Talisman 2 - The Sapphire Talisman (17 page)

Chapter Twenty

W
hen I woke up, Phil was sitting in the same place, staring at me intently. I looked away feeling invaded, then worried about my morning breath.

“Hi,” I said awkwardly, sensing his boredom bloom into happiness.

“Hi,” he said with a smile in his eyes. “Sleep well?”

“Yeah.” I slowly picked my head up off the pillow to sit up.

The pounding pain radiated in all different directions. I didn’t know what was worse, the beginnings of a caffeine headache about to slam sledge hammers in my temples or the dull throbbing ache from the bruise on my forehead.

“Oooh.” My voice made a funny whoosh sound as I carefully touched my wound.

“Yeah,” Phil said with a wince. “Sorry about that. You’ve got a nasty bruise.”

“I bet. It really hurts.”

I glanced around the darkened room to search for
Scarlett
, noticing the sunlight trying to peek around the curtains Phil had obviously drawn
them
to protect himself. But
Scarlett
wasn’t on the floor where she’d fallen asleep the night prior.

“Where’s the fleabag?”

“Easy girl.” Phil pursed his lips. “She needed to eat. She’ll be back.”

“I hope she’s not eating Aladdin’s cat food.” I smiled, maybe bigger than I should have. “Breakfast of champions?” Phil glared at me. “Sorry, I’m not cordial until I get my caffeine,” I bit my lip and dangled my feet off the bed, taking my time to stand. “Is my dad still home?”

“He just left, but your bro’s here—still sleeping though. Does he ever do anything?”

“Apparently not.” I stifled a chuckle. “His activities circle around Amber his secret girlfriend, college classes at night, and now tattling, but that’s about it. Did you happen to hear if my dad called school to tell them I’m sick again?”

“He did and he checked on you too. I think he left a note.”

Phil didn’t
think;
he knew (the little snoop). I’m sure being locked up for seven or so hours, even with the riveting stack of books I brought him, would make anyone stir crazy.

Phil made me sit back down. “Here, I’ll get the note and a cup of coffee for you. Okay?”

I looked into his sparkling eyes and let out a sigh of thankfulness.

“That would be perfect,” I said sheepishly, ashamed after being so cruel the night before. “Everything should be easy enough to find. The coffee beans are in the fridge.”

“I got it.” He pulled on his black robe and disappeared out of the door.

I stood and walked to the bathroom, desperate to brush the fuzz off my teeth. The light hit my eyes, worsening the pain in my head. I fumbled in the cabinet and found some Advil, taking two pills before examining
the
battle wound. The bump looked better than it felt and could be hidden under my bangs, if I styled them just right. I’d definitely need an excuse for this whopper though, if anyone saw it.

Upon leaving the bathroom,
I ran directly into Phil, who stood smiling with his arm outstretched
. He held
a pink painted “It’s good to be Queen” mug in his hand.
I
smiled back and
took
the hot mug between my palms, inhaling t
he rich aroma.
But b
efore taking the first delectable sip,
I cocked my head,
and wondered
how he brewed the coffee so
quickly
. Obviously he was trying to hide something
.

“Okay, I didn’t make it,” he confessed. “Your dad left some in a thermos downstairs and
. . .
”

He
shyly
handed me a
crumpled note
.

Julia,

Out to run errands.

Call if you need anything.

Enjoy the coffee.

Love Dad.

“Makes sense,” I said with a generous laugh. My dad did brew some stellar coffee. “I didn’t think you could make coffee
this
good.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence. It couldn’t be that hard, right?” He laughed.

I smiled. Little did he know the disasters an amateur barista could invoke upon a helpless little coffee machine.

“Truth or dare?”

I crinkled my brows together. “Did you just say you wanted to play ‘truth or dare’?”

“Yeah.” Phil raised his right eyebrow and got comfortable on my bed, with a coquettish smile. “Wanna play?”

I snickered when images of Phil
skipping
through sprinklers with women’s clothing on or knocking on my neighbor’s door to ask if his refrigerator was running floated through my head.

“You must be incredibly bored.”

Phil nodded, fortified with intrigue. I squinted my eyes in return, just as curious to know his deepest secrets as he obviously was of mine.

“With ground rules, I will,” I said confidently.

Phil gave me his sexy smirk. “Okay. What rules?”

“Nothing painful, illegal, dangerous, noisy or embarrassing,” I said quickly.

“Pfft. No fun.”

I tilted my head to the side. “Seriously—”

“Fine, but this is going to be boring.” Phil faked a yawn, fanning his mouth. I punched him in the arm with my right hand, which he grabbed, swirled me around and pinned me against his body.

“Truth or dare,” he whispered, his lips dangerously close to my neck.

My body electrified, feeling the warmth of his breath, and I swallowed hard, trying to ignore his strong chest behind me. I liked being within his arms and the thought scared me.

“Truth,” I squeaked out before wriggling out of his grasp.

Phil let me go and sprawled out across my bed, evidently prepared. “When did you and Nick start dating?”

I gained composure and sat on my desk chair, looking at the floor, holding my mug for security.

“Uh
. . .
” I stammered, wanting to talk about the subject de
-
licately. “Not officially until after the incident at the warehouse. Nicholas was worried about vamps finding out and thought someone might come after me to get to him
. . .
you know?”

My eyes darted back up to his. I hadn’t quite satisfied his question.

“I see,” he said, deep in thought, radiating a smidge of envy. “He lacked faith in his ability to protect you.”

“No,” I defended. “He was just being cautious. He’s had other situations that ended poorly.”

“All those broken hearts
. . .
” Phil clucked his tongue.

My anger welled up. “Not exactly,” I said, my tone terse. “My mother was murdered.”

Any color Phil possibly had drained from his cheeks. “Dude, I’m sorry.”

“No worries. Your turn,” I said, trying to cover up the uncomfortable situation. “Truth or dare.”

He paused for a minute, still feeling horrible when enlightenment suddenly danced from his eyes.

“Dare.” He licked his lips.

I wanted so badly to choose something that would knock the sassy off his adorable face when the little stream of late morning light caught my eye, highlighting the frolicking motes in the air besides us.

“What would happen if you put your hand in the sunlight?”

Phil’s eyes grew big, his angst heightening. “Imagine putting your hand on the burner of a stove—”

I gasped.

“—times a thousand.”

“Oh.” I cringed. “Never mind then. Definitely breaks the danger rule.” I bit the corner of my lip and tried to think of another dare.

“I can think of one,” he said, full of ardor.

“I bet you can.” I felt flustered and tried to appear unfazed.

Deep down though, if he did try to kiss me, I knew I’d let him because I really wanted him to. In nervousness, my hand unconsciously made its way to the talisman
which
yanked me back to reality. Nicholas loved me enough to give up the one thing that protected him in his dangerous job. To allow a kiss, even an innocent one would disrespect that sacrifice. Though the stone was dead
—
why I didn’t know
—
it still symbolized his concern for my safety and love for me. “Um
. . .
how about
. . .
” I continued to fidget. Nothing was coming to me. “Crap. I can’t think of anything.”

He got up and walked towards me with a shameless expression, turning on the charm. “How about
. . .
a nice back massage? Or—”

“How about cleaning my toilet?”

His charisma faded into disappointment. “Yeah, sure.”

Literally ten seconds passed in which I heard something swipe the bowl and the water flush down the drain. He returned, humbled, and smelling of Pine Sol.

“Done. Your turn.”

My heart beat a little faster. I gulped, unsure what to cho
o
se.
 
“Um
. . .
Truth?”

“Are you sure?” The flicker in his eyes drove me crazy. I couldn’t help but enjoy his undivided attention as our chemistry naturally sent invisible sparks flying across
the
room, healing a part of me that felt vulnerable and wounded. The fact that we could be together so easily made me worry my attachment to him was growing into something I might not be able to live without if Nicholas never recovered.

“I don’t trust you with a dare.”

“Really?” His dark snicker gave me shivers, but in a good way. His bravery spiked and I knew this question was going to be a doosey.

“If I hadn’t gotten staked by Nicholas, would we have had a chance?”

Please don’t ask that.

I sucked in the air too quickly and worked to control my exhale, unsure how to answer. Back then, he‘d used his power to confuse me and the cells of my body—like now—they cried out, begging for his touch.

“Maybe,” I said with intentions to keep from leading him on, still deeply in love with Nicholas. “It wasn’t a choice I had to make and now I’m with Nicholas. So, I—I don’t know.”

“Things change,” he mumbled.

“Your turn,” I interrupted. “Or do you want to continue playing?”

“Yeah. Truth.”

I tightened my lips together, prepared. “So, when you took off to L.A.,
y
ou said you—you know—had a situation with your girlfriend. What happened?”

“With Lauren?” He sighed, feeling tremendous shame. “Yeah, I should still be rotting in Hades forever for that and everyone else I
. . .
you know. I loved her with all my heart and she threw it away on Jack. I was an impetuous heartless killer without a conscience back then. They deserved better.”

His anguish made me regret I asked. “Sorry.”

“It’s all my fault and I need to suffer the consequences. I was a fool to let her string me along and over-reacted when I found out differently. Such a fool
. . .
” He sighed and put his head in his hands. No longer did he seem like a vicious killer, but a troubled soul infected with immortality. The guilt swept up and washed over me, leaving me anxious to find Nicholas and help him before the same thing happened to him.

I got up and sat next to Phil, putting my arm over his shoulder, unsure what to say. “You didn’t know—”

“The thing is, I did know, but I can’t change the past.”

I closed my eyes and held tight to Phil’s shoulder—Nicholas’ half-vampire brother—wishing somehow I could help him make amends. Nicholas, many times, breathed the same words to me, trying to get over his torment of being too late to save my mother’s life. Nicholas’ love for me seemed to be the only thing that helped him move beyond the past. But the lives Phil took weren’t the same.

“Are we going tonight?” I asked as a distraction. “To L.A.?”

“Sure.” His hesitation sent out tremors.

“Why don’t you want to go?”

Phil fidgeted, rubbing his knuckles over his chin. “I’ve been told never to return.”

“What?” I snorted. “That’s absurd. By whom?”

“The vam
ps that run that town,” he said
matter-of-factly.

“Oh.” I tightened my eyes. “When?”

Phil took a deep breath. “After the incident with Lauren, I went a little crazy and ran into some locals there. It wasn’t pretty considering how territorial they are and how sloppy I was. They warned me never to come back or they’d turn me in.”

“Turn you in?”

“To the council, where they wanted to take Nick.”

Nicholas had mentioned the Royals. Maybe they were one
and
the same.

“Who is this Council anyway?”