MIDNIGHT DIVINE (The Helio Trilogy Book 1) (5 page)

I spin around to get back
in the car, but I'm too slow. I'm slammed into the back window. A strong body
pins me to the car and holds my right arm on the roof while another hand grips
my left arm and restrains it to the driver window. Knowing what's going to
happen, rage builds inside of me. I may look weak, but I'm not about to let
this happen to me.

Mr. Blue brushes my hair
from the right side of my face, revealing my neck, and snarls in my ear, “Hold
still or we kill your boyfriend.”

“Fuck you,” I growl through
gritted teeth and strain to get away from their grips on me with as much
strength as I can muster.

“Wrong answer,” Mr. Blue
barks. He rips my hair back and slams my face off of the window. The glass
shatters, and my head spins unsteady as I
try to refocus
. I force myself to stay awake and not black out. A grunt comes from Mr.
White as my left hand is released. My vision starts coming back to me, and I
spot an aluminum baseball bat in the backseat of Jack's car. Mr. Blue uses his
legs to spread my feet apart. Knowing his focus is on my legs, I reach into the
car with my free hand and grip the baseball bat. Mr. Blue senses my struggle to
get away and tightens his grip. Using my hips, I push back and force Mr. Blue
to stumble backwards, letting go of my other arm
on the roof
.

With the same motion as a
backhand slap across the face, I swing the bat behind me, connecting with Mr.
Blue’s ear and cheekbone. My body twists with the swing, and I'm able to see
Jack again. Mr. Red and White are on the ground while he fights with Mr. Black.
The guttural growl coming from Mr. Blue brings my attention back. I grip the
bat in my right hand and wait for him to charge me again. Jack drops Mr. Black
with a kick
to
the chest and head
s
toward me to take on
Mr. Blue. Unflinching, I stop Mr. Blues attack with another swing of the bat
across his face. He crashes to the ground. The hollow
thunk
of the bat
against his skull is a solid indication he won't be getting up anytime soon.

Turning back to Jack, I
notice Mr. Black is up again and making a beeline for Jack. Jack takes wide
steps around Mr. Black, putting the stranger’s back to me. I rush him and leap
onto his back. Slipping the bat over his head, I lock my legs around the front
of his body. I slide the bat to the crook of my elbows and pull back on his
throat until I can grip the back of his head, locking my fingers together. He
spins side to side, trying to shake me off, but my grip holds strong. He storms
backwards to slam me back into the brick exterior of the building, but he's
weakening, and the blow to the wall isn't as hard as I expect. I hold my grip
tight. Seconds tick by with Mr. Black clawing at my arms and legs to let go. I
lock eyes with Jack. He seems to be yelling at me, but I can't hear him over
the high pitch ringing in my ears. Then, Mr. Black’s arms go slack, and his
knees buckle beneath him. As his body falls face first to the ground, my legs
untwine from around his waist. I let the baseball bat fall back into my right
hand and land on my feet in a crouch over his still body.

Jack seems flustered as he
stands back, surprised at witnessing me handle my own. “You ok?”

“Yeah,” I huff out of
breath as I stand up straight, adrenaline coursing through me.

“Let’s get out of here,” he
reaches out for the bat, and I let him take it. He grips my other hand to lead
me back to the car at a jog.

No words pass between us
until we're off enemy territory. “Jack?”

“Hmm?” he hums with his
mouth closed in concentration.

“Did you know those guys?”

Jack nods. “They work for an
old friend of mine. As I said, 'there was a fallin’ out.'”

I understand he doesn’t
want to talk about it from his tone, but I need answers. “Well, I’m glad you
had that bat in your car. I don’t think I would’ve gotten away from those guys
if you didn’t.”

“I told you to get out of
there, Ivy. What the fuck happened?” he interrogates with anger.

“I dropped the keys in the
floorboard. Then, I saw you had everything under control, and I thought
everything was ok!” I defend.

“You should have run when you
saw them coming back.” He gives me a sidelong glance from the driver’s seat.

“I tried! They were fast,
and I didn’t have a chance to even open the door! They slammed me into the car
before I could even pull the handle!”

Jack's silent as he calms
down. “I’m sorry, Ivy. I couldn’t get to you. Every time I turned to help you,
one or the other would block me. I was trying to fight my way towards you. I
could only get to one of them that attacked you.”

“I’m alright,” I mumble.

“No. You’re not.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re bleeding,” he notes
without looking at me.

I look at the scratches on
my arms and legs. They're deeper than I first thought, but the sting is minimal
with the adrenaline still pumping through my veins. “It’s fine, Jack. I'm a big
girl. I know how to take care of myself.”

“I can see that!” he yells,
then his eyes soften with his tone. “I was surprised at how well you handled
yourself, but that’s not the point. The point is, you shouldn’t have had to. I
let my guard down and didn’t expect him to come back.”

“Why would they attack me
if their beef's with you?”

Jack's saved from my
questioning with the ringing of his phone. “It’s Eric,” he states before
answering. “Hey. We had a little run in with some of Beleth’s goons.” Jack
glances over at me before jerking his eyes back to the road. “We’re ok. Ivy’s a
little banged up. We’re on our way back. We’ll talk
later
.” He pauses. “Later.” Jack hangs up and drops his
phone in the console.

“Who's Beleth?” I urge.
Jack reaches over the console to hold my hand. He's quiet and appears to be
thinking of what he should or shouldn’t tell me. “Jack?”

He heaves a heavy sigh.
“Beleth's a... leader of sorts to a handful of… followers.”

“You mean a gang?”

“Sort of.”

“And you know these
people?”

“Beleth and I use
d
to be friends back in the day. We had a fallin’ out.”

“Well, it seems to me he
knew you would be there. Why's he looking for you?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Bullshit,” I retort.

“I don’t want to get you
involved with this. It’s best if you don’t know the details.”

“Bullshit, Jack! I was
almost raped! I’m already involved! I deserve to know what's going on!”

Jack inhales long and deep
through his nose before releasing it to answer me. “Back in the day, Beleth and
I were good friends. But, we had a fallin’ out. Beleth started hanging around
some sketchy friends that lived for corruption. He started influencing people
to commit crimes just to see how far he could push people. He has a talent for
convincing people to do things they normally wouldn’t do. He can be
very
persuasive. I didn’t want anything to do with it. It
became… his friends against my friends. He assists others higher on the totem
pole by leading people to corruption while my friends and I have made it our
mission to stop him. He’s become even higher in that totem pole since then. He
has his eyes on a particular prize at the moment, and I'm trying my best to
keep
it
from him. I know all of this is confusing and
vague, but it’s all I can tell you right now.”

I sit in silence for a
moment, trying to decipher all he's telling me. It corresponds with legends of
mafia crime syndicates. Jack tries to apologize again, “I’m sorry about all of
this. I wanted you to be able to relax and have fun. It would've been a perfect
night if those guys hadn’t shown up.” Jack smiles at me, and all of my
apprehension melts away.

I smile back. “Jack? Did
you plan a date with me without asking?”

“No,” he says feigning
ignorance. “Just trying to get to know you is all.”

“Well, besides the end of
the night, I had a lot of fun. Thank you.”

Jack kisses my knuckles,
sending a warm tingle through my body. “No problem, Sunshine.” We pull into my
driveway, and Jack lets the engine idle with a low rumble. “I’m going to meet
Eric. Alice should be home though.”

“I guess I’ll see you
later?” I suggest.

“You can count on it.” I
sit still a moment, debating whether to kiss him or not. In the end, I decide
it would be best to let it go.

I get out of the car, and
as I close the door I hear Jack mumble, “Goodnight, Sunshine.”

The door is already closed,
so I wave to him as I head inside. Alice jumps off the couch in the living room
as I enter the house and runs to meet me in the foyer. “Are you ok?” She hugs
me tight.

“I’m fine, Alice.
Everything's fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” She steps back and
looks me over. “I’m going to jump in the shower. Those guys reeked like burning
sewage.” I give a small chuckle to ease her apprehension.

She smiles uneasy, “Ok.”

While taking a shower, I
notice the scratches on my arms and legs are already closing up.
Maybe they
weren’t as deep as they looked in the car.
My entire body’
s
drained of energy, and I don’t remember getting into
bed.

gh

Over the next week, Jack
and I start hanging out more and more. He walks me to class and hangs out while
I study. Eric, Jack, Alice and I become a tight troop—I start referring to us
as The Fearsome Foursome. We play video games, go out to eat, or have fast food
and watch movies. Jack listens to me play guitar on my bed when Eric and Alice
want to be alone or have other plans. Every time, he lays back on my pillow
with his hands behind his head. His shirt ride
s
up an inch or two,
revealing the ‘V’ of muscles framing his hips and making me ache for him more
than I should.

I love being around Jack.
We try to keep our relationship status as ‘just friends’, but the platonic way
we've been touching each other is beginning to blur the lines between
friendship and relationship. My attraction to him intensifies every day, and I try
my best to keep my thoughts from going there. He favors being a wise-guy, he's
intelligent and witty, and never tries to push for more between us. Which I
appreciate, but loath all the same. I sense another brick fall away from my
metaphorical wall and notice there are more missing than I realized.

Late Friday afternoon, Jack
drives me home from class, and I become aware it's been one week to the day
since we met. Yet, it seems as if I've known him a lot longer. He follows me
into my room, and I throw my backpack in the chair by my desk. Jack stares at
the bong I'd left out unintentionally. “Sorry,” I apologize and snatch it from
the desk to hide in the closet.

“Why do you do that shit?”
he questions in a disgusted tone as he plops down on my bed.

I shrug my shoulders, “It
calms me down.”

“No. It’s a crutch,” he
corrects.

“For what?” I glare.

Jack sighs. “I know you
better than you think I do.”

“Uh-huh.” I roll my eyes at
him and cross my arms over my chest.

He doesn’t look up at me.
“I know you’re hiding something. You don’t have to tell me either. That’s ok.
But, I see you. I’m not stupid. When things get exciting or intense or if there
are too many people around, you leave and come back high.” He reaches out and
pulls my hands away from me. “Why are you so afraid to feel anything?”

I don’t speak at first. “I
know it’s stupid.” I look at my feet to avoid the humiliation I know is coming.
“But, I’m afraid if I feel anything
good
… it’ll be taken away. It’s sort
of become habit since I was seventeen.”

“Hey,” Jack squeezes my
hands to get my attention. “The more you do that shit, the more you lose
yourself. You’re not feeling or experiencing life as you should. You don’t need
it. If I promise you that I won’t let anything ever happen to you, would you
stop smoking?”

“How can you promise that?”
I prod, remembering the night of the concert. He isn’t making sense, but then
again, neither am I.

“Let’s just say, you’ve
become important to me, and I’m not about to lose you… for any reason,” he
confesses, and my heart wants to leap out of my chest.

I let go of his hands and
began to pace my room.
The lines are blurring again. Dammit, Jack! You can’t
say things like that to me! It makes me feel things for you I need to stay away
from. I don’t want to get hurt. Smoking keeps me sane! If I don’t dull my
senses, my mind fabricates a paranoia and anxiety that I’m forgetting
something, and someone's watching me… waiting for me… coming for me. Listen to
me! I’m psychotic!

I glance over at Jack. He sits
in patient silence on my bed while watching me pace, and I continue my inner
dialogue.

On the other hand, I’ve
only felt I didn’t have to smoke when we're alone. You snuff out my anxiety. A
sense of calm comes over me… except for the intense attraction I feel for you.
But, even pot doesn’t keep those feelings at bay. I don’t know. Can I stop
smoking or will I turn into a psychotic nut job?
I don’t want to
smoke anymore.

I cease my pacing and sigh.
“Alright, Jack. I’ll give it a shot.” I pull out all of my paraphernalia along
with my stash and shove it into a tote I never use. I hold the bag out to him,
“Here. Take it to a dumpster somewhere. I don’t know if I could do it myself.”

Jack takes the bag from me,
rising from the bed. “I’m proud of you, Sunshine.” He kisses me on top of the
head and leaves to dispose of my support system, being hell bent I can do
without.
I hope so, because when I start getting all schizophrenic, you’re
going to wonder why you ever wanted me around.

Trying to sleep without
relaxing the way I normally do turns out to be harder than I thought it would.
I toss and turn for hours. My mind can’t shut itself off. I keep thinking about
how everyone I've ever let past the wall I erected around myself has hurt me.
My adoptive parents waited until I had turned sixteen to tell me I was adopted.
My world crashed around me with that one sentence, "You were adopted as an
infant." After that single statement, I lost complete meaning of self. I
didn’t know who I was anymore, and every day I fought against the empty feeling
inside.

Gideon tried to be there
for me after I found out, but I pushed him away until I found a way to cope. I
started finding random beach parties to go to and drink myself into a stupor.
Jack's
right. I need to straighten my life out. I can’t do that if I keep ignoring
everything.
My thoughts tumble into the early hours of morning as I fall
asleep.

Jack holds my hand as we
lay in the grass. The stars above us are bright and provide enough light to see
the tall grass billowing in the field around us. Believing I hear him speak, I
turn my head to face him. “What?”

His head lolls to the side
to face me. “I’m here,” he whispers. Despite his words, I get the impression
he's saying goodbye. His green eyes begin to illuminate brighter and brighter
until a blinding white light takes over all I can see.

I wake up to the sun
shining through my eyelids, making their insides radiate pink as birds chirp
their morning song outside my window. I stretch my limbs and open my eyes. A
stillness settles over me, and I yawn from my restless slumber.
Ugh. I need
coffee.
I throw the covers back and dress in frantic chaos. I want to get
out of the house and try to keep my mind off of smoking pot.

Venturing down the street
to the coffee shop I'm thankful I wore my dark sunglasses to block the sun’s
rays. I close my eyes and lift my face, relishing the warmth of the rising sun
on my cheeks. Without warning, my heart starts to race, making it hard for me
to breath
e
. Goosebumps travel down my body from the static in
the air. I look over my shoulder with the sense I'm being followed. No one’s
behind me. The streets are empty. I continue towards the coffee shop, picking
up my pace. I hear the distinct sound of Jack’s muffler and slow down.

Jack pulls up next to me
with his window rolled down. “Where are
you
headed, Sunshine?” he
chides.

“Hey!” I yell as I scurry
to his window and lean on the doorframe, crossing my forearms on the
window sill. His back window is fixed, and I wonder
how much it set him back. “I’m just headed to the coffee shop.”