Celestial Beginnings (Nephilim Series) (23 page)

Nicole automatically spoke up.
“Me pleez. Another…” She waved her glass. “Whatever you call these, again.”

Tori nodded and turned to go inside.
Malachi turned his head to see Trinity grab Nicole’s hand under the table and squeeze it lightly. When Nicole looked over at her, he was amazed to witness an entire conversation spoken with only eye contact. The bond between the two of them had to be remarkable.

“Actually, sorry, could you get me water instead?”
Nicole asked before Tori had disappeared into the house.

“No problem dearie.
It will just be a minute.”

“So Cuteness…”
Gemariah got Trinity’s attention. “You two are like polar opposites. How did you and the ice queen become friends?”

“Gemariah!
You’re out of line!” Malachi snapped.

“You didn’t say anything when she called me an arrogant chauvinist pig!”

“Maybe it’s because he knows I was right.” Nicole chimed in as she glared in his direction.

“Nicci!
Enough! We get it; you don’t like each other.” Trinity quickly reprimanded her friend. This felt like babysitting more than anything, he thought.

“Anyways” Trinity spoke to Gemariah.
“Nicci and I were in foster care together. We grew up together since I was ten.”

“What happened to your parents?”
Terah, who had been silent all this time, finally joined the conversation.

Malachi watched as Trinity retreated into herself.
In a voice barely above a whisper. “They’re…”

As if not registering that she was talking, Gemariah sat straight up in his chair.
“Wait a minute. Joseph told me that you were thirteen when you came to live with them.” Gemariah pointed out. “Where did you live before then?”

Trinity’s gaze shot to Nicole who had gone whiter than normal.
Something wasn’t right here and he didn’t like what these questions were doing to Trinity. Malachi watched as she unknowingly shrunk to the back of her chair and strongly gripped the edge of her chair.  

No more questions
G. Something’s up
…

Gemariah looked toward him and nodded, understanding not to pry any further.

“Trinity, it’s getting late. Are you almost ready to go?” Nicole grabbed onto Trinity’s arm.

She snapped back from wherever her mind had wondered at the question and looked towards him.
“I didn’t tell her I was staying yet. I just figured she could drive home, but…she can’t drive home like this. I’ll have to take her.”

Malachi understood.
He really did, but still didn’t like it. Their place was a good twenty minutes away and he doubted that she would drive all the way back, with it already being so late. Having an idea, he leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Can someone else take her home?”

“I don’t know.”
She looked doubtful. “I’ll have to talk to her about it. I don’t want to put her in any situation that she’s uncomfortable with.” Trinity whispered back.

Malachi nodded then watched as Trinity took Nicole inside to gather their belongings.
All he could do was hope Nicole had gotten comfortable enough with one of them to let them take her home.

Looking back over at his team, he flashed the best smile he could muster.
“Hey guys…”

“We can’t.”
Terah was the first to speak up before he had said anything to them.

“We can’t what?”
Tori said coming out of the house.

“Take Nicole home.”
Looking back to Malachi, she continued and gestured toward Tori and Gideon. “We have to make a stop on the way home. Work related…so she can’t be there.”

“Work related?
What don’t I know?” Malachi couldn’t think of anything that was planned for the night.

“Nothing, nothing.
Just a follow up from a previous case. We were going to do it another time, but we’re over here already…” She trailed off.

“But that just leaves…”
He looked toward Gemariah. This was not going to be good, he thought.

This got Gemariah’s attention.
“Oh no! I can’t be stuck in a car with that thing. I can see myself jumping out the window just to stop the nagging. Do you know how bad that would hurt?”

“You’ll heal.”
Malachi said uncaringly. “You owe me and you know it.”

Gemariah pinched the bridge of his nose and slouched back into his chair.
“Fine! I guess any man that almost cuts off his thumb thinking about a woman needs a break here and there.”

Terah immediately jumped in.
“You cut your thumb? When? Where?”

He waved off her concern.
“It’s no big deal. I was trimming the steaks earlier and the knife went into my thumb.” Malachi rolled his eyes thinking about that mishap. He wasn’t about to say he saw Trinity out the window and lost his concentration. He was already getting enough grief from Gemariah. “It hurt like a bitch, but healed quickly.”

Terah’s was staring over his head when she whispered, “How is this possible?”

“How’s what possible? Are you okay?” Malachi eyed her suspiciously. He was really starting to worry about her lately. She had been acting flakier than normal.

“Yeah…No…Nothing, everything’s fine.”
She vigorously shook her head and got out of her seat before speaking to Tori and Gideon. “Ready to go?”

Gideon propped his feet up on the table and relaxed into his chair.
“Nah, I don’t feel like going anywhere.” When he looked towards Malachi, he gave him a cunning smile. “You don’t mind, do you? It’s not like you have anything going on tonight.”

The growl was automatic.
Gideon had been pushing it all night. Team member or not, Malachi needed him to leave sooner rather than later.

Luckily, Tori understood everything that was going on, because she quickly pulled Gideon’s chair out from under him.
Even quicker, she grabbed his arm and stood him up before he hit the ground. “We’re out of here. Don’t be a jackass!”

“Fine!
Hands off!” Gideon yelled, and tried to shrug her off when Tori was directing him to the back gate.

“See ya tomorrow!”
Malachi yelled before walking towards the back door.

“Yo, I’ll be in in a minute.
I want to enjoy the peacefulness a little while longer before I’m stuck with the Ice Queen.”

“Okay.
Just try to be nice.” Malachi made it inside before Gemariah could say anything more. He wondered if Trinity needed any help with damage control and from what he was hearing, it didn’t sound like it was going too well.

“What do you even know about him
?” He heard Nicole say.

“
A lot actually! Not everything of course, but more than other men I’ve been with
.”

Malachi cringed.
They had never discussed other people from their past. Deep down he knew that she wasn’t a virgin, but damn, he hated hearing about it.

Following the sounds of their voices, he found them in the living room.
When he got there, they were standing in the middle of the room, arguing.

“I don’t know Trinity.
How do you know you can trust…” Nicole trailed off when she caught sight of him.

“Everything alright in here?”

Their gazes were locked on each other until Nicole decided to lay it all out on the line. “I don’t think she knows you well enough to trust you.”

That stung, but Malachi kept his cool.
There was no use pissing her off and causing problems between him and Trinity. Instead, he slowly made his way over to the two. “Fair enough. I can tell you that I deeply respect her and wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.”

“Yeah, we’ve both heard that before.”

“Nicci, this is ridiculous. We’re not kids anymore. There are people out there that can be trusted.” Trinity was desperately trying to get her friend to understand.

Even though it pained Malachi, he couldn’t come between these two.
“Listen. Trinity, I know how important you guys are to each other. I also know that you won’t be able to relax enough tonight to enjoy yourself if you two leave on a bad note. We can always wait.” Dammit! Dammit!! Dammit!!

“No!”
Trinity said determined. She then turned back to Nicole but threw her hand out to gesture at him. “He makes me happy. Don’t you want me to be happy?”

“Happy?”
Nicole asked in disbelief. She then looked back to him. “Tell me Malachi, if a person was happy, would they be crying in their sleep every night until their screams finally woke them up?”

“Nicci!!”

Trinity’s voice was lost to him. He felt like he had just been punched in the gut. She never said anything… No, no person would have nightmares every night if they were happy. What had he done wrong? He knew she had been looking tired, but…every night?

“How long?”
He kept his gaze lowered, not wanting to look in her direction just yet.

“Dammit Nicci!
It wasn’t your place to say anything.” Trinity sounded more irate than he had ever heard her.

“He has a right to know.
Any friend would be concerned. I hear that you met a guy then I hardly see you anymore except for when I race into your room at night to make sure you’re alright. Now do you see why I worry?” Nicole had raised her voice to match Trinity’s, but Malachi was still waiting for his answer.

“I said, how long?”
This time his voice was more of a growl.

Trinity grabbed his arms and turned him so they were facing each other.
“It’s been happening since the bridge. You have to believe me when I say it has nothing to do with us. I think it’s just residual effects from everything that happened that day.”

“Are they about the bridge?”

She sighed and looked away.
“No. I don’t know what they are. It’s things I’ve never seen before...at least I don’t remember seeing them.” She then locked eyes with him. “Malachi, you make me happier than I remember being in a long time. I have even tried thinking of only you before I fell asleep to possibly ward them off. Maybe these dreams have to run their course, but I always wake up wishing you were there.”

He swallowed around the lump in his throat.
Her declaration was exactly how he felt. The feeling was unfamiliar to him, but he’d be damned if he’d let it go.

Malachi put both hands on her cheeks and leaned down to lightly kiss her.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” He whispered as if they were the only two people there.

Grabbing his wrists, as if to hold him there, she answered.
“Everything’s been so perfect. I didn’t want pop the bubble yet.”

He couldn’t stop another small growl that escaped his throat.
“Weren’t you the one this week that said we couldn’t keep the important stuff like this away from each other?”

She tried to look down but the hands on her cheeks prevented the motion.
He was getting waves of emotions off of her; regret, sadness, some sort of warmth, and…she was nervous. What in the world did she have to be nervous about? He didn’t give it another thought, but wrapped her in his arms.

Malachi looked up and noticed that Nicole didn’t look as mad, but still not ready to give up.

“Hey, are we leaving or wha…hey, what’s going on?” Gemariah chose that moment to walk in.

“No way!
He was the one that was going to take me home? Not happening.” Nicole was adamantly shaking her head.

“It’s no picnic for me either, you know.”

Trinity spoke to Nicole in a no nonsense tone. “Yes it is. I trust Malachi and if he trusts Gemariah, then so do I.”

“Thanks, Cuteness!” Gemariah had the biggest shit-eatin’ grin on his face.

That only caused Trinity to roll her eyes. “Yes, he can be a pain…and full of himself…”

“Hey!!”

“…but I think he can be trusted.” Trinity ignored Gemariah and finished what she was saying.

“There you go throwing around that word again.
Tell me Rin…you trust Malachi, right?” What was Nicole getting at now, Malachi thought?

“Yes, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!!”

“Then you’ve told him about Seth?”

All the color drained out of Trinity’s face and she shut her eyes.
No, he had never heard about a Seth, but he sure as hell was going to as soon as possible. By her reaction, whoever it was, Trinity didn’t want him knowing about him.

Nicole was getting heated.
“Go on! Tell him about your stalker!”

Stalker?
What the fuck?

Yo, what is going on
?

Gemariah projected the question to him, but he sure as shit didn’t know anything.
Instead of answering back, Malachi just shrugged his shoulders to indicate that he was just as lost.

“Shut up.”
Trinity’s voice was clear but quiet.