An Echo of Darkness (The Redemption Saga Book 4)

by Kristen Banet

  “She posed for it. Jealous?” Zander taunted. Vincent refused to try and glance at whatever this picture might have been.

  “Absolutely not. I get to see her in the woods where none of you will go.”

  He was glad it was Quinn who found him. He had been right to remind him that this was his family. Quinn would know the best of all of them that family, pack, was whoever he trusted with his life, his secrets, and now, his love.

  And what a good family it was.

  7

  Sawyer

  Sawyer was locked in a metal death trap. She was going to die. She was certain of it.

  “Slow down, you crazy mother fucker,” she snapped, holding onto the ‘oh shit’ bar above the window.

  “We’re fine,” he groaned back. “Stop trying to drive from the passenger’s seat.”

  “Stop driving like a maniac!” she retorted, her foot trying to find a brake pedal that didn’t exist. She hadn’t been in a vehicle with him behind the wheel in months. When he said he would be driving, since this was possibly a date, she hadn’t thought about it.

  Now she remembered why she made a point to drive herself places, even if he wanted to go with her somewhere. He was batshit insane.

  He slowed down, turning to glare at her.

  “Keep your eyes on the road too!” she demanded, pointing out the front windshield. That got an eyeroll out of the cowboy.

  So far, this date was off to a terrible start.

  “We’re nearly there. I’m not sure why you’re complaining.”

  “We should be an hour out of Atlanta still!” She couldn’t believe this guy.

  “We’re twenty minutes from our destination, actually. You’ll like it, I promise.”

  “I have to be alive to enjoy anything,” she muttered.

  “My God, Sawyer!” He was sounding frustrated with her. “You can sublimate. It’s not like you won’t see an accident coming and just turn to fucking smoke anyway while I die. And I’m not out to get myself killed, so maybe you should trust me just a little bit. Good Lord.”

  She glared at him for that. “I wouldn’t leave you here to die. I can sublimate you too, even for a very short period. Not even Vincent can do a full other person.” They had tried. She was just powerful enough to do it herself and it was painfully hard to do. “What the hell is your problem?”

  His face went stony and she resisted the urge to reach out and smack his damn cowboy hat off.

  “Answer me,” she ordered, snapping her fingers to get his attention.

  “You sit there and nag me for doing something I’m good at, but if the other guys say they can do something, you trust them implicitly.”

  “This has nothing to do with the other guys,” she fired back. How dare he bring them up.

  “Sure it doesn’t,” he growled, cutting her off. “I’m just a fully trained professional racer in my free time. It’s not like I don’t know how to handle a vehicle at high speeds or anything. It’s not like I haven’t gone through all the driving courses available to make sure I know exactly how to react to anything happening on the road with complete awareness. But if Jasper tells you that he plays in the jungle without a leg, that’s fine. God forbid I drive too damn fast - we’re all going to die.”

  She crossed her arms and sank back in her seat, continuing to glare at him. This motherfucker. “If you were hoping to finally get me to ride for eight seconds, you’ve now completely lost that chance,” she told him, turning back to look out the front.

  “Good to know.” He was short with her now.

  “I do not trust you less than everyone else,” she muttered angrily. “I can’t believe you would think that.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” he mumbled just as upset as she was. “Let’s just eat some damn food and try to have a good time.”

  “What is wrong with you recently? What the fuck have I done to deserve this from you?” She wanted to beat his head into the dashboard. She’d hoped that this day to Atlanta would give her back the friend she’d grown accustomed to. Instead she was getting the asshole she didn’t know. This wasn’t Zander asshole. His attitude had always come from a place of attempting to care, even if it was a little too much. This shit from Elijah was straight-up, pure, unadulterated dick.

  “It’s not you,” he answered, now sounding more upset than purely angry or frustrated. “Shit. We’ll talk about it over dinner, okay?”

  “Elijah, I can’t do this. You know how I feel about your driving.”

  “I would never let anything happen to you or anyone else while in my truck, so I’m asking you to trust me and back the fuck off on my driving. I’ve never been in a damn accident before.”

  They entered Atlanta in silence, Sawyer stewing on what he said. As he pulled them off the freeway, she decided to try and say something, something that might make her feel a little more comfortable.

  “Have you ever done a defensive driving class?” She hadn’t thought it was a very good thing to say, but his answer would maybe mean something. “I mean, you said you were trained…”

  “Defensive driving, stunt driving, and several courses through various non-Magi police organizations and the IMPO concerning car chases and using a vehicle offensively. I’m the only person on the team with as much training. The rest just did the basic, mandatory courses. I love to drive and race. I’ve also never been in an accident. And speeding tickets…well, we normally get out of them. Unlike you.”

  She was glad to hear a little bit of humor at the end of that, even if it was at her expense.

  “I’m sorry. Your driving scares me.”

  “It scares the guys too, but they don’t yell in my ear. They know I know what I’m doing. They trust me.”

  She closed her eyes in defeat at that. She had been a bit of a bitch to him. He’d been an asshole back, but she’d been a bitch to him first. “I’m really sorry for yelling at you like that,” she repeated.

  “Forgiven,” he said, taking them down a back alley and then turning them onto a driveway. “We’re here.” That simply, he dropped the topic. She went with it, since she didn’t want to keep going on about something as stupid as his ability to drive.

  “Where are we parking?” she asked, frowning.

  “Valet. Obviously? This is supposed to be some sad attempt at a date,” he muttered, pulling them in front of the restaurant. “Not like that’s going to work now…” He definitely said that second part soft enough where she wasn’t supposed to hear it, but she had.

  She didn’t acknowledge it, just getting out of the truck once it was stopped. She wasn’t even sure why they were on a date. She and Elijah had really only ever joked about that sort of thing. She’d always wanted to finish what they had started, but she wasn’t sure he wanted a relationship with her. And she had four men back home. More than she could handle, really.

  But she also couldn’t forget the sting of rejection when he’d tried to say it was just a dinner between friends. Some part of her was glad he’d rescinded that later on, letting it be her choice.

  Too bad she had no idea if she really wanted to date him. She didn’t really know how she felt about his past, being overly sexual with friends and teammates. Was this going to be sex and friendship or did he want something more serious? She had a feeling neither of them really knew.

  The valet took the truck away as Elijah led her inside, letting the silence over them hang a little longer.

  “Elijah!” a young man called out cheerfully as they made their way to the podium. He wore a nice suit, and was definitely a member of the staff.

  “Rogers, how are you?” Elijah lightened up immediately, reaching out to shake the other guy’s hand. Sawyer waited patiently, knowing the introduction was going to come.

  “I’m fantastic. I have everything set up for your evening. You’ll have a couple drinks here, a light dinner, then you can go down to that place we’ve talked about? They have a live band playing. You never get the chance, and tonight seemed perfect sin
ce you’ll be staying here in the city.” The young man with the overly cheerful smile and attitude turned to her. “You must be the newest teammate! I’m Rogers. I know what to see and who to do in this city.” He winked. “In case you need any help with that.”

  “I’m from the area,” she informed him, shaking his hand when it came to her. “I’m Sawyer.”

  “Sawyer? Not the name I would have put to you. I like it. Also, never heard of you.”

  “I’m glad,” she muttered as he turned his attentions backs to Elijah.

  “Come. I’ll show you your table.”

  She raised an eyebrow at Elijah, who was still smiling, and he just shrugged one of his massive shoulders. They followed Rogers through the dimly lit, dark velvet restaurant and he led them to a tiny booth in the very back. Sawyer kept that eyebrow raised as they sat down and he gave them menus. There was already a bottle in ice on the table and wine glasses ready.

  “Your server will be here to get drink orders. Would you like me to pour you each a glass of wine?”

  “Going to tell me what it is?” she asked, trying to give him a hard time for being so on top of things.

  “Do you care?” he fired back, smiling down at her.

  “No, not really. Yeah, I’d like a glass,” she answered him, holding back a smile of her own. She liked this guy.

  He poured for them and left.

  The silent awkwardness returned. She sipped on the red and waited for Elijah to make the first move. It felt like there was a dam about to break, like something needed to be said, but she was going to let him say it.

  “This is weird. I think it was a bad idea,” he said, taking a large swallow. “You hate my driving, and I put you through it for over three hours - and this isn’t really our scene, is it? More Vincent’s thing.”

  She let the smile out and saw he was smiling back at her. After a few moments, they were both laughing.

  “Oh, man. A date? Really, Elijah? Come on. You know I don’t need this sort of thing. Sure, some of the other guys do it, but it’s because they enjoy it and I’m along for the ride. I like experiencing new things. But you didn’t need to do this.”

  “Well, I’ve wanted to bring you here and Quinn cornered me into it. So here we are.” He kept chuckling as he took another drink. “What would you have wanted?”

  “I was actually talking to Quinn recently, that meddler. I remembered we both like working on cars. I’ve been thinking to get us a fixer-upper to do together.” She felt like an idiot for her idea, but the smile he had at it made her melt a little.

  “That’s much better than this,” he told her, nodding. “We’ll do that next time.”

  “I mean, I tinker since it’s something to do, and I know you work on your truck for racing, fine-tuning it…I figured we could hang out while having a project for both of us.”

  “Have you looked at anything to buy for said project?”

  “Not yet. We can pick something out together.”

  “You’re much better at this than me.”

  “Do you really want to date me?” she asked back suddenly. That was the point of a date, but it wasn’t the point of her side project. Her side project was supposed to just be something between them, something they could bond over, as friends or otherwise. And she’d meant to keep it a secret until Christmas, but the situation had already grown desperate.

  “I do,” he responded, swirling the wine around in his glass. “Because I’m an idiot, like every other guy we know.”

  “Then I should be honest now. I don’t know how I feel about you.” She laid that on the table before things could go any further.

  “That’s fine. I’m just tired of you not knowing how I feel. I’ve been…well, pretty fucking ridiculous recently.” He took a deep breath. “I’ve been an ass and I know it. And I’ve been avoiding everything so I could figure out how I wanted to deal with it.”

  “Care to explain that?” she inquired softly. Already, things were looking better than they had in the truck. He opened his mouth but didn’t get the chance to say anything.

  “Hi, I’m Susan, and I was wondering what I could do to get you started today,” a cheery voice cut in. Sawyer eyed the blonde that walked up. Susan was smiling at her, not Elijah. “We have-”

  “A water,” she answered. “Elijah, what do you think for food? I’m going to be a good date and let you choose.”

  “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever done,” he mumbled, opening a menu.

  Sawyer ignored him ordering as the waitress kept sliding glances at her. She looked down and considered if it was because of what she was wearing. She’d dressed up a little, with a black long-sleeved sweater that had a low-dipping collar. It showed off her scar, certainly, but with the right bra, it gave her passing tits. Add in her black jeans for the day and she looked pretty hot.

  When Elijah was done, Susan looked back at her fully. “If you need anything-”

  “We’re fine, thank you,” Sawyer answered, trying not to smile again. The faint red tint on the waitress’ cheeks and the way she held herself, even the way she was talking, gave away that she was hoping to get either a great tip or a date.

  Once she was gone, Elijah began to chuckle. “Oh, little lady, I think you have a new member of your fan club.”

  “I don’t have a fan club,” she retorted, sipping again on her wine.

  “Yes, you do. There’s five very dedicated members.”

  “Five?” she asked softly, eyeing him again.

  “I’ve always been included in the count, remember?”

  She nodded, remembering that even she had included him in the count, even if nothing happened. “So, want to explain what’s been going on with you?”

  “You…remind me of Taylor and that’s had me unsure of what to do. So I’ve done nothing except act like an ass.”

  She put her glass down slowly at that. Taylor, the boy he loved who was murdered. That didn’t bode well for them. She waited for him to continue but he didn’t. “Taylor was killed,” she whispered.

  “He was. And…while I’ve always known I could lose one of the guys to this job, the thought of losing you has paralyzed me.”

  “Takes some balls to admit that, I’m guessing.” She wasn’t sure what he wanted to hear from her. She wasn’t sure how she felt about what he said.

  “Look, it’s hard having feelings for someone who lives like they are going to die the next day. And you? You have a high probability of dying on me. On them. So yeah, I’ve had a hard time because I don’t want to see another funeral, okay?” He was stern about it. “We left you in that damn jungle, thinking you and Quinn could be dead. There was a possibility you were never walking out and we’d possibly find bodies. Or nothing at all. You and Quinn, of all the fucking people, nearly already died on me. So I wouldn’t say it takes balls to admit that you living such a dangerous life scares me. I think it takes balls to even give a shit about someone who could very well not make it through the next fucking year.” He pointed a finger at her and she felt pinned as he went on that little rant. He snapped those fingers next. “That’s how fast it could be. I would know.”

  “I’m…sorry, Elijah. I am.” She didn’t know why she was sorry and wasn’t sure why it was the first thing out of her mouth. She understood pretty well the idea of getting attached to someone and losing them. She knew so well what kind of pain that brought. She could see it now, his behavior being a way to push people back.

  “Don’t be. This is my issue, all right? I’ll admit that. So there you have it. I like you. I want a piece of that Halloween candy heart of yours like the rest of them. I’m just not looking forward to wearing black one day.”

  She wanted to tell him she wasn’t going to die one day, but that was a blatant lie. Everyone died eventually. She couldn’t even tell him she would die of old age. Her life had already proven it wanted to take her out much earlier than that.

  She had nothing comforting to say and he also realized it. That was
the issue.

  “You remind me of Taylor,” he repeated softer, looking away as his hand fell to the table. “I’m sorry for my attitude. I’m hoping you knowing helps you understand.”

  “It does,” she said softly. “I’m not sure what to say.”

  “Nothing works. It just is what it is, and I feel better now telling you. You know, finding the right time and place to say it was pretty fucking hard, so I became an ass. I’m sorry for being an ass. Really.” He leaned back in his seat. “Back to lighter conversation, I think we should pick some nice little muscle car. It’s the South; there’s tons sitting around waiting for someone to love them.”

  “I like that idea,” she agreed. “Both to lighter conversation and the muscle. Good, strong, and American?”

  “Of course. Like me.” He winked and she grinned, shaking her head.

  “Good comeback from the heavy stuff,” she noted as Susan could be seen walking back.

  The energetic greeting she’d expected wasn’t there this time. Instead, the plates were dropped a bit unceremoniously on the table and Susan walked away again.

  “That was different,” Elijah said, watching the blonde walk away. Sawyer felt insulted. They were supposed to be one of the best restaurants in the city, catering to nearly all Magi clientele who wanted a place where their magic was free to use without getting them odd looks…and the waitress just dropped their plates on the table.

  “She’s not getting a tip,” she mumbled, pulling her plate closer to her. “Let’s hope the food is good.”

  “It will be,” he promised.

  She took a bite of the medium rare steak and was glad they had come to the place, even with strange-ass Susan. She closed her eyes as the steak nearly melted in her mouth.

  Perfection. Always trust a Southern restaurant to know a damn good steak.

  “I think I did all right with the food then,” Elijah said, chuckling more. “I’m glad.”

  She only gave a thumb up to him, smiling as she swallowed and took a sip of wine. The flavors paired well on top of the quality of the meat itself.