Tee’s head felt like a vacuum had sucked out her brains. Everything she’d believed about herself seemed to cascade off of her like watershed, and pool onto the floor. Her height, her skin, and all the things that were just a little different from the others. It all made sense now.
She was what? A trucker’s daughter? What did that even mean?
She stood and stared down at the Chief. “How could you not tell me this?”
“Your mother made me promise never to tell you. I have disrespected her by telling you now.” He fisted his hand over his heart. “But when the Youngs called you a halfling, I knew they were going to use it against you. They would humiliate you in front of the tribe to hurt me. That’s why I asked Leo to take you away.”
“Leo knew, too?” Tee staggered back a step. “Leo knew?” she repeated.
“Yes.”
Leo had lied to her about being a dragon. He’d lied to her about her father. He lied about everything. Lies. Lies. Lies.
Everyone lying to her.
Everyone telling her how and where she belonged. Trying to protect her because they thought she couldn’t handle it. The whirling in her head took away conscious thought. She rushed into the garage where Leo stood, hands in his pockets, waiting for her. The fluorescent bulbs cast him in a yellow, sickly light.
“You knew and didn’t tell me?” she asked.
“Yes.” He walked to her, put his hands on her shoulders, and rubbed gently “The Chief wanted to explain it to you himself. It was his right.”
Tee shrugged him off. “What else have you lied to me about?”
“I only want to protect you.”
“I don’t need protecting.” She glared at him.
“And I didn’t have a choice.” Leo ran a hand through his hair.
“You always have a choice. I trusted you with everything.”
Leo stepped closer. “You’ve had a shock.”
“Stay away from me.” She held her hand rigid between them. Turning on her heel, she ran from the only home she’d ever known.
Chapter Seventeen
“Luvey,” Tee’s pain-in-the-ass, leprechaun-underwear-wearing, freakin’ British high roller cooed through the phone. “They’ve done me skivvies all wrong again. The creases can’t go through the clover. It’s bad juju.”
Tee held the receiver away from her ear and gave it a melting glare. She exhaled and brought the phone back to her mouth. “Bad juju?”
“I told the Yank, the creases go here and here, and still he messed it up. It’s got to be redone.”
“All right,” she said in her most conciliatory voice. “I’ll send Housekeeping up to see to it.”
“No, Luvey, that won’t do,” Lucky Charms said. “I only trust you. You know how I like ’em, Tee luv.”
The request made her jaw drop. “You want me to rewash your skivvies and iron them myself?”
“Why yes, Luvey.” Lucky Charms sounded genuinely perplexed at her outrage. “It’s all about the play time at the tables, you always say. Well, I need to get to the table.”
“Right.” Tee tap-tapped her fingernails on the concierge stand where she stood. “I’ll be right up.”
She set the phone in the cradle gently even though she wanted to hurl it at the wall.
Part of her knew Lucky Charms was right. Usually, she would have laughed off the request, made a big show of redoing his freakin’ underwear, but since returning from the disastrous weekend with Leo at the reservation, nothing was going right.
Everything and everyone was annoying the crap out of her.
She wasn’t sure she was an empath like Leo said, but her bullshit meter had improved a lot too. Lucky Charms was screwing with her because he could. He was the high roller and she the lowly servant in his mind. And, it wasn’t just him. The new girl she was training to be a casino host wanted her job—straight up—and she was willing to do anything to get Tee’s office and black book of players. The bellman in the lobby wanted to take a nap, the honeymooners checking in wanted sex, the fancy women walking across the lobby had shopping on the brain.
Argh. It was aggravating in the extreme to know what everyone wanted.
The only person she didn’t know how to please was herself.
Sunday night, she’d moved the rest of her boxes out of Jane and Mei’s apartment and into her new house with hardly a word to either of them. She couldn’t believe they hadn’t told her they were dragons. Add that to her hurt over her father and the tribe, she just couldn’t talk to anyone.
To make matters worse, the jerk Roy kept sending her threatening texts about flipping his player to his account: “Your time is coming,” and “You can’t watch your back and your players too.” Her keener senses told her he wasn’t joking around.
Tee took a breath and walked around the concierge’s stand. “I’m going up to help Lucky Charms,” she said to the nearby porter. He had a single ear bud in his ear, and she knew with certainty that he wanted to win the bet he’d made on a college basketball game. “Please ask the head of laundry to call me on my cell ASAP.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the man replied distractedly.
Tee thought about saying something to him, to caution him, to scold him. She wasn’t sure. Maybe college basketball wasn’t so bad in the scheme of things. She was coming to realize that everyone wanted something. It was just a matter of the level of vice and the degree of obsession.
At that moment, Leo strode across the gilded entry. The sun shone through the windows behind him, giving him a golden aura. Who was she kidding thinking she didn’t know what she wanted? Leo was what she wanted. Leo the studly. Leo the amazing. Leo the dragon.
Leo who lied to her.
The artificial halo around his head made her scowl deepen. “I’m in a hurry,” she said as she strode past him. She didn’t want to talk to him, hear his smooth, tempting words. Not with all her nerves raw and her wants oh so clear.
In deference to her aches and pains from the horse fall, she was wearing boring, regulation-casino-hostess garb. High heels weren’t an option, and her sensible shoes squeaked on the marble floor. Her no-nonsense black blazer swung beside her clenched fists.
Leo pivoted and kept pace beside her. “You’ve got a minute to talk to me.”
“Nope, I’m booked. I told you, stay away from me.”
“You didn’t need space this weekend.” He put a gentle hand on her arm. She jerked it away and glared at him.
“That was before.”
“I’m sorry.” His voice was exasperated. “I thought I was doing the right thing.” He leaned into her side and body-check-scooted her into a dead-end bay of pay phones. Two people with receivers to their ears looked up at the sudden invasion of their space. “Find another phone,” he said.
The two rapidly hung up and left.
Leo blocked her escape from the bay with the width of his body. He smiled, tucked his hands in his pockets, and leaned against the wall. “I’ve missed you.”
Tee considered the narrow exit. She could squeeze past him, but that would require touching him. She really didn’t want to touch him.
He would be muscled and warm under her fingers. Her hands tingled in anticipation and she swallowed and tilted her chin up. Need coiled in her stomach and she fought to keep her face stony. She crossed her arms over her chest. “What do you want?”
“You. I want you.” He stepped closer, crowding her against the phones. “I was willing to give up everything for you. And now I’ll lose my dragon form and you.”
“You lied to me.”
“I didn’t lie to you.” Leo leaned so close that mere inches separated their faces. Tee glared into his eyes, refusing to look away. His green pupils constricted and narrowed. “I couldn’t tell you about your mother. The Chief made me swear it.”
Tee ground her back molars to keep from responding. Instead, she lifted a nothing-you-can-say-will-impress-me brow and shrugged her shoulders.
“Bloody hell,” Leo exclaimed, pulling his hands f
ree from his pockets. “I’m the one who insisted you talk to him.”
Tee laughed, and the sound was bitter and sharp. “So in your mind, you’re some sort of hero?”
“Hero is a bit strong.” His smile oozed with the charm that used to turn her brain to mush and make her heart flop around her chest.
Though her brain resisted, her body reacted. It wanted to be closer. It wanted to touch him. Throw caution and a normal human life to the wind. She understood Mei’s dilemma with Darius better now. What else was she supposed to do to fight the potent attraction but avoid him? But that plan seemed cowardly and dishonest.
“How about a good Samaritan?” Leo asked.
“Fine. You’re a regular Boy Scout. Quit ambushing me. I’ve got a job to do.” She braced herself to squeeze by him.
“To hell with your job.” He put his hands on either side of the bay wall, effectively blocking her.
He was way too close. Claustrophobia closed in and antsy nerves fired through her. She didn’t like this, not one bit. She risked contact and pushed past him, breathing a sigh of pent-up frustration and relief when he let her pass.
“We’re not done here,” he called after her.
Stomping through the casino, Tee’s eyes filled with angry tears. It wasn’t fair. She had no one now. Not the Chief. Not Leo. Not her friends. Faces and colors blurred in her peripheral vision to the consistency of neon reflected in a dirty, rain-soaked boulevard.
She would have to get a different job. She couldn’t work with Leo anymore. Maybe the Bellagio would take her back if she crawled on her hands and knees and promised them she’d convert all her players.
The door to the parking garage loomed, and Tee realized she’d aimlessly wandered the entire perimeter of the casino in her upset stupor. She’d forgotten about Lucky Charms and his skivvies. She was losing her mind.
Maybe some air would be good.
Opening the double doors, she continued down the long corridor to the ten-story employee parking structure.
Once out of the corridor, the steamy outside air hit her face like a wet washcloth. She dragged in a muggy breath and prepared to give herself a pep talk. She needed to get a grip. Get a plan and quit moping around and snapping at her players.
She walked toward a quiet, dark end of the garage. The lack of people’s swirling needs and wants was a breath of fresh air, even in the humidity.
The mess with Leo and the Chief was a huge knot of yarn. She just needed to snip it one frayed thread at a time. “What’re you most upset about?” she asked herself aloud. The question bounced off a blue concrete wall and tunneled back with a soothing, therapist-sounding intonation. She would just be her own friend.
“The Chief and my mom,” she answered herself. Betrayal and hurt clenched her chest, but she pressed on.
“Which part?” Therapist Tee asked.
“That they didn’t trust me with the truth.” The hurt of it nearly doubled her over, but she kept pacing. Her mind processed the feelings. “And, who am I if I am not Paiute?”
Therapist Tee had no answers.
“Who am I?” Her voice broke. “Who is this trucker guy who took off?” She would’ve liked to ask her Mom that question. Was he worth trying to track down after all these years? She exhaled and focused on pulling the thread slowly. She backed up her conversation with herself and started anew.
“It’s that they didn’t tell me. That hurts the most. They kept me on the outside.”
She was always on the outside, wanting to be in. All her life, she’d tried to get off the reservation. Now it seemed she could never go back—at least not in the same capacity.
Would the Youngs try to cast her off the tribal rolls to hurt the Chief? Her heart ached at the thought, and the tears she thought she had under control leaked hot trails down her cheeks.
“Got to get it together,” she murmured. Inside her blazer, her phone vibrated. Probably, the laundry boss. Tee wiped her face before she answered. “Hello?”
“Tallulah Alameda?” the voice asked.
“Yes.”
“The customer-stealing bitch?”
“What?” Tee looked around the garage in alarm. Somewhere above, a car accelerated around a corner and circled lower.
“You heard me.” The voice was no longer coming from the phone. It was directly behind her. Tee whirled to see Roy smiling at her. He wore a white lounge suit today and shiny white patent leather shoes. His wants translated to her, along with his abrupt, spiky pleasure.
He wanted her gone from the casino.
“All in white today, I see. Who’re you trying to fool?”
“Have you been crying?” Roy’s emotions said this pleased him immensely. “Ahhhh, poor Teesie-weesie. What has you all upset?”
Tee pocketed her phone and walked closer to him. “Did you follow me out here?”
“What happened? Our big bad boss-man hurt your feelings?” He clucked his tongue. “I saw him talking to you by the phones.”
“What do you want?”
“Revenge.” He smiled.
A black SUV pulled into a parking spot behind them.
“Somebody’s been looking for you,” Roy said.
Her friend, her would-be-date from the festival, opened the door and stepped out of the SUV. He walked toward her with a smile. “I’ve been trying to get a hold of you,” he said. “I was worried when you disappeared from the festival.”
Tee looked at James and then at the smirking Roy and tried to figure out how they knew each other. “What’s going on here?”
“He needs a little blood,” Roy said. “I told him to take it all.”
“What?” Tee stepped back. The passenger doors of the SUV opened. Two men she recognized from the reservation as being members of the Youngs stepped out.
“What’s going on?” she asked in confusion.
“We just need to talk to you,” James said, a conciliatory look on his face which belied the aggressive stance of the thugs who stood to either side of him. “I’m sorry to have to meet you here.” He motioned around the garage. “You’ve been hard to track down.”
“I just moved.” The response seemed silly given the situation, surreal and small talkish.
“No problem. Your colleague here was kind enough to let us know where you might be,” James said. “Would you mind coming with me?”
She was being kidnapped! Tee looked at Roy. She would get no help from him, nor would he report the incident. All of her self-defense lessons from college came rushing back.
Never, ever get into a vehicle.
Eighty percent of women who got into a car in a kidnapping situation were killed. Those were bad odds, especially in a casino parking garage.
“Fight. Fight immediately for your life,” her instructor had said. “You may not get another chance.” She craned her neck to look around the SUV for an escape route, glad for her sensible shoes.
She would have to run.
The thugs sensed her intent and stepped forward.
She took off at a sprint, pulling her phone out of her pocket and hitting Leo’s speed dial number at the same time. Behind her, the thugs were gaining ground. Their strides pounded over the concrete, eating up the distance between them. She could almost feel their breath, rapid and determined, at her back.
“Tee?” Leo said.
“Help,” she gasped and ran toward the curlicue circle ascent. If she could get to the roof, someone would see her. A strong arm grabbed her from behind, lifted her, and forced a dark bag over her head. She heard her phone clatter to the cement.
“I know you’re in trouble.” Leo’s voice echoed around the concrete enclosure. “Where are you?”
In the dark of the bag, Tee heard her own heartbeat and Leo’s voice calling her name. In that moment, all of Leo’s emotions—love, fear, and fury—crashed over her, but she had no time to process them. Her survival instinct kicked in and she struggled against the thugs with her hands and knees.
She wasn�
�t going to let herself be taken, she was going to fight.
Fight, her mind screamed.
“Hold still,” a rough voice demanded as someone extended her right arm straight and held it still. The sharp stick of a needle poked into the vein on her elbow joint and she cried out.
“Let me go!” she screamed.
The needle withdrew and she was dragged backward.
“Put her in here,” James said before she was unceremoniously dumped. Rough hands held her down and car doors slammed. She fell backward when the vehicle accelerated rapidly forward.
The black sack yanked off her head, along with a hunk of her hair. Pain shot from her displaced hair roots and Tee gasped and twisted her head to get her bearings. She was in the back of the SUV. The two big thugs were crowded to either side of her on the car seat.
“You should have come with us willingly.” James rotated a capped test tube of blood. He appeared more annoyed than apologetic. “I just wanted a chance to explain.”
“I see.” She straightened and crossed her legs at the knee. Her arm oozed blood and she’d lost a shoe in the struggle. “You have my full attention now,” she said with a bravado she didn’t feel. “Explain away.” She affected dispassion, forcing her trembling lips into an aggrieved, closed-mouthed smile
James put the vial of her blood in his shirt pocket and leaned across the bench seat toward her. He smelled of antiseptic and latex gloves. The odor assaulted her nostrils and made the back of her throat close. How had she ever thought him handsome? He was greedy. His graspy ambition poured over her like the Valdez oil spill and she shuddered in repulsion.
He also wanted her cooperation. With her newly heightened senses, Tee knew she was safe, for the moment. She sucked a breath through her clenched teeth and kept her expression unconcerned. She’d let him tell her what he wanted. She wouldn’t plead and beg.
“It’s about building the casino on the rez,” James said.
“What about it?”
“The Chief is being stubborn.” Her former schoolmate leaned back, his face showing professorial annoyance. “I need you to convince him to pass the vote through the council.”
“What?” This surprised her. “The Chief told me the Youngs convinced everyone at the powwow already—even drew their blood.”
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