Ascension (Book 4, The Watcher Chronicles) (21 page)

“So are you going to tell him or shall I?” Aiden asks me.

I play dumb.

“Tell Chandler what exactly?” I ask innocently.

Aiden looks down at me and lifts an eyebrow. “You know what I’m talking about, Jess. Playing dumb doesn’t become you.”

“Don’t say anything to Mason,” I tell him. “He doesn’t need to know about the meeting.”

“You would keep something that important from him?  I thought you loved him.”

“I do,” I say getting angry that my love for Mason is being called into question. “I love him enough to not see him turned into black ash. You know Lucifer would kill him just to spite me. Mason is my weak point. If something happened to him…”

I don’t feel that I have to finish the thought. Aiden seems to get the picture.

“It must be nice,” he says.

“What?” I ask, having no clue what he’s talking about.

He looks at me and I see the envy in his eyes. “It must be nice to be so in love with someone. It’s been a long time since I felt that way about anyone, not since my wife.”

“Why?”

Aiden shakes his head. “I don’t know. I’ve tried and come close to almost feeling it again, but for whatever reason, it just never seemed right.”

“When the right girl comes along, you’ll know it,” I tell him.

“Wiser words have never been spoken,” I hear a familiar voice say behind me.

I turn to see Mason and smile, but I wonder how long he’s been standing there. Apparently not that long from the smile he gives me. I feel sure if he knew of my planned deception of meeting Lucifer behind his back he wouldn’t be smiling so sweetly at me.

“Have you come to take me home?” I ask.

“I don’t know. Can you leave?”

“I’m sure I can slip out. I think this was the last party Chandler wanted to come to.”

“Did I hear someone call my name?”

Chandler comes to stand with us and I can tell he’s a little tipsy.

“I think it’s time we all go home, Chandler,” I say to him.

“Oh all right,” he says good naturedly. “Take me home, Aiden!”

Aiden grabs the drunken arm Chandler just swung in the air and phases him home.

I hold my hand out to Mason. “Take me home please. I’m dying to get out of this dress.”

“And I’m dying to help you out of it,” Mason murmurs before taking my hand and phasing us to the beach house.

Mason brings me into his arms and stares at my hair. “I really wish she hadn’t done that to your hair.”

I shrug. “I figured you wouldn’t care much since I was going to be with Chandler all night.”

“But now I have to fight against all those damn bobby pins she put in there.”

“Hmm, maybe there’s an advantage to having my hair pulled up out of my face,” I tell him.

Mason smiles knowingly. “By all means see if it helps,” he urges.

Mason soon learns that it does indeed help to have my hair up for certain, pleasurable things.

Chapter 13

While we’re eating breakfast the next morning, I ask Mason, “So what are your plans for the day?”

“I thought we were going to JoJo’s fashion show,” he says, like this should be a forgone conclusion.

He gives me that ‘why are you asking me this when you should already know the answer’ look.

“You know Leah still hasn’t had much schooling from you guys,” I say, thinking this a brilliant way to keep Mason busy for the day. “Why don’t you take her to headquarters and teach her about our Earth’s history?  I can get Aiden to take me to JoJo’s show. I’m sure you would just be bored by it anyway.”

Mason lays his fork down on his plate, completely ignoring the rest of his pancakes and cross his arms as he leans back in his chair to stare at me.

“What are you trying to hide from me?” He asks.

I could try to lie but his Watcher lie detector would go off so I try another tactic.

“Leah
does
need the lessons,” I say instead. It’s a completely true statement.

“Jess…” Mason says, a warning of impending anger in his voice.

“I just need to go alone,” I tell him. “Don’t ask me questions. Just trust me. Can you do that?”

“I might have if you hadn’t just tried to lie to me,” Mason says reaching for his phone and making a call. “Aiden come to the kitchen of my beach house.”

Aiden is instantly standing beside Mason.

“Is anything wrong?” Aiden asks, looking between Mason and me.

“Aiden, tell me why Jess would rather have you take her to JoJo’s fashion show than me. And remember,” Mason says, looking up at Aiden so he’s sure to understand failure to comply with his request will lead to bodily harm, “I can tell if you lie to me.”

Aiden looks over at me and I plead to him with my eyes not to tell Mason about my meeting with Lucifer.

“Amon approached her last night at the Grammy’s and informed her Lucifer wants to speak with Michael,” Aiden says. “Lucifer is supposed to meet Jess at the show.”

I just close my eyes and hang my head. The jig is up.

“Thank you for telling me the truth,” Mason says in a calmer voice than I thought he would have. “Now, if you could leave us alone for a while, I would appreciate it.”

Mason is silent and I don’t want to open my eyes. He’s going to be mad. I just know it.

I dare to open my eyes just a crack and look at him.

Yep, he’s mad.

“Why?” He asks me, such a simple question with such a complicated answer.

“Because I knew you would try to stop me,” I say, only saying half of my worry.

“And why shouldn’t I stop you?”

“He wants to talk to Michael, not me. Plus, it may be how we find out when the battle is supposed to take place.”

“I don’t think it’s worth the risk,” Mason says. “He vowed to kill you the next time he saw you, Jess!”

The scowl on Mason’s face tells me how worried he is.

“You have to let me meet with him,” I say. “You know I’ll find a way to do it with or without your help.”

“I’m fully aware of how stubborn you are.”

“Then let me go. Michael won’t take any unnecessary risks with me. Plus, I’ve already seen myself in the future fight. He’s not going to kill me today.”

Mason doesn’t say anything and I know he’s considering what I just said.

“Then I’ll go with you,” he says.

“No.”

Mason cocks his head at me. “Why?”

“Because you’re my weakness and Lucifer knows it. If he did something to you, he would weaken me. I need you to stay away from him.”

Mason’s jaw muscles tighten because he doesn’t like standing on the sidelines, but he knows I’m right.

“Then you take Aiden and Malcolm with you.”

“I only need one escort.”

“If Lucifer does something to one of them, then you have a back up. That’s the only way I’ll agree to let you go, Jess. Take it or leave it.”

“I’ll take it,” I say.

I sigh in relief, glad he’s agreed not to fight me about it anymore.

“Stop trying to lie to me to protect me,” he says. “I can be reasonable. Just tell me the truth. I don’t like being lied to, especially by you.”

“I’m sorry,” I tell him, truly meaning it. “I just didn’t think you would agree to let me go.”

“And I’m sorry I make you feel like you have to lie just to get your way.”

Mason stands up and grabs one of my hands to tug me to my feet.

“Let’s make a deal,” he says, bringing me into his arms. “You don’t lie to me anymore, and I will be more reasonable.”

I nod. “I can work with that.”

“But Jess, be careful today. Don’t trust him no matter what he says.”

“I won’t.”

Mason calls Malcolm and Aiden to let them know their services as my bodyguards will be required.

When Malcolm comes over, he brings an unexpected gift.

“JoJo told me to bring this to you to wear to the show,” Malcolm says, handing me a black garment bag with JoJo’s signature curly ‘A’ embroidered on the front in hot pink thread.

“I swear she treats me like her own personal Barbie doll.”

Malcolm shrugs. “She does that. She’s always been generous to a fault. It almost got her in trouble once.”

“How so?”

“She had a partner in the beginning of her career, now they’re rival fashion houses. He tried to take all the credit for her designs when they were first starting out, but I pretty much nipped that in the bud. I would have nipped him in the bud too if she hadn’t stopped me.”

“Yeah, JoJo told me the two of you had a thing together once upon a time.”

Malcolm shrugs like it’s no big deal, completely unembarrassed by my knowledge of this fact.

“Anyway,” he continues, “I gave her some money to start the House of Armand so she could leave him in her wake. He’s always been a no talent hack and he always will be.”

“You know,” I say, “you look all rough and tough on the outside but on the inside you’re all soft and cuddly, aren’t you?”

“I am not,” Malcolm says defensively.

“Are too.”

“Am not,” he says more stridently.

“Are too.”

“Ok children,” Mason says walking over to us. “What are the two of you fighting about?  Am I going to have to send you to separate corners for a time out?”

I giggle and make my way to the bedroom to change.

“You would have to catch me first,” I tease Mason, running for the stairs which lead from the living room to the second floor.

Mason doesn’t chase after me which completely disappoints me. But, when I enter the bedroom, I see why. He’s already there: naked as a jaybird and laying on the bed waiting for me. All he’s wearing is a grin and his necklace with the wedding ring I bought him.

“Incorrigible,” I tell him, tossing the garment bag on the floor and shedding my own clothes as quickly as I can.

“Only with you,” he tells me.

Once I’m dressed, I look at myself in the bathroom mirror and have to admit I like the dress JoJo sent over. Though, what of hers have I not liked? Oh yeah, the most important outfit of my life: my wedding dress.

When I walk out of the bathroom, I’m fiddling with my bracelet, trying to fasten the catch around my wrist when I feel a pair of strong hands grab me around the waist and pull me back against the firm naked body behind me.

I giggle.

“Haven’t you had enough of me for one morning?” I ask.

“How often do I have to say that I can never have enough of you?” Mason says, nibbling my ear and kissing the sweet spot right behind it.

I turn in his arms and drape my arms over his shoulders.

“And you couldn’t have put some clothes on while I was getting ready?” I ask, feeling a sudden need to shed my own clothes once again and simply forget about my meeting with Lucifer.

And that’s when it hits me.

I pull away and stand back from Mason, keeping my eyes on his face and refusing to give into temptation.

“You’re trying to make me late, aren’t you?” I ask, not mad, mostly amused by his ploy.

Mason stands with his hands on his hips and legs apart making sure I have full view of all of him.

“Is it working?” He asks, grinning.

I roll my eyes at him and grab the silver tone high heels JoJo sent in the bag to wear with the dress.