The Sunshine Chronicles: Forgotten Flare, page 27
His tone brought my temper to the surface. “What’s your problem with him?” I demanded.
He whipped around so fast that I stumbled back half a step into the wall behind me. “He’s an asshole!”
“You’re one to talk!” I snapped.
“You can’t even see it!”
“See what?!”
“He treats you like a child!” He snarled. “Like you can’t do things for yourself. He’s basically trained you to need him every time you have a panic attack! Do you understand how selfish that is?” His voice had risen to a yell, his green eyes shining with hatred and his nostrils flaring. His breath was hot as it hit my face.
“Why does it matter?” I tried to yell back, but my throat tightened around the words. “At least he cares!” Something about what Kyler said was true, though. I still needed to thank him for teaching me to control my panic attacks alone. But Kaleb’s way still worked, which shouldn’t give Kyler a reason to hate him. He was trying to help, too. In the only way he knew how.
Kyler’s mouth opened to say something, but he closed it again, changing his mind. He searched my eyes for a moment and then stood up straight. I hadn’t realized he was leaning over me until that moment. He’d been inches from my face. No wonder his smoky, strawberry scent was filling my nose. He took a deep breath and repeated, “It’s late.” His voice was low, but the fight had gone out of him. Maybe the exhaustion finally hit. With one last look at me, he stepped away and turned toward the door again. “Let’s go.”
I stood there for a minute in shock. Kyler had to be the most confusing person I’d ever met. His actions and words spoke different things. One minute, I knew he hated me with every fiber of his being. The next, I was trying to decide if he cared for me or was jealous. It was starting to get annoying.
But my exhaustion was starting to overwhelm my body. I didn’t want to fight about this anymore. I shouldn’t care what Kyler thought anyway. I barely knew him. He was there to protect me, and that was it. Kaleb had been there for me most of my life. I cared about him, and he obviously cared about me. So what if his methods of helping me were different? It still helped. And it made me feel safe.
As I walked to the door Kyler held open, I asked, “Can I get my phone back?” I hadn’t talked to Kaleb since our kiss. It had taken a back burner to the other events of the day. It felt like several days had passed since I’d seen him. Held him. But I knew we needed to talk sooner rather than later.
Kyler blinked at me. “I— we don’t have your phone.”
Odd. I assumed they were holding my phone so I couldn’t contact anyone and accidentally send my location to the enemy. But if they didn’t have it— “It wasn’t on me when you—” I hated that I had to say, “—rescued me?”
He locked the gym door and headed to the car, shaking his head. “You didn’t have anything on you. We assumed you’d dropped everything at the store when they took you.”
Well, that’s strange. The last person who could have it was Kaleb. But if he didn’t have it… where was it?
XXIII
Sorry Not Sorry
When we arrived back at the house, I barely made it to my bed before passing out. The exhaustion must have been enough to keep the dreams away because I forgot to take my medicine beforehand. But the night terrors stayed away. I woke up refreshed after what felt like the best night of sleep I’d ever had. I thought maybe I hadn’t moved during the night because I slept so hard, but the blankets on the bed said otherwise. They were crumpled and crowded around me when I woke to the sun shining through the window.
It had been past midnight when we left the studio, but Kyler stopped for food on the way home. We’d both exhausted all our energy at the gym and were starving. He almost ordered the entire menu at Taco Bell, and then he turned to me and asked what I wanted. I gaped at him. Only for a moment, though, before my stomach demanded I order twice as much as usual. We silently devoured every last bite before returning to the house. We hardly said anything to each other on the drive, but I still felt something radiating off him as he drove silently, munching on his food. It made me wonder if part of my magical abilities could sense other people’s energies or if Kyler just wore his emotions on his sleeve.
He didn’t even make sure I knew the way to my room before disappearing to wherever his was. I made a mental note to explore more of the house during the week, but at least I knew how to navigate to my room.
As I walked into the kitchen that morning, Theo was at the stove watching a spatula flipping a pancake. I blinked. Theo smiled at me, holding the spatula with the pancake on it. “Top of the mornin’ to ya, dear! Can I—”
I put my finger up to stop him. “Not yet,” I grumbled, refusing to believe I’d just seen the kitchenware making breakfast on its own. I needed coffee. Theo made a gesture as if locking up his mouth with a key and tossed the invisible key to me as if to say, ‘Whenever you’re ready.’ I followed my nose to the coffee pot and poured myself a big mug, adding the creamer already sitting out. As I savored the first sip, I turned around and leaned against the counter, watching to make sure Theo was indeed flipping the pancakes he had tried to offer me. “I’m a beast before my coffee,” I mumbled, knowing it was no excuse, but sometimes I couldn’t handle people in the morning.
I stretched my sore muscles this way and that between each sip of coffee until I finally felt the brain fog melt away. I turned to Theo and said, “Good morning, Theo.”
He looked at me and held out his hand. At first, I just stared at him like he was crazy. Then he pointed to his lips before holding out his hand again. I bit back a smile, reached into my pretend pocket, pulled out the invisible key, and handed it to him. He mimed unlocking his lips, then smiled at me, “Good morning, dearie.”
“That’s his favorite joke.” I jumped a little at Mari’s groggy voice. I must have missed her entrance into the kitchen. She walked up to Theo and hugged him with a peck on the cheek. The gesture felt comfortable but not romantic. I wondered if I could pluck up enough courage to ask about them later. “He uses it whenever he’s told to be quiet.” She grabbed a hot pancake from the spatula Theo extended to her and bit into it before grabbing a plate and piling a few more on top. She pulled a fruit bowl from the fridge and brought it to the table to sit.
I looked from Mari to Theo, who was still flipping pancakes, and asked, “What time are we leaving for school?” I didn’t want to assume they waited until the last second like I did. We had plenty of time this morning, but it didn’t seem like Kyler was up yet, and I wanted to shower since I hadn’t before crashing last night. The nightgown under my robe felt like it was sticking to my skin. It was disgusting.
“You probably have forty minutes before Kyler is ready,” Mari offered, “fifty max. And when he’s ready, he leaves. Whether I’m ready or not.” She gave me a pointed look, and I shook my head knowingly. We both chuckled a little.
I moved to the counter and grabbed a couple of pancakes. Theo saw my plate, glanced up at me, then at the plate again. He grabbed two more pancakes, put them on top of the three I already had, and nodded, satisfied with his work. I raised my eyebrow at him, to which he said, “I heard you trained for quite a while last night. You must have worked up a big appetite.”
“Trained?” Mari said as a blush rose to my cheeks. So Kyler hadn’t gone straight to bed last night. I wondered if he told Theo how many times I’d pinned him. I grinned at the thought as I dug into my pancakes.
Theo looked at Mari, “She and Niko went to Rifner’s studio last night after hours. Niko wanted to see what she was capable of.” He gave me a knowing look, then said, “Apparently, Rifner hasn’t been training her. Tom has.”
Mari choked on her food. “What!”
“Why does it matter who trains me?” I asked defensively, wondering if they understood the question through the pancake I’d stuffed in my mouth. I was more confused by their reaction than why Kyler wanted to see what I could do. I swallowed, “Besides, wouldn’t you have known that if you talked to Rifner?” I stuffed another bite of pancake in my mouth.
“Tom wasn’t supposed to interact with you just yet,” Theo said, flipping another pancake. How many did they need?
“Why not?” I asked, washing down the pancake in my mouth with some coffee before continuing. “Kendall and Leighton are my best friends. I knew Tom before he started training me.”
“Knowing Tom and training with him are two different things, Rayleigh.” Mari sounded irked. “He wasn’t supposed to get involved in your training.”
“And he seems to have taken it upon himself to do it secretly,” Theo mused.
“To be fair,” I held up one finger to stop them from going on as I swallowed another bite. “Tom only mentioned that he taught jiu-jitsu. I asked him to train me.”
Theo squinted his eyes at me and then trained them on Mari, “Do you think he ran it by Rifner and had him cover for him?”
“Again, why does it matter who trained me?” A hint of desperation crept into that question as they still hadn’t answered it.
“Because,” Kyler walked into the kitchen and headed straight for the coffee pot behind me. He looked like he just stepped out of the shower. His dark curls were still damp, and some stuck to his face. It made his blue eyes pop. Wait, blue?? I blinked. They were green. My mind was playing tricks on me. “He is a councilor to the fae. One of the most powerful,” Kyler continued, and the scent of his cologne invaded my nose. “He’s been teaching you far more advanced techniques than he’s supposed to.”
“Okay… and?” None of what they said made any sense. First, what was a councilor, and why was he teaching me jiu-jitsu? Secondly, it was jiu-jitsu. They’re bound to teach more advanced moves when you get the easy stuff down, so why would that be an issue? I decided to save the first question for later, thinking it would need more time than we had to explain, but I asked the second.
Theo flipped one more pancake onto his pile and handed the entire plate to Kyler, who was still between us getting his coffee. I gaped at the stack of pancakes, but after what he ate last night, that looked like a snack.
“Your magic has been bleeding into your training,” Theo directed at me. “Tom has been teaching you to use magic with your fighting.”
My jaw dropped, as did the pancake I was holding. Luckily, it landed on my plate. I’ve been using magic this entire time? Without knowing? “But how?” I asked out loud, needing to know the answer.
“Through your breath work,” Kyler said, leaning against the island counter while he ate his pancakes with his hands.
But how could I do that without knowing? I mean, yeah, Tom made me concentrate on my breathing when doing certain moves, making sure to breathe out on the ones that took the most effort. But that was normal for any workout, wasn’t it? When I was taught how to squat correctly in gym class, we were told to breathe in on the way down and out on the way up. It seemed easy enough to connect that to my moves in jiu-jitsu, which is why Tom started teaching me more advanced moves. Or so I thought.
“You’re telling me that I’ve been using magic… without knowing I’m using magic?” That made no sense. Primarily because I hadn’t even known magic existed when I started training. I didn’t feel any different. There was no power in my veins or spark in my fingers. I wasn’t sure what magic felt like, but I was pretty sure I would be able to feel something. But if I couldn’t feel the magic… I thought about the books I was given to study, how the fae used to be a part of the elements, and now the elements were a part of them. I wondered if it just flowed through them— us, I reminded myself. Perhaps it was possible the magic wasn’t noticeable.
All three of them were watching me process. Theo spoke first. “While fae are generally faster and stronger in jiu-jitsu, you have only been training for a few months. Niko has been sparring for years. And from how he described your knowledge and strength in sparring with him last night, it’s clear some magic is involved.”
Oh.
Oh.
A cocky grin spread across my face as I slowly turned my head to Kyler. “Because I couldn’t possibly beat you without magic.”
Kyler smirked, “Not a chance.”
“Did you tell them how many times you had to tap out?” I mocked.
“How many!” Mari shouted from the table.
“Without magic, it would have been zero,” Kyler gritted out.
I gave him a mock smile. “I don’t need magic to beat you.”
Kyler grinned. “Wanna go again, Sunshine?”
“Sure.” My voice went low. A challenge. “Let’s make it thirteen.”
“Thirteen??” Mari spat her food across the table, followed by a hearty belly laugh. Theo must have joined her at the table, his laughter echoing hers.
Kyler’s cheeks started to color. He faced the laughter and repeated through clenched teeth, “If it weren’t for her magic, it would have been zero.”
“Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart,” I purred, pulling his attention back to me. I lowered my voice to a whisper as I leaned across the space between us. “I think you like being stuck between my legs.”
As soon as the words left my mouth, I knew they’d been a mistake. The color in Kyler’s cheeks faded, and a slow smirk spread across his face as he leaned in a little further. His breath graced my ear as he whispered, “I think you like it more.”
My cheeks warmed, and I pursed my lips. Hating that he turned the insult meant for him back on me, I stalked out of the kitchen. “I’m going to take a shower.”
I only heard Kyler’s answering laughter and the other two asking what he said to make me storm off. When I got to the bathroom, I turned the shower all the way to cold.
Thirty minutes later, I was waiting in the kitchen alone when Theo walked in and announced that Tom and the twins were coming over that night.
“Wait, they’re coming here?” I said, not believing I’d have someone close to me to share this crazy experience.
Theo smiled. “Yes. They will likely stay with us, so our team will be less spread out.”
“How long are they going to be staying?” I asked.
“The plan is to figure that out. Tom filled the girls in over the weekend, telling them as much as they could handle. We will be filling you all in on more details tonight.”
“I hope you have a PowerPoint or something cool,” I mumbled. I was glad I took a few minutes after my shower to write down all my new questions from the last two days. I’d have to remember to bring my notebook to the meeting.
Kyler stalked into the kitchen, saying, “We’re going to be late.” He beelined straight for the garage door, not bothering to check if I followed him.
Theo bid me goodbye, and I headed to the garage just as Mari hurried into the kitchen with her backpack and my own. “You left this in your room. I went to see if you were ready, but you were faster than I thought!” She smiled as I thanked her, and we both hurried out to the garage.
Kyler had pulled the jeep out of the garage and sat idling, waiting for us. Mari shook her head, “See, this is what I mean. I’m honestly surprised he’s still here.”
I laughed, “He can’t have actually left you behind before?” It seemed absurd to leave Mari if she wasn’t ready the second he was. What if she was in the bathroom or something?
“Oh, he’s tried!” She paused, looking at me for a moment before going on. “Let’s just say he can’t get very far without me.” She winked and opened the door to the backseat for herself.
I wasn’t sure if she was trying to be nice by letting me sit in the front or what, but it wasn’t something I was used to either way. Sitting in the front seat next to Kyler was not my first option, but the backseat often made me car sick. That was why I always drove, whether it was to school or into the city for groceries or shopping. I was hardly ever the passenger. Honestly, it probably had more to do with fearing loss of control than my mild nausea. Maybe it was a control issue, but it had only been a few days, and I was already sick of being driven around. I was not a passenger princess. I missed driving. I missed my car. Would Chitty even start at this point?
That wasn’t even the worst of it. I couldn’t go anywhere or do anything whenever I wanted, and I was on someone else’s schedule—not my own.
Somehow, my freedom had slipped out of my hands, and Kyler was one of the people in control.
I grumbled in frustration, opened the front passenger door, and got in, ignoring Kyler’s noise of annoyance. The door hadn’t even closed before he started down the driveway. “You couldn’t have waited two seconds?” I snapped, slamming the door.
“We’re late,” he retorted.
“Two more seconds wouldn’t have killed you!” I said, clicking my seatbelt in place.
He ignored me, turning up the radio instead, and I had to bite my tongue so I didn’t yell at him over the music for being immature.
I rolled down the window, which got me a look from Kyler, but I didn’t care. I liked feeling the spring air on my face. As he pulled onto the highway and the breeze picked up, I put my hand on the window frame and lay my chin on it, letting the wind whip my hair all around. It would be a rat’s nest when we got to school, but whatever. I stuck my arm out the window and made waves against the wind, pretending to dodge the air pockets. Arabella and I used to do that constantly, pretending we were flying instead of our hands. It was such a silly little motion, but it felt freeing. Like I could do anything.
Kyler turned the music down at one point so it wasn’t blaring through the speakers, and I was surprised to find that he didn’t listen to metal or screamo music. It was more contemporary rock and indie music. I mentally tried to keep track of some titles to add to my playlist whenever I got my phone back. It slightly annoyed me that we had similar taste in music, though.
We arrived at school five minutes before the first warning bell, so I didn’t understand why Kyler had been so adamant that we were late. But I didn’t say anything as I got out of the Jeep and headed to Chem.
