by Gray Holborn
His eyes travelled down to my mouth, where they lingered briefly, as if in a trance. “Being dragged to Seattle and along the west coast? Entering into some unknown battle with unknown supernatural forces? You’re worth it, Black. If that idiot can’t see that, then he isn’t.”
My body hummed with his closeness, with his words, and I swam in the milky gray swirls of his eyes. I could feel and hear my blood pulling through my veins, the energy in my body doing everything it could to get closer to him. “Soren—”
He swore softly and crashed his lips against mine. The kiss wasn’t gentle, but hard and angry. After a moment of stillness, I heard a soft growl build in his chest and his tongue lightly parted my lips, infusing my mouth with the taste of whiskey. With the taste of him. I was dizzy with the feeling, needing more, all that he would give.
His hands fell from the back of my neck, down to my hips, until he lifted me off my stool and onto his lap. With our bodies glued together, he deepened the kiss, his lips softening against my own, his tongue slowly sweeping along mine, savoring.
I rocked my hips closer to him, the small movement enough to make him groan into my mouth and rake his teeth over my bottom lip. His fingers dug into my hips, rocking me across his lap where his arousal was glaringly evident.
“Hey, this is a hotel. You can go do this shit in your room. It’s kind of the whole point of having one.” The bartender’s laughter pulled us out of the the spell. Soren pulled away from me, depositing me back on my stool as quickly as he could.
“Fuck.” He slammed his hand into the counter before draining the the rest of his glass and mine.
Then he left the bar and went outside without another word or glance in my direction.
I ordered another drink, shooting it back the moment the bartender finished pouring. My body was tingling, my heart was pounding, and I felt practically dizzy with the feeling of Soren on my lips. No longer willing to put up with the bartender’s knowing smile and raised eyebrow, I threw him some cash and forced my wobbly legs to make the short trek up to our suite.
The second I opened the door, Luis stood from the couch.
“There you are.” He walked over to me and pulled me into a hug. My thoughts caught up to the action, and I puzzled over the fact that a single kiss could make me momentarily forget about everything I’d learned today.
“You don’t hate me?” My voice was low and husky, whether from crying or from being mauled by Soren, I wasn’t sure.
“Of course I don’t hate you, Odie.” He took a step back and brushed a hand through his hair. “I mean this was a lot to hit me with, don’t get me wrong. But I don’t blame you for it. How could you have known about all this shit?” Luis grabbed my hand and pulled me to the couch. “Look, I always knew that our friendship was close, that I was linked to you somehow, that I wanted to be around you as much as possible. I craved you when I’d go more than a couple of days without seeing you. Beyond what’s normal. But part of that is because we became family—you, me, Sam, and Ellie. I mean, hell, my friends used to make fun of me for always hanging around a high schooler when we met, and for continuing to work at the bar after getting a degree.” He winked and smiled; when his dimples showed up, I felt my shoulders sag with relief at the sight. He didn’t hate me. We were just us. He was just Luis and I was just Odie.
“So you’re not mad that you’re basically tethered to a glorified leash?” I meant it as a joke, but I knew that he heard the note of insecurity in my tone.
He shook his head. “Look, I don’t think this bond is exactly what you think it is. El and Jax explained a bit about supernatural bonds after you stormed out of here to drown yourself in a pity party.” His knee knocked playfully into my thigh, and I found myself soothed by his familiar hand in mine, his familiar touch and comfort. “It’s not like I’m literally bonded to you. We think it’s just a sort of awareness that makes our paths in life intersect. To be honest, I think you and I have strengthened it.”
“What do you mean?”
He pulled his hand from mine and ran it through his hair again—a move he must have made several times since I’d left, judging by how messy it was. His knees bounced with nerves. “I mean that the bond didn’t force us to be friends. It forced us to be near each other. And lately, well, we’ve grown closer in some ways. Our friendship has changed somewhat. Those are our choices, that shifting. And I think it’s only helped to solidify whatever the bond is.” He paused, staring ahead, unwilling to meet my gaze. “Look, Odie. When you left, with Soren and Jax, it felt like a part of me was fused to you and I needed to be around you. My ability to find you? I think that’s the bond. My desire to find you? I think that’s just me.” Bluish purple eyes locked into mine and I saw a vulnerability reflected there I hadn’t seen before. “We’ll figure this all out, okay. I promise. I mean am I rattled that my memories have been manipulated and that I don’t remember my mother, father, or most of my childhood? Of course. But I’m in. Completely. I’m not running away from whatever the hell is after you, or us, or whatever. I’m not going home and pretending this never happened, that I’m just a human who works at a bar. We’ll figure it out. But I’m not leaving you and I won’t let you shut me out. That’s not how we work. Okay?”
For the second time that night, my vision blurred with emotion. I nodded, not trusting myself with words. Luis wrapped me in his arms, drawing soft circles on my back while I cried with confusion, relief, love.
After a while I must have drifted off to sleep because I woke the next morning tucked into the bed I was sharing with El, her soft snores lulling me in and out of sleep while I tried to mentally prepare myself for the day. Soren was right. I had one night to lose my shit, but today was different. I needed to focus all of my energy on getting the neutralizer so that we could start fighting back against whichever bullies tried backing us into corners.
✽✽✽
When I resurfaced from my shower, dressed in a ridiculously fluffy robe, Jax carried in a stack of takeout boxes, the contents of which made my mouth water.
He passed me a large cardboard box. “Here Desi-girl. Grilled cheese and steamed vegetables.” I wrinkled my nose at the last part. “I don’t want Sam complaining that you’re vitamin deficient next time he sees you.” He passed food over to El and Luis. “The dude can be seriously scary when he wants to be,” he muttered.
“Thanks Jax, this is great,” El said, beaming while she opened her own box.
“Soren, let’s go. Come socialize. Food’s here.” Jax screamed into his bedroom before plopping down on the couch next to me. “I seriously don’t know what crawled into him, but he’s been a complete ass all morning.” When El opened her mouth, Jax noticed his mistake. “More than usual, I mean.”
“He’s probably just nervous about the party tonight. You know him, some people get anxious, Soren just gets extra surly.” El’s words were punctuated around crunching mouthfuls of bacon. “Seriously, though Jax. Well done. This is awesome prep food. I have my work cut out for me today.”
“You? I thought you, Jax, and I were just hanging out here all night?” Luis leaned over and stole a piece of bacon from Soren’s pile of boxes. A risky move.
“Yeah, but who do you think is getting Dessa ready? Me. Trust me, between Soren’s bad attitude today and the vision I have for her, I’ll be plenty busy.”
Soren walked in, and I tried to ignore the way my stomach flipped at the sight of him. He avoided eye contact with me and took his food to the small breakfast bar on the other side of the room. The dark circles under his eyes and the uncharacteristically dishevelled hair told me he didn’t get much sleep last night. If any. He was always tense, but the muscles in his back seemed more rigid than usual, like he was forcing himself not to completely flee from the room. Or punch a wall. Or punch one of us.
Jax pointed at his back with a crispy piece of bacon. “See, what did I tell you? Cranky ass,” he mouthed. His words were soft, but the low growl that emanated from Soren to
ld me he heard him anyway. Jax’s answering grin made it clear that he’d intended for him to.
I bit into my grilled cheese, feigning ignorance as to what could have Soren so riled up. I knew he regretted kissing me last night, so I focused hard on diffusing the weird mixture of hurt, anger, and embarrassment that was jittering around in my belly. I was more than willing to pretend that the nervous butterflies were completely due to anxiety over Rennix’s party tonight.
✽✽✽
After hours of curling, painting, and powdering, El helped me stuff myself into the long black dress and corset she picked out for the party. Aside from the difficulty I now had with breathing, I loved the dress. It was made of black silk and lace and covered with an asymmetrical shawl that hid the majority of the cleavage that the corset shoved up. While the dress was long and modest, the tight fit and slits up the legs revealed what the cloth covered.
For about five minutes, El tried forcing me into a pair of black stiletto boots, going so far as to walk me around the room in them like a show pony. After realizing how much weight I had to put on her to keep from falling, she let out a melodramatic sigh and threw a pair of strappy sandals at me. Maybe I’d get really lucky and my hidden supe ability would end up being the magic of balance.
“Really, it’s my fault. I don’t know why I even bothered to try.” She grabbed the large floral and lace mask she purchased for the occasion and fastened it across my eyes before pinning it into my elaborate hairdo of braids, twists, and silver beads. “There. You’re ready.” She stepped back from me with a giant smile plastered across her face as she admired her many hours of work. And I do mean hours. I was already starving again. “Perfect. Rennix will be too stunned by your beauty to suspect you of any foul play. Sometimes the perfect combination of beauty and mystery is a girl’s most deadly weapon.”
I laughed at her enthusiasm, though I was impressed with the results. In general I wasn’t a fan of dresses, but this one was lovely. And El had done a miraculous job on my hair. Even my makeup looked phenomenal. Which was odd, considering half of my face was covered by a mask.
“Come on, Soren should be ready so we can do one last run through of the plan before you both drive down to the city.” My stomach dropped at the sound of his name. He’d refused to even acknowledge my presence all afternoon, remaining instead in his usual bubble of annoyed isolation.
Still, when we made our way to the common area, I couldn’t stop my eyes from seeking him out. And when they did, I gasped. Soren was dressed in a slim-fitting tailored suit. Everything he wore was black as night, including the mask across his eyes that made his gray irises pop. His lips parted slightly when our eyes met, and I saw his quick perusal of El’s work. However, just as quickly, he cleared his throat, closed his mouth, and turned his attention to El. “Good, you’re finally done. We should head out now, to get this all over with.”
“Aye Mr. Charming, give us a second to admire Desi, won’t you.” Jax walked up to me, grabbing my hand in his before he brought it up to his lips. “You’re stunning.” He circled around me before adding, “absolutely stunning.”
When I looked over at Luis, I found him watching me with an intensity I wasn’t used to. He cleared his throat softly, scratched the back of his neck, and walked up to me. His indigo eyes pierced into mine, filled with emotion from our talk last night. He pulled me to him, my eyes connecting briefly with Soren’s over his shoulder. “Be careful tonight, Odie. If anything suspicious happens, if you think for even a second you might be in danger or caught out, leave. Immediately. Even if you have to leave without the prick.”
“You know that he can hear you, right? Hyper vigilant kitten senses and all,” I whispered back.
“That’s the point.” Luis pulled back a bit, and his lips pressed gently to my cheek, against the corner of my mouth. “You’re beautiful, Odessa.”
I looked up at him, temporarily stunned by his use of my full name. I nodded and turned to El. “Right, well El wanted to do a quick run through before we left. As far as I know, Raifus promised that I’d feel his guidance once we entered far enough into Rennix’s house. I guess we just have to trust that he won’t let us down.” I nodded over to Soren. “He’ll distract Rennix once I sense the neutralizer, and then I’ll go all Catwoman with the stealth and stealing. The second I’m done, we haul ass back here in the inconspicuous mom-van. Missing anything?”
“Contingency plans?” Jax looked up. “What’s the plan if things go to shit?”
“We gather as much information as we can, while being discreet, and leave the second things go south. At the very least, this party will be supe central, so there ought to be some conversations worth listening in on.” I grabbed the small clutch El tossed in my direction, opening and closing the clasp. I never understood the point of clutches. They were awkward and so very easy to misplace. I’d rather stuff my burner phone and cash into my bra. The mere suggestion sent El into a complete fit earlier. I looked up at Jax, knowing that he was the one I’d have to trust for the next part of the plan. “And you guys? If we don’t return here by the early morning?”
“We leave, and don’t look back,” he answered, a small frown pulling his eyes down. “Don’t let that be an option, Desi.”
Luis grumbled in agreement, though the tension he and El exuded told me that Jax would have to drag them both out of the hotel with nothing less than brute force and his ability. They would not leave us behind willingly. I knew Luis and El well enough to feel the confirmation in my bones.
“We’ll do our best, but get them out if our best isn’t good enough, Jax.” I hugged them all goodbye before awkwardly making my way towards Soren. Something told me that getting captured by enemy supes would be less torturous than riding alone with Soren to San Francisco.
And I was right.
Chapter Twenty-four
We spent the majority of the trip in an awkward silence, punctuated only by the low hum of the radio station Soren finally settled on. I could actually feel him trying not to look in my direction, forcing himself not to acknowledge my presence at all.
So I focused on the dull thrum, thrum, thrum of the rock song, humming along mindlessly and willing my thoughts to settle on the task at hand. I refused to be one of those girls who worried more about a kiss than about heading into a potentially deadly situation. Especially when that kiss involved Soren—asshat extraordinaire.
Finally, when we were winding through the streets of San Francisco, he pulled up to a residential side-street to park after circling the block several times in search of a spot. He turned the car off and began drumming a fast beat against the steering wheel while he opened and shut his mouth several times like a fish, trying to find words that wouldn’t come.
I cleared my throat, staring at the tall and compact houses out the window, all in pale, pastel colors. “Are we here?”
“It’s a short walk, ten minutes or so from this spot. Just didn’t want to park too close to the party.”
“Right. So should we start then?” I dug through the useless clutch for the pale peach gloss El had thrown in there. Swiping it across my lips, not because I needed a touch up, but because I needed something normal to do to cut through the tension.
“Yeah, I just wanted to chat for a second.” He paused, rubbing the back of his neck so roughly that the skin turned an angry red. “About last night.”
“Look, Soren. We don’t have to do this. We were drunk. I was emotional. It’s not a big deal. It’s clear from your reaction it was a mistake. So can we just drop it and pretend it never happened? We have way more important issues at hand than a drunken makeout session.”
I watched out of the corner of my eye as his jaw muscles clenched. The leather on the steering wheel creaked under his grip. With a quick nod, he opened his door. “Yes, I think that’s best. That we forget it. It didn’t mean anything. It was a stupid drunken mistake and we should try to pretend like nothing happened.” He mirrored my words, almost more to himself th
an to me, stood up, and started walking at a slow pace down the street.
I followed, grinding my teeth, reminded by his brisk dismissal that Soren was an asshole. I’d make damn sure that I wouldn’t kiss him again. Or entertain any PG-13 thoughts about him. Or think about the way the suit fit perfectly around his ass.
We spent the next ten minutes in an uncomfortable silence, the only sound my heavy breathing. Corsets freaking sucked. Thank the gods I wasn’t born in another century. Wearing this thing for a few hours was bad enough—I couldn’t imagine dealing with this every day. It seemed that women had spent forever finding ways to torture themselves for the sake of beauty. And how ridiculous, really, in the grand scheme of things. When we were done with this mess, I was so inventing a vain torture device for men, so they wouldn’t feel left out.
“This is it.” Soren stopped suddenly in front of a large house, causing me to crash into him. After rubbing my shoulder, where a bruise would likely appear tomorrow, I looked up. Actually, house might not be the best word. It looked more like a museum. Or a mansion. Or a small city entrapped in layers of paneling and concrete, or whatever the hell huge houses were made out of these days. He looked in my direction, waiting for my nod before he walked up to the door. “Just remember, in and out as soon as we can.”
The door swung open, revealing a tall gray-haired man in a tuxedo. His eyes were covered by a teal mask that was somehow dull compared to the bright blue of his eyes. He was dressed like a Victorian butler, but he was equally terrifying and welcoming. I imagined Rennix hired him specifically with that combination in mind. When you were an influential supe, it was probably wise to layer your guests with a healthy dose of intimidation.
“Welcome.” Teal Eyes blinked and bowed slightly, leading us from the foyer (at least I think that’s what rich people called entryways) into a huge ballroom.
