Beside Danbur, Sera audibly gasped, and her shock was echoed by the boys, and the children on the bus.
As one, the three girls whimpered. But they did as he instructed. And then they huddled together, clutching each other for support.
“You may now apologize to Sera,” he told them. “And then you may go home. If anyone asks what happened to your phones, you may tell them these Bunnies made you destroy them.” That should throw a sand-cat in with the chicks.
“Sorry, Sera,” they chorused. They even sounded sincere. And then they took to their heels and scampered off.
The bus engine coughed to life. “Hey,” the driver called. “Good work. Little Bs needed a taste of their own medicine.” He waved at Sera before he chugged off down the street. And Danbur noticed a couple of the kids waved, too.
The smaller boy had sidled closer to Sera. “Me’n Greg are real sorry we were mean to you th’other day,” he said. “We feel like crap about it.”
“Yeah,” the taller boy—Greg—said. “We’ve been real d-bags, and we’re real sorry. Won’t happen again, okay?”
Sera sniffed and nodded. “Okay. Thanks.”
“And if any of those girls or the Bunnies give you any crap you come see us, okay, Sera? We’ll look out for you.”
“Really?” Sera sounded like she couldn’t believe her ears.
“Yeah. Really.” Greg glanced at his friend, who nodded enthusiastically. “We gotta go,” Greg said. “See you tomorrow, Sera.” The two boys jogged off down the path.
“See you tomorrow!” Sera called after them. She looked up at Danbur, a frown pleating her brows. “Do you think they mean it?” she asked.
“I do.”
Her smile was slow to come, and the bond told him she was still feeling fragile. The humiliation she’d suffered at the hands of her peers would not easily be forgotten. “Can I have a hug?” she asked.
“You may have anything within my power to grant you, Sera.” He swept her into his arms and carried her toward home.”
“You really mean that?”
“I do.”
She blinked back tears. “Could you take me to see Mommy? I really need to see her but she won’t be home ’til late again. A-And I need to see her now.”
Danbur understood her need. She was but a little girl. She’d been hurt, humiliated, scared. Of course she needed her mother. “Let me talk to Pieter and I will see what we can do.”
Pieter, omnipotent sorcerer that he was, must have sensed Sera’s distress and spied on recent events. There could be no other explanation for the note and the wad of currency awaiting them on the dining room table.
Danbur pocketed the currency and handed Sera the note. “Would you read this to me, please, Sera?”
“‘If Sera has need of her mother’,” Sera read slowly and carefully, “‘Opal can be found at this address.’” She paused. “I don’t know how to get there but Pieter says the money is for a cab and the driver will know how to find Magda’s office.”
“How do we call this cab?”
Sera’s eyes were saucer-round again. “Peter thought of everything! There’s a phone number for a taxi company at the end of the note.”
“Peter Stone is a resourceful man.” Danbur set Sera down and plucked her schoolbag from her shoulders. “Do you wish something to eat before we go?”
She shook her head.
“Then you dial the numbers, and I will….”
“Order the cab?”
“Quite so.”
She crinkled her nose. “I keep forgetting you’ve never done this before, Dan. Are you scared?”
“Not with you to help me, Sera. You give me the courage of a sand-cat.”
The ghost of her usual smile tilted her lips. “I wish I could see one of these sand-cats one day.”
“I wish you could, too, Sera.”
The taxi arrived in due course, and the journey went without incident. Sera confirmed the fare on the “meter” and Danbur paid the driver, carefully checking that he’d handed over the correct denominations. In minutes they stood before the entrance to the building Pieter had indicated on the note.
Danbur glanced upward. This building had numerous levels. How such a building could be constructed was beyond his comprehension.
Sera tugged him through doors that opened automatically as they approached, and he did his utmost not to gape like a stripling entering a pleasure-house for the first time. But it was all he could to contain his shout of surprise when the small room Sera led him into began to move and catapulted them upward.
He swallowed and clamped his jaws shut, praying he would not spew his last meal all over the luxurious interior of the moving box. And his relief was profound when the doors opened, disgorging them into a room.
It was decorated in black and cool gray tones, with splashes of crimson that reminded him uncomfortably of freshly spilled blood. The woman seated behind the long polished counter eyed them, frowning. “May I help you?” she asked.
Before Danbur could gather his wits to respond, Sera said, “Yes, please. I’m Sera Stewart, and this is my friend, Dan. We’ve come all the way here in a taxi and we need to speak to my Mommy, please. Her name is Opal Stewart. She’s Magda’s new model.”
The woman pursed her lips. “If you take a seat—” she gestured to a double row of large, low stools covered with what looked like black leather “—I’ll get a message to her that you’re here.”
She jabbed buttons on her phone and spoke to someone on the other end. “Emilie,” Danbur heard her say. “Hi. I’ve got a guy here with a kid claiming to be Opal Stewart’s daughter. And I’m guessing Opal and Jordan are one and the same. Yeah. You’re not as dumb as you look, either.”
She glanced up and caught Danbur eavesdropping. But instead of lowering her voice, she winked at him. “I know you’re busy,” she said into the mouthpiece, “but could you come check it out? Pretty please? Look, I’m aware Magda’ll have someone’s head if we interrupt the shoot without a damn good reason, but if this is legit, Jordan won’t thank us for sending her kid packing. She looks like she’s had a rough day and she needs her mom. You will? You’re the best, Emilie. Thanks.”
She smiled at Danbur. “Magda’s PA will be out in a minute. Can I get you anything in the meantime? Coffee? Tea? Me?” She winked at him again. “Just kidding on that last one… kind of.”
“Thank you but no.”
She turned her focus to Sera. “What about you, sweetie? I have a secret stash of sodas in the fridge out back if you’d like one.”
“No thank you,” Sera said. “I’m fine.” She climbed onto one of the low stools and sat cross-legged, elbows on thighs, chin propped in her cupped hands.
A door at the side of the long room opened and a young woman approached, making a beeline for Sera. She appeared harmless, so Danbur kept a watchful eye but didn’t move to intercept.
“I’m Emilie,” she said, holding out her hand for Sera to shake. “Magda’s personal assistant. It’s nice to finally meet you, Sera. Your mom’s told me lots about you.”
“It’s nice to meet you, too, Emilie,” Sera said.
Emilie palmed her heart. “So polite!” Her sharp gaze turned to Danbur, sizing him up and drawing gods-knew-what conclusions about his worn cotton pants and shabby t-shirt. “And you must be?”
“This is my friend, and my mommy’s friend, too,” Sera said. “His name is Danbur but I call him Dan. He brought me here in a taxi to see my mommy.”
“I see.” Emilie crouched in front of Sera—an impressive feat given the tightness of her dress and the height of the heels attached to her sandals. “Your mommy’s a bit busy right now, Sera. Maybe you and your friend, uh, Danbur, could go watch a movie, or visit the museum or something until she’s finished work?”
Sera’s composure wavered and her lower lip quivered. “I’ve had a really bad day,” she whispered. “I won’t be long, I promise. I just need a hug from Mommy. Please?”
Emilie
glanced at the woman behind the counter and sighed. “God. I’m such a sap. Warn me if you spot Magda on the warpath, okay?”
“You got it.”
Emilie straightened and held out her hand for Sera to take. “Come with me, sweetie.”
“I will be accompanying you,” Danbur said. “The child is in my care and therefore my responsibility.”
Emilie sighed again. Gustily. “Come on then. Let’s get this party started.”
She led them down a corridor, through a set of doors and then paused in front of another set of doors with a sign lit in red. “I’ll head in first to warn everyone’s favorite diva—that’s our photographer, Tem, not your mom, by the way. She’s great. He, on the other hand, is a total pain in the butt. But he gives great photo, so we have to suck it up and put up with him. I may have to wait a bit if he’s on a roll, but just be patient, okay? I’ll be back quick as I can.”
Sera nodded, and Emilie cracked open the doors and slipped through. She was as good as her word, though, returning in a very short time. And Danbur was thankful, for he could sense Sera’s agitation through the bond. The little girl’s breathing had quickened, becoming more ragged. It could be a result of excitement but regardless, he feared if she didn’t get to see Opal soon, Sera’s breathing might worsen and lead to another attack of the asthma.
Emilie beckoned Sera closer. “Perfect timing,” she said. “Just spoke to Luke—that’s Tem’s assistant. He says Tem’ll be taking a short break while they’re setting up the next set of shots. Your mom will be free for a little while then, but you can come in now and watch for a bit if you like.”
“Can we really?” Sera asked.
“Sure. So long as you’re super-quiet once we’re inside,” she said. “If you startle your mommy, you could ruin a really gorgeous photo. And if you annoy Tem…. Well, let’s just say you might hear a few things that aren’t fit for little ears.”
“Okay,” Sera whispered. “We’ll be real quiet, I promise.”
“Good girl.” Emilie beckoned them through into a large, very bright, airy room.
Danbur’s gaze zoomed to the tableau at the front of the room… and his vision flushed with the crimson born of fury. How else was a man to react at seeing the woman he esteemed above all others standing naked from the waist up, with two men clad in only their undergarments draped all over her?
Chapter Seventeen
Desiree hadn’t covered this in her model refresher course. Talk about being tossed in the deep end. And damned if Opal wasn’t proud as heck she’d hidden her initial panic at having two strange males touching her intimately. It’d helped that both men had been exquisitely professional throughout and did everything they could to put her at ease. As an added bonus, the heat emanating from the hard male body currently plastered against Opal’s back helped her ignore the chill of the air conditioned room.
“Doing okay, Jordan?” the owner of that hard male body whispered in her ear.
“Yes,” she whispered back. And reminded herself that, intimacy issues aside, the most challenging thing about this shoot had been remembering to answer to “Jordan” instead of Opal. Oh, and not getting too worked up about the photographer’s attitude. He was rude to everyone, not just her.
“Chat up the talent on your own time, Dominic,” Tem barked.
“Jerkwad.” Dominic’s whisper tickled her neck.
Opal had to agree. In her humble opinion, Tem’s latest tableau wasn’t quite what Magda had been aiming for when she’d announced she wanted “Strong, sexy, provocative.” And Opal figured Magda would agree that a topless woman dressed in tight blue jeans, standing with her feet apart and hands on hips while a couple of hot guys wearing stretch cotton boxers pretended to stroke and kiss various parts of her anatomy, was a bit too literal an interpretation. But then, as Tem had been quick to point out, he was the “professional”, and Magda was lucky to get him, and Opal just needed to relax and do what she was told.
She tuned in to Tem’s instructions, flexed her thigh muscles and widened what she had privately labeled the Wonder Woman stance. Jake, currently kneeling on the floor between her feet, murmured an apology before gripping her thigh and glancing adoringly up at her.
“Jesus. If he thinks Magda’s gonna okay this he’s delusional. Sorry ’bout this.” Dominic did as Tem had instructed, and cupped Opal’s bare breasts with his palms.
“That’s it,” Tem said. “Give me more angry, Jordan. Make it fierce. Pretend the camera is me and you hate my guts. Look at the camera like you want to rip my heart out and eat it.”
“Shouldn’t be too hard,” Jake murmured into Opal’s thigh.
She fought a smile.
“Now roar at me, Jordan,” Tem instructed. “Make it loud and fierce. Roar!”
Wow. This was going to be fun… not. Fingers crossed she didn’t stutter when she roared. Opal inhaled a deep breath… and there was roaring all right, but it wasn’t coming from her.
Open-mouthed, she darted a gaze beyond Tem and spotted a man heading her way. A very big, very angry man. Who brushed a squawking Tem aside like he was merely a feather.
“D-D-Danbur?”
Dominic whipped his hands from her breasts. “Ah shit. I’m guessing this is the boyfriend?”
Emilie was snarling at Luke. “Jesus, dumbass,” she screeched. “It didn’t occur to you the topless thing might be an issue when you said I could bring them in? This should have been a closed shoot!”
Opal risked a glance past Danbur’s advancing form. The stylist and her assistant were nailing expressions of fascination-cum-horror, and Tem was hopping from foot to foot, wringing his hands like a demented cartoon character.
Jake had released his grip on Opal’s thigh and pushed to his feet. He stood in front of her, barring Danbur from coming any closer. “Dude,” he said, his tone soothe-the-savage-boyfriend slow and even. “You need to chill. Calm down. It’s only a photo shoot. No groping or sexual harassment, here, okay?”
Opal peered over Jake’s shoulder. Danbur had closed his eyes. His jaw was clenched so tightly the cords of his neck had distended. He seemed to be fighting for control. Oh no. Please don’t—
Danbur shucked his t-shirt. Jake flinched but stood his ground. And behind her, Dominic said, “Whoa,” in a tone that conveyed admiration.
Danbur held out the t-shirt. “Cover yourself,” he said. “Sera’s here.”
Opal reached over Jake’s shoulder to snatch the t-shirt and clutched it to her chest. She tried to hold it together but oh, it was hard to maintain a poker face with Danbur’s scent wafting from the t-shirt. Her fingers twitched with the need to press it to her face and inhale.
Hold up. She shook her head to dispel her muzzy-headed daze. “S-S-Sera?”
“She needed her mother.”
Opal stuffed herself into the t-shirt and sidestepped Jake to grab Danbur’s arm. “Is… is she… okay?”
“She was targeted by a group of girls from school. I set them straight. But she is still unhappy. She wanted to see you. So I brought her here.”
What Danbur wasn’t saying spoke volumes. God. Opal could only imagine what Sera had been through, how she must be feeling. “Th-Th-Thank you,” she said. “Wh-Wh-Where is she? Sera?”
A small figure rushed toward Opal. She got down on one knee and opened her arms wide. Sera threw herself into them. And when she got her first good look at her daughter’s tear-streaked face, Opal felt like she’d been kicked in the stomach. “T-T-Tell me what h-h-happened.”
Sera poured out the tale and it was worse than Opal could have imagined. God. Evil little bitches. Sera had never done anything to them. How could they be so cruel? Why? What motivated them? It took everything she had to keep it together as she hugged her daughter’s small, shaking body tight.
Little by little, Sera calmed. And by the time she got to the part where Danbur had intervened, she was sounding more awed than upset. “You should have seen him, Mommy. He was awesome! And Greg? That boy who was
mean to me before? The one who told Dan what’d happened on the bus? He said he was sorry. And he said if anyone was mean to me at school I could go find him. It was awesome.”
Opal thumbed the tears from Sera’s cheeks. “I’m g-g-glad.” She wanted to say that she was sorry, too. For not being there when Sera had needed her. But if she said anything more she was afraid she’d burst into tears in front of—
Magda? Oh God. It was her voice Opal could hear. And Magda didn’t sound very happy at all. Opal waited for the ax to fall.
“You want my opinion?” Magda said, cutting through whatever Tem was attempting to say. “Here it is. The frames with Jordan solo are gorgeous. But these? These are crap, Tem. There’s nothing clever or classy about them. All I’m seeing is two hot guys pawing a hot girl.”
Tem’s response was too muted for Opal to make out but there was nothing muted about Magda’s reply. “Don’t try and blame the boys, Tem. They can’t turn a pig’s ear into a Coach bag. This was your brilliant freaking idea and it bombed. So suck it up and take some responsibility for the fact these group shots look like something a high school kid hides under his mattress and jerks off to when his parents aren’t around.”
Uh oh. Opal’s gaze sought Dominic and Jake. They were lounging on the floor, now looking relaxed and supremely unconcerned by the altercation. Dominic caught her gaze and winked.
Opal forced herself to take a deep breath. Okay, maybe Magda’s rant wasn’t as bad as it sounded. And then she heard Tem say, “You’re a bitch, Magda Bliss. And right now I hate you with a passion. But you’re right—as usual.” His crisp tones devolved into a self-pitying moan. “These frames are shit. God. I’m shit.”
Magda laughed her husky laugh. “Nonsense, darling. You and I both know you’re brilliant and talented and your photos are—” She snapped her fingers at Emilie. “What’s the word I’m looking for, Emilie?”
“Epic,” Emilie supplied.
“Your photos are epic,” Magda said. “Or they will be, once we get the underlying issue sorted. I think what we’re missing here is a connection.”
Opal's Wish: Book Four of The Crystal Warriors Series Page 26
