by Helen Scott
“Sure. If we can get something that belongs to him, then we can scry with it whenever we want and see where he is. You don’t need anything, though. I can just run into him in the casino.”
“Right, cause the man with white-blond hair and red sunglasses won’t be suspicious at all. Trust me, he won’t suspect me of anything.”
“In and out. You’ll only have a couple minutes because I don’t know what kind of monitoring situation they might have. If we jump in and someone is there, we are jumping right back out. Also, after that, I’m going to need some food. Jumping makes me hungry.”
“That works for me, sailor.” She smiled at him and placed her hand in his. A charge ran up his arm, making his heart beat faster, and for a moment, he just stared down at their entwined fingers. The snake tattoo that wrapped around her pinky peeked out from the edge of their hands. The idea of talking to her about her tattoos popped into his head. He wondered what they all meant. Maybe nothing, but maybe there was a story behind each one. He wanted to find out either way, and that made him a little uncomfortable.
“Everythin’ okay?”
Thad cleared his throat. “Yeah, just focusing. I’m more tired than I thought.”
“We can take a cab, if you want?” Concern had drawn her brows together, and something tight uncoiled in his chest.
“Hold tight.”
Cin stepped up to him and wrapped her other hand around his waist. Her breasts pressed against his chest in a delicious way that made him think about the shower and how gorgeous she was in the firelight afterward. His blood started rushing south, and he immediately tried to think of something else, anything else. The last thing he needed was an erection right now.
When they appeared in Cin’s apartment, they found it blessedly empty. She released her hold on him, and he immediately missed her warmth. Thad watched as she was a flurry of activity, grabbing a black dress from the closet, some shoes, a curling iron, some makeup, and some perfume.
He had to admit he was curious what the end result would be when she dolled herself up. She was beautiful as it was with those hazel eyes that seemed to shift from brown to green and back again, and those plump dark lips that were so bitable that sometimes he had to grab on to something to restrain himself.
Less than two minutes later, she flew back to him as she shoved everything she could into that backpack she’d taken from Julie’s house, and they jumped out.
Chapter 13
When they arrived back at Thad’s house, he went straight to the kitchen, leaving Cin to her own devices. She had been so relieved when he let her handle Preston, or Mike, or whatever he wanted to call himself, the way she wanted to. Most guys would have stepped in and tried to be the muscle, but Thad was just backup and he seemed to accept that. She wished time would both go faster and slow down all at once. Cin wanted more time to prepare for what she thought was about to happen and less time because she had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach whenever she thought about Aster.
She tossed the backpack and dress onto a chair by the kitchen table and turned to find Thad eating the biggest slice of lasagna she’d ever seen.
“What time should we head back to the casino?”
“Late. We want Norman to be at ease when we get there, maybe have a couple hands under his belt, be confident so we can slip under his radar.”
Cin held her breath for a moment before she blurted, “I think it would be better if I approached him alone.”
“Nope. No way.”
“It will look suspicious if I’m flirting with him and there is a handsome man right next to me. Especially if he’s as nondescript as Preston said.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Trust me. You did earlier,” she said, thinking of the alley.
“You don’t trust me, though, do you?” His eyes narrowed as he looked at her.
“What do you want me to say? I feel like you lied to me even though you didn’t? I feel betrayed because I almost slept with someone who didn’t tell me what was going on? I followed my instincts, and they were wrong again. The sooner we find Aster, the sooner I’m out of your hair. I know I invaded your life, but you agreed to help me. I just need your help a little longer. We can keep it strictly business, I’m sure, but don’t let the fact that we almost slept together get in the way of finding Aster. She is what’s important here.”
Cin watched as something in Thad snapped. She could see it in his eyes. Something changed, and she wasn’t sure what. He abandoned the lasagna and started pacing around the house, kitchen to living room and back again.
“What did you expect me to do?” He ran his hand through his hair, the blond curls coming loose from the hair tie, making him look slightly crazy.
She knew he was frustrated with her, but they had to be on the same page. The absolute last thing she needed was for them to be heading toward different goals. Thad sighed, and she stayed quiet, the furrowed brow signaling that the words were coming—he was simply putting them in the right order.
“It’s not like I knew there was something supernatural going on, nor did I know your mother was a goddess. I had no reason to trust you with my secrets. I haven’t trusted anyone with them, ever, and for me, that’s a hell of a long time.” He came and stood in front of her. “Are you going to freak out if I do tell you? How do I know you won’t tell anyone else? What am I supposed to do if you do freak out? I don’t have the answers to any of this. I’m making it up as I go along. Hell, I’ve never even had a woman in this house before, so I think it goes without saying that I’m a little on edge about all of this.” By the time he was done, Thad was out of breath. He had been accentuating his thoughts with his hands and had been more than a little worked up.
Cin held her hand up like a kid in a classroom waiting for the teacher to notice them.
“I’m done,” he said, nodding at her hand.
“All I can do is tell you what I know. I know I won’t tell anyone you don’t want me to. I know there is a possibility that I’ll freak out, but I also know that I will do my best not to, and if I do freak out, then all you have to do is give me a little time and space to work through all of it. Hell, I just found out my mom isn’t my mom but is a goddess, which also means that all the other gods and goddesses are probably real too. I only just realized that right now, and my brain feels like it’s almost at capacity for weird for the day. I say you cap it off and we get this awkwardness out of the way. What do you think?”
He stared at her, unblinking eye contact as though he was trying to discern the answers from her very soul. She blinked and broke whatever spell had fallen over the two of them.
“Let’s go sit down.” Thad sounded tired as he walked toward the living room. Cin turned and grabbed the half-finished plate of lasagna and brought it with them. The man needed to eat, and she wasn’t going to stand in the way of that. She set the plate on a couple coasters and pushed it toward him.
A small smile played around the corners of his mouth as he lifted the plate and took a humongous mouthful. Cin tried to relax as he happily munched away on his lasagna, but inside she was screaming at him to hurry up because the suspense was killing her.
After an extended period of chewing, in which she could swear Thad knew what he was doing by dragging this out, he spoke.
“You’re right—pretty much all gods and goddesses are real. That’s not to say they have much power, but they do exist as immortal beings. I’m not a god nor am I completely immortal.”
Cin’s heart began to slam against her chest. Not completely immortal—what the hell did that mean?
Thad continued. “It’s not only the main gods and goddesses who are real, though. Other things are, as well. My mother was a siren. Do you know the story?”
Cin shook her head. She’d never had much of an interest in mythology. At least, not outside of the art it influenced.
“I’ll tell you the whole thing another time. For right now, let’s just say that the sirens were
winged women who had voices so beautiful that men were compelled toward them. My mother is one of the sirens, and my father was blessed by the god Poseidon. My brothers and I have supernatural elements on both sides of our family. For us, the strongest element is the siren heritage. Let me show you.”
Her heartbeat had turned into a steady gallop at this point. She didn’t want to get off the ride, but she couldn’t see where it was going, either, and that was exhilarating and terrifying all at once. Thad stood to his full height while she admired his form and walked around to the other side of the coffee table.
“Please don’t freak out.” He said it so quietly that she thought maybe she had imagined it. His head was bowed like he was in prayer, but she doubted that was the case. He shook his shoulders back and forth slightly, a little shimmy, and suddenly wings appeared. They were the same pale gold as his hair. There was one word that swam in her brain as she looked at him—angelic.
He spread his wings, and they were massive. The color made them look like they were almost glowing in the light. Thad was breathtaking. Cin couldn’t yet form the words to tell him how amazing he was; all she could do was stare.
It was when his face fell that Cin finally found her voice. His wings folded in, and his eyes were shuttered.
“You are amazing,” she breathed, unable to think much past that. “You have wings! You can fly! Do you love it?”
“Flying is a beautiful experience.” He studied her face intently. “You’re not freaking out.”
“I don’t think so.” Cin found her bravery and asked, “Can I touch them?”
“If you want. They are very sensitive, though, so please be careful.”
She nodded solemnly and stood, her eyes transfixed on her goal. When she was close enough to touch, she noticed the scent of sea air around them, fresh and slightly salty. It made her long for a beach and a margarita. She reached up to the arch of the wing and ran her hand down the edge, the velvety feathers tickling her hand.
“They are so soft!” Cin’s breath caught as the feathers caressed her fingertips. She heard Thad sigh.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, relieved that you’re not freaking out.”
“I mean, it was the last thing I expected you to say, but it’s also amazing. I guess having Aster in my life makes me a little more open to the unusual.” She smiled up at him.
“I am sorry I didn’t tell you, and that’s certainly not how I wanted you to find out, but you understand where I’m coming from, right?” His eyebrows pressed together, creating a little frown line.
Cin was quiet for a moment while she thought. If she had been in his shoes, would she have told him off the bat? Probably not. She wouldn’t have come close to sleeping with him, either, not when she had a secret like that. She looked him in the eye.
“Honestly, yes. I understand where you are coming from. I’m sorry I overreacted before. I hate secrets. Having watched Aster keep one her whole life, I try not to have any. Finding out about my mom, or lack thereof, and you at the same time was a little much. I haven’t even begun to process yet.” She sighed and felt a knot of tears begin to form in her throat. “I can’t think about it, or I won’t be able to stop. Aster comes first. Once she’s safe, I can wallow in self-pity that my biological parents didn’t want me. She has to be safe first.”
“I understand that.” Thad stood there and stretched his wings out. They were massive. Cin was captivated by them. Something was scratching at her brain, though, something he had said right before he’d showed her his wings.
“What did you mean when you said you are almost immortal?”
“I can be killed, but I won’t die of natural causes. At least we don’t think we will since we’ve been alive this long.”
Cin’s heart was pounding in her chest again. “And how long is that?”
“A couple thousand years.”
“You—You’re—” Cin stared blankly for a moment. It all suddenly clicked into place. Of course he would be super old. If sirens and gods were wandering around in the general populace, surly someone would notice. She cleared her throat and tried again. “You’re an old man.” She grinned up at him.
“Show your elder some respect!” He smiled back tentatively.
“Do you even date mortals? Wouldn’t that be hard?” The questions popped out of her mouth before she could think better of them.
He watched her be embarrassed by her question with a smile in his eyes.
“I don’t usually, but I’m thinking about making an exception.”
“Oh really?”
Thad shimmied his wings back into hiding, and Cin wondered where they went. Before she could ask, Thad threw his arm around her shoulder and moved them toward the kitchen.
“Only if I get some food in me soon. And I’m not the only one who needs to eat. What would you like?”
“Do you have a pizza or some cereal or something?”
“I’m sure I do. Sit down and take a load off for a minute.”
Cin felt Thad watching her as she sat there. Her whole life was changing, and she was focusing on putting one foot in front of the other. He disappeared momentarily and came back looking like a kid who broke a toy.
“I don’t have any pizza, and the only cereal I have is some oatmeal that I should probably throw out. You okay here if I run out and get something?”
“Yeah, sure.”
Thad vanished. She hadn’t really seen it from this side before—it was unbelievable. He popped right out of existence in front of her. She sighed and stood up with her backpack and dress, hoping that the swimsuit she found at her mom’s—at Julie’s house—still fit.
Cin woke up to the smell of something tasty cooking. Her mouth watered as she moved toward the scent without thinking. She was still only half awake when she stumbled into the kitchen.
“Good evening, sleepy head.” Thad’s low rumble greeted her.
“Hey,” she croaked out. “Coffee?”
“It’ll be ready in a minute. I hope you like it dark. That’s all I had.”
“The darker the better. Sorry I passed out.”
“No worries. I got a couple different kinds of pizza. I wasn’t sure what you liked.”
“Whatever smells like bacon.”
“That’s probably the meat lover’s.”
She glanced at him and was struck again by how handsome he was. The planes of his angular face combined with his height seemed like they should belong on a lanky guy, but instead they looked like the finely carved marble head of a statue. His curls were completely released from his hair tie, and they fell over his eyes, almost obscuring them completely. Cin’s hand twitched with the desire to push them out of his face. She loved his eyes; as strange as they were, they seemed to draw her in and make her feel safe, which was not something she’d ever experienced before.
“Once you eat, we should change and get over to the casino.”
Cin looked at the time on the microwave and realized she’d been asleep for hours. So much for going for a swim.
“Here’s your coffee and your pizza. Breakfast of champions.” He smiled at her, and her heart flip-flopped in her chest. She suddenly felt bashful, which was not how she rolled.
“Thanks,” she said, clearing her throat.
“Did you sleep—” Thad’s question was interrupted by his phone ringing. “It’s Tony,” he said before he swiped to answer.
Cin immediately went on high alert. Tony would only call if there was news of Aster.
“Hey, man, what’s going on?”
Cin faintly heard Tony’s voice from the phone. “Hey, there’s another doodad here on the printer for her. That girl needs ta git here and pick it up.”
“Can you describe the doodad?”
“Printout with a buncha gibberish on it.”
“Could you take a photo and text it to me?”
“Will do, brother.”
Thad hung up. “I assume you heard that.”
“Yes.�
� Cin’s heart raced a mile a minute. That call could only mean that the hacker was trying to reach her again. She prayed to anyone who would listen that Aster was alive and not too worse for wear.
“Here’s your pizza. Eat up.”
“I don’t think I can eat now.” Her stomach rolled with anxiety over the picture. Why was it taking Tony so long to text it to Thad?
“Just try and eat, and maybe go take a shower. It will help you feel better, and you’ll be more able to face whatever this is.”
“Fine.” Cin took a large bite of pizza, and the nausea she had been feeling a moment before transformed into hunger, and she wolfed down the first slice of pizza and was halfway through the second when Thad brought over some more.
“Take it with you and go and shower. Don’t make yourself sick trying to eat too fast.”
“Yes, Dad.” She was feeling surly now. All she wanted to know was what was on the damn printout.
“I’m definitely not your father. Nor do I want to be compared to him with the thoughts I have in my head.” Thad winked at her and picked up her mug of coffee and the plate with the rest of the pizza and began walking toward the bathroom. She stared after him for a moment. Heat pooled low in her belly.
He winked at her.
Mr. Serious himself had winked at her.
She wanted to race after him and smack his butt. She wanted to drag him into the shower with her. She wanted . . . hell, she wanted him, but she couldn’t have him. At least, not right then.
Chapter 14
Thad’s phone chirped with the arrival of the photo from Tony just as Cin got into the shower. He was grateful that she wasn’t there when he received it. She’d been running on fumes and fury most of the day, and she needed a moment to recharge. The urge to join her in the shower almost overwhelmed him. Something about her called to him on a level he still didn’t understand. After years of ignoring women, purely for his own self-preservation, he was now presented with one who demanded his attention and got a hell of a lot more.