Crossings: A Sovereign Guardians Novel (24 page)

"What was that for?" he asked as I rolled off him and then sat up.

I smiled and reached over to smooth his ruffled hair back down with my fingers before answering him.

"I just wanted to make sure you had something to remember me by while you were outside."

He grinned at that. "Sweetheart, no matter where I am, I’m thinking of you. I definitely can't be in my own truck without thinking about how sweet you tasted the night I took you home from the club."

My eyebrows arched in mock indignation. "So, you
did
kiss me that night while I was under the influence."

"I'll never tell everything."

"What if I remember it all?"

"Mmmm...I hope you do."

Looking at Keller, knowing what it felt like to be kissed by him, to have him looking at me with those brown eyes of his, I hoped I remembered it all, too. There wasn't a moment with him that I ever wanted to forget.

The numbers glowing on the clock showed that it was well past time for me to be asleep.

Keller came around to my side of the bed and pulled me up and away from our warm oasis. He kept hold of my hand as he walked me to the door. With his free hand, he pulled out his phone and quickly texted Granger, explaining to me that he was telling him the plan for the evening.

"Let me get some blankets and a pillow for him for tonight.”

Keller shook his head. "No, don't bother. I've got a sleeping bag in my truck I'll give him, and he can use one of the pillows that are already on the couch downstairs. He'll be fine. Trust me."

"I do," I said and gave him one last kiss before he headed down the stairs and out the door. I didn't bother to follow him because I knew once Granger came inside, he would lock everything up before he went to bed.

The minute I turned around and walked back into my room, my eyes went straight to my bed. The covers were all rumpled and the pillows were mused where only minutes before Keller and I had been together. The glint of silver on the nightstand caught my attention as well, and I realized Keller had forgotten his ring. He would need it for the phone call he had to make. He had to convince Gran not to come home until we knew everything was okay. I could handle whatever might happen to me, but thinking about something happening to her was unbearable.

I picked up the ring and then slipped back down the stairs just as Granger was coming inside. For a minute we both stared at each other. Granger was the first to break the silence.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine," I responded quickly. "Keller forgot his ring. Can you see that he gets it?"

Granger took the silver band from my hand and assured me he would get it to him. I was about to turn around and go back upstairs when Granger's fingers wrapped around my arm and stopped me.

"You know he's my best friend?"

I nodded.

"I also know that you and me, we’re just friends, and I'm good with that, so you know. That being said, you understand he has to go back, right?" Granger looked down at the ring he held and then back at me, making sure I really understood what he was saying.

"I know," I whispered, tears filling my eyes. The horrible part was, I did know, even if we had refused to talk about it and had both pretended earlier that it wasn't true.

Granger nodded once and then let go of my arm. I raced up the stairs glad that he would be staying because knowing he was downstairs was all that stopped me from racing out the door and back into Keller's arms.                                         
 

Chapter Thirteen

When morning came I was surprised I'd slept at all, but exhaustion had finally taken over, and I didn't open my eyes again until the sun was starting to rise. Stretching widely, I began to wake with the realization that everything that had happened the night before was real. The world I knew was gone, and there were things I now knew about my life that were both frightening and exciting.

Sinking back onto my mattress, I reached over and rubbed my hand across the extra pillow beside me, wishing I could be waking up next to Keller. I tried to imagine how he would look early in the morning, the sun coming in through my window, shining on his dark hair. His eyes opening slowly to reveal the secrets he kept hidden there. Then he'd give me that slow, half smile of his right before he'd turn to face me, his eyes offering me all sorts of promises I’d want him to keep.

I threw my own pillow over my head and groaned.

It was a very good thing he'd left last night, I reminded myself. But even thinking it over and over didn't make me really believe it.

A noise downstairs reminded me that I wasn't alone. I could hear Granger moving around. It sounded like he was making coffee. Apparently he was an early riser, too.

Slipping into my bathroom, I quickly showered and then dressed in a pair of jeans and a soft cotton pullover. The blue of the shirt helped my eyes look a little brighter. I pinched my cheeks trying to add some color to my face before pulling my hair up into its high ponytail. A small dab of gloss on my lips was the only makeup I added.

I took the back staircase down to the kitchen, and Granger looked pleasantly surprised to see me up and moving so early.

"Coffee?" he asked, rising to get me a cup.

"Couldn't start the day without it," I confessed, taking the cup he poured for me and quickly adding cream and sugar before I joined him at the table. He sat down across from me the moment I took my seat.

Granger was already dressed, wearing a snug fitting gray shirt and dark blue jeans. He seemed perfectly at ease this morning, and I wondered how he could look like he'd had such a perfect night's sleep after staying on my grandmother's sofa, not to mention with all the other things that were going on right now.

Perhaps it was a perk of being a guardian. Granger and Keller were both so good-looking. Did all guardians look like super models? Then I remembered Keller mentioning that Granger had a sister which meant there were female guardians, too, and a feeling that made me rather sick started churning in the pit of my stomach. Wondering what life was like for Keller in his perfect world with his perfect people left me with little to say for the moment.

Granger arched one eyebrow, eyeing me over the rim of his coffee cup before he spoke. "Well, it's been two minutes at least, and you haven't asked about Keller yet. Has your affection already waned?"

My eyes opened wide and I blinked at Granger. "Did you just use the words
affection
and
waned
in the same sentence? My gosh, you really did read
Jane Eyre
, didn’t you?"

Granger wagged his index finger in my direction. "You know, you don't have to be vexed this early in the morning."

"
Vexed
? Really? Is there any reason you are suddenly talking like a walking thesaurus?"

Granger shrugged one shoulder and then set down his cup of coffee before replying. "You know what they say about summer break and your brain." He tapped the finger he’d just pointed in my direction against his right temple. "Have to keep my mind sharp, or I'll lose it all by fall."

I laughed out loud, but then sobered quickly. My mind raced ahead thinking about what the start of school would be like next year. I would be a senior when school began, assuming I survived the next week. Only a few days ago my biggest focus had been passing finals. I took a slow sip of my own cup of coffee, trying to concentrate on nothing but the warmth as it moved down my throat, wondering where Granger and Keller would be when school started, and knowing I wouldn’t like the answer if I asked the question.

"So," I began, once I'd swallowed my morning, liquid adrenaline and determined to avoid the most disturbing topics that were buzzing through my mind, "where is Keller?"

"He's gone."

“He’s what?” My face must have clearly shown my shock because Granger was quick to follow up his statement.

"Calm down, Pagan. He's gone back for a quick visit, that's all. We both thought it best if one of us touched base to make sure our ability to shield stays at its best. I know it's hard to understand, but then again, pretty much everything you've heard in the last twenty-four hours is probably not easy for you to take in."

I shrugged one shoulder. "There's a lot that is, well, a lot to take in, but the idea of how you are able to get the energy to shield is still something I can't wrap my mind around."

"If it helps at all, think of our ability as something like a rechargeable battery but with a very long distance charging station. Anyway, I offered to go so Keller could stay here, but I think he was too restless to sit still. He was also hoping he'd make it back before you woke up and realized he was gone."

"I don't suppose you could..."

"No," Granger stated emphatically, cutting me off before I could even finish my sentence.

"You don't even know what I was going to ask," I pouted.

Granger gave me a look like I'd lost my mind. "Really? You are so transparent, Pagan. Of course I know what you were about to say. You were going to ask me how we go back and forth, and you were going to ask for details about how the whole recharging thing works. And then you were probably going to follow that with a hundred more questions while Keller isn't here because you think I’ll crack and tell you everything." Granger gave me a crooked grin to soften his words.

"You forget, Pagan, I happen to be perfectly aware you aren't simply another pretty face, and your inquisitive mind never stops. I'm also quite sure you already understood from last night that there are certain things we aren't allowed to explain. Ever. The way it stands right now, we'll probably have to wipe your mind clean when all of this is over."

"What?" Panic enveloped me as I thought about what it would be like to lose all my memories of Keller. "You can't be serious!"

Granger winked at me and then said, "Nah, I'm not serious, but only because shielding doesn't seem to work on you very well. Honestly, if we could do it, it would be the easiest way to handle this entire messed up situation. Of course, I doubt Keller would be a fan of the idea either. On the flip side, if we could do it, we'd be able to tell you everything you want to know because in a few days we could simply take all your memories away with one shield when all this craziness is over."

My heart was beating way too fast. I didn't think Granger's joke was funny at all, and I sincerely hoped he was only joking. Part of me believed he was just trying to scare me so I'd stop asking so many questions. He had to understand, though, why there was so much I wanted to know.

"Can you at least tell me
something
about what it's like for you there? Keller told me last night that you have a brother and sister. Do you all live together like a family?"

Granger leaned forward and braced his arms against the kitchen table. His face relaxed before he began speaking. I wondered if he realized he was smiling at simply the mention of his family.

"Having a brother and a sister can sometimes feel like a pain because, well, no matter where you live - relationships between brothers and sisters, even triplets, are the same everywhere, I'm guessing. There's no doubt, though, that Bradley and Colleen are an important part of my life. I can't imagine not having them."

He frowned, seeming to search for the right words. "Look, Pagan, more than anyone you can probably understand what it's like for Keller. I know it's hard on him sometimes because he doesn't have any family. I tell him all the time he's the adopted brother, but I know he wishes things had been different for him."

I nodded, trying to understand their world, growing up with no parents or grandparents. My home life had not been traditional, but I had always had Gran, at least.

Beyond knowing about Granger's family, I was especially curious about what it all looked like where they lived, and I was surprised when Granger volunteered to explain it to me.

"The place we call Crossings is as far logistically as any guardian has ever been allowed to go. Like you, I don't really know what lies
on the other side
. I have seen the faces of people, like your mother, as they go across, and even as they sometimes grieve for those they've left behind - their faces are filled with excitement when they look ahead. The light in their eyes, well, it's hard to describe. It becomes almost brilliant, really, like stars in the night sky. Whatever it is they see must be amazing. Then again, where we live, the view isn't too bad either."

I recalled Keller commenting on my poster for the dance and saying it was accurate. I understood now a little more of what he meant when he'd used that word. Then, I hadn't known that Keller had seen the view from the heavens. Unlike me, it wasn't something he had to simply imagine.

Granger's next comment pulled my thoughts back to the present. "The best thing I can equate to our life there is like it would be to visit a small university campus or maybe an exclusive summer camp. Regardless of how you visualize it, understand it's not just some place we visit. It's our home. We are all close to each other because we're all we've known."

Appearing done with the subject, Granger stood up and pushed his chair under the table and motioned for me to stand up, too. He came around to my side of the table and then he took my now empty cup and grabbed his own mug and carried them both over to the sink. I followed him, and he gave me a dry towel to help with the dishes. Then he handed me each cup and spoon to dry after he washed and rinsed them clean.

Finishing up quickly, I turned to Granger and asked another question I’d been curious about. "Could you see me from where you were?"

Granger shook his head. "Not the way you mean. It's not like looking at the world with a pair of binoculars and spotting someone. It's more a feeling we get. Some people call it an aura. Every soul has one. From our view, yours was dark and restless. It would have been obvious to any sovereign guardian who looked that you were in trouble. Our job isn’t to look; that’s the job of others in the heavens. We were asked if we would take the assignment to check on you, which is in our line of, uhm, work, if you will. Obviously someone a little higher up than we are was looking. Without the assignment, no matter what we were aware of, we wouldn't have been allowed to leave. Coming and going at will is not something we're able to do unless we're on assignment, like now."

I knew Granger was trying to help me understand that once Keller went back permanently, I would never see him again because he wouldn’t be able to visit whenever he wanted, but I couldn't think about that right now.

"You said once that Keller volunteered for this, but you didn't. You were talking about coming to Fairvue and protecting me, weren't you?"

"Yes."

"So, why did you come?"

Granger shook his head in disbelief. "Are you kidding? Me miss a chance to eat lots of this delicious food you people have down here? I heard it was going to be a long-term assignment with lots of chances to eat. And once I knew Keller was going, there was no way I'd let him have all the fun."

I rolled my eyes at his answer. He knew he wasn't fooling either of us with his glib remarks. Keller might have volunteered first, but there was no way Granger would have let his best friend go somewhere that he might be in danger without going with him, even if he didn't want to admit it out loud.

"Look, Pagan. I know you're worried, but you shouldn't worry too much. Your guy won't let anything slip by him. You don't know this, but where we come from, everyone says he has Keller instincts."

I groaned out loud. "Really, Granger? Since when did you become the funny one?"

"Since I was the one who didn't get the girl."

My heart lurched at his words, and I didn't know what to say. Granger's eyes roamed my face before he gave a half smile.

"Enough with the questions for today, okay?" he pleaded.

I nodded in agreement.

"Why don't we talk about coming up with a plan until all of this is over?"

The sound of the backdoor opening and closing had me turning around, and I saw Keller walking into the kitchen. He was wearing a pair of faded jeans and a tight fitting black T- shirt that stretched across his muscles. His arms were loaded with bags full of groceries which he promptly dropped on the counter beside me. His gaze was focused only on me as he walked over and wrapped me in his now empty arms before placing a kiss at the corner of my mouth.

"Good morning, angel."

Seeing him in my house, looking at me like he never wanted to be without me again did crazy things to my equilibrium. I didn't know how I was supposed to focus on making a plan when even the smallest touch of his lips against my skin had me thinking about nothing else except wanting to be alone with him.

It wasn’t hard to tell what Keller was thinking, either. He was obviously having the same problem I was. His hand reached out and grabbed mine. I loved the way my fingers entwined perfectly with his. I loved having his full attention.