The Cupid Touch

The Cupid Touch Chapter 21 - Deepest Red

 He looked forlorn again, less the dangerous, muscular football star who could rain down vengeance and more the kid who'd been desperate to keep his Mom safe. 

 "Yeah," I said. "I know." 

 I drank down the little squeeze of my heart for him with the pale craft beer we'd been served with, and then I started talking about his football until I could see the tension leave him. Little by little, throughout eating, we crept closer and closer to each other, until it was easier to vacate my chair and go and squeeze onto the side of Joe-Moe's with him. There was nobody within sight, and I could feel the familiar heat rising in me as he wound his fingers in my hair. 

 "You know, they have rooms upstairs," I murmured. "We could always stay..." 

 He laughed. "How much would that cost?" 

 "Not much," I said. "And you know, there's no point making your Mom fall for a ridiculously rich man if you don't get to abuse it a little." 

 "And you think it's still ok?" he asked, quietly. "You're not worried about making anything happen?" 

 I stopped and thought about it, trying to keep it purely theoretical and not allow any access to that magnetic draw that would steal him away forever. 

"I am," I said. "But it's hard worrying about it all the time. I'd like - I guess I should be practising the control thing." 

 "Can you do it now?" he asked. "While I watch?" 

 He was still twining his fingers through the hair at the back of my neck, and the last thing I wanted right then was to control myself and think about Axel's perfect match. 

 "Is this the entertainment for the evening?" I asked. 

 "Jeez, I hope not," he said, and kissed the side of my neck so softly that I shuddered. 

 "Ahhh, I can't do it when you're doing that." With a sigh, I stood up, and went to sit back in my own chair. 

 "Well that's less fun," he said. 

 "Do you want me to practise or not?" I asked, glaring at him. 

 "Well, if it's a choice between you practising and having to fall in love with some other woman I don't actually know," he said, "I guess I'll sit here for a few minutes. But only for a few." 

 I tried not to smile. "You'll have to be quiet." 

 "I always am," he lied. 

 I ignored him and took a few deep breaths, pushing away thoughts of a private room upstairs and instead thinking about Axel in a very different sort of way. I thought about how scared he must have been when Lucas turned up and threatened him, and how lost he was. I thought about the frightened boy thinking his Dad might kill his Mom, and how much better it would be if he had someone. And there it was, that huge drawing feeling, like a hum in the air. 

I could sense two points at a great distance across the city, one an unknown and the other unmistakably Axel. I tried to hold onto that feeling of caring about him, and then to push the other point away. I wasn't even sure it was possible, but maybe I could just keep them apart. I wanted him to be happy, but not with the unknown, possibly untrustworthy person who was being reeled in towards him by my power. 

 I gave a tiny growl of frustration. That other point was still approaching, and the draw was building. Not quickly, but building all the same. 

 So maybe you need to stop Axel being magnetic, I thought. 

 I focused as hard as I could on Axel and, whilst still caring about him, tried to put a barrier around him in my mind. 

 "I can feel it from here," Joe-Moe murmured. It almost broke my concentration. 

I grabbed hold of that point in my mind, remembering that it was Axel, and that I wanted to help him but also protect him from what I did. And then something went strange. My heart started to pound and it was as if that point had become an urgent, flashing light instead of a simple marker. 

 I jerked upright in my chair, unable to feel anything now except dread. 

 "There's something wrong," I said, my breath short. 

 "What do you mean?" Joe-Moe reached out to take my hand, at once stroking it, soothing me. 

 "It's Axel. Something's wrong." 

 I felt his hand tighten on mine. "You know where he is?" he asked. 

 "Yeah, I can - I can feel it. It's weird. He's downtown." Joe-Moe was on his feet and pulling his jacket on, his hand scrabbling in his pocket for his cell-phone. 

 I stood up too, shaking. I knew I had to hold onto the connection with Axel, because chances were, if he was in danger, he wasn't going to be able to answer a call. But Joe-Moe was trying anyway. 

 I tried to focus while I pulled a fifty out of my pocket and threw it down to cover the food. I knew it was too much, but there was no time for anything else. 

 Please be ok. Please be ok, I thought, and then added, as I thought about charging in on a drug-dealer's heavies to save him, And please let us be ok, too.