One Day His (The Someday Series Book 2) (7 page)

She nodded as a cloud fell over her beautiful face. Then she leaned into me, her head resting on my chest as her arms encircled me in a tight embrace, as if I were her lifeline. I rubbed my hand from the base of her neck down to the base of her spine and back up as I kissed her on the top of the head.

Then, after a few minutes of holding each other in silence, she quietly repeated, “Back to reality.”

Jace

A
s I sat
on the edge of Cat’s bed and watched her sitting across the room at her vanity table, my heart was breaking into a million pieces. I could see her reflection in the mirror as she ran a brush through her long, chestnut-brown hair. She seemed almost robotic in her movements.

From the time we’d come out of the shower to get dressed, Cat had withdrawn completely. She was barely speaking, only answering me in one-word responses. At first, I had thought that she was just tired. I mean, between the pressures of finals last week, all the drama with Natalya’s attempted suicide yesterday, and hearing the news of her mom’s accident, which was topped off by the ten-hour drive, it would have made sense that she was running on fumes.

But then I saw that it was more than that—more than just exhaustion pulling her into herself. It was more like a detached, automatic response. I recognized the blank look I saw in her eyes because I’d seen it staring back at me from the mirror every time I’d been placed in a new foster or group home growing up. It was borne out of pure instinct.

During my years in the Marines, I’d seen that look in countless soldiers’ eyes. Before missions. During missions. After missions.

A mind is a powerful thing. Self-preservation at its finest. Show no fear. Show no vulnerability. Show no emotion. It was the body’s subconscious way of protecting a soul from unspeakable things. It was an instinctual way to survive hell on Earth.

Seeing that empty expression in Cat’s eyes was killing me. I knew from experience that that empty numb state was not a conscious mode you ‘decided’ to go into. Cat looked like that because her mind had trained itself to shut down, made that its default.

I felt totally helpless, and that made me want to hurt someone, anyone who had put that hollow, lifeless emptiness in her gaze. My chest ached like someone had my heart in their hands and was squeezing the life out of me. Adrenaline raced through me, and I fought the darkness that was closing in on me.

I raked my hands over my face in a weak attempt to calm down. Trying to distract myself from the internal battle my sub-conscious and conscious was waging over how I could possibly stay here and not give into the darkness, I shifted my gaze away from Cat, turning to the left. I watched waves crashing, the sun just a tiny orange sliver at the ocean’s edge. The sight did little to calm down the storm that was brewing inside of me. Even with the serene, picturesque view, this place felt claustrophobic, like a prison.

When I’d first stepped into Cat’s room, I’d been so blown away by the view that I hadn’t really looked around the rest of the room. Then, before I’d gotten a chance to, we’d moved into the bathroom and I’d been distracted by an entirely different view. But now, as I’d been sitting here watching Cat get ready, I’d noticed that this room was decorated like it could be in the pages of one of the design magazines Elijah’s wife, Annabelle, always had laying around, but there was no personality in it. No touches of Cat.

Hell, even when I’d been shuffled around between shitty group homes and shittier foster homes, even though it wasn’t much, you could still get a sense of a kid, of their personality, by looking at their bunk. But looking around at the desk that was immaculate, a bookcase that was filled with encyclopedias and other large, leather-bound reference books, a door that led to a walk-in closet, and a vanity, which Cat was sitting at beside the door, there was nothing. No hint of personality. Even the reading chair that sat across from that wall and large ottoman that sat in front of it beside the large, four-poster, queen-sized bed with a lavender comforter, which I sat on now, was blank and non-descript in its simplicity. The room did have a breathtaking view of the ocean, and it had more square footage than rooms I’d shared with at least ten other kids or soldiers, but it was cold.

This room was devoid of life. It was sterile. Impersonal. Not warm and welcoming like Cat.

Just as I was about to ask Cat if she had any pictures of her from when she was growing up to try to get some glimpse into why her eyes were void of any emotion and her room void of any life, I heard the bedroom door slam open with a crash, and without thinking, I was up on my feet and across the room in two steps, blocking Cat from the intrusion. My conscious brain did not have time to compute what was going on, I just reacted. I didn’t know who had burst in and I didn’t know why. Hell, in that moment, I couldn’t have told you what day it was or what city we were in. I’d simply heard a loud and aggressive noise and my entire brain had telescoped down to two critical thoughts, which flashed insistently like bright-red neon signs.

The first was,
Danger
, and the immediate follow-up was,
Protect Cat
.

There was nothing for me at that instant but those two realities. Something was a threat, and Cat needed to be protected from that threat. My vision blurred and the only thing I saw was Cat standing in front of me, peering past my shoulder.

“Oh, darling, it’s so wonderful to see you!”

Oh, shit. I knew that voice. I’d heard it many times before, although never in real life. I’d only ever heard it projected from a movie screen, but there was no mistaking the speaker. It was Angelica James, Cat’s famous mother.

For some reason, her voice, the voice that I’d heard a million times before and had always associated with glamour and perfection, now sounded like nails on a chalkboard and made my skin crawl.

Turning around, I kept myself positioned between Cat and her mom as I spoke in as nonchalant a voice as I could manage. “Hello, Ms. James. Nice to meet you.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cat move around me. Her voice also sounded casual as she spoke, but it was a false casual.

“Hi, Mom. It’s great to see you. We’re just getting dressed to come down for dinner. Can you give us a few minutes?” Her voice was firm and calm, as if she were addressing a stubborn child.

Our state of undress hadn’t even registered on my radar. Glancing down, I realized I was just in a pair of jeans that I hadn’t even buttoned yet. Cat was wearing a tank top and a pair of boy shorts that were sexier than any G-string I’d ever seen.

Angelica completely ignored Cat’s request, floating over to her and wrapping her up in a theatrical embrace. “Oh, sweetheart, I’ve missed you so terribly! I hate that you had to leave school to come deal with this unpleasantness. But it is what it is. Come downstairs
now
, please. There’s someone I need you to meet.”

I didn’t mean to, but I felt myself staring. Angelica James was beautiful, no one could argue otherwise. She and Cat had different coloring, Angelica’s hair was blonde in contrast to Cat’s chestnut brown, her eyes were light blue as opposed to Cat’s brown eyes, her skin was fair like a porcelain doll and Cat’s held a sun-kissed olive tone. But, there were definitely similarities. Cat had her mother’s high cheekbones, large almond shaped eyes, and full lips. In fact, they were practically mirror images of each other except for their height, Angelica stood several inches taller than Cat, and coloring.

It was kind of surreal having someone I’d seen so many times in the movies standing right in front of me and somehow seeming less approachable and unreachable than when her image was on a huge movie screen.

“Okay.
We’ll
be right down.” Cat continued to maintain that even tone of voice. She stood tall with a dignified grace, her spine ramrod straight. “Jace and I just need to get dressed first.”

Angelica eyes cut sharply to mine as she let an exaggerated surprise overcome her face at a clearly calculated pace. Damn, I couldn’t believe I’d ever thought she was a
good
actress.

My mind was reeling at how in God’s name a woman this false, this
phony
, created someone as beautiful and real as Cat?

“Jace? Oh, my, is
this
the Jace I’ve heard so much about? Oh, Kitty Cat, he is quite a delicious specimen! How in the world did
you
ever snag
him
?”

My eyebrows shot up. Her words felt like cold water being dumped on me. I mean, from what Cat had told me, I shouldn’t have been surprised that her mother would say those things, but still. It wasn’t just the words themselves which, although horrible,
could
have been played off as a lighthearted joke, which I was sure was what Angelica would have claimed if anyone called her on it. But the sharp edge of steel underneath them told a different story. She had meant it. She, Cat’s own mother, was actually telling Cat to her face that she wasn’t good enough for
me
.

I was about to set her straight—at least on that. “Your daughter is the most—”

Angelica interrupted me, continuing on with her monologue as if I hadn’t said a word. “Well, I guess it’s true what they say. Some guys like the nerdy type. The whole buttoned-down-librarian-with-glasses fetish thing must carry more weight than I’d thought. I’d be careful though, Cat. It’s usually a phase or a novelty. Guys who look like Jace…” She stepped closer and trailed a long, red fingernail down my bicep. I immediately jerked my arm away like she’d burned it, but she continued as if nothing had happened. “Well, let’s just say when they settle down, it’s usually with someone a little more in their league, so to speak.”

I looked at Cat, half expecting her mouth to be hanging open in shock, but the expression I saw on her face was nowhere even close to surprise. If I’d thought my heart was broken before, now it was annihilated. While Cat was able to keep her features neutral, her eyes were a different story. They were resigned, defeated, and hollow. Although she was still standing up straight and dignified, her shoulders had slumped just a little. She was deflated.

My gaze cut back to the woman that had caused Cat to be in that state. As Angelica stared at her daughter, I saw a flash of triumph in her eyes that told me she’d seen the same thing I had.

Anger poured through me like a flash flood. Fisting my hands at my sides, I tried to calm the rage roaring through me. I had
never
in my life been tempted to hit a woman, and I’d been dealing with Natalya for the last fifteen years, but right now, I had to forcibly pin my arms against my ribs, fighting against every impulse in my body. Logically, I knew that violence was not the answer. Unfortunately, I’d been trained, from the time I was a child, to act on instinct, and that behavior had only been reinforced during my time in the military.

Cat’s mother shook her head in disbelief as she said, “I guess even the ugly duckling gets a man, even if she never quite turned into the swan I’d hoped she would.” Angelica shrugged with studied nonchalance. “It’s still so disappointing, but what can I do. Just a little piece of friendly advice: don’t get too attached. There’s no way this lasts once the thrill of whatever fetish you fit into wears off. Anyway, put on some clothes and try to find something flattering.” Angelica shook her head, clearly trying to communicate utter and total disappointment, even making several tsking sounds before continuing, “It appears you’ve already put on the freshman fifteen. Then come downstairs. I need you to meet someone. Oh, and Jace can come, too.”

Spinning dramatically to exit the room, Angelica’s robe fanned out as she crossed the room in long strides. Stepping into the doorway, she glanced over her shoulder and gave me a seductive smile. “I look forward to getting to know you much better.” Then she winked and was gone as suddenly as she’d appeared.

What the fuck?

That was crazy.

Cat turned her expressionless eyes to me. “That wasn’t as bad as it could have been,” she said flatly.

I didn’t know what to say. It’s not like I was a great communicator under the best of circumstances, and these were certainly not the best of circumstances. So, instead of trying to wax poetic over the clusterfuck that was my introduction to Angelica James, I opted to wrap my arms around Cat and pull her close to me. I hoped that I could communicate what I was feeling, in a way I could never do with words, by just holding her.

Cat’s breasts pushed against me as she sighed heavily and then stepped back, looking up into my face. Her stare was vacant and blank as she said in a robotic-like tone, “We should get downstairs. She’ll send someone else in a few minutes if we don’t get down there.”

I nodded and leaned down giving her a quick kiss on her forehead, ignoring every protective instinct in my body to pick her up and drag her out of here caveman style. To take her back to Arcata, away from this Twilight Zone of Insanity. I had no idea how I was going to make it through the next few days and keep my anger, my rage, under control, but I had to figure it out. One thing I knew more than ever, now, was that Cat needed me here. She needed someone on her side. I couldn’t let her face this… her mother, alone. I just needed to keep my shit under control and try not to make any waves that would rock the boat for Cat.

How I was going to do that…? I had no fucking idea.

Cat

Eyes like knives

Sharp

I feel the points

Blades

I feel the edges

You ought to be looking out for me

Instead

You’re looking over me

Wishing I were gone

Or maybe

Just invisible

So that you would shine the brightest

Don’t you see you already do?

Cat Nichols, Age 12