Damn it, she didn’t want just any dick. She wanted Ash, and she blamed him for putting the idea in her head and then bailing. Not that she wanted to prove him right. He’d seemed so sure that she would come around in the end, and if she jumped him the next time he showed his gorgeous face, she could only imagine the smirk he’d pull.
Ugh.
“Get control of yourself, girl,” she murmured, grabbing her hair and throwing it up in a bun.
She put on her slippers, rolling her eyes when she saw the bottoms of the sleep shorts she’d taken to wearing peeking out from under the hem of shirt. Damn it, it had barely been a week since Ash came bursting into her life and already he’d made her as nuts as she thought he was.
Whatever. If he didn’t want to see her again, she couldn’t make him. She’d been happy before the day she saw him standing beside that tree, and she’d be ecstatic if she never saw him again.
And if she told herself that enough times, maybe she’d actually believe that whopper this time around.
Since Mitch had mentioned that he wasn’t going into the office today—for the first time in Callie didn’t know how long—she figured he was still sleeping when she saw that his door was closed. Feeling queasy at just the thought of knocking on it even though she’d never turn to her friend just to scratch this crazy itch, she shuffled past it.
Still, she was heading to make breakfast. She might as well see if he wanted any.
“Mitch?” she called out. “I’m gonna make some waffles. You want some?”
No answer.
He must still be sleeping, she mused. Good. He needed the rest.
She milled around the kitchen, pulling out all of the ingredients she would need to make waffles. For some strange reason, it looked like there were fewer things in the pantry, the drawers, the fridge than there had been before. Maybe it was time to take a run to the grocery store. Might as well since she didn’t really have anything else to do today, and going to the park to take more photographs just didn’t appeal to her at the moment.
As she went to the cabinet where she swore she kept their waffle iron, she noticed that it wasn’t just food that was missing. The whole kitchen looked different. Something… something wasn’t right. It took her longer than it should’ve to notice that Mitch’s cast iron pan was missing, especially since it had been so handy the other day against Ash.
Not that she was planning on threatening him with it again.
If he ever showed up again, that was.
Shaking her head, she started to look for the cast iron pan. She still wasn’t so sure that Ash hadn’t snagged Mitch’s watch, and though she couldn’t figure out how he’d take the cast iron pan when he was clearly wary of it, maybe that was exactly why it was gone now.
Sure, she might—against her better judgment—want to fuck Ash, but she’d be a moron to trust anything he said.
After another search, she realized that there was no sign of the cast iron pan. Even weirder, that wasn’t the only other item that was gone. Mitch’s knife set. His favorite cereal bowl. The set of good glasses that he kept for when Tony and Ariadne came by for dinner.
Ignoring the sinking suspicion in the pit of her stomach, she left the kitchen, heading for the bathroom they shared.
Everything that Mitch used was gone.
What the—
Though it took every ounce of will Callie had, she went to his bedroom. The suspicion had ramped up to a burst of anxiety she couldn’t ignore so, instead of knocking, she threw open the door.
There was a mattress in there.
That was all.
A mattress.
No bedding. No blankets. No pillows.
Callie darted in, yanking open his closet door. Not even a hanger lingered inside.
“Mitch?”
She had a phone in her room. Trading Mitch’s for hers, Callie grabbed the handset and dialed his cellphone number, grateful she had memorized it.
Of course the fucker was off. Why wouldn’t it be when it seemed as if her closest friend had up and disappeared without a word?
Slamming down the phone, she tried in vain to make sense of what had happened. Because it didn’t make any sense at all. It was like Mitch had taken everything he owned with him overnight, moving out without saying a damn thing, and he would never, ever do that… would he?
She thought about calling her sister, maybe having Ariadne ask Tony about Mitch. Since that would inevitably lead to everyone losing their shit if they didn’t know, she decided to wait until she could get in touch with him first. The phone wasn’t on right now, but it would be eventually, right?
And then she’d make him explain.
Because this? It was inexplicable.
Callie stormed out of her room. She wasn’t sure if she was surprised or angry or just confused. Mostly confused, she decided, and definitely not hungry any longer. She headed back toward the kitchen, determined to put away all of the ingredients she had taken out—and that’s when she noticed the envelope with her name scrawled in Mitch’s sloppy handwriting on it.
It was resting on the back of the couch. He probably thought she couldn’t miss it, but she obviously had.
Until now.
Her heart racing, pulse pounding, Callie snatched the envelope and tore it open. If he thought he could explain the way he dipped out so suddenly in a letter, then he had another think coming.
And then she read the single page he’d tucked inside, and it suddenly made just a little more sense.
8
The first time Callie saw Ash conjure a portal, she’d been amazed after she got over her surprise.
The second?
She barely paid it any attention.
Still stunned by Mitch’s note, she felt the air shift in the hallway a few seconds before the rush of warmth licked at her back.
Ash murmured a soft greeting.
He didn’t knock, she noticed. Five days since she last saw him and he came with barely a ‘hello’ and no pretenses whatsoever that she could actually keep the powerful fae out even if she wanted to. It had been barely a week since the first time she spotted him lurking on the edge of the park and already Ash had made himself at home in her apartment.
Her apartment. Not their apartment. And all because Mitch had suddenly decided that he needed to head back to the suburbs.
Coincidence? If only she was the type of girl who believed in coincidences. It seemed too much to be one, but Mitch made it clear in his letter. He promised to keep paying his half of the rent until she could find a new roommate, but he’d learned earlier this week that he was denied the promotion. Worse, his start-up company expected him to keep up the same level of work with a notable pay cut.
The stress had broken her poor friend. Too embarrassed and ashamed to tell her the truth, he’d spent the last few days making arrangements to move in with his parents. She shouldn’t blame her sister for not telling her sooner since he’d made his mom and dad swear not to let his brother or his wife know. It was bad enough he’d felt like he had to abandon Callie and the city. The last thing he wanted was to deal with Tony telling him “I told you so”.
He didn’t answer his cellphone because he didn’t have it anymore. He turned it in when he quit his job. And until he could get his head screwed on straight, he was begging Callie not to call him at his parents’ home. He’d get in touch with her when he felt like he could face her again but, until then, the money would be in their rent account for the first every month.
He swore it.
Too bad that Callie didn’t give a shit about the money. She just wanted her friend to be okay. And if that meant giving him his space, she would—and when she heard from him again, she’d rip him a goddamn new one for feeling like he had to sneak out in the middle of the night like some kind of thief or something.
So maybe Callie couldn’t help but wonder if Mitch had a push out the door. On two separate occasions Ash had made it clear that he wanted Mitch gone… but he wouldn’
t really have done something about it, would he?
No. No, Callie told herself. How could he? Mitch had been working toward this promotion for months, long before that June day when she first spotted Ash in the park. Mitch had known it was only a chance even then, and he’d always been a bit overdramatic. She could totally buy him turning tail and running home again when they denied him.
She sighed and, shoving the letter she’d read countless times that morning back into its envelope, turned to look behind her at Ash.
The reality of Mitch leaving had one bonus. Since this morning, she’d managed to wrangle her lusty libido under control. She’d showered, dressed, and plopped herself on the couch without sex—or Ash—crossing her mind again. Looking at him now, she appreciated how gorgeous, if aloof, he was, but she could smile at him without wondering what he looked like under the same white trimmed with gold uniform he always wore.
“Something wrong, Callie?”
At least he wasn’t starting up with that ‘human’ BS again. They were beyond that now. She could see the truth of that written on his flawless features. The touch they shared had done something to them both, and she probably would’ve been more worried about that realization if it wasn’t for Mitch’s sudden disappearance.
She set the envelope down on the couch cushion. “Hey. You wouldn’t happen to be looking for a place in the human world, would you?”
“Excuse me?”
“Nothing. Forget about it.”
“But I don’t want to,” he told her, a sly smile tugging on his lips. Her stomach flip-flopped. “Are you inviting me to stay?”
“What? No. It’s just… I’m out one roommate.” She watched him closely, looking for a reaction she instinctively knew she’d never get. He didn’t disappoint, either. “It’s fine. I’ll be fine. It was just a joke.”
“If you mean you finally got rid of that male like I told you to, then I’m glad. But let’s get back to your request. Are you asking me if I’d stay the night with you?”
His lyrical voice was almost a purr.
Callie thought of the way she went all hot and liquid-y at his touch. In an instant, Mitch was shoved to the back of her mind—and that probably should’ve worried her a bit, too.
“That’s not what I—”
“I’m a creature of Faerie, a member of the Summer Court. A Light Fae, Callie. A Blessed One. I can only cross into the Iron during the daylight,” Ash explained. “When the shadows fall, I must return. I could never stay the night with you.”
“I didn’t—”
“But,” he continued, as if she hadn’t said a word, “we don’t need the night. Now that the other male is gone, we can share our days together. Come with me.”
“Wait.” She blinked. Maybe she was still pretty horny, and she was definitely not in the best state of mind right now, but she’d been half-expecting him to proposition her. Especially the way he said come like that, only that wasn’t the vibe she got from him. Was she wrong? “What?”
“Come with me.”
“What type of ‘coming’ are we talking about?”
Ash laughed. It struck her then that that was the first time she ever heard his laugh. It was clear, almost crystal-like, and it delighted her in a way she would’ve thought impossible the first time she read Mitch’s goodbye letter.
“I’m willing to wait for what you have in your mind, dear Callie. You weren’t lying when you told me you were no innocent, but that can wait. Let me seduce you. Let me make you want my touch. Let me get to know you, and show you that I’m more than what you think I am. I beg of you, don’t refuse me again. You won’t regret saying ‘yes.’”
Callie wasn’t so sure of that. And, yet, her knee-jerk reaction to reject this fae male was nowhere near as strong as it had been.
“Okay. Say I bite. You want me to come with you. I assume you mean a place. So where? Where are we going?” she asked, not even trying to hide her suspicion. He hadn’t tried to convince her to visit Faerie with him again, but that didn’t mean she believed he gave up on the idea.
Which was why she was surprised when his eyes brightened.
“Wherever you want to go, my ffrindau.”
She didn’t have half a clue what that meant, but it sounded so much like ‘friend’ that it had to be that.
Friend.
She could use a friend right now.
“You know what? Okay. Let’s go.”
“It’s almost sundown.”
Ash joined Callie at her living room window. “So it is.”
It was the end of July. She’d lost track of how many times they’d ended another afternoon together at this very same window, watching the sun threaten to separate them. Only it wasn’t a threat so much as it was a promise since Ash would have to leave before the sun completely set and night fell.
Since he’d come to see her more regularly, her fae had explained how the iron in the human world affected him, how his magic and his aura interfered with her tech—specifically her lightbulbs and her appliances—and how the shadows on her side of the veil were more poisonous than those in Faerie. If he stayed, he’d weaken so greatly that there was a chance he’d never be able to create another portal to return to his world again.
So he had to return. He also finally admitted what he was doing in that hazy patch the day they met. He was a fae soldier, serving the most powerful fae in all of Faerie—Melisandre, the Fae Queen—and while he wasn’t in battle or guarding his queen, he was posted along the borders, protecting Faerie from any intruders that might make their way through the thinnest points of the veil. Just like she guessed, the patch marked a breach between worlds, and he’d been guarding it when he first caught sight of Callie and knew that she was different.
To Ash, she couldn’t help being human anymore than he could help obeying the rise and fall of the sun. He’d never use the word weakness, but she knew how he felt and decided early on that she had to accept him for what he was unless she wanted to say goodbye.
Not that she expected he’d let her, but since he never forced her to do anything she didn’t want to, she knew her rejection would hurt him more than it would amuse him now that she’d learned to know more about him.
Lately, though, Ash had been staying longer and longer, pushing his return to Faerie back. He confessed he felt unsettled when they apart, and wished they didn’t have to be. Surprisingly, he didn’t bring up her visiting Faerie again, and when she subtly mentioned that it wouldn’t be that big of a deal being locked out of Faerie if he decided to stay with her, Ash didn’t deny it.
In fact, he said, “Perhaps. At any rate, maybe I should learn about the world that has your heart. You belong in the Iron. I’d like to understand why.”
So she brought him to movie matinees, trying not to laugh when the projector gave out halfway after Ash’s aura surged during one of the horror scenes. They went out to lunch, sharing human food while Ash told Callie solemnly never to accept or eat food from Faerie unless she never wanted to experience the deliciousness that was pepperoni pizza ever again.
They went for afternoon strolls around the city, helping Ash build his tolerance to the iron that surrounded them. It was at his insistence, too, since he didn’t want it to ever come between the two of them.
Most of all, though, they spent a lot of their time in her apartment together talking. Mainly because Ash did better when they were alone without an audience of humans gawking at him in the glamour he adopted to fit in, but also because he liked having all of her attention on him.
Especially after an incident that took place at the movie theatre. Right before previews started, Callie went to run to the bathroom and then get some popcorn for Ash to try. From experience, she knew he’d come looking for her if she took too long—no matter where she was or where she went, he had a knack for tracking her down—and she tried to brush off the guy flirting with her while she was waiting for her corn to finish popping.
When he didn’t get the hint, she tr
ied to move away from him. The guy didn’t like that and he lashed out, grabbing Callie’s arm to keep her from walking away from him.
Before she could break his hold, Ash appeared like an avenging angel. He grabbed the man’s hand and squeezed. There was a cracking sound, almost like bones breaking, but Ash met the guy’s suddenly dilated eyes and said, voice layered with both glamour and suggestion, “Scream and I’ll rip your testicles off.”
Poor guy didn’t even whimper.
Ash squeezed his hand again. More cracking. More breaking.
He shoved the man away from Callie. “Now go.”
He did. Moving as if the hounds of hell were after him, the jerk tore out of the cineplex. No one stopped him, just like no one regarded Ash with anything other than shock and awe—which he took as his due, of course.
Ash held out his hand. Callie winced when she saw the shiny pink skin, burned raw but healing quickly. Blisters formed then faded as she watched.
Her fae smiled over at her. “Come. The movie’s getting ready to begin. I didn’t want you to miss it.”
Without even thinking about her popcorn, she slipped her hand in Ash’s waiting palm and headed toward the theatre.
After a few weeks, and many more lonely nights, she had to admit they were dating. Ash still referred to it as studying the Iron, trying to understand her fascination with the human world, but Callie knew what it was even if her haughty Light Fae male didn’t: they were dating, and she wasn’t sure how much longer it was going to last.
He seemed so into her, but Callie had had guys that were super devoted until they got what they wanted and then, as if overnight, they weren’t.
Still, he was definitely jealous. Once she broke through his icy facade, Callie realized that he blazed as hot as the sun that gave him his power. Even though she’d finally talked to Mitch and he assured her that he was home and he was happy—though he regretted the cowardly way he left—she still couldn’t help but think, “I wonder.”
Glamour Eyes: a Rejected Mates Fae Romance (Wanted by the Fae Book 1) Page 7
