Never (The Ever Series Book 2) (30 page)
Read Never (The Ever Series Book 2) Online
Authors: C. J. Valles
I point to my socks, and she nods before finally stepping outside. Shutting the door, I turn back to Ever.
“Mothers! It shouldn’t be that much work getting them out the door in the morning!” I say in mock frustration.
Ever smiles again as he reaches out and pulls me closer, causing my feet to slide along the hardwood floor until I’m pressed against him. My breath catches as his fingers brush my cheek, and I shiver from the heat of his touch. I stare up at him breathlessly as he pulls me effortlessly toward the loveseat. Then, with more grace than any human is capable of, he sits and, in the same motion, draws me into his lap so that my legs are on either side of his. My breathing hiccups as his hands slide slowly down to my waist.
“It’s been too long since I’ve held you,” he whispers.
I smile crookedly.
“It was just last night,” I murmur.
Yeah. I say this, but I know exactly how he feels. He smiles and brings up one hand to trace the curve of my neck.
“As I said: too long.”
We’ve been treading a fine line for the past year, both of us getting edgier as my birthday approaches. Physically, Ever has been …
careful
. Careful enough to drive me crazy. When his hand travels to the back of my neck, my eyes close. He pauses, and I savor the unnatural heat of his skin and the perfect, indefinable scent of him before his lips touch my jaw. He pulls back slightly, and my eyes snap open.
“Your birthday,” he says pointedly. “You’ve been avoiding talking about it, thinking about it—”
“Yeah, yeah. What’s the big deal? Another year closer to being ancient like you.”
I still feel like my seventeenth birthday last year was a miracle—so much so that I let it pass without making a big deal about it. My superstitious side had been convinced that making a big deal of it would have been tempting fate. And now that my
eighteenth
birthday is on top of me, I’ve become ridiculously superstitious. Part of me thinks that if I even dare to think about my birthday, it will bring destruction raining down on us.
“Wren, for my sake, please believe that this birthday is something to celebrate, not fear.”
“I’m not afraid of my birthday,” I snap, my tone touchier than I intended. “I’m afraid I won’t make it that far.”
“Do you remember what I told you?”
I frown.
“You’ve told me a lot of things.”
“Then remember only this: I will not spend forever without you, and I will not allow anything to separate us, save your wish for it.”
“I would never—”
He smiles and shakes his head.
“Just, please—have mercy on me and tell me what you would like to do to celebrate, because I will not grant you a reprieve this year. No quiet dinner at home with your mom and an elderly neighbor to mark your eighteenth birthday.”
“Hey! Last year was great, and Mr. Hannigan is younger than you are,” I tease.
And it’s true. In his mid-eighties, our next-door neighbor is several millennia younger than Ever. I sit up straight, grinning.
“Besides, in case you hadn’t noticed, thanks to the freakish number of make-up days from that snowstorm in February, my birthday now falls on the same day as senior prom, so … Problem solved! No need for a party—it’s already taken care of.”
“Wren …”
I lean forward and kiss him.
“Okay, okay. This. I would like to do
this
,” I say, imitating his formal articulation.
Ever looks thoughtful as his fingers begin tracing my collarbone.
“I have no argument with that, but it
is
your eighteenth birthday we’ll be celebrating …”
“And what does that mean?” I ask breathlessly.
“It means this past year has been the longest in my existence.”
His hands whisper across my arms, skimming past my waist before settling on my hips as he leans forward. His lips touch the skin of my neck lightly. Then his mouth is on mine, and it feels like I’m on fire. When his hands tighten and pull me toward him, I gasp. Ever growls my name, and then his lips are on mine again. He pulls me forward as his lips part mine. The surge of fire that rushes through me is instantaneous. As I wind my arms around him, our kiss deepens, his tongue tracing the inside of my upper lip. My head begins spinning from lack of air, and I manage to pull back, feeling dazed and warm.
“Wow,” I gasp. “That was …
Wow
.”
As I open my eyes, it takes a second for the look of shock on Ever’s face to register.
“
What
? Why are you looking at me like I have two heads?”
“Do you feel well?”
I think about it for a second. My pulse is hammering, I’m still flushed, and it feels like I’m floating, but that’s pretty normal after kissing Ever. On the other hand, he hasn’t let it get
that
intense before. He’s usually the one to stop before we’ve even reached a PG-13 rating.
“Yes, I feel
well
,” I laugh. “Better than well. … Wait.
Why
?”
Ever picks me up and sets me on the ground before reaching into my purse on the table behind me. He hands me my compact, but before I can even look at my reflection, I see my hand. It’s shimmering.
“What the?!”
It looks like I’ve been sprinkled with pixie dust.
I’m
glowing.
“Seriously? Am I going to sprout wings next?”
Bolting toward the stairs, I take them two at a time, and when I reach the top, I stare into the mirror. I still look like me, mostly. Just glowing, like I’m about to fly off to Neverland. And suddenly the real panic sets in. We were supposed to leave five minutes ago to meet my mom—and her new boyfriend. When I see Ever in the mirror behind me, I turn to face him in a panic.
“What am I going to do? I can’t go out like this!”
“It will be fine. Trust me.”
“Are you kidding? How can it be
fine
? I look like someone just dunked me into a vat of body glitter!”
He looks guilty—like he somehow knew this was going to happen—but he also looks certain of what he just told me.
“No one
human
will notice,” he says pointedly.
“Are you sure?”
“There’s one way to find out.”
I snort.
“
That
is not comforting.”
Ever takes my hand and leads me downstairs where I rush to put on my shoes and grab a jacket. As soon as we’re outside, I see Mr. Hannigan sitting on his front porch. I wave self-consciously.
“Never see you without that beau of yours these days,” he calls. “Young man, you’d better be treating my girl like a princess.”
“Always,” Ever smiles as he opens the car door for me.
I get in and exhale as I buckle my seatbelt. I don’t have to worry about being late; Ever will make up the time. And I’m relieved that Mr. Hannigan didn’t say anything like, “
Have you been exposed to radiation lately
?”
Now all I have to worry about is meeting my mom’s new boyfriend.
I barely notice the turns in the road as I look out the window. We’re already climbing into the West Hills. It’s cloudy today, but not raining. Still, this doesn’t mean that water won’t fall from the sky later. Shaking my head, I take a few seconds to appreciate the winding two-lane road we’re on, the untamed green around us. It makes me wonder how long it will last, or whether this will all be housing tracts and big box stores someday. Will this two-lane country road lined by trees someday be a four-lane thoroughfare with a tame grassy median, like the ones near my dad’s house?
Wincing, I instantly regret thinking of my time in Southern California. Because I can’t think of Southern California without thinking of
him
. In my peripheral vision, I see Ever glance in my direction. It’s not because he knows what I’m thinking. It’s because he doesn’t. My boyfriend
not
knowing what I was thinking used to be a rare occurrence—until I developed some control over what Ever sees in my mind. I can’t shield my thoughts all the time, but during the brief moments when I can’t help thinking of Alex, my mind remains invisible to Ever, which is empowering … and scary.
While I like having my privacy, being able to sever my connection to Ever at will is strange. And it makes me feel guilty. Mostly because my best guess as to why I can hide my thoughts is Alex himself—that somehow my feelings for him permanently altered my connection to Ever.
I wonder, though. Do my thoughts seem like bad radio reception to Ever, coming in and out randomly? He said a long time ago that it bothered him not to hear my thoughts, but I don’t think it was purely selfish on his part. It helps him know that I’m safe, and that I’m still me. Rather than
something
else—more specifically a being from his dimension—in my body.
“Are you worried about meeting Caroline’s boyfriend?” he asks finally.
I nod as I realize that maybe it’s better that my mom surprised me, rather than giving me too much time to think about brunch with her new boyfriend.
Since Ever also has more difficulty following my thoughts when I’m scared or insanely freaked out, I’m in luck right now—because I have the perfect reason to be freaking out. Glowing like a fairy isn’t cool. And meeting my mom’s new boyfriend while I’m glowing like a fairy? That’s about an eleven on the stress-o-meter.
Glancing at the speedometer, I force myself not to flinch as I remind myself for the millionth time that Ever is
not
going to kill us. Well, he’s not going to kill
me
, more accurately. He may be impervious to everything on this Earth, but he knows I’m not. Unlike him,
I
can die. When we leave the winding turns of the back roads, Ever’s speed slows considerably. We enter Portland proper, and minutes later, he slides into a space on 23rd. Taking advantage of his more human speed as he walks around to my side in full view of weekend tourists and window shoppers, I step out of the car before he can open my door, which is impossible most of the time.
Looking up at him, I grin and make my eyebrows dance. Then it registers that Ever’s not even looking at me. He’s staring across the street, his expression surprised—again. Fear creeps through me. Seeing Ever surprised twice in one day isn’t a good thing, and for a few seconds, everything slows down. Adrenaline courses through me, and I turn in the direction he’s staring, expecting to find an army of black-eyed zombies marching toward us. But when I look across the street, all I see is my mom talking to a short man with curly red hair and thick-rimmed glasses.
“Ever?”
I playfully wave my hand in front of his face, and his attention instantly shifts to me. He smiles, taking my hand in his as we begin walking toward the crosswalk. When it starts misting, I pull on my jacket, and Ever wraps his arm around my shoulder. I lean into him as we step into the crosswalk. We’re halfway across the street when my mom catches sight of us and waves.
That’s when I hear the distinctive screech of a bus braking—followed by the gut-wrenching sound of tires squealing against asphalt. As Ever spins me to his other side, I watch, wide-eyed, as the bus skids toward us, lurching to a stop just in front of his outstretched hand.
Books by C. J. Valles
Young Adult/New Adult Paranormal Romance:
C. J. Valles
For Ever
(The Ever Series, Book 1)
Never
(The Ever Series, Book 2)
Sever
(The Ever Series, Book 3)
Ever
, (The Ever Series, Alternate POV of For Ever)
C. J. Valles writing as
Alessa James
Adult Titles (18+ only):
C. J. Valles writing as
Sheila Grace
A Note from C. J.
Thanks for reading! If you would like to find out about my latest book releases, please visit:
www.cjvalles.com
and sign up for the appropriate list. (Announcements will only be made to let you know when the next book is being released.)
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Best wishes,
CJ
