Love for a memory, p.29
Love for a Memory, page 29
“Any city you’re in the mood for in particular, or just somewhere within walking distance of a nude beach?” He stepped out of the tub and snatched his towel from her as he stepped past her toward his computer with a few appreciative grins at her still-deliciously-naked form.
“Somewhere within walking distance sounds nice. I do like an even tan, after all.” She smirked as she walked away from him to her phone, but she didn’t get dressed before she plopped back into the bed and hit the speed-dial for Darius’ number.
“What now, Zeke? Is she awake?” Darius snapped irritably as soon as the phone connected.
“It’s me.” Her smile faded instantly at her brother’s irritation. “Yes, I’m awake. Thank you for bringing all of our things and giving us food.”
“Yeah. Right.” He said as his voice calmed significantly. “How’re you feeling?”
“Like I never want to be paralyzed ever again.” She said honestly, skipping over the part about being significantly more relaxed than she had been when she woke up. “I didn’t know you were going to stay around, though I’m glad you did.”
“Wanted to make sure you were back on your feet first. How long before you’re ready to get home? We’ve been up here too long already.”
“About that…” She hesitated, and she could hear her brother growl slightly over the phone before she finished. “I saw what was in that woman’s head. They had a direct order from Jade to deliver me to her. Dead. I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to go back to Vegas for a while.”
“Where else would you go? Back to Vancouver? Madrid? Don’t even try to say you’re going back home. The old covenant would tear you into smaller pieces than Jade would.”
“Well, I remembered that Rachel Henderson was planning to go out to California to go to school, and I would be remiss in my covenant responsibilities if I wasn’t there to help her get settled. We never let one of our own fly the coop alone, though her parents will help her too. One of us has to handle negotiations out there anyway, it might be best if I’m the one to do it just to keep my face off of the cameras that seem to be everywhere in Vegas. It would only be for a few months. Then we’ll go home and hope that whoever Jade sends next will be easy to handle.”
She could tell Darius wasn’t happy about that suggestion, but his silence meant he was considering it, at least. “She’s not set to leave until July. That’ll give you and Zeke plenty of time to get things set up for her out there, as well as finalize negotiations with Jonas and his crew.”
“Hopefully he’s a little less concerned about partying this time than he was the last time. That man really does look for any excuse he can for everyone to bring alcohol to the beach. I don’t know how they manage to stay so large and safe at the same time.”
“That’s part of their camouflage. Jonas chose to hide in plain sight a long time ago, but then again, he’s Jonas. He’s paid the price to have that luxury.” Darius sighed, and she could hear him scratching at his forehead as he thought through what she was saying. “When you’re ready to leave, call down and let us know, we’ll meet up before you go. And tell Zeke I still want those reports on any followup with his tormentors.”
“We should be ready in a few hours.” She looked over at Zeke with a smile, since he was still very naked while he worked on his computer. “Are you ever going to forgive me for seducing your best computer tech?”
“I’ll only have problems forgiving you if you also seduce him into quitting his job, which I find unlikely. Zeke is only slightly less of a workaholic than you are.”
“I don’t plan on convincing him to quit his job, but there is a distinct possibility he might get distracted more often than in the past.” She hadn’t exactly confessed to her brother that she and Zeke had managed to get back together on their getaway, especially since he had warned her before she left that Zeke wasn’t the same man as he was before his memories were lost. “We distract each other.”
“So I gathered. From your insistence on rescuing him alone.” He said quietly, obviously still mad about a number of things. “I’m glad you’re alright. Christina and Lydia will be down for another few days, but you know those two. They don’t mind as much.”
“I’m glad everyone seems to be recovering well enough.” She said softly, thinking about the two main healers of their covenant. “Thank you for coming out here, Darius. You always take good care of me, even though you remain angry about it for a long time. You seem to get angry more and more often these days than ever before.”
“You’ve never given me this many reasons before in such a short time. Nor have you ever kept quite so many secrets from me as you have lately. But you had your reasons.” He said with more understanding in his voice than she’d heard from him in a while. “Even if I don’t always understand them.”
Sophia felt guilty for cutting her brother out of her life so often recently, but it was mostly due to what had happened with the Hunters that had tormented her. When she made it home, so much had changed about how she viewed things. Though she and Darius always depended on each other, she realized maybe he wouldn’t always have her around. “I nearly died out there. When I came back, I hoped if I gave you some distance, you would let someone else in. That way it wouldn’t just be you and me anymore.”
When he answered after a long pause, it was in the language they had grown up speaking, since he clearly didn’t want anyone else with him to understand what he was saying. “Letting people in has never been the problem, sister. You know that. It’s what they see once they’re inside.”
“I really thought after Lydia arrived that she would…you hit it off so well…”
“Lydia was twelve years ago, Sophia.” He said a little more harshly than was absolutely necessary. “She was young at the time, no matter how well we hit it off. She may be more understanding than most of those in our covenant, but our association ends there.”
Sophia sighed over the phone, since she wanted her brother to be happy just as much as she wanted her own happiness with Zeke. Her relationship with Zeke was far from perfect, especially considering that she was immortal and he was not, but she was happy. That was what mattered. “If I can find someone, so can you.”
“You’ve always been significantly more lovable than I am, Sophia. And I’m sorry, but if it’s someone like Zeke in my future, I believe I’m better off being single, thank you very much.”
“Would it help to know the makeup sex is worth all the arguing?”
She could almost feel him wince before he answered. “I draw the line at hearing about your sex life. It was bad enough in the house in Vancouver where I actually heard it as it was happening, I certainly don’t need descriptions of it after the fact.”
“Well, that was different.” She gave a weak defense, but she nodded anyway even though he couldn’t see her. Thank goodness he couldn’t see her. “Anyway. More serious conversations to come, but like I said, we’ll be ready in a few hours.”
“We’ll be here. Just call down.” She expected to hear the line go dead as it had with most of their other conversations recently, instead she heard her brother sigh into the phone. “I’m glad you’re alright. Try and stay that way this time.”
“I will. You know me.” She smiled and ended the call afterwards, tossing the phone aside before she crawled to the edge of the bed to get closer to Zeke. “We’ve got a few hours to burn.”
“Burn, huh?” He spun his chair to face her and put his feet up on the bed, leaning back with his hands behind his head. “You have a pyromaniac streak that I don’t know about yet? Don’t get me wrong, fly the freak flag as high as you like, but when I said no ice I didn’t mean go to the other extreme.”
Sophia rolled her eyes before she got off the bed. “Fine, if you don’t want to ‘burn’ the time, then I’m getting dressed.”
“The hell you are.” He got up and stepped behind her, taking her hands as he held her back against him while he leaned down to kiss her shoulder. “I might not remember parts of the last ten years, but I can’t bring myself to believe there was ever a time I was partial to you wearing clothes.”
“I’m not sure if you really thought about me that often with or without clothes before we started trying out the no-clothes policy.” She turned around quickly and kissed him before she yanked him back to the bed. “But I’ll keep them off. Just for you.”
Epilogue
“Hey, you two!” Casey crossed the assembly room faster than anyone should have been capable of moving in a tuxedo, his smile as broad and bright as ever. “Welcome back into town. Have a nice forced vacation?” He was looking back and forth between Cody and Aimee with a knowing grin that proclaimed he already knew just about every detail, since Aimee had, of course, been in touch with him the entire time. But Cody didn’t need to know that.
“We had a great time.” Aimee looked over at Cody with a smile, since they had hardly left their hotel the entire vacation. Even with all the money and paid trips they had been given as late honeymoon gifts, Aimee could only remember leaving once and that was to skinny dip in the pool at midnight. “Don’t you think, Cody?”
“Did you ask me something?” Cody responded with a grin, one arm still around Aimee’s shoulders, a diamond cufflink shining by her neck, one of many presents he’d received months before that he was finally getting to use with the rest of his tux. It was another special occasion, after all. “I’m sorry, I’m still way too relaxed to answer questions right now. Perhaps if you try back in another month, maybe a year, I’ll hold up better under interrogation.”
Aimee giggled and kissed Cody’s cheek before she turned her attention back to Casey. “So…is this whole thing for real? I mean, this is Zeke we’re talking about.”
“It’s as real as it gets. Believe me, nobody here is anything but thoroughly freaked out by the whole thing. Isaac and I went out to California to visit them a week ago in their new place to do some shopping for them at Sophia’s request. They’re a little scary together, I have to tell you.”
“Scary? Scary how? Like…this is a true love kind of thing? Or a Vegas romance? Because Zeke doesn’t love people, he loves to criticize them, and I’m sure he enjoys sex as much as the next guy, but…”
Casey laughed at that, but shook his head. “Scary like…you hang around them and you’re not sure if they’re about to throw each other through a plate glass window or rip each other’s clothes off on a coffee table. And I don’t mean either of those entirely as a figure of speech.”
“I’d rather not think about that where Zeke is concerned. Or Sophia. I thought she was an uptight bitch, not exactly the type to fall in love and get married. She didn’t exactly seem all gentle and caring when she had my ass tossed out of the covenant.”
“That’s…probably because she is an uptight bitch. But then again, Zeke can be kind of an uptight bitch too from time to time, so they’re a match made in some kind of uptight, bitchy heaven.” He chuckled. “God, I hope that’s actually a thing. Come on, I’ll show you to your seats.” He turned and started walking beside Isaac, who gave them a warm smile as Casey took his arm, but said nothing. Of the two of them, Isaac was far more reserved, but just as strong and kind as Casey beyond the shyness.
Aimee looked around as they followed Casey to their seats, and she still found it a little strange to be around everyone after everything that had happened. She had moved on in some ways, but it was still strange to be surrounded by people who hadn’t helped her much when she had needed them.
They were seated against the wall at a long, lavishly decorated table with a huge space in the center of the room between the tables that lined the walls. There was a circle of wildflowers in the center, where Darius was standing at the moment and talking to Mike and Janelle Henderson, who had their daughter Rachel standing between them like they were planning on protecting her from Darius somehow.
“This isn’t the typical Vegas drive thru wedding, that’s for sure.” Aimee took a moment to straighten her silver dress before she realized that Zeke was walking in by himself to the center, and he looked good. She was impressed that he could clean up so well. “He’s certainly dressed to impress.”
“It is his wedding, after all.” Cody shrugged and waved at Zeke when he glanced in their direction. “I looked better.”
Aimee smirked and leaned in to kiss Cody on the cheek. “You did. Especially when we got to the hotel.” She kissed his jawline once before she looked back just as Darius left his spot to meet up with his sister.
Sophia smiled as Darius approached her, and though she felt like twirling once for her brother, she didn’t quite convince herself to do it. She realized white wasn’t exactly the color she should wear, but she wanted to do something traditional. She already told Zeke that she wasn’t going to get married again, so she might as well do it right.
The dress she wore was down to her feet, but it fit her form perfectly as she walked. It was heavily beaded around her chest with intricate designs made out of silver and pearl beads, a thick band of fabric around her chest. A single sleeve, if it could be called that, draped over her left shoulder. Other than the corset-like ties low on the back of the dress, it was a simple white everywhere else, but it looked good against her olive skin. Sophia had her black hair half pinned up, but it spilled in large curls all along her bare shoulders. “How do I look?”
Darius smiled as he reached out and took his sister’s hand, nodding his approval as he looked her over. “Like you belong in a bridal magazine destined to sell every copy. You look beautiful, Sophia.”
“I hope so. My fiance has very picky tastes. I am hoping that I can impress him.” She smiled at her brother and squeezed his hand as he held hers. “Thanks for being willing to abide by tradition enough to walk me down the aisle.”
“If we were abiding by tradition, Zeke would owe me about a dozen herds of very, very fat cattle for you. I know he’s rich and he’s made us all rich along with him, but I wouldn’t accept everything he’s made us from someone just trying to buy you.”
“And here I was sure that you wanted some cattle around like the good old days.” She leaned in and kissed her brother’s cheek. She wasn’t wearing any makeup with the exception of some eye makeup, so she didn’t leave a big lip print when she pulled away. “No music, just walking. He doesn’t even look nervous.” She looped her arm with her brother’s. “Is he?”
“Not that I can tell. Though I can’t say that enhances my opinion of the man. He ought to be petrified. He’s been stuck with me as his employer for a decade, now I’m going to be his brother-in-law.”
“Of course, since it’s all about you.” She smiled at her brother as they continued down the aisle slowly, both of them smiling and acknowledging people until they reached the end of the aisle where Zeke waited. “Now you let go of my arm, Darius.” She said teasingly, since her brother was still holding to her somewhat firmly.
He hesitated another moment as he looked over at his sister. He lifted her hand and kissed the back of her knuckles before he took that same hand and placed it in Zeke’s, then walked out of the circle and back toward his assigned seat. He was only there to give his sister away, not preside over the ceremony. That wasn’t how weddings were done among the Marked.
Zeke looked down at Sophia with a broad smile as he held her hand, slowly weaving his fingers with hers as he drew her in closer to take her other hand. “Someday mankind might invent a language to describe how damn good you look right now. But I doubt it.”
Sophia beamed as she stepped in closer to Zeke, incredibly excited to be his wife. Legally, they were already married in the state of Nevada as of that morning, but they both didn’t consider it the same thing until it was done the right way. The right way to them, anyway.
“We can make this as simple or as complex as we like.” She reminded him, though he hardly needed to be reminded. “I was thinking that maybe we could extend my immortality pact. I’ve never been one to think small when it comes to the Voice.”
“You know, I did actually get that impression of you these last few months. As you single-handedly altered my life.” He grinned, nodding his head to one side as everyone around the room stood up to witness the ceremony. “What kind of extension did you have in mind?”
“Well, a sort of- you go, I go, type of thing.” She shrugged, since she didn’t want to sound overly emotional about it, but she was emotional about it. Sophia had lost Zeke once, and she wasn’t going to lose him again. “I think I’m allowed to sound sappy on my wedding day, so I’m allowed to say how I never want to lose you without you making fun of me for it.”
Zeke’s grin widened at that as he pulled her in against him and rested his hands at her waist. His fingers ran over the fabric and the laces along the small of her back. “I’ll mock you for just about everything else, but never that.”
He pulled her in close to rest his forehead against hers, finding it incredibly difficult not to kiss her in that moment, but they were doing things as traditionally as possible, if only for that one day. “If you go, I go.” He could feel the Mark on his shoulder begin to burn, as it sensed their attention, toward the magic nearly everyone in the room possessed.
She gasped softly as her Mark began to burn, but she closed her eyes as her forehead remained pressed to his. They could hear the Voice start as whispers in the back of their mind, as if it was waking up slowly between them.
We would make a joint pact, to bind us together. Zeke could hear Sophia’s voice in his mind, but he knew it was only because they were going into the pact as one, instead of as individuals. Whatever the length our lives would be without each other, we would sacrifice what would be for the chance to live only as long as the other lives.
