Blessed (Book 2, The Watchers Trilogy; Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (17 page)

Tara sat up front with Malik while Brand and I found a cozy spot together in the backseat of Malik’s Lexus.

“So who’s Simon?” I heard Malik ask Tara as we pulled out onto the highway.

After that, I completely lost track of their conversation. Brand had one arm around my shoulders, hugging me close to him, and his other hand on my thigh, slowly rubbing a warm path back and forth between my hip and knee.

He leaned down and whispered in my ear, “I love you,” while tugging lightly on my earlobe with his teeth and lips.

I turned to face him. Even in the dim light spilling into the car from the streetlights on the highway, I could see Brand’s thoughts were running along the same lines as my own. I restrained myself from just falling against him and making out with him in the back of Malik’s car, like any other girl my age would with her fiancé. I forced myself to tune back into the conversation Tara and Malik were having, to get my mind off just phasing Brand and me back to his house so we could be alone.

I heard Tara tell Malik about her relationship with Simon and why it ended.

“Lilly might be right,” Malik said. “Maybe another set of eyes on the next man you date would be better for you.”

“Maybe,” Tara shrugged.

“She won’t have a choice,” I called out from the backseat, desperately trying to ignore the warmth of Brand’s hand as it continued along its path against my leg.

“You don’t have to worry about me going out with anybody for a while,” Tara told me over her shoulder. “I’m swearing off men. All they do is get me crazy.”

“Well, since you’ll have some free time,” Malik said. “Could I talk you into showing me around the area tomorrow? I haven’t been much farther than my front door.”

“Sure,” Tara said nonchalantly. “I can do that.”

I was pretty sure Malik had just hidden a date behind something that sounded innocuous, but it didn’t feel appropriate to point that fact out to Tara right in front of him.

When we got to Malik’s apartment, Brand’s small play at seduction on the ride back had me ready to take him home and ravish him until the sun came up the next morning or I passed out from exhaustion, whichever came first. But, I tried to place Tara’s needs in the forefront of my mind to keep me sober from the intoxication I was feeling from Brand’s attention.

Malik had made an apple cobbler for dessert and served it a la mode. He dug out a deck of cards and invited us to play a game of gin rummy. It wasn’t something I wanted to do, but couldn’t think of a polite way to say ‘No, thanks. I’d rather go home and make out with my fiancé, if you don’t mind.’

So, we played gin rummy. At least Tara was having a good time. She won most of the hands. After the fifth hand, I excused myself and went to use Malik’s bathroom. When I walked out, I felt someone grab one of my wrists. Before I knew it, Brand had me pinned up against the wall of the hallway, kissing me just as he did when he helped me learn how to focus my attention and energy to phase on my own.

When he finally let me breathe, he looked around us.

“Hmm,” he sounded disappointed. “I was hoping you might instinctually phase us back home.” He began to nibble on the tender flesh at the base of my neck, making it almost impossible for me to think, much less speak.

“We can’t just leave Tara,” I whispered, trying my hardest to keep myself from phasing.

“Couldn’t you say you have a headache or something,” he suggested, “so we can leave?”

“I’m not going to lie.” I put my hands on either side of his head and pulled his lips to mine, kissing him so he wouldn’t have any doubts that I desperately wanted to be alone with him, too. “I’ll just ask if she wants to leave.”

Brand and I eventually untangled ourselves from one another and walked back out to where Malik and Tara were still playing cards. When I asked Tara if she was ready to leave, she just waved me off.

“Y’all go on. Malik said he’d drive me home.”

“Are you sure?” I asked, not feeling comfortable leaving her with a veritable stranger.

“I’ll see her home safely,” Malik promised. “You have my word as your godfather.”

“Besides,” Tara looked up at Brand and me with a knowing smile. “Y’all looked like you could use some alone time from what I just saw in the hallway a minute ago.” To which she started making kissing noises, causing both Brand and me to blush profusely at being caught in the act.

“Well,” Brand said, trying not to look too embarrassed, but looking completely flustered. “On that note, I think we’ll be saying goodnight.”

As Brand and I left Malik’s apartment hand in hand, I got the same eerie feeling I had earlier in the evening. Someone was definitely watching me. Brand opened the passenger door of his Porsche for me. Just as I was about to get in, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I quickly looked behind me, and saw a man standing in front of the line of trees at the back of the apartment complex. It was dark, but I could see who it was by the light cast from the apartments around us. It was Robert.

“What’s wrong?” Brand asked, following my gaze to the now-empty tree line.

Had Robert actually been there or had I just imagined him? Since seeing Robert again wasn’t something I would want to imagine, I had to assume he had actually been there.

I looked up and down the tree line, searching for him. I felt a hand land on my shoulder and jumped.

“Lilly,” Brand said, worried by my reaction to his touch. “What’s wrong?”

“Take me home,” I said, unable to keep the fear out of my voice.

Before I knew it, we were standing in Brand’s driveway. He closed the door of his car and phased us to his living room. I sat down on the couch facing the fireplace and tried to control my trembling.

Brand put his arms around me, doing what he could to bring me comfort, but all I could see in my head was Robert laying on top of me, trying to force himself on me in that dank little prison cell Justin kept me in.

I quickly stood up, leaving Brand’s arms empty. He looked up at me in confusion.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “Please, don’t touch me right now. I don’t want to associate anything about you with him.”

“Who, Lilly?” Brand asked, desperately wanting to understand what was wrong with me.

How could I tell him? I hadn’t mentioned it to anyone, not even Tara. I had hoped to just forget about it and pretend it had never happened, but I couldn’t. It was too fresh in my memory to become one of the forgotten scenes in my past. Seeing Robert again brought my fear back to the surface, even though I had buried it as far as I could in my subconscious. How could I tell Brand what had almost happened with Robert?

I suppose one reason I hadn’t told him before now was because I felt ashamed, like I should have been able to fight harder to keep him from almost raping me. I knew that was foolish. I knew I had done all I could at the time to keep it from happening, but that didn’t stop me from wondering if maybe there had been something else I could have done to stop it. Why hadn’t that experience triggered my phasing capability? I was lucky Justin came back in time to pull Robert off me.

“Please, Lilly,” I could hear the fear and worry in Brand’s voice. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

I slowly sat back down beside Brand. I could tell he wanted to put his arms around me, but was stopping himself from doing something so natural. It was time he knew. I couldn’t lie to him and I didn’t want to.

“When Justin had me,” I began, “there was another Watcher who was helping him.”

“What was his name?”

“Robert.”

I saw Brand’s hands tighten into fists involuntarily. “Did he do anything to you?”

The deadly tone in his voice forced me to look at him. He already knew something had happened, or I wouldn’t be acting so strangely. There wasn’t any going back now.

“Justin had Robert bring me my food while I was there. He was concerned Malcolm might not trust him when he said he didn’t know where I was, and try to follow him when he phased. Right before I was supposed to meet the person who wanted Justin to kill me, Robert came to the room and tried to…” I couldn’t say it. The words simply wouldn’t come out of my mouth.

“You don’t have to say anything else,” Brand told me. “I can imagine what he tried to do. It wouldn’t be the first time. Lilly. Did he…”

I looked at Brand and saw the pain on his face from just thinking about what he wanted to ask.

“No,” I said, answering his unasked question. “Justin came back in time and stopped him.”

Brand let out a sigh of relief, but his hands remained fisted. I could tell he wanted to hit something and hug me all at the same time.

“Why didn’t you tell me this before now?” he asked.

I shook my head, unable to stop the tears from falling. “I felt ashamed. I didn’t want you to know.”

“Lilly,” the love and understanding as he said my name made me start to cry even harder. I felt his arms go around me. I put my arms around him as tight as I could, sobbing into his chest, telling him I was sorry.

“You have nothing to be sorry about,” he whispered. “I just wish you had told me sooner so I could help you work through it. You don’t need to hide things from me.”

“I wasn’t just hiding it from you,” I cried. “I’ve been trying to hide it from myself too. I didn’t want to think about it.”

I’m not sure how long we sat there. Brand held me until I couldn’t cry anymore. It felt good to finally share my ordeal concerning Robert with him. I hadn’t meant to keep it a secret. I just didn’t want to dwell on something that would cause me pain when I had someone like Brand, who only wanted to bring happiness into my life.

When I finally pulled away from Brand to sit up and wipe the tears from my face, I looked at him and winced inwardly. He looked like he wanted to kill someone. I assumed that someone was Robert.

“You’re not going to do anything, are you?” I asked. I couldn’t imagine what Brand would do to Robert if he ever saw him. His reaction to the news that Malcolm saw me stepping out of the shower was nothing compared to the look on his face now.

“You don’t need to worry about that,” he said in an ominous tone. “Just know that I love you and I will protect you. Did you see Robert tonight? Was he at Malik’s?”

I nodded my head. “He was standing by the trees when we were leaving, watching us.”

Brand pulled out his cell phone and called someone.

“Get over here,” he ordered. “We need to talk.”

Almost instantly, there was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” Brand called.

Malcolm strolled in, wearing only a pair of red silk pajama pants.

“I really don’t appreciate being summoned,” Malcolm said as he stepped into the house. His anger quickly dissipated as soon as he saw my tear-stained face.

“What happened?” He rushed over to me and took me in his arms. “Are you all right, dearest?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” I said, pulling away from Malcolm’s embrace as gently as I could without hurting his feelings.

“No, she isn’t fine,” Brand said, telling Malcolm what I had just revealed to him, and that Robert was apparently stalking me.

If there was one thing Brand and Malcolm had in common, it was their protectiveness over me. Malcolm’s mood became as dark as Brand’s after learning what Robert had tried to do while I was being held captive. I almost pitied Robert if the two of them ever found out where he was.

“Can you find him?” Brand asked.

“I haven’t seen him for quite some time; not since Justin disappeared.”

“Disappeared?” I asked. This was the first I had heard this news.

“I tried to find him after you returned and told us what happened,” Malcolm replied. “But no one has seen him. Since he can’t be found, the others chose Robert to take his place as leader of the Watchers, at least my side of Watchers.”

“How hard would it be to get to him?” Brand asked.

“We’ll have to find him first. I’ll ask around and see what I can find out.”

“When you locate Robert, let me know.”

“I just want to forget about him,” I said, desperately hoping we could just leave the past behind us.

“I’m afraid that won’t be an option,” Brand told me. “Even if I were to let what he did slide, which I won’t, he seems to have taken Justin’s place, and we have to assume whoever it is trying to kill you has Robert working for him now. You heard what Faust said. The person behind everything is trying to find alternative ways to kill you. We have to assume Robert is waiting for his chance.”

“And you can’t possibly think we would just let him go unpunished for what he did to you, dearest. It’s not in our nature.”  

I sat back on the couch with a heavy sigh. “I just want this all to be over.” One way or the other, I thought, but didn’t dare say to the two beside me.

Malcolm told us he would contact us if and when he found Robert’s location. After he left, Brand led me upstairs. We lay on his bed together, cradled in each other’s arms without saying a word for the rest of the night. I fell asleep at some point, wondering what Robert had planned for me.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

When I woke up early the next morning, I could feel Brand lying behind me, holding me tight. Apparently, neither of us moved during the night. He must have realized I was awake because his arms loosened their hold. I turned around to face him. The look of sadness on his face instantly woke me up.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, raising my hand to smooth out the wrinkles of worry from his forehead.

“I should have been there to protect you,” he whispered.

“There wasn’t anything you could have done,” I said. “And he didn’t get what he wanted. You can’t protect me from everything, Brand. It’s impossible to keep someone from being harmed at all. Besides, I can take care of myself now. They won’t be able to just keep me locked up like that anymore.”

“It doesn’t help the guilt I feel,” he admitted.

“Do you really want to help me?” I said, running my hand down the front of his shirt. “Then help me erase what he did, from my mind.”

Instead of the passion we’d felt for one another the previous night, Brand kissed me with a tenderness that shattered my world in a totally different way. The lightness of his touch and the gentle way he ran his hand against my skin was completely opposite of the rough, savage way Robert had treated me. Brand treasured me, while Robert had simply wanted to use me for his own selfish needs. Brand could never be that heartless or selfish when he made love to me.

Making love with Brand was becoming harder and harder not to do. We pushed the boundaries as far as we could without becoming overtly sexual, but the thought of enduring another four years of just heavy petting wasn’t exactly pleasant. What if I didn’t have four years? What if I really only had two months? These were questions I had to seriously consider. I knew Brand thought we would find a way to stop what was happening to me, but I had always been a realist. I had to consider the very real possibility that things wouldn’t work out the way we wanted.

My experience with Robert was a prime example. It was a situation that neither Brand nor I could have foreseen happening. What if Robert had succeeded that night and taken my virginity in such a brutish way? I would have regretted it for the rest of my life, no matter how short that life might actually be. What was the point of waiting to marry Brand if I only had two months left, and never got to live out at least part of the beautiful dream Brand had for our wedding day and night?

Later that morning, I phased back to my apartment to shower and change clothes. Brand said he wanted to make an in-person visit to our private investigator to see what he had been able to find out so far. When he tried to call Larry the previous day, his secretary said she hadn’t seen him, but left a message for Larry to call Brand the first opportunity he got. Since he never got a phone call back, Brand wanted to check on Larry himself. I told him I wanted to go along and made him promise not to leave until I got back.

Tara was sitting at the kitchen table, thumbing through a local newspaper when I got back home. She smiled at me broadly as I took a seat beside her.

“Well, did y’all get all that kissing out of your system last night?”

“Not exactly,” I said. “Listen, I need to tell you something.”

I didn’t see any reason to keep the secret of Robert from Tara any longer. She would find out eventually, and I wanted her to hear the story from me.

“Lilly Rayne Nightingale, I could strangle you for keeping this from me. Girl,” she stood from her seat and came over to give me a hug, “you should have told me.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have tried to forget about it, I guess. I should have told all of you, since it seems like Robert has taken Justin’s place now.”

“Well,” Tara said, pulling away from me. “You have three angels and a fairy on your side. Plus me, for whatever I’m worth.”

“You’re worth everything to me,” I told her, squeezing her hand. “But I really don’t want to talk about it anymore. I’ve thought about it enough. Tell me how the rest of your night with Malik went.”

“Oh, it went fine. We played a couple of hands of gin rummy after y’all left and then we watched a movie. I was actually looking through the paper to see what movies are playing. I thought he might like to go to the new theater they just built. I heard it has stadium seating.”

“So, you like him?” I asked, hoping she would get the subtle hint in my question.

“He seems nice, but don’t get any romantic notions in your head about us, Lilly Rayne. We’re just friends. I don’t want anything else right now.”

I decided to leave it at that. Tara needed someone to pal around with, since I spent so much time with Brand. Malik seemed like a nice guy, and I couldn’t see any reason why she shouldn’t have him as a friend, even though I was pretty sure he would eventually want more than just friendship from her. Hopefully, by that time, Tara would have completely forgotten about Simon, and be emotionally ready for a real relationship. But it wouldn’t hurt to make it plain to Malik how I expected him to treat Tara. I decided to make a quick trip to his apartment before I went back to Brand.

After I showered and got ready, I told Tara where Brand and I were going that day.

“New York?” she asked. “Man, you gotta take me there someday.”

“I will. I promise.”

I phased to Malik’s front door and pushed the doorbell. He quickly answered, wearing a nice polo shirt, jeans, and sneakers, appropriate clothing for a casual day out with a friend.

“Hey, Lilly, I wasn’t expecting to see you today.” He smiled and seemed genuinely happy to see me. “Come on in.”

I walked into Malik’s apartment. “Listen, I don’t have long. I just wanted to come over and set a couple of things straight with you.”

Malik crossed his arms in front of him with a serious look on his face. “Ok, what is it you feel like you need to tell me?”

I took a deep breath. “If I’m wrong, let me know, but I get the feeling that your intentions toward Tara are leaning toward the romantic side more than just the friendship side.”

Malik grinned. “I’ll never lie to you, Lilly. I was hoping to ask Tara out on a real date at some point.”

“Well, what do you call spending the day with her?”

Malik shrugged. “I thought it might be nice for her to get out and have a fun day, after what she went through last night. I don’t plan to do anything but make sure she has a nice time.”

“So you’re not going to try anything, right?”

“Oh, I think I know what you’re getting at.” He smiled and shook his head, “No, I won’t try to make a pass at her. In fact,” it was almost as if I could see a light bulb come on over his head, “I’ll make you a promise. I promise to keep my relationship with Tara on a friendship level unless she decides she wants it to progress further. How’s that? Will that keep you from worrying?”

“That works for me.”

Since I knew Tara wouldn’t be interested in a new relationship for a while, Malik’s promise seemed like the perfect solution to keep him from pushing her into a dating situation she wasn’t ready for yet. Besides, if they became friends and then decided to change it to a romance, it would be better for the both of them. It always seemed like people who were friends and in love had the most lasting relationships.

Before I left, I told Malik what Brand and I were going to be doing that day. He asked that I keep him informed on what we found out.

By the time I made it back to Brand, he was sitting at the table, working on our puzzle.

“Make any progress?” I asked, scanning the puzzle, noticing he had added in quite a few pieces.

“A little,” he stood from his chair. “Are you ready?”

“Yep.”

He took my hand and we phased into a hallway inside a rather nondescript building. The half-glass, half-wood door in front of us had, ‘Larry Goodwill, Private Investigator’, painted in black on the glass portion. Brand opened the door and let me go in first.

“Howdy,” a young, attractive, curly-haired blonde woman sitting behind an old wooden desk greeted us. She was dressed in a tight-fitting dark blue knit dress, which accentuated her azure blue eyes.

There wasn’t much else in the room besides the woman and the desk cluttered with various items, including an out-of-date computer system. The only other things in the room were two uncomfortable-looking wooden chairs and a water cooler propped up against the wall closest to the door. The woman, who I assumed to be Larry’s secretary, was smacking so hard on the piece of gum in her mouth I was amazed she was able to keep all her teeth attached to her gums.

“Can I help ya?” she asked.

“Brandon Cole,” Brand said, holding his hand out to her in greeting.

“Oh, hiya hon,” she beamed at him. “I still haven’t heard from Larry to give him your message.”

“Is it strange to not hear from him for so long?” Brand asked.

“Well, now that you mention it, it is sort of unusual for him to not at least check in with me. Let me call him at home and see if I can find out what’s going on.”

She delicately picked up her cell phone with her freshly-manicured French nails and dialed Larry’s number. After a minute of letting the phone ring, she shook her head.

“He’s not home either.”

“Has he told you anything about our case?” Brand inquired.

“Oh, no,” she said, shaking her curly blonde locks. “He doesn’t like to talk to me about the cases. I just answer the phones and type up stuff he needs typed. That’s about it.”

“Has he had you type up anything about my case?”

“You know, I think he did,” the secretary turned to her computer and clicked her mouse around the screen. “He did ask me type up a few of his notes. I could print them out for ya, if you want, hon. But there’s not much there.”

“Anything is better than nothing,” Brand told her, dazzling the poor woman with his smile.

Even though I wasn’t affected by the toxic dose of pheromones Brand gave off, which enraptured most females, I wasn’t any less affected by him, especially when he smiled.

Only one page came out of the printer. The secretary handed it to Brand.

“It’s not much, hon, but you’re welcome to it.”

“Thank you,” Brand said, scanning the piece of paper quickly before folding it and putting in the back pocket of his jeans. “Tell Larry to give me a call when you see him, please. It’s pretty important.”

“Sure thing, hon.”

When we left the office, I asked Brand, “What does the paper say?”

“Not much. There’s a name listed as someone to contact about your mother’s true identity.”

“True identity? You mean she might not be who she says she is?”

“Looks like that’s what Larry was trying to find out.” Brand took one of my hands. “I know where Larry lives. Would you mind if we went there to check his apartment?”

“No, I don’t mind.”

We were standing outside an apartment the next instant. The door was ajar.

“Stand behind me,” Brand said, instantly on alert. Something was definitely wrong. Even I could feel it.

Brand nudged the door open with his foot. Lying on the living room floor was a white-haired man of average build and height, face-down in a pool of blood. There was a large red stain on the back of his shirt. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. I had never seen a dead body before. Brand quickly took my hand and phased us back to his living room.

“Why did we leave?” I asked. “Shouldn’t we have called the police?”

“It’s not something we need to get involved in, Lilly. We have enough problems to deal with without being entangled in a police investigation. With the door completely open, one of his neighbors is bound to find him soon.”

“Who do you think killed him?”

“I’m not sure. From the way the room looked, Larry put up a good struggle with whoever it was before they shot him in the back.”

“Ok, so it was most likely a human who killed him, right, since they used a gun? Maybe his death doesn’t have anything to do with my case.” I knew it was wishful thinking, but it was certainly plausible. He probably investigated a lot of cases which would make him the target for such a violent death.

“I think we should try to find the person he listed in his notes.” Brand pulled out the paper from his back pocket. “According to this, Larry was planning to question someone named Nick Landry. There’s a New York address listed. We could go check him out ourselves.”

“Let’s go.”

Since Brand had never been to the address listed in Larry’s notes, we ended up phasing to a street corner in New York and hailing a taxicab. It only took about ten minutes to get to the apartment building. There was an intercom system on the outside of the building used to control who was allowed inside. Luckily, the janitor came out to dispose of some trash while we were debating whether we should buzz this Nick Landry’s apartment. Brand held the door open for the janitor, and we quietly slipped inside.

When we stood outside the door to his apartment, Brand turned to me and said, “Promise me you’ll phase back home at the first sign of trouble. We don’t know anything about this person. He could be dangerous, for all we know. ”

“I promise,” I said, feeling like Brand was just being overly-cautious.