by Livia Quinn
Jack jerked. He must have dozed after he’d parked in the driveway of his parents’ house. Scrubbing his hands across his face, he pasted on a smile. “I didn’t want to wake you up. Do you have plans today?” He yawned and looked at his watch—a little after seven.
She frowned into the window at him. “I have basketball practice this afternoon. I was just going to ride my bike home and fix you breakfast, but I wasn’t sure, uh…”
Jack chuckled. “Get in.” Tempe had been right about Jordie. She was mature and had already given some thought to who might still be at his house this morning after his date last night. She’d been as excited as Tempe. His smile dimmed though, when he thought about the news he had to deliver. Jordie wasn’t going to be happy about restrictions on her activities.
“What is it?” Jordie asked, as they pulled away from his parents’ house. “Oh, God, Daddy, did you blow it?”
“Blow it! What do you mean—no. No, I made you proud. With all the advice you gave me, I couldn’t help but succeed. Tempe was struck speechless by the limo, the driver, and yours truly in his Navy tails.”
“Oh yeah? I hope you got pictures.” Her eyes lit and she clapped her hands together excitedly. “What about you? What kind of night did you have?” she waggled her eyebrows, or attempted to. Jordie was one of those girls with perfectly shaped but non-animating brows.
“Let’s just say the word of the night was thunderstruck. She was the most beautiful woman at the ball, hands down.” He sighed, looking off. He dreaded this.
“Okay… so what’s the problem? What are you doing here when you should be enjoying breakfast with your lady?” Okay, so she wasn’t that mature. Thank God.
He took a deep breath and started, “G—”
“No!” Jordie’s hands slapped the seat beside her, eyes going wide, color draining from her face. “No, no, no, no, no!” she cried, and burst into tears, covering her face with her hands, then sliding them up to grip her hair she looked at Jack with desperate eyes.
Jack pulled the car over at the empty strip mall and reached for her. “Come here, sweetheart.”
Jordie’s breath hitched. “She always ruins everything.” She whimpered into his chest, “Why now? She’s left us alone for two years.” Raising her face, her eyes were fierce as they met his. “I wish she’d just die.”
He hugged her harder. “Shh, baby, you don’t mean—”
She pushed back, her expression tormented. “Oh, I do mean it. I hate her.” She stared into his face, her voice choked, “Be honest, Daddy. You do, too.”
Jack didn’t respond because they both new his answer. But hate didn’t motivate him. He was terrified of her. He’d left Memphis with Jordie and made a new life for her in Destiny. They hadn’t been required to give her their new address after soul custody had been awarded to Jack.
He’d done everything he could to keep her from finding out where they were, but a simple search on the Internet had probably given them up, what with his campaign and election. He’d have bet his life his ex had never put her hands on a computer, which meant she’d broken pattern. She was either desperate, or driven by some motive he wasn’t aware of.
He vowed she would not win at her manipulative games. She might have already cost him Tempe’s trust. Damn! He didn’t need the distraction now, with everything else that was going on. “I love you, Jordie.”
Tear-filled eyes met his. “I love you, too, Daddy,” distress and worry making her voice sound strangled.
He straightened. “Jordie. We are not going to allow her to affect our lives. Not ever again.”
Jordie sniffed and nodded. “Tell me what happened.”
Hmm, how much to explain… “Tempe was at the house and the door bell buzzed about 3 a.m. When I opened the door, she was there.” With her suitcase, and she threw her arms around my neck with Tempe standing there in my robe… “I didn’t let her in. I called a cab to take her away.”
“Ha! Away. She didn’t go to all this trouble to find us and then just go away. Not my m—not that—”
He rubbed her back and breathed out, “No. You’re right. I can see we’re on the same page—”
She pushed back, eyes wide, the thought just hitting her, “What did Tempe think?”
She would ask. He put his head back on the headrest as Jordie gripped his arm. “I don’t know, baby. After I got rid of G, I went looking for her. She’d left.”
“No! You have to go find her. Oh my God. She’s going to ruin that, too!” The tears had started again, but they were tears of anger now.
Good, Jack thought. They’d devise a plan and Jordie would stick to it. She was his daughter after all. He’d never seen any of G’s character flaws in Jordie. “Okay, here’s the plan, for today at least.”
Jordie had been surprisingly agreeable, until he got to the part about her not leaving the house. Then teenage desperation had supplied the perfect answer. Beffie (the Faerie dog) would guard her while Jack wasn’t home, and she was sure she could enlist her friends, Andy (the teenage rebel Djinni) and Jarell (Destiny’s star basketball player) to be her body-guards. “Wow, it sounds kind of like a Lifetime movie with me having to ask my friends to protect me from my mother.” The word sounded like a curse, appropriately so.
Neither one of them seemed inclined to actually speak her name anymore. Was it some kind of magical prompting? Whatever it was, it seemed they were both tuned in. And the movie? When would he have to tell Jordie that it was much closer to a movie on the Syfy channel?
When they got back to the house, he’d fought impatience while Jordie poured them each a bowl of cereal. He’d made sure all the windows in the house were locked. It wasn’t just his law enforcement history that made him nearly immune to the feelings of guilt for locking out his daughter’s own mother, but a chronicle of bad behavior by a woman who defied description or analysis. Even Beffie seemed to know what needed to be done, standing at the back door with Jordie until she locked it, then leading her back to the front door as Jack kissed her goodbye and waited for her to engage the dead bolt.
He couldn’t believe they were at this point again, feeling like they were at war, on the defensive to keep from being victims of a serial maniac. Jordie was as safe as he could make her. God help him, he’d even told her where his spare gun was since he knew she would only go near it if it were a last resort. They’d both agreed, he needed to find Tempe and explain.
So he’d driven to the old Plantation. It was dark, and though Tempe’s truck sat in the driveway, she wasn’t home. Where would she go? Which of her friends was within walking distance, he wondered. He didn’t care about the dress but he did grimace at the thought of her walking the streets barefoot.
He’d called her cellphone, but it had gone straight to voicemail, and he couldn’t come close to explaining the situation in ten seconds or less, so he just hung up. He ran down the list of her friends—the SOAPs. Tops on her list would have been either Aurora or Montana. In the back of his mind, he considered that she might have run to—looked for— Dylan, but he rejected that. He decided on Montana.
Jack knocked on the wide arched door of Montana’s home. “Montana, Tempe?”
The curtain slid back from the front window and he caught a glimpse of Tempe’s sparkling dress just as the door was flung outward by a very unfriendly looking Montana… What was her last name anyway?
“Montana, I need to see Tempe.”
Montana’s eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms. Hmm, this wasn’t good. Maybe Tempe had told her she didn’t want to speak to him. He called, “Tempe, can we talk?” but kept his eyes on Montana whose body language was shouting, Come one inch closer and see what you get, Lawman.
Jack stood his ground but recognized Tempe’s thunder from inside the room. Montana turned, swung the door wide and Tempe appeared at the door. “Jack, come in.”
He had to step around Montana since she was still halfway blocking the doorway. “What’s wrong with her?” he asked Tempe, pointi
ng his thumb at her over his shoulder as Tempe led the way to the kitchen.
“Nothing is wrong with me, Sheriff,” Montana said. “I care about my friends…”
“I do too, Montana. Look, can I talk to Tempe, alone? This is really none of your business.”
That didn’t go over well. The next second Jack was on his ass; Montana was standing over him, hair flying, blue eyes glaring, a sword aimed at his throat. “What the hell?” Where had that thing come from?
Chapter 8
Jack stared up at Montana from the terra-cotta floor. What was it with all the swords lately? Menori grumbled, or in her case thundered, and Jack looked from Tempe to Montana. He frowned.
Montana’s eyes squinted at Tempe, then looked at Jack.
Tempe jumped in, “Actually it is her business, Jack. Montana, is what’s known as a Dinnshencha. She was simply following her nature.”
“Montana,” Tempe spoke to the woman who looked more like Conan than an emergency responder. “He would never hurt me.” Her hand pushed the sword down toward the floor and Montana relaxed slightly.
“Is that like a female Seal?” Jack asked, rubbed his tailbone and got to his feet, still eyeing the massive sword. He looked for a sheath or strap but saw none. “I don’t have to ask if she’s dangerous, do I?”
“She’s dangerous, but only to men.”
Jack’s eyebrows lifted, “Oh, now, I feel better.”
“Bad men and bad POPS. When a woman is threatened, Montana can shift into anything to defend her.”
“Anything covers a lot. Ever seen her in action?” he asked.
Tempe frowned. “I’ve seen her do some incredible things in her human form.”
“Hello, standing here, listening,” the amazon said nearby.
Jack said, “Oh, I thought you were still on standby in automatic strike mode. Your eyes are still a little iced over.” Jack was trying to lighten Montana’s mood but he guessed she just had to be sure of his intentions before her protective switch flipped to off.
Montana shrugged and Jack said, “I need to talk to Tempe, to explain—”
Montana said, “So talk.”
Jack sighed, plowed his hand through his hair—it didn’t appear to be the first time—and turned to Tempe.
Tempe rose, rubbing her arms as if she were nervous or chilled. “You don’t owe me an explanation, Jack. Really. If I were in your place I’d do the same thing. I’d try to make it work, put my family back together, if for no other reason than for my daughter—”
He grabbed her arms and held her hard. “God, is that what you think?”
Montana’s huge sword flashed between them. Jack glared at her. “Dammit, Montana, don’t you have something to do, like…” he looked around… “clean up—jeez, what happened here?”
Reluctantly, Montana withdrew, looking at Tempe, “I’ll be in the kitchen, but if you need me…” then at Jack.
Jack called, “She won’t need you,” to Montana’s retreating form.
“I don’t know what to think, Jack,” Tempe said, but she smiled at his growing familiarity with her non-human friends. He probably didn’t even realize it. “Let’s walk outside.” She led the way onto the wide porch to a swing covered with an old woven blanket. She pulled it around her. Jack frowned. She’d told him she didn’t feel atmospheric changes, like heat and cold.
“Tempe, my crazy ex doesn’t deserve any of the time devoted to talking about her.” He blew out a breath, hooking one thumb in his gun belt. “But that’s SOP with crazy people isn’t it?”
Her brows hiked and she gave a little snort, “Watch it. Not so long ago you had me in that category, remember?”
“Well, I’ve got experience and perspective since then,” he smiled, again hoping she could see how he was feeling without having to explain. He wasn’t hiding his feelings; he just wasn’t sure how to put them into words. “I had a talk with myself Friday before we rescued River. I decided there’s cool crazy, that’s you and a few others I’ve met lately, and then there’s deranged, calculating and…that’s… my ex.”
“You still don’t call her by name,” Tempe said frowning and he had to give her the truth.
“Have you ever known people you suspected were just plain evil?” Her eyes squinted thoughtfully. All his adult life he’d felt silly for even thinking it. “For years now, it seemed like when I use her name, I’m calling her to me and Jordie—calling up evil—giving her power. I know that sounds…”
“It’s not odd at all, Jack; darkness is real, and names do have power especially in some communities, magical ones. I was just thinking about something Aurora told me last night at the ball. She said I would ‘meet evil from my lover’s past soon’. I thought she meant Dylan because, well, we hadn’t…”
“Made love?” he offered. “But she didn’t call her by name, I take it.”
“Aurora said it wasn’t clear, that the approach of Para-moon had confused her scrying.” She saw the clueless look he gave her. “Readings,” she added. “She does something with that pearlescent bowl and her crystals. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen it.”
“So is that because she’s losing power?”
“I don’t know. Remember, I’ve just come fully into the Paramortal loop myself, and I’m as clueless as you in some respects.” He started to comment but she said, “I’m not beating myself up. Just accepting the truth. You should talk to Aurora. I can’t tell you much, and even if I knew, it’s not up to me to reveal the identity of Paramortals you don’t already know. She’ll know who might be of some help.”
“I’m sorry about this morning.” He looked up toward the clouds and the light drifting snow then his eyes lowered to hers. “The very last thing I’d consider in this lifetime would be reconciling or even living in the same state as that maniacal self-centered manipulator. The only reason I didn’t take her to New Orleans and put her on a flight to Antarctica was that it would be a waste of time. For years, I lived in fear that she would show up from one of her ‘trips’ and steal Jordie away or turn her against me somehow.”
He shoved off the stool and paced. “Tempe, I can understand if you don’t want to have anything to do with me until she’s out of the picture. Shit, I could understand if you didn’t want to risk having any future contact with her, but I’m hoping you’re made of sterner stuff than that. I could say it’s because Jordie likes you and you’re good for her. But I’m the one that’s tired of giving in, tired of looking over our shoulders and putting off relationships because of her. I want a chance to see where this relationship can lead.”
Tempe looked unsure. He still hadn’t given her many details about his marriage. Tempe might think he didn’t trust her. “Would you at least say something?” he asked quietly. “I’ve kind of put myself out there…”
“If she’s so bad, how did you end up married to her?” she asked.
Chapter 9
Jack winced. “I wish I could make it sound romantic, or even touching—boy goes off to war leaving his mourning girlfriend behind waiting. Honestly, it was more about a boy getting ready to deploy overseas on his first tour, with too much testosterone, and a fear of dying.
“When I entered basic, I was away from home, getting ready to deploy. You vacillate between thinking you’ll live forever and knowing you might not come home.
“She was at a party some of the officers threw and came at me really hard. One time! I slept with her and didn’t even remember it. One time, and except for the joy of having Jordie in my life, the rest has been teetotal hell. When Jordie was three I came home on leave and she begged me to let her go live with my parents. She…” Jack cleared his throat. “She said her mother didn’t love her.”
Jack‘s eyes burned into hers. “She shouldn’t have even been old enough to figure that out. My next stint overseas was interminable. My parents had to keep their eyes on G because I wasn’t able to hire a private investigator until I came home again. If it hadn’t been for them, I’d have gone
AWOL to get home to Jordie. But G wasn’t interested in being a mother. She stayed gone more than she was home, and my parents were always around whenever she was with Jordie. None of us trusted her.”
Jack’s eyes narrowed, “When other soldiers were having nightmares about the enemy, I was planning how to extricate myself from her and having nightmares about coming home and finding Jordie gone.
“Keep your enemy close, was our mantra. We kept our eyes on her until I got the packet from my private investigator. It held some very bizarre, very incriminating evidence. Three years ago, we went before a judge. I got full custody, and an annulment. We’ve only seen her once since then, in Memphis, when she showed up wanting money and saying she wanted to take Jordie…” he visibly shivered… “on a trip.”
“Where, and with what?”
“Yeah. I’d left the service and was working in Memphis for the police department so I had resources to keep Jordie covered. She finally gave up and left. I had hopes that she got remarried or run over by a train.” He shrugged, “I don’t know what to do except protect Jordie. At least she’s old enough now to be part of the plan. Beffie’s standing guard right now.”
“Where is G?”
“I called THE TAXI. I was shook up.”
“Does she have somewhere to go?”
“You know, Scarlet, frankly—” He breathed a tired sigh, one corner of his mouth canted. “But, here we are. Jordie says we found our destiny.” He took Tempe’s hand, turning serious, “It’s like we were meant to be here. Can you believe I just said that?”
She said, “I was afraid, Jack. I… care about you. You know my history, with my father and Dylan. Trusting a man isn’t something I do easily. I have wonderful friends…”
“Some a little more protective than others…” he murmured good-naturedly.
Tempe smiled. “I guess I’m lucky that way, too, huh?” Her head tilted and her eyelids floated down briefly. When they opened they regarded him softly. Damn, she was pretty. Even in her bedraggled gown. It was probably ruined and he had only himself to blame. She’d literally walked out into the night. He’d found her shoes in the living room which just made it worse, not that she could have walked anywhere in them. Maybe he could have the shoes bronzed or something, if she forgave him.
