Reclaiming Souls (7 page)

“Go see Jackson. He'll assign you a house and show you around. You and Devalynn will be on different shifts for a while so you don't get each other distracted. No one ever gets another chance like this so appreciate it.”

“Yes, sir, I will. Thank you for everything.”

We waited until the Creator walked out before we left. I breathed a sigh of relief. “That was way too close.”

“Why didn't you reclaim me?”

“I couldn't. I wouldn't. You didn't deserve that kind of eternity. I'll bring you to Jackson so he can get everything in order for you.” I never looked at him. He was now having to reclaim souls like me. It just didn't want to sink in.

“Hey, what's going on?” Kellin shut the door to his house behind him and leaned on the railing.

Oh crap, I thought to myself. “Kale, meet Kellin. He'll give you your reclamation list every morning,” I looked at the ground. Why did I feel guilty? Did I just not love him like before? I couldn't figure out what was eating at my insides.

Kellin looked shocked for a minute. “Oh, well hello, Kale. Glad to see you're not rotting away in solitary confinement but I am curious...how did you get out of that?”

Kale shrugged, “Not sure really, but I have Devalynn to thank for it,” he beamed as he put his arm around me.

I finally looked up at Kellin and saw the hurt and devastation in his eyes. “Well, she's got a good soul. Make sure you take care of her. I'll see you guys in the morning for your lists.” He turned and shuffled slowly inside.

“Nice to meet you,” Kale called out after him. Kellin waved without looking back.

“He seems kind of stuck up,” Kale said while walking to find Jackson.

“No, he's not stuck up at all. He's really nice. You just have to get to know him and you'll have plenty of time to do that now.” I tried to force a smile.

“Yeah, you got that right,” he laughed.

Jackson was coming out of his house as we approached him. “Hey, Jackson. Got a new recruit for you.” I waved at him and walked up the front porch stairs.

“Hey, I’m Kale. I guess you’re going to be showing me around. Um, the Creator said you’d help me with a house and all that fun stuff,” he spoke while holding his hand out to shake Jacksons’.

Jackson nodded his head. “Yup, come with me. You’ll spend the next few days with me then you’re on your own. Hope you can manage that. Don’t plan on spending time with anyone...like ever. It stays busy here and if you’re lucky to catch a break sometimes, use it to relax or go back down and unwind.”

“Thanks.” He turned to face me. “So I guess I’ll see you around?”

“Yeah, have fun and good luck,” I had my hands in my back pockets awkwardly while turning away from him.

“Wait a minute.” he ran in front of me and hugged me. “I’m so glad you’re okay and we get to be with each other again.”

I sighed, “Look, I still don’t really remember you. I get it. You were my boyfriend down there...but here...I’m sorry. We’ll talk about this all after your training. You don’t need any distractions.” His expression fell a little but I spun on my heels to walk away quickly before he could say anything else.

I walked around the streets for a little while until I saw Lexie chatting with Kellin on his front porch swing. They were laughing like old friends and I admit, I felt a twinge of jealously spike through my body. I went up the stairs to sit in front of the swing. “Hey, what are you guys up to?” I sat against the railing with my legs crossed while looking up at them.

Lexie shrugged, “Just hanging out, waiting for you and Jackson.”

“Jackson has a new recruit. He won’t be coming over tonight.” I was fidgety and couldn’t keep still so I twiddled my thumbs around each other.

“Oh really? Who is it?” she asked, excitedly.

I glanced up at Kellin. He looked at me briefly then away. “Kale,” I responded, looking away from him and over at her.

She gasped, “Really? How did he get around the system!? You must be so happy!”

I shrugged. “Well, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about but we’ll do it later. I just want to relax right now.” Relax...I couldn’t do that if I tried. The tension between me and Kellin was so thick it was starting to make me uneasy.

“Well, I’ll let you girls have some time. I’m going to go read a book inside for a little while.” He stood off the swing. I wanted to call after him to stop but instead, I stopped myself.

Lexie hopped off the swing to sit by me. “What’s going on? Everything was fine until you came over and then he shuts up and you hardly even look at him.”

“Can we go somewhere else to talk?” I glanced up at the door then whispered, “I can’t talk about it right here in front of his house.”

She nodded, “Okay, let’s go back to my house and we’ll talk there.”

We rose off the porch and headed down the road to her home. We passed Jackson’s but he wasn’t there. Most likely he was putting Kale in a house somewhere or showing him where to go in the mornings.  I followed Lexie into the house and plopped down on the couch.

“So what’s going on?” She laid out on the floor next to, propping her face up with her hands.

“If I tell you, you have to promise not to laugh or judge me!” I glared at her.

She laughed, “Me? Judgmental? Yeah, okay,” she rolled her eyes.

“It’s a serious problem to me and I feel...torn...ish.”

“What has gotten you so torn...ish?”

“Now you’re mocking me!” I buried my face in a couch cushion. “I think I have feelings for Kellin...not Kale...but I don’t know,” I mumbled out in a garbled mess through the fabric.

“Okay...I thought this was going to be something shocking and worth my time.”

I peeked up and looked at her. “You’re not surprised?”

She snorted, “No, why would I be? I’ve been able to see the building...whatever it is...between you and Kellin. Who hasn’t?” She rolled over and laid on her back with her hands cradling her head.

“That obvious, huh? What am I supposed to do about
Kale? I really don’t remember our life together and I don’t know if I ever will. Do I give up Kellin in the hopes I can remember and try to love Kale again or do I give up Kale because I can’t remember our apparent love for each other?”

She shook her head, “Nope, I can’t answer that for you but I will tell you this from what I’ve observed- you and Kellin are like two peas in a pod whereas you and Kale seem a little off kilter and awkward with each other BUT that could be entirely because you guys have just kind of re-met, so to speak. Okay, let’s play a little game.” She sat up and crossed her legs, facing the couch.

“What kind of game?”

“Don’t think about the answer just blurt out the first thing that comes to mind like if you had turrets. Who makes you laugh?”

“Kellin.”

“Who makes you smile?”

“Kellin?”

“Who confuses you?”

“Kale.”

“Who can sweep you off your feet in a heartbeat...if you had one?”

I froze and didn’t answer. My mind was drawing a blank while it tried to force itself to answer with one. I shook my head. “I’m not sure.”

“Okay that was supposed to kind of, ya know, give a clue as to who you really want and even though Kellin came to your mind...so did Kale. Talk about a love triangle.”

I threw a pillow at her. “It’s not a love triangle, you ass.”

“Then what do you call two guys pining away at one girl while she tries to decide who she really wants?” she raised an eyebrow to me and had half a smirk on her face.

I hesitated for a minute and twitched my eye, “Okay, maybe that’s what it sounds like, after all,” I mumbled under my breath.

“Go home. Get some sleep. Whoever you think of first thing in the morning is the one you really want to be with.” She pulled me off the couch while standing herself to her feet. I was ushered to the door where she gave me a hug and forcefully pushed me out.

I stumbled to the pavement below. “Hey!”

“Good night! Sleep tight! Don’t let your two lover boys bite!” she laughed and then laughed harder.

I rolled my eyes and walked away; embarrassed by her outburst in front of who knows that was in close hearing distance. My head hung down while I was watching the pavement pass me, I climbed my stairs and was about to walk in when someone talked.

“Hey, where have you been?”

I looked up and smiled, “Hey Kellin. Lexie and I were just at her house for a little bit.”

“Can we talk?” He looked down sheepishly and ran a hand through his hair.

“Sure. Do you want to come inside?”

“Yeah, I’d like that.”

I opened the door and held it while he went in. “Is something wrong?” I asked him after I closed the door behind me.

He sat on the couch and sat back; sighing heavily while shutting his eyes. “Yes and no.”

I sat next to him and folded my legs underneath me. “What’s going on?”

“First of all, I’m sorry for the way I acted and treated you earlier. You didn’t deserve that from me and I apologize.”

“No apologies needed. I can understand why you acted like that.”

“I don’t think it’s fair for you to be in the middle and have to pick between us.”

My dead heart felt like it sunk to my feet and a feeling of nausea filled me. “What do you mean pick between you guys?”

He opened his eyes, sat up, and grabbed my face in his hands as he slammed his lips against mine in an electrifying kiss. At first, I was stunned but then I melted into it.

I latched on to his wrists as he scooted closer and kissed me harder. His lips traveled down my chin and planted themselves on my neck. I closed my eyes, licked my lips, and then bit the bottom of my lower lip.

One of his hands cradled the other side of my neck. His lips then traveled back to mine and pressed lightly at first before his tongue begged entrance and both of ours danced around with each other’s.

I climbed onto his lap. The only thing that would have made that moment absolutely perfect was if I could feel the heat coming off of his body, off of his lips.

He slowly pulled away and looked into my eyes. His were captivating and held me prisoner. “I’m sorry. I can’t seem to help myself when I’m around you.”

“I would think the Creator would think negatively of lust, don’t you think so?”

He shook his head, “No, it’s not lust when it’s love.”

I wasn’t expecting that response. It took me by surprise. “Love?”

“Well, that’s what I feel anyways. I don’t know if you do or not but it’s not my concern right now. Right now-” he paused and ran a hand through my hair while pushing it behind my ear, “-my concern is your happiness and wellbeing. You can’t be happy knowing he’s around and trying to figure out things between you guys with me here trying to get you to fall for me. He was yours first and I can’t come between that.” He kissed my lips soft and sweetly but quick. “I’ll see you tomorrow to give you your list. Hope things go well between you guys and I won’t act like an ass like I did today, promise.”

He stood off the couch and walked to the door, never looking back at me. I sat on the couch, still stunned at his confession. Maybe it was best. Maybe it was horribly wrong. Not like I had a say in the matter since he made up my mind for me.

Chapter Six

There was knocking at my door and I shoved my head back under the pillow. “Wake up, sunshine! We have some souls to bring back!” Lexie let herself in and opened my bedroom door, walking over to the window, shoving the curtains apart and spinning around with a smile on her face.

“You are way too bubbly this early,” I moaned, “Why are you smiling so much? You’re making me want to punch you.”

“You didn’t hear, obviously.” She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot.

“Hear what? I’ve been dead to the world...well, more dead to the world.” I looked her up and down until my eyes settled on her hand that was cradling her elbow. There was a petite ring on one of the fingers. An important finger. Like. Wow. I shot up in bed. “What’s going on!?” I asked her while grabbing her hand to examine it closer.

“Well we may be stuck here for eternity but we’re still permitted to fall in love and well, I have,” she beamed.

“Jackson,” I grinned at her.

She nodded, “Yup. There’s a ceremony to unite us tomorrow. It’s nothing big and fancy. They don’t go crazy with weddings up here but it’s the Creator doing something simple and then a party afterwards. I figured since word gets around quick, you would have known by now. So, who was the first person you thought about when you woke up?” She sat down on the bed next to me.

“You.”

“ME!?” Her eyes went wide with horror.

“Yeah, you banging on my door kind of made me want to punch you really, really hard.”

“Oh! Whew! I thought you were about to say something else because I don’t swing that way, hun,” she laughed.

“Kellin did come by last night,” I told her as I ran my fingers over my lips remembering his world spinning kiss.