by Milana Jacks
I peeked over the edge of my…nest and saw him grab our bags into his front claws, then he spun around and began running. His wings unfurled with a loud slap of air, and he lifted. I sat up to see behind me as the mansion and all the people waved us off. It hit me then that I was finally gonna make my own life.
12
Nentres
I landed in the middle of Jackson Square inside the French Quarter and faced the outlaw housing on St. Ann’s Street where Eddy’s goons couldn’t possibly miss me even if they tried. Yeah, I know y’all live here. I looked around for them and didn’t see a single one, which meant nothing. Landing in the square left me wide open if they wanted to shoot me down.
Outlaws could be stationed anywhere, on top of any high point in the area, and with Eddy suspecting the Cy were stealing his people, the security near their den would be tightened.
I peeled back my lips and snorted. Sulfurous smoke came out, but no fire. Just checking my element to see if Amy and I were on the same page. Not yet, or there would be fire. It seemed to come out sometimes, not others, and I didn’t have control of it. Not even a spark, and I didn’t think Amy knew how to wield fire either. Not a problem, since I played our little fling game for keeps.
I eyed the various hotels in my line of view, the damn franchise ones specifically. They had an advantage of height, and I could land on their roofs, whereas if I landed on some of the smaller ones, I feared I’d crush them under my weight. Nobody wanted that, least of all me. These buildings had barely stood the test of the Ice Age as it was.
I grumbled, snorted some more smoke, and walked around the square, watching for outlaws and picking out a hotel.
“Where are we?” Amy asked.
“In the town,” I answered with my mind. Again testing, this time our mind link. We didn’t have one or else she would’ve heard me. Dragons communicated via a mind link, and Lance communicated with his spirit via that link too. I presumed I’d be able to communicate with Amy had we actually formed our bond.
“What the…?” I heard her say, and she stood, trying to come out of her designated riding space. I lifted my scales, forming a wall around her. I needed to keep her inside while I waited for Eddy just in case he or one of his men decided to fire on the giant creature on “their” turf. I made a mental note to finalize the turf thing with Eddy. If he didn’t cave in, I would simply eat him and replace him. Oh, they’d try to rebel, in which case I would exile them all. The south was mine, and I’d be damned if a human called my home his turf. With territory in mind, I lifted my leg and pissed, showing all my teeth.
“From a pretty boy to an ugly-ass beast.” Eddy stood on the balcony on top of a former nineteenth-century furniture shop I contemplated moving into. He’d vacate, of course. Immediately.
“Hey, Eddy!” Amy said.
Huh? I would land on his head! I snarled. The wind came rushing out, carrying smoke with it. Smoke was better than nothing, I thought. Fire would come; eventually, it would come. I felt it coursing through my veins. Or it could be that I was pissed off that Amy and Eddy were all buddy-buddy right now. I snarled again, thinking I didn’t have to land on Eddy’s head when I could fry him.
I tried. More smoke came out.
Eddy raised his hand and walked down the balcony that wrapped around the building, which stretched the entire block. He tried to peek behind me, looking for Amy, I supposed. I walked closer to him so he could see her and lowered my scales.
“Hey, sugar. Whatcha doing up there?”
My chin rested on the rail.
Eddy backed up. I inhaled his fear, though you’d never know it because Eddy appeared cool as a cucumber.
I whipped my tail, his fear making me excited.
The tip of my tail caught a car and swiped an entire row of them. They flew and crashed into a pile of metal inside the square. Okay, so I should assume my human form for the sake of the city. In dragon form, I was a bit less tolerant of Eddy’s attempts to charm my spirit. White light burst around us as I changed back to human and caught a screaming Amy in my arms. “I got you, baby.”
“What in the world? You could’ve warned me, you know.”
“I couldn’t have. Dragons don’t talk.” I put her down.
“We’re like…a few miles from the house.”
Oh, that. I thought she was talking about the way I’d shifted and caught her. A trick I’d practiced when I collected treasure and stored it up in the spirit’s designated riding space. I thought it would impress her. Failed attempt again.
I took her hand in mine and surveyed the outlaw stronghold, a two-story building that stretched through the block, the breakfast place on the far end to my left. I remembered the small shops on the bottom, and benches where the elderly and mommas with strollers sat right behind me, and the greenery of Jackson Square. Now it was gloomy, gray, and it smelled like crap. I wrinkled my nose. “You wanted to open up a shop, but I think it means you want to be free of your stepmom, the ball, and everything you’ve ever known. Isn’t that right?”
“That’s right.”
“And I told you I can’t take you to Pittsburgh. So here.” I pointed at the boarded-up windows. “Take any shop you want. Up there”—I pointed smack dab in the middle, not seeing Eddy upstairs anymore—“there’s an apartment with a king-size bed. Now, sugar, if you ask me, I prefer the penthouse, but I won’t stay in one of them shitty franchise hotels. Also, I can land in the square, so I’ve got a parking spot. Does all that suit you fine?”
Amy looked stunned. “What am I supposed to do?”
Ah, so she hadn’t figured out exactly what she wanted, only that she wanted something to call her own. “What were you gonna do for work in Pittsburgh?”
“Um, I planned to hang out with my cousins until I figured what I wanted to do with my life.”
“You can hang out here. Come on.” I picked up my backpack and slung it over my shoulder, then got her suitcase.
“Wait a minute.” Amy’s boots clicked the pavement behind me.
Eddy flung open the door.
We walked into the empty shop. “Eddy, my friend.” I put the suitcase in front of him. “Take the lady’s bag upstairs. We’re gonna call it the penthouse.”
“Do I look like your butler?” He closed the door, then smashed the iron door behind it.
Oh, so the den was fortified. Nice. “My butler is excellent. I wouldn’t let you wash my car.”
“You don’t have a car.”
“Exactly.” I slung an arm over Amy’s shoulders and tucked her near me. “This is Amy. I see you’ve already met.”
“We have,” she said.
“When and where?” I gritted out. “How is even more important.”
Amy slapped the sweatpants over my chest. “Stop it. And put some clothes on.”
Right. I thrust my feet into the damn pants, and she handed me my sneakers. I grabbed her hand and held on when she tugged. “We’re getting a room,” I told Eddy.
“Be my guest. It’s gonna cost ya. Which room you want?”
I’d chew his cheek off with my human teeth. “Yours, of course. And I ain’t paying.”
“Everyone pays or brings something when they step into my turf uninvited.”
The turf conversation would have to wait. “We’re paying with the jewelry she stole from me and gave to you the other day. You know what I’m talking about.”
Eddy eyed me sideways. “Get to it, blondie. Whatcha doing here?”
“We’re on a honeymoon.”
“In his fantasy world,” Amy said. “In the real world, I’m starting over.”
Eddy gave us a blank stare. I knew we made no sense, and I felt the same way, which was the reason I didn’t know what else to tell him.
“The girl is welcome,” he said.
I didn’t want to do this with Amy around, but now that Eddy basically told me he controlled who stayed where in this town, I deemed it necessary.
“Eddy,” I said, then paused when his
men filled the room. They trained all manner of weapons on us.
Eddy cracked his neck. “Like I said, the girl is welcome.”
“I don’t think you want to do this.”
“You and I had an understanding. My town.” He pointed outside. “Your mansion over there.” He pointed in the direction of my house. “You don’t see me landing in your yard.”
“Let me explain somethin’ to you. There are four dragons on this Earth. One for each pole. My brother Lance, the one from the West, is coming to my ball, should be here by Saturday morning. He flooded the habitat when they tried to take his…girlfriend. I will burn everything in my path, he’ll flood the town to take out the fires after. By the time we get done, there’ll be nothing left. Nobody wants that, or do you?”
Eddy and I came chest to chest, and I remembered us brawling over the skateboard. It seemed like it had happened in another life.
Amy tugged my hand. “We’ll pay if you let us stay in your nice place, Eddy.” She extended her hand, and in her palm sat an amber ring, the one she would give up everything for. “Take it,” she said.
I snatched it from her hand before Eddy could even think about it. “What the hell?”
“You threatened to burn and flood the city with all the people in it. I think the ring is worth all those lives, not to mention I’ll have nowhere to go. You brought me here, and you know what? It’s a great idea. We could use some cheer around here.”
“Cheer?”
“A birthday party. A wedding party. Something.”
“That’s what I said!” a woman pitched in from the peanut gallery. “We’re planning a parade.”
Amy spun around, and I glanced over her head at a middle-aged woman with two kids holding her skirts. Shit. Amy would hate me for threatening these people. For the record, I would not hurt the humans and neither would Lance, but that didn’t mean I would give up my claim on Amy or New Orleans or the South.
Amy tugged my hand again, but I couldn’t let go. Yet.
If I resorted to violence, it would set me back with Amy, not that I was making any progress with her anyhow, but still, no progress sounded better than digressing. I released her hand and shrugged off my backpack, then thrust the damn thing at Eddy.
He smirked and opened it, then closed it back up immediately. I didn’t think any of his people knew at what part of his life Eddy had come into a fortune. I’d handed him back his Confederate gold. In exchange, he would shut up and let me get on with my plan. As thieves, we understood each other, no agreement necessary.
Eddy moved out of my way. “I don’t live up there anymore, so you can have my old apartment.”
Amy thanked him and climbed the steps.
I didn’t like how Eddy watched her fine ass sway.
We stood shoulder to shoulder. I nudged him. “I’ll poke your eyes out.”
He chuckled. “You’re in love.”
“Eat me.”
He clapped me on the back. “Got time for a game tonight?”
“Let me check with my lady.”
He snorted. “Pussy whipped.”
I climbed the steps and threw him a middle finger over my shoulder.
13
Amy
The beige carpet in Eddy’s old apartment, aka our penthouse, had seen better days, but the royal-blue bedding on the king-size bed smelled the same as the one in Nentres’s bedroom, so I presumed this was what homemade soap smelled like. I remembered the penthouses from the time before the Ice Age, when my parents and I went on vacations. We’d traveled the world, usually to warm places like Spain and Italy. This was no Italian hotel, but it was mine for all intents and purposes.
Next, I tested the glorious shower. I opened the faucet, then started taking my boots off when I heard the telltale sign of lack of water. A few drops hit the tile, then nothing.
No running water.
“They’ve got community baths,” Nentres said.
I yelped, nearly coming out of my skin. “God, you scared the crap out of me.”
“Sorry,” he said and leaned a shoulder on the doorjamb.
“How do you know about the baths?”
“I know.”
A cryptic answer, but I didn’t press. “What did you pay Eddy with?” The backpack looked heavy and jingled as Nentres shook it off his shoulder. It wasn’t roges.
“Confederate gold coins.”
My eyes widened. “Really?” I remembered he’d mentioned the Confederate gold, but to be that close to something so old was still amazing.
“Yeah, really.”
“Does that make me a Yankee?”
Nentres laughed. “It does down here. My dad might mention it.”
I cleared my throat. “I invited your parents to the ball. Can we just call it a party?”
“So I’ve heard. And yes, we can do whatever you want as long as you come to the party.”
“I’ll come.”
He stayed quiet for a while. “That’s good to hear.”
“Shit.”
“What?”
“I don’t have a dress.”
“I reckon that if we’d stayed home, Mary would’ve found you a dress. Something French, something designer made from before the Ice Age. Something from my momma, which in turn would make both you and Momma happy.”
“Oh, I don’t know about your parents, Nentres. I’m mixed race and consider myself black. You’re white.”
He frowned, then raised his eyebrows. “I think we’ve grown out of that era.”
“Are you sure? Because my grandparents sure never grew out of it, and I refuse to make excuses about the color of my skin.”
Nentres extended his hand, and when I put mine into his, he pulled me into a hug. He pecked my nose. “You are cute, smart, and all mine. I’ll make sure everyone sees only that.”
God, this man was smooth and hard in all the right places. He melted my panties just by bringing me here so I could do my thing. I couldn’t think when he held me against him. “I’m serious,” I said.
“I am too.” He lifted me onto the counter, spread my legs, and stepped between them. “Me and you, sugar, we get along best when we fuck. Let’s do that, hm?” His hand found its way up my sweater, into my bra, and closed over my nipple, which formed a bud he rubbed with his palm. I clamped my legs around his waist when his lips touched my neck, and I tucked my hand into his pants to get a handful of cock. I stroked him slowly even though I wanted him inside me right now. He breathed heavily on my neck, grunted when I swiped my thumb over the tip of his dick, and bit my shoulder when I reached for his other dick.
I was sleeping with a man who had two dicks. Nothing and nobody else would do. I was in deep trouble. I knew I’d gone from fling to cling, because when I decided to leave, he’d left with me. He didn’t let me go, and in a way had showed me he wanted more, and that he would be here for as long as I wanted him, and even when I didn’t. His commitment to what we could have together scared me. “I have to pee,” I said. A lie.
Nentres stopped thrusting into my hands, fixed my bra back up, and stepped away. “Can I watch?”
I chuckled. “No.”
He strolled out of the bathroom, then poked his head back inside. “I think we need buckets of water. I’ll go get those.”
“Thanks.”
I heard the door close behind him. My feet hit the tile, my first instinct to flee. The thought of falling for this man made my heart race, made my breath catch in my throat. I paced the room first, then opened the door and stepped outside and into a long hallway, thought better of it, and went back in the room, where I closed the door and leaned against it, wishing the TV stations still broadcast so I could curl up in bed, eat ice cream from the carton, and watch romantic tragedies just to confirm I was right to feel this way. To feel as if something horrible was coming, that this man would die on me, and that I shouldn’t get emotionally invested in him.
A glance out the window confirmed I had every reason to feel this way.
I sat on the bed and pursed my lips. A job, something fun and demanding, would keep me busy instead of sitting around doing nothing, or worse, fucking Nentres, for days.
I searched the room for something, anything. Under the TV, there was a door. I opened it and found small bottles of alcohol. I picked out a clear one and checked the dates. Made in the Denver habitat and not expired. I spun the cap and sniffed. My stomach rose, but this was just what I needed. Liquid courage that would last all night. I plugged my nose and chugged, my eyes tearing from the strong, awful taste. After I swallowed, I gagged, capped the bottle, and swore not to touch it again.
By the time Nentres returned with water buckets, I had “tested” all twelve bottles of alcohol and settled on the ones with yellow liquor. I lifted a mini bottle as he kicked the door closed with his foot.
“Cheers!” I announced.
Nentres nodded and carried the buckets into the bathroom. “Eddy said the sewer still works, but I wouldn’t take his word for it.”
“Wanna drink?” I asked.
He came out and sat next to me, then checked out the minibar. A smile tugged his lips. “I see you like bourbon.”
“Yup, all the yellow-brown stuff.”
Nentres accepted the bottle I offered and took a swig. I giggled at the face he made after swallowing. “Eddy’s got better bourbon downstairs. You wanna come down?”
“Sure.” At this point, I was up for anything.
Hours later, Nentres and Eddy sat at the table, piles and piles of plastic chips in front of them, while Jackie, a girl I’d met during the card game, sat at the table in her bra. I’d lost my shoes and socks, but hung in there with the tough guys.
Jackie lost a hand, turned in her chair, and brushed her hair over her shoulder. “Won’t you get that, dragon-man?”
“Get what?” I asked, though I knew what she wanted him to get.
Nentres glanced at me and raised an eyebrow. I paid him no mind. Seemed like liquid courage had done its job. I felt great, the shit flying out of my mouth without any filter. And I didn’t care. Or I thought I didn’t care, until she unsnapped her bra. It fell from her breasts, and she spun around. Oh hell no.