MIDNIGHT DIVINE (The Helio Trilogy Book 1) (9 page)

I blow out a puff of smoke.
“Yeah. I needed this.” I relax further into the cushions of the couch.

“So, I thought you were
gonna bring some girlfriends?”

“Well, I don’t know if
you’ve noticed, but besides my band, I don’t have girlfriends,” I chuckle.

“Why is that?” he probes.

“I can’t stand the gossip
and backstabbing. Not to mention, I just get along better with guys. It’s been
that way my whole life. I’ve always had guy friends,” I confess, thinking of
Gideon.

“Like Jack?”

Hearing Jack’s name brings
up memories of us playing in the pool earlier, and I smile. “Yeah. Like Jack.”
Trey observes me in continued silenc
e.
“Speaking of Jack,
have you seen him?”

“Nope.” Trey picks up my
leg closest to him and squeezes past to set it back down on the other side of
him. He stands between my feet on the banister and places both of his hands on
my ankles. I smile at him. My body's numb with intoxication, and his touch
sends static electricity up my legs. He glides his hands up my legs to my
thighs and leans over to kiss me. Our tongues tease each other while he slides
his hands between my thighs. Without warning, my mind recalls images of ‘the
darkness’ from my dreams, and my heart hammers in my chest. Those red eyes
stare at me from the foot of my bed. I can’t breathe, and I don’t appreciate
where Trey's trying to take things. I drop my legs and push Trey back.

“Trey,” I warn him.

He wets his coy smile with
the tip of his tongue, his gaze never wavering from my swollen mouth. “I
couldn’t help myself. I’ve been wanting to kiss you since you walked through
that door.”

“Well, I may be plastered
to almost the nth degree, but I'm not that kind of girl.” I push him away from
me and stand up
, turning for the front door
. He tries to grab my
hand, but I jerk it away from him and give him a suspecting glare before
going to
look for Jack inside. Trey follows me as I push my
way through the crowd into a
sanctioned off,
empty darkened hallway, calling my name as I continue to ignore him. He
catches up with me and pushes me against the wall with his body. “What the
fuck, Trey! Get off me!” I struggle against his grip and the weight of his
body.

“Come on, Ivy. I know you
want me. I got your message loud and clear when you kissed me at the race
yesterday.” His lips kiss me from my jaw down my neck as he uses his knee to
spread my legs, leaning in closer. I smell the alcohol rolling off him, and it
has a mixture of burned charcoal
that
reminds me of Beleth’s
goons who tried to rape me. An urgency pours over me to get out of the
situation by any means necessary.

Shit. This
is gonna hurt.

“Trey,” I leer with
seduction, demanding his attention. He leans back to look me in the eyes, and I
give him a coy smile. He loosens his grip on me, and I run my hands through his
hair above his ears. He motions to kiss me again and hesitates as I speak, “I’m
really sorry, Trey.” He raises an eyebrow in question. He has no idea what I'm
apologizing for. I rear my head back and bring my forehead to his nose as hard
as I can, using it as a battering ram. He stumbles back, and I take my chance
to leave.

Jack marches toward me with
a pissed off expression and stops at the front of the hallway. His fists are
clenched at his sides, and his eyes glare with a faint white illumination while
the lighting from the room behind him give him a glowing aura. “Ivy? Are you
ok?” his voice grates through his clenched teeth.

“Yeah. Just take me home,”
I brood with my head down, avoiding his gaze as I storm toward him.

"You bitch!" Trey
curses with hostility, and I look over my shoulder as he charges towards me.
Jack stomps down the hall a few steps and freezes as I bring up my elbow, swing
back, and bust Trey in the face. I twist and push his head down to knee him in
the stomach, and he falls to the ground coughing.

“Stay down,” Jack warns from
beside me and grabs my hand to lead me out of the house. His body's radiating
heat so hot I start sweating
again
.

We jump in the car and peal
out. Jack glances over to me with concern, his anger boiling under the surface.
“What happened?”

“Nothing.” My head throbs,
and I reach up to touch my right eye. There's blood on my fingers when I pull
them away.

Jack reaches over and pulls
my chin to face him. “You’re bleeding again.”

“Yeah,” I wince.

Jack shifts into fifth gear
as we pull onto the highway, then maneuvers his shirt off as he steers. He
hands it to me, “Here. Put this on your eye. It’ll help stop the bleeding.”

I take the shirt from him
and hold it to my eyebrow
while I try to avoid gawking at his body
. “Sorry. I’m not trying to bleed all over your car.”

“I’m not worried about the
fucking car, Ivy! What the hell happened?” he raises his voice in anger.

“Nothing. Don’t worry about
it. I can take care of myself,” I repeat in monotone.

His face falls, then he
grins at me. “I can see that, but I should have been there. Yet again! I told
you I would look out for you. You shouldn’t have had to do that.”

Quickly
sobering
up, I question, “Where the hell were you all night anyways? I went to go do
some shots, and turned around to give you one, and you were gone!”

“I got caught up talking to
some guys from out of town,” he admits. I'm silent against his excuses. “Where
did you learn to fight like that? That’s the second time I’ve seen you kick
someone’s ass.” Jack smiles with pride.

I smirk at him and quip,
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Jack chuckles and continues to drive us home.

We park in front of the
estate, and Jack takes my free hand to lead me inside. “There’s a first aid kit
in the kitchen.” He guides me to the dining table to sit down. I lean my elbows
on the wooden table and wince. Jack comes back, taking my elbow to see the
damage. He pulls another chair close to me, sits down as he takes out an
alcohol swab, and dabs my elbow to clean it up. He drops the dirty swab on the
table and pulls out another to clean my eyebrow. “Here,” he gestures for me to
pull his shirt
away
from my face. I recoil at the sting as he
applies the alcohol. “It’s a pretty good cut, but you should be good in the
morning.” Jack
cups
my face, leans forward, and blows on the open
wound to stop the stinging. By pure instinct, I reach up and grab his wrists.
He stops blowing, and I open my eyes, releasing my hold on him. He looks at me
with concern, then proceeds to find a bandage in the first aid kit. He opens a
butterfly stitch and places it across the split above my eyebrow, smoothing it
over with tenderness. I let out a breath as he finishes, and he kisses my
forehead.

“Thanks, Jack.” I hand him
his soiled shirt.

“No problem, Sunshine.” He
reaches for my hand. “I’ll take you up.”

Jack escorts me to my room
and starts a fire in the hearth. The fall weather is starting to set in as
September ends
, and the temperature’s begun to drop, leaving a chill
in the air. I go to the closet and discard my outer layer of clothing. I find a
robe, wrap it around my body, and tie it closed. Remembering I brought a bottle
of Jäger with me to Jack’s, I dig it out of my bag. I plop down in one of the
high back chairs in front of the fire and chug straight from the bottle. I'm
alone and suppose Jack has left me to my own devices again. I finish off a
quarter of the bottle before Jack returns, knocking on my door. “Yeah,” I
hoarsely call from the far high back chair where I've been sending my thoughts
into the dancing flames of the fire.
There's no way I’m getting out of this
chair now
.

Jack peaks his head in the
door and searches around the room for me. “Ivy?” he voices in confusion as he
finds me.

“Yeah.” I can’t look him in
the eyes, so I continue to stare into the fire.

Jack kneels before me to
observe my situation, relieves me of the bottle, and places it on the table
beside me. “Ivy,” he
mutters
with wistful sorrow. “You
ok?” I shrug, and the robe slips off of my shoulder. “Come on. Let’s get you
into bed.” Jack reaches under my legs and around my waist, hoisting me up
against his chest. I wrap my arms around his neck and lay my head on his
shoulder. He smells of sandalwood, lavender, and honey. I inhale his scent
deeply, filling my lungs, never wanting to forget it. Jack lays me in bed and
covers me with the thick blanket.

He turns the lights out,
and I call out to him before he can leave me alone in the dark, “Jack?” He
turns to look at me through the darkness. “Will you stay with me tonight?”

He hesitates in the doorway
a moment. “Yeah.” Coming back to the bed, he lays on top of the covers next to
me. I reach over and hold his hand between us.

I can’t believe Trey acted
like that. Is it my fault? Who am I kidding? Of course it’s my fault. I
shouldn’t have kissed him. I shouldn’t have let him come on to me so strong. Or
I could have avoided this whole situation if I just trusted Jack
and
stayed away from Trey. Those red eyes… I’m so
paranoid! I should have been honest with Jack from the beginning, but I think
it’s too late to tell him the truth. He’ll never talk to me again if I tell him
I’ve been lying to him this whole time about how I
’ve
always had a feeling something's after me
,
or even if I tell him how I truly feel about him. But
even if I confess to him my feelings, it’s not going to change who he is. He’s
still a womanizer and afraid of commitment. He doesn’t even feel the same way
about me as I do about him. And, let’s face it; I’m a closet schizophrenic.

“Ivy?” Jack interrupts my
thoughts.

“Hmm?”

“I’m glad you’re here,” he
whispers to the ceiling.

“Me too, Jack.” There are a
few minutes of silence before I get the nerve to speak again. “I’m glad you
convinced me to be friends with you. I’ve had a lot of fun here with you.” I
turn into his side and wrap my arm around his waist. I'm drunk and barley
making any sense. “I feel safe here…with you.”

Jack turns to face me and
stares into my eyes without speaking. I feel myself being drawn to him. He
caresses my cheek with his fingertips, leaving tingling trails behind the
ghosts of his touch. I close my eyes. As I feel sleep take me over, I sense
Jack kiss my forehead and hear him whisper, “Goodnight, Sunshine.”

The warmth of the sun
offsets the chill in the air while I enjoy breakfast from Jack on my balcony
again. My robe slides down to reveal the naked skin of my shoulder as I drink
my coffee and watch the sun rise higher over the open acreage before me. My phone
beeps with a text message.

Jack: I left something
4
u outside
ur
door.

I slink across the bedroom,
readjusting my robe before I open the door leading to the hallway. There are
two white boxes at my feet and an envelope laying on top with my name written
elegantly in black ink. I bring the packages inside and place them on the bed.
I open the envelope, my smile grow
ing
as I read Jack’s
handwriting.

Good Morning
,
Sunshine,

I hope I got your sizes
right. Meet me in the barn. -Jack

I lay the note down on the
nightstand and open the top box first. Inside is a black pair of English riding
pants and a white sleeveless blouse with charming pearl snaps down the front. I
hold the outfit up to me, and I'm certain they’ll fit well. I know right away
that Jack's planning to take me riding. Little did he know, I've been dying to
ride since I noticed the horses roaming his property. I took lessons as a young
girl and missed the feeling of the freedom. The next box I open contains a pair
of tall black riding boots. I drop my robe to the floor and squeeze the pants
on first. They fit perfect and snug, hugging the curves of my body. My insides
flutter with excitement.

After dressing, I approach
the mirror in the bathroom and plait my hair. I lean closer into my reflection,
examining the butterfly stitch above my brow. I lift the edge of the stitch
away from my skin for a peek at the damage. It's gone. Not so much as a red
line is visible. I pull the rest of the stitch away from my skin and turn my
face at different angles, thinking it's a trick of the light. There's nothing.
As if it never happened.
What the...?
I twist my arm in front of me and
remove the bandage across my elbow to reveal smooth skin.
I’m going crazy. I
know I elbowed him! I know Jack cleaned me up! Where else would the bandages
come from? Did I imagine it all?
It's gone. Like I thought I sliced my face
open two weeks ago when my guitar string popped. I could have sworn I was
scarred for life. There was blood, but no mark the next day
. I’m a freak!
What the hell's going on with me?

I let out an audible sigh
and take my time calming myself down before I leave the house. Wondering around
the side of the manor to the barn's entrance, I search for Jack. “Jack?” I call
out, but I don’t see him anywhere. Dust glitters through the sunbeams shining
across the barn like a million fireflies as I inch down the stalls. Peeking
into each one, I find most are empty. A white Mustang in the last stall catches
my eye. “You’re a beauty!” I tell the stallion. His coat is so bright it
appears to glow, and I imagine he's almost sixteen hands tall. He pushes his
gray nose to the gate of his stall, and I offer my hand for him to smell. When
he's satisfied, I rub his nose, fascinated with his beauty. “Good boy,” I coo.

“That’s Maximus,” Jack
claims from behind me.

“He’s gorgeous!” I exclaim
with a gleam burning my cheeks as I continue to pet his snout. “Are you taking
me riding?”

“Actually, I thought maybe
you could help me clean the stalls.”

I spin around to Jack, and
my face falls as I quirk my brow. “Really?” I deadpan.

Jack laughs at my tone.
“No. Not really. You seem comfortable around him. Have you ever rode before?”

A knowing smile meets my
eyes. “In fact, I have. I rode as a little girl. My
adoptive
mother insisted on it so she could build her status
by keeping better company at the country club. In all honesty, I miss riding.”

“You’re adopted? I feel
like I learn something new about you every day,” Jack admits.

“You have no idea.” My face
glows with happiness. “And I feel the same way about you. Since I’ve been here,
you’ve shown me a whole other side to you I would have never expected.”

Jack gleams in delight, “I
told you.” A comfortable silence falls between us. Maximus nickers and bobs his
head. “I’ll show you where the tack room is.” Jack leads me back to the front
of the barn and lets me pick out the saddle and tack I want to use
. Then,
I return to Maximus to saddle him up. I'm double
checking the girth and the length of the stirrups on the English saddle when
Jack smacks me on the rear
playfully
with a short riding
crop.

“Ouch!” I yelp and swat the
crop away.

Jack chuckles and hands me
the crop, “Here. He can be a little stubborn. You may need it.”

I snatch the crop and swat
him across his arm, teasing
back
in flirtation. “Are
you ready?”

“Yeah. Come on.” Jack moves
to the opposite stall from Maximus and leads out a black silk Friesian. She's
eighteen hands tall with powerful muscles, a long thick mane and tail, and her
lower legs are feathered with soft black hair. She's stunning, her presence
radiating ‘War Horse’.

I lead Maximus out of his
stall to stand next to Jack. “And who's this?”

“This… is Andromeda,” he
remarks as he pats her neck with swollen pride.

“A Friesian war horse, and
her name's Andromeda.” I'm in awe of her. Jack shakes his head and chuckles under
his breath. “What?”

“Nothing. It’s just… Here I
was, thinking I was going to teach you something today. But here you are,
proving me wrong and impressing me instead.”

A shy smile graces my lips,
and we lead our
horses
through the barn to the open field beyond. I
mount Maximus first and feel his eagerness underneath me as he prances in
excitement. Jack follows, and I notice Andromeda's as still as a statue as Jack
settles into his western saddle. She's a well behaved war horse awaiting Jack’s
every command. While she's a magnificent
creature
, I prefer my stallions a bit on the wild side.

Jack directs us further
into the field with a slow walk, letting me get use to the feel of Max. I pat
Max's neck and coo occasional reassurances to help ease his feelings towards a
new rider. “So, are you going to tell me what happened last night?” Jack
pursues.

I think about brushing it
off as nothing again, but decide I don’t want to lie to him anymore. “I’m not
even sure it
did
happen. I don’t have a mark on me as evidence.”

“I told you that you would
be fine in the morning,” he reminds me, and I wonder if he knows something
about me he isn’t saying.

I sigh. “Well, I guess I
sent Trey the wrong signals by kissing him at the race. We both had a lot to
drink at the party, and he started coming on to me a little strong.”
And all
I could see was ‘the darkness’ from my dreams.
“I started getting a bad
feeling, and I didn’t like the way he was making me feel. So, I pushed him away
and left to come find you. He caught up with me in the hall and pushed me into
the wall. I head-butted him right before you got there and… you saw the rest.”
I chance a nervous glance at Jack beside me.

“I saw you head-butt him.
I’m sorry, Ivy. I should have been there,” Jack states, regret seeping through
his words. “And don’t think for one second, it's your fault he attacked you. I
told you. Trey's not who you think he is.” I'm quiet in thought as the warm
breeze caresses my skin. “For what it’s worth, I’m proud of you for handling
the situation the way you did… It was kind of hot,” he admits with a
cheeky grin
. “If I
had
been there, I would have beat him
within an inch of his life.”

“Thanks, Jack.” I see his
muscles relax as he drifts off in thought. The grass in the field billows before
us for as far as I can see. I inhale a large breath through my nose and take in
my surroundings. “How many acres are out here?”

“We have about eighty
acres,” he replies.

My eyes widen, then the
corners of my lips rise in mischief, “Ready to pick this up, then?”

“If you think you can
handle it,” he retorts.

“Ha!” I bellow to Maximus
as I squeeze my calves against his sides, and he darts forward. I give him free
reign and let him run as fast as he wants for as long as he wants. Jack and I
take turns taking the lead as we ride. The wind in my face and the thrill of
the ride overcomes my senses with complete bliss. When I think we’ll run out of
land to run, we slow back down to a walking pace.

“I don’t think I’ve ever
seen you this happy,” Jack notes.

I can’t stop smiling, my
face is numb from the wind, and my cheeks burn from their overuse. “I don’t
think I’ve been this happy in a long time. I’ve missed this. Thank you, Jack.”

“Well, let’s stop here.
I’ve got some food for us, and there’s a trough just over by that set of trees.
We can tie off over there and take a break,” he instructs and directs us to the
shade of the trees. Jack dismounts Andromeda and comes over to help me down. I
swing my right leg over Max's back and step down as Jack grabs my waist to help
lower me to the ground. My knees buckle
beneath
me, and I giggle as
Jack holds me up from collapsing.

“Whoa,” I chuckle. “I guess
we should have stopped sooner.” Jack holds me up until I can stand on my own
shaky legs. We tie our horses off to the trees so they can cool off in the
shade and drink some water. When Jack comes back to the other side of
Andromeda, he's holding a small satchel. “What’s that?”

“Lunch.” He opens the
satchel, pulls out fruit salad, bottled water, and four red apples, setting
them on the ground. Then, he shakes a blanket out, constructing a makeshift
picnic for us to sit on.

“You're too much,” I
giggle.

Jack beams and hands me a
bottle of water. We eat our lunch in comfortable silence while we enjoy each other’s
company in the peaceful landscape around us. I look over to Jack to see he has
a serious look on his face.

“What?” I pry. Something
appears to be bothering him.

“Do you ever feel like you
were meant for a bigger purpose?” he utters in a low voice.

“Whoa, Jack. Are we getting
deep here?” I joke.

Jack turns to me, straight
faced. “I’m serious. I mean, you’re about to turn twenty. Your life's going to
change. Do you honestly want to keep up with your reckless habits? Or do you
want to turn yourself around and accomplish something significant? Who do you
want to be, Ivy?”

“Where's this coming from?”
What a cliché he’s using to ‘keep me clean’.
Jack doesn’t answer me as
he waits for my reply. “Look. I’ve never been the type to plan ahead. I've always
gone with the flow and enjoyed my life.”

“Enjoy? Like how you’re
always running from something?”
He knows I’m paranoid.
Anxiety builds
in my throat, making it tight
and hard to breath
. “What are you running from, Ivy?” My mouth hangs
open. “You can tell me. I promise not to judge. We all have our own skeletons.”

I know I'm going to sound
insane when I tell him the truth.
Alright. Here we go. This will surely test
his friendship towards me.
“I…I smoke pot because it keeps away my
paranoia. I know that’s odd, because most people claim it makes them paranoid,
but not me. It numbs my senses. I can see myself from a different perspective
and navigate through my fears easier.” I can’t look him in the eyes from the
fear he’ll think I'm crazy. I focus on a blade of grass I'm tearing apart in my
fingers as I continue, “Without it, I feel like… like someone's watching me.
Like someone's after me. And even if I’m numb or not, I have night terrors
about things I wake up screaming from. I’m surprised Alice never told you. I
know she’s heard me, but she seems to know I don’t want to be coddled. She’s
never come to check on me, but I
know
she’s heard me. And now, I sound
like a lunatic, and I’m rambling.”

“What do you dream about?”
Jack sits up straighter with intrigue.

“It’s stupid shit really,”
I brush off.

“If it frightens you, it’s
not stupid. Tell me.” He grabs my hand to pull my attention, but I still can’t
look him in the eye.

This is so embarrassing.
I groan. “I dream about darkness.”

“Darkness?” he echoes.

“Well, it appears to be a
man, but I can only see his silhouette. It’s always too dark to make out any of
his features. Except, he has large wings like a giant bird… and his eyes glow
red with fire. Every time I see him, I feel paralyzed, I can’t move, or even
scream. He watches and hovers over me, torturing me with the wait for him to
attack. Then, he screams so loud it pierces my ears. He’ll dive down with his
mouth open unnaturally wide to consume me whole, and I wake up cold, out of
breath, and like an elephant sat on my chest.”

“How many times have you
had this dream?”