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Snow lightly flutters around, the storm so calm and at ease now, despite the chill in the air. The calmness makes me wonder what kind of mood I’m in, what kind of emotions he’s feeling.
“I didn’t—don’t think you’re disgusting,” he finally says. “I already told you that I keep my distance from people because I sort of have to.” He points back at the house where music is booming. “If I didn’t, a lot of people and creatures would end up in an even worse condition than the guy who kissed you. Not that I care about what happened to him. The asshole deserved it because you didn’t want him to.” His muscles tighten with tension, and the wind briefly roars, but he quickly collects himself and a stillness takes over the air again.
“Grey did deserve it and everything … He’s always been an asshole to me—most people have.” I pick at my fingernails, nervous about what I’m going to say, mostly because it’ll be admitting that I was kind of trying to hit on him that day. “So, your rejection was nothing new. And I get why you did it, but maybe next time a girl approaches you like that, you could turn her down without being such a douchebag.”
“I’ll try.” He places his other hand over mine, stopping me from picking at my fingernails. “I’m sorry for being such an asshole, but I promise it wasn’t because I think you’re disgusting.” A contemplative look crosses his face, but he swiftly erases it. “And I’m pretty sure Grey and almost every other guy doesn’t find you disgusting either … You’re very …” He dithers. “Well, you’re gorgeous.”
I snort. “Okay.”
“Snort all you want, but every single one of my brothers has hit on you. Even Holden, and he rarely hits on anyone.” He looks away, scratching his cheek. “But yeah, anyway, if I was a normal human guy or knew what you were that day when you walked up to my car, things would’ve gone down completely different. But unfortunately, I thought you were just a really pretty human girl that I could never date, so what was the point of even trying?”
My cheeks warm at the compliment, my body reacting to his words. Or well, maybe my power is. But my mind isn’t completely buying it. I mean, if what he’s saying is true then why have guys avoided me like the plague? Not that it matters. It’s not like I want guys to like me simply because I’m pretty.
“It must be lonely to live like that,” I say in a desperate attempt to steer the conversation away from me. “To have to push everyone away.” Not that my life has been full of people either. In fact, most of the time I feel lonely except maybe when I’m around Nina and Gage. But even then I feel like I have to put a wall up between us. “And the idea that I might have to … I mean, am I eventually going to hurt Nina or Gage? They’re my best friends, and we’re really close.”
“Friendships are fine, for the most part. It has more to do with if you become … intimate with someone and get in a situation where you lose control over your emotions.” His gaze collides with mine, his cheeks flushed, but I don’t know if it’s from either the cold or embarrassment. “Our emotions have a lot of control over our powers.”
I peek up at the snowy sky. “Yeah, I’ve noticed.” I lower my gaze back to him. “Every time I get angry or too sad, I either flood the streets or send a storm through town. I’ve even started a couple of fires. Thankfully, no one’s gotten hurt from it.”
“Did you ever consider telling your parents?”
“No. I thought if I told anyone, they’d lock me up in a psych ward or something. Of course, if I’d known they knew about elemental protectors, my life would’ve been a hell of a lot easier, and there’d still be a grocery store on Main and Peach Fall Lane.”
He frowns. “What happened to the grocery store?”
“When I was about twelve, Grey and some of his friends where there, making fun of me loud enough for me to hear. I was really hormonal at the time.” I had just started my period, but I’m not about to say that aloud. “I was so upset that I ended up starting a fire.” My gaze drops to the ground as shame builds in me. “Thankfully, everyone got out, but the firefighters couldn’t put the fire out in time, so the place burned to the ground.” Even now, just talking about it makes me feel awful. If only I’d known about my powers all along, then the store would still be around.
He fixes a finger under my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. “When I was six and still learning how to control my powers, I flooded my grandparents’ house. It ruined the entire foundation and cost them thousands of dollars to fix. Plus, my grandma’s cat died.” A gradual exhale eases from his lips. “I felt awful about it. And guilty. I even cried for hours, calling myself a cat killer.”
“Aw, that’s so sad. You must’ve been a very sweet boy.” To lighten the mood, I grin. “Too bad that didn’t stick.”
He narrows his eyes at me, but the corners of his lips twitch. “My point is that, even with all the training I had, I still fucked up. And I still do fuck up. All elemental protectors and enchanters do at some point or another. It comes with having power. But our powers can do a lot of good things, too.”
“Like what?” I ask, genuinely intrigued.
“Like protect our worlds from certain evils. Some of us can heal the sick. Some of us can stop droughts. We can create energy.” He opens his free hand in front of us and sparks of blue emit from his palm. “The possibilities are endless when you really think about it, and elemental enchanters in particular have helped stop many wars over the course of history.” He folds his fingers inward, smothering the light.
Snow lazily descends to the ground as I attempt to process everything he said.
“Shit,” he abruptly mutters.
“What is it?” I ask as he retrieves his phone from his pocket.
He glances at the screen. “It’s my mom. She’s wondering if we’re close to being home. She also wants to make sure we have you with us.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, she’s just worried about how you’re handling this. Plus, she doesn’t like us out this late.”
“The concept of that is sort of lost on me,” I admit. “I’ve always done what I want whenever I want.”
“We kind of assumed that when we showed up to move you out of your house and you didn’t bother cleaning up all the beer bottles off the floor,” he says with a smile.
“Yeah, I think your dad wasn’t too happy about that.”
“It’s not a bad thing, though, for parents to care.”
I opt to say nothing, feeling like, if I did agree with him, I’d be betraying my parents. Then again, they knew about this entire world and never told me. If they did, my life would’ve been much simpler.
