Goddess in the Middle

by Stephanie Julian

  Rom tried hard to control his fear for Amity, but Remy felt it eating him from the inside out. He also felt the emotions Rom tried to cast aside. The hopeful ones. The ones that revealed emotion. The ones he thought made him vulnerable.

  Remy understood. He did. He just didn’t agree with Rom trying to submerge his emotions, rather than dealing with them.

  Remy was sick of living day to day, on the run and always looking over his shoulder.

  He wanted a home. He wanted to be part of the lucani community, to fight for something other than vengeance. Wanted to come home at night and share a bed with Amity. And he wanted Rom to be there with them.

  A subtle vibration against his hip caught his attention and Amity shifted against him, pulling her cell phone from her back pocket.

  She frowned as she noted the name on the screen.

  “Perrin, is that you? Is everything okay?”

  Rom’s stress level spiked and Remy shot him a look before the name registered. Perrin was Amity’s burn patient.

  “Perrin, slow down, honey. I’m not quite sure what you’re trying to say.”

  Amity fell silent and Remy was able to hear the other woman’s frightened voice coming through the cell.

  “I had a dream last night that I’m not sure was a dream. I know how that sounds but I— Something happened and I don’t know how to explain it and I don’t know who else I can talk to. Because… Because something happened yesterday. Something happened after our session. Or during it. I just… I think we need to talk. In person. So you can see for yourself.”

  Amity’s face continued to pale until her skin looked like the color of milk. But her voice remained calm when she spoke. “Of course. We can meet. I can be in my office—”

  “I don’t think we should meet in your office. I think there might be too many questions. Is there somewhere else?”

  “Yes. Absolutely. Let me give you the address.”

  As Amity recited an address somewhere in the city of Reading, Rom began to shake his head, staring up at the ceiling as if praying for strength.

  Remy wanted to join him but figured she didn’t need both of them looking like they were about to start chewing the walls.

  “Give me an hour, Perrin, but I promise I’ll be there.”

  “I just need you to see what’s going on. To talk about this. I don’t want to cause any trouble—”

  “Perrin.” Amity’s tone soothed. “Everything’s going to be fine. We’ll figure this out, and I’ll see you soon.”

  “Okay. Okay, I just… I need to talk to you.”

  “And I won’t let you down. I’ll be there, Perrin. I’ll see you in an hour.”

  She hung up the phone, her gaze shifting to Remy then to Rom. “I told her I’d meet her at Sal’s. Remy,” she handed over her phone, “would you please use my phone to call Sal and tell him we’ll be there in thirty minutes?”

  He took the phone without comment because he knew Rom was about to stick his foot in his mouth and tell her no way.

  But his cousin surprised the shit out of him. “I’ll contact Cole, let him know we’re not going today.” Then Rom reached for her and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Perrin will be okay. We’ll make sure of it.”

  Remy heard something in Rom’s voice he hadn’t heard in a long time—compassion. And Remy knew it was for Perrin. Obviously something about her had struck a chord in him.

  Amity nodded, but she didn’t look convinced. “I’m just going to… I should…”

  Rom took her by the shoulders and moved her a couple of steps closer to the nearest chair. “You should sit for a few minutes. Let Remy and me do what we have to do, then we’ll be on the road.”

  She nodded again and sat, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.

  Rom gave Remy a quick nod then headed for the front door, pulling the door closed behind him as he pulled his phone from his back pocket.

  Remy turned his attention to Amity’s phone for Sal’s number. He wondered when the other shoe was going to drop. Remy called Sal, who grunted his assent after Remy explained why he was calling then hung up as if he’d been in the middle of something and too busy to talk.

  “All right.” Rom came back in the house and headed straight for Amity. He reached for her, taking her hands and pulling her to her feet. “I brought Cole up to speed. Told him we’re leaving now. He said he’ll send a lucani guard to Sal’s if we decide we need one. All we have to do is call.”

  Remy had no doubt Cole would come through if they needed him. Nice to know they had an army waiting at their backs if they needed one.

  “Remy, you get Sal?”

  He nodded. “We’re good to go.”

  “Then let’s move. I want to be in place before Perrin gets there.”

  Amity’s attention refocused on Rom. “You think this is a setup?”

  That’s exactly what Remy was thinking, and he knew Rom was too. Not that Perrin was in on the deal. Just that she was being used to get to Amity.

  Which just meant they should leave her behind with the lucani until they knew more.

  But Remy wasn’t foolish enough to suggest it and, for once, Rom didn’t try to tell her what to do.

  “I’m not sure what I think yet,” was Rom’s mostly diplomatic response. “We can talk in the car.”

  But they didn’t. The twenty-minute ride was silent. Amity stared out the passenger window, Remy kept his gaze fluid, making sure no one followed them. Rom’s usually strict regard for all rules of cautious driving had given way to a lead foot.

  By the time they reached the nondescript townhouse on the south side of Reading, Remy’s hands hurt from being clenched into fists and he had the start of a pretty decent headache. Rom’s jaw looked ready to crack, and Amity had worried her bottom lip almost bloody.

  Damn. God damn it. She was empathic. She was picking up their emotions, amplifying her own fears.

  Shit.

  With a conscious effort, he pushed back the fear. Submerged it under the fiery emotion he felt for her. Let that emotion rise up and consume him.

  Could he call it love? Surely three days wasn’t enough time to fall in love? Love had to build over time. Gradually. Right?

  Vaffanculo, this situation was fucked up enough without him injecting emotions he had no business even considering with her.

  She was a freaking goddess, for fuck’s sake.

  And he was a mortal lucani. Whose life might not even belong to him.

  That damn prophecy…

  Stress began to rise again, so he shoved everything but the thought of Amity out of his mind.

  The way she felt in his arms. The way she looked when she came. The smile she had only for him and Rom.

  He wanted that all the time. Not just for a few stolen days.

  Rom opened his door and slid out, ripping Remy’s attention back to the present. Where Amity stared at him over the front seat, her lips curved in a soft smile. As if she’d read his mind.

  She didn’t say anything, and when Rom opened her door seconds later, she slid out silently.

  He followed, making sure no one got too interested in them.

  But this wasn’t the type of neighborhood where people hung out on their porches and talked to each other. The houses all looked like their owners took some pride in the facades, but no longer had the money for new paint jobs or doors made in this century.

  The residents probably had nine-to-five jobs, and their kids were in school. They said hi if they happened to pass you in the street but they didn’t stop and they made sure their smile wasn’t too friendly. They did live in the city, after all.

  With Rom’s hand on her elbow and Remy at her back, Amity climbed the few stairs to a house that looked just like all the rest, until you noticed the unusual decoration in the wood trim around the front door.

  Protection runes. Old, powerful, and so well worked into the decoration that, unless you knew what you were looking at, you wouldn’t have a clue they were there.
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  As they stepped onto the porch, the power emanating from the building hit him. Remy drew in a quick breath, which Rom echoed.

  “Yes,” Amity murmured. “Amazing, isn’t it? And only noticeable to those with Etruscan blood. This building has been here for more than a century and it sits directly over the ley line that runs through the city.”

  “As long as it’s safe.” Rom reached for the bell set into the trim but Amity simply reached for the doorknob and twisted.

  It opened to reveal a small hallway and a staircase that led to the second floor.

  Rom entered first, holding one outspread hand behind him. Rom wanted him to keep Amity out of the house until he’d swept it.

  But Amity was having none of it. She slipped by Rom and headed down the hall.

  “Sal, we’re here.”

  Remy watched Rom bite back a curse and take a few long strides to catch up with her. Luckily, Rom kept his mouth shut.

  “I’m coming, I’m coming.” Sal’s voice drifted down from the second floor and Remy heard the light click of hooves on hardwood floors before he caught sight of the salbinelli heading down the stairs.

  “Holy shit.”

  Rom’s low exclamation reminded Remy that Rom hadn’t met Sal yet. And Rom’s expression was enough to make Remy grin.

  “Dude, your mouth’s hanging open.” Remy leaned over and mock-whispered in his cousin’s ear.

  Rom shot him a burning, split-second glare before he straightened as Sal stopped in front of him.

  Though Rom towered over the salbinelli, he bowed his head in deference.

  “Aw, hell, not you, too.” Sal put his hands on his hips, an unlit cigar clenched between his teeth. “Tinia’s teat, I’m feeling my fucking age today. Knock it off with the wide-eyed reverence already. I’m so not in the mood, boy.”

  Remy bit back a smile as Rom’s eyes widened even more before he blinked and cleared his expression as Sal stomped past him, took Amity’s hand, and drew her along with him.

  After a few seconds, Rom turned to Remy. “You could’ve warned me, ceffo. He’s a fucking salbinelli.”

  Remy shrugged, trying to hide a smile at Rom’s obviously stunned amazement. “Kinda slipped my mind with everything going on.”

  Which was the absolute truth. But still cool to see the usually unflappable Rom knocked on his ass by someone two feet shorter and half goat.

  Rom shook his head and his mouth began to curve in a grin. “Holy shit, he’s a salbinelli.”

  “Yes, he is. And he’s a pretty decent guy, but let’s not keep him waiting. I don’t want to end up with a tail.”

  ***

  Rom tried not to stare at Sal and he thought he succeeded. Mostly.

  Still, it was hard to keep from watching a guy who had goat legs trot around the kitchen making coffee.

  The New York accent had been a surprise, but after a few minutes Rom thought he’d caught an underlying accent, and he was tying his brain in knots trying to identify it. He couldn’t let it go, trying to puzzle out what it was, but reality intruded when Sal began to question Amity about Perrin’s phone call.

  “And you’re sure she’s not working for the Mal? They’d love to know where this place is. They’ve been looking for it for decades.”

  “I’ve been working with Perrin for the past several months.” Amity shook her head. “She’s not working for the Mal. She’s not working for Charun. She has no idea that the magical races exist. I know this because I’ve been in her head. I know what she’s felt. And the only things she’s felt recently have been pain and fear.”

  The pain in Amity’s voice was clear and Rom reached for her without thought. His arm curved around her shoulders just as Remy reached for her thigh, squeezing. Her tight muscles relaxed under their hands and she gave each of them a sweet smile before turning back to continue her conversation with Sal.

  And Rom knew that what he felt for this woman, this goddess, went beyond reverence. Beyond duty or gratitude.

  He was pretty sure Remy had already come to the same conclusion earlier today but Rom would admit, if only to himself, that he was a little slow on the uptake sometimes. Especially when it came to emotions.

  He didn’t like them. They fucked him over every time. If he could keep the damn things in line, then life was a hell of a lot easier to handle.

  But he’d had enough of living life without emotion.

  He wanted a life. One that didn’t involve packing up and moving from crappy hotel to rented house to crappy hotel every couple of months.

  And even if he had to kill a god, they were going to have it.

  “Rom, you okay with that?” Sal asked.

  Shit, obviously he’d missed some of the conversation.

  “Okay with what?”

  Sal lifted one eyebrow at him. “Okay with me opening the door and saying, ‘Hi, Perrin. Please don’t run screaming. I don’t really have goat legs and horns. It’s just your imagination. Come on in and have a drink.’”

  Rom’s mouth dropped open and, in his head, he had one brief, surreal image of Sal doing just that. Then he laughed.

  And laughed harder when Remy and Sal stared at him like he’d gone off the deep end.

  Only Amity’s expression lightened. She leaned forward, one hand outstretched to run her fingers down his jaw. “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “You have a very sexy laugh.”

  He felt a flush burn his cheeks, but his smile remained, and he managed to force a few mumbled words through his lips. “Only for you.”

  Which was apparently the right thing to say because her lips split into an unrestrained grin. She looked ready to speak again, but the doorbell rang at that moment and the tension level in the room rose by two hundred percent.

  “Game time,” Sal muttered.

  In his peripheral vision, Rom saw something happen to Sal, but until he turned from Amity to really look, he hadn’t understood what it was.

  Rom blinked and barely heard Remy’s quiet “holy shit” as Sal slid from the chair and headed for the front door.

  Sal looked like a young teen, wearing a Phillies ball cap, jeans, sneakers, and a black T-shirt. Even his face had undergone a transformation.

  No one would look twice at him on a city street. Unless they looked into his eyes.

  Fuck, that was freaky.

  “Look lively, boys.” Sal’s voice hadn’t changed, though, and that came as another shock. “Let’s not have the girl run screaming in the first five minutes.”

  Amity rose and followed Sal, which made sense considering Perrin was expecting to see her.

  Remy motioned him to follow and they headed through the dining room and a sitting room into the front living room.

  But as soon as Amity opened the door, she gasped.

  “Perrin…”

  Amity’s voice held a note of shock that had Remy and Rom on their feet and heading toward the hallway and the front door. They stopped just before moving into the doorway where Perrin would be able to see them, standing frozen, waiting to come to Amity’s rescue if she needed them.

  “So I’m not just seeing things. You see it too.” Perrin’s voice held a palpable sense of relief. And an almost desperate amusement. “Thank God. I thought I was going crazy.”

  “No. No, you’re not going crazy.” Amity’s voice had gained a little strength but not much. “But we need to talk. And what I have to say may come as a shock.”

  “Believe me, nothing could shock me as much as seeing my face in the mirror this morning.”

  “Don’t be too sure of that.”

  As Amity appeared in the doorway, Remy and Rom stepped back as she waved a hand in front of her and Perrin stepped into the room.

  She froze like a deer in headlights when she saw Rom then quickly looked at Remy.

  Rom knew she remembered him, knew she was trying to figure out why a man who was supposed to be a product rep was in Amity’s home, along with a man who had scars much as she
did.

  And then he realized what his eyes had seen but his brain hadn’t been able to process.

  “Tinia’s teat.”

  “Amity.” Perrin’s eyes grew wide and fear made her blanch to the color of cream. “Why is he here?”

  “Because I wasn’t honest with you at the hospital yesterday.” Amity’s voice had fallen into that soothing cadence. “Obviously you remember Rom. This is his cousin, Remy. They’re my bodyguards and my lovers.”

  Spoken so bluntly, the words made Perrin’s eyes widen even more. And it was even more powerful for the fact that it was true. Having Amity say the words made it more real somehow. And made it that much more believable.

  “Both…” She shook her head, as if trying to get her brain to think how she wanted. “But…”

  Finally her eyes narrowed and she looked at Rom. “Are you going to hurt me?”

  His heart twisted at the resigned expectation in her voice and he knew Remy had barely bitten back a vicious curse aimed not at Perrin, but at the man who’d made her fear so deeply.

  “We will never hurt you, Perrin.” He wanted her to hear the vow in his voice, wanted her to know the truth in his words. “And we won’t allow anyone to hurt you ever again.”

  Perrin began to blink rapidly and Rom could scent tears forming. But she didn’t let one fall. Then her chin tilted up. “I’ve learned that you can’t trust anyone. Most especially men.”

  He couldn’t blame her for that. “Do you trust Amity?”

  A slight pause. “I did.”

  Amity winced and he wanted to reach for her, but he didn’t want to startle Perrin. She reminded him of a terrified rabbit, frozen in the sights of a predator. “No. You do. You know she’s done nothing except try to help you. And she has. I know you’re confused right now. I completely understand. But if you can’t trust me, then trust her.”

  Perrin held Rom’s gaze for several long seconds, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Remy had taken his cues from Rom and stood stock still behind him.

  Sal was still out of sight in the hallway but Rom knew he was waiting, as well.

  Finally Perrin took a deep breath. “I do trust Amity.”