We each simultaneously declined his offer.
Breakfast had taken a while so by the time we reached The Square that morning I had customers already waiting for me. I delivered their messages from those loved ones in the afterlife who they’d asked me to visit the night before as efficiently as I could. But, my main distraction kept moving in to my view and reminding me of the night before. Whether by design or accident, he was teasing me and I’m sure it showed. Stumbling over my words, taking deep breaths to clear my thoughts, blinking back the memory of him on top of me were all attempts to give my customers their due attention…and none of it worked.
It was a very long day.
He approached me at sunset wearing his signature smirk. He knew he’d gotten to me.
Without saying a word, he simply went about collecting my chairs and sign to place in the trunk of Felix’s car.
On the bike as we drove home he was no different, leaning back against me, laying his cheek on the side of my helmet.
“
Careful,” he warned more than once as my concentration remained on him and I nearly hit a curb or took out a construction cone.
Dinner was no different. He kept one eye on me as we each moved around the kitchen, me setting the table and him helping Felix with snail jambalaya.
At the table, he pressed his leg against mine, tenderly so that I wasn’t sure if he meant to or was simply stretching. My heart fluttered more than once throughout dinner.
By the end of the night, I was thoroughly annoyed with him and with myself for being unable to control his impact on me.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who noticed either.
“
Would ya two stop that now?” Rufus muttered, shaking his head at us. “Makin’ me sicker than Felix’s jambalaya…”
“
What?” Felix’s head snapped up. “You don’t like my dinner?”
“
Is that any surprise?” Ezra asked, though she said it delicately so that Felix wasn’t too offended. She didn’t give him time to answer, instead turned to chastise us. “You two do need to end it. You’ve been at it every time I see you.”
“
At what? Been at what?” Felix implored, confused.
“
Eat your jambalaya, Felix,” Ezra coaxed softly.
Felix’s head swung between the rest of us trying to pick up any hint of what he’d missed, but he found nothing. Rufus was back to challenging himself to finish what was in his bowl and Ezra had preoccupied herself with a gnat that was circling her head, although I thought that might be a fake diversion.
When I glanced at Eran, he was already looking at me, watching my reaction. Despite the fact that I had every right to behave stoically romantic with my husband and that I wasn’t even the one making the gestures, I felt my cheeks burning.
Being reprimanded by Ezra was what I figured was equivalent to being scolded by a mother.
Eran, for his part, was not blushing. He was confident and mischievous, and to make matters worse, his leg leaned further in to mine.
The rest of dinner was short and then I helped with the dishes. Eran allowed Rufus to dry and instead kept his eyes on me from the table. I knew this because I felt it and then confirmed it with quick glances in the reflection of the window above the sink.
He held a conversation with Felix about the virtues of southern cuisine until I’d finished my chore. Then he smoothly transitioned out of the conversation to follow me upstairs.
The silence coming from the kitchen after we left told me that my housemates were not fooled, Ezra least of all. I expected to hear her footsteps approaching the second floor in ten minutes.
She knew very well that I was married to Eran in my past life and yet while he was the guardian of my life she was the protector of my virtue.
I felt like I should be wearing a chastity belt.
As I entered my room, Eran surprised me by not coming up behind me. Instead, he stayed leaning against the door jam, his arms crossed so that his muscles rolled up over his chest. I was already at the French doors of my balcony, flinging them open when he spoke.
“
Do you have any idea what you’ve done to me today?” he asked in a hushed tone.
“
You?” I spun around. “What I’ve done to you?”
“
Yes.” He nodded, innocently.
My head shook in amazement.
“
Why do you think I’m not coming in?” he asked, tipping his head towards my room. “I don’t trust myself. Not after what you’ve been doing.”
My mouth fell open but no words came out.
“
You’ve done this a few times before,” he reflected. “Paris…the cabin…”
“
Do what?” I asked my voice just below a shout. How could he be accusing me of anything when it was his motions that had driven me mad the entire day?
“
Keep me…impassioned,” he thought better of what he was trying to tell me and then added, “Tantalized.”
Part of me was in shock and part of me was undeniably proud. The fact that I could tease this man who kept me on my sexual edge whenever I knew he was in the room, made me feel like I’d succeeded in something.
Not knowing what else to say, I replied, “Well I can tell you that you’ve been doing the same to me.”
“
I have?” he asked, astonished. His eyebrows lifted and his head tilted forward telling me that his surprise was genuine. He had no idea.
“
Yes,” I stated firmly.
We stared at each other, the distance a palpable thing between us but neither one of us knowing how to shake our muscles in to moving towards one another. In him, I could – for the first time - see that he fought the same circumstance as me. Neither of us had any hint of an idea how completely inflamed with passion we each were with the other. Apparently, we’d just discovered a limitation in our ability to feel each other’s emotions. Unfortunately, it stopped at the sexual level.
“
So what did you do about it? Back then in Paris…at the cabin,” I asked quietly, demurely though I wasn’t trying to be.
His eyes took on a gleam. “I’ll show you.”
He strode in the room, took my face in his hands, and guided me to him. Our lips met and then our arms were around each other and our thighs were pressing against one another and I could feel his lips move along my jaw and down my neck and then…I heard Ezra’s footsteps.
Eran pulled away at exactly that same moment, his muscles strained, his breathing coming in short gasps.
“
I’m leaving now,” he called out, defeated and yet irritated at the same time.
The footsteps stopped.
“
Excellent,” said Ezra from around the corner. “I’ll see you both in the morning.”
He frowned down at me.
“
School tomorrow,” she reminded, her voice already fading as she descended the stairs.
Eran laughed through his nose. “School tomorrow,” he repeated in a tender whisper. “Sleep well.”
“
You too,” I said watching him leave my room.
He winked at me before closing the door, which gave me something enjoyable to think about as I lay in bed waiting for sleep to take over. Because of it, that night, I rested fully and woke up refreshed the next morning.
The smell of bacon and eggs greeted me then. Rufus was in the kitchen, parked at his usual place at the stove. Felix was rushing from cupboard to cabinet to refrigerator and back to the cupboard. Ezra was seated at the table, mug in one hand, newspaper in the other.
For the first time, I felt like things were back to normal.
A few minutes later, as Rufus slid bacon and eggs on to our plates, Eran entered the kitchen. In a fitted black sweater, jeans that seemed to be tailored to accentuate his physique, and a black leather jacket thrown over his shoulder, he reminded me more of a model than a high school student.
We ate quickly since being late to the first day after we were allowed back from an extended absence would definitely not sit well with Mr. Warden.
Saying our goodbyes, we headed out the door and rode my bike to school. Students were still milling around the parking lot and expansive lawn leading to the Main Hall so we knew first bell hadn’t rung.
My eyes swept the grounds and I realized instantly what I was doing. Out of habit, I was looking for danger, any risk posed by Fallen Ones or any hazards they may have left behind. It occurred to me then this was the first time I’d set foot on campus without the hair rising at the back of my neck, without my radar screaming at me that a Fallen One was nearby and I was in danger. Right now, I felt…nothing. It felt…abnormal, I realized. It was a reminder that Fallen Ones still existed, living in obscurity somewhere out there until they were ready to emerge and again hurt a human or, their moral counterparts, the Alterums.
After parking my bike, we walked through the throng of students until we had almost reached the main entrance. At that point, Eran leaned towards me to whisper, “We have quite an audience.”
“
No…
You
have an audience,” I told him.
His eyebrows lifted but he didn’t ask for further clarification. Not that he would need to. The whisperings in the hallway were enough to help him fill in the blanks.
“…
prison…”
“
Germany.”
“…
gone for weeks.”
As was the case with most rumors, the one about Eran that had spread through our school just weeks ago was only half-true. Eran had spent time in a German prison. But, unknown to anyone except Eran, me, and Ms. Beedinwigg, it wasn’t one designed for humans.
The stares didn’t end when we reached Biochemistry. In fact, the moment we entered, it seemed as if everyone’s head turned in our direction simultaneously, including Ms. Beedinwigg.
She grinned subtly and called out from her desk, “Welcome back.”
We dropped our book bags at our seats and met her at the front of the class.
Oddly, I couldn’t seem to contain my smile.
“
So…is it good to be back?” she asked, doing her best to judge my expression.
“
Yes…,” I said and then admitted, “and no.”
“
More are out there, I take it?” she asked, tensely.
I confirmed with a nod.
“
So you’ll be leaving again?” she inquired glancing at both Eran and me while keeping her voice low so students in the front row didn’t overhear.
Eran waited for me to answer, his silence reaffirming that the decision was up to me.
My chin lifted slightly before answering. I wasn’t sure if I would hear the same level of opposition from her as I had from Eran but I readied myself for it. “Yes, I’ll be leaving again soon. Thank you though…for convincing the warden-”
“
Mr. Warden,” she corrected.
Again, I rolled my eyes. “For convincing him to take us back.”
“
You’re welcome,” she said, warmly.
“
How
did
you get him to take us back?” Eran asked, gleaming at the thought of her having any measure of authority over the warden.
Ms. Beedinwigg cleared her throat and dipped her head slightly to hide her grin. “You won’t be too happy with me after you hear this…” she said, looking up from beneath her lashes at us. “I promised him that you would both behave.”
My jaw dropped then. No one said it but we all knew that was impossible. Then she added the icing to that sweet news.
“
Any punishment you are handed down will result in one that is twofold for me.”
I sucked in my breath.
She leaned forward slightly to whisper, “I have full confidence in you.”
I started shaking my head, unable to conjure the words to tell her that she’d made a foolish mistake. Mr. Warden hated us both. He’d be looking for reasons to expel us.
Appearing as if she wanted to change the subject, she openly assessed me. “You look tired, Maggie.”
Already irritated by her agreement with the warden, I rolled my eyes. I was
more
tired of hearing it.
“
It was smart of you to bring her back,” she told Eran.
He nodded in agreement. “Yes it was.”
Before I was able to insist I was almost back to my regular energy level, the first bell rang and we had to head to our seats.
Just before she began to start her lecture, Ms. Beedinwigg gave me a hard look. It was one that I knew intuitively. The demure woman standing before me, hair in a bun, glasses hanging from her neck, wearing a shapeless printed dress, once again reminded me of the aggressive warrior hidden behind her camouflaged outfit.
Her look was telling me that when I was ready to return to training I knew where to go.
The hour-long class felt short on time but it wasn’t long enough to make me forget that a few days ago, I was drowning a Fallen One.
The next few hours were easier. Although Eran wasn’t with me, I was distracted in other ways. The rumor about Eran was traveling again across school grounds and, surprisingly, a few students had the courage to approach me about it.
In my third period class, Mark Mitchell leaned towards me and asked, “So’s it true what I heard about Eran Talor?”