Keepers: A Timeless Novella (6 page)

I closed my eyes, praying
this was just an unbelievably dreadful dream. I opened my mouth to
say something, but no words would form. When I peeked at Jenna, I
saw something swirl in her eyes. It reminded me of Gabby’s
lightning eyes. Jenna glared down at Sara’s hand and then brought
her gaze upward, disgust clear in her sneer. Sara shrugged and
dropped her outstretched hand. When Sara tried to touch me again, I
backed away, my arm brushing Jenna’s. She was quivering, she was so
furious. I couldn’t blame her.

“
Don’t be that way,” Sara
cooed at me.

“
You need to leave now,” I
whispered through gritted teeth.

“
You don’t mean that.”
Sara’s voice chafed on my nerves. She reached out, and I pictured
taking a grater to her hands if she touched me again. “But Joey,
why wouldn’t you want me here?” she whined.

The nickname finally
spurned Jenna into action. I didn’t even see it coming, to be
completely honest. One second Jenna was next to me, stiff and
infuriated; the next second, her fist had connected with Sara’s
jaw. And then Sara was on the floor, holding her face, and Jenna
was standing over her, shouting obscenities. Gabby laughed
hysterically, and I was doing my best to pull Jenna off Sara before
she killed her.

“
This is the last straw,
Joseph,” Jenna shouted when I pried her off Sara.

My heart sunk. What did she
mean by that? “I didn’t know—” I began to protest but realized it
was useless.

“
I can’t live like this
anymore,” Jenna said, voice tired. “I feel like I’m on a ledge, and
I’m to the point that jumping seems like a fantastically brilliant
idea.”

Sara started to get to her
feet, and I glared down at her.

“
Get out of my house,” I
fumed. “Now.”

Sara finally got the
picture and gathered herself to leave.

“
Awe! Leaving so soon?”
Gabby said sweetly, holding the door open. “I was just about to
pull out the gun for you to play single-player Russian
Roulette.”

Before Sara exited, she
turned to Gabby. “Sarcasm is the sanctuary of a shallow
mind.”

“
No, actually, sarcasm is a
way to insult idiots like yourself without them realizing it.”
Gabby pushed Sara out the door and slammed it behind her. The sound
was so incredibly satisfying.

I stepped toward Jenna and
cradled her face in my palms. She was on the verge of tears, and it
broke my heart. “We’ll leave, I promise. Just give me a day.
Okay?”

She nodded, and I leaned in
to give her a tender kiss. Her lips were soft and warm against
mine. We parted, only an inch away, our breaths
mingling.

“
I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“I should just go marinate in shame.”

Jenna stopped me from
leaving and hugged me, tightly gripping me around my waist. I hated
that she was going through this, and I hated it even more that I
was the one responsible. I had to fix this.

“
The last straw?” I heard
Andrew murmur to Gabby, clearly still trying to puzzle out Jenna’s
original comment.

I smiled, and Jenna
chuckled against my chest. Ah, thank you Andrew for comedic
relief.

CHAPTER 7: THE BIRDS AND
THE BEES

Jenna knew I had an
ex-girlfriend named Sara, she knew that I had a restraining order
against Sara, and Gabby had told her about the incident outside of
FBI headquarters last year. It wasn’t until Sara had pushed her way
into my home and tried to rub herself all over me that Jenna was
able to fully grasp how psychotic Sara actually was. With
everything that had been going on, Sara had been the least of my
worries. Or so I thought. Since Jenna and Jules were now my top
priority, so was anything that threatened them or our relationship.
I hoped Sara finally got the message, so I didn’t pursue having her
arrested. Again. Jenna agreed with me and was a great sport about
the whole incident. I was lucky to have someone who wasn’t the
jealous type. However, I think it was obvious there was absolutely
nothing Jenna had to be jealous about. Then again, I knew that the
green-eyed monster had a mind and life of its own and sometimes
threw reason out the window.

I was checking my email on
my phone when I peeked over at Jenna. She was reading a fantasy
book, which instantly reminded me of Gabby. The knuckles on Jenna’s
right hand were cut and red, glistening under the light from the
antibiotic ointment I’d generously applied after everyone had
calmed down. Though I hated seeing Jenna hurt even a tiny bit, my
heart swelled with pride at her right hook. She didn’t take crap,
and I loved that about her.

The ticking of my clock
seemed to reverberate through the room, and excitement over what
that meant had me holding in a grin the size of Antarctica. “Do you
hear that?” I asked Jenna.

She glanced up from her
book and cocked her head to the side. Her head shook, and her
eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “I don’t hear anything,” she said,
as if I were losing my mind.

I gave her a moment to let
that fact sink in, and then her eyes went wide. I grinned and
silently thanked Tom for finally coming through. Jenna jumped up,
tossed her book to the side, and ran to the long window next to the
front door. She peeked through the curtains, and after a second of
absorbing the quiet scene, she giggled.

“
You can thank Andrew. He
talked Director Morris into blocking off the entire road,” I
explained when she turned around with a quizzical
expression.

She smiled, dashed over to
me, and flung herself onto my lap. I laughed and kissed her, so
happy to see her smile again. “Remind me to thank him. Speaking of,
it’s been too quiet around here. Where is everyone?”

“
I have another surprise
for you,” I whispered conspiratorially.

“
Another one?” she asked,
eyebrows high.

“
Yeah. This was actually
Gabby’s idea . . .”

Jenna automatically laughed
at that. “Should I be scared?”

“
Terrified.” I laughed,
kissing her. “It’s so quiet around here because all the angels
left. Well, except Firen. Obviously.”

Jenna pulled away from me,
sincerely flabbergasted. “What? Why?”

“
To give us some alone
time. Well, as alone as we can be with Firen and Jules in the
house.” I traced a hand down Jenna’s soft cheek, trying to memorize
every inch of her face. It wasn’t hard to do—she was an amazingly
beautiful woman. Jenna had these mind-blowing greenish-brown eyes
that I swore could see right through me, deep into my soul. She
also had these adorable freckles sprinkled across her cheeks and
skin as silky and exquisite as Snow White’s. When Jenna smiled, I
mean really and truly smiled, tiny lines appeared at the edges of
her lips. I loved that smile—lived for it.

“
We’re alone?” she
breathed, as if afraid to believe it.

I nodded, eyes going
straight to her pink lips. She bit her lip and gave me a
mischievous look. I was about to lean in and kiss her when she rose
from my lap as if ejected and theatrically tiptoed toward the
kitchen. She peeked around the corner. Soft murmurs from Firen and
Jules filtered into the living room, but I couldn’t understand what
they were saying. Jenna mouthed something to Firen and pointed over
her shoulder at me. I couldn’t tell what she was mouthing, but then
Jenna pivoted around, seemingly satisfied that Jules was occupied
with Firen. She sauntered over to me all seductively, except she
had this endearing smirk that I had come to know as her
troublemaker face. And man did I want to get into all kinds of
trouble with her. I returned the smirk, eyebrows waggling
suggestively. Jenna yanked me from the couch and practically
dragged me down the hallway, as if she were the caveman. I had to
stifle my laughter.

Once inside the room, I
shut and locked the door behind us. Jenna bit her bottom lip again,
and my heart did a little flip. Though I’d never admit it to anyone
but Jenna, I always had these strange reactions when I was around
her. Racing heart, fluttering stomach, an excitement that made me
want to giggle like a kid. I kept wondering when she’d stop having
that effect on me, but instead of the feelings dissipating or
losing their luster, they grew stronger with each interaction,
which was probably why I asked her to marry me.

I couldn’t stay away from
her any longer. Two long strides and Jenna was in my arms. One hand
tangled in her hair as I bowed her body into mine with the other,
delighting in her eagerness. Our lips met feverously, and in the
next moment, our clothes were ripped off and lay haphazardly on the
floor. Then we were on my bed and between the sheets, limbs
intertwined, bodies pressed together, breaths heavy and wanting,
our cries aching and blissful. For those moments, there was only
us, and everything was perfect and right. There was no impending
war, no angels, no media, no protestors. Moments like these made
the future I hoped to have with Jenna tangible and real.

<>

Later that evening, after a
delicious dinner and a quick game of Candyland with Jules, Jenna
and I finally headed to bed. We were both exhausted, and rightly
so. Jenna snuggled into me and immediately fell asleep. Just as I
was about to join dreamland, my phone buzzed on the nightstand. I
swore if it was the media, I would toss my phone into the toilet
and flush it. Blinking at the bright light my phone produced, I
groaned at the name on the screen.

It was my
mother.

I knew this was inevitable,
but seriously, my mother really did know how to pick the worst
possible time to call me. I loved her—of course I did, she was my
mother, after all—but not so much when I was in bed with Jenna.
Talk about a mood killer.

“
Hey, Mom,” I answered,
whispering. “This really isn’t a good time. Can I call you back
tomorrow?”

“
Is that any way to treat
the woman who carried you for nine months and gave birth to you?”
my mom asked, clearly agitated. “And don’t forget about all those
times I drove you to swim practice, or the times I fed, clothed,
and sheltered you.”

Oh, she was definitely
upset with me, seeing as how she was laying on the guilt trip ultra
thick. “Hold on, let me pack my bags. I’m going on a guilt trip,” I
muttered.

“
What was that?”

“
Nothing,” I said quickly.
“I’m sorry, Mom, you’ve just got stellar timing.”

“
I don’t give a rat’s
patootie what time it is,” she shouted.

I automatically flinched. I
wanted to shush her. She was being so loud I was afraid she’d wake
Jenna.

“
What’s going on at your
house?” my mom started in. “I’ve seen all kinds of crazy stuff on
the news. I tell you what, mister, it is not looking
good.”

I held back a sigh. “Don’t
believe anything the media reports. They’re vultures.”

She huffed, disbelieving.
“How can I not believe them when pictures and videos of you are
splashed all over every single network? I can’t even turn on the TV
without hearing or seeing something about the angels. And you! Your
house! All over the internet—all over the TV.”

I cringed at what I knew my
mother had seen via the news. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. I mean,
what else could I say to her?

“
You’re sorry? Sweetie,
everything I’m seeing is really starting to scare me. I knew that
you were involved with the angels somehow, but I hadn’t realized
you were
this
involved.” She almost sounded accusatory.

“
I know, Mom. I’m sorry,” I
murmured for what felt like the millionth time.

“
Please tell me that Jenna
and Jules aren’t there with you at the house,” she
demanded.

Considering that Jenna was
curled into me . . . yeah. “Yes, Mom. They’re here. Of course
they’re here.”

“
What?” she
shrieked.

I pulled the phone from my
ear, wincing at her high-pitched voice.

“
Don’t you realize how
dangerous it is right now?” I heard my mom ask when I put the phone
back up to my ear. “There are all kinds of people on the internet
and news going all crazy, making threats and
accusations.”

“
I know, Mom,” I whispered.
“I promised Jenna that we’d leave tomorrow.”

My mother huffed. “Joseph,
you’re my son, and you know I love you, but sometimes you can be an
idiot.”

I lightly chuckled, trying
not to wake Jenna. “I know. Trust me, I can be a moron.” I stared
down at Jenna, adorably sleeping, and remembered what an idiot I’d
been earlier when Sara showed up.

“
You’ve finally found a
woman who I love and approve of—you’re going to marry this woman,
and she has the most adorable daughter. You will not ruin this,
Joseph. This may be my last chance to have
grandchildren.”

“
Mother, you have
grandchildren,” I reminded her. I spoke a little too loudly, and
Jenna shifted. Then I whispered, “And really, this is just not the
time to have this conversation.”

“
Actually, I think this is
exactly the right time to have this conversation,” my mother
argued.