Blessed (Book 2, The Watchers Trilogy; Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (5 page)

I heard a rattle of keys at the door and watched Tara step into the apartment. I jumped up in alarm as soon as I saw her.

Her hair looked like a pack of raccoons had fought on top of her head, and her shirt had been torn at the seams of both sleeves. There as a slight swelling across one of her cheekbones which indicated she’d been hit fairly hard, and a scratch along the side of her neck which stretched from her ear to her collarbone.

“What happened?” I asked, taking her books from her hands and setting them on the table.

“Got in a fight,” she replied, slowly lowering herself onto the futon next to Will, as if it pained her to move so much.

“Who with?” Will asked.

“Some nosey-body girl outside the library.”

“You weren’t fighting about me, were you?” I asked, but already knew the answer to my question.

“She was mouthing off about stuff, and I just lost my cool.”

“What was she saying?” I asked.

“You don’t wanna know, girl. But she’ll think twice about saying anything about you again, that much I can tell you.”

“Tara, you need to just let it slide next time. I don’t need you getting kicked out of school because of me. How do you think that would make me feel?”

“I know,” Tara said, slightly chagrined. “I just have a hard time letting fools call you names in front of me. It just ain’t right, Lilly Rayne.”

I sat down beside Tara and hugged her close. I couldn’t lecture her too much about trying to defend my honor. She had always been my protector. It would have been like asking the sun not to rise the next morning.

As a treat, I ordered out for Tara’s favorite pizza, and invited Will to stay with us for supper. It felt so natural for the three of us to be together again. I missed the days when we would just hang out and talk about anything and everything. I hoped the new-found understanding between the three of us would last forever.

True to his word, as I could always depend on him to be, Brand came back to the apartment exactly two hours after he had left. He’d already made a trip back to his house to bathe, and had brought back some toiletries and extra clothes to spend the night at my apartment.

I saw Will raise an eyebrow at Brand’s overnight bag, but he didn’t say anything. He knew I needed someone close by who could phase me away from danger at a moment’s notice.

As if knowing Tara would need a pick-me-up, Brand brought over the dirt he’d bought for her online from Georgia. She loved it, of course, and even got Will to try some of it. At least Will was on my side and agreed it was the worst thing he had ever put in his mouth.

When bedtime rolled around, Will left. Tara looked at Brand and me, with her arms crossed in front of her.

“I just want it made clear that I expect you to act like a gentleman with Lilly,” she said, looking at Brand with her no-nonsense stance. “I understand why you gotta be close to her and all, but if I hear anything going on in her bedroom that shouldn’t be, I’m coming in, is that understood?”

“The door will remain open. And after she falls asleep, I won’t be staying in the bed with her,” Brand promised. “I have no intentions of disrespecting Lilly, Tara. You know how much she means to me.”

Tara dropped her arms to her sides. “I know. But you know I have to say what’s on my mind, too.”

Later in bed, Brand asked me, “Why is it so important to Tara for you to remain a virgin?”

“She lost her virginity our senior year of high school. The guy ended up being a real jerk about it, and she wants me to be the one who keeps to the purity pledge we took. I’m not sure why it’s so important to her, exactly. I think it’s just the fact that she had such a bad experience losing hers. It’s made her put more importance on me keeping mine until I’m married.”

“I’m glad you have someone like her in your life, but she needs to understand I wouldn’t do anything you didn’t want to do.”

“I think she knows that,” I said, tightening my hold around Brand as he lay next to me. I decided to change the subject. “So not even a hint about what we’re doing Friday night? Can you at least tell me how to dress?”

“I’ll arrange that. All I need you to do is be ready by seven that night. I’ll ask Malcolm to come here and watch over you while you’re getting ready.”

“You trust him to do that?” I asked, surprised. “What about Will? I’m sure he’d be more than happy to come over.”

“I’d rather Will didn’t,” Brand said cryptically.

“Why?”

“Having Will around would make the night feel odd for me, and I think it would be disrespectful to him in the long run.”

Well, that certainly made me even more curious. What could he possibly have planned?

The next morning, I asked Brand to take me over to Malcolm’s before my first class.

“Why?” he asked, not understanding my motives.

“He’s my friend. I want to make sure he’s all right. And I want to make sure he knows he can come see me when he needs to.”

To be honest, I was worried Malcolm might fall off the wagon and kill someone because of the new rule Brand had made about seeing me. I knew I should be worried more about an innocent life being taken but, if I was honest with myself, I was more concerned about Malcolm’s well-being. He had confessed to me that he didn’t like the monster he had become. Killing people and drinking their blood was a weakness he detested about himself. I loved Malcolm as a friend, and didn’t want to see him backslide into his old ways. I almost felt like I was his personal AA sponsor except, instead of alcohol, I was responsible for making sure he didn’t indulge in his vampire cravings.

Brand phased us to Malcolm’s house. When I knocked on the front door, a young man who looked closer to Brand’s age than mine opened it. He was around six feet tall, with short-cropped white hair; hair exactly like Abby’s. I could see a resemblance to Malcolm right away, but there was also a softness I had to presume came from his mother. I’d only seen Sebastian once before: the night Malcolm had come to Lakewood to kill me. At the time, Sebastian had been in his werewolf form. It was nice to see the human side of Malcolm’s son before me.

“Lilly,” Sebastian leaned down and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. “It’s so good to see you again. My dad will be glad you came.” Malcolm’s son looked at Brand and just nodded. It wasn’t a friendly nod; just one of acceptance that his presence was necessary.

“Where is he?” I asked.

“Here I am, dearest,” Malcolm said, walking down the staircase from the second floor in a black T-shirt and faded jeans. It was the first time I’d seen Malcolm wearing a shirt that wasn’t opened at the front to show off his well-defined chest.

“Brand,” Malcolm acknowledged Brand much in the same way his son had, with a curt nod.

When Malcolm reached us, he picked me up and twirled me around like a father would a child, smiling his happiness.

“I’ve missed you the last couple of days,” he admitted, holding me close before setting me down again on the floor.

I looked over at Brand, but didn’t see the glower I had expected to on his face. It made me wonder what exactly had transpired between the two of them the other night.

“I just wanted to make sure you were all right,” I told Malcolm, studying the color of his skin.

When we made our bargain that he could see me anytime he liked, as long as he didn’t indulge in his craving for human blood, Malcolm told me his skin would become pinker if he ever consumed human blood, thus nullifying our agreement. It was a physical way for me to know he was keeping his end of our bargain. I noticed his skin looked as pale as ever, and let out a small sigh of relief.

“You shouldn’t worry about me,” he said, tenderly caressing my cheek with a crooked index finger. “I’m fine.”

“Since we’re here, Malcolm,” Brand said, stepping up to my side, “I was wondering if you could watch over Lilly tomorrow evening at her apartment, say, from five to seven.”

“Of course,” Malcolm smiled down at me, obviously pleased he’d get to spend some time with me outside the presence of Brand.

“Would you mind if I talked with Malcolm alone for a few minutes?” I asked Brand.

“You don’t have to ask my permission, Lilly.” Brand looked uncomfortable with my request. I could see he felt awkward that I deemed it necessary to do such a thing. I simply didn’t want to cause any more tension between the two of them.

I took Malcolm’s hand and led him off to the study.

After closing the door to give us more privacy, I looked up at my friend and asked, “What happened when Brand came here the other night? He won’t tell me much. I was afraid he might have ripped off an arm or a leg.”

Malcolm chuckled while rubbing the side of his neck. “Not quite. He just wanted to make sure I understood his feelings, and I got the message quite clearly.”

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for him to find out about you seeing me that morning, but it just sort of ended up coming out.”

“Don’t worry so, dearest. If Brand hadn’t come over here after learning about our little secret, I wouldn’t have much respect for him. As it is, I’m surprised he controlled himself as well as he did. I can only imagine that it was the impact on your feelings that kept him from tearing me to shreds. He knew if he hurt me too badly it would upset you more than anything I did. He was only protecting your honor. I expected nothing less from him.”

“What did he do to you exactly?”

“I’d rather not say, but he made his point.”

“Well, I hope whatever happened won’t affect our friendship. I care about you, Malcolm. You’ve become very important to me.”

“Lilly,” Malcolm moved his body closer to mine, taking my hands in his, and holding them close to his chest. “Are you sure Brand is the right one for you?”

I knew what Malcolm wanted. He wanted some small shred of hope that my concern over his well-being was really caused by some deep-seeded love I might harbor for him.

“He’s the only one for me. I can’t live without him. I can barely breathe when he isn’t next to me.”

“I see,” Malcolm slowly stepped back, letting my hands go. “Well, if things ever change between the two of you, I hope you know I’ll be here waiting.”

“Things won’t change,” I told him, wanting him to understand the true connection Brand and I had. “You shouldn’t wait for me, Malcolm.”

“I can wait,” he said. “It’s not like I don’t have the time.”

When we left the study, I told Malcolm he should bring Sebastian to my apartment when he came over to be my bodyguard the next evening. Sebastian was delighted by my request. I got the feeling Malcolm was a bit more strict with his son than Brand was with Abby. The thought of Malcolm as an over-protective father made me smile.

CHAPTER FOUR

By Thursday, people at school seemed to stare at me less. I suppose Brand was right. In a few weeks, my classmates would forget about my scandal. I was sure they would move on to some other topic of interest and file me away in their minds as an afterthought. Dr. Barry was bugging me a bit though. She seemed extraordinarily interested in Malcolm. I didn’t want to offend her, so I tried to answer what she asked as truthfully as I could about what he did for a living, where he lived, what he was like, and on and on. I got the distinct feeling she wanted to meet him and have me set it up, but she never actually came out and said it. I wasn’t about to offer my services to her as a matchmaker. All I needed was to put a tempting treat in front of Malcolm to see him succumb to his bloodthirsty desires.

Dr. Barry would have been a good choice for Malcolm under any other circumstances. She was a pretty woman of around thirty-five, never married, no children, and rather brilliant. If Malcolm had been a regular person, I wouldn’t have had any problem with setting the two of them up. But, Malcolm wasn’t normal. Essentially, he was a vampire doing his best to abstain from his basic desire to drink human blood. I knew he tried to stay away from humans as much as he could so he wouldn’t have to struggle as hard with the monster inside himself. I desperately wished Malcolm didn’t have to live with such an affliction, but there simply wasn’t anything I could do to help, except support him in his fight against himself.

Once Friday rolled around, I was a bucket of nerves. Brand still wouldn’t give me a hint as to what we were going to be doing that night. By the time I got home from work at around five, Malcolm, Sebastian and Tara were already there waiting for me. Brand left me at the apartment, saying he would be back at seven, and that Abby would be dropping by to give me my dress sometime in between.

“Well, I’m glad this night has finally come,” Malcolm grumbled as Tara brushed out my hair while I sat at the kitchen table. I had just spent a good twenty minutes taking a bath, washing my hair, and blowing it dry for her.

“What would make you say that?” I asked.

“Maybe we can get some peace and quiet at home now. All that banging and stuff was really getting on my nerves,” Malcolm explained as he watched Tara brush my hair. “You should put it up for her. She never wears it up.”

“I’ve never done that. You got any suggestions on how to do it?”

From the sarcastic way Tara asked her question, I don’t think she was expecting what happened next.

Malcolm stood from his seat on the futon and handed the TV remote to his son. Even though Malcolm said most things on TV were drivel, he seemed to enjoy watching game shows for some reason. I assumed it must be the gambler inside him that found the shows interesting.

“I am an architect. Hair, steel, shouldn’t make much of a difference. Give me a minute,” he said, surveying the thick brown mass of hair on my head, like a general deciding on a strategic plan of attack.

“What makes you think you can style hair?” I asked him, completely amused by the prospect of Malcolm trying his hand at becoming a hair stylist.

He looked at me with one eyebrow raised. “I know how to do a lot of things, dearest. I would be more than willing to show you some that you might find interesting if you’d like,” he said suggestively.

The next thing I heard was the whistle of a brush being slung in the air and a loud whack as it hit its projected target. Malcolm rubbed his injured forehead.

“That’s for looking at Lilly naked,” Tara told Malcolm, pointing a stern index finger at him. “I can’t believe I almost forgot about that.”

“What is it with people hitting me in the head over such an innocent little indiscretion?” Malcolm shook his head in dismay.

“Well, you deserve a lot more,” Tara declared. “But we ain’t got the time for it tonight. What are we gonna do about this hair?”

For the next forty minutes or so, Tara and Malcolm worked together on styling my hair into some sort of intricate up-do Malcolm had planned in his head. Tara seemed content to follow Malcolm’s direction without complaint. I think she was impressed with his skill. She asked a lot of questions and seemed to enjoy working with my friend. Tara was never one to take instructions from people well. She was used to being the one who dished them out.

When they were finished, Malcolm stood in front of me and looked at his design with a critical eye.

“I think we did it,” he said to Tara. “What do you think?”

Tara came to stand by him to look at me. “Yep, I’d say that’s done. Now I just need to get some make-up on her.”

About twenty minutes later, I was finally through being prodded and primped into perfection for my mystery date with Brand. I was basically just waiting for Abby to show up with my outfit for the night.

At about six-thirty, there was a soft knock at my door. When I answered it, I saw Brand’s daughter standing on my doorstep, wearing a long blonde wig, a pink ruffled chiffon shirt, a pair of faded jeans and white leather ankle boots. Her eyes were bright blue tonight.

“Here you go, love,” she said, handing me a clear bag with what looked like my black silk dress; the one I wore to the Black and White ball. “We had it dry cleaned for you. Your hair looks great, by the way!”

“Come on in, Abby. I have some people you should meet.”

When Abby stepped into the room, I felt the air inside our little apartment take on a charged quality. After I shut the door behind her and turned around, I saw why.

Sebastian and Abby were staring at each other with an intensity I had never seen before. It was as if they were measuring each other up, while at the same time being totally absorbed by the other person’s presence.

“Abby, this is Sebastian.”

My voice seemed to break the spell they were both under. Sebastian stood and walked the short distance to Abby. She held her hand out for a shake but instead of merely shaking her hand he brushed his lips slowly across the top of it.

“Pleased to meet you,” Sebastian said, never taking his eyes off Abby.

I think it was the first time I’d ever seen Abby speechless. She just stood there and stared at Sebastian.

“I’m Malcolm.” Malcolm came to stand by his son, nudging him out of the way a bit. The maneuver made it appear that Malcolm was intentionally trying to break the connection between Abby and Sebastian.

“Oh, hey,” Abby said, holding her hand out to Malcolm. “Dad’s told me a lot about you.”

“Hmm, I’m sure the negatives were completely over-exaggerated,” Malcolm said.

“My dad doesn’t over-exaggerate to me,” Abby replied, a bit defensively.

Malcolm was about to retort with something I assumed would probably be completely inappropriate. Therefore, I stepped in before he had a chance to cause any more trouble.

“Thanks for bringing my dress,” I told Abby. “I didn’t even realize he had taken it.”

“I gave it to him,” Tara chimed in, continuing to pack away her hair-styling equipment into the clear plastic tub she kept it stored in. “He asked for it yesterday morning while you were still sleeping.”

“So do you have any idea what he has planned for tonight?” I asked Abby.

“Can’t say, love,” she said with an impish smile on her face. “I promised not to.”

“He made us all promise not to,” Malcolm added irritably.

“All?” I asked looking at everyone in the room. Sebastian just smiled and Tara shrugged her shoulders.

“You’ll know soon enough,” Tara said. “But you better go put that dress on. He’ll be here in a few minutes. You know that boy ain’t never late.”

Tara was definitely right about that. You could set the world clock to Brand’s sense of punctuality.

I was almost dressed when I heard a knock on the front door.

“Anything happen?” were the first words out of Brand’s mouth.

“No,” Malcolm replied. “Everything’s been normal so far.”

I grabbed the shawl I had bought to go with my dress and draped it across my arm. The nights were starting to become chilly, and I wasn’t sure how long we would be out.

When I walked into the front room, all eyes turned to me, but my eyes were drawn to Brand like starlings to the first rays of sunlight.

Brand was dressed in a black tuxedo with a white shirt and black bow tie. He looked a lot like he had at the Black and White ball, except this time he was smiling.

“You look beautiful,” he said, walking up to me and giving me a quick kiss on the lips in front of our attentive audience.

“So do you,” I replied, not being able to stop myself from running the palms of my hands down the lapels of his jacket. I could feel the rapid beating of his heart underneath my hands. It was pounding almost as fast as mine was.

He held his arm out to me. “Shall we?”

When we got into his car, he handed me a silky black blindfold.

“Would you mind putting this on?”

“Are we going somewhere secret?” I asked, putting the blindfold over my eyes.

“No, but I don’t want you to see my surprise until we’re there.”

I don’t think we drove more than ten minutes before we came to a complete stop.

Brand asked me to stay put when he got out of the car. He opened the car door on my side and helped guide me out. I felt the sensation of grass underneath my two-inch heels, so I made sure to put most of my weight on the balls of my toes. About a minute later, the ground changed to a harder surface. The only thing I could hear was the clicking of my heels against the smooth, hard surface I was walking across.

“Ok, keep your eyes closed while I take the blindfold off,” he instructed.

I couldn’t help but smile. I could hear the excitement in his voice, but there was also a tinge of uncertainty, as if he was afraid I might not like what he had done.

Once he removed the blindfold, Brand whispered in my ear, “Ok, open your eyes.”

When I opened my eyes, I thought we might have stepped into one of my dreams. We were standing in the middle of an exact replica of the Black and White ball, except everything had been set up in the middle of a forest clearing by the lake. At our feet were black and white tiles, identical to the ones that were used to assemble the dance floor at the ball. When I looked over my shoulder, the same stage with a black backdrop and white floating musical notes and instruments was set up behind a band already in place.

“How did you do all of this?” I asked, amazed by all the work Brand did in such a short amount of time.

“You’d be surprised what you can accomplish with a lot of money and a little persuasion.”

“But why would you go through all the trouble?”

Brand put his arms around my waist holding me close. The band started playing a song as if on cue, and we began to sway to the music.

“Because we never got to dance.”

I almost started to cry. It was such a sentimental thing to do, and so indicative of the man I’d given my heart to.

“When I first saw you that night,” Brand continued, “I couldn’t breathe. I felt like my world was shattering all around me. All I wanted to do was take you in my arms and tell you how much I loved you. I almost went to you that night to beg for your forgiveness, but Will got to you first.”

“When Will and I left and walked to the rose garden, I did see you on the terrace watching us, didn’t I? That wasn’t just in my imagination, was it?”

“I followed you,” Brand confessed, almost as if he was ashamed of his behavior. “I still didn’t trust Will, and I wanted to make sure you were safe. When I saw him lean in to kiss you, I thought my world was about to end. I wanted to
be
him so badly in that moment. Then, when you pushed him away and told him you couldn’t go through with it, I felt a selfish sort of relief. I didn’t want you to move on. I didn’t want you to forget about me so quickly. My heart ached to be with you. There were moments when I couldn’t understand how it kept beating through the pain.”

The torment I saw in his eyes told me as much as his words did. He’d been as miserable as I had that night, and this re-creation was meant to wash away the last of our regrets. It was meant to symbolize a new beginning of treasured moments between the two of us.

“Thank you,” I said, gazing up at the love of my life. “Thank you for giving us this.”

“There isn’t anything in this world I wouldn’t give to you, Lilly. All you have to do is ask.”

We danced for a couple of songs, just enjoying the way our bodies moved together in perfect unison, like we were made for each other.

When the third song began to play, Brand pulled away slightly and looked down at me. “I want to take you somewhere.”

“Anywhere you want,” I replied. And I meant it. I would follow Brand anywhere he ever wanted to go.

He took my hand and led me off the dance floor. I saw him look at the band and nod his head slightly. They seemed prepared for such a signal, and began packing up their equipment.

When we got back into Brand’s car, he drove it off the grass back onto the highway, heading toward his home.

“Are we spending the rest of the night at your house?” I asked.

“No, we’re just going to be dropping the car off,” he answered. “We won’t need it anymore tonight.”