Among the Debris (Son of Rain #2)

by Michelle Irwin

  “Why don’t we aim for dinner Sunday week then?”

  I was confused by the statement. “When?”

  “A week from Sunday,” she explained as if I was slow.

  Swallowing down the thick lump in my throat—the sticky residue of too many emotions too tightly compacted—I nodded. That left eleven days to organize everything. Eleven days of companionship before what would probably be a long stretch in seclusion.

  “I do have a couple of questions about it though,” I said.

  “Shoot.”

  “How exactly will we convince him we’re a couple?”

  She paused and gave me an odd look. “I thought you’d been involved with someone before. Knew what being a couple entailed.”

  “Yeah, but I didn’t have anything to prove to anyone.”

  “How did being around her make you feel?”

  Even as she asked the question, stirring my memories of Evie, an undeniable pleasure spread through my limbs and blood raced to my cock. Despite the instant reaction downstairs when I thought about the way Evie made me feel, there was enough blood remaining in my cheeks to heat and no doubt grow a little redder by the minute.

  Toni chuckled. “You just have to project all that,” she waved her hand in my direction, “onto me, and we’ll be fine.”

  “I think we need to set some limits,” I said.

  In many ways, it would be easy to pretend to have feelings for Toni. She might’ve been older than me, but she had a snarky streak wider than almost anyone I knew—at least anyone outside of my own family—and her personality sparkled with charisma that was almost impossible to ignore.

  Plus, she looked younger than her thirty something years and it would definitely be believable that someone my age might be attracted to her. She wasn’t a classic beauty but instead had the steady confidence of a long-time tomboy who one day discovered she had boobs and could use them to her advantage—for good or evil.

  Despite the fact that I could see why others would be drawn to her like a magnet, the thought of having to kiss her was like a bucket of cold water thrown over me. In the short time we’d known each other, she’d become something of a confidant and a friend. In fact, if I was honest with myself, she’d almost become like a sister—or at least a distant relative that I couldn’t think of in a romantic way.

  “I agree,” she said.

  “So?”

  “You want me to go first?” She seemed appalled.

  “Okay, I’ll go first. No sex.”

  “Damn, and here I thought I was setting up an easy score,” she said with a laugh. I was relieved she was trying to make things lighter. “I think that’s a given. Besides, I don’t think that we’ll be needing to have sex to prove anything to Granddad.”

  A violent shudder shook her body, I assumed because of the thought or a subsequent image it caused in her mind. Her frank approach put me at ease again, and I felt like maybe we could pull this off.

  “No nakedness,” she added the next boundary.

  “Well, there go my evening plans,” I deadpanned. “No groping.”

  “I’m sure, if I try really hard, I can keep my hands to myself.”

  “You might find that a struggle over the coming days when you have to constantly be so close to all of this.” I waved my hand along my body.

  “Me? Struggle? How will you cope, being near these beauties and not being able to touch?” She clamped her hands over her breasts.

  “What about kissing?”

  “What about it?”

  I tried not to wear a strange expression as I said, “We’ll be expected to kiss at some point, won’t we?”

  She thought for a moment before nodding. “At the very least, we’ll have to look like we want to kiss each other.”

  “Maybe we should try it now?” I suggested.

  “Ah, now I see what this is, a ploy to get in as early as you can.”

  “I just think that if it’s repulsive to either of us, it’s better to get that out of the way before we have to do it in front of anyone else.”

  “You think kissing me will be repulsive?” Genuine hurt radiated from her.

  “No, I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant, well, that . . .”

  She burst out laughing at my stumbling apology. “You should see your face.”

  Before I had a chance to react to her trick, she reached out and pulled my head toward hers, claiming my lips for an almost chaste kiss.

  “Hmmm,” she said. “How was that for you?”

  “Honestly?”

  “I’m a big girl, I can handle honesty.”

  “It was a bit like I’d imagine I’d feel if I had to kiss my sister.”

  She took a step backward. “I’m not sure whether to take that as an insult or a compliment.”

  “Um, both?” The uncertainty was clear in my voice too.

  “Hmm, well, maybe next time we do it you should try closing your eyes and thinking of England?”

  “Huh?”

  She waved off my confusion. “I think we need to do a proper trial run of being together before we go anywhere near Granddad’s.”

  I couldn’t agree with her more. If we had any chance in hell of our plan working, Charles had to be convinced that I was there as his granddaughter’s boyfriend—nothing more, nothing less.

  TONI LEANED forward and rubbed her fingers over my thigh, just above my knee. After letting it pause there for a moment, she lifted it to brush across my cheek while balancing her drink carefully in her other hand.

  Watching her intently, examining the way she pretended to play coy while constantly finding an excuse to touch me, I noted that she was a superb actress.

  Each time her fingers trailed over a different part of my body, I forced a smile onto my face.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a handful of the pub regulars—the ones on her team—exchange loaded glances. I drew a breath, told myself that this was all for a good cause, and shifted toward her. With gentle fingers, I brushed a strand of her hair off her face before offering her a wider smile. She grinned back at me before biting her lip and turning away. It was a small beginning, but it was something to initiate the deception.

  If we could convince everyone at the Dove of our relationship, it would be easy to convince Charles. For two days, we built a steady routine of ever-increasing touches and meaningful, loaded looks. The rumor mill was turning steadily, and I was certain most of the others were placing bets on whether we would become an item or not. I felt bad for deceiving the people who’d taken me in, and for making Toni do the same, but it would benefit them all in the long run.

  “Well, it’s been a big day. I think I’m going to head to bed,” Toni announced, casting a furtive, but what was clearly supposed to be meaningful, glance in my direction.

  I ordered another drink as she left, knocking it back as fast as I could while glancing up at the clock behind the bar as regularly as I could remember to. After exactly five minutes had passed, I announced that I was going to bed too. I slapped down some money to cover my tab and then turned to follow Toni’s exit.

  Before the door had even closed, I heard a burst of excited chatter behind me. Because of the thick glass, I couldn’t make out whether it was about us or not, but the timing was definitely encouraging. I headed toward my studio apartment, but Toni’s door opened when I passed it.

  “Come in, lover-boy. I’ve got something to show you.”

  I was thrown for a second, but there was something in her eyes that made me trust her request and follow her into her apartment.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  AFTER THE FIRST night we’d pretended to give in to our temptations, I practically moved into Toni’s apartment.

  Rather than something similar to the tiny studio I had, she had a two-bedroom space filled with a full kitchen and a guest en suite bigger than the only bathroom in my apartment. I wasn’t sure whether it was because she was expected to entertain visiting dignitaries or whether it
was just the luxury provided as the granddaughter of the division leader, but even the quality of the fittings in her space seemed substantially better. Then again, Abraham’s apartment in New York was evidence that being a leader had its perks.

  Although a few of the other operatives in the building had, deliberately on our part, seen me leaving Toni’s place first thing in the morning, no one had confronted us about our relationship. They seemed to let it slide, at least to our faces.

  We hadn’t let it interfere with our hunting or training, but it did cut into the drinking sessions a little. Instead of sitting in the bar with the others, we holed ourselves up in Toni’s living room and made our plans for breaking into the vault.

  “Once I get what I need, how do I get out?” I asked.

  “Hopefully there shouldn’t be too many guards, so you should be able to leave fairly easily.”

  That was good to know but not what I was asking. “I mean, how do I get out of the country? I can’t exactly hop a plane with stolen goods.”

  “Well, fae have a way of—”

  “No,” I cut her off but not with a harsh voice. Even though I was willing to accept her partnership with the fae, I refused to allow her to involve those creatures in any vital part of the plan. I had every reason to suspect they would ruin it for me.

  She hummed in thought. “Well, if you could sail, we might have a way.”

  “Who says I can’t?”

  She tilted her head to one side and assessed me carefully. “You don’t look like the sailing type.”

  “You don’t look like you slay monsters for a living. So what’s your point?”

  “Fair enough,” she said. “If you are happy to go solo on a boat—at least for a little while—I might have a solution.”

  One evening, a few days later, she revealed the blueprints for the recent redevelopment of Oxford Castle that she’d dug up, and we went over the schematics of the place, trying to plan for any contingency we could imagine. It had been over a year since she’d seen the vault, and any number of things could have changed since then.

  “The safe has an electronic lock. This used to be the combination.”

  I looked down at the piece of paper she’d given me. The combination was clearly a date, but it wasn’t her birthday—she’d revealed that a few days ago. Instead, it was a date about three and a half years later.

  “It’s the date of my parents’ death,” Toni said as she saw me trying to puzzle it out. Unshed tears brimmed in her eyes and emotion tied her tongue. “The day I was left in Granddad’s care after they were killed on assignment.”

  “He raised you?”

  “I know what you’re going to say, but it’s not like I do what I do with the fae to hurt him. I didn’t choose this path out of hate or to spite him. He just doesn’t understand. We’ve lost too many family members to the hunt. After I was injured, I was in the fae court for a little over a week. When I arrived home, he was beside himself with worry and refused to listen to anything I had to say in defense of those who’d helped me.”

  “He’s prejudiced against others because of the past?” It wasn’t a difficult thing for me to understand. My family was the same, bound by the fates and bias of our forbearers. Being able to see past all of that made me the black sheep.

  “He was prejudiced because of what he was born to be. The loss of his only son just solidified it for him.”

  I could understand that too. My family’s hatred for the fae was stronger than even some of the most devout Rain because we’d been bitterly wounded by them when they’d stolen Lou from the crib and tortured her for years before Dad could finally get her back.

  BY THE time the day of the dinner rolled around, the purple had completely washed from Toni’s hair—or maybe she’d stripped the remainder away somehow. When I had confronted her about the fading color a few days earlier, she’d just shrugged and said that Charles was a little conservative about some things.

  She met me at her apartment door wearing a pretty white and red spotted cocktail dress. Her now platinum hair had been ironed flat and secured with a red band. Her mouth glinted with red gloss, and her hazel eyes had been subtly highlighted with natural make-up.

  Looking her over, I felt incredibly underdressed. Not that I had much choice in the matter. I had to dress for action and the eventuality of having to leave everything I owed behind. Even though I’d packed my bag with all of my clothes and had emptied out my room, it was possible I would be separated from my belongings. I pressed my apartment key into Toni’s palm before we left.

  “Just so I don’t change my mind.”

  She looked up at me with a sad smile and teary eyes. “What makes you think you’re welcome here anymore anyway? After today, we’re through.” She wrapped her arms around my waist and gave me a squeeze.

  The car ride to the Pluvia Oxford Castle Hotel was quiet. For my part, I was lost in my own mind as it swirled with doubt, fear, confidence, and excitement. Each of the emotions bubbled and then churned my stomach in turn, making it difficult to reign in my fast pulse and rapid breaths.

  “I have one proviso on all of this,” Toni said in the seconds before we climbed out of the car.

  My heart started to race as I wondered what she could possibly ask of me at such a late stage. Would I be able to accept her terms? “What’s that?”

  “You send me links to all information you find. Good or bad, you release it all.”

  I sagged with relief. “That, I can do.”

  “Oh, and Clay.”

  I stilled my exit from the car for the second time.

  “It’ll just be the three of us in there, so try to remember to call me Antoinette. Granddad’s a stickler for using my correct name.”

  Toni led me through the corridors, twisting around the labyrinth of offices and holding cells with skill. We’d gone over the maps multiple times during our planning meetings, so I knew the rough path but had no hope of negotiating the unfamiliar halls with the same skill she did. I didn’t have to escape faster than her though, only faster than the guards, and hopefully I’d get a head start on them.

  Charles met us at the door when we arrived at his personal quarters. Toni had explained that the office where I had met him last time was the boundary between his work and living spaces. Despite opening the door with unrestrained joy, when he saw that I was the one who accompanied his granddaughter, his obvious disappointment was visible on his bulbous features.

  “Jacobs,” he grunted as a greeting. “I didn’t expect to be seeing you this evening.”

  “Granddad!” Toni admonished his obvious rudeness.

  I wrapped my arm around Toni’s waist and pulled her body closer to mine. “It’s okay, sir. I understand. I didn’t expect to fall head over heels for Antoinette either.” I kissed the side of her head for good measure before putting on the most winning smile I could.

  He swept aside to let us in. I could feel his gaze on me as I followed Toni’s lead to the dining room. When we arrived at the table, I held Toni’s chair for her and allowed my fingers to linger on her shoulders for a fraction longer than was appropriate, only shifting them once I’d checked my periphery and ensured Charles had seen. Before I moved, I bent down to whisper in her ear, “So far, so good.”

  She giggled as if I’d whispered a private joke and swatted me away playfully.

  My heartbeat pounded in my ears, masking the noise in the room with my racing pulse.

  Once we were all seated, Charles looked at the spot on the table where my fingers interlaced with Toni’s. It was clear he was uncomfortable with my presence, but I wasn’t sure whether that was because he was suspicious of my motives or just because he didn’t regard me as a desirable suitor for Toni. If it hadn’t been for my history, I would have expected him to be practically jumping for joy. A potential joining of two Elite families would be a massive coup for his division.

  Twice, he cleared his throat as if he were going to say something but then stopped. On the th
ird time, he found his words. “Antoinette, would you like to help me select a wine for this evening?”

  She winked at me before following him out of the room. Once she’d gone, a moment of panic overtook me. If she’d wanted to, she could easily throw me under the bus. The two of them heading off together would be the perfect chance. With Charles’s distrust already high, it would only take a word or two from Toni to warn him of my ultimate plan. Maybe I’d been wrong to trust her. Maybe she’d used my confidence to gather information about me. She hadn’t confronted me about blocking the camera in my apartment, but I hadn’t been using the space anyway. It wasn’t like she needed a camera to keep tabs on me in her home.

  With each extra second that dragged by, I grew more convinced that a pack of guards was going to come charging in and throw me into one of the holding cells. Thoughts of my retraining flooded through me—the seemingly endless days of blood and death—and I broke out in a cold sweat. Twisting in my seat, I looked behind me.

  The feeling of certain capture sent dread coursing through my body and caused pinpricks of fear to rush along my back like the legs of a thousand spiders clamoring up my spine. I suppressed a shudder as I began to run though my escape options—unless of course Toni had been lying about them.

  Toni and Charles were gone for what felt like an eternity. It was only when they returned that I realized my hands were shaking and my breathing was fast and heavy. Sweat beaded on my brow, and I wiped it away with the napkin in front of me.

  Toni frowned but didn’t say anything when she took in my appearance.

  After setting a decanter filled with a deep red liquid onto the table, Charles sat back and assessed me. His index fingers formed a steeple in front of his mouth as he watched my movements. I tried my best to calm my racing heart and stop my fidgeting, but I couldn’t deal with him in the same confident manner I had before. I was supposed to be playing the doting boyfriend ready to commit to a new relationship, not a flight risk.