by Avery Duncan
“I did,” Lucian said, sighing into the phone. There was a staticy sound, and then he came back online.
“Listen, we’ll talk more when you get here. Keep her safe, and don’t let Auro get a hold of her. He shouldn’t have a chance, because your ride should be there soon. You’re only a couple miles away from the Ally Cat, but I have your bike at Sinclair.”
“Got two helmets?” he asked, hating that he was concerned for Jamie’s safety.
“Yep. I hope she doesn’t have a problem with the bike, she doesn’t know how you ride.”
Talon actually smirked as he hung up the phone.
“Houston? We have a problem...”
Jamie stared at the black piece of metal that was going to be her ultimate death. It was large, but didn’t seem big enough to hold two people. There were two helmets hanging off of the handles, and the large moving truck that was driving away had been her last chance at life.
Sun rays beamed down on them, and the wind was messing with her hair. Talon cast her a look before grabbing the large black ball of death and handing it to her. He took the keys out of the other one and jingled them in his hand. “Get on the bike, princess. It isn’t going to kill you.”
“Did you not hear me? We have a problem,” she said, fear underlying her voice.
“Which is?” he asked, almost arrogantly. She watched with horror as he swung a leg over the the large metal contraption and proceeded to look at her expectantly.
“My imminent death,” she said thinly, getting light headed. She had only been on a motorcycle once, and it had been with Chris. He had been too reckless, swerved, and she still had the scar to prove the crash. Her stomach turned at the thought of actually going on one of those things again.
“You aren’t going to die,” he said drolly, holding out the helmet again. She took it with shaking hands, staring at him doubtfully.
“Why do I have a hard time believing that?” she asked out loud, talking to herself more than him. He gave a chuckle and turned the ignition. The thing purred to life and she swore it stared at her with death hungry headlights. Her knees knocked together as she came forward, closer than she wanted to be.
“Because you’re a chicken,” he said, right before yanking on her shoulder and, in one shockingly fluid motion, setting her in front of him. His arms came around her from behind, settling on the handle bars.
“This isn’t...safe,” she stammered, hating the heat that came from him. It made her feel warm, made her remember last night. She wanted nothing more than to turn in her spot and kiss him full on -- hell, it might be a better distraction than anything else.
Jamie licked her lips, remembering the hot press of his mouth on hers. She clenched her legs as best she could, fighting the feeling in her stomach. He took the helmet from her and slipped it over her head.
“I know, but now I won’t think of you jumping off the back for the safety of the ground,” he said, a deep chuckle in his voice before he put his foot under hers and did one of the most frightening things ever.
Jamie squeaked when they shot off. Her eyes closed tightly and she turned her face into his neck, trying to think of something else, anything else. Actually, take that back.
She didn’t think it would be good to think of them together at a time like this, although she wouldn’t mind dying like that. Wind rushed through her hair, whipping it back against his face. Flashbacks of flying into a tree after skidding over mud and twigs, crawled through her mind.
Bile rose in her throat.
She almost started screaming at him to stop, to make her walk, but then, despite the chaos in her mind, his hand came around, off of the handles, and threaded into her hair, right at the edge of her helmet.. The touch was soft and light, but it held her frozen. She didn’t notice the trees flashing by them, the cars they sped around, or even the young couple that they cut off at a crosswalk.
God, his hand was like magic. It was hard and calloused, and as his fingers threaded into her hair to massage her frantic nerves, her body turned boneless. She didn’t notice that they had stopped until his hand left her hair. He took the helmet off of her and for what seemed like the first time, he smiled down at her.
“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” he asked, the smile in his eyes reflecting in his voice.
A warm blush came over her as she looked back up at him. “It was horrible.”
Her blunt tone of voice only made his smile widen. “Oh, I just bet. Poor little Jamie, scared of a motorcycle...”
“I was in a crash once,” she said, feeling her chest tighten. With what, she had no idea. His teasing felt so natural, as if he were meant to be with her and they had been together for years. The familiarity was a small shock to her, but it made her smile softly.
“How did that happen?” he asked, sounding as if he didn’t really care that much. He helped himself off, then her. Her foot left the small brace at the bottom of the back and she took in her surroundings as she explained.
“My ex-boyfriend wanted to take me on a ride,” she started, eyeing the flat building that sat in front of her. In bold serif letters, it says “The Ally Cat. Bar and Gaming.” Under it, the silhouette of a woman was shown in a seductive pose with long curls falling to the bottom of the sign.
She looked back at him, noticing his look. He was silent as he waited for her to talk, a new awareness in her eyes. “I was all for it at first, then he got reckless.” Images of the past flashed in her mind, of her laughing with pure joy and then the fear that she wasn’t safe. “I had asked him to slow down, or to at least stop and let me off. He had taken the only helmet for himself and I hadn’t cared, I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal.”
A low, dangerous sound came from Talon, but she didn’t hear it. A young woman walked past them, walking even quicker when she saw the look on Talon’s face as he stared at Jamie. Her eyes were far away, lost as she remembered. “The crash hadn’t been that bad. But seeing your life flash before your eyes -- it’s life changing,” she said softly, turning to look at him again. The sun was out, but barely. Clouds surrounded it, shadows covering them as they stood in front of the imposing building.
“So he didn’t even consider you?” he snarled, looming over her.
Jamie backed up, eyes widening. He looked pissed, but in a different way than when he was possessed. The demonic voice was long gone, and so far he hadn’t been looking at her as if he wanted to kill her -- right now, he looked like he wanted to kill Chris.
It made her smile.
“Even I wasn’t thinking about myself --”
“That doesn’t matter.” His eyes hard, body tense, he turned from her and stormed to the door, taking out his motorcycle keys and shoving them into the lock. Twisting it open with an angry motion, he pulled the door open and watched her enter, his body radiating with fury.
Anxiously, she walked into the building and looked around, trying to ignore how angry he was. It hadn’t been that big of a deal, but the fact that he...cared.
Her heart turned over.
“Lucian?” Talon asked from behind her, into the dark. She looked at him like he was crazy. What were they doing? Meeting up with a vampire in a sex-rotten bar? The name that came from him left a hollow feeling in her --
“Here. Man, I am so sorry about what happened. Do you need me to call a thera--”
“Shut the hell up and don’t even finish that sentence. I don’t need a therapist,” he said bluntly, walking forward to slap backs with a man that came from the shadows. Her eyes widened when she saw him.
He had been leaning casually against the bar, farther in the back so the darkness covered him. Stools were flipped upside down on the counter, just as the rest of the bar was. Chairs were on top of the tables and a broom was against the wall. Only three lights were on, illuminating the wooden floors and the steel poles in the corner. A shadow covered the room, and it really seemed as if they were going to meet a vampire or some other dark creature of the night.
&nbs
p; But, after meeting Auro and Lyne, she couldn’t help thinking that way.
Lyne’s name brought her up short. Pain tore through her as she watched the two men, hands going numb. The puking job she had given the plants outside their house hadn’t soothed her soul in the least -- wait.
“Am I going to get arrested?” she asked, eyeing them. Lucian was tall, taller than Talon. He had dark hair, dark skin, and mesmerizing eyes that, even from her short distance away, she could tell swirled like water and smoke. A cold shudder ran down her back when he actually turned to stare at her.
“Why would you ask that?” Talon asked, even as Lucian opened his mouth to speak.
“He looks like a cop...and that...what happened...” Her voice trailed off as she stared into Lucian’s eyes. In them, she could see the secrets of the world.
His voice snapped her back to reality. “I’m no more of a cop than you are innocent,” he said drolly, looking at her hands as if the iron poker were still there. She put them behind her back quickly, feeling lightheaded.
“Knock it off,” Talon said, glaring. “No, Jamie, you aren’t going to get arrested. You didn’t kill anything, so don’t worry about it.” The look he gave Lucian said more than she wanted to see.
Her stomach turned again.
“But I did...” More confused than anything, she looked between them again and swore she was going to pass out.
“Jamie,” he said, like he was talking to a child. “To kill something, it has to be alive. Lyne wasn’t alive. Neither is Auro.”
“Let’s just explain all of this later when we aren’t so open. Go lock up the door again, and come back to our conference room. We open up in about two hours, so we have that much time for peace.” Lucian strode to the back of the room, not giving them a second look. He disappeared into a door.
“Just follow him,” he said, none of the earlier teasing in his voice. It was as if they were strangers, or at the least distant relatives who didn’t care for each other. Feeling torn, she followed Lucian slowly. Things were so much more different than they had been only a day or so before. The events blurred in her mind so much that she couldn’t even tell what was happening anymore.
Not in a million years would she have been inside of a bar. Not in a million years would she have ridden a motorcycle again. Not in a million years would she have had sex with a random man who she had seen be tortured. Her stomach revolted, but not at the fact that they had made love. What would happen now that it was over?
Talon acted as if the torturing hadn’t even happened, like it had been a bad dream that he had no plan on having again. He carried himself with a stronger gait, there was a different sort of anger within him, and he wasn’t staring at her with haunted eyes that begged for freedom and revenge. Her stomach clenched.
“Just sit down. I’m sure he’s going to put his bike out back,” the deep, resonating voice said. His eyes were shrewd, taking in her appearance and judging her for all her worth. Jamie sat in the chair slowly, looking around the room.
It was spacious, but not enough that you could throw a party or hold a meeting. Soft lights accented the dark theme of the room. A chair was placed behind a steel desk, the legs as thin as her wrist. She looked at the closed Mac Book Pro before looking away, eyeing the large one-sided window.
In some ways, it felt more like an investigation room than a back-room for a club. Jamie leaned back into the black leather seat, straightening her shoulders. If she was going to stay by Talon, she had to let his peers know that she wasn’t afraid of them. Her small lessons in martial arts smaller in comparison to what he looked like he was capable, and didn’t that set her in her place.
He raised a brow.
“Tell me about yourself...”
“Jamie,” she filled in curtly, folding her hands in her lap. The image she meant to represent was not given because of the fact that she was still stuck in her sweatpants and Columbia.
“Jamie,” he said with a nod, sounding as if he were relishing the sound of her voice coming from his lips. Her jaw ticked. “Well, Jamie, tell me about yourself. How you came to meet Talon...how you brought his memories back... Tell Dr. Lucian.”
A mocking light entered his eyes; she almost bitch slapped him. Instead, she folded her hands even more tightly in her lap and forced her stiff lips to move, a cold trickle sliding down her back.
“Stop.”
Jamie whipped around at the dark voice coming from the corner. Talon was leaning against the door, feet crossed at the ankles. He had a different shirt on, the jacket was off, and his shoulders were tense. Her heart stopped in her chest at the site of him, relieved yet slightly nervous as his eyes, through the dark, penetrated her.
Lucian gave him an arch look. “The girls will be in here soon. Opening and booking,” he said to Jamie knowingly, as if they were best buds. She brought her arms up and crossed them over her chest, staring at him with a straight face. Talon was still against the wall, and in the dim, leather covered room, it felt like a prison.
Their presence was dominating. Lucian was large and powerful, standing to his full height with his arms crossed against his chest. Talon was just as imposing. With his new anger, his new coldness, Jamie could feel the blast of his frigid emotions across the room. It was a drastic change to what had happened between them last night.
Not to mention the fact that he had been possessed.
But how many times had that happened by now? Two?
Jamie wasn’t counting -- she coughed to hide her mental lie. Hell, she registered every single movement he made, every breath he took. It wasn’t like she could help herself by now -- he was just so...dominating. Just like Lucian. Just like a caged animal waiting to attack. The look in his eyes as he stared at her from the shadows wasn’t one of desire -- hell no, it was one of utter contempt, almost as if he hated her.
Forcing herself to ignore him, she gave Lucian a chilling look and then directed her eyes to the one-sided window. The lights from the club were tinted, giving the room an even darker appearance.
The leather under her ass felt like it was sticking to her thighs. The testosterone in the room was climbing, as was her facial heat. It wasn’t like she was used to being stared at -- actually, she was. But with Talon in the equation?
Fuck.
“Before we get to proper introductions, I would like to say one little, tiny thing,” Lucian said through the tension. Even though his voice had been mildly carefree, Jamie’s stomach started turning again. She was so screwed. She really was going to get arrested. She was going to go into jail and she would drop the soap and...
She was dimly aware of Talon moving close to her, hand on her shoulder. His soft, dark voice resonated into her ears. “Hey. Calm down. You aren’t in trouble, and Lucian is only going to feed on your fear.”
While he had been talking softly enough that Lucian shouldn’t have heard him, the smirk on his face led Jamie to believe otherwise. Despite that, hearing Talon’s voice in her ear, soft and completely different from before, her shoulders started to relax and the anxiety in her was replaced by a gentle heat.
Of course, it fled shortly after Talon’s hand left her shoulder.
“My man here is smart. Watching you squirm could get a man off any day --” Talon’s growl stopped Lucian. He laughed and leaned his ass against the desk. “As I was saying...”
Jamie held her breath as his hand extended to her, his face turning deadly calm.
“Welcome to our world.”
The way he said it, made it sound as if she had just entered a sick, depraved fun house, and it didn’t sound like she was going to get out any time soon.
Chapter 12
“World?” Jamie asked numbly.
The way Lucian’s eyes were looking at her, the tension in Talon’s shoulders, and the silence in the room almost got to her. One little word floated around the room, in her head, and all it did was confuse her.
Don’t confirm my fears, she prayed mentally, looking up at
Talon, pleading with her eyes. Don’t tell her what she had suspected, what she had been warned of but had refused to let herself believe. Her mind was racing, heart pounding.
She tried telling herself that Lucian was crazy – hell, a man that crack-happy about ruining her appetite should be in a mental ward. Was that what they were in right now? She thought, panicking. Talon looked away from her, across the room to Lucian.
“It would be so much easier if we had a handbook,” he sighed. A large hand tunneled through his dark hair. Thick patches stood up in places, at odds with his demeanor. He didn’t seem at all crazy or even disorderly. In fact, he seemed like he could be the most controlled and capable man – so why did she feel like he really should be locked up?
“Well, we don’t,” Talon said, blasé.
Jamie shook her head, hating that her balance was so unsteady as she stood. The room didn’t seem all that inviting – well, it hadn’t from the beginning, but now it was just downright repugnant, almost worse than the cage thing that Talon had been kept in.
“You should work on getting one put together,” he said, adding a laugh. It only had her shoulders tensing even more. The guy was a complete dick, she decided. Right then, Jamie knew she would never be able to stop strangling – when she got the chance.
Talon raised his brow at her darkly, as if he understood what she was thinking yet he didn’t care.
“Where do you think you’re going, darling girl?” Lucian said deeply from behind her. Jamie had slowly moved to the door and now had her hand on the knob. She swore she wasn’t pretending his neck was the cold metal.
“I have to pee.”
The statement was met with silence, then a sigh. She heard Talon’s annoyed grunt and then Lucian said with a murmur, “Take her to the restroom, then. When you get back, I would like you to meet me at Sinclair’s. Since your female is too weak,” he said with emphasis, grating on her nerves, “I will have Manny give her a ‘crash course’.” It will take you no more than twenty minutes to get there. And Jamie?” he inquired sweetly.