by J. R. Ward
“So what do you do for a living?” he asked Cait.
“I’m an artist. I teach at Union College and I illustrate children’s books.”
He nodded as his bowl-size mug arrived. “So you’re like me, making a living off your passion.”
“It must be hard to be in the music business. Things have changed so much, haven’t they? I mean, file sharing, piracy, all that.”
“Actually, that’s just the business side. Creatively? So much worse. The overuse of Auto-Tune, singers functioning as marketing concepts, everything so totally packaged.” He pushed his hair back, and she was momentarily distracted by how beautiful it was. “There are very few of us left who write our own material—and I’m not a twenty-year-old girl writing about famous boyfriends who treat me like crap. I want to convey truer emotions than puppy love gone bad, you know?”
“Teresa told me you write your own lyrics.” She nodded across the way to make sure her friend was included. “That song about eternal life was … inspirational.”
Like he was reading her mind, G.B. smiled at Teresa. “And that’s what everybody wants, right? The time we have here is so damned short—and we need to leave something behind.”
“So you’d be immortal if you could be, huh?” Cait said.
“In a heartbeat. Come on, life is great—I don’t want to lose all this. I don’t want to get old. I certainly don’t want to die.”
“With the way you sing,” Teresa cut in, “everybody’s better off with you on the planet.”
“Does that mean you’ll vote for me on American Idol?”
Teresa clapped her hands. “Hell, yeah! Are you trying out?”
“Maybe. Will you vote for me, too?” he asked Cait.
“I don’t watch that kind of TV, but if you’re on it? I’d be there every night.”
“You guys are the best.” He pushed that amazing hair back again, and Cait lingered on the way the stuff gleamed. “But I haven’t pursued that one yet. I don’t know … I hate to go that route. It feels like a copout in some ways, but the reality is—it’s time for me to break out on a national scale, and I need a platform. I mean, I do okay money-wise, like, singing backup for people on tour, and doing voice-over work down in Manhattan. And I’ve just gotten a part in the local production of Rent.”
“Have you sent any tracks in to record companies?” Cait asked, like she knew anything about “tracks” or “record companies.”
“I have, but again, it’s hard to get noticed. That’s the only reason I’d do Idol. If I could get on there—”
“You would,” Teresa said.
“And you’d do well,” Cait echoed. Star quality, it was called. And he had it.
“Thanks. That really means a lot.” G.B.’s smile was so genuine, Cait found it hard to believe the three of them hadn’t been friends for years. “It’s not about the fame thing, by the way. I just … you know, I want to leave behind something important, something that lasts. And that’s not a bad thing, is it?”
Cait thought of recent events … and upcoming funerals. Shaking her head, she said grimly, “Not at all.”
“So how about you?”
“Me?”
“If you could be ageless, would you?”
She took a drink of her water and grimaced. The ice cubes had all melted and there was a tinny aftertaste now. “I don’t know. I suppose if everyone I loved could be along for the ride with me? Well, then the losses wouldn’t be that bad and I’d say yes—because the thing is, it’s not only you. What good is having forever if you just have to watch your friends and family die? That would be hell, not heaven.” She shrugged. “Personally, I think it’s better to just focus on the here and now. Immortality is not going to happen, so why not learn how to live the best life we can in this moment?”
When G.B. fell silent, she winced. “I sound like Oprah, right? I don’t mean to get preachy—”
“You are a deep thinker. And I like that—a lot.”
Flushing, Cait looked away. She didn’t know what to do with comments like that, and the fact that Teresa was with them made her feel even more awkward.
When another couple of women came by to chat with him, she checked her watch. As much as she was enjoying this—
“So, you look like you’re getting ready to head off.” As she glanced over, G.B. smiled at her—and wow, his dark eyes were pretty. Were they brown? Blue? “Do you have anyone waiting at home for you?”
Cait’s brows rose. He wasn’t suggesting that—
“She doesn’t even have a cat,” Teresa interjected. “Or a goldfish.”
“Oh?” G.B. smiled again. “So no one, huh.”
Cait started to feel truly antsy. “Well, I’m allergic to cats.”
“Me, too.” G.B. took a long drink of his tea and then resettled with the base of the mug balanced on his knee. “Is it okay for me to ask for your number?”
As G.B. waited for Cait as in C-A-I-T to respond, he was more than happy to pass the time looking over at her.
The blond hair was hella ’tractive, and that smooth skin—his hands just wanted to touch her again. That shake of theirs had been way too short, and he’d been racking his brain ever since to find another socially acceptable reason to make some sustainable contact. Not that this was Regency England, but come on—he didn’t want her to think he was a letch.
He really wanted to go out with her.
The second he’d gotten on the stage, he’d seen her in the crowd, sure as if she had been sitting under a spotlight: long and tall, simply dressed, really good hair. Nothing bar harlot about her, and she was listening to him like she was interested—but not with that rapt thing that most of the women sported.
This one was going to be different. He could feel it.
“I promise to be a perfect gentleman,” he tacked on, since she seemed to be on the fence about the whole phone call thing.
“I—ah …” Cait jerked upright in her seat and then shot a hard look at her friend.
“Of course you can call her,” the dark-haired woman said. “Here’s her number.”
As the buddy took out a pen and scribbled on a napkin, he was more than happy to take what was offered. But he looked first to Cait—he wasn’t touching those digits unless she was okay with it.
“You sure about this?” he asked her.
The fact that she seemed shocked that he’d call her made him want to get on his knees and beg her—just so she would feel like a queen.
Abruptly, she straightened her shoulders like she’d given herself a pep talk, and met him right in the eye. “I’d love to hear from you.”
Yes, he thought with triumph. The day hadn’t started off all that well—what with someone messing with his guitar while he’d been voicing a commercial for Petco, and then him fighting a northbound traffic jam coming out of Manhattan. But this blond woman with her even-toned voice and her expressive hands and that delicious reserve had turned it all around.
“Well, I think I’d better get going,” she said as she bent to the side and picked up her purse.
“It’s Friday night,” her friend pointed out.
“I’m under deadline.”
“What are you working on?” G.B. asked, hoping to keep her around a little longer.
“It’s a book for five- to eight-year-olds—about a chocolate Lab who worries about things. I have to admit, it’s been one of my favorite projects. The puppy’s adorable, if I do say so myself.”
“I’d love to see your work sometime. Seems only fair after you’ve heard me sing.”
She got to her feet, and she was even taller than he’d thought—and that was just more good news. “I can’t imagine you’d be interested in that kind of stuff.”
“Oh, I’m interested.” His eyes drifted down to her mouth … and then went farther, to the pale column of her throat. “I’m sure you do beautiful lines.”
God knew she was made of them—at least according to his peripheral vision, which was working ju
st fine, thank you very much. And he knew better than to go any farther with the gawking than that. Whereas some women might be flattered by him going all obvi with the check-out stuff, she was not one of them.
And yup, that was a really nice change of pace.
Although … that being said, he wasn’t exactly sure he was looking for a long-term relationship with anything other than his singing. Then again, he’d been “dating” the same kind of groupie for how many years? Maybe it was time for quality instead of quantity.
As Cait smiled at him, he felt a shot of lust go right through him. Yes, he really did want her…
“You’re a charmer, you know that?” she drawled.
“That’s been mentioned before—maybe once or twice. Is it such a bad thing, in your opinion?”
“Of course not.”
Liar, he thought.
Leaning forward, he wanted to take her hand, but didn’t. “Just so you know, it is possible to be both charming and honest.”
“Of course it is.”
She was still lying. And didn’t that make him want to prove her wrong. “I will call you, by the way.”
“Of course you will.”
G.B. smiled again as she put the strap of her purse up on her shoulder. “You’ve made my night, you know,” he told her.
Cait actually rolled her eyes—and though her friend looked mortified, he loved it. This was not your average woman, easily seduced by a song and a stare.
“I’m serious about that,” he said. “You really did.”
“Well.” There was a pause. “You’ve cheered me up also, how about that.”
“Answer my call and I’ll see if I can keep the trend going.”
“It’s a deal.”
And a date, he thought.
With a couple of words to her friend and a casual wave over her shoulder, she was gone, weaving in and out of the little tables, passing by the bar, disappearing through the front door.
G.B. carefully folded up the napkin and put it in the front pocket of his shirt. Then he smiled at her friend. “She’s pretty special.”
The dark-haired woman nodded. “Yeah, she is. And this is really good timing for her.”
He stared at the exit she’d used. After a moment, he murmured, “Me, too.”
Chapter
Seven
“—godforsaken, miserable piece of shit!”
As Jim faced off at the stove from hell, he thought about giving the cast-iron nightmare a swift kick in the oven door—but with the way things were going, he’d either break that little glass window or his foot.
Which would be the perfect fucking nightcap to an absolutely magical fucking evening.
All he wanted was a couple of eggs—scrambled, over easy, fried, he didn’t give a good goddamn. He couldn’t remember the last time or thing he’d eaten, and when Ad had made a food run to Hannaford earlier in the day, the guy had had the brains to pick up some Eggland’s Best.
It wasn’t like he was after truffles or twelve kinds of fancy, culinary crap.
Eggs. Just eggs.
Except like everything else, he couldn’t make it frickin’ happen: The only thing the burners on the cooktop seemed to do was burp gas; the pan he found looked like it had been forged by hand in the Middle Ages; and he wasn’t sure, but he thought that the refrigerator was doing the death rattle of something about to meet its maker.
Which in this case was … General Electric, going by the logo on its off-kilter door.
Giving up, he sat down at the table and lit a cigarette, figuring the nicotine might perk his immortal ass up. At the very least, holding the Marlboro would give his right hand something to do other than make a fist and test the structural integrity of the walls.
“What a dump,” he muttered as he looked around at the ancient appliances, the pitted countertops, the cracked floor, the stained ceiling.
Last time he ever took a rental without seeing it first.
But, really, resolutions about his real estate accommodations were pretty far down his list of priorities.
You are endangering the outcome of the entire war.
Exhaling, he watched the smoke rise through the cold air and curl up around the ancient light fixture hanging above him. The chandelier dangled at the end of a corroded black chain and had five arms, although only three of the bulbs were working. Probably a good thing. Bright illumination would only make the kitchen look worse—like hitting a ninety-year-old with headlights.
“Devina, where are you,” he gritted before taking another drag. “Where the fuck are you…”
He tapped his ash into an ashtray.
Waiting … waiting…
He wasted more time glancing around, like maybe something had changed in the point-three seconds since his last observation.
In his previous life, before he’d been electrocuted on a job site and recruited for this dumb-ass, thankless job, he’d have loved to have tackled a place like this. It was the carpenter in him. Room by room, he would have gone through and replaced floors and replastered walls and sealed and repainted ceilings. Stripped moldings back down to the original wood and revarnished. Swapped out 1940s appliances and fixtures for things that had been made in the current century, but looked old and weren’t fire hazards. Made the cabinets and cupboards himself.
For a moment, his blood pressure dropped as he entertained the fantasy, the smell of pine being cut on a circular saw filling his nose, the sound of nails being hammered home ringing in his ears, the rhythmic scratching of sandpaper tightening his arm muscles.
So much more satisfying than anything else he could do with his life: What was great about home renovation was that the improvement was immediate and lasting—and absolutely measurable, no backsliding, no double standards. You had a toilet that ran all night? Take it out, get a new one, do an install. Heating didn’t work? Run some fresh ductwork and get yourself the right unit. Upstairs drafty? R-19 insulation, baby.
It is utterly reckless to give away—
I’m not giving dick away, Nigel! For fuck’s sake, I’ve got to get her out of there.
One girl cannot be more important than the victory.
She didn’t deserve what she got.
You simpering fool! The exigencies of fate are not always just—surely you are not so naive as to believe otherwise. And your role is not to balance the scales. You are here to win.
Fuck you, Nigel. You don’t need to remind me what my job is—and I’m done talking about this. Those flags are my possessions. You told me so yourself. What I do with them is my business, not yours.
Yup, that had been a fun conversation. Productive, too—they’d both been even more worked up and angry at the end of it.
“So you gave up on the eggs?” Adrian said from behind him.
Jim shut his eyes. “I don’t want to talk about Nigel.”
“I thought I was asking about breakfast protein?”
“And I’m not interested in your opinion.”
“Well, you already heard it—because I agree with Nigel.”
Jim took a long drag. “Do us both a favor and back out of this room—”
The bomb went off in the front of the house, the thunderous noise rattling the shelves in the cupboards and rocking that light fixture.
Jim was out of his chair before the noise faded, shooting through the dining room, pounding into the foyer…
The fact that the door was still intact was a shocker, but there were cracks in the leaded glass windows on either side of it. As he yanked open the heavy oak panels, he had a crystal knife in hand—that shit had not been made by a human, and that meant he’d do better with something that had a little more kick to it—
Jim stopped dead.
Lying on the weathered floorboards of the front porch, a female form was tucked in on itself, a dirty shift covering pale skin, thin legs pulled in to the belly as if to protect against a beating.
Long blond hair fanned out, the strands catching the light that
flowed from the open doorway.
Jim fell to his knees, his body weight slamming down on itself. He felt no pain from the impact, a stunning numbness taking him over.
His hands were shaking as he reached out and touched the ends of the blond strands. Between one blink and the next, he saw a drain, a pool of blood, a red stain on the golden waves.
“Sissy?” he croaked in a voice he’d never heard come out of his mouth before.
“Where’s my fucking flag.”
Jim jacked his head up.
The demon Devina was standing over them, hands on her hips, Sofia Vergara body filling out something black and leatherish. Her eyes were gleaming, but not with satisfaction.
Jim ignored her. “Sissy…?”
That bitchy voice came from above, sharp and demanding: “Excuuuuuuse me. Leave that stupid-ass little girl alone and give me what I’m—”
Wrong tone. Wrong attitude. Wrong motherfucking words.
Jim attacked before he was aware of moving, his body exploding up, his left hand locking on the demon’s throat, his massive strength throwing Devina back against the side of the house so hard he didn’t just break the shutter behind her back; he shattered it into splinters.
Devina just purred. “How nice to have your full attention.”
Jamming his face into hers, he put the tip of that crystal knife right to her temple. And then for a moment, all he could do was pant, his brain jammed up with what she had done to Sissy, what she had forced that innocent to see down in Hell … what he wanted to do to the demon in payback.
Instead of her fighting to get free, her thigh inched in between his braced legs. “Maybe we can seal this deal properly—”
Jim shoved his palm against her mouth, pushing it in so hard, he distorted her fake beauty into an echo of how ugly she really was.
As she began to struggle, he bared his teeth and thought about biting her somewhere, anywhere.
“Adrian,” he growled in an inhuman way. “Get the flag.”
