She'd slid into the front seat of my car with her fox gripped to her chest a few minutes after I'd started the engine. Actually got into my car, a fucking stranger, but wouldn’t tell me, her mate, her real name or phone number. My forehead was tingling and I knew I was seconds away from ‘demoning out’.
"Thank you, Johnny. I appreciate this, can I give you some money for the trouble?" She looked at me from across the console and I swallowed a growl. She looked so innocent and beautiful, those wide green eyes staring into my soul and I felt myself soften toward her. A little tiny bit. That’s all she was getting.
"It's not a problem. Where are we going?" I squeezed the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles popped.
"Just pull out and follow the road for a few miles, my drive is on the right, I'll give you a heads up before we get there."
Glancing over at her, she was staring out of the window. I looked down and was met with the face of a fox, it's lip curled up in a silent snarl. Ex-fucking-scuse me. Lifting my own lip in return, the fox snapped at me and put his paw on the console, like he was telling me to fuck right off. Ballsy little shit.
We headed down the road and I didn't speak because I didn't trust what might come out of my mouth. She lied to me. Gave me a fake name, a fake phone number... how could she do that to me? How could she deny the pull between us like that? My throat clenched at the thought of her betraying me like that. Did she not realize I would have found her regardless? She was mine and the sooner she accepted that, the sooner I could give her everything she’d ever dreamed of.
I was going to need to drop her off and make a quick exit because if I had to watch the guys pawing at her I really might go nuclear and nobody needed to see that. They didn't know I was a demon either, and it needed to stay that way.
"This is it, on the right," she murmured and I slowed down to take the sharp turn into her driveway.
Immediately, I could see four silhouettes standing near the house and I took a deep breath as they all turned toward us. Here goes nothing.
Why? Why does she pull this shit?
“Yo, boss. You okay?” Kai asked, pulling my focus out of my own head and to where he and Fischer had sat their asses in a couple of chairs on the patio out back. Saige was supposed to have been here twenty minutes ago, and her phone was going straight to voicemail. The house was locked so we were all just anxiously piddling around waiting for her to show up.
"Fine," I grunted, my jaw ticking in anger. But it wasn't anger, not really, it was the fear that something had happened to her. Her phone was always on her, and she knew how worried we'd been lately, so why wouldn't she let us know she was running late?
"Her phone probably just died, you guys need to chill out," Sloane snapped, clearly sick of the abundance of emotions he was having to deal with on the daily. Well, he was just going to have to get over it because I was all in, and Kaito was mated to her, for fuck's sake.
"Hey, we have every right to be worried, asshole," Kai growled, Bagheera clearly in agreement and making his feelings known.
"Ugh, whatever. I'm going on a walk, I can't stand to be around you all when you're like this. Get your heads out of your asses. We're still on a mission here, or have you forgotten we have a job to do?" Sloane's tone was dripping with venom and before I could make a move to grab him by the throat, headlights illuminated the side of the house and we all hopped up, making our way over to the garage.
"Who is she with?" Fischer wondered, squinting his eyes to try and make out the vehicle, but the lights were too damn bright.
The large SUV pulled into the spot in front of the garage and I had to take some deep breaths, she'd gotten a ride home from Johnny. Fucking Johnny, who she had never met before in her life. The man in question rolled down his window as Saige scooted out of the passenger side door, putting Maven down on the grass.
"Found this one in her shop, figured she needed a lift home since it was dark out."
Kai stood there for a moment before stepping up to the car and shaking Johnny's hand, thanking him for looking out for her. Fischer also expressed his thanks, but all I could do was give him a short bro nod before turning to wait by the door. I just... couldn't process this right now.
Sloane was leaning against the house with his arms crossed over his chest, an unreadable expression on his face as he observed the situation. Dear gods, he better keep his smart mouth shut tonight. I am not in the mood.
Johnny backed out and his taillights faded down the driveway, leaving us all standing there. Fischer had Saige in an embrace, but I could feel her eyes on me. Nope, I couldn't bring myself to look at her right now. Sloane made a noise under his breath and I think he'd finally realized how on edge I was.
"Sorry guys, I got held up at the store longer than I thought. Then I headed to the shop to grab some stuff and lost track of time when my phone died," Saige told us, her voice quiet as she walked over to unlock the door, keeping a hand on the house to steady herself. Was she drunk?
"So, I see you met Johnny," Sloane piped up, filling the silence.
The door swung open and all of us filed inside behind her. "Oh, you already met him? He's a nice guy, he stopped at the shop when he saw the lights were on and offered to give me a ride home when I realized how late I was."
Glancing back at Fischer and Kai, we had a silent conversation. Our training had made us experts in that. And it was agreed—she was hiding something.
Everyone made it to the kitchen and Saige began pulling meats and cheeses from her bag along with a couple bottles of wine and a suspiciously half full bottle of tequila.
"Were you drinking alone?" Fischer questioned, holding up the bottle of liquor.
She spun and put her back to us as she pulled a large tray out of a cupboard. "Huh? Oh, well I had a few shots, and Johnny had one with me. I've just been a little stressed out with everything that's happened."
Yeah, I suppose that made sense, it had been a lot to take in for everyone. We were used to strange things happening and learning to roll with the curve balls that the stars threw our way, but for Saige, this was quite the upheaval from her routine life.
She began plating the food and grabbed some dill pickles from the fridge along with a variety pack of crackers.
"Want to watch a movie in the living room?" she asked us, wringing her hands together in front of her chest.
"A movie sounds great. I'll just take this stuff to the living room, someone bring beer." Sloane picked up the plate and high tailed it out of the kitchen.
Kai and Fischer moved in on Saige, speaking in soft tones, but I was still too angry to even be in the same room with her. Instead, I grabbed a few bottles of beer and the wine, and trudged to the living room, leaving them to have their discussion.
Sloane was sprawled out in a corner of the large sectional couch and I tossed him a beer before putting the other shit down on the coffee table. There was a large recliner opposite the couch and I secured my own drink before beelining for that chair. That way I wouldn't have to sit beside her.
The three of them came into the room, Saige's giggle made my chest clench. Man, I needed to get my shit together, but I could feel her eyes on me, so I stared down at my cell phone, still unable to make eye contact. I was disappointed, the woman acted recklessly during a time where she should be taking every fucking precaution to be safe.
Thunder rumbled and I cursed softly, having lost control of my power for a moment. Everyone looked in my direction and I lifted my beer and downed the whole thing.
"I'm going to head back to the apartment. I'll see you guys later."
I needed to just get some space, I couldn't do this shit tonight.
"You okay, man?" Fish asked, concern lacing his tone.
Grunting in reply, I left the room and headed for the mudroom, slipping into my big black combat boots. I'd just pushed through the screen door to head for my Harley when the door opened and slammed shut, letting me know someone had followed me.
"Cam," she whis
pered.
Freezing in place, I waited for her to say something else, because I knew I needed to keep a tight lid on my mouth right now.
"I'm sorry, okay? My phone died, and I lost track of the time. Are you really so pissed at me that you're going to leave right now?"
"Am I that pissed? Really, Saige?" I spun around and advanced toward her, stopping when she backed up against the screen door.
"It wasn't my fault, Cam. It was an accident. Why are you so upset?" Her voice was now steady and firm, and I already knew where this was headed, but I couldn't stop it. Nope. This was happening right the fuck now.
"Let's see, you've been projecting yourself into another realm, you were in a coma like state for hours with blood pouring from your nose and ears, you've seen horned shadow figures, we've concluded that demons are indeed after you for some unknown reason, and you acted carelessly," I growled out, my voice low and rumbling.
She opened her mouth to respond to that, but I cut her off with a wave of my hand.
"No, I don't want to hear it. You didn't even make sure that your phone was adequately charged. What if you'd been in trouble?" I questioned, stepping into her space now, electricity zinging up and down my spine as another burst of thunder came from above.
"I'm not a child. I'm not weak. And I can take care of myself. I've been doing it for twenty-seven years, you overbearing caveman." Her face was getting redder with each passing moment, her anger rising to match mine.
"Then stop acting like a child!" I boomed, a flash of lightning lighting up the sky.
Her mouth opened in shock, but I continued, "This isn't about the phone, I'm not happy about that, because it wasn’t okay to leave us here wondering if you were fine or lying somewhere bloodied and unconscious. That, I could've gotten over easily," I chuckled without humor, "but the part that has me so upset, is that you let a random dude into your shop, drank with him, and then willingly got into his fucking vehicle, Saige. A stranger! Do you understand how stupid that was? He could have been anybody. Did he tell you he's our business associate, or did you just think ‘Oh, he's nice, so I'll just get into his car—’"
My rant was interrupted when her palm slapped my cheek.
"I said I was sorry, Cam! You don't get to stand here and berate me, I'm not your fucking employee."
Lifting a hand to my face, the sting of her slap still fresh, she'd gotten me good. Tears were welling in her eyes, but I didn't think it was because she was sad. She was probably an angry crier. Well good, I'm fucking angry too.
"I'm going home. We both need to cool down." I turned and walked away, straddling my bike, my breaths still coming in heavy pants. Firing up the engine, I didn't look over at her when I drove by, for all I knew she had already gone back inside.
Raindrops began falling from the sky and I unleashed a torrential downpour, not caring that I was absolutely soaked, I was hopeful the rain would wash away some of this anger. This fucking fear of losing somebody I cared about. Fuck, I couldn’t go through that again. The only way I was able to tolerate the jobs the guys and I did was because they were all trained and they didn't make careless decisions that put themselves in danger. Honestly, I would be feeling the exact same way if any of them ever pulled a stunt like this.
I drove around for about an hour before heading back to the apartment and trudging upstairs, soaked to the bone and still in a piss poor mood.
"Hey Jacobs, you good?" Johnny was sitting in the living room watching something on TV.
"Fine." I stepped out of my boots and ripped my shirt over my head making my way to the washer and dropping it inside, then quickly ridding myself of the rest of my clothing and putting that in with the shirt. Johnny had seen me butt naked many times over the years and I really couldn't give a shit less right now. I needed a shower.
He didn't look my way when I walked through the kitchen and headed for the bathroom, and when I came out after my shower, he had pulled out the sofa bed and was snoring like a lumberjack. Well good, I wouldn't have to interact with anyone.
Just as I was about to go into my bedroom, a hand grabbed my arm and pulled me into another one, backing me up against the wall with a growl, letting me know Kai was back and he was furious.
"What the fuck, Kaito?" I barked and he pressed himself up against my chest, getting in my face, eyes flashing yellow.
"I understand that you have some real issues from what you went through when you were younger, but if you ever disrespect my mate like that again, I will kick your big ass. Do not fuck with my woman, Cam. Sort your shit out and tell her about your past, because your relationship with her will suffer until you do. I'm going back to the cottage. Get yourself straight."
He brushed past me on the way out, and I just stood there breathing heavily and letting the weight of his words sink into my brain. Shit. My hands ran through my wet hair, and I wanted to pull it out.
Slipping into bed naked, I laid awake staring at the ceiling, the reminder of my childhood bringing the ghosts that I tried to keep buried to the forefront of my mind.
"Cam! Hunter! Get your shoes on, we need to leave in five minutes!" Mom called out to us and we dropped our Nintendo controllers. I flicked the TV off and we raced to the front door. Mama B was already closing the trunk of the van, everything all packed and ready for our annual week long vacation in the mountains. The cabin was the highlight of our year, and we were bursting with anticipation. Swimming, fishing, bonfires, cooking out. I loved everything about it.
Swinging my arm around my brother's shoulder, we made our way to the car and hopped inside, all smiles.
"Mama B, did you bring the gummy worms? We can't have a road trip without them!" Hunter questioned and Mama B held up a package of neon sour worms, a Jacobs road trip staple.
"You should know I'd never forget the worms, sweetie. Now buckle up, let's get a move on so we can get there before it gets dark out.” We did as she asked and Mom slid into the passenger seat, reaching over to take Mama's hand as we backed out of the driveway.
I tried so hard to remember every detail I could about that moment, the last time we were at the house together as a family. It had been fifteen years now, but just the thought of them made tears prick my eyes. I could almost hear their laughter and happiness in the dark and empty room with me. Sleep likely wouldn't come easy tonight, but I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing in an attempt to push the memories back down.
Sun was shining through the curtains, so I must have overslept. Not surprising given the fact that I'd tossed and turned for what felt like hours the night before. But I felt good now that I had some semblance of what I wanted to do with Saige. I was feeling like a real asshole, but I still believed I had a right to be upset and I needed her to understand where I was coming from, and that I wasn't just being a dick who wanted to boss her around or track her every move.
Pulling out my phone, I typed out a message and sent it off before I could think too hard on it.
Me: Can I take you out tonight? I want to talk to you about some things and apologize for last night.
Not waiting for a response, I rolled out of bed, and slipped on some sweats. The scent of fresh coffee pulled me to the kitchen, I was such an addict. Music met my ears and I lifted my brow in surprise as Johnny danced around the kitchen, grinding his hips to the beat of the song.
"Never would've guessed you were a Lizzo fan," I chuckled, grabbing a mug and filling it up with piping hot coffee.
"Just distracting myself, not much else to do in this town. There's a lot of things you don't know about me," Johnny replied, taking a drink of his own coffee.
"Why do I have a feeling that I want it to stay that way?" Shaking my head, I took a sip of my drink, and stretched backwards to loosen my back up a little.
My phone vibrated and I pulled it out, unlocking the screen and finding a message from Saige.
Little witch: Sure. What time are you thinking?
She must still be pissed. No emojis, and that was a really
short reply for her standards. Not that I blamed her.
Me: I'll get you at five. I'm taking you to dinner first, but we'll be on the bike, so dress accordingly.
Little witch: *thumbs up emoji*
Laughing, I tucked my phone away and found Johnny studying me from across the island.
"What?" I grunted, drinking some more of my coffee.
"Oh, I was just wondering how the mission was going. We haven't seen anything to indicate that Laura is going to show up any time soon, right?" he asked me, tapping his fingers on the countertop.
"Nothing concrete, but we figure it’s only a matter of time now,” I guessed. Who knew when this woman would show up again?
"And Saige doesn't know anything about the assignment?" he questioned, a hint of suspicion in his voice that I didn't appreciate.
"No, of course not. We wouldn't compromise a mission, you should know that. Though, when Saige was unconscious we did find out from her grandmother that her mother has an obsession with demons. We think that they're probably after her for something her mom is responsible for," I speculated, sitting down on one of the empty stools.
"And I heard there's a prophecy? Tell me more about that."
Taking a deep breath, I recited the damn thing from memory.
“A witch, a mix of green and red,
Save a race before they’re dead.
Hurry, witch, find your five,
If there is hope to survive.
Change, rise, manifest,
A soul so pure soon possessed.
Before the year of two and eight
The chosen one must find her mates.
If she should fail to meet her task,
To another the role will pass.
Evil will consume her heart,
Her soul captured by the dark.”
"Interesting." Johnny ran his thumb over his mouth, his navy blue eyes lost in thought as he worked through that puzzle. Good luck, buddy. Nobody knew what the fuck it meant.
The Magic Of Betrayal Page 12