Independence (3 page)

"Baby," I pleaded. "This wasn't your fault."

"You're only saying that because of the imprint. It won't let you be mad."

"I'm saying it because it's true," I said, hard and unrelenting. "Beck isn't your fault. Rodney…isn't your fault." I fought the clog in my throat. "Maggie, things happen. Some things just happen sometimes and no one is to blame and no one could have stopped it."

She didn't look completely convinced, but I felt her fingers move a little on my face.
She let them slide away
and then looked at Jen. "Is Bish packing?"

"Yeah," she answered. "He's got Maria helping him." She smiled. "Those two get along pretty well so far."

"He adores her," Maggie confirmed. "And vice versa." She looked at me and cleared her throat. "We should probably pack, too."

"All my stuff is here," I said. "I moved it all from upstairs. I'll start putting stuff in the suitcases."

She nodded and I tur
ned to do just that. She and Jen
spoke for a second before Maggie closed the door.
She stayed there a bit and waited. I'd known that she was putting on a front the past few days. She was trying to be happy and strong for everyone, but with Haddock and Rodney
and now
Beck, it was just too much for her. But she was acting like she didn't want my comfort at all.

Was it her idea of self punishment because she blamed herself, or did she honestly think I was upset with her and just couldn't face m
y anger because of the imprint?

I glanced over at her to
find her watching me as I threw
a wad of t-shirts in
to
the duffle bag. "You all right?"

She nodded. "I'm fine, Caleb. Just…" She shook her head. "I'm just ready to get there. See Mr. and Mrs. T."

I nodded at that. "I'll get you there as soon as possible. We'll go
to your Dad's straight from the airport, and then I'll take you to Beck's.
"

"Thank you."

I decided to let the awkward behavior between us go and not mention it further. She needed to process what was going on. I could wait.

So we packed up everything in silence and
I tamped down on the protective vibe racing through my veins. I dragged our bags and let her carry her purse
and my hoodie for the plane
as she walked in front of me.

We were
almost down the hall
when Jo
nathon turned the corner,
running into Maggie.
He gripped her arms to keep her upright and even thoug
h he was just being a gentleman
, I saw red at the sight of his hands on her skin.

Maggie quickly pulled back and I wondered if it was because she felt my annoyance or she felt the angry buzz her skin makes when someone touched her
t
hat wasn't me. I frowned. And she didn't even want me to touch her right now.

She jerked her gaze to me. "That's not true."

Crap. I forgot to block her. "Yes, it is," I argued softly. "This is stupid, Maggie. You don't need to punish yourself."

"I'm…not."

"You're not?" I asked and she paused before shaking her head and refusing to look at me. I let our bags fall from my fingers to the floor and went to stand in front of her. "It wasn't your fault. None of this was."

Jonathon
just stood there, his eyes
moved
back and forth like he was watching volleyball. I ignored him.

"
Maggie."

"You can't say that Beck and Ralph aren't my fault," she said and finally looked up at me.

"Yes, I can. Because it's mine."
If my beautiful little Maggie wanted to play martyr, two could play that game.

"No," she said
,
confused. "How could it be your fault?"
"Because I touched you
and made you mine
." I felt my jaw clench at the truth of those words. Maggie
's life hadn't been exactly ros
y since I'd dragged her into my world.

"Don't say that," she pleaded. "Don't start this again."

"Don't start what? Don't start saying that if it weren't for me that you and your family would be safe and normal like they used to be?"

"
Caleb…" Her lips quivered again and I knew I'd won. I stopped everything and pulled her elbows so she'd come
in
to my arms. Her skin was soft and sweet smelling and gulp inducing. I took her chin in my fingers and made her look up at me. I wrapped my other arm around the small of her back to keep her there.

"Maggie
Camille," I breathed and felt her breath catch. "Stop this right now. It's no more your fault than it is mine. Stuff happens. It sucks, it sucks so bad and, baby…I'm dying for you. I wish I could stop this, but I can't." I let my thumb sweep across her bottom lip.

She sniffed once before wrapping her arms around my neck. I exhaled
as her skin touched mine
and gripped her
to my chest tightly
. I felt good for bringing her down from the ledge.
It was my job to protect her, even when it was from herself.

I could feel her breaths on my neck and had to hold myself back as I always did. I opened my eyes to find Jonathon still standing there. I ticked my head toward the hall to tell him to get lost. He cleared his throat and did just that.

I leaned back to rest us against the wall, but it was the stairwell door instead. I heard my "Crap!" but it was too late. I held her tighter as we tumbled back to the floor and landed on my butt with her in my lap. She was giggling before I could even get what had happened.
I chuckled, too, and smoothed her hair back. I toyed with a piece between my fingers. It was so stinking soft. "Woops."

She laughed and put her hand on my cheek, shifting to straddle me on the floor. "Silly boy," she said softly.

I gripped her hips and tried to remember that she needed me because she was upset. But Maggie on my lap… My imprinted body was done with being the good guy in th
is department. It wanted
her. All of her.

She sobered a bit then and licked her lips. "I'm sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry, baby. That's the point." I took her face in my hands. "It was a tragedy, not a vision
that
you could stop."

I saw a flash of worry and the vision of Bish and Jen play through her mind before she said, "I know."

"You're overwhelmed by everything. I understand. Just don't push me away when all I want to do is be here."

She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to my chin. She looked up at me from under her lashes and I
barely suppressed my groan. S
he leaned forward to kiss me where I wanted her. I let my hands travel to her hips
, tugging her a tad closer,
and then told them to stay.

Stay, hands, stay right there.

The kiss was over too quickly
for me
, but I knew that Maggie was still hurting. I rubbed her soft arms, letting her be calmed and eased back into reality, until she was ready to go.
I helped her stand and we
turned the corner only to run into Jonathon again. "Dude?" I said in annoyance.

"Wait," Maggie said and I saw it all play out in her mind. She took Jonathon's arm and peeked around the corner, all business.

She was the Visionary and she was
so freaking
good at it.

Then
I saw who Maggie was waiting for. Rodney's significant, the girl who Maggie had talked to and learned what she was, cam
e around the corner with
a book
in her hands. She was fully engrossed in her reading and didn't look up. Mag
gie stopped and pushed Jonathon
in front of her.
The girl looked up just in time to see him and jump
ed back to avoid the collision and giggled in embarrassment.
But Jonathon, the ever clingy guy, grabbed onto her arms to keep her from falling.

And the imprint started with bursts and shivers as I watched in Maggie's mind
,
and we held onto each other and remembered our own imprint. The day I damned the girl I wanted so badly and got the love of my life all in the same moment.

The day she became my girl.

I whispered how amazing she was into her ear. She had to have grown tired of my saying it, but I couldn't stop. Maggie was torn between a fulfillment of watching her subjects follow their destiny and the sadness going on in her own life. I held her tighter and felt her gratitude.

"I'll always be here to hold you together," I told her with conviction.

She turned and pulled me down to her. And as I let her control me and my lips, my hands found their favorite spot. Her hips. And I told them to freaking stay.

Stay, hands, stay right there.

Maggie

I snuggled into Caleb's hoodie as we sat on the plane. We hadn't even taken off yet. Bish and Jen were in the seats in front of us, and Fiona and Dad were in the seats in front of them. Peter had purchased us all First Class tickets and I felt bad about that. But not bad enough to actually feel it. I was too busy feeling guilty over Ralph and Beck.

But good things wer
e happening around us. Maria
stayed with Peter and Rachel so Bish and Jen were, for lack of a better phrase, all over each other. It was gross and sweet all at the same time. She was turned in her seat toward him and kept sweeping his hair back as they talked. She was telling him about her job and trying to avoid any talks of houses and what they were going to do. For now, they'd stay with Peter, but soon… I didn't want to think about it either. Bish didn't have any money, it wasn't a secret, but it was Virtuoso tradition for the groom to buy his wife a house, to have a place to take her home to after the wedding.

I sighed and pushed it away. And then I
looked
away when Bish took her jaw in his hand and kissed her. Deeply.

I buckled up and turned into Caleb's side. I fully intended to sleep the whole way. I needed all the rest I could get to be ready to meet up with Beck's parents. Caleb lounged and lifted the armrest so I could lay against his chest. His fingers brushed my neck repeatedly as he tried to fill me with his calm.

I slept so good it was unreal.

When I opened my eyes, we were back in Tennessee and I rubbed my eyes
and squinted at the woman who insisted on blaring the news so loudly.
Caleb and I made our way past Bish and Jen to Dad. He and Fiona were just as new as Bish and Jen, but less obvious. My dad had always been sweet to my mom, but at home. I couldn't imagine him as the PDA type, so it didn't surprise me that they just held hands as they made their way out of the seats. I smiled at him and he smiled back. Man, life was different. I was headed home with not one
,
but two sets of newly imprinted significants, and we'd left one new set at the palace.

Things were turning around for the Virtuoso and turning upside down for me. I tried not to think about it too much. I didn't want Caleb to feel even more guilty.

When we made it back to Dad's house,
I stumbled in my shock as I went
inside. Dad had removed all of the things that my mother had used to make it a 'home'. Pictures were off the walls and replaced with ones of just us, without
her.

The frilly lamps and silly knick knacks were thrown out. All that was left was a normalcy that I was grateful for. Dad really had moved on, and just in time it seemed. It would have probably been awkward for Fiona to come home to a house filled with the face of another woman.

I looked at him. "You were pretty busy while I was gone, huh?"
"You're not upset are you? I saved you a few things, put them on your bed. And this…" He pointed to the large mirror they'd found at the antique place together. "I thought you might want that…for you and Caleb's place."