“Ew. No. Take your bitter demon fruit elsewhere.” Gillian slapped Amaya’s hand away. “That’s gross.”
“Is this how we act in front of guests?” Yasmin teased.
The girls stared at Javier, caught in a silent trance until Amaya broke out of it first. She straightened in her seat and dropped the lime on the counter.
“Oh, um, hi.” Amaya smiled. “How’s it going, Javier?”
“Good, thanks. And I don’t like lime in my soup either, Gillian. Limes only belong with tequila. And if it’s good tequila, it doesn’t need lime.”
“Ha! See?” Gillian patted the empty seat to her right. “You’re allowed to sit next to me.”
With the ice broken, they welcomed him over and piled the mountain of appetizers on a plate. The ladies had enough phở, spring rolls, and delicious shrimp cakes to sate even his dragon-sized appetite.
“Do you guys always buy this much food?” he asked between sips of steaming broth.
“Yasmin thought—”
“The guy at the counter misheard me when I made the order,” Yasmin interrupted Amaya. “Anyway, Javier’s looking for a job. I told him you had the scoop on campus work, Gill.”
“Oh yeah. There’s always custodial work open, or food service, but I’m guessing that’s not what you were going for.”
“I’m not against it, but it’s not to my preference either. Trash duty isn’t going to help my work history.” But if it was the only thing available, he’d suck up his pride and take whatever was available. Money was money, and he’d grown accustomed to a certain lifestyle, a lifestyle of comfort he wouldn’t ask his parents to support when they’d already performed an amazing act of kindness by getting him into school after enrollment closed.
“So, what have you already checked out?” Amaya asked.
“I spoke with the recruiting department for the SAPD. They have an internship.”
“That what you wanna do?” Gillian’s blonde brows rose a mile. “You came to America to be a cop?”
“Yeah. I guess all that stuff on the island kind of provided the kick in the ass I needed.”
“Huh. Okay, in that case, you’re probably better off pursuing that lead. I don’t think campus security hires students.” Gillian dragged a spring roll through sweet sauce. “There are probably unarmed security officer positions you can apply for online. It wouldn’t be difficult to get the license to carry either. You have citizenship, right?”
He grinned. Having an American mother had been useful for that. “Yeah.”
“My brother-in-law is a licensed bodyguard out in LA. Might have been like forty hours or something for him to get it. You know, training and all. He had to pass an exam and get certified to carry a weapon.”
Javier cocked a brow. “I’ll look into it. I mean, I’m already carrying the mother of all weapons naturally.”
They all laughed.
“Most places are going to want part-time hours from you though. When are you going to sleep when you’re taking over twenty credit hours and trying to train for a job?” Yasmin asked.
“Dragons don’t need much sleep. I’ll hibernate over the summer for a few weeks to catch up if whatever job I find is cool with losing me for a month.”
Gillian glanced between both of them, lost. “Hibernate?”
“Dragons don’t need to sleep as much as humans because they can hibernate and sleep for days, or even months and years at a time,” Amaya volunteered. “If you’d paid attention in Paranormal Studies, you’d know that.”
“I just needed the easy credit,” Gillian muttered.
A little good-natured teasing occurred between the three women, most of it Yasmin and Amaya tag-team teasing their friend while she flushed and brought up their university mistakes. The longer they chatted, the less Javier felt like an intruder, and a sense of belonging fell over him like a warm blanket.
The only thing that could have improved the evening would have been a beer, and maybe holding Yasmin in his arms.
“I am full,” Amaya declared a few minutes later. They’d all eaten their fill of what had to be the most generous takeout order Javier had ever seen. He wasn’t accustomed to American takeaway, however, and wondered if the portion sizes merely grew once travelers crossed the Mexican border. “Last call for the shrimp cakes before I feed them to the dragon.”
Gillian shook her head. “I’m done. They’re never the same reheated.”
“Same.”
Amaya slid the plate in front of Javier. He polished off the last three and the final spring roll, then the group of friends relocated to the living room with a six-pack of wine coolers Gillian couldn’t wait to try. Yasmin sat in the recliner, leaving him trapped between the other two on the sectional.
Neither of the ladies moved in close enough for contact, the space between their thighs and his legs sending a clear message—they thought he belonged to Yasmin.
Even though Yasmin herself didn’t seem to realize it, her friends knew.
“What’s it gonna be, guys?” When Yasmin powered on the television, a female news anchor appeared, gazing with solemn blue eyes into the camera. “Netflix or HBO?”
“Good evening and thanks for joining us. I’m Sarah McConnell with Channel 9 News at Five.”
A photo of a young girl with rosy cheeks, strawberry-blonde pigtails, and a gap-toothed smile appeared. Javier stared at the screen. “I recognize that girl, I think. From the island.”
Wrinkles deepened across Gillian’s brow. “Do you recognize every guest’s face?”
“Not usually, no, but after what happened, I started watching the kids more. Turn it up.”
“I’m trying, sheesh.”
“Law enforcement agencies are searching for five-year-old Pamela Rhineheart of Huntsville, Texas.”
“That’s only a few hours from here,” Amaya said.
“The girl’s mother awakened alone in the trunk of her car after a routine visit to purchase groceries. Here is where police believe the child was abducted.”
The camera swapped to footage of a Kroger parking lot and proceeded to show interviews with customers and an employee present at the time of the kidnapping.
“I don’t know what happened. One moment I was walking to my car, and in the next, some guy was honking his horn at me,” one woman said.
“That little girl is a shifter,” Javier said.
“How do you know?”
“Like I said, I kept a closer watch on the kids, and we made it a point to know them from the humans,” he explained. “I think she’s a fox or something small like that. Her mom was there with her last month at the same party.”
Coverage of the incident continued for a few minutes longer, including interviews with police officers and a tearful entreaty from the mother for her child’s safe return. When it ended, Gillian spun on her barstool to face Javier.
“So, what exactly did happen on the island? We never got the full deets.”
“I’ll tell you, but no spreading it around, okay?”
All three women voiced their agreement.
“It wasn’t a lost kid. Not exactly, anyway. Two shifters and a wizard tried to abduct a little boy.”
Gillian’s eyes went round and Amaya threw a hand over her mouth. Yasmin’s entire body tensed. The kind of news he gave them was precisely why mortals feared the paranormal community. Companies made millions selling gadgets designed to repel shifters, from scent-barriers with obnoxious, stomach-churning odors to machines emitting high frequency noises human ears couldn’t hear.
In other words, they treated their supernatural neighbors like cockroaches and pests.
“Omigod,” Gillian said. “For real?”
“Yeah. They tried to take him off the island, which is why your ferry was delayed so long.” He hesitated to mention who had been involved, since the two dog shifters had been all over them at the mixer. Nothing good could come of it. “Thankfully we were able to rescue the kid and took two of them into custody,
but the wizard got away. We have no idea who he is.”
“You think this is connected?” Yasmin asked, gesturing to the newscast.
“Could be. No way to prove it, though.” When the anchor made a plea for anyone with information to contact the Huntsville Police Department, he memorized the number. At the very least, he could inform them of a similar kidnapping attempt and pass on the wizard’s description.
Javier rose to his feet. “Probably time for me to head home and study. Thanks for the meal, you three. I appreciate it.”
“Aw, gone already?” Gillian frowned.
“No worries. You’re welcome over anytime,” Amaya replied. “Right?”
“Oh yeah, anytime,” Gill agreed. “I mean, you don’t have to go right now, unless you have something important to get back to.”
Yasmin only nodded and cut eye contact with him, sending more mixed signals than a referee on LSD. He grunted. Stay or go?
Her pals gave him imploring glances and gestured to the drinks they’d barely touched. Yasmin stole another look at him from the corner of her eyes.
“Sure. If Yasmin is okay with it.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
Reminding himself to take it in baby steps, Javier rejoined her pals on the couch. An indifferent invitation was better than being ignored. One day, their relationship would be on track again, and if he pushed it too fast, he’d risk losing her altogether.
Chapter Twelve
A week later, Javier decided to return the favor and treat the ladies to dinner. He’d finished grinding through a few math assignments online and had just rose from the couch to take a break when he saw the pizza deliveryman parking by the curb.
Before the guy got out of his car, Javier was out of his seat to flag him down.
“Order for Yasmin Silva?”
“Yeah, that’s me.” When the kid cocked a dubious eyebrow, Javier chuckled. “My girlfriend placed the order. I’m paying for it. How much did she take me for?” He glanced at the considerable amount of food, four pizza boxes, wings from the smell of the hot and spicy buffalo sauce, and garlic bread. His stomach made a dragon-sized rumble.
“Uh, seventy-three dollars and forty cents.”
Javier passed the teen a neat stack of five twenties. “Keep the change.”
“Dude, thanks.”
“No prob.”
After the guy left, Javier crossed over to the other side of the duplex. Since his hands were occupied, he funneled a shot of earth magic to the planter growing alongside the porch. The leafy plant grew an additional foot and sprouted pink buds amidst the verdant green leaves, like a time lapse video. He tapped one into the doorbell. What good were florakinetic powers if he couldn’t use them as a third hand?
Yasmin opened the door a moment later, purse in hand. “You’re here faster than—Huh?”
He cracked a big grin. “Was someone looking for this, or is it all mine since I paid for it?”
“Uh…” She blinked at him. “What’d you do that for?”
“It seemed the neighborly thing to do. And maybe I was hoping for another invite. Nothing will convince me the three of you can devour this much food.”
Yasmin glanced at the overgrown plant spilling from its container. Her lips twisted, as though trying to hold back a smile, but her eyes gleamed with amusement. “I dunno. Amaya can put away some hot wings. Did you do that to my rose bush?”
“Maybe.” An ounce of magical concentration bent a stem toward her. The rose blossom kissed her cheek.
“Brat.” Despite her chuckles, she leaned into the silken flower and nuzzled it, reminding him so much of a cat.
He missed her animal form and the old days of running alongside her through the overgrown jungle flora in their beastly bodies. Back then, he’d been small enough to travel without disturbing the plant life. “Well, can I come in?”
“Come on.” She gestured him inside with one arm. Javier slipped past her and mentally patted himself on the back for being in the right place at the right time. “But later on you’re gonna have to plant that bush in the ground.”
“Fair enough.”
Gillian looked over form the couch and smiled. “You are much better looking than our usual pizza dude. New job?”
“Nah, just happened by at the right time. You ladies mind if I join you?”
“I don’t mind. Amaya! You mind if our hottie neighbor crashes our dinner?” Gillian yelled toward the stairs.
A second later, Amaya’s voice echoed downstairs, “That’s cool!”
“Thanks.”
He carried their dinner bounty to the kitchen and laid out boxes across the counters. Starving, he popped open the first box then frowned at the weird contents. “Hey, Yaz, why does this one have lettuce on it?”
“That’s a taco pizza. There’s salsa, grilled steak, lettuce, tomato, shredded cheese, and crumbled up tortilla chips.”
“And this one?” He eyed the second box, trying to pick out the flavor. “Are those wine soaked pears?”
Yasmin leaned over. “Yeah, with gorgonzola cheese and arugula.”
“Whatever happened to normal toppings like pepperoni?”
She rolled her eyes. “Bucca’s has fun pizzas. But if you keep looking, you’ll see there’s a bacon cheeseburger in one of the boxes able to satisfy your meat craving. The fourth is a goat cheese and rosemary chicken.”
“Fancy ass pizzas are unnatural,” he muttered. “It’s like offering pineapple on pizza.”
“Hawaiian pizza is amazing.”
“It’s disgusting.”
Yasmin poked him in the arm with her index finger, delivering a mild zap that zinged down his nerves to his spine. “Blasphemer.”
“Pineapple does not be—Whoa, what the hell?” He’d barely jerked from her electric touch, but a wild flurry of tickles flooded down his body after the shock ran its course. She’d actually cast a spell on him. A playful one, a but a spell nonetheless, subjecting him to the sensation of inescapable tickles. “That’s magical battery. I should call the police,” he teased.
“It is not.” She put on an exaggerated scowl, but her smile slipped through a few times. “And wouldn’t it be assault?”
“No, assault is verbal. Battery is unlawful physical action.”
Gillian cocked a brow. “Look who’s actually learning despite burying himself under a mountain of studies. Nice. How’s it going anyway?”
“I enjoy it. Makes it easy to learn when the material is fascinating. Of course, most of my courses this semester are core requirements for the university. Fall should be different.”
Amaya popped into the kitchen and claimed a slice of goat cheese and chicken pizza. “I’m late to the party, but I want it on the record that Yasmin should have been in witch’s prison a thousand times over for all the stuff she’s done to us.”
“My gods, you exaggerate.”
“Last year she hexed my hair green.”
“It was St. Patrick’s Day.”
“For a month,” Amaya finished while Gillian chortled.
Even Javier had to snort back a laugh. “Things must never be dull here.”
“Yeah, she keeps things interesting,” Gillian said.
Despite his misgivings about their unusual designer pizzas, he took a slice from each box and piled on a mountain of spicy wings. When the ladies finished their selections and moved to the couch, Javier managed to snag a spot between Yasmin and Gillian, settling against the cushions with his plate on his lap. Amaya shot Yasmin a helpless look, a meek shrug of a shoulder, and settled in the empty recliner.
Score one for Javier.
“Keeping your grades up?” Amaya asked.
“Of course.”
Yasmin snickered. “He’s a dragon. They don’t fail at anything.”
Javier hid his grin behind a pizza slice. Dragons certainly didn’t fail at anything, especially when it came to earning back the girls of their dreams.
It was hard to be irritated with Javie
r when all of his recent accomplishments filled her with delight. He’d come far from being the lazy dragon bumming off his parents, living carefree in a stylish beach house. Yasmin picked at her taco pizza and tried not to look over for the fifth time. He’d already caught her staring once.
And she’d been forced to lie and say there was a spider on his shoulder.
Then to cover that lie she’d had to conjure a spider, which was a bit of magic she still struggled with from time to time. She’d reached over and swept the imaginary arachnid from his shirt, summoned a sweet black widow from the garden, then opened her palm to reveal it.
The moment they’d seen it, Gillian and Amaya shrieked up a storm until Yasmin teleported it back outside.
Was it sexy or what that Javier hadn’t even flinched? Spiders fascinated the guy.
Meanwhile, her friends had been unsettled for the past half hour.
“We’re going to have to spray down the house,” Amaya said. Her gaze darted around the living room, as if expecting a whole nest to swarm out of the tiny crevice and from beneath the furniture.
“We don’t have to spray.”
“Widows are poisonous, Yaz,” Gillian insisted.
“Venomous,” Javier said. “If you bite it and get sick, it’s poisonous. When it bites you, and you get sick, it’s venomous.”
“Whatever, know-it-all.”
Javier’s grin spread to Cheshire Cat proportions. Yasmin bit back her laughter. Intelligence was sexy, and the dragon did it so well.
Gillian shuddered. “It probably won’t do anything to either of you since y’all are shifters, but I’m sooooo not landing in the hospital over a spider bite.”
Yasmin hid her smile behind her drink. Later, she’d fess up to the girls and calm them down, otherwise she was bound to return home and find her father spraying down the premises with some spider-repelling concoction from her mother—or worse, an actual pest guy in the yard.
“Anyway. I’m going to bed.” A series of creaks, pops, and low groans came from Gillian as she struggled off the couch to her feet. “Night, y’all.”
Bitten by Magic: Agents of SAINT: Book 1 Page 10
