Chapter 5 – Irishen
Irishen’s insides, maybe his heart, clenched when Wayla let go of his fingers. For a single second, she had done something. She had meant those words and had let him see it. Feel it. Losing that little window into her as she now stepped back made him feel things.
What those things were, he wasn’t quite sure he was ready to face just yet.
Wayla looked sad. That was the only word he could come up with to describe what was lingering in her eyes. The rest of her looked worn down, nothing like the sparkly woman he had become used to. There were lines around her eyes that hadn’t been there before and a paleness to her skin.
“Okay, I think we better move this party to somewhere else,” Salis said, breaking Risha’s observations. Irishen glanced around and noticed all the attention she was garnering. No one was bold enough to approach her—yet, but they would.
“He’s right. Let’s get you home,” he said. Wayla hesitated, and her shoulders tensed up again. “What’s the matter?” he prodded.
“I don’t know if they want me to…” She trailed off. Irishen frowned, looking around. Salis seemed to pick up on her meaning and shook his head.
“You are worrying over nothing, Way. Di, Ginny, and Chrissy wouldn’t throw you out—”
“Of course they wouldn’t,” Irishen cut in. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“They weren’t here,” Wayla mumbled.
“Because I had to talk them out of it,” Salis said. Wayla’s head snapped around to him. He continued, looking a bit wary. “We had no idea how this would turn out, Way. I didn’t want…”
“No, I get it.” Wayla sighed. “But they wanted to come?”
“I’m sure they did,” Irishen said. If he knew anything about those three after his time with Diana, it was that they didn’t abandon their friends.
Still, Wayla looked uncertain, and Irishen could understand that too.
She had been keeping a pretty huge secret from them.
Something similar had once torn his own friendships apart.
“We’ll take you home and you can talk it over. If they want you out, you can stay at my place. Okay?”
Wayla exhaled hard and nodded. Salis, once again, wrapped his arm around her and guided them down the street. It was only once the bus stop came into view that Irishen snorted.
“I do have a car, you know.”
“I’m sure you do,” Salis said evenly.
“We could take it. Would be faster.”
“Does it fit three?” Salis shot back.
Instead of answering him, Irishen grabbed Wayla’s arm and pulled her to face him. “Stop that,” he snarled as she tried to pull back her aura. He knew how it felt to push all that power away and it drove him crazy knowing that was what she was doing.
“I can’t—”
“Yes, you can.” He gave her a small shake. “Stop denying who you are.”
For a second, Wayla’s eyes flashed and Irishen felt her aura flare out. It hit him hard and then in the next blink, it was all gone. Neatly folded away, like it had never been there in the first place. She shuddered once and took a deep breath.
“There,” she said and pulled free of him. “Now, I’d like to get this over with.”
Irishen wanted to grab her again and demand that she let go, but Wayla’s expression was shuttered. Nothing from the previous glimpse into her mind was left to be seen. He frowned, trying to figure out what her problem was.
Why was she so adamant about hiding her power even now? It wasn’t simply that she was considerate and thinking about others. Her aura let him and Salis near without issues, so this was something else that she was hiding.
“Do you want to take the bus or his car, cupcake?” Salis broke the tense silence. Irishen had heard enough of their ridiculous nicknames that he didn’t bat an eye anymore. Wayla shrugged, frowned, and bit her lower lip.
“Car. And I still need to eat. I can’t face this on an empty stomach.”
Irishen got himself under control. “A trip to a drive-through and then we are taking you home. How does that sound?”
Wave nodded and Salis narrowed his eyes but then seemed to come to a decision and nodded, too. “We need to get her off the streets before the vultures land.” He turned to Wayla and continued, “He’s right, sugar. You shouldn’t push your power down like that. It’s not good for you in the long run.”
Wave’s expression turned stony when she faced Salis. “Let it go, Salis.”
“But—”
“Officially, Salis.”
“Oh shit,” the angel blurted before pulling himself together. Irishen very much wanted to know what that was about, but he got the distinct feeling that neither of them would say anything more. Salis even mimicked zipping his lips and throwing away the key.
“What would you like to eat?” He decided to change the subject for now. Wayla groaned and looked pleadingly at him.
“Cheeseburgers?” The pure desperation and yearning in her tone made Irishen smile.
“I think we can arrange something,” he replied. “Follow me.”