Fated Mate

“Yes. I know it sounds impossible, I didn’t believe it myself. I thought it was my imagination, or my nightmares but more vivid and complete. But I never saw how they died. Since Ash and my dad didn’t dare deny it, I knew it was the truth.”

Ann looked spacey, her eye brows were raised, and her voice a whisper, “And how did you do that?”

“I don’t know.” She’d never thought about it until now. She had been able to read his mind as if it was something she did every day, it hadn’t occurred to her how abnormal it was. She also used to struggle to remember her family, but right then, sitting in that room she effortlessly remembered every experience she had in it. She was now the weirdest person she knew, as if she didn’t have enough going on in her life! “How the hell did I do that?”ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“What I would like to know is exactly how the guys fit into this?” Maria hadn’t talked since Lee finished talking.

“I also don’t know that. I think that’s the part Ash was supposed to explain before I went psycho on them.”

“I said it! They are in a cult! How else can you explain the fact that according to Lee’s memory download that they haven’t aged?” A few days ago, Lee would have dismissed Ann’s crazy ideas but today, she was taking them seriously. Maria’s face went pale. She too was contemplating it.

“So what’s your theory about Lee and her memory download?” Maria turned to Ann, her face pale white. Ann looked at Lee, concerned.

“I don’t have one yet. But when she lost her temper, she scared everyone in the room.” Ann turned to Maria. “Did you notice how the guys were so tense when they stood in front of us? It was like they were shielding us from her!”

Lee remembered they moved behind her, but she didn’t realize it was to protect Ann and Maria, from her? She thought of how her dad reacted, and how Ash bolted her against him until her dad gave him the all clear when she had calmed down. Something was happening to her, and she had been oblivious of it at the time. Ann said something that gave her something new to worry about.

“I think we should call Ash and ask him. He was going to explain something to you, this may be it.”

Ash! She hadn’t gone a night without dreaming of him, but her anger had kept her from thinking about him when she was conscious. The thought of calling him scared her. She hadn’t thought about their predicament either. She missed him, a lot, and she still loved him. What if what she’d said and done made him think she’d left him?

What am I thinking, I did leave him! She asked for space, which was as good as saying she didn’t want him anymore. She panicked, she didn’t want to lose him, not now not ever, and especially not to something that couldn’t be helped.

“When he said, ‘if she can handle it, I’ll tell her the rest’ didn’t he mean that if you were able to handle the truth about your family, only then he would tell you the rest? Lee, you didn’t handle it quite well, I don’t think he’ll tell you.”

“Especially if he thinks he’ll lose you completely if he does.”

Ann and Maria were right, but she knew Ash, he would still tell her. “Ash wants us to have a life with no secrets, no lies. He’ll tell me, eventually.”

“Before or after you take him back?” Ann’s reality checks were now starting to bug Lee. “What if what he tells you drives a wider wedge between the two of you?”

“Ann, it’s no longer only about her, remember Billy? We need to know, I need to know!” Maria was anxious. “Ash wasn’t the only one keeping secrets, Joe and Billy were too!” Her voice was raised, angry and confused.

Ann was the pale one now. She looked nervous. Lee’s mess had become their mess, only more than they had bargained for. She picked up the phone and dialed Ash’s number.

Her heart raced; worried that he wouldn’t answer when her number showed on caller id. She was worried he didn’t want anything to do with her anymore. Maybe he had found someone new, or he’d gone back to his crazy girlfriend. What if dealing with her drama wasn’t what he intended on doing anymore, or he might have grown tired of her demanding nature. What if he didn’t want to tell her the truth and he’d taken the easy way out. Or he could have stopped loving her, what if he was like Steve and had a backup girlfriend all along?

The phone barely rang twice when Ash’s frantic voice was on.

“Lee, are you okay? I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry!”

Lee swallowed hard, scared but yet relieved to hear his voice. “I’m fine. Ash, I need to talk to you, about…we’ll talk about it when we come back tomorrow.”

“No, you don’t have to come, we’re in New York.”

“What?”

“We followed you. Sabrina and the rest are still out there. I couldn’t stay in Florida knowing you are in danger. I needed to be close by to protect you if you needed me.”

Ash was so over protective. Sometimes it annoyed Lee, other times it made her feel exactly how much he loved her. “Ash, you need to chill, I’m not in constant danger all the time. Anyway, tell my dad to bring you home, all of you. It’s pretty late now, so come by tomorrow.”

“It doesn’t matter if you are in danger or not. For my own piece of mind, I’d rather keep an eye on you. We are really close by, we could come now.” Ash sounded eager.

“It’s an hour’s drive from the city Ash-” Before she could finish he cut her off.

“We aren’t in the city.”

“You rented a room at the motel?”

“No.”

“Then you aren’t close by, unless you asked our only neighbor for accommodations or you are camped out in the woods.”

“The latter, really close to the house.”

“What?” She couldn’t believe it. She stood up and went to the window. She looked out trying to get a glimpse of them but it was too dark. “You are really getting carried away with this protective thing.” This was one of the times his over protection was annoying. “I thought I asked you to give me some time and space!” That came out more irate than she intended. He was quiet for a while before he spoke.