Kissed (The Thorn Chronicles) (21 page)

He moved forward, as if he was going to kiss me quickly, but caught himself at the last minute and turned awkwardly. A splash sounded behind us. Ricki stood over the pool waiting. Jason’s head bobbed back up. Water dripped from his hair and he rubbed at his eyes. He climbed up the ladder slowly. His t-shirt clung to his chest. He followed Puck, his shoes squishing as he walked. It was all I could do not to laugh. He lifted his middle finger to Ricki. Oh boy.

After they left, I sat down next to Ricki.

She frowned. “I’m gonna kill Jason.”

“I know.”

I looked down at the address in my hand. Puck so quickly forgot about it. Perhaps, it wasn’t that important. He wanted me to go with him, but I bet I could take care of it myself. Then, they would take me more serious. All I had to do was go pick up a little boy, right? How hard could it be? Besides, I was ready to start proving myself. This new power was a little exhilarating.

“Do you want to go for a drive?” I asked.

“Where are we going?”

I looked at the paper in my hand. “29 Mendoza Street.”

“What’s there?”

“No idea.”

“Sounds good, let’s go.”

We changed our clothes and I opted for a lavender cami with khaki shorts. I threw a mint green scarf around my neck. Having my shoulders bare was still a tad uncomfortable for me. Ricki came back downstairs in a black mini skirt with a hot pink halter-top.

“We aren’t going to a party,” I said.

She shrugged. “I need to be ready for anything.”

#

The house was located in Forest Hills. A nice area of Las Vegas where neighbors watched out for one another. At least that’s what Ricki said. The houses were an eclectic group of modern and classic homes. The one we were looking for was set in the middle of a hill on a bend in the road. The wide glass windows offered a view directly into the living room and up the stairs. Ricki stayed in the car while I went to the door. People sat in the living room. When I knocked a small figure moved toward the door. Two others followed but stayed out of sight.

The door creaked open and the face of a boy peered out. He had wide green eyes and freckles across his nose. His mop of red hair went in every direction, like he’d just gotten out of bed.

“Can I help you?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m looking for Hayden, is he here?”

“No, he’s not. You’ve got the wrong house.”

I thought of a warm bed and chocolate pie. I let the sensation build up and released it quickly, knowing I didn’t have much time. He cocked his head for a second, but then continued to shut the door. Then I tried something new, something Alejandro hadn’t done with me and I wasn’t sure would work. I gathered the feeling of honesty in my chest. It sounded a bit like classical music and I could taste apples. The music grew louder and the taste stronger. When I couldn’t stand it anymore I released it. I sent him honesty.

He shivered and paused. He opened the door wide. “Wait, my name is Hayden. And there are two men in my house who are scary. They want me to come with them. I don’t want to, but I’m afraid they will hurt me if I don’t.”

I stepped forward, pushing the door all the way open and found myself face to face with two Destroyers. The first was small and beady eyed with greasy black hair. The second held a lit cigar. I saw his yellowed teeth as he opened his mouth to bite down on the cigar. I wasn’t prepared for them. Not by a long shot. My insides twisted and tears flowed freely. In my head I witnessed the murder of Ginny and I could hear her screams. I wanted to slouch back to the car, go home, and climb into bed—never to awake again.

The Destroyers stepped past me, the second one pausing to blow smoke in my face. He motioned to Hayden. I crumpled and slid down to the floor, but my eyes never left Hayden’s. I wanted him to stay with me.

The other Destroyer spoke. “Hayden. Come.”

Hayden broke the eye contact and stepped out the door. As soon as they were twenty feet from me I was no longer under their spell. I jumped up and ran after them. The garage was on the other side of the house, hidden from the view of Ricki. Not that she would be paying attention, but I shivered at the thought of going around the house to chase after those two men without any witnesses. I didn’t have time to go get her.

Honor overcame fear. I raced around the house and saw the first Destroyer sit on a motorcycle and hand Hayden a helmet. I grabbed the helmet and spoke to Hayden.

“Come with me. You don’t have to go with them.”

The Destroyer behind me laughed, waving his cigar around. “Who are you to protect him?”

I pleaded with Hayden. “Please come with me. You have no idea what they’ll do to you.”

He ignored me, put on his helmet and climbed onto the motorcycle behind the first Destroyer. They sped away and I slumped against the garage door. My first job had been a failure.

The second Destroyer leered at me. I cowered under his gaze, then remembered that I needed to do something for that boy.

I grabbed the handle bar on his motorcycle. “Where is he taking him?”

He ignored me, the cigar hanging from his lips. He moved to put on his helmet. I was hoping to send something to him. Honesty, integrity, goodness of some kind. I’m not even sure what emotion I sent, only that it felt like a bunny’s coat and sounded like rain. The soft quiet kind.

He looked down at my hand. I thought I had done something positive, but he removed the cigar from his mouth and pressed it down on my hand. I screeched and tried to pull my hand away, but he was pressing so hard that I couldn’t move. My skin seared with pain.

He released the pressure and my hand slipped out from under the cigar leaving a trail of ash across my fingers. The motorcycle roared to life and he was gone in an instant. I wrapped my scarf around my hand and tried not focus on the burn. I walked back around the house to where Ricki had the car parked.

“What’s up with the scarf?”

I took a few deep breaths trying to push away the pain, but with every second it seemed to get worse.

“Slammed my fingers in the door. If I tell you how, can you get us to Alejandro’s house? That’s where we’ll find Puck and his friends,” I said with a grimace.

“Sure thing, I told you I wore this skanky outfit for a reason.”

Well at least she knew what she looked like. She pulled around the corner and down the curvy hill.

“Are you sure you’re hand’s going to be okay? You look like you are in pain.”

“I am, but there’s nothing we can do until we get to Alejandro’s place. He can fix it.”

At the bottom of the hill there was a bar with several bikes sitting outside. Gone were the pretty houses and manicured rock lawns. This was a seedy part of Vegas that I wouldn’t want to stop to sneeze in let alone stop to visit. But I saw Hayden standing by one of the bikes with no sign of the Destroyers. He tried to look tough, like he belonged there, but he looked far from comfortable.

“Stop the car,” I shouted.

“What the hell?”

“Please,” I begged. “Please stop the car.”

She rolled her eyes slowed the car.

“You’ll need to turn around.” I winced again with the pain.

“Why?”

“Because there is someone I need to talk to.”

“I thought we were going to get your hand fixed at Alejandro’s.”

“We are, but this is important.”

“Okay,” she said, drawing out her O. She turned the car around and stopped in front of the bar.

I rolled down my window and unbuckled the seatbelt.

“Hayden,” I yelled.

He strolled over to the car with far too much confidence of a boy his age.

“Hello ladies,” he said, leaning into the car and ignoring me completely. “What can I do for you?” He didn’t look either of us in the eyes. He focused on Ricki’s cleavage.

“What happened to your new friends?” I asked.

“They decided they needed a drink, tried to instill the fear of God in me. But I’d rather run away with hot chicks.”

“Get in,” I said. But Ricki locked the door.

“Who is this kid?”

“Someone that Alejandro needs to talk to. He’s the son of a good friend of his that got into some trouble. Alejandro just wants to make sure he’s okay.” I was pretty proud of myself for making up a story so fast. Usually lying didn’t come easily.

Ricki waited for another few seconds then unlocked the door.

Hayden jumped in the backseat of the car, slid to the middle, and leaned forward so he had a good view of Ricki. I know she was trying to attract men, but I don’t think Hayden was her type or old enough for her. The drive to Alejandro’s was long. By the time we got there I wished we had left the boy to the mercy of the Destroyers. He was worse than Romeo.

“Hey,” he said to Ricki, “How much will you charge me to see your titties?”

Ricki slammed on the breaks. “Get out.”

Hayden just laughed. This boy needed a lot more help than I could give him. He’d be lucky to make it to Alejandro’s.

I placed my hand on Ricki’s arm and sent her calming waves and the taste of ice cream.

“Let’s just get him to Alejandro’s, then you don’t have to see him again.”

She nodded, and I was proud of myself for being able to influence her. I doubt she’d have listened to my words alone.

Hayden ran his mouth the entire drive about stupid video games and TV shows that I’d never heard of. He finally shut up when we pulled into Alejandro’s driveway. The house had a way of rendering one speechless.

He kept quiet as I pushed the door open, not bothering to knock. We got to the library just as several minor Guardians exited. They glared at me but stared appreciatively at Ricki. She grabbed my arm and whispered fiercely in my ear. “What the hell?”

By the time we made our way into the library only Alejandro, Puck, Romeo and Jason remained. Hayden hid behind me.

Puck’s face was pale and his fists were clenched. I tried to gauge his emotion, but all I got off him was a roaring wind and I hadn’t been at this long enough to know what that meant. Fear, maybe. He came over and gave me a hug and noticed Hayden for the first time.

“Who’s this?”

I handed him the piece of paper he gave me earlier with the name and address. “Hayden.”

Alejandro got up and came over to us. “Did you find him? You were lucky.”

Hayden finally found his voice. “Luck my ass, it was Ricki’s boobs.”

Jason heard Hayden’s comment and moved so quickly that no one thought to stop him. Not that any of us would have. He pinned Hayden against a shelf a books and I saw several classics fall to the floor. Moby Dick hit Hayden on the head and his eyes began to water.

Jason spoke. “Listen little boy, don’t you ever speak about Ricki or any other woman that way again or I will personally drown you in the pool. No one will miss you.”

Ricki beamed. Looked like her fight with Jason would be ending.

He let Hayden go and turned to Alejandro. “I know I said I wanted a recruit, but I don’t want this one. I’m sorry.”

Ricki’s ears picked up the strange conversation, “What’s a recruit?”

Alejandro hissed, “Put her to sleep. Now.”

Jason took Ricki into an adjoining room.

“What happened to your hand?” Puck asked, taking my hand and unraveling my scarf.

“I had some bad luck with the Destroyers.”

Puck groaned. “You mean you ran into Destroyers? How did you manage to get him away without sniveling away on the ground?”

“I can take care of myself,” I snapped and looked away from him.

Alejandro held up my hand. The angry red burn was blistering and turning white.

“He got me with a cigar. But the fact that I ended up with Hayden
was
pure luck.”

My hand burned. I hadn’t thought about it much until then, but the pain was starting to get to me. I sunk down into a chair.

Alejandro paused for a few minutes in thought. Hayden sat on the ground avoiding eye contact with any of us. I was glad Jason had put him in his place.

“Romeo, can you handle a recruit?”

“Of course.”

“You understand that your other duties will come first. Just keep him safe. Don’t bother training him right now.”

“With all due respect, I think I can manage to train him at the same time. How hard will it be to simply watch over a woman?”

Alejandro’s fist clenched. It was the first time I’d ever seen him exhibit any outward anger. “My girls come first. If you don’t get that through your thick skull, Hayden will be leaving with Jason.”

Romeo sighed. “Fine, but will I get to train him when all this is over?”

“If you keep both him and the girls you are watching safe, you will have earned the right to train.”

“Fair enough. Come on, flame brain, let’s get out of here.”

Hayden looked up, surprised to have been addressed. Jason came back in the room as Hayden and Romeo were leaving and Hayden cowered against the door as Jason walked past. Alejandro knelt down next to me and examined my hand again. “Tell me what happened.”

I told him the story and ended with the cigar burn.

“So how’d you end up with Hayden?”

“They decided they needed a drink and left Hayden outside the bar.”

“You did get lucky, didn’t you? Do me a favor and don’t go out on any more missions without one of us. Jason, can you take care of Naomi’s hand?”

Jason knelt down next to me and looked at my hand. “Nasty burn. Do you want me to leave a scar?” My first instinct was no, but then I thought about it. The burn was evidence of an act of defiance. I knew I shouldn’t have gone, but I didn’t want people telling me what to do. The scar would be a reminder that I was capable of acting on my own.

“Yes, leave a scar. But, how are you going to…”

He covered my hand with his and in seconds removed it. The pain disappeared and a faint ring remained. I examined the scar and saw in the middle of the ring a smiley face. I grinned up at him. “Thank you.”

“No problem. Try not to get into anymore scuffles with the enemy.”

The tension in the room was thick. Alejandro looked awful.

“Something’s wrong. What happened?” I asked.

Puck grabbed my hands and pulled me up, still not speaking. He placed his hands on the sides of my face and stared at me with his intense gaze. No one spoke or moved. I closed my eyes and willed him to kiss me. I smelled Tuscany roses and tasted chocolate. Then, I released the emotion to him. He moved so close I could feel his breath on my upper lip, then he whispered in my ear. “I know what you want. You draw me to you and you don’t even realize it. But I can’t kiss you. You are Kai’s girl. Not mine.”