Sparked (22 page)

“And your brother’s just going to help me? A Murphy?”

“He’s not unreasonable. If he saw what I just saw …,” Clayton’s voice trailed off. He seemed unable to finish the thought.

Cora sighed. There was no convincing him, no making him understand. He was so used to things being solved so easily. He had never come up against anyone like her father, like Butch. They were conniving, manipulative. They’d find a way—some way—to destroy her and win. And putting Bethany through all that? Just to lose her forever? She couldn’t risk it.

“No,” she said. It was all she could muster. Didn’t he realize how much she wanted to go, wanted to leave home forever? How difficult it already was for her to stay? No. He couldn’t possibly. They were too different.

She had to do it. She had to do it now.

“This isn’t working,” she said.

“What do you mean?” he asked, but his glance told her that he understood exactly what she was saying.

“Don’t you see? My family doesn’t want us to be together. And I can’t imagine yours is any more supportive, are they?”

She wasn’t about to tell him what his mother said. She could protect him from at least that.

Clayton was silent next to her.

“See? It’s a mess. Do you really think it’s worth all the pain we’re causing everyone?”

“Don’t talk like that.”

Cora braced herself as Clayton rounded a mountain switchback. “I’m serious. We both knew, didn’t we? That it would turn out like this? We’ve just been fooling ourselves. It’s better to end it now.”

“I don’t accept that,” Clayton said.

“This is my decision,” she said. “It’s not up to you.”

“You don’t want that. I know you don’t. And I won’t let you throw this away just because our families disagree. There’s a way to fix this.”

Clayton veered sharply and came to an abrupt stop. They were surrounded by tall pines, by midnight pressing in on them.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a box. “I got you something.”

“You said you wouldn’t. You promised.”

“Just hear me out,” he said, opening the lid and pulling a necklace away from its bed of soft, black velvet.

Cora’s breath caught in her throat. It was gorgeous. She reached for it without thinking, drawn by the sparkle of the sapphire and the sheen of pearls. She stroked the delicate gold chain, her heart sinking with the realization that she could never, ever wear it.

“Please put it on,” he said. “For me.”

“I can’t take this,” she said, her breath short. “I just can’t. I’m a Hollis, not a Murphy, and I’m not going to take advantage of you. Especially not now.”

“Oh, Cora.” He closed the box and let it drop to the floor in his desperation to grab her hands in his. “I didn’t understand before—about your family, about everything you have to put up with. All I really considered were my own troubles. You don’t have to take it. I want to give you everything, but I would never want to make you feel ashamed of taking it. And I’m so, so sorry. You must think I’m the most selfish person you’ve ever met. But will you just let me see you in it? Just for a moment?”

She didn’t know what to say. She desperately wanted to try it on, feel it against her skin. 

He didn’t wait for an answer. He took the necklace from her and leaned in close to fasten it around her neck, skimming her skin lightly with his fingers as he brushed aside her hair. 

Cora could hardly stand this. If she didn’t do it fast, she was going to lose her nerve.

“We can’t do this,” she pleaded.

But then he reached up and turned his rearview mirror to face her, to
show
her. Her own image made her stop. Even with her red-rimmed eyes she looked different, regal. The necklace transformed her somehow.

“This is how I see you, Cora. Just like this. A woman who deserves to be treated with respect, who deserves to be given beautiful things. A woman with so much potential it hurts to watch it wasted. A woman who can be whoever she wants to be.”

Cora could hardly breathe. He took her hands in his.

“That’s the woman I want to introduce to my parents. I know if they met you—if they gave you a chance—they would see you exactly as I do.”

But Cora knew that wasn’t true. She knew exactly what his parents thought of her. Good, maybe. But not good enough.

“Please stop,” she said.

“No. I don’t want to hide anymore. I want us to be out in the open. Your family already knows, and so does mine. They need to see—everyone needs to see—that I want to be with you, not hide you away like you’re a shameful secret. Because you’re not, Cora. You’re everything. And I’ll do whatever I can to protect you, no matter what happens. I’ll do whatever you ask, handle it however you want. Just please, Cora. Please don’t ask me to take you back to that house.”

“Clayton—”

Cora looked out into the night sky. She couldn’t stand to look into his eyes anymore. It was only then she realized they had parked near the cliffs over the lake. They were at the spot where Clayton had been parked just a few short days ago, when he had seen her under water. It gave her an idea. 

She knew a way to convince him. Maybe the only way.

She got out of the car, headed toward the path. It was dim inside the trees—the moonlight barely poking through the branches over her head—but she had walked this path many times before. His car door slammed behind her. 

“Where are you going?” he asked. “Can’t we just talk about this?”

But Cora had nothing else to say. Words wouldn’t work. He wasn’t listening. She unbuttoned her dress, pulled it over her head. She thought about the red swimsuit hidden under her mattress. Remembered she was still wearing the necklace. 

“Cora, what’s going on?”

She kicked off her shoes. The breeze coming down the mountain cooled her, helped her focus.

Clayton caught up, touched her shoulder, his voice as gentle now as his words. “Talk to me. Please.”

“Are you coming?” she asked.

He scanned her face, seemed to consider. Then he pulled his shirt off. She tried not to remember what his chest felt like under her fingers.

He kicked off his shoes, unbuckled his belt. She hadn’t thought about this part, about how hard it would be to see him like this—so intimately—one last time. She turned away, walked faster. Finally, she reached the cliff’s edge. 

Clayton met her there, and she took his hand.

“Ready?” she asked, clutching the necklace at her throat. She couldn’t bear to take it off. Not yet.

“Always,” he said.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Cora

They plunged down, down, down, the air sailing past them as they plummeted toward the glassy surface. It was so still, so perfect, like they were diving right into the middle of the moon.

They slid into the water more than hit it, the cold stinging Cora into an icy awareness of everything around her. Cora couldn’t see above her head, but it felt like their entrance was so smooth they hadn’t even made a splash. It was as though the water just accepted them—folded over them without a ripple.

Cora looked at him one last time, savored the moment before it would be over forever—his face in the shaft of moonlight filtering through the darkness of the deep, the warmth of his hand on hers amidst so much cold.

She knew what she had to do. Still holding Clayton’s hand, she commanded the water to part over their heads.

The lake opened like the zipper on a dress until their heads were free to the air and bathed in moonlight. Cora’s power had created a ten foot deep canyon inside the lake that cradled them, at least a hundred feet of water still beneath their floating bodies.

Just to be sure no one who happened to wander by the cliffs above them could see, Cora closed a ceiling over top of them so that they were inside a bubble of air. It was essentially the same thing she’d done the day Clayton had pulled her out of the water, only on a much larger scale. She had gotten stronger. She had been getting stronger every day.

“Holy hell,” Clayton said, his voice raspy and deep. It echoed off the walls of water like they were in a cathedral. Moonlight made the walls shimmer like glass around them. He waded in a slow circle as he took it all in. Then he looked back at Cora.

She couldn’t even look at him, couldn’t face what he would think, the judgment in his eyes, the fear. “Now you know. We can never be together, Clayton. I’m a freak,” she said.

Incredibly, he laughed. She was confessing her biggest secret to him, and he was laughing?

“I knew it!” he shouted gleefully. “I
knew
you had powers. I just didn’t know how powerful you really were.”

“You … you knew?”

He plunged his hand into the wall beside him, pulled it out again. He looked above them, around them. He floated to his back and kicked at the water at his feet.

“This is amazing. It’s unbelievable. It’s—hell, Cora—it’s the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen!”

Then he was kissing her. Those strong fingers wound into her hair, his wet, hard chest pressed to her, his mouth engulfing hers.

Cora didn’t understand. Why wasn’t he running away? Why wasn’t he screaming at her, calling her names? Could he actually be accepting what she really was?

She met his kiss with confusion. But as his hands drew her closer she lost herself in it, lost herself in him. He was so warm, so strong. It was so hard to keep her guard up around him. She wanted to melt into him, be in his arms forever. All she could think about was how good it felt to be touched by him, to touch him back. At that moment—deep in his kiss—there wasn’t room for anything else.

She realized it a second too late, heard it before she saw it. She had lost her concentration. The water came crashing down around them, closing in over their heads in an icy flood before they had a chance to take in a breath. Instinctively, she clutched the necklace to her heart to keep it safe.

He held her through the crash as the force of the water sent them deeper and deeper. Her lungs were screaming for air, but there was none. The pressure of the water that deep pressed against them, causing her head to ache. But he kicked hard, pulling her up with him. She kicked too until they broke the surface again—gasping for air and gripping each other tighter than ever before.

“I’m sorry,” she said, coughing, sucking in lungs full of air. “I’m so sorry.” He would certainly hate her now, see the danger that her power could bring.

But again, he surprised her. He whirled her around in the water, spinning like they were on a dance floor. Then he kissed her forehead, her cheeks, her eyelids, her neck.

“You’re amazing,” he whispered against her skin. “Amazing, amazing, amazing.”

Goosebumps popped out on Cora’s skin. 

He didn’t care. He knew all along and he didn’t care.

He thought she was amazing. 

She wanted to cry. 

Instead, she kissed him. She used the kiss to say everything she couldn’t bring herself to say—
thank you, thank you, thank you.
And then something more crept into her thoughts:
I love you. I love you. I do.

His hands were on her then, strong and insistent. He crushed her against him and she wanted to be crushed—to stay in his arms forever.

He caressed her bottom, urging her toward him, fighting the float of the water that wanted them to drift apart. She clung to him, returning his hungry kisses with an urgency of her own. She wanted all of him, every morsel, every part.

 She hadn’t known until this moment how much it had weighed on her—being alone in her knowledge of what she could do. But now that he knew—now that he knew and still wanted her—she felt suddenly lighter. His presence next to her wasn’t a burden, it was a runway, launching her to the highest heights she had ever known.

They’d drifted closer to shore. Cora could feel the sand whisper against her toes, could feel him planted firmly on solid ground, though the water was still too deep for her to gain purchase. 

His hands wandered to her back, her waist, then found her breasts. Cora gasped. God, he felt so good. He cupped her, squeezed, caressed the cold-hardened peaks of her nipples until she moaned, too warm from his touch to register the brisk slap of the water around them. 

Their legs mingled underwater, the tiny brushes of their skin soft and teasing—shin sliding against shin, knee gliding against thigh—until finally his knee drifted between hers, raising up between her legs to spread her. 

She angled herself closer. Her pelvis met his hip, and she could feel the hardness of him graze her. She reached down to touch him, completely bypassing his boxers, sliding her fingers beneath the fabric and grasping him firmly. She loved the feel of him in her hands. He was rock hard and so big her fingers barely touched as they wrapped around him. 

She slid her hands up and down. He moaned in response, then brought his mouth to her nipple, sucking her in rhythm as she caressed him.

“Cora,” he moaned against her flesh, his full lips brushing against her as he spoke. “God, Cora. You’re killing me.”

He caught her wrist and pulled her hand away. At first Cora thought he wanted to stop. But then he gripped her bottom and shifted her so her legs wrapped around him. She could feel his stiff cock pressing against her. She ached for him, her core seemed to swell and pulse as though the only thing that could satisfy it was him. She flexed her thighs to press herself against him harder.

They undulated against one another, their desire escalating, the churn of their hips bringing each of them higher and higher and higher until Cora felt as though she couldn’t take any more. But she didn’t want him this way—at least not
only
this way. She wanted all of him.

She loved him. She knew that now. She also knew their time together had an expiration date. She didn’t know when it would be—didn’t know how long they had—and she wanted this from him first.

She broke away from him and maneuvered them closer to land, until the water was no more than waist deep. She wanted her feet on the ground, wanted leverage against him, wanted to be able to discard her clothes without fear of losing them to the depths.