Burning for You (Blackwater) (27 page)

“It wasn’t a crush,” Eleanor pipes in,
her rosebud lips turned down.  “She completely monopolized the man who was my
catalyst.”

“Not even a man, Andrew was a boy,”
Renee hisses.  “Boys do not know any better.  Leah is not wholly to blame for
Andrew’s actions.  He knew what he wanted.  A warm hole to bury his-“

“Mother!  Oh my god, please!”
Eleanor cries, turning beet red.  I burst out laughing.  Eleanor and Renee look
at me, both with bewildered expressions and I start to laugh harder.  It’s
ridiculously awkward to be the only one in a room laughing and unable to stop.

“Your mom almost said penis,” I cry
out, with a squeal and then erupt into giggles.  My stomach starts to hurt, and
tears are streaming down my cheeks.  Eleanor snorts and turns her face away
from me, covering her mouth with her hand.  “Cut it out, El, it’s hysterical.”

She bursts out laughing in
response, and Renee stands up and throws her arms up in the air.  “Penis!” she
shouts.  “Penis!  Penis!  Penis!”  Eleanor and I are on our backs, holding our
bellies.  I can’t stop as everything I’ve been holding inside that was anger
comes bursting out of me in hysteria.  “I was going to say dick, actually,”
Renee clarifies.

“This is the weirdest pow wow I’ve
ever been invited to,” Theo says.  The men have come back in the room bearing coffee
and small petit fours on a tray.  “But I like it.  Did someone say penis?”

Eleanor and I stare at each other
and once again we can’t stop laughing.   

*

Theo and I are driving down Center
Street toward my house after spending an hour with Eleanor and Drew and Renee. 
We found out a few things during our visit that we discuss the minute we are
alone.

“She has no idea,” I tell him. 
“But when she accused me right after I got there, that was rough.”

“I think she was feeling you out,”
Theo says.  “Perhaps she wanted to see your reaction?”

“I think so too,” I agree.  “What
did you and Drew discuss in the kitchen?”

“He thinks it was Heidi,” Theo
says. 

I snap my head so hard to look at
him, it burns at the base of my skull.  “What?  He does?”

Theo nods.  “He doesn’t know how to
prove it, but he says it’s too much of a coincidence that Heidi happens to walk
into town with a baby just after theirs is stolen.  He’s told the police, and
apparently all of Heidi’s paperwork has been checked out.  She had to file
birth records at town hall and everything.  There isn’t a single hole in her
story.  Legally.”

“That’s insane,” I reply.  “How
could she have gotten everything straight?”

“She’s getting help from someone,”
Theo replies.  “Do you know of any connections Heidi has to someone in the
legal field?”

“Her husband,” I admit.  “Jack is
smart, and has a law degree, but I don’t think he would be in on something like
this with Heidi.  He’s a good guy.”

“Where does she live?” Theo asks
me.  I tell him her address.  He pulls into a parking lot to turn around. 

“We’re going to Heidi’s?”

“I just have this feeling there’s
something at her house right now that would tell us what’s happening,” he
replies. 

“What do you mean by a feeling?” I
ask him.  “She’s probably not going to let me into her house after what
happened the last time I was there.”

Theo shrugs.  “We’ll play it by
ear,” he says. 

“There’s something you’re not
telling me,” I state.

“You’re right,” he agrees.  “But if
I tell you before you can see it with your own eyes, it won’t have the desired
effect.”

“What the hell are you talking
about?” I want to know.  “Theo, seriously,” I whine, “Just tell me what’s the
deal already?  These cryptic implications are driving me insane.”

“You’re really not a fan of the
unknown, are you?” he asks me.  “You really do like to know everything.”

“Of course I do!” I snap, feeling
just as pissed off as I did at Eleanor’s when she went off on me.  I can’t help
but want to go see her without Theo and Renee and Drew around and confide in
her about all of my male troubles with Ash and Theo.  I could really use a good
bitch session with someone I’d like to think of as my friend. 

“There you are,” Theo says,
creeping slowly down the street.  I have a good view of Heidi’s house,
including the white BMW parked in her driveway.  “I’m inclined to believe Gabe
Locke is the person who is helping Heidi.”

“Holy shit,” I whisper.  “What the
hell is going on?”  Just as though the universe heard my question, I see
Heidi’s front door open and Gabe walking out of the house.  He turns back and I
see Heidi’s face peeking out of the door.  She is holding the baby in her arms,
who is swaddled tightly in blue blankets in her arms.  Gabe leans over the baby
and to Heidi, who is level height with him as she stands at the door while Gabe
is a step lower.  My jaw drops as Gabe’s lips touch Heidi’s and remain there
for a few seconds.  Heidi’s small hand flutters up to Gabe’s jaw and traces his
face down to his pointed chin. 

“Well,” Theo says.  “I’d say your
sister Heidi has made a deal with the devil.”

“We need to get out of here,” I
tell him.  I’m shaking all over. 

“First wait until he leaves,” Theo
replies. 

“Shit, what if they know we’re
here?” I ask.  I notice with some comfort that the windows of the Renault are
tinted.  “What if they see us?”

“We’re just going to have to hope
they don’t,” Theo says.  “Gabe doesn’t exactly have the most intuitive senses,
despite the fact that he is my mother’s child.  He’s pure reaper, though, and
reapers are practically oblivious to their surroundings.  Not to mention, he’s
slightly afflicted in the sense department.”

“What do you mean, afflicted?” I
want to know. 

Theo looks at me curiously. 
“Didn’t you know?” he asks me.  “Gabe is stone deaf.”

I’m reeling from the day, and Theo
has taken me home and brought me up to my room, after saying hello to my
surprised mother.  She doesn’t say a word about where Ash might be, or why I’m
with his brother.  It was her prediction that I had another catalyst.  She probably
heard from Renee already that I was traipsing around town with Theo.  I want to
tell my mother about Heidi, but Theo has asked me to just spend a few moments
with him to talk.  I feel like there are some things about my life I need to
sort out first, before I can begin to worry about other people’s problems.  We
picked up some pizza on the way back to the house.  We’re starving and don’t
want to really be out in public any more.  I feel like a kid sitting on my bed
with Theo and a pizza box in between us, plus a roll of paper towels and a
bottle of wine.  I purposely chose a Cabernet because Theo’s choice of Merlot
reminds me of Gabe.  I don’t want to think about Gabe, but I have to. 

“Do you have a salt deficiency or
something?” Theo asks me as I take the side of anchovies I ordered and lay them
in oily lines along the square of pizza.  He refused to let me put them on the
actual pizza.  “I’ve never seen anyone want anchovies when there’s already
olives and pepperoni on a pizza.”

“You have no idea what you’re
missing,” I tell him.  “Anchovies are pure deliciousness.”  I do cringe as I
take a bite.  He’s right – it’s too salty, but I can’t back down now.

“You’re really doing everything you
can to try and get me not to want to kiss you, aren’t you?”

My eyes widen and my pulse quickens. 
“How’s it working?”

“Badly,” Theo says, seeming to
purposely hide behind his piece of pizza, though I still see his cheeks are
flushed.  “I want to taste the salt off of those lips of yours.”  Instinctively
my mind wanders over to Ash, wishing that he didn’t leave, wishing that I could
be in my room with both of them, eating pizza and getting salt licked off my
face by the two of them.  When in all of history has that ever successfully
worked out?  Three’s a crowd, right?  “He’s going to be alright,” Theo says,
knowing my thoughts as well as I do.  “He’s not gone.”

“He sure seems gone to me,” I say. 
“He left me.  He didn’t say anything, he just left me.”

Theo nods.  “He needed to leave,
Leah.  Soon you’ll know why.  For now, since we can’t fight powers, we can
spend the time getting to know each other.”

I shrug.  “My body wants it, Theo,
believe me.  My heart feels differently.”

“Olivia is hurting right now,” he
says, “For thirty three years, it was just us.  And now you’re here.  Half of
my heart wants to cling to you and know you.  The other half feels like it’s
being squeezed by Olivia and she won’t let go.”

I nod, knowing exactly what he’s
implying.  “I feel like shit, and all I did was show up.”

“What can you do?” Theo asks. 
“There’s no way to fight your catalyst.  Maman tried to keep them at bay, and
my father and uncles died from it.” 

“You’re in my head now,” I say. 
“But just because you are doesn’t mean we have to act on it.”

“We have acted on it,” Theo
argues.  “Ash knew exactly what was happening.  He saw it for himself.  You
felt it.  Olivia felt it through you.  We’re all connected.”

I want to ask about Olivia, but I
can’t.  He knows what I want to know, but he just looks at me and won’t say. 
He carefully moves the pizza box and paper towels over to my nightstand where
the bottle of wine is.  “Come here,” I hear him tell me, even though his lips
don’t move.  I move closer to him and feel his arms tighten around me.  I can
hear his heart pounding under his shirt, and I reach up to unbutton it and peel
it back on both sides so I can press my face against the cool skin on his
chest.  I feel his fingers push back the hair from the side of my face and his
lips tracing the top of my forehead.  My breaths get shorter and more urgent,
knowing that I’m going to succumb to him.  My hands trace the lines of his
abdominal muscles and around his navel, exploring him, comparing the paleness
of his flesh to the goldenness of Ash.  Like Ash, Theo is almost hairless on
his chest, except for a thin line of gold hair from the bottom of his navel
going down.  I trace the light hairs with my index finger softly and feel his
stomach clench.  “Leah,” he whispers, the sound of his voice sending soft
chills through me.  “You won’t be able to stop me if you don’t want this.”

“I don’t,” I whisper back.  He
pulls me up so that my face is level with his.  This close, I get lost in the
paleness of Theo’s iris, so reflective I can see myself in them.  They have just
a tiny hint of blue, like a cup of ocean water, but colorless, bleak, and
daunting.  “I don’t want this,” I repeat, and in response, his lips graze the
small spot where my ear meets my neck, sending shivers through me, like tiny
shards of ice falling against my skin.  I come up to straddle his waist and
pull off my sweater, tossing it off the side of my bed onto the floor.  “I
don’t want to be with you at all.”

He sits up and I feel his fingers
dig into my back, his lips continuing to explore my neck and lower themselves
to the tops of my breasts.  I press my hips against his and feel his cock pressed
against me through the fabric of our jeans.  Our chests are bare and our hearts
beat against each other.  My hands push his mop of hair back on both sides of
his face.  I grind my hips against him, wanting to feel him in me but feeling
so guilty about the wetness that’s developed between my legs.  I know Theo
feels the same, though his hands deceive him as they unbutton the top of my
jeans and his hand lowers inside to touch me.  I wince and moan when his
fingers part me to make contact with my clit.  My back arches to press his hand
closer.  He pushes me back savagely to make me lie down and pulls my jeans off
viciously, throwing them across the room and burying his face savagely between
my legs.  I cry out in surprise, feeling his warm mouth press against my
center.  I raise my hips to push my clit harder against his mouth, which sucks
voraciously at me as though he’s hungry for the taste of me.  Within seconds
I’m coming, crying out despite the fact that I’m in my bedroom in my mother’s
house.  When I’m done, he doesn’t stop, and the orgasm progresses to an
intensity that causes me to push his head back from me.  I lift myself up
quickly to pull him down over me.  We kiss and I taste myself on his lips.  My
hands busy themselves with his belt and yank his jeans down as far as I can
push them.  I gasp as he plunges into me almost instantly.

Theo is rougher than Ash usually
is, with the exception of Ash with me early this morning in the vineyard. 
While the passion between Ash and I is intense, Theo almost appears desperate. 
It’s as though he is aching to satisfy something that has awakened inside of
him that needs to be fed and probably caged.  My legs tighten around his waist
and I push him against me with my hands pressed against his shoulders, feeling
the length of him split me in two.  I can’t help but compare the brothers in my
head as he enters me again and again, and find that while both brothers are
similarly sized, everything is different about how they move with me.  Ash and
I have developed a rhythm over a short period of time, but Theo’s lustful
lovemaking seems more erratic and less controlled.  When he comes, his teeth
plunge into my neck and draw blood, which I only know when I push his head back
from me and see his pink lips stained with it. 

“Are you okay?” he asks me
breathlessly, looking concerned at what he’s done.  He brushes a finger against
my neck and rubs his bloody fingers together.  “I’m sorry if I hurt you.”

I shake my head.  “You couldn’t
hurt me,” I tell him, stroking a strand of hair back from his forehead.  “I
wanted you.”  I see a single tear escape out of the corner of Theo’s eye and
touch the end of it with my fingertip.  “What’s wrong?”  He tries to pull away but
I stop him by wrapping my arms around his neck.  “Talk to me, please.  I feel
like I just cheated on the man I love with the other man I love,” I tell him. 
Everything about that sounds wrong.  “What are you feeling?”