Stand-in: Take 3 of the Kanyon and Daylen Series

by K. B. Draper

  Lexi stood there, back stiff, unmoving until she finally spoke with icy malice. “Well, then let the games begin.”

  If Daylen hadn’t already known the truth, Lexi’s words confirmed all she had feared. This was all a game to Lexi. Lexi didn’t have feelings for Kanyon. Okay, she might have some feelings for her, but they originated far south of her heart. She didn’t blame Lexi for being attracted to Kanyon. She could hate her for it, but she couldn’t blame her. But damned if she was going to lose Kanyon to this shallow bitch again.

  It wasn’t until Daylen had disappeared beyond the building that the hooded man walked out of the shadows. “What the hell did Pollyanna-perfect do to me?” Lexi asked when the touch of his hand freed her from an invisible hold. She shook her arms, flexing her hands. “Seriously, how the hell did she–”

  He stepped past her, fixated on Daylen. “Just another curious revelation.” He smiled in reverence.

  Lexi didn’t like the admiration he was laying out in Daylen’s wake. “Care to explain, when you stop drooling?”

  The man dropped his hood, his eyes still sparking with black flames. “I apologize. Manners are not my forte.” He grabbed her wrist and jerked her toward him. “Pain and torture however ...” He smiled sardonically.

  Lexi fought the instinct to retreat. “A man after my own heart,” she replied, the soft sexual tone back in her voice. She twisted her wrist, a silent request for release. “I’m sorry. I was caught up in the moment.” She snaked her hands up his chest, her lower lip caught seductively in her teeth. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

  “She is requesting your presence.”

  Lexi purred. “Well, then let’s not keep her waiting.”

  Kanyon glanced at her watch, getting concerned that it had been nearly fifteen minutes since she’d heard from Daylen and Theo. She rose from the couch, paced two down and backs, glanced at her watch again, and then toward Ralph. “You don’t–” Ralph was not on the couch. A quick jolt of fear shot through her at the thought of Daylen crossing paths with the article or worse, their new hooded nemesis. She grabbed for the door, wrenched it open, and nearly fell over Daylen who was raising a hand to knock.

  “Sorry, I–” Daylen started, but was pulled up and into Kanyon’s tight embrace. “Wow. I was looking forward to seeing you too this morning, though I had a different type of greeting in mind. Something a little less bone-crushy.”

  Kanyon loosened her hold and pulled back, a smirk at the corners of her lips. “Yeah? What did you have in mind?”

  “Something more like …” Daylen pressed her lips to Kanyon’s. The kiss was soft at first, but the fear, need, and residual drain of power from the encounter with Lexi, combined with the calming strength Kanyon offered had her deepening the kiss.

  Something had Daylen’s emotional voltage meter cranked to high and though Kanyon would like to take the credit, she’d sensed it as soon as she saw Daylen. Kanyon pulled Daylen into her, holding her tightly. As Daylen relaxed, there was a different vibe in the air and this time Kanyon would take the blame. It was pure, raw heat and passion.

  Daylen pushed Kanyon back against the kitchenette counter. “Door,” she rasped.

  “Got it.” Without conscious thought, Kanyon threw out a hand and a shaft of blue flame whipped from her fingertips and wound around the doorknob. Kanyon rolled her fingers closed, pulling the light back in. The door slammed behind them.

  “Did you–” Daylen started, glancing at the closed door.

  “Yeah. I have no idea,” Kanyon stated, more interested in Daylen than her new supernatural trick. Kanyon sucked, nipped, and licked her way up Daylen’s exposed neck, along her jawbone, and back to her mouth.

  Every touch of Kanyon’s lips, tongue, and hands sent waves of pleasure and heat through Daylen’s core.

  “Five minutes, Miss McKane,” a voice yelled from outside.

  Kanyon’s trail of kisses back to Daylen’s neck stopped. “Son of a–”

  Daylen chuckled.

  “Feel free to greet me that way every time you see me,” Kanyon offered with a playful smile.

  “Ditto.” Daylen leaned up to bite playfully at Kanyon’s lower lip.

  “You okay?”

  “Yes. More than okay. Why?”

  “When you walked in you seemed a little …”

  Daylen shied. “Glad to see you?”

  “Well, that,” Kanyon ran a thumb over Daylen’s jaw, “but, I don’t know, emotionally amped up, maybe?”

  Daylen lowered her gaze. “Right. That.”

  “Something happen?”

  Daylen didn’t know exactly how she wanted to approach the Lexi topic. Head on, she guessed. “Actually, I ran into Lexi.” Daylen felt Kanyon’s body stiffen against her. “It was fine.” Kanyon didn’t need to know the full down and dirty on her ex, she wasn’t going to play that game. “Really, it wasn’t a big deal.” She gave Kanyon another quick kiss. “I think your five minutes is almost up.”

  Kanyon sighed and pushed away from the countertop. “Probably.” She held out a hand to Daylen. “Walk with me?”

  “Sure.” Daylen replied, taking Kanyon’s hand.

  “How’s Theo?” Kanyon asked, once they were outside.

  “Hurting, but alive,” Daylen replied as she reached for the door to shut behind them. She looked back at Kanyon. “We’re going to talk about this, right?”

  “Don’t really know what to say.” She waved her fingers in front of her face. “But it’s totally going to come in handy at dirty truck stop bathrooms.”

  Daylen snorted. “Go into a lot of dirty truck stop bathrooms, do ya?”

  “Maybe now I will.”

  “Got another trick up your sleeve for dirty truck stop toilets?” Daylen asked.

  “Right. Oh, well.” Kanyon glanced across the lot. “Let’s pick up the four-legged garbage disposal on our way.”

  Ralph came prancing toward them with a foot-long sandwich hanging delicately out of the side of his mouth.

  Kanyon looked down at Ralph. “I don’t know how you keep your petite figure.” Ralph scoffed. Kanyon rolled her eyes. “Did Theo tell you anything interesting about last night?”

  “He came in eighth in an impromptu dart tournament.”

  “Out of how many people?” Kanyon asked.

  “Nine.”

  “Shocking. Anything else?”

  “Yes. But, I think I’ll let him tell you.”

  “Okay.” Kanyon gave her a sidelong look. “So, there’s something?”

  “There are several somethings.” Daylen smirked. “And I’m pretty sure he doesn’t remember the drive home or the curbside events. He’s worried he might’ve done something lame in front of you. So, take it easy on him and maybe not mention the little incident.”

  Kanyon stopped and waited for Daylen to look back at her before thrusting her fists to her hips. “Little incident? You mean the little incident that cost me my favorite boots and a pair of jeans?”

  Daylen rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on, he’ll be mortified.”

  “I’m mortified that he liquidated his dinner on my feet.” She held out shaking hands. “I’m suffering from P.T.P.O.D.”

  Daylen crooked a grin. “Post-traumatic Puked On Disorder?”

  “It could happen.”

  “I suppose. But you can afford therapy. Theo will likely die of embarrassment.”

  Kanyon huffed and began walking again. “Is that a theory or a fact?”

  Daylen laughed. “Last night, I’m sure you noticed that Theo and friends were getting a lot of attention. Which means Cody doesn’t have the article but one of the guys there did or ...”

  “Or they were exposed to it at least. And since there are more hormones flying around here than at a Justin Bieber concert–”

  It was Daylen’s turn to finish, “There’s a good possibility it’s still on the set. Maybe it’s a proximity thing. Women within so many feet …”

  “Turn into giggly, pant-dropping hookers?�
� Kanyon asked.

  “Right. So?”

  “We need to find Theo and see what happened last night between the time we last saw him and him becoming geeky Don Juan. But right this second I have to get on set.” Kanyon reached for Daylen’s hand, brought it to her mouth, and gave it a soft kiss. Daylen made a quick glance around at the people hustling and bustling around them. “Does this bother you?” Kanyon asked, giving Daylen’s hand a gentle squeeze.

  Daylen brought her eyes quickly back to Kanyon. “No, of course not. I’m just surprised. I didn’t know if you’d– I mean … I don’t know, but no, not at all.”

  “I’m done hiding who I am. Well, minus the supernatural stuff. That probably wouldn’t translate well to the tabloids. But this. You. I don’t care who knows. I want them to know. If you’re good with it, that is?”

  Daylen smiled. “I’m very good.”

  “Good it is then.” Kanyon leaned in and gave Daylen a quick kiss. “Be careful. I’ll find you when I’m done.” Kanyon looked back at their furry tagalong who had somehow acquired a bag of chips on their short walk. “When you’re done, think you could get to wepwaweting or whatever you’re supposed to be doing?”

  Daylen decided that she and Ralph would walk around the set to see if she could feel anything or maybe chat up some of the lighting guys from last night. She found Theo and another guy feverishly working on a lighting rig. “How you holding up?”

  “Okay, I guess. Better than the rest of the guys. There were only three of us that showed up today,” Theo replied. “This is Grady.”

  “Hey,” Grady offered, not looking up from the wad of wires.

  “So, Grady, were you out on the big adventure last night?” Daylen asked.

  “Nah. I have a girlfriend and it was meet the parents night so I bailed out early yesterday.”

  “Nice. I hope it went well for you.”

  Grady picked up the oversized light and examined it with pride. “Totally fixed it.” He nearly dropped it when he finally looked at Daylen. “Holy crap, you’re–” He sat the light back down on the table.

  “Daylen,” Daylen offered, reaching out a hand.

  “Right. Daylen Elliott. I love the Dark Savior. You and Kanyon’s scenes were so smokin’ hot– um, nice. Super smokin’ nice.”

  Daylen flashed back to the smokin’ hot scene that had just played out between them moments ago. “Thank you, Grady. Kanyon makes it easy.”

  “I don’t want to interrupt you guys while you’re working. Theo, check in with me and Kanyon later?”

  “Sure thing, Daylen.”

  “Dude, you like know them, know them?” Grady whispered at Daylen’s retreating back.

  “Yeah, they’re like my best friends,” Theo answered all nonchalantly. Daylen was still smiling as she rounded the corner.

  Kanyon’s shoot took longer than expected. She’d been part of the problem, messing up a couple marks and a couple of lead-ins as her brain swung from Daylen to Lexi to the article and back to Daylen. Daylen. They were actually¬– her teenage boy brain was screaming “making-out”, her heart was saying, “building something” and she couldn’t be happier. Now that she was back with the other half of the make out team, she was trying to focus on the case versus dragging Daylen back to her trailer and relishing in the newly minted luxuries of their reunion.

  “Theo, we need you to tell us about last night. We need to know exactly what happened before you guys went out and every minute thereafter.”

  “Just the important stuff from the studio to the bar, then to where we picked you up,” Daylen clarified quickly. “Or start with the,” she waved a lift-it-up finger at his shirt.

  “Right!” Theo’s lifted his shirt to expose his new magic marker nipple tattoo.

  “What the–?” Kanyon took a slow step back.

  “Badass, huh?” Theo grinned widely over the lip of his raised shirt.

  “Badass may be just a bit out of context.” Kanyon glanced at Daylen for an explanation.

  Daylen reached out to pull Theo’s shirt down. “Why don’t you start at the beginning?”

  Theo thought for a second then smiled widely again. “Right, okay. So, at 2100 hours two nights ago you and Daylen asked me to join this investigation–”

  Kanyon wound a finger. “Fast-forward, Magic Mike.”

  “Why don’t you start with yesterday afternoon? Who asked you to go out last night?” Daylen suggested.

  “Right, okay. Well, let’s see, there was kind of a group of us that was standing there. We were waiting for the next lighting change and it was Mark, Tim, Mark P., Jeff, Corby, Jeremy, Cameron, Vincent, and, ah, Aaron. But Aaron didn’t go out with us, he’s married and his wife said no go to boy’s night.”

  “Okay. Who was the ringleader?” Daylen got a blank stare. “Whose idea was it?”

  “Oh. Well, I guess it would be Jeremy? I mean, he was the one that kind of said we should go, and he picked the first bar. But Cameron was the one that said we should go to, you know, the other place.”

  “The Dirty Donut?” Kanyon asked flatly, her distaste of the place evident.

  Theo looked confused, Kanyon’s diss on the place going right over his head. “No, that wasn’t the name of it. It was the … Man, it had a color in it like blue something?”

  “Pinky’s Clam Shell,” Daylen offered, not willing to relive last night’s conversation.

  “Oh yeah, that’s it.” He scrunched up his nose. “Though I have no idea why they call it that, it’s not like they even served fish. I asked too. I was totally hungry.” Daylen saw Kanyon’s mouth open but she cut her comment off with a look. Kanyon rolled her eyes and mumbled something unintelligible. Theo continued, not noticing their exchange. “I mean, I could’ve totally tore up some serious fish sticks.”

  “Annnnyway,” Daylen gave Kanyon another sidelong warning. “So, you guys decided to go out to the first bar. Did you all just go from here or did you meet there?”

  “We cleaned up in the men’s locker room. Well, the trailer thing they have set up for us.”

  “Then what?” Daylen prompted.

  “Then we went to the bar, had a round of drinks, started the dart tournament, and–”

  “Where did the women start falling into your lap?” Kanyon interrupted.

  Theo dug out the wad of numbers from his pocket. “I got my first five or so phone numbers at the first bar.” He pulled out the ones on the matching napkins from the first bar, and held them out to Kanyon.

  Kanyon took the napkins and glanced through them. She stopped and lifted an eyebrow, flipping the one signed J-Lo toward Daylen. Daylen lifted a shoulder in a you-got-me gesture. Kanyon pulled out her phone and scrolled through the contacts. She huffed out a disbelieving laugh. “Well, damn.” She put her phone back in her pocket and handed the numbers back to Theo. She held out a fist. “Way to go, player.”

  Theo knuckle checked her. “Thanks. You think I should call her?”

  “Totally. She’s a freak–” Daylen cleared her throat. “–on the dance floor.” Kanyon finished wryly.

  “Anyway. Theo, anything else happen, maybe between the studio and the first bar?”

  “Um, well … Oh! We almost saw a wreck.”

  “A wreck?” Daylen asked.

  “Yeah. Two women executives from one of the studios were driving by as we were walking out. They totally veered their cart toward us and drove right in the path of one of those tour bus things. It swerved and almost took out the saloon on the western set. Everyone was okay.” He got a blank stare from Daylen. “Should’ve led with that?”

  Daylen turned to Kanyon. “It’s on the set or with one of the guys.” Daylen dug in her bag for her notebook. “Theo, tell me the guys’ names again?”

  Theo repeated the names, adding who had and hadn’t shown up for work this morning. “Excellent.” Daylen scanned the list. “I say we talk to the ones here.”

  Chapter 13

  Lexi came out of a cloud of fog into a dark ro
om. She could see vague shapes, which she associated with a basement or the underbelly of a building. She didn’t have to see the man who had brought her to know he was present. She could sense his malevolent demeanor as if it were stirring in the air. “Well, wasn’t that a nifty trick,” she said as she waited for her eyes to adjust.

  “I will caution you to watch what you say. She is not as tolerant as I.”

  Lexi let sex lay thick in her words. “Will she punish me if I’m bad?”

  The man stepped from the shadows, close, and Lexi fought the urge to step back. “There are no words yet written in the human language to describe what she will do to you if you displease her.”

  Lexi had no sassy response this time as she silently questioned if she had made a deal with the devil himself, herself, she corrected.

  “Oh, sweet child, I’m much worse than the devil from your silly little storybook.” The words seemed to slither around her as she felt them more than she heard them. Lexi spun slowly around looking for the source of the voice. There was nothing but a dark vaporous mist that swirled around her. “My First told me you were a creature of great beauty. I can see that he was quite correct.” A tentacle of darkness reached out and touched the side of her face. Unable to retreat, Lexi simply closed her eyes as what felt like a cold hand caressed her cheek. “Quite lovely,” the voice whispered like a lover in her ear. She felt the cold as it began to swirl like a rope around her ankles, her calves, thighs, and continued to twist up her body until it wrapped her completely. She couldn’t help but think of mummies wrapped from head to toe, only her bindings weren’t made of a soft delicate cloth, but of something dark, cold, and unbreakable. “Open your eyes, child,” a voice purred in her ear.

  Lexi did as she was asked, expecting to see an evil face worse than anything the Hollywood horror films had ever created. Instead, though she was made of a dark mist, was the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen. She had soft features, an ancient beauty that made Lexi think of Cleopatra or an Egyptian princess. “You’re–” Lexi gasped as the arctic air she breathed in restricted her throat.