🙁

Chapter 21

Clingy! Me! I opened my mouth, prepared to let him know every single vile thing I thought about him, but Brady cut me off too soon. "You want to leave with me, don't you, Sweetheart?"

That evil, evil voice. Words tumbled past my lips, not one of them resembling what I'd wanted to say. "Yes, darling." Darling? Darling! Who the hell even says that! I glared at the man beside me, and Brady shot back a smirk that let me know he was enjoying himself.

"You're wish is my command," he said, but he'd forgotten one little detail.

Red, body squared into a protective stance, grabbed my arm and jerked me behind her. "Oh no you don't, genie boy!"

Brady rolled his eyes. "You're very annoying." With a flick of his wrist, the ground beneath Red's feet shifted, sending us both off balance.

Red went sideways, just barely catching herself on the table, while I, not so miraculously, tumbled forwards.

Brady caught me with one arm, hoisted me against his chest like a parcel, then waved his opposite hand through the air. Blue light swallowed us whole, and I'd never hated a color more.

One second, I was at a diner, making friends, enjoying a rare normal moment. Then the next, I was kidnapped and transplanted to what could only be described as a cloud.

The first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes, was that it wasn't a cloud but a bed, and that the bed just happened to be outside. The moon hung full and bright, so much larger than I was used to seeing it, just in the distance. The sound of crashing waves had me sitting up, and sure enough, the glow of ocean foam reflected off a perfectly white sand. A canopy made of straw above offered a small semblance of shelter, and shaggy palms hung in various spots around the open sides, looking black in the contrasting light.

I looked down at the white sheets beneath me, then back to the amazing view, and my chest swelled. It felt like a dream.

"I like it when you look like that," Brady said, startling me.

I screeched, my head snapping to the left at the sound of his voice. He lay stretched out like a cat across the same white sheets. His equally white teeth seemed to glow brighter than the moon as he grinned at my reaction. My eyes roamed, traitorous assholes that they were, down the overly tempting length of him. He was fully dressed, thank god, but his shirt had been replaced by a solid white button down, and far too many of those buttons were failing to do their job. Further down, dark jeans wrapped him in sin, and his feet were bare. They were just as beautiful as the rest of him, and the fact only pissed me off more.

Men don't have pretty feet. I'd seen feet. Feet weren't sexy, but Brady's feet...

I let out a growl and grabbed the first thing I got my hands on, which just happened to be a pillow. Brady's eyes widened as the instrument of fluffy death came barreling towards his face, but his laughter as I hit him didn't sound anywhere near as pained as I'd hoped it would.

He let me hit him for a moment, and his deep sexy laugh only made me swing harder. Then, in a move that was too fast to register, he grabbed the pillow away and pinned my arms above my head.

His upper half hung over me, his face level with mine, and those perfectly white teeth once again dominated my focus. "You're the only woman I've ever met that would hit me for bringing them to a place like this."

I scoffed. "Then why, tell me, did you bring me!"

His smile, if possible, widened. "Because, you're the only woman that would hit me for bringing you here."

We stared at each other, him smiling, me glaring as I fought for a response to his stupid answer.

"That makes no sense."

Brady tilted his head at me, and his smile softened. His gaze turned thoughtful, as if he were no longer looking at me, but through me. "I guess a lot of this doesn't make sense, huh?" he asked softly. His right hand released my wrist, and his fingers lightly ran a path from my temple to where my head touched the pillow, trailing sparks that tingled across my skull. I shivered, and Brady's look let me know he noticed the reaction.

"That," he said, repeating the move for emphasis, "is real." He watched me closely, and that same shiver ran through me again.

Goosebumps rose along my skin, and my chest grew warm and full. My anger faded away, unable to compete with the other feelings invading my body like a foreign army. I took in our precarious position, the bed, the lack of any other intelligent life around us. This is not good. "I don't want to..." I started, letting the words drift off as Brady's fingers travelled down to my neck and across my collar bone.

He gripped my shoulder in a comforting motion. "I know, Sweetheart. That's not why we're here." His words soothed me. "I felt bad after what happened in the lake. I lost control. I shouldn't have let that happen." He met my gaze, and his smile was gone, replaced by a somber look I'd never see on him. "There's things you need to know first. It wouldn't just be..." He trailed off and looked away. "There's a lot I have to try and explain to you."

"Then explain it." My voice shook. Inside, a far too, tiny part of myself was screaming at me to push him away, to not believe him, that he was a danger. But another part, a huge part that only seemed to rule over my senses when he was around, drowned out that voice until I didn't want to listen anymore.

Brady grimaced. "It's not that simple." He pushed himself away and rolled out of the bed. I watched as he descended down a small set of steps and onto the beach.

His shoulders and back were stiff, his strides long as he continued to walk another twenty feet before dropping down to sit in the sand.

I sat up for a better view of him, arms propped onto his knees, staring out over the ocean. In that moment, he seemed different, not scary, not threatening. Vulnerable. It could be an act. My rational brain wanted to believe that it was, but that other part of myself wasn't buying it.

An ache formed in my chest. Something about his mood bothered me, and I had the sudden, deep need to change it, to fix whatever it was that was hurting him.

Against all intelligent thought, I stood up and followed the footprints he'd made until I was only a foot behind him. It felt awkward, standing there, staring at his back, not knowing what to do or say.

Without turning, Brady held a hand out. "Sit with me, Sweetheart."

I chewed my lip as I stared at the offering. It bothered me that I couldn't think clearly. It bothered me that my anger was gone, that I wanted to take his hand. That I wanted nothing more in that moment than to have a seat, be nice to him for once.

Brady didn't comment on my long hesitation. He waited patiently, so still I couldn't even see him breathing.

When I slowly reached forward and touched my fingers to his, I heard him gently exhale. He took my hand and held it loosely, his thumb trailing across the back of it as I lowered myself down beside him.

I took a long look out over the ocean, then met his steady gaze. Brady's expression was as calm as it was unreadable. He didn't speak, didn't resume his earlier conversation. He just looked at me, and the oddest part was that I didn't feel awkward under his heavy gaze.

"Brady?"

His lip twitched. "Yes?"

"Tell me the truth," I paused and took a shaky breath. Why was I so nervous? What had changed? "Why do I feel... like this?"

Brady rested his chin on his bicep and let out a sigh. "I'm afraid if I tell you that, you won't believe me, and it will just scare you even more."

"Do you plan to keep it a secret forever?" I challenged. I needed to know. To understand. Maybe he was right. He probably was. I would be the first to admit I didn't trust his big ass as far as I could throw him, which was not at all, with him being so magically, fucking gigantic.

"You're thinking about how you're not going to believe me, aren't you?" Brady asked, his voice dryer than a dollar store cake.

I tried not to laugh, but it proved too hard. A giggle slipped out, not the fake kind that made me sound like a dying animal, but a real one. It bubbled up, and the moment it started, it grew. Tears filled my eyes, and I couldn't stop. The more I tried, the worse it became.

Brady watched me closely, his eyes calculating, his lips returned to that famous smirk. "I guess I was right," he said.

I nodded my head as another peel of laughter had me leaning forward to bury my face into my knees.

Brady ran a hand along my back, and the feeling caused me to look at him. When I did, my laughter sunk back into the pit of my stomach.

"You're beautiful," he said, so reverently that to say I heard the statement felt too hollow a description. I felt it, the honesty, the genuineness.

My cheeks heated, and Brady's smirk widened. He took a deep breath, shook his head, then looked away. "I guess it's better to just get it over with. The sooner you know, the sooner you can accept it." He looked back at me. "The sooner you accept it, the sooner I can stop feeling like I want to destroy the world and every other man in it."

My eyebrows lifted at his change of tone, but I didn't speak. It felt like whatever he was going to say would change my life, this whole situation, drastically. A part of me wanted to throw my hands over my ears and prevent any further damage, but the other waited on baited breath for him to continue.

"You and I..." His mouth shut, and his jaw clenched. He shuffled himself around until he was facing me, then took both my hands in his. His eyes began to glow, not fully but around the edges, just enough to pull me in and make it impossible to look away. "You and I are connected." He watched me closely, but I couldn't understand what he meant. "Jinn have freewill in every way a human does, but there is one thing that's different. One thing that's chosen for us."

My palms grew sweaty, and my chest tightened. "What?" The word sounded raw coming from my dry throat. My heart thundered.

"Our souls are predestined for one person. Once we find them, it's like a knot is tied, and that's it. You spend eternity together. You never want anyone else, it never dies or fades–"

"Like a soulmate?" I dared to ask.

Brady's mouth shut, and he nodded twice as he continued to intently gage my reaction.

"You're not saying–"

"You're mine, Sweetheart."

😱

❤️

❤️

😜😊