A Touch Mortal

Chapter 35





Eden pushed her way through the dancing bodies to the front of the bar, but the crowd was still too thick to get any service. She moved with the flow, winding her way around the edge until the people thinned out near the corner. Her hands she kept close to her sides. She cast a glance onto the dance floor while she waited, but Adam and Gabe were lost behind a curtain of colored strobes and flesh.

Eden tried not to notice the skin. Everywhere, it danced in creams and darker hues, shades of ivory. She dug her fingernails into her palms, hoping Adam was managing to cope. Finally, the bartender took her order.

She slid Gabe’s cash over as the drinks were set down, picking up the glass. Before she could twist her fingers around the necks of the bottles, an arm slid around her waist, a man’s voice yelling over the lead singer’s syrupy wail.

“I’ve got hers.”

A hand covered her own bill after slapping down two twenties. Eden jerked her fingers away. If she passed Touch once, opened the floodgates, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to stop. She plastered a fake smile on her lips. Swiveling in the embrace to glance over her shoulder, she caught sight of him.

In her hand, the glass slid, condensation puddling against her fingers as they grasped too late, catching just enough of the lip to send it in a lazy spiral. It crashed against the floor, splinters slicing into the skewered cherries. A sneaker smeared the dirty pond of reddened cola, tracking bits of it away. Eden’s hand froze, empty.

“Oh, f*ck me,” she said.

“That happy to see me, huh?” Az tightened the arms already snug around her waist from behind. His hair against her neck, his head nestling onto her shoulder the way he had always done broke the spell. She ripped away, twisting to face him.

Her first thought was that Kristen had been right about the Emo phase. His dark brown curls were gone, dyed black and practically ironed. The hair drifted over one of his blue eyes; the one she could see was lined in kohl. He was sinewy, the tight black thermal clinging to him, defined muscles strange on arms she remembered far less skinny than they were now. Her second thought was that Kristen had been wrong about him looking like shit. He looked incredible.

“Seriously?” she asked, thrusting him away, ignoring the shiver that passed through her when her hands met his chest. For once, the feeling had nothing to do with Touch.

“You’re pretty pissed, huh?” He offered her a weak half smile of apology, one of his shoulders rising as he cringed.

“You can’t think that wounded puppy shit is gonna work on me?” Anger dislodged the words she’d wanted to say for so long. “Not after what you did.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You’re not gonna cut me any slack? I mean, I died for you.”

“Yeah, and I died because of you. Only for me it wasn’t an act.” She stepped back, glass crackling under her boots. Az reached for her wrist. “Don’t touch me,” she seethed.

He pulled his hands away, lifting them to show he meant no harm. “I just don’t want you to get cut.”

Looking down, she realized her hands were empty. Behind her, the bottles were gone from the bar, stolen while her back was turned. Az took a step back. She hesitated before filling the space, stepping out of the puddle.

“What do you want, Az?” she asked, wondering if he heard the tremble in the words.

“Just to talk.” He hesitated, just enough to let her know he was moving, and then brushed his hand across her cheek and back to her neck. “You cut your hair,” he said, twirling a bit between his fingers. “I like it.” He caught her gaze before she thought to turn away. His eyes, they pulled her deeper into them, drifting into cold blue whispers of comfort. Remember us, Eden, they begged. Remember how we were. She forced hers shut, breaking the hold while she could, surprised by the effort it took.

“You try to pull that shit on me again and I swear to God, Az.” She didn’t fill in a threat, couldn’t think.

“I can make this right,” he said, but without her sight she heard the uncertainty. She wasn’t the only one he was trying to convince. “Just talk to me. We can grab a cup of coffee or something? Anything. Please.”

“You’ll never be able to make this right. I really don’t need to hear this bullshit.” She opened her eyes, searching for a break in the crowd, an escape. It had been so much easier when he was on the phone; she’d just tossed it away.

“I know,” he mouthed, too quiet to be heard over the guitar riffs. He swayed closer, his lips now only a breath away. “Give me a chance and I can tell you why. Let’s get out of here. Name a place and we’ll go. Me and you.”

He dropped his head forward, brushing his forehead against her cheek. Eden froze. Lips finding her neck, he kissed her once, a tentative brush against her skin. When she didn’t move away, he wrapped an arm around her back, the fingers begging her closer.

She surprised herself, let her head roll back, the feel of his hand against her hair rushing goose bumps down her arms. His mouth pressed harder this time and she drew a breath, her body remembering the familiar pleasure of it whether her brain agreed or not. Dizziness stole over her the way it had earlier, with Adam.

Adam.

“Az, stop.” She lifted a leaden hand to his shoulder, turning her head in a faint attempt at breaking away. “Wait.” Opening her eyes, she glanced over his shoulder toward the dance floor.

A spiral of twisting strobes pounded across the only face she caught, the only one staring back at her.

“Adam!” she yelled, charging past Az. She felt the hand slide down her arm as Az tried to catch her, watched as Adam’s shoulder butted against Gabe’s while he headed for the exit. “No!” She swatted the fingers away, trying to keep track of Adam’s back bobbing through the sea of people.

Gabe caught her around the waist as she tried to pass, holding her back. “He’s gone, Eden. Let him go. I’ll call you a cab.” He ushered her toward the front doors.

“You sold me out!” she screamed, turning on Gabe. Her hand cracked across his face, nails raking his cheek. “You set me up!” Her eyes blazed as pinpricks of blood wept into the welts.

Gabe’s jaw hung slack. His eyes burst a morbid rainbow from amber to maroon, the angry red so deep it was almost brown. He swiped his palm across his split lip.

“Is that what you meant by doing what’s best for me?” she yelled. “You knew I didn’t want to see him! You did this on purpose? Answer me, damn it!”

His body seemed to swell, rippling with unchecked anger. She flinched, taking a step back, shocked by the rage on Gabe’s face. It left just enough room for Az to slide between them. Reaching behind his back, he took Eden’s hand in his. She was too startled to pull away.

“You found me, Eden.” Gabe rocked forward. “I sent you to the bar, hoping he wouldn’t see you.”

“Gabe, you need to calm down, right now,” Az said. “I’m sure she didn’t mean it. She’s upset.” He laid his other hand on Gabe’s shoulder, but the dark eyes never faltered from her face.

“Maybe you should ask her why,” Gabe spat. Az turned back over his shoulder, eyes catching on Eden.

“Who was that guy?” he asked, confused. Eden hesitated.

“Tell him, Eden,” Gabe prodded. “You wanted answers. You wanted honesty. He’s been pining for you like some brokenhearted schoolboy, and what were you doing?”

Az tugged her hand, pulling her next to him, not letting go. “Gabe, stop it! What’s wrong with you?”

Gabe finally broke the gaze, eyes shifting to the stage. The last chords of a song drifted across the crowd as the band announced a fifteen-minute break. “Forget it.” His anger had flashed and gone, but a weight hung on his words. “She needs to leave. Now. The last thing we need is for you two to be seen together.”

“Gabe. It’s too late.” Az squeezed her hand tighter, rings digging painfully into her fingers. “He’s looking.”

Eden whirled around to the space where their stares intersected. There were a dozen people milling about, but nothing obvious jumped out at her. She turned back just in time to see fear register on Gabe’s face.

“What’s going on?” Eden demanded. She stepped away from Az, toward the bar.

“We need to get you the f*ck out of here.” Az flicked his gaze over her shoulder.

“Move, now.”

Az wrenched her through the crowd. She stumbled behind, a dozen sets of shoulders and hips slamming into her as he plowed through the masses. With each look back, he pulled her faster toward the door. She dared a quick scan over her shoulder toward the stage, but Gabe stepped into her line of vision.

“He’s seen enough, Eden. Don’t look back.”

They burst out of Aerie and onto the street, greeted by a cacophony of cab horns and throngs of club goers gathered on the sidewalk. The sky, lost above the glow of the city lights, hemorrhaged quarter-sized snowflakes. Already the sidewalks were covered, the awning paled under a cover of pure white.

The air froze the sweat on Eden’s bare arms. Somewhere inside was her jacket, abandoned at the coat check. The snow melted as it hit her skin. Cold droplets trickled down her shoulders, pooling at her collarbones.

The flakes were less slow to collapse on her fingers; they’d already gone pale blue with Az’s touch. The numb sensation spread up her arm.

Instead of taking her to one of the yellow cars waiting at the curb, Az pulled her past the ice-etched windows of shops. Car horns blared as they rushed through a crosswalk. Behind her Gabe’s boots slapped against the concrete, nearly running to keep up.

Her chattering teeth clacked echoes off the walls of the alley Az led them down. A few dozen feet in, a high chain-link fence blocked the way, a fortress of cardboard boxes and trash bags lining the walls on either side.

“I need to go home. I need to find Adam.” Her words jerked apart with her shivers. “Az? Please! What’s going on?”

“She’s going to freeze out here, Az.” Gabe ran an agitated hand through his curls.

Az ignored her question, sliding his hands up and down her arms in an effort to generate heat. His icy fingers only made it worse. He tried to dust the flakes from her hair, but she brushed him away.

“I’m fine. Don’t touch me,” she said, backing away from him until her shoulders hit the bricks of the wall.

“Take her,” Az said to Gabe, his attention on the sounds from the street. The snow was heavy enough that they couldn’t see the opening to the alley, which meant no one could see them.

“Come here,” Gabe said, wrapping his arms around her. He unzipped his jacket, but instead of offering it to her, he wrapped her in with him, trapping her in with his heat. “Az, we’ve gotta get her out of here. She’s not safe.”

Az’s gaze flicked away. “I know.”

There was an exchange between them without words. Az cocked his head, insistence in his eyes. Gabe shook his head. “No. That’s insane. What if you can’t hold her?”

“You know I can hold her,” he said fiercely. “You can meet us there.”

“Damn it, Az,” he mumbled. She watched as Gabe shrugged off his jacket and held it out to her. “Put it on, Eden,” he said, his voice defeated.

“Wait,” Eden said. “I’m not going anywhere with you! Gabe?”

Az ignored her, throwing an arm back and catching the bottom of his long-sleeved shirt with a hook of his hand. In a single motion he pulled the shirt over his head, tossing it away. A frigid gust of air spiraled empty cups and cigarette butts in a whirlwind at his feet.

His wings unfurled in a rush of feathers, swooping out to their full fourteen-foot span. He pumped them twice, stretching out the kinks. His shoulder muscles rippled. She could see the concave hollows where the back of his rib cage should have been, where his wings had been tucked tight. He turned back to Eden.

“Ready?” he asked, holding out a hand. Her eyes widened.

“Wait, those actually work?” She pressed herself harder against the wall, unsure. “How come you never…”

“I’m only supposed to use them to get back.”

“Get back?” Eden practically yelled.

“The wings are an invitation to head home. So we’re gonna use them for that. Kinda.” He flicked his fingers, trying to catch her hand, but Eden moved it behind her back.

“What about you?” she asked, turning to Gabe.

He winked at her. Eden guessed he meant it to be reassuring. “One of the perks of staying out of trouble. Faster travel options,” he said, taking her hand in his.

“Azazel!” a voice snarled from the head of the alley.

“Keep him busy,” Az whispered to Gabe.

Gabe held a finger to his lips, and Eden’s eyes went wide as she nodded. He shoved her with both hands, sending her sprawling toward Az.

Az pushed off the second her arms hit his shoulders. She squeezed herself tight to him in reflex, her eyes closed as wind and windows rushed past, left below. Az’s hands caught around her waist, her hair lashing against her cheeks as he strained, each pump sending them higher. She didn’t dare open her eyes.