Wanderlust (3 page)

“Lia, is everything all right?” Addie asked with genuine concern, shaking off the sleep that had embraced her for the past few hours.

“She’s blubbering something about Chaseyn being gone,” Addie explained. “But he’s been gone a while, so I’m not sure why the sudden tears. She was fine before.”

“It’s okay, Lia,” Eli whispered, smoothing my hair and wiping the tears from my cheeks. “I understand.”

And, I knew he did. He understood in a way Addie never would. Never could. For this, I felt both grateful and guilty.

Heartbreaking. That was the only word to describe the look on Addie’s face when she realized Eli and I shared a special connection. Still, I couldn’t help but snuggle into Eli’s warm embrace as he worked to soothe my mind.

“Shhh, Lia. It’s okay. Let it out,” he whispered, his breath warm on my ear.

His lips gently grazed my cheek, but I was too weak to worry about the implication. Instead, I let him comfort me, while Addie watched in stunned silence. Despite my emotional state, I made a mental note to find a balance—a balance between the best friend who had stood at my side through all of my teenage triumphs and tribulations and the boy-next-door--to my grandma, anyway--who knew my dirty little secret.

Addie was right. Our plane was scheduled to land at 9:17 a.m. London time, which translated to 2:17 a.m. Colorado time. By lunch time, it would be more than 24 hours since my last decent rest. And, to avoid the setbacks of jetlag, I would have to remain awake until at least 8 p.m. Ridiculous. But, I couldn’t close my eyes. Not for one minute. Slipping back into a series of obscure dreams simply was not an option.

Last autumn, I had fallen victim to an uneven sleep pattern based on the fact that I was experiencing disturbing dreams that would stir me from my slumber midway through the night. The details were never clear, but the outcome was always the same. When Chaseyn arrived, the eerie dreams faded, and his calming presence became the main focus of my subconscious state. He had been there, keeping me safe. Now, he was gone. I was left to my own devices, with only Eli to protect me from impending doom. Albeit with his brawny biceps and broad shoulders, Eli sometimes seemed to have superhuman strength. But, he was
just
a boy after all.

Just a boy.

The one thing Chaseyn would never be. Something I needed…for now.

Though I was well aware of this fact on a conscious, physical level, I knew my subconscious was still battling this knowledge. Once I had accepted this on an emotional plane, I could move forward, free from Chaseyn and the unnerving hold he had on me.

Despite my mind’s unintentional response to his absence, my body needed to recharge, and occasionally, it would allow just that to happen without burdening my mind with disturbing dreams and jolting me into an uncomfortable alertness. Or, was it possible that Eli could also help me find peace? Confusion set in. Deep within.

Regardless, at some point between my woeful revelation and touchdown, my body had quit fighting against its natural need and succumbed to an all-encompassing slumber.

Chapter 4 - Landing

“Sweetie, it’s time to wake up,“ Addie gently jostled my shoulder and smoothed my hair. “We’re going to be landing soon.”

I shifted in my seat and pushed myself upright. I’m not sure how long I had been laying with my cheek pressed against Eli’s firm chest, but he looked ridiculously relieved when I finally released him from his awkward position.

“Why didn’t you wake me sooner? You must be so uncomfortable.”

“It’s okay, babe,” he said with a huge smile, stretching his arms over his head and puffing up his chest. “Whatever it takes.”

His words were full of implication, and I knew exactly what he was getting at. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and squeezed tight. In the meantime, Addie had pulled out my tray and placed a muffin, yogurt, and box juice on top.

“You have to be quick. They’re going to make us stow our things soon, but I didn’t want you to starve. They came around with breakfast a while ago, but you looked so peaceful that I couldn’t wake you,” Addie explained.

“Oh, Eli, how did you eat with me in the way?”

“I managed,” he smiled, plucking a wayward crumb from the top of my head.

I couldn’t help but smile, too. Despite the fact that he was a bit rough around the edges, there was something very charming about Eli. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, it was going to be a challenge to deny his advances with Chaseyn out of the picture. His thousand mega-watt smile was enough to bring most girls to their knees. Fortunately, I wasn’t like most girls.

“Thanks so much, you guys. You’re taking such good care of me, and I’m not sure how I can repay you.”

“I can think of a way,” Eli winked and puckered his lips. I playfully hit him in the arm and pushed his face away from where it hovered mere inches from my own.

I had barely wiped away the last of the muffin crumbs from my chin when the flight attendants began making their final rounds and preparing us for the descent into London. I tightened the strap across my lap, stowed my carry on bag beneath the seat in front of me, and gripped the armrests. I wasn’t a white-knuckle flier, but I didn’t like landing. There was a lot of stress on the plane as it pushed down through the clouds. If something was going to happen, this would be the time.

The plane rattled and roared as it cut through the sky. I felt every lump and bump with an intensity that made my head hurt and my tummy turn.

“Don’t be such a baby,” Addie chided. “This is totally normal.”

“Don’t listen to her,” Eli said softly, shooting daggers at Addie with his eyes. He flexed his well-defined bicep and grinned. “If you need something to hold on to, you feel free to grab hold of this. I’m sure you’ll feel much better.”

I rolled my eyes at both of them, and braced for touchdown. I felt the wheels hit the runway and exhaled a deep sigh of relief. Our bird was on solid ground, and our adventure was about to begin.

Okay. So we had to wait a while longer before our adventure could begin. We were running a solid half-hour early, and our gate was occupied by another plane. It was at least fifteen minutes before we finally taxied up to the side of the airport. We waited for what felt like forever to disembark the plane, and when we finally did, we had to wait even longer in the line at customs.

The customs officer seemed to let every other traveler through with minimal delay. Not me. He might as well have tossed me into an interrogation room with a giant spotlight beaming down on me. I got the full shakedown--where was I going, who was I going there with, why was I going there, what did I plan to buy, where would I be staying? So many questions, and luckily, I knew all of the answers. I had Chaseyn to thank for that. He had prepared me well for my travels, particularly in the ways of customs questions.

Once I finally had my passport stamped and could walk through the turnstile, we were still not quite free to begin our adventure. There was one more stop we had to make--the one at the baggage carousel. One good thing came from my customs foray--our bags were already offloaded and awaiting our arrival. In fact, all of the other passengers had departed, and our bags were the only ones remaining. We quickly grabbed them, flung them over our shoulders, and dashed for the exit.

We took the express train from Heathrow to Paddington Station and began walking in what we hoped was the general direction of our accommodations. For our first three nights abroad, we planned to camp out in a hostel that claimed to be a mere stone’s throw from Buckingham Palace.

Ignoring their jabs at one another, I pushed past Addie and Eli, and headed straight for the concrete jungle beyond. I couldn’t wait to get my first taste of Europe, and I wasn’t going to let their bickering spoil the moment. The glass doors opened automatically as I approached, and a rush of happiness enveloped me as I stepped outside.

Out in the street, we were greeted by a light drizzle and a foggy haze. Addie’s immediate reaction was to hail a taxi, but I sidestepped and quickly filled her outstretched hand with a small black umbrella that I had tucked in my carry on.

“Ladies, ladies, ladies,” Eli said, stepping between us, arms outstretched to keep us apart. “Let’s not start off on a sour note.”

“Fine. I’ll walk,” Addie relented.

“Fine,” I said and turned in a huff.

More than an hour later, we finally arrived at our destination, only to realize we were about a five-minute walk from our original starting point. Needless to say, Addie was extremely upset with me, not to mention, we were all drenched.

“Do ya’ll have a reservation?” the clerk asked in a thick southern drawl--not quite what I had expected from our first interaction with a “local.”

“Yeah. It should be under Jameson.”

“That’s a good thing,” the woman said without looking up. “It’s like a can of sardines in this place. If you hadn’t booked ahead, I’d have to turn you away. Hmmm…it says here that the reservation is for two gals. Looks to me like you picked up a little something extra on the way, and I can see why because if a cutie patootie like him asked if he could tag along with me…well, let’s just say--”

Eli turned about 50 shades of red before walking out of the lobby and onto the street, where the rain was now coming down in sheets.

“Thank you, but can you suggest another hostel that might be able to accommodate the three of us?” I asked politely.

“It’s the first week of summer break. You’ll be lucky if you can find a park bench to sit on let alone a place to stay. Good luck, sweetheart.”

Addie and I slung our bags across our backs and headed for the rotating door. Addie was going to be furious, but there wasn’t much I could do about it now. As we walked through the door, another couple entered in search of a room, and I could hear the clerk telling them that one had just opened up thanks to our departure.

“Great. Just great,” she shouted at me, throwing her bag to the ground. “What are we supposed to do now?”

“Don’t blame me for this. If you guys had told me
he
would be coming, I would have changed the reservation,” I said sticking a thumb in the general direction of where I had last seen Eli standing. “Hey, where is he?”

I turned in a slow circle, my eyes doing a quick, but thorough, scan of the surrounding area. Eli was no place to be seen. Panic instantly threatened to rise up within me. It wasn’t a stretch to think that Eli could have been kidnapped--or worse--by one of Chaseyn’s vampire siblings. Chaseyn was no longer here to sense them and protect us. My breath caught in my throat and my eyes burned. As annoying as Eli was most of the time, if anything happened to him, I would never forgive myself.

I dropped my bag to the ground and began spinning in a circle, my eyes frantically scanning every inch of the domain in search of Eli’s familiar mug.

“Whoa, calm down. I think your jumping to some pretty dark conclusions. Let’s give it a minute before we begin filing a police report.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. We could never file a police report for this type of danger,” I said, then quickly covered my mouth, hoping I hadn’t said too much.

“I don’t get you sometimes,” Addie said, seemingly oblivious. “Look, there’s your boyfriend now. You can stop your worrying.”

I chose to let her remark slide in favor of yelling at Eli for taking off on us.

“Don’t ever do that again,” I screamed in his general direction, uncertain if he could hear me over the din of traffic coursing down the street dividing us. “Do you have any idea how worried I was about you?”

I was just about to give him a piece of my mind when he held up what looked remarkably like a hotel room key. Tearing a strip off Eli no longer seemed like a top priority. An enormous smirk spread across his smug face.