A Man of Honor (A Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (The Honor Trilogy) (3 page)

It’s
two a.m., and I can’t sleep. Besides thinking about Honor needing to stay the night in the hospital, my brain slips into overdrive wondering how I’m going to come up with an ancient elixir made from the blood of murderous empaths. The old man is not someone I ought to screw with. However, since Honor became the target, I can’t seem to stop myself. I’m just going to have to come up with something before the Gaffer’s men come knocking on my door again.

Since sleep isn’t going to find me anytime soon, I go for a ride. Allowing my Challenger to lead the way, I shift into auto-pilot so I can empty my mind. Hoping to spark an idea or two. I cannot let them come after Honor. Somehow, someway, I need to send them away…for good.

My mind is racing a mile a minute. Clearing my mind doesn’t work, and though many thoughts are battling for my attention, not one is successful in helping me solve this elixir dilemma.

Having not been focused on the road, I find myself pulling into the hospital parking lot. The corner of my mouth betrays my horrid mood when it tugs toward my cheek. I don’t
want
to smile, but the fact that I subconsciously drive myself to where Honor lies sleeping, makes me smile anyway. In that moment, I realize that Honor is all that matters. Her health. Her happiness. Her life. Whether she wants me in it or not, she’s all that I care about. Whether I
remain
in her life or not, she is
still
all that matters. To me, Honor is everything. Not only did she save me from death, she brought my heart back to life, literally and figuratively. She made me a better man just by being Honor. I love her so much, and whether she will ever know it or not, does not make a difference. I will fight to keep her safe. If I have to kill to do so, I will.

I back my car into a spot under what I think is her window and turn off the engine, letting the hum of the street lamps lull me to sleep. Images of Honor’s pretty face dance beneath my eyelids as I drift away – my heart heavy and wanting.

**

A warm sensation falls over me, gently waking me up. When I open my eyes, however, I’m blinded by the early morning sun glaring in through the windshield. After adjusting to the bright light, I turn on the engine to check the time. It’s too early for visiting hours, but I shut the car off and see if I can get into the hospital for a cup of coffee.

The main entrance is locked, so I head over to the emergency room entrance. Fortunately, there’s a coffee kiosk at the end of the hall.

I take my double espresso and walk through the halls…with the intention of reaching Honor’s room without being noticed. As I pass each room, my eye catches one closet-sized area in particular.
The stacked bags of donated blood stand at attention on the cart in the center of the room. This gives me an idea.

With a renewed vigor, I hurry to Honor’s room to see my
princess and to sit and organize my thoughts. I have a plan suddenly brewing in my head, but I need to work it through before putting it into action.

Honor’s skin is so pale that I swear I can see the violet from her eyes breaking through beneath her fragile eyelids. Her breath is shallow, and her sleep appears restless. If I were a normal empath, I’d touch her and make it all better. But since I’m a defective one, I’d end up killing her. I wonder why Ethan doesn’t just make her better. He’s certainly capable. Now my blood is starting boil. Honor can be cured with a single touch by her boyfriend, yet she’s here in the hospital, suffering from pain and exhaustion.
My breathing picks up its pace, and I feel the need to break something. Preferably Ethan’s head. But since he’s not here at the moment, I stand up to leave and go outside before I find something to break. I never reach the door. Something rustles behind me.

“Storm?”

When I hear her call my name, I can’t help but close my eyes and smile. Turning around, I see her soft pink lips turned up at the corners.

“
Princess,” I whisper, choking out the words. It hurts so much to see her like this and know I can’t help.

“It’s early,” she says, implying I probably shouldn’t be here.

“Yeah.”

I pull the chair up next to her bed, sit, and take her hand for just a second.

“Shouldn’t you be like sleeping or something?” she asks, reaching out to touch my hand again after I’d pulled it away. But I set them on my lap.

She frowns…but only briefly.

“Nah,” I respond. “I don’t need sleep. Sleep’s for wusses.”

Honor tries to laugh, but I can tell it takes more energy than she has.

“Honor, sweetheart, why do you do this to yourself? Look what helping somebody else does to you.”

She sighs, but says nothing.

“You gotta learn to let their pain go. Please, angel. It kills me to see you like this.”

After a slow blink, she opens her mouth. “She was hurting. She was depressed and…I think she was having thoughts of suicide.”

“Who? The girl in the bathroom?”

“Yeah,” she whispers.

“Wait. You could tell what she was thinking?”

“Well, not exactly, but I kind of
felt
what she was thinking.”

“And you thought you could take away her sadness?”

Honor nods.

“But…you fainted. I don’t get it.”

“Me neither. I got, like, so sad that my heart really hurt. I actually wanted…to die.”

My heart stops a beat. “What?”

“After I touched her…I wanted to die.” Honor leans her head into her shoulder.

There was nothing either one of us could think of to say after that. We sit there
in silence until Honor whispers my name again.

“What is it,
princess?”

“It must be terrible to feel so helpless that you want to die.”

“Yeah, it is.”

Honor doesn’t say anything, but I’m sure she’s
feeling
what I’m thinking.
I’ve been there before. After I killed Summer.

While Honor slips back to sleep, I gently toss my feet on the edge of her bed and relish in the sweet sound of her steady breathing. Then I close my own eyes, slink back into the chair, and concentrate on figuring out how to put my new plan into action.

***

Sleep must have found me as well, because the sound of Ethan’s voice startles me awake.

“I asked you a question,” he says in a loud whisper.

“Excuse me? You can’t be talking to me.”

“Um, yeah…I am.”

Remaining in my reclined position, so as to piss him off a little more, I stare him down.

“Why are you here, Storm?”

I shrug my shoulders. “Same reason you are, I guess.” I try keeping my voice low.

“She’s not your girlfriend, she’s mine.”

“I never claimed she was. You just must be really threatened by me to keep repeating that.”

“Go to hell,” Ethan commands.

“Yeah, yeah.” I put my feet on the floor and sit up. “You
really
have to come up with a new line.
Go to hell
is gettin’ a bit old.” Still keeping my voice down, I look to the bed and see that Honor is still sleeping. My heart is screaming
“Stay with her, don’t leave,”
but my head knows better. Ethan deserves some time alone with her, if only for Honor’s sake.

I inconspicuously blow my sleeping angel a kiss with my fingertips and walk out. Ethan doesn’t need a good-bye from me.

In the lobby downstairs, Tamlin is on line at another coffee kiosk. “Hey,” I say, for lack of an insulting comment.

“Hey,” she smiles. “You going to see Honor?”

“Just did.” I get in line behind her.

“What’s your poison? My treat.”

“Double espresso. I thought I was an ass?”

“
You are, but I’m not,” she says to me, then turns to the cashier. “A double espresso and a medium mocha latte, please.”

After paying the lady, we move to the side to wait for our coffee.

“So what’s with the blond hair?” I ask, just making small talk.

“I was sick of all the fancy colors, so I bleached it last night.” She shrugs.

“Not in the mood for flair right now?”

She shakes her head. “Not really. It feels…I don’t know…disrespectful, I guess.”

“To Honor?”

Tamlin nods.

The coffee lady hands us our drinks, and we walk to a couple of chairs in the lobby.

“I’m really scared, Storm.
Ethan said last night that if she keeps trying to heal people, she’s gonna die soon. He said she’s done so much already that he’s worried she doesn’t even have much longer.”

Hearing these words hurt. Bile rises from my stomach, my heart tightens, and when I see Tamlin’s eyes pool with tears, my own eyes start to burn. Dammit. I
don’t
cry. If I open my mouth to respond, I know my voice will shake, and the tears will actually fall, because there’s a lump in my throat that’s telling me so. Instead, I turn to stare out the window.

“Storm, did you hear me?”

I can’t look at her.

“Storm.”

“Not now,” I choke out.

Tamlin puts her hand over mine. “I knew there was a soft side to you.” She leans in to hug me, but I pull away.

“I’m sorry. I…” She trails off, probably embarrassed, but if I hug her back, I’d hurt her.

“Tam, I’m sure Honor’s told you about me,” I manage to say over the golf ball in my throat.

Her eyes get all squinty, and she shakes her head.

“I can’t touch people.
Unlike
Honor, the stroke of my hand can kill.”

Tamlin smiles and takes my hand again. “I’m not scared.” She looks me in the eyes and wraps her other arm around me, finally pulling me into a full embrace. “If it gets too much, I’ll pull away.”

Closing my eyes, I let her hold me. Besides Tamlin needing the comfort as well, my body aches for the touch of a female. My instincts tell me not to do it, but my arms have a will of their own. I reciprocate her hug by wrapping my arms around her and pulling her to my chest. Tamlin’s not Honor, but she feels good against my beating heart. My breathing picks up, but I try to slow it down. I close my eyes and take slow deep breaths.

That’s when I realize it.

Tamlin’s not gasping for air.

In fact, she’s breathing a nice, comfortable, steady pace, and her crying has stopped.

“Storm?” she asks, still pressed against my chest.

“Yes?” I whisper.

“You’re not hurting me at all.”

I nudge her back to look at her face. “Nothing?”

“No.”

She’s staring at me now, and I’m getting this strange feeling. By the way she’s looking from my lips to my eyes, I believe she wants to kiss me. My conflicting emotions are confusing me, so I turn off my brain and lean in, setting my lips to hers. Her lips are soft and sweet, but there’s no spark. No electricity. She parts her lips and runs her tongue across my lips. Needing so badly to touch and be touched, I open my mouth to allow her in. She hugs me tighter, and I run my hand through her newly bleached hair.

Just then, I break our embrace and pull away.

“I don’t understand,” I say, breathless.

“What?” she asks, confused as to why I stop our kiss so abruptly.

“You should be dead. Or at least gasping for your life.”

Tamlin chuckles.

“I’m serious, Tam. I’ve never been able to keep contact with someone for so long without sucking the life out of them.”

She laughs again. “Your attitude pretty much does that,” she jokes.

“Be serious for a minute. Something’s wrong.”

“Why?”

“First I can’t feel things like I used to. Now I can
touch
people?” I’m so astounded by this, I pull her back against me and kiss the heck out of her – just to be sure.

After several minutes of making out with Tamlin, I am convinced that I am no longer a danger, at least not to Tamlin. Not only that, I sense no emotions from her at all. If I am
surmising correctly, I am no longer empathic. Though the thought brings a smile to my face, it puts a damper on my plans to fix this whole elixir debacle.

Tamlin breaks the kiss first. “Wow,” she utters beneath her breath.

Though I don’t feel the
wow
factor myself, the kiss certainly was intense. And I wouldn’t be opposed to…doing it again. But now’s not the time. Not here in the hospital where Honor is suffering only a few floors above us.

“Tam,” I whisper, smiling at her. “I should go.”

“Yeah. I should get upstairs. I wanted to give Ethan a few minutes alone with her. He’s probably wondering now where I am.”

“You came with him?”

“Yup.”

“Okay, well, I’ll see you later?” Surprising myself by asking her, rather than stating it in my usual unfazed manner.

“Sure,” she said, smiling, then giving me an impulsive peck on the cheek.

“What have I done?
I’m in love with my brother’s girlfriend, and I go and kiss her best friend. Shameless. I may not have hurt Tamlin physically, but I’m sure I’m going to hurt her emotionally. Just another reason to keep my distance from people.

In the car, I blast Jack’s Mannequin’s
Dark Blue
, substantiating my quest for isolation. As soon as I get Honor out of danger, I
will
return to my solitary life. It’ll be better than what I’m doing now.

Reaching my apartment in record time, I grab a soda and pull out my laptop. Since my plan to get the old man and his men off Honor’s case involves materials, I pull up a search engine and type in medical supplies. Hoping beyond hope that a non-medical person can actually order the supplies I’m going to need.

After searching for nearly an hour, I give up. Not having a medical license is seriously hindering my plan. I take a shower, get dressed, and head back over to the hospital to see Honor. When I get to her room, Tamlin and Ethan are still there.

Tamlin’s face lights up at the sight of me, causing my stomach to burn. I know I should not have kissed her this morning.

“Hey, Storm,” she says, grinning before reaching up to kiss me. Though she’s aiming for my lips, I subtly turn so she lands on my cheek. I’m too aware that Honor is in the room. Ethan’s eyes are all squinty, because he’s obviously skeptical of my intentions. Which makes me feel even more guilty for kissing Tamlin.

Turning my attention instead toward Honor, I notice her smile is a bit pensive. “Hey,
princess,” I say, barely opening my mouth. Barely hearing my own words.

“Hey,” she answers.

“How ya feeling this afternoon?”

“Better.”

“Yeah,” Tamlin interrupts, “she was even laughing with us.”

“Yeah?” I ask, looking at Honor while my heart burns beneath my chest.

She nods. “Yeah. I feel
much
better. They’re running more pointless tests on me later, and I should be able to go home tomorrow.”

Ethan tries to hide
his scowl with a smile that ends up looking like a lopsided grin. “So Tamlin tells us you and she are a thing.”

“Ethan, I did not say that,” Tamlin snaps. She looks at me. “I did not say that. I just told them…well…”

“That’s okay,” I reassure her. Truth is, it felt good to be in Tamlin’s arms. Plus…she’s quirky.
Sometimes
quirky’s cool.

“So now maybe you’ll stay away from
my
girlfriend?”

“Ethan,”
Honor snaps at her boyfriend.

Tamlin looks from me to Honor.

“He can’t help himself, princess, he’s an ass,” I quip.

“You do call her
princess an awful lot,” Tamlin says to me, a look of suspicion evident in her eyes.

“Just habit,” I say. “No big deal.” The tone of my voice holds an irritated note. I hear it myself. But C’mon.
She’ll always be my princess.

I guess, though, I should hold back a bit. For Tamlin’s
sake. Not Ethan’s.

Honor starts speaking softly to Tamlin, so I take the opportunity to call Ethan aside. “Can I talk to you
a minute?”

“What?” he says quite caustically.

Leaning in close to my dear half-brother, I whisper in his ear, “Had you not dumped the elixir, I wouldn’t need to be coming up with a plan to save
your
girlfriend.”

Ethan’s tightened jaw loosens, replacing his cocksure attitude with a defeated one.

“Babe,” he addresses Honor, “I’ll be right back.”

She nods and continues her discussion with Tamlin.

“I have a plan, but I need your help,” I tell him once we’re out in the hall. “I’ll need your uncle and Hunter too.”

“Yeah, okay, but what do we need to do?”

“I’ll need you to get Elijah and any other brothers you got floating around,” I immediately feel bad for saying that, because I know Brad was just killed.

Ethan shakes his head. “What? Care to explain before I volunteer my family?”

“Here’s the thing. I need your blood.”

He just stands there bug-eyed.

“I want to try to fill one of those jugs you got hidden. Fill it with blood.”

“What? You mean…”

“Yeah, I mean we pass it off as the elixir. I’ve been thinking and if we use the blood of different empaths, it may work.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t elixirs made from more than just blood?” he says sarcastically.

“Yes. But I think Moore might have some of the stuff we need in his lab.”

“You’re going to trust Moore?”

“No. I’m going to use his lab.”

“You mean the school lab?”

“Yeah.”

“How do you
suggest we do that?”

“We break in
,” I say, shocked that he doesn’t get that.

“Break into the school? We’ll never get away with it.” Ethan shuffles his feet, obviously nervous.

“Well, little brother, we’re gonna have to do something. Once I find out what’s needed, I’ll know more. Maybe it’s something I can do from home. Either way, we’re still going to have to play burglar.”

“Huh?” My little brother’s turning green.

“We’re gonna have to break into a blood bank to get the supplies I need to take your blood.”

“You’re crazy.” He throws his hands up and turns to walk away.

“No,” I say quietly. “Crazy is tossing the friggin’ ancient elixir.”

Ethan turns around, looks at me, tilts his head, and closes his eyes.

“Now do I have your help?”

He sighs. “Yeah.”

“The rest of you too. You’re gonna have to convince them to help. I doubt your uncle will refuse, but what about your brothers? You think you can find Elijah?”

Ethan nods, but his scrunched up face confirms his uncertainty.

“Ya gotta talk ‘em into it,” I demand quickly. “This is no joke. If we don’t come up with an elixir, they’ll be going after Honor. Especially if they find out…”

“Find out what?”

“Nothing. Just do it. Get your family to agree, and meet me tonight at my house at nine…and wear something black.” I walk away.

“Wait. Tonight? For what?” Ethan says to my departing back.

“Just be there,” I yell, not looking back.