Finding Obscurity (7 page)

Part of me
knew we were basically making out on the dance floor, no longer moving to the
music. It was like one of those scenes you see in a movie where the sound
fades, everything around you is a blur, and you can only focus on the person
currently kissing you with his soft lips. I didn’t believe in fairy tales,
movie endings, and happily ever after, but for now I would pretend just for a
little bit. Ashton slowly pulled away and leaned his forehead against mine. We
started to sway to the music again.

If there
were whispers about us before, then I could only imagine the conversations
around us now.

Chapter
Nine

I wasn’t sure how long we had
stayed embraced with our foreheads touching, but Ashton’s cell phone rang,
causing him to have him leave the dance floor, excusing himself, breaking the
magic of the moment. While he was gone, I decided to sample another champagne
and then a glass of wine. I decided I liked the sweet red wine the best, so I
moved on to the white, trying to find one I liked even better.

“You may want to
slow down there, my dear.” Carlotta came up beside me with a smile and grabbed
a glass of pink champagne, taking a slow sip. “We may have to carry you out of
here.”

I chuckled. “You
may have to. Ashton’s been gone for a little while, and I can’t tell you how
many of these I’ve tried.”

“I’m sure he will
be back soon. Now, the show on the dance floor was quite… interesting. I will
say I never saw that coming.”

“Me either.” I
shrugged, chugging down another glass of wine.

Carlotta was
right, and I was feeling pretty tipsy from all this alcohol. In all honesty, I
think I had been trying to drown out any feelings toward Ashton. It kind of
crept up on me at how many I had in one sitting. These feelings toward him were
sneaking up on me, too, and I couldn’t afford to fall for the guy. Love wasn’t
something I had any luxury of feeling, because right now I needed to not think
about his sexy body and stunning eyes. Grabbing another glass, I tossed it back
and turned to look at the dance floor, losing my balance a bit. “Whoops. These
damn shoes.”

“Shoes. Right. It
wouldn’t have anything to do with all these empty glasses on the table?” She
shook her head with a grin.

I had never
noticed how pretty she was until now. Her blue eyes had specks of teal
throughout and were slightly slanted, showing Asian heritage somewhere in her
background. She had a porcelain complexion that was flawless, with high
cheekbones and full lips.
Ugh, was
everyone around this place perfect?

“You’re really
pretty,” I said, and slapped my hand over my mouth in embarrassment.

“Thank you,” she
said, eyeing me guzzling down yet another glass of wine.

“Welcome. Man,
this shit is some good stuff! Do you know what it’s called? I think I may need
to stock up on this at my house.”

 
“Actually, it’s our own label. We started
making wine at our vineyard in Spain. I would be more than happy to send you
home with a bottle or two. I’ve been trying to talk Ashton into carrying the
wine at Revive, but he won’t hear it. Maybe if he found out how much you like
it, he may change his mind.”

“I’ll say
something to him for you.” I felt my phone vibrate in my clutch purse. I set my
glass down and rooted around until I found it.

There was a text
from Blake.
What’s up?

I stared at the
phone for a minute before replying:
The sky.

Duh. You
havin
’ fun?

Of course. Now
leave me alone.

Not on your
life. ;)

I powered down my
phone and stumbled on my feet, trying to get my phone back into my purse. She
held on to my arm to keep me from tripping over my own feet. I looked up at
Carlotta’s face and blurted out, “That was Blake.”

“Blake Moore was
texting you? You better just keep that to yourself. You know how much Ashton
dislikes him for reasons I don’t have to explain.”

“We have a date
one night this week,” I blurted.

“You have a date
with Blake? I don’t want to know how that will go over around him. What made you
think that would be okay?” She still had ahold of my arm and squeezed it hard.

“He’s going to
show me how to control things that I can do. I’ve spent a long time trying to
find something like me.” I winced at what I had revealed.

“Well that would
make sense. Just be sure to be honest about the situation with both men. It
will make things better for you in the long run. Hiding things can lead to
trouble.”

She never
questioned that I hinted to being different, but I was too drunk to really
think much about that right now. I had a feeling they knew something was
different about me anyway. I slowly peeled her fingers off my arm because it
was hurting. “I will tell him when I think the timing is right.”

“I still think he
may want more than what you think it will be, especially with him texting you
while you’re on a date with another man.”

“
Pfft
.” I waved my hand around. “No big deal. I told him to
leave me alone.”

“Told who to leave
you alone?” Ashton said from behind me.

I swirled around,
losing my balance before he caught my arms so I wouldn’t make an embarrassing
face-plant onto the marble floor. “Uh…”

Carlotta patted my
arm in sympathy and smiled. “I’ll be sure to send a bottle home with you. I
will have somebody give it to the limo driver before you leave. It was
wonderful meeting you, and I hope we see more of each other soon.”

She left in a
hurry and I watched her make her way through the crowds of people before
disappearing from view. I liked Carlotta and hoped I would see her again soon.

Ashton cleared his
throat, catching my attention. “Who did you tell to leave you alone, Liliana?”

“It’s no big deal.
Calm down. It was just a text message from Blake.”

His jaw flexed in
anger while his nostrils flared once. “Blake? What did he want?”

“Just wanted to
know if I was having a great night.” I tried to take a few steps towards the
table and lurched a bit. I balanced myself on the edge and grabbed another
glass of wine.

“Are you drunk?”

“Nah. I’m good,” I
said, squinting up at Ashton. I ran a clumsy finger along his chest.
 

He grabbed my hand
and steered me away from the wine. Smart decision, but I just wanted one more
glass, even though I still had half of mine left. I noticed he had an arm
around my back, holding me upright and walking straight. Shit. “Okay, maybe I
am a little tipsy. It’s been a while.”

“I think it’s time
to take you home. I’m afraid you may embarrass yourself if we stay here much
longer.” He nodded at Carlotta and Jeffery before heading towards exit.

“
Pfft
! You mean so I won’t embarrass you. Who called you?
Was it a woman wanting to get into your pants?”

He gave me an
amused expression. “I sure hope he didn’t want to get into my pants. It was
Gary wanting to check in. You know, Gary? The one you knocked on his ass two
nights ago?”

“How is good
ol
’ Gary after getting the crap shocked out of him?”

“He still gets
razzed about it every day,” Ashton said with a half-grin.

Had it only been
two nights ago since I met him? It sure felt like we had known each other for a
very long time. Maybe it was time I took a step back to get some space and try
not to rush things. My shoulder found the wall and I just kept leaning there.
It kept me from swaying all over the place. My eyes strayed from his broad
shoulders and down to his tight, perfect ass while he retrieved my coat. He
helped get me into my jacket and put his arm around me again to keep me
vertical. The hiccups had now started. “I need to pee.”

Nodding with a
sympathetic smile, he led me towards the restroom near the coat check and I went
in. After using the facilities, I was washing my hands and caught myself in the
mirror. Yikes! My eyes were bloodshot and my cheeks were bright red. I had
messed up the hair on the right side of my head, and I tried to straighten it
out the best I could.

I swung the door
open and lost my balance, slamming into it. Ashton turned around to watch me
patiently as I made my way back to him. My equilibrium so off, that I bumped
into the wall before he wrapped his arm around my shoulder to make sure I
didn’t do any more harm to myself.

“Feel better?” he
asked as we made our way out the door.

“Yep.” Another
hiccup.

The limo driver
was waiting for us, and he opened the door. I bumped my head on the way in and
heard the driver try to hide a chuckle. When we were both seated in the
backseat, the driver made his way up front and closed the divider before taking
off.

“We should have
danced a little more. I like to dance. Sam likes to dance, too. I think he’s my
friend and
it’s
okay.” I yawned. “Did you know that Sam
introduced me to Blake?”

“Maybe I should
have fired him when I had the chance.”

I slapped him
limply against the arm. “Sam is the best bartender you have. Besides, you can’t
judge him by the company he keeps. Did you know that Blake is like me?”

 
“He is nothing like you, but if you are
meaning that you can do things unexplained… then yes.”

“I thought I was
the only one. I hate it sometimes. I’m such a freak.” I tried to run my hand
through my hair only to have my fingers get caught.

“You’re not a freak,
Liliana. You’re amazing.”

I giggled and
started singing “Super Freak” by Rick James.

“How many did you
drink?” Ashton let out a throaty laugh, lifting up one of those bottles that
Carlotta had promised me.

I smiled at her
thoughtfulness before leaning my head back against the cool leather seat. “I
lost track when I got to glass seven. Or was it ten? You were gone for a while
and I just kept downing one after another.”

“I wasn’t gone
that long, was I?”

I chuckled and let
my head roll around on the seat when we made turns. “Not sure. I know that I
started thinking how I needed to numb things and just started drinking.”

“Numb things?” I
heard the leather creak as he sat forward to look at me.

I groaned and
slammed my hand on my forehead in stupidity. I really had no filter when I was
drunk. I should have known this but it had been too long.

Ashton grabbed my
hand and I squinted at him. “What were you trying to numb by drinking?”

“What most people
do when they try to get drunk. Feelings.” I shrugged.

“Liliana, do you
have feelings for me?” he asked as I laid my head back on the leather.

My eyes were so
heavy and were getting harder to keep open. I mumbled something and was pretty
sure I passed out after that. Whatever I mumbled hopefully wasn’t anything that
would haunt me in the future.

Chapter Ten

I woke up
with one hell of a hangover. I was tucked in my bed, still in the dress from
the night before. My cell phone was plugged in beside the bed and my tender
muscles protested when reaching over to check the time. It was ten in the
morning and I had already overslept. There was so much work I needed to do but
I didn’t want to move, let alone get out of this bed.

Stripping
painfully out of the wrinkled dress, I hung it up in the closet, and gingerly
got into the shower with the lights off. My head was pounding to the beat of my
heart and I was pretty sure the florescent lighting would make brains leak out
of my ears. My mouth was so dry that my tongue was stuck to the roof of my
mouth, so I took a few drinks of water out of the showerhead. I was so thirsty,
I could have sat there and drunk until I burst. The warm water helped a tiny
bit, so I toweled off. After slipping on my robe, I headed into the kitchen to
start coffee. After the machine was started, I noticed a single red rose and
bottle of aspirin sitting on top of a note.

Liliana,

I
hope the aspirin will help with the hangover you must have this morning. I
wanted to help you into your pajamas but I didn’t think you would appreciate me
stripping you down. Even though I would have enjoyed it, I would like you to be
fully aware when I finally do. I hope you have a wonderful day and I will be in
touch soon.

A

I leaned
my elbows on the counter, covering my eyes with my hands. The note answered how
I gotten into bed, and I was horribly embarrassed! Nothing like being on a
first date and passing out drunk, only to have your date carry to bed.

My cat
rubbed against my legs, meowing for her breakfast. “Jinx, I can really make a
mess of things, can’t I?”

Opening
the cat food, I scooped it into a bowl and set it on the floor gingerly. I was
afraid that bending over too fast would either cause me to throw up or pass
out, but I wasn’t willing to test it either way. I filled up a mug with coffee,
creamer, and sugar, and took a few aspirin with the caffeine.

Sitting at
the desk, I took another sip of coffee, waiting on my laptop to boot up. I
began working on some overdue reports that I really wasn’t in the mood for. I
would have rather just lay in bed all day, sleeping off the hangover, but
sometimes responsibility sucked. I made a few phone calls to my clients when I
had a question about something, and finished two of the three jobs lined up for
the week.

I must
have lost track of time in my concentration, because a knock on the door caused
me to jump a little. Surprisingly, the aspirin must have kicked in because I
was feeling better, and when I stood, I didn’t almost pass out or throw up.
That was a good sign. It was getting dark outside, but with daylight savings
time in Indiana, it would be a little after five in the evening. I wasn’t
expecting company, so when I heard a knock on the door, I looked out the
peephole and saw Blake standing there. I wasn’t sure whether to open it or not.

“I know you’re
in there, Lily. Open up or I will let myself in,” he said, muffled by the door
between us.

How would
he let himself in? Surely he wouldn’t dare break my door down. I wasn’t feeling
guilty about what happened last night, aside from passing out drunk. So why
didn’t I want Blake to come in? Was it because I had feelings for Ashton and
would feel guilty for being with somebody he didn’t like? I had no clue what
was going on with my rattled mind and these two hot men who wanted my
attention. Most women would love to be with either one of them, but I wasn’t
sure what I wanted, let alone if I wanted to be with either one. My heart was
treading on dangerous territory with Ashton as it was.

Blake
knocked again. “This is your last warning. Five, four, three, two, one!”

I watched
in horror as my deadbolts started turning slowly one by one before the door
opened to Blake standing there with his arms crossed at his chest. I glared at
him. “Did you take one of my keys?”

He walked
through my door with his arms still crossed, and with a raised eyebrow, the
door shut behind him, and my deadbolts started to lock themselves. “I have a
few tricks up my sleeve.”

He walked
past me as I stared at my door in utter horror. I turned around to watch him
walk into the kitchen, and I ran a hand through my ratted hair. When I followed
him, he was leaning up against the counter with his hands gripping the granite
in anger. I was confused until I saw the note with the rose and my
hangover-saving aspirin.

“Oh. I
drank a little too much last night and passed out on the way home.” I opened my
fridge and saw the bottle of wine. I held it up to him. “This was a little
stronger than I expected it to be.”

“Are you
the only one who had a little too much to drink last night?” Blake asked through
his teeth, staring at the note.

“Um… yes.
It had been a while since I’ve gotten drunk. I actually can’t remember doing
that since college, maybe. Heck, probably high school if I’m honest.” I wasn’t
sure what he was afraid would’ve happened between us. Putting the bottle back
in the fridge, I shrugged when he turned to look at me. “Nothing happened when
he dropped me off. That I am sure of.”

“What
about before he dropped you off?”

“Blake,
none of your business. He was a perfect gentleman and I wouldn’t expect him to
be anything else. Speaking of being a gentleman, and to switch the subject, how
did you get those locks open?” I said, pointing at the door. I was done talking
to him about my date that went great until I ruined it with too many glasses of
wine. “How can you do something like that?”

He looked
over me, inspecting every inch of exposed skin, and I tightened my robe. “Let’s
just say it’s one of the things I’ve learned to do. Call it one of my many
special abilities. I can move things with my mind if I put enough thought into
it.”

“Move
stuff… with your mind. And how did you learn you could do this? I didn’t know
that was even a real thing! It’s like science fiction and it shouldn’t be
real.” Telekinesis is the stuff of legends and folklore, but who was I to
dispute what could be impossible? I was able to get glimpses of the future and
could zap out an entire city block. It just seemed a little far-fetched to me,
and even though I shouldn’t doubt these things, it was hard to believe it
wasn’t just a trick of the mind.

Blake
grabbed ahold of my hand and the flow of energy between us was running along my
skin like a caress. “There are a lot of things you need to learn. For one, your
little electricity thing is rare, and I would like to help you get that under
control tonight, if you don’t mind. Seeing the future… well, we’ll work on that
a little bit later on, because being a Seer is something I am not familiar
with.”

“How are
you going to help me get the electricity thing under control if it’s rare? If I
am so rare, then how would you know how to help?”

He sighed
and lifted his other hand, letting sparks shoot up in the air like little
lightning strikes of blue.
 
They abruptly
stopped when he closed his hand. There was the aroma of ozone. It was what I
smelt the first time we met, and maybe that was what his “power” was like.

“Okay,
smartass. It can’t be that rare if you can do it, too.” I raised an eyebrow.

“Actually,
you are the only other person I know who can manipulate electricity. I have met
a lot of Conjurers, and most of them don’t have the abilities like you and me.”

“Conjurer?
Is that what I am?”

Blake
smiled at me and little dimples popped up, making him look adorable. “Yes.
That’s what they call us. It’s usually hereditary, although sometimes it skips
several generations before people know it. However, somebody as powerful as
you… well, your parents would have to be pretty well-known among us.”

“I
wouldn’t know. I was adopted, but didn’t know until after I graduated. A while
later, I found out my real parents had died when I was a baby.”

That was
not something I talked about to anyone. I missed my sister every day, even
though she wasn’t blood. My adoptive parents, on the other hand, were not
missed. Now, don’t get me wrong; I never had a bad childhood growing up, and
was taken care of. We always had a roof over our heads and food in our bellies,
but looking back on it now, I should have seen the signs that I wasn’t a blood
relative. My sister was doted on and spoiled rotten as we were growing up,
while I was treated like a distant family member. I still loved her anyway.

“Died? I’m
sorry. Do you know their names?” Blake leaned towards me, captivating my eyes
with his silver ones.

“Nope. I
just found out from my adoptive parents before I left. I have been trying to
hunt down information, but haven’t been very successful. Hell, until I was
eighteen, I knew nothing of being adopted.”

“There was
a story about a very powerful Conjurer family and their baby who died in a fire
a long time ago. I wonder….” Blake stared off for a minute. “No, there were no
survivors. That is the only family who has died in a very long time, so maybe
you’re a niece or something. I will get more information on it first.”
 

I started
at the mention of it. “Where did this happen?”

“I think
it was in Tennessee.” He waved a hand in the air, dismissing it. “It was really
odd that they died like that, as they were so powerful. You can’t catch many of
us off guard, and nobody knows really what happened. It’s a sad story, really.”

Tennessee.
It can’t be
. There were no survivors in that fire. Was there? What if
nobody knew I had lived? It was something to consider. If I was that baby, then
what happened that allowed me to escape that fate? There were so many questions
I had now. I was almost shaking with anticipation, but tried to remain aloof,
not wanting to tip off Blake with my thoughts.

I thought
for a minute before asking, “What was their last name?”

“Stone.
They had just moved there a few months prior, if I remember right. Some rumors
say they were on the run from something, but you know how rumors are.” He shook
his head. “Anyway, are we going to teach you how to do this?”

I nodded
and reminded myself to look up the news story of the fire. Now that I had a
last name, that would help me try and narrow down the article at least. It
would have been about twenty-eight years ago, so it may be harder than I
thought. It would be worth a try, though. Maybe I could find some of my blood
relatives.

“Okay.
Hold your hands out in front of you,” Blake said, interrupting my thoughts. “I
want you to close your eyes and concentrate. Picture lightning in your hands
and push all your thoughts into it.”

I held my
hands out in front of me and thought about lightning springing out of my hands.
I began to shake with exertion. I opened one eye to see nothing but shaking
hands and Blake staring at me. “It isn’t working!” I dropped my hands in
frustration.

“Let’s try
it this way.” Blake grabbed my hands and placed them palm up into his. “Now
watch.”

His hands
were so warm, and surprisingly softer than I had expected. It was distracting
to have the feeling of his skin pressed against mine, and the sensation that told
me he was otherworldly. I could feel the static pull down my fingertips and
little shots of electricity bolted up from my fingertips before sputtering out
just as quickly as they had begun. I know he was the one who had helped me do
that, but I wanted to learn how to do this myself.

Yanking my
hands away, I narrowed my eyes at his grin. “Let me try it again.”

I closed
my eyes and concentrated on the static electricity pull that I usually felt
down my arms and in my blood. I slightly felt the feeling begin. It felt like
static cling. I concentrated on pushing that feeling the best I could. Running
my tongue across my lips, and biting the bottom one between my teeth, I tried
to pull the feeling into my hands, picturing sparks of electricity.

Lips
lightly touched mine and I flashed my eyes open. Blake pulled back a little as
we stared at each other. His gray eyes twinkled with mischievous thoughts and
cupped my cheeks with his palms before leaning forward for another kiss.

It wasn’t
as romantic as Ashton, but felt like fireworks between us. I wasn’t sure if it
was actual feelings, or just the
actual
sparks between us. The kiss deepened, and when our tongues mingled with each
other, I was suddenly filled with feelings of guilt. Yet, I couldn’t pull away.
Blake’s hands wrapped into my hair, pulling me closer, and I wrapped my hands
around his neck. The hum of sparks I usually felt when he touched me were in
overdrive.

I pulled
away from his lips and our lungs were pumping air like we had just run a
marathon. My eyes widened at the sparks shooting back and forth between us. His
were blue, like he had in his hand earlier, and the ones coming from my body
were a neon violet. I wasn’t sure what that meant. Pulling away from him, I
noticed he was looking down as well.

“What was
that?” I whispered.

 
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen the purple
color before.” He smiled and leaned forward to kiss me again.

“That
can’t happen again,” I said, putting a hand on his chest.

“Why not?”
He tried to step closer and I stepped back. “I like you, Lily. I know you’re
scared of everything going on between us, but I think we could really have
something.”

“I’m
sorry. I just can’t do this right now.” I looked away from the hurt in his
eyes.