Guild of Truth 02 - Shield from the Heart (13 page)

“What are you doing?” she whispered and knocked his hands away. He noticed that her voice was shaking.

He invaded her space until she was pushed up against the wall. “Why haven’t you slept with Joel in three months?”

Her mouth gapped. “How did you — ? That’s none of your business.”

“Was it before or after you saw me in that cell?”

Please say before, please say before.

She avoided his gaze. “Before.”

Fuck.

She was lying.

Merrick’s emotions were in turmoil, his cock swollen and aching. “Why did you ask if I felt anything the first time we touched?”

Even in the dim lighting he could make out her eyes widening. “N-no reason.”

His finger trailed the outside of her exposed thigh. She trembled beneath his hand but didn’t knock it away.

He leaned in to speak into her ear. “Stop lying.”

He needed to pull away. He needed to stop. He was obviously sleep deprived. But everything in his body was telling him that this was so right. He brushed her hair away from her neck and kissed her there.

She gasped and he barely stifled a groan. He ground himself against her, unable to help himself. Every instinct inside of him said to claim her.

Her fingers traveled over his skin, feather light touches that set his blood racing.

He snaked his hand behind her head and kissed her. Her mouth opened for him instantly, her hands getting lost in his hair.

Desire flared white hot.

He slid his hand beneath her t-shirt to cup her hip. He brushed the material of her panties with his thumb. It would be so easy to hook his finger through and pull them down.

Would she be wet for him?

He followed the hem until he reached her center. Sydney jerked. Merrick bit down on his tongue, hard, to keep from cursing.

She
was
wet.

He drew his hand away before he went too far.

Sydney kissed him harder and her tongue twined against his, driving him crazy.

The hall light flickered on.

One second Merrick’s body was pressed deliciously against hers, the next it was gone.

The hall light burned Sydney’s eyes and she blinked to give them time to adjust. Hazel stood a few feet away, face flushed.

Heat crept up Sydney’s neck. She’d been caught kissing Merrick less than ten feet away from where she was sharing a bed with her boyfriend.

Hazel shut the light off and turned to retreat.

Would she tell anyone?

Sydney’s body went cold.

Merrick looked conflicted, as if he didn’t know whether or not to go after Hazel or to stay with her.

She made the choice for him. She raced back to her room and shut the door. She climbed back into bed, her heart racing.

Coward.

Joel was still asleep.

She tried to do the same but all she kept thinking about was if Joel would be able to smell Merrick on her.

• • •

“Are you sure you’ll be all right?” Sydney asked Juliet for perhaps the fourth time.

Juliet placed her hands on her hips. “Of course I’ll be fine. It’s my family. I’ve been away from them long enough.”

“And you want to go with her?” Merrick asked Hazel.

She kept her eyes downcast, her thick black hair obscuring her face. “I don’t really have anywhere else to go and Juliet said they wouldn’t mind. They seem nice too.”

As stupid as it sounded, Sydney was going to miss Juliet and Hazel. She’d grown attached to them, or at least felt responsible for them. But Juliet had insisted that she get back to her family. Apparently she’d even invited Luke to come with her and Hazel, but Luke had declined. Instead he’d asked Sydney if he could join The Guild of Aletheia. Joel would be ecstatic over hearing Luke use the “real” name of their guild. Most of them just referred to it as the Guild of Truth. However, Joel had been called into work for some kind of emergency.

“We’ll be happy to provide as much money as you need to get wherever you’re going,” Sydney told the two girls. Even though Juliet wasn’t even a year younger than Sydney she still thought of her as a girl. She’d helped rescue her after all.

“It shouldn’t cost us too much,” said Juliet. “We’re only going to Thousand Oaks.”

Which was quite a ways from where they lived, at least an hour and a half.

“And you’re sure you want to go?” Sydney asked Hazel.

Juliet looked put out by all the questions but Sydney wanted to make sure this was something Hazel wanted and not just Juliet.

Hazel looked her in the eye. Cali must’ve provided her with some make-up because the black eyeliner she wore made the forest green of her eyes pop.

“I’m sure,” she said. “I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me. I’d like to stay but I don’t want to get involved with Vander anymore. I’d rather stay away from the super hero life. At least for a little bit.”

Sydney couldn’t fault her for that. Hazel was young and obviously scared. As their guild dug deeper and deeper into Vander’s business they were constantly putting themselves in danger, a danger Hazel didn’t want.

Sydney pulled her into a hug and Hazel tensed, reminding Sydney of Cali before she got used to regular human contact. “We’ll miss you,” she whispered into Hazel’s ear.

When she pulled back, Hazel was smiling at her. It made her look both beautiful and young. “I hope you and Merrick make it,” she whispered to Sydney. “I think he really likes you.”

Sydney blushed.

Hazel moved on to hug Merrick. From afar the two could pass for siblings. She noticed that Merrick even embraced Hazel like a sister.

“If you ever need anything,” she heard him tell Hazel, “you call here and they’ll find me. Okay?”

Hazel nodded. “Okay.”

Merrick ruffled her hair affectionately.

Sydney’s heart tightened in her chest.

Hazel moved on to Luke. He was shifting nervously. She looked like she didn’t know whether or not to hug him. Finally Luke gave her a quick embrace.

“How’re you guys getting to Thousand Oaks?” Sydney asked Juliet after she gave polite handshakes to everyone. There was no hugging from Juliet. She briefly wondered if it was a defense mechanism so she wouldn’t become attached.

“Cali and Felix are going to drive us to a metrolink station.”

Sydney checked the time. Felix still wasn’t back from the bakery but she could hear Cali grumbling about the early hour all the way from her bedroom. It was just past ten o’clock in the morning. Sydney shook her head. How Cali dealt with Felix’s early morning schedule, she had no idea.

• • •

Sydney watched Felix’s Hummer disappear down the street, leaving her and Merrick in the front yard.

They made their way back into the house. Sydney’s eyes slid to the hallway where they’d made out. Her body grew warm at the idea of being alone with Merrick in Felix’s house. It was like the first time she found herself alone with a boy in high school all over again. A giddy nervousness that she wished she could make go away.

Merrick did a good job at masking his emotions. He’d been coolly detached all morning. The smile he bestowed on Hazel was the only warmth she’d seen from him. Was he just going to forget last night even happened? Was he going to wait until she brought it up?

Like that’s really going to happen.

She wasn’t going to put her heart on her sleeve and tell Merrick her fear about their “destiny.” What if he laughed at her?

Or worse, rejected her.

He wasn’t making it any easier either. When she told Merrick about Mirror Mates she hadn’t been able to tell if the idea frightened him or excited him.

Felix had been downright ecstatic when he’d learned about Cali being his Mirror Mate. He’d done everything in his power to win her over and keep her in his life.

But Merrick …

Merrick had confessed to being afraid of ever getting close to a woman for fear of learning her inner thoughts and feelings. Did that mean that if she told him they were Mirror Mates he’d keep her at a distance?

He had been very receptive when everyone told him their powers but it was a lot harder for someone to believe in soul mates when there was no tangible proof.

Sydney rubbed her chest where she felt a small ache. Cali used to tell her that the further she was from Felix the more her chest felt empty, but was this feeling Sydney had really solid evidence?

And what if Merrick didn’t feel it?

Had she ever seen him rub his chest? She tried to remember but the last few days were one big blur of activity. She was more than ready to go back to her day to day life at the clinic. She didn’t know if she was cut out for this adventure stuff like Cali and Felix and Joel.

But you’re not done yet. You still have to find Kevin’s journal.

She thought about handing that torch off to Cali and then berated herself for it. She could do this. She was going to see out the rest of her vacation and she was going to hinder Vander anyway she could because everyone who was hurt by him deserved some kind of peace of mind.

She straightened her shoulders and turned her attention to Merrick. He’d had to borrow more of Joel’s clothing. Today he wore snug jeans and a black turtleneck that Joel had forgotten he owned. He looked downright sinful, especially with his black hair flaring out over the collar of his shirt. Felix had offered to take him in for a haircut, but to Sydney’s delight Merrick had declined. It’d be a shame to cut off all that silky hair.

She found her thoughts wandering and instantly reeled them back in. “So,” she broke the silence. “Did you have something in mind to do today?”

Felix had washed off her Yaris, and it waited in the driveway for her.

“Actually, if you don’t mind, I’d like to see the damage Collette has done to my life.”

“Then let’s go.”

• • •

Sydney wrinkled her nose as she slipped into the driver’s seat of her car.

Merrick hesitated with the door open. “What is that?” he asked. “It smells something like sulfur.”

She turned around to survey the back seats and found small claw marks in the fabric. Had a cat gotten into her car?

As Merrick got in she briefly explained the fate of her poor Toyota.

Merrick swore. “Strange goo and foreign scratch marks? There’s never a dull moment in your life, is there?”

“That’s not true.” She exited the freeway. “Last week the most exciting thing that I did was give a puppy a flea bath. While seeing Niella soaking wet and miserable was very entertaining it was otherwise very dull.”

Merrick stared at her as if he didn’t know whether or not she was joking. When she returned his stare he started to laugh. The sound caught her off guard, as did how handsome he was when he laughed.

The light she was stopped at turned green. She barely noticed.

The car behind her honked. Merrick sobered. Sydney stomped on the gas.

When they arrived at Merrick’s apartment he left Sydney in the car to go talk to his landlord. She didn’t know why he wanted to exclude her, but she tried to tell herself it wasn’t personal.

He returned twenty minutes later with a key dangling from his finger. He opened her door for her.

“And?” she asked him.

“It was a good thing I was never late with my payments. When I started missing rent he decided to give me a break the first two months, after that he realized that my mail was piling up. When he found me missing he called the cops. He said he didn’t touch any of my things and left it just in case I turned up dead and my apartment would need to be investigated.”

“So what’d you end up telling him happened to you?”

“I said there was a family emergency overseas that came out of nowhere. I apologized and said I’d get him the missing rent as soon as possible. He didn’t seem too beat up about it but he did give me his sympathy for whatever happened overseas.”

He walked her up a flight of stairs that led to a single door. He ushered her into a utilitarian room. Sydney really hadn’t expected anything less from someone like Merrick. There was one sofa, one TV, and a large bookshelf surrounding the TV. Everything was so tidy. It was sparsely decorated too. Though Merrick wore a lot of black, his home was done in rich browns and touches of green or blue depending on the room. The kitchen was green and brown, the living room blue and brown.

Sydney walked over to the tall bookcase. She smiled and pulled out one of many books. “John Grisham?” She waved the paperback around.

Merrick snatched the novel from her hand and gently put it back in its designated slot.

She wanted to tease him more but one look from him had her mouth snapping shut.

She continued her inspection in the kitchen. She half expected to find empty beer cans and old pizza boxes, but the place was immaculate. The only thing that told of Merrick’s absence was the thin layer of dust collecting on all the surfaces.

She spotted a food and water dish near the refrigerator. She smiled. “You have a pet?”

Merrick’s face darkened.

She felt her smile fading. “Oh no.” She looked around, realizing that if he had a pet it would have had to survive on its own for the past four months. “I’m so sorry, is it … ?”

He shook his head. “Not what you think. I did have a pet. A black lab. The best kind of running buddy. I got a visit from Vander when they took me. He didn’t appreciate Marshal barking at him so he decided to make an example out of him while I was held captive.”

Sydney felt bile rise in her throat. “Oh Merrick … ” She didn’t know what else to say.

“It’s fine.” He turned his back on her. “I guess it worked out for the best. He would have starved anyway.”

It was far from fine but she didn’t press him. “Is everything here? Vander didn’t take anything?”

He looked grateful for the distraction and slipped into his bedroom that branched off of the living room.

She followed at a respectful distance, curious to see what this room would look like. It wasn’t very different from the rest of his place. There was a king sized bed, a work desk covered with neatly organized stacks of paper, and a few photographs.

Sydney made her way over to the pictures while Merrick checked out his closet. When she took a quick glance she noticed the majority of the shirts hanging up were — surprise, surprise — black.