ORDER OF SEVEN (10 page)

I notice Nodin shifting uncomfortably, no doubt sensing our discomfort. “Are you guys okay? I feel...pain,” he says.

“That’s an astute observation,” I say with an eye roll.

“We’re getting used to it,” Baron says with a quick glance back at me. “Honestly, if you’d stop being so paranoid about us being near each other, it’d be a lot easier.”

“Easier
how
?” he asks.

“Because the energy isn’t as reactive if we’re touching,” Baron says.

“Surrre,” he says in a tone that is both sarcastic and droll. This makes Ben smirk, but it quickly fades under my glare.

“It’s the truth,” Baron says. “Feel it.” He glances back at me and taps his shoulder.

I take his cue and place my hand there. The energy slows to a tolerable pulse and I melt into it.

I can actually see the tension roll off Nodin. “Okay,” he says with a sigh. “I get it.”

I somehow resist the urge to stick my tongue out at Ben. I’m arcing and take this opportunity to snoop around in Nodin and Ben’s minds, making sure to keep my eyes averted from Ben so he doesn’t bust me. They assume I only arced that first night. I don’t want any of them knowing it still happens when we touch. I feel bad concealing this from Baron, but if he knows, Ben could find out. It’s not worth the risk. This is the only way I can be sure nothing’s being kept from me.

So far, they’re clean.

Baron continuously checks my aura for color change. About ten minutes into the drive, right as I’m starting to feel irritated with the silence, he looks at me and says, “Take a break. I’ll tell you when you’re orange again.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Ben says, and Baron explains our energy reaction and how it affects my aura.

“How do you know all this?” Nodin asks.

He shrugs. “It’s what I do.”

The guys have chosen a fielded area with enough tree coverage for us to go unnoticed, a good ten minute walk off the road. The air is cool and smells of pine. Mist still hangs around the base of the trees. Our shoes pad softly on the thick, green blanket of pine needles beneath.

I’m wearing a long sweater over black tights, but neglected to bring a jacket and the cool breeze is cutting right through the fabric. I clench my jaw to keep my teeth from chattering and put my arms inside my sleeves.

Something heavy and warm lands on my shoulders. I look back and see Ben is coatless, crossing his arms against the chill. “Thank you,” I say. He nods and walks ahead of me.

I smile because I know we’re good.

We arrive at the spot they had scoped out for us. Ben finds a log to sit and observe. The rest of us stay in the middle of the clearing, looking at each other, unsure how to begin.

Baron stretches his neck and arms. “Okay. Let’s do this.” He urges Nodin to back up about ten feet away and motions me to come closer, stopping me right in front of him. He finds my hands inside the long sleeves of Ben’s coat and takes them in his.

I lift my gaze to his eyes, even greener against the tree landscape. I whisper, “Will this be like the other night?”

He grins. “Yes and no. Just close your eyes and trust me.”

I did before he asked.

He squeezes my hands. Seconds later, a sensation roars through me so strong, it feels like my cells are compressed into flat discs. A raging warmth courses through me. I can feel it powering through my arms and out my fingertips into Baron’s hands. Abruptly it stops and I gasp.

It was different than the other night, much more intense. I can’t help but peek. Baron looks tense, straining to harness what he’s taken from me. Mesmerized, I watch as he begins to manipulate it.

Eyes closed, his hands move in graceful circles as if he’s holding an invisible ball. Muscles rippling with effort, he moves his top hand in slow circles over the empty space, almost caressing it. The area of the circle gets larger and larger, drawing it up and out. His jaw flexes, but his face remains calm. Stepping back with one leg in a reverse lunge, he pivots his hands, continuing to form the circle even larger. He shapes it, feeling its girth, expanding, and then palming its entirety again. He sweeps the ball to one side and holds it. Beads of sweat appear on his brow. He lunges back on the other leg, repeating the same movements.

The energy is more than half the size of me. He holds it in front of him and with one swift motion slices his hand through the invisible circle, scoops out a small portion and sends it to me with a quick snap of his wrist.

I don’t expect this, so the wave nearly knocks me off my feet. He has grown my energy and given my original amount back.

I stay put, not sure if he needs me anymore. Baron continues shaping the ball, working hard to contain it, running his hands around the orb as he walks a few steps back. His face grows tense as he presses on either side. The ball is getting smaller. He lets out a breath of air, slow and steady. Focusing. Compressing. He’s covered in sweat. In fact, I seem to feel it emanating to me, eight or so feet away.

Baron forces it smaller, sweat dripping off his chin. I can feel droplets of the salty stuff running down my own back. I let Ben’s coat fall to the ground at my feet.

He turns his back to me and raises the now melon-sized orb over his head. His soaked shirt clings to his toned back. He balances it in one hand, winds his arm back and throws it, falling forward with effort, sweat spewing from his hair like a crown of crystals. Seconds later, the top of a sixty-foot pine tree bends clear over before springing back up with violent force. The sun shines through where leaves and branches have broken off.

My hands cover my mouth in awe.

Baron’s chest is heaving. He stands up and pulls his shirt off over his head, using it to wipe sweat from his face and body. “Are you okay?” he asks.

I nod, rendered speechless. Not merely from the display of power, but from the vision before me. His body, shining with sweat, muscles pumped, full veins roping under his skin. The tattoos are
beautiful
. He looks like art.

“So is that comparable to what you do with Hahn?” Nodin asks him.

Baron squints, contemplating his answer. “Sort of. I’ve thrown that much electromagnetic energy, but never that much bio-energy.”

“What’s the difference as far as shaping goes?”

“Bio-energy gets hotter. Much hotter. And it has the potential to have more inertia. It’s more powerful. I didn’t mean to hit the tree. I hate hitting trees,” he says, peering up at the damage.

“Is that what you train with?” Ben asks.

“No. I don’t usually work with it ‘cause I can only get it from Hahn and it’s not ideal for me to pull from him. He’s not able to help me until I give energy back to him,” he says.

“Why can’t he help you before you give energy back?” Nodin asks.

“It nearly immobilizes him.” He motions to me. “Ask her. It’s like a puppet with their strings cut.”

I blink, my attention caught. “I don’t feel like that.”

They all turn their heads in my direction.

“What do you mean? How do you feel?” Baron asks.

I shrug. “Fine, I think.”

“You think you could move and talk?” Baron says.

I nod. “Definitely.”

He stares at me, awe and disbelief etched on his face.

“Why do you think that is?” Nodin says.

Baron shakes his head. “Probably because she has so much to begin with. What I took had little effect on her.”

“So what now? Can you do it again?” I say to Baron.

He flashes a devilish grin. “Don’t worry about me. I could do this all day.”

•◊
8
ץ

AFTERNOON DELIGHT

W
e exchange energy two more times. Baron has me prove I can move in the limbo state, as he calls it, and I do. His eyes are closed, but Nodin is my witness.

After Baron takes my energy, I move my arms in a slow wave and march in place. It does feel strange, like I’m moving through spider webs, but I have no problem.

By noon we’re too exhausted and hungry to continue. Nodin digs out an extra shirt for Baron from a workout bag in the back of the Bronco, although I couldn’t begin to say why scrawny Nodin has a workout bag.

It fits, but is delightfully snug on him.

We head back to town. I know this means Baron and Ben are leaving soon. My stomach lurches at the thought of being away from him for two weeks. Forty minutes later, we arrive at my house. I hug Ben, give him back his jacket and tell him to have a safe trip.

“See you soon,” I say to Baron, unable to look at him. I open my door to get out when a hand grabs my arm. I don’t need to look back to know it is Baron reaching over the seat.

“Call me if you get any new information,” he says, but
I don’t want to leave you
is what he thinks.

It’s after two o’clock and the Jamies are eating and watching TV in our family room of hand-me-down furniture. The room is a mess of pizza boxes and beer bottles. If I weren’t so distracted I’d lose my shit about it. Jamie One’s girlfriend, Chloe, is curled up in the chair covered with a thick brown throw, her long red hair twisted into an impossibly high bun. Everyone says hello when I walk in.

“Where were you?” Jamie Two asks, his tongue ring clicking against his teeth. He’s shirtless, which grosses me out because his nipples are pierced and it hurts to look at them.

“I had breakfast with Nodin and some friends,” I say.

“You want some donuts? We have tons,” Jamie One offers.

Donuts in the afternoon?
Then I realize they’ve just woken up and this is their morning. She’s in Hello Kitty pajama bottoms and a black tank top, and I wonder how her eyeliner is still so perfect in the morning.

“No thanks. I’m stuffed.”

Chloe announces she’s going to take a shower and relinquishes the chair to me. I sit in a numb daze watching some obnoxious show where cruel pranks are played on people, which Jamie Two thinks is hysterical and makes Jamie One roll her eyes, but all I can think about is Baron leaving and I want to puke.

My cell phone rings. It’s him.

“I told Ben I’m putting gas in the Jeep and checking the tire pressure. I have to see you again before we leave. I’ll be right there,” he promises.

I head for the door.

“Where are you going?” Jamie Two asks.

“Meeting a friend,” I say, and then sit on the steps waiting. Ten minutes later when his Jeep rounds the corner, my stomach flips. I get in the passenger seat and his Baron scent fills my senses. I savor it.

“Hey,” he says, with a little smile. He’s wearing a black beanie hat and looks delicious.

“Hi. Where are we going?”

“I don’t have long. Is there a park or something nearby?”

I tell him of one close by, and in moments he’s whipping into the parking lot and turns off the ignition. He leans toward me and laces his fingers through mine. I sink into our energy like a warm bath. Although he seems to struggle to find words, I can hear and feel them so he doesn’t need to say a thing. His sentiment runs through me, echoing mine.

“I just wanted a chance to...”

“I know.” I look up at him, his eyes reach into my soul, and I want to kiss him.

He’s thinking the same thing. He’s going to do it. “Let’s go for a walk,” he says instead.

The temperature is perfect now, cool but not cold, and we walk hand-in-hand along a sidewalk adjacent to the park where a few kids are playing. He tells me Nodin plans for us to travel to Oklahoma as soon as next weekend and I suppress a squeal—even though it’ll be my first time to leave Odessa, to leave the tree, and that terrifies me.

It dawns on me as we’re walking that I know how he feels, but he can only assume how I feel. There’s this abyssal bond and physical attraction, and so many other unspoken things hitting at once. I don’t want this to get any more complicated.

I turn and face him. “Are we just going to ignore this?”

His eyes are steady on mine. “We don’t have a choice. Not right now. There’s too much at stake.”

“So when?”

He shakes his head slowly and seems to consider my question. “When this is all over.”

“When what’s over? We don’t know what we’re doing...or when...or why.”

He tangles his fingers in mine, liquefying my bones with a symphony of vibrations. He says in a quiet, controlled voice, “We don’t need the distraction or the tension with the other two. It’s better if we wait.”

I nod because I can’t speak. I know he’s right, but I hate it so hard it’s making me tear up, which I can’t let him see. I look down and bite the inside of my cheek to distract the tears with pain. When I steady myself, I look back up at him.

And then I hear my two new favorite words:
Fuck it.

He runs a hand behind my head and hovers his lips just over mine. The rest of the world vaporizes into a blur. My legs nearly fold under me when he bites my bottom lip, tugging it softly between his teeth. He kisses me slow and he tastes like maple syrup.

I moan when he increases the intensity, his mouth ravaging mine, hard and hungry. I’m pressing against him, wishing there wasn’t so much fabric between us when I notice things taking an ugly turn. I break our kiss and look at my shaking hands, the anger and hostility brewing in my bones.

“I’m sorry,” he says, taking a step back.

“Don’t say that.” I want to say a thousand other things but I can’t make them come out of my mouth, so I just stare at my feet and try to be funny despite the building fury inside. “So, we’re awesome at waiting.”

Baron laughs. “Yeah, we should probably try harder.” He takes a deep breath and exhales slow. We take our time walking back to the parking lot side by side.

No touching, not even on the drive home.

In front of my house, I’m finding it hard to leave the Jeep. “I guess I’ll see you soon,” I say, fumbling with my charm bracelet.

He pulls me into a hug, which I navigate so my lips are against his neck. I kiss him there once. Then again. I know I’m killing him, but it works because he tilts my head up and we’re kissing again. I want to taste him forever. He stops, his thoughts worried my energy will get riled again.

It’s been several minutes—or an hour—or a day. Time has lost all meaning.