Page 12 of Ruled By Fate

He looked like a man but was not. He moved like a man but did things no man could ever fathom. He’d carried her over twenty miles through the woods without a second thought, then turned into a five-year-old kid after discovering the vending machine.

“Cameron,” she murmured without thinking, saying it almost to herself.

He glanced up immediately, eyeing her with a touch of surprise. “I wasn’t sure if you remembered.”

She let out a breath of hard laughter. “I remembered.”

Despite my very best efforts to forget.

A surge of anger welled up inside her, but she deliberately held it back. Some questions needed answers, and some things needed to be explained. And even though she might very well end up dividing her life into the time before and after she had this conversation, she was damn well going to have it.

“No jokes, no lies, no deflections.” She made each command softly, staring him right in the eyes. “My car is gone, my life is in shambles, and I’m sitting with a celestial stranger in some dilapidated motel room. We are past the point of you blowing me off. Do you understand?”

He stared back at her, then nodded slowly.

Here goes.

“What the hell are you doing here? How did you know where I was? How did you get to where I was? Where have you been all this time? Why didn’t you ever try to contact me? Why aren’t you acting like this is the least bit strange, and—” She huffed in breathless fury. “Are you smiling right now?”

He lowered his gaze immediately, keeping his distance from the bed. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I’ve thought of you often. I always hoped our paths would cross again. That I’d be able to…” He trailed off, shaking his head. “That you’d be able to see me again.”

That I’d be ABLE to see you?

“I’ve thought of you often, too,” she said sharply. “Talked about you, even. In therapy. Because everyone thought I was crazy. Because I thought I was crazy. Because my drunk dad couldn’t handle my lunatic ravings about an angel chasing off a horde of evil shadow monsters and promising me he’d come back someday.” She took a breath, realizing how long she’d waited to yell at this man, if he was a man. “I thought you’d be back to explain what happened. I kept waiting for some kind of…” She fell into silence, hands balling at her sides. “You left a hell of a mess behind you, Cameron. You don’t know how hard I’ve worked to get past this. To get over you.”

He absorbed each accusation quietly, then raised his eyes to her again. “I do know,” he said quietly. “I know how hard this has been for you. But I didn’t cause those things to happen, Brianna. I do not cause tragedy, and I am not responsible for people’s choices after tragedy strikes.”

He paused again, then looked out the window at the darkening Virginia evening. “If I were, people would have made much better choices, and you would never have felt alone. You would never have been alone. Not for a single moment.”

She stared back in stunned silence, at a complete loss for what to say.

In all the years she’d imagined this moment, in all the years she’d spent hypothetically preparing, it hadn’t gone anything like this. There had been tears and apologies. There had been lengthy explanations and specific reasons for what had transpired. There had been shouts, curses, and arguing — fire and brimstone, perhaps quite literally.

It hadn’t been anything like this. Soft truths, spoken by a saddened angel in a motel room that had gone so abruptly quiet, she could hear each one of their shallow breaths.

He looked at her again and let out a quiet sigh. “You should finish your soup,” he murmured. “And have a sip of water. Your body has been through a lot today.”

It was a gentle conclusion. At least, that’s what he wanted it to be. But she’d waited a great many years for this moment. And somehow, he knew, it wasn’t about to end now.

She narrowed her eyes at the eclectic feast in front of her. “Here’s my proposal. I’ll eat, and you’ll answer my questions.”

His lips curved in bemusement. “Are you bartering?”

She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “Needs must. What do you say, Cam?”

There was a split second of silence. Then his mouth opened in surprise. “Did you just call me Cam?” he asked with curious delight. “Like a nickname?”

She pursed her lips, refusing to be dissuaded. “Don’t try to change the subject.”

They stared at one another appraisingly for a moment, each measuring the other’s resistance, before she decided to take things up a notch. “I really hope you agree because I probably should eat something. And drink something.” A look of pure melancholy swept across her face as she slumped theatrically on the bed, one hand fluttering to her forehead. “You’re right about us mortals. Hydration is key.”

His lips twitched like he was holding back a grin. Then he tossed her the candy. “Eat a sugar worm,” he conceded. “I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”

She grinned in triumph and bit off its head. “Why are you here?”

“Start with something easier.”

It flew back at her so fast that the food lodged in her throat. She stared back with wide eyes, then swallowed and adjusted her course. “So, you’re an angel, huh?”

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