“I’ll just be a minute,” I shouted back.
“Don’t tell me you’re jerking off in there! I mean, you have a perfectly good—ow!”
I chuckled at the slap that echoed through the door at the same time he’d issued the cry. Evie must have smacked him for his words.
Good! He deserves it.
I buttoned up my shirt and then pulled the door open.
“Finally!” Eth exclaimed. As he walked past me into the bathroom, he caught my arm and grinned at me. “You’ve got a keeper there,” he whispered.
Glancing past him into the hotel room beyond, I saw Evie sitting on the bed. I met her gaze and smiled. “I know.”
I heard the door shut behind me, and we were alone for a few moments of privacy.
“Are you going to be okay today?” I asked Evie. Because Eth and I were heading into Bayview first, Evie would have to organize her own way there, dragging her luggage the whole way.
The flaming aura around her dimmed a little—something that seemed to happen whenever she was nervous—before she nodded. I could tell it was pointless telling her that it wasn’t too late to back out or that she shouldn’t go. She was determined, and there was no arguing with her determination.
Instead, I wrapped her in my arms. “Stay safe. If anything goes awry, you know what to do.”
She nodded. We’d agreed that she’d return to whatever room she was allocated in the Bayview hotel if something didn’t work as planned.
“And if you can’t get back there safely, just go. Come back here if you can.” My voice cracked. “Just stay safe.”
She nuzzled her head against the crook of my neck. “You too.”
I held her for as long as I could before Eth came back out of the bathroom, dressed and ready to go.
“Let’s do this,” he said as he clapped his hands together once.
I wasn’t completely ready to release Evie yet, but I had no choice.
“See you in there,” I said as Eth all but dragged me out the door.
“You have it so bad,” he said as we waited for the elevator.
“So?”
“So nothing. It’s nice.” A hint of a smile graced his lips. “You know, in a sappy, romantic, vomit-inducing kind of way.”
I WAS shocked at the changes that had happened to Bayview since the last time I’d been there. The dingy exterior had been completely overhauled. Instead of the small, secure entrance it once sported, large, welcoming revolving glass doors opened into a spacious lobby. It was hard to believe that it had only been a little over two and a half years since I’d left on the delivery mission that had ended up seeing me try to find Evie in Rolla, Missouri.
Looking through the glass door at the relatively normal appearing hotel behind, I smiled. It appeared the fae enchantments had finally worn off.
“Are you just going to stand there staring all day?” Eth asked as he pushed in front of me and through the glass door.
The movement shattered the illusion that I was no longer being affected by the enchantment. Although it was faint compared to the aura that radiated from me, Eth had a very obvious blue glow emanating from his body.
I reassured myself that it had already been more than a day. It has to pass soon.
It was useless asking Eth whether his had because he’d consumed much lower doses of the enchanted foods. His would naturally have worn off hours earlier than mine.
Instead of lingering on thoughts of the remnants of the enchantment in my system, I focused on the planning we had ahead of us. After we’d left Evie at the Gansevoort, we’d headed straight for Bayview to try to ascertain whether we could find the infrared heat sensors and disable them for Evie.
Almost as soon as I stepped through the glass doors, a loud buzzing rang in my brain. I stopped walking and pressed the heel of my palm against my temple in an attempt to shake the sound.
“You okay?” Eth asked. “You look a little off.”
I shook my head to clear it. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
He assessed me for a moment before shrugging.
Maybe it’s just the memories of this place, I thought to myself as I followed Eth further into the lobby. We walked around, glancing at the featured items on the wall as if we were just tourists taking in the details of the hotel.
Behind the check-in counter, there was a replica of the painting Venus, an image which held a number of protective symbols built into the abstract design and had adorned the side of the former facility for years before being covered up by developers over time.
I wanted to look at the curves and lines that made up the artwork carefully, to ensure that no cameras were hidden in the inky black lines, but staring at the mural made the buzzing in my head increase in volume and made me feel nauseous. It took everything in me to stay upright with the two overwhelming sensations buffering my body.
Desperate to get rid of the aching in my mind, I snapped my eyes away from the colorful design and looked around the rest of the open lobby. My eyes were drawn upward by the rings of glass balustrading that lined the visible floors, rising five stories into the air.
I did a quick calculation. If the hotel was five stories, that left two floors and the roof as non-hotel space. Plenty of room for some holding cells, treatment rooms, offices, and everything else the Rain needed in order to run their operations efficiently.
The errant thought made me frown. It was proof that buried inside me was the Rain soldier I’d been for so many years. It scared the crap out of me because it was that part of me that would get Evie killed one day.
I moved away from Eth, heading away from the damn mural, which almost felt like it was watching me, and toward the bank of three elevators in the middle of the space. On one wall, I spotted a sign for a restaurant called The Yard, which apparently occupied the rooftop. That left only two floors that Eth would have to explore to find Mackenzie while I tried to figure out if there was anything I could learn about what had happened to Lou from the Rain databases.
Eth followed me into a corner of the lobby, as far from the check-in desk as possible and consequently one of the quietest spots in the place.
“I can’t see any way to secure the lobby for Evie,” he said. “There are a few cameras in plain sight, but none that are accessible without a scissor lift.”
“That’s what I was worried about. We need to warn—”
He already had his cell phone in his hand and was texting.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m telling Evie that we can’t guarantee her passage.”
“You should be telling her not to come.”
He glanced up from his cell, took one look at me, and then snorted. “Yeah, ’cause she’d listen to that.”
My frown deepened. Of course she wouldn’t listen to it. Regardless of my warnings and concerns, she was going to help us. I could have told her there were hundreds of Assessors waiting at the door specifically for her, and I still think she would have risked coming just because I was in the building. I hated it, but I couldn’t begrudge her for feeling that way. If things had been reversed, if she’d been trying to fight her way into a fae court before I knew the truth, I would have gone regardless of the danger it posed to me.
I was about to ask Eth to show me what he was typing when a slow, repetitive clap sounded nearby. Turning my head, I met the eyes of Ben, the son of the manager of Bayview and my former friend. His dark hair was a little longer than the last time I’d seen it, curling back in on itself in a tight afro. He clapped again, ensuring that he had my full attention.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the prodigal son,” he said as his gaze trailed over me.
The judgment in his thoughts was clear as he gave a grin, revealing a row of perfect white teeth. I was thankful for the healing rest and recuperation I’d had at Evie’s side. If he’d seen me when I was last in the States, he would have been disgusted. Now, I thought I probably passed his test and wasn’t immediately written off as still useless.
“I was rather hurt when you left without saying good-bye,” he said.
I doubted the sincerity of his words. In fact, it occurred to me, as I met his predatory smile, that he and his father had to have been in on the decision to allow me to think Lou was dead.
“Tell me, did you ever find that little firebird of yours?”
Trying to contain my anger at the knowledge that he’d been lying to me the last time I’d been in Bayview, I blinked at him.
“Don’t torture the poor boy,” Eth said, clapping Ben on the back. “You know what happened there. Are you really so sadistic that you’d make him relive it?”
Ben turned to Eth, drawing him into a one-handed embrace. “Sadistic? Moi?” He chuckled. “I hope you don’t mind, but I brought some friends down to give you a proper welcome home.”
He indicated toward a nearby door marked “Employees Only.” There were at least five Assessors waiting in the hallway beyond it. My heart started to race, and my mouth grew dry. Visions of my retraining racked through me, and I broke out into a cold sweat.
Ben indicated that I should lead the way through the door, but I was frozen in place. I glanced toward the revolving glass door, wondering if I could make a break for it.
If I did, would I be able to get back to Evie before she left on her trip to Bayview?
Eth turned to me. “Look how special we are, Clay.” His voice dripped with sarcasm. “We get a welcoming committee.”
The thought that if the Assessors were occupied with Eth and me, there were fewer available to impede Evie forced my feet into action and I pushed through the door into the hallway beyond.
“You coming?” Ben asked Eth, who’d stopped and had his phone in his hand.
“Yeah, in a sec. Just gotta text this girl first.”
“Barely back in New York and already setting up a score?” Ben gave Eth an admiring look.
Eth shook the phone. “You know me. This one is hot stuff too.”
Ben laughed. “Aren’t they all?”
Eth grinned at him in response.
“Well, I’ll give Clay here the grand tour. You’ve been here before anyway. You’ll catch up, won’t you?”
Eth didn’t even lift his eyes as he nodded.
It was hard letting Ben lead me away when Eth was texting Evie, but I had to. If it had been me to stay behind to text an unknown girl, I was certain Ben would want to personally check the message for any hint of betrayal. He’d probably pass it around the gathered Assessors as well so they could check for potential hidden meaning or encoded message in every word.
“Do you like what we’ve done with the place?” Ben asked as I followed him into a series of hallways that appeared to loop around the outside of the lobby, leading to staff rooms, janitor’s closets, and everything that the hotel part of the operation needed to run smoothly.
“It’s nice,” I said, not sure exactly what he wanted me to say.
“That’s right, you saw the concept at Oxford, didn’t you?”
The presence of the three Assessors—two had left for another duty almost as soon as I joined the group—caused my nerves to spike. I nodded.
“So, how do we compare?”
I wasn’t sure how to answer, so I kept my mouth shut. Ben’s eyes narrowed slightly, the change so small I might have missed it if I wasn’t paying attention. He’d clearly expected me to be back to my usual smartass self and not skulking around the edges of the place like a nervous bride.
“Well, they have a castle,” I said. “You can’t really expect to compete with that.”
He laughed and the tension left his face. “That’s for damn sure.”
He glanced at something over my shoulder, and I turned to follow his gaze and saw Eth jogging along the hallway to catch up to us. Eth nodded as he came closer, it almost looked like it was a fresh greeting, but it was clear he was letting me know he'd been in contact with Evie. I could only hope he’d warned her to be safe—or better yet to stay away entirely.
“Where are we up to?”
“I was about to show Clay the service elevators.”
I wondered what was so special about them, but thought it was safer not to ask. Instead, I followed as Ben led the way through the labyrinthine halls toward the back of the hotel.
The way the staff deferred to Ben as he walked past them was surreal. I was used to him being just another face in a sea of Rain operatives, despite his status as the director’s son. Sure, he’d get away with more than most when off duty, but otherwise, he’d been just another elite operative. Watching him stroll among these new employees was almost like watching Fiona walk the halls of the fae court.
"Most of these people are civilians," he explained when we were alone.
"They believe my father and I were the mysterious benefactors behind the significant donation that ensured the safe conversion of a run-down New York landmark into this hotel." He grinned, and I could tell he'd done nothing to dispel the myth. He continued the tour through the lower level.
The ringing in my ears grew, and my eyes started to throb under the effects of some unknown pressure. I shook my head and concentrated on Ben’s words to ensure I didn't miss anything vital.
While we walked, he pointed out some of the finer parts of the reconstruction, including reinforced ceilings, and described the state-of-the-art sound-deadening that had been installed throughout. "The guests here don't know it, but they're in the safest, quietest hotel in all of New York. A grenade could go off on the secure levels and even the lightest sleeper wouldn't stir."
We arrived at the service elevators, and I realized he’d meant the creature hoists. It was one part of Hell that seemed largely untouched. Although I was certain they were available for genuine service use now that the building was a hotel—shuttling laundry and cleaning carts throughout the floors and the like—the original use was clear for anyone who knew what to look for. On either of the thick steel walls was a small panel secured with an electronic lock. Although not currently on display, I was certain that behind each panel was a set of irons and chains to secure all manner of creature in place for the journey upstairs.
Ben indicated I should step inside and I started to worry that perhaps my arrival was being met with more skepticism than I’d hoped. I tried to hide my nerves, but I couldn’t help that my mouth went dry and my head ached. In addition to the ache that had started the moment I entered the building, my pounding heart echoed in my skull. Trying to think of an escape route, but knowing that declining to go with them would only cause me more problems, I stepped into the elevator and tucked my hands tightly against my sides. The three Assessors that had been with us quietly dispersed as I walked into the car.
Eth nudged my back. “Relax,” he hissed in my ear.
It was the reminder I needed to release the tension in my shoulders and act like I belonged there.
Evie played the part better at airport security than you are right now, I chastised myself.
“So, where to?” I asked.
Ben selected the rooftop before turning to give me an odd look. “I thought you had a meeting with Dad?”
“Yeah, I just thought you’d want to continue the tour,” I said.
“Are you kidding?” Ben laughed. “You’ve seen one fucking hotel, you’ve seen them all, right?”
“You’ve got that right,” Eth said. “The only view that changes is the girl you’re with.”
The distraction, talking about past conquests, had Ben and Eth chatting together all the way up to the rooftop. The elevator doors slid open into the kitchen of a busy restaurant. For the first time since arriving, the ache that had set my teeth on edge subsided a little. The undercurrent of buzzing was still there, but it wasn’t unmanageable.
“Welcome to The Yard,” Ben said with a flourish. “Dad’ll meet you at the table.”
“You’re not joining us?” I asked, hoping he’d say yes so that it was one less pair of eyes in the main lobby when Evie arrived.
“I have a few security things to attend to first, but I’ll catch up with you later. Now that you’ve come home, we’ve got all the time in the world, right?”
“Definitely.” I knew that was supposed to be the intention—I was purportedly there to return to my former position as part of the Rain Elite. Ben pointed us toward the exit from the kitchen before heading in a different direction.
“You ready for this?” Eth asked. Before I had a chance to answer, he pushed through the door.
As ready as I’ll ever be.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
ABE STOOD THE moment he spotted Eth and me. He held his arms open, seemingly in a gesture of welcome, while he waited for us to make our way across the busy restaurant.
“Clay, how wonderful to see you again.” He offered me one of his large hands to shake and patted my shoulder with his other. “How are you?”
“Better than I have been in a long time,” I said, and it was true, despite the buzzing in my head. I wondered briefly why we were at such a big table, with room for at least six, when it was just the three of us meeting together with the potential of Ben joining us later.
“You can’t know how happy I was when I heard you were coming home.”
I could have argued that Bayview had never been, and never would be, my home, but it was easier to nod. “It’s good to be back.”
“I hadn’t expected you to come here first. So to what do I owe the pleasure, boys?” He glanced between Eth and me, and his brown eyes appeared to assess each of us closely, no doubt looking for subtle hints and tells.
“I just want to start doing good again,” I said. “But,” I sighed, “I just don’t know if I can work with Lou yet.”
He nodded and the solemn expression he wore seemed to make the folds around his eyes more pronounced, especially where his chocolate skin darkened under his eyes. “That was a very unfortunate situation. You do understand that it was for the best, don’t you?”
For the best? Disgust caused bile to rise from my stomach. Lying to me about my sister’s death was “for the best”?
Court the Fire (Son of Rain #3) Page 22