The Carver's Magic (17 page)

When she looks at the door handle I worry she might be thinking something incredibly stupid. I grab her hand and pull it to my thigh, doing two things at once- getting her attention and hopefully calming her down. "A friend of mine is having a few friends over. I told him I would stop by, we won’t stay long," I made sure to keep my tone calm and soothing. I want her to feel comfortable with me, especially if my plans to have her later actually pan out.

But, if she really doesn’t want to go I will take her home. I kept her hand in mine as she moves to face forward again. Again, the car fills with a silence, even though the music is playing in the background.

When we arrive I open her door, amazed she stayed in the car long enough for me to walk around. I am not an expert in dating by any stretch of the imagination, but it makes her even more endearing.

I hold out my hand to her. She takes it as I pull her up, and then she immediately shakes me off. No way is she getting away with that. I refuse to let her shy away from me, not after I saw exactly how she wanted me. I grab her hand this time and intertwine my fingers in hers. Leaning down to make sure she can hear me and feel my breath on her neck, "Give it an hour. After that just say the word and I will take you home." This seems to make her feel better because I feel her squeeze my hand twice.

We walk hand in hand to the front door. She rings the doorbell and we wait. If I had come alone, I would have walked straight in, but with Cory, she apparently isn’t the type to do that.

A guy with dirty blonde hair, tussled like he just woke up, answers the door. His dark brown eyes are a little beady, and he has a scar on the left side of his jaw that starts a few millimeters from his left eye. He gives me a dismissive glance, “Hey, come on in.”

I pull Cory with me, but to my annoyance the guy does not step back. Instead, he is standing right in front of Cory with a look I can’t explain, but I don’t like it. Right then I knew, I could feel it, but I have no evidence why this guy is all wrong. There is just something about him that makes me feel he is going to irritate the hell out of me.

Cory notices the guy staring, too, and pushes into me to walk past him. I hold her back and square my body to him. “Do your legs work?” He smiles but it’s fake and he knows I know. And now I want to break the man’s legs or kneecaps.

“My bad. I didn’t even notice. I’ve been drinking since, like lunch time,” he slurs.

I had no idea if Broken Legs’ slurring was real or not, but again there was something about him I didn’t trust, so I walk past him, making myself the wall between him and Cory. I pull her behind me, making sure never to let her out of my sight. There are more people here than I thought there would be. If Cory got away from me she could easily get lost in the sea of people. As a side thought, I wonder if she still has my coin.

I pull her up so I could speak into her ear. It’s loud and I need to know, “Do you have the coin I gave you yesterday?”

She nods and pulls it out of her dress’s pocket. I had no idea that dress had pockets. Nice.

I grab the coin and say a few words in my mind, turning it into a necklace. I round my hands around her neck and see the little chain she was already wearing.

“Take off the other necklace.” Then as an after thought, I say, “Please.”

Cory looks confused and then shakes her head, “I never take it off.”

I shouldn’t push it, but I am. “You can put it back on as soon as we leave.”

She remains still.

Whatever. I grab the necklace and yank it off and I ignore the gasp and guilt I feel. I can’t unclasp the chain I was holding, to be honest this is a lot harder than it looks. When I get the stupid necklace into place I say, “Don’t take this off.” Then, at her worrisome eyes, I add, “What?”

“Uh, nothing.” She is looking around as if she is seeing the party for the first time. “I need to use the bathroom?”

Um. Okay?

      
“Look, I’m sorry about the necklace, I’ll fix it.” I hold out my hand with the yellow amber charm I replaced with the coin but she doesn’t look at me, or the charm. She looks lost.

“Are you planning on taking off?” I am pretty sure I am seeing a flight response to something.

“No,” But her eyes are telling me a different story.

“Then what’s the matter?”

I can see her trying to fight some sudden anxiety. I have no idea why she’s freaking out right now. Taking it upon myself to sooth her, yet again, I grab her hand and she discreetly tries to wiggle free, but that’s not happening. I grip her hand a little tighter, letting her know she is not going anywhere. I walk her to the bathroom, all the while slipping the amber stone into my pocket.

I wait outside the bathroom for at least five minutes before I knocked making sure she didn’t sneak out the window. I begin doubting my resolve to actually go through with any of my plans tonight. She’s turning this date into a babysitting gig.

When she finally opens the bathroom door I grab her wrist and walk towards the living room. Aaron calls out from the kitchen bar. He’s the same height as me, dark mocha skin, dark brown-black eyes, with a bright, wide smile. Tonight he’s wearing a red Chicago Bulls jersey. We grab hands, pull each other in for the bro hug, "Hey what's up?"

"You made it! I’m shocked." Aaron steps back to look behind me and smiles, if you can believe it, even bigger now.

"And who is this beautiful lady?" He holds out his hand. Cory takes it and in what I assume is her professional, friendly tone, answers, "Cory." She also found a way to get rid of my hand. She stuffs both her hands into her dress and looks around to play the shy routine again.

Seeing her close down bothers me, but not in the way it would have just ten minutes ago. Something is different about her. Something is way off and I have no idea what it is.

"Well Cory, how do you know my man here?"

I watch Cory as her whole countenance morphs from shy to polite. She shifts from one foot to the other, "Who doesn't know Shane?" She shrugs.

Aaron agrees with her and then begins to tell her how he and I know each other. Then, as if it were an afterthought, he offers her a drink.

“Water is fine,” Again she smiles at Aaron politely.

“Sure there are some bottles out back, let me take you there.” He tucks his hand around her elbow and tells me he will be right back. She's safe. I know Aaron, and he is a good guy. Probably a nicer guy to women than I am.

I grab a beer from the refrigerator and wait a few more minutes before I walk outside to the fire pit. I scan the people, looking for Aaron and Cory. They were laughing by the blue ice bucket filled with water bottles and soda. I sit my ass down on the stone bench next to the fire pit and watch the flames dance, as I run tomorrow’s to-do list in my mind. Being around fire always calms me down.

Five minutes later I see Cory with a girl, and then later I see a different woman walking with Cory and the first strange woman.

Aaron dares to come sit by me without Cory and says, "Damn. That girl is smoking.”

I nod.

"So what's going on between you two?" He rubs his hands together and I can’t stand to look at his overly cheery face right now.

I look at him and give him a half smile, “She’s a waiter at Amber Line. We’re just hanging out.”

That’s when a few things hit me. Did I really bring Cory to my friend’s house? Was I really thinking about sleeping with a human? How did this get so out of whack, so fast? I have lusted after girls before but this is different. I am actually in public with a girl.

I run my free hand through my messy-ass hair and desperately try to figure out how this happened. Nothing is going to happen between Cory and I, and I knew that to my core. So if I know that now, why the hell did I not know that earlier?

There very well may be something wrong with me.

Aaron laughs, bringing me out of my head, and then says, "Yeah I figured. Well I am glad you actually showed up to one of my parties. How many times have I invited you?"

Too many.
"You know I don't have many days off," I offer, ready to change the topic. I watch the flames in the pit ignoring the sick feeling in my stomach while I begin to dissect how I got to this point.

"Oh I know. That's your main excuse." He bumps my arm to get my attention. "You still hitting the gym?" He asks, looking me over as if I have not gained ten pounds of muscle and dropped some body fast since he and I quite working out together. I know he could tell.

I turn back to the fire refusing to rise to his jibe. "Yeah. I like to go in the mornings. Well my mornings anyways." I smirk knowing that my mornings were Cory's afternoons.

I laugh lightly, but then I am jolted from my conversation with Aaron when I feel someone push my shoulders back. I sit up straight and Cory plops down in my lap. My arms freeze for a second as my brain tries to process what is happening. Slowly, I put my free arm around her, not sure what to make of this. Then she grabs my hand and holds it against her belly.

This is interesting. But my gut is telling me something is off and this time it’s not just me.

Aaron looks at me, then at her, and smiles even bigger. If I were watching this scene from the outside I would assume the same thing I believe Aaron does, but this not what it looks like.

I look around her back to see Broken Legs ogling her. He is looking her over, completely ignoring that she is in another man’s lap. My lap.

An incredibly strong wave of protection washes over me. Cory came to me when she was in trouble. I swallow and begin to plot. She made the right choice, if anyone was going to get this guy off her back, it was me.

She shifts on top of me, taking my thoughts to the gutter immediately. Damn her. "This is interesting," I whisper, holding her firmly in place with my hands. I don’t need her rubbing down on me, I’m still a man and she’s still tempting.

"Shut up," she quietly hisses.

My eyebrows raise at her sharpness. I guess she does have little claws. That’s rather amusing. "The guy in the grey shirt with the scar?"
Who wants a pair of broken legs?
The guy was watching us and I wondered if he knew we weren’t a couple and he was capitalizing on it. Cory may not be mine, but she was certainly never going to be his.

"Yeah," she whispers back, with an odd hitch to her voice.

I pull her back against me even more and say in her ear, letting my breath fall on her neck to make it look more intimate for the guy, "Walk into the house, grab me a beer from the refrigerator. Before you give it back, open it and take a drink."

She shifts, trying to turn in my direction. I assume she knows what she is doing to me as she shifts back and forth on my lap. "What?" She snaps and I can tell that she is thoroughly confused.

Okay well maybe she doesn't know what she is doing.

"It will make you look possessive. And will let him know you are not interested in anyone but me." I don’t know why I even thought of this crazy plan. All she really had to do was stay here in my lap and the guy would give up. But a part of me needs to see something. I want to know what she is really feeling about me. I want to know how bad this is going to be when I drop her off tonight and never call her again.

I have no doubts that shy girls like Cory could become the stalker chick who was butt hurt because you never called again.

I can feel her taking in a shallow breath. Her heartbeat started pounding slowly and I am unsure if it is because of the closeness, or the fact that I am rubbing my mouth against her shoulder.

"Fine." She pushes me back and walks past the guy with her face forward. I watch the guy as he eyes her like a predator. I really don’t like him.

He follows her inside. It takes everything in me to not take him out with my magic. He is a predator. I grab my coin and use the magic so I can see her and everyone around her. She goes straight to the refrigerator, opens it and grabs a beer. She lets the door closed and the guy with a messed up mane is leaning against the counter next to her. Smug smile in place.

“For me?” He mouths.

She ignores him with an eye roll and walks to the back door. I let go of the coin now that I can see her with my own eyes. She opens the back door and walks through. She pops the top on the can and looks at me with a look I have never seen on her before.

She says something to the guy who is about to find himself with two broken knee caps. He’s trailing her, even though her eyes have not left me. Taking a long swig on the can, the guy stops talking and looks at me. With my look and expression, I let him know to back off. The punk shifts his eyes and walks away with one more glance at Cory.

Cory pulls down the can from her lips and smirks at me. I try, in the manliest way possible, to smile without showing my teeth. Stepping up to me she hands me the beer and gives me the look to make room for her on my lap. I back up holding out my arms. She sits down and I wrap my arms around her pulling her closer to me, against my better judgment.

"He is still looking at me," she whispers.

I stop rubbing my mouth on her back, and ignore the question in my mind that is asking what the hell I am doing. I look around her to see that, indeed, messy hair guy is talking with Aaron, but keeps looking over at Cory. "I didn't say it would stop him from looking at you," I say in her ear, feeling her heart pick up again. "I said it would make you look possessive. And I wanted another beer."

She elbows me in the ribs. I squeezed her until she says "Ouhf." I nip her in the ear and warn her that it will be worse if she try’s that again. She laughs thinking I’m playing. I’m not. I know this was all a façade for her, and for that I am truly thankful. But I don’t allow people to try and hurt me, even if it is for fun. I just react to stuff like that. I can’t change that about me.

A few minutes later, Aaron comes up to us and smiles with a knowing look. "Ready to play teams?"

"Play teams for what?" Cory inquires, while squeezing lightly on my arm that she was holding around her stomach.

Broken Legs walks up and puts his hand on Aaron's shoulder, "Pool." He holds out his hand to Cory. "Come on pretty girl. You can be on my team." Cory doesn’t move.