Page 69 of A Lesson in Obedience
“I wasn’t smiling.”
He laughed, grabbing my shoulder and keeping us moving. “I wasn’t born yesterday, honey.”
“Ah yes, we can tell.” I ran my fingers across some of the gray in his beard.
He swatted my hand away. “Okay, smartass. Is it that boy you’ve been seeing?”
I rubbed my lips together, trying to decide how much to say. I’d only told them so much about River and I wanted to keep him as close to my chest as I could. We were just dating for now; he wasn’t my boyfriend...at least not yet. I’d met all his friends, including his best friend Grayson, and we’d gotten more than handsy with each other over time, but I hadn’t really brought up the idea of putting a label on things. “Maybe.”
“I’ll take that as a yes. You’ve been on quite a few dates with the guy, Riley.”
“So?”
He turned to follow down a pathway and a group of loud children ran by us. “So… you don’t have to be so secretive about him. You’ll be in college this fall and I want you to always be open with us. I’ll be busy at the university, your mom has her job and you’ll be running around being the smartest woman I know. I just don’t want you to think we’re too busy for you to talk to.”
I chuckled. “That’s very sweet, but I know I can talk to you guys. I just don’t want to say a lot right now, okay? I like him and he is the first guy I’ve ever liked this much.” I felt my cheeks heat and it wasn’t from the sun. “It’s just dates for now. When things get really serious then I’ll let you know. We can all have dinner and you guys can thoroughly embarrass me.”
He pulled me to his side and kissed my cheek. “Alright, your wish is my command. He isn’t going to use those mental powers on us, right?”
I shook my head. “No, well, I’ll tell him not to. He doesn’t with me.”
My dad’s eyebrows raised. “That’s honorable.”
Pride swelled in my chest hearing that. River was the best from what I knew about him so far. He was sweet and an enormous flirt. He liked who I was as a person and treated my looks as secondary. His powers were intriguing, but I wanted him to learn about me without all the magic. He was always more than willing to make me happy.
“I like to think so.” I pulled out my phone and dragged my dad over to one of the exhibits. I stood next to him and put my phone out in front of us. “Smile!”
We laughed as we looked at the picture and I sighed. “You’re really notupset that I’m not going to Mystic Riegan?”
He narrowed his eyes. “Of course not. It’s your education, Riley. If college wasn’t something you wanted to do, I would still be okay as long as you had a plan. Your mother would be a different story, but I can persuade her easily.” My dad waggled his eyebrows.
“Okay, gross. Have you thought about transferring to a closer school? Maybe even one that doesn’t keep you so late. I’ve heard the University of San Francisco is pretty great, even though it’s a human’s only school.” The topic had been lingering on my mind for a while.
He hummed, pulling us in the direction of my favorite clouded leopards. “Perhaps. I like the dynamic of Mystic Riegan. I like being able to help all kinds of people. I may be just a human, but the fact that I can help a magic wielder through the scary times of doing something new is incredible. Those people confide in you and value your thoughts and opinions. Eventually you stop thinking about powers or no powers and who is stronger than the other. You just start seeing them as people, especially when they’re just kids.”
“Well now you made me feel shitty for even asking.” I faux pouted, letting him fake drag me to the leopard enclosure.
We stopped when the big cats came into view. They looked majestic and beautiful.
My dad squeezed my hand. “You look at River and you don’t see powers, you just see a man who is probably already ridiculously in love with you. You talk to him without considering anything else because none of it matters.” I opened my mouth to retort his one comment but he tsked me. “Having powers doesn’t define a person, baby girl.”
I leaned against my dad and watched the leopards stalk around their enclosure. A few people crowded around to see but I just leaned my head on my dad’s shoulder. My phone buzzed in my hand, and I looked at the screen.
RIVER
I miss you. Tell your dad I said hi. Also tell him I’m your boyfriend, please and thank you.
I almost snorted. I felt my dad’s shoulders move from laughter. I turned my head to him, seeing that he was eyeing my screen.
“Ridiculously in love, indeed.”
I was drowning.I coughed and took in more of whatever was making it hard for me to breathe. The air smelt smokey and things were collapsing around me. It felt like my life. It felt like everything I’d worked for, everything I thought was fine was falling apart, piece by piece. I tried to use my powers to stop them from crumbling, but it was no use. I couldn’t focus on my powers when I couldn’t fucking breathe.
I was drowning and thick liquid coated my throat. It tasted like copper. I was choking on blood and I had no idea if it was mine. It had to be, right? I looked down at my hands and they were stained with dark red, the floor around me the same. There was no one around to save me, no one to help me, because maybe I caused this.
A hand reached out to touch my shoulder from behind. It felt cold and not at allwelcoming, like a façade of comfort. My whole body shook as my world imploded around me and I slowly turned around to face who had come to my rescue…
I was being shaken awake and the force of it was enough to make my head spin. As if someone had let me go, let me escape from my own thoughts, I shot up from the couch, nearly falling off of it. Asher sat next to me, his eyes wide behind his glasses. I pressed my fingertips under my eyes and realized I had been crying. He got up and turned on one of the lamps in the room.
