by Deanna Chase
Their trailer wasn’t large, and with three big bodies in it, moving around was next to impossible. Eli grinned, full lips curving into a smiling snarl.
Cain clenched his fingers, counting to ten as the haze of violence tried to slither across his vision.
The twins must have recognized what was happening. Suddenly the leering smiles were gone, replaced by grim determination. Eli gripped Cain’s wrist, squeezing so hard it would have snapped a human’s bones.
Seth punched him. He barely felt it.
Cain trembled, biceps clenching and flexing as his breath blew out like a bellows.
“Don’t sink, man,” they both growled. “Stay out of the haze.”
Thick hairs ripped through his biceps, a growl gathered deep in his gut. Their voices were so far away, like listening to chatter underwater.
“Come on, dude. Wake up, Adam will go ape if you destroy another trailer.”
Cain squeezed his eyes shut, knowing they glowed a bloody red. The fuel of fury gathered in his bones, his blood.
She’d looked so small. Fragile. He could have crushed her neck with one jerk. Snapped her spine in two with a casual flick of his wrist, but she hadn’t trembled from fear. There’d been fire, an answering gleam in her gaze. And her smell—it saturated his lungs, buzzed through his head like a fog bank. Thick and viscous and disturbingly appealing.
His heart rate began to settle down, the blinding fog of rage slowly lifting as he thought of Flint. It took several deep breaths to get his body under control, the hot rush of anger becoming a gentle tide.
Cain opened his eyes. Eli and Seth stared at him like he’d sprouted a second head, a look of shock plastered on their faces.
“Man,” Seth whispered, slowly releasing his grip. “I thought we lost you. What happened? We don’t get like this unless we’re…”
Cain jerked his hand back, forking his fingers through his hair.
“Is it the girl? Is she really…” Eli said, words trailing off at Cain’s narrowed glare.
Growling, Cain cocked his head. Holding her had been a bad idea. But seeing her falling, it’d snapped something long dormant inside him. She’d felt good in his arms. Too good. Then she’d mentioned that note.
“Her name is Flint,” he muttered, the animal still in his voice. “You guys need to find out everything you can about her.”
Seth nodded, grabbing his laptop.
Seth and Eli might look like gym rats, but there wasn’t a computer system they couldn’t crack.
“I need to know why she’s here.” He licked his lips. “I saw the hive eyeing her at lunch. She got a note today. Eli, you find out who sent it. Report back to me immediately.”
“What’d the note say?” Eli grabbed a black tank top off the corner of the bed and slipped it on.
“Doesn’t matter.” Cain opened the door. “You just tell me when you find out. Order’s gonna be calling Adam tomorrow. I need to know what to report.”
He left the door hanging open behind him and jogged toward Adam’s trailer. Adam hated to be surprised, as demons often do. But Cain wasn’t in the knocking mood.
Adam lifted his brow at the sound of the cracking boom when the door hit the thin metal wall. “And to what do I owe this honor?” he drawled.
Cain smelled her everywhere. She’d been in this office, staring at Adam. “You can’t hire them.”
Adam licked his teeth, standing slowly. “I’m not hiring them. I’ve hired him. She’s just a… consolation prize.”
Nostrils flaring, knuckles flexing, Cain’s eyes didn’t swerve from Adam’s mesmerizing ones. “You know that ad wasn’t for them. It was for the hive.”
“And how do you know they’re not part of that hive? Hmm?” Adam popped an orange slice into his mouth, filling the room with a sharp citrus scent. “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Besides”—he sat on the edge of the hard wood desk—“we need catchers. They’re terribly hard to come by anymore.”
“Get someone else. Not them.”
Electric-blue eyes narrowed to pinpricks. “You’ve got the stench all over you.”
Cain was aware of that. He reeked of pheromones and lust, the animal nature in him wanting to claim the redhead as his own. Not because he loved her or even liked her—he didn’t even know her—but because his beast said so.
Adam smirked. “Listen, Cain. I’m running a legitimate business here.”
He scoffed. “So that’s what you call this place?”
“Legitimate enough not to get caught.” Adam’s deep voice shivered with the faint stirrings of laughter. “Keep an eye on your girlfriend. If she’s hive, kill her. End of story.”
Wiping his hands on his jeans, Adam stood and nodded toward the door.
“Screw you,” Cain muttered through clenched teeth.
Adam flashed bright white teeth. “Thanks. But I’ve got that covered. Now get out of my office. Come back when you’ve got something good to report.”
Cain turned on his heel. He needed to get away, get away and burn off the excess adrenaline flooding his body like jet fuel before he did something really stupid… like torch the place to the ground.
“Oh, and, Cain?” Adam’s voice was a lazy drawl. “If you like the girl at all, don’t sleep with her. Because I swear if you do, I’ll kill her myself.”
Cain slammed the door so hard the top half slipped off its hinges. Adam’s laugh echoed behind him.
There’d been a time when he’d been just as innocent as Abel, when he’d thought the world was as simple as black and white. But he knew better now.
He’d always sworn he’d kill himself before turning into his father.
God help him…
He pounded the dirt road, walking to his black Ford Mustang. A gift from Adam, for living through the change. His rebirth into hell.
Flint called to him at a visceral level. The type of girl he’d have obsessed about before. The type of girl he’d have invited to the hole. Cain swallowed hard. But she wasn’t for him. Couldn’t be.
Because Adam was right, if she was hive… Cain would kill her.
He’d gut her, twist her head off, and never look back.
Chapter Seven
Four days.
Four days had gone by since that night.
The night she’d been in his arms, his warm breath mingling with her own, making her light-headed and breathless. And then nothing.
She gazed at his empty desk. Every morning she’d come to class, not sure what she’d say to him. Demand an answer to her question? Try to make sense of the crazy feelings he inspired in her? Two parts hate, one part… what? Something not quite hate?
Each night she’d gone to sleep, stomach churning with nerves and the bated anticipation of knowing that maybe tomorrow she’d see him. Maybe tomorrow… but he was never around. Not at his table at lunch, not in class.
Abel didn’t seem fazed by it, and the one time she’d sort of hinted for an answer as to where he was, Abel had shrugged and quickly changed the subject.
She nibbled her bottom lip, banging the tip of her pencil on her desk as she counted down the seconds until…
Brinnnnnnggggg.
The bell rang.
Snatching up her books and her bag, she got out of Dodge, rushing toward Abel’s locker. He had his back to her, a baggy pair of jeans almost slipping off his butt as he dug around his locker for a book.
Flint tapped his shoulder, then scooted to the other side of him just as he glanced to the spot she’d vacated.
“Wha…?” He frowned and looked the other way, then grinned and revealed a large dimple. “Flint, what’s up, chica?”
“Missing you,” she said, leaning against the locker.
His eyes twinkled and he slammed his door shut.
Sick to her stomach with a terrible case of nerves, she stared at the hundreds of laughing, talking faces moving through the halls. Some she was beginning to recognize.
“We still on for the hole tonight?
Got some of the gang from the circus meeting us there.”
Gang. As in brother, maybe? She had to bite her tongue to keep from asking. Flint didn’t want Abel to know. Whatever it was. This felt private, personal… and all hers. It was sick, and she knew that. So she nodded instead.
“Good.” He shifted, lifting his strap higher.
Maybe it was just her imagination, but Abel looked kind of bigger today. Still stick scrawny, but not quite so skeletal-looking? Maybe it was just the lights. She grabbed his bicep. “Hey, you working out?”
He flexed the not-so-impressive muscle. “Nah, been eating like a cow though. Got sent to the principal’s office for sneaking a pack of Twinkies in class.”
She laughed. “Well, you can afford to put on some weight.”
“Yeah.”
The conversation started to get awkward at that point. Why was she doing this? Flirting with Abel? She shouldn’t do it, he was nice, she shouldn’t make him think anything was up, but being near him sort of helped ease the tension that was in her gut with Cain’s absence.
“Yeeeah, welp.” Abel lifted his brows and hooked his thumb over his shoulder. “Gotta jet, calculus awaits.”
“Calc, huh? Jeez, Abel… aren’t you in eleventh grade?”
“Yeah.” He grinned, exposing that serious dimple again and making her heart give the tiniest of flutters. He really did have one of the best smiles she’d ever seen. “It’s a curse, what can I say? Cain always tells me my genius is peeking out when I work on numbers.”
“How is Cain by the way?” she asked, eagerly latching on to the mention of his name and then mentally kicking herself when Abel frowned. Flint licked her lips. “I mean, I haven’t seen him in a couple of days, and it’s kind of nice not to have to deal with his PMS. Wondered how long the vacation would last?”
She was totally going to hell for that one. Abel thinned his lips, his easygoing manner gone.
“I don’t care where he is. He drove off that night you and your old man came to interview for the job. Haven’t seen or heard from him since. But that’s not uncommon. Part of why he’s a still a senior.”
Still a senior? As in, this wasn’t his first year being one?
Yet another mystery for her to obsess over.
“Oh.” She tried not to let herself sound too down. “Cool.”
Abel jerked his head toward the door just as the first warning bell sounded. “Class.”
“Yeah, see you at lunch.” Flint waved and then dragged her feet to music class, hoping Mr. Barry hadn’t already handed out the instruments by the time she got there. What she needed was something to bang out her aggression on, like the drums.
What she got was a pair of cymbals.
~*~
School rushed by in a depressing blur. Even the hot stare of the psycho crew by the door didn’t inspire a sense of anything other than “Yeah… whatever, been there done that.” Rhiannon, Janet, and Abel had carried on a constant chatter that helped her because all she basically needed to do was insert an “uh-huh” or an “oh yeah” and they were none the wiser.
She’d been so desperate for any link to Cain that she’d even turned in her seat a couple of times, staring at Cain’s posse. Twin blonds had stared back at her. They wore sunglasses too, but either she was getting used to deciphering what a raised eyebrow meant, or she was slightly psychic.
Either way, the way they were staring at her, she knew Cain had left because of her. Which was just plain weird. He was the one warning her off, telling her to run, and in the end it’d been him who’d run away.
Finally home, Flint opened the door to her apartment. “Dad,” she called.
He popped his head out the door, wearing a bright smile and an oversized winter jacket that fell to his knees. Black spandexed legs stuck out the bottom.
“Umm…” She lifted a brow, fighting a giggle, and then she groaned when the scent of buttered onions teased her nose. “Gonna tell me what all that’s about? And… are you cooking?” She sniffed appreciatively.
He nodded. “Yup. Got paid today. Baby, I think I’m gonna love this place. Haven’t even worked there a whole week yet. Two thousand bucks! What do you think of that!”
Flint cocked her head and headed toward the kitchen. “I think that’s obscene and something’s probably wrong in Accounting. We never get paid that much. Are you sure—”
Her dad nodded, shushing her with his hand as he continued to stir the pot of sizzling onions. Her eyes almost rolled to the back of her head when she saw him drop a pound of ground beef into it. And the smell, oh wow… the smell took her back to a time before Mom’s death, when they used to eat dinner together at the table.
Hard to believe, but her dad was an amazing cook… when he wasn’t too drunk to stand at the stove. A pot of boiling water steamed on the stovetop.
“Get the pasta.” He gestured toward the counter. “I did ask Adam. Though I didn’t want to let go of so much money.”
Flint grabbed the box of spaghetti and dropped the pasta into the water, stirring it quickly before placing the lid on.
“And?” She hopped on the counter. Her stomach grumbled loudly.
Her dad grinned. “And he said Accounting didn’t make mistakes, not to waste his time with stupid questions, and hung up.”
“Yeah, Dad… seriously, what an ass. I can’t believe you want to keep working for that guy.”
“Flint DeLuca, no swearing.” He frowned, then popped a can of tomato paste onto the can opener, which buzzed loudly.
She could have told him that she’d been swearing like a sailor for the past year, that he’d been too drunk to notice and that he’d even joined in occasionally, but that would be cruel. It was good to see her dad acting all domestic and concerned again—she wasn’t ready to pop his bubble.
“Fine.” She held up her hands, crunching on a raw piece of spaghetti she’d left in the box. “But for real, he’s really mean. I don’t like how he talks to you.”
He shook his head. “And I appreciate that, but it’s going to take a lot more than a couple of brusque words for me to bow down. I’m a man too, Flinty.”
“Daddy…” She kissed his cheek. “Of course you are. The best one I know. I just love you, that’s all.”
The grin was back. Bruised male egos, God help them… her mother used to always say a kiss and a hug went a mile when it came to soothing the beast, and of course, she’d been right.
Her dad squeezed her shoulders, then he scooped the tomato paste into the meaty, oniony richness.
She inhaled the tangy pop of tomatoes. “Wow, that smells good.”
“Things are gonna change around here, DeLuca. You’ll see. From now on, we’ll have dinner together. I know I won’t be home at night, but I’m trusting you not to bring home any weird boys with piercings and tattoos.”
“Dad,” she moaned, rolling her eyes. “Are you serious? Please, stop embarrasing me. Besides, I might be gay.”
“You’re not.”
She huffed. “What if I am? What if I haven’t told you because I’m afraid?”
“Flint DeLuca, are you trying to tell me something?” His brown eyes pierced her. “Are you?”
Flint shook her head. “No. I’m not. But you just assumed it was gonna be a boy. It could be a girl and then you wouldn’t have to worry about babies.”
He lifted a brow as he stirred quickly. “You drive me crazy, girl. And for the record, it wouldn’t matter. I’d love you anyway. Got that?”
His brows lifted when she didn’t answer. “Got it?” he asked again.
“I got it, Daddy. And I love you too.”
“That’s right you do.” He flashed her a quick grin, which only made her roll her eyes and smirk back. “But for real, to use your lingo, no babies.”
Her father wasn’t a prude, in fact he’d made it pretty clear that he understood she was reaching an age where she might begin to do things with guys, but she just wished he’d drop it already. She wasn’t stupid.
>
“Oh my God, Dad. Wrap it up, I get it. Jeez.”
“You better. If you don’t have any, I’ve got some in my bedroom dresser. Top drawer.”
She curled her nose. “I’m, yeah…” Flint dropped the half-eaten spaghetti stick and hopped off the counter. “There are no words. And besides, why do you even have those? Have you met someone?”
Scoffing, he lifted the spaghetti lid and stirred the noodles one last time before giving a satisfied nod. “I was married once you know, Flint. Mom and I didn’t want any more babies, not in our line of work.”
She loved her scatterbrained father, she really did, but sometimes she felt like more of a grown-up than him. “You do know those things are probably moth-eaten by now, right? They’ve got a shelf life.”
“And how would you know that, young lady?” He slipped on a pair of oven mitts and carried the pan of pasta to the sink, draining the water out. Steam curled around his face.
“After-school special. Just, Dad, I got it. Okay. Trust me. Now please, let’s just drop the subject.”
“Fine. Adam wants me to start catching tonight.”
“What?” She grabbed two plates out of the kitchen cabinet. “He does know that you have to have time to set up a rhythm with the fliers, right? It’s not as simple as that.” She snapped her fingers, setting the plates down on the table.
“I’ve been practicing with the girls, Flint. They’re amazing.” Awe gathered in his words, a soft smile gracing his lips. “Nimble and—” He blinked as if remembering who he was talking to. “They’re good.” He cleared his throat, then dumped the pasta into the tomato-sauce-and-meat mixture.
Her heart sank. He’d met someone. He didn’t say it, but he wouldn’t look at her. She’d seen his eyes sparkle like that before. “There’s a woman, isn’t there?”
He closed his eyes, and that spoke louder than any words.
It had been a year. Part of her felt like maybe it was time, but the selfish side—the irrational side—kept thinking… it’d only been a year. Surely he wasn’t ready to move on? She wasn’t.
Flint knew they couldn’t hang on to the memory of Mom forever. She never would have wanted that for them, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.
