Crossroads (24 page)

He laughed again, turning his head
slightly and asked, “Do you wish I did?”

Shocked by his response, I fumbled my
words. “I…umm…no…of course not,” I said as I quickly put on his
T-shirt. It was more like a dress on me, but wearing something that
belonged to him made me feel that much closer to him. “You can turn
now,” I said.

“
A bit big, but it will
do. Kind of sexy, if you ask me,” he said with a wink.

His comment was so unexpected that I
flushed. He started gathering all his belongings from the blanket
and placed them neatly near the tree. Then everything disappeared.
Stunned, I looked at him with my eyes bulging out and my mouth
dropped to the floor. I had just witnessed something else he could
do.

He winked and shrugged his shoulders.
He looked so cute with his innocent smile that I couldn’t help but
stare at him.

“
I want to take you to
another place. Let’s go, it’s not that far,” he said excitedly as
he broke the stare. “I’ll race you.”

“
Race me? That’s not
fair.” He had already started running before I had the chance to
tell him I preferred walking. “You’re too fast,” I said, running
after him.

He ran in circles around me like a
bullet train; he was so fast that it caused a cool breeze to toss
my hair from side to side. It helped me cool off a bit. How I
wished I could run with him. He was my Superman, whether he
understood what that meant or not.

“
Show off,” I said out
loud, laughing.

Gradually he slowed his pace, and we
were walking together. It didn’t matter where we went or what we
did because I was with him. Every step, every touch, every minute
was a gift, and I was thankful.

Chapter 15

“
We’re almost there,”
Michael said, smiling.

“
I didn’t ask you if we
were almost there,” I replied, knowing he was teasing
me.

“
I know, but I wanted to
beat you to it.”

“
Fine, you got me. I was
just about to ask,” I said playfully.

He had offered many times to carry me,
but I didn’t want to look helpless. I never wanted to be a “damsel
in distress” kind of girl. But I was so glad to hear that we were
close; I didn’t think I could take another step. A sudden burst of
energy hit me as the sound of a waterfall came closer and closer. I
could almost feel its cool mist.

He’s taking me to a waterfall, I
thought to myself. When we reached our destination, he held my hand
as we climbed some oversized rocks. Right in front of me was a
single waterfall. It was not as big as I had imagined from the
sound, but regardless, it was refreshing and spectacular. The roar
of the water falling made me feel vulnerable to the power of its
strength. As the water crashed to the bottom, the mighty waves
lessened and trickled peacefully. There were many trees, rocks, and
bushes that surrounded the waterfall; it would have been difficult
to find this place, even for an experienced hiker.

“
Sit here!” Michael waved
at me.

He sat at a distance from where I was
standing, dangling his feet into the water. As he kicked higher, I
could see his jeans were rolled up neatly. I was so preoccupied
with admiring my surroundings that I hadn’t noticed he left my
side. Michael splashed some water with his feet; it looked just
like the crystal-clear turquoise water you see in vacation
magazines. The heat and the atmosphere brought on such temptation;
I wanted to jump in, even though I was not a good swimmer. Wanting
to feel the water, I kicked off my shoes and headed toward him. I
didn’t realize how hot the path was. I looked like I was doing the
chicken dance, jumping up and down as the heat shot through my bare
feet. He laughed so hard watching me that it nearly threw him off
balance.

“
You think that’s funny?”
I said, giggling. I plunked myself down at a distance and started
kicking and splashing water at him.

“
Okay, okay, you win!” he
said, sounding defeated.

We sat there enjoying the peace, when
curiosity kicked in, and I began to ask him more questions. I
remembered Michael telling me that he had no memories of his life
on Earth, but he also told me that he had glimpses of flashbacks
that made no sense. I wanted to ask him again, just in case there
was something he could remember, but didn’t want to share with me
before. So I thought to rephrase my question.

“
Do you remember your
parents?” I asked, then instantly regretted asking that question
for fear that I may be touching on a sore topic. He may even wonder
if I had memory loss too.

He didn’t look at me, nor did he act
surprised by the question. He paused for a few seconds. “No, I
don’t at all,” he said blankly, staring out into the
distance.

“
Does that bother you? I
mean, that you don’t remember much of your past?”

“
It did, but I’ve learned
to live with it and try to hold onto the memories that I have now.
I’m making new memories with you.” He looked at me and gave me a
warm smile. “Every memory and every day that you live should be
cherished. It is a gift. We all take it for granted, until it’s too
late. We don’t appreciate what we have and always want what others
have. The grass is not always greener on the other
side.”

“
Do you know if your
friends remember anything from their past?”

“
Not at all.”

“
Not even a little
glimpse?”

The look in his eyes told me he was
thinking about something.

“
Perhaps, I’m assuming,
but maybe they do. Davin had the urge to smoke. It must have come
from somewhere. This is our first time being down here since we
were taken; I guess time will tell if it will bring back our
memories, but I doubt that it will. I don’t question the Royal
Council. They know what they are doing. But who knows?”

I felt horrible. No memories of their
parents, friends, or life on Earth. This wasn’t fair, but then I
remembered Michael saying that life isn’t fair. You take it for
what it is, and you make the best of it.

“
If life is a gift for
humans, what is it for alkins?” I asked.

He turned to me quickly and looked
deeply into my eyes. As he gently caressed my hair, I closed my
eyes to control my heart from racing, but it didn’t work. So I
opened them slowly, only to see Michael’s eyes locked on
mine.

“
I don’t know about the
others, but I found mine. You are my gift. I never dreamt that I
would feel this way. You make me feel human again. You make me
smile. You make me laugh. I’ve broken some Divine Commandments, but
I don’t care because it doesn’t feel wrong to me. How could
something that feels so right be so wrong? I will treasure every
second we have together, even if it’s for a short period of time.
These happy memories you are giving me are worth it all. I promise
to protect you and even lose my soul if I have to. I will not lose
you to Aden or anyone else. If that happens, I will have lost
myself.”

I was completely speechless. All I
could do was throw myself at him. He immediately responded, and we
were locked in the sweetest embrace. Neither one of us moved as we
sat there, listening to the sounds of the waterfall.

Slowly, I could feel him leaning in
closer, his face pressing against my hair. “I love the way you
smell,” he murmured as he dug his head deeper. I felt his sweet
breath on my ear as his lips lightly caressed it. Then his lips
moved up to my eyes. “I love the way you look at me. I love the way
your eyes flirt with mine.” Slowly, his lips moved down to my lips.
“I love the way your lips feel against mine. You are all that I
need. And it’s extremely difficult to control myself around you.
This feeling is too powerful. I’m under your spell,” he whispered.
“Tell me…to stop.”

Feeling breathless from his words, I
whispered, “I…I…can’t.” I lost all my sense of reason as he
continued to press his face against mine. He wasn’t fighting it,
like he did the last time, and I wasn’t about to stop him. I
managed to mumble a few incoherent words. “If you
can’t…I...”

Before I could finish my sentence, his
lips had already conquered mine. Gently, softly, they moved in
unison. He pressed deeper, and our tongues moved in ways I never
knew possible. I didn’t realize we were standing until his wings
enclosed us in complete darkness. I felt weak as his hands moved
inside my shirt. Quivering from his touch, every part of me
awakened. He glided his hand down my spine, to the small of my back
and then stopped from going down any further. Tingling sensations
ran through me wildly, and I was enraptured by his touch; I wanted
even more of him. I couldn’t get enough.

My hands tenderly ran up the smooth,
strong chest that I’d wanted to touch for so long, down to his
muscular arms, and then met at the fingertips, where they
intertwined perfectly. “Don’t stop,” I whispered as I guided his
hand down a little lower. Our bodies were pressed intensely, and
the only thing between us was my bra and my sweat shorts. I had no
recollection of how my shirt was taken off. He pulled my right leg
up to his hip and wrapped it around him. Slowly he lowered me and
gave me tender kisses down my neck. Arching my back, moaning with
intense pleasure, I forgot everything outside our cocoon. Nobody
was around to stop us. How far would we go?

“
Hello there, you two
lovebirds! What are you doing in there?” The voice came from the
direction of the waterfall.

Startled by Davin’s voice, our breaths
still heavy, we stopped and calmly fixed ourselves to look
presentable. Michael was in control this time and opened his wings
slowly, so I wouldn’t lose my balance. “Impeccable timing as
usual,” Michael muttered under his breath.

Flushed with embarrassment for getting
caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to be doing, he said
loudly with slight irritation in his voice, “Hello there yourself,
peeping Tom. How long were you there eavesdropping?”

Davin leaped from the top of the
waterfall and landed right between us. “Don’t worry, not long, just
long enough to be disgusted. Actually, it was more like rated G
since I couldn’t see what was happening inside. I’m sure you were
discussing something important and not doing things I would do with
a beautiful woman.” Davin arched his brows and faced me. “Sorry,
just having fun with Michael. I missed him too much.”

“
I didn’t miss you,”
Michael said jokingly to Davin.

“
Yeah, I wouldn’t miss me
either,” Davin said, chuckling.

Davin was about to reach for Michael
and give him a hug when he stepped back, looked at my T-shirt, and
looked at Michael. “Whoaaa! Claudia stole your shirt?”

I looked at what I was wearing and
immediately blushed. I had forgotten I was wearing Michael’s
T-shirt.

“
You talk too much,”
Michael said and pushed Davin playfully.

Then he was no longer shirtless. I
blinked my eyes in surprise to witness a magical moment.

Davin pushed back. “Ready to leave?
You’ve been here for quite some time. They were worried about you.
I told everyone you were fine, but Alexa Rose begged me to come and
get you.”

“
There is one more thing
I’d like to do with Claudia,” he said. He grabbed my tennis shoes,
helping me slip them on.

I was extremely touched by his
sweetness. Even though he told me that he cared for me, it was his
actions that spoke louder than his words. It was the simple, caring
things he did that made me crazy for him.

“
We’ll be right back,”
Michael said to Davin.

Before I even had a chance to ask him
where we were going, his wings fanned open in a flash. Michael
lifted me off the ground, and I started screaming at the top of my
lungs. It was like riding a roller coaster, only faster.

“
Hold on tight! You know I
wouldn’t let you go!” he said as we continued to fly straight up to
the sky. “Open your eyes, Claudia…fly with me,” he said.

I didn’t realize my eyes were closed
and immediately opened them. That’s when I began loving every
moment of this rush. What an amazing feeling it was to fly. I
completely let myself go. I was one with him and one with the wind.
We looked like two birds gliding across the sky. It was almost the
same sense of freedom I felt when I first drove my car, but this
was a million times better.