Divine (45 page)

He was standing quietly
with his head hanging under the flowing water, one hand resting
solidly against the wall, the heavy stream from the shower head
pouring over the back of his hair and running down his somber face.
The water that hit his skin turned red as it rolled along his naked
body, quickly turning back to clear when it left him and spiraled
down the silver drain.

“
You're still
mad?” I asked, already knowing the obvious answer.

“
Yeah.”

I crossed my arms and
leaned up against the wall next to the shower. “What are you
mad about?”

His eyes stayed on the
floor of the tub as he slid his other hand up the front of his face
and over his hair, making a useless attempt to move the red streams
of water out of his eyes. “I'm mad about Fred.”

I sighed and leaned my
head against the wall. A speck of the boiling water bounced off of
him and hit my arm, turning clear but still biting into my delicate
skin. I rubbed the feeling away and shifted myself a little further
back to avoid getting hit with the fiery wetness again.

“
Did you know
that you would make the water hot like you did?” I asked.

He shook his head
gently under the downpour. “No, it's never happened before.”

“
It hasn't?”

“
No, at least not
in the ocean.”

“
What about when
your dad died? Didn't you swim in the ocean then? I'm sure you were
really angry at that time in your life.”

“
I was angry, but
I usually don't get angry like I did today. And after my dad died I
didn't go in the ocean for a long time. All it did was remind me of
him, and it made the pain worse.”

I sighed heavily in
thought. “Well, you've had to have been mad in the shower
before, right?”

“
Yeah, but
there's nothing to kill in the shower.”

“
Jonah, stop.”

“
I'm not trying
to be funny or sarcastic about it. There's nothing for the hot water
to kill in here.”

“
Well, what about
you
? How can you handle the temperature?”

“
I don't know,”
he shrugged. “It feels hot, but it doesn't hurt me.” His
hand moved back over his face and hair in another attempt to clear
the water. “I guess I'm just getting stronger or something.”

“
Yeah, that makes
sense. Maybe your strength ability is coming through in another way .
. .”

“
It's possible.”

“
Just remind me
not to make you angry when we're swimming together.”

“
Ash,” he
moaned, “come on.”

I chuckled, trying to
make light of the moment. “Sorry, just wanted to make you
laugh. I really don't like seeing you this upset.”

He brought his other
hand up to rest against the shower wall and hung his head lower,
letting the hot water beat down on the back of his neck. “I
just feel so bad for Fred and all the other fish. They trusted me; I
trusted them. And look what happened: I got so angry that I lost it
and killed the things that I loved.”

“
Yeah, but you
didn't do it on purpose, Jonah. It's not like you got mad and
purposely killed anything. You just happened to get angry when you
were touching the water and it was an accident that you killed them.
If you would have known that you could do that, then you wouldn't
have even been in the water.”

A heavy sigh left his
mouth as he stood up and brought his face out of the downpour. The
knobs on the shower squeaked as he turned them off and then he faced
me, leaning against the tiled wall with his body covered in beads of
red water. “Do you still love me?” he asked through a
pair of glowing crimson eyes.

“
I
can't think of anything you could do that would make me
not
love you.”

A happy smile warmed
his handsome face as he reached up and grabbed the navy blue towel
off of the shower curtain rod above him. “Good, because I still
love you, too.”

“
Thank god,”
I chuckled. My eyes devoured his body as he wrapped the fluffy towel
around his waist and tucked in its end along the front of his toned
stomach.

His foot gently rested
on top of the tiled floor as he stepped out, planting himself next to
me, looking like a chiseled statue. “Will you stay here with me
tonight?” he asked, the red sparkles fading away from his eyes.
“I don't want to be alone.”

I met his kind gaze and
nodded with happiness that we had found our way through the whole
situation. We both had made mistakes that lead to consequences that
hurt, but we learned from them and were ready to move on, together.

My eyes roamed over his
hard body standing strongly before me, wrapped in nothing but a
plush, cotton towel. The five o'clock shadow on his face added to the
masculinity of his features and his wet, messy hair glistened under
the soft bathroom lighting, making him irresistible, to say the
least.

I smiled at his
comforting presence and leaned in to give him a soft kiss. “Of
course I'll stay with you. There isn't any other place I'd rather
be.”

I woke up early the
next morning and went home so I could change my clothes before going
to work. Arriving at my new job wearing the same outfit that I wore
the day before was a big no-no, especially when I was still trying to
make a good impression.

Thankfully I narrowly
escaped the groggy presence of my parents as I headed upstairs to my
room. The last thing I needed was the embarrassment of them seeing me
come home so early in the morning after a night out with my
boyfriend.

* * *

Jonah picked me up that
evening in his sexy Dodge that I loved so much, wearing a sexy tight
blue t-shirt that I loved so much, and beaming with a sexy smile
that, of course, I loved so much. We had quickly made the plan to go
to a concert that was held outside at a local park, allowing the
perfect opportunity for us to go out on a date together. Besides,
after the whole fish-killing incident, Jonah wanted to stay out of
the water for awhile.

The park itself was
pretty close to the beach, about two blocks away, and was filled with
all sorts of diverse people from the city. One of the things I loved
the most about San Francisco was people watching, and this event
definitely gave me the opportunity to take in the sight of some
interesting folks.

The concert was free to
the public, so it made sense that it would be completely packed full
of people. Jonah grabbed my hand as we made our way through the thick
crowd of bodies, trying to find a better spot to watch the bands
perform.

“
How's this?”
he asked me, stopping next to a large tree that had just enough room
for us to wedge in and lean against.

“
It's perfect.”
I put my hand up against its coarse bark and patted it firmly. “This
is a big guy; I bet it would take three people to hug around his
trunk.”

Jonah pressed his back
against its rough surface and looked up at the thick blanket of
branches that stretched over us. “Yeah, he is pretty big.”

“
I don't know why
I'm so fascinated,” I laughed. “It's just a tree.”

“
Yeah, you're
easily amused . . .”

“
Oh really?”
I hassled him with a grin. “So, what if I
am
easily
amused, huh? There's nothing wrong with that.”

“
You're right,
there's not anything wrong with that at all.”

I stepped in front of
him and I pressed my body into his, flashing him my best flirtatious
smile. “Are you teasing me?”

“
Not at all,”
he replied with a calm sincerity while wrapping his arms around my
waist.

My smile widened as his
hand smoothed over the back of my jeans. “Feeling a little
frisky, huh?”

“
Always.”

“
Always?”

“
When I'm with
you? Yes, always.”

I kept my smile as I
turned around and leaned back against his sturdiness, delighting in
the feeling of his arms wrapping around my stomach and pulling me
tightly against him, working my body into a tingling frenzy.

“
You know,”
he breathed next to my ear, “turning around doesn't make it any
better . . .”

I dropped my head with
a soft giggle. “Well, maybe I'm not trying to make it better .
. .”

“
Really? Well, I
don't think you want my eyes turning green in this crowd of people,
do you?”

“
Actually, that
would be a sight to see, everyone running away from you, thinking you
were going to hurt them or something.”

The warm breath from
his husky laugh grazed my cheek. “Yeah, if they only knew what
green actually meant.”

* * *

The concert of people
moved out quickly once the last band was done performing, leaving
behind a large park lawn that was littered with food wrappers and red
plastic beer cups. Soft light from the tall lamps dotted through the
evenings darkness around us, casting a romantic glow onto the mess,
creating a special kind of ambiance for us to enjoy.

Jonah and I stayed
behind and sat comfortably together under the same tree, his arms
wrapped tightly around me while I sat on his lap, giving me the
feeling of safety in his remarkable strength.

I rested my head
against his broad shoulder and breathed in the masculine scent of his
cologne. “This was really fun. I'm glad we came.”

“
Yeah, I'm glad
we came, too.”

“
Is there
anything else you want to do tonight while we're out?”

He let out a long sigh
as he thought about what he wanted. “Well, I'm pretty hungry.
You wanna go get something to eat?”

“
Sure,” I
nodded against him. “I'm going to go ahead and assume it will
be fast food . . .”

A wry smile spread
across his lips as he lowered his head next to mine. “Oh, are
you too good for fast food all of a sudden?”

“
Yep, my body is
a temple; I must nourish it appropriately.”

“
I agree
completely,” he said, nudging his face into the side of my neck
and planting a soft kiss onto my skin. “Your body
is
a
temple.”

I moaned happily at his
closeness, the fire lighting up inside of me once again. He always
knew what to do to make that happen.

Our private moment was
put off as we were interrupted by the faint sound of shuffling feet
coming near us. We looked over to see that it was an old homeless man
scrounging through the garbage-filled lawn, trying to find some more
cans to add to his plastic grocery bag.

“
Poor guy,”
Jonah said quietly as he watched him stoop down to pick something up.
“There are so many homeless people here in the city.”

I cocked my head to the
side as I looked at him; his face was familiar. “I think I know
that guy.”

“
You do?”

“
Yeah.” I
concentrated harder on his profile as he bent down and picked a can
up from the ground. “That's it,” I whispered. “The
day I got the flat tire that you fixed, he's the one who told me to
go to your shop.”

“
Really?”

“
Yeah.”

“
Well,”
Jonah matched my whisper, “I should thank him then.”

“
Thank him?”

“
Yeah, he sent
you to me. So technically, if it wasn't for him, we wouldn't have
ever met.”

I smiled warmly and
laid my head back against him to see his face. “That's true.
Because of that guy right there, I'm the happiest woman alive.”

A warm smile met his
eyes. “So am I.”

“
You're the
happiest woman alive, too?”

“
Yes.”

We chuckled quietly
under the tree, all too amused with each others sense of humor.

“
You know what?”
he said, his body shifting under me while he dug around in the
deepness of his back pocket. “We should give him some money.”