“You sound so upright and proper.” She snickered. “Have you ever been in one?”
“No.”
“Have you ever seen another woman naked?”
“Plenty of times.”
Topless counted, right? Back in my ghost tour days, the girls—and myself—weren’t shy about changing together or helping one another into a corset. Boobs were boobs. Seen one, seen ’em all.
“This is going to be fun.” Remy snickered while she found parking. “I’ll help you with your friend.”
“You look too young. They’ll never let you in.”
“They can smell the truth on me,” she countered. “Besides, places like that don’t much care about age.”
That gave me a chill, and I made a mental note to look harder at brothels within the city. “I got it.”
We reached the address, a boutique hotel with a haint blue door to match its porch ceiling, and I questioned how Linus knew to bring Bishop here. A trendy establishment leaning on old Gullah tradition to keep away ghosts? Common in Savannah, but not typical for Atlanta.
Blue for the sky to trick spirits into passing through and leaving the inhabitants alone or for water, which most wouldn’t—or couldn’t—cross.
Maybe that was the link. Or maybe I was grasping for the familiar as an anchor on this strange sea teeming with sharp-toothed fae.
And me without a harpoon gun.
Remy read my unease with a smirk. “Are you sure you don’t want help?”
“I can manage.” I got out and waited on her to pop the trunk. “Oh, hey.” Bishop’s eyes were open, and they were the snow white of heartless winters that called down avalanches to smite entire villages. “You’re awake. That’s good.” I swiped the binding on his ankles clear since I couldn’t carry him without risk of him biting me. “I’m going to need you to walk. Can you do that?”
“Tá.”
“I’m going to need you to revert to English too. I have no clue what version of Gaelic that is, or if it’s even Gaelic.” After wrapping myself in a layer of Ambrose to keep me relatively safe from nibbles, I helped Bishop sit upright and swing his legs over the bumper. “You’ve got to help me out.”
“I will…try.” He slid his jaw around as if language were a switch he could flip with his tongue. “It will be…easier…after.”
“Gotcha.” I hooked my arm through his and helped him shuffle up the steps. “These folks know you?”
“Tá.” He flinched. “Yes.”
The door flung open before I could knock, and the young man who stood there only sighed at Bishop. He was tall, built lean, and gorgeous in a way that hurt. Not in the same way Midas’s beauty affected me, but its close cousin. His eyes were dark pools, liquid and all-seeing, and his raven hair brushed his hips. This tips of both his ears were pointed sharp enough to cut.
Goddess, this whole city was infested with fae. How had I never seen it? How had I never known it? How did the Society not know? All questions for Bishop, assuming I could talk to him about the fae thing without turning into Miss Manners again.
The man prowled forward and tipped up Bishop’s chin. “Cén scéal?”
They excluded me with their choice of language. On purpose, I was sure.
“Thank you for bringing my friend to safety,” the beautiful man said once they finished their conversation. “It will not be forgotten.”
“You can take care of him?”
“You are new to this world.” He brushed his fingertips over my eyelids, forcing me to close them or let him poke me in the eye. “You see, but you don’t see yet. You will.” Astringent magic wedged itself into my pupils, and I flung open my eyes to see him limned with power. “Ah. There you are, little shadow.”
“Who are you?”
“No names.”
“I don’t have that luxury.” I passed him one of my cards. “Call me if Bishop needs anything.”
“I’ll do that.” The rectangle of paper vanished from his fingertips like magic. “You’re very kind to care.”
“He’s my friend.” I hadn’t been certain before, but I had no doubts now. “It’s what friends do.”
For all my efforts to remain isolated, I was failing on all fronts. I was letting people into my life willy-nilly. This thing with Bishop had doused me with the icy waters of clarity, and I was starting to believe that, like him, the path to safety wasn’t in people not knowing what I was but in people not caring what I was.
Unfortunately for me, I couldn’t rely on a geas to force them into compliance. I would have to do it the old-fashioned way by letting my friends get to know me, the real me. Well, the realest version of me I could show them, and go from there.
Once the man took custody of Bishop, I rejoined Remy in the loaner car and patted the dash, ready to go.
“That’s not a brothel.” Her fear clung in the air like perfume. “That’s…”
The sensation of being watched shivered over my skin, and I checked the stoop, but no one stood there. The man and Bishop had gone inside and shut the door behind them. Except the door wasn’t the same as when I arrived. It was the lush green of pine needles and carved with fanciful creatures. The building wasn’t the same either. Gone was the hotel façade, and in its place sat a house that belonged in a forest in a magical glade.
Using the tail of my shirt, I rubbed my eyes in case that weirdo had wiped something on them, and sure enough, when I opened my eyes, the peculiar vision had fled, leaving behind the hotel with a blue door.
“I don’t want to know.” I leaned back in my seat, blissful in my ignorance. “Just take me home.”
Recovering from her fright, she did, in record time. “Oh, I forgot. Here’s the sales report from last night.”
She passed over a crumpled piece of waxy paper, a cheeseburger wrapper was my guess, covered in meticulous scrawl.
“Thanks.” I accepted it, folded it. “I’ll review these figures and get back with you.”
“You do that.” Her smile was reviving, and so was her color. “I only kicked one customer. You should be proud.”
“You…what?” I cranked my head toward her. “You kicked one of my customers?”
“He wasn’t going to buy anything. He was just creeping around, asking me weirdo questions about how soft the sheets felt on my skin.” Her lip curled. “He asked if I sleep naked, corpse-raiser, and then if I gave demonstrations. What would you have done?”
“Not kicked him.”
“Oh please.” She rolled her eyes and came to a stop in front of the Faraday. “You would have stabbed him at the very least. You don’t carry those swords to clean under your fingernails.”
Thanks to my new employee, I could kiss my five-star rating goodbye. “Para?”
“One hundred percent human.”
“Why am I not surprised?” I slid out of the car. “We’ll talk about this later.”
“Sure thing.” She checked the time. “I’ll swing by at dusk, and we can order in Japanese—I’ll text you my favorites—and we can have our first official meeting.”
“I already have the Peachy Keen numbers.”
“You’re not great with the covert stuff, are you?” Her disappointment was palpable. “The meeting is our cover, where we’ll discuss what I discovered while you two were busy killing other possible sources of information.”
What she was saying hit me with the force of the door slamming in my face, which, for the record, also happened as she dove into traffic.
Hank cocked an eyebrow at first my ride and then me. “Rough night?”
“You have no idea.” I didn’t wait for him to get the door. “Later.”
“Midas is waiting on you,” he called after me loud enough for the whole lobby to hear.
The trip to the den must have been a short one if he beat me here.
“Good for him.” I trudged to the elevator and rode it up to my floor. “Midas, I…”
He was not in the hallway, waiting as Hank implied, which coaxed my te
mper brighter. Midas had let himself into my apartment, again, without permission, again, and I was going to skin me a gwyllgi if he didn’t start allowing me some of the personal boundaries he was so fond of erecting around himself.
Shoving open the door to my apartment, I snarled, “Midas—”
The apartment sat empty. It’s not like he had anywhere to hide with the bathroom door standing open.
Ready to stomp downstairs and chew on the doorman’s ear, I pulled up short at a scratching noise and whirled to find a golden gwyllgi on my fire escape. Standing on his hind legs, he raked at the window with his front paws.
The snit I had been in since I left the fae club evaporated in a puff of exhaustion, and I opened the window. “What do you want?”
Okay, so maybe I had a smidgen of snit left in me.
Midas jerked his head toward the interior of my apartment.
Unwilling to let him off the hook so easily, I blocked his path. “Use your words.”
The change swept through him and left him standing in much the same position. “Ford is stable.”
“I’m glad.” I counted out a full minute, plenty of time for him to get to the point, but he gave every appearance of being done talking. “That’s it?”
A sigh moved through him, as if I was the one exhausting him.
“You rushed out to the den, talking up some big decision, then come back to give an update you could have texted me?” I waited and waited and waited. “Goddess, Midas.” My palms itched to shove him. “What do you want?”
“You.”
“Um.”
What color panties am I wearing? Do they match my bra? Am I wearing a bra? Forget that. Do they have holes? Bleach spots? Elastic?
“You’re backing away,” he pointed out. “You’re also eyeing the door.”
“Be specific with the wanting-me part. I need details.”
“I can’t stay away from you.” He leaned his shoulder against the window frame. “I want to figure out why that is, what about you makes me seek you out when I’ve had a bad day.” He shrugged. “Or when I’ve had a good day.” He picked at peeling paint on the sill from my days of using the window as a front door. “I want to understand why you make me happy when nothing else has in…a long time.”
“Okay.” I pushed out an exhale. “So that wasn’t an invitation to have sex?”
Midas jerked as if I had slapped him, lost his balance—and his cool—and stumbled out of sight.
For a second, I worried he might have fainted dead away and rushed over to lean out the window.
“No,” he said quickly from where he had fallen on his butt. “Unless…you want to?”
Laughter stuck in my throat, but I kept it locked behind my smile for the sake of his ego, and mine.
“I’m thinking if you haven’t been moved to kiss me yet, you’re not desperate to get in my pants.”
Midas had no answer for that.
“You’re the most gorgeous man I have ever met, hands down, and you’ve just taken sex off the table to remove the pressure from our relationship.” I stumbled over relationship, but his relief at getting off the hook for naked shenanigans was too stark. “You’re basically giving me what every girl since the dawn of time has wanted from any guy.”
“That’s good.” Midas lurched to his feet. “Right?”
The worry pinching his mouth made it impossible for me to resist tracing the line with my fingertip, and he let me, his breaths coming in soft pants across my hand.
“I’m mortified to ask this, but—” so long, self-respect, “—do you want me?” I squinted at him like that might blunt his reaction. “Sexually?” I gripped his shoulders in case he started to tip over again. “Not now, today, but are you attracted to me?” I might as well get out the rest. “Can you see this, us, going there?”
Emotion gathered in the far corners of his expression like cobwebs he had to sweep away to see clearer.
“Yes,” he said at last but without doubt. “Can you?”
“Oh, Goldie.” I patted his cheek. “You’re a very pretty boy. I’ve already seen it a few times. Usually at night when there are only reruns on TV.”
Bright color washed through his face, and he rubbed his cheeks, only making it worse. “You never say what I expect.”
“That ought to keep it interesting.” I leaned in, unable to help myself, and kissed his cheek. “Coming in?”
“What are your plans for tonight?”
“Shower, sleep, food.” I shrugged. “What can I say, I live an exciting life.”
“Ford is in Abbott’s care, and Bishop is in good hands.” He climbed into the apartment. “Do you want to go out?”
“Celebrate, you mean?” The witchborn fae problem was far from solved, but we had our people back, and that was a start.
“No.” He faced the window and took his time closing it. “A date.”
Butterfly wings swept along my insides, and I glanced down to make sure my feet hadn’t lifted off the floor.
“A date sounds good.” I leaned around him, catching his eye. “As long as I get to choose the spot.”
“No Joelle’s?”
“Not unless you agree to give me the prime view of the clock while you take the hot seat.”
“I’d be happy if I never had to set foot in Joelle’s again,” he admitted. “Where would you like to go?”
“I’ll surprise you.” I goosed him, and he jumped. “It’s good for you.”
“No one has tickled me since I was a kid.” He brushed a hand over his ribs. “I forgot.”
“How it feels?” I scrunched my fingers at him in warning. “I’m a champion tickler. I will tickle you until you wet your pants, or your fur. When I was a kid, my best friend and I would have contests to see who could make the other leak. We also awarded prizes for pillow fighting.” I buffed my nails on my shirt. “I’m willing to demonstrate my skills upon request.”
Midas ducked his head and laughed, a soft, happy sound that twisted my heart.
“I need to check in with HQ.” I gestured toward the bathroom. “You want to go first?”
How domestic of us, sharing a bathroom, taking turns showering.
By domestic, I meant weird. I didn’t hang around for mornings after. I didn’t chill with boyfriends in their space or invite them into mine. I didn’t do…this. I didn’t get mushy, I didn’t push boundaries, I didn’t try. Yeah. That. I didn’t try to make guys like me. I didn’t try to like them back. I never gave more of myself than the moment required, but I kept spoon-feeding Midas bits of my soul like he was a baby bird pushed from his nest, and it was up to me to make sure he survived.
I didn’t do a lot of things until Ambrose, until Atlanta, until Midas.
Goddess, I was a headcase. Anyone with a lick of sense in my situation would kick him to the curb and let some other woman, one of his appointments—I refused to think of them as dates—claim him. That was the smart thing to do. That’s what Linus would do. Listen to his head and not his heart.
But Linus had a weakness too, a critical one. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be retiring and relocating.
Hearts are so lame. They make us take the dumbest risks. Life would be so much easier without them.
“I’ll go upstairs,” he offered. “That way I won’t use up your hot water.”
“You’re coming back, right?”
Stupid, stupid heart. Why did I ask that? Why had my lungs gotten on board and refused to inflate before he answered?
Come on, organs. Get with the program.
“In about fifteen.” He flicked his glance at the futon. “Do you ever let that thing down?”
“Rarely,” I admitted. “I’m lazy.”
“I’ll help you when I get back.” He opened the door, drummed his fingers on it. “I’m a side sleeper.”
His admission startled the truth out of me. “I’m a starfish.”
He flashed me a grin made easier by clearing the air of expectations then slipped into the hall
.
“Wait.” I rushed after him. “Are we sleeping together?”
“Do what now?” Ares paused halfway between my door and the elevator. “Y’all are sleeping together?”
“Yes,” Midas told her solemnly then kept strolling to the elevator.
“Midas,” I squeaked, halfway between a surprised laugh and genuine embarrassment, but he just grinned behind her back, aware he had left me holding a grenade to diffuse.
“I’m not going to ask.” Ares extended a fancy invitation to me that reminded me of the ones Mother received in my past life. “Here you go.” She checked to make sure we were alone. “You’re really sleeping with Midas?”
“Apparently so.” I tore into the envelope. “Oh frak.”
“You’ve been invited to dine with the alpha.” She punched my shoulder. “Chin up. It’s an honor.”
Narrowing my eyes on her, I used the paper like a fan. “How do you know what it says?”
“She told me.” Ares shrugged. “She said if you make excuses, I’m to personally escort you to the den.”
“Ugh.”
“Did you think courting a prince would be easy? It has nothing to do with twu wuv and everything to do with the alpha, the pack, and your ability to fulfil your future role.”
“I’m not gwyllgi. It’s not like I would be the alpha if I mated him.”
“You would be his mate, and you would share his rank. So, technically, yeah. You would be alpha.”
A wobble started in my knees and kept going until my teeth rattled. “Congratulations.”
Wary, she leaned in. “For?”
“You just convinced me to break up with Midas.”
The laugh I expected morphed into an awkward moment of silence, and she checked both ways down to hall to ensure we were alone. “He told you about Ford?”
“Yeah.”
“Did he tell you anything else?”
“Nothing I’m going to share with you, no.”
“Not the mushy stuff.” She rolled her eyes. “Did he mention any plans?”
“See previous answer.”
Pack of Lies Page 21
