Shattering Halos (18 page)

“Anna, come here immediately. Leave them alone.”

“But it’s a sandcastle!”

Out of nowhere, the curly head of a tiny girl hovered a foot over ours. Her forehead had a hard time forming the puckered brow she was going for.

“Anna Melissa Payne. Listen up young lady, or else!”

She leaned in much closer and shouted her reply as loudly as she could without turning away from us.

“Mommy, they’re
sleeping
on it!”

Gabriel’s stomach quivered in suppressed laughter under my elbow, and I peered up into her frown.

“Hi, Anna Melissa Payne.”

“Hi, pretty lady.” She nodded, still scanning the ruins surrounding us.

“We didn’t mean to destroy it, Anna,” Gabriel explained. “We fell, and the castle broke.”

“Chop chop, Anna, or we’re not making tacos tonight.”

She started to bounce in place, nervous. Her gaze flickered in her mother’s direction, and a concerned expression crossed her little face. As she ran back, she yelled behind her at the top of her lungs.

“Bye, lady! Bye, angel-man!”

I shot up in a sitting position and stared down at Gabriel. He smiled back at me. “Children know.”

When my stomach started growling, we went to Mom’s Pie House for a tasty, unhealthy meal. Gabriel’s obsession with banana cream pie was an absolute vision. Between approving smacks and way too delicious moans, he even put away the remainder of my piece after downing two enormous slices of his own. Now, he was busy washing it all down with his fourth mug of tea.

“More to drink, darlin’?” I drawled, mimicking my grandma, and he looped his arms around me in the booth and drew me into him. His kisses tasted like banana, and I held back a too-private whimper.

“Sure, I’ll have a sip of
you
,” he husked.

Oh, my God—he’s sassy?
My stomach did a flip.

“Hot damn,” somebody muttered. With a side-glance, I caught two young waitresses frozen in front of us. Apparently, they were trying to eat my boyfriend. With their eyes.

One of them held a tray that drooped dangerously toward the ground. I aimed at Gabriel’s ear. “Where did our nice, old waiter-dude go?”

“Careful there—your tray is about to tip over,” Gabriel called out.

Judging from the earsplitting bang, the tray was made of metal. Coffee and shattered china flew in all directions.

“Our cue to leave, sunshine?”

“Yes, please.”

Welcome to my new life. Gabriel left the cash on the table, and we took off without waiting for change.

The forest beyond the Shades Run mountain chain was absurdly lush. As we climbed out of the car, Gabriel showed me the mountaintop where he’d had “a chat” with Cassiel after he supposedly mauled
me at the bar.

Deer grazed between the trees, and a rabbit hopped past us as we scaled the incline. The forest emitted a delicious potpourri of moss, incense, and moist dirt.

“Stay put, sunshine.”

Exposing a hazelnut in his fist, he sank down under a tree. He crisscrossed his legs and let out a light whistle. A squirrel scurried down the trunk to sit at the edge of his knee. Gabriel held out the nut, and she rushed right up without hesitation.

Suddenly, Gabriel pulled out all the stops. He exuded an angelic love so vibrant that I could only absorb a fraction of it. Almost jealous, I witnessed the squirrel lock eyes with him; she had no problem soaking up his entire, wordless message. Maybe she was like the child at the beach, so innocent that she could take in everything angelic?

The sweetie reached out with miniature fingers and touched his thumb. For a moment she sat perfectly still, never breaking eye contact with Gabriel. Then she did a one-eighty in the air and leaped off.

I sucked in a breath. “What was that? Why didn’t she take the nut?”

“She just wanted to say ‘Hi,’ I think.” Gabriel smiled.

His beautiful features shrunk into a frown. Without a word, he reached for me to join him. I slid down next to my angel and leaned into his embrace. His fingers combed through my hair, making my scalp tingle.

“Gaia, my happiness is being with you, loving you, as long as I can. But I can’t promise what tomorrow will bring.”

Yes! Ecstatic…Wait a minute.

“What does that mean?”

“Sunshine...” My gaze whipped up to him and found his eyes sealed shut and lips tightened into a line. I dove back against his neck.

“Gabriel, tell me what’s going on.”

“Maybe I could have planned this better, I don’t know.” His chest rose and fell in a sigh. “I’m going to tell you some things that might upset you, okay? I just want you to know that I’ve made my choice.”

My breathing was growing shallow.

“What
is
your choice?” My lungs needed more air, and I didn’t know if I wanted an answer. Gabriel’s lips moved against my hair, calming me before he replied.

“I will be with you in all of your senses…while I can.”

My stomach shifted. “So there’s a ‘but.’”

Cupping the back of my head, he moved me out enough to meet my eyes. “I couldn’t tell you this morning after all you’d been through.”

“Okay, well, tell me now! I’m dying here.”

“I can’t predict what my Celestial punishment will be.”

The dread finally crept in, and I flung my hands over my face. He wasn’t finished. Would the truth exist if I never heard it? One by one, Gabriel pried my fingers away.

“I do need you to be prepared, sunshine. They can…” he searched for words I wouldn’t like, “…separate us at any moment.”

“How? What would they do?”

Why am I asking this?

“It all depends on how much we’ve stirred the Heavens. They can banish me. Incarcerate me. Erasing me is another solution.”

He held me and said nothing more. Despite the sunshine, the terror chilled my marrow, and I considered how gullible I’d been only minutes earlier. He settled my racing heart with kisses and murmurs, but I still recognized the self-prophecy of my morning musings.

My life had never been a constant. Something new was always on the horizon.

Had I believed that Gabriel and I would be fine, that cheating death first once, then twice would be excused?
Of course
I didn’t deserve years of bliss and love!

Gabriel was right. Whether our time together was a week, a day, or an hour, we had to claim it. We needed to seize the time that remained.

What if I die tonight and never get to be with him—
really
be with him?

I acted on impulse.

“Gabriel.” Tears made my vision blurry.

“Yes, my sun?”

“Please make love to me.”

Gabriel had nature in his hand. When the silence stretched, it incorporated every leaf, every animal, the breeze, and the clouds. Nothing moved. His hands froze on my body, and I felt so small I wanted to burrow under a rock.

I didn’t regret the words, but my thoughts strayed to old-world fairytales Mom used to read for me. In them, spoiled maidens asked for the sun and the moon from their magical lover, only to wreak havoc on their perfect existence when he consented.

I waited with my eyelids crushed shut, and Gabriel finally broke the silence. “That I will not do to you.”

A disheartened exhale shot out of me, but he continued, a finger tracing the bridge of my nose.

“I’m an angel, and you’re a human. We were never supposed to be together in this way. Much less were we created to melt into one. Please, trust me in this. Your happiness and wellbeing is everything to me. In every other way, I will show you that I love you.”

“No, you lied to me.”

Wow, where did
that
come from?

“Excuse me?”

His dazzling features altered into a surprised frown.

“This morning you said you weren’t going to deny me anything anymore. Should you be breaking any more Heavenly Rules?”

Okay, I officially kick butt.

“That’s not what I meant…”

“Why did you say it, then? Don’t you want me?”

Holding me out from him, he studied my face intently. Slow and unapologetic, it combed my body, inch by inch, lighting a trail of embers in its wake. Oh yes, Gabriel’s stare could smolder.

With a single look he’d replaced my fear with unadulterated lust. His eyes returned to mine, suddenly the grassy color of emeralds. As much as I searched into their depths, not a hint of blue remained.

“You. No more of this,” he demanded, contradicting what his body told me. He stood abruptly. Looking away from me, he brought me to my feet in one motion.

In the beginning, neither of us broke the silence as we descended to the car. A small space had inched in between our bodies, but he still held my hand in his. Despite Gabriel’s reaction, I was more aware than ever of what I wanted. When I opened my mouth, the words gritted out in a croak.

“You promised, remember? You said we can’t control the future and that we should seize the day. Please be with me? Tonight at the dorm?”

He stopped.

“No-no. To deal with the girls in your dorm is not an option.”

Hey, we’re discussing it?

“What do you mean?”

“Sun, you would lose control, and they’d call 911.”

“That’s preposterous.” I blushed like a traffic light.

“Trust me. It’s not you, it’s me.” He looked both innocent and humble as he said the worn-out phrase.

“Fine, I don’t care where, Gabriel, as long as you give me this before they come for us.”

My treacherous lower lip began to tremble at the thought. Pent-up tears spilled over. He stroked my hair before he drew me into a tight hug.

“Gaia, please. Let’s not talk about this. I couldn’t possibly love you any more than I already do.”

Without mercy, the maiden from the old-world fairytale stared at her magical lover and said, “We need it,” and “I want to.”

Chapter 19 — Come Along

Gaia

The wintery gust tousled my hair as we wound up the hillside. Ahead of us, the dirt road narrowed before transforming into a field of hardy beach grass.

Gabriel lifted me out of the car when we stopped. A girl could get used to this kind of chivalry. Feet carefully placed on the ground, I took in the wild lawn I stood on. It peaked out over a cliff, and far below us, the unrest of the sea beckoned alluring and alive.

The setting sun was a luminous orange that burned the clouds into reds and purples. Gabriel turned to me, his expression suddenly eager, and pointed to the horizon.

“Can you see it?”

“The sun?”

“Shimmer’s Edge.”

Squinting, I could see the outline of a tower against the glow of the sunset. The silhouette became sharper, transforming into a tiny island that should have been white in the ceaseless ocean. Instead, its contours flickered with amber streaks. Waves caressed the granite base in brushstrokes of sparkling magenta.

He took my hand and led me to the edge of the cliff, closer to the spectacle.

“Shimmer’s Edge was built over a hundred years ago. The townsmen had planned to name it after the state governor, but seeing the lighthouse for the first time at sundown, its glow made them change their minds.”

“Wow. Do they light it at night?”

“No, not anymore.”

With our legs dangling off the overhang, we watched the last rays of daylight paint the sky. When the sun finally dipped into the water, Gabriel pulled me to my feet. His arms formed around my waist in a snug hold.

“Trust me.”

I tensed with anticipation at the pressure of his body behind me. Before I could answer, the sound of a thousand restless feathers shook the air. I gasped in surprise, and then I was airborne.

Because I did trust him, I lost myself in the current and in the crimsons and purples of the sun saying goodbye.

Clutched beneath him in his arms, I was rapt in the sensation of gliding across the sky. Gabriel’s happy chuckle filled my senses when I, unconcerned with the cold and the altitude, opened my arms in the same “T” shape I’d used before. The wind gusts made his wings vibrate.

Shimmer’s Edge closed in on us. As if on cue, the sky eclipsed with the onset of the night in the moment we landed on the balcony.

The light flowing from the windows didn’t surprise me, but peeking through one of them, my jaw dropped. The size of the room defied logic. From the outside, the lighthouse was so small!

Gabriel held the door open for me. The enormous space, circular like the lighthouse itself, would take some time to get used to.

Cassiel’s apartment had been mind-blowing, but Gabriel’s abode didn’t just challenge my senses. It challenged my imagination too. Clearly, Gabriel didn’t have to pretend in this place.

Shimmering, cream walls stirred alive in a fabric that reminded me of silk. Their three-dimensional, layered texture expanded my vision of what simple partitions could be.

Hundreds and hundreds of fawn-colored candles hovered inches from the walls up to the ceiling. Water streamed close by. Following the sound, I spotted a massive ivory-colored waterfall. Droplets jumped, burst, and vanished before they rejoined the spring in an endless cycle.

The transparent, tan floor below me radiated an illusion of warmth. Speckles of gold glinted in sinking tiers under the top coat.

Like clouds without a plan, the floor shifted, but it never rocked my balance. I took two tentative steps, and Gabriel’s amused chuckle reached me from behind.

Craning my neck, I took in the ornate, dome-shaped ceiling. It was a blanket of miniature prisms that multiplied the stars above. They twinkled and reflected serenely off of the walls.

Vases overflowing with white lilies stood on small tables shaped like crescent moons in the middle of the room. The tables were nightstands and flanked…an immense bed!

I forgot to breathe.

Feathery light and almost ethereal-looking, the bronze-colored bedding made me think of cotton candy. My awed expression must have been what triggered the sudden, beautiful curve in Gabriel’s lips.

“You sleep?” I asked, trying not to sound breathless.

“Sometimes. Whenever you’ve made sleeping look too delicious. Usually, I just rest here.” Gabriel tilted his head at me. “You like it?”