Divine (28 page)

I can't do this,
my mind intruded.
I'm too afraid.

The image crumbled
around me; parts of the cliff broke off and fell into the sea below,
crashing into the sharp watery rocks and exploding on impact.

“
Jonah!” I
cried out through the ear-splitting ringing in my eardrums. “Help!
Please!” What was left of the clear picture in my mind broke
away and floated into the darkness of my eyes.

I could hear Jonah
frantically calling my name as the vibration slowly left my ears.
“Summer, Summer, it's okay . . .”

My eyes flew open to
see his face clearly in front of mine. My right foot was planted
between his feet on the sand: the step I had taken into the image.

“
Are you okay?”
he asked desperately, still gripping tightly onto my hands.

I shook away the fear
that I was feeling, knowing that it was over, that I was safe. “Uh,
yeah, I think so,” I breathed deeply, trying to fight off the
zapping waves of electricity that were working their way out of my
system.

He pulled me into him
and hugged me tightly, letting out an exuberant laugh. “That
was so amazing!”

His excited words
confused me. “What do you mean? I didn't teleport.”

He relaxed his hug and
put his hands on my shoulders, looking at me with an intense
fascination. “I don't know exactly what you were doing, but
when you took that step forward, you started to fade out of my sight.
I mean, it's like you were starting to disappear! And my hands were
fading away with yours! No joke; I'm being completely serious. It's
like you were, uh, like a staticky television channel or something.
It was so amazing!” His eyes were wild as he babbled on,
frantically describing to me what he had seen.

I
stared at him with a blank face and tried to decipher what he had
told me. “Wow,” I managed to choke out, “I guess
maybe it
was
going to
work?”

“
Yeah, I think it
was.” He pulled me back in and squeezed me tightly against him.
“You were actually going to take us somewhere; it was
incredible.”

My head rested softly
against his chest as I sunk into him, feeling exhausted from the
current that ran through my blood, making it hard for me to move. “I
feel so, I don't know, electrified. My mom couldn't even touch me
after I tried it with her without getting shocked. Aren't you getting
zapped by me?”

“
Yeah, but it
doesn't hurt too bad. I can handle electricity as long as I'm not in
the water.”

“
Water and
electricity don't mix,” I added.

I could hear a chuckle
rise up from his chest. “Yeah, you're right about that.”

My face turned toward
his to see his comforting stare. “I'm so thirsty,” I
mumbled lazily.

He breathed a soft kiss
onto the top of my forehead and released his protective hold on my
body. “Let's get you over to my mom's house. I'll drive if you
want so you can relax.”

“
Yeah, that
sounds good.”

He took my hand in his
and led me slowly across the beach toward the rocks. When we got to
the bottom of the hill he picked me up without a word and carried me
over.

“
Thanks,” I
whispered to him, feeling too weak to push my words out any louder.

“
Of course. I'll
always carry you, even if you're
not
too tired to walk.”

I smiled comfortably at
what he said. No matter what happened to me or what I needed, Jonah
was always there. He would always be my protector.

When we got in the car
I reached around for the lever and reclined the back of my seat so I
could relax. “You know, maybe we can swing by the restaurant
first. I want to show off my new car to Brittany, and I can grab
something to drink while we're there.”

He scanned the stations
on the stereo and stopped when he reached a hard rock channel,
keeping the volume low enough to be background noise. “Whatever
your little heart desires,” he said as he drove us away from
the mountain of boulders.

* * *

I was feeling much
better by the time we got to Walley's. When we got out of the car
Jonah reached out for my hand and took it comfortably in his as we
walked inside.

As soon as we made it
through the door I saw Brittany's eyes fall immediately on our joined
hands. “Hi guys!” she bubbled like usual, giving me an
excited look at seeing Jonah and I so linked together.

I let go of his hand
and reached over the smooth counter to give her a hug. “I
really missed you while I was gone,” I burst out as she
squeezed back tightly.

“
Oh, I missed
you, too! How was your trip?”

We let go of our strong
embrace and I settled back next to Jonah, taking his hand into mine
like it had been moments before. “The trip was great, it was
nice to see my hometown again.”

The door to Fox's
office creaked open and he appeared in the doorway, looking at me
with joyful green eyes that matched the color of his tight button-up
shirt. “Summer!” he called out happily across the room.
“I'm so glad you're back!” His stare stayed solely on me
as he walked over, not paying any attention to Jonah or the obvious
fact that he was holding onto my hand.

“
Hi Fox, how's it
going,” I asked him flatly.

He stood behind the
counter next to Brittany and gave me a blissful look. “I'm
doing great. How was Arizona?”

“
It was good.
Thanks again for the time off.”

“
Ah, it wasn't a
problem.”

Being well aware of
Fox's attempt to ignore him, Jonah pulled his shoulders back and gave
him a single nod. “How's it going, Fox?” he greeted him
in a low, emotionless voice.

Fox moved his eyes from
my face and settled on Jonah. “I'm good,” he said thickly
as he crossed his arms in front of him.

I looked between the
both of them, two testosterone-filled men, bursting at the seams with
an intense annoyance for each other. “Hey, Brittany,” I
cut in quickly, feeling the need to break the tension that was
forming, “Jonah found me a car. He fixed it up really nice for
me, too. Do you want to see it?”

She nodded almost
immediately as the words left my mouth. “Yeah, as long as it's
okay with the boss that I take a look at it real quick.”

We all cut our eyes
over to Fox and caught him focusing on Jonah's large hand that was
meshed with mine. “Sure, just don't take too long,” he
said, moving his eyes up and answering to Jonah as if it were him who
had asked the question.

Brittany nodded and
came around the other side of the counter. “Okay, let's go see
it.”

“
Let's go Jonah,”
I said as I tugged on his hand to break his fixed stare away from my
boss. “I'll see you tomorrow, Fox.”

Fox rested his eyes
softly on my face. “Okay, yeah, I'll see you tomorrow.”

The three of us walked
out of the restaurant and hit the blacktop outside, leaving behind
the awkwardness of the situation that we were just in.

“
I think your
boss has a thing for you,” Jonah acknowledged matter-of-factly.

I shot him a look of
disgust as I let go of his hand and opened the driver's side door for
Brittany. “I don't think so.”

Brittany climbed into
the seat and looked around at my new ride. “Wow Summer, this is
awesome!”

“
Here,” I
said as I handed her the key, “go ahead and start it up and
listen to how good the stereo sounds.”

She slid it into the
ignition and started it with a quick twist of her hand, her fingers
moving right for the green dancing lights of the stereo deck. “Ooh,
now that's what I'm talking about,” she smiled as she turned
the music up to feel the bass rumble her body in the seat. She bobbed
her head for a few beats before turning the knob and bringing the
vibration to a lower level. “Summer,” she said, looking
up at me with seriousness, “Jonah's right. I think Fox has a
thing for you, too.”

I crossed my arms and
shook my head in disbelief. “No, I think you guys are wrong. He
just thinks of me like a little sister or something.”

Jonah and Brittany
looked at each other and shook their heads in unison, silently taking
the same side of the argument.

“
Well,”
Brittany rattled on, “you should have heard him when you were
gone, he didn't stop talking about you. All he said was how he
couldn't wait for you to get back. It was really weird.”

I quietly scoffed and
looked blankly at the passing cars on the street next to us. “He
probably meant that he couldn't wait for me to get back and do my
job. He doesn't like it when Sarah fills in for me because she
doesn't do as good of a job as I do.”

“
You're in
denial,” Brittany said as she got out of my car. “He's
into you.”

“
Listen to your
friend, she knows what she's talking about,” Jonah added.

I looked down at my
feet and kept my arms crossed tightly in front of me as I digested
what they were saying.
Could Fox really have feelings for me? I
hope not . . .

“
Well,”
Brittany chimed in, “I better be getting back inside. This car
is so awesome Summer, Jonah did a great job finding it for you.”

“
Thanks, he
did
do a great job.” I looked over and gave him my most
appreciative smile.

“
See you guys
later,” she called out as she trotted back to the restaurant.
“Call me later, Summer.”

“
I will.”

Jonah leaned against
the car with his arms crossed and his sunglasses shielding his eyes,
staying unusually silent as I stared at him.

“
What?” I
barked, bringing my hands to my hips and standing defensively in
front of his body.

His large shoulders
raised with a gentle shrug. “Nothing.”

“
Do we really
have to play this charade or are you going to tell me what's on your
mind?”

“
Do you really
want to hear what I have to say?” he quickly shot back.

“
It's about Fox,
isn't it?”

“
Yes, it is about
Fox.”

“
Ugh,” I
sighed, dropping my arms in defeat. “I told you, I don't think
that he has feelings for me.”

“
Yes, he does.”

“
And how do you
know?”

“
Because, I'm a
guy; I just know.”

“
No,” I
shook my head, “that's not good enough. Tell me how you know.”

He uncrossed his arms
and took the glasses away from his face, placing them on top of his
spiky hair. “I know he has feelings for you,” he said
softly, “because he looks at you the same way that
I
look at you.”

His sincerity made me
drop my attitude. “Well, I don't know what to say. It doesn't
matter if he likes me or not; I don't like him.”

“
Why not? He's a
good-looking guy.”

“
Jonah,” I
snapped loudly, “I don't care if he's good-looking or not, he
is the dullest person on the face of the earth. And he's the cockiest
person I know, which is very unattractive.”

Jonah's expression
lightened as a small smile crept across his face. “You didn't
say he
wasn't
good-looking . . .”

“
That's because
he
is
good-looking. Anyone with a pair of eyes in their head
can see that. But he's definitely not anywhere close to being as
attractive as you are.”

He laughed shyly and
looked over at the passing cars. “You think so, huh?”

“
Anyone with a
pair of eyes in their head can see that, yes.”

“
Well, I'm glad
you think I'm so attractive,” he said, looking back at me with
a content smile that lit up his face.

I pushed my hair behind
my ear and smiled back at him. “I just don't know why he acts
the way he does. I mean, he sees me with you all the time, and he
knows your my boy . . .” I stopped the word “boyfriend”
from falling further out of my mouth and looked away with
embarrassment.