by Kat Colmer
As soon as we stepped into the heavy afternoon heat in the alley behind the building, I spun to face him. “How can you say this Mortal Coil freak show isn’t a problem?”
Leo pulled the door closed behind him, cutting us off from the air-conditioned cocoon of the café. “Hear me out. You said yourself you’re not after everlasting love and all that, right?”
I had a hunch I knew where this was going.
When I didn’t answer, he continued. “This is a no-brainer for you. You do what you do and enjoy the no-strings-attached consequences. It’s no different to how it’s going down now, except that your weeklong…relationships…get shortened a bit, that’s all.”
I searched Leo’s face for clues, any small sign he was joking. None. Not a twitch. He was dead serious. And on some warped level, he made sense. I’d always said I didn’t want any long-term attachments. My father’s fate, as well as the outline of the ring pressing through Leo’s T-shirt, were stark reminders of the damage long-term attachments could wreak.
This curse business would guarantee all my romantic dealings stayed short. Very short. But now that the concept had gone from hypothetical to highly probable, I wasn’t so sure I wanted to sign up.
“You think it’s that simple, just go on as before—curse or no curse—and screw the consequences?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged like it was no big deal. Like we weren’t talking about throwing away my one and only chance at a real relationship. And that was when it hit me, a sobering bucket of ice-cold realization.
I cared—about the consequences.
About never experiencing anything genuine and lasting with someone.
I wiped an unsteady hand over my face. When the hell did I start caring? Leo watched me, eyes narrowed, waiting for a response. I couldn’t bring myself to give him the one he was expecting.
“Easy for you to say. You haven’t drawn the short straw in the Eros Guardian lottery. You’ll never have to face an insane decision like this.”
His shoulders tensed, and his lips flattened in a humorless smile. “You’d be surprised at the insane decisions I’ve had to face.” He grabbed the ring through his T-shirt, thumb brushing it through the cotton.
A gust of humid air rushed down the alley, tugging at my shirt, brushing clammy fingers over the heated skin on my face. It left me feeling gritty and unclean.
I was done talking about this. “What are you doing here anyway?”
Leo’s stance eased. “I wanted to see if you were up for the Boom Room tonight.”
After the insane day I’d had? “No thanks. I just want to hang tonight. Maybe see what the girls are up to.”
“Beth said she’s around. After she gets Cora ready for some hot date.”
My jaw clenched. Cora. Muscled-up Markus. A movie. And then…
Pressure built somewhere deep in my chest. Could be because I’d stopped breathing. I sucked in a mouthful of humid air, the dirty heat of it burning as it doused my lungs.
Eyes narrowing again, Leo studied me. “You sure you’re not up for some loud music and mindless dancing?”
I shook my head and started for the door.
Leo blocked the doorway with his larger frame. “Dude, I’m just trying to help take your mind off things. Besides”—he took a breath, exhaled it slowly—“I think it’s time I got back into the game myself.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Is that right?”
He shrugged. “It’s been a year.”
This I had to see. “Fine, I’ll meet you there at nine.”
Leo smiled.
It only struck me later, when I was serving another suit—Leo’s smile never made it up to his eyes.
Chapter Sixteen
Cora
“I’m really sorry about the movie.” Markus pulled an apologetic face as he walked me up the veranda steps to my front door. “I’ll do a bit more research next time and make sure it’s actually something worth seeing.”
I rifled through my handbag in search of my house keys. “I didn’t mind it.” Even though the storyline had zero surprises, and the budget had clearly gone into special effects rather than securing half-decent actors. But it had been a doomsday movie. A cheesy one, but a doomsday movie, so not a total loss. Markus didn’t look convinced.
I unlocked the front door. “Really, I didn’t mind it,” I reassured him.
One of the spaghetti straps of the dress Beth had manhandled me into threatened to slip off my shoulder. When I reached up to adjust it, Markus’s gaze skimmed my bare skin before meeting my eyes again. Suddenly the tiles on the veranda floor had his undivided attention, and we stood there, breathing in the awkward silence. Beth and her stupid makeover. The moment I’d seen the red baby doll dress, I’d known it was a mistake.
When he lifted his head, a warm stain marked his cheekbones. “I guess I’ll get going, then.” He shoved his hands deep into his pockets and shifted his weight from foot to foot but didn’t make a move to leave.
I forced a smile. I didn’t want to encourage the guy, but I didn’t want him to go, either. His stories of uni life were just what I’d needed after this morning’s introduction to Demonology 101. Markus had managed to distract me from love curses and Eros Guardian Protection Charms. I wanted to talk to him some more.
“Do you want to come in?”
Markus’s smile could have lit up half the street. “Sure.”
“Okay. We’ll say hi to Dad, then I’ll take you out back. You’ll love the gazebo.”
The night was still, the sky bruised with dark tumescent clouds and the promise of rain. By the time we stepped into the humid semidarkness of the gazebo, a light sheen of moisture covered my skin.
Markus sat down beside me on the bench running along the gazebo railing. I ripped open the Tim Tam packet I’d swiped from Dad on our way out and offered him a biscuit.
“So next time you get to choose the movie,” he said.
“What makes you think I’ll choose differently? I’m a sucker for a virus-out-to-destroy-humanity flick. Especially one with a world-saved-by-nerdy-scientist plot.” I grinned around my Tim Tam.
Markus chewed and swallowed. “I’m more of an alien invasion kind of guy. You know, War of the Worlds type stuff.”
I shrugged. “Each to their own.”
“So, what was it like, living in Manhattan?”
“Okay, I guess. Faster pace, more traffic.”
“And you didn’t want to study there?”
“No, I wanted to come home.”
He looked intently at me for a moment, his green eyes calm. So unlike the volatile gray-blue of another pair.
“I’m glad you came home,” he whispered and leaned toward me. I leaned back and tried not to choke on my Tim Tam. Beth and her stupid makeover! Now I had to explain I didn’t want anything other than—
“Personally, my vote goes to the natural disaster movies.”
What on earth?
Markus jerked away from me, knocking the Tim Tam packet out of my lap and across the floor. The voice had come from the other side of the gazebo, and once I’d extracted my heart out of my mouth I glared into the darkness. At first I couldn’t see anything. Then, a silhouette, lying on the bench on the other side.
“For crying out loud, Jonas!” What was he doing here anyway? Wasn’t he meant to be clubbing with Leo?
His lounging shape stood and ambled across the floor. He bent to pick up the Tim Tam packet, the headphone buds around his neck tiny swinging pendulums. “Sorry, guess there wasn’t a good moment to announce myself.”
Jonas grabbed one of the wrought iron chairs from the middle of the gazebo and straddled it right in front of Markus and me. “So, Markus, read any good romance novels lately?” He smiled at Markus as he helped himself to a Tim Tam, all teeth and thinly veiled animosity.
Markus shift
ed on the bench beside me, clearly unsure how he was meant to react.
Seriously, where did Jonas get off crashing my night like this? Unbelievable!
“If you know what’s good for you, hand over the Tim Tams and clear out.” I thrust out my hand for the packet.
His eyes fell on my outstretched fingers. From there, his gaze burned along my arm to the thin straps of my dress, then down my chiffon-wrapped torso, taking in every line, every curve, like he’d never seen me before. I clutched at my rising anger and used it to smother the sudden flare of heat in my gut.
Jonas chewed, slowly, then swallowed. “From memory, this gazebo is on our property, so technically, you should clear out.” He quirked a brow. “But that would be un-neighborly, so I’m happy to share.” The corners of his lips lifted in a smirk as he offered me my own darn biscuits.
I gaped, my temperature climbing alongside my heart rate. His comment sent me past simmer and fast approaching boil.
“The neighborly thing to do would be to get lost.” I tried hard to keep my voice level. I failed.
We stared at each other—a standoff. A flash of lightning lit up the sky, flooding Jonas’s face. Jaw set, eyes pools of determination, he had no intention of leaving.
Out of the corner of my eye I caught Markus glancing first at me, then at Jonas, before an undecipherable look settled on his face.
Suddenly he stood. “I think I better go.”
I jumped up. “What? No!”
“Good idea,” Jonas said at the same time.
“Look, the two of you obviously need to…talk.” When he reached the gazebo stairs, he turned. “I’ll see you around, Cora.” Three steps later the humid darkness swallowed him.
I stood there staring after him for a good half-dozen heartbeats.
A sharp crack of thunder split the charged night air and jolted me out of my stupor. I spun around. “What is wrong with you?”
Now up off the chair, Jonas stood two arm lengths away. If he felt any remorse for scaring Markus off, his expression didn’t show it.
“I did you a favor,” he said.
“Are you out of your mind?”
“Muscle boy was about to go looking for your Tim Tam with his tongue,” Jonas bit out.
“Well, maybe I wanted him to.” Total lie, but Jonas didn’t need to know that.
He leaned forward, his face all shadows and sharp lines as the near-darkness toyed with his features. “Has this been a long-distance thing? Did you speak with him while you were away?”
“So what if I did?” Lie number two, but I was too worked up to care.
Jonas snorted. “The guy has a backyard designed to charm girls out of their underwear.”
Did he seriously just say that? When he himself went off with— Unbelievable! I grabbed the rough wood of the gazebo railing so I didn’t lash out with more than my words. “And you’d know all about that, now, wouldn’t you?”
His jaw clenched even as a wince tightened the line of his lips. “I don’t like him.”
“You don’t know him.”
“Neither do you.” He widened his stance and crossed his arms. “A few online chats don’t exactly mean much when it comes to getting to know someone.”
My fingernails dug into the railing, the wood biting into my skin. “Nice. So all our conversations while I was in Manhattan were meaningless, too, were they?”
“That’s different.” Jonas scowled under his balaclava of shadows. “We have history, a friendship. You hardly knew him before you left and haven’t seen the guy in over a year.” He took a half step closer. “Ever heard of taking things slower?”
Breathe. Deep and steady, in and out. “Do you hear yourself? You telling me to take things slower?”
His hand twitched, like a gunfighter about to draw. “We’re talking about you, not me.”
“No, let’s talk about you. And how you need to butt out of my life.” Letting go of the safety of the railing, I took a step toward him. “I don’t go around judging how you change girlfriends more often than your social media updates so where do you get off telling me how fast or slow I should go?”
Jonas stilled. “I’m just trying to stop you from making a mistake.”
My jaw dropped. “What, with your track record? You’re the master of the meaningless hookup. You do not get to lecture me on making mistakes.”
Eyes locked on mine, his pulse punched out a frantic rhythm against the side of his throat. “A mistake for some isn’t necessarily one for others.”
Of all the patronizing— “Are you listening to the garbage coming out of your mouth or has all the bullshit clogged up your ears?” I pressed my clenched hands against my sides, fighting the urge to grab his headphones and show him exactly what I thought of his double standard.
“The guy is a player, Cora.”
I scoffed. “Not every guy operates the way you do.”
Jonas flinched but didn’t say anything.
“And even if he is, maybe that’s all I’m after.” I wasn’t, but it felt good to bait him.
His eyes narrowed, two glistening slits. “That’s not you.”
I edged closer still, my frame vibrating with anger. “How do you know? Maybe that night a year ago gave me a taste for short and uncomplicated.”
I felt more than saw something in him shift. Then a flash of lightning ripped the shadows from his face, leaving his expression exposed.
Shit.
The light disappeared. And with it the space between us.
His lips came down on mine. Hard. Near desperate. My eyes slid shut, pushing all other senses wide open: the slide of his tongue, hot breath on my too-tight skin. The scent of him surrounded me, all freshly cut grass and licorice. My mind swam. I couldn’t breathe. Didn’t want to.
One of his hands found its way into my hair, gripping tight. The other pressed into my lower back, urging me closer. The thought of pushing him away scratched at my consciousness, but instead I slid my own hands around his neck and held on.
When my tongue traced the soft inside of his bottom lip, he groaned. And I teetered on an edge, dangerously close to…something.
The next peal of thunder pulled me back. Bullets of rain hammered the gazebo roof, a sobering reminder of where I was.
And with whom.
I staggered back against the railing. Jonas’s eyes locked on mine, whirlpools of dark gray.
“I didn’t mean… You shouldn’t have…” My voice shook. I put it down to anger, too much of a coward to admit it might be something else.
His lips parted when, suddenly, realization dawned.
Oh God, I’m his third choice.
I needed to get out.
Now.
Outside the gazebo, rain pelted the ground so hard it left craters. I’d be drenched by the time I made it back to the house. Didn’t care. I welcomed it. Needed it to flush the taste and feel of him from my mind. Needed it to drown the crushing fear that tomorrow morning I may hate the sight of him.
Or worse still: that I wouldn’t.
Chapter Seventeen
Jonas
“You did what?” Beth’s voice reverberated around the living room, ricocheted off the walls, then shot into my brain like a bullet looking for blood. I sat bent forward on the leather couch, my head in my hands. Water dripped from my sodden hair, each new drop adding to the amoeba-like splatter pattern at my feet, an aquatic piece of abstract art.
“What possessed you?” She paced back and forth in front of me, bare toes flashing metallic blue. Disbelief and anger wrestled in her tone, making her words hitch in strange places.
Too shit-scared to examine the reasons for my actions in the gazebo, I shrugged and shook my head, more droplets feeding the hungry amoeba on the floor.
Beth’s bare feet came to a sudden stop, metallic blue toes
pointed straight at me. “Do you realize what you’ve done?” The heat of her glare singed the hairs on the back of my neck. “She’s your third choice. Which means she’s going to hate the sight of you tomorrow morning.” The thread of panic in her voice was all the proof I needed that she’d accepted the curse as real. Who was I kidding? As desperately as I wanted it all to be a heap of voodoo crock, I was halfway to believing it myself.
Lifting my head took concerted effort, and when I looked at Beth’s face, I wished I hadn’t. It wasn’t the flare of anger in her eyes; it was the lines of pity furrowing out from her mouth that caused my throat to tighten. I bit down on the inside of my cheek, tasted copper.
“You don’t know that for sure,” I said, but my voice lacked conviction. Hell, there was every chance Cora would hate the sight of me tomorrow morning. Why wouldn’t she? Even without the curse I’d understand if she never wanted to speak to me again. I’d acted like a dick instead of a friend in that gazebo. I had nothing to prove that Markus Tanner was a player. For all I knew the guy was a good fit for her. I should have left when I heard them coming. I should have—but didn’t. And when she brought up that night a year ago… My teeth found the inside of my cheek again, clamped down hard.
Beth sighed and sat down beside me, confusion pulling at her face. “Why?”
“I don’t know.” All I knew was seeing Markus about to close in on Cora had flicked a switch somewhere deep inside.
“It’s not like you have a thing for her.”
I should have said something. Anything. My silence spoke too loudly.
Beth bolted off the couch. “You have a thing for Cora?” Hands on hips, her gaze bored into me.
“I… No! Shit, I don’t know.” I dragged both hands through the wet mess of my hair and yanked hard. “Look. She kissed me. Last year. And it’s made things—”