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"Did they really just let us go without a huge fight?" Grace scoffed as we walked back down to the road in front of Bentos’ house.
I didn't feel right about leaving them there alone to wait for him. Neither of them were capable of holding their own against him. He could simply take control of them the way I could and had so many times. I owed Rob another apology for doing it to him in the shed. It was the quickest way to get to him but being someone’s puppet wasn't something I was willing to let happen to me, and yet I kept doing it to my brother?
"They aren't more than ten miles up the road. They're on foot." Grace glanced toward Rebekah as we climbed into a large SUV, Rebekah taking the driver’s seat. Grace handed me a granola bar which I scarfed down, along with a bottle of water.
I had no clue where the truck I had stolen from Joshua was, but figured he and I could back track and find it when this was all over with. Would it truly end here? Today?
I doubted it, but if anyone was capable of taking my father out of the picture, it was Caleb. I used to think it would be me, but having failed so many times, that wasn't the case anymore.
"What do you know about the creation of the Grollics?" I asked, not pointing my question toward anyone in particular. I needed to focus on something else or the fact that I was about to be face to face with my greatest regret might threaten to pull me under.
"Why?" Grace glanced back at me, her expression kind.
"I learned a little over the last few weeks. It would seem a dark angel was the creator. I keep seeing him and I feel like I'm losing my mind. I was just hoping someone—anyone—might have more to the story so I could work through it."
Rebekah pulled down the rearview mirror as concern brushed across her angelic features. "You keep seeing him? As in seeing him in your dreams?"
"More like nightmares," Grace snorted and turned in her seat to focus on me.
"In my dreams and in reality. The other night I had a dream that I was on the beach with Michael and the creature came and took him away."
"Maybe it was just a dark angel from your imagination, Jamie." Rebekah's voice was motherly and soothing.
"It's Rouge. I’ve never been Jamie." I turned my attention from her, not entirely sure I would remain at all amicable with the woman who abandoned me for the last nineteen, almost twenty, years. Her reasons were valid, but she would have to tell that to someone who cared.
"Did the creature do anything else other than take Michael away? Could it just be symbolic to you guys parting ways?"
I brushed my hand over my shoulder and tried to decide if I wanted to trust my mother with the reality of my situation. "No. Maybe you're right." Sitting back, I let out a long sigh. "I'm not sure I can do this."
"Face your father again?" Rebekah asked.
"Face Michael. I left with nothing more than a note." I brushed my hand across my stomach absently.
"Are you still feeling like crap?" Grace reached back and brushed her hand over my knee.
"Yeah." I closed my eyes and leaned my head back, nothing about my life surprising me anymore. If crap could happen, it was going to happen to me no doubt.
"Why did you leave? You know we're in this together." Grace squeezed my leg.
"Are we?" I opened my eyes.
"Yes. We have been since the beginning. Nothing has changed between us, Rouge. Michael still loves you and so do I."
"I do too," Rebekah chimed in, but I ignored her. I couldn't add the reunion with a mother I never knew to my emotional calendar right now.
"Caleb’s going to be there when we arrive, Grace. You know as well as I do that he's done with you guys protecting me. How you've been with us for the last few days is beyond me."
"I told them I was going to find help for Michael's condition." She shrugged as I lifted my eyebrow at her. "What? It wasn't a lie at all. You are that help. He's suffering because of you."
I groaned and pressed my hands to my face. "I can't keep doing this."
"No, not because of you in a bad way... because, well, you know what the hell I mean."
"I get it, but this isn't going to help. I'm going to talk to him and what? Tell him that yes, I do love him and yet I can't be with him? This is no different than the note I left in Miami."
"He's worth more than a note, Rouge. How would you have felt if he left you one?"
"What do you want from me?" I felt the heat rising in my chest before I could stop it. I was going to explode any minute and the last person I wanted to let loose on was Grace. She was the only real friend I had left in the world.
"I want you to be honest and stop running from love."
"Love is a weakness. A tool that holds people down and forces them backwards."
Grace flinched and turned in her seat. "I don't know where you heard that, but you're wrong."
"Rouge." Rebekah's soft voice pulled me from my glare toward Grace. "Your eyes are completely black like your father's. Slow your thoughts and rein your emotions back in. You're not him and you don't believe that poison you just spewed."
I started to rip her head off, but decided to just clam up. I nodded, closed my eyes and forced myself not to give in to the tears that threatened to tear me down.
A moment later the vehicle swerved off the road, Grace's voice pulling me from my anger.
"There he is." She got out of the car.
I slid toward the door, hesitating only for a moment, my breath catching in my chest.
Michael walked toward us from a large field, his arm wrapped around his stomach as if he were in pain. I had never seen him so pale before, but somehow it only added to his beauty.
My heart shattered in my chest at the sight of him and I let out a soft cry as I slipped from the car.
Would he let me hug him? To come close to him or would he force me back?
I couldn't remember a time of being more concerned with the outcome of an encounter as I did in that moment. I walked up behind them as they argued, my eyes moving across the broad shoulders and strong chest of the boy who stole my heart.
He didn't glance my way, but continued to yell at Grace, his fingers so tight on his waist that his knuckles were white. My chest tightened as devastation rolled over me.
I was dead to him. Grace wanted me to save him, but he didn't.
His blond hair moved as the wind picked up and his sapphire eyes moved to Rebekah as she approached, the tension in his voice only getting worse. I glanced toward Grace and Rebekah, both of them lost in the fight with him about how to take down the evil that coursed in my veins. The words that left Michael's lips next sealed the deal for me. I was simply a ghost standing outside of the moment, watching from a closed window pane.
"All Grollics have to die. No exceptions."
Grace got in his face and I turned as numbness rolled back over me. Not even a glance my way. My stomach tightened and sickness rushed up from the core of my being. I held back the need to vomit and walked to the road, moving to the other side and lifting my thumb in the air. I jogged toward the first car that stopped and bent over as an elderly couple stopped.
"You need help, sweetheart?"
"Yes, Sir. My SUV over there broke down. My dad's house is just up the road. Can you take me?"
"Of course. Get in."
I moved to the back and turned as Michael made it to the road, the look on his face one of horror.
"What are you doing?" he screamed at me, anger forcing his face to flush.
I waved and rubbed my hand over my heart as my resolve crumbled and I began to cry. I got in the car and sunk down as the old man got us back on the road. His wife reached back and rubbed my knee.
"It's okay, honey. These things... they just happen."
I couldn't agree more.
They did happen. All the time. To me.
