The Glass Secret (Chain of Secrets) (27 page)

Great, somehow my conversation with Nuilley leaked straight from our lips into Storm’s ears and twisted mind.

“Besides, it’s none of your business,” I scowled.

“He’s not for you, Brielle!”

I can’t take you anymore, Storm. Leave me the fuck alone!” I seethed venom into the atmosphere. I knew Storm heard me loud and clear.

“Why do you swear like a sailor? What happened to the sweet little girl you used to be?”

“You happened to me, Storm. You are ruining my social life, not to mention my love life too. Everything!” I stammered.

“You are too young for a love life. What do you know about love?”

“I know a lot. I can read you know. And I have feelings in case you can’t tell.” The tone in my voice flared, unabashed. I needed him to understand that I was serious.

“Feelings...”
His dialogue lingered in the silence.

“What’s wrong? Did the cat snatch your tongue?” I retorted, condescendingly.

“No cats here. I know you have feelings, Brielle. But I don’t want anyone to hurt you. I have seen you happy, successful and full of laughter for the last seventeen years—don’t throw away your innocence on someone like him...”

I interrupted him mid-sentence. “Almost eighteen you big buffoon or whatever you are. And, as for my innocence, that is none of your business. Understand?” I hollered over him as he tried to get out his thoughts.

“—But love, Brielle, that’s a big responsibility to love someone in the way you want to. People get hurt. Loving someone, before you are ready can end in broken hearts.”

“Everyone gets hurt, Storm...it’s a risk we all take,” I snapped, secretly not wanting to take any risk.

“It’s only worth it if they love you back...look at his actions and how he treats other girls,”
he sighed with a bundle of frustration.
“Will Jordan love you back? You know his reputation. My best advice—if you were my daughter, I would say get to know his mother, see how a man treats his mother, or sister before you allow him to—you know, get close to you.”

Storm had never talked to me about things such as love or sex before. I could almost hear him blushing. Although he sounded pretty knowledgeable for someone that had never experience “love” with a woman before, I refused to relent.

What did he really know about loving someone? Loving a human being, that is. He only knew about heavenly places, how to protect us humans, and how to make supernatural things happen, but love? He was not even human!

“You’re not even human, so I don’t think you have any right, or any knowledge, to talk to me about love, the kind of love that real people share, physical and all. Sorry, but you’re not really one to give advice on loooove.” I rolled my tongue. “Stick to saving little girls from molesters”—
Ouch, that one probably stung. Damn, who have I become?
I thought. My pride would not allow me to take it back, so I continued—“Crap, you probably never even kissed a girl.” I paused for what seemed like a long while. “Have you?” I inquired with great curiosity.

There was a long moment of silence, at least, the space of two hundred heartbeats. I clucked three times. “Time is ticking. Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock. Hey, I don’t have all day.” I rolled my eyes, a teenage habit that I had mastered. “Are you in there?” I took a deep breath of air, holding back the words that I wanted to scream out loud but couldn’t.

What a tool. God, sure cursed you didn’t he? You will be trapped in my head, or someone else’s, like a bird in a cage with no wings to fly, Forever! You will never feel the touch of a woman’s kiss on your lips. I don’t even know if you have lips. The closest you will ever get to feeling anything resembling love is by watching it through my eyes. So, butt-out and let me do my thing! You—you, you fucking evil spirit, fly away!
And, he did for all but a few minutes.



After all Storm’s meddling in my life, I still didn’t have the courage to release my inner bad girl beat-down on him. Instead, I refrained and cursed him up and down in the silence of my mind. I was
grateful
he couldn’t hear my private macabre of angry words. I figured this out a few years ago, when it mattered, during our first real hellacious fight.

I recalled, I had just turned seventeen and was very determined to sneak out of the house. It was the first time I had ever thought about doing something so precarious and it was all based on a dare. I was going to attend my first drinking party. There were no plans on my part to get drunk. I just wanted to be seen there by my classmates. How normal is that? In my opinion going to a party was way over due.

No one understood this, not my mother or father and especially not Storm. Of course, he sided with them. Of all people, I thought my personal angel would’ve understood my need to be popular amongst my peers. Than again, Storm wasn’t human, he was an angel. It was his job to make me happy, not miserable. What kind of angel was he anyway? Often, I found myself questioning that.

Storm was flat out determined to keep me from going to the biggest party of the year. I knew he was the one who set off our house alarm, waking my parents in the middle of the night. However, he never came clean with me on that one.

Needless to say, I was caught sneaking out, and was grounded for a month. I swore that I would never forgive Storm for getting me busted—despite, the fact that the police raided the party.

Most of the kids scattered when the police showed up; however, three of my best girlfriends were caught and arrested for under-age drinking. Nuilley happened to be one of them. I supposed I would have been arrested, too, if I was there, but this didn’t matter to me at the time.

I still cursed Storm for weeks and dropped major F-bombs in my private thoughts. Since then, I was certain he could not hear my personal brain-works. If he could, he would’ve already thrown me into the lake of fire years ago for my foul language.

I eventually thanked Storm for saving my skinny butt that night. Nuilley got into so much trouble as a result of getting drunk that night. Her parents had to bail her out of jail, hire an attorney and pay major fines. On top of all that, she was sentenced to three hundred hours of community service. It was a harsh punishment and, in my opinion, far worse than being grounded for a month. I felt a little blessed for having Storm, even if he did, in fact, set off the alarm preventing me from going to the party. He never gloated or rubbed anything in my face. There was no, I told you so’s when it came to Storm. I think he was just relieved that we were talking again.



Now, for the second time, it was Storm’s goal to ruin the biggest night of my life. I was really fed up with him barging into my life whenever he felt like it. He never gave me any privacy, well, except for when I had to shower, shave and do other priva
te things. Supposedly, that’s the truth of it.

At my wits end with Storm always telling me what to do, I became extremely angry with him and unleashed my wrath onto him. This time he went too far. I knew he was setting a plan in motion to ruin my high school prom date. Over my dead body! If Storm screws with my prom it would be beyond forgivable. Words of pent up anger and frustrations flew from my mouth, loud and clear. They sliced like a knife through the air.

Hell, hath no fury like a teenager scorned…a female teenager with raging hormones that is. He interfered in my life for far too many years, and it had gotten to the point where I felt revolted by him telling me what to do, or by staging obstacles where my parents were concerned. His influencing powers simply had to be stopped, before it was too late.

I really didn’t want to hurt Storm; this was never my intention. After all, he had been my best friend for many years and had possibly saved my life; however, I really needed my freedom to explore boys, life and good times. I needed the opportunity to spread my wings, and make my own mistakes. And, he was the one thing, yes thing, standing in my way.

“Brielle...”

“Oh, there you are. I thought you flew back to Heaven. My dumb-luck—you didn’t,” I clucked, waving my arms in the air.

“No—I don’t think they would let me in there.”

“Really...and why not...haven’t you earned your feathery wings yet?” My words were venomous and cold-hearted. “You’re never going to get them at this rate”

“Brielle, stop. Why are you being so hateful?”

“Why? You ask me why? I will tell you why because you are going to be stuck inside my head forever, like a bird in a cage with no wings to fly. You have cursed me and, so I am paying you back, I am going to make you as miserable as you have made me all these years,” I said, unleashing my most contentious laughter on to him. “Now, your big fat ego is condemned to me, so get used to it.”

“It’s not like that—I’m tired...no one wears me out like you can...”

“You—tired?”—I snidely chuckled—“since when?” I snapped.

“When did you become so mean? You used to like me.”
He moped.

“Whaah, whaah, wuaahaaa! Arrrrgh! Are you going to start crying like Brett used to do all the time? The two of you are both serious attention mongrels. Just go sulk somewhere else. Jeez”—I put my palms together in a praying manner—“Here’s a prayer, call someone who cares.”

“I get it. You want me to go, to leave you alone, but I can’t...one day I will figure this out...”

“Figure this...” I flashed him the bird. I wasn’t sure if he saw it, or not. I didn’t care.

“Brielle, what is so wrong with slowing down? You are growing up too—”

“What?” I interrupted. “This is my prom. Are you kidding me?” I yelled.

“Fine, go. You deserve to attend your prom but not with Jordan. He’s not good enough for you,”
Storm bellowed coldly. Brain-freeze. I could have sworn his breath captured a ball of wind, lifting the locks of my hair into the air.

I walked to the window and slammed it shut. “I hope that was you flying out of my room—out of my head.”

I quickly snatched up my headphones, placing them over my ears and hit my
Napster
play list, Bon Jovi:
It’s my Life.
I turned the volume up as high as it would go, flopped across my bed, and returned to flipping through the magazine I had abandoned during my fight with Storm.

A tinge of remorse coursed through my consciousness...I felt awful that we had fought. My words were a degree below hateful, and Storm’s points were controlling, demanding and lecturing. I was not sure who was worse.

Still, after all he had done, I didn’t have the heart to test out the rebuking theory. I figured that if I pissed him off enough, he would concede and just leave on his own. I was sick of him telling me what to do, where to go and with whom I could hang out with.

The only male friend of mine Storm ever approved of was Spencer Reed. Of course, he did, Spencer had four eyes, red hair, and would have kissed his computer before he’d ever think of kissing me. What a nerd.

After our knock down, drag out fight, Storm disappeared. I tried to apologize to him.

“Storm, I’m sorry I treated you so badly. Are you there? Storm, I know you’re still here.”

There was no response, nothing—nada. He was playing hard to get. He was so stubborn. He didn’t even as much as let out a sigh. God, how did Storm ever expect to get his wings if he was going to act like an infant cherub, rather than a mature angel?

“Storm, I know
why
we don’t see eye-to-eye anymore.” I whined.
Did we ever?
“Storm, damn you! Why can’t you just be happy for me this one time?” This really sucked. He ignored me and never responded. Of course, I didn’t give him but a second to think about it either. “Fine...then, life will be easier with you gone. If you aren’t going to forgive me and accept my apology, well then”—
fuck it
—“when and if Jordan asks me to the prom, with or without your blessing, I am saying yes for sure now.”

It wasn’t much of an apology, but it was the best I could muster up. He really pissed me off. Storm would just have to get over his jealousy. However, I couldn’t really blame him for being a little envious; Jordan was a real man.

As the days strung along, I kept finding myself wishing that Storm had understood my needs and, perhaps if he had, we would still be friends. There were moments I felt a dull pang of loss in my stomach, but I quickly shooed them away when I missed him.

Jordan, sweet Jordan would take Storm’s place. He will protect me and become my new best friend. We were both seniors and he was a year older than me. This was awesome because I liked guys who were a few years older than me. A few. Crap, Storm was probably a thousand years old, and the thought of his age was laughable to me.

Storm was only a voice. Jordan could touch, text and make out with me. He could hold my hand if we walked along the streets together, Storm could never even give me a simple handshake. Jordan could do it all, and kiss me for God sakes. I anticipated talking to Jordan on the phone about nothing for hours. Storm, well, all of this would be kind of gross, even if he could complete any of these tasks.

Jordan had a deep sensual voice. Storm’s voice...hum, let me think...it was pleasant, deep—yes, and as smooth as velvet—true, very stealthily—radiating power. His voice was kind of sexy—