Kin clutched hard at my waist and I heard a tearing sound, but Pinky didn't let me down. We picked up just enough speed to make a clean getaway as I dodged down the line of idling cars looking for a gap big enough to get to the sidewalk. If I could make it another half a block or so, there was a bike trail leading through Tidewater Park and from there, I could get back to Hastings Street and head home.
Horns blared behind me and I heard Kin say, "Huh," in a bewildered tone, but I caught a break and got us to the park without further incident.
"It's okay, you can stop now." Kin shouted in my ear, so I pulled over under one of the old-fashioned looking street lamps lining the edge of the trail and killed the motor. "There's nobody following us."
Yanking off my helmet, I inspected Kin for signs of damage. His sleeve was torn from the shoulder to the wrist and he had a long scratch down that arm and a spot where his guitar strap had rubbed some skin raw, but otherwise, he looked okay.
"What the hell just happened? Do you know? Because I don't and this whole night has been...I can't even describe the level of strange. It's off the charts." Leaning the guitar against the side, Kin slumped onto the park bench conveniently located next to a street lamp and raked a hand through his hair. In a few weeks, there would be flowers growing in the box behind the bench, and I would take this route home several times a week so I could sit and watch the waves.
Or maybe I wouldn't, because this was about to become the scene of my most recent relationship failure. I'd probably avoid the place for the next year. I wondered if I could talk him into postponing this discussion until we got back to his house.
The pause during the time it took me to work through that bit of logic tipped Kin off to the fact that I might actually have an answer to his purely rhetorical question.
"Lexi?"
"What? I have no idea what happened." The lie could only have been more obvious if it had waving flags, fireworks, and a marching band to announce it.
"Yes, you do. "
"Let me take you home first. Then we'll talk."
"No. I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what you know. Nothing about this night has been normal and I need to know why."
"Where did you get that guitar?"
Frowning, Kin said, "I bought it when I was in New Orleans right after Christmas. From a guy that deals in musical memorabilia. Cost me a pretty penny, too, since it belonged to Skip Stark back in his heyday." I caught a hint of nostalgia and a dash of hero worship in the way he spoke the rock legend's name. "Guy I bought it from told me the wildest story, too. Stark was into the spooky New Orleans counterculture in a big way."
"Tell me the story," I urged.
"Not until you tell me what you know." Kin's fingers speared through his curly blond hair again. As irritated as I was, I couldn't help wishing it was my hands tangled in the strands.
Ignoring his suspicion, and my compulsion for physical contact for the moment, I said, "I'm guessing the story had something to do with the guitar being enchanted, right?"
Comprehension dawned. "But that's...it's not possible. It was just a sales tactic by the dealer. Give the rube a good story so he'll pay more."
"Tell me," I urged gently. "And then I'll explain how I knew, okay?"
"There's not much to tell. Basically, it went down like this; Stark's career was on a downswing. His last album hadn't been selling all that well, and he wasn't booking tours, so...there's two versions of the story. One is that he went to the crossroads and made a deal with the devil to get back on top. The other is that he found someone, like a Voodoo priestess or something, and asked for a spell that would make him popular again. Next thing you know, he's selling out stadiums and has a string of number one records. Total comeback."
"And you thought a little of that success might rub off on you?"
"No." Kin scuffed a toe across the pavement in front of the bench and avoided looking at me. "Maybe. To be honest, I'd rather be gifted with a touch of his song writing skills rather than any large measure of his fame. Especially if what happened tonight is the end result." Even under the dim streetlight, I could see his face was paler than normal. "It was fun for about a minute, right before it turned into something out of a hokey teen movie."
"It can't be all bad. At least you got to see some boobs." Teasing him put some color back into his face. I love a man who blushes. Like, I mean like.
Expectation lingered on the silence between us and I sighed.
"What have the neighbors told you about me?" Like a lover who hogged the bed, the city had sprawled its way into my neighborhood and driven most of the rural right out of the area. Suburbia had marched up to our insulated community and stopped just short of swallowing it whole. Within that small town core were neighbors who probably knew more about my family than I ever would. It was a sore spot with me, given the fact that while they seemed delighted to discuss my history behind my back, I had never been able to pry a single story from any one of them.
"Nothing."
Too hasty; I wasn't buying the denial, so I let a short silence and a raised eyebrow speak for me.
"Fine. I might have heard some things about you and your family. Sue me, I was interested in knowing more about you, but I know better than to believe everything I hear."
"Which parts did you choose to believe? That three really strange but gorgeous women who might or might not be gay live in my house? That weird things happen there all the time? That my grandmother and my mother got into a fight and they both disappeared? Or that I am the last living member of a long line of witches?" Family skeletons rarely remain safely in their closets after a couple of generations have lived in the same house, and even if my lineage hadn't been common knowledge, the spectacle at Beltane was hard to ignore.
"You've touched on the highlights." The wood slats creaked under Kin's weight as he crossed one leg over the other. There wasn't enough inflection in his voice to give me a clue what he was thinking, so I just blurted out the first sarcastic thought that ran through my head.
"Did they also tell you I am the protector of the sacred flame? A fire that has burned in my hearth for hundreds of years?"
"Well, I'm sure it keeps the Easter Bunny warm." Kin matched his tone to mine. I rose to pace in front of him.
"I knew the guitar was the source of the problem because I saw...well, I can't exactly explain what I saw because this is all new to me. Symbols or runes. I don't know what they mean because I've only seen them a couple of times. Being a witch doesn't come with any sort of training manual. Well, I guess it does if you have someone to train you, but it didn't work that way for me. I only just got my powers the other day, and you came along at about the same time, and I'm in over my head." At that point, I knew I was mostly babbling to myself simply to keep talking, because the minute I stopped, Kin would get a chance to speak, and that would be bad. I forced my mouth shut and waited.
After an hour long minute it was Kin's turn to stand and pace while I sank back onto the bench.
"Did you just tell me that you're a witch? I think that's what I got out of all that. Unless I've lost my mind, which actually makes more sense to me than anything else I've heard tonight."
"I'm sorry," I started to say, then stopped, "No, I won't apologize. This is who I am. The real me. Lexi Balefire, the raw and uncut version. Matchmaker. Orphan. Witch. They're all just words. You know my heart, or at least I think you do, but I won't apologize for who I am. Not anymore. You can either accept me or not."
"I need some time. Please, don't follow me." Kin walked away into the darkness while I stood, stunned, and listened to his footsteps until the sounds faded away into the night.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Insistent hammering knocks and a ringing doorbell sent me into full alert mode about two minutes after I finally fell asleep. The clock said it had been three hours, but what does a piece of plastic and computer chips know?
Practically flying over Salem, I landed on the floor in some sort of mo
rning ninja crouch. Hair sticking up on one side, raccoon makeup smudged over puffy eyes, and pale skin went ignored as I tossed a robe over shorty pajamas I didn't remember donning.
"Salem. Did you undress me last night?" The tears had waited until I got Pinky safely into the garage and turned to a deluge by the time I landed face down on my bed. The rest of the night I remembered as one long sobfest followed by a restless sleep. No personal hygiene had been involved, and that included changing into a silky tank over matching shorts in a floral pattern. "And how many times do I have to tell you, if you are naked on my bed, you'd better be wearing fur." That sounded better in my head.
"Me-ow," he said.
"Boundaries, Salem. Seriously."
"Lexi. Open up." The front door muffled Kin's voice. What on earth was he doing here? I'd spent hours the night before resigning myself to the fact that I'd probably never see him again. Not even the logic of him living only a few doors down had factored into my delusion.
"Please, I need to talk to you. Open the door."
Already racing from the adrenaline rush of my abrupt awakening, my heart zoomed a little faster. What did he want? Salem, now in cat form, dashed between my feet and nearly tripped me in the hallway. I stopped short, and he blinked back into his human form. A handy trick, that.
"Don't you dare open that door. It took me hours to get you calmed down enough to sleep last night; nothing good can come from seeing that man right now. He'll only hurt you again."
"He might be in trouble. I can't just leave him out there."
"Sure you can," Salem assured, "just tell him to go away."
"I can hear you through the door," Kin said. "Who's the guy?" A tiny thrill shot through me when I detected a hint of jealousy.
I moved toward the door.
"Oh, I am done here." Salem turned his tail and stalked back up the stairs. Not all the way, though. Just far enough to eavesdrop.
"It's Salem." Stretching up on tiptoes, I peered through the high glass pane shaped like a cobweb. Kin looked like he'd been run through a shredder. His hair stood on end, his face was haggard and sleep deprived, but it was the look in his eyes that made me open the door. They had the same expression as an abandoned puppy, and while I wasn't sure I could fully trust him, I couldn't leave him standing out there, either.
The first thing he did was try to take me in his arms, but I dodged far enough away to keep several feet of distance between us. Walking away like he had was the one thing that played into every one of my biggest relationship fears. Rejection because the chemistry isn't right, or from a lack of common interests is one thing. Being rejected just for being me is what strikes my heart like a hammer.
"What do you want, Kin? We're not going to talk about personal things right now, because I'm not ready for that, so unless something else happened after you left last night, I think you should leave."
The puppy eyes got worse. Great goddess, I wanted to make that look go away almost badly enough to forget the night of tears he had caused. Almost.
Eyes glittering against black fur, Salem padded over to Kin and rubbed against his legs until the man bent to scratch the cat under his chin. Bloody stripes across the back of his hand came as an unexpected result.
"Ow, what the hell got into him?"
"I'll tell you what got into me." Salem at least had the common sense to be clothed when he turned human in front of Kin. The black turtleneck over black slacks against inky skin combined with a lithe body to give him an appropriately cat burglar-ish appearance. Only the white hair would have given him away.
Kin's eyes bugged out and I hid a tiny smirk. "Hush now, Salem."
"I will not. He's a jerk." To Kin, he said, "Actually, you're an idiot. I might even feel sorry for you if I was a charitable sort. Lexi is too good for you anyway. What was I thinking when I brought the two of you together. What? You thought my little spate of breaking and entering was random?"
"You...he's..." Kin looked from the man standing next to him back to me with wide eyes.
"My familiar. It came as a shock to me, too. Now I find he's been meddling in things that are none of his business." I emphasized the last four words with a narrow-eyed glare.
"I thought he was a good guy." Salem defended himself.
"Can't I be a good guy who turned into an ass for a little while and then realized what he'd done was incredibly stupid? Lexi, I'm sorry. It didn't take me long to figure out I'd made a mistake and I tried to come back and tell you that last night, but you'd already gone. So, I sat on that bench for hours and just thought it all through. The guitar, all the success I've been having lately, and you. The miracle of having you come into my life." The words caught, turned his voice hoarse with emotion. "I was a fool."
A snort from Salem netted him another dirty look from me. "Go back upstairs. I can handle this myself." He went, but not without treating Kin to a deliberate stare while he rubbed his cheek against mine in a gesture of possession.
"Gee, why don't you just pee on her leg."
"Lexi wouldn't like that, and unlike you, I prefer to give her what she wants." Salem sailed down the hall, gave Kin one last glowering look, and marched up the stairs.
"Is there something going on between you and..."
"Don't." I held up a hand. "Don't even go there. I might be able to forgive you for last night. In time. But if you put that image in my head, we're done."
Kin gave me a quick grin that I did not return. "Is that everything you wanted to tell me?"
"It was the most important thing, but there is something else. Can I come in?" Curiosity drew Kin's gaze past me toward the bit of kitchen he could see at the end of the hall. He actually leaned his head over to see beyond me.
"You are in."
"Come on, Lexi. I really need to tell you what happened. I think I need help. The magical kind." I blinked at him and wrapped my arms around my waist in a protective gesture. My mind raced through a short argument about whether or not to help him--especially if that meant exposing him to the godmothers in all their glory. The devil on my shoulder snickered at the mental image.
"Fine, but I need to get cleaned up first. I look like death warmed over."
"You look perfect to me."
"Stop trying to suck up. It's beneath you. You'll have to..." I looked around in desperation. There was no safe space for him downstairs; he'd have to come up to my room where I could keep an eye on him. Sigh... "Come upstairs. Follow me." Over my shoulder I said, "There will be no further discussion of us or our relationship." I didn't make air quotes, but I'm pretty sure he got the point. "Those are the rules. Follow them or leave now."
"I'll try."
"And no comments about the decor, either." I swung open the door and pulled it back closed just as fast. "Salem. For the love of all that's holy."
A faint sorry drifted through the closed door. Waiting an extra second to make sure I wasn't about to get another unwanted peep show, I popped the door open a crack to see a fully dressed Salem sprawled on his favorite beanbag bed. Kin followed me into the room.
"You two stay here, I'll be just a few minutes. No fighting." Wagging a finger at my familiar, I grabbed clothing from the dresser and hit the shower. It is a total myth that women are incapable of taking a quick shower, and I think I qualified for a land speed record that day. Ten minutes later, I walked back into a tense silence, which I ignored.
"Okay, tell me," I said to Kin and sat down to put on enough makeup to cover the last residual puffiness around my eyes.
"After I got done with my little pity party, I decided that I didn't want the burden of owning something that could affect women that way. Despite my actions last night, I'm not that kind of guy. Sure it was fun for a little while, but I would never intentionally take advantage of anyone like that." His distaste went some way toward softening my heart, but not far enough to make me trust him with it again.
"So, I figured I'd just destroy the guitar and that would be the end of it. I filled it full of
rocks and tossed it off the bridge." Gingerly, he sat on the edge of my bed, amid the sheets rumpled from a night of tossing and turning. Kin's face was troubled. "Lexi, I stood there and watched it sink."
Keeping one eye on him and the other in the mirror, I took another two minutes to pull a comb through my hair and yank the wet strands into a slicked back tail.
"And..." I prodded when he fell silent.
"And then I went back to the club to pick up my car. When I went backstage to grab my things, the guitar case was still there." I had to strain to hear the next part. "The guitar was in the case." Kin's eyes met mine in the mirror, worry rode his expression. "How could that have happened?"
While I fished in the closet for a pair of ballet flats, Salem warned, "I'll go tell the family we have company."
"Be nice." Depending on what he said to them before they met Kin, the next hour could be a total disaster. "Or I'll get the vacuum cleaner out."
Kin stood in the middle of the room with a look on his face that I couldn't quite read. "You said faerie godmothers last night. Did I hear that right?" The man looked nervous. Who could blame him?
"About that. I'm sure Salem is waking them up right now. They get cranky when that happens." Another sigh, "And they're drop dead gorgeous. Even in their everyday glamour. Try not to stare."
"Give me a little credit, Lexi. I'm not a total dog." That sent my eyebrows toward my hairline. "Okay, maybe I am. But I'm trying."
"Relationship talk. Against the rules. If Salem tells them you made me cry, they'll be even more cranky. Things could get hairy." I paused. "Literally."
"What does that mean? Literally?"
"Let's hope you never have to find out." The devil was back and whispering things about how funny it would be if he did. I'm pretty sure my godmothers are at the heart of every single one of the Bigfoot rumors. Hair growth is one of Terra's favorite curses.
Salem met us at the foot of the stairs, his body humming with contained excitement. "They're in a good mood. No need for the vacuum." Just saying the dread word made him whisper.
A Match Made in Spell (Fate Weaver Book 1) Page 15