Long Live Dead Reckless Page 22

  Sage went out first, steadying me as I followed.

  “I’m not amazing at this,” I warned.

  Everyone in the group was pretending to have lots to talk about as we passed. I know they were just watching us. Sage held both my hands and skated backwards, careful to avoid other people on the ice. I wasn’t bad, but he was better than I was. Once we’d gone a turn around, he bent his elbows and pulled me closer, lacing his fingers into mine. His hands were strong and slender, and they wielded mine with some primal masculinity that made me want to curl myself up into a ball small enough to fit inside them. His grinned when I squeaked every time we hit a slippery grove in the ice. I really wondered how we would skate on melted ice from the looks we were giving each other.

  “You’re not mad at us for inviting him, are you? No? Ok, don’t mind us. I’m getting pictures of his butt for you,” Azalea yelled.

  Embarrassed, Sage and I both laughed and leaned into each other so we could stop ourselves against the wall. He rested an elbow on it, holding me at the side and blinking rapidly. Confused, he arched back so he could check out his own butt.

  “You want pictures of my butt?” he asked, his brow going up.

  “No,” I replied, then turned and raised my voice. “They just let anybody ice skate nowadays, don’t they?”

  A male voice called out behind us from the parking lot. The voice was familiar, but I hadn’t heard it enough to recognize it. When we turned around, we saw Mika and Tom striding up.

  “We heard it was someone’s birthday today,” Mika said, pointing to me and clucking his tongue.

  I tried not to act nervous as they shook hands and slapped shoulders. They were doing normal guy stuff. It should have been comforting seeing them act human, but I could only remember how tense the last meeting with them was. Ash lingered back a little to the side, so I pretended he wasn’t there. Tom did a little bow.

  “Happy birthday, Miss Talor. Sorry we don’t have gifts, but we do know how to crash a party if that’s of any use.”

  I glanced after them. I figured they’d bring dates. You know, in case they “needed” them.

  “Thanks,” I said. “Did you bring dates? Do you do that?”

  I couldn’t ignore Ash anymore. He gave an annoyed sigh and pushed himself off the wall. He tilted his head back and looked down at me.

  “Well, not all of us like humans in the romantic sense like Sage does. More of a pet if you’ve got to feed it and pet it and take care of it, too.”

  Mika gave a sharp jab with his elbow.

  “Be cool.”

  “Yeah, just shut up, man,” Tom scolded.

  “It was supposed to be a joke,” Ash argued, shrugging. “Sorry I’m not funny, Talor.”

  Sage gripped the barrier between the rink and the grass and turned his head a little, shaking it. He didn’t say anything. Ash blinked hard and relaxed his face.

  “Yeah, all right. It’s out of my system now. I’m done.”

  “So, if you don’t have dates, does that mean you’re going to skate together?” I asked, giving a playful smile. “And Ash gets to be the third wheel?”

  It turned out to be the perfect thing to say. The tension evaporated. Mika and Tom laughed. Even Ash – unbelievably – gave the shortest, most caught-off-guard smile. Smirk. Grin. It happened. It was too fast for the normal human eye, but I saw it.

  “I’ll pass on that. We’ll just find the loveliest ladies here and escort them around. Oh some luck,” Tom said, gesturing to Azalea, Larissa, and Bex, who were skating over.

  I went into something of a panic. I didn’t know whether or not they were in any danger. I must have been wearing my worried face to Sage. He quickly reassured with a squeeze of my hand, soothing me just in time. Azalea was the first to speak, of course.

  “Oh, Sage’s band, right? All right. Hey guys.”

  When no one responded, she singled out Tom, who self-consciously brushed a hand swiftly through his hair.

  “You have a name?” she asked bluntly. But I knew she was intrigued. I knew that tone.

  “Tomahawk,” he answered.

  She let out that infectious, flirtatious laughter once again.

  “Seriously? You can only skate with me if you come up with a better name than that.”

  He pursed his lips and nodded, pulling off his shoes and tossing them to the side. One of them flew at someone’s face, but nobody paid any attention to the complaints.

  “Does Tom work for you?”

  Azalea bat her eyelashes at him.

  “He better. Most guys do.”

  Tom ran off to get skates. Larissa and Mika hit if off and went skating off together. Only Ash was left, and he just shook his head after Mika, settling into his role as the grumpy loner.

  “I’ll just watch,” he mumbled to no one in particular.

  Bex sized him up, putting her weight against the wall and leaning halfway over to look at him.

  “Yeah, I could take you,” she said, grabbing at his pants leg. He blinked at her, probably shocked at her audacity. I doubted many girls touched Ash.

  “No.”

  “You’re the drummer, right? Nice. You get sweaty, don’t you? Got any tattoos?”

  He looked uneasy. She went around us to get to him and grabbed his shirttail.

  “Hey, they want to be alone. Come with me, Mr. Can’t-take-a-hint.”

  I didn’t know how he would react to that, you know, being Ash. To my surprise, he went to get skates, too. Bex kissed her palm and pat me on the head with it as she passed by. She was so crazy and so rude, but I was never more grateful for her as a friend. Sage and I still stood there close and cozy, smiling at each other. There was privacy to our space despite the hordes of people sliding and screaming across the ice. After a while, we just settled into a slow sliding along the wall in a hug.

  “You’ve been so open with me, I think I need to be honest with you,” I said, brushing a finger along his scarf.

  “Oh yeah? What?”

  “It’s not really my birthday,” I said, immediately covering my face.

  His eyes twinkled with mischief.

  “Well then, there’s really only one way to atone for that.”

  He pushed away from the wall and pulled me out onto the ice with him. He did it fast and held me close as we did a few tight spins into the middle of the rink. I held his shoulders and closed my eyes, a squeak the only sound I could make. The cold air whooshed all around us and burned my fingers cold, but I couldn’t stop laughing. When we slowed down, I looked up at him, not even trying to hide my happiness. I was utterly absorbed in the moment, wholly selfish and relishing it.

  “Oh my God, that was fun!”

  “Wanna go again?” he asked, winking.

  I nodded and braced myself as he pushed a leg out and spun us so fast the world was a series of streaks and fragmented sounds. He did that a few more times, and even tried to teach me how to skate backwards and do spins on my own. He had to catch me before I fell, but he always did.

  We both laughed so hard every time I have no idea how we mustered the energy to try again. I think we were having more fun than anyone else on the ice that night – kids included.

  I didn’t notice everyone else had left until the sky was thick with stars. I couldn’t believe I wasn’t cold the whole time. The temperature had dropped, but Sage kept me warm. It wasn’t until we turned our skates in that I snapped out of my daze. We were the last two people at the rink. When we walked away, they shut down the lights.

  “When did everybody leave?” I asked.

  Sage shook his jeans to wrinkle out the bottom. They had been rolled up to avoid getting wet from the ice.

  “I don’t know.”

  He slipped his hand in mine as he walked up beside me. We huddled under the lamplight of the park, the only two fools strange enough to stay out in the elements just to look at each other a little longer. It was so quiet it felt like the wor
ld was watching us. Breathing seemed too loud, too rude.

  “I’m sorry my weird friends conned you into a fake birthday date with me,” I said, trying to keep from feeling too charity-case about it. “And then bailed.”

  “Fake birthday, real date.”

  I laughed.

  “Then it was a quadruple date?”

  He laughed. When our smiles faded, he studied me for a minute, deep in thought.

  “Talor?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I know it’s not really your birthday and…”

  “Um, ok?”

  “And it’s not raining, but…”

  He was licking his lips and shrugging. I knew what he was getting at. It was a moment three months in the making. His hands came sweeping up the sides of my neck, his thumbs pushing my chin towards the sky where he seemed to be. It took the air right out of my lungs the way he did that, and I nearly crumbled in his tender hands.

  He studied my face first, then my lips. My hands fell until they landed somewhere down on the back of his hips, where they hooked into his jeans. I needed to hang onto something because this wasn’t about to happen. Sage wasn’t really about to kiss me. His eyes went down to watch my pulse punch wildly underneath my skin. It had to be hard for him to watch the violent flow.

  “It’s different with me, you know?” he said, touching the vein and raising a brow.

  I didn’t know what he meant, but I nodded so fast it was like my neck had no bones in it. The fear that he had two tongues or some weird technique flit through my mind, but the knowledge that a kiss was coming made me willing to risk it. I couldn’t hide the excitement in my voice.

  “Don’t care. I want this – have for – always.”

  He gathered me up in some sensational way, settling my curves against him. There was such an arch in my back that I never would have been able to hold had he not been doing all the work for me. He was taking my weight on like it was like nothing. The adoring way he looked at me was reassuring, so I let all my insecurities fly away with the chill that swept past.

  “I kept waiting for it to rain,” he said.

  With that, he awarded me the lips I’d been obsessed with for months. It was a merciful domination, those sweet lips against mine. I would do whatever they asked me to. I always thought that was the case, and now I knew. He was kissing me with his lips, but his heart and soul were the ones touching. I’d never had a first kiss so sensual and pure all at once.

  There was sanctuary in the way he held me. I worshipped at his altar while he baptized me in passion. It was conflicting, confounding, and comforting. Good God, there were levels to his kisses, and I needed them all. My hands clawed their way up to his neck like a feral cat. Unable to contain myself, I pushed up on my toes and took from him again. With one hand cradling my head, his tongue teased my sanity behind a smile. I leaned back to look up at the stars, emptying my lungs with a ragged breath.

  He followed, bending slightly forward and breathing in the skin on my neck – just like Spencer had done. I could barely feel his lips skim along as they traveled. It was such terrible torture for us both. After a heavy, happy sigh, his fingers stretched out behind my head and drew me back. I thought he was going to swarm me with kisses, but he just pecked my nose and smiled, tracing a thumb against my lips. I was trying to recover from the staggered rhythm of my breath, doing my best to seem normal. I felt full of light inside, and I wanted more. But I would have to wait. He was a gentleman that night, simply taking my hand in his and walking me back to my car. He opened my door for me, as always.

  As I stood in front of it, a sort of panic set in. I realized we were going to be apart for an unset number of hours. He didn’t work on Mondays. It hurt to imagine time without him. I held his hand so tight, letting our skin touch as long as possible. I would need him again soon. I would. It would be ok. He must have sensed the uncertainty, so he leaned against the car and ran a hand down my cheek.

  “Talor, it’s ok.”

  “I don’t know what to say. Thank you seems really stupid.”

  I was lying. I knew what to say. I was just afraid of sounding needy. Don’t leave. Hold me. Keep kissing me. I’m all yours. I looked away, mentally slapping myself. I was going to ruin a perfect moment if I stuck around too long. But I didn’t want to leave. I felt exposed, vulnerable. It was weird. I was so weak. I was supposed to be a grown woman, strong and capable. I paid my own bills and could take care of myself. I didn’t like this feeling. The kiss had to be more than a kiss. He tapped into me somehow, like into my soul or something. Now I was paranoid and it almost made me angry – like he was manipulating me. I was shivering, my nerves on edge. I fought the negative thoughts as he took both of my hands in his, lacing our fingers together as he gently shook them.

  “Easy. I know it’s a little intense.”

  I tried to play it off. I didn’t want him to think…oh, I didn’t know. I was afraid I’d ruined the moment. I needed to seem in control.

  “I’m ok.”

  He gave me a knowing look.

  “We’re in the same skin. I know how you feel because I feel it, too,” he said, leaning his forehead against mine.

  That explained the paranoia. He was technically sharing my emotional space, so no wonder. It made sense.

  “Then I’m really embarrassed,” I whimpered.

  “I know,” he said, nuzzling me.

  “You can’t hear what I’m thinking, can you?”

  He shook his head and kissed each of my fingers before untangling them.

  “No. But I like talking to you, so that’s just fine. I’ll call you tomorrow?”

  “Ok,” I replied, sending a shy smile to the ground.

  He backed away slowly, pausing a second or two before letting go of my hand. We grinned at one another and looked away at the same time. He put his hands in his pockets.

  “And Talor? Of all the birthdays real and imaginary, yours is the one I’m most thankful for.”

  I drove all the way home with such a grin on my face that whatever happened to be watching – man, God, or mythological beast – could see every single one of my imperfect teeth.

  25

  “Don’t you get lonely?” I asked, surveying the solitary house in front of us where Sage lived.

  It was a quaint cottage sitting on about two acres of land. When we drove up, I took note of the lack of streetlights. There weren’t any lights on inside the cottage, either. Sage was obviously a man and a supernatural one at that for daring to leave all his lights off while living alone. A woman would never risk it. But what did Sage have to fear, really? He could see in the dark and take down anything that tried to attack him.

  There was only one neighbor to the left and a small pine forest hedging every other side. It looked thick, especially in the dark. The cottage had a porch with a swing, and even a cute little chimney. It was picturesque. It seemed to be a match for him in every way: it was cute and stood alone, and he was cute and lived alone.

  “I’m never here. You know, I have that job and I’m in a band and there’s this girl, “ he answered, smiling as he turned off his car.

  When he said that, I realized how strange it was now for a supernatural creature to work a part-time job at a gym. It was never about the money. The money wasn’t good enough. It wasn’t about a free membership, either. He didn’t need to workout to look like he did. It was about something else.

  “There aren’t any coffins inside, are there?” I asked. I only realized how horrible the question was once it was already out.

  Sage just smiled.

  “Couches are just so much cheaper.”

  I looked down in my lap where my fingers were busy waging war against each other. He relaxed back in the driver’s seat.

  “We don’t have to go in. We can go get some coffee or something.”

  I planted my foot firmly against the floorboard of the car. I think it was a metaphor.

&nb
sp; “Why did you come to Goodlife that day, Sage?”

  He paused and opened his car door with little more than a flick of the finger.

  “To meet you.”

  I watched him come around and open my door. When we went inside the house, the first thing I noticed was a small white Ikea couch. It was the only piece of furniture in sight. There were two throw pillows and a small Navajo-style blanket draped across the top. It was amusing. It looked like Sage shopped at IKEA.

  As he made his way across the room, I thought about being alone in a dark house with a handsome vampire who was also an unsung hero of the human race. Somewhere, some lonely frustrated woman was furiously writing in her diary about this same dream. But here I was – living it. I could tell he was looking at me even though I couldn’t see him. I hoped I looked good in the lack of light.

  When he flicked on a lamp, an earthy–green colored the room. Black and white framed pictures scattered neatly across the wall. They were sights from cities all across the world, and they looked like pictures he might have taken. He let me wander along like someone in the halls of a museum. He tapped a hand on the couch excitedly once he could tell my curiosity was satisfied.

  “There’s something out back I want you to see,” he said, ushering me to the door leading to the porch.

  When we walked outside, there sat a gigantic telescope. It looked like it belonged in an observatory. I doubted it was legal to own one like that without some license or something. Not that Sage cared.

  “You didn’t steal that, did you?” I asked playfully.

  He went over and rested a hand on it.

  “God, no. I’ve been around for a while, remember? Did you know there’s a meteor shower tonight?”

  “I do remember hearing about it. I wanted to sit out and watch, but I knew I was going to be with you,” I said, walking over. “Which was a fine tradeoff by me, just so you know.”

  “Well, now you get to have both,” Sage said, shrugging. “Take a look.”

  I bent down and peeked through the lens. The meteor shower wasn’t just sporadic specks of rushing light across the night sky like it was the last time I watched one out my bedroom window. It was a brand new experience through that telescope. A meteor blazed across my vision, bright and brilliant. Gasping, I reached my fingers out for it. I knew I really couldn’t, but for a second in time, I believed I could touch it. I forgot I was thousands of miles away from what I was seeing.