Fire & Ice Page 9

  “Vance, my stupid car is acting dumb again. I think the interior light may have been left on. The battery is dead or something. I’m sorry to bother you, but I need some help. Please?”

  “No problem,” I responded with a sigh. “I’ll be right there.” Ending the call, I slid it back into my pocket. “I’m sorry, Portia, but I’m gonna have to run for now.” Regret flooded through me. I hated to leave just when things were starting to get interesting.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked. I sense her worry immediately.

  “Everything’s fine.” I pulled her into my arms and kissed her again. “Thanks for having me over. I had a wonderful time and I promise I’ll answer all of your questions later.”

  “Okay.” She threaded her fingers through mine and walked me to the door. I had to kiss her one more time before I left, wrapping my arms tightly around her while devouring her mouth. I didn’t want to go; but, once again, I forced myself away.

  “See you tomorrow, baby.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Journal Entry:

  Portia wrote her first spell—a spell of protection—for me, ironically enough. Here I’ve been worried about dragging her into my life and concerned if knowing me might place her in harm’s way, and she’s concerned about me! She has no idea how much this means to me, or how it has firmly cemented her place in my heart even more.

  Tonight, I watched her perform that spell while sitting with her grandma out on one of the cliffs, under the moon. Portia’s energy flows so strongly from her, and our connection seems to constantly grow tighter. I haven’t had the chance to talk to her about it yet, but I hope to soon. Something is binding us together, and I’m all for it.

  ***

  She had been lying awake for several hours, contemplating all that had been happening lately. Her vibe was so strong, even I was unable to properly rest. Finally, I decided to go to her, the excuse to see her was too much to pass up.

  Using my powers of levitation, I easily scaled the trellis outside her window and knocked on the glass.

  Her cat, Jinx, noticed me immediately and signaled to her like any good familiar spirit should. Portia left her bed and opened the window. “What’re you doing here?” she whispered, appearing surprised.

  “I couldn’t sleep. You have too many things running through your head.”

  “I’m keeping you awake?” she asked, wide-eyed.

  I nodded. “Can I come in?”

  “Of course.” She moved, allowing me the room I needed to enter through the window.

  Immediately I made my way to the bed, patting the sheets suggestively. “Come get in.” I had no qualms about flirting with her. The truth was I’d love nothing better than to seduce her.

  She lifted an eyebrow, but didn’t question me, choosing instead to do what I asked. It made me wonder how far she’d actually let me go.

  Reining in my thoughts was not an easy thing to do. As soon as she lay down, I covered her with the quilt so I wouldn’t be forced to torture myself even more by staring at her perfect figure. Climbing onto the bed next to her, I stayed on top of the blankets, but I did allow myself the luxury of sliding one arm beneath her neck and draped the other across her shoulders. Her pulse rate quickened much like mine.

  “You need to get some sleep,” I whispered into her wonderful smelling hair, closing my eyes as I deeply breathed in the fruity scent.

  “I know. My mind won’t stop racing, though.”

  Placing my palm against her forehead, I began whispering words to a sleeping spell. Purposely speaking low, so she couldn’t understand them, I felt her start to relax. I wanted her to concentrate on the feeling and not try to dissect the spell itself.

  Allowing myself to be pulled under with her, I found the two of us standing together in meadow surrounded by cedar and pine trees. Purple and yellow wildflowers spread through the tall, green meadow grasses, blowing in a gentle breeze. I could even feel the warmth of the sun in her dream vision. It was amazing to see her project like this.

  “There. This is better.” I approached from behind, sliding my arms around her small waist and smiling slightly as she leaned back into my embrace.

  “It’s so beautiful here,” she said.

  “You created it. It’s your dream.” I nuzzled my face into her hair.

  “I’ve been wondering something.”

  “What’s that?” I couldn’t resist placing a kiss along her jaw.

  “How come you can hear my thoughts—or when I’m calling to you—but I can’t ever hear yours?”

  This brought me to a halt as I pondered it and gave a shrug. “I guess I’ve been blocking you.”

  She turned and gave me a questioning stare and I started laughing.

  “Don’t worry. I haven’t been doing it intentionally. I’ve just become so accustomed to keeping my mind closed, as a protection, that I’m doing it now without realizing. You’re so new at this, and your mind is so fresh and unfettered, it’s easy to read you.”

  “Can anyone read my thoughts then?”

  “No, it’s part of the special connection between the two of us.” I waved my hand at the scene in front of us. “This is rare.”

  “So I could read your thoughts, if you’d let me?”

  Turning her to face me, I raised her arms and placed them around my neck before anchoring mine around her waist once more. I locked gazes with her. “Read away.”

  Pushing my energy toward her, I felt a shock travel through me as we connected. This was hard—allowing someone complete access to me this way. She started shaking and I immediately pulled back.

  Don’t scare her. The words were thought to myself, but I knew she heard them too.

  “Stop,” she commanded. “I want to see everything.”

  Giving in to her wish, I stopped trying to hold back, letting many scenes from my life overtake her—complete with all the emotions and thoughts that came with them. Her reaction depended on the memory. Smiles and feelings of tenderness accompanied the sugar cookie memories, and other happy times; but when things shifted to my father’s abuse and running away with my mom, her expression shifted, as well.

  Hurt and pity radiated from her so strongly it almost made me want to cry. When I couldn’t take it any longer, I changed the scene again.

  Showing her my personal experience with magic heightened her desire to learn. I could feel it increase her comprehension of everything and wondered why I hadn’t thought of sharing things with her this way before. Seeing and feeling the results of power made things so much easier to comprehend.

  By this point, I almost felt as if she were digging through my mind, anxiously mining out the things she wanted to know. I moved on to my feelings surrounding her.

  She drank in everything—from the first time I’d noticed her, how her emotions had flooded through me, and how I’d discreetly watched her from afar from that moment on. All my longings for her surfaced and my heart rate increased as I bared my soul. There would be no turning back, now. She would know everything.

  I hesitated.

  “Please don’t stop,” she whispered, staring into my eyes. “I want to know.”

  Letting everything go, I gave in to her wish. She took in the visions of me tossing and turning at night as I dreamt about her, the times she’d called for me and I’d slipped into her own dreams, and the nights I’d spent outside her house, waiting to protect her from her nightmares, yearning to make contact with her, but knowing I couldn’t.

  Love for her flowed heavily from me, all the reasons why I’d fallen for her and what she’d come to mean to me. I couldn’t contain it—it was too much to control. I wanted to be with her forever.

  Everything about me was laid open for her perusal, and I didn’t have to wait long for her answer. Feelings of love, attraction, and lust began pouring out from her as well. She tightened her arms around my neck, dragging me in for the most amazing kiss I’d ever experienced in my life.

  Everything about us was connected
and it was intense.

  My fingers tangled into her hair, holding her head so our mouths were pushed roughly together, bruising as we tried desperately to give action to what threatened to boil over inside us. I didn’t even want to breathe—only to kiss and keep kissing her, never stopping.

  Nature, however, demanded we comply and we broke apart, gasping for air. I couldn’t stop staring at her. She was all flushed for a totally different reason and I liked it. A lot.

  We both started laughing, allowing the ravenous tension between us to break. But I quickly pulled her back into the circle of my arms.

  “I’ve never experienced anything like that in my life,” I stroked my hands up and down her back.

  “Neither have I. Are you sure this is only a dream?” She flashed me her beautiful smile.

  “Yes, but we’ll need to be careful. When I kiss you, I don’t ever want to stop, and that could be dangerous. But I won’t ever try to do anything that would harm you. You know that, right?”

  “I trust you with everything I am.” Her arms tightened around me and I relished being there.

  “I’ll do my best to earn that trust,” I replied, briefly brushing my lips across her forehead when a sound caught my attention. Sighing, I realized our time had passed much too quickly. “Your mom is coming to wake you up for school. It’s time for me to go.”

  Instantly, I pulled from the dream, quietly bounding toward the window, climbing through. I was barely out of sight, still hanging on the trellis, when the door opened and I heard her mom.

  “Portia, time to get ready for school, sweetheart.”

  Making my way to the ground, I hurried to my motorcycle, powerless to keep the grin off my face or the staccato-like rhythm out of my heart.

  She loved me. I grinned wider. Portia loved me too. I was the luckiest guy on earth.

  ---

  “Hey. You want to go out tonight?” It was the first time I’d tried speaking to her like this while we were awake and it caught her totally by surprise, making me laugh.

  “This is weird. It’s definitely going to take some getting used to,” she replied mentally. I wanted to do a fist pump into the air. All my worrying had been for nothing. She could communicate with me, honest and truly—no dream states or other ploys, she could really do it. Our connection was like the others’ I’d read about. This could only mean one thing, if the research I’d done was to be believed. We belonged together.

  “I like it,” I replied, unable to stop smiling as I glanced around to see if anyone else was noticing and wondering why I was grinning like an idiot. Thankfully, they were all busy writing their essays. “Think of it as a phone call, but without the phone.”

  “Yeah, but a phone rings to let someone know when they’re calling.”

  I made a ringing sound appear and I felt her jump again. It was insane how this connection worked and the way I could sense things around her.

  “Is that better?” I asked.

  “No. Your way is much better. Let’s stick with that.”

  Good idea. “You didn’t answer my question.”

  “Yes. I’d love to go out with you tonight, or any night for that matter. What do you want to do?”

  “It’ll be a surprise. It’s my turn to treat you with something.” The idea I had was a big one, something not to be taken lightly. I hoped she’d understand.

  “That sounds great.”

  “Cool. Now listen to your teacher. I believe he’s about to call your name.”

  ---

  Lunch found Portia and I eating with Brad and Shelly. I was slightly hesitant about going with them at first, especially after the incident with Brad and the guys on the baseball field. Portia really wanted to though, and as far as I was concerned, whatever Portia wanted, I’d do my best to give her.

  “How do you like having a motorcycle?” Brad asked as the four of us sat together at a table. “I’ve always kind of thought it would be cool to have one, but my parents seem to think I’m not educated enough to drive a two-wheeled vehicle.”

  I chuckled. “Marsha wasn’t too excited about it either, I’m afraid. But I built it myself and bought everything with my own money, so there wasn’t really much she could say about it. Besides, working on that thing probably kept me out of a lot of other trouble. It consumed most of my time.”

  “Maybe that’s my problem. I need to convince my mom and dad that it would be a character building experience.”

  “There you go,” I chuckled. This guy wasn’t half-bad. Maybe I should give him another chance. “Let me know how it works out for you. We can go riding together sometime.”

  “That would be so awesome,” Brad replied. “Don’t hold your breath, though. I really can’t see my parents caving on this at all.”

  “Never hurts to try. If you ever need to get parts, there’s a great junkyard I know of that has pretty much helped me find anything I ever needed. Not only motorcycle stuff, but whatever mechanical thing you might need to get.”

  “That’s awesome. Thanks, man.” He held his fist out across the table and I bumped it. It was official. We were friends.

  Pausing, we caught part of Portia and Shelly’s conversation. “We never do anything together, anymore,” Shelly complained, dipping a French fry into some ketchup.

  “I’m sorry. How about going tomorrow night?” Portia asked.

  “Yeah,” I piped up. “Why don’t the four of us catch a movie or something?”

  “Sounds good to me,” Brad said with a nod. “What do you think, Shelly?”

  “Only if the girls get to pick the movie,” she said quickly. Brad and I glanced at each other.

  “Chick flick,” we said in unison, and the girls laughed.

  “So, we'll pick you girls up at seven. Would that be okay?” Brad asked.

  “That’ll be great,” Portia replied. I could already see the wheels turning.

  This was incredible. My life didn’t even feel the same—maybe because I actually had a life.

  Chapter Twelve

  Journal Entry:

  I’ve never wanted something so badly. Everything about us seems to fit right together. It sounds crazy, even to me, the cynical person who’s never believed in all the gushy love stuff. I remember how my parents fought before we ran; love has never been very successful for the people I’ve known. Yet now, I find myself in the middle of it and I want it so badly. I need her—want to keep her with me always—want to always feel the way she makes me feel. Happy. I can’t recall ever being this happy. I love her.

  ***

  “Hey sexy,” I spoke into her mind during class. We didn’t have any classes together this year, but at least I could talk to her whenever I wanted to.

  “Hey yourself,” she replied, seeming much more at ease this time. Joy infused her at the sound of my voice in her mind and I loved feeling that reaction from her. “What’re you doing?”

  “Listening to all those wonderful thoughts in your head. Why didn’t you tell me you wanted to see my tattoos?”

  She was silent for a bit, clearly caught off guard. “I don’t know. It seemed a little forward, I guess.”

  I chuckled. “It’s not forward at all. You’re my girlfriend. You should know these things about me. I want you to know.”

  “How many do you have,” she asked, curious.

  “Three. One on each shoulder and one down my left side.”

  “What do they look like?”

  This was too good of an opportunity to pass up. “They’re all of naked women.”

  Her thoughts paused, stuttering about in her head, and it was hard not to laugh out loud. “I’m kidding, Portia. Relax.”

  “Oh,” she replied, a giggle escaping. Suddenly she started coughing and I quickly deduced that she’d drawn attention to herself. “Sorry, dry throat,” she croaked out.

  “Nice cover.” I chuckled, enjoying how flustered she was. However, I had to be careful as well, to keep from drawing attention to myself. “We don’t want pe
ople thinking you’re going crazy there in the corner by yourself.”

  She snorted again, immediately followed by more coughing.

  “Do you need a pass to go get a drink?” her teacher’s voice came through.

  “Um . . . no, I’ll be—”

  “Take the pass!” I ordered, sitting straighter and waving to get my teacher’s attention.

  Portia started coughing again. “Uh, yes,” she spoke with feigned difficulty.

  “Meet me in the gym,” I told her, excited to steal a moment away with her.

  “Okay.”

  She was already standing inside the dim space when I arrived. Grabbing her hand, I pulled her down the side of the wall and under the partially open stack of bleachers. No one would even know we were here.

  “All the PE classes are on the fields today, so I knew this would be empty,” I explained, unable to stop myself from bending to kiss her, pausing for a moment to drink her in before my lips touched hers. She closed her eyes and leaned in closer as she wrapped her arms around my neck. Those crazy emotions rose immediately to the surface, like they did every time we touched—more sparks—more fire, which was funny to me since technically she was an ice queen. But whatever her power might be, she was definitely the match to my flame. I briefly wondered if any children had been conceived under these bleachers before I forced myself to refocus.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Nothing. It’s just crazy how quickly things seem to get heated between us.” Grabbing the bottom of my shirt, I pulled it off.

  “What’re you doing?”

  Even in the low lighting, I could see her blush as her eyes traveled over me, drinking everything in. It didn’t take any mind reading at all to know that her thoughts had moved in an entirely different direction than what I had intended.

  “Showing you my tattoos, of course.” I pointed to the one on my right shoulder first. “This one is a Celtic cross. The trees and background around it are part of painting my mom used to have in her bedroom. She told me it was something my grandpa had painted for her and was very special. I drew it the best I could remember and had it done to remind me of her.”