"Well there lovely lady, no worries on that front," Beau said. "I brought a whole wad of cash. Let's say I give it to you in exchange for a favor or two." He winked.

"Hey f.u.c.ker, that's my girl," Cairo announced as he scowled at Beau.

"I know," Beau replied. "You have to forgive me. Whenever I'm around an exotic beauty, I seem to lose control of myself."

I whispered to Aria. "Did he make a pa.s.s at you too?"

She nodded. "Yes. But don't worry; I'd rather get in bed with a goat."

I was relieved that she didn't fall for Beau's southern charms. I had treated her so badly, it was a wonder that she didn't run into another man's arms out of spite for me.

"Great, we have another Lincoln on our hands," Cairo sighed.

"Another Lincoln?" Aria asked.

"Another man that I have to watch out for, tempting my woman," Cairo replied.

"Excuse me?" Reiko asked, annoyed, "But I can look out for myself. You don't need to worry."

Cairo snickered. "Yeah, sure," he said sarcastically.

Reiko smacked him upside the head. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Don't start pretending that you never tongue-wrestled with Lincoln."

I didn't like where all this was going.

Abraham, I could have really used your wisdom right now. You always had a way of calming everyone down during the council meetings, when things got out of hand.

Of all the people Calisto had to take away from me, why you? I thought she loved you like a father, as I had.

"You dumb oaf, it was before we were officially together," Reiko said.

"We were still checking each other out," Cairo said. "We had already gone on two dates."

"This is stupid," Reiko shook her head. "I was seeing Lincoln at the time too. We ended up together, didn't we? I haven't looked back since."

Cairo eyed her suspiciously. "We already had s.e.x at that point. Oh G.o.d baby, please tell me you didn't sleep with Lincoln."

Reiko looked down at her plate and frowned.

"I know, Delilah," Isadora said, to no one in particular. She slammed her fist down on the table.

Did she just talk aloud to her dead wife?

"Delilah and I think we're all acting insane here," Isadora announced. "Calisto needs to die and we need to figure how to make that happen."

"Did you sleep with Lincoln?" Cairo interrogated Reiko.

"It's none of your business whether I did or not!"

"I poisoned all the food," Beau announced.

There was a moment where the only sound heard were our forks, dropping onto the plates.

"Just kidding," he teased, as he stabbed his fork into a piece of chicken on Cairo's plate, and then shoved it into his mouth. "I thought I'd lighten the atmosphere with a joke. Probably a bad one seeing as how people are dying and all."

And then, the chaos erupted again, with everyone's voice shouting over one another. I took a deep breath and rubbed my temples.

This was the new f.u.c.king Midnight Society? These were the people that were going to help me take down Calisto, a criminal mastermind? How the h.e.l.l was I going to get back my best friend with them?

Abraham, old friend, if you're watching down on me now, I need your help more than ever.

Aria rested her hand on my arm and looked at me with hopeful eyes, ones that told me everything was going to be alright.'

"You want to get out of here and go for a drive?" I asked. "I can't concentrate here. I need to clear my head and figure out how to get Lincoln back."

She nodded.

The rain had stopped and the clouds had disappeared. The night sky was filled with stars again. Two nights in a row, I was treated with this gorgeous view.

I inhaled the warm spring wind that breathed against our faces as we drove up the long winding path.

We had been driving in silence for ten minutes--Aria recognizing my need for quiet while I thought about saving Lincoln.

I turned and looked at her as the wind gently blew through her hair. She looked like a G.o.ddess against the backdrop of a perfect starry night. I smiled at her, marking the end of my period of silent concentration.

"You remember our first date when we were sitting in your car?" Aria asked.

"You mean the first date where we ended up eating at McDonalds?"

"Yeah," she said with a smile.

"I'll never forget it."

"The air that night was exactly the same as now," she said.

The look of happiness on her face suddenly changed, as her lips bent into slight frown. She turned away from me and looked out the pa.s.senger side window.

"What's wrong I asked?"

She shook her head. "Nothing."

Something was wrong. She was internalizing her thoughts.

"Tell me what's wrong," I repeated.

There was a long, agonizing moment of silence where I waited for her to speak.

"Can I trust you?" she asked.

I was puzzled.

"Of course," I replied. "I'll never betray you."

"That's not what I meant," she said. "Can I trust you won't hurt me like you did again?"

I frowned. I wanted to give her the rea.s.surance she wanted, but I remembered what needed to be done.

"I think I'm being the biggest idiot in the world for giving you another chance. But I love you, and that can't be helped."

We arrived at the highest peak of the cliff and I parked the car. I looked up into the glittering sky and couldn't help but feel that the entire universe was looking down on us at this very moment, watching the story of our lives unfold like a drama.

"Why did you treat me so badly for those two weeks? I had lost my best friend, I had my life stripped away from me, and when I needed someone the most, you abandoned me," she said. "I feel like I have a right to know."

I looked at Aria and felt my heart break a little as I saw the look of hurt seep through her beautiful visage. Light tears trickled down her face.

"There were three reasons," I replied. "I was scared, I was ashamed, and I couldn't trust myself."

"What were you scared of?"

"I watched everyone close to me die-Abraham, James, Brevin, and Donald," I replied, "And all because I wasn't smart enough to figure out that the person I was hunting all along was Calisto. She's smarter than me. It's always been the case. If she had been born a man, she'd be running the Midnight Society."

"You underestimate your own intelligence," Aria replied.

I shook my head, recalling all the times at the Academy that Calisto had crushed my test scores without even cracking open a book.

"I was the Midnight Society's leader, and at the end of the day, I couldn't protect any of my people. I was played for a fool, and they all died," I said.

"That's not true," Aria said. "You saved me."

I shook my head. "I almost didn't," I replied. "Right now, I don't trust myself. I know I said I'd always protect you, but I don't think I can make that promise anymore. Calisto knows me better than anyone else. If she comes after you, I'm afraid I won't have the brains or the brawn to save you. That's why I sent you away with Lincoln. I thought he could protect you better than I ever could."

Aria shook her head. "You idiot," she replied, "You big stupid idiot."

"It was also hard for me to face you, after Justin died," I continued. "I was ashamed to look at you, knowing that I was the direct cause of your best friend's death."

Aria shook her head. "That wasn't your fault," she said, "Nor mine, I came to realize. The fault in that was Calisto's, and Calisto's alone."

"You blamed yourself at the time, and I wanted to tell you that it wasn't your fault. But every time I came close, I felt so much shame, and I was afraid that you'd hate me."

"I hated that you ignored me," Aria replied. "You have no idea how much it hurt."

"I know, and once again, I'm sorry," I said. I took a deep breath, and then continued. "Finally, I don't know the extent of Calisto's brainwashing. I don't know if I can trust myself. I feel like I'm in control now, but I don't know what will happen when I wake up tomorrow. I figured pushing everyone away was the best way to protect everyone from me."

"You never thought that by keeping us close to you, we could protect you from yourself?" Aria asked. "We could help fix you, and whatever potential s.h.i.t was inside your head?"

"I was never good at asking for help."

Aria sighed. "Typical male," she said. There was a brief pause. "We moved really fast, didn't we?"

I nodded. "Our romance-our chemistry-was instant. But h.e.l.l, I figure when two people meant for each other found one another, there's no such thing as a minimum time to fall in love."

"There is some basis behind the words 'love at first sight,'" Aria agreed.

"When I found out I was programmed to fall in love with you, it tore my world apart. I thought that Calisto had done such a good job manipulating me that my feelings for you felt real, as opposed to were real. I couldn't believe that I could have been played so easily. A small part of me didn't want to give Calisto the satisfaction that she succeeded in her plan-that she had succeeded in making me fall in love with you. There was a small part of me that wanted to give you up just to prove to Calisto that I was the one in control and that she didn't succeed in playing me for a fool. It took me a while to realize this, but she didn't succeed after all. She failed to program me to fall in love with you."

"What are you saying?" Aria looked at me as if I had poked her in the heart with my middle finger. I was quick to take her hands in mine.

"I fell in love with you on my own," I replied.

And then our lips found one another, the pull from an invisible gravitational force telling us that at this very moment, our mouths needed to kiss.

I missed the taste of her lips and her tongue. I wanted it to be a gentle, loving kiss but once my mouth found hers, I lost all control. I wanted to devour her and as I crushed my lips to hers, our tongues tangling together, the only thought I was capable of was I needed to be inside her.

Her moans reverberated through her entire body and I felt myself go hard, my erection straining against the front of my jeans. We continued to kiss hungrily, fueling our desires to be with one another.

I wanted her so badly. My fingers found their way underneath her blouse and in one swift motion I undid the back of her bra with my thumb and forefinger.

She pushed me back.

"Shadow," she whispered, shaking her head.

Though she was hesitant, her eyes told me differently.

I kissed her again.

My hands felt the hard buds of her nipples through her blouse, my thumb circling around them.

She moaned, but after a few seconds, she pulled back once more.

Aria was resisting me, but her shallow breaths and her eager eyes said it all. She wanted to be ravaged. She just needed to be guided first.

I would take control.

"I want to f.u.c.k you, underneath the stars," I stated with complete authority just before I kissed her again. She was elated to take my mouth once more.

Through the thin fabric of her pants, my hands found the heat in between her legs. I pressed down with two firm fingers. Her anxious breaths, parted lips, and the look of need in her eyes told me what she wanted.

And I wanted it too.

"Strip for me," I said.

This time, she didn't resist.

I helped Aria by tearing off the b.u.t.tons of her blouse while she removed her jeans. Slowly she unveiled her beautiful b.r.e.a.s.t.s.