Authors: Amber Scott
“
What? Why?”
“
Huh-uh. First, m’lady, I bear a gift.” With a grand flourish, he bowed. Ah, Ben and his whimsy. “Three guesses,” he said.
She didn’t want to play this game. But Ben could be a pit bull with his gossip. “Okay, okay. You talked to him and he fell madly in love with you?”
“
I like it, but alas, no.”
She hated this. “You followed him to his hotel and found his plane ticket and he’s leaving today.”
“
Better.”
“
He was on America’s Most Wanted.”
He crossed his arms, jutted his hip. “Bite your tongue, girl,” he mouthed. “Our boy may be bad
,
but not criminal!”
Sadie managed to laugh, pulling her favorite, limp-free cart out. “You met Cher and she’s leaving her wigs to you?”
“
I wish.” Ben rolled his eyes but grinned.
“
I give up. I have absolutely no idea.”
Ben leaned in. “Okay. But I’m warning you. Do not try to kiss me. Promise?”
Sadie nodded, adrenaline sparking in her veins.
“
Are you ready?” His eyes glinted, his fingers twittering in the air. “I have his name.” He covered his loud gasp.
“
His name? What is it?” Her heart hiccupped into triple time. Her cheeks flushed hot. She would die if anyone else witnessed how much this affected her. Ben binged on her reaction, prolonging the moment.
Before she went to strangle the name from Ben’s writhing body, he spoke. “Elijah. Stokes.”
Elijah? His sculpted features, his mahogany eyes, the shadow of stubble along his angular jaw. The quiet, serpentine way he moved.
She blinked hard, suppressing the urge to clap and squeal in delight. “Elijah Stokes?” Her tone sounded impressively even considering the riot in her belly.
A name shouldn’t mean so much. Yet it did.
Sadie sagged into a chair, struggling to compose herself. She bit her inner cheek. “Elijah, huh?” she said, forcing herself to sound casual.
Those mahogany eyes staring into the ether, his mind snared by some observation within the books he scoured week in and out, strong hands toying with whatever hung from the long gold chain around his neck.
Ben pressed his lips together, nodding, triumphant. “You’re welcome.”
“
Elijah Stokes,” Ben affirmed, framing an air name plaque. “It suits him, don’t you think?”
“
Definitely.” Now, for the more important question. “Why did you say he won’t be back?”
“
Yeah, so, he came in yesterday and I made it my mission. I mean how long can you go on thinking of someone as ‘Angel Eyes’ or ‘Tasty Treat’, right?”
Maybe she’d strangle Ben after all. But she knew rushing him would shut him up. Plus, the name Angel Eyes gave her pause. No wonder she’d given him wings. “He was here yesterday?” Sadie lined her cart, her palms sweating. Maybe Cynthia would add Thursdays to her schedule. If she could get the microfiche machine down.
“
Yep. Jealous much?” Ben started on a cart, too. “So, yesterday, I figured if I lingered around him long enough, his girl would say his name.”
His girl? Probably the honey
-
skinned one with runway legs. Sadie swallowed against the lump in her throat. “Oh?”
“
Oh and she was wearing the most divine nude lace
-
up corset and these velvet jockey pants. Divine. I had to get a closer look. And I figured, if she didn’t say his name, I could go up and ask him, you know, compliment her, segue into an introduction. But I didn’t have to.”
Conversation? Yeah, right. Cajones, Ben did not sport. “So she said his name?” Lovingly? Passionately? Was it too much to hope she wasn’t his girlfriend
?
“
No. He got a phone call and answered ‘Elijah Stokes’.” Ben paged through a book before sticking it in his cart. “And then she said something about coming back one last time tomorrow, which means today. Come back for what, I couldn’t tell you
,
but I’ll be trying to find out
,
if you know what I mean.”
Last night’s hot kisses came into sharp mental focus. Her first cart alphabetized, Sadie hurried to finish the next. Keeping her hands busy tempered her rapid heartbeat.
“
So, you’ll never guess who the history department….”
She tuned Ben out.
She couldn’t lose control over her reactions. She couldn’t let him see how much the idea of never seeing Elijah again panicked her. She couldn’t reveal all those dreams. And because she wanted to keep her only sort of friend, she couldn’t pad his already extensive Sadie files.
The books smelled fusty and good, the plastic covers crinkled against her fingertips. Sadie focused on the smells and the lull of Ben’s voice.
“
I’ll start with this up on main,” Ben said, leaving her two more carts to categorize.
Sadie nodded and smiled tightly up at him as he strolled to the elevators. Sadie’s rush returned. The seconds crawled by as she waited for the elevator’s ding, the cart’s clank over the threshold, the groan of moving metal. Forever ended and she pushed the pent up energy from her tight lungs in a loud whoosh.
Alone at last. Well, alone with him—Elijah—at last. Save for the other patrons here and there, or, possibly,
his “girl”
. A pang shot through her. Was she his girlfriend? Not like Sadie could just go up and flirt with him yet, anyhow. What would she say? “You won’t believe this but I keep having erotic dreams about you. And you can’t keep your hands off me.”
Yeah, right.
Five minutes of composure
-
gathering later, Sadie wheeled her cart in his direction, determined to do what Ben couldn’t. To do what she previously couldn’t. To take a chance.
Would he notice her first? Maybe he’d look up as she passed and smile. What would she do? Smile back? Wave? What excuse would get her talking to him?
Nothing big. Chit chat. Or a question.
He wouldn’t be back either. Ever. The idea kicked panic into her stomach and determination into her heart.
She’d be med
-
free within days. Back to the strong woman she was before one minor, totally overblown freak out two years ago. Soon, she’d walk without tripping, speak without stumbling, high
kick
without falling over.
She’d be Sadie again. Kickass and confident.
She’d have a real shot at Elijah. At life.
~ ~ ~
Elijah stood. “We need to leave. Now.”
“
We can’t. Sadie’s already here. Lyric can arrive, get a feed off of her and we’ll know once and for all.”
Feed being the word he worried about. Sadie was definitely here. Elijah could feel her getting closer. That hum that was only hers. Like no human he’d ever heard. But far from immortal like Holly so hoped.
The warning in his gut grew.
“
We’ll have to head Lyric off and relocate instead.” Damn it all. Damn Crusoe for all of this. If Crusoe hadn’t kept secrets, hadn’t fallen for Holly. If Crusoe and Elijah hadn’t been young together, Elijah would just say goodbye. Too many ifs added up to a different life.
One that didn’t exist.
“
There’s no way to tell him. I told him to blend in. Besides, when he went off radar, he went all in. No devices, nothing.”
Affection for Crusoe bound Lyric, Holly and Elijah together. Even
now they
remained entangled around what he meant to them. “My gut tells me this is a bad idea, Holly.”
The clanging metal cart shouted Sadie’s arrival two rows away. Her gaze warmed his skin, her breathing whispered in the quiet hush of the building’s air conditioning system. Her heartbeat drummed higher. Lyric would be here any moment. Elijah had to move fast.
“
She’ll be in danger.” Elijah stole a glance Sadie’s way. She looked away but held her head high. Bright eyes, a full mouth. Blue flecks of something along her cheek. “We have to leave.”
“
Can you at least let him get up here first?” Holly
asked,
but stood as well.
Lyric’s low, sickening sound approached in the nearby stairwell. Elijah collected his energy inward, pressing it down to prepare to repel Sadie. Holly did the same, her glowing tendrils nearly banking though her eyes
,
smoldered as they held to his. Elijah came around the table to head off Lyric.
A quick check in Sadie
’s
direction revealed nervous hope in her expression and clear intent in her vibration. Not good. She intended to approach him. Sober now or always, Sadie presented a quick, delicious feeder fix with all that emotion. “I don’t want him reading her. Not yet.”
Holly’s eyes flashed. “A little trust, Elijah.” She grabbed his arm. “Please?”
He pulled his arm back. “I’ll trust him when I see for myself he’s not strung out.” He turned to leave and smashed right into Sadie’s cart. The metal banged his left knee. Books spilled onto the floor. His boot caught on the lip of the cart, knocking it over. He lost his balance and landed on his knees.
“
Oh my God,” Sadie said, sounding mortified.
Holly’s cough sounded a lot like a chuckle. Elijah scrambled to his feet, hyperaware of Sadie staring red-faced and speechless. He righted the cart and met her wide-eyed gaze. The pale blue of her eyes shone so bright with determination, despite the fall, it almost hurt to look.
“
I’m so sorry,” Sadie said, shoving books at the cart only to have them fall over and off.
Lyric was so close. “It’s okay. Really.” Elijah had to get her away, get himself away from her
.
Holly bent and Sadie stammered more.
“
I was…I mean, I just…you—
”
Elijah grabbed some books. “Don’t worry about it.” He’d erase her embarrassment
,
but how
? W
hat could he do? “
I
should have been looking.”
“
I’m an idiot,” she stammered. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
He was out of time. Holly nodded at his meaningful glance and walked away.
“
No, it’s my fault,” he said, too roughly. “Don’t worry about it.” He shoved a tall pile into her hands. “Here, take these.” The books scattered like leaves.
“
Oh…I…I…,” she stammered, her eyes wide, her heart beating like a hummingbird’s wings. Lyric would open that door within a breath. Fuck.
Heat flashed over Elijah. Another apology died in his throat. What choice did he have but forcefully repel her and intercept Lyric? He tightened his magnetism in and reversed it, hard. He glared. “Forget it.”
For a split second, her face fell. And though she recovered, jutted her chin out, guilt punched through him. He turned and left her. He had to.
Cruel as his actions were, they protected her. The metal door swung open. Lyric strolled forth glancing about, twirling heavy aviator goggles on his forefinger, his leonine strut confident. The farther from Sadie Elijah got, the more his magnetism steeled, like a wall, masking her energy from Lyric. Blood using or not, Lyric would never undo the past. Redemption remained to be seen.
Elijah intercepted him within a few strides and pointed at the door. “Not here,” he said.
Shrugging, Lyric turned on his heel and headed back to the stairwell. Holly followed. Now that the feeder had arrived, Elijah found himself a bit hopeful. Crusoe was what mattered now. Finding his brother. Before something unspeakable happened. Elijah looked back, just once, to Sadie. She was loading the fallen books, her shoulders squared. But he could hear the change in her. The urge to apologize gripped him by the throat. She looked up, blinked once and he swore, despite the yards between them, he fathomed the crystalline blue of her eyes before he looked away.
Lyric and Elijah followed Holly to the roof.
"My, my." The feeder's melodious voice sent a chill through Elijah. "What a fine haunt we have here." He opened his arms and spun, his sheet of black hair billowing in the air.
Holly spoke first. "You look good." She embraced Lyric, a quick, curt hug. “It’s been too long.”
Elijah itched to drop his careful guard and let both of them
know
how uncertain he was about involving Sadie. There were students below, more than usual, and he sensed at least one other immortal this side of realm lines.
“
The Aussie sends her love, Elijah,” Lyric said, which explained the aviator goggles he twirled. He’d arrived by airship and not just any, but the Renegade.
Holly sparked. She’d never liked Elijah’s former lover and captain of the Renegade. Decades wouldn’t change the fact. “Orena brought you?” she asked.
Lyric smiled. “She did far more than that.”
She’d cloaked him as well then. Just perfect. Which meant Orena still had a hatchet she’d like to bury in Elijah’s back. Nothing to be done about it now.
"What’s this? Whoever speaks first loses?" Lyric asked simply after a long moment. “You win, then Elijah. Least you can do is explain why Holly dragged me from a tropical paradise to this soul-forsaken desert hell.”