A few miles down the road, Ludan pulled into a neighborhood. The homes were small and all had the same look and feel. Different paint colors, different brick, or wood trim, but siblings all the same. Tall, mature trees dotted the front yards, and sidewalks cracked by time lined either side of the street. Off the driver’s side, a small pond stretched behind the span of three or four houses. Covered picnic tables and playgrounds lined the perimeter.
A memory flashed in her mind. Her on a swing and giggling while her father pushed her higher. “This is my neighborhood.”
Ludan kept his silence, winding through the streets with intermittent glances at the tiny map built into the Hummer’s dashboard.
She scanned the row of houses on her right. “It doesn’t look as familiar as I thought it would.”
“This neighborhood’s over twenty years old. Time changes things. Plus, new owners like to add their own mark.” He turned a corner and parked at the entrance to a cul-de-sac.
Four houses rounded the circular plot, but it was the one closest to them that snagged her attention. A one-story surrounded in carnelian red brick. The roof’s pitch was shallow like those around it and was covered in dove-gray shingles. Neatly trimmed hedges lined the front, and a stonework path ran from the front door to the sidewalk.
“That’s it.” She fumbled with the door handle, missing the first two attempts for failing to take her eyes off her childhood home. The air-conditioned cold metal barely registered against her palm as she pushed the door open and slid to the asphalt. One majestic oak tree towered near the center of the front lawn with rich black mulch surrounding its base.
She traipsed closer.
Behind her, Ludan’s car door thumped shut and his clipped, booted footsteps rounded the front of the truck.
She pointed at the neatly stained wood slats surrounding the backyard and the greenbelt behind it. “They replaced the fence. When I was little, it was chain-link. I’d climb over it and almost always scraped my legs.” She glanced back at Ludan.
Despite her story and the location she’d pointed at, his focus was solely on her, his eyes hooded with an unsettling weight.
She shrugged and turned her attention back to the house. “I was little for my age. Dad said he liked me being little because I wouldn’t always be that way.”
“He was right.” Ludan’s hand settled between her neck and shoulder, warm and comforting. A steadying presence while her insides churned and relived memories long forgotten. “But you’re still tiny to me.”
She snorted and giggled before her pride could prevent otherwise, and glanced over her shoulder. “Everyone’s tiny compared to you.”
She froze. Heat—or maybe need—radiated from his cool blue gaze, plucking her from her thoughts and plunging her headlong into the present.
His thumb skated along her spine near her nape.
The noonday summer sun beat harsh against her skin and wavered off the blacktop street, but she shivered as though it were twenty degrees. Under his heated stare she could forget anything, or anyone, and never regret it.
He relinquished his hold and stuffed his hand in his front pocket. “I’d take you in if I could, but there are people inside.”
The comment shook her from her haze as little else could have. She spun back to the house, her heart lodged high in her throat. “My family?”
“No. Not anymore.”
Beside her home stood another made of ivory brick and chocolate trim. Her best friend, Renee, had lived there. Opposite the cul-de-sac lived another little girl who’d been five. She’d tagged along behind Brenna and Renee when they’d play and drove them both crazy. What was her name? Samantha? Savannah? “Do you know where they live now?”
Ludan crammed both of his hands deep in his front pockets and hung his head. “Your mom moved to Florida a few years after you disappeared. Ian thinks it was so she could have a better chance of finding you.”
“You mean Mom and Dad.”
Closing his eyes, Ludan’s shoulders sagged on a long sigh. He opened them a second later and met her gaze head-on. “No, I mean your mother.”
She looked back at the house. “Dad stayed here? Why would he do that?” When Ludan didn’t answer, she turned back to him.
Anguish pinched the corners of his eyes, and his lips were mashed in an angry line.
Dread slithered down her spine, frigid and unforgiving as fractured ice. “Something happened to him.”
“In a manner of speaking.” He swallowed and scanned the horizon as though it might hold answers he didn’t have. He studied his boots a second, then looked up and cleared his throat. “You have to understand, losing a child, especially a young one, can be hard on a parent. Sometimes too hard.”
Too hard? What could possibly be harder than what she’d endured? What she’d lived and suffered through? “Tell me.”
He jerked one hand free of his pocket and cupped the back of her neck. His thumb traced the line of her jaw. “He’s gone, Brenna. He died two years after you disappeared.”
“What? How?”
He cupped her face with his other hand and pulled her closer. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter. I deserve to know.”
He studied her face, eyes roving her features. He frowned before he spoke. “He killed himself.”
“Suicide? How?”
“Please don’t ask me that.”
“How?”
Ludan growled low in his throat, and his jaw looked like it would snap at any moment. “The death certificate said asphyxia. Ian couldn’t pull up much beyond one news story that confirmed it was a self-inflicted death.”
Asphyxia. Another word she didn’t recognize. Judging from the look on Ludan’s face, it was one he wouldn’t be willing to describe either.
The neighborhood faded to nothing but white noise and haze. There wasn’t anything about this world she knew. Not really. She could barely read beyond that of a fifth or sixth grader. Her father was dead, and God only knew where her mother was. “It’s my fault.”
Ludan tightened his grip on her neck. “What?”
Her vision cleared enough to train her gaze on his. “It’s my fault. They told me to stay close to them. Both of them did, over and over again. But then I saw a pretty princess tiara in a store window, and I wanted to get a better look.” She studied the house. “I should have listened. If I’d listened, he’d still be here. I wouldn’t have lost them.”
Ludan cupped the side of her face and urged her focus back on him. His fingers pressed firm against her skin, refusing any give. He dipped his head so close his warm breath fanned her cheeks. “This isn’t your fault. Maxis is the one who set things in motion, and adults are responsible for their own actions. You’ve taken enough since you’ve been gone. Don’t take this, too.”
Tears welled in her eyes and blurred his perfect face. She wanted to say something, anything that wouldn’t make her appear as lost and worthless as she felt, but nothing came. Not so much as a thought beyond the craving to curl up in his arms and let her tears have free rein.
Sliding his hand to her back, he pulled her against him.
Her tears spilled down her cheeks, leaving cold tracks despite the Texas heat. His earth and leather scent surrounded her, and his heart pulsed strong and steady beneath her ear. Twice now he’d been the one to comfort her. To hold her steady while her past and the lack of a future tore through her soul.
She surrendered to it. To his strength. To the unpracticed, but oh-so-genuine stroke of his massive hand up and down her spine. His lips brushed her temple, and his breath tickled her skin.
God, he made it easy to let go. Lifting her head, she dashed her tears with the back of her hand and sniffled. “Sorry.”
With his callused thumb, he swept aside a tear she’d missed and softly smiled. His deep voice drifted smooth and tranquil across her senses. “Nothing to be sorry for.”
Easy for him to say. He wasn’t the one who’d broken down twice in les
s than a week. Forcing herself from his embrace, she stepped back and straightened her stance. “Can I see my mother?”
“Ian’s looking for her. He said he needs a few days to track her down, but after that, yes.”
Across the street, a little girl with a bright pink helmet and a blue romper peddled on a tiny bicycle down the sidewalk. Her mother jogged beside her, one hand poised near the back of the bike to catch her if she wobbled.
She’d been that little girl once. Mindless of problems or the cruel world.
Only days to wait. In the scheme of what she’d been through, the timespan was nothing. She could use the time to her advantage. To adjust and learn about the life she’d missed. “Okay. A few days it is.”
Chapter 13
Ludan stuffed his change in the front of his jeans pocket and took the second of two glutton-sized chocolate frozen custards from the cashier. Texas might be a bitch in the summer, but everyone who lived here knew how to take the edge off an August evening.
He ambled back to Brenna who was perched on the edge of a picnic bench and facing away from the built-in table. The custard place they’d stopped at on the outskirts of lower Greenville was packed with single nine-to-fivers and families in sore need of a midweek retreat. He was pretty sure the only reason he and Brenna hadn’t had to share their little all-in-one, table-and-bench combo was sheer intimidation on his part. Not that he cared. More time alone with Brenna was worth it.
Handing off her waffle cone, he sat and stretched one arm behind her so it rested on the table.
Her eyes lit with delight, and her pretty pink tongue licked the frozen curlicue at the top. Her eyes dropped, and a slow, decadent Mmmm hummed past her lips.
Fuck, he needed to get a grip. The last two days had been some of the best of his life. Peaceful and mostly quiet while they’d driven all over the huge-ass state so she could soak up everything from downtown to ranches. Even his beast had taken a breather, content to laze in Brenna’s presence.
Still, every time he so much as glanced at her, a weird tug pulled him, like they were connected somehow. Damned if it didn’t freak him the hell out.
He took a big enough bite to obliterate half of his custard.
Brenna’s playful taunt cut through his thoughts. “You’re supposed to enjoy it.”
“I’m a guy. Savoring’s for when we’re already full.”
“We just ate a few hours ago.”
Ludan shrugged and devoured another bite. He’d have to start getting creative with ways to occupy her if Ian didn’t call soon.
Well, ways that didn’t entail some of the lecherous thoughts scooting around in his head. Those he had in high supply, and every one of them made him feel like a Class-A dick.
He’d thought their shopping trip to the Galleria would’ve taken up a whole day, but it’d turned up surprisingly short-lived. Instead of dragging him from store to store for hours like he’d expected, Brenna had drawn into herself and eyeballed the people as though she expected them to sprout three heads. After an hour, he’d nixed the outing and taken them to a park.
Brenna watched a teen jump into a midsized truck across the parking lot, fire up the engine, and whip out of his parking place. Ever since he’d pulled over on the outskirts of town the day before and told her to slide in the driver’s seat, she’d paid twice as much attention to how people navigated their cars. As spontaneous ideas went, teaching her to drive had been one of his better inspirations.
“You sure I won’t get in trouble driving?” she said.
“Not unless you do something stupid.”
Actually, she could do 120 down Highway 75 with no clothes on and no one would fuck with her. He’d kill them first.
The phone in his back pocket vibrated. He pulled it out to find Ian’s name and number on the home screen. He punched the answer button and stood, pacing out of Brenna’s hearing. “Yeah.”
Ian’s chuckle rumbled through the connection before his voice did. “Well, aren’t you a chipper fella.”
“More like a man who’s short on patience.”
“With Brenna? She’s one of the most easygoing people I’ve met, and I’ve met more than my share.”
“Not her. Just trying to keep her occupied while she waits. My ideas aren’t always the best.”
“What?” Ian said. “Cage matches and warfare aren’t her cup of tea?”
Praise the Great One, that shit got old. If they knew why he fought and sparred as much as he did they wouldn’t give him such a hard time. “You gonna talk my ear off or tell me what you know?”
Ian paused at that. He might be a slash or two past middle age, but he didn’t intimidate easily. No, that pause said his cop instincts had whirred into gear, and he was gearing up for an armchair psych evaluation. “I found her mom.”
Thank the Creator. “Tell me what you’ve got.”
Less than five minutes later, he tossed the remnants of his custard and stalked back to Brenna, still taking her sweet time licking toward the cone and looking damned good doing it. He sat beside her and planted his elbows on his knees, his head cocked sideways so he could catch her expressions. “Ian found your mom.”
A firecracker couldn’t have gained her attention faster. She shot to her feet and nearly fumbled the keys to the Hummer. “Where? Can we go now?”
He coiled his fingers around her wrist, took the keys, and stuffed them in his pocket. With a gentle tug, he pulled her back down beside him. “Here’s the deal. Your mom’s definitely in Orlando. She’s got a minimum wage job at a hobby store but spends most of her time volunteering. The real problem for us is getting there.”
“Is it far?”
Damn it all, he’d stepped right into that one. The last two days, he’d tried to couch things in a way she could slowly build her confidence. Now here he was lobbing a curveball at her. “About sixteen hours by car.”
“Oh.” She said it matter of factly, but the disappointment came through loud and clear.
“You’ve got no identity,” he said. “Not without you coming out of the woodwork after a long disappearance, and I don’t think you want, or need, that kind of attention. Ian’s getting you a bogus ID, but until then, you can’t fly commercial. Me flying you there isn’t an option.” Not if he wanted to have any energy left. Even rationing his powers the way he’d been since they got here, he’d be lucky if they lasted three weeks.
“So what other options do we have?”
“It’s either a trip via portal,” which was another power suck he didn’t want to give up, “or we road trip.”
“Road trip?”
He jerked his head toward the Hummer in the parking lot. “The scenic route. Sixteen hours of sightseeing. That work for you?”
For a moment, sadness overtook her features. Then her gaze slid to his pocket, and a shy grin slipped into place. “Can I drive some of the way?”
Man, she was amazing. Kicked and punched over and over by life, but she still found goodness where she could. “Absolutely.”
He stood and offered his hand.
With not an ounce of the trepidation she’d shown that day by the ocean, she laid her palm against his and strolled beside him to the Hummer. Her gaze slipped across the crowd. From the time he’d spent with her, there wasn’t a doubt in his mind she’d catalogued twice the details most people would see. Nuances too many people took for granted.
Her attention snagged on something to his right, and she trailed to a stop.
Ludan twisted for a better look.
A young couple stood beside the custard stand, the woman with her back to the brick wall and the man in front of her, leaning in close. He’d propped one hand against the wall beside her, but between the way he’d angled his torso and the girl’s answering shy smile, it didn’t take a genius to know a clinch was imminent.
The thought had no sooner drifted through Ludan’s head than the man cupped the back of his girl’s neck and lowered his head, sealing his lips against hers.
Brenna held stock-still, her lips slightly parted and her eyes rounded in a rapt wonder. If she had any inkling as to the rest of the world’s existence, she didn’t show it. In that moment, she seemed lost in the couple’s affection, as though their emotion had swept out, yanked her into its orbit, and cemented her in place.
Praise the Great One, he wanted to touch her. To feel her soft skin beneath his palms and fit his lips against hers. To see if she kissed with the same abandonment she offered every other task.
One of the toddlers behind them shrieked.
Brenna jolted from her trance and scanned the patio as though gauging where she was.
He gently squeezed her hand. “You okay?”
“Yeah, sorry.” Smoothing her hand across her heart, she hustled toward the truck. She didn’t even try to talk him into letting her drive. Just climbed up into the passenger seat and clicked her seatbelt into place.
The trip to Eryx’s apartment took all of fifteen minutes. Brenna stared out the passenger window the whole time, one elbow anchored on the door ledge with her fingers curled loosely in front of her mouth. Every now and then, she’d drag a fingertip back and forth across her lower lip.
He pulled the Hummer into its reserved spot in the underground garage and shifted into park.
The second the locks disengaged, Brenna popped back to reality, opened her door, and jumped to the ground. The whole damned thing was weird. He’d seen her draw into herself like this a ton of times since she’d first awakened at the castle, but never since they’d arrived in Evad. At least not to the point where she excluded him.
They rode the elevator in silence, and a cold, painful discomfort thrust behind his sternum. More than anything, he wanted to pull her against him. At least hold her hand or hear her voice. He flipped the apartment lock with his mind and opened the door with a mental push. Before Brenna could cross the threshold, he caught her by the wrist and held her in place. “What’s wrong?”
Eden's Deliverance (The Eden Series Book 4) Page 11
