Magick (Immortals and Magick Book 2) (10 page)

“And we’re both covered in soot. I don’t think it matters much.”

His mouth came down on mine and I fell into the kiss with almost as much heat and fervor as the night before. He rolled, bringing me with him until I was positioned on top of him, straddling his waist. I leaned over him, my hair falling in a curtain around us as he brought his hands up and bracketed my face.

“Are you sure?” he whispered, and I was puzzled by the uncertainty in his voice. Couldn’t he tell? It’s not like I was doing this just for him.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

He tilted his head to study my face, his eyes scrutinizing my features. They drifted to my neck, where the bandage was still in place, and I felt a moment of unease. What if he wasn’t sure? What if the reminder of his sister came between us?

“Well, it’s not as though we had a normal night last night. I don’t want to push this.”

I sat up abruptly. Was he having doubts? Was I being too brazen? I had never been unsure with a man before, and it wasn’t sitting well with me.

He followed my action, leaning up on his arms. We stared at each other, both of us uncharacteristically hesitant. I immediately went on guard, despite my epiphany.

“Are you saying you’re not sure?” I asked, resisting the urge to cross my arms over my chest in defense.

“Teagan, I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life, and that’s saying a lot.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. My emotions were such a mess that I couldn’t be sure that I wanted this for the right reasons. I wished that I could have half the confidence that was in his voice.

He looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to make up my mind.

Instead of answering him, I reached down and grabbed my nightshirt and drew it slowly over my head, letting it fall to the bed. His eyes traveled from the top of my head, trailed down my neck, caressed my breasts. He gripped my hips, bringing me closer, until I could feel the hard ridge that had risen inside his jeans.

“God, you are more beautiful than anything I have ever seen. How can one person be so stunning?” He murmured against my neck, his lips raising goose bumps on my skin. My head fell back as his mouth traced its leisurely way down the column of my neck, pausing to place a gentle kiss on the bandage covering my wound, then continuing across my collarbones. I wrapped my fingers in his hair and held his head against me as his mouth latched onto my breast, tugging gently, tongue rasping. 

It was unhurried and languorous, completely different from the night before. With every tug on my nipple, shocks of pure desire radiated through me. I rocked against him slowly, rhythmically, pushing all my insecurities away, feeling more and more like my old self.

“Hey Teagan, we have company.”

I thought I heard Harley’s voice, but I was too wrapped up in Noah to be sure. Since he didn’t stop, just continued on with the torturous pleasure he was giving me, I ignored it.

She pounded on the door, causing Noah to curse softly, his warm breath making my skin tingle.

“I love her, but if she interrupts us one more time…” He grumbled as he placed one last kiss on the top of my breast.

With a whimper I let my head rest on top of his, trying to calm my racing heart.

“Are you coming?” I heard her call through the door and I let out an almost hysterical giggle.

“I was working on it.” Noah said sarcastically, but not loud enough for Harley to hear. I giggled again, bringing my hand up to stifle the louder sounds that wanted to erupt from me.

“We’ll be right there.” I called out, reluctantly sliding off of Noah’s lap.

“Oh…sorry.” I could hear the chagrin in Harley’s voice and realized that she didn’t know Noah had been in here with me.

      “I wonder who’s here.” I said as I climbed off the bed, hoping and praying that I had left clothing here after the wedding. If I hadn’t, I would have to try and fit into something of Anna’s, and she was taller and much slimmer than me.

              I moved to the closet and opened the doors, but only empty shelves greeted me.
Great
, I mumbled under my breath, crossing over to the dresser, which turned out to be equally empty.

“I don’t have a clue.” Noah muttered as he slid to the edge of the bed and sat, running his fingers briskly through his hair.

“We could check. Maybe if it’s no one important, they wouldn’t mind waiting.”  I pulled my dirty, soot covered nightshirt back over me, cringing at the thought of leaving the bedroom in it. I didn’t even want to jump in the shower until I had clean clothes to put on afterward.

He pulled me to him and kissed me swiftly.

“We don’t want to be rude, do we?” He grinned as he said it, setting me away from him.

“I do.” I shot back.

“Jump in the shower. I’ll bring you something from Anna’s closet.” With a parting kiss on my forehead he ducked out the door. I went into the bathroom, cringing at the site of myself in the mirror. Most of the soot had come off in the night, and a twinge of guilt twisted through me. I was going to have to replace their sheets. What was left made me look like a dirty street urchin, and my previously white bandage was gray.  I lifted my hand and peeled it off slowly, wincing at the pull of my skin against the medical tape. I leaned into the mirror and looked closely at it, trying to keep memories of how they got there out of my mind. I didn’t know how vampire bites were supposed to look, but they didn’t look infected and weren’t healing unnaturally fast, so that put my mind at ease.

I turned on the shower and got in, letting the water sluice over my body. My body was still thrumming with desire, so the water running over my skin felt sensuous, thrilling. It made me want Noah in here with me.

I heard him come into the bathroom and I popped my head around the shower wall.

“I brought you a pair of pants and a shirt.” He turned around to face me, and an exaggerated look of longing came over his face.

“I hate interruptions.” He stated flatly, leaning to the side, trying to glimpse the rest of me.

“Now, we must be polite hosts.” I said primly, ducking back behind the wall with a laugh.

“I’m going to shower. I’ll meet you downstairs.”

I heard him shut the door and laughed. Despite everything, I was feeling good, great even. I could have enticed him to stay and shower with me, but we would have never made it downstairs. I wondered again who was here. Damien? The fire marshal?

Who’s here?
I sent out to Harley as I rinsed the shampoo out of my hair.

It’s a surprise
. Her voice was happy, but at the same time subdued.

I hated surprises and she knew it. I could cheat, and see whose mind I could pick up, but decided against it.

I finished up my shower and toweled myself off, wrapping the towel around my head. Whoever it was, this was how they would have to deal with me.

Noah had brought me a pair of yoga pants and a T-shirt, which fit me decently. I had no shoes to put on, so I made my way downstairs barefoot, a surprising spring to my step.

I didn’t know if it was because of my epiphany last night, but everything bad that had happened looked a little less drastic in the bright light coming through the big wall of windows in the living room.

I rounded the stairs and came to a stop as I saw who the visitors were. Well, they weren’t really visitors. After all, they owned the place.

“Oh my God! You’re back early!” I squealed as I saw Anna and Gareth standing in the kitchen next to Harley and Noah.

I ran to Anna, throwing my arms around her and giving her a huge hug. She squeezed me back gently, laughing.

“Harley called us last night, to tell us what happened. We jumped on the plane and flew straight back. Are you ok?” She held me at arm’s length, her light jade eyes raking me from head to toe. I was so happy to see them back that I just smiled, my grin stretching from ear to ear. Gareth came over and hugged me, and I gave him a fierce hug back, happy to see him, too.

“Well, I didn’t tell you everything, when I called. At that point only Teagan had been attacked. ” Harley said, her voice subdued. I looked at her for the first time, and guilt washed through me. While I was smiling and excited, her expression was melancholy, her eyes shadowed. This was not the Harley that I knew; that Harley never let anything bring her down.

Gareth looked at Harley, surprise lighting his eyes.

“What happened after you called us? What could’ve happened that was worse than Teagan being attacked?” He asked, sliding an arm around Harley.

She leaned into him, her expression thankful. I looked at Noah where he was propped up on the island, long legs crossed at the ankles. I wanted to go to him, but with Anna and Gareth there, it seemed awkward. Two weeks ago, we were at each other’s throats so it would look odd if I just went to him and wrapped my arms around him, like I wanted to.

“Written was set on fire shortly after the attack.” Noah answered Gareth’s question, so that neither one of us had to.

“Oh no, not the bookstore!” Anna breathed, then immediately looked chagrinned. “Well, not just the bookstore, but your home, too. Stay here as long as you need to. What can we help you replace?” Her words came out in a rush, almost too fast for us to understand.

“We don’t know yet. The fire marshal called, asked me to bring Harley and Teagan out to the store so they could see the damage, hear what he has to say.” Noah answered her for us, since Harley and I didn’t have a clue. A small part of me bristled that he had taken complete control of the situation, but I fought against it. I didn’t want to fight.

“We’ll go with you.” Anna said firmly, as though the subject was closed.

“No, don’t. No sense in you both being exposed to sunlight needlessly.” Harley’s voice was stronger, as if she were gaining strength from Gareth’s arm across her shoulders.

“Don’t be ridiculous Harley. We want to be there for you.” Gareth said, chafing her arm.

“No, really, it’s okay. We’ll fill you both in when we get back.” I put in. Harley was concerned for their safety, I was sure, but I knew her well enough to know that she didn’t want more people than were needed to watch her break down again, if it came to that.

They both looked uncertain, but weren’t going to argue.

“We all have a confession to make to the both of you, though.” I went on, wanting to dispel some of the tension in the room.

“What’s that?” Gareth asked, his expression wary.

“We owe you new carpet, new furniture, and new bed sheets. They are all covered in soot.”

From where I stood, the damage to Written wasn’t horribly bad. Granted, I was standing on the opposite side of the store, where there was only smoke damage. Neither Harley nor I had been able to muster up the courage to go inside yet.

Noah was speaking to the fire marshal in hushed tones, away from us, but I could figure out what was being said just by the frown on Noah’s forehead, let alone by peeking into the mind of the marshal, whose name was Ted.

Arson.

It didn’t shock me, nor surprise me. I had known all along, and if it wouldn’t raise all kinds of questions, I could tell them who.

It seemed as though Gemma and I had a date. She was going to pay for this. Harley stood off by herself, her arms wrapped around her waist as though she was cold.

I walked over to her, slipping my arm around her shoulders.

“Are you cold? I think Noah has a jacket in his truck I could bring you.” I asked, staring at the house.

“No, but you should be, wearing flip flops in May. Aren’t your feet cold?”

I smiled, happy that she was thinking about something other than the house.

“Nope, not cold at all. Can’t help it if I had to get my shoes at the dollar store. Nothing of Anna’s would fit. That woman has some tiny feet.”

Harley gave a small laugh, which raised my spirits even more.

“Are you ready to do this?” I asked, nodding in the direction of the house.

She let out a gusty sigh, shaking her head slowly.

“I don’t think so, but I know it has to be done. All I keep thinking about is the books on the second floor. How are we going to recover from that?” She sounded so forlorn that I just wanted Gemma in front of me so that I could slap her like the bitch that she was.

“We will. No matter what, we will recover. If some books are destroyed, then we’ll find new ones, and the ones that are irreplaceable will be replaced by new irreplaceable ones. It’s just stuff, Harley. At least we’re alive.”

She turned to look at me, her face wearing a feigned look of shock.

“What?” I asked, surprised.

“What the hell happened to you? What have I slept through in the past twenty-four hours?”

“What do you mean?” I went on the defensive, not sure what she meant.

“You being the optimistic one? You offering comfort? Did hell freeze over?”

“Har har. I guess it’s your turn to be the pessimistic, out-of-control, basket case and it’s my turn to be the calm, reasonable, sane one.” I shot back, then we both started laughing. And kept on laughing. We both doubled up with laughter, Harley letting loose an occasional snort that made me laugh even harder. We must have looked like lunatics to the men swarming around the house, but I didn’t care; it was right that we should inject humor into such desolate surroundings.

“Are you two okay?” Noah came over to us, resting his hand gently on my back. I looked up at him with streaming eyes, laughter still escaping.

“I think we’re both fine now. Nothing but a thing. Really, we’re fine.” I assured him when he looked doubtful.

“Okay, I’ll take your word on it. Are you ready to go in? They’ve cleared it to be safe if you want to go take a look around, see what you can salvage.”

I looked over at Harley and she nodded. I could see her steeling herself for the task at hand, the old Harley taking over from the emotional wreck.

“Let’s do it.”

I walked toward Written, mentally prepping myself for what I would see when I went inside.

The front porch looked normal, and it wasn’t until we walked into the store portion that you could see damage. The entire right side of the store was blackened, charred beyond recognition. Display tables were burnt to a crisp, bookshelves were broken and splintered, and the books…the books were just no longer there on the side wall of the store. The ones on cases closest to the stairs were blackened with smoke and water, and the display case where we had sold some jewelry and fancy bookmarks was full of melted and lumpy remainders of works of art.

I took a quick look at Harley, to make sure she wasn’t falling apart, and was rewarded with her usual calm façade. She wasn’t breaking apart like I thought she would, but we hadn’t gotten to the second floor yet.  

Noah stayed by my side, my hand firmly grasped in one of his. It was an odd feeling, to have someone to lean on, but one that I could get used to.

There was nothing salvageable on the right side of the store, but on the left were things that might be redeemable. Smoke damage was limited, but water damage was rampant.

As a unit we went up to the second floor, and even I wanted to cry. Despite my best efforts to save what we could, the sprinklers and hoses had wreaked havoc on the books that were piled in the back of the store. Harley crouched down in front of the pile, hands dangling between her knees.

The fire had done enough up here, but maybe if I hadn’t…

“No Teagan, don’t think that way. You did what you thought best, and it wouldn’t have mattered. They’re books…made of paper and leather. Water, fire, smoke, any one of them alone would have damaged them.”

Harley spoke softly in response to where my thoughts had gone naturally; whether she was reading my mind or just knew me well, I had no way of knowing.

“I can’t do this part of it right now. Can we go upstairs?” She stood, dusting her hands on her borrowed jeans.

“Sure, sure.” I answered, casting Noah a look of worry. He just nodded towards the stairs, and I followed Harley up the stairs, her back held ramrod straight. Noah still had hold of my hand, and I grasped it tighter, thankful for everything that he was doing for me, for us.

The top floor was almost untouched by flame, which led both Harley and I to heave twin sighs of relief. The caustic smell of smoke was in the air, and our plants took a direct hit from the heat generated by the fire, but we could replace those. It would just take time. The only fire damage was to the entrance of the apartment.

“Look, I’ll have my crew come over as soon as the investigation is done and Written will be new again before you know it.” Noah said, looking around with a speculating eye.

“I don’t think there’s any major structural damage, and the foundation seems fine” He stopped at the expression on my face, which was shock.

“What?”

“I just realized that I have no clue what you do for a living.” I said, surprised. How could I be in love with someone if I didn’t even know him well enough to know what he did for a living?

“I’m a general contractor. What did you think I did all day?” He asked, a frown on his forehead.

I looked down, kind of ashamed of myself. I didn’t know him half as well as he knew me, and as for what I thought he did all day…

“I guess I never really gave it much thought. Up until recently, I didn’t think of you in everyday terms, just adversarial ones. I thought you just loafed around all day, living off your family’s money.” I couldn’t look at him as I said it. Frankly, I felt foolish and disappointed in myself. I don’t think that I had ever asked a guy I was dating what he did for a living, mostly because I was not someone who got into relationships. A couple of dates, some mutual satisfaction, and I never saw the guy again. If I knew what they did for a living, it was because they had told me, not because I asked.

Instead of taking offense, he laughed. It sounded good, especially in the emptiness of Written, and it brought a smile to Harley’s face.

“You’re opinion of me is flattering, thanks.” He leaned down and kissed me, to take the sting out of the sarcasm.

“When do you think it’ll be deemed safe to come in and start work?”

I asked as I took my hand out of his and walked toward the bedrooms, taking stock of what smoke damage there was. There were no fire sprinklers in the apartment, so there was no water damage, but the place reeked of smoke.

“I think we can come in next week.” He answered, but I was in a different place and his answer didn’t really register with me. I had tunnel vision as I went into my bedroom, assailed by memories of the last time I was in here, both good and bad.

I moved to my closet and dug out my suitcase. I threw it on the bed and unzipped it, flinging back the top. All of a sudden I wanted to get out; I didn’t want to be there anymore. Most of the memories were good, but the bad ones were overshadowing them, and until we could rebuild and do a proper cleansing and blessing, I didn’t want to come back for any length of time.

I went through my dresser, throwing clothes in the suitcase at random, not even sure what I was packing. I shoved shoes into a duffel bag and threw toiletries into a beach bag. I was sure that everything would be a mess the way I was just tossing them in, but I didn’t care.

It was as though all that had happened was finally crashing down on me, an inexorable rogue wave that I couldn’t stop. The fire, Padraigan, Gemma…Noah. It was going too fast with him, making my head spin. It had to stop, or at least slow way down. I wasn’t ready for it.

I was tugging the heavy suitcase off the bed when he came in, a somber look on his face. He reached for the handle of the suitcase but I shrugged him off, not wanting his help.

“It’s heavy, let me get it for you.” He said, but I shook my head and pushed him away with my shoulder. He stood back, somber expression turning to puzzlement.

“What’s wrong?” His voice was wary, immediately sensing something was different. I could feel the change in me, the turning back of my attitude to him. We had briefly been tuned into each other when I had called him for help, so he could probably feel it slightly too. Or I was projecting major attitude. Either way, he was going to get the picture.

“Nothing’s wrong.” I replied tersely as I set the suitcase down with a thud and jerked the retracting handle up with a snap.

“Teagan, something is wrong. You can’t fool me.”

“Gee, Noah, what could be wrong? Um, being violated by a vampire? My home being set on fire? No, you right, nothing’s wrong. Silly me.” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

I yanked the beach bag off the bed and threw it over my shoulder. I grabbed the handle of the suitcase and brushed past him, my exit not as dignified as I wanted it to be with the suitcase jerking me around. There was a large part of me that knew I wasn’t acting dignified to begin with, that I was being childish and stupid, but the emotions were warring inside me like opposing forces on a battlefield and I went with the most basic emotion.

He reached out and grabbed my arm before I could make it out the door, but I just turned slowly and looked down at his hand where it curled around my upper arm, my face twisted with disgust. A flashback of the wedding, and Noah stating he wanted a truce came to me, and a feeling of déjà vu came over me. This time though, he dropped his hand instead of turning me around.

“Is this how it’s going to be then? We’re back to being at each other’s throats?” He asked, his blue eyes boring into mine, looking for a chink in my armor. I regarded him steadily, squashing down the part of me that wanted to throw myself into his arms and cry like a baby. That made me even angrier.

“Honestly, it never should have been any other way.”

I had time to think on the way back to Gareth and Anna’s. Harley and I were driving our own cars back to their house, so I was alone with my thoughts.

I was completely disgusted with myself, but the tide had turned, and in me, the tide was strong.

I knew that I shouldn’t have acted the way I did. It was horrible to treat him that way. Since our reconciliation, he had been nothing but good to me, putting up with my shit and taking it with a grain of salt.

I wasn’t ready for a relationship; I had known that from the beginning. I was happy being who I was, having nothing but friends and the bookstore.

I laughed softly to myself. Well, at least I still had friends. No bookstore and no man.

It didn’t make me feel better to know that I had no man. The decision to cut Noah out was more painful than I thought it would be. It had to be that way, though. I didn’t think that either one of us knew the meaning of the word slow, so I couldn’t even suggest it. It was all or nothing. And I wanted nothing at this point.

I couldn’t be sure where my epiphany from the night before had gone, but it didn’t seem to matter at this point. The part of me that wanted Noah was completely lost to the part of me that wanted nothing to do with him.