Rivals (9 page)

“Sorrow demon?” he asked when she came back to reality.

She nodded. “He doesn’t like my good memories.”

“The good memories will always win. I promise.”

She gave him a subdued smile before continuing to tell her story. “I stayed because I was starting to fall in love him and because I was terrified of the world. Somewhere between being kidnapped and…” She left the sentence incomplete. “Vince became my rock. He made the world safe again. With him I wasn’t going to be attacked, and if I was, let’s face it, there’s no competition when your boyfriend is a werewolf.

“When I got back, I was overcome with grief.” She scoffed and tapped her shoulders. “Obviously. I didn’t know what to do. I settled in again.” She tipped her brow. “I pretended that the last nine months hadn’t happened, much to the dismay of my co-workers.” She smiled at him. “That’s my second apology. I shouldn’t have assumed that those months on your own weren’t difficult.”

Ethan felt another kick in the stomach. This time the ache subsided quicker, but, as he had expected, the more his resentment melted, the harder it was to keep the option of professing his love to her off the table.

“Danato came to me a few weeks after I was back and offered me my freedom. It was why I left nine months earlier, but I didn’t want it. I told him I wanted to stay, that I had no one on the outside. That isn’t untrue, but it was really my fear that was keeping me here. I didn’t have anyone to protect me out there. At least here I have Danato and you.” His eyes found his way to hers again and she smiled broadly.

“You.” She gave his full body a not-so-cursory glance. “You just had to turn into a superhero overnight. You’re a born leader, commanding, but respectful. You were my next rock, just waiting to be leaned on.” Her smile widened, reaching her eyes. He found himself smiling back at her, even though he loathed hearing how this confession was going to end. “As soon as I could reconcile my grief and my guilt, I would have had you to depend on.”

She shook her head and lost her smile. “I saw what I was doing and I didn’t like it. I was about to use you as a crutch, just like Vince. I wanted to stand on my own. I wanted to be my own rock. That spawned my ridiculous assumption that I might have a chance at becoming warden. Which brings me to my third apology: I’m sorry I tried to take your job from you. Instead of leaning on you, I ended up trying to push you out of my way. I hadn’t really planned on you pushing back.”

He smirked, remembering the conversation that had started the bulk of their competition. 

“I also hadn’t planned on it being a wholly unbearable endeavor.” She paused a moment before stepping away from the wall and turning to him. “When we get back, I’ll inform Danato that I no longer want to compete for the position.” Cori went into the cave, not offering any further discussion on the announcement.

Ethan had pondered her apologies. He was relieved to hear her acknowledge his pain, but he wasn’t happy to hear she wanted to quit. He followed her in and watched her turn the heart with sticks to start it browning on the other side. “Why?” he asked. 

“I just told you.”

“You told me why you want the job. To prove to yourself you can take care of yourself.”

“Yeah.” She put down her sticks and stood upright, wiping her hands on her jeans. “And I’m failing at it. You’re stronger than I am; you’re faster than I am; you’re smarter than I am. I can’t understand anything in those damn books. I’ll never pass the final challenge. I’ll be lucky to score high enough on the written to get a guard job.”

“You are clever as hell!” he scolded her with his accolade. “I told Danato you wouldn’t last five minutes in here, and three times now you’ve saved my butt. Don’t sell yourself short just because you can’t bench press as much as me.”

“It’s dumb luck, Ethan. You said it, Danato said it. Everything that I’ve brought to the table is just another one of my mistakes turned into a serendipitous benefit. You are the only one doing anything of value here.”

“Then why does it keep happening? Maybe it isn’t luck, maybe it’s just you. Maybe you are that fucking amazing!” His heart was about to jump out of his chest, he couldn’t believe he was arguing in defense of her, and she was arguing in defense of him. This was a very interesting turn of events.

She smiled, apparently seeing the same twist. “You are supposed to be taking advantage of this opportunity to get me off your back.”

He shook his head and crossed his arms. “I don’t want you off my back. I love the competition. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to let you beat me, but that doesn’t mean you can’t walk away from this rivalry with your head held high. So, no, you aren’t quitting, end of discussion.”

“Oh, yeah?” She crossed her arms to mimic him, but the crook in her smile gave away her amusement.

“Yeah, and no more Cori-bashing, I won’t have you talking like that about my friend.”

She mock saluted him and crouched down to poke at the heart. He pushed away the urge to hug her. It was comforting to finally know what thoughts were clanking around in her head the last few months. However, understanding her better would only make it more difficult to deny his feelings for her. He didn’t want to push her, especially since she had explained very clearly why she didn’t want to be with him. But at the same time, she had also confirmed what he suspected: She was attracted to him and had considered being with him.

“You know, Cori…” She looked up from the fire. “It is possible to be a rock for yourself, and still lean on someone else when you need to.” She seemed to contemplate this for a moment before nodding. She smiled warmly at him and went back to poking her meat. 

15

Although the heart was chewy and far from tasty, Cori devoured almost half of it, and Ethan finished the remainder. If Danato had accomplished anything by sticking them in the time bubble, he had guaranteed her complete and utter devotion to processed foods.

After a few baritone belches Ethan announced his fatigue and lay down to sleep. When she didn’t follow, he looked up at her with concern. “Aren’t you tired?”

She sat watching the flames dance. A few thoughts were rambling through her mind. Once in a while the sorrow demon would throw out his reminder, but she ignored it. “In a bit,” she said with a hint of a smile.

He continued to watch her. “Are you worried about the dreams?”

She shrugged. “No, I’ll sleep close.” The worry etched on his face diminished and he lay back and closed his eyes.

Cori basked in the serenity left by her cathartic day. She hadn’t been that honest with anyone, including herself, in a long while. It felt good.

She looked through the fire at Ethan. He was right. She had spent so much time trying to avoid leaning on him, but it never occurred to her that it wouldn’t make her weak. But then, it really wasn’t about rocks anymore. All the emotional cards had been dealt, tallied, and shown. No more
Go Fish
for either of them. The only thing left to ante was the attraction.

He had wanted her from day one. She had never considered him then, but now it was different. He was different. She was different. The things that mattered before either didn’t matter anymore, or weren’t a factor anymore.

She had been keeping her distance, trying not to be a tease. She wondered if she had kept him distant for another reason. Maybe she was afraid she would make a move on him.

Why not?

Grief? Guilt?

In the end it was just the two of them. Vince was gone. Whether she waited another month or two to satisfy some preconceived mourning period, she was still going to want Ethan. And he was still going to want her.

She watched his chest rise and fall with his steady breath. If he knew what she was thinking right then, he wouldn’t be breathing so slow. As it was, she could feel her own heart thump harder in her chest.

He’s dead.

Sorrow demon be damned. Guilt be damned. Grief be damned.

Cori crawled around the fire. For a moment, she thought he might refuse her again. She pushed the thought away and slunk up beside him. She wet her lips and made a mental plan to straddle him just as she started to kiss him.

She didn’t want there to be any confusion about what she wanted from him. She didn’t want him to think about the consequences. All she wanted was to offer him the experience he had waited so long for.

Her hands shook as she braced them on either side of his shoulders. She had never anticipated being with Ethan. The thrill of acting on complete impulse, with no more than one step planned in advance, was intoxicating.

She brought her leg across his hips but didn’t touch. She got into position and prepared her simultaneous descent onto his lips, chest, and pelvis. Her heart was about to break through her chest. She leaned in knowing that she didn’t have to plan any more of the night, because she knew he would have plenty of ideas where they should go after the kiss.

She lowered herself onto him. The movement seemed to go in slow motion. The world around her blurred. Their lips froze an inch from touching. The inch may as well have been a mile, because she couldn’t move.

She screamed in frustration as she realized what was happening. She felt the distance between them stretch as the hazy world seeped in between them. She felt the hand on her shoulder, and she tried to fight against it. She wanted one more second. One more inch.

Her guttural scream caught up to her as she fell away from the time bubble into the real world. She stumbled and landed on her butt. She stopped screaming, but she could feel her teeth still clenched in a feral sneer.

Danato stepped into her field of vision and asked her something. His voice was muffled and unintelligible. “What?” she said, or at least that’s what she thought she said. Her voice was just as muffled.

Danato pointed to the far wall under the lookout station. She saw Belus waving at her to come over. Two chairs stood next to a table behind him. A large wooden box sat on the table.

Thick, strong arms looped into hers and she was lifted to her feet. She confirmed her suspicions that it was Danato who had lifted her like a rag doll. He pulled her chin to face Belus again and pointed to him. The one-syllable muffled grunt she heard from him made her feel like a child being sent to a naughty chair.

She walked over, surprised by how spry her legs were. Everything felt fine, even good, except her ears. Someone had misplaced an entire stuffed animal in each of her ears.

She sat down next to Belus, who had already taken the other seat. She pointed to her ears.

He nodded at her and pointed to his open box. It contained two rows of gold tuning forks. Each was stamped at the base with a number that meant nothing to Cori.

“Where’s Ethan?” She probably sounded like a megaphone to Belus, but to her it still sounded like she was talking under water.

Belus smiled, finding some amusement at her expense. He skipped the verbal communication and just pointed. She followed his finger.

Ethan had not gone far. He and Danato were only about ten meters away from her. They were facing her, but not looking at her. Instead, their eyes were fixed on a tall, leggy blonde in a red business suit she could only see the back of. 

“Who the hell is that?” She must have still been on a bullhorn setting, because her outburst caught everyone’s attention. Danato gave her a mortified glare. Ethan abruptly coughed into his hand. The sparkle in his eyes told her he was trying not to laugh. The businesswoman also turned to face her.

Her slender length was only accentuated by her hollow cheeks. Her hair was bleached blond with dark roots, giving her that “yeah, I dye it, so what?” look that women had come to enjoy. The stick-straight hair was piled in a bun at the base of her scalp. The intentional flyaway strands gave her a casual thrown together look, but Cori knew she had spent at least an hour getting them to all flyaway perfectly.

The woman smiled at her with a pleasant toothy—but not too toothy—smile. To top it off, the bitch had perfectly straight marshmallow-white teeth. Cori was about to plow the woman into the wall just for that slight.

Bleached hair and bleached teeth.

Cori must have been glaring at the woman pretty hard, because she lost her smile as quick as she gave it and turned away.

Something whirred in her ear, sending her eardrum into convulsions. She howled and pulled away from the tuning fork Belus held. He checked the number on the fork and made an X on his clipboard chart. He rewrote over the same X a couple more times, to get it good and noticeable on the paper.

He had already made three other marks which she hadn’t noticed him checking. She got the impression that whatever that fork had done to her, it wasn’t good for her ear. 

She looked back at the threesome, but they were gone. She caught sight of a red suit and fishnet stockings stepping through the exit door. Cori caught her eye again. She smiled and waved as she slipped out of sight.

Cori instinctively waved back. She didn’t even know who the woman was. She had no reason to be so rude or judgmental to her. On the other hand, she was taller than her, skinnier than her, and prettier than her.

Bitch.

“Where are they going?” Cori said. Belus smiled and placed one finger on her lips. He mouthed, “Wait.”