“Yes.”
We get out of the car and he walks me to my front door. It isn’t that cold outside, but I know the cold weather will come back. Weather in Alabama is like playing the lottery. No one ever knows what’s going to happen from one day to the next. One December it snowed the day after a tornado raged through.
“Do you want to do something tomorrow night?” Vincent asks.
“No dice. I have to work.”
“Do you always work?”
I let out a small laugh. “Yeah. Sorry. You can thank my parents for that.”
“How late do you work?”
“Midnight.”
“Ouch. Well, maybe this will give you something to think about.” He takes a step closer and his lips touch mine. His hands entangle through my hair and he presses harder. My heart is frantic, and I love the softness of his lips. Suddenly, in my mind I see a man in a black pinstripe suit smiling at a woman in a long navy dress. Their faces are blurry though. Vincent abruptly pulls away.
“I’m sorry,” he says breathlessly. “A little eager.” Blood rushes to his cheeks under the porch light and he looks away.
“It’s okay.” I wonder who on earth I saw in my mind or what I was thinking.
He brushes my hair from my face and pulls me closer with his hand cupping my neck and tilting my head toward his. He kisses me again, softly, and I see the man in the suit kiss the woman in a navy dress with raven hair. Vincent draws me closer against him and my pulse quickens. Once his lips are on mine, there is desire and passion and hunger. The immense feelings jolt me. He pulls away and searches my eyes. I’m so wound up from the intense kiss that I think my knees are actually weak.
“I gotta go,” he says, winded. “But I’ll call you.” He clumsily walks toward his car. He doesn’t look back, but something has him rattled. Like he’s scared. Is he embarrassed by how passionate that kiss was?
Thanks for making me incredibly insecure, I want to tell him. But before I can say anything, he’s already in his car and speeds away like he has a plane to catch.
My heart sinks. I don’t know what I did. Either I’m that good of a kisser that it made him so awkward and nervous or he’s suddenly afraid of me. Or maybe I can’t kiss at all.
What was I thinking about when Vincent kissed me? It was more of a vision or something. Am I hallucinating now? Dreaming of one boy while seeing things when I kiss another? Great. So now, I enter the world of absolute craziness.
Chapter Nine
As I hold Casper, waiting and hoping for him to wake from the gunshot wound, I’m reminded of when we first met. We spent every single day with each other. We took walks in the rose garden. Lie in the lazy wheat field. Or under a cover of trees that gave us our own private space. Danced with each other at the balls. We talked endlessly and I could not get enough of this strange man. I had always known Vincent, so maybe this attraction was because Casper was new and exciting. But it felt stronger than that.
Days turned to weeks, and I fell in love with him. I was with another man, and while it was so wrong, my feelings for Casper were stronger than anything I had ever felt. We gazed at each other and I placed my hands on his chest. He reached up and tucked a few strands of hair behind my ear and I felt his fingertips trace along my shoulder, sending the hair at the nape to stand on end. I slid my hands up and around his neck, running my hands through his soft hair.
Casper leaned down ever so slightly, and our foreheads touched. Briefly, our lips touched sending a current to my heart. He nibbled on my bottom lip and drew me closer in, his mouth locked onto mine. I couldn’t tell if it was the summer heat filling me or if it was from his kiss. I had never felt such passion and I knew I could never say goodbye to him. I wanted him forever. And I would do anything to make it happen.
Casper abruptly pulled away, breathless. “Megan, we can’t—this can’t happen.” His voice was low but hearing the ache in his voice I knew he didn’t want it to be true.
“I would end it with Vincent. For you,” I whispered.
He sighed. “Once I fall for someone, I’m in it for life.”
At his words, I froze. I realized what he’d been trying to tell me all along. Why it would torture him for the rest of his existence. Why we shouldn’t have even been talking to each other. It had nothing to do with my being with someone else. He wasn’t a Fairy Sprite.
He was an Elf. My enemy.
I didn’t run from him that night. Instead, I promised him I would help find the Jewel, a mysterious Jewel to keep his kind alive. For days and weeks, we searched and came up empty. I told Florence about Casper and myself. I convinced him to run away with me. It was the only way we could be together. And now I’m not sure what I’ve done.
Casper’s eyes flutter open, and relief washes over me. I kiss him. “He can’t keep doing this to us. We have to end this.”
“We will. We will survive this.”
Cherry and I made lunch plans before work. Hopefully, lunch and work will keep my mind off Casper and the dreams and not make me fret about Vincent’s weird reaction last night. I’m tired of waking up and feeling an urge
