Forever Now

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

 I started. Had he just said- did he... I tried to wrap my mind around what he had just said. He looked at his hands his eyes clearly avoiding mine. I straightened in my seat, my mind running at a million miles per seconds trying to find some joke, some hidden meaning to what he had said. I found none and it depressed the hell out of me. I tried to reach out for him but he flinched away, his hands moving away as I reached out. His statement had both he and I at a fork in the road, one that wouldn’t be solved with a sorry.

“We should go home,” I said softly. He looked confused for a moment, his hands tensing at his lap. “Yeah, lets go home. We can talk there.”

I gave him no opportunity to decline; I simply stood, placed a 20 on the table and walked out. I hoped he would follow me, but I heard no footsteps behind or the door opening me. So I walked to my car, my hands trembling a bit as I held in the tears that threaten to escape, and got in. In his usual Angel way, Kryzstofer was already in the passenger seat when I turned on the gas, scaring me like always.

“Lets go.”

We arrived and silently made our way to my apartment. Kryzstofer trailed slowly behind me, his head hung low. The entire ride he’d been silent, as silent as ever. Not to cute silent thing he does sometime but the silent sad that depressed me even further than his statement. Something was wrong and he wanted to talk about it but didn’t know how, that much I could guess.

Perhaps he wanted a reaction from me? For me to shout, scream, kick and demand he answer me. But I wasn’t going to do that. No, logically I knew that a human couldn’t possibly be with an Angel. I knew that whatever it is that we have was purely on an emotional level, something Angels couldn’t understand. We were connected emotionally and hell, he is one attractive man – Angel- but I wasn’t that naïve. Not anymore at least.

 As we passed Janice’s apartment, Alec came out. He looked to a downtrodden Kryzstofer and a depressed looking me, and smiled sadly. Kryzstofer continued up the stairs leaving me with Alec without a word. Alec noted this, his eyes following Kryzstofer as he ascended and then resting on me.

“What happened?” He asked me. “What’s wrong with him?”

“Uh, girl problems.” Which was technically right. “What’s up?”

“Can we talk?”

“Of course,” I said as he stepped to the side to let me into the apartment.

“Janice has been... strange lately,” he said shutting the door. “She’s been having dreams about... well about your brother. She thinks he’s an angel or something and that he’s spying on her because she’s a transmitter or something.”

“Really?” I said with a hint of amusement. “What else?”

“She says you’re a reaper and that you take people’s souls,” he said as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Look, I promised I would speak to you. Make you and Kryzstofer back off and leave ‘us’ alone.”

“Yeah,” I said taking a seat on the couch. Alec sat next to me, his knee touching mine. For a second I saw a glimpse of a strange world in which we were together. We were holding hands as we walked, our shoulders touching. I shook my head trying to make the image go away and failing. For a moment I thought I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Alec suppressing a smirk.

“So...” he said. “If she asks you’ll say I did.”

I nodded and made to leave but his hand reached for mine to stop me. “Is there something else?” I asked sitting back down. Before I could react, he pressed his lips to mine. His hands pushed me back on the couch as he positioned himself on top of me. My brain screamed that it was wrong, my heart clenched at betraying Kryzstofer before his words came back to me.

You are not my true love. Not... not his true love.

I kissed him back, my hands tangling in his long hair. His tongue slipped in between my lips and joined with mine. His hands reached under me, touching my back, the other titled my head back. My legs straddled his waist, pulling him closer to me. My hand began to trail his back intending to reach out to remove his shirt, when it hit me. A wave of nausea and the bitter taste of betrayal, that hit me when my hand floated over his Lifestream.

I pushed him away immediately as I saw Kleopatra touching his face. His Lifestream was powerful enough to shield itself from me but not enough that I couldn’t touch it without getting a vision. I pushed him off and got up. He got up too, his hands ranking through his hair.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured as I made my way to the door. I turned to him, my eyes locked firmly on his eyes.

“What did she promise you?” I asked. “What did Kleopatra promise you?”

“What?” He asked loudly. “Who?”

“Don’t pretend,” I told him. “I know all about you.”

“I have no idea what you are-“ he stopped himself, his hands cupping his mouth. “Alright, fine. You got me!”

“Stay away from me,” I warned. “Or I swear you will not make it out of this alive, no matter what she promised you. I sweat Alec, you almost had me there for a second.”

“Almost,” he repeated as I opened the door and ran out of the apartment. As I ran up the stairs, I thought I heard him say, “she promised me you.”