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Adult Content
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M/M Content
Unedited Scene
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Crazy day didn’t fit. Life upside down didn’t fit. Nothing
could described the early spring day. It started out like any other day. I got
up. Got dressed. Ate my granola bar. Fed the dog and left for work. Sat down
behind my desk to work on the story I was editing. Like with most authors the story
was written well and there were little mistakes to be marked. Loved those kind
of authors, because it made my job easy and enjoyable. Allowed me to get lost
in the content and the life of the characters. Not the best aspect for an editor,
but hey, when a writer knew how to draw someone into a new world there was no
other option but to go along for the ride. I had gotten so far into the
character’s life that I lost track of time and didn’t even realize anything major
was going on around me until someone yelled my name.
“Jay! Jay! Get your ass up.”
I glanced around to find pandomium around me. My
coworkers was grabbing everything they could from their desk and rushing
towards the emergency exit. When Kyle ran past me and snagged my arm, tugging
me down the small one person aisle I caught the hint of smoke.
“What’s on fire?”
“Does it matter?”
Kyle kicked open the emergency exit and we were welcomed
with a hoard of people screaming and slamming into one another as they scuttled
back up the stairs. Kyle spun me around and shoved me back into our office
area.
“There’s another stairway on the other side.”
Ripples of dark gray clouds flowed through the emergency
exit doorway as the people who had tried to escape returned. Screams. Shouts for
clarification of where they should go next. Consumed the office. People coughed
and gaged, but Kyle kept shoving me down the aisle. I forced myself to come up
to his side, taking a second to glance up at him. His face was red and his cheeks
were wet with water. He wasn’t crying, or he might have been. It didn’t matter either
way to me. What did was getting him to safety.
“Damn it.” Kyle glanced around the room. “There is no
other way out of here.”
There was, but it mean exposing myself, which equaled
harsh punishment.
“Do you know of any other way to get out of here?” Kyle
pressed his face against the window, sighing. “Why are there no . . .”
We were twenty floors up and both stairways was consumed
with smoke. There was only one way for us to get out of this alive. Me. Damn
it. What was going to happen to me? What would Kyle think? How would I explain
myself?
“Jay,” Kyle tugged me into his arms, pressing me closer
than he had ever done before. He’d never done so in front of anyone. Not even
our best friends. No one knew we had been dating for over two years. No one
knew we longed to have an open relationship. We would have if Kyle’s family
would not disown him. Not even I wanted to piss off Kyle’s family. They were
well known for termination the ones who messed with them. Even if it was
family. Kyle being the next in line to run the Lawson Empire would not have
mattered. All his family would have seen was a disgraceful act of betrayal. Kyle’s
life had been planned out for him since he was born. His marriage had been
carefully picked from other large empires among the US. Kyle and me knew that
our time together would be short lived since he had to marry some woman when he
turned twenty-five.
“Least I won’t have to marry Leslie.” Kyle rubbed his chin
across my head.
Wish that was true. I would not let Kyle die. I loved
him. I could save him. “I can get us out of here.” I whispered against his chest.
“There is no way out, love.”
“There is.”
“Where? Will it allow us all to get out of here?”
I wish I could, but my talent was still growing and my
magic was thin. My spell would be strong enough to transport the two of us, but
. . . as much as I wished I could rescue all the people we worked with. I couldn’t,
but I could and would save Kyle.
“You trust me?”
“You know I do.”
“Then hang onto me tight and close your eyes.” I wrapped
my arm around him, crossing my arms and leaving my palms up. “Fire, Wind,
Water, Earth, I pull on your wonderful skills to aid me in returning home.”
“What . . “
Kyle’s words fade away as the air around us swirled until
it wrapped us into a blanket of safety. The area around us grayed out and then
lightened until we stood in my living room.
“You okay?” I ran my hands up Kyle’s back, leaning back
enough I could stare up at him.
His face was white as a sheet, but the tip of his ears
was red, telling me all I need to know. He was pissed at me. I would not only
be in trouble for using my magic in front of him, but he was not pleased with
how I saved us.
“What did you do?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes.”
“I got us to safety.”
“How?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes.” Kyle took two huge steps back from me. “Why did
you not help the others? So many people were in there. We knew them all.”
“I could not.”
“You got us out of there.”
“My . . . I couldn’t. I’m sorry. I wanted to, but you -
-“
“I am not more important than anyone else.”
“You are to me.” I reached out behind me, balancing
myself against the back of my sofa. “You are to your family.”
“How did you get us out of there?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Why not?”
“You would not believed me.”
“I would.”
“I still can’t tell you. Not without permission.”
“From who?”
“People over me.”
“You let no one rule you.” Kyle sighed and walked over
to the recliner that sat halfway across the room. “You never have. Fuss at me
for letting my family run my life.”
Couldn’t argue with that. I sure gave Kyle hell about
how his family controlled him. Told him what to do. When to move. What would
happen. Still, I could not explain to him. If he would accepted me completely I
could have gained permission to do so, but . . . I knew from the get-go that
Kyle would never be mine.
“I’m waiting.”
“I’m sorry, Kyle, but I can’t explain. You have to
follow your family law and I have to follow the ones over me.” I knew it would not
be acceptable to Kyle, but there was nothing I could do about it.
“That is not acceptable to me.” Kyle stood and kicked
his legs out, crossing them.
“Don’t’ go all boss on me.”
I hated when Kyle fell into his future roll of you do as
I say or hell will reign down on you. I was not one of his father’s cronies and
he knew how I felt about him treating me in such a disrespectful manner. I had
saved his life because I love him and I knew he loved me, even if he could not
chose to spend his entire life with me.
Before he could respond to me the room filled with ten navy
blue robed people. I fell to my knees and bowed my head. I knew I had to face
the music, but I had not expected them to enter in such a flamboyant manner. It
wasn’t their normal style. Kyle’s reaction was typical though. He had jumped up
and vaulted over the sofa, blocking anyone from me.
“Elders, it is - -“
“Hush.”
Elder Robert floated in front of Kyle and touched his
head. Kyle crumpled forward, but instead of landing in the floor, he floated over
to the sofa and was lowered onto it.
“Thank you, Elder Robert.”
“You know you crime?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“You know your punishment.”
I did. I knew it when I did it. I had forfeited my time
among the human world. I would be forced to return to the coven and live under
the thumb of others. I would be nothing to the ones who had lived there for
their entire life. No one would take notice of me. Far as they would be
concerned I was simply a disgrace among the coven. Those who chose to live
among the human world and was sent back to the coven as punishment was nothing.
No one. Just a strain on a coven.
“Was it worth it?”
“I would do it again, and again.”
“Why?”
“I love him.”
“Why not make him yours?”
“He has other obligations.”
“He will not choose you then.”
Words stung, but were pure truth. I could not speak it. Every
time I thought it, someone stabbed a knife through my heart. Saying the words
would only break me more than knowing I would neve be able to marry Kyle.
“He will not remember you.” Elder Robert snapped his
finger and Kyle faded away. I knew he was not harmed. He had simply been sent
home. He would not remember me, the fire, or anything related to our love. His life
would simply be void of a few memories. I on the other hand would always know
what I had lost. “It is time to go.”
