Page 260 of Nobody's Girl

I follow them into their new place at the very end of the long hall. I look around as we go inside. It’s nice, like really nice. There are two huge, overstuffed, red-leather sofas, a chandelier in the middle of a high ceiling, and a monster television hanging on the wall.

Damn! My room is a dump compared to this place.

Ally spins around out of Eden’s tight grip. “Where is it you’d like to live, Kyle?”

“Me?” I ask, surprised at how fast she turned around and that she is right in front of me, so close I can smell her hair. It smells like honeysuckles.

“I’m going to take a shower, princess. You talk to Kyle,” Eden says, then leaves the room.

I’m no threat?

“No, you’re not,” she says as she takes my hand, leading me to one of the sofas.

She sits down, pulling me down to sit next to her. “You don’t even look the same, Al.”

“I know, Kyle. Something woke up in me. The Phoenix, I guess. I feel different. Flying is so phenomenal, so is telepathy, and the ability to have premonitions.”

Her legs look gorgeous in those heels, and her red dress leaves nothing to the imagination. My eyes can’t stop roaming over her body. “I wish I could’ve gone,” I say. “When can I tell Laura?”

The touch of her hand on my chin brings my face back up from looking at her legs. “While I’m flattered by your adoration of my physique, Kyle, I’m trying to talk to you. We must get past this physical thing we have. It will never happen, so we must let it go. I thought you understood that when I showed you the reality of who and what I am,”

“Yeah, I do. I really do, but what’s happened to you?” I ask, then touch the top of her arm as her bicep is firm and shapelier than it had been. “You’re buff, Ally.”

“The flying I suppose,” she says, and releases my chin. “So, you wish to tell Laura our secret?”

“I should’ve been there with you tonight,” I say. “I am your primary guardian you know.”

The flip of her hand into the air makes one of her breasts move under the tight, red dress, drawing my attention as she says, “We must think of another name for your position. I hate that one. It makes me think I must ask you before I do anything, which I don’t have to do.”

I smile at her and lean close to her ear as I whisper, “Remember the old guy’s words and your vow to me, Mistress Fontaine. Do you vow to follow this man and do as he bids you to, without hesitation, as he is your guardian for life? Then you said, ‘I do.’”

The warmth of her breath on my cheek as I purposely drag it by her mouth makes me hesitate, as our lips are so close it would be easy to touch them.

“I did agree to that, didn’t I?”

“That you did, and I have to hold you to it. So what I say goes, princess.”

‘I hate the fact we can’t be together,’ I send her as our foreheads touch.

‘It’s not our fate. You and I are to be something else to each other. Hard as it may be, we’ll have to get past this,’ she sends me.

Not really wanting to move away from her, I do anyway. I sit back on the sofa and take in a deep breath. “Why would he do this to us?” I ask.

“Our Creator?” she asks.

“Whatever you want to call him, but yeah. Why?”

Ally slips her heels off and turns towards me, putting her feet underneath her. Her legs are hidden from me, something that is probably for the best.

“I remembered something today,” she says. “I had a dream about you. The night before you showed up at school that day. When the teacher introduced you, you came and sat in the empty desk next to mine.”

“I did sit next to you, Al,” I say. “You’re just remembering what really happened.”

“No, I’m not. A little girl named Stacy sat in that desk, but she was absent the day you came. You took her seat and the teacher moved her when she came back to school.”

“So? Stuff like that happens, Al.”

“You and I were meant to be together,” Ally says. “You are my protector, though, not my lover. Our teenage hormones created that need for each other. You do remember how you also wanted Laura at the time you kissed me. Our deep connection made you and I both think we were attracted to each other in that way. Only we weren’t supposed to go that route. It was Laura you should’ve been with the last few years. Not me.”