The Devil's Due (The Earthwalker Trilogy Book 2) Page 15

  I laughed through my panting and nodded, saying, “No, Caleb, it was all me that time.”

  “If you say so,” he chuckled in a husky, breathless tone and said, “I think we’re both to blame.”

  As I leaned over to kiss him one more time, there was a knock at the door, and we turned to it reflexively. Caleb sighed and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. “Hold that thought.”

  He pulled himself off the couch and went to go see who it was. When he undid the lock and opened the door to the balcony, we saw Lacey standing there expectantly. Her long, black hair was let down around her face in waves, and she had an anxious, yet excited expression when she saw the two of us standing there.

  “Lacey?” I asked in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

  It took a second for her to respond and the waves of her aura shifted as she took in the scene. By all accounts, she looked as confused as we were to have her standing there. “Wait, you live here?” she asked excitedly, completely ignoring my previous question.

  “Yes…?”

  “Is your birth name Alejandro Martinez?” she inquired boldly. Her voice cracked on the inquiry with her aura blaring strong emotion. Oh no.

  Caleb shifted his weight uncomfortably and said, “Why do you want to know?”

  “Please, it’s important,” she insisted.

  “Okay, yes. That’s the name I was given on my birth certificate.”

  “Oh, my gosh,” Lacey panted, nearly fainting against the doorframe. “How could you not tell me this?”

  I stood up from the couch and asked her, “Lacey, what’s going on?”

  Her voice cracked with raw emotion when she answered, looking up with teary eyes, “I think you’re my brother….”

  Chapter Nine

  Wake Me When It’s Over

  Caleb and I both stood there dumbly for a second not knowing what to say or how to react. I took him by the arm and started pulling him back inside, but leaving the door open for her. “Can I talk to you for a minute? Hang on, Lacey, we’ll be right back.”

  He and I both secreted away to the farthest part of his loft and spoke to each other in a whisper.

  “Why would she think that?” I demanded, confused. “She’s been looking for her brother who grew up in foster care!”

  Caleb blinked a couple times, trying to place all the pieces together. “Oh crap. I didn’t … I didn’t know. Four years ago, I ran into a young man who was dying — I helped him to cross over. He was running away from the system and he … succumbed to the elements outside.” We shared a sad moment of silence for the poor soul, lost and alone, freezing in the cold. “When I came to Earth I needed an identity to fill in the red tape, his story seemed to fit the bill.”

  “You stole someone else’s identity?”

  “How else would I have done it? He was the approximate age, right place — and no family to ask questions. I had no idea it was Lacey’s older brother!”

  “What do we tell her?” I asked him nervously. “She’s done her homework, and now all evidence is leading her to you.”

  “Nothing,” Caleb sighed. “We go along with it. The truth would break her heart.”

  “What if she finds out the truth, or worse wants to introduce you to the rest of her family? You don’t know anything about the Dunaways.”

  “Neither did Alejandro,” he reminded me. “For all intents and purposes, I am Alejandro.”

  I paused to consider that for a moment, remembering how Lacey reminded me of him early on. Their dark hair color and clear blue eyes were so similar it was uncanny, and the way the skin between their nose would crinkle was identical. There was something else though too, I couldn’t put my finger on it. Objectively, had I been unaware of the circumstances that brought us to this point, I would have believed they really were related. Perhaps there were greater powers at play than I first realized, throwing us all together.

  She had after all been looking for a brother, now fate had decided to send her one — it was serendipity.

  “I guess that’s true....”

  “Let’s invite her in.”

  I exhaled loudly, following him back towards the door. He met her with a smile and scratched the back of his head. “Lacey, why don’t you come inside?”

  She chuckled uncomfortably, clutching the strap of the bag on her shoulder, and accepted his invitation. Her crystal blue eyes gazed back at us expectantly. “Thank you, I know this is a little awkward.”

  “Can I get you a drink?” he offered politely, gesturing towards the kitchen.

  “Yeah, um, water would be great.”

  He walked over to the sink and filled up a glass, idling in the center of the kitchen. I scratched behind my ear and watched the two of them stiffly as he handed her the drink. Lacey smiled weakly when she accepted it from him. “I’m sorry, this is a little weird. It’s weird, right? I’m kind of freaking out about this. I had all these expectations in my head, and now here you are, and … you’re dating my roommate.”

  “Yeah, it is,” he agreed. “I never expected to be contacted by my birth family.”

  Lacey’s eyes grew wide and twinkled when she smiled. “I didn’t even know you existed until a couple weeks ago. There was this birth certificate and all this other paperwork … I did a search using the social security number listed. For weeks, nothing came up, but then it got a ping saying it had been used for renting an apartment,” she told him sheepishly. “They had to do a background check. I didn’t think it would be you, or that anyone would even be home, I just came.”

  She paused for a moment to catch her breath and took a swig of the drink he gave her.

  “But, it’s really you. I can’t believe this! You’re him, the Social Security number is the same, your birth name is Alejandro … you’re my brother.”

  She nodded with her eyes downcast and staring into her drink. “Why did you change your name? How did you come up with Caleb?”

  “Oh, I changed it when I ran away — starting fresh and all. I was trying to reinvent myself.”

  “That makes sense,” she laughed. “But what are the odds of us ending up in the same city? Finding each other like this?”

  “One in a million,” I muttered to myself dryly. Oh geeze, this isn’t going to end well.

  ~ * ~

  “You didn’t tell her?” Ryan asked in disbelief.

  “No, we didn’t have the heart to tell her. She’s so excited about this, Ryan, you should have seen her face.”

  He leaned back against the counter and said, “But it’s a lie. I think Lacey is stronger than you give her credit for. She handled you being a demon, I think she can accept that Caleb is an angel.”

  I exhaled a puff of air and sighed in agreement, “That’s not what I’m worried about, we don’t care if she finds out Caleb is an angel. We just can’t bear to tell her Alejandro’s dead. She spent all this time looking for someone that can’t be found and I just want to let her be happy. It would break her heart to know the truth — he died freezing, starving and alone. No one even knew or cared. It’s literally every family’s worst fear, and it happened to her brother.”

  “And Caleb is okay with this?”

  “Not really,” I admitted quietly, “but I think the affection goes both ways. He was raised a warrior, he never had a family either, for millennia. It’s a lie, but it’s a good lie. They found each other and are so happy pretending it’s true. I just don’t know what to do.”

  Ryan didn’t say anything, mulling over what I had told him. “The longer you wait, the more betrayed Lacey is going to feel when she finds out.”

  “I know, just don’t say anything until we figure out how to break the news, okay?”

  He shrugged and repositioned the backpack on his shoulder. “Okay, just leave me out of it. What time are Nate and your dad supposed to get here?”

  I smiled, checking the clock on the wall as I pushed away from the desk. “Right about now. Do you wanna get out of here? I just have to clock
out first.”

  Ryan shrugged. “Sure.”

  As I was imputing my code into the computer, a chill ran down my spine with the same uncomfortable feeling that someone was watching me. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, and I grabbed my backpack from underneath the counter. When I pulled it out there was a black feather resting on top. I picked it up quickly looked around, but there was nothing out of place. “Is that a feather?” Ryan asked me curiously.

  “Yeah, it was sitting on my bag.”

  “Huh, weird,” he shrugged. “Let’s hurry up though, we don’t want to keep them waiting.”

  I nodded, grabbing the rainbow scarf off of the chair behind me and wrapped it around my neck before logging out of the computer. Ryan followed me out the door as we made our way out of the Witt Rec Center and my phone started to buzz. Before I could answer it, Dad and Nate started waving to us in the distance, smiling to get my attention.

  “Dad!” I cheered, running forward to greet them. “I’m so glad you came.”

  “Hi, sweetie! Nice to see you too.”

  He wrapped his arms around me in a hug, and I breathed in deeply the familiar loving scent of home. “Tell us about classes,” he insisted conversationally.

  “I’ll catch you later, Wynn,” Ryan waved to us happily. “I’m going to go meet Charlene.”

  Dad and Nate both waved to him as he walked off down the sidewalk before turning their attention back to me.

  “How’s Caleb?” Nate insisted.

  Oh, I will kill you, I thought to myself murderously, shooting daggers at him with my eyes at the mention of his name.

  “Who’s Caleb?” Dad asked us curiously.

  He’s the guy I was sneaking around with all last semester of High school. He’d also hung out in my bedroom unchaperoned — I hope you’re okay with that because from where you sit, things have only gone downhill since then.

  “Lacey’s older brother,” I responded automatically. Nate raised an eyebrow, and I huffed out a puff of air anxiously, knowing I couldn’t keep it from him any longer. “And … my boyfriend.”

  Nathan grinned, and Dad raised an eyebrow. “You have a boyfriend?” he asked me in surprise.

  I brushed back a piece of my hair and shifted my feet uncomfortably. “Well, yeah. Is that weird?”

  “Not at all, we’d love to meet him. Why don’t you invite him out to dinner with us later, that way I can meet him properly?”

  “Oh, are we going out to dinner?” I asked him curiously.

  “Unless you were going to cook for us in your dorm room.”

  I rolled my eyes at his implication and got my phone from the pocket of my bag. “Sure, I’ll give him a call.”

  “Hey!” he answered quickly.

  I smiled at his enthusiasm and shuffled my feet on the sidewalk. The military combat boots scuffed against the concrete as I dragged them across the ground. “Hey, I’m actually calling to invite you out to dinner. Nate blabbed about you, about us — now my dad wants to meet you.”

  There was a pause on the other line before he responded. “Sure, just give me the time and place. I get off work in an hour, but if we’re going out to eat, I should probably go home and change.”

  I turned to Dad and asked, “Where are we meeting him?”

  “Tell him we’ll be at DePalma’s Italian Café. It’s on University only about five minutes from campus.”

  I went back to the conversation on the phone and told Caleb, “Can you meet us at … DePalma’s Italian Café around six thirty?”

  “Yeah, I could do that. See ya then.”

  “You too.”

  We hung up, and I had a goofy smile on my face. “Okay, let’s go upstairs to the dorm for a little bit, and I’ll show you around. We could even go to Death Before Decaf if you want.”

  “What?”

  I smiled at the expressions on their faces and said, “It’s a coffee shop, Ryan actually works there. Lacey and I go there all the time.”

  “Huh, sure, we could check it out.”

  The leaves crunched beneath our feet as we walked together down the sidewalk. They were changing color, and the smell of fall was in the air. It was my favorite time of year, it’s everyone’s favorite time. The clothes are better, the food is better, and everything smells like pumpkin.

  Literally everything.

  “Campus has changed a lot since my day,” Dad told us matter-of-factly. “I like it, though. How about you, son? Are you planning to go here too after you graduate?”

  Nathan shrugged. “Maybe, I haven’t really thought about it. Maybe I’ll go to Auburn or Florida State just to annoy you.”

  Dad feigned outrage and said, “Have fun paying for your own tuition!”

  “Dad! I’m kidding. You know I love the Crimson Tide.”

  I looked up at him and grinned. His hair was longer and starting to curl around his ears. He seemed different, more adult and stronger too. Nate had always been bullied in school, but he was completely different now and exuded a strange new confidence. He could even give Caleb a run for his money. Something about him was off, like there were weird vibrations all around him. Most curiously, however, was that his aura seemed to have faded. I wasn’t sure at first since everyone’s is different and changes with their mood, but after listening to him speak and observing him for a bit, I was positive the color was changing.

  “What’s it like living in the dorms?” Nate asked.

  I shrugged. “It’s really not that bad! It’s nicer than I expected and Lacey is really easy to get along with. Some Kappa girls invited us to pledge since Mom’s a legacy, but I told them no.”

  “Why not?” Dad questioned casually. “Your mom loved being a Kappa. In fact, she used some of those connections to get approval to build her restaurant.”

  With a sudden pang of loss at the memory of my mother, I remembered the dream I had where she woke up from her coma. It hadn’t occurred to me at the time what that would have meant for Dad as well. I knew he missed her too.

  Clearing my throat, I told them, “I just didn’t want to. Lacey thought about Pledging at first, but decided against it.”

  “I never got into the Greek life myself, but some people really enjoy it.”

  “Hmmm. What’s this restaurant you’re taking us to?” I asked him curiously.

  “Oh, it’s great. Anytime I come up here for work I make sure to bring my clients. The food’s not quite as good as your mothers, but it’s a close second,” he told me with a wink.

  ~ * ~

  Caleb’s hair was still damp when he arrived at DePalma’s, wearing a clean button down shirt. The hostess was asking him about being seated when he spotted us across the dining room and gestured to our table. When Nathan saw him, he got up from his seat and went to greet him like old pals. “Hey man, how’s it going?”

  Caleb smiled as he met his enthusiasm and followed him to the table. “I’m doing pretty well, just keeping busy.”

  The reddish-brown tiles on the floor gave the restaurant a rustic ambiance, which was only reinforced by the open kitchen that allowed the patrons to look in and see their food being cooked.

  Mom would have hated it with her training in the culinary world, but I found the change of pace delightful. She had fairly conservative views on the way food should be prepared and I doubted the relaxed atmosphere would have appealed to her at all.

  Dad stood up as the boys came back to offer him his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Caleb. I don’t believe we’ve met before.”

  “No sir, we haven’t,” Caleb said accepting the handshake graciously. “But Wynn’s told me all about you.”

  “Oh really? That’s interesting because Wynn never mentioned you, so this is somewhat of a surprise for me,” Dad told him warily. “Why don’t you tell me a little about yourself?”

  Caleb cleared his throat as he took his seat and clasped my hand gently beneath the table. “I’m afraid there’s not really much to tell.”

  “Nonsense!
I understand you’re related to the Dunaways?”

  “That’s correct,” he responded automatically.

  Dad sat back in his seat and examined him critically. “Huh, I wasn’t aware they had a son your age.”

  Caleb and I both laughed, causing him to think we had gone insane. Thankfully, we were saved by the waiter coming by to take our orders, then disappearing into the kitchen.

  “Neither did I,” Caleb explained as the server left. “It came as a surprise to all of us. I grew up in the foster system. They just found me.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. They have a rough go of it I hear.”

  “Have you done any work in dependency? I understand you’re a lawyer.”

  Dad snickered, “You would be correct. However, I work with real estate. What do you do for a living?”

  Caleb shifted in his seat uncomfortably, and I could tell he was getting nervous. “I work in landscaping.”

  Without realizing it, part of me inside tensed. I wasn’t sure if Dad would look down on a blue-collar job, I knew his family would, but to my extreme surprise and pleasure, he smiled. “Well, there’s nothing wrong with that. How long have you and Wynn been together?”

  Caleb and I both looked at one another unsure. “About three months?”

  “That’s not very long,” he commented. “Is it serious?”

  I nearly choked on the drink in my mouth and glared at him. “Dad!”

  Caleb just smiled and took my hand underneath the table. “Well, sir, I can’t speak for Wynn, but at least on my end, I would have to say ‘yes’. It’s pretty serious.”

  I smiled up and him and felt my cheeks get flush. “Yeah, I guess it is.”

  Dad sat back in his seat watching us carefully and smiled, clearly easing into the conversation after giving his stamp of approval. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

  The rest of the dinner conversation went by pleasantly. Dad seemed appropriately satisfied and impressed with him, but it was weird having them actually meet. Nate was tickled pink to have a guy friend, and everything just seemed to flow. Caleb and I kissed goodnight at the end of it and promised to see him again tomorrow.