Zane extracted his arms and legs from her warm body and covered her with the sheet. Thank God they’d left the windows open last night, or he might not have heard the boat.
Whoever it was needed to leave.
ASAP.
He spied his shorts across the room, jogged over quietly, and then snatched them off the floor. With a quick flick, he held them open, stepped into them, and took off, zipping as he ran. Careening down the stairs almost as fast as when he dodged demons, he bolted out the front door.
Before he jumped off the porch, Seth ran up the path. He looked winded and rightly so. It took time to tie up the boat and haul ass up the hill.
“You gotta go, man.” Seth bent over and put his hands on his knees. He gulped air before continuing. “Get your girl and your stuff. We’re headed out.”
“Out? No one knows we’re here,” he said, yet his mind flicked to what Delphine said only moments before.
He’s waiting for us.
“They will.” Seth took the porch steps two at a time. “Mundy was the flight attendant on Savard’s flight. He offered big bucks to help find you.”
“And Mundy took it?”
“Of course. He texted me from the airport and arranged to spend the night. I brought Jeannine over to distract him. We slipped him a serious mickey in his scotch, so he’ll be out for a few more hours. It buys us time.”
“What the fuck did I ever do to Mundy? In fact, I’ve even helped—”
“He’s with us, man. Savard was prepared to go around town hunting you down. Someone else might have decided to play Good Samaritan and bring him here on their own. Mundy read him for the sleaze he is and played up a man desperate for cash, which wasn’t a lie. The housing conditions on the reservation are shameful. Mundy volunteers his hammer when he can, but cash helps more. He took a chance telling Savard a partial truth, but a lie is riskier. Trust me Zane, he’d never bring Savard here. I suspect once that asshole wakes up, he’ll figure out he’d been drugged and that you’re gone.” Seth grinned that cock-eyed, arrogant smile he’d often seen on his brother. “Or maybe not. J9 really did a number on him. He might even think he got laid. Which he didn’t.”
“Thank J9 and Mundy for me.”
“You can do it yourself. He’s down at the boat. I jumped to the dock and ran, leaving him to tie up.”
Zane backed toward the screen door and held it open. “Delphine’s still out. I’ll have to wake her.” They entered, and he lowered his voice. “Before you got here, she had a vision. I couldn’t pull her out of it, but at least she drifted off again instead of—” He stopped in his tracks.
Seth pulled up short beside him and shot him that wicked grin again.
Delphine stood at the bottom of the stairs, the sheet wrapped around her. Blotches of whisker burns and the hint of a hickey stood out against her long neck. Her sultry eyes brightened in the light of morning, but she lacked the smile he’d grown used to seeing.
Last night slipped away faster by the second, and he resented the intrusion of reality.
“We have to leave,” she said.
“Yeah. Sorry. I thought we’d been quiet. Seth’s going to take us…” As he spoke, he realized he couldn’t finish the sentence. Didn’t know where they’d go.
Her brows drew together. “Then I told you? During the dream? I tried, but didn’t think—”
“No. You didn’t.” His blood rushed a little faster. “Where are we going, Delphine?”
“Niall. He’s waiting for me. That’s all he got out before the connection broke. I got the feeling you’d know the location.”
His heart soared. Everything was falling into place.
Finally.
“You broke through. On your own. I can’t believe—”
“Not on my own.” She shook her head and offered him a shy smile. “It’s because of you.” Her long lashes lifted, and her gaze locked onto his. Without words, she conveyed—no confirmed—what he knew in his heart.
Last night meant more than making a memory.
“No.” He held her face between his hands. As intimate as a kiss, he deepened their visual connection. “It’s because of us.”
Seth groaned, overemphasized, but for good reason. “It’s because we gotta move. Lovefest later. Where we goin’?”
“Philadelphia.”
“New York,” Delphine said at the same moment.
“Which is it?” Seth tapped his watch. “Savard’s sedative will be wearing off soon.”
Zane released her face. “Niall will be waiting at the Philadelphia museum.” He shook his head. “There are no Gates to Hell in New York.”
“My mother.” Her sweet gaze turned stern. “My mother is in New York.”
“But if you got a lead on Swift, then we have to go with it. He’s been hostage a long—”
“Don’t even,” Delphine cut him off and backed toward the stairs. “She’s been tormented far longer than a man that intentionally put himself in harm’s way.”
“That isn’t fair. Or correct. He—”
“Will have to wait. Mom first.” Her intense gaze dared him to disagree. “The spirit animals appeared for my journey, not Swift. Just yesterday you explained the importance of embracing my gift. Of forcing the soul tap in order to free Mom from whatever evil lives in her brain.”
“I know.” He didn’t mean to cut her off, but his frustration took over. “But I think I was wrong. Your vision clearly indicates—”
Like an upset child, she stomped her foot. “Half an hour ago, you’d have stood by your word.”
“Half an hour ago, you didn’t have a lead on Swift.”
“No. The wolf said Swift was payment for getting their help. My secondary purpose. We can’t perform the tasks out of order. And I’m surprised you’d even consider it.”
“Niall may be the link to both. It’s a possibility.”
She pulled the sheet tighter. “I don’t agree. And I’m the one that had the vision.”
Judas Priest. In the span of seconds, all his good mojo evaporated. Part of him agreed with her. But his job—his purpose—was to bring Swift home.
“I’m getting dressed. For New York.” She started up the stairs, the tail of the sheet that had tangled around their entwined legs hours before dragged behind her, swishing with her hips.
Damn. Mad as hell at him, every inch of her smoldered, sexy and hot. He’d never had make-up sex. Never stuck it out with someone long enough to have a fight.
Under other circumstances, he’d go after her and give make-up sex a go.
Under other circumstances, they wouldn’t be fighting.
Under other circumstances, they wouldn’t be together.
“Better get up there.” Seth nodded toward the staircase. “Pack what you need so we can take off. Make sure she does the same. You can make nice on the plane.”
Zane crossed his arms and stared at his bedroom entrance at the end of the hall. “I don’t need to pack. I’ve got enough in Philadelphia.”
Chapter Thirty
Exhausted, pissed off, and miserable by all accounts, Zane allowed the heavy door to slam behind him. He hated the sound of slamming doors. Like the one on Delphine’s room when he dropped her off at Prudence’s old digs.
Sure, she’d been receptive to the compromise he’d managed to concoct, but the intimacy they’d shared in his Montana hideaway disappeared.
Apparently she held grudges. For no fucking reason.
Well, so could he.
“Miss us?” Jesse lounged on the sofa with his laptop balanced on his thighs. The TV raged. He pulled earbuds free with a tug and greeted Zane with a toothy grin that reeked of sarcasm.
“No.” He lobbed his duffel bag across the living room instead of his friend’s face. It landed with thwap against the sliding glass door.
“Nice.” Jesse lowered the volume on the TV. “What’ve you got to be bent about?”
“Plenty.” Zane stormed down the apartment’s hallway and into his b
edroom. Without flicking the light switch, he flopped down on his bed and lay flat on his back.
Last night he’d slept in his personal retreat with mountain air wafting through the windows and a warm woman curved against his body. Both of them sated and happy.
Tonight he’d sleep surrounded by his eclectic collection of books on history and philosophy, the carefully chosen prints by Wyeth and Kadinsky, and the replica statues of cowboys by Remington strategically placed on bookshelves. All representations of the place he left behind.
His normal life.
He didn’t feel at home anymore. Didn’t feel like he belonged in his own skin, let alone his own apartment. All his goals and aspirations seemed pointless. A pit of indistinguishable emotion ate at his stomach.
“Seriously, dude.” Jesse flicked on the light. “What the hell’s wrong?”
Zane threw an arm over his eyes and groaned. “Don’t concern yourself.”
“Fuck. You outran that shitass Savard, the oracle has contacted Niall, and her mom’s being transported to a Philadelphia hospital as we speak. Pretty successful couple of days if you ask me.”
“I didn’t.”
“I think a celebration’s in order.” Zane heard the beer bottle hit the nightstand and then felt the weight of Jesse parking his ass at the foot of the bed.
“You always think a celebration’s in order.” He rolled to his side, expecting his best friend’s husband to take a hint.
“If you’re gonna be a terminal sad sack, I’m asking Prudence to find a new best friend when all this is over.”
“Go for it.” He pulled a pillow over his head for emphasis.
“Maybe Delphine would be interested in a new friend when she joins HR.”
“She’s not joining HR.” A point she’d made perfectly clear from the start. Jesse knew that too.
“Did you ask her? Women change their minds all the time. They like to be asked. Actually, begged. I can tell you, begging has its reward.”
“Where is Delphine?”
“P’s old place.”
“Alone? What if she has another vision?”
“Prudence is with her.”
“Good. Now fuck off.” He remained on his side.
“No. I get it, tough guy. She turned you down. But you knew she was stubborn and cold from the start. An untouchable tease. The worst kind of woman. Other than her long legs, I don’t know what you found attractive.”
He rolled onto his back and seared a glare at Jesse.
“Not even I could crack that iceberg in my single days. Her body screams take me, but she lacks feeling. Passion. A man needs a woman in his bed that—”
With renewed energy, Zane sprang up and plowed his right fist into Jesse’s jaw.
Jesse’s head snapped to the side, and then he skidded off the bed, landing onto the carpeted floor with a satisfying thud.
“Don’t. Talk. About Delphine.” On his feet, he towered over his flattened co-worker. “At. All.” He jabbed his finger in the air. “You don’t know anything about her. You don’t know anything about us or what—” he stopped mid-sentence.
Jesse never talked actual trash about women. Any woman. Men took the brunt of his bullshit, even his friends.
Friends.
Realization hit him almost as hard as he’d slugged his iron jaw.
“Seth.”
With a hand to the side of his face, Jesse propped up on an elbow and laughed. “You think Seth wouldn’t call me? You’re hot news.”
“Why didn’t you say it outright? Why’d you goad me into punching you?”
“Because you needed to hit something and never would. You’re too civilized. Except when it comes to honor.” He sat up, waggled his jaw, and then met Zane’s gaze. “I don’t mind. I can take it.” He got to his feet. “I can dish it out too, if you want.” He raised both fists.
“That’s some cocked-up logic.” Zane waved him off and sat down on the edge of the bed.
“We’re men. Sometimes we need to release the caveman. It’s healthy.” Jesse sat down beside him. “I know you. Trapped on a plane, you’ve stewed for six or seven hours instead of hashing everything out with Delphine. If you hadn’t let off some steam, your brain would shut down.”
Shit. He hated when someone else teetered on the edge of right.
“More than six or seven hours.”
“See? Talk to me, Zane.”
“No offense, but I’m not in the mood.”
“Best time to let it out.” Jesse tried a prompt. “You spent hour after hour in each other’s company for days. You talked her ear off. She didn’t mind or, heaven knows why, liked it. She succumbed to the Gideon charm. Next thing you know, the two of you fell into bed and went at it hot and heavy.”
Zane opened his mouth, but Jesse cut him off. “I’m not being smarmy. Observing the evidence. According to Seth, she bears post-sex marks all over her neck. That’s not your style, so I’m assuming you were overwhelmed by more than attraction. So, what happened next?”
“I’m sure Seth told you that too.”
“From an observer’s point of view. I need it from you.”
He shrugged. “Not much to tell. She said her piece. I said mine. On the boat ride back to the truck, we didn’t talk. Gave me time to think. I considered her perspective and realized I’d been bullheaded.”
“You always do put others first.”
“Not this time. This time I reacted out of desperation to find Swift.”
“Swift? Or further your career?”
The remark cut right through his heart, and his anger flowed as fast as spilling blood. He fisted both hands. “You looking to get clocked again?”
“Maybe. But this time I punch back.” Jesse raised both eyebrows, an unspoken question on what Zane intended to do with his balled fists. “You’re pissed because I hit the bullseye.”
On an exhale loaded with regret, he relaxed his hands and wiped his sweaty palms on the top of his shorts. “Yeah.” The admission hurt worse than the accusation. “But Delphine deserves to help her mother as much as we need to save Swift. Or me moving into a Council seat. Like I started to say, on the boat I figured out a way both missions could be accomplished simultaneously. Not just a compromise, but a sensible and logical next step.
“When I finally got cell phone reception, I called Jack and asked what it would take to spring Gabrielle from the hospital in New York to one in Philadelphia. Solange got right on it, pulled some strings—”
“You mean laid out serious cash.”
He tilted his head in concession. “Crass, but accurate. A few hours later, the plan was set.”
“Why does Delphine need to be around when we make contact with Niall anyway? You could have saved a whole lot of trouble and heartache if you just took her to New York.”
“In her vision, Niall specifically said meet her. Not us. Of course I’ll be there, as well as you and Prudence.”
“So Delphine needs to cross the Gate?” Jesse flopped back, and the bed cursed out a squeak. “Shit. Does she realize that? Can she pass through? Would she try?”
“Don’t know. Didn’t ask.” Because he already knew the answer. “I’m hoping if she stands on this side, she can connect with him through the bronze. I’ll have to blindfold her. She hates even a sideways glance at the Gate. Thinks it’s hideous. You should have seen her when we walked by the Gate in Paris. Damn near had a panic attack.”
“What are you going to do if it doesn’t work?”
Something he’d regret. Like carry her through. Instead he said, “I don’t know.” He jammed his hands into the mattress and pushed back toward the headboard to lean against it. A tension headache throbbed from his temples to the tops of his shoulders.
Boone propped up on his elbows. “All that time on the plane and you didn’t say anything?”
“After I explained the plan, she seemed happier, but clammed up. Refused to talk to me.”
“She’ll listen if you talk. They always do
. Women want men to open up.”
“I did.”
“Not the right words. You should have told her the truth.”
“I. Did.”
“You told her the facts. You didn’t apologize, did you?”
“Of course I did. I said I was sorry like twenty times.”
“Simple sorry don’t cut it. You have to tell her how you feel, even the stuff that sucks.”
“Tell her you love her.”
“What?” He shot up so fast, the throb in his brain skipped a pulse and then hit him with a hard bass beat.
“Another bullseye. Man, I’m on my game today.”
“No, you’re not.” Zane rubbed his temples and kicked Jesse in the side with his sneakered foot.
“Ow. That actually hurt. By the way, the punch didn’t.”
“Liar. Get out.”
Jesse got up. “Call me a liar if you want, but you know the truth. My guess is she does too and won’t admit it any more than you.”
Zane whipped a pillow off the bed, but it landed against a closed door. Pissed, he fell back, banging his head.
“Fuck.” He lolled to the side and let the pain engulf him. How would he ever get to sleep? He checked the bedside clock.
Eight p.m. At least he was back on East Coast time. Sort of.
The beer sat next to the clock, the bottle sweating on the cork coaster and threatening to turn warm. To his surprise, Jesse used the coaster.
And brought the beer.
He downed the entire bottle in one long, intense gulp before falling backward, bouncing on the expensive mattress. The plain white ceiling looked as blank as his brain felt.
Did he love her?
More to the point, did she love him?
Last night, she’d ardently kissed him, sucked him, squeezed his ribs with her legs, and dug her fingernails into the skin on his shoulders as they made love over and over.
Made love. Not casual sex.
Unconsciously, he rubbed his right shoulder, still feeling the bite of her short fingernails and the sensation of her clinging to him.
But making love wasn’t falling in love, and right now he figured she hated his guts.
Wasted, he got up and turned off the light. Summer sun still weaseled between the slats of the blinds, but enough dark filled the room for sleep. The headache already eased back, and he felt like he could zonk out for twenty-four hours. Maybe more.
Dream Breakers, Oath Takers Page 24