Wrong Side of Forty

by Jana DeLeon

  He nodded. “I know. That’s exactly why I don’t like it either.”

  Her stomach rolled. It was one thing for her to imagine the worst. Her mind and emotions were all over the place with everything she was dealing with. But if Luke thought the situation was bad as well, then that meant she should be worried.

  “But it still doesn’t make sense,” she said. “Why would anyone be after me? And if he is, why run off the other night or this morning? I didn’t think serial killers were so skittish.”

  “If he wanted to kill you, he’d just shoot you from the tree line when you got out of your car.”

  “Not helping.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”

  She waved a hand in dismissal. “I get it.”

  “I want to help. But I’m as confused as you are. Can you think of any reason someone would be watching you? I know you’re about to start divorce proceedings. Would your husband have hired someone?”

  “To see what? And for what purpose? He’s already told me he blew all our money and he inherited the house from his mother. Even if there was some leverage he could get on me, it wouldn’t matter. There’s nothing to fight over.”

  “What about the LeDoux? Leverage is their MO, right?”

  “Sure, but they don’t need any on me. At the moment, they’re holding all the cards. Besides, that first night this guy was lurking around—the night I met you—was before Avery got into a fight with Chastity.”

  “But you’d already caught Chastity with your husband.”

  A blush crept up her neck. It was one thing to discuss her superbly failed marriage with other women, but rehashing the gory details with a man—a good-looking, single man—wasn’t something she was comfortable with.

  “Maybe Chastity was trying to get something on you,” he continued. “Give herself something to fire back with in case you took her to task publicly.”

  “Everyone in Last Chance already knows exactly what kind of person Chastity is. And besides, she’s not smart enough to prepare that way. Preston paid off her teachers to get her out of high school.”

  “Smart and clever are two different things. I’ve known plenty of people who couldn’t add two and two but could screw you out of two hundred before you knew what was happening.”

  “That’s true, but still, I don’t see where she’d have anything to gain. She already has leverage against me with Avery.”

  “Okay, but I still think you should keep an eye on them. I haven’t been in Last Chance for very long, but it seems that most of the problems in this town all stem from the same place.”

  Marina frowned. Was it really that simple? That one of the LeDoux had paid someone to get some dirt on her, just in case she protested her divorce or pursued charges against Chastity for stealing Avery’s clothes or some other unpleasantness they might be anticipating? It seemed too simple. And for whatever reason, she felt as if something more sinister was going on.

  Then a horrible thought occurred to her and she sucked in a breath.

  “Are you all right?” Luke asked.

  “Yes, sorry.” She coughed to cover up her loss of control. “Sucked water down the wrong pipe.”

  He stared at her silently for several seconds, almost as if he was studying her, and she began to feel somewhat uncomfortable with his scrutiny. What was he thinking? Was he sorry he’d given her his number? Or sorry he’d helped Avery? God knows, most people wouldn’t want to step into the middle of the mess she had going on and if he wanted to ghost her, she wouldn’t blame him.

  “Uh, I was thinking,” he said. “I have this thing tomorrow night. A charity thing and it’s at the LeDoux estate. I can bring a guest so if you wanted to go with me, it might be an opportunity to see how they act around you. Maybe they’ll give something away.”

  Marina stared, all ability to speak completely gone. Was he asking her out on a date?

  She wasn’t even sure what that looked like anymore. Or felt like. Was she supposed to be this confused? This fearful? Of course, technically she was still married and had thought she was going to remain so until a few days ago, so there was that weighing in. And then there was all the current drama in her life. Why would Luke want to step further into that mess than he already had? And taking her to a party at the LeDoux estate would be jumping in naked and feet first. Besides, it wasn’t as though she was a hot-bodied twenty-year-old. She was an overweight, past-her-prime, jobless, essentially homeless woman with limited funds to her name.

  Why in the world would he risk aggravation to go out with her? What was the draw?

  Luke must have sensed her apprehension because he launched into an explanation. “I hate those sort of things, but I don’t have a choice in going. It’s for the environment and I’m the game warden, so there’s expectations. And since I buried myself in my work as soon as I got here, I haven’t really taken the time to get to know people. Unfortunately, the ones I do know—mostly poachers and trespassers—are less than stellar. As are the LeDoux. So I really don’t want to show up alone at an event at their house.”

  He alternated looking at her and glancing at the wall as he spoke, and Marina could tell he was as uncertain as she was. When he finally came up for air, she smiled.

  “So you want to use me as your human shield?” she asked.

  “Guilty as charged. I asked Adelaide if she’d go with me but she said she’d rather wrestle a bear.”

  “My money’s on Adelaide.”

  “Mine too.”

  Marina looked at him, the anxious expression, the way he was bouncing one leg up and down. He was nervous. Guys got nervous? She’d always thought they held all the power, but here was this attractive, gainfully employed, full-head-of-hair guy, asking her to an event and looking worried that she might say no.

  Which is exactly what she should say. For so many reasons.

  “Do you think that’s a good idea?” she asked finally. “I mean, you know what I’ve got going on with the LeDoux. I already put you in their sights by asking you to help Avery. Showing up to their house with me might have them all taking aim.”

  “You’re worried about my reputation?”

  “Well, yeah. And your job. Besides, if people see you there with me, what will they think?”

  “I hadn’t thought about it, but I suppose they’d think I was the smart one and Harold’s an idiot.”

  She felt the blush creep up her neck and onto her face. Good Lord, she felt as though she was back in high school. Except no one had ever made her feel this way in high school. But if they had, then she was going to guess it would have been exactly like this. Her palms were sweating and for the first time in forever, it wasn’t because of a hot flash. And she knew, with certainty, that come tomorrow, she was going to regret what she was about to do.

  “And honestly,” he continued, “if showing up with you on my arm makes the LeDoux mad, then that’s just a bonus. They can’t kick me out. I’m the game warden. And sorta the guest of honor.”

  “Yes,” she said, before she could change her mind. “I’d love to be your human shield.”

  His shoulders relaxed and he smiled. “I can’t think of anyone better to have in front of me.”

  Her face felt as if it were on fire and she was certain he’d noticed the color display. So embarrassing, and yet she was too excited to care. Which was troubling.

  “Are you going to be okay here tonight?” he asked. “Maybe you should stay with your sister.”

  His words broke her out of her post-date-acceptance haze. “Halcyon is allergic to Snooze, and I don’t want to leave him alone again. I did that last night to be with Avery. Snooze will alert me if my non-serial killer stalker returns, and Halcyon lent me a pistol and a shotgun. I know how to use both, in case you were wondering.”

  “This is Louisiana. Kinda goes without saying.”

  “We’ll be fine. Whatever this guy is up to, he doesn’t seem to be on a direct attack. Like you said—if he wanted to hurt me, he could
get me coming out of my car.”

  Luke nodded and gave her shoulder a squeeze. “Then I’m going to head out. I’ll pick you up at six tomorrow, if that’s okay. And if you hear anything tonight, call. No matter the time. I’ll have my phone with me.”

  He headed out of the cabin and she engaged the dead bolt behind him. Then she reached up and touched her shoulder where his hand had been.

  Good Lord Almighty. Forty-eight years old and she was having her first official schoolgirl crush.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Marina waited until her flushed skin had returned to normal before sending Alexios a text. The LeDoux were definitely gunning for her but there was another party who had an interest in her fading into the sunset. It took several minutes for Alexios to show up, and she began to worry that things had taken a turn for the worse and Alexios and his condo were long gone.

  She could tell by his slumped shoulders and the tightness of his expression that things were still wrong. His movements were stiff as he crossed the living room and sat on one of the kitchen stools, and his red T-shirt was wrinkled. She looked down and almost gasped. His socks didn’t match. Whatever was going on in his world, it was bad.

  He noticed her gaze and sighed. “My dryer is on the blink. These were the only two clean ones I had left.”

  “You wash your clothes?”

  “I have to if I want them clean.”

  “Of course. I was just…I guess I thought you just imagined what you wanted to wear and it was there. Or you walked into a closet and came out clothed. I never thought about gods doing laundry.”

  “Demigod,” he corrected. “Gods don’t do laundry. They have underlings for that.”

  “And your appliances break just like ours? This is all so fascinating.”

  “Our equipment doesn’t work exactly as things do on earth, although the dryer eating one sock is a regular occurrence, hence why I had loose singles left in my drawer. But the method of power is different and since my connection to my world is sketchy, so is everything else. My television cut off right in the middle of A Godwink Christmas this morning, and I’ve never seen that one before.”

  “They end up together and they’re still running the Charlotte Inn.”

  “Good to know in case things don’t improve.”

  “Which is what I wanted to talk to you about. That and something else. So I take it things are still off for you? Have you been able to communicate with your world at all?”

  “No. I’ve tried all avenues of communication, but everything is blocked. I finally got a message from Zeus that said simply to wait.”

  “Wait? On what?”

  Alexios shook his head, clearly frustrated. “I have no idea. On the one hand, I’m happy that he responded at all. It means he’s still up there and handling things. But that one word didn’t tell me anything. Not about what is happening there or what could happen here.”

  “Do you think he’s getting your messages and just can’t risk answering?”

  “I’m certain. But I hate being in the dark. It’s unsettling.”

  Marina nodded. Unsettling was putting things lightly. If Zeus lost control of the other world, would having the ring make a difference? Or would all of humanity end up doing laundry for an invading species? Marina had just finished a twenty-eight-year stint waiting on other people. She’d been looking forward to wrinkled clothes and leaving dog hair on the floor for more than a day.

  “Well, I’m afraid I have more unsettling things to discuss,” she said and told Alexios about her stalker.

  He listened intently, frowning the entire time, and sat silently when she was finished.

  “Do you think someone from the invading world could be watching me?” she finally asked.

  He slowly shook his head. “I can’t say it’s a certain no, but it doesn’t seem likely. It’s not easy to transport between worlds. It’s what keeps them safe. And if our enemy had figured out how to access Earth, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. It’s like your famous scientist Stephen Hawking said—that an advanced civilization arriving never turns out well for the lesser one.”

  “I see. So you don’t think this creep has anything to do with the ring?”

  “I didn’t say that. In fact, I think it’s highly likely that he does.”

  “But how or who?”

  “Remember I told you that Drakos had aligned himself with a small faction in our world that aligned with the invaders to overturn Zeus. My guess is it’s one of our own who is here watching.”

  “Am I in danger?”

  “I don’t think so. I’m sure he’s hoping you’ll find the ring and will attempt to steal it before I can get it back to my world. Then they can use the power to overthrow Zeus.”

  “Oh. If I find the ring and he realizes it before you get here to collect, will he kill me?”

  “I can’t imagine why he would. You’re no threat to our world.”

  “I’m no threat to this world unless I eat too much garlic.”

  “Yes, well, if only our world were being attacked by vampires, I’d take you back with me.”

  “I don’t think I’d be very popular there. Not with your boss, anyway. I’ve developed this habit of saying what I think.”

  He gave her a small smile. “My guess is that is long overdue.”

  She nodded. “Are you sure there’s nothing else you can tell me about the ring? In all this time, you’ve never formed an opinion on how to find it? On how it hides? On what might prompt it to give a signal?”

  He was silent for several seconds, his brow scrunched. “I’ve been going over my notes—trying to find something that would help. There was one incident that was a bit off, but it was prior to my being placed on this assignment, so the information I have is secondhand.”

  “Secondhand is better than nothing. A lot of facts can be carried in gossip.”

  “That’s true. Well, the story as I heard it is that one of the Seekers started feeling odd—dizzy, short of breath, flushed—but only when she was at home. It never happened elsewhere.”

  “But she couldn’t find the ring?”

  “No. And given that she died of heart failure shortly after my predecessor met her, we can’t be certain she was even in proximity of the ring. It might have been a medical condition.”

  “But she had no symptoms outside her house? Unless there was something toxic in her home, that doesn’t track.”

  “Correct. My predecessor checked for toxins but found nothing. However, she’d had a young child die shortly before he arrived. Remember, this was years before competent medical care was readily available so it wasn’t uncommon. Because of that, the argument was made that being in the home and seeing her daughter’s belongings triggered the failure of an already-weak heart, but that when she was away from her home, it was easier to block from her mind.”

  Marina sighed. “Yeah, that makes more sense than the ring causing it. What about Aphrodite?”

  “What would you like to know?”

  “What does she like? I know she likes dogs, but what else? If the ring contains her blood then it might be attracted to the same things she is. What does she love the most?”

  He gave her a rueful smile. “Herself. Aphrodite is very self-indulgent. I assume you gathered that from the way she treats her husband and her dismissal of her sexual partners, even those she shares a child with.”

  “She doesn’t sound like a very nice person…um, goddess.”

  “There are worse, but there are better.”

  “And there’s nothing else you can think of? Nothing at all that might send me to the right avenue of investigation?”

  He shook his head. “I wish there were. I’ve gone over everything a thousand times—literally—but I can’t come up with anything.”

  She nodded. It was disappointing, but she figured that would be the case. Alexios had nothing but time and if there was anything that had stood out to him, he’d had plenty of opportunity to notice and docum
ent it. It was beyond troubling to her that this situation had carried on for so long and through so many Seekers and yet they still knew next to nothing. Maybe it was as simple as the ring was no longer on earth.

  “So given that I have a stalker, what’s the plan if I find the ring?” she asked. “Do I text you that instant? Or should you just follow me around in case this guy is trailing me other places besides just my house?”

  “I wish I could go everywhere with you. Two days ago, I could have. But along with my inability to communicate, I’ve been cut off from my power supply. Hence the issue with my television and my dryer. I can’t run my condo on electricity or any of your other fuels, so right now, I’m on what you would refer to as a backup generator.”

  “That doesn’t sound good. What happens if you run out of juice?”

  “Then all my ties to my world are severed and I have to hope that someone comes looking for me. That someone is able to come looking for me. In order to prevent cutting off all access to communication, I have to ration my power, which means I need to stay in the condo. Leaving and reentering takes a good amount of ‘juice’ as you call it, so I need to stay put until you find the ring.”

  Marina liked how Alexios said “until” and not “in case,” but then she guessed if the alternative was remaining trapped in another world in an invisible condo with no power, she’d be optimistic too. At least her dryer worked.

  “So basically, don’t call unless I have something,” she said.

  “I’m afraid so. I’m really sorry about this. I wish I could hang around and look out for this man. I know it must be unnerving knowing that someone is watching you.”

  “I’m less than thrilled about it. But what about you? Is there anything I can get you for your condo? I have clean socks. Do you need food or something to drink? A book maybe, since you’re on television hiatus?”

  Alexios stared at her for a moment, clearly surprised. “You’d do that for me?”

  “Of course. If I have anything that can help, it’s yours.”