Milayna's Angel (Milayna #2)
Michelle Pickett
If a man is not rising upwards to be an angel, depend upon it,
he is sinking downwards to be a devil.
~Samuel Taylor Coleridge
1
Xavier
I bolted upright in bed. Sweat covered my face and slithered like a snake down my spine. I hadn’t had the nightmare since I’d last seen Azazel three months ago. When he’d tried to kill me. He wanted me to switch sides and work for him in Hell so he could absorb my demi-angel powers, or he wanted me dead. I didn’t switch sides. I wouldn’t work for him… for evil. But he wasn’t able to kill me either. On my eighteenth birthday, the exact time of my first breath, I became stronger than him. He was too late. Defeated. And with no power over me, he crawled back to Hell where he belonged. When he left, so did the nightmares.
They were back.
***
Reaching over my mom’s shoulder, I grabbed another piece of toast. “See ya.” I planted a jelly-smeared kiss on her cheek.
“Ugh, Milayna, I’m not a napkin.” She smiled and wiped the sticky mess from her cheek with a towel.
It was Monday morning. I hadn’t seen him all weekend. He’d been out of town with his parents visiting family. I couldn’t wait until chemistry, and it wasn’t because it was lab day or my chemistry teacher was a riveting lecturer. No, he’d be there. Just thinking about seeing him made my stomach fill with butterflies.
I’m probably the only student actually looking forward to school this morning.
I nearly ran through the halls to class, blue and gold lockers whizzing by. I darted between students saying hi as I passed. My heart fluttered faster and faster the closer I came to my chemistry class and then… there he was. He sat at the table, his head bowed as he doodled on his notebook. A lock of hair had fallen over his forehead. It’d been four months since we started dating, and he still made my heart, and other places, do funny things.
He looked up, like he sensed I was there. “Hey,” Chay said, giving me a crooked grin. He stood to pull my chair out for me.
I sat next to him, inhaling his familiar scent. He leaned in for a kiss. It was warm and tender, and my toes curled when his tongue dipped between my lips. Bliss.
“I missed you,” I whispered when his lips traveled from my lips to the hollow behind my ear, making me shiver.
“I missed you, too,” he murmured. His breath made wisps of my hair move, tickling my neck.
“Don’t leave me again.”
He pulled back and looked at me. “I’ve already informed my parents that I’m not going next time unless you go, too.”
“You informed them?” I asked with a laugh.
“Well, I asked nicely.” The side of his mouth hitched up.
“Mm-hmm, that’s what I thought.”
Something caught my eye, and I looked toward the door. He walked into the classroom with confidence, maybe even a slight air of arrogance. The lights reflected off his jet-black hair, so glossy it looked wet. He swept the room with piercing blue eyes. Every girl there, and a few guys, wanted his gaze to land on them. I could practically hear them swooning. A shiny new toy for them to fight over.
“There’s a seat open behind Milayna; you can sit there,” I heard my chemistry teacher tell the new hottie… I mean, student. “Milayna, raise your hand so Xavier knows who you are.”
I raised my hand. Chay gripped my other hand a little too tight when Xavier walked by. I squeezed his back and rolled my eyes. It was only first hour and Xavier was already causing ripples in the high school pond. The girls were envisioning dating him and the guys were already jealous of him.
“Hi.” He looked at me before sliding into the seat behind me.
I smiled over my shoulder. The way Chay squeezed my hand, I was afraid to do more or I’d suffer a broken finger or two.
“Milayna?”
“Yes, Mr. Ferguson?”
Please, please don’t ask me to do what I think you’re going to. Chay will bust a nut if you do.
“You won’t mind showing Xavier around a little today, will you?”
And you had to ask.
“No, sir.” Chay’s grip on my hand increased. “Ouch,” I whispered, jerking my hand free. “What’s the matter with you?”
Chay’s eyes flicked toward Xavier behind me and back to mine.
“What was I supposed to do? Say no?”
He shrugged a shoulder in answer. I hated that.
“It’s one day. Geez, are you jealous?”
Chay glared at me, and I smiled.
He is jealous.
“Knock it off.” I laughed when he bent over and kissed me behind the ear. He knew that was my favorite spot, my weakness. The place that made me go weak in the knees and curled my toes.
“I’m not jealous,” he whispered, another thing that drove me wild, feeling his breath against my skin as his silky voice dipped low in a way he only used when talking to me. “I feel bad for the guy is all. Having to be around you all day.”
“And you’re delusional. You love me.”