Immortal Essence Box Set: Aligned, Exiled, Beguiled (11 page)

“Oh, sure,” she said waving a hand, her cheeks coloring. She seemed smitten with the Formytian. “Maybe I’ll see you around.”

“Maybe.”

“Thank you,” Venus added as she walked toward the entrance.

“Oh, no problem.” She waved and giggled.

“Later Chev, baby!” Vinny added as he opened the door.

“
Laters
.”

Venus followed Zaren and Dervinias out of the store.

Michael groaned. It was the bottom of the fourth quarter and, once again, he was on his back, under a pile of sweating guys. No, he wasn’t having a good time. He was pissed off—in a great way. In a way that pumped him up, and made him push harder—allowed him to think. Put life into perspective. His mind easily focused during a game. When the opposing team breathed down his neck right before he threw the football. It was a battle. And he intended to win.

On the field, it didn’t matter that his girlfriend had screwed around with another guy.
Or that his mother wouldn’t be winning any ‘Mom of the Year’ awards.

Out here, amongst the sweat and the turf, what mattered was that his teammates were playing like crap. They needed to suck it up and win this effing game. His freaking life depended on it. Podunk Cheyenne, Wyoming was sucking the life out of him. He needed out. There were a couple of scouts in the bleachers tonight. Impressing them meant a full-ride scholarship. He wanted to go anywhere that wasn’t here.  

With only twenty seconds left on the clock, the South High
Bisons
were down six points. Come hell or high water, they were
gonna
score. The barrage of red and black from the opposing team quickly untangled
themselves
and moved off him. 

A guy from the opposing team stuck out a hand. “Have fun under there, Hawke?”

“You’re such a comedian.” Michael ignored the jerk’s hand and stood. Then, with his hands he made a T and called time out.

After talking to Coach Gann, he brought the guys into the huddle.

“All right, I’ve had about enough of winding up on my ass.
Davids
, Porter, Reagan, do your jobs and protect me. Got it!” Michael pulled on
Vinny’s
helmet. “Smith, go long. We’re getting a touchdown. End of story.” Smith nodded, sporting a huge smile, showing his gold mouth guard. “35 slot cross. Let’s do it.” They all stuck their hands into the center and yelled. “Go Bison.”

Michael got into position, hollered the play, grabbed the ball, took his five steps back and waited for Smith to get down the field. The dude had always been faster than most, but the opposing players were after him quicker than expected.

Come on; hold
em
back.

Okay, he’s there. Michael cocked his arm back and threw. It flew perfectly. He watched the ball arc.
Catch it. C’mon, catch it.
He knew it’d hit Vinny in the numbers. All Vinny had to do was wrap his hands around the ball and run in for the touchdown.

He caught it. Michael took a quick breath before Vinny turned and ran. The dude was fast. 

Touchdown!

“Yes,” Michael shouted, as he watched Vinny do his stupid touchdown dance.
Good job,
ya
jackass.

After the game a bunch of the team decided to meet up at The Village Inn for a post game celebration. The place had people filled to the rafters. Once they got their spots, Michael ordered. He didn’t mind that the place smelled of greasy burgers and body odor.
Because more importantly, the diner also reeked of a win, and against their biggest rivals, Central High.
 

“Hawke, man, that was an awesome throw,”
Davids
said, pounding Michael on the back.

“Yeah,
Mikey
. I’m sure the scout from U of U saw and will be calling.”  Phillips tossed the football at him. “Is that where you
wanna
go?”

He shook his head. Truthfully, he wanted to go much further away. “Not sure.”

He’d played okay, certainly not his best. Michael shouldn’t have let yesterday’s breakup with Cheverly or the fight with his mom get to him like he did.
Stealing that bottle of bourbon and going drinking—not his best pre-game show.
Then he’d met that chick and her boy toy . . .
What sort of weirdness had the dude been wearing anyway? 

He dodged around his feelings of ending it all. It hadn’t been one of his brightest moments. When he’d returned home, he tucked the gun between the mattresses. Mostly he worked hard to forget about the voice that’d shouted inside his head. The word: 
Coward!
He’d searched for someone, so sure an actual person had said the word. But no one else was around.

Now that some time had passed, he wondered if he’d heard the word at all. He decided he didn’t care. The whole morning had been bizarre and he wanted to forget about it.

After changing clothes, Michael had sucked it up and finished out the school day, a little tipsy. By the start of the first quarter of their game that night, he’d been sober—overly so. But that was for the best. He played well and his team won their game. Go
Bisons
. Blah. Blah. Blah . . .  

             
“Hey, who’s that with Vinny?” Phillips punched Michael on the arm, bringing him back to the noisy diner. He looked in the direction of Phillips finger and saw—her.

Venus.

“
Kinda
bony, but I’d do her.” Phillips always knew how to get right to the crude. 

Her soft lips pressed against his had tasted like warm apple cider. Even with mud in her hair, she’d been beautiful. And her angry, blue eyes. Amazing. The way she’d stood up to him—proud and furious. Those strange boots and her lack of clothing. Her frail hands slim, but firm.

“I’d stay away. She’s a total hag,” Michael said to the guys.

“What, you met her already?”
Davids
asked. “Figures.” He and the other guys were still staring though. It was hard not to.

She radiated . . . what?

Beauty? Sure.

Vitality? Definitely!

Michael struggled to find the right word.

Perfection. 

Even the light seemed brighter around her silhouette, like it’d been drawn to her essence and wanted to shine its brightest, for her. As he watched, the disgust inside him grew.
And the fact that she knew Vinny?
That only added to his need to take Vinny down. Idle threats weren’t his thing. He intended to punish Vinny, but he hadn’t figured out how yet. As if he’d heard Michael, Vinny looked over. Anger flashed across his face, but quickly vanished. He nodded. Michael returned it.
Davids
, probably thinking Vinny nodded at him, waved back.

“Hey,” he hollered. 

Vinny leaned over and spoke to Venus. She grinned, which irritated Michael. Then she looked over. Those eyes. He almost turned away when she smiled—at him. Okay, in his general direction. He wasn’t sure, but, to him, she appeared unhappy. The smile forced. Michael understood
,
if that were the case.

Regardless, the smile lit her entire face and took his breath away. He sucked in, lowering his eyes to his fisted hands, the knuckles white.
What’s wrong with me?

“Hey, Hawke, you want some?” Phillips sat next to Michael in their booth. He held a chrome flask of liquid courage in his hands. Michael took it and lowered his head, covering his face with his letterman jacket, throwing back a giant swig.

Feel the burn.

“Dude, save some for us.”

Handing it back, Michael said, “Thanks.” He snuck a glance back at Venus. She’d picked up a menu and appeared to be engrossed.

A waitress named Sarah dropped off his food, giving him a sexy smile. He smiled back, glad for a momentary distraction. When she left, he put a large bite of burger in his mouth. Phillips offered him another drink. He helped himself to more and then some more.

By the time his food was gone and the flask emptied, Michael had a good buzz going. 

“Party at
AnnaBeth’s
tonight,”
Davids
said, his words slurred. “You in?”
             

“You know it!” No way he wanted to give up his buzz. He wondered if Venus would be going, which irked him. He knew Vinny usually never missed a party. He couldn’t help but give a quick glance in her direction again. This time, to his shocked dismay, Cheverly sat in the booth, next to Venus and across from the guy who’d been wearing those weird clothes. Though they’d split up, Chev sitting with Vinny annoyed him.

Chev peeked his way, her face sad. He watched her try to smile. Michael knew that look. Chev wanted to talk. He grinned back, which pissed him off. He’d decided he hated her. Hated Venus. Hated everyone! “I’m outta here. See you at the party.” Michael paid and bolted into the windy night.

It hadn’t snowed yet, but it would any day now. 

As he walked to his car, he heard light footfalls following. When he turned, there stood Cheverly, her midnight hair blowing everywhere.

“What do you want?” he snarled. 

“We need to talk. Can I drive?” The words came out tentative, but he knew she wouldn’t take no for an answer. He’d been drinking, and Michael knew she didn’t like it. Chev never participated. It’d been an attribute he secretly admired about her, even though everyone else called her a prude.

“You know I won’t let anyone drive Red but me.” Most of the anger had fizzled out of him. Michael figured he should let Chev drive. Red was his baby. A 1968 completely restored Corvette. He adored his car—bathed her, rubbed her down, glossed her, changed her—
you name it
,
he did it
.

“Don’t be a donkey-butt. You’re drunk. You want her wrecked?”

“Fine,” he grumbled and tossed Chev the keys. The alcohol had smoothed the edges and he wasn’t in the mood to argue.

They were travelling southbound on South Greeley Highway, heading toward Terry Ranch Road.
AnnaBeth’s
house sat
on three acres and wasn’t too far from the Colorado border. Michael felt his eyes droop as they passed the Big Country Speedway. Giant floodlights lit up the arena. He ignored the high-pitched whining of the racing cars and focused on the roads yellow stripes. Neither he nor Chev spoke, each seemingly lost in
their
own thoughts.

All of a sudden Cheverly slammed on the brakes, whipping Michael forward against his seatbelt. 

“What the hell, Chev?”

Smooth and unwavering, she said, “Holy cheese, what an idiotic truck driver.”

Michael knew his mouth hung open.
He was stunned by Chev’s calm demeanor
. 

She gave him a quick glance and then said, to the back end of the semi truck, “I’m not going to flip you off. I’m not going to honk my horn . . .” She flicked on the left blinker and sped into the left lane.
“.
. . I’m just going to drive on by.” And she did, completely disregarding the semi truck that had pulled in front of them.

Michael, on the other hand, did flip him off. “Asshole,” he shouted. Then to Cheverly, “You handled that . . . well. If anything happened to Red . . . or us, I’d have been peeved.”

“Thanks. Glad nothing happened to your car . . . or us.” She giggled. “Staying relaxed in stressful situations helps keep me sane.”

By the gleam in her eyes, he knew she meant more than this moment. She was talking about yesterday, too.
Her, Vinny and their botched anniversary date.
Those thoughts made him realize he needed more alcohol—needed to be numb.  

“Nothing happened between Vinny and me,” she began.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” He peered out into the darkness, his head resting against the cool window.

“We talked. That’s it. I swear.” She blinked a few times. “I was mad you’d ignored me all day. I figured you’d forgotten.” 

Michael turned toward her. “But the lake, our lake?”
Seemed too coincidental.
He watched her push a dark strand of hair behind her ears. Admittedly, he was still attracted to her. 

They’d arrived at
AnnaBeth’s
. The sprawling rambler was bathed in light. Music blared into the night. Chev put the car in first and turned off the ignition.  “I’m sorry, Michael. I promise nothing happened. I’d never do anything to hurt you.” Tears trickled down her cheeks.

A part of him, the part that had gone and made her chocolate-covered sugar cookies wanted to lean over and wipe them away. Tell her not to worry, that everything was
okay,
all was forgiven . . . “I’ll have to think about it.”