Air: Elementalist Book 1 by Rebecca Wolf (christmas read aloud .TXT) 📗

for all the innuendo and sexual teasing, he always stopped when I said no more. He talked about an eclectic range of topics, and sometimes, especially after a long shift, I had a hard time keeping up with him. He would spend one visit talking about space and the likelihood of alien life forms, and the next he would discuss music and artwork and their political ramifications, the next time he might talk about agriculture and the accuracy of his farmer’s almanac. He was a cerebral beast, and it was magnetic. I began feeling like he was an actual person instead of just some hot guy who wanted to get in my pants. Worse than that, I started to actually like him.

The soup kitchen wars continued, much to everyone’s glee. The patrons had caught on to what was going on, and often tried to pull one over on both of us, pitting us against each other. Even Rusty began treating Aiden with a little less suspicion. Often, he just pointed to his crotch in warning before going to find himself a seat. I was hoping he was pointing at his crotch to remind Aiden of the cow prod, but I didn’t ask to confirm.

After a while, I started to trust him.  It was scary. I had never really trusted anyone before besides for Penny and Brian. Penny was thrilled for me, asking me when I was going to get it on with “that tall glass of handsome,” settle down on Aiden’s farm and raise his babies. But getting serious with Aiden while hiding a core element of who I was felt wrong and deceitful. There were reasons why elementalists almost never married a norm. And look at what happened to Penny and Ben. What a disaster.

I realized if I wanted our relationship to work, I was going to have to tell him. And if I was going to tell him, I would have to share the whole of it with him. That night, instead of saying goodbye at the door, I invited him inside. Ignoring his raised eyebrows, I pulled out a bottle of whiskey and offered him a seat at my kitchen table.

“didn’t we just leave a bar?”

“Yes, but the conversation we’re about to have requires alcohol.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you drink, come to think of it.”

“I don’t usually,” I said before pouring us both a shot, "this occasion requires it.”

“I need to tell you something. It involves a lot of different things that I don’t like people knowing about me, so I need you to swear to me you’ll keep this story between us. “

He nodded seriously, “I swear it.”

I took the shot, and then poured myself another, which I downed as well. I grimaced as it burned down my throat. “So, the story of my father and how I came to be.”

“Ah” was all Aiden said. He waited patiently for me to continue.

“The man who fathered me is a well-known fire elementalist in society.” I paused and looked at Aiden to gauge his reaction, but his face remained expressionless as he waited. “He and his family are very influential and apparently well liked. One of the places his family donated funds was to my mother’s group home. He came for a photo shoot with the paper, because as you might be aware, publicity is everything to these folks. Anyhow, while he was there my mother caught his eye. Despite her disability he was extremely attracted to her, and later on in the day after the ceremony had dispersed and all the residents had gone to their rooms, he followed her and made advances. She declined, knowing the perils of getting involved with an elementalist, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer so...” I paused and swallowed hard," Yeah. Anyhow,” I continued, trying to power through the story, “I think he thought he could get away with it because he was an elementalist. He wasn’t worried about fathering a child on her, he could only do that with another elementalist. Any accusations she made he could easily pay to sweep under the rug. What he didn’t realize, and couldn’t have known, was that my mother was actually an elementalist too. A disowned null because of her disability, but her physiology was the same. She became pregnant, and voila, here I am.”

  I took another shot for liquid courage before peeking up at Aiden from beneath my lashes, unsure of how he would take everything. He gazed at me steadily, and there was no judgement in his eyes, only empathy and maybe a little pity. I didn’t want his pity, but I expected it, and I decided I could live with it. After a moment of silence, I still felt the need to ask, “now that you know, do you wish you hadn’t asked me out?”

“On the contrary,’ he said finally, “you are the most intriguing person I have ever had the pleasure of dating. Your self-worth is not defined by where you come from. It is defined by where you choose to go‘’ there was a pause in the conversation as I soaked that in, or maybe it just took me longer to process because I had just taken two or three or maybe four shots.

“So this means you’re an elementalist too, right?” he stated.

“Yes, I’m an air elemental... I know it would throw most people off, finding out they were dating an elementalist. It would also mean I can’t have children with you,” I said blushing slightly at bringing the concept up. We had never really spoken about how serious our relationship was getting. Just in case he was hoping for more, I wanted him to realize the full ramifications of what dating me meant. I didn’t want him to have any regrets.

“I’m not concerned about that.” Aiden said reassuringly.

“About which part” I asked, needing the clarification.

“About any of it. If it comes to it, we can always adopt or try a surrogacy, right?”

“Right,” I