Hailey nodded and waited at a booth next to Frog for over two hours before her uncle Pix limped through the door.
“What happened to you?” she demanded as he hobbled across the floor, and he spun around.
“What are ya doing up so late?”
“I got scared,” she sighed. “I thought I heard glass breaking, and I bailed out of the house through my window and came here, but now I’m not sure what I heard, and I’m afraid to go home.”
“We’ll walk you home.” He threw a nod to his brothers, who had followed him into the pub and turned right back around to escort Hailey to the townhouse.
Intact with no sign of a broken window or anything else out of the ordinary, the house sat, looking rather innocuous and tired on the corner, exactly as a house should. The gang filed inside, and Hailey’s uncles performed a sweep of each room, finding nothing more nefarious than a missing bathroom mirror.
“Get some sleep, dear,” said Pix. He kissed her cheek then shuffled off to bed.
As she fell asleep that night, she felt strangely at ease and could’ve sworn, just before she drifted off, she saw a tiny spark in the darkness…
“Asher?”
A dark figure emerged from the corner.
Hailey sat up in bed and blinked several times, trying to discern whether she actually saw something there.
“I don’t want to frighten you,” said a soft voice from the shadows, but still Hailey couldn’t see much.
“Too late,” she breathed. “Step into the light,” she told him, and she swallowed hard.
A shadow floated toward the window, where illumination from the half-moon oozed in and revealed a familiar silhouette.
“Am I dreaming?”
“Not quite,” he said in his soothing voice. “You were just dozing.”
“I can hardly see you.” She swung her legs to the floor, and he extended his hand to her.
“You’re only half awake, Hailey, your eyes are barely open.”
“What are you doing here?” She took his hand, solidly in her own and smiled up at him. This was the first time she’d actually touched his skin. It felt so soft.
“I wanted to see you, and…” He hesitated as Hailey ran her fingers across the top of his hand. Lifting his free hand to her cheek, he stroked it gently as he leaned closer. Ever so lightly, he brushed his lips against hers.
A cascade of darkness and warmth enveloped her mouth and tumbled through her body.
“Hailey,” he said against her lips, “will you be mine?”
She smiled as he gently kissed her again.
“I always have been, haven’t I?” she answered against his lips, her eyes fighting to stay open. But she was exhausted, and a full sleep snatched her away from Asher’s solid arms, which caught her body as her soul fell into the dreamland of the Aether.
When Hailey woke, snuggled and warm in her bed, her heart swelled. She brushed her fingers across her lips.
Asher had kissed her! And she remembered it! A giant, silly grin spread across her face, and she let it go from ear to ear.
Until she saw the clock.
Crap!She scrambled out of bed and threw on her clothes. Zinging out the door, she rounded the corner just as the bus pulled up to her stop.
Tage hopped on board without looking back, and Hailey was out of breath when she fell into the first seat. She rested her head against the window, ticking off another calendar day of school in her head. She only had twenty-three more to endure, and ever since Tage decided that she existed, those days were becoming more and more unbearable.
This day was no exception.
