Jay hit the table. “No more.”
I snuggled against him. “It’s okay. Really.”
“No, baby,” he said. “It’s not. I feel you hurting on the inside.”
I gave him a questioning look, but he didn’t elaborate.
“Gina, you blame yourself for her death, don’t you?” Romeo asked, ignoring Jay’s protest and warning. “He’d have found her anyway. He could smell her fear and hear her heart pounding.”
My hand found Jay’s and I laced my fingers through his as Romeo continued to talk about my past.
“Your tiny gasp didn’t alert him to where the two of you were hiding. He already knew, but he was toying with you both. You can stop blaming yourself. It wasn’t your fault, and I don’t think your father blames you either.”
I looked up, a sense of peace starting to settle over me. It didn’t take away from the guilt I still carried over living when she didn’t. “I still don’t understand why he’d hurt us. Why he’d kill her and try to kill me. He was my father’s best friend. His second-in-command, and all he’d ever been to me was kind and loving. I trusted him so much. Then I woke up from a nap, terrified for my mother. I ran to her and told her what I saw. She didn’t question me. She ran through the house with me as fast as she could because she was far into her second pregnancy.”
I took an unnatural interest in the artificial sweeteners on the table as I continued. “She cried out like she was in pain and fell, dropping me. She was clutching her stomach and telling me to run. To run and do what felt natural. To hide like she knew I could. But she didn’t get up at first, and I didn’t want to go without her. Looking back, I think she might have gone into labor.
“She pushed up, took my hand and only managed to get me to a closet. I wouldn’t let go of her hand and made her come in too. She held me against her and told me over and over how sorry she was that she wasn’t going to be able to stop him. And she told me that he wasn’t my uncle anymore—that something bad had ahold of him and not to be afraid and not to look.”
Jay kissed my temple.
I glanced out of the window of the diner and noticed the same man I’d seen outside of the vampire club, standing at the end of the street. He was watching the diner, his hair pulled up, wearing faded jeans and a black T-shirt.
Thoughts of my father flooded back to me as I stared at the stranger. “My father came in, and he started to shout. Other men were with him, and they all tackled the one who’d hurt my mom. I was so scared that I refused to come out of the closet. My father had to crawl over my mother’s dead body to get me and lift me out. He was crying. I was crying. And I remember him holding me so tight that the two men who guarded me had to pry me out of his arms. They told him that he’d break me without meaning to.”
Closing my eyes, I tried to wash the memories from my mind again. To bury them in the secret vault that I keep deep within me. The one that I almost never opened to avoid the pain.
When I opened my eyes, the man under the streetlamp was gone.
Jay clutched my thigh so tightly, I hissed. He stopped and rubbed it gently. “Gina, why didn’t you tell me any of this?”
I couldn’t help but smile as I looked at him. “Because I hoped to one day be here, in a diner, eating a burger while your buddy—the oracle, who can shed with the best of them—filled you in.”
Romeo laughed.
Jay didn’t.
I hated seeing him worry about me. I twisted more, leaned up and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I spent nearly all my life thinking my memories of it were all wrong. Even when I learned the truth about supernaturals, I still thought I was wrong. I didn’t know shifters could possess magik. Six months ago, I learned they can. None of this changes anything. It is what it is.”
“I can sense you’re upset,” he whispered, his lips skimming my jawline.
My entire body lit with need. I smiled against his skin. “Can you sense what I’m feeling now?”
I meant it to be a joke to lighten the mood.
When Jay growled, sounding possessive, and jerked me against him, I gulped. “G-guess so.”
Romeo tossed his head back and laughed.
I blushed. “I didn’t know Jay could read people too.”
“He can’t. He can read you. Not others.”
I stilled. “Why me?”
Jay glanced at Romeo, and when Romeo nodded, Jay squeezed my leg to the point of pain again. I grabbed his fingers and pried them off me one by one. “Ouch.”
“Shit,” he said, reaching to rub me again. “I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
Catching his hand in mid-motion, I put it on his own leg and patted it gently. “No problem. But avoid touching me for a little bit. I’m thinking next time something gets you worked up, you’ll accidentally tear my leg clean off.”
He made a move to come at me, and I shoved a fry into his mouth, making him laugh.
Romeo smiled.
My gaze went to the window, and I couldn’t help but think about the fallen slayers. I was laughing and talking about the past when my fellow slayers were under attack.
I checked my phone again to be sure I didn’t miss a text update from Zachariah.
I didn’t.
Jay touched my cheek. “Hey, we’ll hear something soon.”
“The downed slayers you were telling me about?” asked Romeo as he looked at Jay.
Jay nodded.
“I should be out there patrolling the streets,” I said. “Not sitting here.”
“Baby,” he said, his hand still on my cheek, “if Zachariah wanted you out there, he’d have called you in, right?”
“Yes.” Didn’t mean it felt right.
His arm moved around me, and he dragged me into his powerful frame. “You’re good where you are. If he calls, we’ll all go to help, okay?”
Smiling, I stayed with him, enjoying being held. I didn’t want to overthink what was happening between us. I just knew I needed the comfort he was providing.
13
My cell rang, but it was the ringtone for Lindsay, so I didn’t panic, but answered quickly. “Are you okay? Is the baby all right?”
“Gina, are you okay?” she asked, sounding breathless.
I sighed. Lindsay had probably heard slayers had fallen and thought one was me. I never gave any thought to texting her that I was okay and safe. “I’m fine, hon. Promise. You know if I go down, Zachariah will call you. You’re my emergency contact.”
“I thought you changed that to Jay,” she said.
“I started to change it all over to Jay, but that seemed weird. Like Jay would want to be in charge of end-of-life decisions for me.”
Jay growled. “Anyone hurts you, and I’ll tear their fucking arms off and beat them to death with them.”
Lindsay laughed softly. “Kind of late to be with him, isn’t it? I didn’t interrupt some hot monkey sex, did I?”
“Hot monkey sex with Jay?” I asked. “Wait, you’re serious?”
Jay stiffened.
Lindsay grew quiet. “Gina, Jay and I haven’t been a couple in a long time, and I’m married now and six months pregnant with my husband’s child. Jay and I didn’t have a relationship. We had an understanding.”
I held the phone tighter. “I know you’re mated and not seeing Jay anymore. Why are you stressing this? Also, have the two of you been talking and comparing notes? He gave me the same speech about fuck buddies not in love.”
“It’s important you don’t see Jay painted with the brush of being my ex,” she returned softly. “Also, you need to understand that Jay first came into my life because he wanted to know about you. He’d seen us together. He was interested in you. Not me. You didn’t pay him any attention. That was long ago.”
Confused, I tipped my head, my hand finding Jay’s thigh. “Why the hell are we talking about him like he’s a painting metaphor? And what do you mean, he first came into your life asking about me?”
“Gina,” she scolded.
>
I rolled my eyes. The woman was horrible at mothering me. “What, Mom?”
“Can you try for two seconds to be less you and listen?” she asked.
I grunted. “Fine. I’ll try.”
“Please don’t see Jay as my ex,” she stressed. “He’s so much more than that. Look at him and see him for who and what he is. Gina, stop fighting nature. Give in.”
“Listen, Linds, I get you want us all to play nicely together. I respect that. Jay and I are friends. Good friends. You don’t have to worry about that falling apart now that you’re doing the mom-and-wife gig.” I kept my hand on Jay’s leg, not really paying much mind to it. “But, let’s be honest here. He may be hot, but hot only gets you so far if you have issues with commitment and see women as something to tally up.”
Lindsay’s laughter was loud. “True enough. He did have issues in the past with being loyal to his bed partners but, Gina, he had a good reason. And trust me, hon, that’s in his past.”
I arched a brow. “How, exactly, is there a good reason to screw your way through tons of women?”
Jay grunted.
I glanced up and held the phone out to him. “Here. Talk to your ex-hookup buddy. She is trying very hard to get me to paint you with a brush or something. Also, I think, but I can’t be sure, that she’s trying to make you out to be a saint for bagging a ton of chicks.”
Jay took the phone. “Lindsay?”
I couldn’t hear her side of the conversation, but from Jay’s expression, it was a doozy. He was quiet for a bit before he spoke. “You heard her.”
I glanced at Romeo who appeared surprised.
“You don’t know, do you?” Romeo questioned.
“Know what?” I asked.
“How he feels about you and who you are to him,” Romeo said as Jay began to argue with Lindsay, though I wasn’t sure about what.
I glanced at Jay and then back to Romeo. “What do you mean, how he feels about me? I’m a friend he met via his ex-hook-up buddy, or if you ask her, she met him because he asked about me. Right. And sure, the last six months have been different for us, but Jay and I don’t see each other as more than really good friends.”
As I said it, I knew I felt more than that for him, but didn’t want to say it out loud.
Romeo closed his eyes a second and then stared at me, a huge smile spreading across his face. “The guy has women throwing themselves at him all the time. But not you. You don’t toss yourself at him. You make him work for every bit of affection you offer him.”
My brows met. “Should I be a Jay groupie? I like to think I have more respect for myself than that.”
Truth was, I was totally turning into a Jay groupie. I wasn’t sure what was worse, having a crazy master vampire who wanted to use darkness to either kill me or shag me, or realizing I wasn’t just falling for Jay—I’d already fallen for him.
My eyes widened. “Shit.”
Romeo snorted before taking another drink of his soda. “Perfect. This is perfect.”
“Put him on the phone,” Jay demanded loudly, pulling my attention to him as he gripped my phone to the point I thought he might shatter it. There was a pregnant pause. “Tell me exactly why you had Lindsay call, because we both know you already knew Gina wasn’t one of the downed slayers.” He listened for another moment, and his face paled. “Are you sure?”
“Jay?” I asked.
He ignored me as he spoke to Exavier, Lindsay’s mate.
I snapped my fingers in Jay’s face, unconcerned with how rude I was being. “Jayson?”
He paled even more, his gaze moving to me as he continued to speak to Exavier. “She’s with me and fine right now. I’m not going to let her out of my sight. Yes, I’ll make her spend the night with me.”
“What?” I asked, sitting up straight and making a grab for my phone.
Jay held it out of reach and pinned me to the back of the booth with one arm as he kept talking. “No. I won’t. Call my cell if you hear anything else. She’ll be with me. Don’t come here right now with everything that’s going on. I don’t want to deal with a rock star Prince of Darkness who accidentally gets a darkness whammy on arrival. Yeah, I’ll keep you posted. Do the same.”
He hung up and handed me my phone. I snatched it away from him and pushed on his arm, trying to get free. He released me from my pinned-in position.
“You,” he said sternly, “are coming home with me and spending the night. Maybe more than one night. Get used to it, and there is no point arguing. I’ll hogtie your stubborn, sexy ass.”
I cast him a suspicious look as a huge smile spread across my face. “Is this a ploy to get to use your tool to hammer me?”
Jay growled. “Dammit, this isn’t funny. I was just told the two slayers who were missing are now thought dead. There was apparently a shit-ton of blood in each of their houses that match their blood types. No bodies have been found yet, but Zachariah and Exavier think they’re dead.”
I stopped smiling. I tried to stand to go to Zachariah’s and check in personally.
Jay grabbed me. “No.”
“Jay—”
“Gina, something is going down. Something big,” he said softly. “Exavier told me in no uncertain terms that you are in serious danger—that something massive is happening, and his hands are tied with something where he is or he’d be here to help.”
He opened my cell, removed the battery and something else, before he really did pick it up and squeeze until it broke. My eyes widened.
He looked at me, moisture coating his brown eyes. “Until we figure out what’s going on, you’re not reporting in. Got it?”
“Jay—”
His jaw set. “Got it?”
“What right do you have to bark orders at me?”
Licking his lips, he locked gazes with me. “Baby, you have no idea just how much say I have when it comes to you.”
I groaned.
“Tell me you understand and agree to stay near me until this is fixed.”
I opened my mouth to argue.
“Gina, tell me!”
The force in which he asked made me sit back a little. Stunned, I nodded.
He dropped the broken pieces of my phone on the table and pushed them away. “I need you to respect my wishes on this. I need you to stop being stubborn and to do as I say.”
“Tell her the truth,” said Romeo.
Jay snarled. “Shut up.”
“Tell me what truth?” I asked, looking at the men.
Neither said a word.
Male bonding sucked.
I was about to comment when I looked at my phone. “Jay, if I’m in danger, that means I could lead it back to you. I can’t go to your house.”
Romeo laughed. “Showing up at an alpha’s house is like declaring war on the pack. There are only so many slayers around here. There are a whole fucking hell of a lot of pack members. That isn’t a war you want to start.”
I eyed Jay. “Wait, just how high up in your pack are you?”
Romeo blinked. “Seriously? You don’t know?”
I shook my head. “Jay doesn’t exactly share a lot with me about that side of his life.”
“Let it rest, Romeo,” said Jay, his hand moving to mine. “Gina, please agree to come home with me tonight. Actually, agree to stay until this blows over. If you refuse, Exavier will send someone to get you, and take you to stay with them.”
“You’re all acting like I’m some fragile doll who breaks easily,” I returned.
“What the hell is your deal?” he snapped at me. “Why can’t you just shut up and listen for once?”
14
I blinked up at him.
He paused. “Shit.”
“I’m sorry, but I skipped the how-to-obey-your-dickheaded-shifter-boyfriend day at how-to-be-a-doormat school training,” I shot back, my posture rigid in the seat.
Romeo pursed his lips. “I think he just wants to know you’re safe.”
“Stay out of this,” said
Jay harshly.
I elbowed him. “Be nice.”
He leveled a hard look on me.
I grinned. “What?”
“You’re a handful,” he said.
“You love that about me.” I nudged him lightly.
“I do.” Jay tipped his head. “Hey, you called me your boyfriend.”
I cringed when I realized he was right. “I also called you a dickhead. Want to get excited about that too?”
Romeo took another fry, seeming very amused by our back and forth.
I glanced at Jay and then paused. “You know you can’t lock me away in your house forever, right? I mean, you get my job is to protect innocents.”
He closed his eyes a moment and nodded. “I get it. I do, but give me this. Plus, I know you’re hiding something from me. Don’t make me have Romeo figure out what that something is.”
“Dickhead.”
“We already established that.” Jay slid his hand through mine and squeezed it gently. “You’ll stay with me until we get a better handle on this?”
“Jay, I know you think evil won’t come at you at your place, but having me there is like painting a target on yourself. I’ll be fine at my apartment.”
Romeo snorted. “Tell her why whoever is doing this would be super stupid to come to your home.”
“I get Jay is a badass shifter,” I said with all seriousness. “But he doesn’t need to borrow my trouble. And really, if this is killing slayers, why wouldn’t it go for fringe members of the pack here?”
“Fringe members?” echoed Romeo with a snort. “Jay. Trust me, if you don’t, this won’t go in the direction you want.”
Jay grunted and then exhaled slowly, his hand still encasing mine. “Gina, I’m not a fringe member.”
My eyes widened. “Tell me you didn’t go rogue. Jayson!”
Romeo laughed more. “This is killing me. I should be recording it.”
“Fuck off,” snapped Jay before looking at me. His gaze darted away. “I’m kind of high up in the local pack here.”
“It’s a huge pack. What are you? Are you their version of law enforcement too? So you like, do the job in real life and pack life?”
Bad Moon Rising: A Loup Garou World Novel (Tempting Fate Book 2) Page 10