Independence Read online

  He wanted us to go forward. Always moving forward.

  Our bodies were tuned to it, latched onto the idea of being completely comfortable and satisfied in the other. I had been so wrapped up with the Visionary stuff that I had fought that off somehow, and when all that seemed to fade away to a manageable amount, my body said, 'Uhuh, we're back in business.'

  I smiled and poked my head out the shower door just like he had done. "Don’t over think this, baby," I repeated back to him and raised my eyebrows at him before shutting the door. He laughed and I heard the faucet water turn on. Soon I was done and putting back on those grungy clothes.

  As soon as I opened the bathroom door, Caleb looked my way from the window. "All scrubbadubbed?"

  I nodded. He walked to me slowly and put his arm around my back. His face was inches from mine and the way he was looking into my eyes made my breaths increase. He started softly, not quite a whisper. "I'm glad that you're not nervous. I'm glad that you're ready." I didn't blush. Yay, a point for me! I smiled to encourage him. It must've, because he cupped my face. "The last thing I wanted was for you to be scared. I expected it," he admitted, "but I didn't want that. So to know that you're just as ready as I am…" His chest rumbled and his grip tightened a bit. "That makes me very happy."

  "I could never be scared with you," I realized. That was it, wasn't it? That was what had changed? I finally came to the realization that Caleb would never, ever hurt me under any circumstances and had risked himself over and over for me to prove it. In London, the hell we endured was just another stepping stone.

  He nodded to everything he was hearing in my mind. "I'm so glad it finally sunk in." His grin was all masculine and smugness. It was sexy and cute and endearing all at once. "These hands," he squeezed them both on my face to make his point, "will never touch you without being gentle. Unless that's not what you want, of course." His eyebrow lifted waiting for me to balk, but I just waited. "These arms will never hold you back, but I'll hold you as tight as you'll let me. I can't wait for you to be all mine. You belong to me in every way, Maggie. Mine." I nodded in his hands. He leaned closer and whispered, "Say it."

  I didn't wait a beat. "I belong to you." And he belonged to me.

  He grinned. "You're daggum right you do." And then he pulled me closer and up to meet him. When his tongue swept into mine, I could taste the toothpaste. I giggled into his mouth at the thought. He chuckled, too, and I swung my arms around his back. His hands pulled me closer and I was just settling in when we heard one of the sleepers groan.

  I licked my lips as he pulled away. I glanced at the clock. It was after eleven in the morning. I turned around to find Beck looking at me. She was pale. Her eyes were filled with tears. She croaked, "It was real? It wasn't a dream that you came and saved us?"

  I fought my own tears at that. "No, it was real." I got on my knees and laid my head next to hers on the pillow. "How do you feel?"

  "Like I got intimately acquainted with a meat grinder."

  I smiled. "I can imagine." The clog in my throat was very much present. "I'm really sorry."

  "What are you sorry for?" She sniffed and then glared with a second wind. "And how did you find me anyway? And what the Hades were you doing in London with college boy and why the freak didn't you tell me?"

  I laughed. "There she is." She tried to smile at me. "I'm sorry about all that, too."

  "We'll get answers later. Right now, I have to pee like nobody's business." She groaned again and tried to sit up. I reached to help her stand and saw Caleb in my peripheral. He was standing at the foot of the bed with his arms crossed, watching us. He smiled when my eyes met his. She snapped her fingers in front of my face. "Hello? Help a sister out?" I slung her arm over my shoulder. "Geez, I know bathroom duty sucks, but come on."

  "Shut up," I laughed.

  I set her on the toilet and turned on the faucet, per her request. Then I waited as she finished, per her request. I asked if she wanted to shower and she said it was pointless without clean clothes. Her clothes were pretty destroyed so, I agreed. I helped her back to the bed where Ralph was awake. He sighed at seeing her. It made my heart flutter. "Becks."

  "Hey, sweetie," she crooned and put her hand on his cheek. "You're OK," she observed.

  "You're OK." He sighed. "God…I have never been so worried in my life. The last thing I remember was you…and you wouldn't wake up. And then I woke up and you were stroking my hair and then…" He shook his head. He pulled her close and kissed her lips. "I love you."

  She smiled, but her cheeks weren't dry anymore. "It took almost dying for you to tell me you love me?"

  "I'm sorry," he said sincerely.

  "I love you, too."

  "That's all I could think about out there. That I was going to die and you'd never know that I've been in love with you this whole time. I've loved you since fifth grade, Becks."

  I felt arms go around me from behind. Caleb's rumbling voice was at my ear as he spoke to them. "We'll be back. We'll get some breakfast and let you talk for a

  minute."

  They didn't even look up. Caleb pulled me from the room and took me to the café down in the lobby. I started to grab a drink carrier and fill up some coffee cups, but Caleb shook his head and only grabbed two cups. He sat me down and then brought me a huge pile of pancakes and sausage, and one for himself.

  "You don't think they're hungry up there?" I asked curiously.

  "Oh, they're hungry all right," he said sarcastically.

  I got his meaning and kicked his boot under the table. "Eww."

  He laughed. "I can't help it if I see what you can't because you're so innocent and pure of heart." I couldn't help but grin at that. "Maybe they'll be hungry for pancakes in a little while."

  "You and your innuendos, mister." I shook my head in mock distress. "You're going to ruin me."

  "I plan to," he suggested low before taking a big bite.

  I smiled as I bit into my sausage and then gasped as something ice cold went sprawling down my arm. I stood on instinct and the older lady was obviously embarrassed. She reached for my napkin and began to blot the orange juice off my arm. "Oh, it's fine. Don't worry."

  "I am so sorry."

  "Really, it's OK."

  "I am so clumsy!" she exclaimed. "Harold!" she yelled at someone. "Help me."

  The man - Harold, I presumed - came and looked over the situation. I was dry at this point. "Really, I'm fine. It was just a little juice. It's OK."

  "I told you I'd get it for you, Arlene," he chastised. "You don't need to be up and around, honey."

  I smiled at his endearment for her. She patted his arm and then looked at us. "Ah, you must be newlyweds."

  "No, ma'am," Caleb answered and gripped my hand. "Not yet, but soon."

  "Well, you better get on the move, boy," she joked. Caleb, always the gentleman, chuckled good naturedly and smiled.

  "Yes, ma'am. I'm working on that."

  "My Harold and I," she said affectionately and looked up at him, "we've been together for forty two years."

  "Wow," I said in awe. "That's really awesome."

  "The key is compromise and love, no matter what. There's always a little wiggle room to work with when you're both in it 'til the end."

  I nodded. And then her husband's thoughts made their way to me as he watched her. He was worried about her. She had some cancer that even he in his own mind wouldn't name. I tried not to frown or make a face, but my heart was breaking for them.

  And then I joined the conversation she and Caleb had started while I'd been snooping, unintentionally. He was asking why she thought we were newlyweds. She smiled and patted his cheek. "Because you look at her the way my Harold still looks at me." Then she looked at me. "I'm sorry I spilled my juice on you. Y'all have a nice trip."

  Harold said his goodbyes, too, and helped her away. "It's OK. Thank you," I found myself saying. Caleb was watching me. He knew what I'd heard from the man's mind. I waved him off. "I better get used to it, r
ight?"

  "That doesn't make it any easier for you," he argued. He watched them go. "They were nice. And normal. And human." His gaze swung to mine. "Normal, human people who lived together and loved each other for forty two years. If they can do it, we have absolutely no worries."

  "I was never worried." I hugged his middle. "Never."

  "I can't believe how calm you're being about the wedding," he mused. "You know, the wedding will probably be this coming up weekend." He waited. "My parents and Gran are eager for it." Pause. "They'll make it as soon as possible." Another pause. "Our whole family, in my back yard, watching us…"

  I laughed. "Ok, now you're just trying to scare me."

  "I can't believe it," he said again and smiled. "I guess we'll see your true colors when I get your up there in front of everyone and you're shaking in your bare feet."

  He led me back to the table and we finished our food.

  "Caleb, I told you. My body feels so completely different now. I'm ready. I am not going to be nervous."

  "Good," he murmured and rubbed my foot against his under the table.

  Chapter Six

  Caleb

  Maggie held the cups of juice and I carried the take-out pancake boxes in mine. We climbed the stairs and I watched her jeans as we went up.

  I stared a hole in those jeans.

  If she felt the heat of my stare, she didn't say anything. If she heard my thoughts, she didn't say anything about that either. I heard her laugh and decided to leave it at that and not go in her mind to see what she was laughing about. It was probably about me…staring a hole…in those daggum jeans.

  She outright laughed and turned on the last step. She was on the step above me so we were perfect height to match. "I get it," she joked. "I've got good jeans."

  "It's true, but it's what's in the jeans that's making me crazy," I told her.

  She smiled and leaned forward to kiss the end of my nose. "You're going to be impossible this week, aren't you?" she said breathlessly.

  "Yes, ma'am," I growled.

  "Behave, Jacobson," she scolded and smiled. She leaned in and kissed my lips. Then she turned, her smile firmly in place, and knocked on the door. Beck answered, barely. The girl was running a few cylinders short and it was showing. She was beat. She sat down on the edge of the bed and accepted the plate from me. She inhaled and groaned. "Pancakes! Are you freaking kidding me? I could kiss you!"

  "But you won't," Maggie said and pointed with a cocked brow.

  "Not right now," Beck said laughing. "I'm in no position to fight sleep, let alone a whole other person. You're safe for now, college boy."

  Maggie rolled her eyes and gave her the juice. Ralph was already scarfing his down, waiting for nothing or no one.

  "Ah," he groaned through a bite, "even I could kiss you. I'm starving."

  I laughed. "I'd rather neither of you do any kissing, if that's all right."

  "Boo," Beck complained, but never looked up as she tore into the plate.

  Maggie sat on the bed, her chin in her hand, and watched the two eat with a concentration that was motherly and cute. I stood by the wall, leaning against the old maroon wallpaper, and watched Maggie watch them. We were going home today. To my home. Maggie had never been there before and I was oh so ready to have her smell and voice crawling through my space.

  She finally glanced my way and smiled crookedly. Then she rolled her eyes and looked back to Beck. So she was paying attention to my inner monologue. Good to know.

  As soon as Beck was done, she did what I had been waiting for her to do. She asked to call her parents.

  "Beck," Maggie started slowly. "I don't think you can call them. We're…" She shook her head. "I'm sorry. It's complicated."

  "What's complicated?" Beck said and glared at her. "Why are you saying I can't call my parents? Of course I can. What the blazing hell is wrong with you, Mags!"

  She reached for the phone. Maggie reached for her arm. Then the proverbial crap hit the fan.

  Maggie had a vision, and she and Beck and I watched it all play out behind our eyelids.

  It started with a dark street and we watched as a dark head waited in the bushes like a coward. I knew immediately it was Marcus, but felt Maggie's confusion because we couldn't see his face. She didn't want to believe it. She wanted to think we'd been wrong all along and that Marcus was out of our lives forever, but it wasn't going to happen that way.

  He half turned as he saw a car coming. He ducked. As soon as the car passed, he crept out and stealthily went around the back side of a car. With gloved hands, he leaned down on the asphalt and swung around on his back. He pulled the pocket knife from his front pocket, flipped it open and actually grinned like the bastard he was when he nicked the fuel line.

  He didn't slice it. No, he wanted it to drain slowly so as not to alert them that there was a problem. He turned and looked at the dawn creeping up over the street. Beck and Ralph would be leaving soon. In his mind he was determined. He was going to ruin our lives and this was just the beginning. He'd start with Beck, then he'd move on to Vic, taking our best friends and knowing we'd blame ourselves. Then he was moving on to Bish and Jen, Maggie's father. I saw the gun in his mind as he imagined catching them off guard.

  The vision that Maggie had seen for them. I felt Maggie's gasp all the way from across the room. Then Marcus pulled his hood up over his dark face and whistled as he walked down the street like he belonged there. Like he hadn't just tried to take the life of Maggie's friend. Like he wasn't trying to ruin my girl's life.

  I seethed. I fisted my hands against my sides and it was literally a chore to stand there and not go and hunt down that selfish….

  Maggie was trembling as the vision faded away. I pushed from the wall and gripped her arms gently, but quickly moved my hands to her face so she could get the full contact of my skin. I held in my groan, but she sighed a harsh and loud breath against my neck. Her eyes strayed to Beck, who was wide eyed and backing away.

  Crap, no, don't do that, Beck.

  I let Maggie go, reluctantly, but stayed right at her back as she raised her hands in an it's OK motion for Beck. "Beck, it's still me."

  "What. The. Hell. Have you done. To my best friend!" she bellowed in choppy, emotional spouts. And she was yelling at me. Her eyes blazed her anger at me over Maggie's shoulder. Maggie put her arm out to the side as if to shield me. It was cute, but this was not the time to think about that. I figured this was one of those keep-my-mouth-shut-kinda of moments. Maggie would have to field the questions on this one. Apparently, I was the enemy.

  "You…you made me see things…" Beck tried and then stiffened. "And I knew I saw something happening before! I told you I saw the air glowing or whatever."

  "Beck, I can explain."

  "Please do. Start with what college boy did to you to make you a freak."

  "Hold up," I heard myself say before I could even think. "She is not a freak. Don't call her that. She saved your life with the ability she has and you owe her, if nothing else, to listen to what she has to say."

  Maggie leaned back against my chest, almost sagged, while Beck stood stunned. I spared Ralph a glance, but he was still in shock and did nothing but staring at Maggie like she'd grown two heads. Dang…this was exactly what I never wanted to happen to Maggie; her human life and our new Ace life colliding.

  "Well?" Beck demanded and stomped her foot. "Get on with it." She sat on the end of the bed and crossed her arms. "This ought to be good."

  Maggie looked back at me helplessly. She didn't know where to begin. So I pulled her to sit on my lap as I sat on the bed opposite Beck. I began at the beginning, the day we met. And I told her everything. I was the Champion of my clan now and I knew the consequences of telling humans about us. The only reason I was the Champion was because my father had told Maggie's father, and now here I was breaking the rules once again. And I'd do it a million times over if it would take the heartbreaking look off of Maggie's face.

  I told Bec
k all about the imprinting and what Marcus had done to Maggie then, about California and what had been going on while they were visiting us and what happened in London. And I told her why Maggie hadn't told her anything was because it was forbidden. We were breaking ancient laws right then and she needed to cut Maggie some slack. She was an amazing leader of our people with an amazing gift that saved people. It had saved Beck and Ralph's life.

  She sat there and stared me down until I was done. It was then that she looked at Maggie. Her stubborn lip trembled, but she stood. And she slipped her shoes on and nodded her head to Ralph for him to follow her.

  Crap.

  He eased out of the bed and they both shuffled uneasily to the door. She looked back once and then shut the door behind her without another word. I turned Maggie fully on my lap sideways and prepared to take the brunt of her anger, of her being mad that I caused all this with my touch those short weeks ago.

  After everything we'd been through, it seemed like an eternity.

  "Maggie, I am so sorry."

  She shook her head and I knew then I was probably never going to see an enraged Maggie directed at me. She was too sweet to blame me. She smiled and shook her head again, but that morphed into a bunched nose and upturned lips before the tears came. I wrapped my arms around my girl, but before Maggie's arm could even make their way around me, the hotel door was banged on with excessive force.

  Maggie gasped and leapt from my lap, jerking the door open. Beck flew into Maggie's embrace and they both cried and laughed at the same time as they swayed back and forth. "I want to be mad at you," Beck admitted and glared at me over Maggie's shoulder. "And I really want to hate you."

  "Beck," Maggie protested and leaned back, "don't."

  "Let me finish. I want to hate you, but I can't because…I've never seen Maggie so freaking giddy before. But I know you did this to her, whatever this is, and I want to hate you so badly for taking my friend from me."