“You don’t seem dark or dangerous to me,” I said, before I started to laugh hysterically.
Beau rolled his eye and started to walk toward me. I didn’t start to get nervous until he ripped his shirt off. I thought I was going to pass out all over again. “Are you giving me a strip tease or something?” There were now tears forming in my eyes from laughing so hard. What the hell was my day turning into? I should take walks more often.
“I know you would enjoy that, but sadly no,” He reached his hand out to me. “If you aren’t going to believe me then I will show you. If we get back in time, I’ll give you a strip tease.”
I took his hand, “If we get back in time? Are you taking me to Narnia?”
He smiled, and put his hands on my hips. He pulled me close until I was inches away from his face. “I need you to close your eyes, and try not to freak out.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, “Is that something rapists say?”
A corner of his mouth pulled up, as if he was trying to hide a smile, “You’re ridiculous. Grab onto my forearms if you get scared.”
I placed my hands on his arms, “I’m scared,” I tried to say with a straight face. Even if he was crazy, I could feel his arms a bit before I went home.Â
He closed his eyes, and flexed his upper body.
Out of the corner of my eye something black started to surround him. I tightened my grip on his arms, and stepped closer to him. I don’t know why going closer to whatever darkness he was giving off made me feel safer, but the closer I was to him the more relaxed I felt.
He wrapped his arms around me and pressed me against his chest. My hands dropped around his waist, I flinched when I felt something smooth and silky on his back. I followed the texture up to his shoulders.
“Close your eyes,” He said.
I kept my eyes open, of course, I didn’t like being told what to do and Beau had been bossing me around ever since I met him. I instantly regretted not listening to him this time, as a gust of wind sliced into my eyes, causing them to water profusely.
“Shit,” I muttered, squeezing my eyes shut. The angry wind calmed, and turned into a gentle breeze, dancing through my hair. It took me a moment before I realized I was no longer standing on the ground.
“Would you mind holding your hair for me?” He said, “It’s kind of difficult to see when I’m being whipped in the face by it.”
I opened my eyes slowly, wiping away the wind tears. I peered around his shoulder, ignoring him but could only see blackness. I turned my head to the right, and saw the end of what looked like a black feathered wing hanging above us. The feathers looked more like shards of glass that shimmered in the moonlight. I tried to turn and see what was behind me, but Beau pulled me tighter against his chest. That was when I realized I was horizontal, no longer vertical.
“Don’t look down, baby steps, Kimber,” He said. “I need you to tighten your legs around my waist so you don’t fall.”
I didn’t even remember wrapping my legs around him. “Are we horizontal?”
“Probably not in the way you would like, but yes.” He said.
I looked up at him, and watched the clouds as we passed them. The sky was brighter up here, with wisps of purple and light blue.
Warmth rolled down my head and stayed on my shoulders, caressing my neck like a boa constrictor. The dark tunnel vision was coming. I could feel my muscles relaxing.
“Kimber, stay with me.”
I gave into the darkness and welcomed the warmth. His arms wrapped tighter around me, then we were falling. Head first toward the earth. I closed my eyes, the cold- angry wind made the heat around my neck and the dark tunnel vision crawl away. I tightened my grip around Beau, and pressed my face into his chest.
Another gust of wind hit into me, sending butterflies to my stomach. I peeked one eye open, and saw we were on the ground. His black wings folded back, and started to disappear. I watched the dark shards of glass turn back into dark ink.
“Relax your muscles,” He said, “I have you, let’s get your blood flowing to all of your limbs again.”
I loosened my grip, barely, still keeping my arms wrapped around his neck. I traced the black ink on his shoulder with my fingertips.
“Do you still have your hair-tie around your wrist?” He asked.
I didn’t want to try to form words so I simply nodded and handed it to him.
“Not that your hair isn’t stunning, but it is a little poufy at the moment and keeps hitting me in the face,” He laughed, amused at his own description. “Sit back for a moment for me, and wrap your legs back around me like a sloth.”
I did as he said, and studied his jaw line, up to his mouth, and stopped at his nose. It looked like it had been perfectly straight once upon a time, but there was an abnormal kink to it now. I flinched a few times as he pulled my hair into a ponytail and hoped he was almost done, my inner thighs were starting to burn. This is why you never skip leg day.
“Much better,” He said, readjusting me and walking toward the sidewalk. “On a scale from 1-10 how big of a tool do I look like walking around shirtless?”
I actually laughed at his lame joke. What was wrong with me? “You may have broken the scale.”
He lowered me down to a bench, and sat beside me. “Well that’s just rude.”
“What the hell are you?” I asked. I wasn’t much of a sugar coater.
He stretched his arm across the back of the bench and exhaled. “Besides gorgeous?” Â
“You really should work on your jokes.” I continued to stare at him, worried he might disappear.
“You really should work on your attitude.” He said, pulling on a loose strand of my hair.
I exhaled dramatically. “I mean, you’re not wrong.”Â
“I’m never wrong.”
“Great, you’re one of those people. If you even are a person.”
He leaned forward, and started picking at the grass. His tattoo was pretty badass. It started at his shoulder blades and covered his entire back, stopping at the band of his stripped briefs sticking above his shorts. God, of course he wore briefs. You could still see all the muscles in his back beneath the dark tattooed lines.
“I already told you, I’m one of the dark things in the world you’re not supposed to know about.”
I nervously started combing through my ratty ponytail, trying to process everything that just happened. “It seems a little silly to erase someone’s memory just for knowing about something like you.”
He shrugged, and started biting the white root of a blade of grass. “It’s sort of brilliant actually. If people don’t know everything about this world then they tend to stick to what they’re taught.”
“Sounds like a never ending cycle,” I said. “Are you the only thing that can protect our memory?”
Beau dropped the blade of grass and looked over at me. “Not the only thing, spirits can’t destroy things they also contain. If you create any emotional ties toward any of the dark creatures of this world they can’t touch your memory. But once your emotions toward the creatures are gone, your memory doesn’t stand a chance. Emotions turn angels weak, but make humans invincible.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. I started to wonder if my roommate put anything special in her brownies I had a couple hours ago. It seemed like I had two choices, assume this man was crazy and I imagined everything that happened today, or believe him and try to learn more about the things that lurk in the shadows’ of this world.
“You still want that strip tease?” Beau said, laughing at my stunned reaction.Â
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