Fallen (2 page)

“Okay. Love you.”

I vaguely heard her goodbye, as Thomas chose that moment to walk across the room. I watched his sure and steady movements—not at all like my jerky, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it preternatural ones. Apparently I had to learn to slow my roll.

Thomas tossed my jacket onto the couch next to me. “C’mon, let’s go to the store. Consider it a…test, of sorts.”

I cocked an eyebrow as I stood and grabbed my jacket. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” What if I tried to…
attack
people?

He shrugged, which was not reassuring. “We’re gonna be stuck on a plane for three hours in a couple days. If you can’t be around humans, we need to know now.”

“Good point.” I followed him down the hallway, into the foyer, and grabbed my purse off the coat rack. As he fished his keys out of his pocket, I pulled open his front door. Metal groaned as I yanked it right off its hinges. “
Oh my god
.” The door clattered to the floor as I dropped it. 

Thomas watched in stunned silence.

“I’m sorry, I— I don’t know how that happened.” I hadn’t pulled that hard, and it came off like it was nothing.

“Uh, no, it’s fine. It happens when you’re young.” He ushered me outside and picked up the door, propping it back into the doorframe as much as he could. We walked to his car, and even though he did it all the time, I still felt like an idiot when he stepped in front of me to open my car door. 

Thomas killed the Jeep’s engine and looked over at me. “You ready?”

My knee bobbed up and down as I stared at the store’s entrance, worrying my lip as I watched customers come and go. “I think so.” My stomach did this weird flip-flop thing, and I fought to keep my scrambled eggs and toast down.

I climbed out of the car and put my jacket on, even though I didn’t really need it. My body could tell it was cold outside, but I couldn’t really feel it. Thomas said that must’ve been due to my “other” DNA. Feeders ran colder than Healers—colder than humans, too.

Thomas held my hand as we crossed the parking lot. When we got close to the entrance, I stopped, tightening my hold on him. He looked back at me as I said, “You won’t let go of me, right? You’ll hold me back if I— if I—”
Try to kill everything in sight. 

He pulled me to him and wrapped his arm around me, kissing the top of my head. “I won’t let anything happen, I promise.”

I nodded. “Okay. Let’s get this over with.”

I inhaled a big breath before we walked in. The air was so cold it burned my lungs. I kept my sunglasses on as we went in. The glare from the fluorescent lights was almost as bad as being outside. 

I clung to Thomas as we walked over to the produce section. There weren’t very many people in that section, so I figured it was as good a spot as any to have my first breath since coming in. 

Thomas stood behind me, locked onto my arms. I exhaled, pausing for a second before breathing in. What if it was too much? What if Thomas couldn’t restrain me? What if I hurt him in my craze, trying to escape his grip? 

I inhaled the tiniest sniff, tasting the flavor of the air to determine if I could handle a bigger breath. It smelled like…dirt and water. I inhaled again, deeper this time. I could definitely smell the humans in the store, but they didn’t smell
that
appealing. They smelled…salty…moist…warm, with a slight metallic undertone. 

Blech
. They smelled like garbage compared to Thomas. 

My nose wrinkled at the offending smell in the produce section, growing stronger by the second. “How can you stand that?”

“Stand what?” Thomas asked, still keeping his firm grip. 

“Vegetables. They stink! They smell like dirt.”  

He laughed. “Aside from that, how are you holding up?”

I shrugged—well, tried to. “It’s not that bad. I think you can let go of me.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, slowly loosening his grip. “It’s not too much?”

“No, it’s fine,” I said. “They’re not as appealing as I imagined. I mean they don’t smell half as good as—” 

You. 

My eyes grew wide as I snapped my mouth shut. It was like the filter from my brain to my mouth had up and disappeared. My face flamed as I looked away, ashamed and appalled with myself.

So much for ignoring the elephant in the room.

“Hey.” Thomas tilted my chin up and I met his stare. “I’m flattered that I smell the best to you. I wouldn’t want it any other way.” 

Thomas killed me sometimes. How did he always know the perfect thing to say?

* * *

Cold wind whipped against my face as I pumped my legs. Racing through the forest at an unnatural speed, my surroundings remained perfectly clear. They didn’t blur, didn’t whiz past me. I saw every tree trunk, every branch, as if I were standing still.

My heart thumped evenly as my breath left me in unhurried puffs. There was no sweating, no aching legs.

I could run forever.

“Is that all you’ve got?”

I glanced at Thomas, who’d been keeping pace with me the whole time, and rolled my eyes. “
Please.
”

He grinned before pulling ahead, running several feet past me. Something shifted in me as I watched him get away. My heart spiked as this compulsion came over me, making me run faster. I wanted to catch him.

My feet were so quick I practically flew. I dodged trees and leapt over logs without a second thought, pushing myself to go faster,
faster
. He was just within my grasp when I launched myself, knocking him down to the ground as we tumbled in a limb-entangled mess.  

We rolled to a stop with me atop him, both of us panting and wide-eyed. His heart beat wildly, the deep bass thudding underneath my fingers and pounding in my ears until it was the only sound I heard. My eyes dropped from his dirt-smeared face to the pulse point on his neck. 

It called to me:
Em-il-y. Em-il-y.
 

His scent flooded me, my stomach clenching as my mouth went dry. 

It was then that I noticed it: Thomas didn’t smell right. The hint of Irish Spring was there, but the sweet, cupcakey scent was off. It didn’t smell like vanilla, it smelled more…lemony. Citrusy. 

The distraction helped me get it together, and I gave him a shaky smile as I stood. “Told you I could keep up.”

I didn’t wait for his response—didn’t even wait for him to get up—I simply turned and ran.

Chapter Two

Sunday, December 20th

EMILY

My phone skittered on Thomas’s coffee table as the screen lit up, Gabriel’s name and number flashing across it. Shit. He just
had
to call me when I was with Thomas, didn’t he?

Thomas’s brow lifted. “Who’s Gabriel?”

“He’s just a friend,” I said, leaving the comfort of his side to reach for my phone.

He beat me to it, answering it as he snatched it up. “Hello?”

That little shit. Glaring at him, I said, “
Give it.
”

He didn’t, of course. He just grinned at me.

When Gabriel’s disgruntled voice came through the phone, I heard it fine. “Who the hell is this?”

I tried to snatch the phone out of Thomas’s hands, but he was too quick. He stood, immediately scowling. “This is Emily’s boyfriend. Who the hell is
this
?”

Uh-oh.
I got up from the couch and yanked my phone out of his hand, covering the mouthpiece. “Stop it
.
I said he’s just a friend, and I meant it.” He sulked his way back to the couch and I moved into the kitchen, trying to give myself what little privacy I could, since Thomas would most likely be able to hear our entire conversation in any room of the house. 

I uncovered the phone and held it up to my ear, preparing for the barrage of “asshole boyfriend” insults that were surely coming. “Sorry ’bout that.”

Gabriel didn’t respond. 

Great, he hung up.

“Gabriel?”

“I’m here.” Those two little words never held such animosity before, and let me know exactly how livid he was:
very
.

“Not you too.” I sighed and leaned over the counter, resting my elbows on the hard granite. “Can we please skip the macho bullshit? These past forty-eight hours have been brutal, and I’m in no state to deal with this right now.”

“Trouble in paradise?” he asked, his mood instantly lifting.

I hung my head. “No, you
ass
, now what did you call me for?”

“Are you going to Dallas for Christmas?”

My head lifted. “Yeah, Thomas is going with me so he can meet my parents. Why?”

“I, uh, got you something. A Christmas present,” he amended quickly. “I wanted to give it to you before you left.”

He got me a Christmas present? I fought the smile tugging on my lips and said, “How ’bout today? I’m free this afternoon.”

We agreed to meet at the coffee shop around three, and as I hung up, I couldn’t help but wonder what he’d gotten me.

“So who’s Gabriel?”

I whipped around at Thomas’s voice, seeing him lean against the kitchen doorway with his arms crossed. His mood hadn’t improved at all, though I didn’t really expect it to.

“He’s just a friend.” I frowned and brushed past him, walking back to the couch.

Thomas stalked over to me. “Funny how you’ve never mentioned him before.”

I gave him a pointed look. “Oh, like
you’re
the king of disclosure.”

His jaw clenched. “Stop. Deflecting.”

I sighed, trying not to squirm under his intense stare. “Fine. I didn’t mention him because I was hoping to avoid
this
,” I said, gesturing between the two of us. “I knew you’d get jealous, and there’s really no need to be. We really are—”

“Just friends, got it.” He sat down at the end of the couch, hunched over with his elbows propped on his knees. “How long have you known him?”

“I met him this summer in Dallas. He’s from Texas, too.”

His brows lifted at that, but he didn’t address it. Instead, he said, “Has he ever asked you out?”

“Not on a date.” I huffed out an impatient breath. “Look, he had plenty of time to make a move before you came along, and he
didn’t
, okay? What does that tell you?”

Thomas snorted. “That he’s an idiot.”

I smiled and scooted towards him, cuddling up next to him. “That may be, but that also means he’s not interested.”

He put his arm around me, but his sour expression hadn’t left. “
Or
, that could just mean he’s too much of a pussy to make the first move.”

I laughed. “Trust me, that’s not it.” At Thomas’s raised brow, I said, “Gabriel’s kind of a…ladies’ man.”

He frowned. “You mean he’s a whore.”

“Exactly. So if he
did
have any interest in me, he would’ve made it known by now.”

Thomas extricated himself from me and stood. “What makes him so different? When you thought
I
was a whore, you wanted nothing to do with me, but you’ve got no problem with
him
?”

Less than a second later, I was in front of him, shoving at his chest. “
He
was nice to me from day one.
You
were not.”

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “You were the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen, and I thought you were blowing me off…
That’s
why I was such an ass.”

“Wait, what?”

“I told you, I recognized what you were from day one. I just assumed
you
knew too, and when I asked why you were here…”

“I had no idea what you were talking about,” I said slowly, the pieces finally fitting together. I thought back to that day, as our conversation in the classroom took on a whole new meaning. “Wait a sec… How’d you find out that I didn’t know?”

“I did some digging into your past. Came across the court papers for your adoption.”

“Oh.”

“When I realized I’d fucked up, I tried like crazy to get back on your good side.” His cheeks pinkened as he gave me a sheepish smile.

Any remaining annoyance vanished, and I hugged myself to him. “I’m glad you did.”

He sighed into my hair, pulling me closer. “Me, too.”

“Where is he?”

Thomas’s eyes narrowed as he carefully combed through the sea of customers visible from the coffee shop’s windows. The Jeep pulled up to the curb in front, and I rolled my eyes at his alpha male bullshit. A scan of the parking lot showed me Gabriel was late. As usual. 

“He’s not here yet,” I said, unbuckling my seat belt.

Thomas frowned. “Do you want me to wait with you?”

I reached down into the floorboard to grab my purse. “You know I don’t.”

He sighed through his nose, his frown in danger of becoming permanently etched onto his face. “I know. Still thought I’d ask.”

I laughed and cupped the side of his face. “Babe, it’ll be okay. If he tries anything, I can defend myself now. I’m a superhero, remember?”

His face relaxed minutely. “Yeah… I guess.”

Oh, shit. I looked…
different
now. How would Gabriel respond? Better yet, how would I explain it?

“What is it?” Thomas’s brows creased together as he stared at me.

“How am I going to explain” —I gestured to my face and body— “
this
?” I flipped down my visor and stared at my perfect reflection, then cringed. “Is it noticeable?” 

He bit his lip and smiled. “I’m afraid so.”

“
Shit.
” I slapped the mirror closed. “What should I say?”

Thomas shrugged. “Plastic surgery?”

I frowned. Crap, what would my parents say? Thomas and I were supposed to go see them in
two days
.

My teeth gnawed on my bottom lip, my mind all over the place. I finally snapped myself out of it and pushed open the car door. What’s done was done. There was absolutely nothing I could do about it now. “I gotta go. He’ll drop me off in an hour or so.” I gave Thomas a quick peck and climbed out of his Jeep, careful not to shut his door with all my strength. From the sidewalk, I watched him drive off. I didn’t feel like going inside yet, so I walked across the street, to the park.