Destine (The Watcher's Trilogy) (36 page)

He managed to open the front door and then close and relock it once we were inside
.
I should have felt foolish being carried like a baby into his house, when there was nothing wrong with me, but I couldn’t seem to muster the energy to care
.
He climbed the stairs with me, and walked into a bedroom I had never seen
.
He laid me on the bed and pulled my shoes and jacket off of me
.
He pulled back the covers and paused
.
He was about to help me under the cover
s
, but he seemed to step back and reconsider
.

“Do you want to sleep in your jeans?
”
he asked.

At first the questio
n didn’t make any sense and then
slowly my brain processed the meaning to the words
.
I looked down at the muddy knees of my jeans and shook my head
.
I reached down and unbuttoned the top of my jeans and slid the zipper down as well
.
Gabriel reach
ed
down and hooked his fingers into my belt loops and then began working the jeans down over my hip, thighs, and then finally the jeans h
it the ground
next to the bed
.
I lay there in my underwear and t-shirt
.
Gabriel then pulled the soft bedspread back up over me and securely tucked me in
.
I watched in the faint glow of the streetlights through the window as he pulled off his shirt and began unzipping his jeans as well
.
Even given my current state of grief, I couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the sight of him
.
He was beautiful and he was mine
.
He pulled the covers back on the other side of the bed and climbed in next to me
.
He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and pulled me close, so our bodies touched from shoulder to toes, and he cradled me
.

“You
’
r
e
safe now, Michelle
.
I’m here,” he whispered into my ear, and it was like the walls came down
.
I started to cry
so hard
I sobbed, and then finally somewhere in the wee hours of the morning my grief gave
way to exhaustion and I
slept
.
I wanted nothing more then to stay in that deep, unconscious state of sleep
.
Where the troubles of my life couldn’t get to me, but to every night there comes a dawn
.

Chapter 19

Ephesians 4:2-3 “With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

Somewhere in the early hours, just before dawn
,
I felt Gabriel slip out of bed
.
I didn’t know where he went or why, but I was to
o
exhausted to really care
.
I don’t know how long he was gone, but I la
ter felt him slip back into bed
and reach over and pull me towards him
.
The warm buzz that always jumped along our
s
kin when we touched vibrated up and down my back and legs, and I again fell back into a peaceful st
a
te of unconsciousness
.

             
I finally regain
ed
consciousness and glanced at the digital cloc
k along side the bed, it read ten
a
.
m
.
I sat straight up in bed, it was Thursday and we had school
.
I glanced over my shoulder and out the
window;
rain ran down the
windowpane
in thick rivers
.
It was pouring outside and the sky was dark with rain clouds, no wonder I had been able to sleep so late
.
The realization that I had slept in Gabriel’s bed, next to him, in nothing but my t-shirt and underwear
slowly registered in my sleep-clouded brain;
I reached over and pulled the sheet over my lap
.
As I sa
t on the edge of
the bed I felt Gabriel reach over
from his side
of the bed.

“Come back to bed,” he
begg
ed
.

             
This was all too strange, it all felt so domestic
.
We hadn’t even slept together, but we had slept in the same bed
.
“We have school
.
Why didn’t you wake me?” I asked with an edge of annoyance to my voice
.

             
“Given the day you had yesterday, no one is going to question why you’re not at school
.
Lay back down
and relax,” he pleaded.

             
And just like that all the events of yesterday came rushing back into my mind
.
My f
ather was dead
.
My m
other and Cami were hopefully well on their way to Colorado
.
I would never cook family dinner again
.
My life had changed forever
.
I was suddenly overwhelmed all over again
.
I looked back at Gabriel; he really was all I had left
.
It was the two
of us versus the greatest evil h
el
l
had to offer
.
I let out a long, deep sigh
.

I crawled back into bed, pulling the warm blankets back up to my chin
.
Gabriel slid his arms back around me, pulling me close
.
I immediately felt my skin begin to buzz
.
He leaned down and k
issed me gently on the lips, it
was swee
t and gentle, and it held comfort and
love
.
I relaxed into his arms;
I still had to defeat Alex and ensure the survival of the human race, but fo
r right now all I had to focus o
n was this
.
I suddenly had the urge to reaffirm that I was alive; I needed to act and live
.
I reached up and pulled Gabriel’s lips back towards mine
.
I kissed him hard, trying to communicate how I felt and what I needed into that one kiss
.
He kissed me back, just as fiercely
.

             
We were all here for such a short
time
,
every
day could be our last
.
I wanted to feel, not think
.
I wanted to live, not worry
.
I quickly got lost in the kiss; all thoughts of yesterday had become cloudy and fuzzy and were fading away
.
Gabriel pulled back from the kiss with a gasp; his clear gray eyes
were
now the color of rolling storm clouds
.
I reached up and locked my hand
s in the dark curls of his hair
and pulled his face back towards me
.
He pulled back and attempted to put space between us, but my body had a mind of its own, logical thought no longer had an impact
.
My body arched of
f
the bed towards him, desperate to maintain the connection, to keep the warm buzzing feeling between us
.
I heard Gabriel groan deep in his throat, and
I
watch
ed
the fight in his eyes
.
He wanted this as much as I did, but
something was stopping him
.
Without warning he threw the blankets back and abruptly stood, leaving me alone and cold in the bed
.

“We can’t do this, Michelle,” he hissed through his teeth
.
I could physically see the restraint in his jaw, h
is fists clenched at his side. H
e stood statue still
,
muscles tense
d
with rigidity
.

I slid
into
a
sitting position and let the covers fall into my lap
.
I was still wearing my gizmo t-shirt, not ideal for seduction
.
“Why can’t we
?
Who’s going to stop us?
”
I questioned coyly
.

“I am,” he breathed
.
“I can’t take advantage of the situation
.
I don’t want it to be like this.
”

“What about what I want
?
If yesterday taught me anything it
’
s that you have to live everyday like
it’s
your last
.
I don’t want to regret not doing this,” I pleaded
.

Gabriel let out a long sigh and I watched his muscles relax
.
Him standing there in only his boxers was not helping my self-control
.
He slowly walked to the bed, and pulled the covers back up around me
.
He then sat on the corner of the mattress
,
keeping the covers and far to
o
much space between us
.
“That’s just it, Michelle, you shouldn’t be making a decision like this based on the thought that
this is your only chance
.
We will have plenty of chances and plenty of time
.
I don’t want to rush this.
”

I felt the heat rise to my cheeks
as my face started to burn
.
I had literally thrown myself at a teenage boy, and he had shot me down
.
Must be the first time in history that’s happened
.
I was embarrassed and angry
.
I deserved a little fun
, d
idn’
t I
?
I threw
the sheets back and stomped off towards the bathroom
.
The thought that I was still only in a t-shirt and panties barely registered
.
I slammed the door behind me
and without turning to look in the mirror I started the shower
.
If I looked at myself in all my disheveled morning glory; crazy hair, morning breath, puffy eyes, I
was sur
e to be even more humiliated tha
n I was right now
.
Instead I stripped and stepped into a gloriously warm and steamy shower and let the warm
water
rinse away as much
embarrassment as possible
.
Showers were also the best places to cry, since no one co
u
ld hear you or tell you were crying, but after last night all my tears were gone
.

             
It was amazing how the steam and warm water cleared my mind
.
My embarrassment and anger slowly washed down the drain, and reality began pressing in on my consciousness
.
I shouldn’t be
angry
, I should be thankful
.
Gabriel had brought me to his house, taken care of me, and was just trying to protect me from myself
.
I was behaving rashly an
d worse yet I hadn’t said thank
you for
everything he had done
.
Along with this realization came another realization, my father was dead and my mother and best friend were fleeing for their lives
.
There were a lot of loose ends that needed to be tied up
.
I had to bury my father, I could rather easily make my mother disappear, but making Cami disappear was going to be difficult
.
I took a deep breath, inhaling the warm steam into my lungs
,
and shut the water off
.
I stepped from the shower and wrapped a large, fluffy white towel around my body
.
I wiped the steam from the mirror with my hand and stared at my reflection
.
I barely recognized the woman staring
back;
her skin was pale
,
making her green eyes shine with a determination that I had never seen before
.
I looked older, stronger
.
I could do this, no I would do this,
and I
would succeed because there was no other option
.