Lifebound (15 page)

She’d looked up at him with those stormy gray eyes full of questions, but he couldn’t say everything he wanted to say right there in front of everybody.

So hours later as the bus crossed into Georgia in the darkness, he pulled her into the back. The sounds of the team’s laughter and videogame prowess faded a bit as he shut the door of the tiny bedroom.

“So far,” he said as he sat next to her on the edge of the bed, “we’ve talked a lot about how I fit into your life. But, Adriana, think about what it will be like for you to fit into mine. This room is it for a lot of the year.” He gestured around the cramped area with its less than queen sized bed and practically nonexistent storage space. He pointed toward the front where a shout rang out. “Those guys are it too. Tour is important. I have to do it. I want to do it. Do you?

“I can quit skating. Hell, I probably should. There’s no telling when I might take Bob’s big ramp all wrong and end up breaking my neck.”

She stopped him with a light, quick finger to his lips.

“You don’t quit skating. You don’t quit living and neither do I. What I want for us is a chance to choose to be happy. I’ve spent my whole life doing what everybody else wanted me to do. Now I want to do what I want to do.”

Josh’s heart sank. With all the freedom in the world before her, Adriana wouldn’t choose to be a skater’s groupie.

The lights from the freeway reflected into the windows, creating a sparkling lightshow that glinted on her hair. He reached up to touch it, wrapping a length of its silk around his finger, getting all he could of her while he could get it.

“Josh, look at me.”

His eyes met her steady gaze.

“I just want to be with you on whatever terms we decide are best.”

He blinked twice, unable to believe his luck. She’d take him. She’d take this crazy life he offered her. Before she changed her mind, he slipped to his knee in front of her.

“You deserve better than this. Better than me.” He reached behind his neck to unfasten the clasp of the necklace he wore, pulling her ring free of his shirt as his heart pounded. “If you want to know my idea of the right terms, here they are. I want to love you every day and every night for the rest of our lives. This whole lifebound thing your folks dread so hard just sounds like a good idea to me. I come from a long line of people who stayed together for fifty years and never spent more than a day or went more than a couple miles apart from each other. And they were all happy until the day they died.”

He pulled the ring off the chain and held it out to her. “Marry me, Adriana. Be my wife.”

As he held the ring out to her, his hand shook in his desperate fear that she would turn him down.

However, her answer to his non-question rang in his heart and in his soul with a deep joy he couldn’t contain.

“I’ll marry you, Josh.”

When his fingers brushed across hers to place the ring on her hand, the electricity that ran through him seemed supernatural, as if he too were becoming a lamia, drawing life from her.

“I’m never going to let you go. You’re stuck with me, baby.” He pulled her into his arms and gave her the longest, most passionate kiss he could sustain, only pulling away when his knees began to buckle.

The next day, Josh took Adriana to Rob and Alicia’s for dinner. “I told them pretty much everything already.”

“Everything?” Adriana couldn’t believe her ears.

“Well, not the juicy stuff. Just the whole part about you being a lamia.” She sat in the car in shock until he opened her door for her, offering her a very brief hand-up out of the low slung seat.

“What in the world were you thinking? The paranormal world does not tolerate public knowledge. The Lamia Council will have a fit.”

“What they don’t know won’t hurt them,” Josh said with a devilish grin. “Rob and Alicia aren’t telling anybody. Who is there to tell? And I had to talk to somebody.”

The undercurrent of hurt in his voice chastised her. “Okay, I guess, but they better keep this secret like their lives depend on it. Which they do, by the way.” She almost resisted the urge to press a very feathery kiss onto his lips as she passed. “And no telling anybody else. Not even your mother.”

“Of course not. If I told Mama, the whole world would know within a few hours.”

“If you told Aunt Ellen what?” Rob asked as he opened the door for them.

“About Adriana being a lamia.”

She clouted him on the arm.

Then he added in a louder voice, “Or about Adriana agreeing to marry me.”

Chapter Sixteen

“H
e popped the question,” Rob called back over his shoulder with a big grin on his face.

“For real?” came a feminine squeal from the kitchen. A young woman who could only be Alicia came running around the corner wiping her hands on a towel. “Oh that’s wonderful! Josh has told us so much about you.”

Over dinner, they kept the conversation easy and paranormal free. Adriana enjoyed watching the family interaction as the two children chattered and asked her all kinds of questions about computers and computer games.

When the kids had finally gone to the den to play yet another round of
Josh Trenton X-Treme Skate VIII
, the adults had a chance to sit together on the patio and talk privately.

“How about some dessert?” Alicia asked as the guys got settled.

With agreement all around, she asked Adriana to give her a hand in the kitchen. As the two assembled berry parfaits, Adriana got the idea that Alicia had something she wanted to talk about.

“Josh told us about you,” Alicia finally said. “We were freaked a little at first, but Rob saw so much craziness in the Middle East that he finally convinced me that maybe it’s the rest of the world that’s out of touch.”

Adriana laughed and agreed.

Alicia continued, “What I wanted to tell you is that Rob and I think you’re going to be good for Josh—from what he’s told us. It’s about time he found some roots and settled down. I’ve never heard him talk about anybody the way he talks about you.”

“I just hope he really knows what he’s in for,” Adriana said as she spooned the last bit of whipped cream on top of the last parfait.

“Josh said the same thing to me when I married Rob.” Alicia laughed. “And in some ways our situations are similar. There are lots of things that regular married couples do that Rob and I just can’t manage. But we love each other and that’s the most important thing. I’m on his team and he’s on mine—forever.”

The two carried a pair of parfaits in to the kids, who were busy playing.

As they picked up the other desserts to head back outside, Alicia said, “We knew it wouldn’t be possible to have kids the old fashioned way, so we started planning to adopt from the beginning.”

“You were okay with that?” Adriana asked, considering what a tough choice the other woman must have faced.

“Oh, honey, I was the one who couldn’t get pregnant. I had to have a complete hysterectomy when I was only twenty-two. It was tough at the time, but when I met Rob, he let me know really fast that we were both coming to each other with issues.” As she elbowed open the patio door, she cast a loving glance back down the hall toward the den. “And Raoul and Eleni were meant to be ours. It’s all worked out just like it was supposed to.”

They rejoined the men and continued their conversation. When they’d finished polishing off the last of the berries, Josh asked Adriana to help him take the dishes back to the kitchen. Eleni met them there with her bowl as well, dropping it helpfully in the dishwasher beside the others.

“I told Raoul to bring his, but he’s still trying to land a 900 on your game, Uncle Josh.”

“He’ll get it eventually. I did,” Josh laughed. “But not in the game. I still can’t land one in the game.”

Eleni laughed and took a bottle of water from the refrigerator on her way out of the room.

“Rob and Alicia are the two luckiest people I know,” Josh said as he started the dishwasher. “They found each other, and they’ve got two fabulous kids and a great life. I have been so jealous of them for so long.”

Adriana considered just what he was saying. Josh was a multi-millionaire with a playboy lifestyle, and he was jealous of a paralyzed man who sold cars for a living.

“Let’s do it,” she impulsively said. “Let’s find a way to be lifebound.”

The smile that lit Josh’s face encouraged her even more. “If we do this, you’re never going to be able to get rid of me,” she warned.

“I’m never going to let you go.” Josh stroked a finger ever so lightly down her arm. “Lifebound or not.”

Despite the fact that her energies had been perfectly balanced by him a number of times, his touch ricocheted in her like a mini-thunderbolt, and she cinched down her pull on him as hard as she could.

“How’s your wrist?” she asked.

“Perfectly fine now. I’m engaged to the girl with the magic touch.”

Back outside with Rob and Alicia, Adriana explained the concept as best as she could, then they each began to toss out ideas about the best way to accomplish their goal.

“So, the major hindrance in getting lifebound is being able to touch long enough to synchronize without Josh falling over dead in the process,” Rob said.

Adriana felt sick at the description but nodded. “My mom said that she nearly lifebound with a musician because he was high on amphetamines. Apparently back in the day, they experimented with being able to touch longer while on different drugs.”

“Well, I absolutely forbid you two to start experimenting with amphetamines. I’ve called one ambulance for this nut already when he nearly killed himself skating that damned loop. I don’t want to call them again because Josh is dying of some kind of heart arrhythmia,” Alicia said. “You are going to have to find another way to either energize Josh or de-energize Adriana.”

“Can you be de-energized?” Josh asked her.

Adriana considered her last flight down to Jacksonville. “When I fly, I can’t feel the earth’s energies quite as strongly. But I’ve never done any experimenting to know just how much an effect it might have.”

“How long do you think it would take you guys to synchronize?” Alicia asked.

“The longest we’ve been able to touch so far was about three minutes, and Josh nearly died. But I was beginning to feel really strange just about the time Cyrus pulled us apart.”

“You could jump together,” Rob said. “Lots of adrenaline flowing, and you’d have about six minutes in the air to finish the deed before Adriana was back on the ground.”

“Jump? What do you mean jump?” Adriana looked back and forth between the two guys.

Josh nodded and grinned.

The next morning dawned bright and beautiful as they drove to Josh’s favorite dropzone—Gulf Coast Skydiving.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Adriana repeated over and over.

“We don’t have to,” Josh said each time.

But she assured him she wanted to go through with it.

They parked in the small lot beside the hangar just as Josh’s cellphone rang. He answered without even looking at the caller ID, guessing it was Rob or one of the other guys he’d asked to meet them there.

“Josh? This is Preston Mitchell. Sorry to bother you, but is Adriana Velen with you by any chance?”

“Why, yes, Preston, she is.”

“May I speak with her?”

“Not until I know how you got this number.”

“I tried to call her directly, but the calls go straight to her voicemail,” Preston said. “Please put her on the phone.”

“And just how did you get her number?” Josh’s suspicions began to work overtime. “Did Wiccan Haus give it to you? Because Cemil wouldn’t give it to me, and if that son of a bitch gave it to you, I’m going to kick the shit out of him at the first opportunity I get.”

“Josh, please. I have my own resources which I assure you are just as far reaching as anything they have at Wiccan Haus.”

Josh scoffed at that, considering just how resourceful Sarka and Cyrus in particular seemed to be.

“Since you are being stubborn,” Preston said, “I’ll just tell you instead. The Lamia Council has declared Adriana to be missing, possibly abducted, and has sent a pair of operatives to find her and bring her back.”

“No freaking way.”

“Yes, they are in fact on their way. I have no idea what Miss Velen believes she is doing, but the Council means business. Be very careful.”

Josh thanked him and hung up the phone.

“What was that about?” Adriana asked.

“I think we need to get off the ground about ten minutes ago,” Josh said. “Your Council has sent a couple of cops after you.”

Adriana turned so pale that Josh only barely restrained himself from grabbing her in a tight embrace. As it was, he took a handful of her hair in his hand. “Are you okay? What do you want me to do?”

She shivered a moment then looked up at him with her stormy gray eyes full of tears. “Get this plane off the ground ten minutes ago.”

Less than half an hour later, the little Cessna taxied down the runway. Josh sat geared up to jump tandem with Adriana in front of him, both straddling a long bench. Across from them, Tim and Snowball checked each other’s parachute containers one last time, then Tim leaned over to check Josh’s.

“Now tell me again why you already own all this stuff.” Adriana gestured at the heavy harness she wore as she spoke over the roar of the engine.

“Rob can’t jump by himself. He tried it a time or two, but only ended up breaking his ankle. So we switched to tandem jumps with him clipped to me. That way he could keep jumping and I could get him safely landed.”

“I thought skydivers wore suits.” Her mouth began to go dry with nerves. The four of them wore shorts and T-shirts, and there wasn’t a helmet to be seen, only goggles for each.

“Sometimes. But this is just a straight jump, no acrobatics. And I’ve got to be able to touch you all the way down.

“When we bail out, you lean your head against my shoulder and arch your back. Hang onto the straps of your harness until I tell you to spread out your arms like this.” He held out his hands bent at the elbows. “I’m going to put my legs outside yours and keep contact with you that way. If something should happen and I lose consciousness, the AAD will pull the reserve chute for you before we get too low.”

Adriana nodded and tried to take it all in. They had both gone insane. They were going to die.

The plane throttled up hard and began to lift off. Josh pointed out the window as they rose above the hangar where an understated gray sedan had just pulled up and a couple of unremarkably dressed men stepped out. The sight gave her chills. The operatives.

She regrouped her courage as Josh opened a small beverage and began to drink.

“What is that?” she asked. “If it’s liquid courage, give me some.”

“Energy shot.” He took a swallow and grimaced. “They taste pretty nasty but pack a mean punch of caffeine. I thought we could use a little extra insurance.”

He downed the can, then another and another.

“How many of those are you supposed to drink?” she asked.

“A third of one can. This is my sixth. I hope these have time to hit my system before we jump.”

Adriana wrapped her arms around herself as the air grew cooler in the little plane. Out the window the ground grew farther and farther away. She’d never had any desire to go skydiving. She could not envision why a person would want to jump out of a perfectly functional airplane.

But Tim and Snowball grinned like they had won the lottery. Even Josh’s eyes sparkled when she looked back at him.

“Aren’t you scared?” she asked as the plane gave a little lurch that caused her breakfast to nearly come back on her.

“Every time. Scared out of my mind. Especially today,” Josh said. “But when you meet that fear at the door and take that step, putting all your faith in yourself and a piece of nylon, you get this moment of clarity that tells you who you really are and what you really want.”

She swiveled on the bench to face him. “Josh, I want this to work. I want you forever. Whatever happens next, I love you.”

“I know. I’m counting on that.”

Seconds later, the pilot called out a ready. The plane had reached altitude. Behind her, Josh slid closer and clipped her tightly to him with the four heavy metal clips that linked his harness to hers. They stood together, and he gave her harness another good tug.

Tim pulled open the door of the plane and the noise, which had been loud before, went to deafening. Together, she and Josh walked to the opening, and she looked down at the distant earth below. Its energy pull had definitely lessened, but she had no idea whether the increased distance would be enough to stop her from draining all the life out of Josh on the way down.

But she trusted him. He pressed his hand against her forehead, pushing her back against his shoulder, and she held onto the straps of her harness tightly.

“On three,” he called into her ear. “One, two—” and on three she met her fear at the door. She’d wanted choices; now she had them.

“Three!” Adriana put her faith in a few square yards of nylon—and in Josh. Then she jumped.

From the instant his skin touched hers at the doorway of the tiny Cessna, Josh felt the tendrils of Adriana’s power at him. His heart pounded in terror.

Every jump challenged him to confront the rational fear of leaping out into the vacant sky to hurtle toward certain death. The adrenaline rush both energized and comforted him each time he went up, stripping his life to its bare essentials and reminding him of his mortality and his priorities.