By a Thread

by Jennifer Estep

  Finn pointedly cleared his throat.

  “And they also busted up Finn’s car along the way,” I added.

  “Bastards,” my foster brother muttered. “You never, ever key an Aston Martin, much less crack the windshield or rip up the seats. They deserved to be gutted like fish for that alone.”

  Callie’s eyes widened at the venom in his voice, and she stared at him like he’d just grown another head. Finn smiled at her, following it up with a sexy wink. Bria kicked him again just for that.

  Donovan’s eyes narrowed to slits. “I thought as much. I knew it was you as soon as I heard that they’d been stabbed to death.”

  I could have pointed out that Bria had actually killed Pete Procter with her Ice magic, but I knew it wouldn’t make a difference to Donovan.

  “Guilty as charged,” I quipped. “Just like old times, right?”

  Donovan gave me a disgusted look then—the same disappointed, disheartened, utterly disgusted look that he had dozens of times before. The look that said that he couldn’t believe he hadn’t shot me when he’d had the chance, the first night we’d met at the Ashland Opera House. The look that said he couldn’t believe he’d ever let himself get close to me. The look that said I wasn’t worth one single shred of his time, attention, consideration, or sympathy.

  My heart twinged again, but this time it was more from anger than some deep, dark, hidden longing.

  “Look,” I snapped. “I didn’t come down here looking for trouble, but whether you like it or not, Bria and I are in this thing with Callie now. We’ve embarrassed the vampire twice and killed four of his men. From what little I know about him, Dekes doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to let things like that slide. He can’t—not and be the badass everyone claims he is. And he still needs the land that the Sea Breeze sits on to build his casino. He’s not just going to forget about that either, no matter how much you might want him to.”

  Donovan couldn’t argue with my logic, but he couldn’t bring himself to agree with me either. I knew that Donovan’s morals meant more to him than I ever had, but I wondered how he felt now that Callie’s life was the one in danger. Because Callie was everything I was not—good, sweet, innocent. Would Donovan bend his morals to let me save her? Or would he refuse, foolishly try to go after Dekes through legal methods, and get them both killed in the process?

  “Why don’t we let Callie decide?” I asked. “Since it’s her life on the line.”

  We all looked at Callie. Some of the color had returned to her face, but confusion, surprise, and hurt still filled her eyes. She kept staring at Donovan like she’d never seen him before. I wondered if it was because she’d just found out that he’d slept with an assassin or because he hadn’t told her who I really was last night. Looked like Donovan wasn’t any better at this relationship stuff than I was.

  “I’m not sure,” Callie finally said in a hesitant tone. “I know that Dekes is a horrible person, that he’s hurt people, that he killed Stu Alexander or had it done, but we’re sitting here talking about murdering him. As much as I love the Sea Breeze, it’s not worth his life.”

  “Well, Dekes thinks that it is definitely worth your life,” I said. “And I’m the one talking about murdering someone. Everyone else is just an innocent bystander.”

  “I’d go with cheerleaders myself,” Finn said in a helpful voice.

  This time, Bria shoved her elbow into his side. Finn winced and shuffled a little closer to Owen, who gave him an amused look.

  “I can’t let you do that, Gin,” Donovan said in a low voice. “I can’t let you go after Dekes. You know that.”

  The anger that had been simmering in my stomach turned into a slow boil, and I glared at him. “You aren’t letting me do anything, Detective. Not one damn thing. I’m a big girl, and I make my own decisions, remember? And I’ve decided I’m going to crash Dekes’s press conference this afternoon. That’s all there is to it.”

  “If you go after him, I’ll arrest you,” Donovan snapped. “I won’t be part of your murdering him. I won’t let you get it away with it again. Not here. This is my town, Gin. Not yours. You can either play by my rules or you can get the hell off my island.”

  I opened my mouth to snap back that I’d like to see him try to fucking arrest me, when Callie got to her feet and held up her hands.

  “Please, enough, stop. Both of you. I . . . appreciate what you’re trying to do, Gin,” she said. “What you’re offering to do for me. But I’m not any more comfortable with this than Donovan is, especially since you’re talking about murdering Dekes like it’s something casual that you do every day of the week.”

  Callie’s statement was far closer to the truth than she knew, given how many thugs I’d taken out in Ashland over the past few weeks and all the others that would be waiting for me when I went back home. Vacation or no vacation, things in the Ashland underworld were by no means settled. It made me tired just thinking about how many more hoods I’d have to take out before the others got the message to leave me the hell alone—if they ever did.

  But more than that, I sensed that same kind of bone-tired weariness in Callie. She’d been fighting Dekes for months now, and the struggle had taken its toll on her. Oh, she seemed happy enough on the surface, cooking in her restaurant, laughing and joking with her staff and customers, but tension radiated off her like lightning from a storm cloud. Even now, in the privacy of her own office, her petite body was ramrod straight, and her troubled eyes kept drifting toward the door, as if she expected more of Dekes’s men to barge in at any second just because we were talking about the vamp. I was willing to bet that today wasn’t the first morning that Callie had woken up with tired smudges under her eyes and knots in her stomach—but it could be the very last, if I had my way with Dekes this afternoon.

  “I understand,” I said in a gentler voice. “So how about we compromise? Instead of doing what I usually do, I’ll strongly suggest that Dekes leave you alone. We’ll leave it up to the vampire what happens from there. What he does from then on and all the consequences are on him, okay? Can you live with that?”

  Callie nodded with obvious relief, but the tension didn’t leave Donovan’s rough features. The detective knew me far better than his fiancée did. He knew exactly what I’d do if the vampire failed to heed my advice: that I’d stick my knives in Dekes and walk away before the vamp’s body even hit the floor. And the worst part for Donovan was that he also realized there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. Not really. Oh, I imagined he could warn Dekes, but all that would do was make it harder for me to get to the vampire and delay the inevitable. And really, all Donovan’s talk about stopping me was just that—talk. Just like it had been back in Ashland. The detective wanted Callie to be safe, and deep down he was happy to let me be the one to get my hands dirty instead of him.

  Good thing I liked playing in the muck.

  12

  There was nothing else to say, so Owen, Finn, Bria, and I left Callie and Donovan in the office. The four of us walked back through the kitchen and the front of the restaurant before stepping outside into the afternoon sun. The day was even hotter and more humid than the previous one had been.

  “I think that went rather well,” Finn said in a cheery voice. “All things considered.”

  I looked at Bria. “Do you want to slap him or shall I?”

  Bria held out her hand in a go-ahead motion. “The pleasure is all yours.”

  Finn winced and ducked behind Owen. “Quick! Let’s make a break for it!”

  Owen laughed. “You’re on your own, buddy. Let me know how that turns out for you.”

  Finn huffed, but he didn’t step out from behind Owen.

  Most of the brunch crowd had already gone, leaving only a few cars parked in front of the restaurant—including Finn’s smashed-up convertible. He walked over to his beloved Aston Martin and examined it from every angle before he turned to look at me.

  “Now I’m doubly glad you killed those black-he
arted sons of bitches,” he muttered. “Look what they did to my car, my beautiful, beautiful car. If they were here, I’d shoot out their kneecaps myself.”

  I rolled my eyes. “It’s just a car, Finn. It’s not like you don’t have a dozen others back home in the parking garage of your apartment building.”

  He sniffed. “Yes, but those are back home, and we’re here. And this model was destined to be a classic. Now it’s just another piece of junk.”

  He stuck out his lip, pouted, and then kicked the tire the way that a little boy would.

  I looked at Bria. “How do you put up with him?”

  Bria started to open her mouth, but Finn piped up instead.

  “She puts up with me because I happen to be rich, handsome, charming, a witty conversationalist, and exceptionally talented in bed,” he smirked. “Flexible too.”

  I groaned. “I did not need to hear those last two.”

  Finn just grinned. Nothing restored his good mood more than needling someone else, and I was happy to take one for the team, since it was my fault that his car had gotten trashed in the first place.

  Finn pulled out his cell phone and arranged for a tow truck service to haul his convertible to a garage to get the dents beaten out of it and have the windshield and seats replaced. Then the four of us got into Finn’s Cadillac Escalade, which he and Owen had driven down to Blue Marsh this morning. We stopped to pick up some groceries and other supplies, and an hour later, we were back in the beach house I’d rented.

  Finn walked through the house before stepping back into the living room. He sniffed his displeasure. “I suppose that it will do. But it’s not nearly as nice as staying at the Blue Sands would have been. There’s no pool, no bar, and most importantly, no gorgeous blonde to give me a full-body massage.” He grinned at Bria. “Unless you want to volunteer for that last particular duty.”

  Bria snorted, but I could see the heat glittering in her eyes. Finn might drive her crazy with his motormouth and excessive ego, but she couldn’t keep her hands off him any more than I could keep mine off Owen.

  “Homework first, children, and then you can play,” I drawled. “Finn still has to secure our invitations to Dekes’s press conference and whip up some fake credentials for me, remember?”

  “And it won’t take me more than an hour to do all that,” Finn said. “Besides, I’d much rather play first and do homework later. That’s always so much more fun.”

  He leaned in close and whispered something in Bria’s ear. She blushed, then let out a small, slightly embarrassed giggle. Finn gave me a triumphant look, his green eyes sly and bright in his ruddy face. He grabbed Bria’s hand, and the two of them disappeared down the hall without a backward glance. A few seconds later, more giggles filled the air, along with the sound of a door slamming shut.

  That left me alone in the living room with Owen. He hadn’t said much in Callie’s office or on the ride over to the beach house, but he’d been staring at me with a dark, guarded expression ever since Donovan had shown up at the Sea Breeze.

  “How about we take that walk on the beach now?” he suggested. “And give Finn and Bria some privacy.”

  I nodded. Owen didn’t say anything else, but I had some explaining to do, and we both knew it.

  I grabbed a couple of large blankets and a blue-and-white-striped beach umbrella from one of the downstairs closets. Owen took the umbrella from me, hoisting the white metal pole up on his shoulder like it weighed nothing. I took a moment to admire the ripple of his muscles under his shirt. Unlike the other wealthy businessmen in Ashland, Owen came by his sculptured physique the old-fashioned way—through hard physical labor. He’d spent years working as a blacksmith while he built up his own business empire, and he still made weapons and iron sculptures in the forge in the back of his house.

  Once our supplies were gathered, we set out. We were on the far side of the island from the hotel, and according to Bria, this was the quiet part of Blue Marsh. The local folks rented out their fancy beach houses for exorbitant fees and went somewhere cooler for the summer, while the tourists moved in to get away from the problems that plagued them back home. For a few days, anyway. Too bad it wasn’t working out that way for me.

  It was still early in the season, and we passed only one other person—a woman playing with a small, sand-colored corgi along the water’s edge. Owen and I wandered about a mile from the house, stopping when we came to a small curve in the beach. The ocean rushed back into a hidden cove that slithered inward like a fat snake trying to wiggle its way inland. A small ridge of glossy black rocks ran along the back of the cove, separating it from the rest of the island. Beyond the rocks, I could see the cypress trees and tall, waving cattails of the island’s boggy marshes.

  Off to my right, the ridge rose to a sharp, jagged peak, and a small lighthouse clung to the edge of the rocks there. The lighthouse had been black at one time, with thin white stripes running down its sides, although all the paint had long since faded to various shades of gray. From the way the structure was boarded up, it had been abandoned long ago and left to someday fall into the ever-encroaching sea.

  We strolled into the cove. The ridge of rocks and the lighthouse provided a bit of shade, making the air seem a bit cooler back here, and the waves muted to more of a misty, refreshing spray. I spread out the blankets while Owen planted the umbrella in the sand, then opened it. I pulled off my sneakers and socks, sat down on the edge of one of the blankets, hugged my knees to my chest, and dug my bare toes into the warm, crusty golden sand. Owen plopped down beside me, kicking off his own shoes and socks, and leaned back on his elbows. We sat there and watched the water foam and froth for several minutes.

  “So,” Owen finally said. “Donovan Caine.”

  “Yeah, Donovan.”

  A few seagulls and terns with fluffy white feathers circled overhead, although the constant rush of the ocean mostly drowned out their hoarse, hungry cries.

  “I had no idea that he was in Blue Marsh,” I said. “When Donovan left Ashland, he didn’t tell me where he was going, and I didn’t try to find him. You know that.”

  Owen nodded.

  I drew in a breath. Now came the hard part. “I know that I should have told you last night that I’d seen him again, that he was Callie’s fiancé. But I wasn’t sure how to tell you. I was still trying to figure out how I felt about seeing him again.”

  “And have you? Figured out how you feel about him?”

  I shrugged. “Nothing’s changed between us. I still kill people, and he still hates me for it. Same old, same old.”

  “Yes,” Owen agreed. “Same old, same old. Right down to the way that he looks at you.”

  I frowned. “What do you mean?”

  He sighed. “Donovan might be engaged to Callie, might have put a ring on her finger and promised to love her forever—hell, he might even really love her forever. But he was looking at you the whole time that we were in her office.”

  I thought that Donovan had done a rather splendid job of not looking at me at all, but I didn’t say anything.

  “He still wants you,” Owen said in a hard, blunt tone. “Even now he’s thinking about making a play for you, but I’ll be damned if he’s going to have you.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Is that jealousy I hear?”

  “You’re damn right I’m jealous,” Owen growled. “Because I saw how you used to look at him, and he didn’t even realize it. But more than that, I saw how much it hurt you when Donovan turned his back on you when he realized that you’d survived the collapse of Tobias Dawson’s coal mine.”

  I couldn’t help but flinch. Things had not gone well when I’d tried to kill Dawson at a party that Mab had thrown. The dwarf had gotten the drop on me instead and knocked me out. I’d woken up in one of Dawson’s coal mines—the one with all the diamonds in it that ran right under Warren Fox’s land. Using my Ice and Stone magic, I’d caved in the mine—hell, the whole damn mountain—on top of Dawson and his men, killing
them.

  After that, I’d managed to crawl and claw my way out of the collapsed mine with a little bit of skill and a whole lot of luck. When I’d finally made it back to civilization, I’d expected Donovan to be, well, happy to see me. Or at least fucking relieved that I’d survived. Instead, the detective had seemed disgusted and disappointed, like things would have been so much easier for him if I’d been buried under that mountain forever and wasn’t around to tempt him anymore. Donovan had even gone so far as to turn his back on me, instead of trying to help me and see that I got the medical attention that I needed. The detective’s open, curt dismissal had cut me deeper than I liked to admit. Even today, I could still feel the faint sting of it. That had been the beginning of the end of Donovan and me, even if I hadn’t realized it at the time.

  “Not one of my finest moments, I admit,” I joked, trying to lighten the mood. “I excel at killing men, not so much at picking the right ones to date. At least, I didn’t until I met you.”

  Owen smiled a little at that, but his face soon turned serious once more.

  “You don’t even see it, do you?” he asked. “How similar you are to Callie.”

  I frowned. “What do you mean? I’m nothing like Callie.”

  He shook his head. “Sure you are. Think about it. You’re both beautiful, strong, smart women. You both have dark hair and pale eyes. You both run these cool, quirky restaurants and are great cooks. Hell, she even wears blue aprons just like you do at the Pork Pit. It’s a little eerie if you ask me.”

  I didn’t know what to make of his words. Bria had told me once that I reminded her of Callie, but I hadn’t thought much about how alike we were. I wondered if Donovan had noticed it—if it was what had drawn him to Callie in the first place. I didn’t know whether to be flattered or weirded out.