by E. L Friel
‘I know you can look after yourself,’ Jax said after a beat. ‘It doesn’t stop me wanting to make sure you got home alright.’ He paused again, weighing her expression. ‘You know, you didn’t need to leave.’
Ariel scowled at the ground, her cheeks flaming, first with embarrassment and then with anger. She wasn’t sure where this conversation was going. But if he thought he could show up here for a booty call he had another think coming. She wasn’t ever going to sleep with him again.
‘Fine,’ she huffed. ‘We’ll go out hunting. Give me five minutes to get ready.’ She moved to slam the door in his face. His foot however was in the way and the door glanced off it. ‘You not going to invite me in?’ he asked, looking amused.
‘Nope,’ Ariel told him, pushing with all her weight on the door and hoping he’d take the hint.
He frowned at her but she could see he was amused by the smile he was trying to bite back. ‘What? You’re going to make me wait out here? Among the meth dealers and rats?’
‘I’m sure you can handle it,’ she told him drily. But his hand was on the door and he was leaning his weight against it.
‘Come on, let me in,’ he argued, still smiling, daring her.
Urgh. ‘Fine,’ she said, letting the door go. She spun on her heel and headed to the bedroom leaving him standing in the doorway. She didn’t want to see his face as he took in the warzone that was her apartment.
There was no door between the living room and the bedroom. It was still lying on its hinges against the wall, but it seemed a little late to be shy around him, so Ariel tossed the towel to the floor and pulled open her overflowing closet, praying she had something clean to wear. She grabbed a pair of black, skin-tight pants and her last clean sweater.
When she pulled on her underwear she heard Jax inhale softly and whipped around. Jax had moved and was standing in the doorway to the bedroom watching her. ‘Nice place,’ he said, not taking his eyes off her. That damn half smile was pulling at his lips, and Ariel fought the urge to wipe it off.
She faced him as she pulled on her bra, daring him to take his eyes off her face. He didn’t of course. He held her gaze, his eyes flashing with amusement. She was irritated he hadn’t fallen for the bait. She remembered clearly how into her he’d been, how full of desire. But tonight it was as if he wanted to show her he could resist her charms. She reached for her sweater huffily, her skin tingling as though his hands were stroking up her sides. But damned if she was going to let him touch her again.
She turned away to pull on her jeans, giving him a view of her ass and feeling a shot of satisfaction as she heard him clear his throat and smother what sounded like a groan. She smiled to herself. Maybe Jax Sayer didn’t have the upper hand after all. Maybe she could regain it and along with it, her dignity.
Once she was done with the striptease Ariel walked past him into a small living room come kitchen come dining room. There were clothes strewn on the sofa, old flyers and take-out boxes scattered over the broken coffee table, and several empty beer bottles rolling around the floor.
‘You need to get a cleaner,’ Jax muttered as she cleared some clothes off the sofa making room for him to sit.
‘Yeah, if I could afford it,’ she snapped, snatching the bra he had dug out from between the cushions and was handing to her. He glanced around. The place was a mess, not exactly what he had imagined, though he hadn’t expected a palace. When he’d followed her back the other night he’d seen she didn’t live in the most salubrious of areas but still, it saddened him to see her living in such a sketch neighborhood, made him feel anxious about her safety. Stupid he knew. It was none of his business. And she could look after herself, she’d proved that. He pitied the poor fool who ever tried to mug Ariel McQueen.
He glanced around again and noticed the door to the bedroom was propped against the wall, the edges splintered. It looked like it had been kicked in. He scanned the room again and began to notice that other things were broken too. The window was smashed, the coffee table had a deep crack in it as though someone had smashed it in. It looked like someone had given the place a thorough going over. Immediately his stomach tensed and he felt his blood start to boil. Who? An angry boyfriend?
He could tell she was embarrassed about the state of the place from the way she wouldn’t meet his eye and by the fact she was trying frantically to cover up the worst of it, scooping up broken bits of china and beer bottles and dumping them in the sink. For a moment, as he watched her, he wondered about the wisdom of just showing up on her doorstep.
He couldn’t have timed it any better either, what with her having just stepped out the shower. Even though he’d acted casual, he’d had to resist a very real urge to push open the door, rip off her towel and have her right there against the wall.
He didn’t know what it was about Ariel, but being around her made every rational thought desert him, tested every ounce of will power he possessed. Even now, with her dressed, he couldn’t stop picturing her naked. The strip show she’d just put on for him hadn’t helped matters. Even sitting down he could feel his erection hadn’t gone anywhere. Had she been taunting him? She hadn’t exactly seemed overjoyed to see him. But what had he expected? She’d stormed out his place the other night in a temper. He hadn’t really understood why, had known just enough to let her be for a few days. Whatever her story was she was prickly, untrusting. She liked to be the one in control - that much was obvious. He smiled to himself remembering how she’d surrendered to him though and how much she had seemed to enjoy it.
The memory of her shattering around his cock, her muscles squeezing him, milking him for every last drop, flashed with precision timing into his mind as it had been doing regularly for the last three days. He hadn’t been able to think about anything else since he last saw her but her naked body, her beautiful smile, her warm shaft… just thinking about it now, picturing it was making him harder. He frowned at himself and took a deep breath. Now was not the time.
To distract himself he leaned forwards and picked up one of the tatty bounty flyers from the table. ‘Looks like you could earn a good living from these,’ he said, reading it. Then his eyes grew wide. ‘Ten thousand a hit?’
‘Yeah,’ Ariel mumbled, snatching it from his hand. ‘I can earn good money. I do earn good money.’
Jax scanned the apartment again, trying not to look skeptical.
‘I just happen to owe someone every cent I earn,’ she answered tersely, seeing his expression.
That got his attention. ‘How much?’ he asked. She owed someone? Who? That explained the trashed apartment then. Not an angry boyfriend. An angry bailiff, or moneylender. The thought of someone threatening her made a cold rage seep into his bones..
‘Ten thousand,’ Ariel admitted, putting her hands on her hips and staring at him defiantly as though daring him to judge her.
From the way she was grimacing he could guess it wasn’t a friend she owed it to. Had to be a moneylender then. There were a few underworld moneylenders Jax knew of, including a particularly nasty Chameleon demon called Rasa who operated over in Cy’s sector. They would have taken her out by now but she was heavily protected.
‘The ten thousand I would have now if you hadn’t killed my bounty,’ Ariel added, glaring at him.
Jax opened his mouth then shut it again. ‘Who’d you owe it to?’ he finally asked.
‘No one you know,’ she mumbled, grabbing for some empty beer bottles and carrying them through to the kitchen. She dumped them loudly into the sink.
‘Are they harassing you?’ Jax asked. He’d come up behind her and made her jump. He felt her heartbeat amp and her breathing catch, a slight fluttering in her chest. He wanted straightaway to pull her into his arms and refuse to let her go until she told him whom she owed the money to. But he knew he’d probably end up on the floor much like that biker had the other night if he tried a move like that.
Ariel shook her head hard at him, as if to say it was nothing she couldn’t deal with
. It frustrated him. Ten thousand was nothing. He could just write her a check right now and get them off her backs.
‘I can give you the money,’ Jax said, immediately knowing he’d said the wrong thing. He’d pressed on her Achilles heel; her pride. She was fiercely independent and though he didn’t know her well, he did know that. ‘It’s no problem,’ he added quickly, trying to make amends. ‘I owe you. If I hadn’t killed that Sucker, you’d have it by now.’
Ariel’s gaze was so full of fire that he felt burned by it. ‘I don’t need your money,’ she spat at him.
Jax looked down at his feet. Shit. He’d totally said the wrong thing. He looked up and nodded a silent apology. Ariel stared at him for a beat, her eyes still narrowed, and then suddenly seemed to soften. She sighed and brushed past him into the living room.
‘Well, how about I go with you tonight and help you bring in this guy?’ Jax asked, following her and stooping to pick up a flyer from the table. ‘That should earn you what you need, and it’s the least I can do.’
Ariel frowned at him and at the flyer in his hand. ‘They already brought him in,’ she said, nodding at the picture of a Scarab demon on the front of the flyer.
‘Oh,’ Jax answered.
She sighed loudly, brushing her hair out of her face. ‘Look,’ she said, ‘I was just about to go see my boss Jimmy, see whether there were any new bounties. He gets an early heads up sometimes.’
‘Who’s Jimmy?’ Jax asked.
Ariel took a deep breath, studying him with pursed lips. ‘He runs a betting and pawn shop.’
Jax raised his eyebrows. That was news to him. He had thought he knew all the demon businesses in the city. Clearly hanging out with Ariel was going to be an education in all things demon.
Jax set the flyer down. ‘OK, I’ll go with you.’
Ariel raised her eyebrows at him. ‘You can’t just waltz into a demon hangout. You’re a Blade.’
He smiled at her. ‘I promise I’ll behave.’
‘They’ll sense you. You…’ she broke off, pressing her lips together.
‘I what?’ Jax asked. What had she been about to say?
She looked away, seemingly embarrassed. ‘You have a specific scent,’ she mumbled. ‘It’s very noticeable.’
Jax cocked his head, then took a step closer to her. ‘You saying I smell?’ he asked.
‘Yes,’ she answered, looking up at him unsmiling.
The truth was he smelled like heaven. Ignoring his puzzled look, Ariel headed to the bedroom to grab some weapons. Out the corner of her eye she saw Jax take a quick sniff of himself. Smiling, she started loading up with saw blades and knives, throwing on a shoulder holster and shoving her Browning 9mm into it. When she turned around she saw Jax standing in front of the refrigerator in the kitchen. Shit.
Ariel strode straight to the door. ‘You coming?’ she called, pulling on her jacket.
Jax turned slowly away from the refrigerator to face her. ‘Who’s that?’ he asked, pointing at the faded photograph stuck to the refrigerator door.
Ariel swallowed. It felt like a wedge of splintered wood was stuck in her throat. ‘Saul,’ she answered.
‘Your boyfriend?’ Jax asked, an the unmistakable tone of anger in his voice. ‘Your ex?’
‘He was. He died,’ Ariel admitted. There it was, out there. She felt instantly relieved at having told him, realizing simultaneously that she hadn’t spoken about Saul to anyone in years, hadn’t even said his name out loud in months.
Jax said nothing in reply. He just stared at her for a long moment, his eyes clouding over with an emotion she couldn’t quite decipher. Finally he nodded somewhat curtly and headed to join her at the door. She busied herself checking her weapons trying to gather herself. She didn’t want him to see any weakness in her. When she looked up she found Jax standing in front of her, watching her. He reached out and straightened the collar on her coat. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said quietly.
Ariel glowered up at him, feeling her body go rigid. She wasn’t used to sympathy and wasn’t totally sure whether his was genuine. He seemed to be.
‘It’s OK,’ she mumbled, grabbing her keys from the side and avoiding his eye. ‘It’s been eight years.’
‘What happened?’ Jax asked as they headed down the stairs past the drug dealers who grunted hello and stepped aside. They’d learned to give her a wide berth.
She waited until they were on the street before answering. ‘He came with me one night out hunting. He wanted to see what it was that I did. I think he was worried about me.’ She laughed bitterly, under her breath. ‘I should never have let him come.’
Jax had come to a standstill on the sidewalk. He was staring at her intently. Ariel stopped too and turned to face him. ‘A group of Driller demons attacked us,’ she continued. ‘Saul was killed.’ She held Jax’s gaze. ‘He was human. That was my big mistake, thinking that I could ever have a relationship with a human.’
Jax didn’t take his eyes off her. ‘It wasn’t your fault,’ he told her in a voice that seemed to brook no argument. ‘You’re not to blame.’
Ariel flinched back in shock. Of all the things she had expected to hear it wasn’t that. No one had ever told her that. She’d expected to see accusation in his eyes, not sympathy. She’d lived with Saul’s death on her conscience for eight years and had never once considered that it might not have been her fault. She didn’t blame herself entirely – she blamed Rikon Fayette, the monster who had sent the demons after her. But if she hadn’t been dating Saul in the first place – a human of all people - if she hadn’t agreed to let him come with her out hunting then he would be alive still. So it was her fault, wasn’t it?
She turned to watch Jax. He had walked over to his bike and was handing over a hundred-dollar bill to some skeevy-looking kid who Ariel guessed he must have paid to guard his bike. Wise man. Around here a bike that flash was like a shiny bead to a magpie. He swung his leg over the seat and then turned to her, giving her a sad-looking smile. His expression was so tender though, and so conflicted that it made her own emotions rise up, emotions she’d long ago buried and didn’t want dug up. Damn him. How did he do that? Make her feel so vulnerable all the time? She hated it.
She strode past him, letting her hair fall in front of her face, shielding herself from his scrutiny. She didn’t want him to see that he had touched a nerve. She didn’t want him to know that those feelings existed in her, or that he had the power to evoke them.
As they drove through the night and the wind rushed in her ears, drowning out all other sounds but Jax’s heartbeat and her own blood thundering in her ears, Ariel couldn’t stop her thoughts from turning to Saul. He’d had been dead now for longer than she’d even known him. Sometimes she wondered if she wasn’t holding onto his memory as a way to punish herself for what had happened. If he’d been killed in a road traffic accident or from some human disease would she still be clinging to his memory in the same way? Would they even still be together? She didn’t know. The undeniable fact was though that Saul had been with her that night.
She had been stupid, just twenty-two years old, and had thought she knew everything there was to know about fighting. She had believed she could keep Saul safe. Her father had taught her well after all. But not that well it turned out. She’d made plenty of mistakes in her life, not least letting Saul come with her that night to watch her back, but the greatest mistake of all had been to fall for a human. She’d vowed never to do it again and she intended to stick to that promise.
Chapter 9
Jimmy’s office was behind a betting and pawnshop in an area that made the neighborhood Ariel lived look like a private gated community in Bel Air. She got off the bike and when Jax tried to follow her towards the door she pushed him back onto the bike and told him to wait outside.
‘You want to come back and find you still have two wheels?’ she asked, but really she was more worried about the goons that surrounded Jimmy sticking a knife in his back. And even more worrie
d it had to be said about them demanding to know what she was doing hanging around with a Blade.
It was a good question. She was asking it herself too. More and more.
Jax glanced at the flashing neon sign over the store and the heavy grille in front of the window. He didn’t look happy about letting her go in there alone.
‘I’ll be fine,’ she reassured him, trying not to roll her eyes.
Before he could argue she walked off, glancing once over her shoulder to look at him and make sure he was doing as he was told. He was leaning against his bike with his arms folded over his chest, frowning at her. Ariel took a deep breath and tried to contain the assault of butterflies taking flight in her stomach. Her emotions were still all over the place. She didn’t like the idea of having someone watching out for her. What if something happened to him while she was inside? But at the same time her stomach was flipping over, her skin warming at the knowledge Jax was watching her. He was a Blade she reminded herself for the fiftieth time. Yes, he was human, but he could also take care of himself. He was not her responsibility.
She pushed open the boarded up door and instantly all thoughts of Jax vanished, along with the dancing butterflies in her chest. In their place she felt a spurt of adrenaline. Her fight or flight responses were all firing and her muscles were tensing.
Jimmy’s was a stink pit of testosterone, cigarette smoke and stale urine. Ariel walked along a dark hallway until she reached a doorway on the right. She pushed it open and was instantly deafened by cheers and roars. This was the betting lounge. At least forty demons were standing around, watching giant television screens, cheering and yelling at the cage fights being broadcast from another dimension. Ariel caught a glimpse on one screen of a Saw demon going head to head with a Chameleon. Who would bet on the outcome of a fight like that she wondered? The Chameleon was going to win every time, they could blend into the background so were masters of the surprise attack. Even more so than Shadows.