Bandits (15 page)

“I’m on it, man,” Faulk said and walked away to follow behind Nickel.

Jade eyed Daniel warily, still apparently holding a grudge about his not confiding in her.

“C’mon, follow me to the kitchen. The salve for that bite is in there.” Daniel turned in the direction of the kitchen. He felt her following him, and since he knew Jade well, he knew she was probably picking out where on his back she wanted to aim her darts.

Upon entering the full service kitchen, which was d
e
signed in dark red woods, soothing colors of metallic and gold, Daniel stopped at a long cabinet just inside the entryway. He reached inside the cabinet while he searched for the soothing ointment.

Jade continued to walk in the room. “Humph,” Jade said and waited impatiently for him to face her.

Daniel grabbed the ointment. He turned toward her and then smiled. “Look, give me your arm. I can see you’re still hol
d
ing a grudge.”

She sighed in
annoyance
. “I’m more than holding a grudge. I’m angry that you don’t trust me. You don’t treat me like a friend, and I used to think I was your friend.”

“You’re my best friend’s sister. I’ve known you forever. You
are
a friend, Jade.” He held the ointment while he waited for her to give him her arm.

“Not anymore. Why should I be? You don’t treat me like one. You don’t trust me, and you treat me like a stupid, helpless pest. Rayne was like a father to me, and you didn’t even tell me he was murdered. You didn’t talk to me about how this made you feel – even how I feel about this.”  Her brow puckered as she put out her hand to take the ointment from him.

Daniel pushed her hand out of the way. He took her hurt arm and squeezed the ointment on the blistering bite. He looked up at her and shook his head side to side. “I told you why I didn’t tell you. Besides, I’m not ready to talk about my father.”

“Not ready? See? That’s what I’m talking about. You didn’t even deny the way you treat me. Oh, give me that. I can do it myself.” Jade snatched the ointment and her arm out of Daniel’s grasp.

He stood up straight and folded his arms across his chest. “Look, I bought you back here to tell you to stop playing games with Faulk. We both know it’s
me
that you want, and trying to make me jealous isn’t going to change my mind. You need to stop playing with him. We both know you’ve had crush on me since you were twelve, mainly because I’m the only guy that’s a
llowe
d to come near you without getting my ass kicked.”  

She threw her hands up. “You’re so full of yourself. I don’t do hero worship, Daniel. I only wanted a kiss for my birthday. It could’ve been with anyone.” She pointed her finger at him as she held the tube of ointment in her hand. “You just happened to be available. As for Faulk, I like him. I like the way he treats me, listens to me, and looks at me. He’s what I would want in a bo
y
friend, someone that makes me feel valued and equal.”  Folding her arms, her eyes narrowed. “Besides, Faulk doesn’t have a humungo ego like someone in this room, and we both know who that person is. How I act with Faulk is not a game. You don’t have the right to tell me what to do or who with. I’m not your little sister… and you’ve yet to prove you even respect me as a friend.” She threw the ointment over Daniel’s shoulder. It landed on the shelf in the cabinet behind him with a slide.

Daniel wasn’t intimidated by her tirade, but he was d
e
termined to prove his point. He knew she’d always had a crush on him. She used to follow him around when she was twelve with a silly grin on her face all of the time. Making the decision to prove to her that he knew her better than she thought, he stepped fo
r
ward. He smiled at her and said in a challenging whisper, “I bet I can make you want me to kiss you again. I bet you will
beg
for it. If you’re strong enough to resist me, I’ll tell you one thing you want to know.”  He observed the flash of a challenge in her eyes.
You never could back down from a challenge, Jade. I got you.

Jade put her hands on her hips with her usual bravado when rising to a challenge. “Humph, resist you? Ha, easy! If I don’t beg you to kiss me, then you’ll tell me how you feel about Poppy’s murder? But, you can’t kiss me unless I ask you to – and there’s no wa
y I’m asking. My lips and other…uh, you know what…
parts can’t be touched at all.”

Daniel smiled at her expected response. “Deal,” he r
e
plied, his voice husky and deep with anticipation.

His heart beat faster at the challenge she laid before him. Slowly, he reached down and took her curly black hair out of the ponytail at the nape of her neck. His hand went up to caress her cheek, and he tucked a wayward curl behind her ear. Her eyes started to shutter closed, but he wanted her to look at him. He held her chin with his hand. “Look at me. You’re beautiful. Beautiful.” 

He hadn’t realized that his loyalty to his friend had blinded him as to how desirable Jade had become. For as long as he r
e
membered, he thought of her as a skinny girl with wild, curly hair, and light brown eyes that appeared to stick out from her face. Now he looked at her and realized she was exotically stunning. If Gabe wasn’t his friend, he would have pursued her tenaciously.

“Thank you,” she whispered and lowered her eyes. A blush appeared on her cheeks.

He took his hands and held her face within them. Then he ran his hands lightly down the side of her face to her neck and held her shoulders. The burning in the pit of his stomach started to build. The craving to kiss her grew strong. He decided he needed to remove himself from the temptation of her full lips, or he was going to be the one doing the begging.

Daniel walked behind her and moved her hair to the side. He ran his fingers lightly down the crook of her neck, and her head turned to the side as if she fully welcomed his light touch. He took both of his hands and ran his fingers slowly down her arms, barely touching her along the way. He felt goose bumps growing on her skin where he had touched. Her breathing became more labored, and he knew she was about to allow him to kiss her.

He leaned down just over her ear and whispered, “Want me to kiss you now, Jade?”

She cleared her throat but didn’t move. “No..., no.”

He could tell she was fighting hard against conceding.
You always were a hard competitor, Jade.
“Remember you said I couldn’t kiss you?” Daniel whispered in her ear.

“No… kissing,” she repeated as if reminding herself of the challenge.

“If you say so,” he replied with a smile. Daniel lightly nipped her earlobe with his teeth. He moved his fingers lightly up and down her arms, careful to avoid her injury. Closing his eyes momentarily, he reached down to lace her fingers through his.

She hesitated briefly and bent her fingers into his. Jade sighed softly and
tightly
squeezed her eyes shut.

Daniel smiled again at the knowledge that he was affec
t
ing her. “You ever heard of a love mark?” he whispered, and then blew at the tip of her ear lightly.

She shivered and answered, “No. No kissing, Daniel.” 

His heart warmed at the way she said his name. “I really want to kiss you –
badly
, Jade. So much I can
taste
it, so much… it hurts. Since I can’t, I’ll give you a love mark on your neck. Can I?”

“No kissing, or you lose,” she repeated through clenched teeth.

He nuzzled her earlobe, then the top of her neck to settle at the base of her neck. He leisurely created a deep purple mark. Jade squeezed his hands while she fought against his teasing. Deep down he’d hoped that Faulk would see
his mark
, and stop his pursuit of her.

I’ll let you win
this small battle
, Daniel conceded with a grin. He let her hands go and hugged her closely to him. She felt so good in his arms. He could tell she fought to keep her arms out and away from his. Reluctantly, she relaxed and placed her hands over his. He bent down to whisper in her ear, “You win. I’ll a
n
swer your question.”  He lightly rested his chin in the crook of her neck. “I’m angry with my father for screwing up again, and ge
t
ting killed. But, I’ve gotta admit, even though I’ve been angry with him for some time, I still miss him.” After his admission he pulled away from her, and then he turned her around.

He grinned widely at her, “Torturing you was worth it. I doubt Faulk can top that, and you better not let him try, or I’m going to hand him over to your brothers… after I beat him up myself.”

Jade’s shocked expression looked back at him, and frowned when he had the audacity to wink at her. Laughing out loud at the outrage on her face, he turned and
strolled
out of the door.

Daniel kept walking until he got to the family safe at the top of the stairs, in the closet of the library. He loved going to the safe when he was a kid, and for Nickel, it was no different.

He had a smile on his face at the small victory he’d won with Jade. Yes, he admitted to himself that Jade did hold out a while, but he knew if he had continued, she would
’
ve given in. He just didn’t want her that way.

He liked the way she challenged him, a way no other girl ever had. The others had always clung to him, and did wha
t
ever he’d asked. They all seemed too helpless and needy. A
d
mitting he wanted Jade was liberating. He figured he may have wanted her before this adventure, but he buried that need because he didn’t want to destroy his friendship with Gabe. Frowning, he pondered,
Now what? How the hell am I going to tell Gabe?
He briefly squeezed his eyes shut.
I’m not. Jade, you’re going to get me killed – and by my best friend at that.

The library had a stockpile of ancient books of Earth, ot
h
er various planets and species lining on the walls. His father loved the feel of books made of paper and traveled the universe to add them to his collection. All of the books in the library had been catalogued and scanned on the computer system in the trove. The closet in the library was behind one of the boo
k
shelves on the far wall. Daniel walked over to the wall and pulled down the book he knew would unlatch the closet. The bookshelf opened, and then collapsed into the hidden wall.

Daniel walked into the dark walk-in closet, and did a s
e
ries of claps. A metal pole came up from the floor when the lights came on and the hidden entrance door closed. Daniel jumped onto the pole, held on and waited for the ceiling to open. A circular hole opened up on the wooden ceiling, and he tightened his grip on the pole, ready to go for a ride. The pole slid up to the room above. As the pole went up into the e
n
closed cylinder elevator of silver, Daniel waited until the metal floor shut beneath him.

He released the pole, and it sank down into the floor of the enclosed cylinder. The elevator went up a few feet before it came to a stop. The exit out of the enclosed elevator wasn’t obvious to those who didn’t know it had one, making it all the more secure. Daniel stepped forward and pressed his hand against the wall. His fingerprints were confirmed. Waiting patiently, he walked through when the door opened.

Faulk and Nickel were looking through the various we
a
pons, tools and stacked boxes in the lit room. Daniel looked up at the bright light from the high ceiling that revealed the sun from the
Golden
Island
.

“Hey, where is Jade?” Faulk asked with a
n eager
grin
.

Daniel looked at Faulk with a serious expression
.
“She’s taking care of the bite she got from that sea snake. I gave her some ointment for it.”  He wanted to make sure Faulk didn’t go looking for her. When his slight twinge of jealousy was tucked away, he turned to Nickel.

Nickel cleared the path to open the family treasure vault. “I forgot the combination. Crud! Dad wanted me to remember. When he told me about the journal, he told me the answers to every puzzle is in the family vault. Do you think he meant the other half of the map is here?”

Daniel pulled his father’s journal out of his back pocket. “I hope. Let me see. I have the journal here. Go ahead and open the vault. Its five nocks, a whistle, and then your fingerprint on the door.”

He read quickly through his father’s reflections. Looking for clues, he found nothing. Reading further, he realized his father mentioned another journal that was kept with the map
.

Nickel opened the safe. He searched around briefly and then called out, “I found it! I found the map. Wait…there is a
n
other journal and a note in here! The note says not to leave without the key to it all, and to read this journal before leaving the safe. What does that mean?”

“Open the vault on the back wall.” Daniel walked over to Nickel and took the map and the new journal. It was small, and tied with a leather strings. Daniel opened it up and read quic
k
ly, then stopped and re-read the section where his father e
x
plained the treasure which he’d stolen.