She sat in her dressing room after the first set. She didn’t want to watch anyone dance, and she didn’t want to look into Hugh’s or Sterling’s eyes. Caleigh didn’t know what the hell she wanted. She only knew she’d never been so confused or felt so unsettled before, and she didn’t like it. Caleigh was used to being in charge of her emotions. She was used to making a decision and following through, and she’d never let a man get so far under her skin that he deterred her from her chosen path.
How the hell had this happened? She’d let two men in so deep there was no way to ever turn back. They were like a drug. She had to have them—both of them. What kind of a person does something like that? She’d acted like the worst kind of wanton woman, and she’d never had a moment’s trepidation about doing so. As soon as she saw Hugh standing in the doorway of the boathouse, she’d known she was going to let both of them ravage her.
Caleigh hugged her elbows even though the room was warm. Blair had obviously made love to both Leo and Andras. She’d hardly shown any embarrassment when she told Caleigh she was with them both. How had it happened? Caleigh was curious about the details, but there was no way she was going to simply ask Blair such a question.
Blair had deflected her questions about the odd things going on in this place by shocking her with the news that she slept with both Leo and Andras every night. The realization hit Caleigh suddenly. That’s why Blair had told her that bit of personal news. Not to shock her, or brag, or any of the other lame reasons that had run through Caleigh’s mind when she’d first heard it. Blair had clammed up when Caleigh tried to dig deeper about this place and had instead created a diversion.
So she knew, then. She knew whatever it was they were trying unsuccessfully to keep so secret. Caleigh was now more determined than ever to uncover the secret and find out what the hell she’d landed in.
Her second set consisted of “Let’s Get Lost,” “People Will Say We’re In Love,” and “Taking a Chance on Love.” They might not have an emotional connection, but in retrospect Caleigh realized she couldn’t have chosen three more appropriate songs if she’d tried. If Leo and Andras knew she had made love to Sterling and Hugh, did the other owners know as well? But how then did that explain Niko’s sudden change of heart toward her?
Caleigh began to wonder if she’d imagined the entire conversation with Niko backstage. She glanced at him for a second, but he was absorbed in his snare drum and paying no attention to her. Finally, Caleigh let her gaze wander to the front table.
Hugh was grinning, his eyes shining with lust, as usual. But there was a softness to his jaw muscles tonight that she’d never noticed before. His features weren’t quite as sharp and dangerous as she’d first thought.
Sterling’s green eyes were full of admiration and another emotion Caleigh found disturbing. She’d seen that look in the eyes of lovesick boys in high school and college. It was the same look she’d noticed in the eyes of each man she’d written to this morning, right before they’d boarded the buses that would eventually take them overseas to war. It was the look of a man in love.
Caleigh nearly stumbled on the words during her third song as she continued to hold Sterling’s gaze, desperate to find something in his face that would assure her she was wrong. But she wasn’t wrong. He was looking at her with love in his eyes. There was no mistaking it, and he wasn’t even trying to hide it.
What a mess. She’d never meant to let things go this far. Why hadn’t she put her foot down yesterday afternoon when Hugh showed up and refused to fuck them both? What the hell had she been thinking? That was the problem. She hadn’t been thinking at all. Her hormones had taken over, and their damn sexy eyes and the smells that hung about them like a cloud had screwed up her brain. It happened every time she was within one hundred feet of them. They could each seduce her with nothing more than a glance.
Is that how it had happened for Blair? Had she fallen under the combined spells of Leo and Andras?
Once again, the crowd cheered before she finished singing. Caleigh took a few less bows than last time then sprinted for the back door. She needed fresh air. A light drizzle greeted her on the stone patio, but she didn’t care. The small awning provided enough shelter from the rain for now. She drank in huge gulps of the clean scent, trying to make sense of everything. There had to be a logical explanation for all of this.
“Mind if I join you?”
Caleigh whirled around at the sound of Hugh’s deep voice. He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a hand-rolled cigarette and a pack of matches. “You don’t mind, do you?”
“I had no idea you smoked. Usually you can smell it on a person.”
He didn’t answer, merely lit the cigarette and took a long drag. When he exhaled, he did so away from her face. “Want a drag?” he asked, holding it toward her.
She shook her head. “Never started.” She pointed toward her throat. “I was told it would ruin my voice.”
He nodded. “Of course. That makes sense.” He took another long drag. “You look like something’s on your mind tonight, Caleigh.”
“I have a lot of things on my mind tonight.”
“You and Blair looked pretty chummy earlier. Is what’s on your mind related to something she told you, perhaps?”
“Are each of you able to read minds, Hugh?”
He took a long drag, exhaled, and flicked the butt out onto the wet grass. “Don’t tell Zach or Emmett you caught me smoking out here, okay? Let them think it was a guest.”
“Sure, I’ll keep that in mind if they happen to ask me about it.” She hadn’t meant to snap at him, but she was getting sick and tired of everyone evading her questions.
He must have noticed because he finally turned his full attention toward her, gazing into her eyes with a thoughtful expression. “What if I told you we could read minds? Or, at least could pick up on feelings?”
“Lots of people can do that.”
“Not quite to the extent we can.”
“Who exactly is ‘we’?” Caleigh’s heart began to hammer.
“You have another set to finish. We should have this conversation afterward.”
“Damn it, Hugh. Why won’t anyone answer my questions?”
“Caleigh, it’s a bit more complicated than simply answering your questions.”
“Fine. After the show we’ll talk.” She leaned close and lowered her voice. “I’m not fucking you or Sterling ever again until I get some answers. Is that clear?”
A smile played at the corners of his mouth, and Caleigh curled her hand into a fist. She’d never hit a man in her entire life, but she came very close to decking Hugh at that moment. How dare he laugh at her?
“Clear as a bell, my songbird. See you after the show.”
He turned and left her standing in the rain.
Chapter Twelve
Caleigh waited in her dressing room after the show, listening to the sounds of the band packing up. Let Hugh and Sterling come to her. And if Hugh broke his promise and they didn’t talk to her, she was done with both of them. To hell with this, no matter how amazing they were in bed.
She waited twenty minutes before opening the door, with every intention of marching straight up to her room and sticking to her guns. They could send all the damn roses they wanted. She wasn’t going to budge an inch.
Disappointment settled over her like a shroud as she made her way to the stage. She heard angry voices and ducked behind the stage curtains, peering out through a slit in the fabric. Sterling and Hugh stood near the entrance to the nightclub, surrounded by Leo, Andras, and Blair.
“I didn’t tell her anything she couldn't have figured out for herself, or heard from another staff member,” Blair’s voice shook, and Caleigh swore she was crying. She gazed up at Hugh with a pained expression on her face. “And besides, you’ve already told all the other staff. Why didn’t you say something to her right away? How was I supposed to know you hadn’t? When she started asking questions, I didn’t know what to say
.”
“Don’t blame Blair,” said Leo, his face inches from Hugh’s. “She’s right. If you and Sterling hadn’t been so busy fucking her, this wouldn’t have happened. You said you’d tell her, and obviously you haven’t.”
“The subject never came up.” Hugh’s voice was bored, unaffected.
“And what about you?” Andras turned on Sterling. “Did the subject not come up during your rooftop rendezvous?”
“It didn’t seem like the right time. I hardly think you and Leo have any right to lecture us, considering what you both did with Blair.”
Blair reeled back like someone had struck her. Caleigh had heard enough. She stomped out from behind the curtain, making sure her shoes clip-clopped loudly on the wooden floor of the stage. Five surprised faces turned toward her.
“I’m here now,” she shouted. “So tell me. What’s this big secret you’re all trying so hard to keep?”
Caleigh descended the stairs and strolled toward the group. “You all have a distinct smell, you seem to know my thoughts, you possess superhuman strength, the air has a weird electrical charge to it every time I’m alone with Sterling or Hugh, and I can’t seem to keep my wits about me whenever one of them is around.”
She’d reached the group. Blair had been crying, and that made Caleigh extremely pissed off. How dare they gang up on her like that?
“You say you’re all cousins, but I’m betting that’s bullshit. I seem to have only vague memories of certain blocks of time spent with Sterling or Hugh, and if that photograph of the twelve owners wasn’t taken in the twenties, I’ll eat a microphone.” She glared at Leo. “You and Andras have aged since that picture was made, but the rest of the owners have not. Why is that?”
“Caleigh…” Sterling’s condescending tone set her teeth on edge.
“Don’t do it. Don’t you dare patronize me or try to smooth this over. Did Hugh tell you about our short conversation after my second set?”
The other four glared at him. “Oh, I guess not. I told him I wanted answers to my questions and he promised me I would have them, after the show. The show is over. So it’s time to answer my questions, or I’m out of here.”
Blair opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Hugh finally showed some emotion on his face other than boredom, and Sterling made a strangled noise in the back of his throat. Caleigh’s threat was an empty one, but they didn’t know that. She could no sooner drive away from here than she could cut off her own arm. She was in too deep. But growing up with three brothers who had a knack for playing poker had taught her the fine art of bluffing, and she called on it at that moment, setting her jaw firmly in place and forcing herself to hold their gazes.
“Let’s go somewhere else and talk,” said Hugh, reaching for her hand.
She pulled it away. “No. I’m not going to yours or Sterling’s suite so you can seduce me and evade my questions.”
Leo cleared his throat. “Why don’t we all go upstairs to one of the ballrooms where we can have some privacy? I’ll have food and drinks sent in. Would that be satisfactory, Caleigh?”
“Sure. Fine.”
They led her to one of the ballrooms on the first floor, tucked in behind the front desk. Caleigh hadn’t been in any of them before, and was surprised at their size. One of the bellhops brought in a cart loaded with sandwiches, cookies, and bottles of soda. After he left, the group chose a table and began to eat and drink.
“Do you get hungry when you sing?” asked Blair.
“Yes, I do. I try not to eat too soon beforehand because I’ve found it interferes with breath control.”
“I wish I could sing.”
“There’s a school of thought that says everyone can. It’s all a matter of learning to control the muscles in your throat and your breathing.”
Blair laughed, but it was a forced laugh. “Well, I don’t know if I’d agree with that. I seriously can’t sing a note.”
Caleigh waited, her impatience growing by the second, until everyone had eaten a sandwich. Then she looked at each of them in turn. “Okay. I’m here. We’ve had food. Now I’m ready to listen to the story.”
“It’s a complicated story,” said Sterling.
She crossed her arms and stared him down. Complicated or not, she wanted to hear it.
“You were right about the photograph,” he said. “It was made in the late twenties.”
“Why have only two of you aged since then?”
Sterling glanced briefly at the others before he answered. “In 1919 we were sent to Earth as part of a larger group to help people find more peaceful ways of protesting Prohibition.”
“1919? But that would make you…” Her voice trailed off as she searched Sterling’s face for a sign he was bullshitting her. He wasn’t. Caleigh put down the cookie she’d been about to bite into. What the hell was he talking about?
“There’s no easy way to say this, Caleigh. We’re Nephilim—fallen angels. The reason we don’t appear to age is because we can’t. We can’t get sick and we can’t die.”
Caleigh swallowed against the bile rising in her throat. Her heartbeat sounded like a death knell in her ears, and sweat broke out along her hairline. She was going to be sick.
Hugh rose from his chair. “I think she needs something stronger than ginger ale right now. Be right back.”
Caleigh watched him leave the room. He was an angel? It wasn’t possible. He ate, drank, slept, and made love like any other man she’d ever been with. He had warm skin and veins on his arms, and she’d heard his heart beating and his breathing as she lay next to him in bed.
“We got caught up in the lifestyle instead.”
Caleigh had to ask Sterling to repeat what he’d just said. “Excuse me?”
“Instead of fulfilling our mission, we got caught up in the lifestyle. We slept with women and we drank illegal booze. We took advantage of every decadent situation available to us.”
“Why?”
Sterling shrugged. “Because we could. Because it was more fun than running around the country, trying to convince evil stupid people that blowing up a building was not an appropriate way to protest drinking booze.”
“So what happened?”
“We were punished for our sins.”
Hugh returned and placed a bottle of Jack Daniel’s and a glass in front of Caleigh. “Hope you like this brand.”
She didn’t answer. Instead she took off the top and poured herself a generous amount of the whiskey. She took small sips until her head felt woozy, and her body warmed up again. Then she glanced at Sterling. “Punished how?”
“We were bound to Earth. We could continue to indulge in our favorites vices, but it would bring no permanent satisfaction. And because we showed a proclivity toward two of us making love to one woman at a time, the only option we have to choose a mortal existence and break the curse has an interesting little twist.”
Caleigh’s insides went cold again. She knew what he was about to say. It was so obvious now. Blair was with Leo and Andras, and they were the two who had aged since the photograph was made over a decade earlier. But that meant…no. It couldn’t be. She wouldn’t be part of this horror show.
Caleigh pushed away from table and stood up so fast that some of the whiskey sloshed onto the table.
“It’s okay, Caleigh.” Blair was on her feet, her eyes pleading. “There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
“Nothing to be afraid of? Curses? Fallen angels? You and”—she pointed toward Leo and Andras—“them…you’re together…and now they’re human? Nothing to be afraid of, Blair?”
“Caleigh…” Sterling came around the table so fast she never saw him move. He tried to put his arms around her, but she pushed him away.
“Stop it. Just stop it. This is impossible. What you’re telling me cannot be real.”
“Then how else do you explain all the things you’ve experienced?” Hugh’s voice was soft, but it broke through her fear and revulsion. She stared at him, unsure what to say. Ho
w could it be true?
She dropped into her chair. Sterling slid another chair over and sat close to her, stroking her arm. This time she didn’t pull away.
“We’re not trying to frighten you,” said Sterling. “I know this is difficult for you to believe, but you’re an intelligent woman. Tell me what other explanation makes sense.”
She looked into his eyes, remembering how her first glimpse of him reminded her of a large cat, ready to pounce. He looked like that now, but she’d seen enough of his soft side by now to know he’d never harm her intentionally. “Plenty of explanations make sense.” Even to her own ears, she didn’t sound convincing.
“Like what?” he asked softly.
“Hypnosis. You put something in my food and drink. I’m going crazy.”
Hugh snorted. “Hypnosis would never work on you, Caleigh,” he said. “You could never relax enough. You eat and drink the same things as each of us. And you are definitely not crazy.”
She was out of defenses. But if what they said was true, did that mean this had all been a game? Was it something they did for fun? The thought filled her with more sadness than she could bear at that moment. She pushed it aside and asked the question whose answer she didn’t want to hear.
“You said the option you had to choose a mortal existence and break the curse has an interesting little twist. What’s the twist?”
Sterling took her hands and held her gaze. “Because our favorite vice was to double-team a woman, that’s the only way we can choose mortality. Or rather, she has to choose it for us. One woman for two of us, and she has to make the ultimate decision.”
Caleigh glanced at Blair. Her face was as serene as if she were sitting outside in the sunshine, enjoying a warm summer day. She had chosen them, not the other way around. Leo and Andras were mortal because Blair had believed them and chosen to be with both of them.
Tempted by Two Angels [Notorious Nephilim 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 9
