Consequence Read online

  But they always seemed to be good businesses. Our kind had a knack for smart ventures and risks that paid off. Businesses that were good for more than just us. Like Daddy with his learning centers and my second cousin, who has a horse farm, who started an equestrian riding school.

  When the professor took the little golden bell from his desk and jiggled it in the air at us like it was a catholic school and not a college, we knew the class was over. I packed up my things hurriedly and rushed across campus to the coffee shop. Every Friday I brought the whole staff at the center whatever poison that was their favorite beverage.

  I was running late. Professor Hubris back there thought that he held our literal futures in his sweaty little hands and it was his duty to teach more than what was lined out in the syllabus.

  Like maybe, how to make someone late for work? It didn't matter that my dad owned the company. That actually made me want to be on time even more, so no one could say that I was just there because my father let me be. I wanted to be a good worker, have ethics and values that people could see on me like a Girl Scout badge.

  I wanted to earn what I had, not have things handed to me.

  So when I ran into the shop and saw Paul at the counter with a carton of coffee cups, I mouthed a 'Thank you' to him. I got the same exact thing every Friday. One white hot chocolate, one black, one vanilla cappuccino with cream and sugar, and for me, a salted caramel iced coffee. There was a long line today, so I waited in it, pulling out my cell to check messages quickly.

  A napkin floated to the floor beside me and I reached absentmindedly to pick it up when someone was next to me doing the same thing. Our fingers almost touched on the napkin and my eyes lifted to see dark ones meeting mine. I felt my lips part, not just at his closeness, but at the sheer force of that gaze.

  His hair was black and spiked up in the middle in a small faux-hawk. He was tan with a red t-shirt that hugged his neck.

  "Thanks," he muttered, his voice as low as gravel. I had to admit that it made me smile for no other reason than the fact that he hadn't taken his eyes off mine yet. He finally, slowly stood.

  "No problem," I replied and cleared my throat a little because my voice sounded entirely too affected.

  I didn't know what else to say and he just stared, his eyes wandering around my face, before he finally smiled with just one side of his mouth and chuckled a little. "Sorry…you're just really…" He shook his head and stepped back. "Never mind. You go to school here?"

  "Yeah. You?"

  "Nah," he said, noncommittally. "Just getting some coffee. It was pretty good timing, I guess."

  "What was?" I asked, shouldering my bag, refusing to let him go until it was no longer polite to keep him talking.

  "Coming here at the same time as you." His smile spoke volumes of things he was thinking that I wasn't privy to. It reminded me of a romance novel…of my parents. I felt a stutter in my chest at what that could mean. "I'm usually here a lot later, but I was early today."

  "You're early and I'm late," I said, chagrined that I had forgotten my purpose so easily. I looked over to the counter to see Paul staring an irritated yet intrigued look at my back. I knew he had a little crush on me, but there was no point in pursuing that.

  I turned back to dark eyes. He whispered like it was a curse, "Am I keeping you? Do you need to go?"

  I stepped off the plank, one hopeful foot in front of the other. "Do you feel that?"

  He frowned with his brows, but smiled. "Feel what exactly?"

  My spirits fell as fast as they had risen. This was just some college boy checking out girls in the coffee shop. He wasn't Virtuoso, he wasn't a human so intrigued by what was happening to him to press further, and he wasn't someone…that I could go any further with.

  I smiled as much as I could, but stepped back. "I really do have to go. I’m sorry. I'm really late."

  His smile fell and he took a step closer. "Uh…can you stay for one cup of coffee? I'm buying." He tried for a smile again, but I just couldn't let this go any farther.

  "I'm late for work already." I turned to give Paul a twenty and told him to keep the change. When I turned back, I expected dark eyes to be gone, done with me, but he wasn't. I smiled and started to move around him toward the side back door.

  He called for me to wait a second as he ran back to get his bag from the table, but I kept going. Before I reached the door, his hand gently caught my long sleeve in his fingers. I looked down at his hand first and then at his face. "I'm sorry," he said sincerely. "I'm not trying to be creepy, I just…" He licked his lips.

  His red shirt had a fireman symbol on the front with the number 22 in the middle of it. His jeans were dark, worn, and ripped a little at the knee. He wore black boots and had a brown leather band around his wrist that had the word VIVERE on it.

  Wow, this boy was going to be a problem if I didn't get away.

  "I know. I wish I had time to talk, I really do, but I have to go."

  "I do feel it," he said in a harsh voice. "I said I didn't feel it before, but I do."

  Every movement but breathing stopped. "Feel what?"

  "Like…" He moved his hand to my face and I froze in hopeful awe. He swept my hair back behind my ear. "Like we were meant to be here at the same time."

  It was when his finger touched the rim of my ear that I felt my life changing before my eyes. He sucked in a huge breath right along with me and immediately I felt his hands on both sides of my face, pulling me in to press his forehead to mine as we watched the scenes play out. I worried about him. He must be a human because I'd never seen him before and was probably freaking out, but all I could do in that second was cling to his shirt with my empty hand, fisting the fabric and hanging on as I watched our future life together.

  In one vision, we were lying in the tall grass somewhere. He ran his fingers up and down my arm. I talked and he listened like his life depended on it. The next one was us as we walked hand in hand down the sand at the beach house my parents owned. He had a bandage across his neck and his arm was in a sling, but he smiled so wide as he looked down at me, black eye and all. And then the third came, us in front of a big house. It was a place that looked familiar, but we stood there, older in our years, proud…like we belonged there on the big lawn and grand landscapes that seemed overgrown, but once beautiful. He was kissing my lips so softly.

  We eased out of our reverie and his smile wasn't one of a human, it was one of someone who knew exactly what was going on. He moved us gently, pressing my back to the wall by the back door, but kept my face blissfully captive in his warm hands that I just knew were big and hard-worked calloused. "Oh, my g… It can't be," he said, but his smile refuted those words. "It's…really you."

  "And I don't even know your name," I whispered in return.

  He chuckled a little, deep and heady. "Seth."

  "I'm Ava," I answered before he could ask.

  "Ava," he repeated and I felt shivers run over me. He smiled, moving a little closer before letting his forehead touch mine once more. "I can't believe this is happening."

  "I don't have to wait anymore," I realized. Even with school and work and everything going on, I was constantly waiting for this. It consumed a little piece in the back of my brain and I was subconsciously always looking for the one whose touch would bind me to him and also set me free.

  His smile faltered a little as he leaned his head back. "So…you're Virtuoso."

  I nodded. "How come I've never seen you before?"

  "We don't…go to the reunifications," he muttered softly. He looked so nervous and I felt the need to comfort him wash over me.

  I still held the carton of coffee in one hand so I un-fisted his shirt and reached for his face. I was utterly shocked at how easily it came to me to be with him already. "Hey. What's the matter?"

  "I just…" He shook his head and gulped, covering my hand with his on his cheek, like he wanted to keep it there forever. "I don't want to hurt you. I don't want… Gah, I'm so sorry, Av
a."

  "For what?" I said, but I saw in his mind for the first time. He was thinking about that house from my last vision. I realized that I remembered it from our histories. Our family taught about that…house…

  The coffee cups fell from my hand. It was then the world came back to me and I saw several of the people in the coffee shop staring at us. Even Paul had stopped making coffee and was looking at us, like maybe he wanted to intervene.

  I pushed Seth's chest a tiny bit, my hands aching and scolding me for doing so. He went without a fight. "Ava," he reasoned, pleaded.

  "I've got to go." I turned to go, my heart banging in my chest.

  He grabbed my hand gently, his calm, the very thing I'd always wanted, shot through me and I couldn't stop the sigh, yet I still yanked my hand away. "Ava, please. Let's just talk for a minute."

  I burst through the door and ran to my Volvo parked in front. Seth followed me, but didn't try to stop me. I got in and shut the door, pressing the push-start button crank the car. He stood outside my window, gripping his hair in his hands as he watched me back out. I heard him in my head as I peeled from the lot.

  I'll wait for you however long you need. It's okay. I understand. I'd hate me, too.

  I loved his voice. It ran over me like a silk nightgown…and I hated and loved that.

  I went straight to the center, blowing through the doors, tears running down my face. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared, but I looked for Daddy. When I didn't see him with any of the kids, I went right to his office. He was on the phone, but hung up on whoever was on the phone as soon as he saw me.

  "Ava-"

  "Daddy," I sobbed.

  He stood quickly. "What happened?"

  "I…imprinted…"

  "You did?" he grinned and hugged me to him. "That's amazing, Ava. Where? Who? Why are you crying? Was it-"

  "No, Daddy, no." I leaned back.

  "What's the matter, baby?" he soothed and smoothed my hair like he had done for my entire life. Always comforting, always willing to bust heads if need be to make me happy. But Dad couldn't fix this.

  "Daddy, I imprinted…with a Watson."

  Coming Fall, 2014

  Playlist

  Drive All Night : NeedToBreathe

  Who’s Gonna Save Us : Gavin DeGraw

  Durban Skies : Bastille

  I’m Yours : Jason Mraz

  Every Night : Imagine Dragons

  Make It To Me : Manchester Orchestra

  Royals : Lorde

  Morning Song : The Lumineers

  Shelly is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling author from a small town in Georgia and loves everything about the south. She is wife to a fantastical husband and stay at home mom to two boisterous and mischievous boys who keep her on her toes. They currently reside in scorching North Florida. She loves to spend time with her family, binge on candy corn, go out to eat at new restaurants, buy paperbacks at little bookstores, sight-see in the new areas they travel to, listen to new music everywhere, and LOVES to read.

  Her own books happen by accident and she revels in the writing and imagination process. She doesn't go anywhere without her notepad for fear of an idea creeping up and not being able to write it down immediately, even in the middle of the night, when her best ideas are born.

  Shelly's website:

  www.shellycrane.blogspot.com

  https://www.facebook.com/shellycranefanpage

  https://twitter.com/AuthShellyCrane