"Yo, Doll. How ya doin'?"
I opened my mouth, realized I didn't want to lie to him and shut it again. I settled for a shrug.
Once the coffee started brewing, I picked him up and headed outside. Al laid his head on my chest and snuggled into my neck. For once he didn't try to make a move.
He finished his business while I studied my neighbor's tree. Afterwards I picked him up and we went back upstairs.
Al leaned up and placed his little paws on my face when I went to set him down. "Ya gotta talk about this, Doll. Ya can't keep avoiding it. I know you're hurt, but it's like taking a bullet. Ya gotta yank it out before ya can heal the wound."
On top of everything else, I did not want advice from my Chihuahua. I knew he meant well, but I was still trying to figure out which end of the broom to ride.
"If ya don't, the wound is just gonna fester."
I sighed, nodded and bent to set him down. Al dug his nails into my cheeks. "It'll start out slow - a nagging pain that won't quit."
"I know, Al." I tried to put him down, but he wouldn't let loose and I was afraid he'd fall if I just let go.
"Then it'll start to ooze puss."
A vision of my heart shot through with a large hole while a whitish, nasty fluid oozed out, popped into my head.
My stomach heaved warningly.
Al dug his hind legs in.
"The puss will turn thick and start to smell."
The vision in my head shifted accordingly.
I slapped my hand over my mouth. Battling both my stomach and my gag reflex.
I staggered to the kitchen chair and fell into it. Using the table as a perch for his little body, I tried to unhook his claws from my robe.
"Then it'll turn grayish black and by then it's almost too late. Gangrene will have set in."
My heart now lay in a shriveled-up lump in my chest. Its dull and rotting form emitting sluggish, intermittent beats.
I gagged.
"If ya don't dig it out, ya won't make it."
Now a large gaping maw of nothingness stood in place of my heart. Desolate. Empty. Lifeless.
I released his last claw, dashed into my bathroom and made it just in time. I hadn't eaten anything to speak of, so I just clung to the cold porcelain as painful spasms shook my body.
"I didn't know you were sick, Doll." He leaned against my leg as I heaved. "Ya shoulda said something. Ya need to go back to bed. I'll call Désirée and let her know ya won't be in."
After several long, painful minutes, my stomach finally calmed down. I hung there for a moment longer just to be sure then grabbed some toilet paper and wiped my mouth.
"Doll?"
I took a deep breath. "I'm okay, Al." My voice was a little rough, but my stomach was not in a complete upheaval anymore. "I'm not sick."
"Sure looked it to me."
I glared down at him. I lasted maybe six seconds. His chocolatey, wet, bulging eyes get me every time.
I picked him up and nuzzled his neck. "I'm fine."
He stiffened and growled, "Is this all because of Ass?"
No. My upchucking was entirely due to his exceedingly graphic explanation. I couldn't tell him that though. The hit-man was trying to be helpful.
"I'm working on it, Al. I may not be ready to confront everything right now, but I am working on it. I'm doing the best I can."
"Ya can't mull these things over, Doll. Ya gotta cut your losses. Didn't ya hear anything I said? If ya don't, it'll start to fester and . . ."
I pulled him tight into my chest, burying his nose and his overly descriptive little mouth. My stomach rolled over a couple times before it relaxed.
"Trust me, Al. I heard," and unfortunately envisioned in excruciating detail, "everything you said."
Garbled growling rose up from my chest. I relaxed my hold.
"So, what's the problem then?" He repeated his question.
Oh to be a hit-man with intimate experiences on gunshot wounds and a simplistic view on life. I almost envied him.
"I don't know if I want to cut him out of my life, Al."
His minuscule haunch actually made a thud when it hit my forearm.
"What? He lied to ya! He used ya! How can you possibly want to be with him?"
"Ash made a bargain with Morgause to find me in return for freeing him of his sin and his bond to the demon realm."
The fur on his neck rose up. "He what?"
"After meeting me, Ash started lying to Morgause. He's been telling her he doesn't know where I am. He's been protecting me."
Al growled, "And ya trust that lying demon?"
"Do you think I would be alive right now if Morgause knew where I was?"
Al's fur smoothed back out. He knew everything there was to know about my scary aunt. He'd even plotted escape routes just in case. "No. Ya wouldn't."
We sat there on the cold tile floor of my bathroom, staring at each, lost in our own thoughts.
At last I tucked him under my arm and got up. My stomach felt capable of handling coffee again.
I put Al on the table, grabbed a mug and his bowl and poured us each coffee with a lot of creamer.
Al lapped at his coffee several times before he sat down and looked at me. "Ass has been protecting ya? You're sure about that?"
I wasn't sure of anything. "He knows about Morgause and I haven't told him anything about her or the curse."
It went without saying that neither Al, Morgan nor my aunt would share that information without consulting me first.
"Huh."
His ears went back, but he didn't volunteer anything else.
I finished my coffee, put my mug and Al's bowl in the sink and went to get dressed.
"Doll?"
I stopped in the doorway and looked back at him, his tiny, furry body planted on my kitchen table. His watery brown eyes full of love and concern for me.
"Do ya love him?"
Did I? I thought I did. I'd held my feelings for him close to my chest, nervous and excited and scared. Hopeful.
What I felt was too new to be tested and yet that didn't matter. Life wasn't a fairytale. And a witch could only do what she could.
"I don't know, Al." I stared at him - my faithful friend, my stubborn Chihuahua, my reality resistant hit-man. I knew my words would hurt him and as much as I hated it, he deserved my honesty.
"I'm afraid I might. And I have no idea what to do about it."
18. Confronting My Secretary.
Désirée Norma-Sue was already behind her desk by the time I arrived at Love Required.
The bright cheerful yellow of her shirt gave me pause for a moment. A rather long moment.
There was nothing wrong with her shirt. It matched the new sunshine shade of her updo. And the flashing citrine earrings dangling to her shoulders.
All in all, Désirée looked sunny and upbeat and happy.
All the things I was not.
And in depressing contrast, I'd thrown on the jeans and shirt I'd found at the foot of my bed. I was pretty sure I was actually wearing the same shirt I'd had on yesterday.
I couldn't hold it against her. It wasn't her fault my demon boyfriend was not who I thought he was. And it certainly wasn't her fault I had a scary aunt who wanted me dead due to incidents I had nothing to do with. And I couldn't fault her because I was cursed to Fail in Love.
None of these things had anything at all to do with my secretary.
I knew all of this.
And yet her abundance of seeming happiness grated on my nerves. Rubbed them raw. Twisted them into a tightly coiled spring.
And made me feel like less of a witch.
I refused to allow any of my emotional mess rub off on Désirée Norma-Sue, so I slapped a wide smile on my face and sang out, "Good Morning!"
Désirée popped out of her chair like a champagne cork. She practically sprinted to my side.
"Sugar, how are you?" She clutched my arm as if afraid I might fall over.
My smile grew wider. "I'm fi
ne, Désirée. Just fine. How are you?"
"Fine. Just fine."
We were such liars.
She patted my hand. I grinned like a maniac.
We stood like that for a while before we both realized the other was not going to give.
"Désirée." I wasn't exactly sure what to say. How did I ask if she had a stalker and had hired one of our clients as a hit-man to eliminate her problem?
I looked down to give my eyes a break from her unrelenting merriness, winced as I caught site of her chartreuse skirt and heels and reversed our holds so I could grip her arm.
"Let's go into my office." At least behind my desk I would only be bombarded by fifty percent of her good cheer.
I sat behind my desk, Désirée Norma-Sue grabbed one of my guest chairs and pulled it up to the opposite edge of my desk.
"We need to talk," I began.
"All right, Sugar. You can tell me anything you'd like."
"Not about me," I snapped. Damn it. I sucked in a deep breath. I would not yell at my secretary. None of this was her fault.
I sighed heavily and tried again. "What I meant to say was, is there anything you'd like to discuss with me?"
If I didn't know her so well, I would have dismissed the flutter of her lashes. The slight tensing of her shoulders.
Désirée Norma-Sue had been disguising her reactions for a long time. How long had she been hiding from her stalker?
"I'm good, Sugar." She gave a trickle of a laugh that didn't match the sunny mood of her outfit. "Don't you want to talk about . . ."
I cut her off. "No. I don't, but I do want you to tell me about the reason you hired Snake."
At my question, Désirée instinctively froze like a small creature being hunted. A small bomb could have gone off and she wouldn't have moved.
"He told you?" She paled. Her skin turning so white it was almost a painful contrast to all the yellow.
I reached across my desk and picked up her hand. Her skin cold to the touch. I wrapped both my hands around hers, lending her what warmth I had.
"I think Snake thought I already knew about your troubles. He couldn't get a hold of you and was worried." I squeezed her hand. "I'm worried."
She blinked back the tears that welled in her eyes. "Sugar, you are so sweet."
No. I wasn't. I was pretty sure I was avoiding my own issues by confronting hers. It didn't matter. Désirée Norma-Sue was my friend and she needed my help. Whether she knew it or not.
"Who's after you?"
"My ex-fiancée."
I blinked. "You were engaged?" I'm not sure why that surprised me. Désirée Norma-Sue was drop dead gorgeous, annoyingly skinny and totally awesome by any standards. Fae or human.
"Yes. My parents arranged the marriage."
I knew fairy roots went back a long, long way in history, but I'd thought their society had advanced with the current times. I had no idea they were so archaic.
"That still happens?"
Désirée nodded. "Not very often these days, but if a family wants to move up in society, marriage is the fastest way to gain social status."
I did know that, but I also thought arranged marriages went out with the horse and cart and the old witches' brooms made of twigs.
Arranged marriages brought to mind images of young girls in flouncy dresses paired up with ancient, wrinkled geezers with lots of money. I almost shuddered. If the humans had been so callous with their relatives, I wasn't sure I wanted to imagine what the HC would do.
Big-nosed trolls with dark, claustrophobic houses and deep pockets, vicious werewolves with lethal claws and sharper portfolios, cold warlocks with large bank accounts and dank dungeons.
I would have run fast and far myself.
"So, everyone was happy with the marriage except you?" I didn't blame her. I totally understood her disgust.
Désirée pursed her lips. "Not exactly. At first I was thrilled."
She was? She liked big-nosed trolls? Vicious werewolves? I couldn't see Désirée Norma-Sue putting up with a horrible match in exchange for wealth.
She shrugged. "It's not every fairy that gets engaged to a prince."
She'd been engaged to a prince? Maybe he'd been hideous?
"He's utterly gorgeous. Blonde, blue eyes, perfect body."
I sat back in my chair. She'd been engaged to a gorgeous prince?
"He sent me gifts every day. Took me to amazing parties. Told me how much he loved me."
I didn't understand at all.
"It was all a lie."
Now that I understood.
"He did and said everything right, everything to make a fairy think he truly loved her and none of it was true."
I didn't want to listen any more.
"A month before we were supposed to get married, I overheard him hiring someone to kill me on our honeymoon. He didn't want me. He wanted some of our land in the swamps. I guess we're sitting on some oil."
I caught myself rubbing at my chest as if it ached. I immediately stopped and sat up straight. Placed my hands on my desk. "What did your family say when you told them?"
"They didn't believe me. I didn't blame them. The prince is one slick fairy. I thought if I left, he'd leave me alone. Find some other venture to pursue." She sighed. "I guess there's a lot of oil under our land."
"When did all of this take place? You're sure he's still after you?" Surely a prince could find other ways to come up with some money.
"I've been on the run for almost a year now. He's almost caught me twice." She made a sound of utter disgust. "He's also extremely vain. Apparently I'm the first fairy to dump him."
Revenge and money. Couldn't find another more powerful motivator unless you counted love.
And I wasn't counting on love. Not at all.
"He's tracked you down to Dominion?"
Désirée nodded. "He's been in my apartment twice. Moved things around. Just to let me know he's found me. He's not very stable."
We both shivered. Her handsome prince was a total creep.
"I've had enough of running. That's why I hired Snake." Worry crossed her face. "You're not mad at me, are you?"
I reached out to grasp her hand again. "I'm not mad. It's probably best if we don't involve the clients in acts of murder, but I understand where you are coming from. I just wish you'd come to me first."
"I didn't want to involve you in my problems."
I turned a blind eye to her pointed look. We were discussing her messed up love life, not mine.
"First, let's take Snake out of the picture. Then let me work on a protection charm for you. And third, you need to tell Phil what's going on."
Open and honest communication in any relationship worked the best. Plus, Phil needed to be on his guard too. If the prince had already broken into Désirée's apartment, he'd be making his move soon.
"Then we need to come up with a plan."
19. A Few Answers.
Désirée Norma-Sue and I didn't get as far into our plan making as I would have liked. I'd written down as many details as she provided so I could make her the best protection charm I could.
A protection charm against a burglar wouldn't work if the creep didn't actually rob her. I planned to include several general spells, but having as many specifics as possible would make it a more effective charm.
Désirée had just finished telling me about the dead, black rose she'd found in her underwear drawer after the prince had broken in, when Phil showed up.
As much as I wanted to continue questioning her about the psychopathic prince, I knew she needed a break. Re-hashing the events from the past year had taken a toll.
Her hands shook and her lips had lost all color. Even the glaring yellow of her outfit appeared somewhat dimmed.
She'd brightened the moment Phil walked in.
It shamed me as a witch to admit it, but I envied her.
She had a serious threat against her, her very life was in jeopardy. The prince was a definite danger.
&n
bsp; And she still blossomed when she saw Phil. As grave as the situation was, Désirée Norma-Sue trusted Phil. His feelings for her. Her feeling for him. And it made it easier for her to face the challenges in her life.
I wanted that.
I wanted to rely on Ash. To trust in him and the knowledge that he was with me every step of the way. To go home to him every night. To know I was loved.
I'd thought we were working towards that.
I'd thought I was preparing to battle for us.
I didn't know what we had anymore. If anything.
And it felt like my heart broke a little bit more every time I thought about him.
"You're sure you don't want to join us for lunch, Sugar?"
Désirée leaned further into Phil's bulk as she asked her question. Phil was dressed all in gray again today. Fedora, short-sleeved shirt, cargo shorts and sandals. Head to claws in charcoal, pewter and concrete.
Désirée Norma-Sue looked like a lone flower in a bleak - if rather cushy - desert.
"I'm sure. You two go ahead and have a nice time." No way was I going to be the third wheel. "I really need to go through my matches for Snake." And Désirée needed to come clean about the threat with Phil.
"You want us to bring something back for you?" Phil tugged Désirée closer. Concern darkening his eyes as he looked at me.
Damn it. Did I really appear pathetic and in need of someone to take care of me?
I sighed. I did. I knew I did. I had dark circles under my eyes and my jeans actually felt loose for once.
"I'm good." I was such a terrible liar. But I couldn't eat either. Just the thought rolled my stomach. "You two have fun."
The bell above the door tinkled as they left.
I set aside the notes I'd made on Désirée Norma-Sue. Once I had more information I'd create her protection charm. She was safe for the moment. I'd purchase tickets to see any psycho fairy prince go up against that gargoyle.
I pulled out Snake's file, glared at the still extremely organized papers and deliberately fanned the entire pile over my desk. Then I had to move several off to the side so I had a clear space to work on Snake's perfect mate.
I'd just opened his file when the bell rang over the door. I hurried out to the reception area almost expecting Désirée to have forgotten something.
Demons Don't Always Tell The Truth (Kate Storm Series Book 3) Page 11
