Dreamlike State (The Magic of Black Forest Book 1) (11 page)

The ride back to the cabin was quiet and fast. I never noticed how fast he drove. We were going well over eighty on those thin gravel windy roads. I was so concerned about going off the edge I didn’t think to ask him why he’s was so upset. Holding onto the edge of my seat, I just braced myself for impact.

The silence continued while Seager and I ate dinner; it was deafening. He just stared out the window the entire time we ate, not saying a word. His face was frozen with disappointment and his eyes were far away from here.

Not being able to handle the silence any longer, I walked over to the window to get a peek at what he was staring at and saw nothing. No one was out there. Touching his shoulder, I attempted to get him to look at me. When I was unsuccessful I asked, “Bradley, what happened earlier today? Why are you so upset?” Instead of responding, he swiftly spun around and lifted me into his arms and the next thing I knew we were on the couch, with me once again on his lap. His movement was so fast that everything became a blur.

My eyes met his with the question that only he can hear.
“How did we get over here so quickly?”
Before my thought was complete, he was kissing me fiercely, his arms wrapped tightly around me. Electricity was running through our bodies. Our breathing once again became heavy and loud. Unable to stop myself I pressed my body into his. The worry soon disappeared and I forgot about him being upset with me.

He ran his hands up and down my back, finding his way under my shirt. I forced myself to pull my lips from his and leaned back, gasping for air. Arching my back provided him easy access to my breasts. My breath shook when he pressed his lips against my left breast. My response provided him the answer he was seeking to his unspoken question, can he go a little further? He began to tenderly kiss them through my shirt, moving from one to another, all the while unhooking my bra. Caressing the right side of my neck with his lips, he pulled me into him and held me so tight it was impossible for me to move.

One by one, he slid his hands up the inside of my sleeves and slowly pulled down my bra straps. He had definitely done that before. Once it was off he tossed it across the room. Moving his hand up further up beneath my blouse, he gently squeezed my left breast, rubbing his thumb across my nipple. I moaned loudly the second his hand touched my naked skin.

Out of breath I whispered, “Bradley…” I leaned down and kissed him passionately. Unable to shield my thoughts I pleaded for him to
“Keep going. I’m ready. Please don’t stop.”

He emitted a low deep growl and said, “Natalia… we will need to stop… before we go too far and I can’t stop. I can’t do this, we can’t.” He kissed me again and removed his hands from under my shirt making sure it covered me. We sat for a few moments catching our breath.

“You know, Bradley, this is getting a little annoying, start, stop, start, stop. It’s really frustrating.”

Out of nowhere, ignoring me completely he asked, “What did you see when you shook Dave’s hand?” I was too frustrated to respond to his sudden change of subject. “You were smiling almost in ‘awe’. Did you like what you saw?”

“Bradley…” I kissed his neck hoping to persuade him to finish what we had started. I mean really, why does it matter what I saw? I’d much rather finish what we started instead of telling him what I saw. This was much more interesting.

He pulled my face gently up for our eyes to meet. Lost in his eyes, dazzled, I couldn’t resist him. Once again, with just one look he had me telling him everything. I started blurting out what I saw, “Dave is a good friend and son. He is concerned that I’m going to hurt you. His mind is quite magical.” I hoped that would be enough so that I didn’t have to explain that I saw him die, yet he was still alive. It was too confusing. In hopes of finding out more about Bradley’s past, I decided to ask about his traveling. “Did he travel a lot?”

“Yes, he and his family traveled a lot when he was younger.”

“Then you traveled a lot too? I saw you standing right next to him. You didn’t look much younger than you are now. How long ago did you go to Paris?”

His eyes were fixed on mine as he cautiously searched for the words. “You saw me there?” I nodded. “Yea, well, it was over a year ago when we went to Paris. It’s beautiful there.” Wanting to know what else I saw, he asked another question. The one I didn’t want to discuss. “Tell me what you saw when you were alone with him. I know it frightened you, what was it?”

“Honestly, I don’t quite know what I saw. Not
yet
at least. I’ll figure it out first and then I’ll be able to explain it better.”

“Why don’t you tell me what you saw and maybe I can help you figure it out.”

“Fine, he was being chased in a dark alley by someone. I felt what he felt, something sharp pierced his neck. He became even more frightened as it began to torch his skin. For hours, maybe even days he was sprawled out on the alley floor, in pain, as he silently begged for it to be over. Then it was as though he died. His heart stopped beating. There were a few other images that I couldn’t make out.” Hearing it aloud didn’t help me make any more sense out of what I had seen. Shrugging my shoulders I finished, “Since he’s clearly still alive I must’ve misread it.”

Bradley’s lips were pressed tightly against each other and his eyes were dark with that faraway look in them. His next question confused me because I know he knew what I saw. It had already happened. “Could it have been that you saw a vision of his future?”

“No, I’m sure it was in his past. It happened a few years ago, maybe even longer than that. There were older model cars on the street he was on. If I didn’t know any better I would have thought it was over twenty-five years ago but how could that be? He never told you what happened?”

Ignoring my question, he changed the subject. “It’s getting late. Maybe we should get some sleep.” He stood up with me still in his arms, gazing into my eyes. I wrapped my legs around his waist. “I thought maybe you liked him. The way you were smiling, you looked intrigued.”

“What?” Puzzled, I was confused how he could think that. “No. Well I mean I do, but not in that way. He is a nice guy. There is something magical about him. Just like Colleen and Jesse. I can’t interpret everything I see, but with practice I’ll eventually be able to. I’m sure if I could see into your mind I’d see magic. Not that I need to see it, you have a good soul. I can feel that.”

“That’s good to know.”

That was it, conversation over.

Chapter 9

For the rest of the week I went with Bradley while he and Dave had over twenty more people audition for Anthony’s spot. In the end, they chose the kid named Bill. They had met him the first day, but to be sure he was the one they wanted they made him come back four more times. Once they even made him play their music. They said he was pretty good.

With my vacation ending, I refused to sit around and listen to them rehearse. Although I do enjoy listening and watching Bradley, I do not enjoy having to be with a bunch of strangers. Lately, Dave has been bringing several of his ‘groupies’ to the rehearsals. One of them seemed to have a crush on Bradley and it is very annoying the way she fussed over him.

The other day she asked me what he was doing with someone like me. “He’s too good looking to be with you,” she said. Like she had any room to talk. Her makeup was thick, she wore false eyelashes and used so much perfume you could taste it. She constantly made jabs at me. This was not how I wanted to spend the last few days of my vacation, Anthony or no Anthony. I am more than capable of taking care of myself, especially with Seager by my side.

We were about to leave when I said, “I’m not going today. Seager and I are going to the Hyner View State Park instead. I’ve wanted to see it all summer.” Without looking at him, I grabbed my backpack and headed out the door. “I’ll call you. No better yet, I’ll stop by the studio when we’re done.”

Stung by my words he replied, “Natalia, you don’t want to come with me?” Quickly, his hurt changed to skepticism. “Why did you wait until now to say something?”

As if I am guilty of doing something wrong, words started flying uncontrollably out of my mouth, “Because I didn’t want you to try and talk me out of going by myself.” Seager growled, annoyed. I just rolled my eyes. “Okay, Seager, and I. Bradley, I’m on vacation and it’s almost over. I’m sorry but I don’t want to spend my last few days sitting with a bunch of groupies. I don’t enjoy tasting
her
perfume or hearing
her
go on and on about how you shouldn’t be with me, that you should be with someone like her. Blah, Blah, Blah.” All the while, I wave my hands wildly in the air. I did not need some stranger questioning why he was with me -- I asked myself that every day.

“Who are you talking about?” Fighting back a smile, he tried not to upset me.

“I don’t know, Cheryl. I think. The girl that wears all that makeup and perfume. The fake eyelash girl.” I tried to get into my truck but he stopped me.

“You’re adorable when you’re jealous. Natalia. You’re beautiful.” His touch was as soft as a feather when he ran his fingers along the side of my cheek. “Even though Anthony hasn’t been seen anywhere in the last week, I would rather you didn’t go alone.” Again, Seager growled. Bradley just laughed in response. “Won’t you come for a little bit? Later on before dinner we can go to the park together.” Concerned, he pleaded with me to go with him.

“I’d rather not wait. I’m going to the View. I’ll stop by afterwards. I won’t be long.” There was no way I was letting Anthony or the psycho chick ruin my last few days of vacation.

Unhappy that I cannot be persuaded to wait, and do not want to go with him, he accepted defeat and kissed me goodbye. “Please be careful. If you’re not at the studio by two I’m going to come and look for you.”

“Deal. Have fun at rehearsal.” I jumped into my truck and we headed up the mountain.

The road to the View was narrower than any of the other roads I’d driven on up here. There were no guardrails to keep you from going over the edge. My nerves were pretty much shot by the time I finally got there. I dreaded the ride down, thinking that maybe I should just wait for Bradley to come looking for me so that he could drive us back down the mountain.

The park wasn’t too crowded. The history of the park goes back to the Nineteen Thirties. They built the overlook wall back then. It’s a stone wall on the very edge of an overlook view. People actually jumped off the edge to go skydiving. We took a nice long walk along the trails after enjoying the view, and I took several pictures so that I could show Melissa how awesome this place was. Maybe next time she would join me.

Before I knew it, we had to leave. It took us a lot longer to get down the mountain, and I was thinking that by the time my vacation was over I wouldn’t have any brakes left.

When I pulled up to the studio, I had thirty seconds to spare. I wasn’t even in the door when I heard Dave yell, “She’s here, Brad.”

I had mud on my jeans from when I tripped and fell into the only mud puddle for miles. Just my luck. I didn’t have enough time to go back and get changed. “What happened to you?” Dave laughed.

I heard laughing coming from the corner of the room. Whipping my head around to face a woman’s voice as she said, “Look, she’s got mud on her face. That’s real attractive.” It was the make-up girl, as if she had room to talk. You would need a chisel to get that stuff off of her face. I flashed a wicked smile. I was shooting daggers at her when Bradley practically danced into the room. He picked me up, sweeping my feet out from under me.

Loud enough for everyone to hear he said, “You wear it well. Not as sexy as the day you came back from ATV riding, but still sexy.” He sealed his words with a deep kiss. The psycho girl sighed loudly, and Bradley just rolled his eyes. “We’re almost done for the day. Dave, how much longer do you need me?”

“Another five or ten minutes, just long enough to listen to what we recorded today. Hey Natalia, would you like to join us, be one of the first to hear the new band?”

“Oh Dave, can I listen too?” Psycho… she’ll do anything to get near Bradley. Why do they let her in?

“No -- not this time, Cheryl.” Dave gestured with his hands waving me towards the door. “Come on, Natalia.”

With his arm still over my shoulder, Bradley considerately said, “If you’d rather meet me at the cabin I’d understand.” He was always worried about making me happy.

“No, I’d rather hear your music.” Smiling, I took his hand and pulled him into the other room. I never looked back. I didn’t need to; I could feel her resentment as we left the room.

They recorded three songs. I hoped that Bradley was going to give me a copy. His voice was almost as beautiful as he is. We were walking out the door when I said over my shoulder to Dave, “That sounded great. Thanks for letting me be the first to hear it.”

Bradley followed me back to the cabin. While making Seager’s dinner, I told him about my day, and how I had tripped and fallen into the mud puddle. Thank the good lord no one saw me. Seager chimed in by saying,
“Her face was priceless.”

Again, I told Bradley that I was not going with him while he practiced but this time it was over breakfast. I wanted to see Colleen and Jesse. I hadn’t heard from them in over a week.

“Jesse said that Colleen’s been working a lot of hours. She’s thinking about taking a vacation.”

“Really? Well if she’s not available today, I’ll just hang out here. I’ll give her a call after you leave.” Remembering how Jesse felt about Colleen and vice versa, I asked, “Bradley, why aren’t Jesse and Colleen together?”

I threw him with that question. “Wow, that question came out of nowhere. Jesse has always liked Colleen but he doesn’t have the guts to make the move. Years ago he went out with some girl that dumped all over him so he doesn’t trust his own instincts anymore, not when it comes to women anyway.” He shrugged his shoulders.

“Doesn’t he realize how much she likes him? If he would just ask her, she’d say yes. That’s why she’s always hanging around him.”

“Colleen likes Jesse? Really? I didn’t see that coming.” He seriously didn’t notice. Men!

“You’re both blind,” I said, laughing.

As soon as he left, I gave Colleen a call. “Hey, Colleen, what are you doing today?”

“I’m only scheduled to work a half day, almost done with my shift. I’ve got nothing planned today. Would you like some company?”

“You bet! How soon until you get here?”

“Be there in less than thirty. See you then.”

While waiting for Colleen, I began cleaning up the cabin for my departure later this week. I packed the things I would not need. It was a little depressing, but I was thankful that I still had time to spend with Bradley. Maybe we could finally decide where our relationship goes from here. I’ve been thinking about buying a place of my own up here and was hoping to discuss it with him tonight. I’ve been thinking about it for a while but wasn’t sure how he would feel about it. I hoped he’d help me find a place while I’m back home finishing up some business. I would love to be here permanently by the end of the year, preferably by Christmas. I dreaded spending it without my parents and being with Bradley would ease the pain.

When Colleen arrived, she ran up and hugged me. “I haven’t seen you since the Star Gaze Party. How have you been? We have so much to catch up on.” I felt like I’ve known Colleen all my life. I will really miss her while I’m gone.

“I’ve been good, been spending a lot of time with Bradley. He mentioned that you are going on vacation soon. Why didn’t you call and tell me? Where are you going?” I was excited for her, and hoped she had as good a time as I’ve had on mine.

“Breathe, Natalia. I’m leaving next week. I was hoping to be gone for a few weeks but it all depends on the owner of the place I’m staying at. I haven’t made concrete plans for that yet. As for where I’m going -- I don’t know, where did you say you live? Oh yea… can I crash at your place for a while?”

“Really, Colleen, you’re coming back with me? That would be great. Of course, you can stay at my place. It’ll be so much fun.” I was overjoyed with this news. I couldn’t wait for Colleen and Melissa to meet.

“So tell me, Natalia, what’s going to happen between you and Brad after you leave?”

“What? I-I don’t know, we haven’t talked about it yet.” I couldn’t fathom the thought of my life without him, which is why I wanted to move up here. We belong together, I was sure of it. Fate brought me here to meet him. “Why do you ask?”

“I was just wondering is all. When do we leave?”

“In two days. Have you seen Jesse lately? I was hoping to see him before I leave.”

“Of course I did. He wants to see you too. I think he said he was going to stop by tomorrow or the day after. I’ll tell him to give you a call.”

We spent the rest of the afternoon catching up and had dinner together while planning our trip back to my hometown. She helped me pack a few more things. She made it a point to mention my clothes, saying she wanted to see the rest of my wardrobe. She’s always complaining about how I dress. Well she was going to be even more disappointed when she sees my closet.

We were having a great time when Colleen suddenly announced that she had to leave, and said she’d call me later. It was odd. It was as if someone called her and told her she had to leave. NOW. However, she didn’t receive any calls or messages.

Bradley didn’t show up until after dark. We were sitting on the porch enjoying the night air when he started telling me that they are going on the road and he has to leave tomorrow.

Saddened by the news I asked, “What time tomorrow?”

“About three.” He paused as if dreading the moment. “Listen, Natalia, I know we’ve been putting off this conversation for a while but I don’t think it can wait any longer.” He took my hands in his. “I think it’s best that I leave tonight. I won’t be staying.” Releasing me, he went into the house, and to the bedroom to grab his clothes.

I couldn’t believe my ears – he’s leaving me. Running to catch up to him, I asked, “Why?” He started putting his clothes in his duffel bag so I start unpacking his clothes. As he packed, I unpacked. I don’t want him to leave. “Why can’t you stay tonight?”

He grabbed my hands and sat me down on the bed. “If I’m not with you, then Anthony has no reason to come after you. There has been a lot of talk going around. He is angry I replaced him so quickly. He will probably follow me out of town. When he catches up to me I’ll be ready.”

Stunned, I remembered when Anthony was here. With or without Bradley in my life Anthony would be back. It was me he wanted, not Bradley. Hurting him was just an added bonus. Bradley was playing right into his hands.

He repacked the clothes I took out and threw on the bed. “How can we be together when you live there and I live here? Plus, I’ll be on tour in New York. You deserve better than a long distance relationship. Honestly, I should’ve never allowed this to happen. It was bound to end this way.”

With my heart breaking, tears streaming down my face I followed him out to his truck, grabbed his arms, and sobbed. “No. Please don’t say that – don’t do this. We belong together.”

As if he couldn’t stand the sight of me any longer he kissed my forehead, said goodbye but before pulling away he added, “I’ll check in on you now and then. I promise not to bother you and keep my distance. You’ll never know I’m there. Please be safe and remember if you ever need anything, Colleen and Jesse are a phone call away.” Then he pulled away while I stood there like an idiot in the dark.

I watched him until I could no longer see his taillights. The second he was out of sight and knew he wouldn’t be returning – that he really left me, I dropped to my knees, placed my hands over my face and sobbed. Seager sat down, nuzzling me under my arm, trying to get me to go inside but I didn’t budge. I laid down in the fetal position and squeezed my knees into my chest.