Isa's Secret (The Rise of Gods Book One) Read online

  SILENCE… that’s what happened. He read the message, but no response. Maybe I pissed him off? With a deep scowl and grumbling under my breath about my awkwardness, I averted my focus back to the show.

  Now that I had accepted the fact I couldn’t even pretend to be normal in a text, I became immersed in all things Victorian Era romance, so much so that I had shrieked hearing my messages alert sound. With a racing heart, I held my breath for the inevitable... I’d scared him off with my awkwardness. I was ready… I could read this rejection...here we go…

  Rune: Sex doesn’t scare me, Isa. Yes, I’m a guy, but romance doesn’t bother me at all. As for football or something… unless it involves playing naked with a woman, I think I’ll pass.

  My heart had leaped into my throat. How the hell do you go from football or something and turn it into whatever the hell that was, sexual maybe? Fucking enticing is what that was, even if it made no sense to me. Why would he want to play naked football with a woman? And why was he still talking to me? Knowing I couldn’t ask the last thought…

  Me: That makes no sense, Rune. Why would you want to play naked football?

  Rune: Great foreplay! When you’re naked and tackle your opponent/partner and grind on the woman, making my heart race, it just makes the sex that much better.

  Okay. Well, that was awkward. An interesting glimpse into his life, I guess. Now I wasn’t even paying attention to the damn show, and I was still confused.

  Me: I never played football.

  I looked away from the phone and put it to the side. How the hell was I going to look at Rune tomorrow if I could even muster the courage to ask for his help and not think about him grinding all over me, naked?

  The image in my head kept playing on a loop in my mind and had my heart fluttering and lady bits tingly. I wondered what he looked like without those damn clothes in the way. Would he be large and in proportion to everything else? A blush crept to my cheeks as I imagined just how beautifully sculpted he must be. Another message brought me from my musings about this beautiful man who wouldn’t ever want me.

  Rune: You should play it sometime.

  Not an invitation to play with him, I noted.

  I frowned, turning back to the TV. I couldn’t even watch the show anymore. With a defeated sigh, I turned off the TV and dropped the remote to my side and leaned my head back against the couch and closed my eyes. There’s no reason to be upset. I knew he wasn’t into me, but I had hoped, I guess. I still needed to ask someone to take me to my car tomorrow morning.

  I could always text my wing woman. I didn’t have any family close enough to make it easy on them, and I hated bothering them at all, anyway. Alycia was the only one I could depend on. I wouldn’t ask Rune for something like that, especially not after imagining him naked and grinding. He may have wanted to help, that much was clear, but there had to be ulterior motives. Motives I couldn’t even fathom since I couldn’t even talk around the guy without sounding like an idiot and stuttering on my words.

  With that, I opened my eyes and grabbed my phone and pulled up the text thread with Alycia, typed out a quick message explaining what happened, excluding details of Rune and that I needed help to get to my car tomorrow.

  After I hit send, I looked at the time. Not even time for bed yet. Considering it was only nine, and I was a night owl, I was usually up until midnight. My phone vibrated with my message alert, causing my heart to race, hoping it was Rune again, but it wasn’t. Alycia said she would pick me up when I was ready once I got things set with the locksmith.

  So, what the hell should I do now to kill time? I couldn’t just text Rune and talk like we were old friends, and I wasn’t sure after Alycia’s message that she wanted to talk. I was sure she had something else to do, so I wouldn’t bug her.

  My stomach growled. Time to eat then. I stood up, went to the kitchen, looked around for things to make, and then set out to cook. I needed to go grocery shopping, but if the locksmith cost too much, I’d have to push that aside for another time.

  I had a great job to afford to live on my own, but the world was cruel, and shit was expensive. I bought things I shouldn’t buy but whatever. I enjoyed reading, and I especially enjoyed drawing and painting. I wasn’t entirely artistic, but I had some weird dreams when I could sleep.

  I saw all these unfamiliar faces and different surroundings that I swore I’d never seen before. They always had said that you only dreamt things you’ve seen, and you couldn’t just make any person or place up. But I could swear that I’d never seen these people, and I’d never seen these places before. Some of it was just wild.

  Some of these faces I’d gotten glimpses of in my dreams were fuzzy or at different angles. In those dreams, I always saw a large brown horse. One minute I was staring at it, and the next, I was on top of it, riding into something, something momentous and exhilarating. The feel of the wind in my hair and the brush of the saddle beneath me was what I always remembered when I woke up. I’d never ridden a horse in my life, but I’d always wanted to.

  After I finished cooking and sat down with my food, I ate. No phone calls and no text messages came in. I honestly had a boring life. All I did was work. Nothing exciting ever happened, and sometimes I’d honestly wished things would change and that I had more meaning in life. I’d never been one to go out clubbing and drinking. I was selectively social, probably because I was awkward and I hated bothering people, but also because I didn’t like drama. And friends usually brought drama. Somehow Alycia didn’t do that, she’s blunt, and that made me feel better. I knew where I stood with her.

  So what to do now to kill time? I could always draw.

  I had another dream last night that stuck with me all day and brought lingering feelings with it—the feelings of happiness and longing. The same man in my dream appeared. I had no clear view of that man, but had gotten the same emotions every time I dreamt of him and knew it was him. It brought out the loneliness inside me to think of a man who could make me feel this way.

  I was getting older and lonelier each year that passed, and each time I dreamt of this man, I wanted to know him. I wished he were real. I truly wished that the researchers who said that the people you dreamt of you’d already met were right and that this man was in my life.

  What would I do if I were ever to meet him? Would I recognize him? I could barely remember the sound of his voice in my dreams. Every time I woke up, the memory of his voice was gone. If I ever recognized his voice and set out to listen to any man, would it work to find him?

  I couldn’t remember much of his features, for God’s sake! He had dark hair... I think. Most men had dark hair. He had a beard. Not sure. I tried to force the image into my head, and when it hadn’t come, I balled my fists and hit them against the table. The clang of my silverware broke my thoughts and frustrations. I stood up and cleaned up my mess and the kitchen with a huff.

  I needed to open up to Alycia about this. I’d sometimes clued her in that I’d been getting weird dreams, but couldn’t even begin to tell her what they were because I couldn’t fucking remember much.

  I went to my room, where my drawing desk was next to the window with a comfy old wooden chair. The set was probably not originally a set, but I liked the way they went together, and I felt comfortable in my little drawing nook, and that was what I needed most right now. I looked out the window into the trees in the courtyard while I gnawed on my lower lip, while I tried to decide where to start.

  After I took a few deep cleansing breaths, I relaxed, then picked up my pencil and began on what appeared to be scenery. I always ended up drawing scenes with the massive horse from my dreams. I had been all over this world with this beautiful, majestic beast. I felt confident we’ve been in other worlds also, but that was just a feeling. I knew this creature, and this creature knew me, but we had never met.

  Chapter 2

  “So, you lost your keys, and some random nice guy decided to give you a ride home?” Alycia chided, then shook her head as s
he stared out the window as we waited for the locksmith to show up. It should be any minute now. She looked back at me. “Why did you even accept a ride from a stranger? He could have murdered your ass!”

  A blush crept up my cheeks as I realized that. Well, shit, he could have been a murderer! His attractiveness had distracted me that I hadn’t even thought once that he could have killed me!

  “Stupid, stupid,” I muttered to myself.

  “Hey, I’m not stupid,” she warned.

  I glared at her and shook my head. “No, I’m the stupid one.”

  She clicked her tongue then shook her head. “I’m telling you now, you’re not stupid, but don’t do that shit again! If a nice guy tells you he will give you a ride home, say no. I don’t want to wake up and see your face on the news saying you were murdered because you accepted a ride home. Stranger danger, babe, and all that shit.”

  “Listen, I wasn’t thinking at the time. He was kind of… fucking hot, and my mind was fuzzy about, well everything logical.” I excused all too quickly, which of course, got her attention. I refused to tell her that he seemed familiar to me, not as if I’d met him before but more that he felt familiar. Like a comforting blanket; that alone was enough to ignore everything else and exactly why I couldn’t admit this to anyone.

  She half-turned in her seat and raised her eyebrows. “He was hot, huh? What kinda hot are we talking about? Gonna need a description doll face!”

  Why hadn’t she hit me upside the head like she usually did? She’s like a protective mother hen over me, but still always the friend who would help bury the body if need be, then remind you to plant endangered species plants on top so it couldn’t be dug up.

  “Well, he had an accent. I don’t know what kind though, it was strange to not place it.”

  She hummed in thought, “Well, I’m not any better placing accents.”

  “He has chocolate brown hair with these stunning golden locks here and there, almost like highlights, but strangely natural at the same time. He had the front half kept back in a bun that normally is cringey but honestly is perfect on him. Blue eyes, that were a stunning ocean blue, not the tropical oceans, though more like cold northern sea color dark blue with streaks of ice laced in and a five o’clock shadow on the strongest jawline I have ever fucking seen. He was tall, like inhuman tall, almost Godly in stature and muscles for days, muscles I didn’t know existed. I bet if you saw him, you’d want to climb that mountain too.” I snickered at the mention of his height; she had a thing for tall men.

  A wicked smile pulled at the corners of her lips, and her hazel eyes sparkled with interest. “You certainly were checking him out then to remember that much about him. Did he tell you his name? I bet his name was like Brad or Chuck or something equally nondescript.”

  I shook my head with a chuckle, “It was Rune.”

  She turned forward, leaning her head against her seat. “Rune, huh? I haven’t heard that name before. Did you get his number?”

  “Um, well, yes.” I looked away and out the window shyly. “But the guy is pretty much onto me about not being a talker. I get so tongue-tied around attractive men that it’s not fair.”

  She laughed and patted my shoulder. “I can help coach you, you know. What all have you been talking about?”

  After I took a deep breath in, I pulled my phone out. Might as well show Alycia our conversations from yesterday. I hadn’t heard from him since he told me to play football. “Don’t laugh at me, okay?” I warned, then pulled up the thread, then handed the phone over to her.

  She scrolled all the way up, then read all the way through, silently of course, but she would shake her head and peeked at me from under her lashes, then looked back at the screen and kept reading. When she finished, she swiftly looked at me. “Isa, honey, you need to flirt with him. He’s straight up flirting with you!”

  “Wait a damn second. What makes you think he is flirting with me? I mean, maybe he is, but I don’t want to be a hole he can fuck then leave.”

  She let out a loud laugh, then shook her head. “No sane woman wants to be used, but you could always use him, you know. Or you could wrap him around your little finger and get him hooked. But you cannot leave him hanging like this.”

  “So, what do you think I should say?” I chewed on my bottom lip nervously while I glanced down at my phone.

  “You trust me, right?” she asked in a tone I only knew too well. Shit was about to get serious. When I nodded, she continued, “I’m about to text him something, and we will wait, and I will tell you what he says while we wait for the locksmith, okay?”

  She’s taking the reins for now, and I was about to let her. Alycia was the master of words. And truly, she didn’t get nervous around guys like I did. She’d always said that she had issues with people and got nervous herself, but she never showed it, which made her fierce.

  I watched as she typed out a response and then hit send. “What did you say?” I asked.

  “You sure you want to know right now?” she glanced at me with a smirk tugging at the corner of her lip.

  “Kind of,” I laughed nervously.

  She shook her head. “I said, ‘I’m willing to try naked football, with the right person that is.’”

  My mouth popped open then closed, and a blush crept up to my cheeks. “No, you didn’t fucking say that!”

  She grinned, then slowly nodded her head, “Oh, I said it alright, and I’m sure right now he’s probably thinking of what to say back.”

  My phone dinged and vibrated in her hands, and we both looked down at it. I leaned over in my seat to look at the screen, and we both read it simultaneously.

  Rune: Who is the right person? It took you a long time to decide to answer, so I’m curious how long I should wait.

  Alycia hadn’t even skipped a beat before typing out a message and then hit send. If that kept going on, then I’d have to be sure to message her in between the texts when I was home so she could read them and tell me what to say. But the problem was, if I were to see him in person, I couldn’t have Alycia speak for me.

  Me/Alycia: Well, in my opinion, you should wait as long as it takes to prove you’re the right one unless it’s too much work for you? Yeah, sleep and fixing my lost keys tends to take a moment, Sir Rune. Please forgive my tardiness.

  I couldn’t help the explosion of laughter that had burst out of me. She was so different than I was, and I loved it.

  Rune would be whiplashed for sure with how drastic the texts were from yesterday to today. Alycia joined in on the laughing. The phone dinged, and we both looked down at the message that popped up.

  Rune: I have no problem proving I’m right, and it’s no work to show you my true self, but how would one start that adventure, my lost little princess?

  We both glanced at each other, and before Alycia could type out a response, we spotted the locksmith van that had pulled up. I grabbed my phone from her, then put it in my purse as we climbed out of the car.

  “Howdy,” the locksmith greeted as he stepped out of his van and grabbed whatever he needed from the back.

  Alycia and I both waited until he was ready, and we three walked to my car. I explained what happened and what I needed. Then he worked away to get things done.

  I turned to Alycia, who was eyeing the Starbucks. The girl had an unhealthy obsession with coffee, so did I, but she was terrible at it. She honestly showed up at my place earlier this morning with coffee, and once I told her where my car was and that there was a Starbucks, she only shrugged and said, “Coffee on our way for coffee.”

  She was a beautiful woman and not that much older than me. She had longer hair than I did and always did something different for the colors. This time around, she had changed it to a darker blue that looked almost black inside, but when she was outside, it’s all different shades of blue.

  My hair needed to be redone because of its fading, but I just needed to get the colors to do it myself.

  “What do you want to say back to
Rune?” I asked, breaking Alycia’s eye fucking the Starbucks.

  She looked over at me and held out her hand for the phone, and when I placed it in her hand, she typed out a response while saying it out loud, “Lost little princess? Not letting that go, also maybe try open-ended questions, and you’ll see I’m quite talkative.”

  I shook my head and chewed on my lower lip. “Fuck, I wish I had the balls to say all this to him face to face.”

  She looked up at me with a raised eyebrow. “We seriously need to work on that.” she glanced back down at the phone. “Ah, he speaks.”

  I scrambled next to her, looked down at the phone. All the while I squinted my eyes to read better at the small text that glared in the morning light.

  Rune: We’ll get back to that soon but first, let me try this… tell me something about you that no one else knows.

  “That’s you, buttercup.” Alycia handed me the phone and patted the back of my shoulder. “I’m going inside to get a coffee. Have fun,” she called as she walked away.

  I watched as she went inside the Starbucks. She seriously had issues with coffee and needed an intervention for it.

  With a glance to the locksmith who still worked away with getting my keys made and ready, I looked back down at my phone and typed away. I honestly didn’t want to give away too much because he was a stranger, after all. But something about him called out to me. It was as if I knew him somehow, but that was just a strange thing to admit to myself.

  Me: I get strange dreams that I can never fully remember when waking up. In the dreams, I know I’ve met these people before, and it feels like home. But when I wake up, it’s gone other than the feelings.

  It’s rather stupid to have told this strange man I had only met just yesterday this. It looked a bit desperate to tell him something about me, but who cares, right? I could have quickly just blocked him and never see him again.

  Rune: So, how is it you know that you’ve met these people when you wake up not remembering their faces?

  Any other time I would have laughed with him at the stupidity of this. But he made a point. I woke up not remembering their faces, and yet there’d been that lingering feeling…