“Nice butt,” she said.
He glanced up from drying off. Taking his time, he let his eyes sweep over her body in one lengthy perusal. “Nice everything.”
#
The Wok and Roll was a hole-in-the-wall cross between authentic Chinese fine dining and an all-American burger and fry joint. Blue and white painted Koi fish swam in calm jade waters beneath the falling cherry blossoms of a bigger than life mural. Dominating the other wall was a portrait of Elvis performing “Jailhouse Rock” live. Besides that divergent tribute, the rest of the décor was of the traditional orient. Bamboo shoots in red vases accented aged but beautiful silk screens serving as privacy dividers. Each kang table was adorned with its own miniature Zen garden and paper lantern. Plush, tan pillows were situated on the floor for seating. Soft light emanating from the lanterns coupled with the worn, cozy pillows and made the restaurant a surprisingly intimate setting.
Kali sat across from Rhane. He lounged comfortably with his longs legs stretched out before him. His green eyes glittered in the flickering light, as if possessed by some alien fire. She avoided gazing into them too long for fear of being mesmerized.
Rhane didn’t seem to mind the silence. Kali needed to fill it. “I didn’t take you to be the indecisive type. Why did you change your order?” Whenever he smiled, a single dimple appeared. She hadn’t noticed before.
“Yeah, I was going for the sushi but then I thought I might get to kiss you again later.”
“And you think eel will be more of a turn-on?”
He nodded with a suggestive wink. “It’s fried and tastes like chicken.” The food came and he folded his legs, sidling closer to the low table. “So what do you think?”
Kali looked up from her dinner of braised mushrooms and bamboo shoots. “About you or the restaurant?”
“The latter. I already have a good idea of what the lady thinks of me.”
The easy confidence he possessed was so appealing, Kali couldn’t resist challenging it. “And what would that be?”
Instead of replying, he abandoned his chopsticks and braced both hands against the table. When he leaned into Kali’s space, an aura of suppressed energy came with him. The fork slipped from her hand as she fell into his presence. Smoldering black in the glow of the lanterns, his eyes became two portals tunneling down into her soul. His face hovered less than an inch from her lips, the air magnetized with yearning of delayed contact. She longed to take him, to possess all that strength and drink deeply.
The sensation of his breath against her skin was electric. “She thinks the same of me that I think of her.”
“And what do you think of her?” she whispered.
“I think she’s the most fascinating creature I’ve ever met.” He took her lips gently, briefly, and then returned to his seat.
After a full minute, her heart rate powered down to normal. “Are you like this with all your women?”
“There is only you, Kalista.”
It was strange, the way he’d worded the reply. Kali prodded him further. “Surely you’ve dated other women. I’ve kissed well over a dozen frogs in search of a prince. And no offense, but you come off as way more worldly than I. On your looks alone you could have your pick.” She waved her hand. “Never mind the charm.”
He selected another morsel of eel and swallowed before answering. “There was one other before you.”
“Only one?” Kali found that impossible to accept and promptly told him so. “It must have been serious. Did she break your heart?”
“No. I broke hers.” The words were spoken without a hint of inflection, making his feelings about the matter indiscernible. Rhane’s attention shifted to above her shoulder. “I need to use the men’s room,” he said abruptly. “I’ll be back.” He stood and left the table. Her eyes followed him until he’d passed into a hallway dimly lit by more lanterns.
A few minutes later, Rhane had not returned. The two glasses of ice water she’d sipped throughout dinner began to sing for liberation. Leaving the comfort of the pillows, she went in the same direction Rhane had gone to search for the ladies’ room. The hallway was much longer than it appeared to be from the main dining area. After the first twist, she spied two transparent doors leading into the kitchen. Kali checked the door directly across the hall but found only storage. Two turns later, the passage continued. The restaurant was much bigger than Kali had thought.
The further she walked, the less and less light there was. As Kali was beginning to accept that she must have passed the restroom, she heard voices. Curiosity drew her closer. She pressed her ear to the door and listened. Three men were speaking rapidly in a foreign language she assumed was Chinese because they were, after all, in a Chinese restaurant. She hoped one of them could tell her where the bathroom was. With a timid push, she nudged the door ajar and received the biggest shock of the night.
Rhane and another man sat in a conference room. A huge, expensive looking table took up most of the space and was surrounded by at least a dozen executive chairs. On the wall immediately behind the table was a giant screen. The ten-foot head of a man of East Asian descent filled it. Aside from an unfortunately patterned growth of facial hair, there was nothing memorable about him. Attending the meeting via satellite, the man was calmly listening to the exchange between Rhane and the other guy.
She couldn’t understand any of the words, but the wild gestures of the speaker communicated anger. Rhane didn’t look too happy either. The man onscreen interceded to calm the escalating situation. With a begrudging glare, the angry man pulled something from his pocket. Kali’s view of it was obstructed by the table. The angry man muttered something else and stopped. Too late, she realized everyone in the room had grown quiet. Onscreen, a large pair of eyes stared heavily in her direction. Kali began backing toward the door. The angry man turned to look at her. Rhane stood up from the table, but his eyes remained on the man in the satellite image. It was time to make herself scarce.
Kali retreated into the shadows. Returning to the main dining room, she found the bathroom easily. It was located not even fifteen feet from where the hall initially began. Kali wondered how she had missed it the first time.
Rhane was already at the table when Kali got there. He smiled as she approached.
“Hi,” she greeted him awkwardly.
“Hi.”
He said nothing else, so she sat down. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, she blurted, “So you speak Chinese?”
Again, he smiled. “It’s an occupational hazard.” His eyes slid devilishly toward two staff members standing close by in animated conversation. The girl glanced at Rhane and Kali several times while gesturing. “Haven’t you ever wondered what they’re saying about you?”
She laughed. Her tension melted away. The earlier intrusion wasn’t going to be a big deal. “Doesn’t everyone?”
He turned an ear to the pair but kept both eyes on Kali. “She thinks you’re gorgeous. She also thinks we make a very cute couple.” He paused, listening.
“You’re so bad.” Kali couldn’t help giggling and tried to muffle the sound behind her hand.
“The waiter is her husband. She wants him to tell her why he never looks at her the way I look at you.”
Kali exhaled slowly. Rhane’s eyes were doing that glittering thing again. He suddenly stood.
Tossing a few bills on the table, he took her hand. “I can’t wait any longer.”
“For what?” she asked nervously, wondering if he was going to be angry after all.
He wouldn’t answer until they were outside in the cool night air. “This,” he said huskily and pushed her into the shadows of the nearest building. Against the brick wall, they were hidden mostly from view, and Rhane was free to express everything he’d been holding back.
Never had Kali felt as possessed as she did in that moment. Everything about him flooded her senses. His body surrounded hers, controlling every part of her space. Her nose was filled with the smell
of his hair and the smell of his skin. Enveloped by his heat and the touch of his flesh against hers, her body succumbed to what he asked of it. Soon she was trembling, wanting more of him and needing to be a part of him. The sound of his blood pounded inside her ears, commanding and vibrant. Taste me, his spirit whispered.
Finding the spark that made him, she saw its light was bigger and more vivid than any she had witnessed before. It called to her again. She answered.
Hues of amber and sapphire erupted at the hint of her contact. Like searching hands, a kaleidoscope of fingers pulsated toward her. Kali was surprised when his spark expanded at her touch, growing to match her thirst as if that were its very purpose. Rhane pulled his face away. Every other part of him remained hotly melded into her. His eyes had changed in the darkness. Something about them appeared so primal, it made Kali afraid. The fear excited her.
“Come home with me tonight,” he said.
Chapter 18
Kali was spinning in the dazzle and responded with complete honesty. “I can’t. I have school tomorrow.” A second later, her brain caught up to her mouth. Oh crap.
It took another second for Rhane to process what she had said. Then his demeanor cooled as if someone had dunked him in a vat of dry ice. His hands left her body, moving to the wall to occupy the space on either side of her head. “Did you say that you have school?”
The separation was painful, but there was no turning back. “Well…yeah.”
He rubbed his face with one hand and was quiet.
Kali bit her lip, feeling slightly guilty. Well, it’s not like he’d asked. “It’s not necessarily a big deal. How old are you? You can’t be that much older than me.”
“I’m too old to be seen doing this with you in public.” He took a step back.
“Wait a second,” she protested. “No one can tell how old we are.”
He huffed out a breath. “Right…How old are you, Kali?”
“Seventeen.”
“Geez.” Drawing both hands through his hair, he paced off to one side and then back, muttering something about law school.
“I look older.”
“Ha. You bet.” Rhane looked around like he expected the cops to show up at any moment.
“It’s just a number. Who cares?”
“Your parents are lawyers,” he said matter-of-factly.
“Go you, for stating the obvious.”
“I’m taking you home.” He took her arm and guided her away from the alley, into his pickup.
“You’re kidding me.”
“I’m not.” Rhane started the engine.
Pegging him as the type to be reached by hard facts and not emotion, Kali presented a logical argument. “The U.S Constitution decreed the legal age for sexual consent was fourteen. The state of South Carolina amended the number to sixteen a long time ago.”
Rhane blinked. “It worries me that you know that.”
“The law says I’m legal. What we’re doing is perfectly okay.”
“I typically don’t repeat myself, but you’re not getting it. Your parents are lawyers. And I especially stress the law part. Greg calls the shots where you’re concerned. And I don’t think he’d take it well, if his little girl brought home a much older guy.”
“It’s not like I’m a virgin.”
His jaw clenched and unclenched, but Rhane said nothing.
“So what happens tomorrow? I’ll still be seventeen.”
“Kalista--” he began.
“Are we going to stop seeing each other?”
“No,” he answered quickly, too passionately. Reigning back whatever he was feeling, he said more softly, “I can’t stop seeing you, Kalista. I just found you.”
“So why are you doing this?”
“I need time to sort out a few things.”
She gritted her teeth. Her temper was beginning to flare. “Fine.”
“I’ll explain later.”
“It doesn’t matter. I don’t care.”
“Kalista, don’t.”
“Don’t what?” Her voice hardened. “Are you going to tell me to stop acting like a child?”
“No.” He exhaled quietly. “You’re clearly upset, and I understand.” He took his eyes from the road to look at her. “You have to realize that this complicates things. But it’s not a deal breaker.”
Kali didn’t speak for the rest of the drive home. Silent with his own thoughts, Rhane made no attempt at conversation either. Home earlier than expected, she carefully avoided her family and the questions they were sure to ask. She pulled on her most comfy fleece pajamas and crawled into bed hoping to sleep soundly. But that night she dreamed again of the horseman.
#
It was Monday. Cal was angry and made a point of avoiding her at school. They crossed paths a few times during the between class hustle, making eye contact but not speaking. It was for the best. Kali had no kind words for him. And from the way Cal’s eyes flashed, his sentiment was the same toward her.
Really, there were things on her mind that rivaled a spat with Cal. Last night she’d lied when telling Rhane she didn’t care what happened between them. In truth, Kali hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him. Keeping him in her life occupied every thought. Until she turned eighteen, it would probably be impossible for them to date openly. Greg had been leery of Rhane, believing he was the delivery boy. There was no way to bring him home as her boyfriend without her adoptive parents absolutely flipping out. Of course, she could always follow in Rozzy’s steps and just date him behind their backs.
Kali paused at the cafeteria doors and mulled over the limited options. Maybe we could be friends, she thought. Friends with benefits are all the rage.
She went through the lunch line and prepared a mountainous salad. After paying the cashier, Kali immediately spotted Cal in their usual spot but not at his usual time. His early arrival and somewhat contrite expression might have been a peace offering, but the sight of him chilled her. He would never touch her again.
She left the cafeteria, seeking solitude in the ball field. Only a few other students came to the half-circle bleachers that surrounded the stadium during this time of day. Kali said hello in passing to the street pharmacist who needed to learn not to sample more than he sold. She waved at tattooed Emily, a senior who dated lowlifes in rapid succession to piss off daddy.
At the top of the bleachers, Kali sat down. A sudden wave of loneliness hit her. Most of the kids at Ridge Creek had known her since primary school. She’d had a place in their circles once.
There’s nowhere for a freak like me. Not even the circus would take me.
Kali smiled bitterly and pushed the salad away. Reflection was an appetite killer.
Across the field and beneath the bleachers, a movement within the shadows captured her attention. She squinted, peering closer. The dark outline of a four-legged animal was barely discernible. The shape was almost too large to be a dog. An inexplicable sense of anticipation rippled through her muscles. She could feel its eyes on her, watching. Then Kali blinked and the animal was gone. But she didn’t feel so alone anymore.
#
The shortcut through Hall’s Cemetery failed to produce another glimpse of her stealthy visitor from the ball field. Kali left the woods disappointed. At home, it was quiet. Greg and Lisa were working late again. Rozzy’s whereabouts were unknown. Thinking she might use the down time to catch up on work, Kali went upstairs to her room and snagged the manila file off the dresser. Some sort of statue had been recovered. Rare wasn’t the accurate adjective to describe the artifact. The statue was rumored to be the only one of its kind. Ever fearful of photosensitive damage, Mack had not taken a photograph. But he had included a crude sketch.
Kali examined the picture again. A woman stared back. Her exquisite beauty had been expertly conveyed through the medium of a simple pencil drawing. Charcoal strokes became much heavier near the base of the statue. Darker matter entwined with the woman’s figu
re as if the original artist had aimed to create dramatic flair. Or it could have been a representation of corruption. Whatever the intent, the effect was ominous.
She went downstairs and got online, using key phrases from the file to search. The GPS coordinates plotted somewhere south of the Gobi desert. She tried cross referencing similarities between Chinese or Mongolian sculpture and the statue, but the World Wide Web came up empty. Kali pored over the information until her eyeballs hurt. It was pretty obvious Mack had stolen the artifact. From whom or where remained a mystery. Kali wondered how much money was involved to make Mack risk jail time. Scholarship aside, maybe going with him to meet this private collector wasn’t such a good idea. Sighing, she put the computer on standby. It was time for a major veg-out in front of the television. She hoped it would bring some clarity.
Kali dug into the cushions and found the remote. Nothing was on television, but the aimless search through channels turned into a passable distraction. Flash. The mating rituals of snails. Flash. Diet secrets of the rich and famous. Flash. How to survive in the Amazon. Flash. How to survive being eaten alive by piranhas. Flash. Kill yourself and win a million dollars on our new game show. Flash. A woman walked across the television screen in the blackness between channels.
Kali spun around. There was no one behind her. The basement was empty. Shocked and a little afraid, Kali wasn’t convinced she wasn’t going crazy. She turned back to the television and cycled through a few more stations to see if the vision would repeat itself. It did. This time the woman appeared on the basement stairs. Long, dark hair hung loosely down her back, forming a mane of thick spirals. With each step, her flowing dress shimmered and glided. Kali blinked, and the woman was gone. Mind and heart racing, Kali eased off the sofa.
Chapter 19
Soft music flowed down from upstairs, causing Kali to pause as she emerged from the basement. If Rozzy was indeed home, the low tempo drums and enchanted hymns were a divergent choice from the hip-hop she usually listened to.
Deciding not to take any chances, Kali went to the kitchen to arm herself. She knew her limitations and passed over the knives. It was likely she would have tripped and fallen on a knife while going up the stairs, saving any intruder the trouble of a fight. Kali chose the heaviest cast iron skillet from Lisa’s cabinets instead.