Celestra Forever After (13 page)

“Celestra won the war,” Skyla’s voice trembles when she says it. I can feel the anger percolating inside her because the war cost us more than any of us thought possible.

“He doesn’t care.” Coop picks up a stick and stokes the flames. “To him this is personal. And believe me, he’s going big. It’s not enough to just take me out. He’s taking out all of Celestra right along with me. I think the other factions are in danger as well.”

“Let him try.” Skyla’s chest bucks with a laugh. “I’m the overseer of the factions. I’ll shoot down every crap idea the Counts try to throw our way.”

Coop shakes his head. “They’re not checking in with the factions, Skyla.”

“Then we’ll take them to court.” Skyla looks to me for support.

“I think I know where this is headed,” I whisper, brushing the hair from her face. We’ll have to prove it, and if Wes is as elusive as we think he is, then it might be a mission in futility.

“Then we’re right back to the beginning.” She folds into me for a moment.

“Look”—Coop sighs—“we are telling you because you’re the overseer. You can alert whoever you need to. But one of our first goals should be closing down those tunnels.”

Skyla jerks a little when he says it. The only way Skyla can ever see the truest version of Logan is in those tunnels as her Elysian. The version running around on the island is simply in a Treble, a visitor from another time.

“I agree,” it comes from her weak. “I really do hate that place. It’s horrible.”

“My baby sister and mother would also agree.” Laken takes a deep breath. “I think we’re going to take off, but, please, think about what we said. Wes is far more dangerous than he’ll ever let you believe. I think we’re all in danger, Skyla. And, with your pull, you might actually be able to stop him.”

“This alliance he’s building”—Coop helps Laken to her feet—“it’s called the Steel Barricade.”

“How do you know so much about it?” I ask, still not sure we should trust either one of them completely.

Laken nods as if she understands the root of my question. “My brother, Fletch, is good friends with Wes. That’s all the information he’s given me.” She glances at Coop. “He says he could be killed if he says anything else.” Her voice breaks, and I can tell she loves her brother. I know how heart wrenching it can be to lose one. I lost Logan.

They take off, and Skyla and I lay back and watch the stars appear and disappear through a thick curtain of fog. It’s as if Paragon is being pulled apart and put back together again with the ebb and flow of the mist, growing in strength with its secrets like I am in power.

“What’s on your mind?” I pull Skyla over me, and her hair falls around my face like a wreath.

“This entire day has been toying with my mind, and, quite frankly, there’s not too much of it that I care to remember. This is a lot for me.” She slips to my side and outlines my features with the pad of her finger. “I’m stressed, and I haven’t even begun my job as the overseer.”

“Whoa.” I press her finger to my lips and kiss it. “No stressing allowed. We’re at Rockaway. This is a no-stress zone.”

“Good. Because I just want this to be about you and me.” She takes a deep breath, and her bathing suit peeks out from under her T-shirt. We never did swim. “Anyway, maybe tonight we can forget about the world for a while.” Her eyes skirt up to mine with the slight look of uncertainty.

“I think every night”—I scoop her in my arms—“every
day
should be about us, Skyla.”

Her lips expand with that sexy-as-hell smile. “I like where your head is at, Oliver.” She runs her hand over my chest. “In fact, I like where the rest of you is at as well.”

“Oh, yeah?” I kiss her with a laugh caught in my throat. “I think you’ve got everything you need in all the right places, too.” Her tongue slips into my mouth, and I give it chase with mine for a small eternity. Here we are again lost in one heated kiss, my hard-on shouting at me to get the game going, and if she wants to progress I’m not going to stop her. Skyla slips her hands up my shirt, warming her iced fingers over my chest. I pull back to look at her. “You’re freezing.” Goose bumps trail up both her arms as she shivers against me.

“That’s what you’re here for, to heat me up.” She bites down on her lip as the moon dusts her with its waning light.

“You’re the most gorgeous girl I’ve ever seen, you know that?”

“Don’t tell your mother.” A laugh bubbles from her throat. “It looked to me she was convinced Kresley Fisher is the prettiest girl you’ll ever see.”

“I don’t care about any of my mother’s friends or their daughters for that matter. It’s you, Skyla. It’s always been you.” The fog sprays us with its heavy mist as I help her to her feet. “Let’s get you home before you get pneumonia. I’m pretty sure I’d have every faction in the universe pissed at me if I let their fearless leader get sick.”

“Stop.” She swats my arm before pulling me in. “We need to figure out how we’re going to do this.” She gives my hand a tug.

I think I know what she’s alluding to, and I couldn’t agree more.

“We will.” I walk her to the truck. “This is it for us, we’re only moving forward from here on out. Are you sure that’s what you want?” A part of me had to ask.

“That’s all I want.”

A loose grin breaks out on my face, and I can’t control it.

Skyla and I are ready to cross that final threshold.

We’re standing at the proverbial door, and I want to make sure we do it right.

The hell if I know what right is, but I know for a fact it’s coming.

After church on Sunday, Skyla and I work a shift at the bowling alley. Ellis has this place running like a fine-tuned machine, and I’m glad because I’d never have the time to take care of it like he’s doing.

“Thanks man.” I slap him over the shoulder after the crowd dies down.

“For what?” He passes Drake a free soda, and I rethink my stance.

“For taking care of the bowling alley. I’m sure if Logan were here he’d thank you, too.”

“Dude”—he cracks open a soda himself and offers it to me before taking a swig—“that fucker is getting on my last nerve.” Ellis shakes his head before downing the rest of his drink. “His brother is a pretty cool guy, though. But Logan, man, he’s a real head case these days.”

“What?” I glance over at the far end of the bowling ally where Skyla and Brielle are sneaking in a game. “So you’ve seen Logan and Liam. Where are they?”

“They’re at Dudley’s. Liam’s been killing me on the battlefield, if you know what I mean, but Logan’s got his head tucked so far up his ass it’s like he can’t enjoy life anymore.”

“That’s because he’s dead, Ellis.” I cut a look out the window only slightly pissed that Logan chose to reveal himself to Ellis Harrison of all people before me.

“I agree,” Drake pipes up, bobbing his head into his drink. “He’s been at the Gas Lab all week talking to Chloe and Pierce. It’s like he’s a zombie or something.”

Chloe and Pierce no longer exist in their natural forms, but I’m pretty sure explaining that to Drake would be a lost cause, so I don’t bother.

“So he’s back.” I fold my arms over my chest and relax against the counter. “I guess I’ll be next.” I stare over at Skyla because I know for a fact I won’t be next
—
she will. “Or maybe I’ll just wait my turn.” He said he’d hold off until we cemented ourselves as a couple. I shake my head. It looks like Logan isn’t ready to let that happen anytime soon. Not that I could really blame him. I’d be moping with the best of them if the situation were reversed.

Ellis pulls out the disinfectant and gives the can a quick shake.

“So what’s up with you and Messenger?” He nods over while sizing her up. “She put out for you?” He squirts the aerosol into the air and takes a whiff.

“Shut up.” I groan, thankful that Skyla and Brielle are nowhere near this conversation.

“Dude, I’m just saying, you’ve been a little tense around here yourself. I can’t help but wonder if she’s shutting you out.”

“Skyla’s not shutting me out. I’ve never technically been in.” Crap. Did I just go there?

Ellis and Drake both blow back a notch as if I’ve spoken the impossible. And for them, holding out this long probably would be.

“Well tell her to get
in
”—Ellis points hard at his crotch—“or get the eff out.” He sprays the solvent in the air again and takes another whiff.

“Would you give me that?” I don’t hesitate snatching it from him. “And I’m not giving her some stupid ultimatum. Besides, I’ve already got a game plan.”

Harrison loses himself in a minute-long howl. “Effin’ Oliver.” He slaps my back so hard, I swear I feel a vertebrae pop. “The man with the plan.”

“Dude”—Drake leans in ready to impart his nonsensical advice—“shake your balls at her. It gets ‘em going every single time.” He glances over his shoulder. “That gets my girl moving every night of the week if you know what I mean.” He and Harrison share a fist bump, and I’m quick to smack Ellis’s hand away.

“Ellis, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll keep your balls away from my sister. If I hear you touched her like that, I’ll lose all patience.”

“
You
lose all patience?” Ellis lets out a howl as he digs for something under the counter. “They should put up a statue in your honor, you’re so damn patient. Skyla doesn’t know how lucky she is to still have you hanging around.” Ellis pulls out a sheet of paper and draws a giant set of parenthesis before slashing a small X where the two ends meet at the top. “Here, let me help you. X marks the spot my friend. That’s where you’ll want to set up shop. But be warned, it might take her a good long while before she’s shouting Ellis, Ellis,
Ellis
!”

I glare at him a moment.

“All right, or in your case,
Gage
. Anyway, make tiny circles and shit until she starts to get off. Go fast, but not too hard, and you’ll have her melting all over you in no time.”

“You must be pretty whooped.” Drake shakes his head, sorry for me. “So what’s the plan?”

I glance up at Skyla and whisper, “Marry her.”

He all but knocks over his drink. “What the fuck would you go and do that for?”

“Because I want to. Because it’s the right thing to do.”

“Dude, is that why she’s holding out? She’s had you by the balls for a measly band of gold all along. Diamonds and gold.” He slaps me over the shoulder. “Worse sex trade of our time.”

“I don’t know about that.” Now to figure out where and how to propose.

Skyla’s laughter echoes through the bowling alley, and I’m mesmerized by her. Maybe the bowling alley? After all, this is the exact same place I first laid eyes on her, the day we officially met.

Or there’s always Rockaway.

Yeah—Rockaway.

Logan

Near midnight, Dudley’s overgrown home blossoms into a den of debauchery and perversion. The thick scent of sex and booze lights up the air as a full-fledged brothel breaks out around me. There’s an oblong mirror by the piano that acts as a porthole to some seventeenth-century bordello, and, low and behold, every one of the raunchy ladies of the night are present and accounted for—entertaining an entire shit load of frat boys Ellis imported from Host. Of course, he’s raking it in—making a profit on night one, unlike me.

I head over to Harrison as he conducts the money grab at the door.

“We should probably knock this off,” I say, trying to figure out where the hell Liam went and with whom. I tried to tell him these were lice-infested beauties with old school STDs guaranteed to knock his balls right off his body, but he was stoned, and drunk, and had a hard-on he’s been using like a crutch all night.

“Dude, I’m making money hand over fucking fist.” Ellis barks out a laugh while snapping up twenty-dollar bills, fast and furious. “I ran over to Host to drop off fliers and caught the tail end of the G-man’s pre-game. Dude—Gage is buffed out. You got to see him. Game sucked. Defense is off if you ask me.”

I’d like to see Gage, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want me hanging around just yet.

“Yeah, well, nobody asked you.” I swat him over the stomach. “I’m going to head out back and see if I can’t find Dudley. I want to end this mess before the Paragon PD shows up and arrests a bunch of women who bit the dust three centuries ago.”

The next douche in line leans over Ellis’s shoulder. “You got old ladies in there or something? I thought you said this was a fresh batch of love honeys?”

“They are.” Ellis shoots me a look. “They’re as fresh as they come.” He takes the asswipe’s money, and the line moves along. Ellis digs into his pocket and fishes out a fat blunt. “Take this.” He slaps it in my hand. “Chill out. Find some chick that looks like Skyla and have some fun, dude. Time flies when you’re doing it and all that good shit.”

“Right.” I head back into the bustling estate. I drop the doobie on the floor and grind my heel into it like it’s a cockroach.

The piano is going off with an explosion of ragtime music. The keys move so fast it looks as if someone is shaking them out like a sheet. Of course, it’s playing itself. Sort of reminds me of my stay in the Transfer. I need to get out of here, hell, I’d take the Transfer over this hooker hovel any day. Then it hits me, and I know exactly where I want to be.