Predestined (2 page)

Pulling out a chair, I sat down
knowing I’d be jumping right back up in less than three minutes but
I wanted to make her happy and I wanted to ask her about my
dream.

“Do you remember when I was a kid
and got lost at the Arts and Entertainment Fair?”

She set her cup down and her
forehead wrinkled in thought. I hoped my forehead didn’t wrinkle
like that when I got older. Other than the forehead thing though, I
wouldn’t mind looking like my mother at her age. The short pageboy
haircut made her dark hair look shiny and her legs were hot for an
old woman.

“Um...I think so. OH! Yes, the time
I had my hands full of books and you were supposed to be holding
onto my skirt. God, that was terrifying. I remember the moment I
realized your grip was gone and then I turned around and you
weren’t there. My heart stopped. You probably shaved five years of
my life off that day.”

So it had been real. Mom’s dark
brown eyes peeped over the rim of her coffee cup as she took a sip.
I wanted to ask more but the frown on her face stopped me. Her
attention was fixed over my shoulder at the window. Dank was here.
I hated her thinking my relationship with him had something to do
with Leif disappearing. The fact was I’d never got a chance to
break up with Leif. He’d vanished before I could. But telling her
that would make things even worse. If I didn’t know that Leif
wasn’t human then I’d be worried too but I knew the
truth.

“I gotta go Mom. Love ya,” I called
out heading for the door. I didn’t want to listen to her lecture me
on being more concerned about the fact Leif had run
away.

“It’s almost time”

I stopped and stood frozen on the
front steps of the house. My hand reached out and gripped the cold
iron railing. I knew that voice.

“Pagan.” Dank was in front of me
instantly. Lifting my eyes to meet his I shook my head to clear
it.

“Did you... did you see anyone or
...um, anything?” I stumbled through my words, still reeling from
the voice spoken directly in my ear.

The blue color in Dank’s eyes went
from their normal brilliant blue to flickering orbs.

“Pagan, your eyes,” he reached out
and cupped my face with his hands as he studied me. Death wasn’t
supposed to fear anything; yet I could see it in every crease of
his frown. The fact that his eyes looked like blue flames meant
something.

“What about my eyes?” I asked in a
panicked whisper.

Dank pulled me up against him
tightly, “Come on, we’re going.”

I let him all but carry me to the
Jeep and even put me inside and buckle me up.

“Dank, tell me what’s wrong,” I
pleaded as he kissed me softly on the lips.

“Nothing. Nothing that I can’t
fix,” he assured me and pressed his forehead to mine. “Listen to me
Pagan, you have no reason to worry. I’ve got this. Remember what I
told you. What Death protects can’t be harmed and baby,” the pad of
his thumb caressed my cheek, “you’re the only thing I
protect.”

The shivers I never seemed to be
able to control when his voice dropped an octave and went all
smooth and sexy seemed to make him happy. He always gave me a sexy
smirk when I shivered.

“Okay, but I heard a voice. In my
ear. Like when you talk to me but you’re far away.”

Dank tensed and he took a deep
breath. “You did?”

I nodded and watched as he closed
his eyes tightly and an angry snarl vibrated against his
chest.

“No one gets that
close to you. No
thing
gets that close to you.” He kissed the tip of my nose and
then closed the door before appearing in the driver’s seat beside
me. I sure hoped he wasn’t so otherwise occupied that he wasn’t
paying attention to what my mother was doing. If she was looking
out the window just now then things could get
complicated.

“She’s already closed off in her
room writing,” Dank said as he cranked the Jeep and pulled out onto
the road. I didn’t ask how he knew what I was thinking. I was used
to this by now. I couldn’t worry about anything without him
knowing. He was obsessed with fixing all my problems. Normally that
would frustrate me but right now with the problems I had looming I
needed him.

“What did the voice say?” His voice
was tense and I could tell he was trying to control the angry hiss
that amused me when it was brought on because of jealousy. Right
now it wasn’t amusing. At all.

“It’s almost time,” I replied,
studying his reaction. His left hand tightened on the steering
wheel as he reached over and rested his hand on my
thigh.

“I’ll have this handled
immediately. I didn’t see anything but I felt it. The moment you
froze, I felt it. It isn’t a soul. It isn’t a deity. It is nothing
that I’m familiar with but that leaves only a few things it can be.
And I promise you Pagan that not one of those things is a match for
me. So stop worrying. I’m Death, baby. Remember that.”

I let out a sigh and covered his
hand with mine.

“I know,” I replied and began
tracing hearts on his hand with the tip of my finger.

“I missed you last night,” he
whispered in a husky voice.

I smiled down at his hands as he
flipped it over and clasped mine in his. I liked knowing he missed
me.

“Good.”

An amused chuckle was his
response.

Chapter Two

When Dank pulled into the parking
lot of the school, I did my daily check for Leif’s truck. And just
as the days before it was missing from his spot. Instead of someone
taking the coveted parking slip of the most popular guy at school
it remained empty. It was as if they were all waiting.
Wondering.

The last time I’d
seen Leif was the day I’d thought Dank was lost to me forever. Gee,
a transporter who was trying to kill my body and force Death’s
hand, yet oddly enough became my friend, had managed to get my soul
out of my body without Death’s help. Problem was, it was too late.
Death had already broken the rules and he had to pay for it. I was
left with the decision to either become a lost wandering soul or
get back in my body and live. Even though the only guy I’d ever
love was burning in Hell like a fallen angel for not doing his job
when it was time to take my life. Gee explained that Dank would be
tormented even more in the pits of Hell if he knew I was a lost
soul. He’d want to know that I lived. That his sacrifice was for
something. I’d do anything to ease his pain. I got back in my body
that morning and chose life. For him.

Then he’d been at
school that morning and I hadn’t even taken a moment to speak to
Leif and explain. I’d just run to Dank. After Dank explained
everything and then laid the whopper on me that Leif wasn’t human
we’d gone to find him. But Leif Montgomery was missing. That was a
month ago.

“Don’t frown,” Dank’s voice broke
into my thoughts as his hand cupped my face and studied me. He
could hear my fears. There was no reason to explain my sudden mood
change.

“Will he ever come
back?”

Dank let out a sigh while glancing
back over my shoulder, “I’m afraid so.”

“Why does that seem to bother you?
I know you say Leif has no soul but I know Leif. I’ve spent time
with him. He isn’t evil. He’s incredibly sweet.”

Those blue eyes I loved lit up and
the glow I was growing accustomed to warned me I’d said the wrong
thing. Dank wasn’t dealing well with the emotion of jealousy. It
was completely new to him and it wasn’t something he had a handle
on.

“Leif is what he
must be. He was created Pagan. He did his job. He isn’t
sweet.
He has no
soul.
”

I leaned forward and kissed his jaw
then whispered, “Easy, big guy. We both know who owns my
soul.”

“That’s right,” Dank replied then
nipped at my ear, “and don’t you forget it.”

I shivered from his warm breath
against my skin.

Banging on my window startled me
and I pulled back from my sexy boyfriend and turned to see Miranda,
my best friend, staring at me through the window with an amused
expression.

“Saved by the best friend,” Dank
murmured pressing one last kiss to my neck before reaching for my
backpack and opening his car door. He stepped out into the morning
sunlight looking like a greek god. The jeans that hung perfectly
from his hips cupped his butt deliciously. And Dank could rock a
fitted t-shirt and did so on a daily basis. Today the t-shirt
showing off his impressive chest was a dark blue. His black boots
never changed but I liked them. They were all kinds of sexy. He
looked like a bad ass even with my red backpack thrown over his
left shoulder. I watched in helpless fascination as he sauntered
around the front of his Jeep to open my door. I’d learned the hard
way not to open my own car door. He didn’t like it. I could feel
Miranda’s eyes on me but I didn’t care. She could watch me ogle my
boyfriend. Besides, she completely understood. Miranda thought,
like the rest of the world, that Dank Walker was the lead singer of
the rock band Cold Soul. Ironic, I know. Dank did sing with the
band but he wasn’t with them often. Miranda was a total fan
girl.

Dank opened my door and I stepped
out finally tearing my eyes off him to meet my friend’s
gaze.

“Well, good morning to you too,”
Miranda teased, slipping her arm in mine. “I wondered how long it
was going to take you to stop staring at your rocker boyfriend like
a worshipful puppy dog and notice little ‘ol me.”

I elbowed her, “shut
up.”

She giggled, “girl please tell me
you aren’t trying to be subtle with your lustful looks because you
have failed. That boy knows you want his body.”

“Stop it,” I hissed

Dank came up behind me causing my
insides to go all warm and tingly. “She can’t possibly want my body
more than I want hers.”

Miranda began fanning herself with
her hand, “Dear Lord, have mercy, I think I may swoon.”

Dank’s hand covered mine and he
squeezed. “I’ll meet you inside. I’m going to take these to your
locker.”

He was always so good about giving
me time with Miranda. I nodded, not even caring that I had a goofy
grin on my face.

Miranda slid her sunglasses up and
rested them on top of her head. Her curls were styled perfectly
which I knew from experience took her hours to do. The girl slept
in rollers like it was 1980 or something. Her brown eyes twinkled
as she watched my boyfriend’s butt as he made his way inside the
school.

“That is one fine piece
of--”

“Miranda!” I shoved her with a grin
because of course she was right. But still she didn’t have to say
it out loud.

“Jealous much?” she
teased.

I only rolled my eyes.

Miranda’s gaze drifted over to
Leif’s empty parking space. I couldn’t explain to Miranda about
Leif. She didn’t even know I saw dead people, or as Dank liked to
put it, ‘wandering souls’. Until Dank, I’d had to live with my
secret.

“I wonder where he is?”

When Leif had gone missing Dank and
I decided to lay low with our relationship. It wasn’t until just
last week we’d started being out in the open with it. When the
authorities and Leif’s parents had questioned me I had told both of
them that Leif and I had just broken up. That it was his decision.
Which wasn’t a total lie; he did vanish without a trace. That’s is
a form of breaking things off. At first his parents called on a
daily basis to ask me if I’d heard from him. They stopped after
Leif called and assured them he was fine. Apparently, he’d said he
needed time away to deal with some issues. Strangely after that
call his parents had seemed to be completely at ease with his
disappearance. They no longer came around. I’d even seen his mother
in the grocery store last week and she’d smiled brightly at me as
if she didn’t have a care in the world. Kids at school were slowly
doing the same thing. No one brought him up much anymore. It was...
weird.

“So, did you study for that trig
test?” Miranda asked smiling, as if she hadn’t just been worrying
about Leif. Again.. weird.

“Yep. Until late last
night.”

Miranda groaned and flipped her
hair over her shoulder. It was one of her dramatic mannerisms that
made me laugh.

“If I fail my parents are going to
lock me away in the attic for life. You’ll have to come slip me
food under the door.”

“I doubt it will be all that bad.
Besides you did study, right?”

She rolled her eyes over and
glanced at me, “A little. Yeah.”

“You
watched
Pretty Little Liars
last night didn’t you?”

With a deep sigh that caused her
shoulders to move up and down she replied, “Yep. Last week’s show
and this week’s. I can’t help it. I have a thing for
Caleb.”

Grabbing her arm, I pull her
inside. “Come on. To the library. We have thirty minutes and you’re
not going to get locked up in an attic for life.”