Whispers on a Wing

Chapter Thirty Seven

He was sitting on a small rise under a massive tree, and I couldn't help but stop and stare at him as he sat there silhouetted against the afternoon sun. His hair was blowing in the breeze, his head resting back against the trunk as his breaths came steady and easy. If it wasn't for the set of his shoulders I'd assume he'd fallen asleep, but there was no mistaking the tension he held himself with.
His jaw was tight and his fists slightly clenching and relaxing as he no doubt thought about everything that had happened for the past twenty four hours.
We'd fought at that party which felt like a lifetime ago, I'd told him I was leaving, I get kidnapped by my parents before his very eyes, he comes and rescues me with Alice. Then he has to watch one of his best friends kill my mum, something I'm sure would leave a mental scar for him to process. Then I go and tell him I'm leaving him anyway, even after both him and Alice had begged me to stay.
I didn't deserve these two, their unyielding love and support and their sheer determination to stay in my life, even if it was a detriment to themselves.
I rubbed the nonexistent grit from my eyes, my body screaming at me that it needs sleep after so long being away, but I ignored it and plowed on. Not long and I can sleep, I just need to make sure Jake is warned of the two people I'd heard in his house.
I took the few remaining steps towards him, my steps almost silent against the grass as I approached him, and I felt a weird nervous flutter sit in my stomach. This was Jake for heavens sake, there was no need to be nervous around him, but I couldn't help the feeling as I took those final steps.
"Hi," I whispered into the silence, my voice carrying over the breeze as I stood next to him.
His eyes snapped open with a start but he remained silent as he stared up at me, his green eyes unblinking, and I felt the nervous flutter increase as I held his gaze.
"Can I sit?"
He nodded but otherwise didn't say anything as he stared back out across the field, looking across the swaying grass with unseeing eyes.
"After you left I went up to your room to grab a jumper... fine steal a jumper," I amended at his lifted eyebrows. "But whilst I was there these two people came into your house looking for you."
At that he finally gave me his full attention, eyes wide and alert. "What? Are you alright? Did they see you?"
"I'm fine," I reassured him. "See? All ten fingers and ten toes," I joked, wiggling my fingers between us before gesturing to my feet. "You'll have to trust me on the toes thing."
"What did they want? Were they coming to find you? How did they know you were there?" He'd turned his body fully to face me now and grasped one of my wiggling hands into his. His warmth seeped into my skin and it was almost an unconscious reaction as I felt my body start to relax, knowing I was safe with him.
"They were there looking for you," I finally told him, fighting my body's natural reaction to relax into him.
"Me? Why would they be looking for me?" He asked, brows pulled tight in confusion.
"My guess would be to find out what you knew? They were working with my parents in some way, I'm not really sure in what capacity though," I told him as I gripped onto his hand.
I still wasn't convinced I'd fully processed what had happened out in that field, how my parents had nearly succeeded in killing me, again. How my mum had died trying to complete that goal. I was sure it was all going to come back to haunt me, stalk me in my nightmares as I watched the knife intended for me fly past my head over and over again as I heard the thunk of it sink into my mums chest, but that was a problem for future me.
"Kathy, or Kayla or whoever you want me to call you," he shook his head in frustration before twisting his full body so he was facing me. "I'm not going to beg you to stay, I want you to want to be here not because I want you here, but it doesn't change my point. It's dangerous out there, for all of us after what we witnessed earlier, and I think we'd be safer together."
"Kathy," was all I could respond with, looking down at my scuffed up boot after I couldn't take the intensity of his eyes any longer. "Kayla died five years ago. To everyone important to me, from all the best memories I have... Kathy."
He looked at me, really looked at me, and I watched his eyes soften slightly as they no doubt saw the worry and fear in mine.
"Jake, they were looking for you," I reminded him, pulling my hand from his. "You're in danger because of me. If I left now, whoever these people were would have no reason to stick around, they'd leave you alone and you could go on with your life. You could go back to the way everything was before I even turned up at your school."
"And why would I want that?" He asked, green eyes searching my brown as if I had all the answers.
"Because..." I trailed off, my mind spinning with all the possible reasons why he'd want me gone. "Because I'm not worth the risk," I told him, my truth finally coming out. "I'm all wrong, in so many ways. I'm rude and mean to you, I live with a bird and steal food, I'm not even sure I'm human-"
"Kathy," he interrupted me, grabbing both my hands in his now and refusing to let me go, even when I tugged to get them back. "I wish you could see yourself the way I do," he sighed. "You are strong, and resilient, and you don't take any of my shit no matter how annoying I'm being. You're brave and loyal and refuse to let others help you, even when they're literally begging you to," he chuckled. "You are the most human person I know, even if you don't see yourself as someone worth fighting for, know that I do."
His eyes were locked on mine, blazing with so much emotion I wasn't even sure how to process it all. My mind swam and tears filled my eyes against my will. How could he say stuff like that, how could he think I was someone worth knowing after everything he knew about me.
He lifted one of his hands and ran his thumb across my cheek, wiping the tear away before winding his fingers into my tangled hair. I probably looked like an absolute wreck, covered in soot and bruises, mud and blood, but he didn't care. He was looking at me as if I was his whole world and nothing else mattered.
"You deserve happiness Kathy, don't let what your parents believed define your life, decide for yourself that you deserve every good thing in this world."
"But... those people..." I tried to protest, not understanding the feelings currently bubbling up inside me. I needed to put distance between us, say something that would push him away, but for the first time, I found myself unable to. Not before I didn't know how, I was an expert at pushing people away, but because I didn't want to. What was this guy doing to me?
"We will deal with any issues that comes up as and when they arrive. Stop panicking about the what if's and just focus on the now."
He had both of his hands in my hair now, cradling my neck in his large palms as he stared deep onto my eyes, so close I could feel his breath on my lips.
"Trust me Kathy, trust that I am here to stay."
I released a slow breath, fighting the confusing war of emotions currently battling inside me. His green eyes pierced mine, bright and clear and full of so much love I felt my chest almost collapse.
I could do it couldn't I? I could trust someone, I could trust him.
Without allowing myself to think, to get in my own head and think of all the million ways this could go wrong, I slowly nodded my head, not moving my eyes from Jakes.
We sat in silence for a second, just staring at each other, before one of Jakes signature grin broke out across his face. "Yeah?"
"Yes," I nodded, more sure of myself this time. "I-if you think we can do this then I'll stay, but," I yelled over Jake as he released what could only be described as a hoot of excitement. "If it looks like it's getting even the slightest bit dangerous for you to be around me, if whoever those people are catch up to us again, I will leave. Nothing is more important to me than yours and Alice's safety," I warned.
"I'm not worried," Jake waved off as he gripped my face firmly in the palms of his hands again. "Now come here, I've been dying to do this all day," he grinned before pulling my face close until his lips pressed against mine.
There was nothing soft about this kiss, it was demanding and urgent and I felt myself moan into his lips as my body finally relaxed for the first time in I didn't know how long.
His tongue was urgent against mine and I gripped his hair in my hand as I allowed my other to wander to the hem of his T-shirt, lifting it up slightly until my fingers were brushing the tense muscle of his stomach, his lower back, his chest.
I felt his fingers trail down my neck and across my collarbone as our kiss deepened, us both battling for dominance as I held him close to me and I couldn't help it as another moan slipped free. Kissing him was like a drug. I wasn't sure if it was the exhaustion, the adrenaline, or the fact that all my truths were now out there and laid bare for him to see, but it was addicting.
I froze suddenly as I felt his fingers on the skin at my back, close enough to one of my wings that the back of his hand occasionally brushed against my feathers. I knew he knew they were there, logically it didn't matter that he hand was currently grazing them, but years of panic that someone was going to find out about them wasn't going to erase in one afternoon.
"Relax," Jake breathed into me. "I wont touch anywhere you're uncomfortable with I promise, we can go as slow as you need," he reassured me as I felt his hand retract from under my top and rest at my waist over his jacket.
"I'm sorry," I sighed out in annoyance, resting my forehead against his.
"Hey, there's no need to apologise," he reassured me, tilting my face up with a finger on my chin so he could look back into my eyes. "Like I said, as slow as you need," he repeated. I'm not sure if it was the look in his eyes or the trust I had in him, but I knew he was telling the truth. He'd wait as long as I needed him to for us to do any further with him touching or seeing my wings.
"It's not that I don't trust you," I told him, needing him to know that wasn't the issue. "But..." I trailed off and looked around at our surroundings, finally remembering that we were technically in a public space, even if we were alone right now.
"I get it," he grinned with a shrug as he released my chin. "You're afraid that if we go any further you won't be able to keep your hands off me," he said with a dramatic stretch, flexing his arms high his T-shirt rode up.
I snorted and shoved him playfully. "Sure, that's the reason," I grinned. "You're just so irresistible I'm not able to keep my hands off you."
"I know, it's a curse looking this good."
I dissolved into a fit of giggles after that and it must be a sign that I was going delirious from lack of sleep because it wasn't even that funny, but the more I stared at Jake, the more I thought about the situation we were in, the harder I laughed.
Eventually my giggled died down and I released a breath on a deep sigh. "What are we going to do Jake?" I asked, thinking of all the things we still needed to figure out.
Find out who those people were inside Jake's house, find out what happened to Harper and whether she's even still alive. Find a new place for me to live. Figure out what we're going to do on Monday with Erik turns up at school, and if he doesn't how are they going to explain that to everyone?
"We have all the time in the world to think about what's next," Jake interrupted my downward spiral. "But for today we're just going to sit here and enjoy what's left of the day and bask in the fact that we won. "
He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and drew me close, my back to his chest, and even though I knew he could heel the lump of my right wing pressing into him, for the first time ever I didn't stress about it.
He was right, the rest of the world and all our problems could wait for another day. Today we can just sit here and feel the warm glow of the sun on our skin, reminding us that we were alive.
I had survived my parents finding me, something I'd been having nightmares about since the moment I left England. And even though my safety and survival rested solely in the hands of the man who'd originally sort to kill me, my father who was no longer my father, for some reason I trusted him to tell the truth.
I believed he wasn't going to tell whoever he worked for that they'd failed in their mission, that I was alive and living exactly where they'd found me, I just had to hope that trust wasn't misplaced.
We watched the sun for hours, only breaking the silence occasionally, until I felt my eyes start to slide shut against their will.
Who knows what tomorrow would bring, but for right now I was going to sleep in the arms of the person I trusted and loved more than anyone.

THE END