Gargoyle: A Reawakening (Briarcliff Series, #2) (16 page)

Simon narrowed his dark eyes at their
retreating forms. “Anytime,” he called out, with meaning. He
wouldn’t mind keeping her company again, not in the least.

Moriah let Kingston pull her away toward the
stage. Glancing back over her shoulder, her gaze locked with his
for an instant. Simon winked at her. And with that one simple act,
she remembered. She remembered everything with perfect clarity. The
intense moment they shared with one another. No, it was not
forgotten at all, it still lingered on the edges of her mind. Her
body shivered deliciously from within. She smiled back at him, a
full-blown one. Kingston tugged on her hand again and Moriah turned
away from Simon reluctantly and followed Kingston back into the
fold of the crowd.

ADVERSARY

SATURDAY * 9:57 PM

People were dropping like flies. “What
happened to all the hot chicks?” Colton complained looking around.
From what he could see, they were either, hooking up with each
other or passed out on the ground. A few lingered on the side of
the stage but somehow he had struck out once again. He didn’t know
what the hell was happening. He must be having an off night. He
looked through the crowd, his gaze zeroing in on a familiar form.
His mouth dropped open in disbelief. He turned toward Barnaby and
punched him in the arm.

“
What the hell is your
problem man?” Barnaby turned, rubbing his arm.

Colton narrowed his eyes, still not
believing what he was seeing. “Isn’t that the Edie chick?” he asked
in complete shock.

Barnaby focused his gaze on the two people
making out not more than thirty feet away. His stomach dropped as
his mouth opened in disbelief.

Colton finally found his voice. “Holy shit
man, look at her go, she is practically inhaling that dude’s
face.”

Barnaby lifted his
glasses, wiped his eyes, readjusted his glasses on his face, and
looked again. Yep. It was Evie.
Damn
.

“
Who the hell is she with?”
Colton asked clearly in shock.

“
How the hell am I supposed
to know?” Barnaby threw back pissed that Colton had made him look
over there. What a dick head! Colton may get his rocks off gaping
at other people hooking up, but Barnaby was not one of those
people. “I’m getting a drink.”

Colton turned his attention back to Barnaby.
“What …why are you leaving, don’t you want to see who she’s
with?”

“
Damn
Colton,” he swore. “Why would I
want to see that?”

“
Damn man, you sound like
you care?” Colton needled meanly.

“
Obviously you do,” he
scathed. “Why else would want to keep looking?”

Colton pulled his gaze away. Barnaby was
right. Why was he looking? It wasn’t like he cared. Although it did
bother him on some level to see little miss prude “I can’t do
anything with you Colton” swapping spit with some random dude he
had not even seen before. What a little whore. He left his gawking
post and followed Barnaby to get a drink. Maybe there would be some
fresh fish over there. Apparently, the pond he was standing in was
already fished out.

INFORMATION

SATURDAY * 10:00 PM

Time had ceased to be. Adriane cradled his
hand on the back of her head, kissing her soft, sweet lips. He knew
he needed to stop—stop before it got too out of hand but he didn’t
want to. But if he kept on…there was no way he would be able to
stop and that was something he couldn’t risk—at least not now. Too
much was at stake. “Evie…” he breathed against her lips before he
finally forced himself to pull away.

Evie looked up.

He lifted his hand to brush her hair back
over her shoulder. She shivered. Tightening her hold, she pressed
her face against his chest and reluctantly let her feet fall fully
back down to the ground. His hand smoothed down the length of her
hair as he simply held her. Everything felt right, almost too
right. She was afraid she would wake from whatever dream she had
surely fallen into.

“
You smell really good,”
she said. They went well together, the softness of his shirt and
his exceedingly hard body.

“
Do I?” he
asked.

“
Yeah,
really,
really
good,” she laughed, burrowing her face against his chest once
more.

“
Hmm
,” he said absently, running his
free hand down the length of her back through the silkiness of her
hair.

“
May I ask you a question?”
she asked, pulling away slightly and lifting her face to
his.

His body tensed. “Sure.”

“
What is your name?” she
asked feeling silly for not knowing especially since she had been
kissing him all this time.

He laughed, making his chest rumble under
her hands. “Adriane,” he said, amazed that was the question she
wanted to ask, when there were obviously so many others that needed
to be asked.

“
I like your name Adriane,”
she added and then quickly rested her face back on his
chest.

“
Thank
you. I like yours too…
Evie
.”

A huge smile broke across
her face. She couldn’t help herself, the way he said her name made
her stomach flutter. “So what happened to you?” she asked, keeping
her face pressed against the softness of his shirt.

“
When?” he asked, tensing
once more.

“
I mean last night.” She
lifted her face. “That thing… you… the awful noises? What were
they?”

Adriane stared sightlessly
at the crowd. “Yes, it was real.” He tightened his hold on her.
“It’s not my fault,” he defended.

“
Of
course it’s not. That thing, whatever it was…
attacked you
.” She lifted her face
to look at him. “What was that?” she asked even though she kind of
didn’t want to know.

Adriane stared straight ahead, barely
breathing. “What do you think it was?”

Evie laughed
suddenly.
Oh, he didn’t want to know what
she thought it was.
“You’ll think I’m
crazy.”

“
I bet I won’t.”

Evie smiled up at him. “You sure…” she
teased.

“
Oh, I am sure.”

“
Oh-kay…” She took a
bracing breath. “I thought it was the Gargoyle again.”

“
One…was.”

Evie shook her head. “Huh? What did you just
say?”

Adriane kept his gaze shielded. “I said one
was.”

“
One was what?”

He looked down at her
face. “I said one was a Gargoyle.”

“
Of course one was,” she
rushed out. “That’s what I said.” She smiled at him, so relieved he
believed her and didn’t think she was crazy.

Adriane shifted awkwardly.
“Evie I don’t think you understand what I am trying to tell
you.”

She patted his chest and bit her lip. Her
throat was beginning to clog with dread.

“
This is a lot harder than
I thought it would be.” He sighed heavily, and lifted his hands to
his face.

“
It’s okay.” She took a
deep breath and plastered on a brave face. “I can take it…” she
assured him even though she had a terrible feeling he was going to
tell her something that would crush her just like Colton had but
this would be so much worse. Her insides twisted at the
thought.

His eyes turned darker as he struggled to
find the words he wanted to say, to make her understand. “I am not
normal.”

A gusty breath of air
rushed from her mouth as relief washed over her.
“
Phew
,” she said
and ran her hand over her brow in an exaggerated gesture. “Well I
hate to break this to you, but I am not normal either.” She lifted
her brow at him, teasing.

“
Oh, I know,” he assured
her.

Evie smiled but then frowned.

“
Oh, Evie,” he breathed,
rubbing his hands up and down her arms.

Her arms were starting to really heat up and
that combined with the warmth of his breath made her feel warm and
snugly again, instead of scared. Another song began to play,
thumping loudly in the background.

Adriane debated whether to finish the
conversation; he knew time was running out. But the look on her
face was so …irresistible… innocent—he couldn’t just yet. “We have
time,” he said more to himself than to her. The air pulsed around
them both and he lowered his mouth to hers once more.

Evie opened her mouth to
his, kissing him back with everything she had, or would ever become
as the lyrics from Love Darling’s Close to Me poured over them
both. “
Time might just bring hope for us
yet—just like Romeo and Juliet—finally giving my heart
time
…the lyrics drifted over them, as the
lucidity of the words tumbled through her mind.

Yes,
there just may be hope for them yet…

BITTERSWEET

SATURDAY * 10:13 PM

Simon leaned back on his
elbows, crossing his feet at his ankles, smiling at his bright red
shoes, shaking them back and forth to the beat of the music.
Another band was on the stage:
Four Day
Creep
. He liked their sound. They had a
nice bluesy rock vibe with a throw back type of feel.
Click… Click... Click
…
sounded on the air as the drummer hit his sticks together, counting
the band in, for the opening riff to Prescription, an awesome
driving song. “
Just a letter from your
Doctor…
” the singer belted out the first
verse with a deep edgy, raspy tinged voice. Simon shut his eyes,
enjoying the hook of the song, his past overlapping the
present…

***

October 30, 1991

Welcome to Paradise BITCHES- Simon screamed
out, his deep voice cutting into the air, echoing through the crowd
as he mounted the stage. The bright spotlights beat down on him,
blinding him to the masses spread out inside the Amphitheatre. The
roar of the crowd rained down on them like thunder as they began to
play…

***

Loud bursts of laughter cut into his
reverie, making the last threads of his memory slip from his grasp,
barely giving him a taste of what used to be before it faded
completely away, ending his vision. Simon opened his eyes, sitting
up, pushing his hair from his eyes to focus on two pairs of shoes
on either side of his own. Then he looked up and he could swear he
was seeing double. Two separate faces loomed before him, weaving
back and forth to the music. Their ghostly white faces contrasting
against the darkening sky.