CHAPTER TWELVE
I took a sip of my drink and noticed that Vanessa’s was empty. “Take it easy.”
Vanessa turned to me, swaying a bit. She giggled then clutched her stomach. “I can’t believe this.”
I nodded. The Snakebite Room at the Magia Casino was decorated in black, silver, and penises for Tiffany’s bachelorette party. Penis might not be a color, but it was so prevalent in the room that it was dominant.
At least a hundred of Tiffany’s “friends” were in attendance, and everyone had to be bedecked with at least a dozen penises. They had necklaces, lollipops, hats, and scarfs all in the phallic shape. Drinks were being served in man-sausage-shaped mugs that the guests drank through like pink straws. Every size, shape, and color were accounted for. I had to give her that. She seemed to appreciate all kinds.
Three six-foot-tall thrusting shafts with round, fuzzy balls at the bottom danced with the ladies, who took a variety of selfies. And the food! There were carved cucumbers, hot dogs, and eggplants.
I shifted my position, but when I did, that meant I was facing one of six stages where a man clad in only an elephant trunk was dancing. I had never given it much thought, but apparently I was a prude.
I turned to Vanessa. “I’ve changed my mind. I’ll get us another two drinks… each.”
I grabbed my drink, determined to finish it before I reached the bar. I recognized a face here and there in the crowd but didn’t stop. Making idle chitchat was not at the top of my list at the moment.
Suddenly someone grabbed me from behind, jerking me backward, and spilling most of my drink down the front of my shirt.
“Oh my gosh, Ella, this party is amazing!” Tiffany grabbed the drink from my hand and slurped it down. She was more than three sheets to the wind. “I had my doubts about you, but maybe you are more fun than I thought. This is awesome, and aren’t the strippers amazing? Mom always has the best taste in strippers. That dark one with the cheetah-pattern thong is really packing a python. I think I might take him home.”
I had never liked Tiffany, but this was a whole different level. I narrowed my eyes at her. “If you don’t want to get married, then don’t, but if I hear that you are sleeping around, then no amount of duty will make me stay in your bridal party. And I will tell Vin.”
She paled a little. “It was a joke. With a sense of humor like that, it’s no wonder you don’t have any friends.” She let out a peal of joy and tottered off to go hug someone, spilling my drink all down their back.
“This is like nothing I have seen before.”
I spun around and gasped. Thomas was there, smiling at me. For a moment, I didn’t move, not even to breathe. His pale skin glowed as the pink disco penis and balls scattered light around the room. His violet eyes were so dark that they seemed like the inky colors of the ocean at sunset. He had smudges under his eyes, and he looked tired, but mostly he looked like he was here in the flesh.
I had a list of things I had intended to do when I saw him again. Clarify that though I enjoyed the bracelet, he shouldn’t send any more charms. That I still couldn’t date him. I wanted to make it clear that my training as a Monza was a priority that I couldn’t ignore, but I didn’t say any of that or even think it.
I threw myself into his arms like he was a life preserver in a rough ocean. He met me and enclosed me in a hug, rubbing his face in my hair. We clung to each other, whispering nonsensical things. I kept repeating that he was here while he moaned that I smelled perfect. It wasn’t so much the words as the cooing of sounds in each other’s ears. With my heels on, I was closer to his height, and I could press my cheek into the side of his neck, his warm skin feeling so soft that his silk shirt was like burlap in comparison.
His hand explored my lower back, pulling me in closer, and I yielded easily to his touch. I wanted to press into him until nothing kept us apart. The urgency of my desire as it flared in my lower belly shocked me, and my knees trembled beneath me. I was thankful for his hands supporting me.
He brushed his lips across my ear, and I dug my hands into his hair and moaned loudly. He stiffened underneath me, and his hands stilled but let me go. “I’m sorry, my love. I can’t believe I am saying this, but we must get ourselves under control.”
I had been nuzzling my face against his skin, relishing the way his skin felt on my sensitive lips. I heard his voice as though from a great distance. I blinked a few times, and it was like I was waking up. Embarrassment hit me hard, washing away my desire though my legs still quaked and my step was uneven as I drew back.
I avoided his eyes and frantically straightened my clothing and hair. I had no idea what had come over me. Patagonia looked at me with disgust, probably embarrassed for me. She would never act so unbecomingly, even if the person had tuna and catnip.
“I… uh…” I was at a loss for words. My cheeks grew so hot that I was sure my face was bright red and I was at real risk of bursting into flames. I lifted my wrist to show him the bracelet while never taking my own eyes off of it. “Thank you for the bracelet. You shouldn’t have.”
“Hey.” He grabbed my wrist and waited. “Hey, look at me. Please?”
After the way I had attacked him physically, he probably thought I was ready to hop into bed with him, and I couldn’t blame him. I didn’t know what had come over me. I took a deep breath and looked into his face. “I’m sorry, Thomas. I don’t—”
“No, don’t say anything. I know.”
I shook my head. He couldn’t know.
“You’re a Monza. You have commitments. You don’t need to say anything. For now it is enough that you liked my gift. Okay?” He squeezed my hand and sent a little shiver through my body.
I should have snatched back my hand and insisted on having a more in-depth talk, but I ended up accepting that he understood. It was what I wanted to do. I wanted everything to be fine just standing there holding hands and staring into each other’s eyes. A smile crept across my face.
“Wonderful. Let me try this again. What kind of party is this?” He looked around.
Tiffany was no longer drunkenly stumbling around the party. She was seated on a chair with two strippers who were taking turns rubbing their crotches in her face. She howled with delight and stuffed bills into their thongs.
My stomach flipped a bit, and briefly my thoughts flashed to Vin. Would he be hurt by her behavior? It certainly wasn’t something I would want my partner to do a few days before our wedding, or ever for that matter.
“This is not my idea of a fun night.” I grimaced and turned my back on the strippers.
His eyes dipped down to my chest, and he chuckled. “Your necklace says you are enjoying it a little.”
I looked down, horrified to realize that Tiffany had slipped a necklace over my neck during her hug. It was neon pink and had a six-inch penis medallion at the end. I tore it off over my head and tossed it onto the tray of a passing waiter. “This night is a disaster. Or at least it was. Let’s get out of here.”
He dragged me out of the party and the club, never letting go of my hand. I told him about how I had gotten roped into being in Tiffany’s bridal party but didn’t mention the investigation I was doing for Bear. He talked about how much he missed me and told funny stories about his travels but didn’t say anything about where he had been exactly or what he was doing. It seemed we both were hiding things.
He asked for a private room in an upscale modern-dining restaurant. Despite the groups of people waiting outside, we were whisked in right away. A menu wasn’t even presented, but rather the chef came out to greet us and insisted he would make us something special. If Thomas’s intention was to impress me, then it had worked. Though just having an excuse to escape Tiffany’s bachelorette party was impressive enough. I would need to return eventually, but no one would miss me for a while except Vanessa, who was expecting drinks, but she could use a bit of sobering up.
Thomas reached across the small table and grabbed my wrist, playing with the charms with
his thumb. “I’m so glad you like it. I had such a great time picking out each one specially for you.”
“Some of them must have been custom made.”
He nodded. “Yes, I found some wonderful jewelers.” He gave me a mysterious smile.
I reached out to sense his emotions and found them fuzzy and difficult to read. A lump rose in my throat as I realized why I struggled. As the bond between mages grew stronger and more intense, the less magic worked between them, especially the skills that mages had more innately. It provided some protection between close friends and families. It could be an issue with things like healing spells, another reason the rune between Vanessa and me was so useful, but it also kept mages from being too insular. They needed other mages at times.
But the implications for Thomas and me were different. Despite my best attempts to keep a safe distance, the space between us was eroding. No matter what I said, magic didn’t lie. I swallowed hard. Perhaps I should broach the subject before things went further.
“Thank you again for introducing me to Emily. She saved my life in Europe.”
All thoughts fled from my mind. “You almost died and didn’t tell me?”
“I only just discovered the severity of the situation, and in fact, that is partly why I am back in Rambler.” He ran a thumb across the inside of my wrist. “Partly. Last week we were set to meet someone that I had hoped to hire. Emily had been jittery all morning, and on the way to the meeting, in a hired car, she grabbed and pulled me from the car at a red light. She was frantic, and it was only my faith in her so far that had me following her. She grabbed a taxi and gave them all her cash to take us to the hotel and wait for us to gather our things. Then she insisted we drive to the airport and leave immediately.”
“Oh my gosh! That sounds so scary.”
“At the time, it was just annoying, but I went along. We bought a flight to France that was leaving in a few hours. On the plane, I was seated next to a friend of a friend. We started to talk, and I realized that they were someone who could help me with some of my problems. I wrote off Emily’s episode as being a way to arrange the meeting even if she was a bit out of sorts about it. The whole thing slipped my mind until a few days ago when my contact got ahold of me to say that the man I had been supposed to meet has been missing and presumed dead. And by all accounts, he had been missing since a few days before our meeting was set to occur.”
A chill went down my spine. “Do you think that had something to do with you?”
He shrugged. “If it wasn’t about us, then why bother to send a car with a driver who insisted that the meeting was on? Maybe there was something bigger at work, but I am glad I didn’t attend the meeting. But it is more than that. Few people knew I had that meeting set up. So if I was the goal, then someone in my own organization might be sharing information about me. Emily had already booked us a flight back here, I thought just so I could see you, but then we learned all this, and now…”
I leaned in close. Even though we were alone, I felt a little guilty even raising the possibility. “Could Emily be involved? She was closest to you and could have faked that whole scene to get you to trust her more.”
He watched my face closely. “Do you think that’s what happened?”
I sifted through my feelings about Emily. I liked her a lot, and she had helped me on multiple occasions, including the party that evening. It would be easy to let that color my opinion of her. But I had never gotten the warning signs I had in the past about other people. Though my recent investigation into murders had proven that often people were hiding more than they initially let on.
“I don’t know. I would trust her, but I’m not sure I want to risk your life on that assumption.”
He nodded. “I agree. And frankly, so did she. I was already concerned, looking at her sideways, when she came to me to suggest that she was ready for whatever testing I had planned. She knew it would be okay and everything would work out. Which is good, I’ve known two-hundred-year-old male mages that would flatly refuse the test, let alone a young woman.”
“And you assume a man would be more brave than a woman?”
“I must apologize. I grew up in a time and place where it wasn’t an assumption but rather an established fact that men were braver, stronger, and smarter than any woman. Obviously, I no longer believe that.” He squeezed my hand.
I smiled back and returned the squeeze, understanding that part of his statement was a compliment to me. “What test was it that Emily underwent?”
He avoided my eyes, picking at his food instead. “First, you have to know that I trusted this individual explicitly. I wouldn’t have asked another to do it. And secondly, it was the safest way for Emily. If she wasn’t hiding anything then a powerful spell could hurt her, but any gentler spells could have been ineffective because of countermeasures. Really it was the best way.”
“What was?”
The waitress bustled in, presenting a beef wellington. The waitress skillfully cut through the flakey pastry and presented a perfectly cooked beef inside before putting half on each plate. I made all the appropriate noises of appreciation though I really wanted her to hurry off so I could find out more about the test that Emily had endured.
A paw patted at my knee, soft as velvet, but I knew if I didn’t pass Patagonia some food quickly she would escalate to claws and teeth. I cut off a corner of the steak and passed it to her under the table. Whiskers brushed my fingers, and fangs grazed me as she took it. The waitress left the room, leaving us to continue our conversation.
“Your familiar eats before you?”
“I know what’s good for me, but don’t avoid the subject. Tell me about Emily.”
He blew out a sigh. “How much do you know about incubi and succubi?”
My eyes flew open a bit in surprise. “Assume I know nothing.”
“They are the same creature, but an incubus is male and succubus is female. Under their kiss, you cannot lie. While enthralled, there is no magic or spell that can counteract that, and once it is broken, there are no lasting effects. Other than a puppy crush, but who could blame them?” He chuckled.
I shifted in my seat, unwilling to laugh just yet. “How did you know it would be safe?”
It was his turn to look uncomfortable. We both were holding back secrets, and while I usually let him hold secrets, this time I pushed a little. I had arranged for Emily to work for him, and I felt responsible for her safety. Plus, she was a friend, and that alone would have been more than reason enough.
“The succubus was someone that I trust with my life, and she trusts me. I would not have even considered it otherwise. And remember that Emily already knew it would be okay.”
“But she probably wouldn’t have relented without her vision, so it’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg thing, isn’t it? Everything I’ve heard is that succubi and incubi should not and cannot be trusted. And to fall in love with one would mean your death. What if something had gone wrong while Emily was enthralled?” I shuddered at the thought of my sexual desire not being in my control. To be forced to feel for someone against my will. I had enough dating troubles without adding that to the mix. I pulled back my hand. “It was too big a risk.”
He looked wounded. “Someone is trying to kill me and through extension Emily. She is safe. Do you think my life is worth so little that you will hold a grudge because I didn’t do things your way?”
It was the closest thing that we had had to an argument, and I found I didn’t want to make eye contact but forced myself to all the same. When we locked eyes, one hard stare to another, it was like a jolt of electricity through my blood. I didn’t jump, but my heart pounded. Patagonia let out a low growl from under the table.
I wanted to apologize and say that of course he should do whatever was necessary to protect himself, but I wouldn’t and couldn’t just ignore the danger that Emily had been in. Instead, I shifted directions in order to drop the topic all together.
“If it wasn’t Emily,
then who?”
He accepted my offer of truce and looked away to focus on his meal. The tension dropped in the room, and the silence as he thought slipped back into comfortable.
“I don’t know. I’m hoping to find out more. Tonight, in fact.” He checked his watch, a thin classic men’s watch unlike the bulky watches most men wore. It was something from a different time, an older time. “I’m sorry, but I must leave soon to have a meeting. I’m hoping to figure out something while we are here and at the least set up some protections moving forward. We have a flight out Monday. Emily booked them the night before we found out that our contact had been killed.”
I was silent, unsure of what to say. I was still ticked at him, but even more so, I was sad that he was leaving already. But didn’t I want him to keep his distance? To say that I was confused was an understatement, and I left it at nodding along. “I hope you figure out who is trying to hurt you.” I wasn’t sure what we were to each other, but I certainly didn’t want to lose him that way.
“If I needed you, would you help?”
My eyebrows flew up. I didn’t think he knew about my investigations or my abilities. “How?”
“I don’t know yet, but would you?”
“Of course.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a little charm and brought it to my bracelet, where it jumped and connected to a link. I pulled my wrist closer to inspect it. It was a crystal that sparkled enough like a diamond that I wondered how valuable it was. The gem was faceted into a heart, the flat surfaces catching the low light in the room. “It’s gorgeous.”
“It is one of a kind. It represents my heart that is all yours. I know you will take care of it. I know you are not ready to give me yours, but when you are, I will be here.”
It took everything in me not to leap across the table and throw myself at him. Instead, I smiled at him and lost myself in his eyes.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Casino Witch Mysteries Box Set 2 Page 27