The Protect Her Box Set: Parts 7-9 (18 page)

CHAPTER TWO –
PAIGE

I hoped that someday my world would stop changing long enough for me to catch up with it. I sat on a barstool and watched Riley move confidently behind the bar as he found what appeared to be a semi-clean glass and a bottle of what he said was Slinky Pete’s best whiskey.

“I don’t drink whiskey,” I said as I put my hand over the top of the glass. “I’m really not much of a drinker at all.”

Riley took my hand, the one that didn’t have the wound from the blood pact with Proctor, and brought it up to his mouth. He gently kissed each one of my fingers, and for a moment I forgot everything as I lost myself in the intensity of his jade green eyes. As he let my hand go, I felt it drift back down to the bar. He had completely distracted me, as per usual. Damn the man.

“We’re both going to try new things,” he said with a twisted grin. He poured a long pour of the amber colored liquor into the glass. “Maybe we’ve been looking at all of this the wrong way, Paige.” He poured his drink, and then picked up the glass in front of me and handed it to me. Then he raised his glass into the air, and I followed suit. I was curious about what he had to say.

“We both have checkered pasts. It’s probably safe to say they are more pockmarked than checkered.” He raised an eyebrow at me as if daring me to contradict him. I shrugged. He was right. The things I had done and seen in the years that I had been on the run before I lost my memory would turn a person’s hair white. Once he sensed that I wasn’t disagreeing, he continued. “In a way, we’re both being given a second chance to make something different from our lives. I didn’t chose to be a necromancer. You didn’t chose to be the vessel of a goddess who has been dead for a thousand years.”

Hearing the pronouncement of my fate spoken out loud never failed to send shivers down my spine. But I liked where he was going, and I wondered if it was perhaps true that Riley was turning over a new leaf. “This sounds very optimistic of you, Riley,” I said, giving him a small smile.

He still held his glass in the air, but he leaned his elbows onto the bar so that he was closer to me. I felt drunk by the intensity of his stare, and I hadn’t had a drop of liquor pass my lips yet. I saw his eyes travel over my face and eventually settle on my lips. “I finally have something in my life worth being optimistic about.”

I leaned toward him, and he met my lips halfway across the bar. His kiss was gentle and asked for nothing in return. It was simply a gesture that the intimacy between us grew by the day; a further affirmation of what we were to each other. I had declared myself as his, and I had the mark on my collarbone to prove it. This added a whole new dynamic to our relationship, and despite the speed at which it had developed, I wasn’t shying away from it anymore. I wanted to immerse myself in these feelings and find out how truly deep they went.

He pulled away and brushed his lips across my forehead before clinking my glass. “Bottoms up, babe.”

Babe was a nickname that I remembered hating when men called me it before, but it sent a shot of warmth through my core hearing Riley use it. His voice carried the slightly possessive tone that made my body vibrate in response. I was completely okay being this man’s woman. The feeling was entirely mutual. I felt that I wanted to somehow mark him as mine as well. That was something that I was going to have to think about.

As I watched Riley down the liquid in his glass, I found that I was opening to the idea of being someone different than before. I was being given license to recreate myself yet again. A week ago, I would have railed against that idea, but now, with my old memories intact and Riley in my life, it seemed necessary. I wasn’t the teenage girl who watched her parents dragged off by demons and
who then went on the run. That girl grew into a manipulative, callous bitch who used men as a means to an end as she searched for an escape from her destiny. The Paige that emerged after the accident that stole my memories was timid and shy. She hid on Calamata Island in a perfectly scripted life that was written and controlled by Benjamin. She had pretended to be content with that life, even though there were parts of it that chafed at her. But she was given the opportunity to have a home and rediscover warmth, friendship, and compassion. She had a home, tenuous as it was, without having to know her past.

Today, I was someone else yet again. Others might say the fact that I was supposed to be Eva’s vessel defined me, but it didn’t. I was coming into my own despite having that hanging over my head. I was stronger than I ever had been, and that strength wasn’t coming from a place of fear or desperation. Those feelings still existed inside of me, but it was because of the man who stood across from me that I held a certainty that I could survive without becoming a person that I couldn’t live with. I had found my power, and I would use it to protect those that were important to me. I didn’t have to be weak or afraid anymore.

That was the sentiment that I toasted in my head. My lips touched the edge of the glass, and then I knocked my head back and threw the liquid into the back of my throat. It burned like a bitch as it went down, and I brought the back of my hand to my mouth as I coughed. I felt Riley’s hand knead my shoulder, and I looked up to see him grinning at me. Then he winked.

“That’s my girl,” he said. He poured another shot into my glass and his as well.

“So this is your plan while we’re waiting for the angels to get back?” I asked. “Get drunk and pass out?”

“I don’t even know if I can get drunk,” Riley said with a shrug of his shoulders. I blinked. I hadn’t even thought about that. I felt a bit of relief that he didn’t seem to be getting spun up by the fact that he didn’t know either.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “That was a stupid thing to say. With everything you’ve gone through, you’re entitled to about five thousand drinks if you wanted them.”

Riley’s expression grew serious then. “I’m a dark angel, Paige. I have no clue what that really means, but based on everyone’s reactions so far, it must be some pretty bad shit. But, so far, I just feel like me. I don’t think I’m going crazy or about to lose it and take out a continent or anything like that. So I’ll wait for them to tell me what they think it means, and then I’ll make up my mind. Until then, there’s no sense wallowing in things I can’t change. I’d much rather do something else.” I saw the corner of his mouth turn up.

“What’s that?” I asked. His eyes had settled on my lips again, and I had a feeling I was starting to get an idea of where his mind was going. I wasn’t opposed to the idea in the slightest. Through all this craziness, Riley and I hadn’t been alone like this in days.

“We’re going to have our first date,” he said as he tossed back his drink and slammed the glass down on the bar. He looked around the room with a sigh. “For the record, Slinky Pete’s isn’t where I would have taken you if I had my way, but we’re going to make do with what we’ve got.”

I laughed. “I think we’re pretty far beyond first date territory, although I appreciate the sentiment.”

Riley shook his head vigorously. “Hell, no. It’s never too late for a first date. I just said we have a second chance, and that starts right now. We aren’t the same people that met a week or whatever ago.” His face scrunched up. “Jesus Christ, it’s only been like a week. I feel like it’s been a lot longer than that.”

I laughed again. “Let’s hope you aren’t saying that like it’s a bad thing.” Although I was giving him a hard time, I understood what he meant. I felt as if we had lived a lifetime in the last week. It was hard to believe how far we’d come, and how much our lives had changed.

Riley seemed to move in a blur, and suddenly he was standing next to me. I gaped at him. “Whoa. That was crazy. I barely even saw you move.”

He took my elbow and slowly pulled me to my feet. “Angel reflexes,” he said. Then he stared down into my eyes. “Meeting you was the best thing that has ever happened to me. I never want you to question that. Ever.”

I reached up and put my arms around his neck. I pressed against him and delighted in the fact that I could be this close to him and not have to worry about prying eyes or judgments. We were alone, and Riley was being more than sweet. I hoped that the conclusion of our date included some piece of furniture that resembled a bed somewhere. I wasn’t thinking about sleeping quite yet.

I felt his hand grip the hair at the base of my neck, and he turned my mouth for better access as his lips descended on mine once again. This kiss was entirely different than the one just a few minutes ago. This was hungry and probing. I could taste the whiskey on his tongue, and as my tongue danced with his I thought that it was definitely was a taste that I would be more than happy to acquire. His arm slid around my waist and pulled me closer to him, and I didn’t bother trying to stop the small moan that escaped my throat. I dug my hands into his hair and pressed against him tightly.

He swung me around so that my back pressed against the bar. His body was so large that it seemed to engulf me, and I wondered what it would be like to be ensconced in his arms and his wings at the same time. The idea carried a kind of erotic appeal that I couldn’t wait to explore further.

Riley seemed to drag his lips away from mine. Both of us gasped with ragged breaths for air. It was satisfying to know that I had the same effect on him. I could see the passion in his eyes, and his hands drifted up and down the sides of my torso.

“As much fun as I think it would be to shift right past all the prerequisite bullshit that normally goes along with a first date to just get to fun stuff, I’m going to slow things down.” His voice carried a tinge of regret.

Riley slid his thumb across my lower lip. “You look absolutely delicious when you pout, and I think you could probably convince me to change my mind. But I want to show you that there’s more here than that.”

I was struck by the sincerity in his voice. I put my hands on the sides of his shoulders. “I know there’s more here than that,” I said. “I know that what we have isn’t something that you find every day. That’s why I said that I’d be yours, Riley. Forever.”

He sighed with a slow nod. “I know, but I don’t want you to doubt how I feel. Ever. It’s important. I’ve never had this before, and I have a tendency to be stupid and lose things that are important to me. I don’t want to take this for granted.”

I thought about everything that Riley had gone through in his life, and what he had sacrificed for me during our short time together. He was a good man. I never thought that I would have a good man in my life. He might be a dark angel, and I had seen the darker side of him, but with me, I didn’t have to be afraid of him. He spoke from the heart, and that’s what had caused me to fall in love with him.

I leaned against him and put my cheek against his chest. I felt his arms fold around me. In the circle of his arms, I knew I’d be safe forever. “I don’t feel like I deserve any of this, Riley. It’s not something I ever expected to have, so you can bet I’ll never take it for granted either.”

We stood like that for a long time. I listened to his heartbeat and felt his chin on the top of my head. It seemed as if we both just needed the comfort of knowing the other person was there.

When the sound of music filled the room, I jumped. Riley chuckled. “That’s the other thing I noticed when we got here. It was entirely too quiet. Slinky Pete’s was always loud, and even with the music blaring it was hard to hear it over the crowd. A little music makes it feel more like home.”

I twisted my head and saw an ancient jukebox on the other side of the room. There was a small cleared space in front of it that was obviously meant to serve as a dance floor. I felt a small surge of bravery.

“Well, if this is supposed to be a first date, then I think that means we have to dance too.”

For the first time since I remembered meeting Riley, I saw a look of petrified fear on his face. I laughed. “Don’t tell me you don’t dance.”

He released me as he stepped back and pointed at his feet. “Two left feet. I swear, I tried. I have awful memories of junior high and high school dances where I was constantly stepping on my dates’ feet. I was lucky any girl was willing to go to those things with me at all when it got out how clumsy I was.”

This was the kind of tidbit of information that I loved finding out about Riley. I imagined an awkward, gangly teenager who towered over the crowd as he tried to blend in when he was always meant to stand out. I stuck out my hand. “Well, I never got to go to any of those things because remember, juvenile delinquent.” I poked at my chest. “But I’m willing to try in the spirit of this whole new life and talk of second chances. Who knows, maybe being an angel changed all of that for you.”

I saw the perplexed look on his face, and then a longing gaze back at the bottle of whiskey. I grabbed it off the bar and then started walking backward toward the dance floor waggling the bottle at him. “Some liquid courage awaits you on this side of the room.”

Riley still seemed to be stuck in place. Then a song came over the speakers that I loved. It was just the kind of song that made you want to dance. I turned and made my way to the dance floor, and took a swig of the whiskey. It didn’t burn as bad this time. As I felt my limbs start to warm, my body began to move of its own accord.

I forgot about the fact that I had a goddess out there waiting for me to let my guard down so she could possess my body. I forgot about the reasons for all the worry and strain in my life. I forgot that there was anyone in the room but me. And in that moment, I was free. There was something electrifying that seemed to fill me, and my body was keyed up in response. It was as if it had been waiting for just such a release. I felt more alive than I had in what seemed like forever.