The Seven Devils (YA "New Adult" Romance) (25 page)

***

We ended up in some swanky bar downtown. The lights were low and there were beautiful people everywhere, flirting and drinking. There was a club next door and I could feel the bass thumping through my feet. Josh led us to the bar.

“Jasper!” he called to the bartender. They grasped hands for a moment and then Josh introduced us. “Jasper, this is Neil and Ellen. Neil and Ellen, this is my friend Jasper. He owns this place.”

We said our hellos and then Josh led us to a booth towards the back of the room. “Back in a moment,” he said, and walked back to the bar.

I looked to Neil and caught him staring at me. He stroked my face softly. “Don’t you worry about a thing. Nothing will happen to you while I’m around.”

I nodded and leaned into him, kissing him softly on the mouth. I ran my hands through his hair and he pulled me closer till I was mostly in his lap.

“You are so beautiful, Ellen,” he said, holding me close.

“I’ll drink to that,” Josh said, returning to the table with his hands full of drinks.

I scooted out of Neil’s lap and grasped the drink Josh put in front of me. It was a beautiful red liquid in a crystal tumbler.

“To beauty!” Josh said, making a toast. I raised my glass to meet his and Neil’s, and I glanced nervously at Neil.

“Just cranberry juice,” he said to me telepathically.

I smiled and took a drink with both of the boys. I couldn’t have been happier.

Chapter 26

We left an hour or two later and took a cab back to the hotel. Neil and I hadn’t had any alcohol, but Josh had drunk quite a bit. He seemed so happy and carefree at the bar, but then in the ride back to the hotel he got very quiet and somber.

“You okay, Josh?” I asked, putting a hand on his knee.

His blue-green eyes turned to me and I could feel his sadness. “I’m just lonely,” Josh said with a little half smile. “I really wanted Maya to be with me tonight. With us.”

I nodded and took his hand in mine. I wanted so much for him to feel as happy as I did. When we arrived at the hotel we packed into the elevator and started up to our rooms. Suddenly Neil grabbed Josh’s arm.

“Not here,” Neil said quickly. “Do it in our room.” He jerked his head up and to the side, and I followed his gaze to a little security camera.

Josh saw it too and nodded. “I just want to see her.”

As soon as we got into our room, Josh hugged us both and then disappeared. I stared at the empty space he left behind, hoping he’d be alright. Neil walked up and hugged me from behind. He didn’t say anything, but held me close and swayed side to side with me. He bent his head down and began to kiss the side of my neck. I could feel the tension begin to melt out of my body.

“What were you two talking about in his dressing room?” I asked. “Why didn’t you say it out loud?”

Neil spun me around and began to slow dance with me. “He was feeling curious and wondered if we had indeed made love. I confirmed his suspicions and thanked him for thoughtfully supplying the condoms. He then felt this overwhelming sense of concern for you and a little animosity towards me.”

“Wait, what? Why?”

Neil smiled and gave me a twirl before resuming our slow dance around the living room. “He loves you. He has a lot of paternal feelings towards you.”

“He’s not even old enough to be my father.”

“He’s just concerned about you. I assured him I would always treat you well, and that’s when you hit us,” he said with a grin.

I smiled back. “I just hate it when you guys do that. I don’t like feeling left out.”

Neil nodded. “I apologize. We’re just so used to it. You wouldn’t believe the hours and days we spent experimenting and testing our limits. It’s just second nature for us.”

I nodded absentmindedly, distracted for a moment by the curve of his jawline and the tiny bits of stubble that were already growing back in.

“Come here,” I said, pulling him by his jacket into the bedroom.

I slipped his tuxedo jacket off for him, kissed each of his shoulders, and then laid the jacket on the dresser behind us. Neil in turn caressed the side of my face, removed my earrings for me, and kissed both of my earlobes. My smiles grew. I undid his tie, tossing it over my shoulder, and nuzzled and kissed his neck.

Eventually we made it to the bed and lost ourselves in each other.

***

I woke up sometime in the night and realized Neil wasn’t in bed with me any longer.

“I’m here,” he said, standing up from a chair across the room. He put his laptop down and joined me on the bed.

I snuggled into the crook of his arm. “What were you doing?”

“Just replying to an e-mail,” he said, slowly rubbing a hand up and down my arm.

“Mmm… from who?”

“A professor at UCLA.”

“Wow… what does he want?”

“She has been trying to recruit me for years. I really need to choose a college, and she’s doing what she can to make damn sure I choose UCLA.”

I closed my eyes and buried my face into his side. California? I couldn’t even bear to think about it. What would I do without him?

“I’m not leaving you; I told you that,” Neil said quietly.

I raised my head up to face him. “But UCLA is a great school, and if they’re trying to recruit you… that’s huge. You have to go.”

Neil’s eyes searched mine. “I won’t go without you.”

“But…” My mind was flooded with a million different questions. How could I possibly go with him? Where would I live? How would I survive? How would I finish school? The most pressing question of all: how could I get my mom to allow it?

“Of the universities who have been seeking me out, UCLA would definitely be the most convenient.”

“Why?”

“It’s only about a mile from the campus to Josh’s home.”

I sat up. “What are you saying?”

“Josh is a good man. I sure as hell wouldn’t let you spend a whole day alone with him, in a strange city at that, if he wasn’t amazingly trustworthy.” He stopped and ran his fingers back through his hair. “Do you remember the first time you met him?”

I nodded. “At the cabin by the lake.”

“Close your eyes,” he said. I complied and felt him take my hands. I was immediately no longer in the hotel room, but back at the lake house. I was completely astonished, wondering how Neil used Josh’s teleporting power, when I realized that this wasn’t current. The sun was shining and I was in Neil’s body as he sat on the dock in front of the cabin. He could hear the conversation I was having with Josh inside, plain as day. I remembered back to that day and knew Josh had just told me all about himself and his ability, and I was at the moment returning the favor by telling him all about my life and myself.

It got a little confusing because I could not only hear what I was saying to Josh, but I could also feel our emotions flowing into Neil’s body. I was feeling a little bit of pain, recounting the events that led us to move from Akron to Minster, and also a sense of longing, wishing Neil were in the cabin with me. Josh, however, was in bad shape. It was amazing to think back to how composed he seemed while I was telling him my story and mesh that with all of the heartache I felt pouring out of him now.

I finished my story, saying, “You know what they say: You can’t pick your family... and I’m too young to move out. I’d have no way to support myself.”

Josh’s voice sounded in Neil’s head. He said only one word, “Neil,” but he said it with such pain in his voice.

Neil responded, “I know.”

I felt this flood of half-made thoughts and emotions streaming from Josh. It was so quick and tumultuous that I was nearly overwhelmed, but I tried to make sense of it. He was feeling sympathy and compassion for me, and guilt also, feeling that he couldn’t help me. There were flashes of his house mixed in, and an image of the three of us eating a meal around his dining room table. It felt like family.

It was quiet for a moment and then a final message came from Josh. I could hear him saying goodbye to me indoors, but to Neil he said, “Anything, Neil. You let me know what she needs and I’ll be here for you. Both of you.”

The vision disappeared and I opened my eyes. I shook my head and then sank back into my pillow. “Why is he so good to me? He’s done so much this weekend, and now I find out he practically offered me a home the day we met?” I shook my head again. “I don’t know that I deserve…” Him. You. I looked away.

“If the tables were turned, and Josh was the one who needed a place to stay, would you hesitate for a second before offering him your help?”

“Of course not.”

“Then why don’t you feel you deserve the same? He has done a lot for you already, sure, but don’t discount all that you’ve done for him. Without you he never would have worked up the courage to talk to Maya. He’s going through a hard time right now, but he feels that you’re there for him. He knows he can talk to you about it. Ellen, you mean the world to him because he can be himself with you. You know his secrets and he knows you would never use them against him. He feels comfortable around you, and that’s a powerful thing.”

I put a hand over my eyes. “I’m just not used to people caring about me, and I’m not used to things going my way. You make it sound like this can really happen… that we’ll all live in California together and that life will be beautiful.”

Neil gently took my hand down from my eyes. “That’s exactly what is going to happen. All we need to do is last until graduation. Once I have my degree we can move to California, if California is alright with you. I have other college offers all over the country. You name an area and that’s where we’ll go. Just say the word, Ellen.”

“But my family. How could you convince them to let me go? I’m underage.”

Neil leaned down and kissed me. “Trust me,” he said into my mind.

Chapter 27

The rest of our vacation passed much too quickly. Josh seemed cheered up the next day from his visit with Maya, and the three of us spent the next several days acting like tourists and hitting all the major sights. I had a ball and knew I had never felt that happy before in my life. When the day came to head back to Minster I was crushed. The town seemed so small and quiet and my house so dingy and old.

Josh dropped us off in my bedroom. Neil let us know the house was empty, and then he left the room to go check and make sure everything was fine and that there had been no problems in the week we’d been gone.

“It feels so strange being back here,” I said to Josh. “It’s almost like I was able to convince myself that that life—New York, the shows, the park, the hotel—that was my real life. That was how I lived. Now…” I began, glancing at my hand-me-down furniture and the brown stain on my ceiling. “This is the life that doesn’t feel real.”

Josh shook his head slightly and put a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t concentrate on the glitz and the glamour. Nothing in this life is as important as what you’ve already found in Neil. You two have each other, and this phase of your life will pass before you know it.”

I nodded and hugged him. “I didn’t mean to sound selfish. I’m just going to miss having so much free time to spend with you and Neil. I had such a great time.”

“Agreed. I have several gigs lined up in the weeks to come. Perhaps you could join me on a couple?”

“Oh I hope so. School starts back up in a couple of days, though, and it will be hard to get away.”

“You have my number,” Josh said, giving me a peck on the forehead. “Keep me informed, and call me if you need anything.”

“You call me too,” I said. “I’m always here if you need to talk.”

***

Neil showed me that my mother had visited at some point while we were out. She had left a hastily scrawled note that said simply “Merry Xmas” and a $50 gift card to Walmart. There was also a case of yogurt in the refrigerator. At least she had remembered I existed.

Neil and I quickly fell back into our routine and I realized how right Josh was. All that mattered was Neil. It didn’t matter if we spent our evenings at a five-star restaurant in Manhattan or curled up on the couch eating Ramen noodles in middle-of-nowhere Ohio. When I was with him everything just felt right.

The only excitement left before school started back up was New Year’s Eve. We cooked a nice meal together and ate by candlelight. Later we drank sparkling grape juice and watched all of the stars and TV personalities talk about what an amazing year it had been and how next year would be even better. I couldn’t help but agree with them. The ball dropped and Neil and I grinned at each other, leaning in for a kiss. Our lips barely touched when I felt his phone vibrate.

Neil groaned slightly and pulled back to answer the call. Seconds after answering I watched his face turn hard.

I felt dread seep into me. “What is it, Neil?”

When he didn’t move or respond, I took the phone from his hand and turned it to speakerphone.

For a moment all I could hear was glass breaking. From the muffled words and laughter I got the impression we were listening to several guys in a room, breaking things. Suddenly someone yelled, “Whoa! What the fuck is this??”

There were hoots and laughter. “Happy New Year, Asshole,” a voice said into the phone. My stomach jumped. “Derrick” I mouthed to Neil who nodded in return. There was some rustling on the phone and then Derrick’s voice was back. “Give me that bat. I want first swing at the MRI.” The phone went dead.

Neil’s face divulged no emotion, but his whole body was stiff with rage. His eyes shifted to me. I took his hands. “Go. You have to stop them. Secure your things.”

A crease formed between his eyes. “I don’t want to leave you alone.”

I pulled us both up off the couch and stood on my toes to kiss him softly. “Just hurry back.”

Neil looked around slowly and then nodded. “Lock up behind me.”

He was only gone a few minutes when I again heard the sound of glass breaking. It’s amazing how much scarier that sound is when it’s coming from your own house rather than over a phone.

I immediately froze. I had been upstairs getting ready for bed and I couldn’t tell exactly where the sound had come from. It didn’t help that I had just turned the last of the lights out and I was too scared to move. My best guess was a kitchen window had been smashed.

I frantically patted down my pockets and realized I left my phone on its charger in the kitchen. I screamed out in my head for Neil, but I knew that he was probably too far to hear me. But maybe I was okay. It had been what—thirty seconds? A minute? And I hadn’t heard anything else. Maybe it was just someone vandalizing the house. Maybe someone threw a rock. I was clearly overreac—

A slow squeak sounded from below and my hand flew to my mouth to stop myself from screaming. It was clearly the back door in the kitchen being opened; a sound I’d heard daily since moving in. “Neil?” I called out in my mind, hoping beyond hope that he had returned already.

Silence.

Think! Someone was in the house. I couldn’t just stand there in the middle of the bathroom any longer. I tiptoed slowly into the hallway and froze when I saw the red glow of the phone on my mother’s nightstand. I had almost forgotten we even owned a home phone. I moved quickly to the phone and sank down by the far side of the bed. I pressed the Call button to turn it on and it let out a little beep. I slammed the phone into my chest to try to muffle the sound, but it was too late. Whoever was in the house was bound to have heard that.

I raised the phone to my ear, but there was no dial tone. I should have known my mother wasn’t paying the bills. I sat completely still as I listened to the sound of footsteps in the hall.

“Alone, just like they said you would be,” my father said from the doorway. I leapt away from the bed and backed up against the wall.

My father was standing right inside the doorway of the room. It had been months since I had seen him, and it looked like the time had not been kind to him. The room was dark, but it seemed as though he had lost a considerable amount of weight and I could see there wasn’t an ounce of kindness or decency left in his face.

“Who—who said I’d be alone?” I asked, my voice cracking.

“It seems you’ve made some enemies here, Ellen,” he said, taking a couple of steps forward. “Austin and his friend Derrick have been filling me in on everything you and your filthy mother have been up to these last several months. It’s clear that you’re the one to blame for every fucking thing that’s gone wrong in my life, and true to their word they got me alone in here with you tonight.”

I felt the sparkling grape juice from earlier come back up in my mouth, and I had to swallow several times to keep from vomiting. How could Austin betray me like that? “Why am I to blame?” I asked. “What have I done?” I pressed my back against the wall, wanting as much space between us as possible. “NEIL!” I cried out in my mind. “Please, God… Neil!”

“What did you do?” my father bellowed. He forcefully pointed his finger at me repeatedly. “You are the reason my wife left me. You are the person who forced my son to move away from me. You stole my family from my life! You led your mother here where I couldn’t keep my eyes on her. You led her here where she fell into bed with another man.” He stopped and spat on my mother’s bed. “Worse, you called the cops on me and they picked me up that afternoon for a DUI and I spent weeks in jail. I lost my job for that. I lost the house. You took everything I had from me!”

He walked closer until he was at the edge of the bed. “When Austin finally contacted me and let me know where you were and the mess you and your mother had gotten yourselves into, all I could think about was this moment when I could come here and destroy you the way that you destroyed me.”

As he explained his hatred for me I realized the situation I had gotten myself into. I was backed against a wall and my father was blocking my way to the door. He was about to come at me and was much stronger than I was. I had practiced so long thinking about what I would do if Derrick attacked me that I had never considered the possibility that it would be someone else. Someone who scared me so much more.

When he lunged at me I was ready. I ducked under his arm and made it almost to the bedroom door when he got a hold of the back of my shirt. I whipped around quickly and bashed the phone still in my hand against his face. I felt it make contact with his nose, shattering the cartilage underneath.

He cried out and grabbed at his face as blood began to pour from his nose. I sprinted from the room, but he was right behind me. He lunged for me and we both went down with me slamming my face into the hallway wall on our way to the floor. I registered the pain on some level but I just kept fighting. I kicked at him, trying to get my legs free from his arms, but he was just too strong.

He was up before I was and grabbed me by the hair, pulling me up along with him. “Stupid bitch,” he growled and smacked me across the face once and then again. I could feel the tears and blood streaming down my face and I was so stunned that I just stood there and took it for a moment. Finally I snapped out of it and quickly kneed him in the groin.

My father roared and stooped over for a moment, but he kept a vice-like grip on my arm and twisted it back so hard that I screamed and dropped to my knees. “You fucking bitch!” he screamed at me, spit flying in my face.

His eyes looked pitch black in the dark hallway. He loosened his hold on my arm, giving me a moment’s relief as he instead grabbed me by the throat. “I should have thrown your mother down a flight of stairs when she was knocked up with you,” my father sneered.

His hand latched tighter on my neck and he lifted me completely off the floor. My feet kicked furiously and I clawed at his hands. How can this be happening again? I couldn’t breathe... I couldn’t breathe! “Neil” I screamed in my head. “Please Neil!” It was no use. I was going to die like this. Maybe I was meant to die this way all along. My thoughts flew by all of what happened in the months since the first time he had his hands around my throat. Neil, Josh, Hannah, New York... None of that would have ever happened if I had died that day in the pool. I had so much now. So much to live for... so much to fight for. I was starting to lose consciousness. My arms were beginning to feel sluggish and I just couldn’t hurt my father enough to make him drop me. I was going to lose this fight. I was going to lose my life.

“No,” I thought.