Forgotten (19 page)

We spent the rest of the morning in a
graveyard. John wasn’t my biological father, but he fit the bill.
It couldn’t have been a better way to spend the anniversary of my
family’s death. He left before I was ready, which was okay with me.
I stayed a bit longer. After packing away my laptop, I crawled out
of my nook. For over a decade, I pulled out the weeds growing
around my family’s grave site after every visit. When I came to my
sister’s grave, my fingers brushed against something that felt
nothing like a weed. Silk petals caressed my skin. I held it up to
the sun; the light gave way to three lilies that were woven
together with a thin thread. I smiled and pressed the flowers to my
chest, right above my heart. Hector remembered. In honor of my
sister, he decorated my family’s gravesite with the
flower.

The bus ride felt like seconds
compared to the long wait it took to get to Bakker’s Cemetery. When
Max and I got to the house, I unleashed him so he could expel some
energy before being cooped up in the house. He ran for a few
minutes before he presented me with a slobbery ball.

“
Want to play fetch,
buddy?” I asked him, excitedly.

He barked with excitement. I threw the
ball as hard as I could. We played until my arm ached. Before going
inside, I snuck up to the old tree house to get my shoes from
Saturday night.

When I reached for the shoes, my
fingers grazed upon a stem with soft petals. I could tell that it
wasn’t a lily, but that was the extent of my knowledge about
flowers. I walked into the house and made a bee line for the
kitchen. A loud hum resonated from Martha’s mixer. Heavenly dessert
was brewing.

“
What kind of flower is
this?” I asked Martha, holding up the long stem with many
petals.

“
Oh, that’s a larkspur,”
Martha said, trading me a beater for the flower. Warm melting
chocolate drizzled down my fingers. I pretended not to notice the
palpable eagerness that was in her voice because I brought home a
flower. “They’re given at baptisms, confirmations, or other
religious ceremonies. The flower means beautiful spirit,” Martha
said, handing me back the flower while simultaneously wiping a
smudge of chocolate off my chin. “Are you going to tell me who gave
it to you?”

“
Nope,” I said and licked
the chocolate off the beater.

“
I’ll let you lick the bowl
if you tell me what boy –”

“
I’m a senior; the guys I
hang out with aren’t really boys.”

“
My sincere apologies,” she
said and stifled a laugh. “You want to see if Elsie wants the other
beater?”

Eager to leave before being drilled
about my morning festivities or the flower, I left. After walking
to Elsie’s bedroom, I knocked on her door. “May I come
in?”

Instead of a reply, she opened it for
me. I handed her the beater. After a quick inspection, she shoved
it in her mouth. Her window was open.

“
Thinking about your escape
plan?” I asked. When she didn’t reply, I figured I’d give some
advice. I leaned on the windowsill. I recalled when this was my
room. It was smaller than I remembered. “Honestly, if you need a
quick escape, my window is right in front of the tree house. If
you’re not afraid of heights, you can jump from the ledge and onto
the tree branch. It groans, but I haven’t broken it yet, and I’m
bigger than you.”

“
Why are you telling me
this?”

I smiled. She
can
speak above a
whisper, I thought. “Because, you aren’t a prisoner
here.”

“
You don’t think I’ll do
it,” Elsie said, like she wanted me to challenge her.

I turned to look out the window.
“Running away is a hard life, Elsie. It’s not so bad here. John and
Martha are lame sometimes, but they’re family.”

“
How about me – do you
consider me
family
?” Her voice cracked on the last word.

I glanced back at her. I wasn’t sure
where we were going to stand in the future. People were born into a
family or came together by chance. Not knowing how long Elsie would
stay, I knew I shouldn’t get attached to the girl, but I couldn’t
help it. I looked back out her window and then offered my hand. A
few moments later, her small hand slipped through mine.

***

I don’t know how long I stared at my
cell. I’d been trying not to wonder if Bree took out his digits per
my request, or not. Speaking into my phone, I commanded it to call
Jace.

“Not found.”

“Eatros.”

“Not found.”

After swallowing my pride, I said,
“Call Bree.”

She answered on the first ring but
then a thud echoed through the phone. If her faint curse was any
indication, she’d dropped her cell. Music blared in the background.
People had to yell in order to talk to each other. “What’s
up?”

“
If you squeal, I swear
I’ll hang up,” I warned.

Bree said, “Ryker, can you turn that
down for a sec?”

When the blaring noise eased, I asked,
“Did you delete Jace’s number the other day when I told you
to?”

She laughed and then the quality of
sound changed, becoming more echoic. “Admit it!”

“Admit what?” I asked, suspiciously,
suspecting our conversation was no longer private. “Where are you
at?”

“My place!” Ryker shouted from the
background. “You’re interrupting an intense game of air hockey. Get
to the point.”

“That you’re totally into Jace,” Bree
said.

“Take me off speaker,” I said. When
the noise changed, became less echoed, I proceeded with our
conversation. “Will you give me his number if I do?”

“Convince me,” Bree said.

I should never have let her mess with
my cell either…“Fine, I totally want to have Jace’s babies and live
happily ever after.”

“Not buyin’ it,” she said and then the
phone muffled.

“If he were here right now, I’d swoon
because the sound of his voice would completely overwhelm me. Oh,
how I wish that he’d wrap his arms around me and protect me from
all life’s complications that I’m facing now,” I said with equal
sarcasm.

“Well, that wasn’t so hard,
Gwyneth.”

It wasn’t Bree.

The voice sounded like he’d fallen
from heaven and taken up with a more demonic crowd. Jace said, “I
must admit, I wasn’t expecting to hear such an honest confession
when Bree handed me the phone. I’ll be there shortly.”

“That was a little below the belt,
Bree,” I said after Jace handed me back to my so-called
bestie.

“I’m making sure you don’t end up as
the old cat lady. Future Winnie has already thanked me so no need
to be bitter,” she said.

Fifteen minutes later, the hair on my
neck stood up when Jace’s car slowed in front of my house. I heard
John kick his recliner chair back, stand up, and walk to the front
door. He called up the stairs, informing me of my visitor. Sighing,
I opened my eyes, pushed off the wall, and trudged down the steps.
It was “go time.”

“Don’t you look ravishing,” Jace said,
the moment I walked around the stair rail.

I’d never been self-conscious of my
appearance. I’d never seen my reflection in a mirror, but that one
comment made me miss a step. I kept a hand on the railing the rest
of the way down the stairs. Shrugging nonchalantly, I waited for
John to leave us alone. Even though crickets could have sounded, he
didn’t get the clue to leave until Martha asked for help in the
kitchen.

“You wanted to talk?” Jace asked. “Or
have you finally decided to apologize for walking away from me like
I was no better than the gum under your shoe?”

“I’m not going to play games, but
there are a few things that need to be said between us. I’m going
to do the speaking because you’re a terrible talker. Scratch that,
you talk all the time, but you don’t say anything, and our
conversations never get anywhere. Your communication skills leave
much to be desired.”

“
Maybe, just maybe, you’re
a terrible listener, and I’m actually a fine conversationalist,” he
said smugly, as he crossed his arms. “But I do agree, we need to
talk and worst case scenario – if we get sick of talking, I’m sure
we can find something to keep our lips busy.”

“
You know I was being
sarcastic about having your babies and living happily ever after,”
I said.

“
Having kids isn’t on the
table right now, but practicing with you definitely intrigues me,”
he said.

I shot him a glare, but decided that
he was intentionally provoking me, so I didn’t comment. Giving away
my v-card was the furthest thing from my mind. I had yet to give
away my first kiss, so crawling between the sheets with
Jace….

The little weasel! He wanted that
thought in my head!

I groaned, but bit my tongue. I bent
over to slip on a pair of shoes. My vertigo shifted; I momentarily
lost my balance. He reached for my arm and gently stopped me. His
mere touch knocked the wind from my lungs as a tingling sensation
spread up my arm, into my chest, and quickly covered my entire
body. I swallowed a lump the size of a basketball. I pulled away
just far enough that he withdrew his grip, and tucked his hands
inside his pockets.

The soft white tones in his shape
shifted enough that I caught a glimpse of his athletic body, before
the definition mudded away.

“You followed me home after I left
Circus,” I said, slipping on the shoes he handed me.

“
No, Marco followed you,”
he corrected. “I was already at your place when you finally showed
up.”

“
So, I was right,” I
replied and crossed my arms. “What were you talking to my fosters
about?”

“
Your protection,” he said
shamelessly. He leaned against the door frame. “Come on, I want to
show you a place where we can talk privately.”

“
Stop making me sick, and
I’ll go willingly,” I stated. “Getting nauseated isn’t exactly a
blast suffering through every darn day.”

“
Stop acting like your
tolerance hasn’t gotten better.”

“
Marco muted himself. Can’t
you do the same or do you enjoy the torture treatments you have
been putting me through?”

“
You’re not dripping in a
pool of sweat, you’re not scrunching your face into a knot, or
throwing up your lunch; ergo, you’re tolerance has improved. Why
would I bother hiding what I am now?” Jace said. “I’ll make you a
deal; if you give me your time today, I promise I won’t ask you to
join me anywhere unaccompanied again.”

I didn’t miss a beat. I called back to
the kitchen. “I’m heading out for a bit.”

Martha started to argue, but John
stopped her. He commented about me having a messy life and said
that I needed to sort it out.

Offering me his elbow instead of his
hand, Jace led me to his car. A tingle slithered across my hand
that touched him. It reminded me of how he made me feel in the
dreams. I blushed and looked away. I hoped he didn’t notice my
reaction to him. The tingling sensation increased dramatically when
he tucked me closer against his side.

“
My skin awakens to your
touch too, Gwyneth.”

Not knowing how to comment, I kept my
mouth shut. He opened the car door. It smelled like it’d come fresh
from the dealer. He walked around to the driver side, sat down, and
backed down the driveway. The engine purred; vibrating sensations
pulsated through me. I liked it in ways I shouldn’t have. Jace’s
warmth grew. I pressed my legs tightly together, hoping he’d get
the impression we weren’t practicing anything scandalous today. I
pressed the button to unroll the window, but nothing happened.
Child-lock. I heard the click of the locking system, and he
unrolled the window for me. I hung my arm out the window and closed
my eyes.

“
You like how the wind
feels on your skin?” he asked with intense curiosity.

I replied with a lazy nod. Jace
clicked a button, and the car’s roof unfolded. Wind oscillated
around me. We rode in silence while I rethought my strategy to
figure out what he wanted with me. I’d come to terms with what
Hector suggested. Befriend him, put on my detective hat, and figure
out his plan. Horns honked as we sped out of town. The Sunday
afternoon traffic wasn’t busy like it would be Monday morning. I
lost myself in the wind, trying not to notice that goose bumps that
spread onto my arms when Jace leaned on the arm rest.

The man engulfed in flames
rushed over to me. He never opened his mouth, but I still heard his
screams in my mind. His misery sliced through me like it was my own
when he lifted my frail body in his arms. My life was draining into
death’s embrace.

A giant, red-headed man
appeared. But it was too late; the injured Butcher was gone–
vanished out of thin air when he touched another man appeared
beside him. Our gaze locked before they vanished.

I looked up at the giant
man. His penance for past sins was my sister’s doing, not mine.
But, we both knew the Cutter would never have uttered a single word
to him about our past if I hadn’t involved us. I knew regret
erupted inside him.