We soared low down across the ocean, circling back towards the Santa Monica pier. The tips of the waves licked my shoes, splashing up onto my legs. It was refreshing. The water here was so much warmer than the water in the Puget Sound.
Siena had us circling Los Angeles for the last hour while the sun set so nobody would see us. Once it got dark, we circled back towards the beach near the pier, beating our wings to slow us down before we hit the sand. Siena and Grey landed in a sort of jog, and Allison fell to one knee as she landed. My feet hit the sand and my legs gave out, so I, graceful as always, landed on all fours.
"You okay, Jordan?" Siena asked, walking over to me. I brushed the sand off my knees as I stood up, my legs wobbly. Now that my adrenaline was dying off from the flight, I realized how utterly exhausted I was. My wings were so sore. I don't know why my legs were tired, but they were. As a matter of fact, so was the rest of my body. It felt like I'd spent the whole day at the gym maxing out on weights. Odd. It was like my wings had drawn energy from everywhere else in my body in order to get me here, and now, I was just drained.
"Yeah. Just tired, I guess," I replied, looking around. Siena had landed us away from people, further down from the pier.
"Most Angels need a few months at least before they can fly that far. You did well," she offered me a slight smile.
"We need to find a motel," Grey mumbled out, narrowing his eyes at Siena and I. Ugh. He was so cranky. He outstretched his wings to either side of him before pulling them back in towards his body. They then vanished as he reined them back in to his soul.
"Where are you thinking?" Allison asked, stretching her wings out as Grey had, and then pulling them back in.
"If we go to a motel along the pier, we can pull off the whole tourist thing. We'll seem less suspicious here and will likely draw less attention," Grey explained.
"But wouldn't going to a motel on the outskirts of LA be safer? Less chance of running into a demon where there's less people," Siena suggested, pulling her wings in as Grey and Allison had.
"Just keep your souls under control and don't make eye contact with anyone. Outskirts of LA have more crime, so demons are more attracted to those areas. We're probably safer here," Grey sighed, running his hands through his hair. I outstretched my wings as the others had, sucking in a deep breath before exhaling and pulling my wings back in to my soul. It knocked the wind out of me and I shivered.
"Okay. There's a motel a block from here. Says it has vacancy. I'm not very good at Suggestion yet, so one of you will have to do it," Allison explained, eyeing Grey and Siena.
"I can do it," Grey clenched his jaw slightly.
"Okay. Follow me," she pressed her lips together, leading us down the beach towards the wooden stairs that brought us up to the main level of the city.
I was glad we had made it without any demonic interference. Grey had been on edge all day, and it was really pissing me off to be completely honest. I get that we're likely to be attacked at some point, but I don't think paranoia is going to protect us from that happening.
"You can't pull another stunt like you did today," Grey grumbled next to me, his jaw clenching slightly. He kept his eyes trained forward, flicking around the surrounding area as he had been doing all day.
"Are you seriously going to keep going on about that?" I rolled my eyes as we reached the staircase. I gripped the railing to help pull my sore muscles up.
"Yes. It was stupid. You could've gotten us all killed just because you wanted to see a rock," Grey retorted lowly.
"You do realize we could all die on this mission, right?" I turned to look at him over my shoulder when we reached the top of the stairs.
"Obviously. That's why I'm telling you not to do that again," he raised an eyebrow.
"If I die on this, and don't take a little risk now and again to see things like that, I will be dying with regrets. Because I died without seeing some of the things I've always wanted to see. I died regardless of how safe we had tried to be. I do not want that to happen, Grey. Can't you understand that?" I frowned slightly.
"No. I've almost lost you already. You risking your life for something as pointless as-"
"It's not pointless to me, though!" I scowled.
There was a silence as we continued walking down the sidewalk. I could feel people looking at us, probably wondering a- why we were fighting and b- why we had weird bodysuits on. We probably looked like we belonged on the set of a movie or something. But, this was Los Angeles, so it was probably weird, but not that weird.
"You will not do that again. Am I clear?" Grey growled out through gritted teeth. Oh wow. This man was really just trying to piss me off today wasn't he?
"I'm sorry, when did I give off the impression that you get to have any say in what I do?" I retorted angrily.
Grey turned to look at me, his eyes beginning to glow, and he opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Allison.
"We're here, guys. Can we cut this whole dominance argument thing and focus on getting rooms for the night without getting caught?" She folded her arms and jutted her hip out to the side. Grey rolled his eyes and swung open the door to the motel, sauntering inside. Jackass.
I followed him inside to the lobby, Siena and Allison on my tail. The room was brightly decorated with aging yellow wallpaper and old floral sofas, and it kind of smelled like an Abercrombie and Fitch store- the ones that put cologne in their air conditioning systems. At the desk sat a young woman, probably mid-twenties, chewing rather loudly on bubble gum. She had bleached blonde hair that she twirled absentmindedly around her index finger as she scrolled through her phone. Her feet were propped up on the desk as she leaned back in her chair, obviously working very hard.
Grey rested his elbow on the chipping white wood of the front desk, leaning over towards her ever so slightly. He cleared his throat.
"What," the girl demanded, not looking up from her phone. Grey waited, drumming his fingers against the wood. "I said-," the girl demanded again, her eyes flicking up from her phone. She paused. "How can I help you?" Her lips pulled back into a blinding grin.
I felt a growl rise in the back of my throat and I clenched my jaw to hold it back.
Ew. That was weird.
"Hi. Yes, my friend and I would like two rooms for the night," he replied suavely, his voice beginning to take on that saccharine tone atypical of angelic Suggestion.
"Sure thing. I'll just need a photo ID and a credit card," she licked her lips, fluttering her eyelashes as she eyed Grey.
"No you don't," he smiled at her and she giggled, twirling her hair around her index finger again.
"I mean- well, I guess I don't," she replied, handing him two room keys. Her fingers lingered on his hand and she leaned in to his ear.
I could feel the heat rising in the back of my throat. Why was this irritating me so much? Grey was playing her. I knew that. Why did I feel like I needed to rip her hands off of him? I'd never been the jealous type. At least, I didn't think I was. But there wasn't even anything to be jealous of- he was literally making her give us two rooms for free.
So why did I want to rip her arms off her shoulders?
"If you want, I can come by later tonight. I get off at 10," she whispered, her fingertips trailing up his arm. Grey let out a low chuckle.
Before I could stop myself, I was suddenly standing next to Grey, giving the beautiful blonde a sadistic smile. My hand shot out and gripped her fingers, slowly bending them back until one of them popped. Her mouth opened wide in shock and she yelped, trying to yank her hand from my grasp.
"He's good. Thanks for the offer, though," I tilted my head slightly to the side. I felt the power of my soul threaten to push past my walls to the surface, and I struggled to keep it at bay. I felt a little leak through into my eyes, and by the look on her face, my eyes had begun to glow. I let her hand go and she fell back into and out of her chair, sprawling onto the floor.
I felt a firm grip on my arm and turned to face Grey, whose eyes were wide, brows furrowed in a deep scowl.
"What the hell was that?" He growled out with gritted teeth, gripping my arm tighter for a second, before letting it go and hurrying around the front desk to stop the girl, who was now frantically reaching for her phone. He grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him.
"What are you?" She shouted out, trying to fight his grip, but he didn't let loose.
"Forget seeing us. You accidentally slammed your fingers in a drawer. You're going to the hospital to get them fixed. You never saw us. Rooms 182 and 183 have water leaks, which is why you don't have the keys. They will be done tomorrow," Grey's pupils dilated as he spoke to her in that saccharine voice. I heard her heart rate slow slightly as she calmed down, her mind succumbing to Grey's.
"Slammed my fingers in a - and the rooms have water," she mumbled back. Grey nodded and helped her sit back down in her chair. His eyes flicked up to mine as he hurried back around the desk, gripping my arm and practically dragging me out of the lobby, Allison and Siena not far behind.
"What the actual hell was that, Greene?" He shouted, his face a few inches from mine.
"I-I don't know I just- something happened- I couldn't-," I stuttered. I didn't know what had happened. One minute I was fine, and the next I was about ready to strangle the girl, even though I knew what Grey was doing and that he wasn't interested. I just couldn't stop myself.
"Why on Earth would you get all jealous over that?" He spat, throwing his hands up as he motioned to the girl in the lobby.
"I don't know! I have no logical explanation for why- I don't even know how that happened! I just, I was fine and then- and then I was breaking her fingers, I don't know!" I shouted back.
"You almost blew our cover for the second time today. Are you trying to get us killed?" He growled in my face.
"Of course not!" I retorted.
"Then why?"
"Grey-" Siena began, but Grey shot her a glare and she took a step back. "Grey, you need to calm down. You need to calm her down."
He paused and looked back at me. I looked down. Slowly but surely, my skin was beginning to illuminate a little bit. Fuck. I was losing control.
Grey let out a low growl, turning on his heel and angrily walking away from me. I turned and looked to Siena and Allison.
"Please. I don't know-," I began, but Siena sighed and nodded, walking forward and wrapping her arms around me in a tight hug.
"It's okay. You're exhausted from today, your soul just broke through a little bit. Your emotions are all over the place because your soul was just Unlocked. You're probably also a little possessive of Grey because you're Pledged to him. So your control probably just slipped and your emotions took control. Grey's paranoid about being attacked, so he's on edge. He'll come around. Why don't you go take a shower in my room with Allison and I'll go talk to Grey?" She suggested. I sucked in a breath, trying to slow my heart rate and get my soul back under control. I nodded.
She let me go and Allison led me towards 183, while Siena knocked on the door to 182, heading inside without waiting for a response.
I was so confused.
I had never been jealous of Grey before. I had never acted so overly possessive. I shouldn't have even felt that way given the circumstances. If it really was my soul slipping through the cracks of my control, it led me to wonder- what in my soul made me capable of something like that?
(This chapter is dedicated to my pal Alex- happy birthday dude :) )