Forgotten (17 page)

“Pay up,” Ryker said.

“Technically, she didn’t insist on my
leaving,” Jace said.

“No, but if Bree wouldn’t have
barricaded her inside, she’d have slipped out the second she
realized you’re her date,” Ryker said, shifting the car into
gear.

I sat in silence as the others joked
around playfully. While it wasn’t unlike how my ride would have
been without Jace; he was an awful added bonus who kept trying to
grab my hand which I proceeded to slap away at every
opportunity.

Problem: he thought I was playing hard
to get. Bigger problem: I didn’t know if I was.

When we arrived, Bree reminded me that
I owed her, and shut the door before I could escape, trapping me in
the car with Jace. Ryker left his door open. I didn’t utter a word
as I waited for Jace to get out of the backseat.

“Ladies first,” Jace said, and
gestured to the driver’s door as he leaned back in his
seat.

“Like I’m going to give you a front
row view of my backside, while I crawl out!” I closed my eyes to
get a better view of him.

“Would you like me to get out and open
the passenger door for you? Or would you prefer the comfort of this
backseat? I’m game for either.”

My vertigo shifted, and all the
moisture left my mouth at the thought of kissing him in real-life.
I bit the inside of my cheek to help me focus. “We need to talk,
privately.”

He reached for the driver’s door
handle and then closed us inside. The atmosphere suddenly became
very intense. Behind closed doors, when the rest of the world
wasn’t watching, the demeanor shifted between us.

“
That we do,” he
said.

Everything else faded away, like it
wasn’t as important as what he was saying. I caught my breath when
he reached for me and gently stroked my cheek just like he had in
my dreams. I shivered. When he caressed me I forgot every thought
bouncing around in my mind. However, it wasn’t just that my
thoughts evaded me that left me speechless. His hand reshaped so I
could see more than just his fingers; their coarse edges, knuckles,
even nails became more defined. He no longer looked liked a
blurred, white silhouette. His chest rose and fell rapidly. He
clenched and then relaxed his fist before brushing my hair off my
neck.

“
The Elysian flowing in
your veins is responding well to me now that your tolerance is
better,” he said like he was pleased. “But you still have a way to
go before you’re able to handle a group of us.”

I remembered how he seemed so
interested with the tears that bled from my eyes. I swallowed and
tried to keep focus on my intentions. “What do you think you
are?”

“
A Healer.” Jace hastily
picked up my hand in his and kissed it with a gentle
fierceness.

My skin erupted in fire where his lips
caressed. My hand throbbed where he kissed it. I wanted him to
touch more, kiss more.

“
Your Healer, if Fate
allows.”

How was I losing so much ground? I
wasn’t the kind of girl to make out in the backseats of cars; I had
more self-control than that. After ripping my hand away from, I
reached around the chair seat, found the release knob, and then
pulled it. After opening the door, I crawled out the car and then
slammed the door shut even though I didn’t exactly want to
leave.

Jace was out of the car and
in front of me before I’d gotten the chance to look back. He walked
me backwards, sandwiching me between him and the cold side of the
car. His hips pressed into mine. A sense of eagerness, engulfed in
agitation, overpowered my own hostility. It was like
his
feelings had mixed
with
my
emotions.

“
A Healer who has a knack
at seduction?” I gasped, pushing his hard chest away to regain
ability to breathe and think.

My hands tingled after pushing him; my
body warmed in a way I didn’t know was possible in real life. I
couldn’t look anywhere but at his dark eyes. They looked like black
holes in his white outline.

“
Why do you insist on
doing, the exact opposite, of what you feel, Gwyneth?” The way he
spoke, pausing at odd times in his rant, reminded me of the song I
heard in my visions. It resembled the way he spoke in the foreign
language. It was like the rest of the world fell deaf – only Jace
and I existed. The promise of an everlasting passion sounded too
good to be true. “You want me, so take me. I’m yours. You only need
to give yourself up to me first.”

“
I don’t trust you farther
than I can see you,” I said and then closed my eyes.

When he lifted my chin, I thought he’d
try to kiss me. Instead he held me, unmovable. Jace was silent,
calculating my response. I wanted to smack myself. He’d picked up
on the fact that I could see him and Marco with my eyes wide
shut.

“
Curious phrasing, dearest;
I know the world is more than shades of gray as you see it,” Jace
said.

That cleared my head. I’d only told
him that in my dreams. “How do you know how I see?”

“
Give yourself to me, and
I’ll show you a world you cannot possibly imagine.”

His hot breath hit my lips. I fought
the urge to stand on my tip-toes and close the gap. I wanted to
believe him. I needed to believe him, which was exactly why I
turned my head away. I wanted it too desperately.

“
Don’t be cruel, Jace. You
can’t fix me.”

“
I’m never cruel to someone
who can see truth through eyes like yours,” he said, “Look at me,
dearest. Let me open your eyes to my world. Let me bring you back
to the world you once ruled.”

“
If you want me to believe
you can do something so impossible like give me back my sight, then
tell me what you are,” I said, and twisted out of his grasp. The
burning on my hand never left, even out of his embrace. Instead it
became more unbearable not to be close to him.

“
I told you,” he
said.

“
A Healer is a little
vague, isn’t it?” I said, walking away from him. “You could’ve said
you are a pharmaceutical rep, a medical doctor, or a mad scientist
– anyone with any sort of specificity. But no, you chose to answer
me with a Healer. Thanks for the clarity.”

“
I’m forbidden to utter a
word of my origin.”

“
You ask me to believe
something as impossible as giving me back my sight. Surely you must
understand how Frankenstein-ie that sounds to me.”

“
Frankenstein-ie?”

“
I made a word up, so sue
me.” The further I walked, the more I wanted to turn around and run
into his arms. I half expected him to chase after me.

“
If you come to me
willingly, I’ll owe you.”

The proximity he was to me startled
me, since I never heard him. The normal sound of a footstep never
gave me any indication he was near, yet his voice sounded like he
was right behind me.

I picked up my pace. “I can’t trust
you. You can’t even promise that you won’t kill me.”

“
Your older sister would
call you a fool for walking away from me,” he said. “The younger
one would probably find this all too hilarious, but even she
wouldn’t deny that I was trustable.”

I stopped instantly and closed my
eyes. Jace’s outline shimmered in the night’s sky; he was in front
of me – not behind me now. He towered over me by nearly a foot, but
I didn’t care. I didn’t care if his muscles bulged under his thin
shirt. I didn’t care if I felt the slightest beginning of adoration
that I couldn’t explain. I didn’t care if I wanted to kiss him more
badly than anything I’d ever felt. At that moment, I only cared
about one thing, and I refused to take it lightly – my family’s
death.

“
Correction, I have one
sister, and she’s rotting away in a grave next to my
parents.”

“
Lily isn’t your only
sister.”

I jabbed him in his absurdly lean
stomach. He didn’t move. I side-stepped him and walked toward the
building. If he said anything, I didn’t hear it.

I walked inside Circus. The aroma of
fresh popcorn bombarded my sense of smell. The lights were dimmed,
which meant I couldn’t recognize the shapes of objects or people
very well. People were screaming, cheering, laughing, and
complaining. The sounds dulled my sense of hearing. Being stripped
of my most reliable sense was why I hated large, dark, crowded
places.

“
Where’s Jace?” Bree asked,
when I found her and Ryker cuddling next in a booth in the far
corner of the building.

“
He had an unfortunate
consequence of my fist slamming into his gut and decided to leave
me the hell alone.”

“
I can’t take you
anywhere,” Bree mumbled, not trying to keep me from noticing her
humiliation of having a friend who was incapable of playing nice
with boys. From her comment to Ryker, she was acting as if
my
behavior was
inappropriate. Jace certainly couldn’t do anything wrong in her
eyes.

“
Could you be a gent and
get Bree another Coke?” I asked.

Ryker hesitated before leaving. I
could almost see his thought process – make some snide remark to
get me going like always or put up a good show and pretend his was
the nicest boyfriend in the world for Bree’s sake. After he slid
out of the booth, I took his spot next to Bree. The vinyl slid
against my pants easily.

“
Next time you try hooking
me up with someone –”

“
Sorry for bringing you on
a double date with the hottest guy in school,” Bree interrupted.
“You’re right, I’m a terrible friend.”

“
How does he know about
Lily?” I demanded.

Bree was utterly quiet; only the
sounds of games blowing up and alarms sounding at the triumph or
demise of the video games echoed in my ears. “I didn’t tell him.
Honestly, he asked about your family, but I seriously didn’t spill,
for real. You know that information is in the
newspapers.”

My cell vibrated; I answered it on the
third ring. I couldn’t help to smile slightly when Hector greeted
me. He always knew when I needed him. It was like he was tapped
into my mental state. There were times like this I thought he might
be psychic.

“
Are you at some kind of
rock concert?” Hector asked. “I can barely hear you.”

“
No, I’m at Circus, sitting
close to the speakers. I swear their goal is to make everyone
deaf!” I said. The distain was clear in my voice. “I’m on a date
with Bree and Ryker playing the part of the third
wheel.”

“
That was your choice,”
Bree chimed. “Jace would have made great company.”

I covered the receiver with my hand.
“Yes, because a walk down murderous memory lane, with him would
have been so fun.”

“
Need a rescue?” Hector
asked.

“
You have no idea,” I
said.

“
You’re thirty-seven
seconds from bailing on me,” Bree said. “I don’t expect you to
stay, but you have to cover for me. I haven’t been alone with Ryker
in over a week!”

I sighed. She was right. I wasn’t
really mad at her. It was Jace. I mouthed “I’m sorry. I’ll cover
for you.”

Hector picked me up and brought me to
my favorite coffee store. The comforting smell of a fresh brewed
cup of joe lingered in JJ’s Coffee Shop even late into the night. I
slid into a booth, kicked my feet up on the cushion across from
me.

“
I can wait here all night,
Winnie. What’s troubling you?” he said, taking a drink.

“
Jace is a lunatic! The
other day he confiscated Stella, which I found on my driveway
later. I think he was testing my ability to get around blind. He’s
obsessed with my vision.”

“
Creeper,” Hector agreed.
“But it’s better than the alternative. He could be obsessed with
other body parts. He could be an Edgar Allan Poe
wanna-be.”

I laughed nervously, “Yeah, hacking me
up into little pieces and burying them in the floor board like Poe
isn’t ideal.”

“
Do you fear
him?”

That question stopped me short. Jace
was daunting, over-confident, and incessant. I was afraid of him,
so why was I giving him so many second chances? I needed to find a
way to drive a stake between us and that meant Bree couldn’t be so
infatuated with him. It was a battle I wasn’t sure I’d win since
Bree was the definition of “boy-crazy.”

“
Could you take a peek at
our security system? I think Jace and his friend might have hacked
it somehow,” I said not wanting to mention the part about him
telling me he’d only kill me if I begged him. I didn’t particularly
want to dwell on that statement too much.

Hector weighed my words. “It’s not
really my expertise, but I could probably take a look at it just in
case I see something obvious. Is there any reason this Jace fellow
is watching you so intently?”

“
He seems rather interested
in my family.”

“
Bree told him what
happened, didn’t she?”

“
She wouldn’t out me like
that, unless Jace stripped for the info,” I said and took another
drink of my coffee. “She treats him like he’s the hottest thing
that walked the Earth – like a god even, but no, she swore she
didn’t tell him anything about that night.”