Divine Liaisons (15 page)

“
That's why I left you?”

“
Yes. You saw the error of my ways. You were the only one who dared to challenge me. But I was proud, and stubborn. And it cost me everything.”

He swallows so hard, it's like a hollow cup smacking a drum.

“Everything.”

Chapter 22

It's only now, looking down, that I notice it's my skin which has the pearlescent shimmer. So it's not his sweat, it's my own sheen; it's an interesting thing to have in common.

Waving a hand, clothing us in matching black jeans and shirts, he offers me his hand, helping me to stand.

“
You are the only perfect thing I created. And I could never do it again. It was a sign. To stop. But I had a mission to fulfill. I wouldn't listen to you, and I refused to see the light.”

“
I'm going next door.”

“
Want company?”

“
No.”

Stepping closer, he puts a restraining hand on my arm, his eyes glittering with intimacy, matching his voice. “You know there's nothing in creation I wouldn't do for you?”

“Erra, when I've fixed your fuck ups with Dustin and Lucierne, we're going to need to set some ground rules.”

His smile is delectable. “What time will you be home for dinner?”

“Ha.”

Okay, now I'm overwhelmed. This guy likes to move at warp speed. I guess gods are a little self-absorbed that way.

“We have cell phones for a reason. I'll call you,” I say.

He waves his hand again, and I feel the hardness of my phone appear in my back pocket. Jeans and underwear are appreciated, but a bit late to save me from Dustin trying to get his soul through me earlier.

Wings wrap around me, he steps in, tilting my chin, lowering his head to delicately brush my lips with his own. It's overdue. This creature owes me a few tender moments. It's good to know he's capable of it.

“
Go rescue the world,” he says in a deep baritone coated in melting syrup.

His eyes flare briefly before he vanishes, and I'm left standing alone in the library.

I like god-made clothes. The material hugging my arms is light, but really snug. Wow. I wonder if I can do stuff like that too?

Steeling myself, I head out the library to the front door.

Dustin's door is still standing open, and I have a nervous lump the size of Utah in my throat. Walking into the dim interior, I call out.

“
Dusty?”

I understand he's hurt. He's pure sunshine, hiding away like this just shows how much he just doesn't want to be a part of this world right now. His wild earth wind smell is a testament to his free character; this isn't him.

“Dusty?”

Wishing I had a titanium injection for my nerves, I take the first step down to his den.

“Are you here? May I come in?”

Creepy silence greets me, and I'm becoming alarmed.

Sneaking down the steps, I peer into the dark, wishing these guys had light switches like everyone else.

“
Dustin? Are you here?”

Guilt is pounding every vertebrae of my spine. If he's hurt himself, I'll make Erra resurrect him, I swear I will.

“Dust? Please say something.”

It's too quiet. Getting my iPhone out my pocket, I switch the torch app on, shining it around. He's not here.

Almost relieved, my insides are still doing the strangle Heimlich maneuver. I dash back up the stairs. Up here, at least there's some light filtering in through closed blinds.

Running from room to room, beyond caring about invading his privacy; worry is getting the better of me.

He's nowhere.

Opening the door to the garage from the laundry, my focus roves over glorious beasts of metal and rubber. Wow! That's quite a collection of shag-mobiles. But the Ninja is missing.

My darling without a soul has gone back to the Gan. I bet he has. And there's no way my car can go even half as fast as the two wheels he's on. He needs an intervention, without delay. I don't want him having any more time alone, with my knife sticking out his back and severing his spinal cord from his good sense.

Skidding and slipping, I sprint for the front door, leap off the steps, and dive into my Polo.

It's time for Erra to rise to the occasion and let me use his Viper.

Gunning back down the drive, I head the few miles to Erra's pad.

The door opens, and Mr Ride-me-til-I-can't-walk gorgeous, steps out to look at me with his inclement scowl.

I start talking the second I open the car door.

“I need the Viper!”

“
What for?”

“
Dustin's gone. I think I know where he is, but I have urgency beating me over the head. I need a car faster than mine to catch up with him.”

“
You'll kill yourself in that car. I'll drive you.”

Halting below him to stare up the steps, daylight's washing his perfection with loving caresses, I'm almost jealous of his looks. If he made me, he really could have made me a head turner if he'd tried just a little harder and put some thought into it. He probably made me the way he gave me that first kiss. All enthusiasm and very little deliberation. Horse's ass.

“I really don't think you'll be a welcome addition to this party, Erra.”

“
I don't care. I'm his superior. I'm driving you, this isn't a debate.”

“
You are such a dang control freak!”

“
Lili, every second you stand here crapping on me for my failings, is another second of pain for Dustin. Choose which you'd prefer to put on the top of your list; giving me more pain, or alleviating his?”

Aargh! What is it with these guys? Always turning the tables on me, twisting my words and using them against me.

“Fine. Let's go.”

I stomp to the garage doors, waiting for god to wave his magic hand and open the door for me.

Of course the show off has to go three better, doesn't he? He looks to my car and in front of it waits the already idling Dodge, and he's doing the saloon swagger over to it. Expelling an annoyed sigh, I go to it.

“
Admit it, this is how you really made dinner, isn't it?” I challenge, getting into the heady interior of the Viper, with Erra magically closing my door.

Getting in next to me, a rascal smirk flirting on his lips, he gives me a wink.

“All things are possible.”

“
Are you saying we shouldn't be driving? You can just magic us there?”

“
Where is
there
?”

“
Enchanted Rock.”

Laughing a husky boom, he guns th
e
SRT10
down the drive and into the road, giving me a head-rush when he floors it, taking us from a virtual standstill up to a hundred, in less than eight seconds. By the time we get to Westlake, we're up to 160 mph. The second we get onto SH-71, I know he's going to take this baby up to 202 mph, and the thought makes me giddy with anticipation.

Lordy this car suits him. Dressed in his usual figure-glorifying black, snuggled into a black leather bucket seat, with his glossy hair swept away from his face, and sharp cosmic eyes checking mirrors, I'm betraying myself. He's hot. Hot with a capital H-Bomb. This is sex on wheels, with personified sex driving it.

I can't love two of them. I refuse to. Dustin came first. You can want to hump someone until you can't walk, without giving them your heart. He had it once before and messed that up, didn't he? Well he can't have it again. Someone else needs me more. Someone tender, and beautiful, hiding inside a deceptive body of muscle.

Yes, looks are deceiving. They both said it, and they were both right.

And I thought I was human.

Gosh darn it all.

Why the heck does life have to always be so melodramatic. What's so wrong with two and a half kids and a picket fence?

He's a wily one. Only now am I aware of the faint music wrapping around me. Instilling tranquility.

Aw. Why'd he hav'ta go and do that? He's calming me down, using his subtle approach. He's not trying to talk me down, or get too close, he just throws celestial harmonies my way, and tension dissolves.

Sighing, I look back at him, torn. He
is
the perfect mate. The only problem is, he needs me to complete him, I just don't think I need
him
to complete
me
. I guess that sums up every stalker on the planet. It's one sided. He's yet to earn my heart.

“
What's chewing you, princess?”

“
Nothing.”

Flicking his focus from the road, he looks me over, hovering his gaze with mine.

“Too much, too fast?”

“
Pretty much.”

He gives me a wink, “You're a fast learner, and you never back down from a challenge. You can do this.”

“I don't think you feel the way we do. I hurt him. I hurt him bad.”

His grasp on the steering wheel tightens for a moment.

“You get that from me. I feel it. I just don't show it and start stomping around throwing my toys. If I did, I'd not have learned a thing since the dawn of mankind.”

“
No. You just boss everyone around. Making yourself seem like a heartless egomaniac.”

His response is to make the Viper slither ever faster over asphalt.

“If you have something to say Lili, then I suggest you just come out and say it. If I could read minds, we wouldn't have been through carnage together. I wouldn't have hurt you, and you wouldn't have hurt me.”

“
I can't just hand over my heart, Erra. To me, you're a stranger. You might be Erra the god of mankind, but I don't know you. You have to foster love if that's what you want from me. You can't understand this, but Dustin opened his heart, and I fell right in. Swill deep. He touched me where no eyes can see. Deep in my heart. All you've done since I met you, is manipulate me. Not to mention, be a total creep.”

Unspoken tension tilts the atmosphere in the car. It's a charge of restrained power.

“If you had my memories, you'd understand. I won't apologize for being who I am.”

“
Doncha get it? Erra, without fostered love and tenderness, there's nothing to build on. Or did ya just make me so you had someone to ride all night long?”

“
You really know when to have a heart to heart. What would you like me to do? Pull over and have this out, or get you to your boyfriend?”

“
Wow, that sure came out like a spit of chaw.”

“
Which part of
I'm a jealous god
, did you not understand? They've been quoting that line of mine for thousands of years, and here's the princess of heaven squeezing me 'til I get a ball ache, while driving her to her lover!”

“
I didn't ask you to drive me, all I asked was to use your car.”

“
God! You have to be the most frustrating thing I ever made. You have a way of niggling under my skin until I want to hack my arm off.”

“
You just can't take constructive criticism. Put yourself in my shoes. Who would you choose? It sure as hell wouldn't be you!”

“
Sure as Hel? You are sure of her, aren't you?”

“
Her? What?”

He releases a tight sigh, bathing us in scrumptious vapors.

“We'll cross that bridge another day,” he says, weaving through traffic, pushing the Viper as fast as it'll go.

“
Hell is female?”

“
Yes Lili. Hel is female.”

“
Really?”

“
Naturally you spell it wrong. But then mankind has never been perfect. Or very good at sticking to the truth.”

“
Listen buddy. Take some responsibility. If we're messed up, it's because you made us. And I can see exactly why I think humans suck. You think you own the world, and every other cowboy does too. You refuse to allow anyone to find fault with you
or
your methods, when all it takes to make you and the entire world a better place, is a bit of love, compassion, and tenderness.”

“
That's your Spirit talking.”

“
No, it's all me. Deal with it, or I'll drop you off on the side of the road and I'll drive myself. But you're such a control freak, you still think you've got the right to dictate to me.”

“
It's time you stilled that temper Ms Tempest. We're almost there, and if Dustin has any sense left, he'll run the other way when he sees you coming.”

“
How come it's my fault? I was happy living my life when you three showed up out of the blue.”

“
Happy? You call that happy?”

“
Just stop it. You're upsetting me.”

“
Can dish it out plenty, but can't take it back, huh?”