Eden (17 page)

“
What are we talking
about, here?” I said, my eyes dancing between the two of
them.

“
I’ll do it,” Jared
said.

“
Do what?” I asked. Jared
led me to the center of the room, standing directly in front of
me.

“
What is he doing?” Ryan
asked Claire.

“
Sssh. Pass out again,”
she said, impatiently waiting for something to happen.

My eyebrows pulled in. “What do you
plan to do?”

Jared steadied himself and squared his
shoulders. His eyes darkened, and then he lowered his chin. In the
next moment his body relaxed, and he threw his head back. “I
can’t,” he sighed, looking at the ceiling.

“
What a wuss!” Claire
laughed.

The front door opened, and I closed my
eyes, waiting for the painful shrieking of my mother. It never
came.

“
Uh…what happened here?”
Bex said. I opened my eyes, seeing Bex stood frozen in place in the
doorway, a half-eaten apple in one hand.

“
Nina pulled me off Ryan,”
Claire said, her voice trembling with excitement.

“
Okay. So what are
you
doing, Jared?” Bex
said.

“
Nothing,” Jared replied,
clearly embarrassed.

“
He’s going to test the
theory,” Claire said.

Jared shook his head quickly. “No, I’m
not.”

I crossed my arms. “And how were you
going to do that, exactly?”

Jared rubbed the back of his neck. “I
was just going to throw it. I wasn’t going to….”

“
Punch her?” Bex
said.

Jared frowned at Bex, and then looked
at me apologetically.

“
What?” I
wailed.

Jared held out his hands. “I wasn’t
going to land it! Just to see if you would catch it.”

Claire puffed,
unimpressed. “
I
was going to punch her,” she mumbled.

My mouth fell open.

Bex walked casually across the room,
stopping a couple of feet from me. Jared reclaimed my attention
when he reached for me again. “Come on, Nina. You don’t think I
would punch my pregnant wi—”

Before Jared could finish his
sentence, Bex’s fist hurled toward me with lightning speed. My body
reacted, and suddenly his fist was in my hand.

“
I’m not holding back,”
Bex grunted, still pushing his fist toward my face.

Jared’s eyes widened. He tried to
talk, but the only result was his jaw flapping about.

Bex relaxed and lowered his hand, and
then bent down to kiss my forehead. “She’s been like that for
months. You couldn’t tell?” he asked Jared.

“
I uh…I could tell
something was different. I assumed it was the baby.”

“
It
is
the baby,” Bex smiled. “Bean is
sharing angel juice with Nina. I haven’t taken it easy sparring
with her for weeks.”

“
What?” I said.

“
What?” Jared
repeated.

Bex rolled his eyes. “Remember that
time she threw me on my back?”

Jared’s eyes dashed to mine. “She
really did that?”

Bex frowned. “It hurt, too. I just
didn’t say anything because I assumed you knew, and this was one of
those things you didn’t want to talk about.”

“
He is
so
like that.” Claire
said.

Jared was instantly angry. “You were
sparring with her on your level? She’s pregnant, Bex. Are you
insane? What if you hurt the baby?”

I looked down at my protruding belly
and gingerly rubbed it with my fingers. “Bean is giving me
abilities?”

Bex shrugged. “Bean’s full-on angel,
Nina. You’ve got more power than we do, I bet. That’s why you could
hover during your dreams and climb the walls and stuff. You were
pregnant then, weren’t you?”

Ryan laughed once. “What? She’s
Spider-Man, now?”

“
That’s what I said!” Bex
beamed. “Love Spider-Man.”

Jared frowned. “You should have said
something.”

Bex laughed once without
humor. “She’s your Taleh…not to mention your
wife
. I thought you
knew!”

“
You didn’t think I’d
mention it if I had?”

“
No! That doesn’t sound
like you at all!” Bex snapped.

“
He’s right,” Claire said.
“Being forthcoming isn’t your strong suit.”

Jared turned on his heels, crossing
his arms. His biceps bulged over his hands. “I guess you knew,
too?”

“
Obviously not!” Claire
said. “It was my idea to punch her!”

“
Well, let’s brag about
it,” I said flatly.

Silence overcame the room while the
new knowledge set in. Jared’s eyes bounced around different points
on the floor while his brain processed a million thoughts a
second.

A loud bang sounded from across the
room, followed by a vibration in the floor. Claire was lying on her
back, looking up at Ryan with a shocked expression.

He smiled. “I told you I wouldn’t give
up.”

Her face flashed red, and I waited for
her to send Ryan flying across the room again. But the flush of her
cheeks returned to a warm tone, and her eyes softened. A slow,
small smile turned up the corners of her mouth. Ryan, without
caution, kneeled beside her. His eyes left hers, and then
transfixed onto her lips. He leaned in closer. I waited for Claire
to grab him by the throat, or kick him in his nether region, but
she slowly closed her eyes.

“
What in the hell happened
in here?” Cynthia shrieked, slamming the door behind
her.

My mother’s surprise entrance took my
attention away for only a moment, and when I looked back, I could
see a familiar frustration in Ryan’s eyes.

I smiled.

“
Someone had better answer
me,” Cynthia said.

Realization fluttered in Claire’s
eyes, and she glanced in my direction.

“
Karma,” I said with a
knowing grin. She had made a hobby of interrupting Jared and I when
we were falling in love. It was refreshing to see her reaction when
the same happened to her.

“
Oh, shut up,” she said,
pushing herself to her feet. She grabbed Ryan’s hand and helped him
to stand. “I apologize, Mrs. Grey.”

“
You did this,” Cynthia
said. Her words were more an accusation than a question. “I expect
everything to be in order by tomorrow morning.” With that, she left
for her bedroom.

Claire surveyed the destruction. “It’s
going to be a long night.”

“
I’ll help you,” Ryan
said.

Claire left for the kitchen, and
returned holding a large garbage can. She carried it in one hand,
picking up the splinters of wood that covered the floor with the
other.

“
Have fun with that,”
Jared smiled, taking my hand. “We’ll be at the oak tree at first
light.”

“
Oh?” I said with a
smile.

Jared glanced at his little brother.
“You’re coming, too.”

“
I am?” Bex
said.

A wary frown touched Bex’s face as his
eyes darted between Jared and me. I could tell that he was hesitant
to be excited. “Why? Isn’t that, like, your breeding
ground?”

Jared rolled his eyes. “I want to see
what Nina is capable of.”

“
Sweet!” Bex said,
clapping his hands together once. “You ready to spar, Sis?” His
hands rubbed together.

A broad smile widened my face. “Oh.
It’s on.”

Chapter Ten

Matches

Jared and I walked upstairs. I went
through the motions of my nightly routine in a daze, trying to
concede to this new reality. Knowing I had a lot to prove in the
morning, it was difficult to sleep. Finally I forced my mind to
slow down, and managed to close my eyes for a few hours before the
sun breeched the horizon.

Once my eyes fluttered, there would be
no falling back asleep; no sleeping in. I was wide awake, and my
body screamed to get out of bed and get to the oak tree. I didn’t
bother with a shower, knowing I would be sweaty and covered in dust
and dirt within the hour. An oversized t-shirt of Jared’s barely
stretched over my belly, but it would suffice. I was really showing
now, and the thought crossed my mind at how ridiculous I would
look, swollen and awkward, while Bex attacked me with gorgeous
precision from every angle.

Jared and I met downstairs, where the
others were still cleaning. The only person not smiling and joking
about the night before was Ryan.

“
What?” Jared said, smug.
“You don’t think Nina can take Bex?”

Ryan pointed at me, but looked at
Jared. “She’s still pregnant.”

Bex laughed once. “Don’t worry. Bean’s
tougher than I am.”

Claire thought I should start with
Ryan, however. Ryan held out his hands. “What the hell is this?
Beat The Shit Out Of Ryan Week?”

“
I didn’t think you’d
mind, since you’re always insisting upon getting yourself
hospitalized,” Claire said.

Ryan’s face screwed into disgust.
“That was uncalled for.”

“
The truth hurts,
baby.”

He smiled. “If you’re going to talk to
me like that, you can insult me all day long.”

Claire pulled her car keys from her
pocket, and then pulled on Ryan’s hand. “I meant that you’re a
baby. It wasn’t a term of endearment.”

“
Yeah, right.”

Jared squeezed my hand. “The oak tree
it is. Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

“
Does it
matter?”

“
Yes. I would like to see
what you can do, though, don’t you?”

I thought for a moment. I had always
admired the abilities of the Ryels, but having my own never
occurred to me. My damsel in distress days could be over, and I
liked that.

“
Do I get a shot at you if
I beat Claire?”

Jared shrugged. “Sure,
but—”

“
Then yes.”

Jared pretended to be offended. “That
wasn’t very nice, honey. Not nice at all.”

I hooked my arm around his and nuzzled
against him as we walked to the Escalade. “A little exploratory
domestic violence doesn’t mean I love you any less.”

The Escalade jostled with the uneven
ground of the trail that led to our oak tree. Bex and Claire would
be careful not to land a direct hit to my stomach, but my motherly
instincts were kicking in, and so were my nerves. I kept telling
myself I had already done this: Bex and I had sparred many times,
and I got the best of him several times. At the time I thought he
was taking it down a thousand notches so that I knew I was
improving, but now I knew differently.

Ryan, sporting a standard-issue police
T-shirt and a PPD ball cap, took position across from
me.

“
Until I figure out what I
can do,” I told him, “try very, very hard not to go anywhere near
Bean.”

Ryan frowned. “For the record, I feel
like I’m having an out-of-body experience, and the rational me is
screaming to kidnap you away from this craziness before you get
hurt.”

“
We’ll just start slow,
and see what happens.”

Ryan winced. “I’m about to fight a
pregnant woman. This is wrong on so many levels.”

“
C’mon you weenies!”
Claire yelled. “We haven’t got all day!”

“
I’m not a weenie,” Ryan
said under his breath.

“
You are if you’re afraid
of a girl!”

Ryan glanced at her with annoyance,
and I smiled. “You’ll learn whispering doesn’t help.”

“
Okay, let’s do this
before my girlfriend thinks worse of me.”

“
Still not your
girlfriend!” Claire yelled.

I bit my lip. “Let’s try this,” I
said, shoving Ryan. I used enough strength to push him a few feet
away, but instead he flew back, twisted in the air, and then fell,
rolling across the ground.

He looked up at me in surprise.
“That’s cheating!”

“
I barely touched
you.”

“
Really?”

“
Really.”

Ryan pushed himself to his feet, and
then jogged back to me, a bit shaken. “I can’t let two girls kick
my ass in one twelve-hour period.”

“
Bring it,” I said,
crouched and ready.

Ryan swung and missed a dozen times
before I tried punching him. My fist caught him in the gut, and he
landed nearly in the same place as before. He stood up, but then
doubled over, trying to catch his breath. He took a step, and then
bent down again, holding up one finger.

“
Sorry!” I
called.

“
My turn!” Bex said. He
wasted no time, and I could see in his eyes that playtime was
over.

He lunged, and I moved. Blocking each
of his punches, I used Claire’s leg sweep, knocking him to his
feet. He jumped up, missing the first punch, and then landing the
next. It stung, but it felt like I had accidentally walked into a
door instead of the full power of a Hybrid pounding into my
jaw.