Arkadia (Halfway House Series Book 1) (6 page)

Arkadia wasn’t interested in discussing last night’s fiasco with Eloise, and managed to slip out of the house before anyone else, this morning being Saturday. She’s not stupid and knows she will be forced to discuss it, but she wasn’t ready right now. She really didn’t have anywhere to go; just somewhere she didn’t want to be, and wandered down to the local Timmy’s for her favorite skinny cap. Arkadia waited in line for her order to be fulfilled, looked around the room and froze. In the corner, there was half of the hockey team: Pete, Rick, Cat’s brother Daniel, and the god himself, Bohdan. Hearing the door bell ring, she glanced back to see Cat and Vi wandering in.
Well, if that just doesn’t crush my cookies. YEAH, Cat’s here to introduce me
,
or is it CRAP, Vi’s here to steal him away? Not on my watch Biatch; attack is always the best defense right?
Arkadia grabbed her coffee, popped her shoulders back, boobs out, and strutted over to them.

“Hi, girls, whatcha doing?” Arkadia spoke softly but with a confidence in her voice that betrayed the bundle of nerves she was for being this close to … him!

“Looking gorgeous today, Arkadia. Going somewhere special?” Vi asked. Arkadia looked down at herself; having thrown on the first things she saw, as speed was an issue this morning, she guessed she looked better in her dark blue jeans and tight light blue sweater than she thought. It was simple, but covered the essentials. Arkadia didn’t mind being a boy’s fantasy, but she wasn’t going to be their peep show. No flashing of unnecessary flesh; it was one of the few rules she remembered from her Mother. It had been many years since she saw her. Arkadia shook her head as she re-entered the present day conversation.

“These old things? Honestly, I just grabbed and went this morning. I pale in comparison to Vi.” Paying Vi the false compliment was what Vi expected, and as much as Arkadia loved Vi, she also hated her.

Vi smiled and twirled, her gorgeous maxi dress flaring beautifully. Vi may have been short, but with heels and a killer cleavage, no one noticed. “You’re so kind,” Vi replied in a super sweet tone. “Oh look, there’s the boys, let’s go over. Cat, you can introduce us to the new guy, right Arkadia?” Linking her arm through Arkadia’s and pulling her close, she smiled brightly and bounced excitedly with an eager tug on Arkadia’s arm. Cat looked at Arkadia, sharing a subtle “what the hell?” look, then looked back at Vi.

“Ohhh-kay … sure … let’s go and meet the boys.” Cat didn’t bother to hide her false excitement. She got annoyed at being used by Vi sometimes.

“GREAT!!” exclaimed Vi loudly and looped her other hand through Cat’s and strutted over to the boys like a panther on the prowl for fresh meat.

“Daniel, did Mom mention she was going to be working late tonight, that dinner was up to us?” Taking a seat next to her brother, Cat stole a doughnut from the open box on the table and shoved it in her mouth.

“Yeah, she did, Cat.” Daniel moved over to make space for them all in the corner booth. “And I’ll be happy to eat whatever you decide to make me?” He laughed, and the boys laughed and smashed knuckles in some kind of weird male bonding technique that Arkadia never could, nor did she really wish to, understand.

“Then liver and brussels sprouts it is,” Cat teased and poked her tongue out.

“Care to put that tongue to better use?” Pete growled under his breath. Quick enough to make Arkadia jump, Daniel’s hand came out and smacked Pete upside the head.

“HEY!! That's my sister, dickhead, Respect her ALWAYS … and her friends.” Mumbling an apology, Pete slunk back into the chair sipping his coffee.

“Speaking of friends,” Cat said seeing an opportunity and running with it, “Bohdan, this is Vi.” Bohdan’s eyes snapped up at his name being mentioned, and he nodded slightly to Vi. “And this is Arkadia, she lives on your uncle’s street; the white house at the start with the pale blue shutters.” Arkadia kicked her under the table. “Oomph,” Cat said rubbing her shin. “What?? It’s true … you do.”

“I know, Cat, but you don’t need to bore Bohdan with silly location details.” Cat just winked, knowing full well what she was doing, and Vi was glaring the mother-of-all death stares at her for it.

“I know where you live.” Those five little words set Arkadia’s blood to boiling instantly. Five tiny, little, insignificant words, his voice like a dark rich smooth honey that coated Arkadia like an accelerant just waiting for a spark to start a wildfire.

Arkadia looked over to him, and Bohdan was waiting for her eyes. She could feel the rotation of the world slowing, the sounds of the coffee shop and traffic blurring into the background, as she gazed into his dark chocolate eyes. Arkadia felt like Augustus Gloop, and desperately wanted to fall into that deep chocolate river and get lost forever. “I’ve seen you walking to school with your sisters and brother?” Arkadia didn’t think she had ever heard a man’s voice so deep and demanding. He was speaking and all she could hear was her body screaming, “MINE! MINE!! MINE!!!”

“Yeah, I mean, no, they aren’t, well they kind of are, sort of, we act like it.” Arkadia knew as she heard it roll out of her mouth how dumb she sounded, but for some reason, her brain seemed to have disconnected from her mouth. His perfect dark eyebrows rose slightly, and combining that with a slight tilt of his head, she knew he thought she sounded dumb too.

“Sounds ... complicated,” he replied. The corner of his mouth rose ever so slightly, in either intrigue or amusement, Arkadia wasn’t sure, and she didn’t care as long as he spoke to her.

“We got to go guys. Training is about to start, and you know what coach will do if we are late.” With a chorus of grunts and agreements that a punishment from coach was not a desirable option, they all stood up and grabbed their bags and sticks. Arkadia watched as Bohdan got up. He placed his hand flat on the table to push himself out from the booth, and she gasped. He was marked, he was gifted like her, and had obviously passed his PSEs, because on the webbing between his pointer finger and his thumb he had the tattoo mark – a mark she herself wanted with all she was; without this mark, come her eighteenth birthday, it was goodbye Arkadia and hello Island.

Bohdan looked straight into Arkadia’s eyes, knowing she saw, and he asked, “You coming to the game tonight?” Arkadia had never been to a hockey game before, it was not something she liked; however, all of a sudden she liked the game VERY much.

“Maybe,” Arkadia said with a soft smile and a shrug of her shoulders. Bohdan nodded, his eyes sparkling as he turned and walked after the guys who had already left ahead of him.

“BITCH!!!” Vi sneered at Arkadia. “Way to hog the new guy, Arkadia.” Slumping back into the chair, Vi sipped and sulked.

“I don’t think she was hogging him, Vi,” Cat chirped in with a massive grin on her face. “He looked like he was doing most of the hogging himself.” Arkadia just grinned.
What else could she do?
“So, pick you up at six? For the game?” Cat laughed as she asked Arkadia.

“I guess so, what do I wear?”

“Something warm,” Cat said, “It is an ice rink after all, not the place to start bringing out the bikinis.”

Arkadia left a now brooding Vi with Cat at Timmy’s and walked home, having completely forgotten about what happened last night. Now, her focus was on a very sexy hockey goalie who knew where she lived. Letting out a little squeal of excitement, she certainly had a skip to her step.

Managing to avoid Eloise for the rest of the day was a pure mirage and Arkadia knew it. She was a mind-reading empath, and Arkadia might be able to fool herself into believing she was outsmarting her, but deep down, she could feel Eloise in her head, waiting patiently.
But for how long?
Even as Arkadia climbed the tree outside her bedroom and snuck in the window, she smiled. If she ignored the obvious, her fantasy could continue a little longer. Her fantasy was about six-foot-four and should be stamped with one hundred percent beefy muscle on his tight ass. Arkadia knew she had to be quick before either Eloise or Emerson sniffed her out, best nose in the west that boy.

Grabbing her sweater, she was about to climb back out the same way she came in, when her reality bubble took a damaging blow. “Arkadia.” Eloise’s voice was strong in her mind, and Arkadia thought if she didn’t answer, she might just leave a message. “You are not an answering machine, and I am not leaving a message, young lady. Get your butt back in that damn window and walk down the stairs like the woman you are supposed to be turning into, not like a thief sneaking out the window in the night.” Arkadia winced at the firmness in Eloise’s tone, pausing halfway out the window, her foot on the branch, the other on the floor of the room. “Do not forget who you are dealing with, Arkadia, I would prefer you to make the right choice yourself; however, I am more than happy to force the issue if need be.” Eloise’s tone was getting harsher by the second. Arkadia took a deep breath, huffed dramatically, and climbed back in the window, speaking to herself, but knowing she was loud enough to be heard.

“No need to be a ‘Wand Happy Wilma.’ Sheeesh, I’ll use the stairs, happy?” Arkadia stomped down the stairs, only to run face-first into Eloise herself.

“Happy is not a word I would use to describe myself, young lady.” Arkadia’s eyes were rolling before Eloise stopped talking; she had adults talk down to her, her entire life, and she was sick of it. “If you don’t want to be talked down to,” said Eloise who had heard her thoughts and raised her voice another level. She was still not yelling. When Eloise got mad, her voice never got loud, it was the power that seemed to vibrate around every syllable she spoke, and the energy was ramping up at a steady rate this afternoon. “I suggest you stop making stupid choices and focus on what’s important,” Eloise finished.

“Stupid choices? How? I just want to have some fun. Other kids are allowed to have fun.” Arkadia resisted the urge to pout, knowing this was not the time to push Eloise, and for fear of spending the night as a cockroach in a jar.

Eloise breathed deeply, and the energy in the room dropping a level. “Oh honey, I understand, I do, but facts are, you are not like other kids. They will not get banished in five months if they don’t pass their PSEs, YOU WILL!!” Eloise pleaded with Arkadia to understand the gravity of the situation she was in.

“I get it, I DO understand, I just want to … I don’t know … be normal.” Arkadia slumped on the bottom step, feeling defeated. Eloise sat next to her, wrapping her arm around her shoulder. This was the first time Eloise had been able to actually hold her, and they both sat for a few heart beats, just sitting.

“Your spells worked, Arkadia, do you understand, they worked. It’s your concentration that sucks.” Eloise chuckled softly. “Took me ages to get the knots out of my hair, was quite a storm you conjured up.” Arkadia smiled and sniffed.

“It’s just so hard. Eloise, why is it so hard for me?”

“Because you’re special.” Eloise kissed the top of her head and stood up, extending her hand to help Arkadia off the step. “Go have some fun, be safe, make good choices, no magic, and in exchange, you give me two hours tomorrow?” Eloise asked.

“But tomorrow is Sunday,” Arkadia whined. Eloise simply raised her eyebrow. “Okay, okay, okay. Tomorrow, two hours, I’m all yours, but don’t complain when this time I take out a wall or three.” Giving Eloise a light almost half-hug, she whispered, “Thank you.” Then Arkadia grabbed her sweater and bag and walked out the door.

Cat pulled up in her father’s red jeep. She had freshly re-dyed the bottom of her hair, and the blue had gone from a washed-out baby blue to a woooah, it’s a hot summer’s day sky blue. She looked at Arkadia with a big cheesy grin on her face. “Ready to go, lover girl?” she teased.

Jumping in the car and pulling across her seat belt, Arkadia replied, “Ready, let’s go see some touch-downs!” Cat let out a howling laugh.

“Goals, Arkadia, goals. It’s hockey, not football.” Cat was still laughing as she drove off down the street, and Arkadia hoped she wasn’t going to make a fool out of herself tonight; after all, Bohdan had asked her to come. Letting out a big dreamy sigh, Arkadia relaxed into the seat as Cat drove to the rink.

Arkadia walked into the ice hockey rink, and followed Cat down to the player’s bench. She was looking for her brother. This was Arkadia’s first time at a rink. She understood the irony of being a Canadian and not being able to ice skate, but her family was more a ‘hide the freaks’ kind of family, so they always kept very much to themselves. She wasn’t often allowed to mingle with other children for fear that she would make them grow an extra head. Standing still, she closed her eyes and let her senses open up. The sound of the growing crowd was almost deafening, bombarding her with so many conversations all happening at the same time: “Little Joey did this,” and “Did you hear who is sleeping with Mrs. Jones.”

OMG. It’s so loud, how can anyone think straight?
Arkadia opened her eyes. She had never been so happy to have remembered her sweater; even with the jeans, her black bomber jacket, and her thick chocolate shaggy sweater still weren’t enough. She shivered as she rubbed her hands together. Arkadia covered her mouth and nose with her hands, breathing hot air out to warm up her rapidly numbing nose. Looking over at Cat, she parted her hands slightly and yelled over the noise, “Is it always this cold? It’s like a freaking fridge, Cat!!” Cat laughed as she pulled out a spare pair of gloves from her bag.

“Thought you might need these.” Cat winked as she handed them over, and Arkadia slipped on the softest black gloves, lined with what felt like velvet. Arkadia didn’t care, and she immediately felt her fingers warming up.

“I could kiss you,” Arkadia said.

“And here I was thinking I had a chance,” a dark powerful voice said seeming to come from the heavens above. Arkadia looked up and fell deep into Bohdan’s sexy brown eyes.

“Oh, I didn’t … I mean, you do … I mean, we can, oh shit, I’ll shut up now.” Arkadia blushed brightly as she lowered her eyes.
Shit, shit, shit. How stupid can one girl sound?
Arkadia scolded herself, wanting the world to open up right now and swallow her whole. Cat nudged her with her arm, and pointed up. Arkadia raised her eyes to look at Cat, pleading with her not to make her look at him as she was embarrassed enough. Cat was having no part of it, and just raised a “suck it up, princess” eyebrow at her. Arkadia slowly looked over toward the player’s bench, and her eyes met Bohdan’s. The corner of his mouth was slightly raised in a half-smile, and winking at her, he mouthed the word “Later?” A simple nod was all Arkadia could manage as Cat grabbed her arm and moved them toward the seats. Her heart felt like it was going to explode, it was beating so fast. Sitting down, Cat pulled her close and whispered, “Don’t think you need to worry about Vi, Arkadia, he seems to only have eyes for you.” They both laughed.

“Omg, Cat, did you hear his accent? It almost gave me heart failure,” Arkadia said as she ran her hand over her chest, trying to get her heart to slow back to a normal pace.

“I saw him when we walked in, and his eyes never left you. Lucky bitch. That is one sexy male specimen.” Cat snuggled in closer, trying to make the most of shared body heat. Hearing the Addams family tune start to play, Cat whispered, “Watch your man play; he is positively super human.” Arkadia smiled.
Oh yes, I know he isn't human, he has the mark.
Arkadia wasn’t sure what he was yet, but he sure was hot.

The game passed in a blur of themed music, hotdogs, and screaming crowds. Arkadia cheered and booed along with the rest of the crowd. It wasn’t hard for Arkadia to pick up the basic concept of the game; there are nets, and pucks, and the aim is to get the puck into the net.
Seems simple enough.
She watched Cat’s brother race up and down the ice with lightning speed, crisscrossing the opponents, his stick seeming to cradle the puck until he got in a position to slam that poor little puck with enough force to get it past everyone else and find its home in the net.
Wow, it was such a fast paced game
. It was sometimes hard for her to work out where the puck had gone, only to find that it had already made its way to the other end of the rink, getting up close and personal with the oh so handsome Bohdan.
Ahhhh, Bohdan.
Arkadia sighed softly, seeing him guard the goal with a look of determination in his eyes, the way he lowered his body, and widened his arms and legs to cover as much space as possible. He hadn’t let a single puck through yet. Bohdan had successfully left the visiting team scoreless, and Cat’s brother had scored two of the three goals himself. Arkadia couldn’t help but get swept up in the emotion of the game, watching the team all skate up and congratulate each other. She really enjoyed the camaraderie the boys showed each other, the brotherhood if you like, a family, something she had lacked in her life for so long. Although since Eloise had turned up at the house, she was beginning to feel like she belonged somewhere.

Cat looped her arm through Arkadia’s and swept her down the stairway. “Where are we going?” Arkadia asked as she laughed trying not to hit anyone as she was pulled along.

“The dressing rooms, of course,” replied Cat with a laugh. Stopping dead in mid-step, she yanked Cat back.

“The what?”

“The dressing rooms, you know, where the guys get ready?” Cat giggled.

“I know what a dressing room is.” Arkadia playfully swatted at Cat. “What I want to know is why? Are we allowed? What if Bohdan is there?” she rattled off. Cat stepped closer, and took both of Arkadia’s hands in hers, willing her to calm down and breathe. Both girls took a deep breath together, and Cat smiled.

“Yes, we are allowed. Daniel is my brother, remember? That means I can go in, and if I can, so can you.” Cat re-linked her arm through Arkadia’s and started off again, though this time much slower as the crowd was all trying to get out at the same time. “As for Bohdan, let’s just hope he’s just coming out of the shower, huh?” Cat winked.

Walking past security, Cat and Arkadia made their way to the dressing room doors. Arkadia pulled back on Cat's arm. “It’s alright,” Cat said. “We will stay in the warm-up area, no shower scenes, okay?” Cat laughed as she pulled her through the doors. The first thing Arkadia noticed was how much boys smelled. Cat ran off to find Dan as Arkadia wandered over to the side. She wrapped her hands around her waist, leaned against the wall, and watched the hustle and bustle of the room, players and trainers coming and going, congratulations, back patting, and a few comments about what could have been handled better. Listening to Pete talk, Arkadia gathered that the main goal shooter from the other team was a bastard and kept on hitting him in the shins with his stick, and also the ref was blind. Arkadia chuckled.
A win is a win.
Pete was still walking, so the hits couldn’t have been too hard.

“Have fun?” Arkadia jumped to the side with a small squeal. Looking over to where the voice had spoken so close to her, she saw Bohdan, a cheeky smirk on his face.

“Will you stop doing that? I’m going to have a heart attack!” She playfully smacked his arm.
Oh my Gawd, his arm is like concrete.
Bohdan looked like a Greek god, having obviously just come from the showers, his wet curls sticking to the back of his neck and water droplets slowly rolling down his bare chest, disappearing into the towel wrapped around his slim hips. Her eyes traveled back up his chest, caressing his well defined six-pack, observing that the cool breeze does in fact make men’s nipples erect. Her eyes jumped back up to his suddenly when he cleared his throat. Having been caught ogling his body, Arkadia smiled sweetly, a little extra flutter to her eye lashes for effect as she softly spoke.

“Cat has made sure that I am having a very exciting night. Thank you for asking.”

“Indeed, I must thank Cat for that,” he replied, turned, and disappeared back into the changing rooms.

Cat bounded out from behind another door, dragging Daniel with her.
She is like a red squirrel on crack cocaine.’ She just keeps going and going.

“Hey, Arky,” Cat squealed. “Tell Daniel what you thought of your first game. Tell him you loved it. Tell him you think he is the best scorer EVER. Tell him he is going to be drafted into the NHL. Go on … tell him, tell him TELL HIM!” Cat bounced with excitement, her voice lifting to an unbelievable pitch. Daniel just laughed.

“Settle, Cat. You know I love ya and all, but settle. I am too tired to watch ya bounce like Tigger tonight.” Turning to Arkadia he asked, “Did you have fun, darlin’?”

Arkadia was laughing at Cat bouncing as she replied, “Oh yeah, it’s a great game, and I do think all that Cat said. You are really, really good.” Dan smiled proudly.

“Thanks, sweetheart, I am happy you had fun.” Dan turned and went to talk to the coach, who always seemed to have a scowl on his face, but Arkadia assumed that was his job, to always be wanting more.

“I didn’t see Bohdan yet, sorry, Ark,” Cat said with a small pout on her mouth.

“Oh,” Arkadia replied. “That’s fine, he has already been out and scared me half to death.” Cat suddenly stopped bouncing, a serious look upon her face.

“Say what? He has already been out?” Arkadia nodded and smiled. “See!!! I told you that boy is into you.” Arkadia just laughed.

“Yahuh, you told me.” Cat commenced bouncing again.

“We better get out of here if we’re going to make it back to your house and then mine before curfew.” With a quick glance over her shoulder, Arkadia hoped to catch one more glance for the night, but alas, no handsome Czechs to be seen anywhere. Arkadia sighed and followed Cat out to the car.