Beyond Wild Imaginings (16 page)

Kelly giggled and looked over at him. “Right, where would we go? Find an amusement park and see if we can get Garren onto a roller-coaster ride before someone comes and sits on him?” Her sarcasm even made Rachel snicker.

Chad rolled his eyes. “Funny, but no. We should do something, though. Get out of here for a few days. It has been entirely too intense around here.”

Kelly arched her eyebrows as she relaxed against Garren, enjoying the feeling of his fingers playing absently with her hair. “What do you suggest? What exactly can we do with a man almost no one can see?”

Chad shrugged. “I don’t know. Camping, maybe?”

Rachel scowled. “I don’t do camping.” She blew her nose again.

Kelly slid her gaze over to her sister and smirked. “Well, Chad does have a point. It’s secluded so no one would have to worry about seeing Garren but us.” She shrugged. “Might be kind of fun.” She looked up at Garren. “What do you think?”

He seemed bewildered for a moment and opened his mouth to speak.

“No way!” Rachel protested. She gave Kelly a pained expression. “Come on, Kelly, I hate camping!”

Kelly sighed. “Rachel, Chad is making sense. You’ve only been traumatized for a few hours. We’ve been trying to wrap our minds around all of this for three days. It would be nice to get out of here and show Garren something other than my apartment, the roof, and the deli on the corner.”

She huffed. “Where exactly do you expect to go camping in New York City? The subway tunnels with the homeless men?”

Kelly rolled her eyes and chose to ignore her sister’s jibe. “There are some nice places in New Jersey along the Delaware River.” She sat up, enjoying the idea the more she thought about it. “I have a tent, and I think Chad does too.”

“I have to work, Kelly!” Rachel screeched. “And so do you! You have a book due in a month! Have you even started it yet?”

She waved her hand as if it didn’t matter. “I have writer’s block. It’s not like I can force my muse back into existence. It might help me to be out of this apartment for a while, actually. You can take time off. You have vacation time. What about you, Chad?”

“I can take a few personal days. It shouldn’t be a big deal.”

Kelly gave her friends a devilish smile. “All right, but no hair gel.” She pointed at Chad, who looked shocked. “And, for crying out loud, Rachel, no makeup or Armani. Nothing couture of any kind.”

Kelly grinned. “As soon as possible. I agree with Chad. We need to get out of here. You guys take care of work. I’m gonna go in my kitchen and see what I can find to take with us.” She stood and headed into her kitchen, closely followed by Garren.

“Kelly, what are we doing? I don’t exactly understand. I’ve never been camping before.”

She turned to face him and she smiled at his unsure and worried expression. “It’s fun, Garren.” She placed her hands on his chest and smoothed the fabric of his shirt. “Remember when we were little and we would camp out in my backyard sometimes? The girls and I?”

He nodded.

“It’s just like that. It’ll be good for Rachel and Chad. They are city folk like none other. If nothing else, watching them attempt to exist in nature will be very entertaining. Besides”—she gave him a flirty wink—“I’ll let you share my tent, okay?”

A brilliant grin lit up his face, and he pulled her into his arms. “That sounds like my kind of bargain.”

She smiled and reached up to tangle her fingers in his hair. She sighed and sobered. “Garren, I have no idea what you’re doing to me.”

He frowned. “What do you mean, little one?”

“The more I’m around you, the more I need to be around you. Your touch is an addiction. Your kiss is…” She shook her head. “There really aren’t even any words. It’s strange and abnormal for me. I don’t understand it.”

He pulled her close and nuzzled his lips against the side of her neck. “We are connected, Kelly,” he whispered. “In ways that go beyond what is normal.”

She gave a small giggle, but it came out breathy. She clutched at his shoulders and closed her eyes as she relished his sensual touches. “Garren, none of this is anywhere near normal.”

He smiled and raised his head so he could meet her eyes. He kept his arm tight around her, keeping her body pinned close against his. “I don’t understand it any more than you, little one. I have never known a creature of thought to…” He frowned as if searching for the right words. “Develop feelings of this nature for the human who created them. All I know is that I crave you every second of the day. I didn’t understand it at first, but after last night…I fear I can’t go without your touch. You are a beautiful necessity with so much more power than any human who has ever brought a creature into the Creative Realm. There are times when I believe that, because I am a creation of yours, I am different. I am…better.”

She gave him a quizzical frown. “Better? How?”

“I held out for so long in the Creative Realm. Yes, most of it was because you never truly forgot me, but part of it was because I just refused to give up. I wanted to live. I wanted to exist. None of my brethren had that kind of conviction. No other creature of thought has ever had it. My emotions and make up have always been slightly different.”

“And you think that has something to do with me?”

“With your power, yes.” He threaded his fingers through her hair and let the strands slip between them. “I am stronger because you are so strong. I feel the way I do for you because I am a part of you. You didn’t just create me with your mind, Kelly. You put your heart into me, and in doing so, you gave me part of it. A piece of your heart beats within mine.” He took her hand and placed it over his chest. “We are connected. We are a part of each other. I crave you because you are my other half.”

Kelly almost swooned. On the lips of any other man, those words would have sounded cheesy, like a bad pick up line. Coming from Garren, they carried the force of the strongest wind. They threatened to knock her right off her feet. The potency of his words hit immediately after their force, and it made her head swim. Ever since she’d been a young girl, after she’d gone to middle school and stopped calling to Garren, she’d felt alone. Part of her had always felt lost, no matter who she’d had around her. No relationship had ever been fulfilling. No friendship had ever completely taken away the ache. She’d chalked it up to her eccentricity making her always somewhat isolated, but now she wasn’t so sure. She didn’t feel alone when she was with Garren. She didn’t feel like something inside of her was missing. She felt whole, completed. Her heart raced when she was around him. It danced within her chest like it had never done before. Could Garren be right? Could she have poured so much of herself into him that he actually held a piece of her? Did soul mates really exist? And, if they did, could hers be the man she had brought into existence in a completely different realm?

She shivered, but she wasn’t sure why. She felt as if she’d just had an epiphany, but hard on the heels of that epiphany was a dark, ominous fear. She wasn’t sure if it was fear at thinking that another person could hold so much power over her, or fear of a different sort. Garren was not from her world. No one other than Rachel, Chad, and maybe a few other select people on the planet could see him. Relationships were difficult anyway. How could you make one work under those kinds of circumstances?

Kelly went cold, and she snuggled into Garren’s arms with the hope that his warmth would chase away the terrible feeling of impending doom that washed over her.

Chapter Thirteen

Garren was in the bathroom. Kelly had recently shown him the great luxury of a shower, and he wasn’t sure which he enjoyed more, Napoleons, or standing underneath that soothing, hot water. Perhaps if he could eat a Napoleon
while
standing in the shower.

He smiled as he finished putting his clothing on. That was something else he wasn’t really used to. Manifestation into the Creative Realm didn’t come with a wardrobe, and while he and his brethren had changed their apparel often during the days when the Lucienus were a thriving race, he hadn’t had anything but the clothing Kelly’s subconscious had stuck him in when she’d called him to her world. He’d been wearing the same thing for three days and hadn’t really thought much of it until Chad had insisted that he needed something else.

After the camping details had been settled and Rachel had gone home to get her things together, Chad had brought over a bunch of his own clothing for Garren to wear. When he’d gone home and Garren had actually tried on some of the clothing, Kelly had laughed so hard he thought she might actually injure herself. He still wasn’t exactly sure what had been so funny, but apparently, Kelly didn’t find him attractive in clothing that was from The GAP, Abercrombie and Fitch, or Banana Republic, whatever those were. Deciding to take matters into her own hands, she had gotten his measurements and had gone shopping the next day, finding him some things that, he had to admit, were much more to his liking.

He currently wore a simple black, long-sleeved, button-down shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans that fit him nicely. Kelly had picked the outfit for him, saying that it would probably be the most practical for camping. He looked in the mirror, messed with his hair, and smiled at the fact that he could gaze at his reflection and no longer see traces of the things behind him through his body. Admiration filled his heart as he thought of how much Kelly had done for him. It had been her idea to make Rachel play the game from their childhood. Because of it, Rachel had remembered him.

He was looking forward to going camping with the others. A day had passed since they had decided to go, and Kelly had shared stories with him about other times she had gone camping in her life. He liked the idea of being out in the wilderness with her, but not nearly as much as he liked the thought of sharing a tent with her.

He closed his eyes and remembered the past two nights. After Chad and Rachel had gone home, Kelly had claimed she was exhausted and headed for bed. He’d left her alone, not wanting to intrude, but she’d come out several minutes later asking him what he was doing. “Come to bed, Garren,” she had said. She’d taken his hand and led him into her room after her. He had slept next to her last night, as well. She had allowed him entrance into her life like she would a lover. It amazed him as much as it warmed his heart.

Chad made an offended noise. “Kelly, I can’t believe you just asked me that. Just because a man knows what style is and takes care of himself does not make him gay. I’ll have you know that just last week I went to this strip club—”

“Yeah, I’m coming.” He took one more glance at himself in the mirror, then turned toward the bathroom door. He reached for the knob, but sucked his breath in and doubled over as a strange, burning pain worked through his arm. He looked down at it and felt cold dread wrap around his heart as the solidity of his body wavered and flickered until he could see through his own arm more than he’d ever been able to.

“Garren?” Kelly knocked softly on the door and he stood straight, the sensation dissipating as quickly as it had come. She opened the door and peeked in, her brow creasing in a frown. “You okay in here?”

As the bathroom door clicked back into place, Garren let his breath out and looked down at his arm again. It was back to being solid, but his fingers were trembling. He had never felt pain like that before and had no idea what it meant. Where had it come from? Why had his shape threatened to disappear when he had more people believing in him now than ever before? What did it mean? He had no answers to these questions, only fear. Fear that coiled like an evil serpent in his gut. He knew only one thing. It meant no good, whatever it was.

* * * *

“You burnt it!” Rachel cried, shoving Chad out of the way and grabbing the stick he’d been roasting her hot dog on. “You completely charred my wiener!”

Chad burst into uproarious laughter. “Rachel, if you have a wiener, you have bigger problems than me burning your hot dog.”