Probably not.
No, definitely not. How would she explain Dae’s inability to age to her mother?
Oh, he just looks like he’s in his twenties. He’s actually four hundred two. Or maybe older. I’m not entirely sure…
James was her real life. Her safe place.
And he’d come home to her.
She tossed her clutch on the sofa and shucked her heels beneath the bench. Bare feet on the hardwood floor, she quietly walked down the hallway and pushed in the door to the bedroom.
James was there on his side of the bed as if nothing had ever happened, as if nothing had ever pulled him from their house in the first place.
He was sleeping soundly, curled on his side, Ashley’s pillow clutched to his chest. Ashley just stood there for a minute staring at him. He wasn’t in shape like Dae, but that was okay. Neither was she. He didn’t have the tattoos or the cunning eyes. But James had something else—familiarity. She had shared everything with him over the last seven years and that was why he was here now and not in Isla’s bed.
As if sensing her, his mouth twitched, his breathing switched rhythms and he opened his eyes.
“Hey,” he said, his voice sleepy and hoarse.
“Hey.” She nudged his legs and he drew inward, giving her space to sit on the edge of the bed. She was still in her little black dress, hair mussed, and makeup smudged. Could he tell she’d spent the night with Dae?
A sliver of guilt wedged its way between her ribs. She’d spent the night with another man and had sex with him while her husband lay curled in their bed waiting for her to come home.
She was awash with guilt, not that she had anything to be guilty for. Her husband had filed for divorce and started seeing another woman. Their marriage was over, as far as he was concerned.
But still…
It was so screwed up.
How had this become her life?
They sat in silence for several long minutes. Ashley didn’t know where to begin, or even if they should. Maybe it would be better for everyone if they just pretended like none of this had happened.
“Did you sleep with him?” was James’s first question, which threw that whole let’s-pretend-this-never-happened thing right out the window.
“James,” she started, but kept her gaze trained on the floor. She was too afraid to look at him.
“I won’t be mad. I just want to know.”
“Yes,” she blurted and then finally turned to him. He’d pulled himself upright, propping himself against the headboard. Now that she was looking at him face-on she could see the dark purple bruise around his eye where Dae had punched him.
“Oh James.” She reached out as if to touch it and immediately thought better of it.
James gingerly fingered the swollen area and winced. “It looks worse than it is.”
“Did you put ice on it? You need ice.” She moved to get up, but James grabbed her hand and tugged her back down.
“I’m fine. I had it coming, honestly.”
“Well…maybe a little.” He’d said some terrible things to her face. Things she’d never heard come out of his mouth before.
Then, “What happened with Isla?” She couldn’t hold it in anymore. She’d intended not to mention Isla’s name at all, preferring instead to stick to the whole pretend-it-never-happened thing. But she was as bad at that game as James was, apparently.
James ran his fingers through his hair. “We got into it pretty bad when I got home. She knew I’d gone looking for you. I just couldn’t help it. I was like a man possessed.” He laughed at his own expense and dove on. “I couldn’t get you out of my head. You with Dae Blackwell, of all fucking people. And apparently it took Dae Blackwell to show me the error of my ways.”
He tightened his hold on her hand and set his eyes on her. “The thought of you last night with some other man...” He shook his head and blew out a breath. “It’s not fair, Ash. It’s not fucking fair at all, but goddamn it, I couldn’t think of anything else last night other than losing you. It wasn’t until last night that I really understood what that meant.”
He was right, it wasn’t fair.
It’d been okay for him to cast her aside, probably because he imagined she’d always be waiting in the background for him to return, just in case. And last night, she’d proven that she wouldn’t be. Or she’d made him believe that anyway. Because as much fun as she’d had with Dae, she had been hoping for James to come to his senses and return home. She had been waiting in the background.
“Isla lost her shit,” James said. “She kept saying she’d never stack up next to you and that I shouldn’t make her and that I was just being selfish. And the whole time she was screaming at me, all I could think was, Ash would never treat me this way. Ash would never turn into a crazy jealous girlfriend.”
Hah. If only he knew what she’d really been doing this whole time! She’d made a deal with a jinn in order to win James back.
If that wasn’t crazy, she didn’t know what was.
But it had worked.
So maybe it wasn’t crazy after all.
“So what are you saying?” she said. Confusion swirled inside of her. She did not want to be the fool who took her husband back when he showed his first sign of weakness. But she didn’t want to be a divorcee either. She didn’t want to chance losing the man who had chosen her all those years ago.
There might not be a stitch of magic between them, but she wanted to believe that James was her soul mate, her Fated.
“I’m saying,” he scooted closer, nudging her around so they faced each other, “that I want to come home. I’m saying that I miss you, Ash.” He breathed out. “I’m saying that I made a huge mistake and I’m incredibly, incredibly sorry for that. Please let me come home and fix this, and we can both forget about Dae and Isla. Forget they ever stood between us.”
James took her face in his hands, his eyes watery with unshed tears. “Please Ash.”
She closed her eyes and breathed in. James took the opening and pressed his lips against hers, thinking perhaps that her silence was answer enough.
But then Ashley pulled away, her eyes snapping open. She turned toward the door.
She could smell him, faintly, like autumn nights and winter mornings.
She smelled Dae.
Chapter 27
DAE
Dae knew James was there as soon as he popped up in Ashley’s living room. The leather shoes at the front door were a giveaway and the coat draped casually over the end of the sofa like he still owned all the space within the walls.
Like he could do whatever he damn well pleased.
Something funny started to happen in Dae’s chest—his heart picked up speed and he suddenly found it hard to breathe.
Murmuring voices caught his attention and he quietly walked down the hallway toward the sound. Toward the bedroom.
He heard Ashley’s voice first. Not the words. The sound of it. He’d know her voice anywhere now. The soft lilt of it, like she was always two words away from discovering something profound.
But then—a deeper, more resonant voice. A passionate speech.
“I was like a man possessed,” James was saying. Then Dae heard his name. An emphatic curse to go along with it.
“The thought of you last night with some other man...”
Dae got as close to the bedroom door as he dared and pressed his back against the wall.
“...I couldn’t think of anything else last night other than losing you. It wasn’t until last night that I really understood what that meant.”
Don’t fall for that line, Ash.
If Dae had a bottle of scotch for every time he heard a man say that to a woman he stood to lose...well, Dae would have to buy a warehouse to store all that scotch.
Likely part of it was true. Perhaps James really did regret what he’d done. And perhaps he just now understood what it was to lose Ashley.
Hell, Dae had only been with her one night and already he knew that if he were hu
man, he’d never let her go. The way her lips quirked when she laughed. The way her eyes lit up when he talked about all the things he’d seen and done like she was actually interested to hear. The way her skin felt beneath his hands, supple and soft. The way her mouth felt on his…
Fuck.
He needed to get it together.
His cock hardened as his mind recalled the image of Ashley on her knees in front of him.
Fucking hell.
“...I’m saying that I miss you, Ash. I’m saying that I made a huge mistake and I’m incredibly, incredibly sorry for that.”
James’s declaration pulled Dae out of his thoughts and doused the fire in his gut.
James wanted Ashley back.
He was here to win her back.
Well, isn’t that what you were trying to do all along? His inner voice sounded an awful lot like Poe—keenly disparaging.
Wasn’t this the deal you’d made?
Maybe in the beginning, but Ashley still had two wishes left. It wasn’t too late to switch gears.
Last night, Ashley had been his and he realized now while standing alone like some creeper in her hallway that he wanted her to...what...always be his?
Now who was the fool?
She was human and invested in James.
Last night had been a mistake. For both of them.
They’d gotten swept up in the energy.
They both had their own reasons for being in the deal and those reasons were very clear. Ashley wanted James back. Dae wanted one of Ashley’s wishes. He couldn’t have a wish and her, too.
You can’t have her because she isn’t yours to have.
Not that he wanted her anyway. This feeling in his gut...it was just lust. Wasn’t it? He’d had a passionate night with her and now he was getting greedy.
Except...why did he have the urge to barge into the room and tell Ashley not to fall for James’s bullshit again? Why did he have the urge to protect her like she was his?
Dae pushed away from the wall and moved toward the cracked door and…
He heard the familiar sound of two people kissing before his eyes registered that it was actually happening.
Ashley was kissing James.
Anger roared up inside of him even though he had no right to it. He had no right to Ashley.
She had been honest with him when she came to Blackwell House. She’d wanted her husband back and now she had him. James was the only reason Dae even knew Ashley Laurent.
Ashley was exactly where she was supposed to be. Dae was the thing that did not belong.
His magic pulled in tight around him like a second skin and the air crackled.
Red had given Dae twenty-four hours. There was still time. Later, when Ashley was alone, Dae would ask her for a wish. He’d tell her the truth. He’d tell her the risks, so she knew all of it.
That was the way it should have always been.
But not now.
Now wasn’t the time. Right now he felt like he wanted to vomit or punch something.
Instead, he decided he would go drown his sorrows until he forgot about the mortal girl who had stumbled into his life and made him forget what it was to be immortal.
The air popped as he disappeared.
Chapter 28
ASHLEY
Ashley surged to her feet.
James said, “Ash? What’s wrong?”
The air popped.
Ashley pulled the bedroom door open, her heart thundering in her ears.
Dae. Dae.
For three bright seconds, she completely forgot that her husband was behind her declaring his love for her.
For three bright seconds, she did not consider all of the reasons why she should not be so damnably excited to see the immortal jinn that had burst into her life.
For three bright seconds, she thought she was going to pull that door open and see Dae standing there in her hallway looking as cunning and dangerous and sexy as always.
He’d give her that twisted half smile like, What now, love?
But Dae was not there.
The hallway was empty and the only thing that lingered was that heady mix of cinnamon and cloves.
For three bright seconds, Ashley had forgotten all the ways her and Dae were not possible and instead believed all the ways they were.
And those three bright seconds showed her exactly what she needed to do.
Chapter 29
ASHLEY
Ashley told James she needed a chance to think.
She told him she was going out for a cup of coffee and a walk and he kissed her goodbye and told her to take all the time she needed.
Instead she went straight to Blackwell House and knocked on the front door.
The girl who Ashley vaguely recalled as Odette, the house manager, answered. “Hi,” she said, and frowned. “Did you forget something last night? I just finished giving the house a walk-through and I didn’t see—”
“No.” Ashley shook her head and wrung her hands. “Is Dae home?”
Odette quickly changed her cheery attitude. “No. He’s probably sleeping the night off somewhere. Probably in some innocent woman’s bed. God save her soul.”
“I was with him last night,” Ashley said a bit defensively.
“Oh.” Odette shifted her weight. “Then why are you here?”
“Dae said there was a family emergency. He left before I was awake.”
“Red.” Odette softened, her puffy lips turning down at the corners of her mouth. “Red is okay. For now. Dae was here briefly and left quickly. I haven’t seen him since.”
“How long ago was that?”
“Probably an hour? Give or take.”
“Do you know where else I could find him? He isn’t answering his cell phone.”
“I’m sorry.” And she genuinely seemed to be. “There are literally a thousand places he could be.”
Ashley nodded, defeated. “I’ll keep trying his phone then. Thank you.”
Odette offered a smile, though it did not say, Good luck. More like, Hah. Good luck.
In her car Ashley tried Dae’s cell again, but it went straight to voicemail. Feeling a bit desperate, she tapped Helios’s number still saved in her phone from that morning. He picked up on the second ring.
“Helios!” she exclaimed, maybe a bit too excitedly. She hadn’t been sure he’d pick up. “I need to get hold of Dae. Is he with you?”
“Who is this?” Helios said, sounding bored and faraway.
“Oh. It’s...uh...Ashley. From this morning? You picked me—”
“Oh right. No. I haven’t seen Dae.”
“Have you spoken to him?”
“No.”
“Do you know where he might be?”
Helios sighed. “Ashley, I don’t know who you think I am, but I am most definitely not Dae’s personal assistant. I don’t keep tabs on him. In fact, I try to forget about him unless he’s standing right in front of me. So to answer your question, I don’t know where he is. I don’t know where he might be. He could be in New Zealand for all I know. And in fact, if he were, I would not care. If he were in the middle of a burning tire fire, I would not care.”
“Oh. Okay. Umm...” Ashley wasn’t really sure where to go from here. She’d clearly misread Dae’s and Helios’s relationship. Like, massively misread it. And that little fact made her super curious to know more about the two. Another story for another day.
“Then can you take me back to his loft?” she tried. “I don’t exactly remember where it is and—”
The line went dead.
Well okay then.
She darkened her screen and tossed the phone to the passenger seat of her car. She was still sitting in the driveway of Blackwell House. She didn’t know what to do from here. She couldn’t go back home to James before she spoke to Dae.
She needed to speak to Dae right now.
She felt paralyzed with unfinished business, with unanswered questions.
She needed to—
<
br /> A knock on her car window caused her to yelp.
A tall, broad-shouldered man stood outside.
It was Thorin.
Ashley pressed the window’s button and the glass retracted. Thorin leaned his arms on the car’s door and ducked down to level his gaze at her. “Oddie said you were looking for Dae?”
“Yeah.” A shot of hope ran through her. “Have you seen him?”
Thorin shook his head. “At least, not since he left this morning. I was under the impression he was coming to find you.”
Ashley thought of the pop of air outside her bedroom door and the scent of cinnamon and cloves.
Had Dae come looking for her and then left as soon as he realized James was there? And if so, what had he heard? Ashley had come to Dae to help her win James back, so it wasn’t like it was a surprise.
But last night had complicated things.
“Do you know where I might be able to find him?” she asked.
“Well, on a normal day, he does his rounds.”
“What does that mean?”
“He peeks in on his properties.”
“Properties?”
Thorin nodded, a lock of his blond hair falling forward. He quickly swiped it away. “Dae’s the real estate mogul out of the four of us. He owns half the city.”
“Are you serious?”
“That I am.” He looked away, his gaze going distant. “What’s today? Sunday? Hmmm...Sundays he usually checks in on One Rome and The Blackbird. Try one of those.”
Ashley turned the car on. “Thank you so much, Thorin.”
“No worries. If I see him before you do, I’ll let him know you’re looking for him.”
Thorin stepped away from the car and Ashley hit the gas. She needed to find Dae before her courage abandoned her and all the things she wanted to say dried up in her mouth like forgotten wishes.
Chapter 30
DAE
Dae reappeared behind the counter of the bar he owned on the city’s east side. The Blackbird was one of the oldest buildings in the city and had once been the only place to buy a glass of liquor during Prohibition.
Three Wishes (Blackwell Jinn) Page 13