The Apple Tree (22 page)

She gasped and jerked away from him.

Shit. Coming back from an injury like this wasn’t normal. What was he going to tell her?

“
Levi? Oh my God, you’re breathing!” Her hands ran along the sides of his face. “You’re breathing.”

He opened his eyes and found Bianca leaning over him, her red hair falling over his body and tears dripping down her cheeks.

“
Hey, it’s okay.” He wiped away the wetness on her face with his thumb.

She turned her head, scanning his body and her eyes grew wide. “You’re not h-hurt… anymore.” Her hands hesitated above him. Finally, she pulled the tattered shreds of his shirt to the side, inspecting his stomach.

His breathing hitched as she ran her fingers along the line where the mountain lion had sliced him. He needed to be thinking of a way to explain this, but it was impossible to focus when she touched him.

“
How is this possible?” Her eyes were huge and her hands shook. “Your stomach… it was… horrible… and now… and your arm…”

His heart dropped. This was the moment he’d been dreading. The moment she realized he was different and left his life. But he couldn’t let her go, couldn’t lose her like he’d lost Edith. He had to find a way to explain it without frightening her.

“
I…I can heal.” Nailed it. He felt like slapping his forehead.

She gave him a look that clearly said
no duh
. “I can see that. I’m asking how!”

“
Do you remember the orchard where I first met you?”

She nodded and crossed her arms. “Like I could forget your ridiculous overreaction.”

He took a deep breath. “One of the trees grows apples that are special. If you eat one, you’ll never die.” He’d just told her everything Peter and his father had been trying to get out of him for the last year. She was close with Peter, but he didn’t think she’d be able to accept this unless she knew the whole truth. Hopefully he could trust her.

She stared at him like she hadn’t understood a word he’d said.

“
Bianca?” Was this when the screaming and running started?

Her eyelids blinked. “A magic apple? Are you crazy?”

Maybe he was. “I know. It sounds ridiculous.” He glanced over at the mountain lion lying beside him, a hole through its head. Did she do that?

“
Ridiculous? Yeah, it sounds ridiculous alright! Your heart stopped beating! You were dead!” She stood, frantically brushing the mud off her jeans. Blood stains covered her light green sweater and a twig stuck onto the material. “I have to get out of here.” She turned toward her bike, leaning against a tree a few feet away.

“
Wait!” He used his arm to support his weight and then pushed himself up to a standing position, his body still shaky. “Please, don’t go. I’ll explain everything.” He walked toward her, pleading with his eyes.

She held up her hand. “Stay back.”

His feet came to a stop. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Her face softened. “I know, but… this is crazy. I don’t really know how to handle this. I’d think you were pulling my leg or completely off your rocker, except… I just saw it.”

“
I understand.” His head dropped. “It took a long time for me to process, the first time it happened. Do you want to go inside and talk?”

She stared at him, her face blank. “Tell me about the apples. Where did they come from?”

“
Let’s talk about this inside. I’m not entirely comfortable out here. There are people who want this information and they’ve been known to spy on me.”

Her jaw dropped. “It’s a whole big thing. People spy on you?”

“
Let’s just go inside and we’ll talk, I promise.” He walked toward her holding his hands up to show he meant no harm.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Okay, fine.”

His face relaxed. He hurried to the door, held it open and they walked inside.

Bianca thought she might be having a panic attack. Her heart pounded and she could barely breathe. She’d just seen Levi… come back to life. Part of her rejoiced that he was okay. When she’d seen him lying on the ground, mauled and bloodied, it’d been the worst moment of her life. She’d only just begun to know him and he was being torn away from her.

But now… he was alive again and she couldn’t wrap her head around how that was possible.

“
Make yourself comfortable.” He gestured toward the couch.

She sat on the plaid loveseat and looked around the room. Everything was very… manly. She could almost laugh if she wasn’t so freaked out. Obviously, this home belonged to a single guy. He kept it clean and tidy but, the only colors in the room were blue and green, along with wood, lots and lots of wood. There were paneled walls and a bookcase and table that looked like they might be handmade. A roughly chiseled figurine of a bear stood on the stone mantel of the fireplace.

“
Would you like a drink?” He walked toward the open kitchen.

“
Yes, something strong, please.”

He laughed, digging through the kitchen cabinets. “That bad, huh?”

She ran her hand over her face. This would be a lot easier to handle if his clothes weren’t ripped to shreds and hanging off his sculpted body.

He poked his head around the cabinet and the glint in his eyes gave her the distinct impression he’d caught her staring at his abs.

The blood rushed to her cheeks and she looked away.

A smile crossed his lips as he took a couple of glasses and bottle of bourbon out of the cupboard and walked over to the coffee table, setting it down in front of her.

“
I should go change.” He held out one of the strips that hung from his shirt. “Do you want me to throw your clothes in the washer? I mean, you can’t go home looking like that.” He waved his hand toward her, indicating the mud and blood that covered her clothes. “I’ll find something for you to wear, of course. Sweats or something.”

She glanced down at her clothes and bit her lip at the thought of undressing in his house, even in private. “Um, yeah. I guess you’re right.”

He nodded and disappeared into the bedroom.

Her shaky hand reached for the bourbon, filling both glasses and then taking a large swig of the one closest to her. She shivered as the burning liquid slid down her throat.

Levi came back into the room a few minutes later, dressed in fresh clothes, with sweats and a t-shirt slung over his arm. He handed her the items and nodded toward the bathroom.

When Bianca emerged, Levi cleared his throat and looked down at his glass, swallowing it all in one gulp. The sight of his t-shirt draped over her toned shoulders was enough to make him come undone. He almost dropped the glass in his hand.

She walked into the room, handing him her dirty clothes like she had no idea how sexy she looked.

“
You kissed me… out there.” Oh, God, why did he say that?

She looked down, smoothing her hair with her palms. “I didn’t think I’d ever get another chance.”

He wanted to ask her to kiss him again, but he couldn’t get the words out. And that would be inappropriate right now. She wanted to know about the apples.

“
I’ll be right back,” he mumbled, taking her clothes and heading toward the washing machine.

When he returned, he sat down next to her on the couch.

“
So, you can’t die… at all?” Her voice was so quiet he barely heard her.

He poured himself another drink. “No, not at all.” The golden liquid sloshed in the bottle as he set it down and replaced the lid. “I’m a hundred and eighty years old.” He threw back his glass, drinking the contents in one swallow.

B
ianca stared at Levi, unable to understand what he’d just said. Every pore in her body said this was all a big joke, except, she’d just seen him heal completely. He should be dead.

One hundred and eighty years old.

The concept finally started to penetrate her consciousness.

“
It hadn’t even occurred to me that you could be really old. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the healing, but…” She looked down at her glass, turning it in her palm. “Now that you mention it, you’ve always seemed different.”

“
I’ll start at the beginning.” He set his glass on the coffee table and took a deep breath. “After crossing the Oregon Trail with my family, I took out a land claim. This land.” He waved toward the window. “I was out surveying one day, when I came across an apple tree on the far perimeter of the property.”

“
You were a pioneer?” She rubbed her forehead. “I think my brain is going to explode.”

He chuckled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I’d been invited for dinner at my uncle’s home that night, so I gathered as many apples as I could fit into my saddle bag to bring to my cousin Anna. I thought she might make a pie. I had no idea there was anything special about the apples.” He looked at his hands and then closed his eyes and leaned back on the plaid couch. “If I had known, I would have never…” Suddenly, he sat back up, reached for the bottle of bourbon and poured himself another glass. “We all ate the pie and then… went home. Several days later, people started getting sick. The young suddenly grew old, very quickly.” He took a gulp of the liquor.

She looked down at the glass in her hand, twirling it in circles. “I don’t understand. I thought the apples made you heal. They made people sick?”

He nodded. “They made our loved ones sick. They died. Six people died and then Peter was shot.”

Her head snapped up. “Peter? He’s… one hundred and eighty also?”

“
Actually, he’s one hundred and eighty-two now. He was twenty-six when he ate the pie. I was twenty-four.”

She reached for the bottle of bourbon, completely numb now that she’d reached her limit of crazy. Peter is immortal as well, okay. The sky is Jell-O and the moon is made of cheese, okay.

“
Peter healed and later we discovered there were six of us who had these new healing powers.” He took a drink. “We had no idea what to make of it, or what caused it. There was no more reason to connect it back to the apples than to the bread we ate or the water we drank. But my Uncle Charles figured out every one of us who’d become immortal lost someone we loved dearly from the preceding illness.”