Sleeping Beauties (3 page)

ago. “I know and I’m sorry,” she said softly, brushing back l
ong blonde strands of her hair playing in the breeze.

Byron’s eyes were red-rimmed from recent tears. “I get it, though. Maybe we are too
young to get married right now but we can still raise our baby together as a family until you are ready. See, I know that all I want is you, whatever way I can have you.”

Laurie’s eyes widened and she instinctively placed her hand on her belly. She had
put her baby son with Byron up for adoption the moment he was born all of those years ago and never looked back but here in the dream realm…what, a dream baby? This had to be the most unreal

shit she had ever experienced and she was prepared to chalk it
up to Alexander’s cruelty and simply go along for the ride. She had no clue where Byron or her son were in the real world but being them one last time was worth it.

Byron was scrutinizing her face and gestured at Seth’s SUV. “Who’s this guy?”

Laurie cleared her throat nervously. “This is Seth, a friend of, uh, Chloe.” She looked back to see Chloe giving her the hurry up signal. “We have to go, Byron. You and I can talk later. I feel like there’s a lot unsaid and I don’t want to leave things this way. You deserve an explanation.”

Byron nodded but before he could comment, Seth was
out and coming around to where they stood. “Hey, Byron,” he said, extending his hand to him. They shook hands and Seth spoke again. “Laurie, I’ll take Chloe with me to where we need to be. Maybe you and Nicola can go

with Byron to your apartment and the three of you can search
for the book.” Seth gave her a meaningful look.

Just as he had done with Chloe and Noah, Seth was giving her a second chance to say a

proper goodbye to Byron. She gave him a bright, genuine smile. “Thank you, Seth. That would be great.” She turned to Byron. “We borrowed a very important, expensive book from Seth and misplaced it. We really need to find it. Let’s go?”

“No problem. Get Nicola out and into my truck with you
and I’ll take you back to your place.”

Nicola tugged on Laurie’s arm as they walked back to Byron’
s truck. “It’s incredible that both you and Chloe get to see guys who meant so much to you. I wish I had somebody in my past who meant that much to me.”

Laurie picked up on the sadness in Nicola’s voice
and wrapped one arm around her shoulders as they walked. “Be grateful, Nic,” she said, as she teared up. “At the end of the day, it’s just a bunch of avoidable heartache.”

******

Seth

Being alone with her for the first time, Seth couldn’t think of a single thing to say. They sped along on the freeway, about ten minutes out from the storage unit in Glendale and he felt like his jaw was locked and if he did speak it would be nonsense. He admired Chloe greatly and had  from the first moment she had come to his attention when he had been

assigned to protect  the Trifecta as young teens. He had been a
ttracted to her since her prom night.

He knew how to be wise, helpful, strong, and a good pr
otector but romance had always seemed an impossible thing to master. Crazy, he mused, how he had once thought that he was above love when he was a newly born angel a little over a three hundred years before.

Chloe broke the awkward silence first and he wondered if
she, too, felt the attraction. “So, do you just live in Alexander’s sick dream realm and help people out?”

“No. I only vi
sited his dream realm again to help you and your friends. I’m also here for the Book of Secrets because it’s the key to controlling him. Once I return it to the heavens, to the angels, Alexander won’t be the master of anything.”

“Stalking and disintegrating people to dust in their dreams
is a little twisted, don’t you think?”

Seth gave her a grim smile. “A lot twisted but that’s just w
ho he is. He doesn’t just feed on spiritual energy. He feeds on fear and manipulation. These things are crucial to his survival and to him remaining the Dream King of old fables.”

“If you don’t live here all the time, where do you live?”

“I live a few miles away from your old apartment in Pasadena. My body is sleeping peacefully in my condo right now,” he answered.  “A hybrid angel’s job is to serve God and humanity on earth, sort of like a guardian angel.”

“Were you once completely human and then you
died?” Chloe looked genuinely fascinated and his heart beat a little faster.

“No. Never totally human. I was created by God with human
stuff as well as with angelic abilities before Alexander took his first breath as a baby over two hundred years ago. All of this was done to teach heavenly beings about the human experience. I can’t die but I can feel pain. My heart can break like anybody else’s. I’m not impervious to the pain of a broken relationship or the agony of seeing humans die.”

It was completely silent in the SUV as Seth exited t
he freeway off-ramp and made a right turn, towards the mountains. He dared to look over at Chloe, who was peering out of window and wearing a big smile.

“I haven’t been here in so many years. I’d forgotten how beautiful this part of California is.”

Seth pulled into the long concrete driveway of the storage unit rentals lot simply named U-Store and looked at Chloe, who directed him to go around to the next row of storage units. She seemed to have little trouble remembering which one was theirs and pointed to a unit at the very

end of the row.

“I’m sure this is the one,” she said, as he stopped the SUV.  The both got out and came to stand in front of the locked garage door of the unit. Seth waved his hand and the old lock fell away. He lifted the garage door and flipped the light switch on the wall. Chloe followed him inside and a small smile curved her full lips.

“Look at all of this stuff that we ended up selling in the real world.” She ran on
e hand over a large, dusty, sturdy wood table. “Most of the stuff…well, we collected a lot of junk but things like this table….” Her voice trailed off as she looked around the storage unit.

Seth was content to just watch her wander around but he knew tha
t the clock was ever ticking a countdown to sunrise. He needed the book in hand long before then so they had better get moving. He cleared his throat to catch her attention. “Let’s start going through some of thes
e
boxes.”

Chloe nodded and the two began the daunting task of sorting through the packed boxes.

******

Laurie knew within five minutes of being alone
with Byron in her old bedroom, searching her closet that she had made a mistake in letting Byron and their child go. She was almost sure and extremely hopeful that he was really sleeping somewhere in the world and in this nightmare realm with her. He sat on the floor going through box after box while she did the same seated on the bed. Nicola had begun her search for the mysterious book in her old bedroom across the hall.

“Where is your mind, girl?” Byron flashed her a big smile
as she jumped a bit, startled. She had been lost in thought, absently rifling through the same box for the past few minutes.

“Are you thinking about the baby?”

Laurie nodded, her smile small and secretive. “I think it’s a boy.”

“Boy or girl, this baby is part of us and I’m already in love
.” He handed her another small box. She sat on the bed with him doing most of the work, as Byron had insisted in her delicate condition. “And, I’m still in love with you.”

“It’s not that I didn’t…don’t…love you, Byron,” Laurie sa
id with a sigh. “I don’t think that I even know who I really am at this point, let alone ready to be a good wife and mother to him.”

“I know who you are. You’re my Laurie – good heart, mo
re intelligent and steady than most people our age, and resilient. I couldn’t ask for more.”

Tears watered her eyes and, in the next moment, she wa
s reaching for Byron, overcome with stark emotion. She knew that she didn’t want anyone else and if God granted her wish, she

would search the world for him when they woke up. Byron caught
her in his arms and kissed her with so much passion she could barely breathe.

He parted her lips with his tongue, caressing her hair and stro
king her back. He leaned her back on the bed, moving his hand down her thigh. She broke the kiss.

“We belong together, don’t we?”

Byron nibbled her earlobe. “I knew that if I backed off, you would see that.”

Clothes came off in a flurry and soon, she was straddling
him wearing not a stitch. She marveled at the perfection of his body, his smooth dark brown skin covering his defined muscles.

He was hard beneath her, resting at the juncture between her t
highs. She pushed down, taking him inside of her slowly, letting out a deep breath. This was her familiar territory.

He cupped her soft breasts in his large hands, stroking the nipples until they stood out.

She rode him hard and fast in response, resting her hands on his chest. He grabbed her hips, moving her at a slower pace until they both finished, Laurie collapsing on him as the orgasm

rippled through her body. She glanced over at the clock on her nightstand. Four hours to sunrise. 

“This was…wonderful, but we really need to find that book,” Laurie said breathlessly.

“We left Nicola looking for it all alone in her room.” She kissed
the tip of  Byron’s nose as he cradled her slight baby bump in his hands. “We’ll pick this up again later.”

******   

“This is beyond frustrating,” Chloe commented, her tone both impatient and weary. Seth turned away from the box he was searching to nod at her in response. Boxes, boxes, so many damn boxes. Just when she thought that the previous box was the last one, Seth uncovered yet

another one. She suddenly dropped the box she had just search
ed and kicked it fiercely. She covered her face with both hands, trying to hold back angry tears. “I’m going to die. I accept that now.”

Seth put the box in his hands on the wood table and quietl
y went to her. He embraced her tightly. “Don’t write your future so grim. You will not die, Chloe. I will not let you die here in Alexander’s mad kingdom.”  He moved her back, reaching down with one hand to gently wipe

away her tears.

“Thank you for giving me the chance to say a real goodbye to Noah. That was very kind.”

The corner of Seth’s lips lifted in a half- smile. “Do
n’t give me more credit than I deserve. I’m not as altruistic as you think. If you knew my other motivation for helping you bury your dead ex, you would probably be disgusted with me.”

Chloe shook her head as she looked up at him with brigh
t eyes. “I have gotten to know you better than you think, Seth. You could never disgust me. I’m listening- tell me what your true motivation was.”

Their eyes locked and Chloe’s heart dipped inside of her c
hest as his intense gaze swept over her face, seemingly cataloguing every feature. Her tongue ran across her moist lips and his eyes followed that movement. She was instantly overcome with feminine knowing. Seth wanted her and his interest went far beyond duty to protect. She stroked his face tenderly with her fingers. She could feel his taut body shaking slightly. He closed his eyes for a moment.

“Ah, Chloe. You already know, don’t you?”
Without opening his eyes, he kissed her forehead. “This is so not a good idea. I’m only half human and I can’t just ignore my angelic side. If I took you right now, I would never be satisfied with that one time.”

“And you think that I would be?” Chloe demanded, clutching his broad should
ers. “Seth, I have wanted you from the first moment I woke up in this hell and saw you. I may not even survive this ordeal and I don’t want to die without being with you. If I do survive, you go back to

the heavens and I go back to my lonely little world with the boyf
riend who I don’t love. Having the memory of making love with you would make me a little less lonely.”

The dam broke inside of Seth and, in the next moment, he h
auled Chloe against his strong body and kissed her roughly. She responded immediately, parting her soft lips and sliding her tongue in his mouth. His hands cupped and caressed her bottom cheeks as he grinded against her.

Breaking the kiss for a moment, he swept everything off of the
wood table with one arm stroke and pushed her back on to the surface.

As their tongues played together, Chloe pulled at his t-shirt
impatiently. Seth took his cue from her and lifted it over his head, tossing it to the floor. She drank in his hard, muscled chest, running her fingertips from his shoulders down to his groin right above his jeans. She gasped as

his tongue stroked the side of her neck, right under her
ear. His hands were busy, too, discovering the softness of her breasts beneath her dress.