Awakening (The Magic of the Black Forest Book 2) (36 page)

I didn’t respond. Tears just ran down my face.

“Then Dave showed up and Bill was with him. I felt like such a fool. I took off to our house on top of our mountain. I was too ashamed to come home. By the time I finally got the courage to go home you were gone, leaving me a note saying you left. I’ve been tracking your scent ever since.”

“Was it worth it?”

“Was what worth what?” He asked cautiously.

“Was her kiss worth losing me?”

“Don’t say that, Natalia. I am truly sorry.”

Crying uncontrollably now, I turned, pushing him as far away as I could, at arms’ length.

“So while you were protecting her from, who did you say, Bill?” He nodded his head yes. “That’s what I thought you said. While you were out protecting her from Bill, he was at our house attacking me, your wife. Luckily Dave was there and that I protected myself from his venom. He bit me Bradley. Not that it was his fault because I cut myself and started bleeding. He smelled my blood and lost it. It shouldn’t have happened. It wouldn’t have if you were where you were supposed to be.”

Horrorstruck he tried to pull me in closer, “No!” I sobbed. “I mean it, no.” Pushing him as hard as I could, “Don’t touch me.” As requested he dropped his arms.

“Now leave please.”

“No, I can’t. Are you alright?”

“You wouldn’t have to ask if you were home instead of with her.”

He sighed. “I’m sorry.” He touched my chin. I pulled it away. “Please, Natalia, are you alright?”

“I’m f-f-fine. Now leave.” I pointed my arm towards the door. He grabbed hold of me and pulled me close to him.

“I can’t. I’m sorry. I know I don’t deserve it but just give me a few hours here with you. If after that you still want me to leave, I will.”

Too exhausted to continue fighting I rolled over to try and sleep.

“Don’t touch me. In the morning we go our separate ways. I won’t be able to trust you ever again.”

For the remainder of the night I had trouble sleeping, was in and out of dreamland. The image of them two kissing kept playing in my mind, each time another piece revealed until finally I saw what I needed to see. He was telling her everything would be fine, that he was going to leave and talk to Dave. He said he’d see her later. Her manipulative skills made her appear sincerely thankful. Grabbing his arms she wrapped them around her waist. He looked terrified. She reached up and kissed him. His lips were locked tight as she tried to tongue him. He pushed her away from him once he got his arms free. ‘I’m married to Natalia. I love her,’ he said. He turned to walk out the door but when he opened it Dave and the disapproving Bill were standing there. He knew that very second that she had tricked him again.

My blood started to boil. Again she took advantage of his kindness. Furious I sat up, huffing and puffing. That bitch!

“I’ll go, please don’t get so angry. I don’t want to upset you. I’ll leave.” He got up from the bed and started walking to the door. “Please just call me and let me know that you’re okay.”

I attempted to get out of bed but my foot got caught in the blanket and I tripped. He caught me before I hurt myself. I didn’t slap him away this time.

Instead I got right in his face, scolding him, “Bradley Jenkins, if you ever lie or mislead me again, I promise you I will leave you. If you EVER go near her again, especially without me by your side, you will NEVER see me again. You’ll never get a chance to make it right. I’ll just disappear. You won’t have a scent to follow.”

“I promise none of it will ever happen again.”

“Don’t make anymore promises.” Still looking him in the eye, “I’m not sure if I can trust you, especially when it comes to her. The vision I had showed me what happened when she kissed you. However, the reason I can’t trust you is that you went there in the first place and didn’t hesitate to run to her deceitful rescue. You should have hesitated and called me especially after what she did to you!” I turned and sat down on the chair, shaking my head disappointedly.

Kneeling on the floor in front of me he took my hand in his.

“Natalia, I really am truly sorry. What can I do to make this right?”

Unable to look into his eyes I replied regrettably, “Nothing. Only time will mend the trust. Since Margaret seems to be staying in town, I’m sure this will happen again.” Resentment spewed out of me, making me feel ugly. Disgusted with myself I decided to get another hour or two of sleep before leaving. I got up and walked around him to go to lie down.

“You can go. I’ll meet you at home. I’m going to get a few more hours of sleep. I’m beat.” I crawled under the blankets and wrapped myself into a cocoon.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to stay. I’ll follow you home in the morning?” He just stood at the side of the bed looking down at me, as if he’s waiting to see if I’d invite him to join me.

“Whatever. Good night.” I rolled over and focused on trying to sleep. Knowing he was so close but unable to touch him drove me insane. I couldn’t fall asleep. Sighing with frustration I rolled back over.

I didn’t hear him leave or come back in but I know he didn’t have a guitar with him earlier, so I was completely shocked when I heard him playing it. He played the new song. A beautiful love song. I drifted off and only had good dreams about us. Mostly the dream had been about us making love.

Bradley woke me up about nine. I wanted to get up at seven.

“Did you sleep well?” He looked pleased.

I must’ve talked in my sleep. Since I still hadn’t forgotten my dream, I’m pretty sure I knew what I said and that he liked what he heard. I didn’t answer his question. Instead I went and cleaned myself up.

Pulling out my credit card I said, “I have to go pay the bill.”

“I did already. And I returned your key.” Gently he pulled me into his arms. “Can we go home now?”

“Fine,” I said pulling away. Not wanting to touch him I grabbed my things. “I’ll meet you at the house.”

“You’re not going home?”

“Bradley,” I sighed, “I won’t be far behind you. I passed a Home Depot the other day. I need a few more things to finish up planting the flowers.”

“Okay.” I could tell he wasn’t okay with it but he knew he didn’t have a choice.

I let him hug me, I even hugged him back a little but when he went to kiss me, I turned away. My reaction hurt but he didn’t push me.

“Drive safe,” I said before leaving him standing there in the parking lot.

After stopping at the store I wasn’t eager to rush home so I drove around a bit. But then I decided there’s still plenty of time for yard work. Planting flowers had always been something my mom and I did together; I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it.

When I got home we had company, Jess and Colleen. I said hello to them and excused myself to get changed and put my hair up. As I returned to the living room I asked Colleen to come keep me company outside while I finished planting the rest of the flowers.

I didn’t even look at Bradley.

We talked about the flowers for a bit but Colleen couldn’t handle it. She had to know what was going on.

“Nat, are you and Brad getting a divorce?”

Her question threw me. “Not that I’m aware of. Did he do something today that I should know about?”

“Natalia…” Bradley said after he and Jess had discreetly joined us.

“Come on, Colleen, it’s time to go.” Jess took Colleen by the arm, pulling her to their truck. Without taking my eyes from the flowers, I said goodbye and hoped we’d see them soon.

I could tell he wanted to say something but was hesitant. I just ignored him and continued planting the flowers.

“Natalia, Margaret was here.” My heart started to race. “Jess and Colleen were here the entire time. She left right before you got home.”

“Great, so what did she want this time? You in our bed?” I’ve never been so rude to him, but I just couldn’t get over the fact that
he
went to her house,
he
is the reason she showed up.

“She wanted to know why I changed my cell number.” I looked up at him confused. Ignoring the look on my face he continued, “I told her to leave and made it very clear that I wasn’t interested.”

I grabbed my cell from the ground and looked at his number. It had already been changed. With my eyes narrowed I looked at him. If I had been talking to him I’d ask how he did it, but I’m not so I put my phone back down.

“Since you went shopping I thought it best to go and change my phone number so that she couldn’t call me anymore. I also made both our numbers private.” He started helping me by moving the heavy bags of dirt and wood chips around.

“When she didn’t do as I requested, Colleen tried to force her into leaving. I stopped her because I wanted to be sure that Margaret knew that
I
wanted her to leave. She made a few advances after Coll and Jess went into the house. Again I told her I wasn’t interested, that you are my soul mate, my true soul mate.” I could feel him staring at me. “She left after that.”

Still hurt by what he did last time, I could only thank him for what he did today, “Thanks for setting her straight. However I don’t think it’s over.”

“Neither do I, but I thought you should know.”

After putting the new soil around the flowers, I stood up to view them from a short distance. Satisfied, I nodded my head and started dumping the wood chips around the flowers.

“Why don’t you use your magic to do this?” He moved the bag to make it easier for me to scoop the chips out.

“I like gardening. It’s good for relieving stress.” Shrugging my shoulders I said, “What else is there to do?”

“I can think of one thing.” From the corner of my eye I saw his smile. My entire body reacted to it. I had to stop myself from jumping into his arms.

Doing my best to ignore him, I started to drag the bag of wood chips to the front yard. He chuckled as he took the bag from me.

“I love you, Natalia.”

Still hurt by his actions but unable to resist responding to his words… words that I longed to say and he longed to hear I whispered, “I love you, too, Bradley.” Then I continued with the flowers.

We finished the flowers in silence.

After cleaning up and putting things away I grabbed a change of clothes and headed towards the bathroom to get in the shower.

“Would you like some company?” he asked hopefully.

I looked at him for the second time since I’d been home, I tried to hide the hurt but my eyes deceived me as tears started to fill them. I was about to say no but he saved me the trouble,

“It’s too soon, I understand. How about I feed Seager? After you’re finished with your shower we can go get you something to eat at Lee’s?”

“Thanks,” I managed to say before shutting the bathroom door.

As I stood in the shower letting the hot water sooth my aching muscles I thought about going out to dinner alone with him. His eyes looked black, like he was hungry. Maybe I’ll suggest that he go out to feed while I whip up myself something to eat. But then I don’t like it when he goes alone; I worry.

After doing my hair and getting dressed, I went to talk Bradley into going hunting and leaving me behind. It’s amazing how I forget that he can feel my emotions. He’s learning how to read them too well.

Dave and Bill were waiting for him to go hunting with them. Not waiting for me to look at him, the moment I stepped into the living room, he took me in his arms. He lifted my face by placing his finger under my chin and said, “We won’t be far. Even though I don’t agree with this, I’ll respect your wishes.
Will you please put your shield down so that I can hear you?”

Panicked, “Bradley…” I touched his chest and felt for his protection gems. He was wearing them. I ran into our room and put on mine. I heard him tell the guys he’d be right out.

“Natalia, don’t be frightened.” He grazed my cheek with the back of his hand, leaving a trail of warmth. It’s been too long since we’ve touched each other. “I can stay here with you, if you wish.”

I let my shield down, “No. I can tell you haven’t eaten in a while.” Unable to take my eyes from his, “You won’t be far?”

A smile of relief spread across his face, “Right out back, I won’t go further than
our
boundaries. I promise.” Hearing the word promise had me pulling away from him.

“No more promises. Please don’t go too far and don’t let Bill out of your sight.”

“I won’t. Natalia, I will get you to trust me again. I won’t ever break another promise I make to you, ever. Please give me the chance to prove it.”

Heartbroken I whispered, “Okay.”

“I promise I’ll be in hearing distance and back within two hours.” I was about to tell him no more promises but he tenderly placed his fingers over my lips, “May I kiss you?”

Forgetting I put my shield down I thought my answer,
not on my lips
. When I saw the hurt in his eyes I said, “Yes,” and lifted my lips to his.

He kissed my forehead, “I love you. I’ll be back shortly.”

A pain far worse than what I felt when I saw him kiss her squeezed my heart. I can’t hurt him like this, “I’m sorry, Bradley. I didn’t mean to hurt you, I do love you.”