Divine (19 page)

“
I want to take
you somewhere, if you would like to go,” he said, staring
straight ahead.

I was willing to go
anywhere with him. He had revealed so much to me, but I felt that
there was so much more to him to learn about. I was hoping I could
uncover even more amazing things about him.

“
Yeah,” I
freely agreed. “I'll go wherever you want to go. Just let me
text my mom.”

I could see the corner
of his mouth raise with a smile as I reached underneath the seat and
pulled my purse out to get my phone. By the time I finished sending
my mom the text we were already driving off toward the unknown
destination.

The wiper blades
dragged across the glass in front of us and smoothed away the soft
drizzle of the passing storm. We had been driving on the freeway for
most of the ride, but had recently exited off and made our way down a
more desolate road.

I glanced over at Jonah
and admired his masculine profile in the orange glow of the dashboard
gauges. It was too quiet, and I yearned to hear his voice fill the
space between us.

“
So,” I
began, not knowing exactly how to start, “how long have you
been a Divine?” I cursed myself immediately for asking such a
stupid question.

Jonah looked over and
smiled. “What?” he laughed pleasantly.

“
I know, that was
so stupid. People don't
become
Divines; they're born Divines.
I don't know why I asked that.”

He laughed and stared
ahead at the road, growing silent as he reached over and turned the
dial on the radio.

I had grown so
comfortable around him over the past few months, but now that I knew
he was a Divine like myself, it was like I was meeting him all over
again. I kept stumbling over my words and asking moronic questions. I
was supposed to be impressing the guy, not scaring him away with my
stupidity.

I decided to try again,
this time taking a moment to think to ensure that I had a somewhat
intelligent question. “Are your parents Divines?” I
asked, hoping the inclusion of his deceased dad in the question
wouldn't be too painful for him.

He glanced over and
nodded at me with a straight face. “Yeah. I got my eyes from my
dad. He didn't try to hide his from people, though. He said it was
because no one would be able to ask him to do anything with that kind
of ability. He was always happy, though, so his eyes were yellow all
of the time. The customers would come into the shop and feel at home
there, mostly because he was genuinely happy to help them, and they
could see that.”

I laid my head against
the head rest and watched him as he took a moment to laugh lightly in
reminiscence. He seemed relaxed and happy to be talking about his
dad, especially about a good memory. Still, I felt that there was so
much more to Jonah than he was spilling to me. I knew he got his eyes
from his dad, but I also knew that he was stronger than a normal man.
I wondered if his dad was strong, too.

He looked over at my
silence. “What?” he smiled brightly, the orange lights
illuminating his perfect teeth.

I tried to hide my
smile. “Nothing.”

“
How many times
do we have to go over this, Ash, I know when you're lying to me.”

I laughed at how right
he was.
How can he always tell when I'm hiding something?

“
Well?” he
urged, his lips closing to a small, amused smile.

I lifted my head away
from the seat and shifted toward him, pulling the strap of the seat
belt out to give me more room. “I think
you're
the one
who's hiding something,” I jokingly accused.

“
What? Why do you
say that?”

“
Well, because
you lift me up with no effort at all. It's like you're lifting up a
piece of paper or something. So, yeah, you're hiding something else
from me.”

The same look of
amusement was written across his face as he shook his head at me.
“You're crazy,” he joked, looking back at the road.

His remark made me pull
in an offended breath of air. “Hey, you have bright sparkly
things floating around in your eyes and you can lift me like a
feather and
I'm
the one who's crazy?”

He took a hand off of
the wheel and brought it to his face, laughing in amusement at what I
had said. “Oh man, you're funny.”

“
Why am I so
funny?” I laughed, half serious about my question.

“
Because it's
just the way you said it, that's all. You just made me laugh.”

“
Well I'm glad I
made you laugh. Now, quit avoiding the question.”

“
What question is
that?” he asked, glancing over at me.

“
I know you are a
Divine with the eye color thing, but, is that all you can do?”

He looked back at the
road and turned down a dirt path that led us along the oceans shore.
“Well, like you figured out, I'm really strong.”

Now we're getting
somewhere.

“
You're really
strong?”

He laughed quietly to
himself with a sideways smile. “Yeah, like,
really really
strong.”

I bit my lip and looked
over at the black ocean as we quietly drove down the dirt road. The
clouds were starting to part and I could see glimpses of the bright
moon above with it's dazzling beams that hit off of the rocky little
hills that surrounded us. “Is that all you can do?” I
asked him again, still looking at the water and the moonlight outside
of my window.

“
Well,” he
paused, “I'm also really good with water.”

I looked over and gave
him a flirtatious smile, remembering our conversation from earlier.
“Well, well, is there anything that Strong Jonah Brown
can't
do?”

“
Yeah,” he
smiled over at me, “I can't dance.”

* * *

We drove down the dirt
path, which ended up being a dead end, and stopped at a huge pile of
boulders that resembled a small mountain.

Jonah turned off his
truck and the headlights went black. “This is it,” he
said as he opened his door and jumped onto the cold, sandy ground.

I put on my sweatshirt
and scooted across the seat to his side, too afraid to get out on my
side and face the darkness alone. “It's pretty cold out here,”
I said as I jumped out and landed on the chilly sand with my bare
feet.

“
Yeah it is,”
he shivered quietly next to me. “I should grab my sweatshirt,
too.”

I stood back and
watched as he pulled on a lever that brought his seat forward, the
moons light reflecting down onto his back and revealing the contours
of muscles that flexed underneath his shirt with his every movement.

Why do you have to
put a sweatshirt on and cover up that amazing body of
yours?
Can't I just stare at you a little longer?

After a few seconds he
turned around with a black hooded sweatshirt and pulled it on over
his head. “There, that's better. You ready for a little climb?”

I looked down at my
freezing feet. “Um, well, I'm barefoot still.”

“
I know,”
he said as he reached under his front seat and pulled out a black
baseball hat. “You're just going along for the ride.”

He put his hat on and
adjusted it until it sat perfectly on his head. I had never seen him
wear a hat before; he looked strikingly sexy in it.

I hugged myself tightly
to help block the cold air that was whipping around us. “Okay,
if you think you can carry me over that huge pile of rocks, then go
ahead. I'd like to see you do that.”

“
You always have
something to say, don't you?” he smiled as he bent down and
gently took me up into his arms.

I twisted my lips,
trying to mask a smile as I stayed silent to his remark.

“
Oh, I see,”
he laughed quietly. “Now you don't have anything to say . . .”

A soft chuckled escaped
my lips as I curled into his body and he walked us through the windy
darkness toward the mountain of rocks.

A large gray stone at
the bottom was the first hurdle for us to pass. I held on tightly as
he stepped onto it and lifted us up, slowly stepping from boulder to
boulder as if it were nothing.

“
You must come
here a lot,” I said, observing how well he knew the way.

“
All the time.”

We made it over the top
and stopped at the bottom of the other side. As if being summoned by
nature, the clouds parted for another moment and let the bright moon
shine its beams of light onto the place that Jonah had brought us: a
beautiful secluded cove.

“
Here it is,”
he said into the wind.

I couldn't believe how
spectacular it was as I looked around at the private inlet and took
in its beauty. It was a small area of ocean water that met with a
beach of soft, clean sand that looked like it had never been touched
by anyone. The mountains of boulders that surrounded it blocked the
spot from view, making it even more special, like a secret hiding
place.

My feet sunk into the
smooth sand of the beach as he lightly lowered me down. “Wow
Jonah, this place is absolutely breathtaking.”

He put his hands into
the pockets of his sweatshirt and shook his head in agreement. “Yeah,
I come here all the time to think. I've never seen anyone else here
in all the years I've been coming here.” We stayed silent for a
moment and looked out at the water. “I can take you back now if
you're too cold,” he offered.

“
No, it's okay,”
I told him, not wanting to leave his secret place.

“
But your feet
are probably freezing.”

“
Yeah, but I was
wearing flip flops anyway, so if I still had them on right now my
feet would still be cold.”

“
That's true,”
he laughed.

The waves of the ocean
crashed against the rocks on the side of the cove and sent misty sea
water circling toward us. I breathed in its scent and closed my eyes,
relishing in the serenity of the moment.

“
You want to sit
down?” he asked.

“
Sure.”

We walked a few feet
down the shore and sat down on the delicate sand. I pulled my knees
up to my chest and stuck them under my sweatshirt, bringing the
bottom of it down and tucking my toes underneath the cotton fabric.
“There, that's better,” I said, feeling an instant warmth
against my feet.

Jonah sat quietly with
his arm on his knee, looking out at the merciless black ocean. He
looked like he was thinking deeply about something, which from what I
could tell, was something he did a lot of at this place.

“
So,” I cut
into his thoughts, “you got your eyes from your dad. Who did
you get your strength from?”

He looked over at me
with a soft smile and coughed into his sleeve. “My mom.”

“
Oh, wow, really?
So your mom is strong like you?”

“
Yeah,” he
nodded. “Actually, I'm a little stronger than she is. Probably
because I'm a man; I'm not sure.”

“
Hmm,” I
said, resting my mouth against my sweatshirt-covered knee.

He looked over at me,
intrigued by my tone. “What now?” he coughed.

“
Are you getting
sick?”

“
Yeah, I think
so. Don't change the subject, Ash. What?”

I let out a small laugh
through my nose and looked at the ocean. “Well, I'm pretty sure
you're strong because you carried me with basically no effort at all,
but that's not necessarily proof that you're any stronger than the
next guy.”

“
Oh, you don't
believe me, huh?” he said with a mild look of irritation.

“
No, I believe
you . . . I guess . . .”

His inviting lips
pursed in thought as he stared at me. “Okay then,” he
said as he sprung up from the sand and casually cracked his knuckles.

“
What are you
doing?”

“
I'm going to
show you how strong I
really
am.” He scanned the area
around us and then strolled over to the small rocky mountain that he
had carried me over. It was amusing to watch him look around at the
different sized boulders, apparently for one that he could pick up
without much effort.