Independence (7 page)

"Thank you," she whispered. I felt her body jolt as she tried to hold in a sob. She was breaking my heart all over again. "
For being so sweet to my friend."

"Of course, baby. Of course." I put my hand behind her head and pulled her to me. She tried to stop me.

"No, Caleb, I'll start crying again. Let's just go-"

"Resistance is futile." She fought her smile and rolled her eyes at me. I smiled and beckoned her back to me with my fingers. "Come here."

She sighed dramatically, but her fingers told the truth when she gripped my back and laid her cheek on my chest. I knew we had things to do, but she needed this right now. She needed my touch to refill her and calm her so she could be there for her friend with a clear head. I combed my fingers through her hair before pulling the hood on my hoodie she was still wearing up over her head. "It's cold. Ok, let's go. You all right?"

"I'll be fine when these two are safe again." She closed her eyes tight. "She almost died. I thought she
was
dead."

"We'll find Marcus, don't you worry about that," I promised and felt the rumble go through my chest. "And when we do, I'll end this like I should have done a long time ago."

She looked up at me. I expected her to be appalled, but she nodded. "And I'll be right there beside you."

I didn't argue or agree. I just held her chin between my thumb and fingers and kissed her once. Then I ticked my head toward the car and climbed into the driver's seat to find us a hotel for the night.

I couldn't tell anyone that we'd found them or that they were alive. Not yet. That sucked worse than anything right then, remembering Beck's mom's face. She deserved to know the truth, but for now, it was our little secret to bear.

As I backed out to turn around, I saw Maggie reach back to grip Beck's hand and then took her hoodie off and laid it over Beck's torso before gripping her fingers again. I cranked the heat higher and tried not to think about Maggie being cold in her camisole.

But when Maggie finally leaned over to put her head on my shoulder and fell asleep, I knew that it was done. The night had ended as well as it could have and my Maggie was spent. Her gift had saved her friends.

I just hoped that we could write off all the weird stuff from Maggie's gift with Beck as just a hallucination. If not, well, we were going to have a problem.

Maggie

Beck was trying as hard as she could. S
he leaned hard on me as we
made it up the stairs to
our hotel room. Caleb was lugging Ralph behind us in a similar manner. They were better after munching on crackers and downing some Gatorade, just tired.

There could be no hospital visit. We didn't know how closely the Watsons were keeping an eye on things. But it was without a doubt them that did this. Caleb and I both knew it in our guts.

And we weren't taking any chances.

So we lugged them to the
hotel and watched them carefully to make sure they were all right. They were talking and walking…sort of. So we assumed they would make it with a lot of rest. We put them straight to bed. It didn't matter that they were dirty.

They were asleep within a minute flat. But the sweetest thing ever? Ralph searched for her with his hands until he found her
in the sheets
and when he did, he heaved with all his strength to pull her into his chest. I felt all the relief and just everything hit me like a sledgehammer as I watched my two best friends cling to each other in sleep.
I felt my eyes well.

Then
Caleb'
s arms were
around me from behind. He moved my short hair out of the way and kissed the back of my neck. "It's over, baby," he whispered, his lips moving on my skin with each word.
"You found them. You did
good."

I nodded and turned into him. He pulled me right to the bed, our clothes on and all, and laid me in the covers. I kicked my shoes off as he kicked off his. He climbed in with me and wrapped me up just like Ralph was doing to Beck.

She was safe, he was safe.

I sighed into Caleb's chest and went right to sleep.

I was awakened with the sound of the shower. I peeked up to find myself alone in the bed.
Beck and Ralph were still passed out in the next bed.
More like sprawled like the dead. I smiled.

They were safe.

I woke with the blanket up to my chin and an unnatural warmth in the room. We never turned on the air when we came in last night. I threw the blanket off and went to turn on the air, to stir the stale room and make it easier to breath
e
. The steam pouring from under the door wasn't helping things.

I checked both Rebecca and Ralph's breathing - ridiculous, I know - and then stopped at the bathroom door. I thought about knocking. I thought about just bursting in. With my hand poised on the old brass knob, I remember
ed
straddling the line
w
ith him. I felt my cheeks pink with pleasure and a blush, too. I couldn’t
lie about that. It was all so
new, but so welcomed and my body was calm an
d inviting
it.

So I compromised. I knocked gently, but opened the door without waiting for an answer. I heard him say, "Hey."

"Hey. Couldn't sleep?" I went to the mirror and wiped it with a hand towel.

"Nah. Dad texted me and woke me up. He's…kinda pissed."

The frosted glass was obscuring my view just enough to keep me from making him out behind the door. I could tell he was washing his hair though. "What for?"

"Well, apparently, running off with the Visionary into the mountains alone isn't what is proper of the Champion of our clan." His voice was mocking. He was pissed at his dad, too. I hated that. I hopped up on the counter.

"I'm sorry. You did it for me."

"I'm not complaining. He just can't understand sometimes, especially over the phone, that I'm not a
fifteen
year old boy anymore that needs to be fed the rules of our kind at every turn. We weren't sneaking off on a getaway, we were rescuing your friends."

"I'm sorry," I muttered again.

He poked
his head out of the shower curtain
. "Don’t be.
You're the freaking Visionary. You can
do
whatever the hell you want to." He grinned. "By the way,
" he started and closed the curtain
to finish, "there's only two toothbrushes. You wanna share
one
and they can share
the other
?"

Share a toothbrush with him? I'd never even thought about that before. Did married people share toothbrushes normally? His mocking voice belted over the waterfall, "Don't over think this, baby." He poked his head out once more. "My tongue has been in your mouth. Your tongue has been in
my
mouth. We've already shared fluids. It's not a big deal."

"I know," I said and scoffed like I hadn't been worried at all. "I know that." He chuckled and shut the door once more. I unwrapped one of the cheapest toothbrushes I'd ever laid eyes on. I brushed my teeth and then wiped off the sleep and mascara gunk from under my eyes. "So what's the plan for today?"

"We'll leave as soon as they're ready and head back to my place.
They
need to see us there. They would expect us to go to my apartment. We'll just sneak them in and then figure out what to do from there. I don’t know how far their plan goes. If they are watching us or just toying with us, you know?"

I grumbled,
"When are they going to learn that they shouldn't mess with a Jacobson?"

He chuckled again and then the water shut off.
"Hand me a towel, babe?"

I grabbed one and tossed it over. He came out seconds later, dripping and grinning as he watched me. He was waiting for me to freak out like I'd done in the palace. But something had changed in me. My body was taking over in a new way. I wasn't on defense anymore. I was on
offense
. And he had better watch it or he was going to get tackled.

I walked to him across the damp floor and rubbed the hollow star o
n
his shoulder with my thumb. "What's this one for?"

He glanced at it and back
down
at me. "Uh…rebellion?" He grinned. "I wanted to get more tattoos, matching the whole moon and filigree theme for our families. Dad wasn't happy about that. Even though my own body put a tattoo on me." He rubbed his wrist. "Oh, well. He got over it. Mom was on my side with that one. He doesn’t fight with Mom for very long."

"I bet," I said an
d laughed remembering the way Peter
smacked her behind
at the beach house. "I'm sure your mom can be pretty persuasive."

He ticked his head to the shower. "You going to get in?"

I nodded. "I left the toothbrush on the sink."

Once again, if he thought I was going to cower and tell him to scram, he was wrong. I pulled my shirt off as I walked to the shower and took the rest off after I closed the door, tossing it over the top. I saw him in my peripheral and he stood there for a long time. He was thinking about the change in me. H
e didn't really understand it; w
hy the imprint in my body was all of sudden so intent on…
whatever it was
trying to do. But he was intrigued. He was thinking about our wedding night. About how he thought I was going to be scared and incredibly nervous. He had been
surprised in the best way in the car last night.

He wanted us to go forward. Always moving forward.

Our bodies were tuned to it, latched onto the idea of being completely comfortable and satisfied in the other. I had been so wrapped up with the Visionary stuff that I had fought that off somehow, and when all that seemed to fade away to a manageable amount, my body said, 'Uhuh, we're back in business.'

I
smiled and poked my head out the
shower door just like he had done. "Don’t over think this, baby," I repeated back to him and raised my eyebrows at him before shutting the door. He laughed and I heard the faucet water turn on. Soon I was done and putting back on those grungy clothes.

As soon as I opened the bathroom door, Caleb looked my way from the window. "All scrubbadubbed?"

I nodded. He walked
to me
slowly an
d put his arm around my back. His
face was inches from mine and the way he was
looking into my eyes made
my breaths increase. He started softly, not quite a whisper. "I'm glad that you're not nervous. I'm glad that you're ready." I didn't blush. Yay, a point for me
! I smiled to encourage him. It must've
,
because he cupped my face. "The last thing I wanted was for you to be scared. I expected it," he admitted, "but I didn't want that. So to know that you're just as ready as I am…" His chest rumbled and his grip tightened a bit. "That makes me very happy."

"I could never be scared with you," I realized. That was it, wasn't it? That was what had changed? I finally came to the realization that Caleb would never, ever hurt me under any circumstances and had risked himself over and over for me to prove it. In London, the hell we endured was just another stepping stone.

He nodded to everything he was hearing in my mind. "I'm so glad it finally sunk in." His grin was all masculine and smugness. It was sexy and cute and endearing all at once. "These hands," he squeezed them both on my face to make his point,
"
wi
ll never touch you without being
gentle. Unless that's not what you want
,
of course." His eyebrow lifted waiting for me to balk, but I just waited. "These arms will never hold you back, but I'll hold you as tight as you'll let me.
I can't wait for you to be all mine.
You belong to me in every way, Maggie. Mine.
" I nodded in his hands. He leaned closer and whisp
ered,
"Say it."
I didn't wait a beat. "I belong to you."
And he belonged to me.