OBTAINED (Book One) Page 6

  “Sure,” I mumble as I step towards him.

  “Would you like me to take your coat?” He places the glasses down then unzips his leather jacket. I nod, unbuttoning mine before slipping out of it. He grabs it and tosses them both to the end of the sofa. “Please, have a seat.”

  I sit, feeling more than awkward. It’s extremely quiet and I don’t know what he’s going to say or talk about. He makes his way to a glass case that is beneath the TV and turns his stereo system on. Music floods from random speakers around the room and I can’t be any more relieved. But this time it’s a band that I don’t know, but that sounds really similar to The Fray. He likes soft, alternative rock—which I am glad about because that most likely means that he isn’t one of those punk, hardcore rockers. Those are usually the crazy ones in my book. He grabs a small silver remote and turns the volume up a bit before he plops down on the couch a few inches away from me. He then grabs for our juice, handing me mine first before taking a sip of his.

  “Are you comfortable?” he asks.

  “Mmhhmm,” I nod while taking a sip. I place it down on the glass coffee table then turn to face him.

  “You seem a tad bit nervous, are you alright?”

  I sigh. “I mean, I hardly know you, Jules. I’m just trusting you enough to the point where I believe you won’t do anything crazy.”

  He frowns slightly, his eyes refusing to look anywhere else but into mine. “I understand you don’t . . . know me,” he says, his grip tightening around his glass. I don’t think he notices that he’s doing it, but I do. “But I would never hurt anybody—most definitely not you, Alexandria.”

  I nod. “I understand.” He nods back then takes another sip of his juice. “So what do you do to have a house this nice?” I ask to lighten the mood.

  He smiles softly as he leans forward to place his glass down on the coffee table. “It isn’t obvious, Alexandria?” Oh, God. It’s the name thing again.

  “Um— I mean it’s just—” I stutter, taking in his beautiful home again but he just shakes his head with a light, mesmerizing chuckle.

  “I’m an artist, Alexandria. I was invited to attend an exhibition at the American Folk Art Museum in New York City once after being spotted carrying one of my paintings.” He sighs as he pushes his hair back. “Let’s just say that they loved it and later started paying me and a few others to show our faces every other Saturday with a new drawing, sculpture, or painting.”

  My eyes broaden. “Wow. That is amazing.”

  “Don’t be amazed. There are others that are far greater at what they do than I am.” He smiles as he reaches for his glass of juice again but my features fall as he bursts my bubble. Why did he just put himself down like that? He takes a sip then glances at the cross that is resting against my chest. His eyes seem to darken and glower as he studies it.

  “What?” I ask, wrapping my fingers around it.

  “I don’t like it,” he mutters bluntly then looks away.

  I frown. “Why not? What’s wrong with it?”

  He shrugs carelessly. “You wouldn’t understand.”

  “Well I can’t understand if you don’t tell me, Jules.” That catches his attention.

  He reaches for my hand and gently grasps it and for some reason, I don’t pull away—even when I’d witnessed his hands glowing. “Alexandria,” he says calmly. Delighted heat flows through my jellified bones. He rubs his thumb along my knuckles, just like he had in my dream. His lip twitches at the corners, as if he’s fighting himself over telling me something. “I really wish that you could just remember me.”

  I tilt my head, my eyes broadening again. “How can I remember someone I’ve never met?”

  “Alexandria, you know me.” The tone in his voice rises slightly. He sounds angry, frustrated. I admit that he seems familiar to me but I don’t know him. “Just think on it, please. I know you can remember if you just try. You aren’t trying.”

  I shake my head as I pull away from him. Now he is freaking me out and now I’m having second thoughts about being here with him . . . alone. “Jules, I don’t know you. I swear.” Terrified thoughts crowd my mind. Is he going to hurt me? He sure does look like it.

  He sighs as he stands and—out of nowhere—tosses his glass to the far wall across from him. The glass causes the whole atmosphere in the room to freeze and the shattering causes me to jolt away from him. I flinch with daunt eyes as he grips the bridge of his nose with one hand while placing his other hand on his hip. “Jules, I think it’s best for the both of us if you just take me home now,” I say as I begin to stand but he turns around quickly to stop me, gripping onto my upper arms lightly.

  “No, Alexandria!” he barks. “Gah, this makes me so frustrated—so upset! I want you to remember me but I don’t know how to make it happen. I sit in the same spot of that coffee shop every single day and hope that you will recognize me, realize who I am and what we’d shared, but you don’t—you can’t.” The anger in his voice dissolves into shame. He pulls away from me to slouch down on the end of the sofa. “I’m sorry, I just—” He places his head between his hands and rubs his face with the palms of his hands, letting the frustration take over him.

  “Jules. I’m sorry,” I whisper as I sit down with him. “I don’t remember anything—I want to . . . but I don’t. And I’m sure that if I could remember you, we wouldn’t be in this situation right now.”

  He turns to look at me quickly. “That’s how they want it to be,” he hisses through his teeth. “This is what they’ve wanted. You confused and unprotected.”

  “Who?” I ask, leaning in as if it will help me get more information out of him.

  He shakes his head then looks way and I can tell that he isn’t going to tell me anything important. “I don’t want to confuse you any more than you already are, Alexandria,” he mutters. “You’re already wearing their symbol and colors. Red and black jeweled crosses. They’re trying to trap you.”

  “Who?” I ask again, my voice throttling with irritation. “Who are you talking about?”

  “I can’t tell you unless you leave Felix alone, Alexandria. It’s a part of our law.”

  By this point, I am disappointed and aggravated. He isn’t giving me answers and I don’t know what he is talking about. Why would I leave Felix alone? He has nothing to do with Jules. The room grows silent, his face remains firm. I sigh, reaching to rub my sweating palms against the thigh of my jeans. “Exactly what are you, Jules?” I finally ask after a still silence.

  He jerks his gaze on me again, his eyes wide and dark. He scans me over, as if searching for something but I’m not sure what. “Promise you won’t get mad at me or call me a freak?” he asks. “Because I already know how you are and how you will react, Alexandria.”

  I hesitate. I can’t promise that. I completely flipped out when I saw his glowing hands and eyes and I know that whatever he is about to tell me is going to be far worse than that. I can see it in his stern brown eyes. “I’ll try not to,” I murmur without eyeing him.

  He reaches forward to grab my face gently, forcing me to look at him. “No. I need you to promise me.”

  “Jules,” I groan.

  “Alexandria,” he counters disapprovingly. “I cannot tell you if you don’t promise me. I need your word.”

  I groan again as he releases my face. I look towards the juice and shards of glass scattered on the hardwood floorboards then at Jules whose face is hard, serious, and his eyes, a bit bothered. “Alright. I promise,” I agree, knowing that I shouldn’t have. I already know that I am going to spaz by the way he’s acting.

  He nods then sighs as he rides the palms of his hands along the thigh of his jeans. “We are Guardian Angels, Alexandria, and you are my mate.”

  GUARDIAN

  It takes me a while to wrap my mind around what he has just told me. He continues to look at me and I’m sure that he’s waiting for me to hop from his couch and run for the door but I’m not going to do that. I promised that I would rema
in calm, so I will. But I’m far from calm on the inside. I just have a good habit of pretending to be calm on the outside.

  “You still with me, Alexandria?” he asks, leaning in.

  “Uh—yeah.” I blink rapidly. “I don’t think that is true, Jules.”

  “It is, Alexandria. You have to believe me. I am not joking about this.” He stands to tug his shirt over his head and if I weren’t so damn dazed, I probably would have climbed on top of him. His body is glorious and the pale skin blanketed on top of his sculpted abs is healthy and flawless. He is beautiful—gorgeous—but I’m not concerned with his body right now. He takes a step back and before I know it, he is flapping a pair of sparkling gold wings. I gasp, shriek, and then rush to hide behind the sofa.

  “You have wings?” I screech. I continue to stare at them, wide-eyed and bewildered. The radiance from his wings makes his pale skin glow like the rays of the sun. He looks even more beautiful with them, just like a—an angel is supposed to look.

  “Don’t be frightened,” he says, taking a step forward with bright gold eyes. “I would never hurt you.” I nod but his words aren’t reassuring enough because I’m still crouching behind his sofa. I’ve heard about Guardian Angels—I’ve heard a lot of things about them—but how is this possible? I can’t be—he can’t be. Maybe I should faint and all of this will be over when I wake up. None of this can be real.

  “What about your hands? How did you do that thing with your hands and your eyes?” I ask as I look him in the eye, standing very slowly. His wings flap and then swoop in and attach to his back. I watch as they dissolve against his marble skin and black markings appear on his shoulders and the back of his arms, almost like tattoos. They are thin curves and lines that look just like the curves and lines in his wings. So that’s how he hides them.

  “Our hands and eyes spark the same color of our wings when we feel threatened, when we are in Angel form, or when we feel like something bad is going to happen to our mates. Sometimes we can feel when something bad is about to happen to them—almost like an instinct. My hands heated and sparked when I felt your heartbeat quickening in that alley. I can feel you, Alexandria. Whenever you are afraid, frantic, worried, or just upset, I feel it. Whenever you get hurt, feel pain, I feel it. We are connected—have been since birth—and no matter how far away we try to get from each other, I can still feel you.”

  He can feel me? This is definitely news to me. No wonder he showed up at that alley so quickly. He can pretty much sense the bad happening to me before it comes. That’s probably why he caught the subway and that’s why he showed up so quickly to rescue me. Because I am a part of him and he felt me.

  I finally stand up completely but my legs are weak and wobble like wet spaghetti. This is something that I wish I had never known. Just when I thought that I was a normal girl with a crush, it flips on me and suddenly I am a Guardian Angel—with a sexy mate.

  “Please say something,” he begs softly.

  “Jules—” His name is all I can say. What exactly do you say when you find something like this out? Are you supposed to be happy, angry, freaked out, relieved? I’m not sure what I feel. There is a mix of feelings but for some reason, I feel like this is nothing new to me—like I’ve known I wasn’t normal or like the rest of humanity. And sometimes I feel like I behave too well—even Liam agrees. He thinks I’m a goody-two-shoes that likes to stay home on weekends instead of going out to night clubs to shake my ass around.

  Jules reaches his hand out to me and I hesitate on taking it this time, but I end up doing it anyway. I really don’t have another option. He sits then brings me over the sofa. I step on the cushions to sit with him while crossing my legs. “I know that I’ve most likely amplified your confusion but I had to tell you before you got too involved with him. I can’t lose you to them.”

  “Who are they?” I ask again.

  He shakes his head with a low groan. “The law, Alexandria. I cannot tell you their names or anything about them. They have to be willing to tell you themselves. We aren’t allowed to reveal other supernatural beings unless we have permission from them to do so.”

  And, once again, I am confused. “You said I had to leave Felix alone. Why?”

  “He is no good for us, Alexandria. And if you continue to see him, I may lose you to him. If the Leaders find out that there is confusion with who my mate loves, my life is in danger.” He looks me in the eye as his face depresses. “The Leaders don’t even know that you’ve lost your memory and if they find that out, I am definitely doomed.” Wow. This is a bit much. How am I supposed to respond to any of this? And who in the hell are the Leaders? “I tried to leave you alone, I tried to avoid you and ignore you after your memory loss, but it was too hard for me to do. I could feel you too much and the more that I tried to run away from it, the stronger it was. I love you, Alexandria. And it kills me to know that you don’t feel the same way anymore.”

  I gasp. He loves me? Jules Maddox loves me, Alexandria Mona Marshall? “Why did you want to leave me alone?”

  “If the Leaders were to find out that you had lost your memory and didn’t know anything about me or the angelic lifestyle, they would have let you live on as a normal human being with a normal human life. All would have been forgotten and you could live on without a worry in the world. I would rather you be happy and satisfied with life than worried about what you really are.” He sighs as he pushes a hand through his hair. “But when I saw you with Felix, that was all I could take. I had to tell you. I refuse to let him consume you without proposing my own options.”

  “But I don’t get how you are doomed. What will they do if they find out?”

  He looks away from me with wide brown eyes. He inhales then exhales deeply before speaking again. “I will be damned and wiped away from the face of this earth. We both will,” he mutters.

  I gasp, my heart skipping a beat. “We both will? I knew nothing about this, Jules! Why didn’t you tell me anything sooner, before I met Felix?”

  “Because everything in your life was running smoothly, Alexandria. You were finally satisfied with your life and you were happier after your memory loss than you were before it. Your life was better without me.” I spot a glimpse of guilt in his eyes. He feels guilty about all of this. I sink back on the sofa with a heavy sigh and he immediately reaches for my fingertips. “This is why I don’t want you talking to Felix. This is why he is no good for you or me.” His eyes narrow pleadingly.

  “So you expect me to just leave Felix alone . . . for you?” I snap quickly.

  “Well, no.” His voice is hesitant as he tilts his head curiously. “But it would be what is best for our safety and our future. We can’t just leave each other alone, Alexandria. It’s impossible as mates. I have to be around to protect you. You are not safe.”

  “Well, safe or not, I don’t think I can go along with that, Jules.” I pull my fingers away from his to stand. I fold my arms across my chest stubbornly as he stands with me, still confused.

  He reaches for me again, pulls me in closer, and we lock eyes. He breathes softly, gazing down at me as if it will kill him to let me go. In fact, it will kill him if he lets me go. But I’ve never wanted to be unwanted by someone so much until now. Why me? Why us? Why can’t we just be normal and choose who we want to love and who we want to be with? I’ve never wanted to be more human than now.

  “If only I had shown up earlier to save you, we could still be together. We could still be one,” he whispers, his lips almost touching mine. My hands press against his smooth, marble skin and a rush spills through every ounce of me. He feels warm, secure. I no longer feel like he’s a hazard to me or my life because he knows me. He knew me.

  “What happened to me?” I whisper back. His upper lip twitches at the corner as he looks away. He glances down at the cross that is against my chest and then pulls away.

  “You are out of my possession, Alexandria. He has taken you away from me for now and I am not allowed to tell you until his pos
session and hold has been broken.”

  “How do I break it? How do I become yours again?”

  He sighs, pulling away from me. “The law again. I cannot tell. Either he tells you or you figure it out.”

  “I can’t get a clue of what it may be? What I have to do?” I frown. “Do I just stop seeing him or something?” He crushes his lips together with a deeper grimace. He glances at the cross against my chest again and I look down with him. “The necklace, of course,” I mumble, wrapping my fingers around it. I lift it up to study it again and the rubies seem menacing now. “What do I do with it?” I ask.

  “Alexandria, I can’t tell you anything about this. I have the answers but if anyone finds out that a young Guardian Angel like me has broken the law, I am in trouble—we are in trouble. You have to figure it out—and fast.”

  “Should I take it off?”

  He sighs. “It doesn’t matter if you take it off, it is still with you. He has given it to you and you have accepted it. He is a part of you now. There is no way of disowning it unless he takes it back.” I frown as I glance at it again. This is all so confusing. I’ve only had one date with Felix. How in the hell can he have possession of me already? I wish I would have known this before I had taken it. But I was so happy to receive it—I knew Felix’s words weren’t adding up yesterday. He sounded too cocky—too sure of himself. I yank the chain from around my neck quickly then tuck it into my back pocket.

  Jules smiles as he steps forward again. He wraps his arm around my waist, making me feel safe again. “Good girl,” he says coolly. “With that thing around your neck, I can’t feel you. It’s too close to your heart. I need to feel you in order to know that you’re alright.”

  “Oh,” I reply softly. He licks his bottom lip and my breath suppresses. Everything he does with his mouth is sexy. I just want to kiss him, fall on top of him, and lock lips with him for hours. I don’t know why I feel this way about him, especially after all that he has told me tonight. I should be screaming at him or running away but there is something about the gleam in his brown eyes, the small smile on his beautiful, pink lips. They are telling me to trust him, to remember him. But I can’t and it annoys the hell out of me because I really want to remember everything about him and what we’d shared before. I really want to know more about us—about myself and my past. I’m sure the past Alexandria knows a ton of stuff about Jules.