As I got out on the road, I said, “I think we go into the town center. It's still early enough that there'll be a ton of people walking around.”
She nodded. “That sounds like a plan. We could hang around until he wakes up.”
“Which could be a while,” I sighed. I could feel a headache coming on from the adrenaline crash. “We probably did more damage to his neck when we moved him.”
“That's another thing we should get,” Lexie said. “A neck brace.”
“And that's another thing we don't have money for.” And I thought I had it bad before all this started, when I was drowning in debt. At least then I had an income stream.
Lexie covered her face with her hands and groaned. This was the first time she'd ever experienced a lack of money. When we were still in Newport, she was an heiress with a multi-multi-million dollar trust fund. These were uncharted waters for her.
I reached a hand across the seat to pat her leg. “We can make this work.”
“How?”
My voice as reassuringly glib as I could make it, I answered, “Worst case scenario, we start turning tricks.”
She gave me a sour look.
“Let's just wait for Jack to wake up before we panic.”
“Yeah,” she agreed quietly as I pulled into a parking space in the center of town.
We sat between a bar and a seafood restaurant, both of which were buzzing with people. People who were giving us curious looks as they passed, but didn't seem alarmed enough to ask questions or call the cops.
“So we just sit here, then,” Lexie sat back in the passenger seat.
“Yep.” I shrugged. What else could we do?
“Want to play Tic-Tac-Toe?” she suggested, nodding to the soot-coated surfaces.
I shrugged. “Why not?”
We played in the ashes of our lives yet again for half an hour before somebody finally became concerned enough to ask what was going on. Unluckily for us, that person happened to be a police officer.
He pulled his cruiser into the spot next to ours and sauntered over to us with a skeptical expression. “What's goin' on here?” he asked, putting his hands on his hips. In a seaside town like this, I was willing to bet he'd seen more than his fair share of young people doing crazy, stupid things and ending up looking as ragged and questionable as we did.
“Nothing, officer. We're just hanging out, waiting on our friend,” Lexie— our resident denizen of the drunk tank— answered. She must have accrued more miles in the back of a squad car than in the back of a taxi.
The middle aged, balding man looked down at Jack, who was as still as death, but had retained a healthy pallor. His eyes stopped where his towel must have come loose, exposing the side of his hip and revealing that he wasn't wearing anything under it.
It also revealed a tattoo I hadn't seen before of a sword with an elaborate, basket-like hand guard that extended all the way over the grip. Was that his sword? I'd never seen one on a hip before, but then, I only knew three people who had one: me, Grandma, and Liam. If that was his sword, he'd never used it around me. When he was teaching me to fence, we had always used wooden swords.
I must not have noticed it in all the commotion earlier.
“Son?” the officer asked. “Son, can you hear me?” Annoyed, he prodded Jack in the cheek.
“He's out like a light, sir.” Lexie gave him her sweetest, most luminous smile. “We just had to pick him up from a barbecue.”
“A barbecue, huh?” he scowled at Lexie, who seemed oblivious.
“Yes, sir. He called us before he passed out and asked us to come pick him up.” She laughed daintily and put a hand to her lips. “We practically had to carry the big lunk out of there.”
“And at this barbecue, he somehow lost all his clothes, yours—” He pointed at me and my halfway burned off clothes. “— somehow caught on fire, and you—” He pointed at Lexie and the red smears on her shirt. “—dumped a bottle of barbecue sauce on yourself, and your car got covered in ashes because it was downwind,” he said sarcastically, his arms crossing over his chest.
“Sounds about right, sir.” She nodded her head, maintaining eye contact with the clearly unamused officer.
He scowled. We weren't breaking any laws and he couldn't disprove the outlandish story, so he couldn't do anything.
“Move along,” he finally said, gesturing for us to leave. “You're loitering.”
“Yes, sir, officer,” Lexie promised, giving him a sassy salute.
“And tuck his towel in or I'll have to arrest you.” Have to was probably a stretch. He was itching to throw us in a jail cell.
I started the jeep and pulled back onto the road. Lexie reached around to adjust Jack's towel.
She made a frustrated sound. “Where are we going now?”
I shrugged. I didn't know what to do, either. We couldn't keep driving around all night. In this behemoth, we'd run out of gas soon and with no money to buy more, we'd be stranded somewhere.
On one hand, that wasn't too bad of an idea if we could keep to populated areas like this. A police officer couldn't evict us and we could say that we were waiting on a friend to return with more.
On the other, it would attract too much attention and we were in no shape to handle close scrutiny.
A cheap motel passed us by with a raging party going on in the parking lot behind it.
“That'll do,” Lexie said, pointing to it.
“I was just thinking that.” I looped around the block and parked in the midst of all the action. A sign at the entrance said the rate was sixty dollars per night. “I have an idea.”
Lexie looked to me.
“See all the plastered muscle heads?” I pointed to one man across the parking lot in particular, who was dressed only in sandals, swim trunks, and a spray tan. He was arm wrestling another man over the trunk of a cheap sports car and shouting like a gorilla. He slammed the other man's hand down with more force than necessary, causing him to cradle it. The other man reached into his wallet and begrudgingly gave the orange gorilla a wad of cash.
A wicked smile spread across her face. “I get it.” She rolled up the hem of her shorts, tucked the tail of her shirt through her bra, and got out of the car. I followed behind her to where the gorilla was pounding his chest and shouting for any takers.
“I'm in,” Lexie announced, coyly raising her hand.
The gorilla approached until he was in her personal space and stared down at her with a lecherous grin. “You want some of this baby doll?”
“Only if you can beat me,” she replied in a husky voice, returning his dirty look and rubbing herself against his chest. “If I win, you give me all the cash you've got.”
He laughed and grabbed her ass. “That ain't fair, sugar tits, and I'm a gentleman.”
Lexie didn't react, but I could tell she was floundering. “You can have me, too, if you beat her.” I stroked my fingers down his ripped arm.
Everyone around him hollered and jumped in place rooting him on. He looked me up and down, his gaze lingering over the exposed skin from where my clothes had burned.
“A'ight, a'ight,” he sucked his teeth and released Lexie. “But when I win, I get you both at the same time and you do whatever I want.”
I nodded, giving him my best sexy face. It was probably as attractive as a carp's, but he bought it, hook, line, and sucker. “And when she wins, you give us all your cash.”
He laughed. Admittedly, from his perspective I could see how he thought us a sure thing. Lexie couldn't weigh half of what he did, but he also didn't know that she could bench press at least five times what he could.
“One condition.” Lexie glanced up at him from hooded eyes and nibbled her lower lip. “You give the cash to the referee first.”
He laughed as he forked over his wallet to the other man.
Satisfied, Lexie cooed, “Don't worry, baby, I'll be gentle.”
He downed what was left in his red plastic cup and dangled it front of her
face. “And I got one cup for the two of you girls.”
Disgusting! Just for that, he deserved a cracked bone or two. “Don't be gentle with him, Lexie.”
They got into position over the trunk and clasped each other's hands.
The whole crowd went silent and watched as the referee shouted, “Go!”
Gorilla-man kept Lexie's gaze as the match started. His expression turned from confident, to confused, to afraid as he strained against her hold. She didn't give an inch as he gave it his all, his muscles bulging and his face turning red.
“I've seen plenty of boys like you.” Lexie leaned in and said in a low voice. “You talk a big game, but you've got no stamina to back it up.”
Veins popped out in his face as he pushed against her with all his might.
Lexie didn't give him an inch while he tired himself out. She giggled as she threw his hand down into the trunk.
He shouted in pain and brought his hand to his chest. Immediately, he accused us of cheating and said he wasn't going to give us the money while the crowd howled with laughter at his loss.
The referee, who was the only sober-ish person here, calmed the crowd and handed us all the money out of the gorilla's wallet.
The good news was that he had a little over two hundred bucks on him. The bad news was the look on his face said he might try something tonight.
Bring it on. He was nothing compared to the people I'd beaten.
“Come on,” Lexie urged me back to the jeep. “I'll go get us a room. You keep an eye on Jack.” She jogged off around the building to the front desk.
The gorilla was not taking it like a man. He was pointing at me, shouting that we had cheated and stole his money. Nobody in the crowd seemed to take him seriously and continued to heckle him.
She returned with room keys and grabbed the set out of the ignition. “All they had was a room with a king.”
“We'll make do.” I was not pleased with the idea of sharing a bed with Jack, but given our circumstances, we couldn't be picky.
“We're on the second floor, facing front.”
“At least we're away from these guys.” I looked down at Jack. “What are we going to do with him?”
She was quiet for a moment and nibbled her lip. “They don't have an elevator, so we'll have to carry him up a flight of stairs.”
“Ugh,” I muttered. He would be heavy, but we could lug him up if one took his hands and the other took his feet. “Do we have to go through the lobby?”
An “oh shit” expression lit up her face. “Yeah.”
“So we can't carry him like a lump, then.” At this point, I was ready to beat my head into a wall.
“Wait!” she cried, suddenly excited. She opened up the glove box and pulled out a pair of large, leopard print sunglasses. “We can Weekend at Bernie's him.”
Her idea was so far out of left field, that it took me a moment to realize what she meant. “That's so crazy, it just might work.”
She smiled and put the sunglasses on him. He looked ridiculous, but not dead.
“I'm taller than you, so I'll support his shoulder.” She leaned into the car and grabbed one of his arms to pull him out. “You man his head.”
I helped stabilize him as she got him out and used his hair as a head handle.
“Okay, let's just go slowly now.” She started walking at a steady pace to the lobby.
It could have been our now increased strength, but it wasn't as hard to carry him as I was making it out to be in my head. It was mostly just keeping him upright and looking drunk rather than dead.
The guy behind the front desk barely even noticed us.
Until we got to the stairs.
“I think we can just carry him now,” I proposed, staring warily at the rusty, narrow staircase in the courtyard. “We got past the front desk.”
Then another group of party-goers came out of their room, laughing and stumbling. They didn't move on to the party out back, though, instead standing in a blob on the second floor outdoor hallway. There went our privacy.
“You ladies okay?” Another large man with a spray tan and swim-trunks asked us.
“Yeah,” Lexie hollered back, giving the man a reassuring smile. “Our cousin just had way too much to drink, that's all.”
“Well let us help you with him.” The man came down the stairs, waving an equally brawny man to come with him.
“Oh, that's al—” she tried to protest, but it was too late. They had already grabbed Jack under each shoulder and carried him up the stairs.
“Wow, he's really out,” one of the men commented at the way Jack's head sagged. When he realized Jack was naked under the towel, he laughed, “Somebody had a good time.”
“He had about twelve too many,” Lexie agreed, laughing nervously.
“Which room are you ladies in?” the other man asked once they'd reached the landing.
“206,” she answered. “We're all in one room.”
The men carried Jack the rest of the way and even set him on the bed for us.
“Thank you guys so much,” I said as they went to go rejoin their group.
“No problem,” the first man said. “And hey, there's a party out back if you guys want to come.”
“No thanks, we're really tired already.” I gave them a polite smile. “Thank you for the invitation, though.”
“You girls have a nice night.” They waved as they and their group left to go to the party. I wondered if their opinions of us would change once they got their and realize that we'd gypped their friend out of all his cash.
Then I realized I didn't care.
“I guess now we just wait.” Lexie sighed and sat down on the bed next to Jack, who was lying in the center of the bed.
I shrugged. “I guess so. All that moving around probably damaged his spinal cord even more, so it'll be a while before he wakes up.”
“So who knows how long we'll be here.” She turned the television on.
“Sounds right,” I agreed and sat down on the other side of Jack. “We should probably order a pizza or something. Remember that food and sleep help boost energy.”
“Yeah, and he could use some of that right about now.” She reached over to the phone on the bedside table and called the front desk guy, asking for the phone number of a pizza delivery place nearby. He obliged and within half an hour, we had two large pepperoni pizzas sitting on the table by the window.
I paid the man and realized there was a lot less cash here than I thought.
Closing the door, I asked, “Where'd the rest go?”
“I had to bribe the guy at the front desk to let us in without a credit card,” Lexie answered.
“Oh, well at least we've got enough food to last us until we can figure out a plan.” I grabbed two slices and went back to the bed, even though I had dinner only a few hours ago. I had used up a lot of my own magic fighting the mystery woman earlier.
We waited for hours, watching television.
My heart nearly leaped out of my throat when Jack gasped and jerked upright on the bed.
10
Whoa, relax!” Lexie cried out, putting a hand on his chest and pushing him back down onto the bed. “We don't want a repeat of what happened earlier.”
Jack laid back and looked around. “Where are we?”
“A cheap motel,” I answered. “The house burned down.”
He let out a string of what I assumed were colorful expletives in Italian.
“Who was that?” Lexie asked.
He groaned and a flush of pink came over his cheeks. “That was Tresia. She works directly under Octavius, in charge of the legal and illegal gambling division.”
Fuck. I was never going to get away from these people, was I? “Okay, so why did she attack us?”
He put a hand over his face. “It was not you, but I who was her intended target.”
“Why you?” Lexie asked. “It's us that Octavius is after. He doesn't know you're bonded to Constance, does he?”
“Why?” I prodded. He clearly did not want to talk about this, but she was trying to murder us, too, so he owed us this information.
He was quiet for long enough that I thought he was dodging the question. “I stole her ferrament, an emerald necklace of great value.”
“So she wants it back?” Lexie asked.
“Why does she want it back so badly?” I asked at the same time.
He made a frustrated sound, but it wasn't like he could escape us with his injuries. “Some mages bond very strongly with a single ferrament, to the point where being without it is crippling. Tresia is among them. Without her necklace, she cannot spell.”
“So that's why she didn't use anything but fire for our whole fight,” I realized aloud.
“And probably why she turned tail, too,” Lexie added. “She ran out of fire and didn't want to take you and all your genus… stuff on.”
“Genera magics,” Jack corrected. “And yes, that is likely why she fled. But she will be back once she has recouped her magic and devised a plan to get what she wants.”
“Which is?” Lexie asked.
“She wants her necklace back. She did want me dead until she found out I was bonded to the stone mage Octavius is hunting. Now, she will want to capture all of us.” Jack paused for a moment. “But Octavius has no interest in me, so he will likely give me to her until he orders my death.”
“Then he gets both stone sets,” I said.
Jack nodded. “He will keep yours for himself, since yours has more genera. Mine, he will most likely give to his strongest ally and bond with them.”
“Who is?” Lexie asked.
Jack shrugged. “I do not know. He has many with whom he deals, but I do not know if he has anyone he trusts to such an extent.”
“I thought he and his gang were all big wig bad guys,” I said, cocking my head to the side.
“They are,” Jack confirmed. “But beyond the Eight— now six— themselves, not much is known about their syndicate and its operations.”
Tresia (Stone Mage Saga Book 3) Page 8