Matt Archer: Legend (7 page)

The doorbell rang right at
ten Saturday morning. Uncle Mike was early.

Tamping down the mixture of
excitement and dread this visit conjured up, I answered the door. He was
dressed in the new Class-B uniform—blue pants, white button-down shirt and
gleaming black shoes—and his brown hair was shorter than I’d ever seen it; a
one-blade buzz. To say this was an official visit seemed like an
understatement.

“Major Tannen,” I said,
choosing to go with his honorific. “Welcome home, sir.”

Uncle Mike came into the
entry and paused a minute before engulfing me in a big hug, complete with vertebrae-jarring
pats on the back, despite the fact that he had to reach up a little to do it. I
always found it weird that I was taller than him now.

“You look like your dog died,
Chief. Everything okay?”

I disentangled myself,
surprised by the hug. Uncle Mike had never been the touchy-feely type; maybe having
a daughter had changed things. “Um, yeah. I’m fine.”

“Hmm, right. Sure you are.”
Mike followed me into the living room and settled in the recliner.

“What, are you the teenager whisperer,
now?” I asked, annoyed. “I said I was fine, and I am.”

Mike’s expression turned
hard. Oh, great, Major Tannen was finally coming out to play. “I can tell
that’s not true. Hell, Matt, I can
hear
it when I talk to you on the
phone. The verve has been sucked right out of you, and it shows. If you’re
distracted in Africa, we’ll have problems. This one is going to be dangerous; I
can’t have you moody and erratic.”

I glanced toward the kitchen.
Mom was banging pots around in there, out of earshot. We didn’t need her to
hear that my next op would be more hazardous than usual. “I’m a professional.
I’ll keep it together.”

He didn’t look too happy with
my response. “And that’s why I’m worried. Keeping it together isn’t the same as
having it together. It’s clear you’re hurting and I want to help. We have to
find a way to get your head on straight.”

My mother swept into the
room. She must’ve heard Mr. Wisdom analyzing my mood, because she led off with,
“I know what’ll help. Matt needs kissed, and badly.”

I flushed until my scalp
radiated. “Mom, you did
not
just say that!”

Mom sat on the couch, not
even bothering to look at me. She nodded to Mike. “His heart’s broken. That’s
what this is all about.”

“Ella, huh?” Mike said. “That
makes sense. The first one always hurts the worst.”

“That’s part of it,” Mom
said. “He also works harder than most adults we know. The pressure is really
high, between school and his other
…
duties. It’d make anyone irritable. But it’s mainly
Ella, I think.”

“I’m standing right here, you
know,” I said. They didn’t have a clue; I
had
been kissed recently, and
it did nothing to save me from a foul mood. “But if you’d like to keep
discussing my love life, I’m disappearing until we have to catch our plane.”

“Wait
…
plane? What
plane?” Mom asked, looking between us. “Mike told me he was coming to visit to
check on his loft because the sub-letters moved out.” She cocked her head to one
side, giving Mike the stink eye. “Michael, what is Matt talking about?”

I shot Uncle Mike a smug
look. He wasn’t the only one with a talent for diverting people from a
sensitive topic by springing a surprise on them. I’d learned well.

Mike rubbed his temples. “Chief,
I think I need to talk to Dani alone for a bit, please.”

A year ago I might’ve
bristled at being dismissed like a kid. Today, though, all the anger
disappeared in a flash, leaving nothing but exhaustion. The problems with Will,
the stolen kiss with Ella, the never-ending mission called ‘my life’
…
the weight of
it left me nothing but tired. I turned and left the room with my shoulders
bowed. As I rounded the corner in the entry, Mom asked, “
What
plane?”

* * *

Mike and Mom argued for three hours about whether or not to
let me A) leave school for an indeterminate period of time again and B) go to
Africa, where, as Mom put it, I could get malaria, or worse. No, really—the U.S.
Army was sending her sixteen-year-old son halfway around the world to
investigate supernatural activity and the first concern she voiced was malaria.
Mom’s worry list needed some prioritization, I thought, but I didn’t want to
admit that I’d been taking various meds required for international travel off
and on for eighteen months, either.

Once Uncle Mike promised he wouldn’t leave my side for an
instant the entire trip and Mom forced
me
to promise that I’d study at
least three hours per day, she relented. How I’d take online classes while in
the wilds of Botswana was a mystery to me, but I promised anyway.

After we wore Mom down, Mike retreated to his loft downtown.
That left me with little to do other than get ready for my date, which I was
dreading more and more by the second. The only thing that kept me from calling
Sami and telling her I had the flu was Tink’s smug murmuring about how I’d
finally learned that the job was more important than these “little dramas.” I
decided I’d go on this date just to spite Tink, if for no other reason.

I stopped on my way out to say goodbye to mom…partly as a
stall tactic.

“Be careful, honey,” Mom
called from her office.

Her large metal desk was
piled with papers except for the spot for her laptop, and boxes lined the floor.
She was also wearing her favorite ratty velour sweat suit and had a pencil
tucked behind one ear. All these clues told me that she had a new case starting
up. I secretly hoped it would keep her so busy, she wouldn’t worry about me
while I was in Africa, but I was smart enough to know that would never happen.

“Home by eleven, if not
earlier,” I said. “I have a lot to do to get ready for the trip.” Given how I
thought this evening would go, I might be home before nine.

Mom shook her head. “I don’t
know whether to be happy or annoyed by that. Seriously, kiddo, give me some
trouble every once in a while. This military discipline is killing me. You’re
too young not to have some fun.”

“I’m going out with a hot
cheerleader.” I kicked at the divider that separated the entryway tile from the
carpet in her office. “That’s fun.”

“It doesn’t seem like it. You
look like you’re being forced to take medicine.” Mom got up from her chair,
weaving through the boxes to put her hands on my arms. “Matt, I know you think
this is a good way to get over Ella, but, trust me, it’s not. That’ll take
time. Trying to fill the void with someone you’re not head over heels about
…
well, it
doesn’t work. I tried.”

“But at least you had a
running start,” I said, my voice sounding hollow in my ears. “You asked Dad to
go, not the other way around.”

As soon as I said it, I
winced. Maybe I was still a little bitter she’d kept him a secret for so long,
but punching someone else’s bruise wasn’t okay, either.

Mom took a step back, looking
hurt. “Yes, I did. But that doesn’t mean I got over your dad. Here we are,
sixteen years later, and I’m not married. I had the opportunity. Two men wanted
to marry me, help take care of you guys. They were good men, too, but never
good enough to replace Erik.”

“I’m sorry, Mom.” And I was.
Fate hadn’t been all that kind to my family—special or not,
chosen
or
not. “I didn’t know.”

“It’s okay. Sometimes I
forget you’re old enough to understand these things now. I should have been
more
…
open.” She went back to her desk. “Try to have fun.”

Her words rang in my ears all
the way to Sami’s. I still had too much Ella in my system to be the right kind
of boyfriend for anyone. By the time I pulled into Sami’s driveway, I’d pretty
well decided –– I would tell her right away; I had to be fair. She deserved
better, and Will was right. I needed to fly solo for a long, long time.

Stomach churning, I trudged
up to her front door and rang the bell. I had no clue how to ditch a girl, even
if I wanted to be nice about it. Especially when said girl and I hadn’t even
been on our first date yet.

Sami came to the door and
made things even harder by wearing a miniskirt and tank top. Guess the autumn
chill didn’t bother her, and I couldn’t say I was sorry about it.

Wearing a playful smile, she
said, “There he is. Get in here.”

She grabbed my arm and
dragged me into the house. I steeled myself for a round of “meet the parents,”
sincerely hoping her dad didn’t have any firearms handy when I hurt his
daughter’s feelings.

It was really quiet inside.
Worried about how to end the night with the least pain possible, I followed
blindly without wondering where everyone was. When we stopped, I was surprised
to find myself in Sami’s bedroom.

God, I could be so stupid
sometimes.

She smiled again, sending
something lazy and sexy drifting through the air. “My parents took my little
sisters to see
Disney on Ice
tonight. They won’t be home for hours.”

“Oh.” Dumb thing to say. “So,
do you want to go grab dinner?” Even dumber. What the heck was wrong with me? I
was in a girl’s bedroom, and I couldn’t wait to leave?

Sami giggled. “Maybe later.
Why don’t you have a seat,” she said, steering me toward the bed. “I’ll be
right back.”

Her bed was typical girl: queen-sized
bed with a soft pink and white comforter. All her bedroom furniture was white,
and her walls were painted a pale pink. There were little white trinket shelves
on the walls, each covered with stuffed animals, her name in wooden letters,
and tiny glass knickknacks. I guessed it was supposed to look feminine, but all
it did was give me hives.

“Hey,” she said.

I looked up and almost had a
seizure. Sami stood in the doorway to her bedroom, wearing nothing but a
lavender bra and matching panties that looked like they came from the back half
of Victoria’s Secret—the part of the store where guys my age didn’t go for fear
of looking like a perv. My heart leapt forward in uneven bursts and every part
of my body sat up and took notice.

Sami was petite, but not too
skinny. The muscles of her legs were perfect, probably from all the
cheerleading. Her stomach was flat, and her chest wasn’t; the bra barely kept
everything in.

I felt like I might go blind.

She shut the door, locked it,
then came over and sat next to me on the bed. “So, what was that about dinner?”

Dinner? Who was going to
dinner? I couldn’t even remember what I’d planned to tell her. I was just here
for the show.

“Um, nothing.” My voice came
out hoarse and squeaky.

Sami giggled and crawled into
my lap. I started to sweat as she played with the buttons on my shirt, undoing
them one by one. “That’s what I thought you said.”

I didn’t ask myself why she
was being so aggressive. No, all I could think about was her fingers working on
those buttons. Her face was so close. Without a single thought in my head, I
pulled her close and kissed her. Sami was tiny, much littler than
…
.nope, wasn’t
gonna think about
her
. I let my hands wander and Sami didn’t object. Far
from it. Her skin was warm and soft and totally yielding.

Sami pulled off my
button-down then wrestled my t-shirt over my head. I burned all over like I had
a fever—this was actually happening. I slid my hand up from her knee to her
thigh while Sami traced the various scars on my chest and stomach.

“Wow. You have an accident?”

Her touch was light, tickling
a little, and my muscles tightened, almost like they wanted to demand her
attention. “Um
…
they’re from snowboarding. I’m kind of a daredevil,
take courses I shouldn’t.”

 “I like a guy who takes
risks. It’s hot.” Sami pressed her body against mine and the lace from her bra
scratched my chest. My ability to think dissolved.

Before long, we were tangled
up together on her bed. Sami was still in her underwear, and I was close to it,
seeing as how she’d undone the fly on my jeans. She crawled on top of me,
kissing me with her blond hair spread out, curtaining our faces. Her hands were
roaming all over, and my eyes rolled back in my head.

I wouldn’t lie—it felt great
to have someone want me. Sami wouldn’t push me away. I took risks. I had a
feeling if I told her everything about my life, she’d just want me more.

I reached around to take off
her bra, but couldn’t seem to make sense of the strap. What were bra designers
thinking? Guys shouldn’t need a degree in engineering to undo the dang things.
I gave it a few yanks, but nothing happened. Finally, I slipped her shoulder
strap off, thinking I’d work around it.

Sami bit my lower lip
…
just a little
tug, but it gave me all kinds of good shivers. “Hurry up, Matt. I can’t wait
forever.”

Neither could I.