Chapter 18 - For the Stars

AMBROSE

I started searching for her scent amongst the others. When I picked it up I followed it out of the dining hall, and down the halls towards the gyms. I could hear the others following me but I was more distracted with where she was going. She had entered one of the big, three story gyms but when I looked in through the window I didn’t see anyone inside.

Covyn seemed just as confused as I was as he opened one of the two doors alongside me. I looked around but it was completely empty, no one in sight,- but I could smell her.

“Evadiene?” I called as I looked around.

“Yes?” She called in return and I followed the sound up, seeing her laying on her back on one of the beams that ran across the roof.

My heart leapt from my chest onto the floor to see her so high and so out of reach.

I turned to those behind me, frustration very momentarily greater than my worry. “You, stay here to catch her if she falls!”

“Of course,” Covyn returned, but I hadn’t been talking to him.

I would have never spoken to him like that, my words had been for Ellion who’s mate had taken her eyes off mine after volunteering to watch her. Still Ellion nodded in understanding and I thanked Covyn, whose worried eyes never left Evadiene. I quickly debated between climbing the rope and ladder against the wall, before darting to one of the ladder because it would be faster.

“How did you get up there?” Daley gasped.

As I arrived at the top, I saw Sequoia laying near one of the ropes that hung from the rafters with Evadiene’s boots laying beside her.

“You used the rope didn’t you?” I asked.

She nodded with a smirk and a wink, tilting her chin up high to look behind herself at me. “Only cheaters and maintenance workers use the ladder.”

“And people so sick of worry over you that the don’t even want to waste time showing off,” I chuckled at her.

She smiled and the warmth of it….

“Oh so those big strong muscles aren’t just for show? I was starting to think your right bicep was your trophy wife and lefty was the side twink.” Covyn boomed a laugh from the ground and her smirk grew as she thumbed toward him, “he gets it.”

I laughed and rolled my eyes at her. “I seem to recall being promised some arm candy tonight at dinner, but I look away for one second and she climbs as close to the roof as she can.”

She returned to looking up out the skylight as she continued. “Yea, I did.”

“Angel, what are you doing up here?”

“Looking at the stars..”

“Eva, can you get down?” I asked more seriously.

I heard her scoff. “Of course I can. Fast or slow?” She giggled and I knew she was kidding, referencing her drop at the club, but it made my stomach do a flip regardless.

“Slow Angel, slow as possible.”

She scoffed again, “no fun.” She turned over onto her stomach and waved down to the others. “Oh your Alpha is here too.”

“And me?” Ellion gasped, teasingly.

Again she scoffed. “I knew Daley was here, with an ass that fine you’d be mad to not be far behind it.”

Daley was giggling but Ellion was growling before she elbowed him. “She’s drunk and I lost her, give her a break and shut up. It’s my fault she got up there.”

“I’m not drunk,” Evadiene returned firmly, quickly glancing up at me and giving me a smirk that brought back all of my earlier worry.

From her stomach, both legs rocked on either side of the beam beneath her. She used the momentum of throwing her legs back up, with her hands gripping either side, to roll herself into a hand stand. She then carefully lowered her legs toward me, all of it in one motion like a forward cartwheel. Her lips curved into a smile as she was lowering the second leg and she slipped.

My heart fell to the ground, but her legs parted and she ended up sitting over the beam. She erupted with laughter that she couldn’t stop. Her finger drew a small skull and crossbones in the dust on the beam with ‘R-I-P’ beneath it.

“That’s not funny Evadiene,” I muttered, more desperate than ever to get her back on the ground.

“Oh come on, it’s dusty. That’s not my fault…” I continued to stare at her and her cheeks caved. She huffed at my reproachful attitude and pouted. “I’m normally very good at the balance beam. I haven’t fallen in years, I didn’t do it thinking there was a chance I could actually fall.”

I couldn’t stand her pouting, and offered her a small, very small, smile. “You used to do gymnastics?”

She smiled. “I won gold.”

“Gold where?” Covyn called, strangely curious.

“The olympics!” She called back, smiling at his and the others’ surprise and disbelief.

“Not that I don’t very much want to continue this conversation love, but I’d much rather you were safely on the ground first.”

She turned back to me. “If I come down, will you make me go to bed?”

I shook my head. “No, we can go outside for some air.”

“Covyn, is he lying?” She asked skeptically.

I turned to him, begging him to back me up but his smile couldn’t have been wider.

I worried for a minute until he said, “no Evadiene, he would never lie to you.”

She nodded, more to herself than him. “Fine.”

She moved to shuffled over to the next nearest rope but I clicked me tongue. “There are kinder ways to kill me than a heart attack. You burnt your hand, and that’s a long way down.. I know you can do it, and I know that’s how you go up here, but can we please use the ladder to get down. For me..”

She had meant to argue but, after looking into my eyes for a long moment, she slowly nodded. She pulled her feet up at her sides and pulled her socks off, letting them fall, before gripping either side of the beam to bring her feet up under her. When she was standing barefoot across from me… I wanted her in my arms more than anything else. She smirked, and slowly began walking towards me.

“I guess neither of us gets to show off today,” she giggled, reaching me at the end and we returned to the wall.

Once there, the space was slightly wider where a perpendicular beam ran, I wrapped my arms around her and breathed in the scent of her hair. “If you want to workout on a balance beam I will buy you one, and I will take you anywhere you could possibly dream of to see the sky. So please, please, don’t do this again.”

I felt her smirk against my cheek as I pulled our faces together so I could whisper in her ear. She didn’t say anything, just rubbing her cheek against mine, but I could bug her about it again later. I started down the ladder first, watching her hesitate while glancing at a rope but I growled at her and she smiled at me. She waited for me to get further down before reaching over to the first rung and starting to climb down.

I reached the bottom and looked up to watch her carefully climbing down. I watched her reach down with the hand she had burnt and her foot slipped, making a breath rake through her teeth.It was a good bet that the alcohol and adrenaline had helped her ignore her hand on he way up but, after resting up there and her slip taking the rest of her high away, she was feeling the pain now. She stopped herself from falling with the other hand and stood still for a minute as she winced her face.

“Evadiene?” I called. “I will catch you.”

She shook her head. “It’s fine, it’s just a little tender.”

“You’re lying sweetie. I can smell that you’re bleeding,” I returned, even as she started climbing down again.

“Not lying,” she muttered, then continued under her breath, “you don’t tenderize cooked meat, and my hand is definitely worn raw.”

She moved the injured hand back to the the next rung and started to try once more. I watched her make it a few more feet before her hand gave out on her and she fell, gasping loudly before I caught her in my arms.

“Ambrose,” she smiled kissing my cheek but I was focused on the smell of blood.

I grabbed her hand and blood was running down her wrist.

“Evadiene,” I growled but she pouted at me and I cut it short.

I set her on her feet and took my shirt off to wrap around her hand. She looked at it and then at my chest and I watched her eyes dilate. She wagged her eyebrows at me so I smirked, shaking my head at my little Angel.

“Come on, let’s go outside,” I chuckled, going to go grab her shoes and socks but as I did I heard her quick steps.

She was running to the side door when Covyn laughed loudly behind me. “Better catch her or you’ll be coaxing her off the roof.”