by Lila Felix
LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES SHOULD BE CIRCUMVENTED IN THE CASE OF A CRIME.
I was sure it was Theo’s newfound disdain for Collin that blinded him to the severity of Collin’s wounds. Either that, or it was another one of Theo’s man things—where he downgraded wounds, ticking them off his gory bucket list.
Collin had taken a real beating—for us, for Theo. Those little Resin bastards must’ve had a stepstool or a ladder. That was the only way I could imagine any of them reaching his eye or his mouth for that matter. But not only had they reached it, they’d had some real power behind their punches.
“How many?” I demanded.
“There were five of them. Two ran for the hills as soon as they saw me. But the other three tried to take me on. I left them unconscious. I didn’t want to…”
He didn’t want to kill them or render them physically incapable. His reasoning didn’t have to be spoken aloud. We had to get through whatever this was with as little Resin casualties as possible. The more Resin who were alive—the more who had the possibility of being restored by Theo—if he was what we expected he was.
“Did you recognize any of them?”
“No. All girls of course—two of the damned biggest Amazonian-looking females I’d ever seen. I swear they had bigger biceps than me.” Collin took my chin between his thumb and forefinger and drew my attention to him. “I wouldn’t hurt a female—I’ve never hurt a female—I couldn’t let them get to you—him. I couldn’t let them get to Theo. I have no suspicions left. I know what he is.”
I reassured him with an insincere smile. “I know that, Collin. I’m not afraid of you. You were just protecting us.”
He offered a curt nod. Despite his obvious strength, he hissed loudly when I dabbed his cut with alcohol. I cleaned up the welt on his eye and offered him ice.
“No, we have no time. They have seen me and will know soon enough that I am assisting Theo. There are enough spies working in connection with the Synod—they will all know soon what information we are searching for.” He grabbed my elbow and implored, “Theo will need us—more than he knows.”
It was my turn to nod.
“All cleaned up.” Theo’s voice broke us from the intensity of the conversation.
“Yes. Did you make the arrangements?”
I looked to Collin. “I am ready. Can you fly the helicopter like this?”
Collin frowned. “Female, it’s a bloody lip and a busted jaw. Neither are required for the operation of a helicopter.”
“Oh, really? I thought you flew with your lips.”
In lieu of answering, he hopped down from the counter and began gathering his things. Theo’s foot was tapping involuntarily.
“Let’s go,” I prompted. His attitude toward Collin was grating on my last nerve. It wasn’t in Theo’s personality to not show appreciation. It also wasn’t like him to be so bitter all the time. I counted on him for those things. He was encouraging and mindful of good manners where I was jaded and bitter.
I didn’t like the shift of paradigm.
Not one bit.
Maybe it was my fault. I’d made him like this—as much as one person can alter another’s personality.
His glare bore down on me as I contemplated how to get him back to his normal self. Probably more feelings and emotional vomiting and shit.
Theo handed me my bag. He took my hand, showed me a quick visual, and offered a playful smile. “Wanna try it together?”
“No!” I wretched from his grasp. What was he thinking? His hurt expression told me he thought it would be some kind of bonus to this whole ordeal.
I may have overreacted.
Just a little.
He flashed without me and before I followed, I was enveloped by his wake, the tones displaying the emotions I could already read by his sorrowful eyes and lips thinned in disappointment. The colors were dark, muddy greens, murky like his thoughts, no doubt.
We arrived in the middle of the picture he’d shown me. My landing feet tapped on the teakwood floors. I groped Theo’s shoulders for balance, nearly toppling us both over. It wasn’t the most graceful of landings. Certainly not one for the books.
“Sorry,” I shifted, regaining my footing.
“Don’t ever apologize for using me to steady yourself,” he said in a faint whisper.
There was too much meaning between our words lately. Everything was a double entendre.
“So this is Tibet.” I made a three sixty. The home was sparse but beautiful. Everything was built of the same teakwood. I gave myself a tour of the place while Theo stood on the porch which overlooked the landscape of peaks and valleys. The further into the house I went, the cooler it got. And when I reached the very back wall of the home, I realized why. The wall wasn’t a wall at all. It was a solid sheet of mountainous rock. The home wasn’t built on the side of a mountain as I’d first guessed. It was built into the mountain.
The house boasted three large bedrooms and one bathroom that rivaled some modern ones in the States.
I crossed through the living room and went through the sliding doors. Theo hadn’t moved from his previous position. I sidled up to him and made a childish attempt to make conversation by pushing his shoulder with mine.
“If it’s not okay, we can find somewhere else,” he said imperviously.
“Come on. I’m not that bad, am I?”
His lack of answer was my answer.
“I am not high maintenance.”
He cut me a look that argued otherwise.
“Name one thing that makes me high maintenance.”
Theo turned in my direction and began to tick off reasons on his fingers. “The soap, the Slush Puppies, the dresses, the bikinis, the shoes, the shampoo, the fingernails, the…”
“Okay, okay.” Maybe he had a point.
Doubt crawled into my heart. This wasn’t exactly the kind of mission for a newly discovered fickle girl like me. Did he need some stealthy woman with highly attuned senses and at least decent manners?
“I’ll try not to be,” I swore the oath to myself more than him.
He squeezed my waist and drew me in closer. “You’re…particular. There’s nothing wrong with that. You know what you want.”
Again with the two-headed meanings.
Everything became clouded in his presence. I inhaled his exhales as if I survived on them. Had I mentioned how divine his lips were? A freckle lay directly in the middle of his bottom lip, and it beckoned me to relish once again in the feel of his mouth and the things it did to me.
“You can’t do this to me,” he begged.
“Do what?”
“Always making me wonder where we are.” He took advantage of our position and stroked my back. I could almost feel the details of the pads of his fingers through the lightweight material of my dress. A remembered heat built in my chest and meandered throughout my torso, searching out his touch. “You can’t let me touch you like this and not give me anything. You love me. You said it.” He placed tender nips at my bottom lip and all logical thought fell away.
“I did.”
“You’re mine again,” he inquired sincerely.
I nodded. But I should’ve known the lack of words wouldn’t suffice for him.
“Do I need to pin you down again?” He teased.
I argued, “There’s more going on here. It’s bigger than me and you.”
He narrowed his smoky eyes and tightened his hold on me. His fingers pulsed, as though they were trying to draw out more of a verbal reaction. When that failed to work, his lips, those delicious, truth serum-like appendages descended on the curve of my neck. The short hairs on the side of his head tickled my cheek, bidding caged goose bumps freedom.
But when those lips reached my earlobe, I lost it.
“I’m yours.” I finally relented. All movement froze.
“Is it getting easier,” he asked in secret next to my ear. I wish that expressing my emotions was like recovering from surgery—the
more you did, the easier it got. Nope. Not for me.
No,” I answered truthfully.
“It will, Querida. I’ll help you.”
Of course he would.
Must he be so damned—Theo all the time?
“There are more important things at stake here,” I attempted to change the subject to anything but me.
“There are.” He again took up his luscious assault on my neck. “And now, with all of this settled, I can finally concentrate on it.”
Too bad I couldn’t concentrate on anything but how low his hands had gone. He was going for the thighs. I just knew it.
“I’m hungry.” I grasped at a straw, not quite ready to jump all the way back into our relationship so quickly. I knew it would throw him into ‘take care of me’ mode.
“Okay. Let’s go into the village for soup or something.”
“Sounds good.”
We flashed down to a valley near the town, courtesy of one of my satellite apps. Walking into town, I watched the people go about their business. Each country had its own feel and smell. Tibet, so far, smelled like candied incense and mustard powder. Bells and the bustling of street vendors selling their product filled my ears.
Monks dressed in orange garb paraded down the street in a perfect line, chanting prayers, probably for themselves at the news of who would arrive the next day—nosey foreigners. One of the monks, the last one in the procession, caught my eye. There was something not quite fitting about him amongst his brothers. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what the difference was. Thinner than the others, his carriage and gait registered differently than his predecessors. He held my gaze and immediately came to a halt.
“What?” Theo followed my stare.
“There’s something different about that one.”
Theo popped a shoulder in nonchalance and dragged me away. He was always afraid I was going to start a cultural faux pas while in other countries—especially those where caning was a prominent punishment. Really, I think he was saving me from possibly setting the domino that would lead to WWIII, because that’s something I would accidentally do.
No, really, it’s something I would do.
He was completely justified in that line of thinking.
We settled on the only vendor who seemed to speak some English. The enormous hunks of meat had me squelching a gag. So when we sat on the curb of the street, our makeshift dining table, the first thing I did was scoop out my hunk, which I swore was a hoof, and plopped it into Theo’s bowl.
He chuckled at my blatant disgust for all things meat related. I wasn’t a vegetarian as a rule. But eating heavy foods usually stagnated my flashing and made me feel sluggish.
“Should we call Collin?” I asked after slurping some of the pungent broth.
“I don’t have his number.”
“Yeah, I guess we missed some of the basics. So when are we going to the temple?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
“I need to call my mom. I need to call Ari and Sway. I set up Ari on all of my jobs.”
He nodded, way too interested in his soup. I sipped at mine, completely blasé about the whole eating thing. The people around us scattered, taking their oxen and goats with them. Theo now seemed to be in a different world, staring off into space instead of eating.
“If you’re done, maybe we should get back. The vendor woman is eyeing our bowls. She probably thinks we may swipe them or something.”
Still it took him a moment to respond.
“Sure.” He took mine and nested it within his and handed it back to the woman who received it with a smile despite her previous foul expression. That was the effect Theo had on women in general.