Dangerous Lovers

by Becca Vincenza

  It seemed that my very boring day with the socialite was about to become a lot more interesting.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Stranger - one who is neither a friend nor an acquaintance.”

  Frankie

  This was it. The moment I would warn Rosalyn about Charming. And then I could wash my hands completely of the both of them. It took me longer than I thought to make this call, but I did and that was all that mattered.

  I lied and told Piper I was sick, that all I wanted to do was sleep after work. It wasn’t really a lie. Physically, I was fine, but mentally… I still felt kind of sick.

  But the past few days had been better. I finally stopped baking, I cleaned up my kitchen, and I was ready to get on with it. There was just one more thing I had to do.

  I took a deep breath, reaching out for the door, and stepped into the café. It was pretty busy inside; almost all the tables were full of people. The servers were moving about the room, trying to keep up with their sections, and the hostess at the door smiled warmly at me.

  “I’m meeting someone… Rosalyn,” I said, knowing the hostess would know who Rosalyn was.

  The hostess nodded and weaved her way toward the back of the room. I saw the discreet security guard sitting at the end of the bar, a water with lemon and a menu in front of him. I wondered if he really was going to eat or if he just wanted it to look like he was. What would his reaction be if he knew Rosalyn was spending time with a murderer right under his nose?

  He caught me looking at him so I looked away, toward the table where the hostess was gesturing me. My feet stopped, almost as if I’d stepped in a giant puddle of glue and they were now permanently rooted to that spot.

  He was here.

  My eyes swept over his dark hair, green eyes, and perfect clothes. He looked exactly the same as he always did. How had he known? He couldn’t possibly have figured out I was going to try to advise Rosalyn away from him.

  The way his eyes narrowed on my face told me that he definitely suspected it.

  I tore my eyes away from him and looked at Rosalyn, giving her a genuine smile. If he thought his presence could scare me away, then he was wrong.

  I yanked my feet out of the glue and covered the remaining steps to the table, pulling out a chair across from him and Rosalyn.

  “You didn’t tell me you were with my brother,” I said.

  “He wanted to surprise you.” She smiled. “Apparently, I’m not the only one who hasn’t seen you lately.”

  “I admit, I’ve been very busy.” Maybe I should kick him under the table.

  “Well, now we can all catch up!” Rosalyn said, glancing at Charming. I wondered if she realized it was awkward he had yet to say a word.

  “You look well, Frankie. I’ve been wondering what you’ve been up to.” He said the words casually, but I caught their underlying meaning.

  “You know me,” I said. “Always planning something.”

  His eyes narrowed.

  The waitress brought over waters for everyone and then took our order. I pointed to the first thing I saw on the menu. The last thing I wanted to think about was food. Maybe I should just pretend I had an emergency and leave. When the waitress walked off, I laid my cell on the table, hoping that any kind of text would come through and I could play it off and go.

  Charming reached across the table and snatched it away, sticking it into his trouser pocket. “No phones today, sis. We want your complete attention.”

  That’s it. When I left this café, I was finding his car and slashing his tires.

  “Brothers can be so annoying,” I said to Rosalyn and then rolled my eyes.

  She laughed and her shoulders seemed to relax slightly. I really didn’t want to make her uncomfortable with all the undercurrents between Charming and me. I decided I was just going to ignore him.

  “So what have you two been up to this morning?”

  “Scouting venues for the fundraiser that Charming is helping me with. I’m sure he told you.”

  “Actually, he didn’t.” Yes, I knew they were doing charity work together, but since then I tried to know as little as possible.

  Rosalyn began explaining everything in great detail. I did my best to pretend I was interested and even asked a few questions here and there. But the truth was I could barely pay attention. I couldn’t think about anything with him sitting right there staring at me.

  The waitress brought our food, thankfully giving me a moment to compose myself. ‘Course the minute she walked away, he had to open his mouth and speak.

  “Are you on a diet?” he asked, looking at my salad.

  “No. I like salad.” Okay, I didn’t really like salad.

  “You look too thin.”

  I tried not to gape. “I do not!”

  “You look tired too. You have bags under your eyes.” He turned to Rosalyn. “Does she look tired to you?”

  Rosalyn glanced at me. “I think you look beautiful but maybe a little tired.” She shrugged her shoulders apologetically.

  “I’ve been busy,” I mumbled, then turned to Rosalyn. “Show me some of those places you were looking at.” I pointed to a stack of papers near her elbow.

  I listened politely while she rattled on while I tried not to look at Charming. I couldn’t believe he would insult me like that. Okay, I could believe it, but it still made me mad.

  A woman in a nearby booth laughed and Charming’s fork clattered against his plate. He looked up, his cheeks losing some of their color, staring in the direction of the laugh. I snuck a glance over my shoulder to see a young woman, with pale-blond hair, standing up from her seat. She looked over at Charming, a flash of something I didn’t understand in her eyes.

  He made a sound, a faint one that no one else seemed to hear. But I heard. I watched as all the color left in his face completely drained away. His eyes never left the woman and as she began to walk away, he stood abruptly, knocking over his chair.

  “Charming?” Rosalyn said, looking up from her papers.

  “I think I see someone I know. I’ll be right back.” He didn’t give her a chance to reply but followed the woman, bumping into servers and pushing his way through the crowd. When she turned the corner toward the ladies’ room, he seemed desperate to catch up, desperate not to lose sight of her.

  I saw his lips move, like he called out a name, but what he said I couldn’t hear. But the look on his face… it did something to me.

  “Would you excuse me?” I said to Rosalyn. “I need to use the ladies’ room.”

  “Of course.”

  Charming was just outside the ladies’ room, leaning against the wall with his head down, looking utterly defeated, when I saw him.

  “Charming?”

  His head snapped up and he grabbed my arm. “She went in there.”

  “Who? The girl with blond hair?”

  He nodded. “Go in there and get her. Make her come out.”

  Okay, this was weird. Even for him. “You want me to go in there and yank some stranger out here?”

  “She isn’t a stranger,” he ground out. “Please.”

  “Why didn’t you just go in after her?” I highly doubted he had a problem with storming the ladies’ bathroom.

  He glanced back the way we came.

  “Oh. Right. Wouldn’t want the Target to think you’re a weirdo.”

  “Please,” he pleaded again.

  There was something in his voice. Something that made me do what he asked. The inside of the bathroom wasn’t very large. There were only four stalls and four sinks. The first two stalls were empty; the last one had a little girl in it who was singing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” at the top of her lungs. The stall in the center had its door closed, but I walked over to it anyway, prepared for the “someone’s in here!” so I could apologize and wait for her to come out.

  But the stall was empty.

  When my hand pushed on it, the door swung all the way open.

  I glanced back at the on
ly other stall with someone in it. Did that woman have a little girl with her that I hadn’t seen? I washed my hands at the sink until the little girl finished her song and they came out to wash her hands. I smiled at the mother through the mirror.

  She had dark hair.

  The blonde wasn’t in here.

  Charming straightened away from the wall when I came out, his eyes searching all around me, hopeful for a glance at her face. When he realized I was alone, a flash of pain shot through his eyes, so real that I actually felt it.

  “She wasn’t in there,” I said, my voice hushed.

  The mother and daughter came out behind me and disappeared around the corner.

  “You’re lying.” He snarled and pushed past me and rushed into the bathroom.

  After several minutes, he still hadn’t come out, so I went in quietly behind him.

  He was standing in the center, staring at an open window on the far side of the room. He didn’t say anything, not a word, when I stopped beside him.

  There was something about his silence that was tangible. It wrapped around us both, pressing in until I couldn’t be silent anymore.

  “What’s going on?”

  “It’s him,” he said, almost like he was talking to himself. “He’s messing with me.”

  Who was he talking about? The Grim Reaper?

  “Charming, who was that?” I asked. I didn’t actually think he would tell me.

  He turned abruptly and stared down into my face. Stark. That’s the only word that came to mind when I looked at him just then. There was no mask of perfection, no look of arrogance, no hint of a lie.

  “My sister.” It was a whisper, a barely there confession.

  Shock rippled through me. Charming had a sister? A real one?

  Before I could say or do anything, he left, making excuses to Rosalyn about something that just couldn’t wait and promising to call her later.

  After he had gone, I realized my opportunity to warn her away had presented itself. His odd behavior just now would help back up whatever I said.

  I opened my mouth to tell her, to ruin everything for Charming.

  Only the words that came out had nothing to do with Charming at all.

  The more I talked, the more I realized I wasn’t going to be confessing anything today.

  I couldn’t do it.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Exhume - to revive or restore after neglect or a period of forgetting; bring to light.”

  Charming

  I drove straight to his house. That bastard had gone too far this time. I knew he was doing this. He had to be. There was no other explanation.

  He opened the front door before I even knocked. He was wearing a long, black trench coat and his hand was clutched around something I couldn’t see.

  I didn’t care what it was anyway.

  I wasn’t leaving here until I got some answers.

  “Charming. How nice of you to come unannounced, but I am on my way out.” He flipped up the collar of his coat and I saw that his hand was full of stones.

  “Your killing spree is going to wait. We need to talk.”

  “I suppose I have a few minutes.” He dropped the stones back into the bowl sitting on the table near the door.

  I had a notion to reach out and shove them all to the ground, just to see his face when I did.

  “Come along, then,” he called like I was some sort of dog.

  In his office, he took a seat in the black chair he likely thought of as his throne and looked at me expectantly.

  “Playing games with me isn’t going to work,” I said, not bothering to veil the anger in my tone.

  “I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean,” he replied, but his eyes shined with glee.

  I stepped forward and slammed both my palms onto the surface of his desk. The bowl of stones sitting nearby rattled. “Don’t play stupid with me!” I yelled.

  He looked at his disturbed stones and then back at me, anger igniting in his eyes. “I will do whatever I want. I can see that my games are doing exactly what they are meant to.”

  So he was admitting it.

  I had known it was him. But knowing it didn’t stop the lance of pain that whipped over me. I couldn’t help but hope that maybe he wouldn’t know what I was talking about. That maybe somehow… no. It wasn’t possible without him.

  “Where is she?” I demanded, pushing away from his desk to pace the room.

  “Who?”

  I snapped. I came here for answers and was met with this. With a roar, I lunged forward, sweeping my arm across his desk with only one thing in my aim.

  The glass bowl of stones went flying into the air and dropping onto the floor like a lead weight. The bowl shattered into millions of tiny glass shards and the stones went everywhere.

  G.R. jumped out of his chair with an enraged cry and rushed to the mess, staring down at it like his children had all been murdered. “How dare you!” he screamed.

  “How dare you!” I shot back. “I want to know where she is. I want to know what you’ve been doing with her all this time!”

  “I don’t have to tell you a thing.” He snarled, reaching down to pick up the stones. “You answer to me!”

  I pounced on him, moving so fast it took him off guard. I wrapped my hand around his neck and lifted, holding him up so his feet dangled in the air. He eyes bulged in surprise. I don’t think he was shocked I was able to lift him like this—he knew I had abilities. I think he was shocked that I would dare touch him this way.

  “Where is my sister?” I roared.

  His office door flung open and two men rushed in. They grabbed me from behind, hauling me backward, but not before I could toss the Reaper against the wall. I smiled at the sickening thud his body made when it hit.

  His minions wrenched me back, shoving me up against the wall and pinning me there. They were stupid if they thought they could pin me down. Using my super strength once again, I brought my arms around with great force and smashed the two men together. They collapsed onto the floor at my feet.

  The Reaper was standing amongst his scattered stones, watching me, when I stepped forward.

  He began to laugh. A deep laugh that started in his belly and reverberated outward until his entire body was rolling with sick pleasure. “You’re starting to crack,” he goaded. “I barely had to do a thing. A few sightings, the exhuming of the past. Why, Charming, I never knew how easy it would be to take you down.”

  “Do I look down to you?” I growled.

  “Perhaps not,” he replied. “But soon. It’s going to eat you alive, you know. The wondering. Where is she? How is she? Is she frightened? Does she need me? After all, that is why you took this job in the first place, isn’t it? Because she needed you.”

  I ground my teeth together so hard that pain radiated up my behind my eyes. Damn him. How did he even know about her? I never talked about anything personal with him. Not once. Not ever.

  He laughed again when I said nothing. Then to the guys who finally picked themselves up off the ground, he ordered, “Get him out of here.”

  One of them had the balls to grab my arm. I swung around and decked him, busting open his lip and knocking him to the floor. The other one made a move like he would charge me, and I used the energy welling up inside me and released it from my palm, hitting him in the center of his chest.

  He flew back and hit the wall, sliding down until he was nothing but a ragdoll sprawled on the floor.

  I turned back to G.R. “This isn’t over.”

  “We’ll see,” was all he said.

  Yes. Yes, we would.

  Chapter Twenty

  “Talk - to speak of or discuss (something).”

  Frankie

  It was late when I heard a single knock on my front door. Late as in the hours that I am no longer decent looking. I wasn’t asleep. I stopped trying to even pretend I was going to about an hour before. I figured Piper was no longer was buying the “I’m sick” story and since m
y cell phone was still in Charming’s pants, I was guessing I’d missed a couple more texts or calls.

  I tossed the TV remote down on the coffee table and padded to the door, swinging it open wide, not caring if Piper saw me at my most unattractive.

  Only it wasn’t Piper.

  “Charming.” I practically gasped his name. It was almost as if I had thought of him so much since lunch that my subconscious somehow conjured him here on my doorstep.

  I wanted to cross my arms over my threadbare oversized T-shirt, to cringe from his stare and get a comeback ready for whatever insult he was sure to throw my way about the state of my appearance. But he didn’t say a word. In fact, he acted like he didn’t even notice my old as the hills shirt and holey sweats.

  He was leaning on the doorjamb, like he was so tired he couldn’t hold all his weight. My mind automatically went to the possibility that he was somehow injured or hurt and I looked him over for some kind of confirmation. But he looked perfect as always. Except of course for his heavy posture and silent tongue.

  “Can we talk?” he asked, quietly.

  “Uh, yeah,” I replied, stepping back from the door while resisting the urge to ask him if he was playing some kind of joke on me.

  He came inside, shutting the door, and trailed behind me as I went over to the couch and settled into the corner, draping a blanket over myself and tucking it around my bare feet.

  He surprised me some more by sinking down on the opposite end of the couch. “I’ve never really had anyone to talk to before,” he said, not looking at me.

  “Is this about what happened today at the café?”

  He rubbed a hand down his face. “Seeing her got to me.”

  “I didn’t know you had a sister.”

  “I don’t. Not anymore.”

  I wasn’t used to seeing him like this. Morose and quiet. “I don’t really understand what you’re saying.” Just from how well this conversation was going, I would have known he never actually talked to someone about this before even if he hadn’t told me.