Perfect Love (A Celestra Novella) (14 page)

It’s weird knowing that Giselle, who was technically dead up until this year, will be attending West Paragon, and here Skyla and I just graduated. I miss those high school days already. I miss a lot of things—
people
. Of course, the world thinks my sister is Emerson Kragger because that’s the body Skyla was able to gift her, but, between family and friends, she’s still Giselle.

“So tell me, Skyla”—Mom starts while plating my father a stack three high—“Gage says you’re commuting to Host. Are you comfortable with that?”

“Oh, yes.” Skyla nods. “Mom and Tad could never afford to get me a dorm, and I don’t mind taking the ferry one bit.”

Mom is a little miffed because I decided to forgo the dorm for the first couple weeks to help Skyla get into the swing of things.

Mom leans in. “Please assure my son that you are a grown woman, and you don’t need him holding your hand on the way to school each day. It’s the twenty-first century for God’s sake, and a strong girl such as yourself is fully capable of taking the ferry each way without getting lost in the process.”

“I don’t mind.” I cut a hard look to Mom that says this conversation ends right here. Crap. She’s going to make Skyla feel bad, and it’s the last thing I want.

“You’re right,” Skyla nods over to Mom while reaching for my hand under the table. “It
is
the twenty-first century. But, in all honesty, I sort of like Gage holding my hand.” She gives my fingers a squeeze. “And if that’s wrong”—she tilts into me—“I don’t want to be right.”

Dad smiles peaceably over at the two of us while Mom’s eyes widen like saucers.

Good job
. I rub my thumb over her palm. It’s kind of nice knowing that Skyla can hear my thoughts when we touch, or more to the point when I let her—I almost always do. As for me, I’ve got the wrong bloodlines to pull off anything short of telepathy, not one trace of Celestra. My Levatio standing affords me speed, strength, teleportation, levitation, and, my favorite—the gift of knowing. Although at times that last one has been more of a curse than a blessing.

“I think it’s chivalrous of you to be with her during this time of transition.” Dad nods into me. “What time do you think you’ll be back?” His mood shifts to something a little more serious, which usually means there’s something he needs me to take care of.

“Six, seven? I don’t know. We’ve got books to buy, and I’ve got practice.” Not to mention the fact I plan on taking Skyla out for a nice dinner. I think it’s time we come into our own once again. In the least I want to talk to her about how she’s doing. I know losing Logan was hard on Skyla. As tough as it was on me, I think she had it a little bit worse.

“Stop by the morgue some time this week.” He gives a curt nod. “I’ve something to show you. Ezrina introduced me to a new embalming fluid that takes half as long to administer and keeps the corpse perfectly preserved for at least a thousand years.”

“Interesting.” I fake enthusiasm for the sake of avoiding another lecture on the profitability potential of the funeral home business. “I think I will stop by and check that out sometime.” Dad has been after me to consider partnering with him, but, all in all, I’ve pretty much surmised it’s a dead-end job, no pun intended. I shoot a look over to Skyla. “You ready to do this?”

“I’m ready if you are.”

And with that we hop in my truck, away from my father’s talk of morgue mergers and my mother’s talk of questionable forms of chivalry.

I hate to break it to my father, but I’m not too interested in building my future on the dead—I’m pretty sure I want to hang out with a few warm bodies for a good long while. And I hate to break it to my mother, but I plan on loving Skyla any way I damn well please—sacrificing far more than my dorm room for her.

We drive down the slick roads of Paragon with our hands still interlaced. I never want to let go of Skyla.

Not now.

Not ever.

Skyla and I grab some coffee before parking in the clearing near the docks. I lower the tailgate and help her take a seat before hopping up next to her. It’s heaven like this with Skyla, just the two of us tucked away at the foot of the forest. It’s bliss just hanging out, watching Mother Nature rouse from her slumber, sleepy-eyed as the pines stretch their limbs high to the sky. A crow screams overhead as it darts into the woods, and it makes me think of Nevermore. He was mine once, then I gifted him to Skyla as the ultimate show of love, at least it was for the sixteen-year-old in me. And now here we are two years later, and I’d like nothing more than to gift her the ultimate show of love with my body. I’d die to love Skyla that way, but only when she’s ready.

“I thought maybe we could grab a bite tonight.” I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her in. “That way you can tell me all about your first day.” Skyla and I only managed to get one class together—U.S. History.

“That sounds great. I think I promised Mia coffee at some point, but I’d much rather have dinner with you.” Her arms swim around my waist as she peels a heated kiss off my lips.

“How about you do both? I’d feel bad if I got in the way of any plans you have with your sister.”

She glances down and nods. “You know what I’m sort of feeling bad about?”

“The fact I practically ran you out of the house before you could finish my mother’s gourmet pancakes?” It’s true. I doubt she got a solid bite in. Forget dinner, I owe her breakfast, too.

“No, not that.” She gets a look on her face like she couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Skyla lands those pale blue eyes over mine, and I melt into her. I want to pull her deep into the bed of my truck and take her right here just shy of the Paragon Harbor parking lot. “The fact that I’ve been holding you off at an arm’s length.”

“What?” I tick my head back an inch. “If you’ve been giving me the cold shoulder, you’ve been doing a lousy job.”

She pushes in with another kiss, and this time her tongue swims around my mouth as if to prove my point. Skyla hasn’t exactly been holding back in the lip-lock department. If anything, she’s been more than generous with her kisses.

Skyla quakes with a laugh. Her entire body trembles, and I take in her sweet vibrations.

“Well, I have. Maybe not the cold shoulder, but you know.” She digs her fingers into my sides and runs her tongue over her lips as if she’s flirting. “But I think I’m ready.” Her features soften. Her mood grows all together serious. “I think I’m ready for me and you again.” She picks up my hand and threads our fingers together without ever breaking our gaze. “I think I’m ready for everything you can give me, Gage.” Her eyes moisten with tears. “I’m going to talk to my mom.” She glances up, alluding to the fact it’s Candace she’s referring to. “There’s nothing I won’t do to keep you alive.” Her eyes fill with tears. “You won’t die. I can’t go through what I did with Logan ever again. It’s too painful.”

“Whoa. I’m not going anywhere.” Yet—but I leave that part out.

“I love you so damn much it hurts just to catch my next breath. I feel really bad knowing that I’ve held things off with you for so long.”

I pull her in and plant a kiss on the top of her head. “You and I both agreed to give it time, so don’t worry about it. But if you feel ready to pick up where we left off, then I’m right there with you.”

“No.” She shakes her head, solemn as stone. “I’m not ready to pick up where we left off.” Her lips curl just shy of a wicked smile. She bears into me with a magnetic pull, seductive and carnal—and, holy hell, she’s eye-fucking me. “I’m ready to take things a whole lot further.”

I tick back an inch and examine her under the dismal Paragon sky.

My heart thumps. “If you’re ready, I’m ready.”

Her face breaks out in a full-blown grin. “I like the sound of that, Gage.”

“So do I.” So do fucking I.

I crash my lips over hers, and we engage in one hell of a welcome-to-the-next-level-of-our-relationship kiss. I’ve always known I’d be with Skyla one day. I knew it years before I ever met her thanks to those prophecies that almost drove me to the brink of insanity. And to think I once doubted them, and yet, here we are, together.

Skyla and I are together at last, just the way it was foretold.

Just the way it should be.

I love Skyla so damn much it hurts just to catch my next breath.

And it’s kind of nice to know she feels the very same way.

Logan

The sky glows a rusted cinder. The pines etch themselves against the landscape like petrified soldiers as if God, himself, had called them to look after the residents of Paragon.

“So where are we?” Liam glances around, aloof and removed per usual. To say he’s laidback would be an understatement.

“Paragon.”

Liam is built and fit, and in every way looks like a slight variation of myself. He looks about my age, a little over nineteen. I’m not too sure how old he really is—hell, how old I really should be. I gave up on keeping track of our ages and stages long ago. He’s the one who went back in time and sacrificed his life for mine. I was Mom’s late-in-life surprise, then the Counts came and arranged for our parent’s to die in a fiery car crash. I survived with severe burns that I had to deal with my entire life, until fate stepped in, renewed me as an infant, and sent me to Paragon to live with my brother Barron. It turns out destiny needed me at another point in time, for someone else entirely, and that someone was Skyla Messenger.

“So this is home, huh?” He takes a few steps over the damp Paragon soil.

It was Liam who sacrificed his life to get me here in the first place. It’s a soul for a soul, and he gave up his life so I could live out a second version of mine. And now that I’m dead, locked in this semi state of being known as a Treble, I made it a point to arrange for him to get one, too—sort of my attempt to thank him for all he’s done. Not that a Treble can ever replace his life. It’s just a frozen state of being that leaves you nothing more than a visitor. I’m not sure he’ll ever age. I know for a fact I come back and marry Skyla someday, but Liam is most likely going to be a young stud for the rest of his days. You can’t age naturally in a Treble.

“This is home,” I say, taking in the boats docked in the harbor. “And like they say, there’s no place like it.” An oversized crow glides overhead toward the sign reading,
Welcome to Paragon
.

“So why the harbor?” He gives a wry smile as a group of girls giggle their way to the ferry.

“I wanted to watch Skyla take off for her first day of school.” I still don’t feel right about interrupting any bonding time she needs with Gage, but it’s been weeks, and I’m dying to see her. I hope to hell they’ve got their kinks worked out because I’d do anything just to be near her again.

I glance around the lot and don’t see a sign of either his truck or the Mustang.

“Hey.” Liam slaps me over the arm. “Check out that couple dry-humping in the back of the pickup.”

I squint over at the all-too-familiar truck nestled off the grid with two bodies writhing over one another in the back.

Shit.

My heart stops. I can’t catch my breath.

“That’s them,” I whisper, mostly to myself.

“Get out.” Liam takes a few steps forward. “Look at him go. He’s going to fuck her right there, out in the open.” He cups his hands over his mouth and gives a whoop.

“Would you shut the hell up? They can see and hear us.” I take a step forward. Unfortunately for me, I can’t seem to take my eyes off them. My body goes numb just watching. Gage may as well have parked that mega ton truck of his right over my heart. It feels as if the weight of the world has landed on my chest.

I thought I could handle it.

I thought I would be glad just to be near them—that I would be
happy
for them. It turns out it was nothing but the worst lie I’ve ever fed myself. To think I’d ever want to see Skyla with anyone else is a cruel joke to begin with.

“Let’s go.” I start heading back toward the woods we came from.

“Where to?” Liam is slow to catch up.

“Paradise.”

“Whoa.” He pulls me back by the shirt. “No can do, baby bro. That’s a one-way ticket, and I still haven’t had my first cheeseburger in almost twenty years. You owe that much, and maybe a small crowd of loose chicks. I’ve got a serious itch to scratch, if you know what I mean.”

“People don’t say ‘loose chicks’ anymore. And if you even imply to someone of the female species that you’ve got a rash on your balls, they’re going to run like hell the other way. But it doesn’t matter because we’re not staying. We’re going to find Candace and tell her this was just a big mistake.”

“You know I care about you. I don’t want to see you hurting.” He yanks me in by the collar, stern as shit. “But I’m not opposed to giving you a little tough love by way of my fist just to get the point across that we’re not going anywhere. You got that?” He pulls back his hand, locked and loaded and ready to bust a jaw to prove his point.

Liam and I are a two for one deal. The only reason Liam gets to stay is because of me. I guess you could say he’s riding on my coattails quite literally, but I owe him that much, so I don’t mind.