Hollow Back Girl

by Olivia R. Burton

  “We should get back.”

  “What?” I asked, sure, despite being fuzzy-headed and distracted, that he had misspoken. He laughed, leaning in to kiss my forehead and then dropped out of sight again. I felt him tug my pants partway up my legs, before continuing with just my underwear.

  “It’ll work better if you do the rest.”

  “I assumed we weren’t done,” I realized aloud. He winked, as if flirting, but checked his watch instead of removing his own pants.

  “We do have a time limit. We should get back, try to locate Kincade, and possibly kick the shit out of her.”

  Frowning at him, I bent to pull my pants up, wiggling my hips to settle my underwear into place. He stood as I did, his eyes on my face.

  “Are you sure that’s the best course of action?” I asked, both because I wasn’t a fan of the idea of beating anyone up, and because I had certain expectations of a man who had so eagerly stripped me half-bare.

  “I didn’t bring a condom,” he said, though there wasn’t the disappointment behind it I felt there should have been.

  “So, let me return the favor.” Waggling my brows at him, I grabbed for his groin, giving him a gentle—and hopefully enticing—squeeze. I didn’t need the tactile proof to tell he was ready to go, but I wanted it anyway. He danced back, lifted a hand to shake one finger at me.

  “Raincheck, remember?”

  “But—”

  “Don’t worry about it.” He grabbed the zipper on my fly and yanked it up before stepping to the side and moving around the car.

  “Really?” I asked, still sure this was some sort of hard-to-get tactic.

  “You can return the favor later,” he said casually, before climbing in and shutting the door.

  “Dammit,” I sighed, following suit and cranking the heater all the way up as soon as I did. His arousal was still there but it was quickly being forced out by a fat, happy contentment.

  “I’m not blowing you off,” he assured me, as he started the car. “Really, that was more for me, not for you.”

  “Oh?” I asked, laughing at the idea. “I think I got more out of that than you, pal.”

  “Well, I needed to make sure you weren’t spending the next 24 hours trying to jump my bones. Now I’ll be able to work without distraction. I’m a professional, you see.”

  I laughed, shaking my head as gravel pinged the car and dirt crunched beneath the tires.

  I knew the second we hit civilization; my phone beeped to let me know I had several text messages and a voicemail. Chloe had sent the texts and my mother had left the voicemail, making sure I was okay. I was certain she was joking, but her suggestion that she was worried I’d been attacked by a Minotaur or something made me somewhat nervous and I couldn’t figure why. I called her back just long enough to assure her that I was safe and that we were well on our way to solving the town’s problems.

  When we pulled up in front of the hotel, Owen pushed out of the car with his phone already pressed to his ear. He didn’t speak until he was out of earshot, so I figured it was business, and texted Chloe back to ask where she was. She called as I was about to hit SEND.

  “Hey, we’re at your hotel,” I said.

  “What a coincidence, so are we!” Chloe sang, before going serious. “Owen looks mad, what’s up?”

  “We figured out what’s going on and we have a day to make things better with the Lofriska.”

  “What’s the plan?

  “According to Owen, we’ll need to find Kincade and beat her up.”

  “Just for being an asshole?” Chloe said, in a way that made me think she knew something I didn’t.

  “No, she took one of the creatures, I guess.”

  “Shit,” Chloe spat, and I heard Izzy mumble something in the background. I wondered in the silence if he’d broken something and she’d lost track of what I’d been saying.

  “Did you two end up making it out to the woods?” I asked after a bit, realizing that, if she had, Owen and I might have just missed her.

  “Eventually. Izzy took me on the longest nature hike ever, we met a bear, he talked to some bees, and finally we got back to where you were attacked.”

  “Met a … No,” I said, dismissing that line of questioning, knowing it would take us off on a tangent. “Did you find anything useful?”

  “A chunk of gold, like the coin we found, but not coin-shaped.”

  “Coincidence?” I asked.

  “I doubt it. You said Kincade threw something at you and we know this sort of thing means a lot to the Lofriska.”

  “Yeah,” I said, though my gaze had drifted to Owen across the parking lot. He was tense in a way I rarely saw from him, though I could feel that the strain there was only a small part of what he was keeping inside. I wondered briefly if I should be worried.

  “Are you staring at Owen’s ass?” Chloe asked after a bit. I frowned, considering then that she could probably see him from her window. I leaned forward, peering upward and poking outward with my empathy trying to spot her in the building. “You must be; you’re struck dumb.”

  “Well, can you blame me?” I asked when I spotted her and Izzy. He was staring directly at me, his psyche a gelatinous ooze of worry. “What’s wrong with Izzy?”

  “From you, that question could mean so many things,” Chloe said, before handing the phone over. Izzy was quiet, breathing into the phone like a creep, before he made a thoughtful grunting sound and handed it back to Chloe.

  “What was that?”

  “He’s having a moment.”

  “Meaning?”

  “He gets this way sometimes, like the future is perplexing him.”

  “I think we all get that sometimes. Look, I’m not sure what Owen’s plan is, but I’ll keep you updated once I know—”

  “She’s coming up, right? You have your bag?” Izzy asked from out of my view.

  “Oh yeah,” Chloe said to him, before getting back to me. “I may be in the game soon.”

  “If Owen lets you,” I said, watching him. He’d taken a few steps closer, but stopped abruptly, his jaw set as he listened to whatever was being said to him. “I’ll ask.”

  “You do that,” Chloe said, a laugh in her tone, before she hung up. I pushed out of the car, moved around to stand near Owen. He glanced at me, his expression fixed in a way I’d never seen, his emotions matching the intensity. Immediately, I regretted standing so close to that fire raging within.

  “No, that’s not good enough,” he said, his tone calm, despite the anger crackling. Time hopped forward, his temper broiled, and then he let out a derisive snort. “Do you know what I could do to you?”

  By some trick of my empathy or practiced avoidance or maybe even my own self-preservation, I felt panic light me up, drowning out the malice he was projecting. Deciding I didn’t need to hear this conversation, I jerked my thumb toward the side door of the hotel. His gaze never wavered from the spot of concrete as he dipped a hand into his pocket, produced a key, and handed it over. Without hesitation, I spun and marched myself toward the hotel until I was far enough away that his mood couldn’t affect me one way or the other. I stayed in the warmth of the building, watching him from a safe distance, considering our brief history together and what it had taught me about him, before my mind jerked in a different direction and contemplated when the painkiller I’d taken would wear off.

  Izzy approached as I realized that it already was, and I sighed as he stepped up next to me.

  “I think I can find Kincade.”

  “You can?” I asked, suddenly alert, wondering if his brand of crazy was going to come in helpful once again.

  “I mean, I already have at least eight times. Though, I guess it might not be one of those times,” he reconsidered, making me sigh. I felt Owen’s annoyance as he closed in, but kept my gaze on Izzy’s lovely face even as he leaned well into my personal space to push the door open to let the other man in.

  “Thanks,” Owen said, his expression a mask of pleasant
calmness, despite the fact that his insides were still curdled. He didn’t ask why Izzy and I were together or what we were talking about, but I figured if there was a chance Izzy could be of help, I should at least introduce them.

  “Owen, meet Chloe’s boyfriend Izzy. Izzy, this is Owen.”

  “We met in Cairo,” Izzy said.

  Owen jerked his head a smidge, before looking Izzy over with a fresh interest and asking point blank, “Fairy?”

  “I just look good in a skirt,” Izzy said, as if that cleared it up. Owen didn’t press, turning to me as if Izzy had ceased to exist.

  “No one is willing to tell me if they know where she is,” Owen said with a sigh.

  “Isn’t she here?” I asked. Owen shook his head minutely, moving to the staircase.

  “We know she was the other day, but you failed to net her what she wanted. She could have moved on to something else.”

  “You think?” I asked, though I could tell he didn’t.

  “I strongly doubt it, but there are … circumstances that could have sort of forced her hand.”

  “Like you being here?”

  “Like Chloe being here,” Izzy said, trailing us up the stairs as if we’d invited him along.

  “Why would she care about that?” Perplexed, I turned to eyeball him, wondering if he was having another one of his weird time flux fits where he thought things had happened that hadn’t really, or hadn’t yet, or should have but didn’t—his explanations never really made sense to me, so I’d stopped asking when it became clear that was the case.

  “They had a thing.”

  “Izzy, was it?” Owen asked curtly as he paused on the third floor landing. He opened the door and pointed down the hallway. “Why don’t you go ask your girlfriend if she thinks that’s what it is?”

  It sounded like a suggestion but I sensed it was really more of an order. Without hesitation, Izzy headed through the door and down the hallway, presumably toward Chloe’s room, without saying goodbye.

  “What was he talking about?” I asked, turning to Owen, though I have no idea why I thought he would know. He sighed, his irritation worming its way across my throat in a way that made me shiver nervously, and then shook his head.

  “I just don’t have time for Fairy bullshit.”

  “How the hell do you keep housekeeping from finding all those guns?” I asked, once we were up in his room and he’d gotten himself all kitted out.

  “Same way I got a free,” he gave air quotes, “bottle of wine: I paid them a lot more than this room and the rooms to each side are worth.”

  “Wow, money talks.”

  “It doesn’t just talk,” Owen corrected, settling the leg of his pants over his ankle holster. “It sings, dances, and seduces.”

  “Well, it’s got me beat.”

  Owen smiled as he turned to look himself over in the mirror. I was assuming it wasn’t just vanity, but he looked really good. The painkiller had continued wearing off, making me more aware of my sore muscles, scraped face, and purple skin. He lifted a brow, turned to me.

  “Any noticeable bulges?” he twisted to the side then back. I knew he was asking if I would have noticed any of the weapons on him, but I grinned lasciviously.

  “No, but I could help with that,” I offered as I pushed away from the bed.

  “I know exactly what that look means and I think I have the solution,” he said as I closed in.

  “I do, too.” Grabbing the front of his shirt, I yanked him down into a deep kiss. He let me and I felt lust in him again. He held it at bay, however, and gently moved my hands away from his shirt.

  “Not enough time for that, but I’ve something almost as good.” Stepping around me, he moved to the little counter along the wall outside the bathroom. It held a small coffee pot, a box of tissue, and loomed over a mini-fridge. Owen pulled open the door to the fridge, reached into the little half-freezer compartment and pulled out a fist-sized tub of ice cream. Almost as eager as I’d been to help with his bulges, I watched him cross to me, gasping with glee when he pressed the icy treat into my hand.

  “Satisfied?” he asked.

  “I kind of just want to fuck you more, actually.”

  He laughed and there was a rare and genuine joy in it that made me happy. Sliding his grip from my hand to my shoulder, he leaned in in to plant a quick and crooked kiss on my mouth.

  “We don’t have time, but later I’ll collect for all these favors I’m doing you.”

  I peeled the top off the ice cream, found a thumb-sized plastic spoon inside.

  “You are the best friend with benefits,” I said, before stuffing my face with as much ice cream as I could balance on the useless, paper-thin threat to the world’s oceans and fish.

  “That’s because half the benefits are ice cream.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  We met Chloe and Izzy down in the lobby, though I wasn’t sure that had been any sort of plan or if Izzy had just managed to orchestrate it that way. Owen didn’t miss a beat, gesturing for us all to head out to the parking lot, opening the car door for me as we got to his rental. Chloe stopped short of the car, hanging back a few feet, but Izzy skipped around to the other side, climbing into the back seat next to me as I settled in.

  “You two stay here. We’ll be right back,” Owen said.

  “You’re going off and leaving me in the van again?” I asked, letting a little tantrum slip into my voice.

  “I beg your pardon,” Owen said. “This is a sensible, little sedan. Be good.”

  Before I could question or argue with that order, he shut the door and moved off to where Chloe stood, putting his back to me and keeping himself between she and I as if worried I might glean something from her expression that I couldn’t from her emotions. I turned to Izzy, intending to joke about reading lips or spontaneously gaining super-hearing and eavesdropping, but never managed to get any actual sound through my lips.

  He licked me.

  It wasn’t sexual; there was nothing in his mind indicating he was doing this for the carnal thrill of it. There was a wobbly sort of giddiness but the pleasure he got from sliming his tongue over my chin was nothing like the thrill Owen would’ve gotten from the same action. This was like turning to find that a Corgi had suddenly shown up to kiss you hello.

  “Um?”

  Rather than explaining or addressing my confusion, Izzy grabbed my chin, shoving my head up and turning it side to side, inspecting me. After a bit, he sighed and disappointment jiggled madly at me like an overenthusiastic exotic danger trying real hard to earn a tip.

  “No more,” he grumbled.

  “No more what?”

  “Ice cream. You dribbled. I wanted it.”

  “Eugh,” I grumbled, not interested in addressing that any further. Izzy let me go, settling into the middle seat as if it were comfortable to be folded up with his knees practically infused into his eyebrows and I turned my attention back to Owen and Chloe.

  The set of his shoulders had relaxed and I could see Chloe gesturing loosely beyond, but I still didn’t know what was going on or why they were teamed up like this was a normal, every day problem.

  “Chloe’s kind of a mystery, huh?” I asked idly, not sure Izzy would know what I was talking about, but figuring he was just as good a sounding board as any.

  “Only to you, despite all the clues.”

  “What clues?” I asked, offended, though not entirely sure why.

  Izzy rolled his eyes and shook his head, snorting like he was sure I was joking, and then turned back to the front of the car, whistling idly.

  “What the hell?” I asked, frustrated, though not really more so than I usually got with the candy-thieving weirdo who had waltzed into my life and left it a sugarless mess.

  The driver’s side door opened shortly before the passenger’s, and then Owen and Chloe slid in respectively, buckling up and addressing Izzy and me as Chloe tucked her red backpack between her feet.

  “We’ve got a line on Kinca
de, but it could take a bit for her to take the bait.”

  “We?” I asked, wondering why, once again, Chloe and Owen had paired up like it was the most natural thing in the world.

  “She’s got a number you can call if you want to give her money, so I called it,” Chloe explained. “As far as she’ll know, she’s got someone interested in buying something from her. We’ve set up a time and place to meet, so as soon as she gets the message, she’ll call, give us a different time and place, and we’ll go grab her.”

  “Wait,” I said, holding my hands up, lost and confused. “You called?”

  “She’s likely got feelers out to tell her if Owen were to call, so it had to be someone she wouldn’t expect to be trying to trap her.”

  “And you think she’s just going to fall for some random person wanting to buy something from her in the exact small town she happens to be hanging out in now?”

  “Not at all,” Owen said, before I felt a jolt of satisfaction dart through him. “She was surprisingly prompt.” Starting the car, he pulled his phone out, tapping in the unlock code, and handing it to Chloe. She took it, frowning, before turning back to me.

  “Isn’t Stripped Teas where your brother’s been working?”

  Alarm screamed through me, memories of Kincade’s veiled threat against my brother lighting up my nerve-endings like each one had individually been set on fire.

  “Why? What’s up? Is she there?”

  “She will be in thirty minutes.”

  “Shit,” I swore, digging my phone out of my pocket as Izzy patted my shoulder gently.

  “It’ll be okay,” he said. I snarled his way, especially not interested in his nonsense as worry for my brother clawed at my insides.