Brave (Healer) (24 page)

             
‘Of course,’ I say although I’m not sure if I feel comfortable opening up my vein for a stranger until I remember that that stranger killed the man who murdered my mother. Acts of kindness are even more beautiful when they are extended to strangers and I shouldn’t hesitate to return the bravery.

             
Champagne is opened and happiness can be found in an abundance. Right now we don’t think about the other vampires or the deaths and tragedies that have taken place at the hands of Maurice. Right now we celebrate the downfall of evil and good prevailing. The atmosphere is amazing until Gabe walks into the apartment and things get uncomfortable.

             
Oliver has never met Gabe but he knows a lot about him. However, he doesn’t know that I’ve seen him since I got here. He stands up and his body changes to an offensive pose. Gabe looks at him with innocent eyes pleading for mercy knowing that, if Oliver wanted to, he could crush him. I can’t say it’s something I’m not afraid of either. I just hope Oliver can demonstrate the self-control I admire in him in front of the first man to break my heart.

             
The tense atmosphere is even tenser when I step forward and put my arms around my old friend. I want to celebrate this jubilant moment with Gabe too after all he is one of the few people who understands what Maurice put me through. For that brief time when I have my arms wrapped around Gabe’s body I forget that there are other people in the room and I feel filled up with joy that the man that threw Gabe and I together then tore us apart is gone.

             
‘What the hell?’ Oliver says.

             
Followed by Rose, ‘What’s going on?’

             
I turn around and face the man I love, ‘I’ll explain it later.’

             
Oliver doesn’t seem very pleased with my unwillingness to discuss this in front of everyone but explaining can wait. There will be time to argue about my relationship with my sort-of-ex later but now I want to celebrate with the people I love. Rose, Oliver and Gabe are all here together and I’ve never felt more blessed. I never thought I’d get the chance to be in a room with all three of them especially not when Maurice is dead.

             
Oliver excuses himself to get a drink and Rose teeters behind him. I should follow them but I just watch Oliver stalk away in a bad mood then turn to give Gabe a warm smile and place a hand on his shoulder, ‘I can’t believe they did it.’

             
I am looking at Gabe but I am aware that Oliver’s eyes are drilling into me. How will I explain the amiability between Gabe and I to him? Will he understand?

             
‘
We
did it. If you never came along, Cassie, he would still be alive and Rose and I would still be miserable,’ he runs a hand across his shaved head as if he’s not used to being unable to run his fingers through his shaggy hair. For a second, I miss his messy hair.

             
‘Can you believe we’re here? This is really happening?’ I ask innocently but my mind is reeling with thoughts of our last kiss. Is this really it for Gabe and I? Are we really ready to give up on each other and move? I don’t know.

             
He shakes his head and blows out a puff of air, ‘It’s like a dream.’

             
Our private moment is broken when Arrow walks over and offers Gabe a flute of champagne. I’m impressed, and confused, when he declines. I remember my visit to Paris when Gabe drank a whole bottle of champagne in a limo and got disgracefully drunk before face planting in my hotel room. Claire must be a witch too if she managed to swear Gabe off of alcohol. He winks at me and I blush.

             
More witches from the building join us in rejoicing Maurice’s death and eventually the intimate celebration turns into an extravagant part. I meet people who know a lot about me, they gush about how glad they are to finally meet me and put a face to the name but I have no idea who they are. People are congratulating me and offering me hugs and handshakes everywhere I go. It’s almost too much to take in but I let the champagne bubbles float to my head. I won’t get drunk, not after my last embarrassing encounter with alcohol, but I let it wash over me so I can relax and enjoy this incredible day.

             
Channing and Justin arrive too and I delight in watching Rose and Channing hold onto one another. The darkness of her complexion and hair contrasts with his fairness but it only highlights one another’s beauty. They look flawless together and very happy. Justin has brought his partner who I’m surprised to learn is another man. I don’t know why I’d never suspected that one of these gorgeous twins might be gay. Now that I think about it seems to make perfect sense. It’s humbling to be surrounded by my old friends knowing that they are all safe from Maurice. It makes me miss my family, it makes me want to call my dad and ask if Shannon is okay and let them know that they can live peacefully knowing that Maurice can’t hurt us anymore.

             
Unfortunately, I can’t escape Oliver’s pervasive stares as we move around the apartment. He keeps a hold of my arm possessively. His discomfort reaches a peak when I stop to talk to Gabe again. I should stay away from him but the magnetic force that pulls me towards Gabe seems to still be as strong as ever.

             
I keep a hold of Oliver’s hand while I tap Gabe’s shoulder. He turns around and for the second time today my world shifts when I see a tall, slim blonde girl standing beside him. I have never met this woman before but I know exactly who she is.

             
‘Cassie...’ Gabe gulps. He has his arm around her tiny waist and I feel like I have been inflated with a bicycle pump. She is enviably slender and toned. She is wearing a pair of tight fitting black jeans which show off her never ending legs and I feel like I’m being stabbed. This is the girl who won Gabe’s heart and made him the man I always wanted to make him. ‘This is Claire.’

             
I am stunned into silence as I look at the doting smile on Gabe’s face as he observes his girlfriend. He never looked that way at me. His eyes were filled with pain, confusion, unwillingness whenever he was around me but there is pure love on his face when he looks at her. I thought it wasn’t possible for my heart to break anymore. I thought it had felt every possible pain it could but the weight of this encounter is crushing it and making it difficult to breathe.

             
‘It’s nice to meet you, Cassie,’ Claire offers her hand out to me. Her long arm is covered in intricate tattoos that partners with Gabe’s sleeve. My mouth goes dry and I am aware of how clammy my hands are as I shake her hand. In my panic I almost forget that Oliver is beside me.

             
‘This is... uh... this is... Oliver,’ I say. I’m flustered. I knew she was here but I foolishly convinced myself that I could avoid meeting her. Of course I wanted to meet her at some point but not now, not when so much is happening so quickly. I needed time.

             
I would have also liked looking a lot less dishevelled. I feel overweight and plain standing next to her. In person, she looks far better than she did in the photo I found of her and Gabe. The one that I’d kept close to me so I’d never forget the small details of Gabe’s face. Maybe she’s just blossomed with age but, whatever the reason, the woman standing before me looks like a model. Her white blonde hair is cut into a sharp bob which drops at her pointed chin and her lips are like two luscious rose petals on her porcelain face.

             
Oliver doesn’t offer his hand to Gabe and I remind myself to be irked later. I can be annoyed by her ill manners once I am done being caught off guard. As if it’s not only unfair that Claire is attractive and the girl who gets to kiss Gabe every night, she is also effortlessly charismatic. She should be uncomfortable and panicked, like me, when faced with the only threat her relationship has ever had. I am clumsy and stuttering like a fool yet she is smiling breezily and is even managing to make conversation.

             
‘You know I’m so happy for you all, Cassie, Oliver, this is an amazing day,’ she grins. She continues to chat but all I can do it stare, open mouthed, at Gabe’s arm wrapped around her teeny tiny waist and how her body is flirting with his.

             
It would be easy to forget that I have more in common with this girl than I do with anybody in the world. Claire is a Healer like me. At one time I thought I was the only one in the world. And she has fallen for Maurice’s charms too. He manipulated her and turned her into someone she wouldn’t recognise anymore. More than Healer blood and sadistic vampires, she has fallen in love with Gabe too. In some lifetime it would be good to sit down with Claire and talk about the things we have experienced. We might feel less alone, we might even be friends, yes, maybe in one lifetime but, not now, the pain is too rich.

             
‘Thank you,’ I blurt out like a crazy person.

             
‘Thank you?’ she repeats with a bemused expression and I stare at her body moving in closer to Gabe.

             
‘Thank you for...’ this is when I’m supposed to tell Claire that I am grateful that she has taken Gabe and moulded him from an alcoholic wreck with no future into a functioning citizen even if he still has that arrogant wit of his. I want to tell her how much I appreciate her keeping him safe in the same way that Oliver has cured me of my pain but the words get stuck in my throat. Maintaining my insane person appearance, all I can say is, ‘Thanks for your kind words.’

             
Despite my best intentions to spark up a good relationship with my ex-love’s current love, I can’t make myself say the words out loud. The sincere thanks for all she has done gets lodged somewhere between my voice box and my tongue. Instead I excuse myself and Oliver follows behind me; I just know he is going to be even more upset with me after that uncomfortable situation.

             
He doesn’t say anything for a while. We continue to mingle and revel in the joy that Maurice is no longer a problem we have to consider but I can sense his bad vibes.

             
Eventually he asks if I will join him in the bedroom to have a private word. He tugs at me and I can tell he is confused, if not a tad annoyed, about my scene with Gabe.

             
I sit down on our bed and I look up at him. He is towering above me and pacing back and forth for a few tense minutes. I wait for him to speak first because I’m frightened that I will make a mess of things too soon and say the wrong things. There is no right way to tell him that I met Gabe last night and kept it a secret from him. How do I explain that I have found it in my crushed heart to forgive him for the pain he has caused me? Can I tell him about our last kiss or will Oliver reach the end of his patience and give up on me? I couldn’t take it if he gave up on us. 

             
After a lifetime of stalking the bedroom, he eventually deflates and sits beside him. He sighs, ‘Well? What’s going on, Cassie?’

             
‘I saw him last night,’ I say softly.

             
He raises his eyebrows. I can sense the fear inside of him. He doesn’t have to tell me what he’s worrying about. I know he’s scared that I met Gabe again and our grand reunion changed my mind about being with Oliver. He is frightened that I’m about to tell him that I’m going to leave him stranded to be with Gabe again. The longer I wait to answer the stronger the anxiety builds on his face. ‘You can tell me anything, Cassie.’

             
‘I saw him and it was... intense and...’

             
Oliver puts his face in his hands as he braces himself for bad news. I place my hand on his shoulder and he pulls away from me instinctively. He is so sure that I’m going to leave him and I’m hurt by his accusation. He shouldn’t have to doubt my love. Is it always going to be like this with him? Will he always think I’m going to leave him for Gabe?

             
‘And it made me even more sure that...’ I press my face into his shoulder and try to think about what seeing Gabe made me more sure of. Gabe is happy with Claire, I’m happy for him and I know I love Oliver but it would be lying to tell him that seeing Gabe made me sure that I don’t love him anymore or that it made me stop hurting.

             
‘It made you sure of what, Cassie?’ he asks.

             
I can’t lie to him. Honesty is one of the most important things between Oliver and I. I love that I can tell him anything so I shrug and say, ‘It made me sure that being with you is what I want.’

             
‘Are you sure it’s me you want to be with? It didn’t look like you were over him in there. What was that all about? You were looking at him... I wish you would look at me like that, Cassie,’ Oliver’s voice is wavering and I don’t think I can handle it if I made him cry. I can’t stand how much this is hurting him. If I could make my feelings for Gabe disappear then I would to make Oliver happy. I adore Oliver. If only I could figure out a way to stop myself from loving Gabe too.

             
In my head I come up with several different things I can say to make Oliver believe that it’s him I want to be with I need him to trust me.