Pushing Boundaries Ch. 02

She saw him shrug as though he was dismissing a weird hunch then continued walking into the store. Marine had no idea why he was drinking caffeine at such a late hour –don't people drink it in the morning to start their day? So? She didn't care. He was cute to ogle at and she still had an hour before she had to rush home.

Resting her elbows on the branch, she cupped her head and sighed as she watched him take his first sip of coffee; the slight flutter of his lashes as the caffeine buzz kicked in. How sexy was that?

Marine was sighing with contentment when she sensed something moving on the ground level and instincts made her jump in fright. Something... no, someone was looking at her for she could make out a pair of eyes looking straight in her direction. Swallowing her saliva, she inched backwards to the tree trunk and prepared to run. Those were not human eyes.

Marine wanted to scream but somehow her voice was stuck in her throat, almost as if the perpetrator had control over her vocal chords. Marine did the next best thing –she gave a piercing mental scream before falling off the branch and collapsing into a state of unconsciousness at the base of the tree.

***

Riley was sure he had seen something... or was it someone staring at him from across the street but it was too dark to be sure. Plus, he hadn't had his coffee yet so he might not be as alert.

However, ten minutes after he sat down with a hot cup of latte, he heard the most blood curling scream ever –except that it was in his head. He was about to respond to it when it suddenly stopped and he swore that something fell from a tree across the street. It sounded like it was something really big for he could hear an audible crash.

Curiosity made him put his latte aside and he got up to investigate. It might be a trap but Riley was the master of traps himself. As his eyes adjusted to the increasing darkness, he spotted the silhouette of a female lying on the ground and frowned.

Moving closer, he dared himself a quick whiff and stiffened. He recognized this perfume.

"Marine?" he shook her shoulder gently. "Hey, Marine?"

When she still didn't come to a minute later, he took out his phone and dialed for Alex.

"Alex, I found your sister unconscious under a tree... I know it sounds suspicious but I'm just giving you a heads up before I call for the ambulance... what? You don't want me to call...okay fine. I'm at the Starbucks along Prospect Avenue. Yes... I'll stay with her."

After putting the phone down, Riley shook his head. "What a nutbag." His fingers eased along Marine's neck to check for her pulse and found it to be strong. He was surprised that she managed to survive such a fall –if that was her on the tree in the first place. What in the world was she doing here in the dark? Surely she was not... watching him?

Riley sat on the grass and heaved her slightly so that her head rested on his lap.

"Apparently you have a knack for getting in trouble don't you?" he asked in amusement. "Were you watching me?" Laughing to himself, he slapped her arm gently, "Stalker."

She was still unconscious so he dared himself to stroke her cheek slightly.

"A truly fine specimen," he said to himself. "You're probably named in association with the sea... but I'd like to think of you as a precious stone –aquamarine, yeah that's more like it."

She began to stir in his arms and groaned a minute later. "Oww..." she complained, rubbing the back of her head before opening her eyes to stare at the brightest pair of blue eyes that she had ever seen.

"Oh! Oh my god!" she gasped, trying to get away from him but Riley only laughed and held her down.

"Stay still. You just fell off a tree for god sake," he reminded her.

Marine closed her eyes shut, thankful that it was dark enough to hide her blush of embarrassment.

"Yeah, that's what you get for peeping," he said, knowing that she was going to open her eyes wide to stare at him.

"I wasn't peeping!"

"Staring then."

"No."

"Sure you are. Otherwise you wouldn't be here opposite the Starbucks I frequent."

"The barista was hot."

"I didn't know you were into girls," he grinned and earned a shove from her. She was really strong for a woman for he found himself jerking back slightly. "Anyway, we'd better alibi our stories right. Alex is coming in a few minutes and I don't think he'd appreciate knowing you came here to steal glances at me."

If it was brighter, Marine knew that Riley would see her face turning pale. "No... please don't tell him. He'll send me to a convent for sure."

Riley let out a long loud laugh. "Aren't you too old for that? So what's your excuse?"

"Umm... I came here for uh... a school thing and uh happened to see you but was walking in the dark and crashed into a tree?" she said innocently.

Riley rolled his eyes. "Geez. That is such a bad lie Marine. You live with a lawyer, couldn't you learn to lie better?"

"Fine," she huffed. "Why don't you come up with a better lie then Mr. 'I'm a lawyer hotshot'?"

He grinned, flashing his white teeth at her. "Okay, it's like this. I picked you up from school after work because we promised to get coffee here. But then I decided I couldn't resist you any longer so I lured you into this dark secluded spot to make out. However, something fell from the tree," he said looking up. "A fallen branch or something and hit you on the head so you fainted."

"Oh please... like Alex is going to buy that."

"Yeah he will."

"Why?"

"Trust me, I lie through my teeth."

She rolled her eyes. "What an oxymoron."

"Gem, are you trying to seduce me with big words? It's not gonna work."

"I am not trying to anything with you. Now let me go," she hissed, feeling a warm flush creeping up her neck. The moment he let her go, she tried to get up and felt the world spin.

"Whoa..." she groaned, pressing a palm against her head. She felt him move to steady her and then a while later felt him try to brush some dirt off her jeans.

"Take your hands off her or I'll cut your damn hands Riley."

"Oh great, your personal cop's here," said Riley, winking at Marine. "She's not complaining Alex..."

"Marine! Why aren't you complaining?" asked Alex, striding towards her with a fierce look on his face. "You are in such trouble young lady," he snarled, gripping a hand around her wrist and literally dragging her away to his car, leaving Riley behind.

Riley didn't look particularly worried or disturbed by the drama unfurling in front of him. He simply sent her a sweet smile and started walking towards the Starbucks to where his coffee was left cold. Marine returned an apologetic smile before ducking into Alex's car.

"Alex..."

"Seriously... why are you playing with fire here Marine? That guy is untrustworthy!"

"Hell, all lawyers are untrustworthy... including you."

"What? I'm not the one making out with some random stranger in a secluded section of the city!"

Marine kept quiet. Damn, Riley didn't even have to lie and Alex had already guessed what happened... except that was not what had happened.

"I'm old enough to make out with whoever I want Alex," she said in a resigned tone. "I know you love me... but you're stifling me too."

"Marine sweetheart, I just don't want you getting hurt..."

"Then what about yourself huh? You got hurt when Ke..."

"I don't want to talk about that!" he snapped, cutting her off mid sentence. "This is not about her. This is about you."

"No, this is about her too... ever since that day five years ago, you've been doing nothing but choking me, trying to protect me from the same kind of hurt that you experienced with her."

"We were just kids Marine. Come on."

"You were my age," she reminded him.

"Yeah, the age of stupidity," he muttered. "Just stay away from Riley... he seems odd for a human."

Marine frowned. "Why?"

"He doesn't have a very strong scent... I can only smell his cologne."

"And a guy who observes good hygiene is bad because..."

"I'm not saying that! I'm just saying that it's strange."

Marine shook her head and leaned back in her seat. "You have too many issues on your mind. Seriously."

"Brat."

***

In a secluded corner of the street, a quiet conversation was talking place between two men.

"Have you locked on your target?"

"Yes."

"How did the recon go?"

"I'm surprised at how efficient he was. Tracked her really well."

"Yes, he is the best tracker we've got. She moves faster than three hundred thousand metres per second."

"Are you sure? Is that her ability?"

"Possibly but running fast isn't something novel."

"But?"

"Running at that speed means she's moving faster than the speed of light which makes her literally invisible."

"Surely that speed would leave a hurricane behind? Are you sure you measured that right?"

"Do I look like I'm ever wrong? That's the other thing. We do not know exactly how she does it but she doesn't move a particle out of place each time she moves at that speed... which is why I said invisible –you don't even know she's there because not a freaking suspended speck of dust vibrates as she passes by."

"Amazing."

"Yes. I'm still leaving the tracker to keep an eye out on her so you do your job."

"Yes Sir."

"Good. Dismissed."

***

PS: For those of you who've read ITVL, I will be posting an epilogue on Lit after my exams so look out for it. =)