by Ashley Black
“Aaron!” I protested. “Nobody said anything about hooking up!”
“Actually,” Bob muttered, looking disturbed. “That is exactly what Thornton thinks is happening tonight Elena.”
Oh. Right. Because I hadn’t given him that impression at all with my teases. My heart began to pound.
“Watch yourself around my son, please. He has a fragile heart.”
Bob sounded like he was pleading with me.
“His heart is very safe,” I reassured Bob.
He nodded, and flashed a grateful but rather strained smile.
“Calm down, Dad, you will scare the lady.” Thorn had apparently finished the phone call, and was looking severely displeased with Bob.
Seven
Bob shook his head. “It’s just the truth, son.” He slapped the side of the boat. “Let me know if I am turning this thing back.”
“Actually…” Thorn breathed. “No, at least not yet. I need you to get me home as soon as possible. Jimmy has threatened to show up at the party and wipe himself out. He told me he was going to go down in a blaze of glory.”
“Fire again, really?” Bob groaned, brows arching, looking incredulous.
Thorn nodded grimly.
“Be careful, Thornton.” Bob’s gaze lingered upon me before he left us.
Thorn noticed this, and glowered after his father’s retreating back, then I heard a sudden crack.
“Your phone!” I cried.
He had broken the fucking thing in half. As you do. When you are Thornton Darko, dark insanely good looking death metal rock star, devil worshipper, and man who did some crazy shit for even crazier fans.
“Fuck!” Thorn was now staring in disbelief at his rather destroyed phone.
“You’re bleeding.” I looked pointedly at the dark red blood spilling from the cut.
“Well, how about that?” Thorn’s prefect white teeth flashed as he forced a smile. “You actually give a shit.”
I frowned. “And I wouldn’t because?”
Thorn’s fingers dove into the pocket of his long black coat, and he withdrew what looked like something the size of a flipping black scarf and wrapped it securely around his hand.
“As soon as we get to my place, Dad will take you and Aaron back to Ashby,” he said coldly. “I am sorry to make you wait…” His gaze was vicious as it swung to Aaron. “But I need to save someone from doing something incredibly stupid.”
“Know what is incredibly stupid?” Aaron sighed. “That you think you can do something for that man. Save the idiot. That is just the height of arrogance.”
“And what would you have me do with someone like Jimmy?” Thorn asked. “I would never ignore or abandon him. He was one of my first fans when no one knew of Cellrager. When I had exactly five-” He held up his wrapped maimed hand, and I saw that it was shaking. “-people who gave some kind of a shit.”
Aaron rolled his eyes. “Whatever. How far to your place?”
“Not far,” Thorn snarled. “I do hope you never ever have to deal with anyone with a mental health issue in your life.”
“I already do.” My friend shot me a look. “Her.”
Thorn laughed. “Well, that is something that we can agree on, at least.”
“Hey!’ I objected.
“You don’t make a lot of sense, Elena,” my rock star said quite seriously, but I noticed a smile playing at the corners of his lips. He seemed to be trying hard to fight it, because he still looked incredibly annoyed with me. “But I like that.”
“Sounded to your dad you more than like it,” Aaron goaded.
“For fuck’s sake, Aaron!” I shoved him back a pace. “Can you stop being an asshole?”
My friends bottom lip started wobbling, as his gaze swung from me to Thorn and back again, realization was dawning on his face. “Oh, no fucking way,” he uttered softly. “Elena, no. Please, don’t do this, hon.”
I knew exactly what he was talking about, and bowed my head so I wouldn’t meet his worried and hurt gaze. I really was a piece of shit friend.
“What is wrong now?” Thorn asked, looked a mixture of perplexed and bored.
“You’re going to go to his stupid little party, aren’t you?” Aaron seized my shoulders and shook them. “Please. Why do you always do this, Elena? When things start going a little bit good for you, hon, you fuck it all up. Every time. Here’s a chance not to do that. You have an important meeting tomorrow afternoon.” He looked hard into my eyes, reminding me without saying it, of Brett. “I am begging you.”
“Elena is not going anywhere with me.” Thorn looked amused now. “I urgently retract my invitation.”
“Wait, what? You don’t want her now?” Aaron looked disbelieving.
“I didn’t say that. Of course I want her. I just don’t want her at this party tonight for obvious reasons,” Thorn said testily. “A mentally unstable person is threatening to take himself out with a blowtorch.”
What the fuck? I was trembling, tears were filling my eyes at the thought. Why would anyone threaten to do such an unnecessarily hideous thing? How selfish, manipulative, and self-indulgent to weigh Thorn down with that shit! And to turn up at his party and do it, no less. I would take this Jimmy fucker out myself, I vowed silently, if he kept doing this to Thorn. Did he not realize how much he was hurting him?
Hurting him. My last ranting thought rang hollowly through my heart, and I shuddered.
Thorn noticed, and winked at me. “Don’t worry, enchantress, your powers are not ailing, consider my heart well ensnared.” His hand rose up to pat his chest.
Enchantress… a shiver passed through me. How did he know–?
“Come now, you don’t think I run background checks on people I invite into my life?” Thorn smirked. “Besides, I would have smelt it on you anyway; like you, I come from a long line of magical folk myself,” Thorn went on quite seriously. “The last witch that fucked with me tried to vanquish me so I tend to be very cautious about inviting that shit into my life.”
“Would that be your dead wife?” Aaron asked.
I stomped on his foot, and he cried out.
“My wife is missing, not dead,” Thorn corrected. “But yes. I am speaking of Andrea.”
Then he laughed at our horrified expressions. “Can’t anyone take a joke?”
My head was reeling; I was most definitely triggered by him making light of that shit. He sounded so incredibly mean the way he described his missing wife, calling her a witch. How could he be so heartless? He had presumably lost the love of his life.
“Relax, buddy, she isn’t a practising witch,” Aaron muttered.
“Do I look relaxed?” Thorn’s arms folded across his chest. “I have invited the devil into my life.”
“That’s a little harsh!” I glared. “What are you? A fucking warlock or something?”
Thorn looked amused. “Now, what an odd thing to say.”
I don’t know where that had come from, but then I did, and I didn’t want to know or think about that weirdness and unpleasantness right now. Still, I vaguely remembered my Grandmother saying when I was young that warlocks and enchantresses were not to ever fraternize. Her voice came into my mind.
“Don’t ever, ever tease one. Don’t ever use your powers on one.”
“Why?” I heard my little girl voice asking.
“It never ends well,” my grandmother answered, sadness welling in her eyes. “I should know.”
“Thornton!” Bob interrupted. He was waving from the top of the cabin with binoculars in his hand, and he pointed. “Look, I think Jimmy’s shown.”
“Fuck!” Thorn practically leapt up into the cabin as he swung himself easily to the top, and snatched the binoculars off Bob. “Why aren’t they leaving?” he despaired, his voice cracking.
I looked in the direction he was looking in, and it was far from the scene I had been expecting when the Black Eagle gently glided toward its own private mooring. A glistening stretch of a private beach with a party in
full swing. I had never picked Mr. Cellrager for beach parties.
But there it was, the beach spread out before us, and beautiful half-naked bodies writhing on the sand. I jumped and let out a startled cry when red flame flared from a darkened stage; Thorn had said this Jimmy was going to take himself out with a blow torch, after all. Distantly, I heard a man scream into the microphone.
“Unbelievable and unacceptable!” Thorn fumed as he surveyed the scene.
“Jacob said your security have the situation in hand,” Bob said with a shrug. “I couldn’t convince him or any of your people I could get hold of to get off the damned beach. I guess Jacob wanted to show off his new songs too much.”
“And I thought my ego was maniacal,” Thorn growled and disappeared into the cabin; I saw him splashed in its yellow light glowering out at us. Bob remained outside, staring at me uneasily, his big red hands gripping the binoculars so tight his knuckles had turned white. Thorn pulled on his mask, shrugged out of his long black coat, pulled on another that looked exactly the same, and strode onto the deck.
Thorn nodded at me slightly. “Good night, Elena,” he said quietly as his gaze slid from mine, and performed a very slow, deliberate crawl all over my body, and my dress suddenly felt more and more like a flipping nightie. I saw approval and longing flare in his eyes when his gaze lifted again. “Don’t stop teasing me. Ever.”
Eight
“I am not leaving until I know my son is safe,” Bob folded his arms and glared at us defiantly. “Once he’s dealt with Jimmy, we’ll head back to Ashby.”
Aaron shrugged, looking unconcerned. “Fine, I guess.”
Well, this was an about-face from him.
I tugged on his hand. “Let’s go for a walk,” I suggested. I slid a look over my shoulder at Bob. “Thorn’s dad is starting to freak me out.”
My friend nodded. “Sure, he’s freaking me out, too. Mostly from the looks he keeps giving you, Elena. I don’t like it.” Aaron looked around furtively. “Actually, I got us a new ride, anyways.”
“Daniel!” I squealed, excited to see him.
Aaron nodded. “Yep! He’s pissed off as hell at me for calling him at this hour, but he has agreed our asses need to not be anywhere near Thornton Darko and his brand of crazy right now. Except you still plan to stay here don’t you?” His grey eyes narrowed on my face.
“Thorn made it clear I was no longer invited,” I shrugged. “Might not be good to attract the anger of a man like that.”
“Indeed,” my friend muttered coldly, clearly still disappointed that I had even contemplated staying here with him in the first place. Then as we stumbled onto the pier together, he released a long groan of complaint, scanning the beach before us.
“What’s wrong?”
“I hate sand all right? Last time Daniel convinced me to do anything outdoors, I had sand up my ass for about a week.”
“Well,” I couldn’t help but laugh, “I don’t think you’re going to have that problem with me.”
As we walked together unsteadily across the beach, not exactly sure where we were going but reassured that the gorgeous Daniel was on his way to us, we couldn’t help but ogle over and take a few pictures of Thornton’s castle.
Holy shit - like the man, this thing was over the top, and magnificent.
You could not get a more committed Hollywood castle than Thornton Darko’s. There was a freaking drawbridge and everything – a moat circled the huge whitewashed structure. Gargoyles with red lights flaring from their frozen eyes prowled the top of the parapets of this thing, and bright black words, in Thorn’s handwriting of course, were scrawled down the sides of it. The structure was a work of impossible art.
Aaron wasn’t looking at it, though. He was staring down at his phone, eyes widening, and he appeared to be frozen in shock. “Fucking asshole,” he whispered.
My phone beeped, signaling a message.
My friend’s hand flew to mine. “Please don’t look at it. Elena!” he begged. “You don’t want to see it.”
I looked down at my phone.
“Fuck’s sake, Elena, can you just listen to me for once in your life!” Aaron pleaded.
It was a picture of Brett from an unknown number.
Brett, with a tall gorgeous leggy blonde at one of his favorite little bars in Arandale, a town just outside of Ashby - the town the gallery owner was in, I noted. They were kissing leaning over their drinks, arms wrapped around each other’s necks. Another shot showed them leaving hand in hand. I scanned the message. Brett Argosy and gallery owner Clarissa Meadows.
Of course. My heart gave a hollow resounding knock. He had spoken a lot about this gallery owner, and with great affection, but I had been too wrapped up with my own shit to really show an interest in him, and what was going on in his life. She was impossibly flawless, but I knew it was just my fatalist mind offering up to me that thoroughly depressing frame through which to look at this piece of shit situation.
“I guess this is what Brett wants to talk to you about tomorrow, Elena,” Aaron said gently. “He’s leaving you.”
I had no words as I stared down at the rather cruel proof of the decimation of our short-lived engagement. Tears threatened, but I swallowed them down. I would choke on the fucking things before I cried right now. Asshole.
Yeah, you wanted time away to focus on your art, all right.
I wondered how long it had been going on, and then I became aware that I was babbling something over and over again, but my words did not match the angry thoughts churning around in my mind. “I did this. I did this. I did this to us.”
“No, honey,” Aaron disagreed, his grey eyes were shining with tears. “His stupid cock did this to you guys. Damn, you women are all the same, blaming yourselves.”
“Don’t you start crying!” I warned him. “Or I will start!”
“No shame in crying, Elena. Jesus. Unlike some of the shit you cry about, this is actually one of those times that it’s justified.”
Screams echoed to us from down the beach.
I frowned, turning toward the sound. “Thorn.” His name fell unbidden over my lips.
“Big bad Thornton can take care of himself, Elena,” Aaron said softly, noting my look of concern.
“Thornton Darko takes care of everyone,” a male voice rumbled behind us. “But himself? No.”
“What the shit!?” Aaron whirled on a burly guy dressed in head to toe black, wearing a gimp mask. The dude’s black eyes were on me, and to be honest, he didn’t look happy to see me.
“But you wouldn’t understand, would you? Pretty little witch like you?” he all but snarled at me.
“Hey dude!” Aaron protested, taking a few steps toward him. “Why so hostile?”
I thought briefly about punching this presumptuous asshole in the balls. “Do you hear yourself right now, dude? You don’t even know me! How dare you-”
“I know this witch. You will be the death of him,” he sighed regretfully. “There ain’t nothing on God’s earth that can protect him from the likes of you.”
Sweet Jesus! How did the dude even know of my ancestry of infamous bad ass enchantresses? Unless, of course he was just calling me an epic-level bitch, which was possible… I had been called worse.
“How am I the death of Thornton Darko?” I asked, stunned at how the guy said it with such conviction. A shiver worked its way down my spine as my mind flicked back to the psychic dream Aaron believed he’d had of Thorn, dragging me away by the hair from a very strangled to death Brett.
“You are she?” he said simply.
“Who?” I was confused now.
“The witch,” he went on. “He is a famous warlock, our Thornton, you ask him. He is the most powerful in his line, and you are the most powerful witch in yours. The two of you cannot happen. You will destroy each other, but he will pay the ultimate price.”
“Telling fairy tales again,” came Thorn’s voice. He sounded angry.
Aaron groaned as he smacked his f
orehead. “The guy is always just… fucking there, you know?”
I looked up in the direction of Thorn’s voice. He was standing not far from us on a rise of sand, in that badass mask, fists clenched and I noted trembling by his sides.
“I’m sorry.” the burly guy stepped back. “Everyone’s concerned, Thorn.”
“I can take care of myself,” Thorn snarled. “Now get back to work, and help me find Jimmy, will you?”
The guy made a whimpering sound in his throat, and shuffled away reluctantly.
“Elena!” Thorn appeared to freak out - he reached for me, and I blinked at him dumbfounded, then screamed when a row of palm trees surrounding me exploded into flame.
The heat of the blast hit me in the back of the skull. One cracked and swiftly fell, in front of me, creating a wall of flame that separated me from my dark crazy ass rocker from hell, as well as Aaron who had dissolved into wails of horror.
“Witch!” A voice screamed hysterically behind me. “Stay away from him!”
Nine
“Jimmy, I presume?” I shakily addressed a skinny, lanky guy smelling of kerosene with bright red hair that flopped into a face full of piercings. He shot me a glare that would have annihilated me, and dumped more kerosene on the tree burning before us, then he aimed his blowtorch at it.
“Jimmy, no!” Thorn roared.
I began to run.
The palm tree in front of me was now an insanely high wall of flame. Fire behind me, fire next to me… that left the water.
I heard Jimmy thundering across the sand toward me, and he was on me in an instant. He drove a boot into my ass, making me lose my footing, and I pitched forward on the sand. He grabbed a fistful of my hair, and pulled me up by it.
Thorn was shouting on the other side of the flame.
“Jimmy, what the hell has gotten into you man? This isn’t you. I know you. The Jimmy I know doesn’t hurt pretty ladies.”
Jimmy was breathing heavily, but he kept a grip of my hair and yanked me against him, staring out at the flame. Tears were streaming down his face. The rather imposing figure of Thorn flickered there through the flame.
