by Mika Lane
She tried hard to keep her face from crumbling. “Dalt, I’m afraid. She’s like my sister. We have to help her. We have to find her.”
“Let’s go.”
He grabbed her hand and they ran down the stairs, picking up the keys as they flew out the door. He paused to lock up and once in the Tesla, made a sharp U-turn and headed back up the coastal mountain toward Devi’s.
“Oh god,” Noelle said, a sob escaping her throat. “I don’t know what do to.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of this.”
Noelle looked over to Dalt and took his hand. In spite of her gnawing fear, she was confident he would take care of this, and her.
The End
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The Devi’s Bliss journey is continued in:
Devi’s Bliss: a story of Dakini
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keep reading for an excerpt…
Prologue
Leaning toward him, her lips searched for his. When they met, they drank each other’s closeness while their tongues flicked and teased. Her fingertips scratched through the light scruff of his unshaven beard and she let herself press into him.
His lips moved to graze her cheek and he ran his fingers along a piece of hair that had escaped her long braid.
Shivering, fear zipped through her. Would his delicious touch somehow be taken away as fast as it had found her?
Devi’s Bliss: a story of Dakini
Dedication
For my Dream Team—you know who you are
And of course, Mr. Mika Lane
Copyright © 2016 by Mika Lane
Headlands Publishing
4200 Park Blvd. #244
Oakland, CA 94602
Devi’s Bliss: a story of Dakini is a work of fiction. Names, characters, (most) places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s creativity or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of quotations in a book review.
ISBN 978-0-9979771-7-2 (print)
ISBN 978-0-9979771-0-3 (eBook)
Edited by Trish Owens
http://www.trishowens.net/
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Chapter 1
Bam, bam, bam!
A thundering commotion wrenched Dakini St. Onge from a deep sleep, leaving her wide-eyed, terrified, with her heart pounding out of her chest. That asshole upstairs was doing god-knows-what again to make her apartment shake like a snow globe. If she could get away with murdering the annoying jerk, she’d be quite happy to do so. She turned over for a couple more winks of sleep before getting up for work at Devi’s Bliss, where she was a well-known sensual massage therapist.
Bam, bam, bam!
What in god’s name was he doing up there? His clamor unsympathetically drilled in and out of her hung-over head, and she groaned in agonized fury. Could that really be Mr. Obnoxious—who routinely blasted his stereo in the middle of the night without a care for her or anyone else in the building? Because this was really loud even for the jerk neighbor.
It didn’t feel like an earthquake. No, she’d been through enough of those to know the difference. Maybe it was the profusion of construction on all sides of her Nob Hill neighborhood. San Francisco was going through a building boom, the likes of which hadn’t been seen since the Gold Rush of 1849.
Bam, bam, bam!
Okay, that way too close to be construction noise. Actually, way too close. She grabbed her fluffy down pillows and pressed them into either side of her head, turning them into oversized earplugs. Their cushy down buried her ears and quieted the banging.
But only a moment later curiosity got the better of her and she pulled them off her head to tilt an ear toward her bedroom door. A responsible grown up would investigate the source of the noise rather than hide from it.
Okay, getting up…
“Dakini St. Onge! Hey, Dakini!”
Holy shit. Was someone calling her?
This time, shouting voices had followed the pounding. Where was that coming from? Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, her head spun and she groaned out loud. When she spotted her bedside cup of water on the nightstand, she grabbed for it and gulped every last drop to relieve the dry, disgusting desert that was her mouth. Only her throbbing brain prevented her from getting her ass up faster to figure out what was going on with all the hideous yelling and pounding.
She wobbled to her feet, ready to fall back on the bed should her legs and equilibrium fail her. In a flash of lightning, a headache crashed into her temple without mercy, pulsing down the side of her neck to stop at her shoulders, where it dead-ended by bunching her muscles into miserable knots.
“Dakini St. Onge!”
Okay, that was her name. Definitely her name. Someone or something was pounding at her very own front door.
She attempted to dash across her bedroom, but the pain in her head wickedly mutated into a blinding white light. Her vision was obscured, and she slid and then tripped over the colossal pile of clothes littering the floor from the night before. She grabbed for the wall to right herself but wasn’t fast enough. She missed and wiped out, falling flat on her ass with a thump.
“Goddammit. Coming. Hold on!”
Seeing spots, she clawed her way to her knees through the dizziness and got two feet underneath her to half-run, half-limp toward the racket coming from behind her front door. Throwing aside the security chain, she wrenched the door open without stopping to look through the peephole.
Oh.
Well. It hadn’t been Mr. Jerk upstairs. Nor had it been construction or an earthquake.
The cause of the god-awful, brain-pulverizing racket that yanked her out of her blissful sleep into hangover land stood right there in front of her. No, Dakini’s devil came in the form of her best friend and fellow masseuse, Noelle, her best friend’s new guy—what was his name, again?—and Cute Bartender from their favorite hangout, whom she’d been stalking in her fantasies for three years running.
What. The. Fuck.
She stared at them. They stared right back. Silence screamed. One of the guys, she couldn’t tell which, cleared his throat. Cute Bartender looked over at Noelle as if she might tell them what to do next. While they obediently awaited her instruction, Noelle’s face went from pink to red to purple in a matter of seconds.
Oopsie.
With her head still playing its merciless spinning game, Dakini followed Noelle’s gaze southward until she grasped why the three before her had awkward written all over their faces.
There she was, on display for all, naked as the day she was born—save for a purple lace thong. Yup, she stood in the doorway of her apartment in front of her best friend, two guys, and anyone who happened to walk down the hall at that moment. Pretty. Much. Naked.
Okay. That’s the reason for the throat clearing, eye avoiding, and face blushing. Got it.
As if the pounding inside Isabella’s skull wasn’t cruel enough, a flush rose from her neck, past her cheeks, to the roots of her hair as she silently stared back at her visitors. Noelle’s fuming observation could have bored a hole through Dakini, and the guys…well they weren’t exactly looking at her face.
One arm flew to cover her breasts, and she slammed her knees together hard as if that might keep her lady bits out of view. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing would come out.
Noelle barged into the apartment, her long blonde hair flying behind her, and Dakini jumped out of the way, continuing to hide her privates.
“Where the hell have you been?” Noelle snapped. She put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes at Dakini’s state of undress. “And don’t you h
ave a robe to put on? For Christ’s sake.”
She swung the front door shut just enough to block the guys’ views and poked her head back out at them. “Wait here while Dakini covers up,” she barked.
They obediently stepped back from the door to cool their heels in the hallway and to avoid suffering their ringleader’s red-faced wrath.
Noelle crossed to the bathroom and grabbed a cheetah-print robe, which she threw in her friend’s direction. Dakini caught it with one hand and shrugged her arms into the sleeves, untucking a tumble of matted, bedhead hair.
Her racing mind had a few questions of its own.
“What’s going on?” she fired back at Noelle. “Why are you here? Why are you yelling at me? And what time is it, anyway?” As she looked around for a clock, she pulled the robe tighter.
“To begin with...” Noelle pointed a finger in her friend’s face. “I’m just thrrrrilled that the first time you meet Dalt you are half naked, and you have been playing missing person.”
So that was the boyfriend’s name. Isabella crossed her arms over her chest as if she were still half-naked. “I thought that might be Dalt. He’s cute.”
But she quickly returned to a blast of confusion, and her eyebrows pinched together. “Hey, what? How could I be missing? I’m right here. And why are you here with Dalt? And Jake from Left Bank? How could you bring him to my house when I’m like this?”
The excruciating pounding in her temples intensified as her voice shrilled. Wincing, she pressed fingers on either side of her head until her knuckles turned white. She sucked a deep breath and swallowed to ward off what felt like unavoidable nausea.
“You. Are. Missing. The. Point,” Noelle said through gritted teeth. “While you’re keeping your head from exploding, I’d like to share with you that the police have been notified that you were missing. Your car was found in the lot at work, and when you didn’t show for your shift this morning, and we couldn’t get in touch with you, everyone was terrified something had happened.” Noelle glared.
“What?” Dakini’s voice got smaller. “Why?”
“We didn’t know what the hell had happened to you! We didn’t know where you were!” Noelle’s voice rang with impatience.
“Why didn’t you just call me?” Dakini asked.
Noelle covered her face with her hands. “I already told you, we did. You didn’t answer.”
“Stop yelling. You’re killing me. My phone never rang.” With her face wrinkled in pain, she turned back to the pile of clothing that she’d tripped over minutes before. She knelt before it and started digging. “Where’s my bag? Where’s my phone? Oh. Oh shit. It’s coming back to me now.”
Her fingers flew to her temples to soothe the ache as she turned to Noelle. “I must have left it in the back of my Uber ride home last night. Damn, my phone is gone...And where did I leave my car? My brand new car?” She looked around the room as if both these things might suddenly appear.
With Dakini decent and an initial scolding out of the way, Noelle re-opened the front door to relieve the guys of their hallway banishment. Stuffing her hands into the pockets of her fluffy robe, Dakini cringed as she faced two very good-looking men entering her apartment—both who had just witnessed her in all her hung-over glory. She wanted to crawl away in shame as she began a quick inventory of alternative bars she could start hanging out in instead of Left Bank, to avoid seeing Jake again. Damn Noelle for bringing him. And why did she, anyway?
The guys entered the apartment and flanked Noelle, whose face brightened as she introduced Dalt. “This is my friend, Dakini,” Noelle said as if he wouldn’t recognize her now that she was covered by a bathrobe.
Another warm blush washed over Dakini’s face. “Uh, hi? Sorry about the drama. And for being half-naked.” She eyed Noelle, hoping the layered apology would kick start the redemption she’d no doubt be working hard for.
“Hey.” He held his hand out, and Noelle took it, wincing at the out-of-place formality. “Glad you’re okay. And don’t worry about the…um…lack of clothing. It honestly didn’t bother me one bit.” He grinned big, and Noelle’s sharp elbow jammed him in the ribs.
Draping his arm around his girl’s shoulders, he continued, “One of my friends is a Marin County cop, and I was able to file a report as soon as we thought you’d gone missing. I’m gonna call and let him know we found you. I’ll be right outside.” He pointed toward the front door, pulled out his phone, and hustled out to the hallway.
Dakini turned to acknowledge Jake. He was a sight to behold with his messy hipster man bun, several-day-old beard scruff, strong jaw, and ridiculous eyelashes. Cute Bartender—in her apartment. Jackpot!
Or not…
“Hey, Jake,” Dakini said, fidgeting with her robe’s tie belt. “I want to say it’s nice to see you, but I’m actually one rung below humiliation at the moment.”
“No worries. You look like a stuffed toy in that furry thing. Is that what all the girls are wearing now?” He laughed, and then dug himself in deeper. “And those panties weren’t bad, either.”
Dakini blinked at him with a blank expression. Was he trying to be funny?
He cleared his throat. “Noelle came by the bar this morning when I was opening. She was completely panicked, asking if I’d seen you, so I offered to help with the search.”
He wanted to help look for me?
She saw Jake at Left Bank on a pretty regular basis, and every time she did, it never failed to amaze her how freaking rock-n-roll gorgeous he was. Motorcycle boots, low-slung jeans, snug T-shirts. A nicely outlined package—oh, cripes.
Get a grip on that dirty mind. This was a serious situation.
“You gave a lot of people a heart attack,” Jake said.
Noelle cut in, hands on hips. “Yes, you did. And where the hell were you anyway?”
Dakini crossed her arms. She looked from Jake to Noelle. If only she could send a telepathic message to get her friend to back off.
“I was out,” she answered in a breezy voice. “Had a few glasses of wine, took an Uber home. No big deal.” She faced down Noelle’s glare, hoping her friend would get the message. Not. In. Front. Of. Jake.
Noelle grabbed Dakini’s bathrobe sleeve and dragged her into the kitchen, leaving Jake behind. “Please excuse us for a sec,” she said to him.
Jake, who’d been shifting from one foot to the other, waved, grabbed a seat, and picked up a magazine.
In the kitchen, Noelle spun her friend to face her, eyes dark, full of concern. “Your car was at work, you didn’t show up this morning, and you weren’t answering your phone. What were we supposed to think? And what do you mean you had a ‘few glasses of wine’? Are you kidding me? I know you, Daki. I’m not an idiot. How the hell much did you have to drink?”
Dakini’s annoyance with Noelle’s grilling retreated. Her gaze dropped to her hands, and she resumed fumbling with her robe belt.
“I’m sorry for worrying you. I really am. I…I didn’t realize…” Her chin quivered and her hand flew to stop the sob that managed to escape anyway. Flashes of the previous night were unfurling across her memory. And they terrified her.
“I’m gonna stop.”
Noelle’s expression softened as she choked up, too. “Look, Daki, you’re my best friend. I count on you. Your grandma counts on you. Devi’s Bliss counts on you.”
With the mention of her grandmother, Dakini’s face crumbled. She could not longer contain the tears pooling in her eyes. She supported her grandma in the best senior facility on the West Coast. And she’d just realized she’d missed dinner with her the night before. Instead, she had been out drinking, like the ass that she was.
This, perhaps, was the biggest kick in the teeth.
Noelle continued, “Now that you’ve missed work, do you see there might be a problem? A big one?”
Dakini wiped her eyes. “Yes. I hadn’t realized I’d missed work. And my grandmother.”
“For heaven’s sake,” Noelle said. “I don’t
know how many more times I can watch you do this. It may not bother you, but it’s killing me. I’m just done. Done with it.”
“Oh my god.” Dakini sank into a kitchen chair and put her head in her hands. “I…I’m not even sure what happened last night. There were these guys…I didn’t feel well…the bartender put me in a cab. Oh my god.”
She shook with sobs.
“Dammit, Dakini. You know what could have happened if that bartender hadn’t looked out for you?”
Someone cleared his throat from the next room. Dakini wiped her face on her sleeve, leaving it covered with tears and mascara.
“I’m just grateful you’re okay.” Noelle wrapped her arms around Dakini. “But we’re gonna talk about this more later. Okay?”
“Yeah.” Dakini took a deep breath and sighed, forcing a little smile. She grabbed a paper napkin off the table, dabbed her eyes, and blew her nose.
“Now that we’ve found you, and Dalt has called off the cops, we have to get going. I’m due at work.” Noelle called to the other room, “You guys ready to head out?”
Jake poked his head into the kitchen. “I was thinking of hanging out in the city if I can get my hung-over friend here to put on some clothes and go out for a bit. Whaddya say, Dakini?”
Is he trying to be funny?
She hid her reddened face behind Noelle. “No, no thank you. I’m in no shape to go out. Another time, maybe, Jake. Thank you.”
Who would pass up a date with this man? Clearly only an idiot.
And now he’s seen my red, puffy post-ugly cry face.
He took a seat at the kitchen table across from her as Dalt joined them in the kitchen. “C’mon, it’ll be fun. I don’t have to work. My buddy covered for me when I joined the great search for you.”
