“What was that for?”
“Because you’ve given me further hope.” He linked her arm, and gestured for Makar to take the other before continuing their forward progress.
“Hope for what?”
Makar chuckled and slid his hand down to clasp hers. “That our bonding with you was meant to be. We’ll be just fine since you’re an expert on seeing the mistakes and pitfalls before they become unrecoverable.”
Keely snorted and shook her head. “You’re overestimating my abilities, trust me. When my nose is five inches away from the problems, I’m in no better shape. It’s easy when you look at things from a safe distance. I’ll screw up more things than I fix.”
“Ah, my lovely foemina. I think that you’re severely underestimating yourself.”
Keely heaved out a frustrated breath. “You can think I’m perfect all you want, Makar, but it doesn’t change the facts. Tianus may have been immature, but I’ve been around long enough to bring a whole lot of messed up to the table. What you see isn’t what you get. Save yourself the trouble.”
Before either of them could respond to her ridiculous assumptions, she cocked her head and gave him a piercing look.
“This brings up another question. You said that you’ve bonded with me and can break that link by disappearing for three days, but what happens when you fully commit? Are you stuck with them for the rest of your life, or is it just as easy to break the bond?”
“It’s never easy, Keely. Here on Earth you make the separation of mates as simple as signing a document. Yes, we can break the final mark in the same manner as the second, but this is very rare. Should a couple discover that the other is not mentally compatible, deviated so far off their true path that they appear to be a totally different entity, or misled with a false persona then one or the other may decide to separate their essence if the issues are too difficult to overcome.”
“How bad does it have to get?”
“This could happen in the case of severe mental illness, yet in our lifetime, we haven’t seen an Insedi leave their mate because of a sickness to the mind. They will care for them until their death. Sometimes Insedi will sacrifice their own happiness if children are involved. Our own emperor was bound to a lovely female, yet she abhorred being an empress. She rarely came around and left our emperor lonely for a very long time. Not once did he attempt to break their bond. He mourned her loss for many years and only just found the true mate of his heart. Tana was meant to be his.”
Baruch sighed. “We’ve seen one instance where we were extremely happy when a male broke the third mark. The joining was slowly killing him. This female was as you say on Earth—a total bitch. Tianus may have given me moments where I second-guessed my decision to claim her, yet she was nowhere near the level of that horrendous, vile, creature. It took Sotarios years to recover from her treatment. His trust remains low because of it. She was the only female death that was not mourned. Even her father turned away.”
“Geez, that’s horrible. I really like Sotarios. I can’t imagine anyone treating him badly.”
“Yes, that was a dark time for us all.”
Many minutes slipped by as Presidio drew closer. They both waited patiently for the next probing question, yet it never came. Looking down, he could see that Keely carried the same expression they’d witnessed in the corridor by the lab. Her eyes were focused, yet unseeing as her brilliant mind broke down and analyzed every tidbit of information she’d gleaned. Makar glanced over to Baruch.
She reminds me of a female version of Lucien. Her mind never rests.
I know. Did you notice something else?
What?
She never asked or demanded a time for us to break our bond with her. Her objections have moved to convincing us that she’ll mess our relationship up, not that it can never occur. She was making sure we have a way out.
Makar’s skin tingled at the revelation. Ah, Baruch. Don’t let anyone ever tell you that you’re not an observant, intelligent male. Makar enjoyed the contented smile on his mate’s face accompanying the easy ebb and flow of their shared energy. For years, he’d erroneously thought they’d been in perfect harmony. Not until this precious female entered their life had they ever been this open and tuned to one another. There was no question this time. Their perfect counterbalance was within arm’s reach.
* * * *
“Here, you can put it back. I have what I need.” Keely jingled her coin purse and smiled as Makar stuffed her bag inside the duffel.
Turning to the pay phone, Keely put the receiver to her ear and started feeding the machine as many quarters as she could. She glanced over her shoulder.
“To think that I almost dumped all of this in a bucket on my dresser makes me cringe. This is one time that I’m glad I procrastinated.” Taking a deep breath, she punched in a long string of familiar numbers and leaned against the wall. She held a finger to her lips for the guys to be quiet. Her stomach flipped when Webb answered on the third ring.
“Uh, yeah. Hi. This is Keely. I know I’m late. That’s why I’m calling. I had car trouble. I need a few days off so I can take care of this. Why are you yelling? It’s not like I did it on purpose. I have time available. In fact, I haven’t used any vacation this year. What? Uh, because it’s kind of hard to give notice that I’m going to have car trouble, Mr. Webb. No, I’m not being a smart-ass. It’s just a fact.”
Keely closed her eyes and softly banged her head against the wall.
“Of course, I’ll catch up on my work when I return. Three days. Mr. Webb, you need to calm down. I don’t have anyone scheduled. It’s just the aftercare paperwork. That’s a little harsh, don’t you think? Well, if you write me up, then you’ll have to do that to Michael too. I think my excuse is a little more reasonable than what he gave you last week. That’s right. I’m not in jail for back child support.”
Straightening her spine, Keely opened her eyes and glared at her shoes as she tried to calm her voice.
“Do I need to hang up and call HR? No, that’s not a threat. It sounds like I need to find out if the rules apply to everyone so we can get on the same page here. Okay, good. I’ll see you in three days. Have a nice day, Mr. Webb.”
Keely slammed the receiver down and huffed out a breath. When she turned, she was shocked by the look on Makar and Baruch’s faces.
“What?”
Makar narrowed his eyes, and his voice came out low and guttural. “The first time that I see that asshat, I’m going to break his neck for speaking to you like that.”
Keely slammed her hand over her mouth to stop the bark of laughter from shooting out. Baruch stepped closer and patted her on the back.
“Makar’s right. He’s an asshat. Are you okay?”
Nodding, Keely managed a few breaths and finally got her shit together enough to look at them.
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t help but laugh when you said asshat. It sounded like ‘asset’ and that man is anything but.” She giggled and bit her lip.
Makar frowned. “We said it wrong?”
“It’s your accent. It’s so fluid, you combined the two…oh, never mind. I’m being stupid. It was just funny.”
“No, tell us how to say the words correctly. I plan to call him that before I punch him in the face, and I want to get it right.”
Chuckling, Keely shrugged and started walking down the sidewalk. “Pronounce each word separately. ‘Ass’ and then ‘hat.’ You just need a little pause in between.”
Fifteen minutes later, they walked onto the parking lot of the car rental place she’d found in the phone book. Her sides still hurt from the amount of laughter exchanged during the exercise in the proper pronunciation of curse words. By the time she had her hand on the doorknob, they were experts in bad jargon and looking very pleased with themselves. She had to look away in order to get her professional demeanor back into place.
A pleasant chime announced their entrance. They were met by a flustered clerk with a phone cradled awkwardly ag
ainst her neck, scribbling furiously on a notepad, and holding her index finger up to signal they were next on her priority list. She never looked up.
Keely glanced at her nametag. Mindy seemed appropriate for the twentyish girl with spiked auburn hair, bright yellow shirt, short black skirt, and sporting about five inches of bangles on her right wrist. She jingled loudly with each stroke of the pen. Glancing over to the guys, Keely wasn’t surprised to see them staring at the wall full of car choices and tapping excitedly on a poster of a Cadillac Escalade. Grabbing the duffel, she retrieved her purse, and located her wallet. She doubted either one of them had a driver’s license. They finally turned and joined her at the counter. Baruch elbowed her, a big grin on his face.
“We know what we want.”
“Yeah, I figured. Do you have the money to pay for that? They’re not cheap.”
Makar opened his wallet and placed an American Express Black Card in front of her.
“Will this work? The Trejani got it for us when we arrived.”
Keely tried to keep her eyes from popping out of her head. “Uh, yeah. Not a problem. You could buy the damn thing outright if you wanted. Who’s Trey Shawny? He obviously likes you guys.”
“He’s our prince. His name’s Drusus. Trejani is his title.”
“Ah. Okay, put it back in your wallet. We’ll use it in a minute. Try not to flash that thing around too much. People have been killed for less. Crap, what am I saying? If someone tried to kype your wallet, you’d snap their wrist before they got it halfway out.”
Baruch grunted. “Damn straight.”
They all straightened when the clerk heaved out a frustrated breath, set the receiver down, and looked up.
“May I help—?”
Keely almost wanted to laugh at the look of shock on the poor girl’s face. She knew that feeling. This was going to get interesting.
Chapter 20
Keely gestured to the wall posters. “We need a car. What’s available?”
After a round of stammering, mouth working like a fish out of water, and rapid blinking, the girl finally got her shit together…and then some. She lifted to her full height, passed her hand through her hair, and pushed her boobs out for better perusal. Her big blue peepers were pinging all over the place, unsure which of the Greek gods needed her full attention. Keely rolled her eyes and sighed.
“The guys want an Escalade. Got one around?”
Mindy shook her head, never taking her focus off of Makar and Baruch.”
“No, sorry. We only have a Dodge Caravan and a Prius. We got vandalized last night. Those two just got returned this morning.”
“Fine. We’ll take the minivan.” Keely caught the quick look Mindy threw to her left ring finger before the pools of deep blue flicked back into their prior position.
The girl’s smile grew wide, and her voice came out on a practiced purr. “Your friend made a good choice, fellas. There’s no way you two strapping men will ever fit in a Prius. Where you from, by the way?”
Keely almost staggered under the onslaught of fire that exploded in her belly and immediately flew up her spinal column. She felt her lip curl and fought the urge to grab the girl’s hair and slam her face into the cash register. Instead, she leaned in, cocked an eyebrow, and lowered her voice to an unmistakable commanding tone.
“Hey. How about turning them blinkers down here.” She slid her driver’s license and credit card across the counter when Mindy immediately complied, her expression sufficiently shocked.
“Now that I have your full attention, why don’t you be a good girl and write up that order. We have places to be, and you’re burning daylight.”
“Oh…uh…sure. Sorry. Okay, no problem.”
After several minutes of watching Mindy do her thing, Keely felt her shoulders slowly lowering. Geezus. I’ve lost my damn mind. What the hell? She gave the trembling clerk her best smile when she tentatively moved a printout, the cards, and a set of keys in her direction.
“Um…here you go. Just sign at the bottom. They’ll bring the van around front in just a few minutes.”
“Thank you, Mindy. You’ve been very helpful. Have a great day.” Keely could feel her two behemoths close on her heels as she pushed out of the door. She made the mistake of glancing up. Both of them were carrying lopsided grins and staring at her. Keely didn’t know whether to be relieved or frightened when a police car rolled into the parking lot and snagged their attention. She slowly turned around and looked up to her huge companions.
“Lean up against the wall and look relaxed.” They immediately complied. Joining them, Keely watched as the officer got out of the vehicle. His stride was slow as he eyeballed the two gladiators taking up room beside her. His focus was narrow and wary. She couldn’t really blame his caution. They were intimidating, even when smiling. She pushed away from the building.
“Excuse me, officer. Is this the road that’ll take us to Marfa?”
His shoulders instantly relaxed. Minutes later, she knew exactly where the premium lookout site was for viewing the ghost lights of Marfa, which restaurant served the best steak, and that he had a good idea on names of the local kids trashing cars around town.
Relieved to see the minivan rounding the corner, Keely thanked him for his help and signaled for the guys. Seconds later, she was adjusting the driver’s side mirror and trying to get her heart out of her throat. As soon as she slipped the keys into the ignition, Makar reached over and covered her hand. She looked over.
“Oh. Did you want to drive? I wasn’t sure you’d have licenses.”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
Moving across the seat, Makar palmed the back of her head and pulled her in for a kiss that rivaled the soft, easy one they’d shared earlier. He took command of her mouth and gradually every sense she owned. His talented tongue swirled deliciously against hers, investigated the inside of her cheeks, the roof of her mouth, and the back of her teeth. His masculine smell inundated her senses and sent tingles along her spine. She couldn’t help the slow roll of her hips as her pussy woke to the fact that a gorgeous sex god had taken command of her body. Gently touching her palm to his jaw, Keely enjoyed the feeling of the light beard tickling her fingers. The low growls coming from his chest lit her up and threatened to burn her down. All too soon, he slowly backed away. Gradually her lids got with the program and opened, becoming snared in the warm honey of his gorgeous eyes. His fragrant breath wafted across her lips.
“For not making that police officer come after us…for your trust. You’ve made us very happy.”
Keely finally found her voice. “Uh, sure. No problem.” She shivered when Baruch’s husky voice sounded close to her ear. She hadn’t realized she’d slumped back against the seat.
“You’re going to get a big thank-you from me later. I’m saving it up. I saw how you held back from beating that female down. You’re jealous for us.”
She felt his fingers tracing along her arm, causing her breath to stutter. He moved even closer.
“That makes me hot, Keely. You have no idea what you’ve done.”
Despite her better judgment, Keely couldn’t keep her trap shut. “What…what flower was she?”
Makar chuckled and scooted back to the passenger seat. She glanced up to the rearview and watched Baruch’s silvery eyes narrow as his silky voice drifted over the seat.
“Smoke. She was nothing but smoke. We held our breath.”
Gathering all her brain cells back into one location, Keely sat straight up, fumbled with the keys, and willed her hand to calm before turning the ignition. She engaged the gear and tried to remember which way she was supposed to turn. A flash image of the cop gesturing to the left had her thinking straight, and she eased out onto the road. Several silent moments went by before she tested her voice out again.
“Okay, we’ve got about thirty miles left before we reach the back entrance to the Chinati Mountains. I’m actually looking forward to finally seeing what
all this fuss is about.” Happy with her venture into nonchalant discourse, she wasn’t prepared for Makar’s question.
“Why did you use your own card, Keely? I was ready to pay with mine.”
Pissed that she might fall over that thin line to becoming a babbling idiot again, Keely huffed out a hard breath.
“Fine. I didn’t want her to know who you were.”
Baruch chuckled. “You didn’t like the idea of that female attempting to claim us. Admit it.”
“You’re way off base. I didn’t think you needed to be exposed any more than necessary.” She grimaced at Baruch’s snort of disbelief.
Makar rolled his head on the seat, brows raised. “You worry for our safety?”
“Uh, yeah. Why not? You guys leave too many glaring trails. It’s quite obvious, don’t you think? The proof of that is driving you home right now. Get a clue. Plus, it’s not every day that you see a black Am-Ex being pulled out. You’re screaming to the world that you’re in the elite top of the filthy rich pile. You need to tone it down. Small towns like this have very curious and nosy people. I should know. I came from one myself. It’s ridiculous how boredom can stir up a whole lot of trouble.
Makar sat up, his interest peaked. “Where are you from?”
“You’ve never heard of it, and it’s not worth knowing. It was just a small farming community outside San Antonio. I’ll never step foot in that town again.” Baruch startled her when he leaned against the seat. He sounded sad.
“You weren’t happy there? Was your family cruel to you?”
“Oh, no. Nothing like that. I loved both of them. They were really my mother’s aunt and uncle, so they were much older. The poor things should’ve never been saddled with a young kid. I was bored out of my mind. I probably gave them ulcers when I hit my teens.”
Keely snorted. “I finally calmed my stupid butt down when I hit senior year. I focused on my grades, but then I realized I was trapped. The hottest job prospect was making head cashier at the local Dairy Cream. I swear. The town was the size of a burp. As soon as I turned eighteen, I got access to the money set aside from my mom’s life insurance policy, thanked them for taking me in, and immediately enrolled at UT. I’ll never go back because they passed away several years later. There’s nothing there for me.”
Fueled by Lust: Makar and Baruch (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 18