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Eight

Bobby

After settling on the couch next to a big black cat that completely ignored me, I turned on the television with the remote Cole had shoved into my hand before he hurried off to shower. His house looked like any other house I'd been in. A few pictures on the wall, a big flat screen, and a sofa with a built-in recliner at each end.

"Who the fuck are you?" a woman asked as she walked into the house without even so much as a knock. She had the same bright blue eyes Cole had but her hair was not as dark as his. She was also barely five feet tall when he was closer to six feet. But what she lacked in height she made up for in attitude. She had lots and lots of attitude. "Well? You better start talking. Don't think I can't knock you on your ass."

"I-I," I stammered as I tried to form a coherent sentence but apparently the day had actually gotten to me, and this was the breaking point. Leaping to my feet, I wasn't sure what to say or where to go. Here I was a stranger in a stranger's house being confronted by someone who obviously belonged.

"Mom! What are you doing?" Cole said as he hurried to stand between us wearing only a towel. "I could hear you yelling over the shower."

"I walked in, and this guy was sitting on your couch like he owns the place," she yelled again.

"Mom, this is Bobby—" He trailed off and looked at me.

"Sanders, Bobby Sanders," I managed to get out.

"Bobby saved my life," Cole said. Her gaze bounced from him to me before she pulled him into her arms and hugged him.

"Oh, baby, are you okay?" She released him enough to meet his eyes, it was then I noticed he'd shaved his head.

"Yes, just a few burns. My hair was singed so I shaved it off."

"Wait a minute, what happened?" she said.

"Bobby, this is my mom, Marie Ryan," Cole said while she continued to hold onto him.

"What happened?" she asked again before finally releasing him.

"Give me just a minute to put on some pants," he said and hurried out of the room after giving me a cringy look.

When I looked back at his mum, she had her arms crossed and huffed at me. I wondered if she thought I was also the reason he'd been hurt but there wasn't a chance in hell I was going to ask.

"So, this morning when I was out for my run, I got hit by lightning," Cole said as he walked back into the room pulling a shirt down over his toned abs that I was trying like hell to ignore.

"What? How could that happen?" she asked and checked him all over for injuries which I now noticed were no longer visible. "Is that what happened to your hair?"

"There was a storm in the distance, and it rolled in faster than I was running. Bobby was driving and saw it all. If he hadn't been there, I'd probably still be in the ditch. And my hair was half burned, there was no saving it, and I was tired of the smell of burnt hair."

She looked at me then, and I braced myself for whatever reaction she had this time, but surprisingly she pulled me in for a hug. "I'm so sorry for the way I treated you. I had no idea Cole had been injured. Now tell me everything," she said, and took a seat on the couch.

He guided me back to where I'd been sitting when she came in and listened while he told her what had happened. It never got easier to hear, and it was just as fresh in my memory as it had been when I'd seen it a few hours ago.

"You need to go to a hospital," his mum said.

"Bobby took me to Woodland. But—something weird happened, and I made him bring me home."

"What do you mean? Cole, none of this makes any sense." She again looked between the two of us looking for more answers that neither of us had.

"I know. I don't really know what happened either. The doctors were checking me out and it was almost like I was hit by lightning again. Or lightning came to me. I don't really know how to explain it."

I sat in silence, unsure if Cole wanted me to say anything, and not wanting to either upset his mum or tell her something he didn't want her to know. Not that either of us knew what should be kept secret and what wasn't important. Neither of us knew what had happened or understood what could come from it.

"Is that what you saw?" she asked me.

"He was covered with a blue glow and sparks of lightning. But it sounded like there was a tornado going through the hospital so maybe it wasn't what we thought it was. Maybe it was a micro storm or something." I knew that wasn't what happened but the more I thought about it the more I doubted it all.

She flinched away from me before turning back to Cole. "What's he talking about?"

"We don't know what happened, but things definitely got weird at the hospital. Once we left it hasn't been quite so crazy." He glanced at me when he said it and I knew he was hoping I didn't mention the fact that the blue glow had tried to move from his skin to touch me.

"What did the doctor say?" she asked.

"We didn't stick around to find out. Like I said, it got weird."

"You need to see a doctor," she said and looked him over once again. It was strange to see his head shaved, but it was also more obvious how singed he'd been. His hair was burned all the way to his scalp in some areas, and red marks showed where he'd nearly been burned, but even those had faded since we'd left the hospital.

"I'll make an appointment for as soon as they can get me in. Mom, there's more," he said and once again glanced at me. "When we were at the hospital, I heard something. I don't really know how to describe it without you thinking I'm nuts."

"What did you hear?" she said, her voice low and serious.

"With a flash of blue—"

"There will be two," I continued. His mum looked between the two of us as the color drained from her face.

"It can't be," she said and stood and walked out the door leaving the two of us alone.

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