Page 74 of Lightning Angel
“And it’s all the same if youdon’ttell me,” she said forebodingly. “I swear, Tristan, if you’re not going to be completely honest with me, this is the end of our friendship. We’ll never see each other again.”
Her outburst shocked him. He stared at her unblinkingly, bewildered and astounded.
“Oh, right, I forgot.” Alexa corrected herself at his prolonged silence, her voice still cold as she recalled her sister’s words. “How foolish of me to threaten you saying we’ll not see each other again when you canalwaysfollow me around as my invisible shadow, intruding on my privacy and invading my personal space?”
Horror replaced the astonishment on Tristan’s face, etching across his handsome features, just before his eyes narrowed on her. “Is that what you think of me?” he asked in undisguised disbelief. He shook his head, and for a moment, Alexa thought she glimpsed a shred of hurt, but he masked it with indifference.
“That’s the thing, Tristan. I don’t knowwhatto think of you, at least not anymore. So, enlighten me!” Shedidn’t intend to sound a tad pleading, but that’s how her words came out. “All I know is that you’re a supernatural human, that you first saw me at my dad’s funeral; that you defended me many times and saved me from ending my life. What else do I know about you?”
“You could’ve just asked.”
“Iamasking!” She spread her arms to prove her point.
“Nicely,” he added, emphasizing the word.
Alexa spluttered a laugh before she could stop it. She feigned seriousness and met his gaze. “Tristan, I’m beyond grateful that you saved my life, truly. But I have been blinded by who you are—your supernaturalism and all—to make sense of or to questionwhyyou have been stalking me in the first place. You were with me in school when Melissa bullied me. Then in my kitchen when Brandon…” She skipped filling the sentence. “And then in my bedroom—don’t get me wrong, Iamgrateful you have been there for me because I don’t know what I would’ve done otherwise. But…why?Why were you following me around? What was andisyour intention?”
“You wanna know?” A strange fire burned in his eyes. “Fine, I’ll tell you. But before I do, I want to enlighten you that I haveneveronce intruded on your privacy or your personal space. I cannot give you evidence, I cannot make you believe me either. All I can give you is my word, that I have been nothing but a gentleman. With my abilities to teleport and turn invisible, I know you doubt me; but that’s alright, I don’t blame you. However, it is my responsibility to assure you that I havenevermisused my powers, not on you or anyone. I can hear a mile-long if I listen—ifI listen—but I’ve never eavesdropped on aconversation not meant for my ears. I have never intruded on your privacy or invaded your personal space, Alexa—unlessit was absolutely necessary of course, like when Brandon broke into your house that day. Iwantyou to know that.”
Alexa held her breath, listening. Before she could pull herself together to form a response, he continued, taking a small step toward her.
“And you want to know why I stalked you? What was andismy intention? Fine, I’ll tell you that too. But don’t regret it once I’m done;youasked for this.” The fire in his eyes intensified, and he pointed a finger to his chest. “I stalked you because you became my obsession. Watching you and listening to you from the shadows became my entertainment. From the day I first saw you, at your dad’s funeral, you became my favorite sight in the whole world and I couldn’t get enough of looking at you. I’ve had a handful of lightning strikes over the years, but you were the lightning that struck myheart,and I wanted to know you, because the moment you struck me, my heart flared to life. I felt alive for the first time in my twenty-one years!
“So I began to watch over you. Slowly, it became my passion. You would laugh with someone—though, not really laugh, you’d still force it for the people you cared for. And when I heard the sound of it, I used to smile from the shadows… until now. Because, standing here with you, in front of you, looking into your eyes and you looking into mine, Alexa, is a dream come true!”
Alexa could barely breathe. With each confession, he closed the distance between them, now standing right in front of her and looking into her soul with the fire in hiseyes ready to consume her. It wasn’t fury, no, this was something else entirely.
“Yes, I was obsessed with you,” he continued, his voice rising with passion and other emotions she couldn’t recognize. “But that day I saw you leaping from the bridge, I realized you were more than just an obsession to me. I realized I would give up my life in a heartbeat to keep you alive, because you’ve become the keeper of my heart, my life, my responsibility,andthe reason I want to live day after day in this rotten world. So yes, Alexandra Ford, I had an intention in stalking youthenand morenow,to keep you in my life. Because I love you!”
Alexa went rigid.
Thatwas the last thing she expected. Those three particular words were the last thing in the entire English vocabulary that she expected to fall from his mouth. They had always terrified her when thinking of hearing from someone who wasn’t Cassie or Daphne.
This wasn’t right. This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t be saying this toher!
Nevertheless, his words reached the darkest corners of her heart and aroused feelings in her that she feared. Alexa didn’t want to feel them, but she failed to block the impact of his words. They had already settled in her heart.
Tristan’s chest heaved from the force of his breath as he stared at her, his eyes now soft, and he whispered, “Yes, Alexandra, I love you.”
Alexa couldn’t take it anymore. The wild, frightening sensations inside her intensified and she turned away from him, wrapping her arms around herself as though it wouldshield her from whatever he was making her feel.
“I-I want to be alone.”
Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw him disappear.
Alexa didn’t expect him to leave that quick.
Then, a thought clicked her. What if he had simply turned invisible?
She made a grab for the air where he stood, hoping to catch him off guard. But when her hand brushed the air instead of his solid body, a pang of guilt formed in her chest. Ignoring it, she slumped into the couch behind her, not moving from there until she heard the front door shut an hour later.
Alexa jumped to her feet and ran to the foyer. Her sister smiled at her in greeting but frowned almost soon as her eyes roamed over Alexa’s face. She dropped her things on the table nearby before striding over to her.
“Lex, everything alright?”
Alexa hadn’t been crying, she hadn’t shed a single tear, but the shock of Tristan’s confession that paralyzed her had to be visible on her face. Even if it didn’t show, she wouldn’t be surprised; her sister could read her like an open book.
“I confronted Tristan,” she admitted.