“I do not understand how you can eat as much as you do without weighing eight hundred pounds.”
Trust Jasmine to toss the first wet blanket.
I looked down at her. Man, it was good to be taller than somebody. “Metabolism,” I said around a second bite. “My dad said I got it from my mom. Must be all those Duster powers, huh?”
Jasmine gave one of those “Dear God, why did the Duster have to be you?” sighs and rolled her eyes. “Have you made a sweep of the surroundings?” she demanded.
“A sweep?” I took a sip of wine and choked down the brownie.
A sharp wind came up out of nowhere and was actually strong enough to ruffle a couple of Jasmine’s gray curls. Amazing. I would have bet money it was plastic hair. “I know everyone here, Jasmine. There are no demons at this party.”
“There’s me.”
Ah yes. I kept forgetting that. “Yeah,” I said around another bite, “but you’re on my side.” At least, I was pretty sure she was. I thought about that for a minute. What the hell? I was sure.
“And there is another.”
I followed her pointy finger straight to where my darling daughter was smiling up at Spike-and-piercings Boy. “Okay, sure. There’s one. But he’s only half demon, and even you said that he was good.”
“I said some demons are good.”
“MY POINT,” I said, loudly enough to be heard over a classic Stones song just starting up on the stereo, “is that this is my day off.”
“Dusters don’t get days off,” she said, sniffing. “Especially when they’ve been foolish enough to beard the lion in his den.”
“Oh, for chrissakes,” I whined. Yes, whined. I’d thought Devlin was pissed off about my little meeting with the judge. But he was nothing compared with Jasmine’s fury when she found out about it. “There’s no more room on the Guilt Train, so just pull the hell out of the station.”
“I beg your pardon?”
Now it was my turn to sigh, so I let her have a big one. “I only did what my mom would have done, didn’t I?”
At the mention of my mother, Jasmine’s shoulders actually slumped for the first time since I’d known her. Shaking her head, she said softly, “Cassidy, you must believe me. We never knew. Your grandmother and I. We had no idea your mother’s death was anything more than a tragic accident.”
“I do believe you, so chill,” I said and gave her an awkward pat on the back.
Naturally, when I got home from Devlin’s, Jasmine was there, feeding Sugar a cookie, the one way to make sure my dog loved her forever. I had faced her with the judge’s boast, and just the look on her face had told me all I needed to know.
She hadn’t been aware of this at all. Everyone had been in the dark about this, and I wasn’t looking forward to Gram’s next visit when I would have to tell her the whole truth. Hopefully, though, by then I would have done away with Jenks, and we could all go spit on his grave together. Nothing like a family outing.
“Hell, Jasmine, you should be glad I faced him down. Isn’t that why you’ve been training me?”
Her bony shoulders snapped straight, and she moved quickly to stand right in front of me. Hands clasped at her waist so tightly her knuckles were white, she stared up into my eyes and gave me the same speech she’d been giving for the last two days. “Your training has just begun. You are in no way able or qualified to confront a demon like Judge Jenks. Perhaps in a year. Or two.”
“Two years?” I shook my head, bit into the brownie again and said, “Thea’s being threatened now. No way am I going to wait.”
“You were fortunate to get out of there alive.”
Even more fortunate after I got back to Devlin’s place, but that wasn’t the point here.
“Yeah, yeah. I’ve already heard the speech. Look, I did what I had to do, and you know, Jasmine, you’re just going to have to lighten up.”
“Excuse me?”
I glanced at her, then shifted my gaze back to where Rachel and Simon were boogying to “Brown Sugar.” Now there was a great old Stones hit. Smiling, I said, “I don’t take orders well. Never have. I’m willing to train and rip out the hearts of demons—never thought I’d say that, much less do it—but don’t try to stop me from protecting my daughter.”
Her mouth worked like she was chewing on words she really didn’t want escaping. Fine by me. She wanted to chew words; I wanted another brownie. I stepped past her, heading for the table, when her voice stopped me.
“You’re right.”
I whirled around so fast I sloshed some of my wine over the rim of the glass. Oops, needed a refill. Eyes wide, mouth hanging open like a moron, I gaped at her for a beat or two. “I’m what?”
“Right.”
“I’m right. Wow.” I grinned, slugged down the rest of my wine and toasted her with my empty glass. “God, I love hearing that. About what am I so right?”
“Your first duty is to your child,” Jasmine conceded. “Thea is vulnerable, it’s true. But should you wish to confront the judge again, I would ask that you take me with you.”
“Ask? Wow. Didn’t know you knew how.” Hmm. Devlin had said the same thing. Going to be quite the party. “I will,” I said, leaning over the table to grab another brownie. “Thanks. That means a lot.”
“Good.” Then she shook her head and muttered, “I will do a sweep of the area. Please. Don’t allow me to interrupt. Continue to eat.”
So I did.
“That woman gives me the creeps,” Rachel said as she came up behind me. “Even if she is your Gram’s friend.”
“She’s okay,” I said, though it felt strange to be defending Jasmine. Still, I was beginning to think that maybe we were going to actually find a good working relationship. As long as, you know, she stopped giving me orders every ten seconds.
“Whatever,” Rachel muttered, dismissing Jasmine. “On a different subject…I swear I don’t know why you don’t make Thea stop hanging with that kid.”
“Because,” I said, now focusing my gaze on my daughter and the little demon looking at her like I looked at a brownie, “the minute I do that, she’ll want him even more.”
Jett had one arm around Thea’s shoulders, and it was all I could do to not go pluck it off and toss it in a trash can. I don’t know about mothers of boys, but those of us with daughters are on hyperalert at all times. Of course, those skintight jeans and cute little crop tops she wore weren’t helping me out any. Did she really have to be so pretty?
“True. God, kids’ll kill you.” Rachel took a drink of her own wine, then waved the glass at a crowd of men standing in a circle laughing and talking. “Logan looks like he’s having a good time.”
“Uh-huh.” I tore my gaze reluctantly from Thea and Jett to focus on Thea’s dad for a minute. Logan had been Mr. Charm all evening. And trust me when I say Logan charming is something that is hard to stand against. For the last hour, he’d been ingratiating himself with the whole damn neighborhood. He’d joked around with Thea, glared at Jett and practically ignored me. What was up with that? Not that I cared or anything.
“Simon likes him.”
“Simon likes everybody.”
“I know. Irritating, isn’t it?” Rachel laughed and nudged my shoulder. “That’s why he and I make such a good team. He’s a people person, and I’m a kill the people person. But enough about me—why don’t you tell me why you invited Logan if you didn’t want him here?”
I flicked her a quick glance. “Who says I don’t want him here?”
“Please. What am I, blind?”
“Certainly not mute.”
“Oh, that’s a good one.” Rachel took a sip of wine. “You’ve been avoiding him since he got here.”
“He’s the one doing the avoiding,” I pointed out, although, fine, I’d done a little Logan ditching from time to time during the course of the party. Couldn’t help it. I just didn’t know how I felt about him. The old magic was there, for sure. Logan got anywhere near me, and I could feel the
buzz of a chemical attraction shooting through me. But I was already involved with somebody else. I couldn’t start up something with Logan at the same time. My brain might explode.
“Still haven’t answered my question. Why’s he here?”
I sighed and shifted my gaze from Logan, laughing with my neighbors, to Thea, smiling up at Jett. Hiding a shudder, I said, “Thea wanted him here.”
While I watched, the Fergusons’ cat chased Sugar across our yard and into the street. The big dog’s eyes were wide and horrified as she charged up to Thea for protection from the evil calico, knocking Thea into Jett. I laughed until Demon Boy’s arms wrapped around my little girl and held on tight.
“Killer dog,” Rachel said, chuckling, then added, “Okay, now I understand why Logan’s here. Still, I really wish you would have told me you were inviting him.”
The calico cat stalked off into the crowd, chin high, tail wagging in triumph as he left Sugar a quaking mass of nerves. “Why?”
“Well, let’s just say things might get a little interesting.”
The tone of her voice caught my attention, and I turned to look at her. “Rachel, what did you do?”
She flipped her hair behind her shoulder, grinned and took another gulp of wine. Then her eyes went wide, and she pointed past me, still smiling. “That,” she said. “I did that.”
I turned around and felt my jaw drop. “Devlin?” I hissed out the word. “You invited Devlin and didn’t tell me?”
Rachel shrugged. “Figured it was my only shot at meeting him.”
“You are dead. Totally dead.”
“Completely dead, then.”
“Oh yeah, as in, Ding Dong.”
“Very nice,” Rachel murmured, then held out her right hand and smiled as Devlin walked up to us. “Hi. You’re Devlin Cole. I’m Rachel Cohen.”
His hand enveloped hers, and I was pretty sure I heard her sigh.
“Thank you for inviting me,” he said, then shifted his gaze to mine. “Hello, Cass.”
“Devlin. Rachel didn’t tell me you were coming.” Otherwise I might have been wearing something other than a sweatshirt and jeans. And, gee, I might have even worn shoes. No. Wait. Probably not. But I sure as hell would have put on some makeup. Oh, best friend or not, she was going to have to pay for this.
“It sounded like fun,” he said, his gaze catching mine before sweeping over the crowd.
He looked…different. He was wearing jeans—black, of course—and an open-collared, charcoal gray knit shirt. It was the first time I’d seen him out of a suit—well, except for seeing him naked.
“Oh,” Rachel assured him, winking at me, “we’re lots of fun. Speaking of fun, think I’ll go make Simon dance with me again. Zoe could use a good laugh. Nice meeting you,” she called out as she walked away.
“Nice to see you.” He dipped his head and kissed the corner of my mouth.
“You missed.”
He grinned at me. Man, that man has some serious smile power.
“I’ll do better next time.”
He sure had the last time. God, I could feel my skin humming at the memory.
“You keep looking at me like that, we’re going to have to leave the party.”
Oh boy.
“Okay, then,” I said, looking away from him fast. Hey, I was up for another ride on the orgasm train, but I wasn’t finished eating yet. Not to mention Thea and Logan were here, and how would I explain disappearing to them? I took a step away, just in case my hormones decided to take charge again. “So, what do you think of our party?”
He shoved both hands into his pockets and looked around. “I like it.”
“It’s a tradition. Started when I was a kid, and every time a new family moves onto the street, they just get swept into it. Like a big good-bye to summer, you know?” I didn’t wait for him to speak, just kept talking, picking up speed as I went. Hell, I could hear myself going and couldn’t think of a way to shut myself up. “The Marchetti boys take care of the music. I swear it’s the only night of the year they’re not under one of their cars. The Butlers always donate the lights because Bob is just a nut over decorating for Christmas; you should see the place then—I swear he owns half the Edison company or something, because his bill must be tremendous in December. And then there’s the food. You can see there’s, like, a truckful or something, and there’s dancing, if you can stand to humiliate yourself in front of the teenagers—”
“Cassidy?”
I sucked in air. “What?”
“Do I make you nervous?”
On so many levels I couldn’t even count them all. But no way did I want to give any man that much information. “No, I make me nervous around you.”
He reached out and ran the tips of his fingers along the side of my breast, and I actually felt both of my nipples jump to attention.
“I like knowing that.”
I smiled wryly. “You would.”
The music pounded out around us, and snatches of conversation rose and fell like the tide. Wind rattled the branches of the trees and tossed Devlin’s hair across his forehead, giving him a dangerous, pirate look. Ah, fantasies, alive and well in my head.
“Are you going to dance with me?” Devlin asked.
“In front of these kids? Are you nuts?”
“The Duster is scared of teenagers?”
I laughed. “Everyone with a brain is afraid of teenagers. Where’ve you been?”
“Cassie.”
Damn it. My fault. I should have been paying attention, but truth to tell, I was so busy looking at Devlin, I’d forgotten all about Logan. I turned around. “Hi, Logan. Having fun?”
“I was,” he said, his eyes narrowed, his mouth grim as he looked Devlin up and down as if Devlin were standing in a lineup. “Who’s your friend?”
He knew damn well who Devlin was.
“Devlin Cole.” He held out one hand toward Logan, and when they shook, I could see lines of tension erupt on both their faces. Apparently there was some kind of testosterone battle going on. Perfect.
“Logan…” Nothing.
“Devlin…” Nada.
Both men were glaring at each other as if I weren’t there. Their hands were locked in a silent battle of one-upmanship, and the strain was beginning to show. Logan’s eyes were all squinty, and Devlin’s jaw was locked as tight as his grip. Logan would never quit. I knew that about him. He’d stand there until his hand broke. Devlin—him I didn’t know so well, but demon or not, he was male, so I figured he’d be just as stupid about this as Logan.
Finally, I stepped up between them, put one hand on each of their chests and gave a hard shove. This time, Duster power came through for me, and both men backed off a few steps, though neither of them acted as though their hands hurt. Idiots.
“Logan, Devlin was invited to this party, just like you were.”
“By you?” he demanded.
“Who else?” Devlin challenged before I could say that Rachel, my soon-to-be-dead ex-best friend, was the instigator here.
Logan gave me a look that promised we’d be talking about this later. Gee, can’t wait. A moment later, he turned that glare on the man watching him.
“What the hell are you doing hanging around Cassie, anyway?” Logan walked in close, giving Devlin his most imperious cop stare.
“Cassidy and I enjoy each other’s company.”
“Sure, you do.”
“Is that so hard to believe?” I asked, and Logan never even glanced at me. Men are so stupid, really.
“Not that it’s any of your business,” Devlin said, “but Cassidy and I are working together on a project.”
The judge.
Yeah, you could say he was a project.
“Right. The demon thing.” Logan snorted. “She told me about it. About you being a ‘good’ demon. Well, she might have fallen for that shit, but I don’t buy it.”
“Logan, lower your voice.” For God’s sake, did I really want all of my neighbors to hear about
demons? My head was like on a swivel, spinning back and forth, making sure no one was close enough to overhear this bizarre little conversation over the roar of the music. Thankfully, the three of us were far enough away from everyone else that only I was forced to keep listening.
“Cassie’s going along with your ‘I’m a poor, tortured demon’ line,” Logan said, his gaze sweeping up and down Devlin dismissively, “but I know what you are.”
“Logan, you are being a moron,” I said.
“Stay out of this, Cassie.”
“Yes, Cassidy, stay out of this,” Devlin said, and his voice was just a low rumble. Like the far-off sound of a freight train.
“Just what am I, according to you?” Devlin asked.
“A lowlife,” Logan said. “The owner of a club that will be shut down for good as soon as we figure out a legal way to do it. You don’t have any business hanging around Cassie, and if you think I’m going to stand back and let you move in, you’re nuts.”
“My place of business is perfectly legal. Neither you nor anyone else in the police department will ever be able to prove otherwise.”
Ooh. Bad call. Never challenge Logan. Now he’d be like a bloodhound. Of course, he probably would have been anyway. I shook my head and concentrated on what Devlin was saying.
“As for Cassidy, you had your chance with her sixteen years ago,” Devlin said, and his mouth twisted into a half smile. “You were stupid enough to walk away.”
Logan took a step closer, the tips of his battered cowboy boots slamming into the toes of Devlin’s expensive loafers. “You don’t know me.”
“Don’t care to.”
“Cassie and I have history.”
“Cassidy and I have now.”
Oh, wasn’t this just fabulous? I looked around, smiling and wincing at the faces that were finally beginning to turn toward us. Swear to God, I was going to have to kill Rachel for this. Or maybe Logan. Or Devlin.
Hell.
Kill ’em all.
“You stay the hell away from Cassie and my daughter.” Logan was doing a little snarling all his own. “I don’t want you anywhere near them.”
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