“Are you out of your mind?” he growled.
Exhausted from the energy she used to grab her stuff, she clung to his black shirt stretched tight across his shoulders. She hoped he wouldn’t drop her head-first to the floor. His back muscles flexed under her fingers.
“You can put me down now.”
He hoisted her off his shoulder. “You don’t make the best decisions. Do you know that?”
“I almost had it, Rob. I felt it in my hands.”
After leaving the repossession calling card into the air, Rob headed for the door. “You could’ve had it all right, while spending a few decades in Limbo.”
She cringed at the thought. People had been lost in Limbo before. The unfortunate ones without the means to get out simply wandered until they croaked from starvation or lack of water.
At the doorway she stopped in front of the broken flowerpot. She motioned to Rob who was walking away. “Could you? The spell’s gone.”
With a frown, he turned and mumbled a spell while he snapped his fingers. The pieces jumped, and in a flurry, they rushed together to form a new pot. Tessa picked up the red pot and put the flowers back in place. After a quick glance at the grandfather clock, she closed and locked the door.
With that mission successfully completed, minus the scroll, she helped Rob repossess a magical rabbit’s foot from a warlock in lower Manhattan and an imbued urn from a nymph in Central Park. By four a.m., she was exhausted and no closer to her scroll. Each trip to Limbo was a jump into a random place that was nowhere near the gateway in Madame Tuliere’s apartment.
After such an easy mission gathering the vase from the witch’s home, Tessa expected the next ones to go like clockwork. That wasn’t the case with the warlock. His rabbit’s foot was buried in his tiny backyard, and he caught Rob digging it up.
“Hey, man! What are you doing?” A short man in his cotton white pajamas peered out of his back door.
“You haven’t paid your bills, Mr. Flannery. Forrester Magical Holdings is repossessing their property.” Rob continued digging as Tessa took a step backwards toward the backyard entrance.
“I’ve paid in full. Stop that!” Mr. Flannery stumbled into the tiny backyard and tried to wrench the spade from Rob’s hand. “You can call the company.”
“That isn’t my job.” With a polite shove, Rob pushed the man back and managed to retrieve a black jewelry box from the hole in ground.
“Look, I need it to protect my home. Give a guy a break, man.” He reached for his rabbit’s foot as Rob pulled the amulet from his satchel. “I have a young family inside and we’ve had a streak of robberies.”
Rob’s hand fell and his face twisted in a sneer. “Don’t feed me a bunch of bullshit. I’m not some punk off the street. This thing illegally generates money and you know it. Pay up so you can play up.”
Flannery turned beet-red. He raised his fist.
“Try it, pal,” Rob snapped. “I will knock your ass into the ground.”
The angry warlock stepped back, fuming as Rob tossed the jewelry box into the open Limbo gateway. Tessa almost felt sorry for the guy.
She waited a few feet away in the shadows.
“You got four minutes, move it or lose it,” Rob grumbled in her direction.
And that was just the second mission for the night.
After that unsuccessful search, along with the plucky, yet majorly pissed off Central Park wood nymph rampage, she considered tonight one of the most stressful experiences of her life.
The attack in the park flashed in her mind. That nymph was one crazy chick. Wielding a branch with an end sharpened to a point, the nymph came at him screaming and swinging. The whole situation bordered on insane.
They left Central Park, with Rob limping, onto 73rd Street. Tessa asked him if they needed to head to the emergency room, but he shrugged it off with a rare handsome grin.
“I’ve had worse injuries in the field. None of them from wood nymphs, though.” He gently rubbed on his left side.
“In the field?”
“I used to be in the military.”
She wanted to pry further, but they walked for a few minutes westward in silence.
“You wanna eat before we call it a night? I’m starving,” he said.
“Yeah, I could use a bite.”
Rob hailed a cab and they headed over to Samuel’s Deli off 74th in lower Manhattan. Samuel’s was a warlock-owned establishment that offered a special dining room behind the coffee shop in the front. She’d eaten there once or twice before. The coleslaw was to die for but she refused to eat their black magic banana cream pie. Not without a cast iron stomach.
The decor was a bright red, black, and white 1950s-style with comfortable cushioned seats and a jukebox playing music in the corner. Her mouth watered with the delicious smells of hot cakes and burgers. Two patrons in particular, a warlock and his wife, enjoyed two tall handmade chocolate milkshakes.
Their waitress, a witch in her fifties with mousy brown hair, ambled over and greeted them. She had a welcoming smile that matched her blue blouse and floral-print skirt.
“Nice to see you back, Robert. I thought I saw you limping in. You need to stay out of trouble so you don’t worry your aunt so much.”
Rob offered a short smile. “I’m trying, Lindy. You know it’s hard in my line of work.”
“Who’s you friend? She looks familiar,” she asked as she handed them some menus.
He introduced them.
As she shook Lindy’s warm hand, Tessa said, “I’ve eaten here a few times during a long lunch. You have good food.”
“How nice.” Lindy plucked a small twig from Tessa’s hair with a grin.
“Thanks,” Tessa murmured. Oh, great. She bet Lindy thought they were rolling around in park like a pair of hot-blooded teenagers.
“Pete has some hot chicken soup available, but I’m sure, as usual, you want a burger and fries.” Lindy looked up from her notepad as Rob chuckled. “You might like the grilled chicken sandwiches, Tessa.”
Normally, she tried to eat well to make sure she could fit into her business wardrobe. After her adventure tonight, she felt a treat was in order.
“I’d like the hungry lumberjack breakfast with a side of wheat toast and coffee.” Before handing Lindy the menu, Tessa yawned. If she wasn’t so hungry, she would’ve taken a nap on the table.
“You came with an appetite this morning. I’ll get your orders in.” Lindy left them and then passed the order through the opening into the back kitchen. The grizzled balding cook grumbled, and shortly afterward, they could hear the sizzle of a meat patty being added to the grill.
Tessa tried to think of something to say to start a conversation, but she checked her fingernails instead. Next, while avoiding Rob’s face, she pulled at her bracelet to make sure the clasp was tied firmly.
Why don’t I know what to say to this guy?
Lindy returned with two glasses of ice water, a coffee for Tessa, and a soda for Rob.
After Lindy left, Rob finally broke the silence. “Are you going to continue spacing off when you eat?”
“No. I’m tired, that’s all,” she said a bit too quickly. “Trying to stay awake.”
Rob snorted. “You’re a horrible liar.”
She cocked her brow and she rubbed her bleary eyes. Who did this guy think he was? “You think I’m lying?”
“When you lie you look up. Pretty much like clockwork.”
From his standoffish attitude, Tessa could’ve sworn she was just another burr in his side. The whole time he’d observed her like a fly on the wall.
“I’m really tired. As of right now I’ve been up for over twenty-four hours.” She took a sip of her water, shocked that he’d examined her so close. “I’m surprised I haven’t walked into walls or started talking gibberish.” She turned the tables on him. “How are you still alive and kicking right now?”
“Training. I honestly couldn’t tell you the longest length of time I’ve gone witho
ut sleep.” He shrugged. “A few days maybe.”
“I couldn’t function like that without some magical intervention.”
His eyes bore into hers. “You’d be surprised what you can accomplish when your life is on the line.”
Living in the Dandridge household with her mom and dad had been a comfortable existence compared to what Rob had been through. She’d never been in a real fight before. The faint scars on Rob’s hands and arms spoke of secrets her suburban mind couldn’t understand. Hell, the Northwestern University Lacrosse team she played on couldn’t be considered dangerous by his standards. And they had been some pretty vicious co-eds.
Tessa changed the subject again. “Are you from here originally?”
“Born and bred. Left a long time ago to join the Navy. Eventually, I became a SEAL.”
She opened her mouth to ask him why he came back, but Lindy walked over with two plates of steaming food. Time to chow. Toothpicks held her eyes open by now, but with one bite of maple syrup covered pancakes, her energy level went up. Across the table Rob made short work of his meal. He applied two generous gobs of mustard and ketchup onto his burger. Satisfied with his handiwork, he tore into his burger with gusto. She stopped in the middle of biting into her scrambled eggs as he drowned his fries with ketchup.
“Should I toss out a life preserver for your fries?”
“No need,” he said between bites. “I’ll rescue them.”
Fifteen minutes later, she patted her full belly. The stretchy pants she wore came in handy. Lindy gathered the empty plates and left the bill on the table. She reached for the check and a mysterious breeze blew the paper from her hand into Rob’s.
“Got it,” he grumbled.
She stood halfway in the seat. “I can pay for my food.”
Rob rose, left a ten dollar bill on the table, and headed to the cash register.
While browsing the song list in the jukebox, Tessa heard Lindy whisper to Rob, “She looks nice, Rob. Is she a lady friend?” From the reflection in the glass, Tessa saw that he refused to answer, only offering the waitress a devilish grin.
Tessa tried to hide a smile. Like she’d ever go out with a guy like him.
After Rob paid, they hobbled back out to the busy street. At six in the morning, the city buzzed with early morning pedestrians heading to work. They weaved around them as they stood in the middle of the sidewalk.
“I head back out in a few days. Give Clive a call if you want in.”
She nodded as he turned and limped away. In a few hours, Clive would spring a bit of news on Rob. Little did he know that he’d be coming to her before she came to him. No more missed opportunities for Tessa Dandridge, thank you very much.
“Goodbye, Rob,” she whispered with a grin to his back.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Dating Tip #2: I cannot emphasize enough the importance of dressing for success. You may want your future dream girl to love you for what’s on the inside. But, well, if your appearance hasn’t changed since you led the attack on the Great Wall with Genghis Khan, then you need a visit to the local Nordstrom’s.
When Tessa finished her work for the evening, she found Rob waiting for her right outside her apartment door. “Rob? What are you doing here?”
“How much do I have to pay you to get out of this security guard thing?”
“I want my scroll back. I’m not letting anyone take my ticket to Limbo away from me.”
“I refuse to attend these little parties you plan to hold. What makes you think you can buy everything?”
She snorted. “If I could buy everything I’d have my scroll and a private island in the Bahamas.” She opened the door and walked in.
“What are you doing here?”
Rob grumbled and walked in without an invitation. He glanced around the living room in her miniscule SoHo apartment, taking in her furnishings. When she turned to take off her high heels, she blushed as his eyes burned into her back again.
Why did he keep doing that? Maybe he preferred to observe instead of act. To watch instead of touch…
She quickly shook her head. Didn’t she tell her clients to avoid bad boyfriend material like him?
Keep moving and ignore him. By the time Tessa placed her keys on the desk in the living room, Rob made himself comfortable on the couch. A pile of unpaid bills on her desk drew her eye, so she added a thick phonebook on top. No need to advertise her problems.
“So, let me try again. Why are you here?”
“Playing security guard. Now go get dressed before I change my mind.”
She chuckled.
He glanced around. “You got a nice, decent apartment.”
“It’s not much, but it’s my place.” She was about to ask him if he wanted a drink, but after he placed his shoes on the coffee table and flipped on the TV, she decided he was good to go until she changed her clothes.
He interrupted her escape. “Do you have a roommate?”
“I used to have one when I first moved here. Now, it’s me and my familiar, Kiki. She might make her appearance in a bit for attention.” The cat stirred from her hiding spot in Tessa’s bedroom at the sound of her name.
“You have one pet?” Kiki had jumped into his lap, hungry for affection. Her tail flicked like fly fishing pole.
She nodded. Unless she had another and was too busy to miss the elusive feline.
His eyes darted to various places in her living room. “There are nine cats in here.”
Her forehead scrunched from confusion, then to frustration. “Oh, those were my familiars before Kiki. They all died.”
“Died? Cats live around fifteen to twenty years. There is a roomful of ghost cats in here.”
“Over the years, I’ve had a few problems…”
“That’s not what the short-haired tabby just told me.”
The madness never ended when it came to Rob. “You aren’t an animal empath, are you?” Not only was he wonderful to look at, but he could communicate with Bambi as well.
“Did you really think it was a good idea to put the litter box next to your Uncle Charlie’s magic hat?”
“I can’t believe Little Toes told you that. It was an accident. Uncle Charlie left a dragon in the hat. After the cat used the litter box, he jumped into the wrong place… Why am I explaining this to you?”
She marched to her bedroom to change her clothes and slammed the door for good measure.
“You need to feed Kiki more!” he said.
As Rob sat on the couch for more than twenty minutes, he pondered as why it took most women forever to put on a pair of jeans and shirt. Waiting wasn’t so bad though. She had a nice enough place. He’d briefly seen her bedroom as she’d stormed in on barefoot. All the while, he wondered how she undressed. Did she do it slowly, taking off her shirt then unzipping the back of her skirt? His groin stirred to life, thinking of her angry, pouty face as she unsnapped her bra.
Maybe he should check to see if she needed any help? He scooted forward on the couch.
“Is that a handmade Prada bag I see?” Harabeuji whispered.
Rob stifled his chuckle and plucked the observant satchel from the coffee table and placed it on the floor.
“Just one peek, Doryeonim!” the bag spirit implored.
If his father were still alive, he’d ask him how the Shin family had inherited a spirit with an expensive handbag fetish. Someone probably lost a card game of some kind…
His gaze flicked to the closed bedroom door. With a sigh, he rested against the couch. He should keep his distance. She had plenty of problems and he had a few of his own. A rib-based injury from the field plagued him tonight so he tilted to the right for comfort. Might as well get settled if she planned to take all night. Most importantly, no matter how beautiful she was, he couldn’t give in. Soon enough he’d be done with her and he’d escape the witch matchmaker clinging to his side.
Eventually, she emerged and they headed downstairs.
The good news was at least he manag
ed to escape before he fell victim to whatever killed her cats. “Where are we going?” she asked when they reached the street.
“A big job. I need to fetch a piano in Philly. Bigger ticket items offer longer gateway times.”
“That’s good! Will we be gone overnight?”
“Maybe, depends on how lucky we get in the retrieval. Where are you going?” He frowned when she turned back toward her building.
“I’ll be right back. I want to get my backpack with some stuff.”
Rob rolled his eyes. Good grief, it never ends.
“No matter the century, women are all the same,” Harabeuji grumbled.
Five minutes later, she returned with whatever stuff she thought she needed. “I’m sure this job will be easy. Most pianos I’ve seen can’t be hidden away in nooks and crannies.”
“Not exactly.” He hailed a cab. “Bigger ticket items imply more defensive measures are in place to protect the property.”
As they entered the cab she had yet another question. “I thought I heard talking while I was getting dressed. Did I miss a phone call or something?”
“No phone calls.” Only a handful of people knew of Harabeuji’s existence and he preferred to keep it that way. Trapping a warlock’s soul into cloth—a feat even Rob didn’t know how to do—was hard enough, but somehow Harabeuji’s powerful spirit had survived after the original leather had been altered countless times from a large pouch to a sack and now a satchel. He refused to expose his old friend unless he trusted the other person.
“I’m curious,” Tessa said, interrupting his thoughts. “How come these people never pay or just don’t return the magical items they have on lease?”
Within the cramped space of the smaller cab, he could smell her sweet perfume. The feminine scent made him want to lean in a bit closer than he would’ve preferred a few days ago.
“Supernaturals are like regular people. They forget, they can’t pay, or even worse, they borrow shit and expect not to pay for them.”
Repossessed Page 5
