“Absu prepared a great feast.” Enlil spoke into the void, but found it difficult to draw his eyes from the incredibly adorable baby. Inadvertently, he imagined one with spiky dark hair and violet eyes. What? Shit, no. “Only it’s probably cold by now.” He managed to get the words out of a throat that suddenly closed up.
“It would be nothing to prepare and heat a plate for you, my lady, if you so wish.” Absu quickly added.
Enlil had never seen Absu look this flummoxed.
And would you care for yum-yum’s, Maity, my darling? Absu’s voice emerged low and rich in both venues.
“Are you from England?” Charlie questioned innocently. “I love the way you speak.”
Absu clearly didn’t know how to answer. He finally shrugged after getting a wet kiss on the cheek from the cherub in his arms.
“I am from…a different country, my lady, and English is not known to me as my native tongue. I learned your language in its formal guise, in a monastic setting, and have yet to relent to the cadence of today’s speech, although I strive in that direction,” he assured her.
“Well, don’t change anything for me.”
If Enlil wasn’t mistaken, Charlie’s neck just broke out in goose bumps listening to Absu. Lucky bastard.
“I think it’s charming,” she said, shyly.
“I think she means it’s sexy as hell.” Lenore clearly couldn’t keep her mouth shut a minute longer. She, along with everyone else had seen the instant attraction between the pair, had to put her two cents worth in before she got told to zip it. “Am I right, Charlie?”
Something sparked in Charlie’s eyes and she gave an impish smile in return. “You might say that,” she admitted, a little breathlessly.
Absu suddenly looked nervous. “Did you perchance want sustenance for you and your daughter?” He went back to Dunsky’s offer. “Or mayhap you’d like to be shown to a chamber to refresh yourselves.”
“I’d love to rest for a while, but I know Maity’s hungry and I need to feed her.”
The goddesses had already come forward to coo and fuss over the little girl, and Tess spoke for them all. “Are you kidding me? From this moment on, Maity has an enormous bunch of honorary aunts and uncles to look after her. You should feel free to go off for a nap. We’ll do the feeding. Besides,” Tess rubbed her large belly with a smile, “I need some practice before my baby boy makes an appearance.”
Some of the tension melted from Charlie’s tensely set shoulders. “When are you due?” she asked.
“In a couple of weeks.” Tess looked thrilled, but Enlil bit back a chortle. Marduk turned green every time delivery got mentioned.
“You know what? I’m going to take you up on your offer.” Charlie nodded happily. “I’m really tired. But you have to promise me, if Maity gets to be a pain in the neck or cries inconsolably, you’ll wake me up.”
Tess nodded at Charlie enthusiastically, and held her arms out for the girl in Absu’s hold, but Maity clearly didn’t want to leave him. She gave in after he nuzzled her cheek and said into her head he’d be back to see her soon. She transferred to Tess’s arms.
Charlie attempted to stifle a yawn.
“Let me escort you to your chamber.” Absu crooked his arm in Charlie’s direction and she took it without hesitation. Absu looked to Tess. “Am I correct in assuming our guest will be residing in the cottage with the wit—”
Whoa. What? Absu had almost made a major boo boo. Enlil helped him out. “With Angie, Addie May, and Kate?” he interjected.
“Yeah. She’ll have to go over there.” Tess sighed in relief. “This house is full to the rafters.”
“We’d love to have her with us,” Addie May effused.
“Well then,” Absu assented. “We should be off. Is your valise at hand?” Charlie looked around for a translation.
“Suitcase,” Enlil supplied.
“Okay, yeah.”
Geeze, the girl looked charmed.
“It’s in the front hallway.”
Absu led her away and, as soon as the door closed behind them, conversation erupted in the dining room.
“Wow, Ishkur. Why didn’t you say anything sooner?” Enlil groused, puzzled and a little hurt. He’d been on the West Coast and his buddy hadn’t breathed a word.
The god of spring rain had the decency to look apologetic. “At first, I was so astounded that I got selfish and kept her to myself for a few days. But then she had trouble with her ex-husband on Christmas Eve and I needed to get her out of there fast.”
“What did that bastard do?” Dunsky’s face wore a dark cloud. Clearly, he hated the dude.
Ishkur sent out a quick head-message to the room’s immortals. Charlie doesn’t want some of the shit told to her brother. I’ll give you guys details later.
Out loud, he said, “The asshole had a couple of rough-looking guys come to the house after Charlie and Maity showed up for Christmas Eve. They’d obviously been drinking and they…threatened Charlie. Not a safe environment, so I got them out. Needless to say, her ex became a little pissed off. I, uh, made sure he didn’t follow us, and with Shamash’s help, got us on a plane.”
He continued for Dunsky. “There’s nothing to worry about as long as she’s here. She was willing to come for a little vacation and to get Maity away from a bad situation. What I couldn’t tell her was, well, everything else.”
He didn’t have to continue. Enlil, aware that the words “god” and “Chosen” had not yet been introduced, asked the inevitable question. “So how do we proceed from here?”
“I guess that’s up to Absu.” Marduk made the determination and shrugged, but the head god quickly lost everyone’s attention. The entire group laughed and delighted over something Maitlynn said. Emesh seemed especially entranced. The little girl pouted at him, straining in the summer god’s direction.
“Up,” she demanded, clearly refusing to believe he would not comply.
Up. She tried again in her new head-speak. Clearly, she would not be denied.
Emesh bent toward her slowly to show he remained invisible and beyond mortal touch. But then the toddler reached out and pinched him.
Guys, he said, incredulously as his hands settled on what would be baby warmth and softness. She’s like Huxley before he became a god. I can touch her. He took Maity from Tess and swung her high up into his arms. Both he and the child crowed in delight.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Candy couldn’t remember a longer Christmas. When she was little, she would try to hold on to every minute, not wanting the joy to end. And when she grew older, Christmas became a rare day off when nothing and no one would intrude, and she could spend the hours however she wanted. Today, she would have relished a quick slide into night or a little outside distraction. She soon grew bored and tired of concentrating on her own sore face, although luckily the rest made her knee almost normal again.
Lunch had been delivered; a horrible, rubbery bologna sandwich on thin, white bread that stopped just short of mold. When she’d inquired about chips and a pickle, her reluctant waiter flipped her the bird and slammed the door behind him.
“Asshole. It’s Christmas you know,” she yelled after him, and received no response. Apparently, she’d been left alone purposely to ponder her future. If she remembered anything about Sal, it was his artful use of passive intimidation. He’d tried it with her before―with no success―but she’d seen how well it worked on everyone else, including his right-hand man, Stave.
Stave, Candy pondered. There was a guy who would do anything for Sal, yet the man seemed to have something of a conscience. He and Candy had shared some good laughs back when she’d been stripping on the drug ship. As a matter of fact, she’d almost go as far as to say they’d become friends. Which was the only reason she’d almost contemplated letting him fuck her earlier. He would have made sure it wasn’t an unpleasant experience, but she’d chosen a different hand of cards, and she’d play it out. If the guys took an extra day off and didn’t
come for her, she’d be screwed.
That was the other thing about solitary confinement. It gave you a lot of time to go over shitty decisions, and Candy decided her latest and shittiest had been her constant inclination to bark at Enlil, giving him the sharp side of her tongue and nothing else. ‘Cuz this might be it for her, and she’d come to the conclusion that she liked the big guy. As in, liked him, liked him.
Of course, she’d given him some of the sweet side of her tongue too. Right up and down his hard shaft. But she hadn’t gone out of her way to do anything to see if his amulet would light up, and she felt guilty about that. If she’d shared just a little of her intense feelings for him, he might have responded with some fireworks.
The truth remained, she was scared of a forever bonding. If he did the glow thing, what an enormous commitment for her to make; a bigger commitment than she’d ever made to anything or anyone in her life, and bigger than most people ever had to contemplate.
If she really turned out to be his mate, she would be expected to become a goddess and live eternally with Enlil. Eternally. How could she wrap her head around that? She wasn’t even one hundred percent sure she loved him. Although, she’d admitted to herself that her feelings could be―might be―in the eighty-nine percent certain category. Maybe even ninety-two. Fuck. She’d better get rescued so she could figure this crap out.
Footsteps sounded in the hallway. It had been a long time since the bologna sandwich, and Candy’s stomach growled. She hoped this was supper.
Stave opened the door and carried in a large tray with one hand. Her surly lunchtime deliverer followed, lugging a small folding table and two chairs inside, which he set up quickly and quietly across from where Candy sat on the bed. Ooh. Downright civilized eating arrangement this time.
“That’s all, Orrin.” Stave put his burden down on the table.
Mr. Grouchy left, but not before Candy caught a good look at his face this time. She laughed.
“He’s one of the guys I pummeled last night. Right?” The swollen nose was a dead giveaway.
“You don’t make friends easily, do you, Candy?” Stave shook his head and sat in the chair opposite his captive’s.
“He had it coming.” She smirked. “What was I supposed to do, smile and hold up my chin at the right angle for a knockout punch?” Her stomach growled again.
Stave laughed. “No comment. Looks like I brought this just in time.” He whipped the covering off the tray to reveal sliced turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy along with squash and cranberry sauce. Two plate’s worth. A veritable feast, even by Candy’s standards. Which reminded her, she would have been eating leftovers from Mom’s if she’d been home. She tried not to go there.
“Silverware this time, Stave?” Candy questioned, plastering on a purposeful grin. “You must be slipping.” She slid off the bed and into her new chair.
“I wouldn’t mind a little fight from you, Candy. You’d make a worthy opponent.” A spark lit up in Stave’s eyes and Candy realized the man really did like her. She wondered about his life, other than when he was under the thumb of Sal.
“Do you have a girlfriend, Stave?” she asked, picking up her fork and knife. She dug in without waiting for his invitation.
“I did, until recently.” He picked up his utensils and started on his plate. “We had a difference of opinion over my work. I had to let her go.”
“Ah, she didn’t like you distributing drugs?” Candy asked pointedly.
Stave scowled. “No, she didn’t like the amount of time my drug dealing,” he said it exaggeratedly, “took me away from her. She wanted more time to shop, eat out, and spend my money.” He didn’t sound bitter, only resigned. It sucked he didn’t have someone who wanted him for himself.
“So what are you going to do with your future then? You must be what, forty-five, fifty? Are you planning on working for Sal forever?”
Stave let out a long sigh that sounded pained.
“I suppose it won’t hurt to talk to you.” He shrugged. “It pains me to say it, but I doubt you’ll be around for long. Sal’s going to use you up, then dump you over the side of the ship with no remorse.” He said it with a little disgust in his voice.
“You got the better of him, Candy. A DEA agent posing as a stripper? And still, I get the feeling you kind of liked Sal, as fucked up as that seems.”
“Yeah. He’s not completely hateable.” She pointed with her fork. “You like him too,” Candy said around a mouthful.
“Yeah, but not enough to stay with him ‘til I’m dead,” he revealed. “I’ve got a deed to this little island, you see.” It slipped out of Stave’s mouth seemingly before he could stop it. But with the encouragement of her raised eyebrows, he continued.
“It’s in the Caribbean. In another couple of years, I’ll have enough scratch to disappear and build myself a small place, just big enough for two. You want to join me, Candy?” He raised hopeful eyes, saying it only half-jokingly. It was Candy’s turn to be honest with Stave.
“You’re a great guy, Stave, and a few months ago I might have been tempted. But I met someone. Just recently.” She chewed and conjured Enlil’s face. “He’s unlike anybody I’ve ever met before, and I’m trying to come to grips with the fact that I probably love him.”
There. She’d said it out loud. No taking it back. “I just haven’t told him yet.”
“If you love him, why haven’t you fu…uh, gone to bed with him?” Stave amused Candy with his reticence to swear.
“You can say ‘fuck’ around me, you know.” She stabbed another piece of meat. “And FYI, I planned on giving him my ultimate, yet most likely cobwebbed, pussy,” she would normally have said “cunt,” but cleaned it up for Stave, “when he gets back after the holidays.”
Stave still choked on a bite at her bluntness.
“Although, now I suppose I have to give it up to Sal, who probably won’t appreciate the shitload of people I’ve punched in the head over the years to keep myself intact.”
“No,” Stave agreed sadly. “I don’t suppose he will.”
Well, that was fucking comforting.
“Is your boyfriend the big guy with the blond braids?” Stave obviously wanted to keep talking, even though the meal had come to an end.
“Good boy. You’ve done your surveillance.” Candy grinned. “Yeah. That’s Enlil. I’m impressed, Stave. It’s usually hard to get the jump on me. But in my defense, I’ve been an airhead since this guy’s been around.” She rolled her eyes. Still. No excuse for sloppiness.
“Well, it looks like―at least this time―we’ve done our job better than you’ve done yours.” Stave took a line from Candy. “I’m just sorry you won’t have a chance to tell this guy you love him, but maybe it’s for the best.”
He piled the dirty plates back on the tray. “I got word today that Sal will be coming early. He’ll actually be here in the morning. Something about the DA getting a little soft for the holidays.”
Shit. More likely, a big under-the-table Christmas bonus swayed Sal’s release date, and it didn’t make Candy cheer for the holiday spirit.
Stave stood up and continued busing the table. “I guess you could say I don’t think it’s that fair, Candy,” he grumbled. “You’re just a young thing, and on the verge of getting a life for yourself. Whereas me and Sal? We’re relics. We’ve used up life and spit it out a thousand times over.” He truly looked regretful, but that did nothing to comfort Candy.
The meal she’d eaten suddenly became lead in her stomach. It looked like the cards had fallen wrong for her this time. No way her guys would find her before tomorrow morning, because they were bound to cut her some slack about arrival time at the office.
If she didn’t show up on time, they’d assume Enlil had returned, and she’d be getting a little post-Christmas, post-coital time with her god of choice. That could delay their worry for a couple of hours. Then the best she could hope for would be a rescue. Before Sal killed her. But that wouldn’t do her fem
ale parts any good.
What was it Sal had said? He’d have her in every orifice? That sounded like something she’d rather miss. Right. Who was she kidding? Sal, the sadistic bastard, whether forgiving or not that her virginity had kept her from fucking him before, would make her first time hell.
Candy made a fast decision. She stood up and walked around the small table.
“Fuck me, Stave.” She looked up at the tall, slightly balding man, who twitched at her demand. But then he gazed down at her with nothing but sadness on his face.
“You know I can’t do that, Candy.” He let go of the trash and put his hands on her shoulders. “We’ve already told Sal you haven’t been touched, and that’s what he’s expecting. He’ll kill you outright if he finds he’s been duped. Then he’ll kill me, and he won’t make it pleasant.” Stave set her aside gently. “Make it as easy on yourself as possible and do everything he says.”
Stave picked up the chairs, the table, and the tray and quietly left the room. His shoulders drooped as he stacked the pile in the hallway and shut the hatch. Candy’s did the same.
She ran a trembling hand through her spiky hair, staring for a long time at the closed door. Wait. Stave had looked pretty upset. She had a sudden bubble of hope, and stepped forward to try the latch. It didn’t budge. Shit. He liked her, but not enough to put himself in jeopardy. After all, he had plans for his future too. Why had she believed for a minute he’d fuck up his life for her?
Candy turned back to her solitary bunk, and noticed Stave had forgotten some of the trash. She reached for it absently to put it in the bin, when her hands encountered something hard under the napkin. Heart racing, she cautiously allowed her fingers to curl around the handle of a knife. Stave had left it behind…and it hadn’t been an accident. The angel of a drug dealer hadn’t done anything overt to help her escape, but he might have just leveled the playing field.
Hope became a live thing in her brain as, with the help of the steak knife, she cut a strip of denim off the cuff of one pant leg. She hacked it into two pieces and tied them to her forearm under her long sleeve, then tucked the knife into the cradle they made. She was armed. That was a start. And there remained something else she realized she hadn’t tried.
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