Son of Secrets Page 8

  His shoulders slumped with relief as she poured him another glass of sangria. So he felt the vibration between them too, but he had a girlfriend. Well, what guy with his looks and success wouldn’t? Josh was a nice guy, but he was right. Mutual attraction or not, their lives were never going to work. He was in the limelight and she was hiding from the world. He had an uber-amazing girlfriend and she had an addiction to bad decisions and dead exes. He may well be her destiny, but that was no reason to ruin his life or complicate hers.

  ‘Cheers!’ She tapped his plastic cup with hers. ‘Here’s to old friends and new beginnings.’

  ‘I’ll drink to that.’

  • • • • •

  The sun was setting over the water, and Ella’s head rested beside Josh’s. He was still asleep after ensuring every last mouthful of the picnic had been devoured. It had been the first time in a long time that she’d cooked for anyone, and she’d tried to hide her delight every time he asked for more. It didn’t take them long to doze off in the afternoon sun.

  She looked over at his sleeping face—why did he have to be so beautiful? They’d been taking photos of each other all day, and it saddened her to think she’d never had the opportunity to take a photo of Zac. She also felt a bit sorry for Josh’s girlfriend; it was quite clear that he was never going to stay with just one woman. He was too gorgeous and too flirty, not to mention too vain, to say no to the countless offers he no doubt received every day. She’d had fun and he was easy to be with, but he wasn’t the kind of guy a girl could get serious about.

  ‘Hmm, that was one well-needed siesta,’ he said, yawning and sitting up. She sat up too and he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer. ‘Thank you. Hey, I never noticed that on you before.’ He pointed at her thigh. ‘Is it a scar?’

  ‘A birthmark. It’s more noticeable when I have a tan.’

  ‘It’s cool,’ he said, running his sandy fingertip over the crescent mark, each stroke sending sparks up her leg. She took a deep breath, attempting to clear her foggy head. Too much drinking in the sun and too much Josh.

  ‘Well, so much for showing you the sights of Tarifa,’ she said, moving away from him. She began to pick up the empty wrappers from lunch and pack them away. ‘I’m sorry we never made it past my back garden.’

  ‘I’ve still had an amazing day,’ he said, handing her a paper plate. ‘I feel so relaxed. Thank you.’

  His forehead and nose were bronzed from the day’s sun. He already looked like a different man compared to the stressed, self-important actor she’d seen just a few days previously. She slung her bag over her shoulder, and they walked side by side along the wet sand, waves lapping at their ankles.

  ‘Tell me about your big movie, Josh.’

  ‘Which one?’

  ‘The one you’ll be filming here. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit this, but I’ve never seen any of your films. Sorry. I can’t even remember the last time I went to the cinema.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Yep. I knew you acted a bit at uni, but I had no idea you were a proper movie star when I saw you.’

  He laughed. ‘Nice to know I’m not as famous as I thought. Well, this film is the third in the series of films where I play Dr Addison Cross, a supernatural detective with special powers and a penchant for sexy vampires. As you can see, it’s all very serious and highbrow.’

  Ella struggled to keep a straight face. ‘And what will Dr Cross be doing in my lovely ex-monastery of a hotel?’

  ‘I’ll be infiltrating a group of nuns, who are actually secret vampires, and then shagging one of them before having a huge battle where I kill them all except for the hot one.’

  ‘Sounds like a normal day in the office. Do people actually watch this crap?’

  ‘Oi! I’ll have you know I smashed box office takings last year with Bite Night 2—Revenge of the She-Wolves.’

  She couldn’t tell if Josh was genuinely hurt or if he was winding her up.

  ‘You don’t believe in the supernatural, do you?’ she asked. ‘Because I have it on good authority that vampires and werewolves don’t exist.’

  ‘No, of course not. That would be silly. There are no magical beings in this world, right, Ella?’

  He was looking at her with a strange expression on his face—part amused and part questioning.

  ‘Right. Of course,’ she said far too quickly.

  They walked on in silence. She kept her eyes on the ground, watching her footprints in the sand get swallowed by the waves. Josh didn’t say anything after his magical beings comment. That was a weird thing to say—or was she overthinking things? Time to lighten up the situation.

  ‘Let’s go out!’ Ella exclaimed. ‘I haven’t been dancing in ages. Let’s hit the town.’

  ‘Oh no, no, no. I have to get up at five o’clock tomorrow morning. I don’t mind a quick drink in the hotel bar but not a big night.’

  She gave him an exaggerated pout. ‘Come on! You’re Dr Cross, the sexy superhero. Where’s your sense of adventure? Plus, it’s my birthday soon. The least you could do is buy a girl a cocktail on her birthday.’

  Smiling, Josh shook his head. ‘Nope, that cute girl pout is not going to work on me. Seriously, it’s such a hassle calling ahead and booking the VIP section so no one bothers us and then dealing with all those annoying people wanting to talk to me. Let’s stay here where no one will see me.’

  Ella rolled her eyes.

  ‘You are so bloody vain, Joshua de Silva. This is Tarifa. There is no VIP, and the town is practically deserted this time of year. No one will have any idea who you are, and even if they do they will be more interested in their surfboards than a Hollywood hunk.’

  ‘So, you think I’m a sexy superhero and a hunk?’

  ‘No, I think you’re egotistical and full of yourself.’

  Josh smiled. Damn that dimple!

  ‘Well, you’ll have to get changed if you want to go out,’ he said.

  ‘What? No, I don’t. Jean shorts are fine around here.’

  ‘You can’t go out soaking wet.’

  ‘What do you mean…hey!’

  Josh splashed her and she yelped, filling her cupped hands with seawater and splashing him back. She chased him along the shoreline and jumped on his back as he continued to throw water at her. Her T-shirt was now transparent and clinging to her chest, her hair wet and falling in her eyes. She wrestled him to the ground and dunked him in the shallow water. She found herself sitting astride him, taking her straight back to three years ago when she’d sat just like that with Zac on New Year’s Eve, her ballgown soaking wet and his bare back in the snow.

  Her hair dripped water onto Josh’s face and their eyes locked, their fast breaths in time with one another. He swallowed, his eyes moving from her lips to her chest and back up to her eyes. Was he going to kiss her? She thought of his girlfriend and the fact he was leaving in the morning. She didn’t need to add another notch to her bedpost or more complications to her life. Josh was fast becoming too important to lose among her empty conquests. She sat up and pushed her hair away from her face.

  ‘You’re right—we should call it a night. You have to get up early tomorrow,’ she said, clambering off him.

  He got to his feet too but was no longer smiling. ‘Yeah, I need to pack and stuff. Anyway, thanks for everything. I promise I’ll stay in touch,’ he said, drawing circles in the sand with his toes. ‘Looks like I’ll be back in six months to film here anyway, so we’ll have that night out then. OK?’

  ‘Definitely,’ she said, giving him a quick hug. His arms felt good around her, and she tried not to shiver as her wet T-shirt pushed against his bare chest. It would be too easy to look up into his almond-shaped eyes now and kiss him. She kept her face pressed against his shoulder, because looking at him was like looking directly at the sun.

  ‘Will you be all right, Ella?’

  ‘Me? Of course! I’m always fine,’ she said, pulling away and straightening her top. ‘Get on with
your Hollywood life, de Silva. You don’t need to worry about me. I’ll see you when I see you.’

  She could feel the touch of his stare travelling up her back as she climbed the beach stairs to her apartment. She wouldn’t let herself turn around because if she did, she knew exactly what would happen. She would run to him and he would catch her.

  If it was meant to be, then it would happen no matter how much they fought it. Zac had said Josh was her destiny, and Zac never lied. She’d just have to wait and see.

  But she could already feel the wheels of fate in motion.

  THE BRIGHT SPRING sunshine did nothing to lighten Zac’s mood as he walked down Highgate Hill toward Archway. His time with Ylva had taught him very little. She didn’t know where Ella was, and by the sound of it Richard wouldn’t have known where to find her either. It wasn’t time completely wasted though—Zac had learned that Gabriel was looking for him, and he’d also discovered that he now had a new power. What was it even called? Mind control? Brainwashing? He shuddered at the thought, although the April weather was far from cold. If he could make others do his bidding, then in theory he had no need for money or any other supernatural abilities. He shivered again. That kind of power could be lethal in the wrong hands.

  It wasn’t until he passed the quaint shopfronts of Highgate Village that Zac realised he was retracing the first steps he and Ella had taken together—but in reverse. If only rewinding time could be that easy. The sight of Waterlow Park made his chest ache, thinking back to his tiny shed and the way Ella had looked at him when she’d realised that he wasn’t like her, not yet realising just how different they really were. He passed the green dome of St Joseph’s church, the view of central London running hazily along the horizon, then the Whittington Hospital on his right, until he was right back at the beginning. The bus stop where they’d first met.

  What was his next step going to be? Zac always had a plan. He never made mistakes. But for the first time in his existence, he had no idea where to start. Would his friend Gabriel know where to find Ella? He’d said he’d been watching over her—but could Zac trust him? And would it lead him back to his mother? He had no idea if she was even alive or if his impulsive decision to end his life had been a silly risk. Was the ability to return to life limited to just him? Until he found Ella, he wouldn’t know if his gamble had truly paid off.

  He ran his hand through his hair and stopped as his fingers snagged in his matted mane. Well at least he knew what his first step was—a haircut. Across the road from the bus stop was a parade of shops, their fronts tinged grey from exhaust fumes and their window displays old and tired. How different Archway was to Highgate, just a few minutes’ walk from each other but miles apart. He ran his eye over the shop frontages. A laundrette, an off-licence, a fried chicken takeaway, a corner shop, and a tattoo place.

  He crossed the road and peered into the grimy window of the tattooists, its display photos faded to shades of grey and green. His reflection stared back at him mockingly. Someone else was looking at him too—a young woman. She was standing behind the counter, her hair cropped short and dyed a turquoise blue. Zac smiled. Maybe he wasn’t quite ready for a hairstyle as dramatic as hers, but there was no reason why he couldn’t make a few adjustments. His appearance hadn’t changed in two thousand years, and perhaps it was time to celebrate his newfound freedom with a new look. He grinned, not caring who saw, feeling positive for the first time since he’d left that airless tomb.

  • • • • •

  The tattoo shop door pinged as Zac let himself in an hour later. His hair was now cropped short, and he rubbed at his neck, unused to the sensation of it being uncovered.

  ‘Can I help you?’

  The blue-haired woman he’d spied earlier was still behind the counter. She was petite with arms smothered in tattoos of colourful swirling flowers, but she held herself in a defiant stance as if always ready for battle. Or perhaps it was the bright red scar running from the edge of her mouth up to the corner of her eye that gave her the appearance of a tiny warrior.

  ‘I’d like a tattoo,’ Zac said, frowning at the framed pictures of dragons and butterflies on the countertop. She snatched them away.

  ‘Ignore them. They aren’t my work; I can design anything you want. Would you like to make an appointment?’ Her voice tilted up at the edges. She was Australian, probably from the west of the country.

  ‘I want something unique. Special,’ he said. She scanned his bare arms, but it wasn’t there that he wanted it. ‘On my back. A very large tattoo on my back.’

  She didn’t smile, giving him a curt nod instead. He wasn’t used to people being wary around him. What on earth could have happened in her life so that she presumed the worst of someone as soon as she looked at them? Perhaps his short hair made him look meaner? Or was it the newfound steel in his eyes that unnerved her?

  ‘Can I book you in for next week?’ she asked.

  ‘No. I’d like it done now, please.’

  It was time to test his special gift again. He was curious as to how far he could take it.

  ‘I’m afraid I already have appointments today. A full back tattoo takes a few days, not to mention the time needed to create the design.’

  Zac put his rucksack on the floor and looked up at the girl, focusing his blue eyes on her own that shined fiercely beneath the white glare of the shop’s strip lighting.

  ‘I need you to go out and buy enough food and drink to last until tomorrow and then come back here, lock the door, and cancel all of today’s appointments.’

  He waited, curious to see if she would do as instructed.

  Her delicate features struggled beneath her calm façade as if she was fighting the urge to laugh or scream, but she did neither. Yes, he was being unkind and unfair, but he knew what he wanted. He wasn’t being cruel, he reasoned, because if she did as he asked she would come away with payment far greater than the money he still had in his pocket. He’d make sure of that.

  Reaching for her bag and coat beneath the counter, she walked to the front of the shop and slammed the door hard. Zac watched her turn left to the corner shop and a pang of guilt feathered in his chest. He considered calling her back but instead turned the sign on the door to ‘closed’ and sat down on the worn leather couch by the front desk. This was a necessary experiment, he told himself. Plus, he really wanted a tattoo.

  The girl returned a few minutes later with two shopping bags, locking the door behind her.

  ‘I’m sorry about this,’ Zac told her. ‘I wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t important.’

  Her face remained passive, but her eyes danced in anger and confusion. She then continued to do exactly as Zac had instructed, picking up the phone and dialling the telephone numbers of her two appointments. She left a message with one and apologised profusely to the other, telling them she was ill and would call them back in a few days.

  ‘What’s your name?’ he asked.

  ‘Tara. Yours?’

  ‘Zac. I appreciate your compliance with my requests, Tara. I am ever so sorry for the inconvenience.’ He walked back over to her and stared at her face. ‘What happened?’

  She flinched as he ran his finger over the ugly raised scar slashing her cheek in half.

  ‘It’s nothing,’ she said, turning her head away from him. ‘I was born with it.’

  He turned her face until she was staring straight into his eyes. Her throat constricted as she swallowed.

  ‘What happened?’ he asked again.

  ‘Love happened.’

  Zac rubbed his thumb gently over her cheek, and this time she didn’t move.

  ‘Tell me,’ he said.

  Zac was no stranger to tales of love and loss, he had experienced plenty of both over the years, but even his own heart dipped a little as she told him her story. A pretty English backpacker had stolen her heart, stuffed it still beating and bloody into her bag and returned to London as if her trinket was nothing more than a cheap souvenir.

 
; ‘Charlie was the most beautiful, vibrant, fun girl I’d ever met,’ she told Zac. ‘I promised her that I would save up and come to London one day. That we would be together again. She laughed at me, but I did it. I left my dusty little town and came to London. This huge city was crazier than anything I’d ever imagined, but I eventually tracked her down. She was with a guy in a pub. A man! We argued, me, her, him, a bouncer. Someone threw a bottle, and then this happened.’ She pointed at her face. Zac was still stroking his fingers across her cheek, but she didn’t seem to notice.

  ‘It’s been over a year now, and I never saw Charlie again. I had no travel insurance and no way to pay for any treatment, so I left the cut to heal itself. I found a tiny room to rent above this shitty tattoo shop, and the owner agreed to hire me. I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with my life since then. Although with this face, I don’t stand a chance of finding a decent job…let alone the girl of my dreams.’

  Zac removed his hand from her cheek and smiled.

  ‘You’re beautiful.’

  ‘No, I’m not. The scar made a mess of my face.’

  ‘What scar?’

  Tara stepped out from behind the counter and walked over to the full-length mirror by the door. She stared and stared, her eyes unable to believe her reflection as silent tears rolled down her perfect cheeks. Her scar was gone.

  ‘How did you…?’

  Zac was still smiling.

  ‘You look happier now.’

  ‘Who are you?’

  The question remained unanswered, suspended like a light mist between them, as he joined her at the mirror. Relief was etched across his tired face; relief that he’d retained his ability to heal others as well as himself. He hadn’t liked controlling her mind or using her as his guinea pig, but he’d at least been able to change her life for the better. Healing others had been one of the many things he’d been forbidden to do before, back when he was in constant fear of altering people’s life paths. But now he no longer cared if his actions threw fate’s plans off course. He just wanted to help. Tara’s reflection stared back at him; a lot of his own pain was there in her eyes.