by Jenna Black
That was, perhaps, an exaggeration, but not much of one. However, Carolyn didn’t dare tell her best friend the truth—that thinking about Gray with another woman had ripped her heart open afresh. Never mind that his relationship with that woman was strange at best. Carolyn hadn’t even managed a date since he’d left her, and the thought that he might actually be in a relationship …
“I have my reasons,” she said, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“Whatever.” Hannah crossed her arms over her chest and slouched back in the couch. It was an attempt to make Carolyn feel guilty, and it worked. But that didn’t mean she was going to talk.
The commercial break ended, and Carolyn picked up the remote just as her doorbell rang. She and Hannah looked at each other.
“Who could that be?” Hannah asked.
“I don’t know.” Carolyn wasn’t expecting anyone. It made her edgy enough she almost grabbed her gun out of the coat closet before going to the door. But that, of course, was ridiculous.
The doorbell rang again before she got to it, and the sound was followed by the pounding of a fist on the door. She cautiously approached the door and peeked out the peep hole. And froze.
The fist pounded again, more insistently.
“Carolyn, are you in there?” Gray demanded, with an almost panicked urgency to his voice.
She opened the door just as he was raising his hand to knock again. His shoulders slumped and he let out a harsh breath of relief.
“What’s the matter, Gray?” she asked.
He pushed past her without waiting for an invitation to come in. She would have objected, except the look on his face frightened her. She closed the door and locked it, turning to follow him into the living room.
He had stopped in his tracks when he saw Hannah. The two of them were staring each other down, Hannah’s lips curled into a grimace of distaste.
“Hello, Hannah,” he said, his voice carefully neutral.
“Hello, dickhead,” was her graceful response. She turned her gaze to Carolyn. “You want me to serve you his gonads on a plate?”
Carolyn covered her mouth to suppress a giggle. God, she loved Hannah—the most loyal friend she could ever imagine. “No, but thanks for the offer.” She fixed Gray with her most penetrating look. “Why are you here?”
He turned to her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hannah move forward. She read the intent on her friend’s face, and she tried to bark out a warning. Too late.
Hannah’s foot swung in a high arc, her toes heading straight for Gray’s groin. She’d studied just about every martial art in existence, and her reflexes were blindingly quick. Distracted as he was, there was no way Gray could avoid that kick. Carolyn winced in sympathy.
The wince turned into a startled gasp.
Gray’s arm shot out to block the kick, and his hand wrapped around Hannah’s ankle. He gave a sharp jerk, and Hannah’s other foot slipped out from under her. With a cry of surprise and distress, she went down, banging the back of her head on the floor.
Gray let go of her foot and shook his head. “Sorry, Hannah.”
She sat up and rubbed the back of her head, eyes narrowed in pain. She looked as shocked as Carolyn felt. How the hell had Gray managed that? He’d never been athletic, certainly never been quick. Of course, he had lost a lot of weight.
“Are you all right?” he asked Hannah, though he kept a wary distance.
Hannah blew a lock of curls out of her eyes and looked at Gray with a hint of grudging respect. “Yeah. When did you learn self-defense?”
He shrugged. “Thought it might come in handy sometime,” he said in a classic non-answer. It was a strategy both Hannah and Carolyn were very familiar with, a way to not answer a question while still giving the appearance of cooperating. Carolyn wondered why he felt it necessary to evade that particular question.
Hannah held out her hand. “Wanna give me a hand up?”
One corner of Gray’s mouth lifted in a sardonic grin. “You don’t really think I’m going to fall for that, do you?”
“A girl can hope.” She sniffed disdainfully, then popped easily to her feet unassisted. “So, what are you doing homing your way back into Carolyn’s life at this late date?”
“Hannah!” Carolyn snapped, knowing it would take a gag or duct tape to keep her friend’s mouth shut.
“Carolyn is perfectly capable of fighting her own battles,” Gray said.
“I’m not convinced that’s true where you’re concerned.”
“Why don’t you let her try, instead of charging in with guns blazing?”
“Because I’ve spent three years fantasizing about beating the crap out of you for hurting my best friend. And Carolyn’s too damn nice to give you the hell you deserve.”
“Hannah, please,” Carolyn tried again.
Hannah whirled on her. “Well you are. I say no matter how good he might have become at self-defense, he’s no match against the two of us. Let’s tackle him, tie him up, and then ask him nicely to tell you what the hell happened to him for three years.”
There was a subtle shift in Gray’s posture. One moment he was at rest, his weight settled into one hip as he scowled at Hannah. Now he shifted his weight until it was evenly distributed between both legs, and though he still scowled there was a look of intense focus in his eyes. He was a man prepared to defend himself, and despite Hannah’s assertion, Carolyn wondered if the two of them really could take him down.
“I wouldn’t suggest trying,” he said. The chill in his voice sent a shiver down Carolyn’s spine. Even Hannah seemed to feel it, a little of the starch going out of her, though she held her ground.
“Do you actually think you can scare me, Gray?” Hannah asked.
“Yes,” was his simple answer.
She had to find a way to take control of the situation, Carolyn decided. “Just knock it off, both of you. Hannah, Gray’s right: I can fight my own battles. But since Gray has told me in no uncertain terms that he wants me out of his life, I have to admit I’m curious to know why he just showed up on my doorstep. Maybe if you stop provoking him for a moment, he’ll actually tell me.”
From the look on her face, Carolyn gathered Hannah really wanted to light into Gray some more, but she managed to control herself. “This ought to be good,” she said.
“Let’s all sit down,” Gray suggested.
Carolyn returned to her seat on the couch, turning off the TV. After a slight hesitation, Hannah did the same. Gray reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a crumpled wad of paper. He uncrumpled it, then held it out to Carolyn.
“Take a look at this,” he said.
7
WHEN CAROLYN HAD LET him in the house and he’d seen Hannah looking daggers at him, Gray’s heart had sunk. Hard enough to deal with one angry woman, but two? He’d always found Carolyn’s temper somewhat volatile, but Hannah was a veritable firecracker. And she hadn’t liked him much even before he’d jilted her best friend.
However, as the two women bent over the threatening note, he reasoned that having Hannah here might be to his advantage after all. She could be pushy and outspoken as hell, and might get away with saying things that would get Gray eviscerated. Twin furrows appeared between the women’s eyebrows, and he almost smiled to see the similarity of their expressions.
“Where did you get this?” Hannah demanded. She sounded even angrier than she had earlier, and he hoped she wasn’t armed.
“Someone stuck it in my mail slot this evening.”
“Did you see who?” Carolyn asked quickly—trying to get a word in before Hannah.
“Not really. I saw someone running away, but it looked like it was just a kid. Whoever sent this didn’t take a chance that I might see him.”
Carolyn examined the note again, squinting at it as though she could pry its secrets out of it. Most people would have been at least mildly disturbed by the threat, but she showed not a hint of fear. Actually, Hannah looked more worried than Carolyn did—
hence Gray’s thought that Hannah might turn into his unlikely ally.
“I suppose we shouldn’t be pawing over it like this,” Carolyn said. “We’ve probably destroyed any fingerprint evidence.”
“I still have the envelope it came in back at my house,” Gray said. “But I kind of doubt you’d find any useful fingerprints.”
Hannah narrowed her eyes and gave him a piercing, suspicious stare. “Why is that?”
Because my prime suspects are vampires, whose fingerprints wouldn’t be on file with any law enforcement agency. Too bad he couldn’t say that. “Just call it a bunch.”
Hannah opened her mouth, no doubt to tear into him, but Carolyn beat her to the punch.
“You think it’s Jules?”
Hannah turned to Carolyn, blinking. “Jules? Who the hell is Jules?”
“I wouldn’t put it past him.”
“So, now will you tell me what’s going on?” Carolyn demanded.
“I can’t, Carolyn.”
“Hello?” Hannah said, waving her hands dramatically. “Excuse me? Would someone like to fill me in on the details here? Who is Jules, and why would he write a note threatening Carolyn?”
Carolyn folded her arms across her chest and looked over to Gray. “Yes, please fill her in, Gray.”
He suppressed a snarl. He wished he were a more creative liar. If he had a cover story, this would be a lot easier. However, he had to play the cards he was dealt. “Jules is a guy I know who hates my guts. The feeling is mutual.”
“Oh, that explains everything,” Hannah said.
“Look,” Gray snapped, “I’m not going to explain. I’ve told Carolyn that, and now I’m telling you. If you want to do your Karate Kid imitation again, feel free, but it’s not going to change my mind. I have a good reason for keeping quiet, and you’re just going to have to live with it.”
Gray couldn’t ever remember seeing Hannah speechless before. Of course, he had to admit that during his mortal life, he’d been something of a milquetoast. His new life in the shadows had brought out the darker corners of his soul, and he no longer felt the need to preserve his overly civilized exterior.
“So,” Carolyn said, “if you’re not going to tell me anything or answer any questions, why are you here?”
“Because I’m not sure Jules is behind this, and if he isn’t then you may actually be in danger.”
“But I’m not in danger if he is?”
Gray hesitated only a moment before answering. “No, probably not. He’s a monumental prick but he’s not dangerous. At least, not to you.” The moment the words were out of his mouth, he wished he could snatch them back. Both Hannah and Carolyn’s eyes held a faint gleam he recognized. They thought they were on to something. “Leave it alone. Just … Why don’t you go stay with Hannah for a little while until I figure out what the deal is.”
The women’s backs stiffened, and two pairs of eyes flashed with new fire. They both spoke at the same time, their words tumbling over each other so he couldn’t understand either of them. However, the gist of the message was crystal clear. They shared a quick glance in which they somehow appointed Carolyn spokeswoman.
“First of all,” she said, “I can take care of myself just fine. I’m a former cop, remember?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “Second of all, you don’t get to give me orders. You wouldn’t have earned that privilege even if you’d stuck around for the wedding.” Her voice was gaining volume. “And lastly, what the hell makes you think I’m going to cower like a damsel in distress while you charge out into the sunset and play detective?”
“Carolyn—”
She shot to her feet and crossed to him, poking him in the chest with her index finger to punctuate her words.
“You have some nerve! You—”
He grabbed hold of her wrist to stop her poking him. Out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed Hannah sprinting past them into the foyer. He leaned into Carolyn, glaring down at her from his superior height. “Don’t be an idiot. No matter how good you are at your job, you’re not invincible. You don’t know enough about this situation to defend yourself adequately, and you don’t know enough to investigate without getting yourself killed.”
“And whose fault is that?”
“Mine! And that’s the way it’s going to stay, because I refuse to let you put yourself in the kind of danger you would by looking into this. Or by hanging around with me. So go stay with Hannah and let me handle this.”
“Bastard!” She tried to wrench her wrist from his grip.
He tightened his hold, not sure what she would do if he let go. Inside, his stomach churned while his heart clenched in pain. He desperately wanted to pull her into his arms, clutch her tight to his chest, tell her everything was going to be all right. And if Jules was behind this, Gray swore he’d make the prick pay. Older and stronger he might be, but Gray would find a way to take him down.
So focused was he on Carolyn’s flushed, angry face, that he didn’t even notice Hannah returning from the foyer until her hand landed on his arm and the muzzle of a gun appeared in his peripheral vision.
“Let go of her and start talking,” Hannah commanded, the gun pointed straight at his head, her finger poised over the trigger. “Carolyn might not have been willing to shoot you, but I would love to.”
Gray hesitated, and she moved the gun closer to his head—close enough that he could sense the high iron content of the muzzle and had to fight a reflexive urge to jerk away. If she touched it to his skin and his skin burned, what would she make of it?
“Hannah, put the gun down,” Carolyn said in a gently chiding voice, but Hannah didn’t move.
“Not until he lets go of you, and not until he quits this cloak-and-dagger crap.” She looked at Gray with steely eyes. “If Carolyn’s in danger, you sure as hell need to explain why.”
Gray let go of Carolyn’s wrist, raising his hands and splaying his fingers in a classic gesture of surrender. With his supernatural quickness he probably could have knocked Hannah’s hand aside before she squeezed off a shot, but he wasn’t about to risk it. Not that he really thought she meant to shoot him. She might talk tougher than Carolyn, but she wasn’t a psycho.
Carolyn rubbed her wrist, and he saw the red finger marks that blotched her skin. His heart sank. He hadn’t realized his own strength.
“I’m sorry, Carolyn,” he said, trying to ignore the gun that still pointed at his head. “I didn’t meant to hurt you.”
She folded her arms across her chest, her gaze flicking to Hannah, then back to his face. “So, are you going to tell me what this is about?”
“No.” He looked into Carolyn’s eyes, meaning to capture her with his glamour. He should have known better than to ignore an angry woman with a gun. At the last moment, he sensed the blow coming and raised his arm enough to partially block it.
The butt of Hannah’s gun slid off his arm and slammed hard against the side of his head. Pain stabbed through his skull, and for a moment the world went gray. He managed to keep his feet, just barely. He hated to think what would have happened if she’d caught him squarely! She closed in for another blow, and though he still reeled from the last one, he dodged it.
“Hannah! Stop it!” Carolyn ordered.
“You want to let him get away without telling you diddly-squat?” Hannah countered. “You have handcuffs around here somewhere?”
The beast inside Gray was stirring, fired by pain and the instinct for self-preservation. He wanted to charge into battle, wrench the gun from Hannah’s hand and—
And what? Bite her? A tingling sensation in his gums told him his fangs were on the verge of descending. Desperately, he tried to pull back the reins.
“Enough, Hannah,” Carolyn said. “Now give me the gun.”
Hannah looked vaguely disappointed in her friend’s lack of resolve, but handed the gun over with a shrug. Gray closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, willing the beast to quiet.
“Are you all right?” Carolyn aske
d. Her voice sounded genuinely concerned.
He opened his eyes and reached up to touch his aching head. The blow might well have knocked out a mortal man, and would certainly have left a lump.
“I’m fine.” His voice came out curt and clipped, a consequence of his ongoing struggle for control. He glared at Hannah, who glared right back. “You talk sense into Carolyn. Convince her to stay with you, or you stay here with her.”
Knowing that neither woman had abandoned her quest to wring information from him, he exerted just a touch of glamour. He wasn’t terribly good at it, but he was good enough to achieve his goal. They stood still, looking faintly dazed, as he strode to the door.
By the time the door closed behind him, which would snap them out of it, he would have enough of a head start to get away cleanly.
SO MUCH FOR MOVIE Night, Carolyn thought to herself as she reclaimed her seat on the couch. When they had shaken off their strange paralysis, she and Hannah had both charged out into the night after Gray, but he had disappeared. A brief search of the neighborhood had turned up nothing, and they’d finally had to admit defeat and return home.
Now they both sat in silence, staring at the note Gray had left behind. Hannah was absently playing with one of her springy curls, wrapping it around and around her index finger. Carolyn chewed her lip, trying to understand what had happened.
“So,” Hannah said, breaking the silence. “Wanna fill me in on what I’m missing?”
Though she doubted it would clarify things as much as Hannah hoped, Carolyn recounted her last encounter with Gray and the mysterious Jules. Hannah took a moment to digest the information and discover the gaping holes that still existed in their understanding.
“So, this Jules guy … You think he’s behind this?”
Carolyn shrugged. “I only met him for like five minutes.”
“Yeah, but first impressions can tell you a lot.” She thought about it a moment, trying to remember every nuance of her brief encounter. Jules had been conspicuously charming, a smooth-talker who was used to coming on to women. Certainly that kind of charm often hid a dark character. And no one could mistake the antipathy between him and Gray. Still, her instincts told her it was a stretch to go from simple hostility to the kind of vicious threat this note entailed. Gray must have felt the same way or he never would have come here to deliver his high-handed, macho commands.
