The Exclusive One

Chapter 11

Day 8.

9:30 p.m.

Ryan:

I sit up quickly and look around my pitch-black room. I jump off my bed and go to turn on the light while I reassure myself that my dream isn’t real.

It didn’t happen.

But it might have happened.

Every time I close my eyes, I keep seeing Bella’s face and normally I dream of her. Sometimes they’re good dreams that reassure me that she’s okay and other times it’s nightmares that keep me up for hours.

This time it was a nightmare.

This time she was dead.

This is what scares me the most.

I rush downstairs to Parker’s room, and I c***k the door open to see both her and Ashton on the bed. They are both facing opposite directions and thank God they have their clothes on.

I carefully go to Parker’s side and push her to wake up. She yawns as she looks up at me. She looks back at Ashton and nods her head towards the door for us both to leave.

We walk to the kitchen and Parker immediately goes to the fridge and grabs herself a Gatorade and tosses me one as well. She asks as she hops up on the counter, “What’s going on, Ry?”

“I had a nightmare and I didn’t want to be alone.”

“About Bella?”

I nod and she sighs, “We’ll find her and Lorelei, Ryan, I promise.”

I look up at her questioning how she could promise me that, but I don’t ask. I can see from the determined look on her face that she will do everything in her power to keep her word. I ask her, “Have you figured out any new powers yet?”

She shakes her head no, “I haven’t really been trying to figure anymore out.”

“Why not?” I’m shocked that she hasn’t been trying harder. There’s potential that she’ll have many powers and testing them out is part of the fun of it.

She sighs, “Honestly, Ry, I’m scared to see what all I am capable of.”

I scoff in surprise, “How could you be scared? Isn’t this exciting? You’ve always wanted to be one of us! And there’s potential that you’ll be more powerful than all of us.”

She nods quietly and I’m tempted to enter her head to see what’s going on, but I respect her privacy. She sighs, “Ryan, I don’t want a lot of powers. A lot of powers comes with a lot of responsibility and what if I end up like Nikki? I don’t wanna die.” Her voice cracks and suddenly I feel overwhelmed with pity for her position. I didn’t even think about her dying. I was worried about her getting the powers, but I never thought about what would happen once she had them.

She shakes her head then continues, “I’ve never been scared of dying, Ryan. I purposely kept my distance from getting in a relationship because I knew that being around so many people with powers that the chances of me living a long life was slim. But now… I’ve finally let myself go. I’ve finally given myself the opportunity to be happy with Ashton. Ryan, I want to marry him. I want to have kids and live a long life, but if I’m the Exclusive like Nikki said that I was what is the chance of that ever happening?!”

I watch her as she now paces back and forth. I don’t think that she notices that her hands are glowing a soft red color and I’m curious as to what will happen if she keeps being so riled up.

“Parker, Nikki planned on having a life outside of just her powers.”

“And look what happened to her!” She yells at me and suddenly fire flares out from her hands. I duck behind the island until she got herself under control as she took deep shuttering breaths. I look up at her with a smile on my face and she says, “What?”

“Do you think if you tried to that you could control that?”

She crosses her arms and scowls at me then pushes past me as she mutters, “I’m going back to bed.”

I know there’s no point in arguing her and although I would’ve appreciated her company a little bit longer she definitely was a good distraction from my nightmare.

 ******

Day 8

11:00 p.m.

Parker:

I go back to my room being as quiet as possible. The last thing I want to do is wake Ashton. I lie on my back and look at the ceiling and although I’m scared of what I may be capable of seeing the fire explode from my hands just makes me more curious.

I bring my hands together with all of my fingers curled in as if I was holding a ball. I focus on trying to create energy for me to hold. I feel the warmth of my hands and I glance at them to see them turning a soft red as the fire is itching to burst through.

It comes out suddenly, but I keep it contained in this little ball of created. I move my hands further apart then closer together watching as the flame grows bigger then shrinks back down. I hear Ashton gasp and I close my hands diminishing the flame as I say, “I thought you were asleep.”

He smiles at me, “Yeah, I was. Until a bright light woke me up.”

He looks at me and I notice he gets a mischievous glint in his eyes as he says, “Watch this.”

I had forgotten Ashton’s power was fire until he had made three little fire balls and begins to juggle them. I laugh and applaud him, and he tosses one to me. I catch it with ease and begin to try and bend it to my will. I make random shapes out of fire and Ashton stands next to me beginning to do the same and asks, “What do you think about us getting a dog?”

With the fire he makes a shape of a small dog and acts as if it’s running around us. I laugh and say, “I’d like that.”

I went to touch its head and a sharp light happened that was so blinding it made us shield our eyes. We look up a small puppy stands before us barking. Ashton asks, “Parker, how the hell did you do that?”

“I-I don’t know I just was thinking how nice it would be and then it happened!”

Ashton laughed and we both went to pet the small red fur husky. He asks, “Whatchu wanna name him?”

“How are you so sure it’s a him?”

“Huh good point.”

He lifts the dog up so we can check, and he laughs as the dog licks his face and says, “Yeah, it’s definitely a him.”

I grin as I suggest, “How about Blaze?”

He nods, “I like that.”

We both sit there petting the animal and I say, “Hey Ash?”

“Yeah Par?”

“Could we not tell anyone yet how this came to be? I’ve already discovered three powers and I’m nervous about Thomas and Jasper’s reactions.”

He smirks, “It’ll be our little secret, princess.”

We seal our secret with a kiss and lie back on the bed snuggling our new puppy as we go to sleep. 

 ******

Day 9.

8:20 a.m.

Ryan:

I run downstairs to hear laughter and… barking? In the kitchen.

I walk in there and see Ashton and Parker joking around as they cook and giving this little husky some peanut butter and laughing as it licks its nose when trying to eat it.

Parker notices me first and smiles brightly, “Good morning, Ryan!”

I nod and mutter, “Good morning.”

Ashton grins, “Ryan, this is our dog Blaze.”

“Since when did we get a dog?”

“Ashton and I picked him up last night. Isn’t he cute?” She kneels down to the puppy grabbing it’s face and making cute sounds and faces at it. I answer, “Yeah… he’s cute. What does Thomas and Jasper think about this?”

“About that…” She trails off and Ashton laughs, “They don’t know about him yet.”

She picks the puppy up, “But it doesn’t matter, I’m sure they’ll accept him.”

“And if they don’t?” I ask skeptically as I cross my arms.

She looks over at Ashton and says, “If they don’t then I suppose we would look at getting our own place?”

He grins, “I’d love that.”

I look between the two of them. They’ve been spending a lot of time together lately. It’s hard to believe that 9 days ago they weren’t anywhere close to being in a relationship and now they’re talking about moving in together!

They make a good couple they definitely complement one another, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen Parker this happy.

But it reminds me of how she said she is now fearful of death. I think everyone is on some level, but her being the Exclusive does complicate matters and as much as I would love to promise her that she won’t die. I cannot make that guarantee.

Parker looks over at me and asks, “Hey Ry, would you like to come with me to get some dog supplies?”

I look between her and Ashton and ask, “Isn’t that something you guys would want to do together?”

She smirks as she looks back at Ashton and teases, “Nah, I’m sick of being around him. Come on, let’s hang out!”

I chuckle, “Okay, I just have to get dressed and let’s stop and grab breakfast while we’re out.”

She grins, “Let’s!”

With that I run back upstairs to get dressed.

I grab a pair of ripped jeans and a black button-down long sleeve shirt. I comb through my hair and start to head back down the stairs, but I can hear Ashton and Parker talking.

“Why did you ask Ryan to go with you? I thought you would want to do that together.”

“Look, Ash, I love doing stuff with you, but we’ve been together like nonstop the past couple of days and Ryan is my best friend and I know he has to be feeling lonely. It’s ok for me to spend time with him too.”

“Yeah… I guess you’re right. I was just excited to buy stuff for Blaze.”

Parker’s laughter rings through the house and Ashton says, “Did you mean it?”

“Mean what?”

“About us living together?”

“Well, we’ve talked about marriage I assumed we wouldn’t still be living here when we got married.”

They’ve been talking marriage? Bella and I have been together for years and we still haven’t brought up marriage. I mean after being without her for so long she’ll be lucky if she ever goes away from my side again, but before her getting taken it wasn’t really thought for happening anytime soon.

I hear a door close and realize that they must’ve gone to her room.

 ******

Day 9

8:45 a.m.

Parker:

I tug on the hem of my shirt as I look to Ashton seeking his approval of my outfit. He’s petting Blaze and glances up at me and smiles, “You look beautiful, Parker.”

I grin as a blush creeps up my face and he rolls off the bed and reaches for my hands to tug me closer to him. He caresses my face and says, “You are gorgeous, Parker, always.”

I smile and then look back at my outfit. Honestly, it’s nothing special, dark jeans with a dark green sweater that’s long, so it covers my butt. I twist my hair into a side braid and then grab a pair of dangly earrings that look like snowflakes. Ashton stands up and wraps his arms around my waist and puts his head in my neck as he kisses it. He mutters, “Have fun with Ryan.” He looks up looking into my eyes through the mirror and says, “Don’t get too much girly stuff for Blaze. Please keep in mind he is a boy dog.”

I laugh at his comment and say, “I promise I will not make him look like a girl.”

I pull out of Ashton’s embrace and go to my dog and kiss it’s nose and say in a baby voice, “I’ll be back with lots of fun stuff for you, yes I will!”

I hear Ashton laughing at me as I head out the door where Ryan is waiting for me in the kitchen. I hold out my arm to him and say, “Shall we?”

He smirks and intertwines his arm with mine, “We shall!”

Before I know it, we are at the pet store and I rush off towards the dog section. I hear Ryan laughing at me for acting like a little kid, but I’ve never had a pet before, and I want to do this right!

I find a food and water bowl that automatically dispenses, and I think that Ashton and I could paint it and make it look maybe like fire and ice or something else cute and it would be something fun to do with one another.

I find a collar that has flames on it, and I make a mental note to go to the machine to print out a dog tag for Blaze. We pick out some food and treats and several toys, a bed, a giant crate, a leash, anything you could think of we got!

As I printed out his dog tag Ryan begins taking almost everything out to the car. I still had two bags filled with my favorite items that I wanted to look at again whenever I’m sitting up front.

Suddenly, a chill seems to go through the room, and I straighten my back as I felt goosebumps rise on my skin knowing that something is not right. I glance around and the second my dog tag is dispensed I make a bee line out of the store. I don’t head to my car though, oh no, I’m much smarter than that. I run into the make-up store next to the pet store and I focus on linking Ryan. I feel sweat go across my brow as I’m not used to trying to connect from this distance.

I pretend to be interested in different items as I see someone else come in and as much as I try to get out of their eyesight, they always maintain a close distance to me. I finally get a link to Ryan: I’m being followed.

It takes a moment for him to respond and he almost sounds out of breath as he says, I know I’m being followed too.

I mutter underneath my breath, “Shit.”

I connect back: Do whatever you have to do to lose them. I’ll be okay.

We need to make it look like you’re with me so the other one will stop trailing you.

And what about you? How will you get away with multiple Aberrations trailing you? No, it’s better for them to follow me.

Don’t be stupid, Parker.

I cut off my link and groan at his comment of me being stupid. He should know me better than that.

I rush off to the restroom thankfully it’s a single room restroom so they can’t follow me in here. Unfortunately, there is no window for me to get out of here.

I look in the mirror and sigh as I try to figure out my way to escape. I grab out my pocketknife and cut my braid off leaving my hair chin length and choppy. I grab my glasses out of my purse and put them on and put on some bright red lipstick. I look through my bags trying to figure out what else I could use to try to disguise myself. I grabbed out the backup black collar I bought Blaze and put it around my neck. I took my pocketknife and carefully cut my sweater making it look more like a crop top.

I look back in the mirror nodding knowing that this will have to do.

I go to the wall away from the door and focus on seeing if I could feel any energy on the other side of it. I don’t feel anything, and I think on the other side is the woods. I focus my energy and push making the wall break. I smile seeing the woods on the other side and I make my way out. I need to get back inside a*****e and get myself mixed up in a crowd. The quicker I get lost from them- the better.