled Utha Mae’s and that was a compliment in itself. “Brand didn’t really tell me the reason saving my life makes you feel obligated to watch over me.”

“I think it’s just something programmed into our DNA,” Malik said with a slight shrug of his shoulders as he cut up a piece of ham. “It’s just the way we are. My mom saved this woman’s life once while we were on vacation, and we ended up moving from California to Washington, D.C. We found a house right next door to Netty. They’re still best friends to this day. I asked my mom why she felt like she needed to be so close to Netty, and she said it was similar to the way she felt about me, like she always wanted to be close by to keep me out of harm’s way. Now I understand what she meant. It’s not like it’s something I can control. I just feel this overwhelming need to be close to you and protect you as much as I can. I think the more time we spend together the more you’ll feel our connection, too.”

“You do know what’s going on with me, right?” I asked, hoping Malik understood the danger he might be putting himself into by getting involved in my life.

“Brand told me about it before I helped save you,” Malik said. “So don’t worry about me. I’m a big boy. I can take care of myself just fine.”

It was one less thing I had to worry about at least.

After supper, I felt like doing something fun. It had been a while since I did something that was silly and more appropriate to my age. It didn’t take me long before I had the boys talked into checking out the new miniature golf course that opened in town just that summer. Tara and I had planned to check it out when we first moved to Lakewood, but considering everything that happened since we moved, we just never found the time.

Malik drove us in his silver Lexus RX hybrid. On the way, he suggested to Brand and me that we might want to think about switching to hybrid vehicles because of how much better it was for the environment in the long run. I didn’t mention my Mustang was over forty years old and probably one of the worst offenders of exhaust emissions in the world.

Since it was Friday night, the miniature golf place was packed with families and students. We ended up having to wait about fifteen minutes before we were allowed onto the course. Initially, I felt bad for dragging the boys out with me. Miniature golf isn’t really a manly sport, after all. However, after we started playing, my guilt quickly faded. You would have thought we were playing in a PGA championship game the way Brand and Malik transitioned into competition mode as soon as we stepped onto the Astroturf. The golf course was called Fantasy Land. It featured creatures ranging from dragons to gnomes. At the end of the course, on the eighteenth hole, was a large castle similar in design to Cinderella’s castle at Disney World.

With my coordination, I wasn’t planning to win or even come close to winning. I just wanted to have fun and forget about our problems for a night. I tried not to laugh at how seriously Brand and Malik were taking the game, but when Malik got on all fours to line up his shot on the tenth hole into the gaping jaws of a fierce looking red dragon, I lost it. I giggled so hard I started to cry.

“Hey, Lilly!”

I looked a couple of holes ahead of us and saw Tara for the first time. My laughter must have traveled far enough for her to hear. She waved at me, and I waved back. I assumed the boy standing next to her was her date, Leroy. He definitely wasn’t what I expected.

Leroy looked like the type of person I hoped Tara would never go out with again. Although Simon turned out to be a total jerk, even though he dressed appropriately and showed a maturity I thought was real, I had hoped Tara’s taste in men was changing for the better.

Unfortunately, Leroy looked like one of those people who would be stuck in teenager mode for the rest of his life. He was wearing clothes which were at least three sizes too large for his frame, a baseball cap that sat backwards on his head, and at least five different-sized gold chains around his neck. I think the style is called hip-hop, but since I wasn’t that hip on the latest styles, I couldn’t be sure. One of the necklaces had a large gold ‘L’ dangling from it, hitting Leroy in the stomach every time he moved. Another word, which started with an ‘L’, immediately came to my mind at the sight of him. I was definitely going to have a talk with Tara when she got home.

What made me worry even more than Leroy’s sense of style was the fact that he brought along one of his friends, who looked just like him. I didn’t like the fact that Tara was out numbered two to one.

“That’s her boyfriend?” Malik asked incredulously, apparently having thoughts which paralleled my own.

“Not her boyfriend, per se. It’s their first date and hopefully their last, if I have anything to say about it,” I grumbled, wanting to go grab Tara and stand her safely by my side.

“She could do better,” Malik said matter-of-factly, trying to take his eyes off Tara and Leroy as they progressed to their next hole.

For the next few holes, neither Malik nor I could stop looking after Tara. He completely forgot about his competition with Brand, and ended up missing more holes than he made. The more I watched Leroy and his friend leer at Tara behind her back as she played, the more I wanted to just go over and smack them upside their heads.

On our sixteenth hole, Tara was lining up to shoot her ball over the bridge through the castle doors, and Malik was preparing to shoot his into the king’s crown when we both saw Leroy make a completely inappropriate sexual gesture in Tara’s direction with his hips, causing his friend to laugh heartily.

I was sure what happened next would be hotly debated in the years to come. Was it an accident or did Malik intentionally ricochet his ball off the king’s crown causing it to hit a tower of the castle, which propelled it into Leroy’s forehead hard enough for us to hear a distinct ‘crack’?

“Sorry,” Malik called to them, sounding sincere, waving an apologetic hand in the air. “My hand slipped.”

Leroy picked up Malik’s ball and threw it back at him as hard as he could. Malik ducked, but the ball ended up hitting a small girl of about ten behind us on the leg.

“Is she ok?” Malik asked the mother of the girl.

“She’ll be fine,” the mother replied, rubbing the spot on her daughter’s calf, trying to alleviate the sting of the ball. It would probably leave a bruise, but nothing more.

Malik quickly jumped over the two hip-high brick walls between him and Leroy.

“Listen, man, I said I was sorry. You could have hurt someone with that little stunt of yours.”

“Oh yeah? Come on, punk,” Leroy said, putting on a show of bravery, bouncing around like he was Rocky Balboa, with his hands fisted. “Let’s go.”

“Are you serious?” Malik said, trying to hold in his laughter at Leroy’s preposterous stance. Seeing that Leroy was indeed serious, Malik’s demeanor hardened. “Listen, there’s no way you would win a fight with me. It would be in your best interest to stop acting like a fool.”

Leroy swung one of his fists at Malik. Malik caught it in mid-air and held it. He used it to twist Leroy’s arm around his back and hold him in what I could only assume was a painful position.

“That’s enough,” Malik scolded him. “Now both you and your friend can leave on your own two feet, or you can be wheeled out of here on stretchers after I get through with you. Take your pick.”

Malik pushed Leroy away from him, into his gawking friend’s arms.

“Whatever, man,” Leroy said, puffing out his chest, trying to act like leaving was his idea and not the better of the two options Malik just gave him. “Come on, let’s go,” he said to Tara.

“Have you lost your mind?” she said to him, walking over to stand by Malik. “I’ll have my friends take me home. I’ve had about enough of you acting the town idiot for one night.”

“Whatever,” Leroy said, giving Malik a disgusted look before he turned to leave. Leroy attempted to walk away, looking cool, with some sort of shuffling gate. Unfortunately, it just made him look physically challenged.

With our fun game of golf completely forgotten, Brand and I skipped the remaining holes and walked over to Tara and Malik.

“Sorry if I ruined your date,” I heard Malik say to Tara.

“I wasn’t having fun with them anyway,” Tara replied. “They were acting like they were thirteen years old.”

“Ok, I’m making an official rule,” I told Tara. “The next guy you go out with has to be approved by me.”

“Are you serious?” Tara asked, completely caught off guard by my announcement.

“Yes, I’m completely serious. Maybe if I give them the interrogation you gave Brand before we went out, we can weed out losers like that.”

Tara rolled her eyes at me. “Girl, you’re crazy.”

“No, just trying to prevent any more Leroys and Simons.”

“Who’s Simon?” Malik asked.

“That’s a long story,” I said. “Let’s head back to your apartment for that dessert you promised first. Tara can tell you about him if she wants.”