Celestra Forever After (5 page)

“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—her long-dead mother that runs the Decision Council, a version of fate on steroids. “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 lean back 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.

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 appears to be 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 parents 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 at some point, 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 raven 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 me 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.

A violent wind whips through the vicinity, and we look in the direction of the unexpected gust.

A woman appears in a dense, dark cloud. Her black hair flows like a necrotic river, her eyes knife through the darkness like shinning green lanterns.

“Holy hotness,” Liam whispers.

“More like holy crap,” I say as she strides in this direction. Crap and Chloe Bishop are one and the same these days. She’s made life on Paragon miserable the last two years and happens to be the sole reason I’m stranded on the other side of the eternal veil.

“My, my…” She walks a slow circle around my brother. Chloe looks sharper, more refined, far more wicked than I ever remember. She’s been relegated to the Transfer to endure Ezrina’s punishment, only it turns out Ezrina’s tattered features were of her own doing. Chloe can be as beautiful as she wants. And judging by my brother’s reaction, he completely approves.

Chloe locks eyes with him while wearing her lust on her sleeve. “Who in the hell are you?” She moans it out as if he were everything she wanted. But both Chloe and I know that’s a lie. For one, he’s not Gage.

“By all means, ladies first.” He walks his own circle around her, and now it feels as if I’m intruding on some primitive mating ritual.

“Chloe Bishop.” She holds out her hand, and he’s quick to bring it to his lips.

“Liam Oliver.”

“
Oliver
?” Chloe’s eyes widen to the size of Texas. “Do tell…” She looks from me to my brother. “Where have they been hiding you all these years?” Chloe looks genuinely thrown for a loop.

“None of your business. Come on, Liam.” I try to pluck him out of her midst, but he’s screwed his toes into the ground.

“I think Liam wants to stay,” Chloe coos, threading her fingers with his. “You up for some coffee? Maybe catch a good old-fashioned steak and egg breakfast? My treat.”

Liam perks at the mention of a juicy tenderloin.

Chloe is good at what she does, I’ll give her that. I’d better set my brother straight before she gets her hooks in too deep.

“She’s the reason I’m dead, Liam. She hacked my head off without thinking twice, and she’s got it out for Celestra.”

Chloe tilts her head in my direction. “And I’m going to kill Skyla, knock Celestra off its imaginary pedestal, and have Gage all to myself one day. There.” She gives one of her deranged smiles over to my brother. “I believe you’re all caught up. Shall we?”

“Yes, we shall.”

“Would you care to join us?” Her eyes spit a fire into mine.

“
No
.” I tap my brother. “Let’s get out of here, Liam. I’m sure Barron and Emma would love to see you. We can take a light drive—visit Mom and Dad. We can even hunt down that girl you’ve been telling me about. I bet she’s still as beautiful as you remember.” Right about now I’d offer to take him to the moon if he wanted. I used to be the last person to light drive—
time
travel
—anywhere, but Skyla helped me overcome my fear.

Liam stares off at the woods while considering my offer. He’s falling hard under Bishop’s spell, and it’s not a good thing—especially since he’s looking to get laid, and she’s all too willing to provide the ride.

A horn blares into the virginal morning as the ferry pulls away from shore. I turn to find the tailgate to Gage’s truck in its upright position, not a sign of either Skyla or him near it.

I stare off at the ferry, trying to make out the passengers, but from this vantage point, everything looks like a sponge painting. It’s foggy as hell. Skyla and Gage are probably inside. Skyla never did like what the Paragon weather did to her hair—said it turned her into a bush. God, I miss her. I wouldn’t care if she were covered with fur from head to toe. I’d love her just the same.

“Who are we seeing off today?” Chloe stands beside me, squinting as the ferry pushes toward Host.

“It’s Skyla’s first day of school,” Liam offers.

Crap. It’s pretty clear I’ve got a whole list of do’s and don’ts I need to go over with him, starting with don’t feed into Chloe Bishop.

“Skyla’s first day of school? How absolutely precious.” Chloe nestles into her own skin as if she were pleased as hell with whatever it is she’s plotting. “I’ve got a little business I need to tend to with the Paragon Princess.” The words swim from her lips like a thinly veiled threat. “In fact, I have a guest in the Transfer I’ve been dying for her to meet. I might just arrange for that—” Chloe doubles over abruptly and cuts short her rambling speech. Her face bleaches out, pale as concrete. A groan expels from her throat as she starts in on a series of dry heaves.

Liam bounces back. “You feeling all right? You need some water?”

“I’ll gladly push you into the harbor,” I offer.

A raven screams overhead, and Chloe gives a quick glance up before backing the hell into the forest as if a demon were about to snatch her.

Liam and I watch as she fades into a mass of swirling molecules.

“What the hell was that about?” He touches the air in her wake as if making sure she’s truly gone. With Chloe you never know.

“I think
that’s
what it’s about.” I point skyward at the raven still hovering above. “That bird is the new home of Holden Kragger. My friend, Nevermore, used to live inside that ball of feathers. You’ll get to meet Nev soon. There are quite a few people we won’t be avoiding, and Nev’s one of them. If I remember correct, part of the punishment was that Nevermore’s form couldn’t be near Ezrina’s, which would explain the fact Chloe had to excuse herself. I guess Holden makes her sick—literally.”

“Good to know. I’ll be sure to keep Ms. Bishop in a bird-free environment the next time we meet.”

“You won’t need to. With any luck we’ll know where that damn bird is 24/7.”

“Where’s that?” Liam looks slightly ticked as if I were suggesting we use his dick as a perch.

“With Skyla Messenger. It looks like Holden Kragger is going to be her warped little guardian.” And that alone saved his neck. Holden once tried to force himself on Skyla. I had planned on removing him from the planet permanently—giving one of the feathers to Nev to stick in his hat out of posterity, but, for now, Holden Kragger is very, very safe. “And you’d better get Bishop out of your brain. She’s nothing but trouble. Besides, you’ll want someone who’s into you, and Chloe could never be that person. She only has eyes for Gage.” I learned that the hard way myself, but I wasn’t too sorry. She wasn’t the one for me.

“Yeah, well, she looked pretty interested in the goods”—he grabs his crotch—“and a lonely guy like me has to start somewhere.”

“Start somewhere else.”