Oblivion (The Watcher Chronicles #3) (17 page)

“No, I think I have a better idea,” Mason says.  “I think we can teach her what she needs to know in house.  I’ll teach her about history, Allen can handle the sciences, Nick is a wizard at math, Angela can teach her English and literature and Joshua can teach her about computers.  I would rather not hire out a regular tutor.  They might ask too many questions.”

“Do you mean Josh is here too?” Leah asks excitedly.

“Joshua here,” I tell her.  “He’ll be similar to the Josh you used to know but not exact.”

“Do you think I could go see him?” Leah asks.

I turn to Mason.  “Why don’t you take her to headquarters and introduce her to everyone?  Isaiah can take me home.”

Mason steps up to Leah and holds out his arm to her.  “Shall we?”

Leah looks shyly up at Mason and loops her arm through his.

Mason looks over at me and winks.  “See you at home?”

I nod, feeling that flutter in my stomach again.

Once Mason phases away, I turn to my friends.

“Ok, here’s the deal.  I need your help tomorrow night.”

After I explain what’s going on, everyone is eager to help out.  I arrange their pickups with Isaiah who is more than willing to lend a phasing hand.

Once Isaiah phases the others home, I ask him to phase me to a store in New York City.  After making my purchase, I have him phase me home.  Mason isn’t there yet so I go over to George’s house to see if he’s finished making the little project I asked him for.  True to his word he has it completed.  I let him know his services will be needed tomorrow night too and he tells me he’ll be there with bells on.

I then walk over to Mama Lynn’s to face the last two people I need to tell my plan to.  I know Mama Lynn will be happy but I have no idea how Faison will react.  I hope she will be happy for me but I have no way of knowing until I tell her.

When I walk into Mama Lynn’s house, Faison is sitting on the couch in the living room flipping through the channels on the TV.

I sit down next to her.

“Any thing good on?” I ask her.

Faison turns the TV off.  “No, not really.  Where is Leah?”

“She’s with Mason.  We’re going to have the people I work with be her tutors.  We thought it might be a good idea if she met them.  Plus, she wanted to meet our version of Josh.”

“Ahh, she told me about him,” Faison says with a smile.  “Apparently she had a bit of a crush on Josh in her reality.”

“Well, I hope that doesn’t transfer over to here.  Our Joshua is pretty smitten with someone else.”

I sit there trying to think of how to tell Faison what I need to without hurting her feelings.

“What’s wrong?” Faison asks.  “I can always tell when you’re procrastinating about telling me something.”

“Ok, well, there’s no good way for me to tell you this so I’m just going to blurt it out.”

I tell Faison what I plan to do.  At first she doesn’t react.  Then a slow, almost happy smile appears on her face.

“I’m happy for you,” she tells me.  “How can I help?”

Mama Lynn walks into the living room and I tell her my plans and show them both what I bought in New York and what I had George make for me.

“Do you have any paint?” I ask Mama Lynn.

Mama Lynn used to be crafting addict.  She would have George make her all types of thing made out of wood and paint them up to decorate the house with.  She brings out her five gallon box of paints and lets me pick out what I want.  I choose a red acrylic, thin paint brush and set to work on finishing Mason’s surprise.

I get a text on my phone just as I’m finishing the inscription.

Leah is spending some time with our Joshua.  Isaiah will take her back to Lynn’s when she is ready.  I’m home.  Where are you?

I’m at Mama Lynn’s house.  Be home in a minute.

Do you want me to come over there?

NO

No need to shout…

Sorry, no.  Please stay at home.  I will be right there.

Good.  I’m dying for some matches.

And you call me insatiable?

I will never get tired of getting matches with you.  NEVER

Who’s shouting now?

I was making a point…

I’m almost through with what I’m doing.  I promise I won’t be long.

I want to kiss your lips…and not just the ones on your beautiful face…

Incorrigible…coming home now…

I’ll be waiting…naked…in your bed…

“Isaiah will be bringing Leah home after she gets through talking with Joshua.  I’ve gotta go now though.  Mason is waiting for me,” I tell Faison and Mama Lynn.  “I’m going to leave this here to dry.”

“I have some little white boxes I could put the separate pieces in,” Mama Lynn says.

“That sounds great,” I reply, quickly making my way to the door.  “Call you guys tomorrow!”

I run back to my house.

“I’m  home!” I say, quickly locking the front door behind me as I start to undo the buttons of my blouse and walk to the bedroom.

“I’m waiting!” Mason calls back.

When I step into the bedroom, Mason is just as promised, in my bed completely and gloriously naked.

I can only think of two words as I hurriedly take the rest of my clothes off to join him:  all mine.

The next morning I make sure to have Mason out of the house before Malcolm and his crew of Watchers is expected to arrive.

“What’s the rush?” He asks me, stretching in bed, looking completely irresistible.

“I don’t want you to see your surprise.  Now get dressed and go!”  I order.

“You know your bossiness just turns me on,” he says smiling, rubbing his hand up and down one of my thighs, making my body ache for him.

I quickly get out of bed.

“No seducing me this morning,” I say resolutely.  “I have things to do before tonight.  Now go!”

Mason lies on his side with his head propped on a bent arm.  His eyes rake my body with undisguised lust.

“If you want me to go, you really shouldn’t stand there looking so delectable.  Now I’ve truly lost the will to leave.”

I snatch the comforter off the bed and wrap myself in it.

“There. Is that better?”

“Not really,” he sighs.  “Now all I can think about is unwrapping you from that thing.”

“Mason, please.  I love you more than life itself but please go.  I’m begging you.”

Mason groans in frustration and rolls out of bed to grab his clothes.

“I won’t have you begging me for anything,” he tells me as he puts his clothes on.  “What time do you want me back here?”

“I’ll text you.  Do you have something to keep you busy today?”

“Yes.  We’re supposed to move everything into our new headquarters.”

“Where is it?”

“Still in Denver,” Mason says, standing to zip and button his pants.  “Joshua would kill me if I moved us.  Then he wouldn’t be close enough to Caylin when Brand and Lilly stay there with the kids.  Plus, he’s big into snow boarding and skiing.”

“I’m surprised he finds time to do anything like that.”

“He’s young.  He doesn’t need a lot of sleep.”

Mason walks over to me and wraps his arms around me.

“You know you’re driving me crazy with this surprise thing right?”

“It’ll be worth it,” I tell him.  “Trust me.”

He kisses me quickly on the lips and lets me go.

“Text me,” he tells me.

“I will.”

After Mason leaves, I go take a shower and dress for the day.  Just as I’m putting my sweater on, I hear my visitor rocking on the porch.  I grab a coat and go out to see Lucifer.

“Two mornings in a row,” I say to him.  “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“Do you find my company pleasurable, Jessica?” Lucifer teases.

The expression on his face is almost playful.  It’s not something I’m used to seeing.

“It’s not disagreeable,” I admit, realizing it’s the truth.  In a way, I’ve almost come to enjoy my little conversations with Lucifer.

What’s wrong with me?

“I guess even you aren’t immune to my charms,” he says with a genuine smile.

“Are you playing with me?” I ask him.  “Is this all an act, you being something like a friend to me?”

Lucifer’s smile falters.  I can tell he doesn’t want to answer my question.

“Would it matter?” He asks.

“Yes,” I say.  “It matters to me.”

Lucifer lowers his eyes from mine and seems to be lost in thought.

“I’m not sure what this is, Jessica,” he admits.  “I’m still trying to figure it out.”

“I think you need friends,” I tell him, “true friends who won’t stab you in the back the first chance they get.”

“Can you say you would be such a friend?” Lucifer asks.  “It seems to me you’re recruiting people to do just that to me.”

“If you would stop whatever it is you’re planning, I could be that sort of friend to you.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Why?”

“Because He deserves what I’m about to do!”

“God?”

“Who else?” Lucifer says with a roll of his eyes.

“Why can’t you let go of your hate of Him?”

“I don’t hate Him.”

“Then why do you keep trying to do things you think will hurt Him?”

“Because He hurt me!” Lucifer roars.  “He had Michael just leave me here!  My best friend left me and never looked back.  He treated me like I was a piece of garbage that needed to be gotten rid of.”

“I don’t think Michael thought of it like that at all,” I say, knowing I’m treading on thin ice.  “Maybe he thought it would be good for you to come here and live with humans for a while.”

“My father built this universe to stroke His own ego,” Lucifer says scathingly.  “Do you really think He cares about you?  Don’t you think if He did, He would do more to help you?  You’re nothing but a science experiment to Him.  He just lets you go unchecked to see how far you will make it.  He knows as well as I do that one day you’ll do something stupid and end this world.  All I’m doing is speeding things along their merry little way.”

“What do you mean?”

Lucifer leans back in his chair.  “I’m going to help the monkeys destroy themselves.”

“How?”

“By scaring them so badly, they’ll want to decimate this world instead of live in it.  You’re species is prone to self-annihilation.  You act before you completely think things through.  And God forbid you come face to face with something you know nothing about.  You scurry around like mice in a flood, not knowing which way to go so you end up drowning.”

It’s the most he’s told me about his plans, but I still have no idea what he’s going to do. 

Before I get a chance to dig for more information, Malcolm phases onto my front porch.  He’s dressed in a pair of tight fitting faded blue jeans with rips across the thighs, a blue and black flannel shirt tucked into the jeans but open at the front down to the waist band.  A leather tool belt hangs from his hips and his long wavy black hair is tied back in a pony tail.

Malcolm looks at Lucifer and sneers.  “Well, look what the hounds of Hell drug up this morning.”

“Hello, Malcolm,” Lucifer says, looking Malcolm up and down in disgust.  “I see you still haven’t learned how to dress yourself properly.”

Malcolm grins but there’s no friendliness in his smile, only contempt.  “The ladies don’t seem to mind it.”

“Does it really matter what the ladies think?” Lucifer says.  “From what I hear you’re still pining for that bitch Lilly.”

I see Malcolm’s fists clench and his jaw muscles tighten.  I don’t want to be the cause of Malcolm’s death.

“You need to leave now,” I tell Lucifer.  “If you want to come back to see me again, you should go before you do something that ends this between us.”

Lucifer shrugs.  “As you wish.”

He gives Malcolm one more scathing look before phasing.

“I’m sorry about that,” I tell Malcolm.  “He can be a real ass sometimes.”

“Most of the time,” Malcolm amends.

“Thank you for doing this for me.  I know it’s asking a lot and I could probably do it simpler but I want to make it special for Mason.  Something he won’t ever forget because I know that’s what he would do for me.”

Malcolm’s shoulders lose their tension as Lucifer’s words slowly leave his mind.

“It’s not a problem, Jess.  Mason deserves to be pampered for once in his life.  I don’t think anyone has ever arranged so much just for his benefit.  It will show him how much you truly care.”

“I hope so.”

Just then ten Watcher phase onto my front lawn.

Gotta love Watcher punctuality.

Malcolm and his crew work in my backyard for most of the day.  Mama Lynn, Faison and Leah all come over to enjoy the show.

“My God their gorgeous,” Faison says, openly leering at my backyard full of Watchers.

I have to agree.  They are nice to look at.

At one point, Malcolm must notice us all staring at him because he stops hammering on one of the buildings and proceeds to take his shirt off and stretch his arms over his head so we’re sure to get the whole picture.

“Oh…my…God…”

These words from Faison would be natural, but they aren’t from Faison.  They’re uttered by Mama Lynn.

“You know he’s just showing off,” I tell her.  It’s not hot enough outside for Malcolm to be shirtless so I know he only did it for our benefit.

“Baby, I can honestly say I don’t have a problem with that.  He can show off as much as he wants.”

I cover Leah’s eyes with one of my hands.  “I think that’s enough of your male anatomy education for today,” I tell her, as I lead her into the kitchen to start another pot of coffee.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Leah says, leaning against the counter as I pour water into the coffee pot, “have you heard from your dad about Remy?  When will I be able to see him again?”

“No, I haven’t seen my dad since he came and got Remy.  I tell you what.  I’ll call to my father tomorrow and ask him.  I want to tell him how tonight goes anyway.”