Keeper Chronicles: Awakening (6 page)

“Beks?”

She closed her eyes. Great. Of all the people who could’ve found her there, it had to be him. “Go away, Gabe. Haven’t you done enough already?”

He stopped a few feet away. “I know you’re upset with me, Beks, and God knows I deserve it. I’m not here to ask you for forgiveness. But you’ve gotta come down. Mia said you’ve been gone since noon. She’s going out of her mind. We were about to start a search party for you.”

She snorted and hugged her legs tighter. “I didn’t ask you to come find me.”

“No, you didn’t. But I’m not leaving until you come down from there, so if you want to get rid of me, then you’re going to have to climb up this embankment, get in your car, and go home.”

“Am I breaking the law?” she asked, glaring down at him. How could she ever have thought she loved such a jerk?

He shook his head. He’d changed from his Park Services uniform into jeans and a white button up shirt he left untucked. “Technically, no.”

“Then you’ve no cause to stay. Either arrest me or leave.” She gave a mock salute. “Good day, officer.” She turned her attention back to the water and the sunset rippling off it in a spray of color. With any luck, he’d just leave.

“You give me no choice,” he said under his breath and started to climb. The footer wasn’t very big, no more than four or five feet wide, and he practically sat on top of her as he settled in.

She shoved him, but he didn’t move. “Get down.”

“No.”

“I’ll scream,” she warned.

His dark eyes were surprisingly sympathetic. She just wanted to grab a fist full of his short, curly hair and rip it out. “Go for it. No one will hear you.”

She shoved him again and punched him in the arm.

“It’s okay.”

“I hate you!” Rebekah yelled, hitting him again and again as he just sat there. Her vision blurred as hot tears filled her eyes, making tracks down her face like it was a ski slope. Her chest contracted, all her nerves lighting up as the grief she’d been holding in all day poured out in one violent fit of rage. Gabe just sat there through it all, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as she pounded her fists against his chest and screamed and sobbed. She hated him for what he did to her. Hated him for being the one to tell her about her father. Hated that he had to see her like this. Hated that he still knew what she needed after all this time.

Her anger spent itself at last as the final drops of gold faded from the water and shadows covered them in darkness. Gabe pulled his arm back from around her shoulders and leaned away. “Ready to go back?” he asked.

She nodded.

He jumped down first and caught her as she touched the ground, his hands slipping around her waist as she fell toward him. For a long moment he looked down at her like he used to, before: part need, part lust, part secret. A new darkness lingered around his bloodshot eyes. A pale scar ran down the left side of his face, one she’d never seen before. His arms had the wiry strength of ironwood. His fingers tightened around her hips.

A soft gasp escaped her open mouth.

Gabe let go and stepped back, his hands jerking away. He turned and headed up the embankment without waiting to see if she followed.

Rebekah followed him back up to her car where he held the door open, but she didn’t look him in the eye. He really wasn’t going to leave until she did, so she got in and slammed the door shut. She turned on her car and pulled out into the road, doing a quick U-turn to point her back toward the bed-n-breakfast.

When she glanced in her rearview mirror, he still stood in the middle of the road, watching.

****

After she stopped the car in the visitors’ lot and killed the engine, Rebekah took a moment to straighten herself up. Her mascara had run from crying, and she grabbed the spare makeup bag from her glove compartment to touch up. Once her eyes were back to normal, she also freshened her lipstick. Despite what happened, she had a business to run—one that depended upon her ability to smile and ensure the comfort of others with no regard to her own feelings. She couldn’t afford to let anyone know her inner turmoil. Taking a deep breath, she started down the short road at a brisk walk.

One foot on the first step to the porch, she paused as soft skeins of music floated out of the house. Glancing in the window, she smiled. Dylan sat on the floor by the fire, strumming his guitar and singing a song she’d never heard as the others listened nearby.

Rebekah snuck inside and took her shoes off by the door. Mia, her curly pink and blonde ponytails bouncing, ran up before she could even take her coat off.

“I’m going to hug you now,” Mia warned.

Extricating herself as soon as she could, Rebekah stepped back. She’d just cleaned herself up. The last thing she needed was another breakdown. She cleared her throat. “Thank you for watching things while I was gone.”

The chef smiled. “Anytime. The new couple arrived around three, and I got them set up in the Mariner’s room. You had some more reservations come in through the website, and I updated the calendar here. Parks Services has the path to the lighthouse closed still, but they plan on reopening tomorrow. Oh, I also went shopping and got the breakfast things from the fresh market. Did I miss anything?”

Rebekah shook her head. “No, you didn’t. How long’s Dylan been back?”

“Since dinner time,” she said and started twisting the pink in her pigtails. “He said you were letting him stay here, so I didn’t turn him away. Should I have?”

Mia was more tightly wound than normal, so Rebekah put her hand on the girl’s arm to calm her. “You did perfectly. He’ll be staying with us a while, I hope. But don’t disturb him. I think I’m going to take a long, hot bath.”

“Can I make you some chamomile tea?”

“I’m fine, Mia. Really. Tell Dylan...never mind. Good night. I’ll see you in the morning.” She couldn’t think of what else to say, so she went downstairs to the family rooms in the basement.

The stairs to the basement were wooden and the rooms had been remodeled into an apartment with a small living room, two bedrooms, and the best feature of all: a claw-footed soaking tub. She started the hot water running, adding some cherry-scented bubble solution. While that filled, she went to her bedroom—purposely avoiding looking at her father’s closed door—and slipped out of her clothing and into a silk robe, tying it loosely. The thick carpet cushioned her bare feet as she crossed back to the bathroom and lit the half dozen candles she kept around the room.

Rebekah’s mother had decorated the simple room, her touch present in the soft gold framing of the vanity and the vase of fake blue flowers whose perfume had slowly worn off. Whereas the guestrooms were filled with reminders of lighthouses and the ocean, the bathroom was a sanctuary of simple comforts: fluffy towels, a warm rug in the shape of a sunflower, and a pair of magazines on the stand.

Fingers tracing the porcelain sink flecked with hints of rose, Rebekah flicked off the lights, let the robe slide to the floor, and stepped into the tub. The deliciously warm water seeped into her muscles, releasing some of the tension she’d been holding as she rested her head against the back of the tub. She closed her eyes and let the water work its magic.

The door opening startled her, and she sat up, crossing her arms across her chest. She must have fallen asleep. The water had cooled, prickling the flesh of her arms and legs, and the candles had burned down a few inches.

“Hey, sorry to startle you,” Dylan said, peeking in the door. “Thought you might want some company.” He must have seen something in her face because his next sentence came out in a rush. “Oh, not like that. I’m sorry. I just meant, you know, if you wanted to talk or something. Or I can go. Yeah, yeah. I should go. I’m sorry.”

She smiled. There was something adorable about his sudden shyness. “No. Stay, please. I could use some company. Just turn around for a second, okay?”

He did as she asked, and she leaned forward, adding more bubbles to the tub and running the hot water. The warmth hit her toes almost immediately.

“Is it safe?”

Rebekah leaned back so the bubbles covered everything important. “Yes.”

Dylan walked inside, shutting the door behind himself, and sat with his back to the far wall. The candlelight softened his face, picking up on the blonde highlights in his chestnut hair and settling in pools on his high cheekbones. His blue eyes seemed to burn into hers. For a while he didn’t say anything as the splashing water drowned out any possibility of conversation. She waited until the tub was nearly overflowing with bubbles to turn off the pearly knob with the red center using her feet.

“I’m sorry about this morning.” She slid her leg back beneath the bubbles. “You shouldn’t have had to see that.”

“Do you always apologize for things that aren’t your fault?” he asked.

Against her will, she chuckled a little. “Yeah. I suppose I do.”

“You’re so beautiful when you smile,” he said matter-of-factly, the way someone might order toast or ask a stranger for directions. She bit her bottom lip. He leaned forward and pointed to where her feet had been. “May I?” Rebekah nodded and lifted her left foot out of the water. He took it in his warm hands and began massaging.

She closed her eyes, her body humming with content as he kneaded the soft pad of her foot, squeezing the stress down and out each toe. “I hope Gabe didn’t give you too hard of a time?”

He shook his head. “I’ve had worse.” He hesitated, his fingers inching up her calves. “He seemed awfully protective of you. Should I be jealous?”

“Of Gabe? No.”

“But you have some kind of history?”

His thumbs moved in small circles as he massaged the back of her calf. Once he had the muscles loose, he dragged down her leg with his fingers and pulled the stress out her toes, squeezing the tips. It felt like heaven. “We went to the same school growing up. I guess you’d say we were friends. Once.”

“But?” he probed, working his hands around her heel.

She sighed. “But nothing. We dated for a while. It didn’t work out. It happens. I moved on. He moved on. It’s all in the past.”

“Didn’t look that way from where I stood.” He leaned forward and let her foot slide back into the tub. “And I’ve got the bruises to prove it.”

Rebekah sat up, forgetting the tub and the bubbles as she pulled aside his t-shirt. He hadn’t lied. The skin around his shoulders was black and blue. Her fingers traced the edges of the injury. “I’m going to kill him!”

He grabbed her fingers and kissed the tips. “Please don’t. You wouldn’t look good in prison orange with that fair complexion of yours.” He released her hand, and she sat back in the tub, letting the warm water rush back over her. Sadness haunted his voice when he continued. “Besides, my old man used to do a lot worse. Guess you can say I’m used to it by now.”

Her heart broke for him. “I’m sorry.”

“There you go apologizing again.” He held his hand out for her other foot. She was only too happy to oblige. “Growing up wasn’t all bad. Winters in Michigan didn’t offer much in the way of entertainment besides skiing and getting wasted, but on those rare days of sobriety, my dad taught me to play the guitar. That’s something no one can take away.”

The sizzle of the wicks burning filled the small room for a moment. She didn’t know what to say, how to respond. As he started to massage her right foot, his intense eyes never once left her. He looked like a man dying of thirst and she was the only water in the desert. She thought she knew how the field mice must feel, stalked by a hungry eagle. The object of so much desire and lust and focus.

A shiver of pleasure shot up her thigh as his hands reached her calf. “My father was never around much. Park rangers have odd hours sometimes, and his work often kept him away for days. We’d miss him, but after a while, Mom and I got used to it, I guess. She had the inn, and I had my schoolwork, my friends.” He reached up and brushed a tear from her eye. “We never got close until after Mom died. Just when I finally felt like I was cracking that tough shell of his, he decides to go walking the woods during the worst storm in a decade. Probably thought he was saving the world.”

“Saving the world?”

She nodded and looked at the tiled ceiling, blinking away tears. “Sometimes when he thought I couldn’t hear, he’d rant about demons and other nonsense. I was going to make him go to the doctor today to get checked out, but I guess I was too late. It’s my fault, you know, that he died.”

Dylan eased her foot back in the tub and scooted up, taking her uninjured hand. “He was attacked by a bear. You can’t blame yourself for that.” With his free hand, he rubbed her shoulder.

Rebekah stared him down. “Oh yeah? If I had gotten him some help earlier, he wouldn’t have been out there, wandering the darkness with his katana. He would have been in here, where he belonged.”

“No. Don’t do this to yourself. Don’t take his death on your shoulders. People die. It’s the way of nature. You are no more responsible for your father’s death than you are the storm he died in or the bear that attacked him.”

He caressed the side of her face, brushing her cheek with his thumb. She closed her eyes and leaned into his touch. Being near him, feeling his hands on her skin, felt like sitting next to a warm fire and letting it fight away the chill of winter. He wiped the tears off her cheek with the back of his thumb. “Come on,” he said, standing and grabbing her robe from the floor. “You need your rest. Things will look different in the morning.”

She stood and stepped out of the tub, sliding her arms through the robe as he held it out. He reached around her and tied the sash closed. Picking her up as easily as he might lift a child, he cradled her in his arms and carried her into the bedroom, setting her on the bed as gently as if she were a porcelain doll. Rebekah closed her eyes and buried her head in her pillow as he draped the blankets around her.

“Good night,” he whispered, kissing her on the forehead.

She grabbed his hand to stop him from leaving. “Stay with me,” she asked. “Please? I don’t want to be alone.”

“Of course.”

Warmth filled her as he curled up behind her, fully dressed, and wrapped one arm around her stomach.