Mags & Nats 3-Book Box Set

by Stephanie Fazio

  I wasn’t exactly sure why I was agreeing to this, except for the fact that spending the night alone in my room seemed like the worst kind of torture.

  We said our goodbyes and disconnected. And then, Diego and I were alone.

  CHAPTER 43

  Iemerged from Diego’s bathroom half an hour later, free of Synthetic eye goo and drowning in Diego’s clothes.

  He hadn’t been idle in my absence. There was a picnic laid out on his bed.

  “You can fight, dance, and cook?” I teased. “Now I’m really impressed.”

  “You forgot kiss,” Diego reminded me. He plucked a cherry tomato from his plate and made deep eye contact with me while he ate it.

  Laughing and blushing, I grabbed a seat on the floor next to him.

  “I like seeing you in my clothes,” Diego said.

  “What’s for dinner?” I asked, a tad louder than necessary.

  Smooth, Bri.

  Grinning, because he knew he’d unsettled me, Diego nodded at the plate in front of me. There was a piece of grilled chicken slathered in black beans and avocado chunks, with a spinach salad on the side. I hadn’t realized until this second that I was ravenous.

  “You didn’t have to do this,” I told him, even as I dug into the salad.

  Normally, I avoided meat for A.J.’s sake, but I didn’t want to be rude by snubbing the food Diego had cooked for me. Besides, it wasn’t like not eating this chicken would benefit him or her now.

  Muttering a quick apology to the chicken gods, I took a bite.

  Spice flooded my tongue, making my eyes water. I barely managed to swallow before I started to cough.

  “Like it?” Diego asked, his lip twitching.

  “Hot,” I said, quickly stuffing some spinach leaves in my mouth to put out the fire.

  Diego got up and came back with a glass of milk. “This’ll help cut it,” he told me.

  I noticed that Diego’s food had slices of chili peppers in addition to whatever edible lava he’d already put in.

  “I guess you really do like it hot,” I said, remembering his explanation for why he chewed cinnamon gum.

  “Boy do I.” Diego dragged his gaze lazily from my bare feet up to my eyes.

  “Diego.” I gave him an exasperated look.

  He retorted with an unapologetic grin.

  “How’s your leg?” I asked, inclining my head at the bandage around Diego’s calf.

  Diego cringed. “Can we not talk about the fact that I got slapped by a tail?”

  I snorted at that. “Yeah, I’m actually a little embarrassed for you.”

  Diego humphed. From his lack of an obnoxious response, and the way he was staring at the rain streaming down the window, I could tell his mind was elsewhere.

  “What are you thinking?” I asked.

  Diego took a long time to respond. When he did, there was no hint of levity. “I’m thinking I need the Agent S now more than ever. If those Synthetics ever get loose, it’ll be a nightmare.”

  I couldn’t disagree with him there, and yet, I couldn’t stop a flare of disappointment. After Diego brought me up to find Lilly instead of going after the Agent S, I’d thought we hit some kind of turning point.

  “I’m never going to change my mind on this, Bri,” Diego said, like he was reading my thoughts. “You know that, right?”

  I stabbed another bite of chicken.

  Instead of agreeing with him, I asked, “What was it like, growing up the way you did?”

  “It wasn’t so bad.” Diego rearranged the food on his plate with his fork. “For the first eighteen years of my life, I only left the house at night to fly. I had to stay high enough that no one would see me or sense my magic, so I never interacted with anyone. My parents taught me everything from chemistry to poetry to mandarin.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “I’m fluent in six languages, and I can seduce you in all of them.”

  “Maybe some other time.” I rolled my eyes, and then took a sip of milk to hide my smile.

  “After my parents discovered a temporary version of the MRP, I could start going out,” Diego said, getting serious again. “It was…strange to actually be in the world, instead of just observing it from books or TV.

  “I think my parents assumed I would go visit some historical monuments or museums or something.”

  “Where did you go?” I asked, curious. I had no idea where my first stop would be if I’d spent the first eighteen years of my life sequestered in my parents’ house.

  “Underground boxing rings and sex clubs.”

  I choked on my milk. For several seconds, it was touch and go whether it would come back out through my nose. Finally victorious, I asked, “Sex clubs?”

  “What do you expect from an eighteen-year-old who can get in anywhere he wants without an ID?” Diego retorted.

  Point taken.

  Diego shrugged. “I could only be out for a couple of hours at a time before the side effects of the MRP got to me. Too much of the temporary formula has a sedative effect, and it wasn’t like I could tell anyone what I was.”

  What…not who. Like Diego was a thing rather than a person. I wanted to correct him, but he spoke first.

  “I honestly don’t remember a whole lot from that year.” Diego’s smile turned sad. “If I’d known how little time I had left with my parents, I would have done things differently.”

  For several seconds, the rain beating on the glass was the only sound in the small apartment. I knew Diego didn’t want my pity, but I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.

  Diego had become very interested in his food, and I got the sense he regretted telling me so much. I didn’t want him to close himself off, though, so I decided to return the favor.

  “I get it,” I told him. “I only lived that life for a year after I took out my tracker, but it was awful. My brother spent every minute with his wife, and I barely saw him. My parents were so sad it felt like a viper was squeezing the life out of me every time I talked to them.”

  It took me a few seconds to compose myself as I reopened my box of memories from that year.

  “I spent most of my days watching shit daytime TV,” I admitted. “The high points of my week were when I got to bounce for Liquid Magic.”

  Diego’s attention was so intent on me that I found it difficult to hold his stare. He seemed like he was about to say something, but then he just shook his head.

  “Are you finished?” he asked, nodding at my plate.

  “Oh, right,” I said, feeling a little foolish. “You probably want to get some sleep.” I glanced at the bed.

  Diego’s chuckle was deep and rich.

  “Cariño, I have no intention of sleeping tonight.”

  “Presumptuous of you, don’t you think?” I gave him my best attempt at being scandalized. In truth, I was just grateful to be back to our sarcastic sniping.

  I’d begun feeling unbalanced by the personal turn our conversation had taken.

  “Presumptuous is my middle name,” Diego replied, taking our plates to the kitchen and putting them in the sink. He turned back to me and crossed his arms. “What’s between you and the blonde oaf?”

  “His name is Adam,” I corrected, a little thrown off by the unexpected question.

  “Okay. What’s between you and the blonde oaf named Adam?”

  I shook my head in exasperation. “We messed around a couple of times. There was nothing there, so we decided to just be friends.”

  “I don’t believe any man could just be friends with you.”

  “Believe it,” I replied, pulling my knees up to my chest and wrapping my arms around them. “I’m more cut out for friendship than romance.”

  Diego gave me a slow, predatory smile. “That changes here and now, Bri Hammond.”

  I believed him. He hadn’t even touched me, and he was driving me crazy with the tenor of his voice and the sensuous promise in his eyes.

  “What happens now?” I asked, feeling a little winded.

  “Now
,” he said, scooping me up and depositing me on his mattress. “I’m going to get you naked. And then, I’m going to see if the rest of you tastes as sweet as your beautiful lips.”

  “Diego,” I managed, but that was as far as I got. He pulled me on top of him and drew my face down to his.

  If I’d thought our other kisses were passionate, they were nothing compared to this. I was instantly on fire. The torrential rain pounded against the window, drowning out the embarrassing moans I couldn’t hold back as Diego dragged his tongue across mine.

  I pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it across the room. I drank in the sight of his copper skin and tattoos, which seemed to come alive as his muscles flexed.

  Diego slid his hands up the too-big shorts I was wearing to grasp my hips. He pulled back from our kiss, his chest heaving. When I opened my eyes, it was to find him staring at me in amazement.

  “No panties?” he asked in a husky voice.

  “Excuse me for not packing an extra pair in my nonexistent overnight bag,” I said, a little defensively.

  “Fuck, that’s hot,” he growled. He freed his hands to tug my sweatshirt over my head.

  Rolling us over so I was beneath him, he looked at my chest and said something in Spanish I didn’t catch, but I didn’t need to be fluent to know that he liked what he saw. A lot.

  Instead of going for what was left of our clothes, he brought his scorching gaze up to mine.

  “I’ve never done this before,” he said, his eyes darting away from mine.

  If I didn’t know him better, I’d have thought there was a vulnerability to his expression.

  I barked out a laugh. “Right. Because sex clubs are for board games.”

  “No.” Diego shook his head. “I mean, I’ve had sex, but not like this.”

  Now, there was no denying that Diego’s expression had gone deadly serious. I searched his face, trying to understand.

  “Every other time, I was shot up with MRP,” he explained. “I set literal timers to make sure I was long gone before it wore off. It was always get in, get off, get out. I’ve never even bothered with names.”

  I winced at the crudeness of his words. At the same time, I ached at the thought of how lonely he must have been. Even when Diego had been able to go out in public, he’d still been alone.

  “Trust me, cariño,” Diego said, misreading my silence. “None of them ever complained.” He gave me a cocky smile. “Except for when I didn’t stick around for seconds.”

  I reached up to cup his face and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

  “I want you, Diego Agramonte,” I told him, staggered by the truth of those words. “You and all of your magic.”

  Diego’s expression softened. “That—” He cleared his throat. “That’s the hottest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

  “It’s the truth,” I told him.

  He gave me a long, searing kiss. When he pulled back, the tenderness in his eyes had been replaced with the arrogance that was all Diego.

  “In that case,” he said, easing his hand beneath the waistband of my shorts, “I’m going to spend the rest of the night seeing how many times I can make you scream my name.”

  “I’m not really the screaming type,” I told him, lifting my hips to help him get my clothes off. Not that he seemed to need any help in that department.

  A smirk played at the corner of Diego’s lips. “We’ll see, cariño. We’ll see.”

  ✽✽✽

  I had no sense of time, but I thought it was probably close to dawn. The rain had stopped. I was surrounded by the smell of cinnamon and the scorching heat of Diego’s magic. Even asleep, his arms stayed locked around me. When I nestled deeper into the crook of his shoulder, he made a rumbly purring sound.

  My hair was still wet from the shower we’d taken together. The blanket was crumpled in a heap on the floor. It was cold in the apartment, but I felt like I was on fire.

  Diego had kept his promise about making me scream, and I was pretty sure I’d have no voice in the morning. Tonight had been everything I’d always wanted…everything that had been missing in all of my other relationships.

  At one point, I’d glanced away from Diego and realized we were levitating two feet off the bed. We were so into each other neither of us had noticed.

  But tonight hadn’t just been the most passionate I’d ever felt in my life. It had been so much more.

  For the first time, I thought I understood the way Kaira and Graysen looked at each other. I hadn’t thought I wanted the emotional part of that connection, but I was beginning to see the appeal. This was all too new to even think the L-word, but as I watched Diego’s eyelashes flutter and heard him whisper my name as he dreamed, I felt myself falling.

  And after everything that had gone down between us, I could sense Diego tumbling over the edge of that precipice right alongside me.

  CHAPTER 44

  When I woke, the apartment was dark. The blanket had been tucked around me and there was a pillow under my head. And I was alone.

  “Diego?” I croaked.

  My voice sounded like a smoker’s.

  “Go back to sleep, cariño. It’s still early.”

  I stretched, luxuriating in the unfamiliar soreness. My body would need to get used to this new kind of workout.

  The thought brought a smile to my lips.

  “Come back to bed.” I held out my arms for him.

  “I wish I could,” he replied.

  I heard the rustle of clothes and Diego’s soft footsteps as he moved around the apartment. I fumbled for the lamp beside the bed.

  I flicked it on in time to see Diego pulling a shirt over his head. There were two empty duffel bags next to the door.

  A horrible feeling replaced my elation from a few moments ago.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, my voice coming out far calmer than I felt.

  “I need to make my move before you and your friends destroy the mine,” he said as he pulled on his socks. “I don’t want to get caught in the crossfire when you and your Super Mags storm the place.”

  “Wait. What?”

  Diego looked at me. “I can drop you back at the mansion on my way if you want, or you can hang out here until you’re ready to go. There’s food in the fridge—”

  “I thought you couldn’t get the Agent S without me,” I spluttered.

  Diego dug into his pocket and pulled out a silver key.

  “I took this off Felix yesterday,” he explained, giving me a sheepish look.

  Those few minutes with Felix had been a blur, but I remembered Diego disappearing and then reappearing.

  “You stole that key while he had Lilly?” I hissed, anger starting to permeate my shock.

  Diego shook his head. “It was before he grabbed her.”

  “Why didn’t you get Lilly if you were going to steal something?” I demanded, my voice rising. “You could have gotten her away from him. You could have gotten her away from that monster!”

  Regret passed across Diego’s face before his expression hardened.

  “You saw those Synthetics,” he said, buttoning his jeans. “Making MRP is more important now than ever. They’re even more dangerous than my kind.”

  My kind.

  “I thought you were done with this self-loathing bullshit,” I said, not trying to hold back the bitterness in my voice. “After last night—”

  I want you, I’d told him. You and all your magic.

  When he’d reacted so strongly to those words, I’d thought that meant he accepted himself and what he was.

  I’d thought we were on the same side.

  “I care about you, Bri.” Diego stopped fiddling with his clothes to look at me. “But I told you yesterday. The only thing that changed was that the Synthetics made me more committed to taking away our magic.”

  “It’s not that simple!” I threw up my hands in frustration. “You can’t just lump people together like that. You don’t have the right to pass judgment
on people who haven’t committed a crime and likely never will. Just because someone is strong, it doesn’t make them evil.”

  “I have to do this,” Diego replied. “I’m going to make enough MRP for the Synthetics and other Super Mags, and then I’m going to inject myself.”

  “Go, then,” I said, sneering in disgust. “Run away, just like you did after all your other quickies.”

  Hurt flashed across Diego’s eyes.

  “That’s not what this is,” he said. “And I think you know that.”

  I did know. And part of me understood I wasn’t being fair. Diego had never deceived me or led me on. I just hadn’t wanted to believe him. Hell, I’d wanted to fix him.

  “Whatever,” I muttered, feeling that awful, telltale sting at the back of my eyelids.

  “We can talk about this tomorrow,” he said. “Once you have Lilly back and I have what I need.”

  “No, you know what?” I snapped. “I’ll make this easy on you.” I grabbed the pile of my dirty clothes from the day before and dressed faster than I ever had in my life.

  If I was going to do a walk of shame at four in the morning, I’d do it in my own clothes, thank you very much.

  “I’ll get out of your hair so you can finish your planning…alone.” I gave him a scathing look. “That’s how you prefer it, right, Diego? Just you and your obsession. I’m sure all those Super Mag files keep you nice and warm at night.”

  I left him, standing in the middle of his kitchen with his jaw clenched hard enough to break. I wrenched open the door, pausing when I caught sight of the key hanging on a lanyard around the knob.

  I could call any of my friends to come get me, but I had no interest in talking about tonight…ever again.

  “I’ll have A.J. send your motorcycle back,” I said, grabbing the key and slamming the door behind me.

  Or maybe not, I thought viciously. The motorcycle could be like my prisoner of war, or something.

  I raced down three flights of stairs, unwilling to wait for the elevator.

  Diego’s motorcycle was parked outside, and even though I’d never driven one before, it didn’t take a genius to figure out how to get it going.