Rowdy

by Amarinda Jones

  “All right so—”

  He interrupted her. “It was the smell. It was awful. It was a mixture of garlic and something moldy like suede shoes. Your friend Newton told me what that smell indicated.”

  Okay then. Stress ball man has zombies. But how many? And why did I not come better prepared for this? Even Tilly would have carried at least a hammer.

  “So how do we get rid of them?”

  “Destroy the brain with a good whack to the head.” Augusta murmured absently. She watched him go pale again. “You have to get a grip Fred.” She stood up and re-adjusted her glasses, ready to do battle. “Where’s the basement?”

  “What are you doing?” Argon suddenly appeared beside Augusta.

  “Holy crap!” She spun around and slapped his chest, annoyed that he frightened her and pleased that she was not alone as she descended the stairs to the basement. “I’m doing my job.” Augusta reluctantly let go of his shirt. The heat from his body, while comforting, gave her other thoughts and now was not the time to indulge in those. I am a woman on a mission.

  “You no longer do this for a living, Augusta.” Argon followed closely behind her as she moved on. “Actually you never did this for a living. Tilly did. Why now?”

  “I changed my mind.” She reached the bottom. If Augusta had been skeptical about Fred’s words, the smell in the basement confirmed it. “Do you smell that?”

  “Yes, it’s eau de zombie.” Argon pulled her around so she was behind him.

  “Hey!” Augusta was not happy with his manhandling her. She knew she was capable of dealing with this.

  “I’m immortal remember?” Argon turned around and looked at her. “I can deal with this a little better than you.” He put his finger to her lips to stop her from speaking. “I love you. Shut up and humor me.”

  “Fine…whatever.” She wasn’t about to get into an argument with Argon now. Augusta pushed his hand away. It was hard to see much with Argon’s solid body before her. She clutched at his hips and moved forward with him, peering this way and that. Augusta had to admit it was nice to have the strong presence of Argon with her. So sue me for a moment of weakness.

  “I’m not happy about this.” He scanned the dim room with suspicion.

  “It’s not a requirement that you have to be.” The basement looked fairly standard. Boxes, old office equipment and what looked like an air conditioning unit.

  “Your safety is.”

  “I got on perfectly well on my own before you wandered into my life.”

  “You’re not on your own any more, Augusta True.” Argon turned his head and looked at her. “‘And for someone who does not need help, you’re holding on to me pretty tightly lady. But then I like it when you touch me.”

  Her hands sprang away from his body. Augusta had not realized she had been holding onto him. If just seemed like a natural extension of who she was.

  “You can stay and help, or leave.” She wanted to say, “Please stay as I have no idea what I’m doing” however her pride wouldn’t let her. Augusta wanted to be seen as strong and independent. She had been all her life, yet around Argon she felt all gooey and emotional.

  “I’m staying.”

  Excellent.

  “I don’t need you to.” I am so screwed up. When he turned around and faced her, Augusta felt like Argon could see right into the heart of what she was thinking and all the bluff and bravado was not going to fool him, yet it was a game she felt she had to play until she accepted whatever this thing was meant to be between them. Supposedly it was love, possibly it was lust. Maybe I should phone a friend for the right answer.

  “Yeah, I know you’re fearless and that’s what worries me.” Argon crossed his arms over his chest. “What’s the plan?”

  Augusta felt her mouth go suddenly dry at the biceps she saw bulge up enticingly. She mentally slapped herself. Pay attention to the zombie not the hottie.

  “Well, I’ve never done this before. It was Tilly who did the checking weirdos out thing.” Augusta’s job had been to do the research and prepare Tilly with possible scenarios.

  “Tilly?” Argon snorted softly. “Great role model there.”

  “She did okay.” She was Augusta’s best friend since forever and she would have no one, including Argon, malign her.

  “She lost fingers and lots of blood.”

  Yeah well, there was that.

  “But she is still alive.”

  Argon eyes lit up with soft pride. “I seem to remember that had a lot to do with you shooting a freak who was attacking her.”

  “That freak pissed me off by going after Tilly.”

  “And you protect those you love.” Argon’s reached over and touched her face with a gentle hand.

  Hiccup, hiccup. Crap, I have to stop doing that.

  “Yes.” Hiccup. Kisses stopped hiccups. Augusta’s eyes went to his lips, licking her own unconsciously.

  Argon’s hands moved to her shoulders and he pulled her toward him.

  “You’re not so tough.”

  “Am too,” she muttered in half-hearted defiance, her hands at resting on his hips. Hiccup.

  “Are not,” he murmured back, as their bodies touched. Suddenly he stiffened. “Uh-oh.”

  “What uh-oh?” Uh-ohs were never good in Augusta’s experience.

  “Do you feel that?”

  “Um…” Augusta felt Argon’s heart beat, his erection and the corresponding wetness between her legs. “This is not the time—”

  “Not me—though I am flattered—the room.”

  Augusta did notice a sudden spike in temperature but she thought that had to do with her hormones. She looked around and froze. Rapid temperature rise equaled close zombie proximity.

  “Oh fuck.” It was too late to do more than swear as the zombie charged them. One minute she was on her feet and the next she hit the ground with Argon on top of her. The stench of garlic and mold encompassed them but the zombie ran on past, leaving them in a heap. Thank God zombies only attacked in packs otherwise she and Argon would have been in deep trouble. She squirmed underneath Argon’s body.

  “Hello there,” he said. His lips were but an inch from hers. Argon pushed her spectacles back up on her nose to sit evenly.

  She could feel the hard throb of his cock between her legs. The urge to wrap them around his waist was overwhelming but she resisted.

  “You cannot be serious? Now?” Could I? Forehead slap – of course I can’t. The floor is filthy.

  “Augusta True, I would want you if a ship was sinking, the building was on fire or I was gasping my last breath.”

  That was so sweet and yet terrible timing.

  “Get off me.” She pushed at his shoulders, resisting the urge to caress and explore further. “We have to go after the zombie.” For God sake, remember you are a woman on a mission.

  “Zombies are too fast even for immortals like me.” Argon’s tongue flicked out and touched the top of his lip teasingly.

  Hiccup, hiccup.

  “How disappointing you’re not as magical as you make out.” Hiccup.

  “I can’t concentrate on anything else but you when you’re near me.”

  The feeling was most definitely mutual.

  “This is not the time for this.” Though, I could always wash my clothes or throw them out of they got too dirty.

  Talk about not being able to concentrate. All Augusta wanted at that moment was Argon’s mouth on hers and his cock driving hot and unrelenting inside her. “Later, maybe.”

  “Maybe is as good as a yes.”

  * * * * *

  “Did you see it?’ Fred Ward rushed over to Augusta, wringing his hands anxiously. He reeled back and his face went white when he saw Argon. “Oh my Lord! Is he one of them?”

  Augusta grabbed Fred’s wrist before he could run. She did not have to see Argon to know he was smiling at the timid man.

  “No, this is—”

  “I’m Augusta’s fiancé.” He reached over and shook the oth
er man’s hand.

  Augusta refrained from the eye roll she really wanted to do. She wasn’t about to respond to what Argon said as he expected that. She was not about to fall into whatever silly game he had in mind. This was the man who had picked her up and dusted her off, very intimately, after the zombie had fled. She had slapped away his hands as she slapped down her own need for him. Honest to God, am I on heat or what? For one lust-hazed moment she had considered taking up Argon’s invitation to click his fingers and go straight to Rome or Paris and forget all this “zombie business” as he called it and just make love until they couldn’t think straight. And that was the problem. The more time she spent with Argon, the less she was thinking at all. Augusta gave herself a mental shake. I have a job to do. Besides how could she walk out on the stress-ridden Fred?

  “Yes, I saw the zombie.” But I have no idea how I am going to help you. But Fred did not need to know that. Now Augusta understood just how often her best friend Tilly flew by the seat of her pants when it came to hunting down the supernatural.

  “Will you take the job?”

  Augusta said, “Yes” at the same Argon said, “No”. She looked at the dark man at her side. He was drop-dead, gorgeous. Just looking at Argon made her hot and needy but sheer bloody-minded spite made Augusta want to defy him. She might be a victim of Hester’s curse but that did not mean she had to willingly accept what she set down for her, nor would she be dictated to by Argon.

  “Yes, I will.” Stick that in your ear oh-immortal-one.

  The sigh that escaped Fred was loud and deep almost like he had been needing to take that breath for a long time.

  “I am so relieved.”

  * * * * *

  “Wow.”

  “What?” Augusta and Argon walked away from Fred Ward after she had discussed terms for ridding him of his zombie problem.

  “You charge a lot.” As soon as they were sufficiently alone, Argon reached for her hand and transported them back to her apartment.

  Augusta gripped his hand as the rush of speed dropped her swiftly back in her living room. She swallowed the wave of dizziness that played havoc with her stomach.

  “You okay?” Argon steadied her against his body.

  Nice. I could stay here all day. But where would that get me? Clinging to a fantasy she could never have. Or can I? Fuck, why can’t I just have a normal life? Augusta pushed away from the warmth of his body.

  “Yep, fine, perfect.” Not. “As for the charging, as much as I love Tilly she did not have a clue how to run the business.” When it came to bills, her best friend tended to file them under “b” for bin and wait until she received the “pretty ones with the red writing” on them, before Tilly paid them. “Besides, I have to look after myself.”

  “You have me.”

  “Do I?” Augusta took a good long look at the man beside her. She felt an intense need to believe Argon, yet she was also a realist. The old catch-cry “if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is” kept coming into her mind. “How long do you think this will last? You’re immortal. I’m not. Even if I was madly in love with you—”

  “Which you are but you are too stubborn to admit it unless forced to.”

  “If I was, we can’t be together. It’s impossible.” Augusta knew she had been crazy to accept that first kiss, that first touch from Argon, but it had been too hard to deny her need to taste and experience and just for once in her life throw caution to the wind. “I’m going to age and die and you’re not.”

  “Is that what’s tying you up in knots?” Argon shook his head in disbelief. “I told you I would give up my immortality for you in a heartbeat.”

  That was only half the problem. That bloody curse of Hester’s still hung over her head and who knew what was supposed to become of them if they stayed together? It was not a curse that guaranteed pleasant times ahead. Maybe they would end up hating each other for being forced together.

  “I wouldn’t ask you to give anything up for me.” What would he get in return? A woman who was pre-menstrual for two weeks out of four? It was not like she was some drop-dead gorgeous diva who would guarantee him happiness. Augusta was well aware that she was average and boring. Was the man under some spell that he did not see her as she was? Broken spectacles and all?

  “Augusta True, I would do anything for you.”

  She sighed in frustration. She did not want to hurt him but she could not see how this would ever work between them.

  “This is what worries me. You are all caught up in this and what if this thing ends between us tomorrow?” What if the blinders come off and you see me as who I am – nothing special?

  How was it possible that the woman who stood before him could be so blind and stubborn? But then Argon knew fear could shake the strongest being to their foundations and have them questioning everything. He, too, had experienced a moment when he first met Augusta when he wondered why he was being called to answer a curse that he only half believed in. It had been rattling around the Cardissan family for as long as he could remember. Argon had never really taken the whole curse by a witch thing seriously. That was until saw Augusta and he realized that what he had been searching for was right before him. Who knew the ramblings of a condemned woman would bring him everything he had ever wanted in his very long and lonely life? The males of Cardissan always acted like meeting a Lawrence was a fate worse than death, but then Argon suspected that they were never going to be the ones the curse was specifically about. Some of them were immortal, some were not. Some were chosen for great love, others avoided it. To have avoided Augusta would have denied himself pleasure and Argon selfishly wanted what she could give him that no one else could—eternal love.

  He smiled as she nervously pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. Argon could have fixed her taped-up spectacles so many times with a mere click of his fingers if she had asked. But that was the thing about Augusta. She did not ask anything for herself. She existed, awaiting a curse to be fulfilled and reached out to no one for fear of endangering them. Augusta saw Hester’s prophecy as her problem and therefore pushed people away. Argon was not about to be pushed any further. He knew why she was starting up the agency. Augusta wanted independence from needing anyone to rely on and her birthday was in less than two days. A busy woman was one who did not have time to dwell on the what ifs in life.

  “This “thing” as you call it will not end tomorrow or the next day, Augusta.” Argon planned to grow old and gray and die in his wife’s arms. She was everything he had ever wanted and did not believe he would ever have. Thank you Hester.

  “How do you know? Because of a fairytale from 1471?”

  “Because we are meant to be together and I would have found you regardless of a witch’s words.”

  Augusta favored him with a cynical eye roll. “Hester wasn’t a witch.”

  “You really don’t know do you? Argon was amazed by her innocence. It was sweet but it could also cost Augusta if someone chose to use it against her.

  “What?” Hiccup.

  Even her hiccups were sexy to Argon. He wanted to kiss her breathless until whatever scared her went away. But now was not the time for kissing. The woman he loved needed to be told the truth.

  “It was not fluke Hester died as she did. All Lawrence women are witches.”

  Chapter Six

  Augusta slapped his chest and rolled her eyes. “We are not.” Do I have a sign saying dumb on my forehead? “I’m a Lawrence and I’m not a witch.” It was insane and why was he looking that way, as if he knew something she didn’t?

  “How do you know?”

  “Well, I would know if I was a witch.” Wouldn’t I? Shouldn’t I? Hiccup, hiccup. I can’t be a witch. That’s just crazy and yet… Hiccup. How would I know? Who would have told her the truth? She had not known about Hester and the curse until she had gone digging around to find out more information. A sudden shiver ran up Augusta’s spine. Who the bloody hell am I? What do I know about my life oth
er than an old letter from my mother – a woman I never knew?

  “Augusta—”

  Hiccup, hiccup. At first she did not feel the gentle hands that descended on her shoulders. It was only when she looked up into Argon’s dark, soulful eyes that she knew he was telling the truth.

  “Really? I’m a witch?”

  “I would only ever tell you the truth.”

  In her heart Augusta knew that. He was a good, although annoying, man.

  “But how? Why didn’t I know?”

  “I don’t know why you were never told.”

  Suddenly Augusta found herself telling Argon about her childhood, the mother she had never met and the letter she received when she was sixteen. Things that only Tilly knew or had guessed came pouring out of her. Every insecurity and fear she possessed sprang forth from her lips. When she was finished, Augusta was part horrified and part relieved as it felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her knowing that someone else knew and he did not judge her badly for her thoughts.

  “It sounds like your mother cared for you.”

  “Not enough to tell me.” But then would it have made her life any different? Would she have missed out on the man who held her so gently and looked at her with such understanding?

  “People don’t always know what to do.” Argon lifted one hand and caressed her face. “They are so caught up in protecting those they love that they forget knowledge is what people need.”

  Hiccup, hiccup.

  “I have no idea why I told you all that.”

  Argon leaned down and kissed her lips lightly. “Yeah you do and I’m glad you did.”

  At that moment, Augusta wanted to throw herself into his arms and never leave. It was the safest she had felt in a long time. But feeling safe didn’t mean she was safe. She still had zombies to move on and now a whole witch thing to deal with. Give me a break.

  “I should have felt something.” How could you be a witch and not know it? “I thought Hester died because of a weak Cardissan man and the times she lived in.” Anyone the slightest bit unusual back then would have been condemned a witch and burned at the stake just to get rid of them as a problem.