Gods and Mortals: Fourteen Free Urban Fantasy & Paranormal Novels Featuring Thor, Loki, Greek Gods, Native American Spirits, Vampires, Werewolves, & More (190 page)

Embarrassment and shame slumped my shoulders. I felt like such an idiot. All I wanted was to spend a peaceful afternoon with Uriah, and I had ruined it. Tears fell and I didn’t even try to stop them. Uriah’s arm wrapped around my shoulders and pulled me into his chest. He held me in his arms. I barely knew Uriah. I never should have dumped all of my problems with my dad on him, but there was nobody else. Nobody outside of my dreams. Despite the warnings, I trusted Uriah.

Still hidden against Uriah’s chest, I said, “Maybe if I thought my dad actually loved me I could stand the way he acted, but I know he doesn’t.”

Lifting my chin so that I was looking at him, Uriah’s serious eyes captured me completely. “No matter how your dad treats you, he does love you. How could he not?”

“He’s never once told me that he loves me.”

“Some people just have a hard time saying it,” Uriah said. Even he didn’t sound very convinced by his words. My dad didn’t say it and he didn’t show it. He used me like he did everyone else. What point was there in arguing? Maybe Uriah figured that out, or maybe he just wanted me to stop crying, but he changed the topic.

“So what are you doing here with me?” he asked. “Your dad obviously doesn’t approve of me, not that that bothers me any, but here you are, sitting on a blanket with me out in the hills.”

With his arms around me, even. As angry as I had been a minute ago, I found it surprisingly easy to smile now. Uriah raised an eyebrow as he waited for my answer. Grinning guiltily, I dipped my head to avoid Uriah’s teasing smile. “Well, I guess maybe I have a little more freedom than I made it sound. I do try to irritate my dad every chance I can get.”

“Is that the only reason you came today?” Uriah asked.

I looked back up at him to gauge whether he was joking or serious. Seeing his expression, it was easy to tell. His emotions stood plainly on his face no matter what he was feeling. Friendly teasing hovered on the surface, but honest desire to know the answer was layered underneath.

“If I won’t date a guy just because my dad wants me to, I’m certainly not going to date someone just because he doesn’t want me to,” I said. “I came because I wanted to.”

That was obviously the answer he had been hoping for. Peaceful pleasure washed over him and seeped into me as Uriah lowered himself back onto the blanket. I followed, resting my head on his shoulder. Uriah didn’t say it, but somehow I knew that regardless of what my dad wanted, Uriah wasn’t going anywhere.

I
shook
my head at myself as I stared at the wall surrounding the Brant home. In the failing light, the plaster covered wall that was usually a light tan color looked blood red. Hopefully that wasn’t an omen. Placing my hands on the plaster, I launched myself to the top of the six foot wall. I took a brief second to look around the garden-like yard and make sure no one could see me before dropping to the ground, smashing a clump of flowers as I did.

The backyard lights were all off like Claire said they would be. Darting across the lawn, I stopped at the edge of the covered patio. “Claire,” I whispered loudly, “are you up there?”

My answer was seeing her head pop over the edge of the porch roof, a brilliant grin on her face. “You came!” she whispered.

“I told you I would, but you better not make a habit of this.” I was serious. My heart was pounding in fear that Thomas would suddenly have the desire to sit on the porch and watch the sunset. Claire just giggled and flipped herself back up. A second later her feet were dangling off the roof, waiting for me to grab them.

Every minute I spent with Claire made touching her more bearable. In the month that we had been seeing each other, my tolerance for her had not improved quite as much as I hoped it would, but I was definitely getting better. Flexing my fingers in and out several times, I tried to prepare myself. Slowly, I reached up and grabbed Claire’s legs. My right knee started to shake faintly, but I was sure it would be fine. The real problem was the horrible ache rushing down my arms. It wasn’t as bad as the shocking pain I had felt at first, but holding someone up when it felt like my arms were about to dissolve was difficult, to say the least.

Claire started scooting herself off the porch roof when I had a tight hold on her, probably tighter than necessary. My confidence was as wobbly as my arms. She hung above me, supporting herself with only her hands on the roof, and asked, “Ready?”

My left knee was shaking now. “Go for it.”

All at once her entire weight was in my hands. Barely a hundred and ten pounds, the weight was no big deal. Her body sliding down mine…that was a huge problem. Lowering her slowly so I didn’t drop her, inch by inch more of her body was pressed against mine. Ache turned into searing pain spreading from my chest to my head, and down to my legs. My weaker right knee betrayed me and buckled, pitching me sideways before I could catch myself.

My arms wrapped around Claire to protect her from getting hurt a half second before my back thudded into the grass. A deep groan slipped from my mouth, but I wasn't sure whether it was from the pain of the fall, or from having so much of Claire’s body crushed against mine. Head to toe, my entire body was burning. Claire lying on top of me was a position I should have been thrilled about, but I had to get her off me. Gently, I pushed her up and rolled myself up to a sitting position. The relief from not touching her finally let me take a deep breath.

Claire watched me with one eyebrow cocked. “Sorry, I really didn’t think I was that heavy.”

I laughed now that the pain was gone. “You’re not, I promise.” Then I had to lie. “I, uh, just twisted my knee earlier. I must have hurt it more than I thought.”

Her face clouded with concern immediately. “Uriah, you should have told me. I could have jumped down on my own.”

“And twisted your ankle, probably. I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.” To show how fine I was, I jumped up and dusted bits of grass off my backside. Claire watched me step toward her carefully, trying to gauge whether or not I was lying. For once, my expression didn’t give me away. Perhaps my relief that the gate unlocked from this side painted over my deception.

Slipping out of the overly green yard, back into the desert, Claire grabbed my hand and towed me down the road. After the shock of having her on top of me, holding her hand seemed so much less painful by comparison. I thought that was interesting. I felt like there was a plan of some kind hidden in that information. Push the limits and drown myself in pain for a few seconds to make the less intense seem even more innocuous. It involved a lot more pain, but a lot more of me being able to touch Claire.

We reached my truck before I could really cement my thoughts. I had something else to figure out first. Claire climbed in and pushed herself over to the middle seat so she was closer to me. There was no pain, but the tired, weakening sensation remained even when she didn’t touch me. Looking over at me expectantly, Claire’s eyes asked why I hadn’t already started the truck.

“Why did I just break you out of your house?” I asked. Maybe I should have asked that before actually helping her escape, but I couldn’t resist anything Claire asked me to do.

“Just my dad, again. Forget it,” Claire said. Her rolling eyes accentuated her point, but the way her jaw clamped down after she spoke told the truth.

Pointedly shoving my keys back into my pocket, I turned to face Claire full on. “Tell me what happened.”

Her anger spread over her face, making her eyes glisten and her ears flame red. I folded my arms across my chest to wait.

“We’re not going anywhere until you tell me,” I said.

Wrinkling her nose and glaring at me, Claire pressed her lips together. She was waiting, and I knew exactly why she would do that. Claire was still convinced that I could make people do what I wanted them to. She refused to be one of those people. Any time I tried to tell her to do anything she turned into a mute statue just to prove that I had no effect on her. The ridiculousness of what she was doing would have annoyed me if her infuriated pout wasn't so adorable. Every time she did this I just ended up laughing, which only made her madder.

Since I did want to make it out to meet Tyler and Lana some time tonight, I held back my laughter and rephrased my words into something less commanding. “Claire, would you please tell me what happened with your dad?”

Her statuesque demeanor melted. “Fine, if you really want to know I’ll tell you,” she said. “Jonny called and wanted to take me to dinner tonight. I told him I’d rather eat a lizard and hung up.”

Jonny was a creep, but I had no idea what that would have to do with me having to sneak Claire out to go meet Tyler. “And?” I asked.

Claire shrugged as if I should have figured it out already. “And my dad grounded me for a week.”

“For turning down a date?”

“Yep. Jonny is the current ‘Thomas Brant approved male’ for me to hang out with. He told Jonny to take me out tonight. I got grounded because I refused to go.”

“Jonny tried to hit you. Your dad knows that,” I said.

“He doesn’t care. Jonny’s mom is his biggest weaving supplier.” Claire shook herself, clearing away her anger. “Anyway, let’s not talk about it anymore, okay? Let’s just go find Tyler and Lana.”

Thomas Brant had to be the biggest idiot I had ever met. Turning the truck on, I pulled onto the road and headed straight for the bluffs. Fifteen minutes later, we were pulling into a valley lit up by a spectacular bonfire. I could feel a wave of heat from it wash over me as soon as I opened my door. Tucking Tyler’s present under one arm and Claire under the other, we braved stepping around the cab. Holding Claire only hurt slightly more than the heat of the fire.

“Could you have gotten that thing any bigger?” I asked Tyler. “How are we supposed to roast anything? I can’t get within ten feet of it without singeing myself.”

“I guess you’re just not man enough to handle my fire, then,” Tyler mocked. “Lana’s already roasting away.”

Glancing over at Lana, I saw her with a marshmallow speared on the end of a roasting stick taller than she was. Her hand was in front of her face trying to fend off the blistering heat of the fire. She grimaced behind her hand, but tried to look like she was doing just fine for Tyler’s sake.

“Where’s your stick?” I asked Tyler. “Is your girlfriend tougher than you are?”

“No.” His indignant expression quickly broke into a grin. “Just hungrier.”

“Shut up, Tyler, you told me to start. He wanted to make you feel bad for taking so long to get here,” Lana said to me. “Did you have trouble breaking Claire out of the Brant Family Prison?”

“No, just took longer than I thought,” I said. Claire didn’t even seem surprised that I had told Tyler and Lana about her being grounded. Maybe that was because she already knew I had told my parents about it. I didn’t like lying to people, so when Tyler asked why I wanted to move his birthday bonfire back to dusk, I told him. He thought it was funnier than my parents did. My parents weren’t thrilled with the idea, but they both knew Thomas and figured he was just being a tyrant as usual. They trusted my judgment on this one.

Tyler grabbed a bag off the blanket and held it up to us. “So, you want some marshmallows?”

“I think I’ll wait until this beast burns down a little,” I said. Claire nodded next to me. Lana dropped her stick and muttered her agreement. Looking a little dejected that no one appreciated his masterpiece as much as he did, Tyler dropped the bag and plopped down on the blanket. We skirted around the fire to join them.

I tossed Tyler his present and he immediately tore into it, pulling out the pair of climbing shoes he had been wanting for months. “Thanks, man, these’ll be great for tackling the cliffs next weekend. Ron and Doug are coming down to go climbing with me and Lana.”

“The shoes are from Claire, too,” I said. I told her she didn’t have to worry about getting him anything since she didn’t know him very well, but she had insisted on at least chipping in for the shoes.

“Thanks, Claire. Hey, you two should come with us next weekend,” Tyler said. “You climb, don’t you, Claire?”

Her face went oddly white in the firelight. “Uh, not really. I’ve never tried it before,” she said, stumbling through the words.

“It’s a blast, you should try it,” Lana said.

Her encouraging voice didn’t take the horrified pallor from Claire’s face. “I can’t, my mom and I are going to Denver next weekend to visit my aunt,” Claire said in a relieved rush.

“Maybe next time. We go all the time,” Lana said. Tyler grabbed Lana’s attention, then, showing her the shoes and letting Claire off the hook for the moment. Seeing Claire so shook up was amusing. She was fearless, and daring, a daredevil almost. She had talked me into things I never would have done otherwise, yet she seemed to be honestly scared of rock climbing.

Taking advantage of Tyler being distracted, I turned to Claire. “Are you afraid of heights?” I asked her. She shook her head. “Then what? I think climbing is a lot of fun.”

“You’ve gone before?” she asked.

“Sure, lots of times. Do you want to try it? I’ll help you.”

“No!”

I couldn’t help it, I laughed. Claire smacked my arm. “Why not?” I asked.

“I’m afraid of falling,” she blurted out. Her eyes closed, trying to shut out her embarrassment. Apparently that wasn't enough. Falling down onto her back, she covered her face with her hands as well.

Slowly, I ran my hand along her arm, all the way to the fingers covering her eyes. My fingers felt numb by the time I got there, but the silky feel of her skin against mine brought the rest of me to life. I slipped my hand under hers and pulled her hands away so I could see her face. Shame glittered in her eyes. I smiled and stroked her hair until she smiled back.

Leaning in closer so my face hovered a few inches above hers, as close as I could stand to get, I asked, “Do you really think I would let you fall?”

Brows wrinkling, Claire thought about her answer. She was so determined to prove to everyone that she didn’t need help, that she was in control of her own life. So many times she pushed me away to keep from looking weak. I think she was honestly afraid that one day she would find herself completely under the power she thought I held, but I wanted more than anything to be the one person she trusted not to take away her beautiful spirit.

I tried to wait patiently for her answer. The throbbing echoing through my body from being so close to her was making me anxious. “Claire, I wouldn’t let you get hurt,” I said. “I’ll always protect you, whatever it takes.”

Her thoughtful frown turned up slowly. Absolute faith blossomed on her lips. “I know you will,” she said softly.

Seeing her hand reaching up to my face, I braced myself. From the tips of her fingers to her palm, her hand slipped into place on my cheek, hesitating there before continuing its path across my jaw to wrap lightly around my neck. Her fingers moved back and forth across my skin, sending electric ripples through my spine as she gazed into my eyes. I could feel the pressure of her hand increase so very slightly, pulling me toward her.

A subtle invitation to kiss her, but it was one I didn’t think I could take. Holding her like I was had my entire body stiff as a board. She was so hard to resist, though. Thinking about my earlier theory, I considered giving in, bringing my mouth closer to hers slowly and carefully. Half an inch away from kissing her, my vision started to swim. I couldn’t do it. Turning my head aside, I settled for crushing her against me, pressing her cheek to mine. I heard Claire sigh almost imperceptibly. The pain I felt from touching her was nothing compared to the monumental disappointment of my failure.