Holly's head came up just as he released the banana clip Gia had used to put her hair up for tonight when they were getting ready. She stared at him blankly as her hair fell around her shoulders. "What boots?"
"The thigh-high ones you wore to the nightclub the first night we had our shared--" Justin stopped abruptly, something flickering in his eyes. She would have called it a silent "oh shit."
"Our shared what?" she asked grimly. The only time she'd ever worn this outfit was in a dream. Gia had worn it that day and she'd admired it and wished she had the courage to wear something like that even just once . . . and then she had, in her dream. The dream and what had happened in it were what had given her the courage to wear it tonight when Gia had suggested it. Although she suspected Gia may have given her courage a little nudge too to help her along, because she'd been about to say a definite no when she'd suddenly found herself saying yes.
That didn't matter right now, though, of course. What did was that Justin was claiming to have seen her in it before, and since the only place she'd worn it was her dreams, she suspected-- "You can read me."
"What?" Justin said with surprise.
"You've been lying all this time," she accused. "You can read me and you read that memory from my mind."
"No, Holly, I didn't," he assured her quickly.
"Then how could you know about the dream I had?
Justin hesitated and then ran a hand through his hair with a deep sigh. Turning, he paced a couple steps away and then turned back. "Another symptom of life mates is shared dreams."
Holly stiffened. "What are shared dreams?"
"They're just what they sound like, dreams the life mates share," he said simply, and then seeing her bemused expression, explained, "If life mates sleep within a certain distance of each other, their minds sort of merge in sleep and share their dreams. It's the only time, aside from sex, when life mates' minds open to each other."
Holly sucked in a breath at this news, her mind whirling. Shared dreams? Her wet dreams? Like the one where he'd screwed her up against the wall of a nightclub? Or in a car? Or--dear God, did he actually know what she had dreamt? Was he dreaming that stuff too? Or, she wondered suddenly, was he making her have them?
"You put those dreams in my head," she accused, suddenly furious.
"No," he assured her. "It doesn't work like that. Our minds merge; one doesn't dominate the other. I couldn't make you do anything you don't want to do in the dreams. We are both contributing to them subconsciously."
Holly stepped back with dismay, her mind racing. Oh God, oh God, oh God. That had to be cheating. It was certainly more cheating than just having those dreams by herself. And he'd known all along what was happening. Dear God, he'd actually been a party to it when she'd invited him to screw her up against the wall in the nightclub, and then in a car, and then--Oh God, he'd laid her out on the table like a feast and then gone at her like he was eating a quarter slice of watermelon. And that was after she'd acted like he was her own personal pogo stick and then tried to swallow his sausage whole on the freeway.
It was one thing when she'd thought they were just her own mind trying to work through what might be a subconscious attraction, but if they were both there, doing those things, even if it was in dreams . . .
They might not be able to arrest you for dreaming about a robbery as a rule, but what if you woke up with the bags of money in your bed? Because she'd woken up drenched from orgasm after orgasm, and she knew from the dreams that he'd reached completion too. They might not have physically touched each other, but they'd had orgasms together and that had to be cheating. Where did one draw the line?
"I'm going to be sick," Holly muttered, pushing past him to stumble out of the bathroom.
"Holly." Justin followed, concern in his voice. "Honey, shared dreams are a normal part of being a life mate. They're natural."
Suddenly furious, Holly turned and slapped his face. "Get this through your thick goddamned skull, Justin. I'm a married woman. I have a husband I made vows to that I plan to keep. We can never be life mates."
Whirling away then, she rushed into the ladies' room to escape him and slammed into the first open stall. In the next moment she had the door locked and was perched on the edge of the toilet seat, sobbing into her hands.
She'd cheated on her husband. She hadn't thought she was cheating, and her mother had assured her that the dreams she was having weren't cheating, but they were. They weren't normal dreams. Justin had been right there with her, in mind if not body. She was a cheater. A slut. A two-timing ho-bag.
"Holly?"
Stifling her sobs, Holly tried to regain control of herself at the sound of Gia's voice and after a moment managed to sound relatively normal when she said, "Yes?"
"Can you come out here, piccola?"
"No," Holly moaned, and then had to fight to keep from bursting into sobs again.
"Please don't force me to make you, piccola," Gia said gently.
"You can't," she sniffled. "You have to see the person to control them." At least she'd learned something useful the last two weeks. Well, besides the fact that she was the whore of Babylon.
"I can see you through the crack, Holly. I can take control. Please don't make me," Gia said grimly.
Her gaze immediately shot to the space between the door and the stall wall, and Holly saw that Gia could indeed see in. Certainly, she could see a sliver of Gia through it. Cursing under her breath, she pulled a wad of toilet paper off the roll on the wall next to her, blew her nose and stood up to unlock the stall door.
"What?" Holly muttered resentfully as she stepped out.
"Are you okay?" Gia asked.
"What do you think?" Holly said bitterly, throwing the tissue in the garbage and moving to the sink to turn on the tap. "I just found out I've been having an affair on my husband and didn't even realize it." Whirling suddenly, she glared at her. "Why didn't you tell me about shared dreams?"
"It wasn't my place to tell you. Justin--"
"Oh, like he'd tell me," she snapped, and whirled back to the sink. "Thanks for nothing."
Gia hesitated, and then straightened her shoulders and added, "And because I thought you might try to put an end to them and--"
"Of course I'd have put an end to them," Holly growled, splashing cold water on her face.
"And," Gia repeated, "I thought it would be better for you to have them."
Face dripping, Holly whirled. "What?"
Gia sighed and shook her head. "Holly, whether you like it or not, you are Justin's life mate."
"Possible life mate," Holly snapped. "Possible, but since I'm married it's not possible."
"It is when your marriage fails," Gia said quietly.
Holly gaped at her. "You want my marriage to fail?"
"No, piccola, of course not," Gia said gently and stepped forward to hug her. Rubbing her back, she added, "But I fear it will."
Holly stiffened and tried to pull out of her arms, but Gia tightened them grimly and continued, "I have lived a long time, piccola. You are not the first married mortal who has been turned for one reason or another."
"You mean because they were a possible life mate to an immortal," she muttered into her shoulder.
"No. There are other reasons. There have been mortals in the past who have saved the life of an immortal, or even many immortals, and who have been turned for their selfless act."
"Really?" Holly asked with surprise, pulling back slightly. This time Gia let her so that she could see her nod.
"Si. It is very rare, but it has happened," she assured her. "And in the two cases I know of, the mortals were married to other mortals. Those unions did not go well after the one was turned. The new immortal could read their partner, and even control them once trained. For one of the two new immortals, they could not bear what their mortal mate truly thought of them. It was too hurtful to hear their thoughts all the time." She paused briefly to let her absorb that and then added, "The second new immortal c
ould not resist controlling her mortal husband and making him do what she wished. He became little more than her puppet, and she hated herself for doing that to him. In both cases, the unions ended badly, and the new immortal had to go on alone."
Hugging her again, she patted her back and said, "Fortunately, for you it can be different. You are Justin's life mate, and he gave up his one turn for you. The fact that you have had shared dreams with him proves that you are life mates, and the fact that you enjoyed them so thoroughly--"
"How would you know I enjoyed--You read it in my mind," Holly asked, and answered, her own question.
"Yes," she said unapologetically. "And you did enjoy your shared dreams with Justin. You are attracted to him."
"But I'm--"
"Married," Gia finished for her dryly. "Yes, I know. And I know you will not just accept my suggestion that your marriage may not now work. You need to go home and see for yourself." Releasing her completely, she stepped back. "I suggest you do that now."
Holly blinked. "What? Now, now? Like this minute?"
Gia shrugged. "Your training is over. You have learned all that you need to survive as an immortal without risking harm to mortals. I will see that Justin arranges for regular deliveries of blood. And," she added solemnly, "If you sleep at the house tonight, you will not be able to prevent yourself from having shared dreams with Justin again."
Holly's eyes widened at that and Gia nodded.
"I hope you may be able to forgive yourself for the dreams you've had, because you did not know they were shared. But I know you will never forgive yourself if you return to the house tonight and knowingly have them again." Meeting Holly's gaze she added, "Trust me when I say that if you sleep in the same house as Justin, you will have them again, piccola."
While Holly absorbed that, Gia reached down the front of her top and retrieved a wad of money that she had apparently tucked in her bra. Taking Holly's hand, she pressed the money into her palm and closed her fingers over it. "Take a taxi to the bus station. One leaves at 1:45 in the morning which is in a little under an hour."
"You know the bus schedules?" Holly asked with disbelief.
"I looked into it a couple days ago. I knew you would not take it well when you learned that you were not having your dreams alone. I thought it best to be prepared," she said gently, and then offered a crooked smile and added, "Fortunately, you did not find out until your training was done. I feared you would find out sooner and be forced to stay, in which case . . ."
"I'd have still had the dreams and have to deal with my feelings about that," Holly guessed.
Gia nodded, and then hugged her quickly. "There is a slip of paper in amongst the money with the number to my cell phone on it. Call me if you need to, or even if you just want to." Straightening, she smiled and added, "I like you, piccola. And I think we could be good friends if your marriage does not work out and you accept Justin as your mate."
Releasing her then, she turned to move to the door. "Wait here for a couple of minutes. I will get Justin to accompany me back to the table so that you can slip out."
"You won't get in trouble for this, will you?" Holly asked with concern.
Gia shook her head. "You are done with your training, there is nothing to be in trouble for." Turning back, she offered a crooked smile and added, "Justin will be very angry at me at first, but he is not the type to hold a grudge. Safe journey, piccola."
"Thank you," Holly murmured and watched her walk out. She then paced the bathroom, silently counting slowly to 120 before moving to the door and easing it open. The hall was empty. Holly slipped out and let the door close silently behind her.
Justin tore his gaze from the hallway leading to the bathrooms, and glanced worriedly at Gia on the dance floor. She'd urged him away from the ladies' room and back to their table some time ago, at least half an hour by his watch, and told him that Holly would be fine, she just needed some time alone. The woman had then gone out onto the dance floor and hadn't returned to their table since . . . and neither had Holly.
He was about to go check on Holly himself when Gia suddenly waved at where he and the twins sat at the table and then headed for the hall to the washrooms.
She was checking on Holly, he thought and relaxed back in his seat. She'd bring her back, he assured himself. Hopefully, after smoothing everything over with Holly and reassuring her that shared dreams were perfectly natural between life mates and she had nothing to feel guilty--or angry at him--for.
That thought made him sigh unhappily. He'd known Holly would be angry when she discovered the dreams she was enjoying were shared. He'd just hoped . . . he didn't know what he'd hoped. Justin supposed he'd simply not wanted to think about her being angry because the shared dreams were the only real connection he had to her and he hadn't wanted to give them up. There had been no doubt in his mind that if she knew that he was sharing in the dreams she was having, she was stubborn enough to try to stop them from happening. She probably would have taken to sleeping out on the lawn or something ridiculous like that to try to prevent them. When that didn't work, she no doubt would have demanded he sleep in a hotel on the other side of Los Angeles to avoid it happening again.
Justin peered at his watch and saw that another fifteen minutes had passed since Gia had gone in the washroom. What the hell were the women doing? And what was this proclivity women had to spend so much damned time in the bathroom together? Did they play poker in there? Have tea parties? Book club meetings at the sinks? Napkin-folding practice with the paper hand towels? What?
Just when Justin was about to lose all patience and storm after them himself, Dante poked his arm and pointed out, "Here comes Gia."
Yes, here came Gia . . . alone, he noted grimly and stood up.
"Okay, let's go," the woman said brightly, breezing past the table, headed for the exit.
"Wait!" Justin barked, hurrying to catch her arm and stop her. "Where is Holly?"
Gia eyed him solemnly, and then said in a gentle voice, "She's gone home, Justin."
"What?" he snapped, his fingers tightening unintentionally.
Gia reached up and wrenched his hand from her arm, but her voice was still gentle when she said, "Her training is done. She has learned all she needs to know to survive as one of us and she has now gone home to her husband."
Justin stared at her with bewilderment and then shook his head faintly. "But . . . how?"
"I gave her money. She took a taxi to the bus station. Her bus leaves in five minutes. She is on the way home."
Justin's mouth snapped closed and he rushed past her, his only thought to get to that bus station and stop Holly.
"You'll never make it to the station in time," Gia said patiently, following him out of the nightclub. "I deliberately waited to tell you until it would be too late for you to stop her."
"Why?" He whirled to scowl at her furiously. "What the hell have I ever done to you that would make you do this to me?"
Gia shook her head sadly and walked forward to rub his arm. "I didn't do this to hurt you, Justin. I did this to help you. She is drenched in guilt over your shared dreams and too angry right now to be reasonable. The sooner she goes home, the sooner she will realize that there is no way she can make her marriage work now that she is immortal. And that means the sooner she will return to you. This way she left before she or you could say something that you both might later regret."
Justin turned his head away and then asked, "Do you really think her marriage won't work out now?"
"Of course. She can read his mind and control him. A relationship that is so unbalanced cannot work."
"What if he is a possible life mate to her too?" he asked, naming his biggest fear.
"I don't think so," Gia said with slow certainty.
Justin immediately turned back to look at her. "Why?"
"Because in her thoughts her upset is that she cheated, even that she cheated on her husband, but never once did she think she had cheated on James."
"But James is her husband," Justin pointed out with confusion.
"Yes, but she thinks of him as her husband, not as James, the man she loves," she tried to explain, and then waved that away and said, "Never mind, only a girl would understand. The point is I do not think it will take long for her to realize the marriage cannot work. So the sooner she gets home the better. And you have to let her go so that she can see that and return to you free of all doubts and reservations."
Justin narrowed his eyes. "This is sounding like that stupid 'if you love her let her go' bit."
"I suppose it is," Gia said with a crooked smile. "In this instance it is true."
Sighing miserably, Justin glanced to Dante and Tomasso who had been silent throughout.
"She's a woman," Dante said with a shrug. "Women always seem to understand this nonsense better than us poor men."
"Women know women," Tomasso added.
Shaking his head, Justin turned to continue on to the car, saying, "Come on. Let's get back to Jackie and Vincent's. I could use something to eat. Maybe ice cream."
"Ice cream is good for drowning sorrows," Dante said approvingly.
"Spoken like a woman," Justin muttered as he pushed the button on the key fob to unlock the SUV. Christ, Holly was gone and he was left with two eating machines and a sprightly little Italian female who . . . who had his best interests at heart, Justin told himself wearily as he got behind the steering wheel.
Sixteen
Holly paid the taxi driver the fare for the ride home from the bus station and slid quickly out of the car, wincing as bright sunlight struck her face. It had been a long exhausting ten hours and three transfers since she'd got on the bus in Los Angeles and she hadn't slept a wink the whole way. Instead, she'd spent the entire journey mentally beating herself for everything from dream cheating on her husband to running with scissors.
Two weeks ago her life had been settled. She was married to a man she'd grown up with, had always loved, and could never imagine cheating on. She was working on the last year of her degree with the promise of a good career before her . . . and she was mortal. Now she had a marriage everyone seemed to think would quickly crumble to pieces, she had cheated on her husband, in her mind if not physically, and she was immortal.
She did still have her career though, Holly thought wryly. That, at least, hadn't been affected by the events of that night at the cemetery. She still had her marriage too, though, and it was up to her to keep it. Holly was determined that she would.