“Don’t take this the wrong way, Squirt, but maybe you do.” His hands drifted higher until he held me by the shoulders. “Have you seen your face?”
Maybe Taz had once accused me of walking into punches I could have blocked, but I had been sick with the knowledge I was leading Linus into a trap set for the dybbuk at the time. Truthfully? I may have been jonesing for punishment then, but it’s not like I go around rubbing my hands with glee when I imagine all the pain I’ll be in during or after sparring with her.
And fine, yes, so I have a backlog of pent-up rage searching for a target. I could admit that much. There was something cathartic about striking another person as hard as you could when you knew they would deflect the blows to minimize the damage.
Life had been using me as a punching bag for so long, it felt good hitting back.
“I will consider scheduling regular head-shrinking sessions with Odette if you agree not to interfere with my self-defense classes.” I braced for a mantrum of epic proportions when I added, “Linus offered to set me up with an instructor he knows who can teach me the fundamentals before I pick back up with Taz.”
A muscle jumped in his jaw, but Boaz nodded. “I had my shot. Why not give him his?”
“It’s not like that.” I braced my forehead against his chest. “It’s not a competition between you two.”
“Feels that way sometimes,” he muttered under his breath.
“Mmm.” I linked my arms around his neck. “Whatever happened to trust?”
“This has nothing to do with trust.” His eyes met mine. “Or you, really.”
“Ah.” I nodded sagely. “This is one of those manly contests that involves the whipping out of—”
“Please finish that sentence.” He settled his arms around my waist. “I’ve never heard you say a dirty word in your life.”
“Hmph.” I jutted out my chin, wincing at the bite of discomfort. “I can be dirty.”
“I look forward to a demonstration—after you’re healed.” Pushing me back against the pillows, he shifted until his weight dented the mattress beside me. “You’re not going to tempt me into misbehaving when I came all the way here to make sure you were okay.”
I fluttered my eyelashes at him. “Came all the way from…?”
“Nice try.” He nudged me onto my side facing the wall then spooned behind me. “You sure talk a lot for someone with a missing tongue and a broken jaw.”
A snort escaped me. “It wasn’t that bad.”
“Do you know how lucky you are that you didn’t swallow it? That Linus found and reattached it?”
“Gack.” I tasted acid in the back of my throat. “Let’s not talk about self-cannibalism.”
“We don’t have to talk at all,” he murmured, lips pressing against my neck. “I’ll settle for cuddling.”
“I missed you,” I whispered into the darkened room. “You’ve been hiding from me.”
Using the same taunt he’d fired at me on his first night back in Savannah caused all that heat behind me to freeze. “I haven’t been hiding. I’ve been working.”
“You make time for Amelie.” Goddess, I hated sounding like a butthurt girlfriend.
Warm breath skated across my throat. “You’re jealous.”
A laugh escaped me. “No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.” His teeth closed over the tip of my ear. “It’s cute.”
“Given everything that’s happened, I get why you want to keep in closer touch with her.”
“The only person I wish was closer, so I could touch her, is you.” He rubbed his stubbly cheek over mine, and a delicious thrill coursed through me. “We’re all she’s got, Squirt. For now, it’s just you and me, and she knows she’s driving you crazy. You’ve shown the patience of a saint in dealing with this situation.” His lips plucked my earlobe. “Amelie needs me more than you do right now. That’s all. It won’t always be this way, but I have to prioritize her.”
Amelie did need him more than me, but it stung hearing him sweep my needs under the rug to address later. It’s not like he couldn’t alternate calls between us, giving us equal attention, or spot me one of her days every week. No, this felt like a shutout. But pointing that out would set him on edge, and I didn’t want to waste the hours left to us.
The thing was, I couldn’t tell how much of my annoyance stemmed from how he was treating me versus how she had treated me. Amelie and I still had wrinkles to iron out if our friendship was to survive. The lengths she had gone to in the name of acquiring magic left a bad taste in my mouth.
Though she claimed the deal she had struck with the dybbuk was to protect me, Ambrose must not have gotten the memo. He almost killed me to get at Oscar, and he had killed nine vampires. True, six of them had trespassed on my property with the intent to recapture me, but three of them had been innocents.
“Have you visited her yet?” I wriggled underneath the crisp sheet. “She must have heard us talking.”
“I said hi on my way in.” He made an appreciative noise in the back of his throat while I snuggled closer. “I’ll make time for her tomorrow. We can watch one of those cheesy movies while you’re in class.”
Amelie did enjoy a good B movie. Her running commentary was often better than watching MST3K.
“You can’t stay in here,” I said drowsily. “The dream…”
“Hush.” Warm lips blazed a trail down the column of my throat. “You just close your eyes and rest.”
Sleep never came on command for me, but I still lowered my eyes. “I’ve never slept with a man.”
“Are you trying to kill me here, Squirt?” Boaz adjusted his hips, but all he managed to do was emphasize the point where our bodies touched. “I’m trying to be good here.”
Bundled up in a Boaz blanket, I settled down to snatch a few winks from the jaws of the dream before it snapped closed over me.
Five
Boaz was gone, his side of the bed cold, by the time I woke with my heart lodged in my throat. A small mercy. I preferred keeping the nightmare to myself. As I made my way downstairs, I hunted for signs of the Siblings Pritchard. Though I suppose they technically weren’t that anymore. Their muted voices lured me downstairs, and I padded toward them, freezing on the staircase when I realized I was the topic of conversation.
“I was asleep down the hall,” Amelie was saying. “That’s way too close for that to be happening.”
“That didn’t happen,” Boaz countered. “I might be a dog, but I can resist leg humping an injured woman.”
Amelie burst out laughing. “Since when?”
“Since Grier,” he said with an edge that killed the conversation dead on the spot.
“I’m kidding. Sheesh.” A spoon clanged against the side of a bowl. “I tease Grier all the time. I used to anyway. Mostly we just tiptoe around each other and avoid topics more controversial than the weather.”
“You guys will be okay.”
“I almost killed her,” she rasped. “How can she forgive that?”
“She loves you. That’s how.” Chair legs raked across the tile, and she grunted. No doubt she was the unwitting recipient of one of his bear hugs. “I love you too. You know that, right?”
“Yeah.” Her voice came out muffled, and I had no problem imagining her face turned into his shoulder. “I wish you loved me less.”
“Nothing doing,” he murmured. “You’re my sister.”
With a great sigh, she resumed clicking her spoon. “Some choices can’t be forgiven.”
“I don’t expect absolution,” he said grimly. “I don’t want it, and I don’t deserve it.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“So am I,” he breathed. “So am I.”
A cold stone dropped into the pit of my stomach, but I had no way to ask what he meant without revealing I had been eavesdropping on them.
Amelie cleared her throat. “How is Macon?”
“He’s heartbroken. He doesn’t understand why you don’t liv
e at home, why he can’t talk to you. Goddess only knows what those two told him.” Not Mom and Dad, but those two. “He called me after his first day back to school. The kids are…” A growl revved up his throat. “You know how cruel kids can be.”
“I didn’t mean to hurt him.” A hiccupping sob broke through her chest. “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”
“But you did.” Gravel churned in his voice. “Now we have to live with the consequences.”
Feeling like a creeper, I backed off up the stairs then made a clomping entrance. Amelie didn’t glance up, she was too busy blotting her cheeks dry, but Boaz swept his gaze down my body and left me tingling down to my toes.
“Hello, gorgeous.” He puckered up and tapped his lips. “You gotta pay the toll.”
“This is my house.” I moseyed over, helpless to resist that teasing glint in his eyes. “Shouldn’t you be the one paying me?”
“Hmm.” He appeared to consider this. “Good point.”
Faster than I could squeak, he was out of his chair and gunning for me. I made it three steps into the living room before his arms banded around my waist, and he lifted me off my feet. He peppered the side of my neck with kisses while he swung me in a dizzying circle. Right when I was starting to be thankful for my empty stomach, he laid me on the couch then climbed over me, pinning my hands to either side of my head.
A furious blush rose up my throat. “Amelie is in the kitchen.”
“Amelie is a grown woman.” He lowered his voice while pressing his lips against my ear. “I’m pretty sure she knows how this works.”
“There better not be anything working out there,” she called from the bar. “I have a full stomach, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
Cackling at his indignant expression, I wriggled my hips. “You are kind of smooshing me.”
“Sorry, Squirt.” He leveraged himself off me. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“Nah.” I sat up along with him, straddled his thighs, and plastered myself against his chest. “I liked it.”
His brows quirked. “Then why…?”
A loud rumble in my stomach told him I had breakfast on my mind.
“Want me to whip up some grub for you?” He brushed his fingers along the uninjured side of my jaw. “There are plenty of waffles and syrup to go around.”
“As tempting as that sounds, Heinz told me I’m on a liquid diet for the next few days.” I touched my cheek. “It doesn’t hurt as much today, but I’m not putting pressure on it, either.” I swiped my tongue along the backside of my teeth. “Oddly enough, my tongue feels as good as new.”
That probably had something to do with the amount of magic Linus had channeled into healing me.
“I’m glad to hear it.” Concern tightened his expression. “Still, you should eat something before you go.”
Hating to ruin the moment, I saw no way around telling him the truth. Especially since I was certain that Amelie had already spilled those beans. “I usually eat with Linus.”
“Ah.” He gripped my hips and set me on the floor in front of him. “Well, that’s okay, I guess.” He rubbed his hands over his scalp. “I can see how it might have been lonely over here until Amelie moved in.”
The faintest suggestion I ought to bail on Linus threaded his words, but he didn’t press me on the issue, and I was grateful not to have to shoot him down. Breakfast at the carriage house was part of my nightly routine. Depending on the menu, I often left convinced it was the best part. I wouldn’t miss that date for anything less than…
Fiddlesticks.
Date was not the right word. Even in my head, it sounded too dangerous.
“I should get going.” I hooked my thumbs in my belt loops. “Are you guys still watching a movie?”
“That’s the plan.” He did the same, not pushing for more, just holding on like he wanted to keep me here with him. “How long do these lessons of yours last?”
“Two hours on a good night. Four on bad ones. Six if I’m a total dunce.” My hand cramped just thinking about the last eight-hour stint I earned for utterly failing one of Linus’s infamous pop quizzes. “I’m still working aboard the Cora Ann part-time, so I have a freer schedule these days.”
Boaz gave a sharp tug. “Has Cricket mentioned Amelie?”
“Neely says Cricket was ready to kick puppies when Amelie called in and quit. She’s been a fixture at Haint Misbehavin’ for years. She was one of their most dependable ghost tour guides.” I gave a helpless shrug. “I report to Cricket once a week on the Cora Ann’s progress, but I’m not around to hear more gossip about Amelie if there is any.”
That wasn’t what he was really asking, though.
“Amelie had a solid alibi,” I reassured him. “Everyone knows she’s been working toward her degree. Her cover story about spending six months as an intern at a firm in Atlanta isn’t that big of a stretch.” I glanced toward the kitchen, but Amelie was nowhere in sight. “She ought to be able to pick up her job and her schooling right where she left off.”
“Let’s hope.” He squeezed my fingers. “I want her reentry to be as normal as possible.”
For a Low Society necromancer, life wouldn’t be that altered. In the big-picture sense, at least. Most of them worked human jobs, attended human schools, and led human lives. Some even married humans, though the difference in lifespans made such unions bittersweet.
Amelie could resume her job as a Haint, and she could return to college, but she would never step foot in the Lyceum again. Her days of attending lavish moonlit balls and studying under her mother as the spare heir were over. Her ties to the Pritchard family had been cut, and most Low Society families would be hesitant to risk ostracism for welcoming her into their midst.
“Me too.” I kissed his cheek then twisted out of reach before he distracted me again. “Do not leave without telling me goodbye.”
His answering grin was wicked. “Yes, ma’am.”
After gathering Keet and my grimoire, I passed through the kitchen on my way to eat with Linus.
Amelie must have slipped out while Boaz had me otherwise occupied. Unsurprising since her threshold for PDA was nonexistent where he was concerned. I couldn’t blame her. I wouldn’t want to watch my brother tickling my best friend’s tonsils with his tongue either.
A pang struck each time it hit me she had traded on her family name for power that had almost killed me.
Miserable all over again, I plodded the rest of the way to the carriage house where the closed-door policy irked me for no reason. I knocked, but Linus never appeared. Leaning in, I pressed my ear to the door and heard a loud whirring-grinding noise. Curious, I decided that since he must be expecting me, I could let myself in.
Linus was, as usual, in the kitchen. But this time, he manned a fancy blender I knew hadn’t been in the cupboards when he moved in. Its throaty growl would have given Jolene a run for her money. No wonder he hadn’t heard me.
Jars of supplements littered the counter along with fresh fruit sliced into cubes, two percent milk—bleck—and a tub of protein powder. The mixture swirling in the glass basin was pink enough to remind me of strawberries, but I had my doubts about its tastiness based on the rest of his arsenal.
Honestly, who put grass in their shakes? Wheat or otherwise?
I meandered up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.
Turns out Linus was not a fan of surprises.
A wraithlike cloak flickered in my vision, overlaying his usual slacks-and-dress-shirt combo, to ripple in a wave of black mist that lapped at my ankles, a frigid pond I had waded into without taking the first step.
Though he had been busily blending since I arrived, his back to me, he was now in my personal space. His nose was an inch from mine. Less. And his icy fingers trapped the wrist of the hand that had touched him.
Ink spilled across his eyes until I was staring into a fathomless pool of still waters that lapped against the shores of my mind, eroding the memories I kept caged until I ga
sped and stumbled back.
“Linus?” I massaged my wrist, not because he had been rough, but because his glacial touch stung.
Midnight eyes dropped to my hand, and his lips tipped downward. “I hurt you.”
“No,” I rushed out, breathless. “I’m just cold.”
“I’m sorry.” He turned from me and braced his hands on the sink. “You startled me.”
“I let myself in. It was totally my fault.” This time I didn’t take liberties without first alerting him. “Linus?” I rested my hand on his shoulder, and the fabric crunched like frostbitten blades of grass. I forced myself to leave my fingers where they settled instead of jerking back on instinct. That seemed important somehow. “Next time I’ll wait until you answer the door.”
A shudder moved through him, and he covered my hand with his. Gooseflesh coasted down my arms, but I didn’t budge as he turned his head, his fogged breath skating over my skin. “That might be for the best, though you’re always welcome here.” He huffed out a laugh. “It is your house, after all.”
Manners ingrained in me and every other High Society girl since birth breached the surface.
“You’re living here. That makes it your home too.” Home wasn’t the word I’d meant to use, but the quick jerk of his head toward me and the surprise glinting in his eyes—a crisp blue that reminded me of the ocean during storms—made me glad I had misspoken. “You get to make the house rules.”
Linus might have started out as an uninvited guest, but the truth was I liked having him around. Early on, I made no secret of how unhappy I was about the arrangement. The Grande Dame offering hospitality as if Woolly were her home tweaked my tail, but it had been rude of me to take it out on him.
The guy had saved my life when the dybbuk attacked.
As far as I was concerned, I owed him mints on his pillow each dawn.
A sliver of warmth brightened his expression. “I appreciate that.”
“So…” I cleared my throat and took a seat. “What’s on the agenda for the night?”
How to Break an Undead Heart Page 5