Hardboiled: Not Your Average Detective Story (The Lillim Callina Chronicles Book 5) (9 page)

“Oh, come on, Lillim,” he said, poking me in the ribs with one finger. It seemed too casual of a gesture to be using on me, but then again, I guess he had just woken up with me snuggled up against him…

“No,” I replied as calmly as I could, trying to fight down the guilt and embarrassment rising up inside me. “I have stuff to do, I can’t… I can’t do these things with you, it’s not safe.”
I am not a normal girl
I almost added, but stopped myself at the last moment. “I have a boyfriend.”

“Do you think you’ll do something you’ll regret?” he asked me, staring at me with his stupid, piercing eyes, the rest of his face unreadable.

“No, it’s not that…” I said even though it was partially that, and that thought made my stomach sink. “It’s that I’m going to get you killed, and I really can’t deal with someone else getting killed around me.”

“I don’t think being around you is going to get me killed,” he said, getting to his feet and laying one too warm hand on my shoulder. Just the touch of it sent little traitorous tingles leaping across my skin.

“You don’t understand,” I said. I was about to try and explain it to him when I realized how crazy it would sound. Was I really going to tell this guy that I was a supernatural crime fighter? That when my mother died, a god had swept up her body. That the reason I was in school was because after leaving our city in the clouds, my dad wanted me to have a normal life? I swallowed, shaking my head as tears tugged at the corners of my eyes. “You just wouldn’t understand, Connor,” I said, hoisting myself up and trying to move past him to the door.

“That’s okay,” he said, smiling at me, and that smile stopped me cold. “Understand, I really didn’t want to play this card.” He held up a bag. “I got you something to wear. Please don’t make me return it. It was embarrassing enough to buy the first time.”

I reached out to take the all black paper bag, desperately hoping it wasn’t lingerie. I opened it to reveal a blue dress and let out a breath that was at least 97% relief and only about 3% disappointment. It was one of those dresses you saw models wear in pictures when they were pretending to be regular girls at parties.

“This looks expensive,” I said, pulling out the fabric, and I’ll admit it, the feel of it in my hands made me want to wear it, made me want to forget about everyone and everything and wear the damn dress and go to the stupid party with Connor. That was crazy right? Absolutely crazy, and I knew that, but right now, right now, I couldn’t help myself.

“You can try it on in here,” he said, pointing toward a bathroom because yeah he had his own personal bathroom. Because he was rich and good looking, and that wasn’t a fair combination, right? And… oh my god, I’m really shallow.

“Okay,” I said a little numbly as I walked toward the door, both hands clutching the garment like my life depended on it. God, what the hell was wrong with me? Was I really going to go to a party with a boy who wasn’t my boyfriend after my own boyfriend had been kidnapped? Was I really going to pretend nothing happened just a couple hours after my most powerful weapons were blown to smithereens by a preternatural body snatcher?

And sadly, as the door clicked shut behind me, leaving me alone in the huge marble bathroom with a tub so big you could play water polo in it, I knew that the answer was yes. That was exactly what I was going to do. Besides, I was supposed to do normal teenage girl things, right?

Going to a high school party was a normal teenage girl thing, right?

Of course it was.

A moment later, I was wearing the dress. It hugged me in a way that was only slightly less perfect than the dresses I’d had in fairy. You know, the one’s actually manufactured by magical dress-making fairies. Yeah, that’s still a thing, and when I thought about how I’d lost not one, but two of them, it nearly made me want to cry. This dress wasn’t
that
nice… but it was close.

It was sapphire blue and fell to just above my knees. It was at that length where if I left my arm at my side, the hem was just at the tips of my fingers, so I knew my mom would approve of it… if she were still alive. I swallowed as I stared at myself in the mirror. My lavender hair fell around my face, and I barely resisted the urge to cry.

What would my mom, the vicious Diana Cortez, think of me? What would she think if she saw me now? Would she be proud of me? Would she say I was—

“Beautiful. You look beautiful.” The sound of Connor’s voice took my breath away as he peeked through the door.

“You shouldn’t poke your head in on a girl changing,” I said as a blush crept across my face. He thought I was beautiful? Really? Even with the bags under my eyes? Even though I had muscles on my shoulders so I looked like a coke bottle stuffed into a strapless blue…

“I’m pretty sure I heard you say you were ready,” he said, smiling at me as he opened the door so I could see him. He was wearing jeans and a forest green t-shirt that really brought out the green in his hair. I don’t know why, but somehow, it looked absolutely perfect on him.

“Okay…” I said. “I don’t remember saying anything, but I’ll try to believe you aren’t a pervert trying to watch me change.”

“This from the girl who showed up outside my car wearing nothing but a trench coat?”

“Hey!” I cried. “I was wearing a bathing suit too.”

“Sure you were,” he replied, grinning lasciviously. “To be fair, I never actually saw you in that swimsuit. For all I know, you’re making it up.”

“Well, maybe if you’re really lucky someday, I’ll show it to you,” I said, and as the words tumbled out, my hands went up to clasp my mouth. Had I really just said that?

He took a step toward me, and while I won’t swear it was in slow motion, it seemed like time was running at about one third of normal. He reached out and took my hands in his. “Come on,” he said. “I got you shoes too.”

Shoes too. He got me shoes… too. What kind of guy does that? And…

“When did you have time to do all this?” I asked, not sure whether or not I should smile at him or glare at him. Before I could decide, he pulled me from the room, his hand warm and firm on mine.

“You’ve been asleep for almost six hours, Lillim. It’s almost ten at night,” he replied, but honestly, I barely heard him because a pair of blue and silver pumps that matched my dress perfectly sat on his bed.

“Six hours,” I murmured as I picked up the shoes and stared at them, wide-eyed. I turned, pointing a shoe at him accusingly. “What do you think you’re doing?” I asked. “I have a boyfriend… you can’t… you can’t…” A boyfriend who is a magical god who I think might be captured by a nefarious magician… I swallowed as he went a little hazy for a second. My head began to pound, and I licked my lips.

“Um… do you have some water?” I asked, my throat suddenly so dry that it hurt. I swallowed again. “I need some water.” I tried to take a step forward, but found that I couldn’t move. I looked down at the shoe in my hand and sighed. No… no, I wasn’t going to a party. That was crazy…

I shook my head, tossing the perfect shoe back onto the bed and watching it bounce a little. The scenery seemed to ripple for a second before snapping back into place. The shoe sat there, so tantalizing, I just had to wear it… but I shouldn’t. I shouldn’t be doing this, shouldn’t be here. I…

Connor touched my bare shoulder, his hand so warm and tender that my knees went a little weak.

“Lil,’” he said, shortening my name in that same way Mattoc used to do before he… before he died. “It’s just a party. It’s no big deal. If you want, you can dress however you like. I don’t mind. But, if you don’t want to go, that’s cool too. I can drive you home. Or not, whatever you want, Lil.’ Whatever you want is fine.”

I knew in that moment that I shouldn’t be around him because, well, for reasons I couldn’t quite explain, I was starting to have feelings for him. I know it was wrong, and that I had a boyfriend. It’s just that he was being so nice. It made it very hard to not want to forget about Caleb… at least for a little while.

I know. I know. That was a bad thought, and I’m embarrassed to say it, but it wasn’t the first time I’ve had it. To say Caleb was an absentee boyfriend would be an understatement of humongous proportions. He was a freaking god and was always doing godly things. I could count the number of ‘dates’ we’d had on one hand, and we’d been together for how long now?

Still, still that was no excuse, and I knew it. I knew, knew, knew it, so that’s why I turned and opened my mouth to tell Connor we couldn’t go to the party. We just couldn’t because I had a boyfriend, and this wasn’t fair, and I had to find him. I had to find Caleb, and the cyclops, and fix my swords…

“Connor,” I said about to tell him that there was no way I was going with him because even if I did like him, I had to save Caleb. I had to do it. Whatever else I had going on, just needed to wait.

“Yes?” he smiled at me in a warm puppy dog way that made my heart melt into a pile of romantic goo.

I swallowed, the room going a little hazy for a second and I had to reach out and grab onto the wall to steady myself. “I’ll go to the party with you,” I whispered in my traitorous little squeak of a voice.

And the look of happiness that spread across his face was like watching the morning sunrise. It made me a little weak in the knees as I stared at him, and that… that should have worried me a lot more than it did.

Chapter 9

“It’s a little… uh, quiet. Don’t you think?” I said as we walked up the huge driveway toward a house that reminded me of one of those mansions you see on television shows about people who have way too much money. “I remember being promised something that was ‘off the hook.’”

“It
is
a little quiet,” Connor replied, nodding toward me as we stepped past the giant white marble pillars and onto the porch itself. Connor reached out to knock, but evidently thought better of it because he turned the knob. The giant carved wooden door opened to a resounding… silence.

So a high school party… yeah. I mean, I wasn’t sure what to expect exactly, but I was pretty sure there were supposed to be people walking around, chatting in too loud drunk voices while carrying big red plastic cups full of alcohol. There should be dancing and flailing and maybe a boy with a stupid hat doing shots while standing on a table.

What I saw was more than a little… underwhelming. We passed maybe four people, all in various states of boredom, as we moved through the monolith of a house toward the back patio.

Outside was only slightly better because I counted ten people, but four of them appeared to be in some sort of garage band because they were setting up on what I was pretty sure was the deck of a Jacuzzi. That seemed a little odd. Wasn’t the Jacuzzi supposed to be where things really um… I glanced away from it, a flush rising on my face and stared at the huge pool to my left. It was so blue that it glittered like sapphires under the giant flood lights that illuminated the yard.

“Do you want a drink?” Connor asked, gesturing toward a bar where a bored looking brunette girl stood messing with her phone. “I hear Custody makes a mean rum and Coke.”

“A rum and Coke?” I asked, quirking an eyebrow at him. “And did you say her name was Custody?” I meant it to come out innocently, but it sounded a little jealous, even to me. Which was absurd, right? Besides, he didn’t like her, did he?

“Custody is more of a nickname I don’t really understand, but yeah, do you want a drink…” his voice sort of trailed off as he watched the bar. I could tell he was aching to go over there, and, well I’m not sure, but for some reason, I didn’t want him leaving my side, even to go get us drinks. Besides, there were so many bottles of brightly colored liquid sitting next to the giant metal keg that it was a little overwhelming because, well, I’d never drank before. Yeah… I’m that girl.

“Um… no, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I replied, unconsciously tightening my grip on Connor’s hand.

“Okay,” he said, looking around before leaning toward me, covering his mouth. “Where is everyone? Are we early?”

I was about to reply with something witty when a huge guy wearing an orange and black football jersey burst out of the house amid a throng of noise. He was over six and a half feet tall and built like a freaking professional wrestler, all bulging biceps and huge chest muscles. As he moved, his bulk strained against his jersey. He ran one hand through his brown hair and grinned at us as several dozen people flowed into the yard.

“The party bus has arrived!” he cried, making a horn pulling motion with one giant paw. He turned toward us, swallowing the contents of his cup in one huge swallow and clapping Connor on the shoulder. “Connor, glad you could make it.”

“What kind of party would it be if I didn’t show up, Thes?” Connor replied, smiling. “This is Lillim, I’m not sure if you’ve met before. She’s new. Lillim, this is my friend, Thes. He’s an actual Native American, but he gets all bent out of shape if you call him that.”

“That’s not true at all,” Thes said, glancing at me, a queer look on his face, and I could have sworn I saw his nostrils flare a little, like he smelled something he didn’t like. “I didn’t know you were bringing a date, Connor,” he added, offering his hand to me. I reached out to take it and felt a little current of electricity zip across my flesh the moment I touched him. I knew that feeling. It was the feeling of wolf. It thrummed under the surface of his skin like a live wire and filled my thoughts with opalescent moons and howling. Seriously.

Thes snarled, snatching his hand back as a look of rage rippled across his face. The muscles in his body tightened like a coiled spring as he narrowed his eyes at me. The suddenly loud backyard went so quiet that it reminded me of the silence following a gunshot. The one where everyone hopes they are not the target of shot number two.

“Connor, get back!” we both cried at the same time, each trying to throw ourselves between the other and Connor. We wound up colliding with each other. His immense bulk knocked me on my back as he stumbled and fell on top of me. His face twisted in rage, eyes growing iridescent yellow around the edges. One huge palm smacked into the cement by my head, and it made my heart slam into my rib cage so hard that he had to have heard it.