Sweet Reckoning

CHAPTER THREE CRAZY DAY

After I calmed myself and worked up enough nerve to return to my trashed room, I dialed Kaidan on video chat and told him everything. He might not have shown any emotional colors, but the murderous look on his face said it all. He rubbed his palms roughly over his eyes, then dug his fingers into his hair.

“They’re meeting in Vegas tonight. He must’ve sent someone before they even started. I want you out of there.”

“I know,” I said. “We’re going to a hotel. Not that we can hide for long, but at least we can make them work for it if they’re after me. I want to tell my dad, but I’m afraid to text him while he’s in the meeting.”

“Wait a bit and see if he contacts you.”

I nodded and chewed my lip.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“Yes, but he scared the crap out of me,” I admitted. “Then I just felt determined, and it sort of overrode my fear, so that was good.”

“Good. I’m glad you didn’t freeze up. And Patti is a rock star under pressure, yeah?” His words were light, but serious anger still clung to his features.

“Yes. She is.”

“What did Jay want?”

I told him the whole story about Jay and Veronica, but he didn’t seem surprised. Neph were used to seeing relationships crumble. In fact, they were the cause of many breakups.

“They’ll be all right, luv,” he said.

“Yeah,” I whispered.

My plan had been to stay up that night chatting with Kaidan—to make use of every second we had—but I felt skittish after the attack, like staying stationary was too dangerous.

“You should go,” Kaidan said, reading my mind.

I stared at him on the screen, his handsome face with slight worry lines between his eyes.

“I love you,” I said.

His head tilted and the worry line smoothed. “I love you, too.”

Those words, in that voice, from that mouth, did so many things to me.

I kissed my fingers and touched his cheek on the screen. He did the same, and with reluctance, we disconnected.

It didn’t take long for Patti and me to grab our emergency bags with all the essentials and get out of town. We stopped at a hotel one hour away.

We entertained ourselves playing Skip-Bo and Yahtzee. We were just starting to get sleepy when my phone rang. My heart banged against my ribs when I saw Dad’s number.

“Hello?”

“Where are you?” His voice was low and quiet.

“Hotel in Georgia.”

“Alone?”

“With P.”

“Separate. From here on out, you need to be together as seldom as possible.”

“Okay.” I looked at Patti, who sat across from me on the bed, watching me and taking shallow breaths as she waited for news. “Something happened tonight.”

“Go on.”

I told him about the attacker and his thwarted attempt to steal my underwear. Dad’s stewing silence was like a ticking bomb.

“Stay away from the apartment.” His raspy, violence-filled voice gave me the chills.

“Is anyone working the Atlanta area tonight?” I asked, referring to demons.

“No. Everyone’ll be heading out in the morning, but keep your eyes open. I’ll be in touch soon.”

I hung up and looked at Patti. “He wants us to separate tonight. I’ll come get you in the morning.”

Her chin quivered for one second before she cleared her throat and nodded. “Please be careful, Anna. I want you to take the gun.”

She reached for her bag, but I stopped her. “No. You keep it. I’ve been training with the knives and always have them on me.”

Patti hugged me hard, and I set off with a lump in my throat.

I drove without purpose or direction. When my phone rang I was happy to see Marna’s number.

“We’re in Atlanta. Where are you?” she asked.

I made a split-second decision and said, “I’ll come to you.” Normally I stayed in the outskirts of Atlanta and avoided the inner city because of Pharzuph and heavy whisperer counts, but the demons were in Vegas tonight, so the coast should be clear. We agreed on a hotel, and when I met the twins in the lobby an hour later I squeezed Marna around her thin shoulders. I planned to give Ginger a quick hug, if she’d let me, but to my surprise she held on when I tried to let go.

“Is Blake dead?” she asked in a dry voice.

“What? No!” I pulled back, and she closed her eyes, puffing up her chest. “I’m so sorry, Ginger. I didn’t mean to scare you.” I lowered my voice. “It was Flynn.”

The sisters looked simultaneously dejected and relieved by the news of whom we’d lost. Marna smoothed her flight attendant uniform down and let out a giant breath.

“Come on,” I said. “I’m getting a room, and I’ll tell you everything.”

The girls and I got comfortable in the hotel room, and I told them the entire story of L.A.—everything from me staying at Kaidan’s place, to Kai and Kope going to Syria to save Zania, to the island—and then the attack in my apartment today. I left out the fact that Blake had a girlfriend who he’d soon be forced to marry per his father’s orders, because I didn’t think Ginger could take it.

They were speechless for a long while.

“It’s starting,” Marna finally said.

“Yep,” I whispered.

“Bring it, arseholes,” Ginger said.

In a rare moment of camaraderie I stuck out my fist and Ginger bumped it, causing Marna to say, “Aww!” Ginger rolled her eyes.

My phone rang, once again sending my heart into my throat. Would it always be like this now? Constant trepidation?

I let out a breath when I saw the screen. “It’s just Jay.”

Marna’s beautiful gray eyes got big when I answered. It was loud in the background.

“What are you up to tonight?” he asked.

“Nothing much.” I winked at Marna. “What’s up?”

“I dunno. I kinda don’t want to go home after work and be alone. I thought maybe if you were at a party or something, I’d hit it up and hang with you.”

I couldn’t remember the last time Jay wanted to hang with me. I mean, naturally a guy should want to hang with his girlfriend, and I always understood that, but it felt kind of nice. I’d missed him.

“Where are you?” I asked.

“I’m deejaying in Atlanta, but I’m done in half an hour.”

I grinned. Marna grinned. Ginger rolled her eyes again.

“What if some friends and I come to you instead?”

“For real? That’s cool. This club is eighteen and up.”

He gave us the name of the place, which was only fifteen minutes from the hotel.

I felt bad on the walk over. Jay and Veronica hadn’t been broken up a whole day, and I was bringing his dream girl straight to him. Veronica would be offended and hurt, even though the breakup had been mutual. I had no idea if Jay would still be appealing to Marna now that he was single. Maybe I was worrying about nothing.

Jay looked super cute from across the club in his backward hat and freshly shaven face. The DJ booth was raised up at the edge of the dance floor, and Jay held headphones to one ear with his shoulder while he changed CDs and adjusted dials. From the corner of my eye I saw Marna staring. Hard.

A group of guys in tight shirts flanked us when we walked in.

“Piss off,” Ginger said.

Apparently American guys were just as magnetized by an English accent as we American girls were, because they went a little goofy.

“You’re British?” one of the guys asked, starry-eyed.

Judging by the look of annoyance on Ginger’s face, she didn’t think it was cute. She grabbed Marna’s hand, who in turn grabbed mine, and we moved past them. I shot an apologetic look over my shoulder, because, well, I understood.

As Ginger wove us through the crowd and onto the dance floor, my mouth watered at the sight of people’s drinks held high. After the week I’d had, my system was begging for alcohol, but as the daughter of the Duke of Substance Abuse, one drink would only fuel my longing for a whole lot more.

I focused on the DJ booth instead.

Ahead of me I heard Ginger ask Marna, “Are you sure about this?”

Marna’s head nod was small, but certain.

The girls stopped just as a dark, sensual song with a thumping bass came on. It was the kind of song that made you want to move your body, but all I could do was stand there and gawk with everyone else as the twins broke into a smokin’ hot dance.

Red auras popped up in fizzing bursts all around them as they moved against each other in perfect sync. I glanced up at the DJ booth and found Jay’s aura blowing up like a firecracker, orange, yellow, and red. He tore his eyes away from the girls and found me, which seemed to settle his aura a little. And then a strand of grayish guilt crept in.

He gave me a wide-eyed look that seemed to ask, What are you thinking?

I gave him a small smile and shrug. The twins were only here for a night. It wasn’t like Jay and Marna were going to fall in love or do anything crazy in a matter of hours.

When the song ended and the twins were applauded, we left the dance floor and found a table.

“I’m getting a drink,” Ginger said. She gave us pointed looks, I suppose as her way of asking if we wanted anything.

“One for me, as well,” Marna said.

Yes. “No, thanks,” I told her.

As Ginger left, Marna lifted the hair off her neck and fanned herself. “Jay’s looking fit.”

The way she gazed at him was sweet. “He’s single. In case you’re wondering.”

She dropped her hair, and her big, rounded eyes sparkled. “Are you being serious?”

“Yes. But Marna . . . it just happened today.”

Her face fell. “Oh.” Brokenhearted boys on the rebound were not a good idea, but they held a certain appeal.

Ginger came back with two identical red mixed drinks and set one in front of her sister. They made a silent toast and both drank. I allowed myself a few seconds of envy before looking away.

Fifteen minutes later Jay was handing over the reigns to another guy and joining us. Marna didn’t try to hold back her beautiful smile. She stood, bouncing on her toes, and ran to hug him.

“Way to play hard to get,” Ginger mumbled.

Jay held her with his eyes closed. He was a good bit taller than her now. They pulled back enough to look at each other, and my heart gave a squeeze at the way they gazed with open adoration.

“This kid is not good for her,” Ginger said under her breath.

I didn’t respond. What Ginger meant was that Jay was good for Marna, but in our world, good was bad. Marna couldn’t afford to fall in love when she was expected to work as an adulteress. Kaidan and I posed a huge danger to each other, but we’d chosen to be together anyway. Jay knew nothing about angels, demons, or Nephilim. Starting something with him would only end up in heartache for Marna and him both.

I should have probably thought this through better.

“What are y’all doing here?” Jay asked. He looked down at Marna’s uniform. “Layover?”

“Just a quick one. We leave at five a.m.”

Jay whistled. “Well, this is a nice surprise. It’s great to see you.” He smiled, but the edges of his eyes drooped from the day’s emotion.

Marna patted his cheek. “Come on, gorgeous. Let’s get out of here.”

The four of us left together, Marna never letting go of Jay’s hand. Ginger glared down at their joined hands from behind them. I understood her worry about Marna, and I had my own worries about Jay’s vulnerable, human heart, but I also knew it would do no good to try and come between them.

We exited into the hot, muggy night, and Ginger wrinkled her nose.

“It’s bloody stifling here in the summer.”

“Yep,” I agreed, though I was used to it.

“What do you guys wanna do?” Jay asked. “There’s a diner on the corner that makes awesome milkshakes.”

“Ooh!” Marna clapped her hands.

“I’m beat,” Ginger said.

“You can go back to the room,” Marna told her.

Ginger narrowed her eyes. “Not without you.”

I expected Marna to cave to her sister’s forceful wishes, as usual, but she held her ground. “You can stay or leave, but I’m not ready to go.” Marna lifted her chin.

Ginger’s little nose flared in annoyance as they battled in a silent stare-down. Then she snapped, “Don’t stay out late.”

“Bye, Ginger,” I called as she sashayed away.

“See ya,” she answered, not looking back.

“You seem tired, too,” Marna said to me with a sympathetic tilt of her head.

Dude. I was pretty sure Marna had just told me to get lost. I was beyond exhausted, now that she mentioned it.

“Yeah, I am.” I looked at Jay. “You okay?”

His mouth went up on one side in a half grin. “Sure.” He threw an arm around me and pulled me in, then the three of us walked to the diner, which was a few blocks from my hotel.

“I’m gonna head out,” I told them. “Please be careful.”

“We will,” they answered together.

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” I said to Jay, then I walked to the hotel with a dainty switchblade in my closed fist, eyeing every shadow until I was safe in my room. I checked the bathroom, closet, and under the bed before flopping down on it.

I texted Patti to let her know I was safe, and she texted right back. We kept the messages brief and generic, but I still deleted them.

Without bothering to stand, I stripped off my jeans and tossed them to the floor. As I was about to climb under the covers and call Kaidan, I got a devious thought.

I turned on the camera feature of my phone, struck a pose, and took a picture of the bottom half of my body. It was so silly looking that I started laughing at myself. How in the world had I landed Mr. Sexy?

Determined, I struck different poses, shaking my head, laughing, or groaning at each picture, and deleting them immediately. And then I took one that made my whole body go still.

Wow.

That one was kind of . . . nice. I was lying on my side, one leg hitched up with my feet tangled in the covers, and it was a great shot all the way from my lower back down. I was wearing panties with black lace trim, nothing crazy, but the whole angle really worked.

I stared at the picture for a long while. My thumb hovered over the Send button, then over the Delete button. I chewed my lip. Kaidan loved me. He’d be shocked if I sent this pic, but he wouldn’t think less of me. Still, each time I envisioned him opening it, I felt a hot wave of embarrassment. I hit Save and dropped the phone next to me, falling back on the pillows. Maybe I’d send it someday. Maybe.