Forsaken (4 page)

“
Where are you going?” I
asked as I sat on her bed, watching as she got ready.

“
I have a date tonight,”
she said, staring at herself wide-eyed, applying a generous amount
of mascara.

“
With the guy you went out
with the other night?”

“
No, with some guy I met
at the coffee shop today,” she said as she started back in on her
hair. “I may hate working there but I do meet a lot of hot guys. Oh
yeah, did I tell you I have an interview at the
University?”

“
No,” I said as I shook my
head.

“
A position came open for
a new instructor. I really hope I get it. The athletic center
barely covers my rent, and I don’t know how much longer I can
handle my boss at the coffee shop. I would miss the guys though,”
she said with a little chuckle.

“
What’s with you and this
dating spree?” I asked. Emily had been out with a different guy
nearly every night for the last two weeks.

“
What? Just because I’ve
got a condemned brand on the back of my neck means I can’t date?
I’m just sick of hiding away all the time. Besides,” she said as
she applied some lipstick. “It’s not like I can ever let it
progress very far. How am I supposed to explain the wings and all?
It’s not like I can ever actually sleep with any of these
guys.”

I didn’t say anything in response. I
wasn’t sure what to say to that.

“
So,” she said as she
closed the door slightly. A second later I started blushing when I
realized she was going to the bathroom. “Have you thought any more
about what I said? About Cole lying about why he came after
you?”

“
That’s actually the
reason I came over.” I squirmed where I sat, not wanting to talk
about this but knowing it was going to drive me mad until I
understood the situation fully. “I just can’t make any sense out of
it.”

The toilet flushed and a second later
I heard the water as Emily washed her hands. “Well, there’s the
fact that you’re human. There’s a starter. Maybe he just wanted
that long lost connection.” She opened the door and stepped out of
the bathroom, leaning against the doorframe. “But then there must
be something about you specifically. I went through the trials too
and after discovering that you went through the same thing I did,
there must be others out there like us. So it can’t be that
simple.”

“
That’s really scary to
think about,” I said honestly, my eyes falling to the floor.
“Why
me
?”

“
If this was happening
now, I’d say there was no question about it,” she said. “You’re the
most unearthly looking human there is on the planet now. But that
is only something that’s changed recently. Not that you weren’t
beautiful before,” Emily said with an apologetic smile.

“
See, it doesn’t make
sense. What was so different about me, so compelling to him that it
drew him out into the world of the living?” Goosebumps washed over
my skin as I thought about the reasons, even though I had
none.

“
I think he was keeping
something from you, Jessica. I’m guessing it’s kind of a big deal
for a dead angel to chase after you into the real world. There’s
got to be more to this.”

My stomach rolled and my body suddenly
felt ice cold.

A honk from outside brought my head
back into the real world.

“
That must be my date,”
Emily said, a weird, almost forced smile coming to her lips as she
grabbed her purse from off the nightstand. I followed her out to
the front step. “Call me if you think of anything. I’m kind of
morbidly curious about this now.”

I gave a chuckle and Emily gave me a
quick hug before she locked the door and bounded into a shiny red
sports car.

Ten minutes later I was back in my
apartment, digging through my closet. My fingers closed around the
manila folder and I pulled it out with shaking hands. Enclosed were
the drawings I had done when I was younger. I’d been pretty good
but when I realized how much they terrified my mother I’d quit. I
hadn’t drawn a thing since.

Taking a deep breath, I opened the
folder and pulled the pages out.

My mother had been right though. The
images of angels, wings, and brands were terrifying. In a beautiful
and haunting way.

Even after everything that had
happened, I still couldn’t help but stop and stare at Cole’s
beautiful face. His features were stunning in every way. That kind
of flawlessness shouldn’t be allowed to exist. But perhaps the more
evil or good you are, the more beautiful you are made.

Why me?
I thought as I touched two fingers to the
picture. In a way I almost wished I could face Cole, just one more
time, and ask him the question that was driving me
insane.

As I heard the door open and close
upstairs, I closed the folder and buried it again.

Alex came down the stairs and pressed
a quick kiss to my lips.

“
So how did it go today?”
I asked, closing my closet door behind me.

“
Good,” he said, his
signature smile beaming from his face. “I told him I’d take
it.”

“
That’s awesome!” I said
enthusiastically. “I can’t wait to see it.”

“
It needs a lot of work,”
he said with a chuckle. “I also spoke with my lawyer. How would you
feel about taking a little trip?”

“
A trip?” I asked, raising
one eyebrow.

“
Down to the house in
southern California?” he said, his smile turning sly as he took my
hands in his.

I couldn’t help but return the smile.
“I’ll talk to Rita and see if I can get work off.”

“
Great!” he said as he
pressed a kiss to my lips again then headed back upstairs. “I can’t
wait for you to see where I grew up.”

CHAPTER THREE

JESSICA

It was strange to realize how tied
down I was becoming to my life. It almost felt like a real life.
Normal. I had a job I had to get time off of; I had someone who
counted on me to help her out every day. I had responsibilities. I
suddenly felt so old.

But Rita had been just fine giving me
the three days off, saying it would give the new girl a chance to
really get into the swing of things. Emily had easily agreed to
help Sal out and Sal had even seemed alright with the arrangement.
Maybe she didn’t need me as much as I thought she did.

Alex had pulled out all the stops and
wasn’t holding anything back. He had arranged for a limo to pick us
up from the airport.

“
Okay,” I said as I shook
my head and slid in beside him. “I haven’t wanted to ask before but
I have to ask now. Just how much money did your grandparents leave
to you?”

Alex chuckled as he pressed the button
that sent the privacy screen up between us and the driver. “Does it
matter?”

“
Of course not,” I
defended myself. “This is just so weird for me. I don’t think of
you as this super rich guy but then I get these little glimpses and
realize there was this whole entirely different part of your life
I’ve never really seen.”

“
A lot has changed in the
last year or so,” Alex said as he took my hand in his. “It feels
like a completely different life.”

A strange pang formed in my stomach. I
had really changed Alex’s life. I’d completely turned it on its
head and flipped it around until it didn’t even look the same in
any way, shape, or form.

“
Hey,” he said quietly as
he placed his hand under my chin and turned my face towards his.
“It’s better now.”

I could only manage a small smile and
gave his hand a squeeze.

As we drove through the canyon, my
heart started beating a little bit faster. I had been to Alex’s
home town of Laguna Beach twice before, when I had lived in central
California myself. It was where Jason, my ex’s, parents lived. I
hadn’t exactly been received in a warm manner. They had all thought
I was a freak. As it turned out, so did their son.

The houses started getting bigger and
nicer as we kept driving. Finally we turned into a driveway that
was meticulously landscaped with palm trees, shrubs, and flowering
bushes. My stomach did a strange quiver of anticipation.

The limo pulled into a circular
driveway and stopped in front of the gigantic double wooden doors.
I simply marveled at the house before us.

“
Welcome to my childhood
home,” Alex said with a wide smile as he stepped out of the car and
held a hand out for me.

It was all white with a clay-colored
tiled roof. It was hard to tell how big it truly was since it was
well hidden behind the landscaping but it looked as if it kept
going and going. And to both sides of the house I could see the
sandy beach.

“
Wow,” was all I could say
as I followed Alex to the front door. He took out a set of keys and
unlocked the door. The driver unloaded our bags, Alex tipped him,
and then it was just the two of us.

“
Come on,” Alex said as he
took my hand in his. “I’ll show you around.”

The entry way we entered into was
dominated by a large abstract sculpture made of a mix of bronze and
steel. “I always hated that thing. For some reason my grandpa loved
it.”

“
It’s… interesting,” I
said with a chuckle.

We entered into a living room,
decorated lavishly but comfortably. Pictures lined the walls,
filled with Alex’s face as he grew up. I paused at one, seeing
familiar features in the man that looked to be in his
thirties.

“
That’s my dad, Keith,”
Alex said as he came to my side.

“
I wish I could have met
him,” I said quietly as I looked into his father’s brilliant blue
eyes. Another pang struck me in the chest. I missed Alex’s blue
eyes more than I would ever admit aloud.

“
Me too,” he said. He gave
me a sad little smile and grabbed my hand. He pulled me in a
different direction. “Here’s the kitchen.”

“
No wonder you like to
cook so much,” I chuckled. Any world-class chef would trade his
soul for the granite countertops, the huge stainless steel fridge,
the stove that had six, seven, eight burners. It made even me drool
over it and I didn’t even like to cook.

“
Yeah, I spent a lot of
time in here,” Alex said as he ran a hand over the smooth surface
of the refrigerator. “Maybe I’ll have to do some remodeling to the
kitchen at home. Come on,” he said as he took my hand again and
pulled me out of the kitchen. “I’ve got to show you the best
part.”

As I had been looking at the pictures
on the wall in the living room I hadn’t even noticed all the French
doors that lined the other wall. They opened up onto a huge
balcony.

“
Oh my,” I breathed as we
stepped outside.

A light, warm breeze tussled my hair,
the scent of the ocean water filling my nose. The balcony stretched
about fifteen feet away from the house, a huge swimming pool beyond
that, and past that, a perfectly sandy beach and wide open
ocean.

“
Why are you living at the
house in Washington?” the words slipped out before I even really
realized I was saying them.

Alex chuckled and pulled me into his
arms. “Because you’re not here.”

“
I think maybe I could
consider relocating,” I said lightly, unable to take my eyes from
the ocean view before me.

“
You hate California,” he
laughed in my ear. “And besides, your life is there.
Our
life is
there.”

“
I don’t hate California.
But you’re right, I would never want to live here again.” I gave a
content sigh and closed my eyes, leaning into Alex’s chest. “It is
nice to have a vacation together though. It almost feels like we’re
a normal couple.”

Alex gave me a squeeze, pressing his
lips to my forehead. “It’s really nice to have you here, Jessica.
But I don’t think I could live down here again. The lake is home.
It’s where I met you.”

“
What made you leave here
and go back to the lake house?” I suddenly asked. Knowing what was
here it seemed strange he had left it to go to the dated and much
smaller house in Washington.

“
It was hard being here,
knowing my grandparents were gone. I didn’t like being in the house
alone. It felt so big and empty. And I don’t know, I just always
loved the lake house. I needed some peace.”

“
That’s how I ended up
there. I just needed an escape,” I said as I burrowed my face
further into his chest.

“
See, that’s home,” he
said as he pressed another kiss to my forehead.

We settled into Alex’s old bedroom. I
had a good laugh at all the old posters of basketball stars that
still lined the walls. Alex reminded me that he hadn’t been back in
this house for more than a week or so since high school.

The next morning Alex headed out to
take care of business. All of the houses and apartments his
grandfather had owned were managed by one rental agency that had
recently gone out of business. It had caused quite a lot of havoc
and rather than pay the several thousands of dollars to have his
lawyer come down and take care of it all, Alex opted to come and
take care of it himself. It was a little weird seeing the business
side of him come out.