Part 23 (1/2)
Was he supposed to go back down and get the book right away, or go to the Himalayas with something he couldn't even name within him... with the family and Damali unprotected and near him? To his foggy mind, the answer was clear. Get the book first.
He heard a small squeaking sound coming from the mirror. He stared at it intently as it began to scrawl a message in the condensation on the gla.s.s. It was written in reverse, and he squinted at it, trying to decipher it. Renewed terror threaded through his soul and spread like an inferno. It read very simply, Get the book.
Krissy glanced up from her laptop and over to Dan as he sat at the dining room table playing cards with her dad and a few of the male Guardians. She smiled as he studied his hand and rubbed his jaw, considering his next move. Rider was always a hoot and provided comic relief. Their card game antics made her laugh, and she liked seeing Dan happy instead of tense and scowling at J.L.
Truthfully, Dan was a really nice guy. Had big blue eyes, a sweet heart, was smart, cute in a wiry sort of way... considerate, listened, was a decent fighter, and was crazy about her. The only problem was that after one kiss she knew he'd only be a brother to her. But the last thing she ever wanted to do was hurt him.
He was family, he was Bobby's best friend, plus her mother adored him. Her dad, well, that was another story. Richard Berkfield didn't trust any guy around her and never had. But he was at least reasonable toward Dan, unlike the way he practically snarled when J.L. sat too close to her. Maybe being a cop for all those years gave her dad special insight. Perhaps he felt the chemistry that was hard to ignore and that they'd attempted to keep secret. Just her luck to have a detective for a father.
She glanced away and sighed, studying her laptop as though its keys might provide answers like a Ouija board. However, she could feel J.L.'s intensity from where he sat in the adjacent chair by the window. No, she would not look up at him. Couldn't.
His quiet need reached out to her across the room. It always did. That's how things always got started. She squeezed her knees together and briefly shut her eyes. It had started.
Unable to help herself, she glanced up and her gaze was trapped by the silent smolder in his eyes. Those searching, intense brown eyes were impossible to ignore. She loved what the sun did to his skin as it washed him in afternoon gold. She loved the feel of his hair, black silk, and patient hands... haiku fire. She loved his agile, toned body, and the way he moved like a cat... a being without bones, so fluid, graceful... just like he was on the computers, a mastermind, subtle, wise, a man of few words, though those he spoke were profound. And his mind had been the thing that had stolen her heart. He'd taught her so much. He had been the first guy that really heard her, knew what she was talking about, and didn't think she was an airhead or a geek or weird. He believed in her-her. She loved him. That's what she couldn't ignore. That's what her father didn't understand.
Their code was also subtle, codesigned without words. J.L. closed his laptop, asked if anyone wanted a beer, and left the room.
She waited until he came back, handed out brews, and then she mouthed hollow plat.i.tudes about finding the rest of the girls. She went out the back door; he went out the front door.
Her heart raced faster than her legs as she dashed across the wide backyard toward the toolshed, slipped inside, and gently closed the door behind her and waited. The wait for him to wind an oblique path to meet her was the worst. She never knew if he would make it or get waylaid by one of the other Guardians or what.
Krissy peered through the open shed slats, then leaned against the wall and shut her eyes, trying to slow her breathing.
Impossible. Sunlight created splintered beams along the dirt floor and dust motes glistened. She impatiently peeked out once again, then watched pollen and dust particles dance in the air like sunlit fairy flecks that had been stirred from her quick entry. If he would just come to the shed...
When she heard footfalls, she held her breath. Her face felt hot. Perspiration made her white cotton s.h.i.+rt cling to her skin. Would this time be like all the others-his kiss and touch interrupted by someone approaching? What if this time he said it was wrong, or that they should wait until her birthday, when she turned eighteen in a few weeks? What if it wasn't him?
She whirred around and pressed her face to the wall slats again, and then let her breath out in relief when she saw J.L. glance over his shoulder and reach for the door. She moved toward him the moment he closed it behind him, but he put his finger to his lips and glanced around the toolshed barn, as though being hunted. She froze, listened hard, but couldn't take her eyes off him.
Her gaze became a slow glide down his handsome, symmetrical features; it stopped at his mouth, then continued to his Adam's apple; took in his shoulders and the way his T-s.h.i.+rt clung to him with a thin sheen of sweat; then slid down to his narrow, tight waist, to his jeans.
”Kris, I can't do this anymore,” he whispered, and then closed his eyes.
Hurt initially stunned her, but the expression on his face told her that she'd misinterpreted what he'd meant.
”Why not?” she whispered, already knowing the answer. Each time had become more intense, closer to the inevitable, harder to stop. Their secret shed visits had become more frequent with less time between each stolen moment, and they were both going crazy from it all.
J.L. opened his eyes. The way he stared at her made her feel like her legs would give out from under her. He offered her a lopsided smile as his gaze went toward a dried-out hay bale, then over to a row of rusted tools on the wall, settling on an ax.
”Because there's about fifty things in here for your dad to kill me with.”
She smiled. ”He's playing cards.”
”The man isn't stupid, and he's armed and extremely dangerous. A cop, remember.”
”Ex-cop,” she countered, going to J.L. and filling his arms.
”Worse. That means he's not worried about losing his job.” J.L. laughed wryly and kissed her forehead.”I don't care,” she murmured as he nuzzled her neck and her hands splayed across his muscular, toned back.
”I care,” he breathed out hard against her hair.
”I know you do... That's why I love you.”
”I gotta at least wait till you're legal.”
”No you don't,” she whispered in a rush against his ear. ”I want to.”
His grip tightened around her back as his mouth found hers, palms stroking more desire into her shoulders as they slid against her damp s.h.i.+rt then found her arms. A soft whimper entered his mouth and he swallowed it, her body producing friction against his.
She thought she would faint when his fingers sought her hair, not the ache of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s... She'd purposely not worn a bra just for him, and he didn't seem to notice.
This time had to be different. They could all die any day. She refused to die never fully knowing him. His featherlight touches during stolen moments had made her crazy. Having nowhere to ever really be alone had made her bold. Sleeping in an overcrowded room with no privacy to bask in the sweet aftermath of a secret interlude, ever, made her tug at his T-s.h.i.+rt and deepen their kiss. Working side by side with him every day, all day and half the night, learning his ways, his laugh, his humor, his moods, his deepest feelings, down to his very scent made her throw caution to the wind.
Her touch ran down his back, covered his backside, and then traced his hips until she gained the courage to slide them between their bodies. The low sound he made filled her mouth and caused her to tear away from the burning kiss to gasp.
He shook his head, and spoke in halting, pained bursts. ”Just a few more weeks. I love you, Kris, but I won't make it till then if-”
She kissed away his words and began frantically working on his belt. Her s.h.i.+rt yanked up, and his hot face pressed against her b.r.e.a.s.t.s with a groan, making her cry out. The long-awaited sensation caused tears to spill as she staggered backward, blind, eyes closed, kissing him harder, trusting, knowing he was walking her toward the p.r.i.c.kly hay bale and she didn't care.
In one martial arts pivot, he was under her, moving in a fluid tide, stripping away her s.h.i.+rt and taking the full punishment of the hay to save her skin.
When Damali pulled up to the front of the family house, Dan was standing on the steps with a duffel bag in hand. He smiled broadly, the sun catching in his blond hair and making his boyish face seem even younger.
”Marlene had a hunch you might be needing these,” he said with a smirk, holding out a bag of Carlos's clothes to Damali. Damali chuckled. ”I see Marlene hasn't lost her edge.”
”Not at all,” Dan said, coming down the steps to hug Damali. ”You okay, lady?”
”Yeah, I'm fine, just a little weary.”
He looked at her, worried. ”How's our brother?”
”He's cool,” Damali said. ”Just been through a lot of changes, but he'll be all right.”
Dan nodded and glanced back at the screen as Jose appeared within it.
”You cool, D?” Jose said, coming out onto the porch quickly and keeping his gaze fastened to Damali's.
”Yeah. Like I told Dan, everything's gonna be all right.”But it wasn't all right. She could feel tension crackling all around her. She stepped over the doorsill and the hair on the back of her neck rose.
Everyone was packed. Suitcases and duffel bags waited by the door. Shabazz was at the table playing cards with Berkfield, Bobby, and Rider. Everything seemed normal, but wasn't. She could feel Jose and Dan stop for a moment behind her, fidget, and then slide into their seats.
”Morning, y'all,” she said in a sarcastic tone, addressing their cool reception with testy humor. ”Where's Mar?”
Shabazz slammed down a card hard. ”Went to meditate in the woods, again, before we leave this afternoon. Where else?”
Damali chewed her bottom lip and forced her voice to become upbeat. ”Cool,” she said casually. ”Marj around?”
”At the store,” Berkfield muttered. ”Shopping till she drops, since we're changing locations again. Like we need anything else. If we coulda gotten a morning flight out, then she wouldn't be running around like a madwoman.” He looked up with a frown.
”Marlene said a lot of flights have been canceling lately,” Rider muttered, studying his fan of cards. ”All transportation is screwed because people aren't showing up to their jobs. Drama is breaking out everywhere. In my mind, the sooner we can get this show on the road, the better, 'cause the s.h.i.+t is obviously spreading faster than we'd imagined.”