Page 32 of Jacob Michaels is Not Here

“No.” Lucas gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head. “Point Worth was on fire.”

I swallowed hard. Lower parts of Lucas were still pushing against me. Nothing would deter the man when he was ready for me to use his body in any way that I wished.

“And that made you realize I was coming back?”

Slowly, Lucas began to nod, his eyes not leaving mine.

“Didn’t that scare you?” I asked gently. “Seeing our town on fire and knowing that it meant I was returning?”

He shook his head in the same way he had nodded.

“Why?”

“Because you’re a fireman.”

The soft gasp, more like a rough inhale, escaped my mouth before I could even stop to think it. Lucas just stared at me. The gravity of what he had said didn’t register with him, though I desperately wanted to know why he had chosen those words.

“I’m a fireman?” I mumbled.

He nodded. “You don’t start fires. With few, small exceptions.” He glanced down at my hand with a soft smile. “But…”

Waiting for Lucas to finish his thought, I grew nervous, but lower parts of Lucas seemed to push against me harder.

“…you’re always there to release the floods.”

“Where did you hear that?” I gasped, the fire flickering in my palm.

He shrugged. “It feels like something I heard in a dream. It feels like something I’ve heard before, but I don’t remember where. Do you remember where I might have heard it before?”

Sometimes a person finds themselves being forced to choose between lying to a person they love to protect them and telling them the truth and risking that it will put them in danger. Putting Lucas in danger was something I couldn’t bring myself to do in that moment. My choice was clear.

“No.”

He shrugged once more. “Then I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Are you being petulant because you think I’m lying or you really don’t know?” I asked the obvious question.

“Do you think I’m capable of being petulant with you, Rob?”

“No.”

“There you have it.” He leaned forward and kissed my lips gently.

The top of the flame in my hand was licking against his chin, but it did not burn him. How Lucas knew that he could get so close to the flame and come away unscathed was another mystery. Of course, did he know that the flame wouldn’t hurt him—or did he trust me so much that he knew I wouldn’t let it hurt him? I didn’t know which scenario scared me more. Eventually, I knew that I would end up hurting Lucas. I didn’t know it like Lucas knew things, but I knew my history. People around me got hurt.

“Is there anything else you know that I need to know?” I asked as he pulled away, his chin sliding over the flame once more.

“I’m here until the end.” He said firmly, yet his voice was a whisper. “Whatever comes…I’m here until the end.”

“Do you know the ending of our story?” I asked though I wasn’t sure I wanted to know it if he did.

“Yes.”

“Tell me?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

Lucas reached up and smoothed my hair back on my head, his eyes only looking kinder and warmer as he stared into mine.

“Because,” he said softly, “I know you. You’ll do something to affect it. And that will only fuck things up worse.”

“Why do you think I’d want to change the ending? Is it bad?”

Lucas smiled.

“I think you’ll try to avoid it.” He explained. “And…I can’t explain it…but I think avoiding things is what has led us to where we are now, babe. I wish I had my memories so I could make more sense. But I think something in our past—something we did when we were teenagers—put us where we are today.”

“I like where we are today.”

“I’d like us more if we were in the shower together.” Lucas tried his hardest to distract me and change the subject.

It worked.