The Stelter City Saga: Ultranatural (7 page)

Ace couldn’t hide the smile triggered
by the mentioning of Lee. “Aside from the fact that someone just
tried to murder her, I’d say that she’s doing just
fine.”

“
Good!” They said at the
same time.

Rose eyed the unconscious Lee as she
raised a hand to stroke DH’s hair. There had once been his fluffy
signature afro there, but he had cut it almost down to nothing. She
liked it better like that any way. It made him look all grown up.
“When are you leaving?” she asked still stroking DH’s short course
hair.

Ace shrugged, “I was planning on
leaving before the week goes out. But after what
happened…”

“
What? You weren’t going to
fly there were you?” she asked.

Ace
made a face
and sarcastically
replied
, “No, I was
planning on swimming actually.”

“
I’m not joking!” she
exclaimed leaning forward, “Listen, in Tarrillian City your face
may not matter, but you have got to be kidding yourself if you
think you can just hop on an airplane.”

“
I’ve robed banks without
leaving a clue behind, Rose.” Ace remarked, “I think I can get on a
plane just fine.”

“
Where’s your ticket?” she
asked, “ID? Passport? Yeah, you have none of that.”

“
Alright, I’ll just
sneak
on board.” Ace
concluded, “That was going to be my plan anyway.
Come on Rose. I can walk through
walls."

“
But Lee’s in the picture
now.” DH pointed out.

There was a defining silence that
followed. Ace shifted in his seat and he sent his eyes skyward as
he thought of a new plan. “I’m stumped.” He admitted, “I have no
clue- do you think Lee would be safe if I left her here?” But even
as he suggested it, he knew he would never follow through. DH and
Rose just couldn’t offer the protection he could.

“
Lee can’t live with us!”
Rose piped and Ace raised in incredulous eyebrow. “I mean, I love
the girl and all, but I’m getting married.”

“
What?!” the boys exclaimed
in unison. DH had a bit more of a reaction than Ace. He leapt so
far out of his seat; he nearly
p
ulled
Rose up
with him.

“
You were just about to
propose weren’t you?” she asked looking up at him. “Or were you
going to ask me another question about congress and
Japan?”

“
No I- I mean yes.
Huh?”

“
I
,”
Rose began slowly and jabbing a thumb at her chest, “want to be…”
she pointed at him, “
your
wife.”

DH stared at her blankly then nodded.
“Are you serious?”

Rose rolled her eyes, “You say that
like you need me to think twice. You have a ring right?”

DH slammed a hand in his pocket, “Yes,
this time I do.”

“
This time?” Ace
questioned.

“
Long story, bro.” DH
replied opening the box and showing her the jewel.

Rose tried it on and it fit
perfectly on her left hand. Even in the dim garage lighting, the
classic cut diamond
and thin gold
band
managed to sparkle. “DH it’s
beautiful. How many kids do you want?”

At her question, DH couldn’t hold back
a startled expression. “You’re asking me this now?”

Rose nodded. “We’re going to have kids
right?”

“
Well yeah,” DH answered, “I
was planning on that. But not right away, I want to get out of
South Side, and I want to get a job. Maybe got to school. I was
planning on getting a solid footing before… kids.”

Rose beamed, “Aww, you are going to be
such a responsible father and husband.” She reached up to kiss him,
which was something she hadn’t done often, but wearing the ring
made her feel like this was the perfect moment. Yet halfway to his
lips she stopped and turned to Ace. “This isn’t too wired for you
is it?”

Ace shook his head. “My best friends
are getting married, I can’t think of a finer pair.”

“
Cool,” she mentioned, then
closed the distance. They kissed for a moment, then two, then
three… Ace finally cleared his throat and they pulled away
blushing.

“
That’s not what Lee and I
look like, is it?” he asked.

“
You two never kiss.” DH
added hastily.

“
Well,” Ace began as he
pretended to wipe imaginary sweat from his forehead, “at least we
have that image going for us.”

“
Speaking of Lee,” Rose
began, “The two of you should at least stay for the wedding. And
about that plane, you just need to know the right
Krome.”

Ace grinned,
“And I think I do.”
he
remarked
, “Well, ex-Krome.”

“
What do you mean?” asked
DH.

Rose looked at him with a new gleam in
her eyes. “We like fast cars. But there are things out there even
faster than a Stelter.”

~Larissa made sure to put an
extra swing to her hips as she paraded past Ammon but the athlete
didn’t even look up. She didn’t even hear a tremor in the steady
rhythm of his heart as he sat on the soft sofa in the Elite home.
Cassie and Josh had gone to their houses to pack for the Hawaii
trip, leaving Larissa alone (since she
h
ad been
an
orphan, she had no home to go to) and Ammon to sulk some
more.

This was the third time she had tried
to get a response out of him. Her first attempt failed, for she
figured she wasn’t exposing enough skin. So she hurried through
Cassie’s drawers and pulled on a pair of short shorts. When that
didn’t work, she slipped on a tank top and made sure one of her bra
straps slid off her shoulder seductively. Again, no response
whatsoever.

B
y
now she was losing her temper and
made sure
to freeze time before letting out a furious roar and marching
across the room to scream in his face. “Ammon O’Connel!!” She
bellowed followed by some incredibly vulgar words- both in Spanish
and English. She was only inches from his face shouting these
things, but obviously he had zero recollection since, to him,
Larissa was still standing in the corner of the room.

She had only found out she was a
supernatural months ago. But how her powers manifested, she still
didn’t know. She wanted to spill her secret to Ammon more than she
wanted to live, but his father was murdered by a supernatural and
it wasn’t a secret that because of that, he hated her race. But
that wasn’t the only truth she was holding from him. The day she
realized she had these powers was also the day she realized her
best friend was her enemy. But for some reason, she couldn’t even
get the words out if she wanted to tell. It was as if her mind got
foggy and her tongue was tied every time she even tried to utter
them to herself; as if some nightmarish spell was cast on her
preventing these things from happening.

It was aggravating to her that she had
to keep two major factors of what she was from the one man she lov-
cared about and she let out another roar before marching back to
the spot where she had stopped time from. She took several deep
calming breaths before letting time tick again. With the best smile
she could muster Larissa skipped around to the back of the couch
and rubbed her fingers to his shoulder. “Ammon,” she cooed
soothingly and gently.

“
Hmm?”

Really?
Thought Larissa
Hmm?
She had to work harder. Slowly she rubbed her
hands down his chest and continued to his hard athletic abs until
they came to a stop at his waist. Her head was just poked over his
shoulder now and she couldn’t resist the taste of his
s
kin
. “Ammon,” she muttered again, tracing his
n
eck
with her
lips.

“
Stop,” he grumbled
pushing
her arms away.
“I’m not in the mood.”

Alright so he was
utterly
miserable. She
should have known that the moment she strutted past him the first
time. Now what?

Larissa couldn’t contain her
frustration any longer. Swiftly she leaped over the seat and
flopped down beside him. “Alright Ammon, start talking.”

“
Hmm?”

“
You’re infuriating me!” she
bellowed, “Enough with the sadness. I’m sorry your father is dead,
but Ammon, it’s time to move on!”

He didn’t even look like he
had heard her. Larissa was hotter than a volcano
now
. Not knowing what else to do, Larissa
decided to go for the Hail Mary.
W
ithout a second thought, she
grasped onto his jaw and shoved his lips against
hers. Her legs swung around his lap until her hips were pressed
squarely into his chest and she had to crane his head up to keep
his lips locked to hers. For a moment her mouth danced across his
without a response and she was just about to roll off and storm
away entirely livid. Then she felt his hands slide up her bare
thigh.

She
s
miled against his mouth
as his hands ran up her back and his
b
reath
t
angled
with
hers. Larissa sank her body against his and the next thing she knew
she was being shoved against the cushions of the couch.

“
Feeling better?” Larissa
asked when Ammon’s lips had slid down her throat.

He pulled away his heart racing rapidly
in his chest. “Much better.”

Larissa beamed. “Good, now get off me.
We need to talk.”

Ammon gazed at her astounded. “Can we
talk later?”

“
No!” she exclaimed then
pushed him up. “We are going to talk right now Ammon. Right
now.”

Ammon growled but he sat up
anyway.

“
Oh, boo.” Larissa spat,
“You didn’t really think I was going to go all the way?”

“
I was hoping for it.” Ammon
confessed as Larissa glared at him.

“
And that’s exactly what I
wanted to talk about.”

“
Sex?” he
guessed.

“
No,” Larissa replied, “You!
You have changed so much and definitely not for the
better.”

“
My dad’s dead Larissa,” he
scowled, “what did you expect me to do? Go skipping in a meadow of
flowers?”

“
Hey, look.” She said. “I
know life sucks right now. But you need to at least try to move on.
It’s been two months and you act like this happened just yesterday.
And it’s really starting to make me mad seeing you like this
because believe it or not Ammon, I…” her voice faltered. She
couldn’t believe she was actually going to say those words, but her
voice choked and all she could do was stare up at him.

Ammon looked at her. “You what
Larissa?”

“
I care about you.” She
finally said. Her mouth felt funny when she spoke because the only
other person she might have repeated those words to was
her best friend
Lee. “Or
at least I cared about the Ammon that was kind, and fun, and easy
to talk to. I miss the Ammon that cared about me too.” Larissa
couldn’t believe she was saying those words. But they tasted like
salt on her tongue, then she realized they were tears.

She was crying, something she never
did. Something invincible people with layers of secrets never did.
But a cranky baseball player had pushed her to it.

Ammon stared at her in bewilderment.
For once there wasn’t a hateful glare in his eyes. “Larissa,” he
sighed scooting her close. “Larissa, don’t cry. I’m not worth your
tears.”

“
Yeah, well, you kinda are.”
She sobbed her bottom lip quivering. “I can’t even begin to tell
you how much you are. You’re so much more than just a friend to me
Ammon, and this is why I hate seeing you like this.”

Ammon stared down at her face as it
grew blotchy with tears. “I… had no idea.” He muttered so softly
even with Larissa’s ears it was barely audible.

She sniffed, “I mean I’ve been able to
adapt to the changes in my life so…” She had said those words
without meaning to and immediately she shut her mouth then prayed
Ammon wouldn’t comprehend what she was talking about.

Of course Ammon O’Connell noticed. He
notices everything. “You’re still keeping secrets from me aren’t
you?”

She sure was. Secrets that
would ruin him if he knew- would ruin her- would ruin
everything
. And there were
two of them. For the past six months, Larissa’s closest and best
friend had been Ammon. He never pushed her into doing anything, and
he was her shoulder to cry on. In many ways he was a second Lee. He
wasn’t as sweet and innocent and willing to love as Lee, but he was
calm and collective- or he had been. With the past Ammon, Larissa
had wanted so desperately to share her secrets. But after all the
changes he had been through, there was no way she could.

Having no one else to turn to was a bit
of a struggle at first. But what got her over it, was the
realization that all she needed to do was push them off to the side
and tackle one day at a time. Eventually she would become strong
enough to deal with them, but for now she was perfectly content
with keeping her thoughts to herself.