by Kate Serine
I raced back up the stairs and grabbed one of Nicky’s black turtleneck sweaters from the shelf in his closet and a pair of socks and combat boots.
“You wanna take these handcuffs off, pal?” Nicky asked when I returned. “I don’t mind Trish undressing me, but dressing me’s a different story.” When McCain looked like he was going to tell him to fuck off, Nicky added, “I promise to be a good boy. There’s a lady present and all that.”
McCain huffed, but took out his key and unlocked the handcuffs. The instant he did, the other agents pulled their guns and trained them on Nicky as a further reminder that he needed to behave. Nicky quickly pulled his sweater over his head and ran his hands through his dark hair. Then he sat down on the stairs to put his shoes on. I sat down next to him, watching his face intently, but never once did he look concerned until he glanced my way. Then his brow furrowed and he paused to put an arm around me and draw me close.
“Everything will be okay,” he murmured against my hair. “I promise. This is nothing, Trish. I’ve been through it before.”
“I’ll be right behind you,” I assured him. “I’ll talk to Al and get this straightened out.”
“Come on, Blue,” McCain snapped. “Time’s up.”
Nicky stood and pulled me up with him, then took my face in his hands and pressed a tender kiss to my lips. “I’ll see ya soon, doll.”
I nodded. “You’d better.”
Nicky turned and put his hands behind his back for McCain to put the cuffs back on, and kissed me again as they clicked into place. Then he gave me a grin and a playful wink before McCain led him out the door. They all loaded into the SUVs and slammed the door on Nicky, blocking him from my view. McCain was opening the door to get in when he saw me standing in the doorway and paused. I heard him curse under his breath and then he was striding toward me.
I spread my legs in an attack stance in case he’d decided to try to take me in, too, but he shoved his hands deep in his coat pockets and ducked his head a little. “Be careful, Trish,” he said quietly. “Spalding’s gunning for Nicky big-time after what happened. I don’t want you getting caught in the middle.”
“Gee, McCain,” I spat, “I didn’t know you cared.”
He gave me an apologetic look. “I do care,” he muttered. “A lot. I’m sorry things had to go down this way.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Me, too.”
He heaved a sigh. “Just be careful. That’s all I’m saying.”
The guy looked genuinely sorry for what he’d been sent to do, but that did little to help dampen the anger that was boiling up inside me. Without a word, I slammed the door in his face and made my way upstairs to get dressed, my mind churning with the facts that I knew.
Spalding had it out for Nicky because of me, and Al had rolled over to take it up the ass from the Agency. I couldn’t believe that he’d give up one of his own with so little resistance, but if he thought I wasn’t going to have a thing to say about it, he could think again. I had so much to say, in fact, I hoped I still had a job when I was done.
Chapter Fourteen
“This is bullshit!”
Al Addin looked up from the paperwork on his desk and regarded me calmly. “I remember the days when you used to knock.”
“I remember the days when you used to have a pair,” I shot back.
His eyes flashed with mild anger, but he gestured toward the chair across from him. “Have a seat, Trish.”
I slammed the door and stormed over to the chair but didn’t sit. Instead, I crossed my arms over my chest and glared down at him. “Nicky didn’t do anything wrong. Spalding’s just pissed because Nicky cleaned his clock in front of his men.”
“Yes, he is,” Al agreed. “And if it’d been you who’d done it, we’d be having a very different conversation. But Nicky Blue is a known crime lord. I can’t protect him the same way I can protect you.”
“Protect him?” I echoed, incredulous. “You call sending eight men barging into Nicky’s house to rough him up and bring him in protecting him?”
“Roughing him up wasn’t part of the plan,” Al assured me, leaning back in his chair and giving me that look of his that made me a little jumpy. He only used it when he was righteously pissed off—and it was generally the only indication that he was. “I’m afraid things weren’t fully explained before one of the Enforcers decided to act. I believe he’s still recovering from the broken jaw Nicky Blue gave him, but the doctors tell me he’ll be fine.”
“So, what was supposed to happen?” I demanded.
Al steepled his fingers. “We were supposed to be taking Mr. Blue into protective custody under the ruse of charging him for the assault on Agent Spalding.”
I frowned in confusion and dropped into the chair Al had offered earlier. “Protective custody? Why?”
“The Agency wants Nicky’s head on a platter,” Al said on a sigh. He picked up a manila folder and tossed it to the edge of his desk. “Apparently, they don’t take kindly to Tales interfering with their investigations.”
I tentatively opened the folder. My eyes widened when I saw the photographs inside. There was one of Nicky fighting in the alley the night he’d rescued me. One of him carrying me to the Escalade after I’d been attacked at Halloran’s. Another of us walking into Happy Endings. Another one of him crouching along the roof of the building as he pursued the vampires that night. And another of us as we stood together, his arm inside my coat. It captured the moment when he was slipping a gun into my waistband, but it looked far more
intimate—and the look being exchanged between us, although it brought a smile to my lips, was so intense it didn’t do much to illustrate the truth of what had been happening. But the last photograph was the most infuriating. It was of me, pressed against the alley wall, a dark, formless mist pressing into me, my eyes wide with terror.
One of the Agency goons had been there, watching the whole time, and hadn’t come to my aid. I had to wonder, if Drac had decided to rip my throat out, would the goon have just watched me bleed out through his camera lens?
“How long have they been following us?” I asked, my mouth dry, wondering what else they might have pictures of but just hadn’t shared.
Al shook his head. “No clue. And I’m not entirely sure which of you was the initial target of their surveillance. But until we sort this out and smooth things over, I need to ask you to stay away from Nicky Blue.”
My head snapped up. “Pardon me?”
“I can’t have one of my employees consorting with someone like Nicky,” he explained.
“That’s a load of horseshit,” I snapped. “Red was with Nicky on and off for years back in the day.”
“That was different.”
“Why?” I countered. “Because it was Tess?”
“I’m not playing favorites,” Al insisted, his voice getting louder. “I’ve never been able to control Red.”
“Oh, but you can control me?” I yelled, launching to my feet. “Fuck this.”
“Trish!” Al shouted, bringing me to an abrupt halt. “I am saying this for your own good. Nicky Blue is trouble. I don’t want you getting caught up in it.”
I turned back to face him, my heart aching. “Al, you have been my friend and mentor since I came over. When I was lost and afraid, you took me under your wing and showed me that I could have a purpose here, that I didn’t have to be a victim of my past and the darkness that haunted me, that I could use my experience to help others. I’ve looked up to you and loved you and have done everything I can for you. But I can’t give you this.”
Al came around his desk and took my face in his hands. “I’m not asking, Trish. I’m ordering.”
I met his gaze and held it, something I’d never done before. And, to my surprise, I saw something there I’d never seen. Had never even guessed. “Are you sure this is just about the Agency’s complaint?” I whispered. “Or is there something else behind your order?”
His thumb smoothed my cheek a
nd his gaze dropped briefly to my mouth before he squeezed his eyes shut, forcing away the impulse that had apparently weighed heavily on his heart for a long time. “You work for me, Trish.”
I sighed as his hands fell away, hating that I had seen the secrets of his heart when he had worked so diligently to deny them, to remain professional and never hint at how he felt about me. Then I stood on my toes and pressed a lingering kiss to his cheek, a parting gift before I said, “Not anymore, Al.”
His eyes snapped open. “What?”
“I quit.”
I trudged down the corridor to Mary “Contrary” Smith’s office, hoping to catch our prosecutor at her desk to plead with her to release Nicky to my custody before word spread that I’d quit. If I was lucky, Al had been too rattled to call her right away and I still had a little time before all my credentials were revoked.
I hated to have to do that to the guy, but it was clear that his lack of support for my burgeoning relationship with Nicky was partially motivated by his secret feelings for me. Granted, he was pissed about having to get into a power struggle with the Agency over what was going on with the vampires and Nicky’s vigilantism and was genuinely worried about me getting in the middle of all that, but he also was furious that I’d take up with someone the FMA had been watching very closely since the nineteen-twenties without being able to make any charges stick.
When I told him I quit, the look of pain and sorrow on his face was almost more than I could take, and I nearly retracted my resignation. But I held my ground in spite of Al’s attempts to persuade me to stay. Now I just had to get Nicky the hell out of there before he was beyond my reach.
To my relief, Mary was sitting at her desk, her manicured nails clacking away rapidly on her laptop, her lovely brow furrowed in a deep frown. “Well, you’ve certainly made a mess of things,” she snapped the moment I darkened her door.
I blinked at her, surprised she’d even noticed me. “Sorry?”
She glanced away from her screen and gave me a mildly reproachful look over the top of her naughty librarian glasses. “Al called me.”
Oh, shit.
I swallowed, trying to act nonchalant. “Oh? What did he say?”
“He said that under no circumstances was I to release Nicky Blue to you.” She pushed back from her keyboard and swiveled her chair so she could face me. “He said it was for your own protection.”
I rolled my eyes. “Come on, Mary—”
“I told him it was too late,” she interrupted. “I’d already released him.”
I gaped at her in dismay for a full five seconds before I was able to say, “What? When?”
“We hadn’t even processed him when I received a call from the head of the Tribunal, demanding I release Mr. Blue at once,” she explained. “He must have some friends in pretty high places to move that fast. I didn’t even file the paperwork until about an hour before Al sent the boys to pick Nicky up. Someone was already talking to the right people before we’d even brought him in.”
No wonder Nicky hadn’t been concerned.
“So . . . what did Al say to that news?” I asked.
Mary shrugged. “What could he say? We’ll still go through the motions of a hearing and all of that to appease the Agency, but it’s pretty clear how it’ll come out.”
I tried not to let my relief seep into my voice when I asked, “Where’s Nicky now?”
A rare smile tugged at the corner of Mary’s mouth. “Down in processing, I imagine.”
I nodded. “Thanks, Mary. I owe you one.”
Mary shook her head. “No, you don’t. Now, get the hell out of here before any other shit hits the proverbial fan. I’ll see what I can do where Al’s concerned.”
“Why?” I asked, not meaning it to come out so incredulously. I grimaced and quickly amended, “Sorry, no offense—but it’s just that you’re not exactly known for your altruism, Mary. Why help me—or Nicky for that matter?”
“You deserve to be happy, Trish,” she said, her words clipped. “Everyone does. Al’s been hung up on you for a hell of a long time—”
“How did you know that?”
“—and it’s time he moved on, don’t you think?”
I studied her for a moment, understanding dawning. “He’ll probably need someone to talk to, you know. Someone to assure him this is all for the best.”
She nodded. “Yes, I think you’re right.”
“Well, I hope he listens to what you have to say,” I told her, meaning it. “I do care about him, you know.”
“So do I.” She jerked her chin toward the door. “Now, get the hell out of here and go find Nicky. I have somewhere I need to be.”
I offered her a smile and hurried away from her office to the processing area, but the person at the desk told me that Nicky was already released to a tall gentleman with gray hair.
Eddie Fox.
I should’ve known that Nicky’s loyal second-in-command would’ve been the one handling things. No one knew exactly where Eddie had come from, but everyone knew him to be a friend to Nicky and a savvy businessman who had helped Nicky run his empire for decades. Even since taking up with Red’s Gran, he’d continued to be the face of Nicky’s business enterprises. And I had no doubt that if there were any strings being pulled, it was Eddie doing it.
Now I just had to figure out where the hell they’d gone. Would Nicky have headed back home or gone elsewhere? He knew I’d be following him to headquarters, so I found it hard to believe he’d leave without trying to track me down or give me a message. I grabbed my cell phone from my pocket and started to dial him but then realized I had no idea what his cell phone number was.
It was also at that point that I realized I had five missed calls—all from the same person. “Oh, shit,” I muttered, noticing the date. I quickly hit the Call Back button on the touchscreen and waited.
“It’s about damned time!” Lavender Seelie snapped when she answered. “I was about ready to send out a spell to search for you! Is everything okay? Seth and I stopped by your apartment and it looked like a tornado had hit. I’ve been trying to get in touch with you all morning! I even thought about calling Tess precoffee to see if she knew where you were.”
I laughed a little in spite of her obvious concern. “You were desperate if you thought about calling Red in the morning. She only gets one cup of coffee per day with the pregnancy, you know. She’s already a little testy.”
“This isn’t funny, Trish,” Lavender retorted. “We were worried. My magic has been popping sparks all morning.”
I ran a hand through my curls, feeling like the worst friend alive. “I’m so sorry, Lav—there’s some really crazy shit going on right now. I totally forgot that you guys were going to be in town today. Where are you right now?”
“At FMA headquarters,” she said. “I had to give my statement for James Charming’s hearing on the fraud and racketeering charges.”
I had to grin a little at this news. Cinderella’s ex-husband and Lavender’s former employer deserved everything he got, including the years he was looking at in FMA prison for all the shady deals he’d cut in the past and the people he’d screwed over. He’d already been serving time for his assault on Lavender the previous fall, so it looked like he might be hanging out in a cell for a good long while.
“I’m at headquarters, too, but I’m getting ready to leave,” I told her. “I can meet you in the lobby if you’re finished with everything.”
“See you there in five,” she said before hanging up.
I was so relieved to see Lavender and Seth standing in the FMA lobby that I had to choke back tears as I hugged them both. “God, it’s so good to see you guys,” I said, blinking the blur from my eyes.
“What’s going on, honey?” Lavender asked, putting her arm around my shoulders and leading me toward the doors that opened up to the street.
I covered my face with my hands for a minute, wondering where the hell to start and desperately wishing I had Nicky with me
at that moment to at least remove one concern. “I can’t talk here,” I said, glancing around. “Can we go somewhere else?”
She nodded. “Of course! Have you had lunch yet?”
I shook my head. “No, I—”
“Not leaving without me, are you, doll?”
I whirled around at the sound of Nicky’s voice and relief washed over me like a tidal wave when I saw him strolling toward me, wearing that lopsided grin of his. I rushed to him, throwing my arms around his neck and squeezing tightly as his arms came around me and he buried his face in my hair.
He chuckled a little as he pulled back to peer down at me. “Don’t think I could ever get tired of you throwing yourself in my arms.”
“Where the hell have you been?” I demanded. “Mary told me they released you almost right away.”
He shrugged. “Had to stop by and say hi to an old friend, thank him for doing me a favor.”
I frowned at him, curious whom he meant and assuming he was talking about one of his friends in high places, but before I could ask about it, I heard a polite cough behind me and turned to see Lavender standing there, trying unsuccessfully to hide a smile. “I see you do have a few things to tell me about,” she drawled. Then she grinned at Nicky. “Hey there, stranger. We were just going to take Trish to lunch. Care to join us?”
“I don’t like this,” Lavender was saying, shaking her head stubbornly. “You can’t do this on your own. It’s not safe—especially now that you’ve quit the FMA.”
“We’re just looking for answers right now,” I assured her. “There’s more going on than Al understands. The Agency isn’t being straight with him, and for all their claims of trying to stop the vampires that have been popping up all over the place, they haven’t actually done much. They didn’t do a goddamn thing when I was being attacked.”
“Maybe they didn’t want to get involved because Dracula is a Tale,” Seth offered. “You said the FMA and the Agency have an agreement to stay out of each other’s sandbox, right?”
