Page 26 of Fated Moons
“So why didn’t your friend come forward and say nothing happened?”
“I don’t know, and she and I are no longer friends.” He scratched the back of his head, staring off into the woods. “Would you like some more wine? I’ll go get it along with the potatoes.” His voice inflection turned flat, and his normally bright eyes dulled.
Before she could comment, he disappeared into the cabin. She remembered his breakup with the spoiled actress, who discussed the supposed affair on every talk show she could get herself on. Jackson, on the other hand, continued to be his recluse self, ignoring the press. Not once did he make a statement until Heidi had made a snide comment about his family, bringing up his father and implying that he wasn’t any different. But even then, Jackson not once denied the affair. He only asked that the press leave his siblings and mother alone.
She put a piece of meat on each plate, glancing toward the cabin. He had a reputation for being moody and a ladies’ man, but something about the way he ignored the negative talk, focused on the acting, and the way he treated her with dignity and respect, led her to believe that he’d been misjudged and misunderstood his entire life.
He returned with an opened bottle of wine, glasses, and potatoes that smelled like a little piece of carb heaven.
“My agent would tell me this kind of food would go straight to my hips and make me yesterday’s news faster than a speeding bullet,” she said.
He sat down at the table across from her and smiled. “You’ve got nice hips, but they could use a little more curve.” He raised his glass. “To your hips.”
“That’s the weirdest toast ever.”
He shrugged. “Kind of goes along with the day.”
“Can I ask you something?” She glided the sharp knife through the steak, blood oozing out of the tender piece of meat. Her taste buds exploded in anticipation.
An owl hooted in the background, only adding to the quaint ambiance.
“Go for it.”
“Why aren’t you and that woman you were accused of having an affair with no longer friends?”
“I’m not exactly sure, but I suspect it concerns her husband. He knew we never had a thing for each other, but all the press caused an issue in their relationship, something I never wanted for them.”
“So they’re still married?”
“They weren’t married when the bogus story broke. They actually just got married about a month ago.”
Mostly, Jackson seemed to have a laid-back but confident attitude toward life, but she could tell all the hard knocks that had been caused by being the son of Reed Ledger, murderer of Prince Armand Windsor, chipped away at his core personality. She closed her eyes for a moment, focusing on his energy, pulling it close, inside the bubble of protection.
“What the hell are you doing? And don’t tell me nothing because I can feel you.”
She peeked open one eye.“How is that possible?”she projected her thoughts.
“You don’t want to know. Just like you don’t really want to know how it’s possible for us to communicate like this.”
“Actually, I do.”
“Ever hear of imprinting and fated mates?”he asked.
“Isn’t that a wolf and a wolfairy thing?”She closed her eyes and fixated on his inner aura, discerning a blocked emotional sensor. Some people were good at burying their deepest, darkest feelings in their inner core. It was a way of protecting them from the outside world. She suspected Jackson was doing his best to survive in a world that saw him as only one thing. The problem was that Jackson wasn’t stifling this sensor. It was being manipulated. Twisted. Plugged.
A dark force inside him choked tiny pieces of the man he should be. The man he was supposed to be and whatever that was, it chipped at her core as well.
She swallowed as an evil force, not of his making, seeped from his pores, oozing through his outer aura and tangling with hers.
This shouldn’t be possible.
A burning freeze sheathed over her skin. She gasped, opening her eyes, holding her pale arms out to the sides.
“What the fuck?” Jackson knocked over his glass as he leaped across the table.
Her body shivered as her heartbeat slowed from the cold darkness traveling through her bloodstream.
“What’s wrong?” Jackson’s touch only made the pain in her muscles intensify.
