Gods and Mortals: Fourteen Free Urban Fantasy & Paranormal Novels Featuring Thor, Loki, Greek Gods, Native American Spirits, Vampires, Werewolves, & More (191 page)

T
homas Brant’s
money and power didn’t scare me, except in one regard. The possibility that he could find a way to keep Claire away from me was worse than the debilitating feeling I got when I touched her. For years I had watched Claire and wished I could figure out why I felt so strange around her. I thought I would have to get over that before I could be with her, but when I finally had the chance to really spend time with her, I realized I wasn't willing to wait anymore.

Taking her away from me now would be more than I could handle.

That was why every time we were together I forced myself to watch her slip back into her house from a distance. In a town as small as San Juan, Thomas would find out about us eventually. Claire’s mom was helping us out a little with that, but we did our best to keep him in the dark. Both of us wanted to delay the inevitable fight we would face when he finally cornered us. For that same reason, we saw very little of our school friends as well. Tyler and Lana were the only ones we trusted enough not to tell.

So all summer long, whenever football practice or ballet, ranch chores or trips to Santa Fe didn’t get in the way, we found each other and pretended that nothing was standing in our way. The delusion only lasted as long as summer did.

Standing in the parking lot on the first day back at school, I waited for Claire. Managing a ranch didn’t produce nearly as much money as owning a casino. My family had what we needed, but money was always tight. We only had one vehicle, and that was needed for work on the ranch, leaving me to walk to school every day. I never minded until that morning. I would have liked nothing more than to be able to pick Claire up for school every morning. Instead, I showed up early and kept an eye out for her silver Lexus.

When she finally arrived, I walked over and opened her car door as soon as the engine cut off. Claire bounced out with a grin. Her arms slid around my waist and pulled me against her. After all summer together, the pain was down to a manageable ache. Dodging her backpack, I pulled her against me even tighter. The smell of her hair had long ago become my favorite scent, and I drank it in now.

“You ready for this?” Claire asked. “Dana and Beth called me this morning to see if I wanted to ride with them. When I told them no, they both started badgering me about why. I think both of them think I’ve gone nuts, or something, with how I’ve been avoiding them all summer.”

“You know as soon as they see us together the whole school is going to know,” I said.

That meant her dad would know too, if he didn’t already. Claire only grinned. “I know, and I don’t care. I’m tired of having to sneak around to see you.”

The obnoxious rumble of Jonny’s engine flooded the parking lot. Claire and I stepped apart and watched it roll in. Jonny pulled into a space behind us and kept the car idling as the song they were listening to finished pulsing over the roar. As the last beats faded, Jonny finally turned the Jeep off. The silence left in its wake only lasted until Dana spotted Claire and I. Leaving Jonny behind, Dana and Beth floated across the blacktop to us.

“Claire, Uriah, you two are here awfully early,” Dana said, the words oozing out in search of information. “Did you come together?”

“No,” I said honestly.

Dana’s catty smile deepened. Turning back to Beth, Dana threw her a superior look. “I haven’t seen much of either of you this summer. I was starting to wonder.”

Beth rolled her eyes at her friend and pouted. Apparently, Dana had just won an argument. Or at least she thought she had.

Reacting to the way Dana was behaving, Claire said, “What’s there to wonder about?” and slipped her hand into mine.

The girls’ reactions were interesting. Beth choked on a scoffing laugh while Dana’s face went absolutely livid. I had expected Dana, especially, to be a little unhappy to find out about Claire and me, but I as I looked at her now, I almost expected electricity to start crackling around her. Saying she was upset would have been a huge understatement. Homicidal would have been a much better choice.

Hearing the warning bell ring, I was ready to back away from her. Claire wasn’t. “We better get to class, girls, but you’re more than welcome to join us for lunch if you want to,” Claire said. “Uriah and I will be sitting together, obviously.”

Claire turned away after that, prompting Dana to step forward after her. The expression on her face startled me. “Dana,” I said sharply. She stopped right away and looked up at me expectantly. “You should probably get to class, too.”

Dana frowned at me, but nodded, grabbed Beth by the arm, and stalked off in the opposite direction. Pulling on my arm, Claire tried to make me follow her, but I gently pulled her back to me. She turned around looking rather pleased with herself. That faded when she took in my own expression.

“Was that really necessary, Claire?” I asked. “You knew she was already upset.”

A hint of shame hid in her eyes, but righteous indignation tried to overpower it. “I knew Dana would be mad about us, but the way she looked so happy when you said we didn’t come to school together, it made me sick. You have no idea what she says about you when you’re not around. She’s obsessed with you, Uriah.”

“I doubt that,” I said. At the most, it aggravated Dana that I hadn’t fallen all over her like other guys did. She was only mad because she thought she had lost something just now. I was never even close to being hers to start with.

“I’m serious, Uriah. She talks about you all the time. She’s always talking about how she’s going to be the one to finally pin you down, and I’m pretty sure she meant that literally,” Claire said.

Shaking my head, I tried to get that image out of my head. Dana always did talk too much. “Either way, you shouldn’t have said it.”

Her jaw tightened up, the same way it did every time she bit back a nasty comment around me. Claire had a temper that spiked every time she thought someone was treating her like her dad did. I could imagine she was probably about to say something like “Don’t tell me what to do.” She tried very hard to keep her temper at a minimum around me. I really appreciated that since she was about the only person who ever yelled at me or tried to push me around. It was a little hard to get used to.

I knew the final bell was going to ring any minute, but that didn’t stop me from pulling Claire into my arms and holding her there. My chest and arms throbbed. “Claire, I don’t care what Dana says about anything. I’m here with you, and nothing she says or does is going to change that. Okay? I don’t want any of the other girls here. I only want you. You’re the only one I’ve ever wanted.”

“Really?” Claire asked. “Why?”

I hesitated just long enough for the bell to ring and save me from having to try and explain everything I felt when I was around her. Claire tried to protest as I spun her around and started pulling her to the school but I just kept going. The look on her face when I pushed her toward her first class said our discussion was far from over.

Every time she caught sight of me between classes she would try to pull the answer out of me again. She spent the entire lunch hour guessing everything from the color of her eyes, which was definitely part of it, to the type of car she drove, which had absolutely nothing to do with it. By the time we were walking to the cafeteria, my resolve not to tell her everything was waning. I actually found myself slightly disappointed that nobody risked sitting with us at lunch.

That was how the rest of the day went as well, Claire offering guesses, and anybody who was friends with Dana pointedly avoiding us. That turned out to be most of the high school, unfortunately. Tyler and Lana were the only ones who didn’t seem to care about Dana’s mood swings. At least we had a few allies left.

Overall, the day actually went better than I expected. Claire snuggled up against me as we walked across the parking lot to her car at the end of the day. I was laughing at another one of Claire’s nonsense guesses when I felt her go rigid beside me. Stopping right away, I started to look down at her when I saw what she had.

Thomas Brant stood leaning against his daughter’s car. The scowl on his face told me everything. Word sure travelled fast in small towns.

“
I
thought
I told you to stay away from Uriah,” Thomas said to his daughter, though his eyes were too busy boring holes into me to look at her.

“I thought I told you I didn’t care,” Claire said.

Thomas’s eyes flared and snapped to his daughter. “Watch your tongue, Claire. I don’t have time to deal with your childishness today.”

“Oh, but you had enough time to leave work and show up at my school just so you could embarrass me?” Her body was shaking against mine. I could tell she was getting close to snapping.

“Go home,” Thomas demanded.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Thomas glared at her and I started to worry things were about to get out of hand. Squeezing her shoulders, I tried to keep her from doing or saying anything too rash. Claire held her temper for me, but I knew she was more than willing to let it loose on her dad. I was all for Claire standing up to her father. The middle of the high school parking lot really wasn’t the best place for that, though. Taking charge, I stepped forward, leaving Claire behind me so she was out of her father’s view.

“Mr. Brant, it’s nice to see you again, sir. Would you like to talk to me about something?” I asked.

“I certainly would,” he said.

“Why don’t we talk over by your car,” I said. It was at the edge of the full parking lot, a good hundred feet from Claire’s car. Thomas nodded and started walking in that direction. I moved to follow him until I realized Claire was moving even more quickly than I was.

I grabbed her arm as she tried to zip past me. Spinning around, Claire glared at me. That look got me often enough, but I wasn’t giving in this time. Claire’s spite for her father and flair for a fight would only make things worse. I held on and refused to let go.

“Claire, stay here. I’ll handle this,” I said.

“Oh, no you won’t. He’s my dad. He’s my problem.”

“You’re my girlfriend. I should have talked to him a while ago.” Claire had a response ready for that, but I didn’t let her get it out. “If you end up grounded for yelling at him in front of the whole school, you’ll miss meeting my cousins this weekend. And I won’t help you sneak out to see me like last time.”

Knowing I was serious, Claire relented. Her shoulders drooped dramatically as she settled into a pout adorable enough to make me smile, but not enough to make me change my mind. Running my fingers along her jaw one more time for luck, I smiled at her reassuringly before I turned away. Thomas was rich, and a ruthless business man, but he was weak and selfish. Whatever problem he had with me, I was sure it had no merit. If I could just make him see that he would have to give in. I stalked toward the only man I had ever feared, determined to make him change his mind.

Thomas’s frown was just as intense as before, heightened somehow by the casual way he leaned against his Mercedes Benz. Everything about him said success. The tailored clothes, impeccable haircut, even the way his hand reached up to swipe the sunglasses off his face, all told me I was about to lose everything to him. He was so confident. He had no idea just how much I loved his daughter, though. Thomas Brant was the one in for a fight.

“Uriah, my daughter is strictly off limits to you,” Thomas said.

“May I ask why?”

Slipping his sunglasses to hang down the front of his shirt, Thomas finally looked up at me. “Does it matter why? I said she’s off limits. The why shouldn’t matter.”

“It matters to me,” I said.

He seemed to consider the merit of that for a moment. “Fine, if you must know, you’re not good for Claire. She doesn’t belong with you.”

“Don’t you think Claire should be the one to decide that?”

Thomas laughed. “Claire is an immature child who makes decisions based on what she thinks will get a rise out me. I trust her to make her own decisions about as much as I trust a coyote in a sheep pen. Claire is only teasing you with her affection because she knows I don’t approve of her dating you. I told her as much that day you showed up at my house a few months ago. Seeing you again today likely just reminded her of that and she thought she’d try to see if I really meant it. And I assure you I do. So let’s just stop this before it really gets started. Save everybody the headache.”

“Stop this before it gets started?” Maybe I had been letting Claire influence me more than I thought, but I couldn’t help correcting him. “This started a while ago, Mr. Brant. Claire and I have been dating for three months. Since that day I showed up at your house, actually. I think it’s a little late to talk about saving anyone anything.”

“Three months?” Thomas muttered through his clenched jaw. “I would have thought better of you than that.”

I scoffed at his double standard. “If you think so highly of me then why do you have a problem with me dating your daughter?” I asked. “You know me, Mr. Brant. We’ve worked together through sports for years.”

“That’s exactly it, Uriah. I know you. I know who you are, and I won’t let my daughter get tangled up in your life,” Thomas said.

The bizarre sincerity in his words caught me off guard. He knew who I was? What was that supposed to mean? He said it as if that should mean something to me, but it only confused me even more.
Who I am is Uriah Crowe.
Take away sports, and I was just a rancher in love with a girl. What more could he possibly see in me than that?

“Thomas, I care about Claire. I won’t do anything to hurt her. I can promise you that.”

“You can’t promise me anything about what might or might not happen. You have no idea what your future holds, Uriah.”

I was getting tired of his vague, cryptic objections. He had no reason to think I would ever harm Claire in any way. I wasn’t about to let his paranoid fears keep me away from her. Planting myself close enough to him that he would have to push me back to step to the side, I locked him in my gaze.

“Thomas, there is nothing you can say to me that will make me change my mind about Claire. I don’t understand why you can’t see what an amazing girl she is, but I can. She’s strong and independent, smart, funny, compassionate, kind, and beautiful. I want to be with Claire, and I have no intention of backing off from her,” I said. “And if you have a problem with that, you better give me a better reason for it than that you disapprove.”

Thomas opened his mouth, but whatever objection he wanted to throw at me didn’t make it past his lips. Seconds passed with him standing there with his mouth open. Just as I expected, not even he could come up a good reason why I shouldn’t be with Claire. Even I was having a hard time finding a reason any more. I wasn't sure if the strange way I felt around her was actually starting to fade, or if I was just getting used to it, but it no longer bothered me as much as it once did. Claire was worth any kind of pain.

Having given him a fair chance, I said, “Since you can’t think of anything, I expect you to back off and let your daughter be happy for once.”

His struggle to win seemed to spring up once again when I saw his anger flash across his features, but he managed to quell it quickly enough. “Fine, Uriah, date Claire if you really want to. Nothing will make me like this, but I doubt I could keep you from her even if I wanted to. You’ll realize sooner or later what a mistake you’re making with her.” He shook his head then, as if he was surprised he had just given in. The feeling must have passed, because his usual sneer crept back onto his face.

“I should have known better than to try and convince you of anything, Uriah.” Flipping his sunglasses back onto his face, Thomas glanced past me toward Claire. “Just watch yourself. Because despite what Claire thinks, I do care about her, and if I put my mind to it I can make even your life miserable.”

I watched him slide back into his Mercedes and drive away, more confused than ever about why he hated me so much. His rapid mood swings and bizarre statements left me scrambling for something that made sense. Before I could figure anything out, Claire ran up behind me. Even though she was ready to attack her dad only minutes before, her eyes were wide with anxiety now.

“Where’s he going?” she asked.

“Um, home, I guess, or back to work. He didn’t say.” As long as he was away from me and Claire, I didn’t care where he was.

Claire’s eyebrows pulled together in confusion. “What did he say?”

More than he should have, probably. “Well, we talked about it, and he’s fine with us dating now,” I said. “He shouldn’t cause any more problems for us.”

“Clearly you don’t know my dad very well,” Claire said, “but what do you mean he’s fine with it? I have never once seen my dad change his mind about something after he decides what he thinks is right. There’s no way he just said it was fine.”

“Well, this time he did. I asked him if he had any good reason that we shouldn’t date, and he didn’t, so he had to back off,” I said.

Claire didn’t seem convinced. She studied me as if just watching my expression would reveal some mystery behind what had just happened. In the end she just shrugged and smiled. “I should have known you would convince him. What was I worried about? I should bring you around when I’m fighting with my dad more often.”