According to what Reverend Jessup taught from the pulpit every Sunday, I was good to go, but what if God wasnʼt Southern Baptist?
What I needed to do was to get a look at my angel. Surely a demon from Hell looked different than one of Godʼs messengers. If it was a demon, there was still a chance I could escape, provided my legs remembered how to work, although that was seeming a bit doubtful.
Finally, my curiosity won me over and I lifted my exceptionally heavy eyelids. A pair of steely grey eyes met mine.
“Alex?”
“Heʼs heading this way. Are you okay?” he asked with a complete lack of concern.
“I think so,” I said. Or, at least, I tried to say. It sounded more like “Hubbla ho.” Another face appeared in front of mine. This one had grey eyes too, but they were filled with a mixture of worry and relief. “Youʼre going to be okay,” Alex said, his blazing hot hands caressing my face. “Weʼve got you. Youʼre going to be fine.” I smiled, grateful that God decided to answer my prayers after all. And with that thought I returned to the beautiful oblivion of sleep.
***
I am not a morning person. Talley can go from sleeping to flitting around making breakfast and talking nonstop in a matter of seconds. Even Jase tends to be a fully functional human being in less than five minutes. Not me. I wake up very slowly, refusing to open my eyes and let in the daylight until it is absolutely necessary.
I was lying in bed, enjoying the feeling of being cocooned in the blankets, when Angel shifted beside me.
“Did you have a bad dream?” I mumbled, my eyes still refusing to open.
“The worst,” said a voice that did not belong to a six year old girl. “But then I found you, and now everything is okay.”
My eyes finally flew open and darted around in utter confusion. This was not my bed, not my room, and definitely not my little sister.
“Good morning, Sunshine,” Alex said, brushing a strand of hair from my face. “How are you feeling?”
My memory started coming back to me in bits and pieces. Dark woods. Violent storm.
Valiant rescue. I could vaguely remember what had felt like a stinging hot shower, despite Liamʼs gruff warnings about watching the temperature and Alexʼs assurances that he wasnʼt an idiot. I remembered having to muster all my strength to put on the pair of sweatpants and Tshirt Alex gave me because, despite my depleted state, I knew I couldnʼt stand the embarrassment of either of the Coles seeing me naked. I softened at the memory of falling asleep in Alexʼs arms.
“Better,” I finally said.
“You had me worried.” Alex leaned forward to kiss me and I jerked back, throwing a hand over my mouth. His eyes flew wide open in shock, causing him to look a bit like an anime character. “Whatʼs wrong?”
“Morning breath,” I said, my hand still planted firmly over my mouth.
I couldnʼt tell if Alex thought I was being adorable or insane; those looks were fairly interchangeable on him. “The bathroom is through the living room and kitchen, on the left.
There should be some new toothbrushes in the top, right hand drawer.” I muttered a thanks and bolted. Even without the directions, the bathroom wouldnʼt have been hard to find. Alexʼs home proved to be a very small trailer, or maybe “pre-fabricated home” was the more PC term. It only took me three strides to cross the living room, but two of those put me between Liam and an episode of NCIS he was watching with the volume turned off.
“Sorry,” I said, keeping my head down and wishing I was invisible.
“For what?” he asked, stopping me in my tracks.
He was sitting in the middle of the couch, the roomʼs only furniture, a brown bottle clutched in one hand. I was once again struck by how he simply looked like a bigger, angrier version of Alex.
“Iʼm sorry,” I repeated. Liam just continued to stare at me in a way I had never experienced before. I was used to indifference, annoyance, curiosity, and disdain. With Alex, I had even become accustomed to being stared at with adoration. Hatred, the pure, unadulterated form that was radiating off of Liam, was new.
To be fair, he had every right to hate me. It was my fault that Alex forced him to live here. I was the one that put them in danger from the Hagans and the Alphas.
“Iʼm sorry for everything.” My voice was a whisper, but it was all I could manage with my throat so constricted. It didnʼt matter anyway. Liam was a Dominate. His hearing was so good he could probably hear my thoughts.
Apparently, my response suited him, or maybe he decided I wasnʼt worth his effort. Either way, he released me from his penetrating gaze and turned his attention back to a silent Abby and DiNozzo.
I practically flew into the bathroom, grateful to have a door between me and Liam. The top, right-hand drawer did, in fact, have new toothbrushes inside. It had like fifty of them, all wrapped individually in plastic.
The reflection staring back at me from the mirror was not encouraging. Dark, bruise-like circles shadowed my eyes, my lips were chapped to the point of cracking open, and a wind burn had my face a rather unattractive shade of red. I quickly learned that boys do not keep moisturizer in their bathroom, which was rather unfortunate. At least there was a hair brush to work all the tangles out of my hair. I would have felt a touch more confident going back to Alex if I had a straightening iron or some concealer, but I had to abandon that dream. When I finally made my way back to Alexʼs room I kept my head down and eyes averted, grateful Liam chose to ignore me.
Alex had fallen asleep. His left arm was flung up over his head and his body was turned so that my original spot on the small, twin-sized bed was left open. It looked so warm and inviting that I was already crawling between the covers when it occurred to me that my parents might not approve of such behavior.
I was frozen, half-in and half-out of Alexʼs bed, the angel and demon on my shoulders really going at it, when Alex reached for me. “There you are,” he said, his voice thick with sleep. He pulled me down onto his chest and I made no move to resist. “I missed you.” I sighed as I snuggled into him. His body was so warm. I didnʼt think I would ever be warm enough again.
We lay in silence for a long while. I would have thought he had drifted off again, but his fingers were combing through my hair in a lazy, soothing manner. As I listened to the steady thumping of his heart, I took in my surroundings.
Alexʼs room was much tidier than my own, but that could have just been due to necessity.
His bed and chest of drawers took up nearly all of the floor space, leaving just enough room to walk around. His school books were stacked on top of the chest of drawers next to a picture of an attractive looking couple. The woman was long and slender, exuding a dancerʼs grace even in stillness. Thick, wavy brown hair framed her heart-shaped face. The man had a ruggedness about him, like I had always imagined a rancher would look. He had obviously passed on his grey eyes to both of his sons.