He sighed as we gathered the piles of papers and photos and replaced them. Jared lifted the plant as if it were an empty cardboard box and returned it to its proper place.
My cell phone buzzed in my coat pocket. The display lit up with Kim’s name scrolling across the screen, and I closed my eyes. “I bet she’s calling about the pub tonight. I forgot all about it.”
“Hey Kim.”
“You’re not backing out, Nigh. Don’t even try,” she said.
“I wasn’t going to, I….”
“Sure you weren’t.”
“I’m sorry, Kim. I forgot,” I said, rubbing my forehead with my fingers, feeling a stress headache coming on. “But I’ll be there.”
Jared walked with me to the Escalade and held the door open as I climbed inside. By his expression I knew he was aware of the dull pain in my head.
“You’re not going to stand us up again, are you?” she scolded.
“No! No, I’ll meet you there around nine.”
“Good. See you then.” Kim said, disconnecting the line.
I put my cell phone back in my pocket and took Jared’s hand. “I’m sorry,” I groaned. “I think I unwittingly double booked myself.”
My head began to throb. It was difficult skipping back and forth between the two lives I was leading. I was the typical college student when I was with Kim, Ryan and Beth, and when I was with Jared, my life turned into this fantastical dream world with angels and demons and secret safety deposit boxes.
We parked in front of the loft, and Jared sighed. Claire’s Lotus was sparkling beside the curb.
“It doesn’t look like we’d have much time alone, anyway.”
Claire was lounging on the couch in stilettos boots and a leather jacket, flipping through channels on the flat screen. “Ryan’s taking a nap. That guy sleeps like a hibernating bear,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Every branch of the military wants me on a special ops team, and God sticks me with the most boring Taleh in the history of mankind.”
I smiled at her observation, and Jared led me upstairs by the hand.
“Ryan is going to the pub tonight?” Jared called back to his sister.
“Yep,” Claire said. “I’ll see you there.”
“You’re keeping Claire company tonight?” I asked, collapsing onto his bed.
“I think I’ll hang back tonight, let you spend time with your friends,” he said, lying on the mattress beside me.
“You don’t want to come?”
Jared brushed his thumb across my sullen lip. “I always want to be where you are.”
I smiled. “Because you have to.”
“You know that’s not true,” he said, trying his best to seem annoyed.
I leaned over to kiss his cheek. “How do you expect me to have fun when you’re right outside and I’m hoping that any minute you’ll just break down and come in?”
Jared grinned. “How can I say no to that?”
“You’ll come, then?” I asked, raising my eyebrows expectantly.
“If that’s what you want,” Jared shrugged. He tried to seem casual, but beyond the cool blue of his eyes was an edge of hopefulness.
“It’s what I’ll always want,” I whispered, touching his cheek with my fingertips.
Jared’s expression beamed with adoration. “I knew that if I ever got my chance to be with you, all the waiting would be worth it. It’s as if we’ve cheated the curse, somehow. I’ve never understood how something could be considered a curse that requires me to spend every moment with you, and that grants me the mercy of leaving a world that doesn’t have you in it.”
“There’s nothing for me to say after that.”
“It’s just the truth, sweetheart. You don’t have to try to outdo me,” Jared said, amused.
“I love you…and I will love you forever. That’s the truth.”
Jared’s expression turned intense, as if he was moved beyond words by my simple honesty. He pressed his lips to mine in the same slow, meaningful way he had only once before. It was the sweetest moment of my life.
It occurred to me that the stars had all but lined up for us: Gabe assigned to my father, falling in love with Lillian, and then Jared coming along four years before I did, just in time to be assigned to me—the daughter of a criminal—a girl that would need constant supervision.
I traced the planes of Jared’s torso and pondered how perfectly everything had been laid out for us to be together, and then my mind drifted to Claire and Ryan. If I was going to believe in fate, I had to take into account who Jared said I was meant to be with. I closed my eyes, pushing the thought from my mind. Ryan would find someone else that he would be happy with, and Jared could keep me.
Jared’s voice pulled me out of my daydream. “You were determined today. I’m impressed.”
“Anything’s possible with an angel and a little ingenuity,” I said, settling in beside him.
Jared let me sleep for an hour, and then we left early to grab a bite to eat before meeting my friends. I descended the stairs in a black satin corset and jeans, with a pair of ruffle-toed pewter pumps. To my extreme pleasure, Jared stood frozen by the door, dropping his keys and then catching them before they hit the floor.