Guild of Truth 01 - Silent as the Grave

by Mary K. Norris

  She barely hesitated before her glove came flying at him. She hit the mitt hard enough to have his palm stinging.

  “Good,” he said. “Again.”

  And she did, over and over and over again, until she was breathing heavily and her eyes were distant. He could see her pain in their onyx depths. She’d given him a glimpse of her betrayal. That bastard Tyson had left his scar on her, and Felix wanted nothing better than to pound that asshole’s face into the dirt until he bled. The pain she had experienced there had only gotten worse when her parents refused to see the real woman their daughter had become. His heart went out to her. She had a lot of problems to work out, and he would be there for her. Even if the only way to stay close to her was by operating as her own personal punching bag.

  He knew what she was going through. He knew that sting of betrayal, could still taste the disappointment of losing those closest to him. He’d been cast out by his best friends on the cusp of his own power discovery. Hell, he’d been screwed over thrice by Collette. He could still remember the shocked stupor he’d been in the last time he’d seen her, years ago. He’d run from her apartment bleeding, with no idea if he’d killed Kevin or not, and the sight of Jasmine’s corpse forever burned into his memory. His world had been turned on its side. Much the same way he imagined Cali’s had been.

  He reined in his wandering thoughts and focused on the woman in front of him. Her punches were getting sloppy. Sweat glistened at her temples. Her body shook from fatigue, and her eyes were brimming with unshed tears.

  “I think that’s enough,” Felix said gently.

  She threw another punch. “No.” Her voice cracked and she punched again. “Bastards thought I was nothing but trash, like I was worth nothing!” Each word was emphasized with the slap of her glove meeting his mitt.

  Felix lowered his arms before she really hurt herself. “Cali … ”

  With no target to set her anger upon, she deflated. She shook her hands. “Ow,” she said weakly.

  Felix dropped his mitts and went to take hers off. Her knuckles were red and slightly swollen. One was starting to sport a little purple coloring while another was cracked and bleeding.

  “Shit.” He went for his first aid kit.

  He guided Cali to the sofa and knelt before her. He took one of her hands and studied the handiwork. “Well, I’ll give you this, you’re a better boxer than Joel.”

  The comment pulled a small smile from her, one that disappeared as soon as he applied the peroxide. They lapsed into silence.

  “They think I broke into my parents’ to steal money to pay off a dealer.”

  Her words came out of the blue.

  “They wouldn’t listen to me, already had me pegged from the beginning. As soon as they looked up that fucking record. I tried to stay calm but it didn’t help. My powers came all the same. The officers freaked out. I think they knew it was me but they were too afraid to say or do anything. Maybe I’ll luck out and they’ll explain the weird occurrence away.”

  Felix didn’t interrupt in case there was more she needed to say. He continued to carefully wrap her knuckles. When nothing else followed, he brushed his thumb over the backs of her hands. “The first time I went to confront my best friend after accidentally using my powers in front of him, he called me a freak and slammed the door in my face. I got so angry at what he’d said and done that what little control I’d gained of my powers at the time slipped. I Erased his entire front door. My friend screamed. Slid down a whole set of stairs, he was so scared. I’ll never forget the look on his face though. He didn’t know who I was anymore, he was terrified of me.”

  When he looked up from her hands, he found she was watching him intently. Those deep brown orbs were as unguarded as he’d ever seen them.

  He cleared his throat. “We all lose control of our powers, especially in the beginning. We’ll help you work through it. Work through this.”

  “Is this going to cost me?” she teased.

  “Absolutely.” Those beautiful lips kicked up at the corners, sending a jolt straight through him. His blood pounded through his veins. His hands itched to touch her. He wanted his mouth on hers, his skin against hers, his body inside hers.

  He wanted her with such force it shook him to his very soul.

  He needed to pull away.

  He couldn’t.

  And when her lips sought his, what little control he thought he might have had was obliterated. He fell on her like an antediluvian beast.

  He couldn’t touch enough of her. Her face, her neck — he trailed his hands down the sides of her body, just barely grazing her breasts. She arched into the touch. It was all the invitation he needed.

  He flicked his thumbs over her hardened nipples. Her breasts were small and tight. They were perfect. With a growl he pushed her deeper into the couch. His tongue sought hers, and she responded with equal force.

  This was no delicate flower beneath him. Cali was all wild, raw energy. Her fingers raked him, set his blood boiling. One of her hands dove into his hair, pulling his head closer so that their teeth nearly scraped. She drew his tongue seductively into her mouth and sucked him till he moaned.

  Oxygen was an annoying necessity.

  They broke apart, inhaling lungfuls of air. Their gazes locked. Shit, he’d never felt this strong a pull to a woman before. She stared up at him with surprisingly naked eyes.

  I’d never hurt you, he wanted to promise her. But Cali was beginning to look more and more like the type who would believe actions over words.

  That was fine by him. He’d protect her, guard her with his life if he had to. This explosive attraction he felt toward her was more than he’d ever felt before. He was drawn to her and not just physically. He wanted to know her, to learn her hopes and fears, to take her in his arms and comfort her whenever she needed it.

  Cali reached up and traced her finger along his jaw. “I don’t even know you,” she said as if she were mirroring his thoughts.

  “That can easily be fixed,” he drawled.

  Cali inhaled sharply. Felix frowned, not understanding her reaction until he replayed his comment. What he’d meant to come out as innocent and genuine took on a totally different context when he took in their compromising position. Especially when his erection was so clearly pressed against her.

  Well, shit.

  He went to backpedal but something caught his eye outside of his sliding glass door. It was a person. A man in his backyard.

  Felix shot to his feet. One minute the guy was there, the next he was gone. “What the hell?” he mumbled. He raced for his back door and ripped it open.

  Nothing.

  “Felix?” Cali called from behind.

  “Stay here.” He closed the sliding glass door on her, but not before he heard her say, “Like hell.”

  He ran around the side of the house and out the gate. He scanned his neighborhood. No new cars. No strange people running from his house.

  What the fuck?

  Had he imagined that guy?

  The tickling at the back of his neck wasn’t something from his imagination. He knew he’d seen something. The only question was how the hell had it escaped so fast?

  An Illusion, perhaps?

  Cali plowed through the gate, nearly knocking them both over. Felix righted her without thought. “What gives? What’d you see?”

  He continued to search but found nothing out of the ordinary.

  No one can move that fast.

  “What’s out there?” Cali spoke softly.

  Felix watched a car drive past. The sun was already starting to wane in the west. The salty ocean breeze rustled through the nearby trees. “I don’t know. I saw a man standing in my backyard, near the sliding glass door. One second he was there. The next … he was gone.”

  Cali made a small noise in the back of her throat.

  Felix turned to her. “What is it?”

  She shook her head as if in disbelief. “Last night. At the clinic. I woke up and the
re was this shadow lurking in the doorway to the office. As soon as I blinked, it was gone. I searched the entire vet but couldn’t find anything. All the doors were locked too. I figured I’d imagined the whole thing.”

  A bolt of dread went straight through him. Someone had gotten inside the clinic, and he hadn’t been there. “Are you hurt?”

  She didn’t shake off his grasp like she usually did. “I’m fine. Nothing happened. I woke up and saw the outline of this guy but it was like he vanished. And it couldn’t have been Collette because I saw her today at the station. She was being released.”

  This was news to him. “What?”

  A bitter note crept into her voice. “She must have only been detained for the night. I didn’t get the whole story. It was pretty anticlimactic. She tried to intimidate me but she can suck it, for all I care.”

  Her words brought a faint smile to his lips, but it didn’t last. “Did she admit to anything when you saw her? If it was her Illusions being sent after us she would’ve said something. She enjoys the feeling of power she gets when others fear her abilities.”

  She shook her head, her ponytail swaying with the motion. “She didn’t say anything. So I’m guessing it wasn’t her. Who else could it be?”

  He pulled out his cell phone. “Shit if I know, but we’re not safe here. We need Sydney. I’ll let the others know we’re on our way over.” He ushered Cali back through the side gate, making sure to lock it behind him. Like that’s going to do a lot of good. If only Joel’s Locks lasted without him being near, Felix would have him Lock his whole damn house.

  Who knew, maybe they’d luck out and Niella would get a Dream of whatever the hell was going on. They could sure do with some answers.

  Chapter 11

  “I need clothes,” Cali spoke up from beside him as they got in the Hummer. “I can’t keep wearing this.” She picked up the T-shirt, gave it a distasteful look, and let it drop. “I need to stop by my apartment … before I’m evicted from it.”

  He started the car. “I don’t think your apartment is going to be the safest place to go right now.”

  “Well, I’m sure as hell not wearing any of your clothes.”

  The thought of Cali in his clothes had him gripping the steering wheel and clenching his teeth.

  Down, boy.

  When he was more in control of himself he shot her a wicked grin. “You’re welcome to go naked. I sure as hell won’t mind.”

  He caught the flare of desire in her eyes before she looked away. “You’re hopeless, you know that? I’ll only be a second. I really need to get some clothes. And talk to my landlady.”

  “Why’s that?”

  She turned back to face him, “Because I’m not going to go walking around naked.”

  He tried to keep a straight face. “That’s not what I meant.” Her expression turned mortified. A flush made its way into her cheeks. He laughed. “I meant why do you need to talk to your landlady?”

  “So I can straighten up the mess with my roommate. She stiffed me. Up and took my most recent painting so I was left high and dry. It was my turn to pay the rent, and now I’m not going to be able to. Hopefully, she’ll cut me some slack, but she doesn’t like me very much so I doubt it.”

  “Let me guess, your charming personality didn’t work on her?”

  “I hate you.”

  There was no real bite to the words, and that made Felix laugh all the harder because it told him just what he wanted to know. She most definitely did not hate him. In fact, he’d wager she actually kind of liked him.

  “You don’t have the best luck with people, do you?”

  “Don’t have the best luck, period. I’m stuck with you, aren’t I?”

  He put his hand over his heart. “Ouch. You almost said that like you meant it.”

  She shook her head, and he caught her smile out of the corner of his eye.

  If only they hadn’t been interrupted earlier …

  • • •

  “You really don’t have to look so on edge,” Cali told Felix as she jimmied her key in the lock.

  Felix pushed the door open for her and went in first.

  “Hey! I’m not defenseless.”

  “No,” he agreed, “but you can’t Erase things coming at you either. Let’s say, for example, like if some crazy Illusionist was hiding out in your apartment ready to gut you with a knife.”

  When it was obvious no one was going to gut her, she pushed him aside to turn on the light. Everything was as she’d left it. Half empty. It looked like Jessica really had left her. Off to the side of the main living room sat her easel, naked. The oil painting that had been sitting there for two months was now in the hands of God only knew who. It was probably propped against a wall somewhere, unseen. The idea made her hands fist.

  Felix bumped his shoulder against hers. “You okay?” The man could read her way too easily. And just like that, she remembered his powerful body atop hers, pressing into her in all the right places. It made her throb all over with sexual frustration. She wanted Felix with a carnal need that was only getting stronger the longer she spent in his presence.

  Hell, if Felix hadn’t seen that man in his backyard, she probably would have let him take her right there on the sofa.

  Get to know him better, indeed …

  She looked up at him. He was still waiting for her answer, his brilliant blue-green eyes regarding her with nothing but openness. His five o’clock shadow was a little fainter today, he must’ve shaved that morning, but she remembered all too well the tantalizing feel of his face scraping against her neck.

  She swallowed thickly and turned from him. “I’m just upset because, for some stupid reason, I thought Jessica might have come back. That she would bring my painting back.” She pointed to her easel, amazed she’d admitted that much to him. “I worked so hard on it,” she added quietly.

  She felt the heat from Felix’s body as he came up behind her. His arms wrapped around her waist, putting her back flush with his firm chest. His breath tickled her neck, and when his lips brushed the skin there she wanted to moan from the pleasure of it.

  She could feel his erection pressing into her from behind.

  He didn’t try to comfort her with false words, he simply held her. She didn’t step away. Not yet. She wanted to memorize the way his body fit against hers.

  He kissed her neck again. Heat flooded her body and without conscious thought she pushed back against him, rubbing against the obvious bulge in his pants. The growl in her ear was such a turn on that she was afraid her knees would buckle. But he would never let her fall. Somehow she knew that. His arms tightened around her, and she arched into him as he gently thrust against her. Together they started an agonizing rhythm that had Cali wishing she were naked and he were inside her.

  His tongue trailed along her neck, leaving a warm, wet path that had her shivering in need.

  Step away, some conscious part of herself yelled. You can’t have sex with a man without getting attached.

  She knew the voice was right but just as she was getting ready to break from him, one of Felix’s hands drifted down from her waist to cup her sex. White-hot pleasure ripped a gasp from her throat.

  He nuzzled his cheek against the side of her face. “I can’t stop myself when I’m around you.” His voice was ragged, as if he’d been running a marathon.

  “I — ” Her throat had suddenly gone dry. “I don’t want — ” you to stop. She never wanted him to stop touching her.

  The doorbell to her apartment rang, followed swiftly by three harsh knocks.

  Cali jumped from Felix’s arms, her face scalding, as if she’d been caught, like that time her father had walked in on her first make-out session.

  “Who is it?” Felix’s voice, and the pinched look on his face told her how much distress he was in. The bulge in his pants looked down-right painful.

  Her chest was heaving. “My landlady.” She quickly smoothed out her clothes.

  Felix nodded. �
��I’ll leave you two alone, then. Where’s the bathroom? I need to fix myself.”

  She tried to avoid staring at his pants. “The room on the left just before the kitchen is mine. When you enter, the first door on your left is the bathroom.”

  Her heart was still pounding even after he was gone.

  She tried on a smile and opened the door. “Mrs. Deder.”

  The crotchety old woman was eye level with her chest. She sneered at Cali’s breasts, as if she were wantonly jiggling them in front of her. Naked.

  Mrs. Deder held her ever-present walking stick in her left hand, though everyone in the building knew she never used it unless it was to pound at someone’s door. Usually Cali heard it on her door the day her rent was due.

  When she was done giving her chest the evil eye, Mrs. Deder looked up to meet Cali’s stare. Her eyes were a washed-out blue, her face only marred by a few wrinkles, and when she spoke, it was with a voice raspy from years of smoking. “Rent’s due tomorrow, Crazar. I’ve got a doctor’s appointment to take care of my cough so I won’t be here to hound your lazy, criminal ass.”

  Cali’s jaw ached from how hard she was clenching it. Ever since she moved in, Mrs. Deder had taken one look at her dark hair and dark nail polish and instantly tagged her as a criminal. And on the days she didn’t call her a criminal, usually the words “street corner” or “whore” weren’t far from her vocabulary.

  She cleared her throat. Stay professional, she chanted to herself. “I actually wanted to talk to you about this month’s rent, Mrs. Deder. You see … ” She glanced over her shoulder at the half-empty apartment. “Jessica broke her contract and left, so I don’t think I’m going to be able to make the full payment tomorrow. If I could pay you — ”

  Mrs. Deder’s face twisted. “I know all about poor Jessica, criminal. She said she left because you stole money from her, and she couldn’t stand to live in fear anymore.”

  She what?

  “That bitch. She stole from me!”

  So much for professionalism.

  “I don’t care who stole from who, but you have two weeks to get me my money.” She turned her back and made her way down the staircase.