Cherie Colyer - Hold Tight

Isaac took my hands in his and looked me up and down. “What did you have to do?”

“Remove the protection on a building,” I replied. I couldn’t bring myself to say I’d helped take a mother away from her family.

Isaac studied me a moment. “That’s it?”

“Yeah, I’m his personal locksmith.”

“That’s not bad, right?” Josh asked.

I shrugged.

Kaylee rubbed my arm. “Want to talk about it?”

Sarah rushed over, saving me from having to answer. A few blond locks had escaped her elegant ponytail. Her cheeks were flushed from dancing.

“Why are you guys hiding in a corner, frowning like this is a funeral?” she shouted over the pop song blaring through the gym.

“We were just taking a break,” Kaylee replied.

“Well, break’s over.” Sarah grabbed my and Kaylee’s wrists. “Mark refuses to dance to anything with a beat, so I need you guys.”

I glanced at Isaac, who raised his shoulders as if to say, What do you want me to do?

Sarah dragged Kaylee and me through the crowded floor to where a group of our friends danced. We were jostled by people shimmying to the music. The song was too fast to slow dance and too slow to fast dance. I slid my feet a few inches left then right and swung my arms, but I couldn’t find my rhythm. I tried smiling, hoping the simple gesture would lift my spirits.

“I’m going sit this next one out,” I yelled so Sarah and Kaylee could hear me.

“Me too,” Kaylee said loudly.

Sarah frowned but shouted okay.

I headed toward the bleachers where Isaac and Josh were talking, but Kaylee stopped me. “Ladies’ room.”

I nodded.

Kaylee didn’t go to the restrooms near the gym, though. Instead she led us to the benches outside the coaches’ office.

She sat. “Okay, spill. And don’t you dare say it’s nothing, because you haven’t been the same since you got back.”

Desperately needing to tell someone, I lowered myself onto the cold wooden seat next to her and told her what I’d done. She was quiet for what seemed like forever.

“Hell would have collected her soul with or without you, and if you removing the ward spared her having hell hounds rip her apart—” Kaylee shuddered “—then, in a way, you did help her.”

My shoulders slumped forward. “Tell that to her family.”

“Madison, you couldn’t have saved her even if you wanted to. You know that, right?”

“I couldn’t save her, and I couldn’t save Natalie.”

She rested a hand on my leg. “But you did save Chase, and you made it so Reed can’t steal anyone else away from their loved ones.”

“Caden saved Chase,” I said, fidgeting with my rings. “And Reed wouldn’t have been here in the first place if I’d listened to Isaac.”

“If I remember correctly, Isaac didn’t come right out and say just how dangerous the Fae can be.”

I twitched a shoulder.

Kaylee sighed. “Nothing I say is going to make you feel better, is it?” She glanced over her shoulder toward the doors to the parking lot and then back at me. “Want to get out of here? We’ll pick up some chocolate peanut butter ice cream and make it a girls’ night. Eat junk food and watch bad movies until we forget our problems.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a set of keys I recognized as Josh’s. “I’ll drive.”

Her offer was tempting, but I couldn’t let Kaylee cut her evening short because of me, and I couldn’t ditch Isaac like that. Nor could I steal Josh’s car for a second time.

“That wouldn’t be fair to you or the guys.” I took the keys from her and dropped them back into her purse, determined to perk up for her sake. “For the rest of the night, I’m going to focus on positive things like Reed being gone, me surviving Caden’s task—which will hopefully mean he’ll leave me alone for a while—and us having dates waiting to sweep us off our feet.”

Kaylee narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure? Under the circumstances, Josh and Isaac will understand.”

Since I wasn’t ready to tell them everything I’d just told Kaylee, I was positive they wouldn’t take being ditched at a dance all that well—particularly since they’d come only because Kaylee and I had wanted to go.

“Kaylee, let’s keep this between us.” I bit my bottom lip and hoped she wouldn’t ask why.

“Sure.”

I heaved out a breath as if expelling all my negative emotions. I’d already put my friends through a lot. Now the least I could do was not ruin their Saturday night too.

“From this moment forward, I’m going to forget about Caden and everything bad that has happened in the past few weeks and focus on the future.” At least until tomorrow. I forced the corners of my mouth to turn upward.

“Yeah, we’re going to have to work on that smile.” Kaylee paused thoughtfully. “Can you say Chicken Dance?” A devilish smirk etched across her face as she stood. “I bet the deejay has the song.”

“You wouldn’t!” I jumped up to follow her.

“Isaac’s not the only person I’d like to see flap their arms.” She stopped long enough to demonstrate.

I hurried to keep up with her quick stride. “You heard us earlier?”

“Oh yeah, and I was sorry he stopped you from requesting it.”

Figured she’d remember my aversion to making a fool of myself.

We found the guys right where we’d left them, and I grabbed Isaac’s hand. “Hurry because Kaylee’s threatening to request the Chicken Dance if we don’t start to enjoy ourselves.”

My talk with Kaylee did help lift some of the burden of what I’d done from my shoulders. One of my favorite songs came on too. I raised my arms over my head and let the music fill me, relaxing my tense nerves. Isaac shuffled his feet, sighing in what sounded like relief when the deejay announced the next song would be a slow one and the last song of the night.

When my smile faltered, Kaylee tucked her hands in her armpits, flapped her elbows, and said, “I bet with a bewilderment spell I could get the deejay to play one more song.”

I couldn’t help but burst into laughter when she moved her head back and forth in a pecking motion. Thankfully, I escaped the gym without having to imitate poultry.

After the dance, Isaac drove me home and walked with me to the front porch. I peeked in the side window before opening the door. No glow of light coming from the family room meant Dad was upstairs asleep.

“Do you want to come in?” I asked.

“Won’t your dad mind?” He peered over my shoulder.

“He’s already in bed.”

“Then I’d love to.” He swept me off my feet and used his powers to close the front door. I stifled a giggle as he carried me into the family room.

“He’s still right upstairs,” I whispered when Isaac playfully dropped me on the couch.

He lay half next to me and half over me, his arms keeping his weight from crushing me. “Shall I put him in an enchanted sleep? Buy us time?”

“Isaac!”

“I’m kidding.” He ran a line of kisses over my collarbone.

As much as I loved being able to be close to Isaac, I wasn’t in the mood to make out. Not after the night I’d had. I shifted so that I was cradled in his arms instead. He didn’t ask why, although I think he knew there was more to the events with Caden than I’d let on, and I was thankful he didn’t push for answers. I’d tell him the truth, maybe tomorrow. Maybe in a week. Or sometime after that.

Until then, as promised to Kaylee, I wanted to remain focused on the here and now and not the past. Held tight in Isaac’s embrace, I felt safe, like the rest of the world couldn’t reach me. I clung to that feeling, needing it to help me accept the things I couldn’t change.