Palm of Destiny (4 page)

Chapter Six

Breathe, Elijah. Just breathe.

“The vision, it…” He scrubbed his hands over his face, cringing. Even thinking about it made him want to run. “It…” Letting out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding, he shifted slowly away from the wall. “I don’t want to talk about it. I just
don’t
.”

With a slight frown, Rosalie stepped a little closer. “Come on, Elijah…”

“No.” He held up both of his hands. “Now leave me the hell alone, Rosalie. This is bullshit, what you’re doing.”

With pursed lips, she pushed some hair back behind her right ear. His answer was just enough to ignite some anger in her. “No… because you know
something
. And you know that I will just chase you down again if you try and get away from me, I’ve proven that to you twice now.”

Elijah stuffed both of his hands into his pockets before he started walking along the wall. He was moving, not back toward the ferry terminal, but up toward the highway. Rosalie followed him, her arms folded across her chest. One of his hands came out from the pocket with his cell phone. He didn’t even look at her as he dialed a number, glancing back toward Rosalie once.

“Hi, it’s me. Can you come grab your insane friend? Yeah, we’re at the ferry terminal. Thanks.”

Rosalie rolled her eyes, then let out a sharp laugh. “Really? You know what, Elijah? I’m wondering if maybe Angelique was right. You had a vision of you and I together having sex or something, and it scared the hell out of you because you’re… I don’t know. Are you gay?”

Coming to an abrupt halt, Elijah sort of puffed out his chest and turned to face Rosalie. His jaw was set, and his eyes were narrowed. There was a spark in them that had thus far been nonexistent until now. “I didn’t see anything important in my vision, okay? So get off the fucking high horse that you’re so determined to sit on all the time and leave…me…alone.” His jaw still set, Elijah started walking again, but faster this time.

Standing there shocked, Rosalie let out another laugh before she trotted to catch up with him. “Well…Mr. Fortune Teller has a backbone after all. I’m impressed. And really, Elijah…if what you saw wasn’t ‘important’, then why did you lock yourself in the bathroom? Hmm?”

“Why are you still following me?”

She shrugged, trying to control her anger at his clear avoidance of her question. “Did you just call Angelique to come pick me up?”

“Yes.” Heat rushed to his cheeks as he glanced over at her.

Rosalie picked up on the lie instantly. “Wow… backbone and a fake phone call, both in the same five minutes. Now I’m
really
impressed.”

With a frown, he stopped at a street pole and pressed the crosswalk button. His lips were tight as he stared hard at the other side of the highway, both of his hands back in the pockets of his dark gray jeans. The slight hunch of his shoulders and the way he kept glancing at Rosalie made it seem like he was trying to hide from her.

“I can’t tell you about what I saw, so…just…” He shook his head, casting his eyes down to the sidewalk. “I don’t know.”

“Why can’t you tell me? Morgan didn’t seem to have an issue selling you out a second time.” That last sentence was blurted out almost beyond her control, and she looked almost as startled as Elijah. But then she continued: “Morgan told me that you saw a lot of blood in your vision. And that’s what they….the public…keep saying when they talk about my father’s death.”

As the light told them that they could safely cross, Elijah moved at a slow pace, deliberately dragging his feet and ignoring Rosalie. He shifted his bag across his other shoulder to give his other one a break, keeping his gaze straight ahead. By the time they got to the other side, his jaw was so tight that Rosalie could actually hear his teeth grinding over the sound of the cars flying by.

“All right, you know what?” She spread her hands out from her sides. “I’ll just go back to Morgan and get him to tell me. Or, better yet, I’ll send Angelique in, and he can tell her. She has a pretty good rep in that place, and you could say that the two trust each other. Of course, it would save me a lot of trouble if you just told me.”

“Morgan wouldn’t…” He stopped and looked at her.

She shrugged. “He told me you were going to Slave Lake, didn’t he? That’s in Alberta, right? And he told me about the vision.”

Elijah rubbed at the back of his neck and forced his jaw to relax. As he licked his lips, he started to walk again, turning onto a smaller street. It would take about two hours to walk back to his apartment if he went this way versus one hour if he took the highway; but he preferred the quiet over the loud, and he needed time to think. At least, that was the idea. He didn’t think that Rosalie would actually tag along for the entire two hours, either.

* * * *

By the time they arrived at Elijah’s apartment, they were completely exhausted. He didn’t even care that she trailed him up into his home. All he cared about was water. He took down two large glasses of it before collapsing on the one and only couch. Compared to more expensive ones, it certainly wasn’t that comfortable. But it was the only one that he had, and the only one he had been able to afford. Given that, he ignored the look on Rosalie’s face when she sat down beside him.

“Where did you get this couch, some poor third world country?”

His answer was to set his empty glass of water down on the small coffee table just in front of the couch. There was barely enough room for their legs. Rosalie gave him a look before pushing the table further away to give herself some more room.

“Elijah, please…tell me.” She reached over to place one of her hands on his shoulder, but he flinched away. Looking annoyed, she settled for clasping her hands in her lap. “I hate saying please…but scaring you into a bathroom didn’t work. Chasing you down at a ferry terminal didn’t help. Neither did my strong sarcasm and stunning good looks. Which means that yelling probably isn’t going to do anything, either. So that means that logic and reason are the only things I have left. Because as spineless as you are, you sure have balls. You aren’t afraid to tell anyone anything that a person’s palms say. And my palm is the reason why you saw…whatever it was that you saw.”

“How do you know that?”

“How do I know what?”

He shrugged a little bit, refusing to meet her dark Spanish brown eyes. “Did Ang tell you that I’m like that? That I…that I just say what I feel?”

“Yes. She did. She holds you in higher regard than she sometimes holds me. Elijah, she talks about you all the time.” With a sigh, she dared to reach for him again, gently touching his shoulder. “She was worried about me. When…” Breathing slowly, she nodded to herself. Maybe if she gave something of herself, he would offer the same. It was all she could think of to do. “When my dad died, I was a wreck. She was so worried about me, but she didn’t know what to do. So she thought that you could help me. You know, get my mind off of things. Which…you kinda did.” Now she had a small smile on her face.

“Are you two people?”

Rosalie blinked a few times and opened her mouth. Then she slowly closed it as her brain tried to process his question. Her eyes narrowed a little bit, but then she nodded. “I get it…I act like a bitch one minute, and turn all nice the next.” Unclasping her hands, she rubbed them over her thighs. “Weird things happen when someone really close to you dies. That’s all.”

“I guess...” Elijah looked over at Rosalie, meeting her gaze for the first time since their encounter at the ferry terminal. “You try to act like you’re tough. Like…nothing can touch you. But you’re in pain… all the time. And you don’t want anyone to see.”

“How…do you do that?” Rosalie felt her throat clenching. She had always been so good at hiding her feelings. And yet here this stranger was, stripping her armor away without effort.

He smiled a little, nervously, and looked away. “I don’t know, I just do. My mom, she… she always said it was a gift. Or something.”

As Rosalie pulled her hand away from Elijah’s shoulder, she clasped her hands again. “It is a gift. And not one that I can understand. Before I met you, I always told Ang that she was out of her mind to believe in all of that supernatural new-age stuff. But she was always trying to get me into it, to believe in it. She has always been so adamant that it’s real, and now, after meeting you…maybe there is something to it.” She held her tongue, then, refraining from asking him about the relationship that he and Angelique had apparently had.
Take it slow
, she thought to herself.

“There is…something.” When he looked at her again, he couldn’t conceal the real fear in his eyes.

“What is that ‘something’?”

Pushing himself up from the couch, he moved over to the window. Some of the apartments in this old rundown place had balconies, but his didn’t. He preferred it that way anyway, ever since that woman a few floors over had fallen right through hers and died on impact with the concrete below. As he placed one of his hands on the window, staring out into the day that was swiftly turning into night, he tried to find what little courage there was inside of him. In order to tell Rosalie, he was going to have to relive what he had seen. And he didn’t know if he could do that.

Chapter Seven

Angelique stared at Rosalie like she had just lost her mind. In fact, she nearly dropped the expensive crystal glass she was holding in her right hand and had to sit down on the edge of the loveseat. They were in her home, which was as extravagant as Angelique was, with beautiful modern curtains, marble counters, and dark rosewood floors. The cutlery alone was worth more than Rosalie’s apartment.

“Rosalie, you have never done anything reckless in your life. You’re all talk!”

“I know, Ang, I know.” She couldn’t stop the small grin. “But it was sort of exciting in a way. I mean, I think I almost got hit by a car five times, and he just about got run over by a semi.”

“And after it all you followed him home, which took two hours, but didn’t have sex with him? What the hell is wrong with you?”

Rosalie laughed. “A lot. But, he did invite me over tonight. He said he needed a few days to prepare for…whatever it is he’s going to be doing. Which does
not
involve sex by the way.” She placed a finger against her friend’s lips. “But instead involves him gaining enough backbone to not lock himself in a bathroom.”

They both burst into laughter, and Angelique gave Rosalie a playful shove. “I bet there’ll be sex.”

“You’re horrible, you know that? We barely know each other. Besides, two days ago he was running from me like I was some disease-ridden prostitute.”

“That, my friend, was two days ago. Tonight…” Angelique was grinning even more. “Maybe he really does like you, and he’s just scared of rejection. You should make the first move and see what happens. For your information, that method has a near 100% success rate.”

Rosalie rolled her eyes. “Don’t you ever think about anything other than sex? Like, I don’t know…a lasting relationship?”

“Mmm, tried that once. It didn’t end well.”

“Yeah, because you wanted him to get your name tattooed on his ass.”

“Damn. Maybe you’re right.”

Rosalie’s expression suddenly fell, and she stared at Angelique.

“Rosalie…why are you looking at me like that?”

“You tried to get Elijah to tattoo your name on his ass, didn’t you? It was him,
that
was the ‘long’ relationship you have avoided telling me about since damn near high school!”

A red flush started to overtake Angelique’s features, and she looked away with a squeak. “Oh my god…how did you ever figure that out?” She shook her head violently back and forth, then pointed at Rosalie, who’s jaw was nearly on the floor. “For your information,
he
is the one who asked me out.”

“Holy
crap
…what the hell? Best friends are supposed to tell each other stuff like this!”

She laughed. “I know, I know. But I didn’t think you would want anything to do with my ex, you know? Since the last one…well, you know.” She grimaced. “Elijah, though…he’s cool and everything, but…”

“But…?”

Leaning closer to Rosalie, she smiled mysteriously. “He likes you more.”

“He does not. He’s scared the death of me, and probably has been since we met. That’s probably why he’s always avoided me most of the time, and barely spoken the other 1% we’ve actually come into contact with each other.”

“Yes he does. I can sense these things. It’s likely why we never worked out, he was too busy ogling my best friend.”

She laughed. “No, it’s because you tried to get him to tattoo your name onto his ass.”

There was more laughter as Angelique pretended to dump the contents of her wine on Rosalie. “Whatever happens, my dear Spanish friend…just make sure you don’t let
that
one get away without at least a decent test drive.”

* * * *

Even after several cold showers, Elijah still felt like he was drenched in sweat. No matter what he did he just couldn’t calm himself down. His heart was beating so hard he was afraid it would burst right through his chest and into the open air.

“It’s only fear,” he whispered to himself. “It has no power over you. It—”

The phone beeped three times instead of ringing. She was here. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Elijah moved to the phone and placed it to his ear. “Um…hello?”

“It’s me, Rosalie. Can you let me in?”

“Okay, sure. Hold on.” After a short hesitation, he pressed ‘7’, which unlocked the door. He waited a few seconds before replacing the phone back in its cradle on the wall. It was all he could do to keep from pacing, and he slid his hands back through his rich brown hair. Clenching at it, he gently tapped his brow against the wall with his eyes closed.

Someone knocked on the door. Three gentle raps. After wringing his hands a few times, then feeling childish, Elijah strode over to the door and drew it open. Rosalie was standing there, looking almost as nervous as he was. “Um…” He stepped back, swallowing hard. “I mean, come in. Is there a reason why you didn’t want to meet somewhere more…public? I mean my place is…” He flinched a bit and looked around.

She stepped inside, giving him a small smile of reassurance. “Because I didn’t think you would want to tell me something so important in front of a bunch of other people.”

“Okay.” He let out a low snort. “You being nice to me…kinda weirding me out…”

“That’s because I don’t have to constantly demand answers from you and/or stalk you. Besides, Angelique and I had a really good talk today about you. I sort of… well, before I thought you were just being an idiot. But now I’m not so sure.”

Looking uncomfortable, he just shrugged as she stepped further inside. It was enough to let him close the door, which he dead bolted. He glanced at her for a moment, then slipped by her and had a seat on his couch. Rosalie followed and then slowly sank down onto the couch as well, doing a good job of hiding her distaste. Angelique’s couch was
so
much more comfortable.

It was also a great deal more expensive, but still. One would think a man could get some decent furniture at least! As soon as that thought entered her mind, she felt guilty. Not so long ago, Elijah had been living on the streets with nothing but the clothes on his back and a few ‘fortune telling’ items; most of which had likely been stolen/gotten lost along the years. “Can I make you a deal, Elijah? So we can call it even?”

“What kind of deal?”

“I, or someone I know, gets you something you have never been able to afford, and you…tell me what you saw the day you freaked out and left Morgan’s store. I know you already agreed to tell me, but I think it’s important to keep a good balance, you know?”

Elijah swallowed and stared at her. Then he forced himself to nod, barely managing a very fake smile. His nerves were quickly getting the better of him. “Yeah…sure. That would be…sure.” He could see her in his mind, the vision of her clear. Leaning over him, yelling his name while blood fell like rain all around them. Shaking his head, he shifted a little further from her on the couch. “You killed me.”

Rosalie’s brow was deeply furrowed. She had never seen such a nervous person in her life. It was as though she had beaten the shit out of him, or tortured him. The way he was acting, it was like…

As those three words left his lips, confusion dominated the emotions on her face. She just stared at him, not understanding what had just been said.

“In my… my vision. The one I had at the store. The shop I mean.“ He could barely breathe. “In my vision, you… you kill me.”