by T. A. Foster
He reached behind me and pinned my wrists together with one firm hand, pressing them into the small of my back. I sighed as my pulse raced and I could feel the threads of electricity tying me to him. With his free hand, he cradled the curve of my jaw, traced an exquisitely tortuous line along my neck, and continued until I was trembling under each stroke of his fingers. His long lashes lifted, and I saw the lustful look in his eyes. I bit hard on my bottom lip to stop myself from listening to my inner red-flag-waving-girl. Everything about this was rash, impulsive, and wrong.
But tonight, I wanted to let Finn win me back the way he always could. Damn any early morning regrets—I wanted him.
“Extinguish,” Finn whispered to the few lights surrounding us.
We were thrown into sudden darkness. I didn’t need lights to follow Finn’s lead. “I missed you, gorgeous,” he growled in my ear. Even in the dark, I knew he was smiling.
My body craved and yearned for every part of him. All I could think about was my skin sliding against his and wrapped in sheer heat. The tank top and shorts I was wearing felt like blankets binding me, restraining me from touching him. The inches between us were too much. I knew what was underneath the fitted black T-shirt he had on, and I wanted every rippled ounce of his chest and stomach fused with my body. Each of my senses was burning for him.
I wanted his hands on me. Without them covering the places I only knew with him, I felt like I would stop breathing. I walked backward, pulling Finn with me, until my legs hit the bed, and I let my body fall under his.
We hadn’t been together like this since Savannah. It was strange how everything felt like the first time on the rooftop—laced with anticipation, and yet at the same time, I knew his body and he knew mine. I didn’t know being with him could get any more intoxicating.
“I’m going to make you glow,” he whispered as he kissed along my throat.
If there was any chance I was turning back, those words shredded it. I was completely surrendering to him. Tonight.
I reached for his shirt and slid it over his head. God, how I missed his shoulders. I kissed one. And I missed his chest. I kissed along his ribs. And I missed the word inked along his torso. My fingers ran over the letters.
Finn’s mouth descended on mine and I tasted the wine on his lips. They were sweet and the wine tingled as our tongues moved against each other. As he pulled my shorts over my legs and tossed them to the floor, I wondered how we could have been apart. We were meant to be this for each other. I could feel it; I had always felt it.
His fingers gripped the lace on my panties and tugged until he had peeled them past my ankles. I inhaled. I had missed this with him. He worked the belt free on his pants, and I heard them hit the floor. There was nothing separating us now—no clothes, no Shadow Quest, no distance.
He parted my legs, lowering my knees. I braced myself, knowing his next move would be intense. He was always intense. But my eyes fluttered open when I felt him kiss my neck.
“I never want to be away from you again,” he growled as he pushed inside me, slowly filling me until I was gripping his back, urging him to give me more.
He began rocking his hips against mine and I heard him laugh. “See? I knew you’d glow.”
Before I could come back with a sexy retort, he withdrew and plunged deeper, bowing me off the bed. My skin was on fire and the light reflecting around us was all the proof he needed he was succeeding in his mission. I was coming undone the harder and slower he moved.
“Oh,” I screamed into his neck and clutched at his shoulders.
He kissed me until I was completely breathless and every part of my body felt exhausted and useless. I didn’t want to let him go. Suddenly, all I could think about was the last time I did.
I waited for Finn in the hotel lobby. It was early, and the anticipated reporter crowd hadn’t gathered yet for its morning stampede on the hotel staff and guests. I poured coffee into a tall cup, added sweetener, stirred in a dousing of cream, and fastened a plastic lid on top. I heard the low hum of a vacuum cleaner through the double doors of one of the hotel’s many conference rooms. The easel propped next to the doors held a marquee sign with pushpin letters, spelling out a warm welcome for an insurance conference.
I wondered what Kelly Saint-James was planning for today’s damage control. Did she have a thought-out, tactical press conference scheduled, or was she organizing a seminar to direct the movie crew on the nuances of normalcy?
Usually, I didn’t see 5 a.m. activity unless I was getting in from an over-the-top late night, but Finn called and said to meet him downstairs. He didn’t explain, and in my sleepy state, I acquiesced to the request and trudged to the elevator. I barely had time to Glamour Spell myself into a pink sleeveless shirt lined with dark piping. Maybe the short tribal geometric skirt was a little too short, I thought as I looked at my newly tanned legs, but I definitely didn’t have time to go back upstairs and find something else to wear. I planted myself on the bench next to the elevator and waited for my ex.
Last night was a hot and sultry blur. Slow seeds of doubt were sprouting and climbing their way through my body. I didn’t want to give them enough time to take root in my mind or heart. Being with Finn was exciting, and I loved how he made me feel, how he looked at me, how his body felt tangled up with mine, and how he made everything so much fun. However, could I trust it, or him to stay this time?
I had already panicked once today when my phone rang, and I realized he wasn’t sleeping next to me in bed. The guilt slightly waned when I realized he was the one calling. I remembered we had a plan for the Locality Spell. Sorting out my Finn dilemma would have to wait; right now, we had to find Emmy Harper. We no longer suspected she was on a marathon shopping spree. Every instinct I had told me this was the work of something supernatural and beyond the ability of the New Orleans Police Department. Finn and I were going to have to find her using our special skills.
I looked at my phone. What was taking him so long? He should be able to Open Spell into Emmy’s room and grab something like an earring, hairbrush, shirt, or bag. If she were anything like Josette, the room would be littered with choices for him.
“Hey, babe.” Finn strolled across the slick, marble floors of the foyer, and over to my seat on the elevator bench. He brushed my hair back and kissed my neck. His hand slid to my thigh. Yep, I should have gone with a longer skirt.
“I thought you were in your room. What’s going on? Did you get something?” I lowered my voice in case the lone clerk at the desk could hear me.
“No, her room is clear. Someone beat us to it.” He leaned in closer. “It wasn’t the police.”
“If her room is empty, I can’t help with the Locality Spell.” My witchy tingle had washed over to slow-rising panic. I was sure we would find Emmy this morning with that spell. “What do we do now? What about the set? We could probably find something of hers in her talent trailer.”
“That’s why I’m a little late. I already took a trip to Magnolia Plantation and Emmy’s trailer. There’s nothing. It’s like she was never here.” Finn’s eyes darted between the clerk and me.
“And you’re sure the police didn’t box up her things as part of the investigation?” It didn’t make any sense that all of Emmy’s things were gone from both places.
“Ivy, I’m sure. I’m part of the investigation. If they had Emmy’s effects in evidence, I could at least get access to them. We searched all of her things the first day she went missing, and there was nothing booked in evidence.”
“Ok, no Locality Spell. We’re going to have to do this another way. We have to put together the few leads we have.”
“Now you’re the detective? What did you have in mind?” He looked amused.
I held the coffee cup in my hands and processed what Finn had said about all of Emmy’s belongings. “Do we both agree that we’re not dealing with something human?”
Finn nodded in agreement.
I continued my wannabe detective asses
sment. “I think there are two possibilities here. Either the kidnapper is some kind of weirdo and wants all of Emmy’s things, or he knows about us.” I could tell Finn didn’t exactly agree. “Ok, not us, but he knows about witches. He knows we need something of hers to find her, so he wiped both places clean.” I took a timid sip of coffee; steam funneled through the small opening of the lid, and I didn’t want to burn my tongue. “Wait, I think there’s a third option. What if it’s both?”
Finn had caught up to the path my mind was stumbling along. “Yeah, that sort of makes sense. If this can make sense. I’ve never seen a kidnapper wipe clean all traces of his or her target, especially after the investigation has already started. They must know we can track her.”
“I think we should go back to the restaurant from last night. Maybe there’s something there, or maybe the man with the bruised face will be hanging around.” I realized how unlikely it all sounded.
“That’s a long shot. We searched the sidewalk last night, and that guy’s not going to show again. Not after you chased him like that.” He was smiling, practically beaming at me. “I like this new adventurous you; it’s pretty hot.”
I blushed a little from Finn’s gushing pride in my stunt last night when I chased the mystery man down the street, and then I thought of some of the other things I tried last night. Finn definitely brought out my daring side. My face was probably bright crimson about now.
“It’s all we’ve got. What’s your idea?” I questioned, hoping there might be another option.
“Obviously, I was going to say we should go back to the courtyard where you kissed me and look for clues. Maybe go for round two?”
He winked at me. I hit him on the shoulder. Of course, he would turn the story around into how I kissed and seduced him. He stood and held out his hand for me. “You’re right. It’s the only lead we have. Come on. Let’s go find this movie star.”
Glimpses of the sun peeked over the rooflines of the French Quarter. The only shops open this early were the coffee cafés and newspaper stands. The relentless rain that plagued us all day yesterday had finally stopped, leaving swirls of early morning fog that hovered over the sidewalks and streets.
Finn was in total detective mode. He eyed each morning jogger with intense suspicion. The bistro where we had dinner last night was only a few blocks ahead of us, and I scanned the sidewalk while Finn continued to scrutinize New Orleans’s early risers.
I stopped in front of the restaurant’s window. I could hear the babbling fountain in the tiny courtyard. I pushed out the memory of us and focused my attention on finding the man with the bruised face.
“This is where he was standing when I recognized him.” I pointed to the spot on the sidewalk in sight of our table from last night’s dinner. I talked through the sequence of events aloud as if that would somehow help. For once, I was kicking myself for not watching more cheesy crime shows. “And then he took off this way and around the corner.”
We walked the path of our late night pursuit until we arrived at the corner. The sidewalk was still wet from rain.
“I don’t think there’s anything here.” Finn stepped back to watch me canvass the area.
It was only a light buzzing sensation at first, but my witchy tingle started firing. I tuned out Finn and zeroed in on where I sprinted around the corner in my bare feet. A two-story red brick building sat where the sidewalk curved. Bits of brick were chipped from the façade of the building, and they lay crumbling on the sidewalk. I looked down and spied a neatly piled stack of the brick chunks. I reached down and picked up one of the pieces, rolling it in my palm with my thumb.
“Someone piled these here. They weren’t here last night. I would have run right over them, and without shoes, I would have noticed them pretty quickly.” This didn’t make any sense.
He took the rough, rocky piece from my hand, and we both studied the area surrounding the brick pile. My hands traced the corner of the building’s foundation and followed the jagged exterior. Every few inches there was a divot where the chunky brick pieces had been removed. It looked like a hole had been created by a chisel. There was exactly the same distance between each opening. The holes alternated on each side of the building until the last one was just my head and out of my reach. The cavities formed an intended trail.
“Here, let me.” Finn reached over my outstretched arm, and tapped the last divot with his fingers. He tapped the sides of the tiny open space. Gradually, he pulled something out of the hole and brought it closer for us to examine.
“What is it?” I looked at Finn, and then back at the half shiny, rock-like object in his hand.
His eyes darkened, turning the light blue to flecks of navy.
“Finn, you’re scaring me. What is it?”
I had never seen him like this. Serious was not his style, especially not dark and serious. A line of joggers trotted next to us and stopped at the crosswalk’s red light.
He didn’t notice the small crowd next to us. He traced the smooth surface of the stone that was lying in his palm in a repeated pattern. He looked lost, and I wasn’t sure if he could form the words he needed to tell me what was happening. I grabbed his free hand and led him to the rear side of the building so we were shielded from cars and curious runners.
I was starting to wonder if the person who had created the pile of brick rubble was watching us. There was a good chance he was close.
“Please. Tell me what this stone-rock thing is,” I urged.
It was flat on one side, and rounded and jagged underneath. Little hints of blue rippled through the center to its surface. It wasn’t much bigger than a quarter, but the effect it was having on Finn was enormous.
As if walking out of a haze, he shook his head, turned toward me, and spoke. “It’s a blue jasper.”
I wanted to tread lightly; he was obviously shaken, but I didn’t know why. I waited.
He was quiet, so I prodded him some more. “What’s a blue jasper? What does it do?”
“You don’t know?” He looked at me with heavy eyes.
“No. I’ve never heard of it. Just tell me. What is that thing?”
He stopped tracing the mysterious stone. “This is what I’ve been searching for. This is what I could never find. Your ring. Trying to learn how to Time Spell. All of that was to find this blue jasper. It’s the key to my Shadow Quest.”
He held it out, pinched between his finger and thumb, and released it to me. I took the stone in my hand and eyed it. A small, sorrowful sigh escaped my lips. I was holding in my palm the one thing that tore Finn and me apart, and in that instant, I knew it would do it again.
WE STOOD behind the brick building for what seemed like an hour, but minutes pass slowly when you realize the choices you have made have set things in motion you can’t take back or undo.
“I think we need to talk about this.” I reached for his hand, but he stepped away and slid both his hands in his front pockets. Like the line loosening on a fishing pole, I felt one of the strings holding us together slacken and unravel.
“There’s nothing to talk about except where we’re going to find Emmy Harper.” He smiled at me, but I could tell he was struggling to regain his usual charming demeanor. I wondered if he could feel the threads loosening too.
“You don’t think we need to discuss that, out of the blue, a jasper you’ve been searching for, for years shows up in an old building in New Orleans, while we happen to be in pursuit of a kidnapper?” I couldn’t imagine discussing anything but this.
“Babe, it’s not coincidence. It can’t be. It was obviously planted to distract me. To throw us off. There is nothing unplanned about this jasper. But I’m not going to let it. It actually makes it more of a clue than what we had before.”
“What do you mean?” I questioned.
He plucked his sunglasses from his inner jacket pocket and slid them on, covering the crystal blue eyes that were now tinted with a mask of shadows.
He sighed before explaining
. “There are only a few of these stones in the world, and only a few people who even know they exist.” He took the jasper from me, tossed it in the air, and tucked it in his crisp, white shirt pocket. “If anything, this little rock gave us a suspect list.”
He had a way of turning things around, but no matter what he said, he couldn’t spin it enough to make me forget what that blue rock had already done.
A breeze drifted off the water, and the humid morning was tolerable as long as the wind kept sending waves of cool air. A large rusty barge, at least one football field-length long, floated past while the crew looped rope and secured the vessel for a voyage.
Finn was on the phone while I ordered coffees and a plate of beignets for us at one of the open-air cafes near Jackson Square. He was far enough away that I couldn’t hear what he was saying, and I wasn’t sure who was on the other end of the call. He was going to have to redirect the police investigation and somehow keep them at bay while we located the real kidnapper. Finn would have no trouble leading them down the wrong rabbit hole. This was a moment when I was actually grateful for his keen deceptive skills. I settled into my chair and watched the pigeons hop in and out of the table-and-chair maze surrounding me, rooting for leftover crumbs.
The discovery of the blue jasper spawned a confusing combination of renewed hope that we would find Emmy, and of murky feelings that Finn wouldn’t be able to walk away from the Shadow Quest now that he held the missing piece.
I didn’t know much about Finn’s quest. I put together the bits and pieces of a broken story he scattered in front of me when we dated. He dodged the usual getting-to-know-you dating conversations. Simple, “Where are you from?” “Why did you want to be a detective?” and “What’s your family like?” questions were tossed aside and deflected with flirty finesse. I grilled Ian about any detail he could give me about Finn when we first started dating, but those two had a brotherly code that even my sibling status couldn’t break.