by Luna Joya
Neil seized Cami by the hair and raised her off the ground. She punched the heel of her hand into his crotch. He doubled over.
She saw fast movement out of the corner of her eye and whirled. “Stay back, Mina.”
He took advantage of her distraction and wrapped his hands around her throat. He squeezed. She kicked, and he lifted her to dangle over the street. He’d kill her. She could see it in his eyes, the bulging vein in his neck, the stark redness of his cheeks under his blond hair. Sunny’s face interposed over his features. Sunny.
Sunny had endured this. She’d fought back. So could Cami, and she’d win vengeance for all the times she’d run scared, for the Sunnys of the world.
She closed her eyes and called to the nearest water source—a fire hydrant two feet away. Gathering her magic, she pulled as hard and as fast as she could. The hydrant shook and trembled before erupting, the water exploding outward to break the cap and blasting straight into Neil.
With a startled shriek, he let go of her and flew backward. Drenched and slipping, he fell to the ground with three men piling on him in a wet wrestling match. At least two people had their cell phones out videoing.
“Cams!” Mina launched herself toward her sister.
Mina probed the cut on Cami’s head, and she jerked. She swallowed past her sore throat. “I’m fine. I promise.”
Sirens blared and lights flashed as police arrived. After a few shouted instructions from bystanders, officers hauled Neil against the hood of the car and handcuffed him. Before officers could question them, Delia’s bright red Mini screeched to a stop.
“Paramedic,” Ruby called and pushed open the passenger door.
“Donovan?” An officer must have recognized one of her older sisters.
Cami sat on the curb and put her hand to her head. The altercation with Neil had lasted maybe three minutes. The paperwork took much longer. An officer photographed her cut which had finally stopped bleeding. The matted blood down her face was gruesome enough according to her sisters. The police interviewed everyone separately. Ruby stayed with her, and Delia went with Mina.
Ruby hurried the officers, saying she needed to take the patient for treatment. All four sisters loaded into the Cooper for the dash to Cami’s car. In the court parking lot, Ruby tipped Cami’s head to the side. “It’s a nasty gash, but it’s not deep. Head wounds bleed like a son of a bitch.”
Ruby rubbed her hands together, and her blue eyes darkened. She touched her fingers to the wound and hummed.
Cami breathed deeply, the sting intensified for a second before dulling to an ache. Ruby’s healing hands moved to her chin, neck, and collarbone. A few moments later, she couldn’t tell she’d been hurt in the first place.
Ruby winked at her. “All good. Although maybe we could call Sam to come kiss it better.”
Her mind flashed to Sam teasing her about the same thing on the beach. She’d been so mad at the time, but the memory triggered a rush of others. She paled even under Ruby’s care.
“No.” She took the wipes Mina offered and mopped away the blood smears. “Thanks, but he doesn’t want to see me.” She stared at the red and black streaks, stark against the white cloths.
“Can’t you have the happy ending Sunny should’ve gotten?” Ruby rubbed her shoulder. “You stood up to Neil. We’re proud of you.”
“I’m lucky you and Delia came so quickly.” She crumpled the wads in her fists. “Why were you both in Santa Monica anyway?”
“We didn’t want you going back in there alone.” Ruby squeezed her hand, and the last of her soreness ebbed away.
Right. The apartment. She nearly groaned. “Delia, do you think the insurance adjuster you talked with is still available?”
The blonde arched a brow. “You sure you’re up for it?”
She nodded. “I might as well finish it today.”
Delia took out her phone and tapped against the screen. “You are set. Why don’t you head over now with Mina?” She gestured toward the police station the next block over. “Let me check whether anyone captured your powers on video and keep your name out of public records. I’ll come with Ruby right after.”
Mina threw her arms around Cami. “You don’t have to do this alone. We’re here to make sure you’re never alone again.”
She gave her a wobbly smile. Her heart might be broken, but her sisters had mended her as best they could. She’d taken down Neil with a water shot to the gut. How much more challenging could facing her apartment again be? “Let’s see if there’s anything worth saving.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Cami took a deep breath and pushed through the broken door. Her apartment was a total loss. A complete disaster.
Clean slate. Only a few minutes to meet with the insurance agent today and she’d be rid of the place except for taking care of the mess. “Too bad I can’t shoot water through here without losing whatever’s left of the deposit.”
Mina snickered. “You could do it. You showed hella control today. More than I’ve had lately.” She rubbed her temples. “If I’d have called my element, I’d have probably burned the whole block down.”
“I doubt it.” She tried to right what was left of a chair. It teetered for a moment before falling again. She started a scrap heap in the middle of the room. “But why don’t we avoid any fires here just in case?”
“I emailed Ita,” Mina told her quietly. “She’ll help me work on better control of my abilities as soon as she gets back. Gigi agreed to train me over the phone.” Mina admitted in the silence of the ruin. “I called the research group.”
“The one for parapsychology?” She picked up a single unbent fork with thoughts of saving it before tossing it in the trash pile.
“Yep. Lab rat reporting for duty in two weeks. Got to get through finals first.”
“How are your grades?” She wandered through the small living area, searching for salvage and finding none.
“All A’s except a B in econ. The professor is a tool. He’ll mark down my paper on technicalities and will grade on the wrong curve.”
“See all that using your powers, did you?” She hid her smile.
Mina’s idea of studying obviously differed from others. “Why work harder than I have to if it’s not going to change the outcome?”
“So what do you see for this place?” she asked, gesturing around the room.
Mina stopped, stared, lost focus, tried again, coughed, and laughed. “Same thing I’ve always seen. I’d say enjoy it, but I know you will. Damn, sis.”
She frowned. “What?”
Mina pointed toward the empty doorway.
“Uh, Mina. I don’t see anyone.” Had her sister’s powers expanded to include ghosts or non-corporeal entities now?
“They’re on the stairs. Give them a minute.” She calculated. “Three, two, one.”
She turned to greet the insurance rep. Sam stood there. Sheer joy at the sight of him filled her before the memories of his words last night flooded back. Ruby and Delia moved in behind him.
“Sam?” She stammered, trying to recover. She couldn’t. All the air had left her lungs.
“I called him as soon as I took your phone. You should really password protect it better,” Ruby said. “Delia and I were on our way to pick him up when Mina called about Neil attacking you.”
Sam exploded. “What?”
Delia tutted and typed something into her phone. “Calm down, lover boy. She kicked ass. She’s fine. There were no cell phone captures of her, only a drenched Neil getting tackled by concerned citizens. Neil’s locked up for now and hopefully he’ll stay there. They’ll issue a criminal protective order for you, Cams.”
She couldn’t breathe.
Ruby simply pointed at Sam, then at Cami. “You two need to fix this. You’re both expected at Ama’s Memorial Day cookout this weekend. Our mom is bringing ribs. I’m making spiked lemonade. Don’t be late. Or no later than Delia always is.”
Delia cut a sideways glance but di
dn’t respond.
“I thought…” She swallowed. She couldn’t take her eyes off Sam. Not for an instant. She pointed mindlessly at the apartment somewhere over her shoulder. It had to be back there. She’d sworn she’d been standing in her apartment a minute ago before Sam walked in and the whole world narrowed on him. She gestured again in the general direction. “Insurance.”
“I’ve already scanned the police report and photographs to the insurance company.” Delia flicked imaginary dirt off her shirt, not daring to touch anything. “They will send a check soon for the entire insured amount. Which wasn’t much. We need to discuss that later. The check’s going to Sam’s place. As should you. Let this dump and any security deposit go.” She spun on her high heels and left. Ruby followed.
“Gotta go catch my ride,” Mina said, grabbing her in a quick hug. “Sam, stop being so afraid of rejection. She is your family. We are your family. You’re not alone anymore. Put her first in your life before the restaurant, where she belongs.”
Sam’s head tipped in Mina’s direction, but he never looked away from Cami, who hung onto sanity by a mere thread. Her breath hitched, shallow and needy.
Mina hadn’t finished. “She is trying to sort you in her mental catalog of life. It’s what she does before she bosses us around. It’s out of love.”
She reached for the door. “See you both this weekend for the cookout. Thanks for bringing desserts, Sam. The brown sugar coconut pudding thing you’re going to make? So good. You’ll need to bring the recipe for Ama.” She fled before Cami could ask when she’d seen all that.
Her hands fluttered around her, reaching for him. She stilled, remembering his words. She bit her lip and worked not to stare at him. Failing that, she tried to memorize his black curls, the strong jaw, the rich brown of his eyes that had redness shot through them and dark smudges beneath.
She breathed in. How would she ever put the pieces of her life back together? Without Sam?
“You okay?” Sam took a couple of steps toward her.
She swallowed past the sudden lump in her throat. “I, uh, I blasted Neil with water after he slammed me on the pavement and tried to choke me out.” She babbled, but she couldn’t stop. “Delia says it’s self-defense. I fought back, but he kept coming. So…” She lifted a shoulder, but the movement was jerky. “Magic.”
His jaw ticked. “He hit you?”
“Ruby healed it.” She swept her curls away from the spot where she’d hit the concrete, hoping she’d cleaned all the blood. He hurried to her side, his gaze searching her for injuries, his fingers reaching to stroke her face. He caught himself and stepped back. His attention shifted to the damage around them.
His ultimatum rang through her mind, and she stilled, unable to close the distance between them but unwilling to shy away.
He ran a hand over the back of his neck. “I tried calling and texting. I had almost followed you when Ruby called and said to give you some space. I brought all the clothes Lottie bought inside.” He stopped in front of the remains of her cabinets.
Her eyes closed. She couldn’t do this. He had probably destroyed those clothes like the torn rags thrown around this place. She couldn’t blame him. Maybe he’d simply sent them back to Lottie. Sensible Sam moving on the same way he fixed problems at the restaurant.
“I folded each for you to try on. I put the makeup in the bathroom drawers I’d cleared for you.” He moved to the one small window. “I fucked up yesterday. I knew the second the call failed.”
She stared at his back, the slope of his slumped shoulders, but she didn’t dare say anything. Not until he’d finished.
“I’d called my parents to see if I could get a safer place for you to stay. The conversation with my father didn’t go well. He let me know they never wanted me. I talked with Lottie. Apparently, there’s magic in my family too, and I remind them of my evil uncle who we’re not supposed to mention.” He shook his head. “Anyway, I was already frustrated about the shit day you’d had and stupidity from the restaurant. When you said you needed time and you were leaving me, it all came out.”
Her mouth quivered and tugged downward. She couldn’t control it any more than the shakes seizing her body. She folded her arms and hugged herself to stop the violent quaking. She had to handle this before the sobs forming in her belly could make their way out.
He looked over his shoulder at her. “Bogart cried all night at the door. He fell asleep with his snout on his paws looking for you. I found the School House Rocks shirt you left yesterday in my office along with The Reading Rainbow one you’d forgotten at my place before. I could smell you on them.”
She clamped her lips together. She couldn’t take much more of this. The mental image clearly stamped in her mind. Trying to protect him, she’d ruined it, and still he was here. She focused on his words, not even caring about her raspy breath and the escaping whimper.
He picked up the remains of her pink Converse. “Ruby told me how messed up you were about all of it, but she wouldn’t let me come to you. She said you were trying to protect me from your coward chicken shit ex. That you…” His voice broke, and he cleared his throat. “She said you protect and boss around everyone you care for.”
“I did. I do,” she whispered, wiping a hand over her face before a tear could snake down it.
He dropped the torn pieces to the ground. “What Mina said about you trying to process everything and boss us around out of love? That true?”
She nodded.
“Sweetheart, you can’t catalog this. Love’s messy. Our love will never go into a neat little box, but our relationship is a hell of a lot easier than most.”
She heard him say “our love,” and her mind spun with hope. “What did you say?”
“I said it’s too messy to be all organized.”
“No, the other part,” she interrupted.
He stopped and stared. “I love you.”
She froze. “What?”
Chapter Thirty-Two
What the hell? How could she be confused about this? Sam was dying inside and his normally brilliant woman couldn’t grasp this simple concept. He’d have to say it as plainly as possible.
“Cami, I love you. I’ve loved you from the first moment you walked into my restaurant. I’m absolutely crazy about you. I’ve done nothing but try to get to you since we met. Hell, I’ve withstood every interrogation your family threw at me, and you should know your mother and sisters are some very tough and scary ladies when they want to be. How could you not know I love you?”
Her mouth opened and shut. “But you didn’t say it.”
“I thought it was obvious.”
She shook her head. “It’s not like that. I mean I knew what I felt.”
His throat constricted. “And how do you feel?”
“I love you,” she whispered.
He could die a happy man right now. He didn’t realize how badly he’d needed her to say those three little words. “That’s all I need to know.”
He moved to her. He cupped the softness of her face, wiping away the dampness there with his thumbs. She was so damn perfect. More than he deserved. His lips followed, kissing away her tears in a feather-light touch. She shivered for what he hoped was an entirely different reason.
She released her hold on her midsection but didn’t reach for him yet. He pressed his mouth over each of her closed eyes and then swept her brow. His movements were slow and deliberate. He wanted to convince her they were meant to be together forever, but she had to be the one to choose. He tipped her face toward his, and their mingled breaths sealed a promise against her lips. Once, twice. And then he kissed her.
He tenderly brushed his mouth back and forth against hers. A kiss of recognition, of saying hello, I remember you. I remember this. I need this more than anything. She tapped her fingers against his chest. He was afraid to reach for more or he might clutch her to him and never let go. Her bottom lip trembled beneath his, and he nipped at her hurt, swallowing the pain to
share it. To erase it.
A small noise of emotion, both pleasure and pain, escaped her. The sound snapped his control, and he deepened the kiss, tangling one hand in her hair and reaching the other for her waist to pull her breasts tightly against his chest. She opened her mouth in a gasp, and his tongue swept in to tangle with hers and demand control in salvaging the single most important touch he’d ever experienced. A rediscovery, yes, but there was so much more in this deep connection.
He could taste every single meaning in her kiss. She clutched him to her, fisting her fingers in his shirt and clinging to him like she would hold fast for as long as he let her. With a heavy breath, he slid his mouth across hers one more time. He pulled away but kept his hands where they were. “That’s all you need to know. We’ll figure the rest out.”
“How can you be so easygoing about this? This is hard. And big. And scary. How is it you’re so levelheaded about it?”
He shook his head. He would’ve laughed if his whole body hadn’t been tense with the worry of losing her. “I am terrified. I love you so much it makes me crazy.”
“But you seem so calm. I’m a disaster, and you’re all cool and collected.”
His hands roamed down her body, firm and seeking. “When I paddle out and a wave the size of a building comes up, I’m terrified then too. I’d be stupid not to be, but my choices are either try to tackle it and completely wipe out or to go with it and maybe, just maybe, get an awesome ride out of it. I’ve learned that being able to hang with the scary is part of it for the amazing things you want. I want you.”
“I thought you said there was no coming back.” Her sad gaze flicked upward.
“I was mad and hurt and scared. It was wrong, but I couldn’t think straight with the possibility of losing you.”
“I didn’t know what to do,” she admitted.
He tightened his hold on her. “I’m sorry. Ruby called and gave me an earful about it. I should’ve gone straight home with you after Mina’s time slip. I put work before you. I didn’t realize how much you were still in shock over what that asshole did to you and your place. That you were shouldering it for the rest of us and then came back to fall apart alone.”