Pack Bound, page 15
The back deck it was then.
Skye grabbed her phone, shoved her feet into her Ugg boots, then snuck down the hallway, across the back lounge room to the sliding door that led out onto the deck.
She closed the door and turned to stare at the sprawl of ill-kept lawn they called a backyard, her breath puffing in the cool spring air. It smelled like a thunderstorm was brewing. She looked askance at the glowering sky and hoped it would hold off long enough for her to make this call. The wind was quite nippy and she began to wish she’d put on her big woollen cardigan. Jigging on the spot—because she was cold, not because she was nervous—she made the call.
Skye managed to chew off two fingernails while she listened to the ring. One ring. Two rings. Three. Maybe he wasn’t going to pick up.
‘Hello?’
His voice, a little sleepy, sent a shiver of desire spiking through her. She gripped the phone tightly in her hand, determined not to drop it this time, and sat with a plop in one of the chairs on the deck.
‘Jason.’ It came out as barely more than a whisper. God! It was ridiculous how breathless the sound of his voice made her. Taking in a deep breath, she tried again. ‘Jason. Hi. It’s Skye.’
‘Skye.’ There was a definite smile in his voice.
Keeping her lips tightly pressed together to stop the responding smile, she said, ‘Hello,’ then cursed herself—she’d already said that.
‘What can I do for you on such a lovely morning?’
She frowned up at the darkening sky. ‘Have you been outside? It’s not such a lovely morning.’
‘Any morning I get woken up by a call from you counts as lovely in my books. I can’t think of a better way to start a day. Actually, I can …’
Her breath hitched in her throat as he paused. Images flashed through her mind, hot and passionate and so full of thick, heavy desire as to make her feel instantly wet and ready.
Clearing her throat, she managed, ‘Yes. Well, that’s why I’ve called.’
‘Because you can imagine a better way to start the day?’
‘No!’ she snapped, trying to clench her muscles against the building wave inside her.
‘Because I think it’s time we had a chat. I know what you’ve been doing and it has to stop.’
‘And what have I been doing?’
‘You’ve been trying to sway me.’
‘No. I’ve been courting you. There’s a difference. We jumped the gun before. I want to take a step back from that and start again.’
‘“Stepping back from that”? Is that what you call sending me flowers and things every day so that I can’t help but think about you? And those letters …’ Her mouth worked for a moment as she desperately tried not to think about the words in those letters. ‘They just reminded me about that night over and over.’
He chuckled. ‘You’re right. I cheated. That wasn’t really starting from the beginning again. But just so you know, if I was interested in a woman I’d never been intimate with, I’d send her flowers and chocolates and balloons so she would think about me as much as I’m thinking about her. I’d hope that my efforts at courting would make her feel special and make her smile.’
‘Special? Try frustrated as hell.’
He chuckled. ‘Well, I’ll have to try harder then, won’t I?’
‘No,’ she blurted out, panicked at the thought of him upping the charm offensive. She didn’t think she’d be able to survive that. ‘You know, some people might consider this stalking.’
‘Not my intent, I assure you.’ All playfulness had left his voice. ‘I’ll stop if you do feel that way though.’
‘No!’ Holy duck! What was she saying?
‘Good. I don’t want you to be scared of me.’
‘I’m not.’ This conversation was going way off the rails. She had to rope it back in. She’d called him with a purpose and she had to get on with it. Taking in a deep breath she said, ‘I’m actually calling you to let you know I’ll go out with you. On one date. Tonight.’
‘Tonight will be good. I’ll book us a table at—’
‘We’ll go to Choys,’ she broke in before he could take the reins back. ‘It’s a restaurant at the village shops ’round the corner. It does really great Chinese and Malaysian food.’ And wasn’t romantic at all with its bright lights, mismatched chairs and fast service. Dinner at Choys would be over and done with in an hour.
‘I know Choys. It’s BYO—so I’ll bring the wine and if it’s not raining, we can walk there from your place.’
‘No. I’ll just meet you there at seven. I’ll make the booking.’
‘Skye.’ She could practically see him shaking his head as he said her name. ‘You promised me one date. I’ll book the restaurant and be over to pick you up just before seven—we can decide whether to walk or not. I’ll see you then.’ And before she could say anything further, he hung up.
Skye looked at the phone for a minute, stunned that he’d wrested control from her so quickly. How the hell had that happened?
One thing was certain: he might want to have the full date experience, but she wasn’t going to give it to him. She wouldn’t dress up for him—Choys was a jeans and shirt kind of place. And she certainly wouldn’t bother doing her hair or putting any make-up on. And even if it was raining, she wasn’t going to get in the enclosed space of a car with him.
She could barely resist him when he was on the other end of the phone. If he turned to her with that heat in his eye, or even touched her hand and they were in the private confines of a car, despite all the will power in the world, she might not be able to resist.
One night with him was hard enough to get over. She didn’t want to make it worse. They’d walk to the restaurant, they’d order dinner and then she would tell him what she had to and that would be an end to it.
Why did that thought make her want to cry?
‘Watcha doin’ out here?’
Skye jumped at the sound of the voice behind her and almost dropped the phone on the deck. ‘Bron! Do you have to creep up on me like that?’ She swiped at the tear that had fallen and turned to face her friend.
Bron stepped out onto the deck with two steaming mugs in her hand. ‘I wasn’t creeping. This door makes enough noise when you open it to wake the dead—we really must put some graphite onto the ball bearings. Here.’ She held out a mug to Skye.
Skye took the mug gratefully, only realising as she grabbed it just how cold she was. She sipped the coffee. ‘Thanks. I needed this.’
Bron’s gaze flashed to the phone. ‘So, what’s with the secret early-morning phone calls?’
‘It’s not that early.’
Bron looked pointedly at her watch and then back up at Skye. ‘It’s not even eight.’
Skye had the grace to blush and look away. She was rarely out of bed before nine on a Saturday, her traditional sleep-in morning. ‘Yeah, well, I have things to do today.’
‘And calls to make, apparently.’ Bron sipped her coffee and said, a little too nonchalantly, ‘Were you calling Adam’s brother?’ Skye refused to react, but Bron wouldn’t be put off by Skye’s lack of answer. ‘You met him up at the snow, didn’t you? He’s the one you shared the wine with.’ She crouched down in front of Skye, peering up into her face. ‘Although, you did more than share wine that night, didn’t you?’
Skye still didn’t answer, but either the red of her skin or the look on her face gave her away.
‘I knew it!’ Bron crowed, leaping to her feet, coffee sloshing over her hand. ‘Shit.’ She put the mug on the table and licked the coffee off her skin. Waving her hand in the air to cool it, she began to pace. ‘I knew something had gone on that night. I mean, your energy levels were so low and your aura was pulsing, yet sluggish. That must have been one hell of an energy transfer.’ She stopped pacing. ‘Was the sex amazing? It would have to have been amazing—all animal and passionate, given what he is.’
Skye’s gaze finally snapped to her friend. ‘What are you talking about? What do you mean, “given what he is”?’
Bron stopped waving her hand and went perfectly still—an amazing accomplishment for her. ‘You don’t know?’
‘Don’t know what? I swear, if you’re about to go on about soul mates or something equally stupid, Bronwyn Kincaid, I think I’ll scream.’
Bron chuckled. ‘You can’t scream. You’ll wake Shelley and she had a late shift and didn’t get to sleep until four.’
‘Oh,’ Skye said, suddenly deflated. ‘Well, I’ll do something less loud then. But I’m really not in the mood to talk about soul mates, auras or power transfers this morning.’
‘You’re never in the mood to talk about them.’
‘You know why,’ she hissed, tears pricking her eyes with a suddenness that took her by surprise.
Bron knelt in front of her again and took Skye’s hands in hers. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. It just worries me that you deny yourself half of who you’re meant to be.’
Skye pulled her hands out of Bron’s and stood up. ‘I’m dangerous, Bron. My powers have brought nothing but grief. Why on earth would I want to accept that?’
Thunder clapped overhead and lightning brightened the sky. A drop of water plopped on the deck, followed by another and then another.
Glancing up at the storm that was about to break, she said, ‘I’m going inside.’ And without waiting to see what Bron would do, Skye returned to bed, where she managed to hide under the covers, trying not to think about Bron and what she’d said. But it was impossible.
She was sick and tired of her life being at the mercy and whims of other people. She couldn’t remember much about her parents—apart from a few things like how her mother had tucked them into bed with a kiss, her time with them had been lost to her in the trauma of the accident—but from what her grandpa had told her, they’d tried to mould her into something dangerous. After their deaths, her grandparents had tried to reshape her with varying degrees of success and now her brother and her friends, with the best of intentions, wanted her to rethink and change what had been done to her. Now Jason wanted something from her she just couldn’t give.
She was Skye Morghanna Cantrae and she wasn’t going to be pushed and shoved around by anyone any more.
She would head over to Cantrae House to give her grandmother a serve. Morrigan would be there on a Saturday. Her grandmother always spent the afternoon with River before getting ready to go out to the ballet or a concert. Skye would also find some time today to tell her friends to back off. And then she would finish off the day by telling Jason McVale the sad truth—well, as much as she could tell a normal—so he would leave her alone.
Morrigan wasn’t home when Skye arrived. She wasn’t the only one surprised by this. Ferris admitted, after she questioned him, that Morrigan hadn’t been acting herself lately; that she seemed worried about something and had been making an awful lot of secretive phone calls and disappearing for hours on end.
‘I’m worried it has something to do with Master River.’ Ferris frowned as he confided this to her. ‘He seems to be getting worse, lost in that fugue state more and more, and the times in between, he’s been talking about things that make no sense at all. I’m afraid he’s going to have a terrible blow-up soon and I think maybe madame is trying to find someone to help him. I overheard her say something about that on the phone earlier when I walked into the study to tell her you had called and were coming over.’
‘She knew I was coming? And she still left? What did she say?’
He nodded. ‘She just thanked me and waved me out. A little while later I heard her leave—she didn’t tell me where she was going or how long she would be gone for. I am rather worried, miss.’
So was Skye. It was totally unlike Morrigan to avoid a conflict with her granddaughter and yet Ferris’ words were proof she was doing exactly that. Her grandmother was avoiding her. But why?
Thanking Ferris, she wandered up to River’s room. Her twin was in a strange mood, jumping at shadows and talking about things that made no sense and then sitting there, staring at nothing for ages, not moving or even blinking.
The storm had passed so she took him out to the garden again, but even the new contemplation glade he’d created didn’t bring him out of his mood. He kept looking past her and talking as if someone was there with them. When she couldn’t stand it any longer, she asked, ‘Who are you talking to, River?’
‘Grandpa. You could hear him too if only you’d open yourself to him like you did at the cemetery.’
A shiver chased down her spine as he looked at her, his hazel eyes bright and clear. She wanted to deny what he said, but couldn’t.
‘Grandpa says you need to use your eye.’ He touched her forehead with a very warm finger.
Skye gasped. ‘River! You’re boiling hot.’ She took his hand. ‘If you weren’t feeling well, you should have said something. I wouldn’t have brought you out into the cold.’
‘I’m fine,’ he said, walking alongside her. ‘I like the cold. But Skye, you’re not listening.’ He stopped, pulling her to a halt with him. ‘Grandpa says you need to listen and see like Papa taught you.’
‘Papa didn’t teach me anything I wish to remember. And you can’t talk to Grandpa, River. It’s not safe. Please promise me you won’t do it again.’
‘I will stop talking to him when you start to listen. You should be able to hear him. You heard him the other day. Why won’t you hear him now?’
Skye shook her head, not knowing how to respond. She didn’t want to talk about this. Talking about her powers would only make them push to the fore. So she took his hand and lied. ‘I promise I’ll try to listen, River. But come on. We have to get you inside before you get sicker than you already are.’
She got him up to his room, where he soon fell asleep. Before she left, though, she asked Ferris to tell Morrigan she needed to speak to her and to please give her a call. She told him it was about River, hoping that would make a difference.
Troubled thoughts filled her mind as she drove home. Still caught up in the darkness of them, she let herself into the house, dumped her keys in the bowl on the front hall stand and began to take off her coat.
‘Jason called.’
Skye jumped at the voice close behind her and swung to face Bron, her arms still caught in her coat sleeves. ‘Oh, Bron, it’s you.’
‘Who else would it be?’
‘Nobody.’ She pulled her arms out of her coat. ‘Sorry, I was lost in thought. What did you say?’
‘Jason called. He said he would be here at seven.’
Skye swore as she saw all the questions in her friend’s eyes, but rather than answering any of them, she moved past Bron and down the hall. ‘I’m going to have a shower.’
‘Shells and I are going out to see a movie, but now we might just catch a later one.’
‘Great,’ Skye said, waving behind her. She swore again. Her friends staying to greet Jason was just one more way the universe had chosen today to show her that despite her decision to take back control of her life, she really didn’t have control over much of anything.
16
Even though it was only five, she decided to run a bath, have a soak, wash her hair and give it an extra conditioning treatment.
At six-thirty she ran out of things to do to get ready and realised she’d have to walk out into the family room. She sighed, knowing she couldn’t escape forever the million and one questions Bron and Shelley would have about Jason and what was going on between them.
Bron, of course, ran a critical eye over Skye when she emerged from her bedroom and said, ‘You’re not putting on something nicer than your jeans?’
At the same time, Shelley said, ‘So, you’re going out with Adam’s brother. The same brother you met up at the snow and had a one-night stand with.’
‘That’s right.’ Skye looked daggers at Bron, who had the grace to look chagrined.
‘Is that a good idea?’
Skye almost growled. ‘I don’t need you judging me,’ she said. ‘Either of you. I’m only going on the date so I can tell him that we can’t go out.’
‘You should have just told him to stop harassing you this morning when you called him.’
‘It’s not harassment if she likes it,’ Bron said with a smirk.
Skye lost her temper. ‘That’s it!’ She pointed her finger first at Bron and then at Shelley. ‘This is my decision and my life and I want you to butt out. You know why I can’t get into a relationship.’ She’d told them everything in one long, sob-fest years ago, so she couldn’t understand their attitudes now. ‘End of discussion.’
Absolute silence followed her outburst and she turned away, unable to stand their hurt expressions. ‘I want to make my own decisions. Everyone keeps trying to make them for me and I don’t like it. Is it so wrong or surprising that I feel that way?’
‘No,’ Bron said, coming up behind her to slip her arms around her in a hug. ‘I’m sorry if I upset you.’
Skye nodded, returning the hug, but then stepped out of Bron’s hold.
Shelley said, ‘Well, if this Jason is as annoying as his brother, I think you’re making the right decision.’
‘Thanks,’ Skye murmured, glad for a return to the original topic. However, she didn’t feel as buoyed by Shelley’s approval as she should. A man that gorgeous, charming and sexy could never be truly annoying. Besides, he’d only been trying to persuade her to go on a date with him in the most romantic way possible, like something from one of their favourite romance movies.
Fudge! Was she defending him? To herself?
‘It’s not seven yet, Skye. Come and sit down. You’re making me edgy, pacing around like that.’
Skye tried to do what Shelley suggested, but a moment later she was up, pacing again, this time behind the couch where they were sitting so they could continue to watch whatever they’d been watching when she’d emerged from her bedroom.
