6. Nova

Chapter 6

Nova

I felt Ezra’s eyes on me as I danced with the human. Brad? Chad? Something that ended with -ad. He was a good dancer, but I hated being touched by strangers, and he definitely wanted to touch me. His hands continually wandered north or south, but I adjusted them to my back every time. After a few minutes of a thunderous song vibrating the floor with the bass, I walked away from him and headed to the bar. He rolled his eyes as I walked away but quickly shifted his focus elsewhere.

Immediately, my eyes found Ezra. He leaned on his elbows against the bar, looking around the club. The same white T-shirt he wore earlier was strained across his chest, and he had rolled the sleeves of his jacket up. He had made no effort to dress up. His gaze landed on me, and a smile spread across his face before I looked away, pretending I hadn’t just been staring at him.

His words from earlier stuck in my brain. He had called me hot. He had said I looked hot. It was hard to keep from becoming a puddle on the floor right there and then. But I was nothing compared to him.

“Try to flirt with him,” Crystal stepped before me, seemingly coming out of nowhere. She handed me a shot, and I took it.

“I don’t know, Crystal,” I said, shifting my weight between my feet and feeling the alcohol coursing through my veins. “It seems risky.”

“Nova, the man has barely taken his eyes off of you all night. Go flirt. Or kiss him. Just do something to put both of you—or all of us—out of this misery.” I rolled my eyes at her. “Whatever,” she said, locking eyes with someone behind me. “I’m out of here in a minute. Bryan and I are going to go to the other club downtown or his apartment,” she winked and shrugged. “We haven’t decided yet.” Crystal hugged me and said, “You can do it. I believe in you!” and skipped away.

Sometimes, I envied how easily she found talking and flirting with guys and wished I could procure that same courage from thin air. I looked back to the bar, where Ezra was staring at the ground. He nursed a cup of water and fiddled with the edge of the cup. I thought Crystal was exaggerating about Ezra looking at me or even liking me, and I desperately wanted to believe she was right, but it was wishful thinking. I was nothing special. I was ‘best friend, Nova,’ and Ezra was incredible, whether he believed it or not.

“You okay?” I hopped up in front of Ezra, mulling over Crystal’s encouragement.

He had sat on the stool, and I was standing, so we were looking eye to eye. With the liquid courage shoving back my nerves, I saw the opening and stepped forward, standing between his legs. His eyes shot up to connect with mine, and I felt a shiver through me as his orange eyes darkened. Their color would masquerade to humans as hazel, but I got to see their natural, perfect color. Ezra thought my favorite color was purple because of my hair, eyes, and room decor, but he was wrong. My favorite color was orange, the beautiful shade of orange his eyes were. I took his hand, wishing I had the nerve to use my power to hear his thoughts.

“Talk to me,” I said, moving even closer to him. Heat started to build between us, and I felt my heartbeat steadily increase its drumming. He straightened up but left his hand tucked into mine.

“This just isn’t my scene,” he said, leaning in so he didn’t have to shout.

“It’s not mine either, but I love seeing the costumes, don’t you?”

“They’re certainly interesting,” he chuckled. “It’s like humans think fairies never wear pants.”

I laughed a little too loudly. His thumb started caressing my hand as he laughed at his joke. He had never done that before, and it sent goosebumps up my arm. I briefly ran my hand up and down my forearm before Ezra noted the bumps on my arms.

“Are you cold?” He asked, eyes trailing my body. I shook my head and felt my heart rate quicken. Between standing so close to him, the alcohol, and the millions of bodies in here, I wasn’t cold for once.

“Come dance with me,” I demanded. I didn’t give him a moment to say no or me a moment to chicken out before pulling him to the dance floor. Typical Nova would be sitting in the corner, wishing to go home, but slightly drunk and brazen Nova wanted Ezra on the dance floor.

I kept his hand in mine as we reached the crowded floor. More people were dancing than five minutes ago, so we were constantly being pushed against each other. Ezra was not a big dancer, but as the song went on and with significant encouragement from me, he began to loosen up and move his body along with mine. The crowded dance floor gave me the perfect excuse to stand close enough to him to be wrapped up in his smell. He looked at me through hooded eyes in a way I hadn’t seen before.

A few minutes later, a guy bumped into me, prompting me to grab Ezra’s jacket. In turn, Ezra grabbed my hips to make sure I didn’t fall. I turned to the guy as he mumbled something under his breath. He was tall and gave me a confused look before his eyes widened, and he rushed away.

Rude, he didn’t even apologize , I thought.

As I turned back around, the area around Ezra and I constricted, and I was pressed against him. My heart stuttered before I found enough courage to keep moving this close to him. His fingers clutched my hip, his shoulders tense, but a lazy smile spread across his face.

After a handful of songs, I had to pee and was thirsty. Ezra kept his hand on the small of my back as we walked off the dance floor. The tips of his fingers brushed the hollow of my back as we walked, and I prayed that he couldn’t see the shiver that coursed through me. He made his way back to the bar and ordered me a drink while I walked to the bathroom. I would need all sorts of liquid courage if I was going to keep this up.

A stocky man approached me as I walked out of the bathroom and returned to the bar. He wasn’t as tall as Ezra, but broader. He wore a mask with a ridiculous interpretation of what ghosts looked like when they were screaming. I tried to move past him, but he intentionally blocked my path.

“Want to dance?” The man asked.

“No, thanks.” I stepped to the side, but he grabbed onto my arm. Panic started coursing through me.

“Come on, don’t be a tease. Join me on the dance floor.”

“You’ve got the wrong girl, dude.” I shook his grip off my arm and swiftly moved around him. Finally, I shook him off and made eye contact with Ezra across the bar. He held the drink up for me and smiled.

“I wasn’t done talking to you, witch!” The man grabbed my arm again and pulled me toward him. I was dressed like a witch, so it made sense to call me that since it was unlikely a human would know what I was. He likely pronounced the word with a b, and I had heard him wrong. I had never experienced it, but it was widely known that humans could get irrationally angry when rejected. This human certainly sounded scorned.

“Let me go!” I screamed as the man pulled me toward the dark corner of the floor. “Ezra! Ezra, help!”

I didn’t like to wish for a specific ability since I resented having mine, but I had never wished so much to be a Whisperer to call Ezra for help. I could use my manipulation ability to stop the man, but I had to see his eyes to be able to enter his brain and force him to let me go, and the mask covered them. Plus, using our special abilities on humans was dangerous and frowned upon.

This man was strong, and I struggled to break from his grip. “Let me go!” I shoved him off and loosened his hand on my bicep, making him stop to adjust his grip on my bicep.

Suddenly, another pair of hands were on me. I couldn’t see him behind me, but I smelled apple pie. With a final yank, I broke out of the man’s grip and wrapped my arms around Ezra's waist. The man tried to reach for me again before seeing Ezra, but Ezra shoved him backward.

“Sorry, dude,” the man chuckled, putting his hands in the air. A casual grin spread across his face as if he hadn’t just tried to pull me against my will. “Wrong girl, apparently.”

“Fuck yeah, wrong girl.” Ezra’s voice was deeper than usual. It sent the man scurrying away.

Ezra tucked me into his chest, with his hand cradling the back of my head. My breath shuddered, and my hands shook as I clutched his shirt. Ezra. Safety. After a few seconds, Ezra crouched down slightly, holding me at arm’s length, and looked at me. His eyes roamed my body for signs of injury. “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay.” I tried to sound confident, but my voice trembled. I had heard stories of this happening in the human territory, especially in college, but I had never experienced it. “Can you take me home, Ezzy?”

He nodded without another word and tightly grabbed my hand. We weaved through the crowd, quickly stopping to close our tab, and escaped to the parking lot. Fresh air filled my lungs, and I was thankful to breathe in something other than body heat and excessive perfume. Scattered voices, cars rolling on the pavement, and the muffled sound of music filled the background as we walked to his car.

“What do you think that was about?” I asked Ezra.

“I’m not sure,” he said. He stopped walking and looked me over again. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, just rattled. It was probably a drunk human.” I shrugged, and he nodded as we climbed into the car.

Ezra quietly drove us back to Hidden Creek, and I appreciated the silence after the volume my ears had endured. It had been a while since I had gone out to the human territory, and it would probably be a while before I went back. Humans saw me as a very strange person, which kept me from being able to make friends and made me uneasy, so I wouldn’t say I liked to spend much time there anyway. Hidden Creek had everything to make me happy.

We parked in the spot right outside my door and headed upstairs. The condo was dark as we walked in; the only light from the yellow streetlight outside quickly disappeared when Ezra closed the door behind him. I clicked on the living room lamp to see where we were walking, but I didn’t like turning on the overhead lights when I was going to bed soon. The cookies I had baked the other day were sitting on the counter since Crystal hadn’t put them back when she grabbed one on the way out.

My heart rate settled from the encounter with the human, but every noise the condo made startled me. I looked at Ezra as he slipped off his jacket. I offered him a cookie, and he moaned as he bit into it. I swallowed, choosing to laugh instead of wondering how else I could get him to make that noise. I fidgeted with the end of my waistband, unsure what to say.

“Are you sure you’re okay? Ezra asked, leaning against the couch. “You seem…off.”

“Yeah, it was just a little scary,” I admitted.

“You’re home now and…safe. Plus, I wouldn’t let anything happen to you, Nova, you know that.”

My inability to keep my feelings in check made it difficult not to read into his gaze. He stood back up and was getting ready to leave, but I didn’t want to be alone.