Death Defiant

Chapter 2

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AMARA

He narrowed his eyes at me, his brow creased in confusion, but he left his hand on my shoulder. It was pretty obvious to both of us that whatever was going on stopped when he touched me. I began to laugh at the absurdity of it, I finally found my cure, and it was a hot as hell grocery store employee. This was not real life; there was no way this guy could have constant contact with me. What was I supposed to do? Follow him home? When I was through with my laughing fit, I giggle-hiccuped, and he chuckled, a low, warm sound that sent a pulse of warmth through me.

“I’m Caden, and who are you, or should I just call you pukey?” He asked, and I wrinkled my nose at that.

“That’s a hell of a nickname for someone you just met,” I replied, “You can call me that or Amara.” Smiling I stuck my hand out and he took it, his grip firm despite my palms being slick with sweat.

“Well, Amara, we can’t sit here all day, especially since I’m on shift.” He looked thoughtful, and stretching his opposite arm across his body, I noticed the glint of silver on one of his fingers.

“Take it, might help your issue” he stated, wiggling his fingers, not breaking the touch he had on my shoulder. I grasped the cool metal and pulled it free from his finger, only meeting slight resistance. Sliding it onto my pointer finger, I breathed a sigh of relief as he removed his hand, and the symptoms stayed at bay.

“Don’t you need this back?” It felt so good to not feel so bad for once. His eyes held mine, gold specks swirling within them, and was that affection I saw? No, I must be making that up.

“Yes, but I’m not in a rush. And honestly, if it helps you for whatever reason, then I’d prefer if you kept it. You looked positively miserable.” His lips twitched into a smile as he regarded me thoughtfully.

“Thank you; it feels better. God, this is f****d up! I don’t know what is going on. This all started a few months ago. And they can’t find anything; doctors say everything is perfect. This is the first time I have had any relief. Just so annoying; it has completely ruined my life as well. I can’t go anywhere or do anything without the fear of this happening!” I gestured to the general area, which also included the trash can and him. My words had just flowed out of me to this stranger, and he took my verbal vomit all in stride, considering them even. He was about to open his mouth when a voice called out, echoing in the large room.

“Caden, you in here?” While it was the complete opposite of the man next to me, it stirred up something inside me. Gritty and gravelly, it made my pulse thrum and my chest tighten. Something about it was oddly comforting.

“Back here, E!” He called back, and I heard footsteps approaching us.

“E” rounded the corner, and I sucked in a breath. I blinked, not believing my eyes. I was either extremely lucky or unlucky, depending on how you looked at it. This man was equally as gorgeous as Caden, and it was all I could do to keep my jaw from dropping and simultaneously run away. I was a disheveled mess, with vomit breath, sweaty hair, and tear-streaked cheeks, and now I was faced with two God-like men in this state; my head was going to explode.

“There you are, uh, your new friend is?” He titled his head at me, his dark blonde hair flopping to the opposite side, green-gray eyes fixed on me.

A tiny sparkling stud sat on the left side of his nose, and both of his ears had small diamond-like earrings in them. He had tattoos snaking down both arms and was just as solidly built as his friend. The gleam of silver on his hand caught my attention, and I saw he had a ring almost identical to Caden’s, where there was a red stone in Caden’s he had a black stone that glittered in the low light.

Were these like best friend rings or something? All I knew was Caden’s made me feel better, and it was spooky as hell that it did. That, I decided, was something to muse on another time. For now, I felt better, and that was all that mattered.

“Amara, she was sick and needed help.” he replied, his voice even, but I didn’t miss E’s eyes dropping to the ring on my finger, his eyes widening slightly. He took a few more steps forward and settled on my other side.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Ethan or E” his smile was broad and wide open, friendly, like a puppy. A very sexy puppy. What was going on today, I was a hot guy magnet today, apparently, and that was not normal by any stretch of the imagination. I stuck my now less sweaty hand out to him in greeting.

“Amara,” I said, grasping his hand and squeezing slightly. Dad always said a firm handshake would take you far, and I wanted it to take me right into this man’s bed. What was going on in my brain? It had taken a turn for the dirty, yet looking at both of them, I could not deny the physical attraction.

“And you’ve been hanging out with this guy? Hope he wasn’t too much of a jerk to you” his tone was light and teasing. Caden rolled his eyes.

“If you call hanging out with him watching me get exceptionally ill and then make it disappear, yes,” I stood, dusting off my pants in a nervous motion. I needed to leave; this whole situation was right and wrong at the same time. I was drawn to them but also slightly uncomfortable. I needed to get my groceries, check out and go home. Caden’s ring was helping, but who knew how long it would keep the symptoms down, and I would prefer to be in the comfort of my own home when another episode occurred. Ethan’s eyes darkened at that and he too stood up, Caden remained seated.

“Let me get your number,” he stated from below me. “That way, I can get my ring back at some point?” He raised one dark brow at me, his eyes more gold than green as I looked down at him.

“Yeah, sure.” the words stammered out of my mouth. Talk about embarrassing.

We quickly exchanged numbers, and I was secretly glad I would see him again, even if just for an exchange. I walked back to my abandoned cart, feeling two pairs of eyes boring into my back as I did so. Torn between feeling embarrassed and reckless, I put a little bit of extra sway in my hips, even though I wasn’t completely sure why I did so. There was something weird about those two, both of them, and something weird in the way my body responded to them. It felt familiar and right, but they were complete strangers. Gorgeous strangers, but strangers nonetheless. Suddenly my grocery outing had turned into something much more interesting. As I pushed my imbalanced cart away, I thought I heard Caden say something. I strained my ears to hear it and thought I heard him say to Ethan.

“Call Tristan; we found Death.”