Fueled by Lust: Caelius (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Celeste Prater

  “Rhia, every one of these say exactly how I feel about you.” He turned, and she was surprised by the confused look on his face. “But, sweetness, I didn’t send these. I only sent one delivery to the pastry shop.”

  Shocked, Rhia felt her eyes darting all over the room, landing on every flower she’d smelled, and every leaf she’d caressed while she’d thought of him. Her mind couldn’t comprehend the words that had just left his mouth.

  “Then who sent these?” She jumped and swiveled around when a deep voice sounded from behind them.

  “I did. Why is he in our home, Rhia?”

  Rhia didn’t protest when Caelius’s arm shot out in front of her body. She backed up as he gently directed her to stand behind him. Grabbing his bicep, she peeked around him and tried to get her mind to formulate a reason why Scott was standing at the edge of her darkened hallway.

  He was dressed in a rumpled T-shirt and faded jeans. He didn’t have any shoes on, and his hair was mussed as if he’d just crawled out of bed. That alone should have sent her heart into overdrive, but it was the large knife he held in his right hand that had her digging her fingers into Caelius’s flesh to keep from dropping to the floor. His muscles went as hard as concrete as soon as her boss stepped from the shadows. Scott gave her his usual happy smile that she’d seen for two years, yet his voice was completely different now, almost as if he was a different person.

  “I’ve been waiting for you to come home. I called and you never answered. I was so worried about you.” His gaze drifted up to Caelius and narrowed.

  “Why are you with him, Rhia? Don’t you know what he is? I followed him from the diner one night. Did you know that he’s nothing more than a filthy stripper? He’s a male whore. He’ll use you, sweetheart. That’s what they do. Look how fast he didn’t come around after he slept with you. I watched you closely for weeks and the sadness never left you. It broke my heart.”

  Rhia jumped when he took another step forward. He lifted the knife and slowly pointed it around the room.

  “I sent these. I’d hoped to make you smile, but I could tell you were always sad even when you did. It was in your eyes.” The knife drifted through the air until it was pointing directly at Caelius.

  “I wanted to kill him for it.” His eyes narrowed, and his upper lip lifted in disgust. “You. You’re an asshole. You should feel fortunate that there were others with you in that parking lot. I could have easily killed you that night.” His eyes darted back to hers.

  “Rhia, did you know that he had a girl with him at his apartment? Just mere days after he fucked you. I saw him kiss and hug her before he sent her away. She’s confused, too. She should have killed him with her car when she had a chance. But, no, she fell for his line of shit just like you did.”

  Rhia patted Caelius on the back. He was shivering with fury. She tried to sound calm, but it came out shaky despite her best effort.

  “Scott. I know all about that girl. It wasn’t what you think it was. Caelius is a good man. You’re just confused. What I need to know is how you knew we slept together.”

  He lowered the knife and she released her breath. Then she saw it. A piece of red cloth was wrapped around his wrist. She finally felt anger replace her fright.

  “Is that my thong, Scott? Were you in my home that night as well? In my room? What the hell? Oh, shit! The window…you were the one that opened the window.”

  Rhia couldn’t believe that Scott actually looked pleased with himself before his features morphed back into concern.

  “Yes. I always come through that way. You wouldn’t give me a key. I had to do something to keep watch over you. You didn’t even realize the screw had been out of the frame for weeks. See why I worry for you so much? I always protect you, Rhia. I love to watch you sleep. It almost killed me to stand below your window and hear him fucking you. Those sweet cries should have been for me. He took what was mine to have, Rhia.”

  They both glanced to Caelius when a deep rumbling growl drifted across the room. She could feel it vibrating through his body. His words matched his mood.

  “You sick son of a bitch. What the hell is wrong with you?”

  Scott snarled back. “There’s nothing wrong with me. You’re at fault here. Everything was fine until you showed up.”

  Rhia frowned when she realized Scott’s arm was rapidly moving back and forth along his side. She gasped when she saw the knife steadily sawing against his hip, almost absentmindedly. Blood began soaking his jeans, but he didn’t appear to notice.

  “Scott, your leg! You’re bleeding. Stop! Why are you doing that?”

  His eyes widened, and he slowly pulled the knife back up. His voice sounded hollow and bereft as he stared at the blade. His eyes were glassy and he looked lost.

  “It’s the only thing that helps me make them go away.” He shuddered and glanced up to her. “They’d been gone for a long time, you know…the voices?” He blinked rapidly then smiled.

  “They left when you started working for me, Rhia. That’s when I knew you were the one. It was a sign that I’d found my new wife. I took it slow this time. I didn’t want to frighten you with how much I loved you.” Just as quickly, his features moved back to anger.

  He was fucking insane, and she’d never had a clue. His voice became petulant.

  “When you said you were leaving, I tried to stop them. I really did. They made me hurt your car. You left anyway. I told them that it wouldn’t work, but they wouldn’t listen. They told me that he was going to hurt you, and they were right about that. I saw on your computer that you went to California. Did he make you stop working at the diner? I knew he was going to try to cause trouble with us. As soon as he showed up that night, I could see it in his eyes. I need to stop him. Don’t you understand?”

  Rhia listened to his flipped-shit rant, yet all the while, she felt the steady pressure of the broad hand pressing against her hip. Caelius was gradually backing her up toward the window. She was so proud of him for being patient. He was preparing to leap out the window at the first sign of aggression from Scott. It would have been better if she could just lift the frame and fall out. This was the first time she felt anger at having to lock herself inside her own home. Scott’s disgruntled voice shook her from her black thoughts.

  “Why are you looking at me like that, Rhia? Don’t you know that I worry for you? I love you.”

  Rhia shook her head. It was time to talk this idiot down off his ledge.

  “You don’t love me, Scott. I’m sorry that you got the wrong idea about how I felt about you. I like you, but not in the way that you think I do. You’re my boss, Scott. It wouldn’t be right.”

  He shook his head and gave her a placating smile. “It’s okay, Rhia. You can admit your feelings for me in front of him. I knew you were still having trouble dealing with your divorce. But I noticed that you were starting to feel something for me when you started bringing me gifts.” She felt her eyebrows rise.

  “Gifts?” He nodded and smiled, as if they shared a secret.

  “You brought me new desserts and candies almost every week. Do you remember the curtains that you gave me for my living room right after I spilled paint on the others? I especially liked the subscription to Sports Illustrated.”

  Rhia shook her head in confusion and stepped out from behind Caelius. “Scott. Those were all innocent things. I was making new recipes for my portfolio and brought the dishes to you to get your opinion. Those curtains were from my old house and they were just sitting in storage being wasted. I got Lou, the maintenance man, the same subscription. It was a Christmas present, nothing more. I’m so sorry that you saw it as something else.”

  Caelius slid his hand down her arm and clasped her hand. She squeaked when Scott took three quick strides toward them. He looked demented, and only added to that perception when he raised the knife high above his head. His words were guttural, as if someone else had stepped into his body.

  “Get your filthy hands off of her!”


  Chapter 32

  Caelius quickly stepped in front of her again. He lifted his hands, palm out, and shouted, “Hey! Enough, Scott. This is just a misunderstanding. Think about this for a minute. Do you really want to do this in front of Rhia?”

  Scott stopped in his tracks and pointed to the door. “Get out. Leave us alone. You don’t belong here.”

  Caelius took a tentative step forward. “I can’t do that. Not without Rhia. You’re worrying me, Scott. I love Rhia. I can’t let you near her.”

  Scott grimaced and slammed his hands over his ears. She wished he would just drop the knife so she could breathe again. He shook his head back and forth in denial, never taking his eyes off of Caelius.

  “Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. I can’t think. Let me think.”

  Rhia couldn’t comprehend this rapid deterioration of the man she’d worked beside for two years. Not once had she gotten a hint that he’d felt this way. Never had he made advances toward her or suggested anything other than an employer and employee relationship. How in the hell had she missed the signs? Yes, he’d been overprotective, but she’d chalked that up to losing his wife. Now she wondered how she’d really died. Her skin crawled at the thought.

  It was the brightly colored lights flashing through the front curtains that turned the sad scene into total and utter chaos.

  Scott’s head swiveled to the left and his eyes widened. His lips peeled back from his teeth, and he leapt toward Caelius, the knife no more than inches away from driving deep into his belly. This time, she was ecstatic when he disappeared from sight. Stunned, she watched Scott’s arm jerk upward as he toppled forward. Caelius reformed on top of Scott’s back and pinned his arm to the floor just as the police began pounding on the front door. Shaken, she hurried to let them in. Plastering herself against the wall, she watched as an officer stepped on Scott’s hand and kicked the knife to the side. Another one tapped Caelius on the back, and he easily rolled away. How in the hell did the cops know what was going on?

  Walking on numb legs, she followed Caelius as an officer hurried them out of the house. Unable to resist, Rhia glanced back and watched in disbelief as Scott fought from being cuffed. It was a losing battle. He was screaming her name, and it was the saddest damn thing she’d ever witnessed.

  Rhia grunted when she was snapped up into a strong set of arms and hugged against a broad chest. She wrapped her arms around Caelius’s neck and hung on. They stood like that for several moments, just breathing in each other’s scent as the craziness unfolded around them.

  She looked up to see an extremely tall man walking across the yard. She recognized him for what he was—Insedi. Broad shoulders, narrow waist, thick thighs, and a tribal tattoo running down his right arm. The only thing different was the jet-black hair was short and spiked with neon blue tips. She felt Caelius set her down, and she willingly leaned against his side as he turned to face one of his brothers. They bumped knuckles and tipped their chins up to each other. Caelius sounded calm despite what he’d had to do.

  “Thanks for hearing my call, amici.”

  “Hell, it was the least I could do since I was a total ass to you at the shop. Glad to help. Damn, I can hear him screaming all the way out here. What the hell?”

  Caelius shook his head. “The dude lost it as soon as he saw the lights. I was hoping they’d come in all stealth mode and get the drop on him. Didn’t play out that way.” He glanced down to her and then back up to the big guy.

  “Rhia, this is Cato. He called the cops for us. Told them he’d come by to visit and saw it going down through the window.” Rhia nodded.

  “Ah, the mind thingy. Cool.” She couldn’t help but smile when Cato shook her hand and laughed.

  “Yeah, the ‘mind thingy.’ Comes in handy sometimes. Nice to meet you, Rhia.”

  “Likewise.”

  Caelius looked back to Cato and grimaced. “I had to mist in front of him. He almost got me in the gut.”

  Cato shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. They’re not going to believe a word he says. It’ll only prove your cause if he starts rambling about guys that can disappear.”

  They watched in silence as Scott was pulled out of the house and stuffed into a police car. Despite his attempt at hurting Caelius, she hoped he’d get the help he needed. In the back of her mind she knew it probably wouldn’t happen. He’d just be another inmate with a few loose screws.

  Several hours later, every possible question had been answered, and the cops finally left. She grabbed up everything she’d originally gone back inside to get. She took a snapshot of the flowers so she could document his obsession, and the three of them promptly threw all of them in the dumpster. It would be a while before she would ever be happy to get flowers again.

  Cato followed them to the apartment and showed Caelius how to work the new alarm equipment he’d installed. At least she didn’t have to rely on screws to keep nutcases out. Obviously, that hadn’t worked.

  Soon, her suitcase was sitting next to Caelius’s closet, her shoes were kicked off, and all three of them were sitting around the bar countertop with beers clasped in their hands. Without a doubt, the last few hours had given them a damn good reason to drink.

  Rhia listened with amazement as Caelius described what happened with his necklace and his trip through the mines to locate another. She shuddered to think that the screwed-up mineral might have led him to someone else. Cato sent a blast message out to the other warriors advising them to check their necklaces. She was impressed with his skill and the little piece of technology that he carried around with him. He was able to quickly hack into the police department booking records and discovered that Scott was indeed telling anyone that would listen that Caelius had disappeared. That little tidbit had promptly earned him a trip to the psychiatric side of the jail. He was probably going to spend quite a bit of time in there. From what they now knew, it sounded like a very good idea. Cato found another booking report where he’d been arrested for stalking one of his other waitresses. She’d filed a restraining order, but left town and didn’t pursue the charges. That was five days before Rhia had started working for him.

  Leaning her elbows on the bar, Rhia took a deep breath and shuddered. Caelius reached over and ran his palm up and down her back.

  “You okay, sweetness? You’ve been awfully quiet. You want to talk about it?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing to say, really. It’s just like your scenario, except he was a little more subtle in his obsession.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Ashley. At least she was up front and in your face right from the start. This one snuck up on me. I never saw it coming. Hell, you heard Cato. It wasn’t even his first time. I was just a replacement for the last waitress that caught his eye. I’m wondering now if she really did leave town, or did he do something to her? How did I miss that?”

  Cato snorted. “Hell. I wish we could read minds other than the Insedi. The really scary ones look very normal on the outside. You have to get deep in that seriously fucked-up wiring to get a head start on dodging them. Don’t beat yourself up about it, Rhia. Our warriors get in the weirdest situations. There’s not enough time left in the night to tell you everything that’s happened to us over the last several months. We’ve had our share of strange. Trust me.” He reached over and popped Caelius on the arm.

  “You can rest a little easier on the Ashley issue. I finally found her.”

  Caelius straightened in his seat and his eyes widened. “Where?”

  “I got lucky. This morning I hacked into her former roommate’s social media site and found a picture of her and Ashley standing in front of a red Mustang. Once I had the license plate I found out who her father was. I think a majority of her problem is from being spoiled rotten. Her last name is Martin, never worked a day in her life, college student that drops more classes than she attends, and has more grownup toys than she knows what to do with. I found her in jail. She’s been there for two weeks.”

  Caelius le
aned forward and shook his head. “Why doesn’t that surprise me? What’d she do?”

  “Ran over a dude.”

  “You’re kidding me.”

  “Nope. It was the mechanic that fixed her car. I guess with you out of the picture she focused on him. Police report says he got a restraining order two days after he released the car to her. She caught him in the parking lot of his shop the next day and pinned him against the wall. He’s going to live, but she broke his damn hip. She’s claiming it was an accident.”

  Rhia saw Caelius throat work on a hard swallow.

  “Gods damn. She was within inches of knocking my legs out from under me. Now I feel bad about trying to cover it all up. I should’ve called the cops and that poor guy wouldn’t have gotten injured.”

  Rhia patted him on the arm. “Baby, it wouldn’t have mattered. From what you told me, all she did that night was tear up some grass and her own car. She’d have spent the night in jail for drinking and driving, but that vehicle would’ve ended up in that shop anyway. He was doomed as soon as he accepted the job. Every bit of this is on her head, not yours.”

  Caelius grinned and bent over to kiss her shoulder. “Thanks for trying to make me feel better, sweetness. It worked.”

  Cato stood and moved toward the door. “I’m outta here. It’s movie night and Luna told me that she just put the popcorn on. Stay out of trouble because it’s barriers up and phone silenced when I spend time with my mate. You’re on your own. Nice to meet you, Rhia. Caelius, bring her by the house soon. Luna’s going to love her.”

  “You got it.”

  Just like that, he was gone. The room became eerily quiet as they stared at each other. Rhia didn’t know why she suddenly felt shy and awkward. Perhaps it was the new surroundings. She took a generous sip of her beer and tore her gaze away from his. She needed to look anywhere else besides those mesmerizing turquoise eyes.