The Two Kings (Afterlife Saga) (115 page)

“I have other commitments, I can’t just...”

“You can and you WILL
, that is final Keira
!
” He interrupted again and it was starting to get on my last nerve. This time he didn’t wait for a response and pulled the car out with the speed and maneuvering of a formula one driver. It did briefly make me wonder if he owned one of those as well.

“We are going to talk about this
,
” I said trying to keep calm but with the speed he was doing I kind of felt like I was having an argument on a rollercoaster.

“No, we are not
!
” He said simply and I felt like I was being told off by a parent.

“Fine
!
” I said folding my arms like the child I felt. He took this the wrong way.

“I am glad you see things my way for once, it is for the best
.
”

“Draven you mistake me, I said fine because if we are not going to discuss it then I will end up leaving and you will not know why, but that will be through your doing, not mine!” I snapped at him causing his reactions to filter through to the
Ferrari
.

He sped up before applying the brakes and turning the wheel so as the car screeched across t
he road and snapped around
facing the other way. I screamed out which he ignored and my hands flew out to brace myself on the dash and window as we continued spinning. It was like watching life in slow motion and I wondered if this is what happened to people in car accidents.

Did they have that moment when they waited for impact or did it just happen in the seconds time gave us. I found myself waiting for something b
ut I wasn’t sure what. All I knew was when I opened my eyes
that the car was now on the other side and we were hammering it down the
,
thankfully
,
empty road.

“Draven pull over
.
” I said surprisingly calm.

“What?”

“Pull over NOW!” I shouted giving calm the boot! I was glad that he didn’t argue. We carried on until the road widened for us to pull over but even in those few minutes I hadn’t regained any cool. He stopped the car and after undoing my seatbelt I tried to find the handle...unsuccessfully.

“Wher
e the hell is this bloody thing?
” I waved my hands around in frustration as I lost the last shred of sanity. The door opened without being touched. I nearly fell out in my haste and my legs wobbled like jelly thanks to Draven’s stunt driving. I used the car to steady myself until I ran out of frame and then I started walking, ok so more like stomping.

“Keira! Keira stop!” Draven shouted after me but he seemed to have his hands around me
in the nano
seconds before his words hit me. I turned around and pushed him as hard as I could. Of course it didn’t cause his body to react to the pressure but he did stop trying to touch me.

“You Idiot! How dare you scare me like that! I will never get in the car with you ever again if that is how you are going to drive! Do you understand me?” I was screaming at him and if anyone were to drive past and see this, I had no doubt that it would probably find its way onto the front page of the town’s newspaper.

Draven looked guilty as hell for scaring me and when he tried to touch me again I moved back.

“Don’t!” I threw at him. He looked hurt but damn it, he deserved it!

“Keira
,
I am sorry for scaring you, but you have to know, no harm would have come to you”

“Oh right, Mr. I
mmortal! Look
,
you maybe indestructible but I am not, let’s try and remember this fact alright because the next time you want to drive like you’re in a drag race I will be happy to stand on the sidelines and watch
and s
urvive. You get m
e?
”

“You are so angry
.
” He stated like this was some sort of shock.

“You
’
r
e
God damn right I am angry
!” He frowned at my reference to
God but I just said his name in warning and his brows smoothed.

“I understand and once again, I am sorry
.
” He said in earnest and he tilted his head to catch my eyes that he found watering. I couldn’t help it, I wasn’t exactly crying but I was on the verge. I hated confrontation but when I was this angry I found it difficult to come back down from boiling point. My fists clenched and I gathered this was something we had in common.

“Would you like to hit me?” He asked me with no humor in his voice. Was he serious? I looked up at him and he nodded towards my clenched fists.

“What? No!” I said. 

“You look like you do. It’s alright, I don’t mind, besides it may make you feel better. I could show you how, without hurting yourself
.
” He was deadly serious and I almost burst out laughing.

“Draven, I’m not going to hit you
.
”

“You hit me once before
,
remember
?
” He now had the slightest of smirks and I knew why.

“Yes and if I remember correctly we had sex soon after
.
” Now he wore a full bad arse smile. He also took a step closer towards me making my heart rate hitch up a notch.

“A perk on my part
,
but I am willing to sacrifice myself to the cause, I can assure you. I will let you beat me down if you will but only forgive me. It was an inexcusable mistake on my part and one that will not ha
ppen again.” A man like Draven wa
s not the type to make a habit o
f apologizing so when it happened
you do
not take it light
ly. Besides, who c
ould not respond to such an apology
.

I looked down
,
which he didn’t like. He hooked a finger under my chin an
d
applied a little pressure to make me look up at him. His head was tilted again and his eyes penetrated mine like a fire was burning behind them. Of course there was
a burning, deep and full of emotions too hot to touch.
They
started to glow purple at the sight of me yielding. I was about to say something before he got carried away but he didn’t let me. He took my head in his hands and angled me to lock his lips with mine.

His kiss didn’t start off soft and then deepen, no, this time he kissed me with such a fever induced hunger that it took my breath away. His hands left my face and encircled round my body so as he could lift me to his height. I was thankful because giving the height difference my neck would suffer from it. It was only when he knew my need for oxygen was growing did he let me go, rather reluctantly I might add.

“Am I forgiven?” He asked over my lips with his eyes closed.

“Yes
,
” I whispered and although I couldn’t see, I could feel his smile spread over mine.

“Then come my little one
.
” He said in a husky voice that was still thick with lust. He took my hand that seemed tiny encased in his and pulled me round so that I was facing the car. I decided at that moment that there was no point. I pulled back making him stop. He turned to face me and his look was full of questions he was about to ask but I just held up my hand.

“Look Draven, there’s no point me coming with you if you’re not going to listen to me. I am telling you that although I do not want to leave you
,
I still have to go.” He was about to argue and add words to his shaking head but I beat him to it. I came right up close to him and placed my hands on his chest. He was breathing hard.

“Dominic
,
” I whispered his name making it sound right for once. He looked down at me, eyes full of an emotion I couldn’t grasp.

“I never want to leave you but I would not be the person you love if I didn’t think of others before myself. It would hurt my family if I didn’t go and I can’t do that...not even for you
.
” I held my breath after saying this last part and I could no longer look into his eyes, so I found my feet.

“I have hurt them enough to last more than one life time and I will not add more guilt to my soul
.
” I was speaking so quietly that anyone else would not have heard me. I also had tears rolling down my cheeks that I didn’t want him to see.

“Catherine, look at me
.
” The sound of my first name always made me shudder. Like he was seeing a different me
standing here, one I was always
trying to hide. I looked off to the side instead of braving his eyes. It was not enough for him. He decided that he would take the steps to change this. He got down on his knees so as I was at his level.

I was in shock and I showed it. A man like Draven also does NOT get down on his knees for anyone! Well evidently now he did.

“Draven don’t
.
” I tried to get him to get back up but he shook his head. If anyone had been driving past now it would look like he was
proposing
to me and
that
would have made the front page for sure!

“I now understand why I must let you...let you go
.
” He looked like it actually caused him physical pain to say those wor
ds. I felt hopeless, I felt that
no matter what choices I made in life
,
I kept making the wrong ones. No matter what I did I would have to hurt someone but it felt like I would be hurting myself more than anyone. It was a strange feeling but it was almost like someone was telling me in the back of my mind that I was making the wrong decision. Maybe I was but there was nothing I could do about it.

I let myself crumble down to his level which he let out a little moan about but before he could protest further I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged onto him so tightly I could have been classed as a limpet. I kissed his neck twice and told him the three most important words in life.

“I love you
.
” He groaned in response and kissed me back. The next thing I knew was that he had lifted us both to
a
standing
position
, only my feet weren’t exactly touching the ground. I giggled as he swung me around and my legs dangled in the air like a small child sat on a big chair.

“You’re so little
.
” He said teasingly as he set me down.

“And you’re a big oaf
!
” I said as my come back, w
hich was received by raucous
laughter. We walked back to the car and when I hesitated to get in he said in a guilty voice
,

“It’s alright, I won’t g
o
too fast
.
”

My answer was given by getting in the car and soon we were making our way to Afterlif
e at
a speed that only just broke the law. It looked like it was causing Draven a great deal of concentration to maintain this speed and I had to suppress a satisfied smile. I could see by the natural road signs that we were near the turning for Afterlife. There was always a double twisted tree that had split in the middle and wound back together like brothers. This was my sign that we were near.

“There was something I wanted to ask you
.
”

“You know that you can ask me anything
.” I smiled at his answer and thought
if I wanted Draven to dress up in a
furry loin cloth
and swing from trees like Tarzan, he would draw the line. I found myself biting my lip to stop from laughing.

“Is this ‘something’
funny?” He asked smiling as well.

“No
,
but I just had a funny thought. Ok
,
so I was going to ask you something about me leaving
.
”

“Was?” He raised an eyebrow, a
n
action that always made my heart flutter. It was so hard having a conversation with someone so unbelievably handsome it was hard enough to even concentrate on forming words in your brain let alone saying them.

“Well I say
was
because that was before we...more like you, freaked out
.
”

“Keira I did not ‘freak out’
as you put it
.
”

“Oh you so did, but that’s beside the point
,
” I said poking at him only instead of getting a soft fleshy bit it was just solid muscle. Come to think of it, I don’t think Draven had any soft and fleshy bits!

“The point then
,
my dear
?
” He prompted and turned round to face me. It was now that I realized we had stopped and were outside the secret
wall that le
d to his garage/ car museum.