Wuthering Frights (5 page)

Ten minutes later, Knight was out of the shower and I'd ordered "the works" pizza and made him a sandwich. He walked into my living room with a towel wrapped around his middle and I was suddenly overcome with feelings of depression as I realized this little charade wasn't going to last longer than today. That thought settled in my stomach like an anvil. Why? Because I wanted to play this game of house with Knight. I suddenly loved the idea of
him plodding into my living room, leaving wet footprints in his wake while asking me what was for dinner every night.

I felt tears threaten again and swallowed them down angrily. That scenario was never going to happen and the sooner I realized
i
t, the better.

"Here," I said, handing him the peanut butter sandwich. I watched him smile in thanks and
take
a seat at my kitchen table. "I ordered pizza."

"Is everything okay, Dulce?" he asked, eyeing me curiously as he palmed the sandwich and glanced at it thoughtfully before facing me again. "You don't seem yourself."

I took a deep breath and realized my depressing thoughts were coloring my mood. I watched him take a bite of the sandwich, a huge bite to where only one half of it remained, and told myself to snap out of it. Today was the last day I was allowing myself to have with Knight, and as such, I needed to enjoy it wholeheartedly. "I'm sorry," I started and exhaled deeply as I watched him cram the last bit of sandwich in his mouth. "I'm just still in shock, I guess. I just ... never thought you'd be standing here, that they would have released you."

He tilted his head and raised his brows as if he, too, were surprised. "Neither did I." Then he propped his hands on either of his thighs and faced me with a crease in his forehead. "What happened after you left prison?"

I swallowed hard, realizing my lies would start now. The time for telling the truth was long past and I had to inwardly take a big breath to prepare myself for what I was about to do. In general, I prided myself on my honesty. Well, things were about to change. "Nothing really. Caressa took me to the portal and after lots of paperwork, she sent me on my way."

"Which portal?" he asked, looking at his plate, picking at the crumbs that littered it and bringing them to his mouth. He was obviously still hungry.

I swallowed harder, hoping my answers wouldn't come back to bite me later. "Um, the one at the airport. The same one Bram took me through when we arrived in the Netherworld." I tried to sound confident. "Why, which one did Caressa take you to?"

He shrugged. "The same one." Then he eyed me squarely. "I never said Caressa escorted me."

I felt my stomach drop for the nth time and tried to act nonchalant, unconcerned. "Well I figured as much, since she accompanied me to the portal."

Knight just nodded as if he bought my indifference and I sighed inwardly with relief, but before I could change the subject, Knight was at it again. "So did Caressa just drop you off? Or
did she
see to it that you arrived safely in Splendor?"

That was a quick decision I'd have to make, and given the fact that I didn't think Caressa liked me much, I opted for, "She just dropped me off."

Knight nodded, but was interrupted from further questioning me when the doorbell rang. Knight stood up to answer it and when he pulled out his wallet, I figured it was the pizza delivery
guy
. He thanked
the man and brought the pizza
inside, laying it on the table while I tried to replay everything we'd just discussed to ask myself if I'd made a mistake in any of my lies. I didn't think I had.

"Plates?" Knight asked.

I reached inside the cupboard closest to me and offered him a paper one. In general I liked paper as it was easier to clean up. I detested doing dishes. He smiled in thanks and took the plate, placing a generous piece of pizza on it and handed it to me. I accepted it and started picking off the things I didn't like until I was left with a piece of plain cheese pizza.

"Why did you order all that stuff on it if you won't eat it?" he asked with a smile.

I shrugged. "I thought
you'd appreciate
it fully loaded."

We continued to make small talk for the next twenty minutes, after which time, Knight had polished off the entire pizza, minus my one slice. I'd made it about halfway through mine. It seemed there was something in the air that I couldn't put my finger on, but neither Knight nor I had said much after the pizza arrived. I'd been overwhelmed with thoughts regarding whether or not Knight suspected I was involved in his release somehow, but as to his silence, I couldn't guess.

He stood up and carried the empty cardboard pizza box to my recycling bin, forcing it to fit, then faced me with a smile. "I have to get back to my place, Dulce," he said. "I need to do laundry, get myself situated for tomorrow."

I guessed he meant he was going into the office tomorrow. "Okay," I started.

"Do you want to come by later? We can get a movie, relax, try to put all of this behind us?"

I wanted to desperately, but I knew I shouldn't. I shook my head and didn't miss the disappointment in his eyes. "I'm just a little overwhelmed at the moment with everything that's happened," I said softly. "I feel like I need some alone time. That and I need to pick up my dog."

Knight nodded and started toward me, grasping each of my shoulders in his large hands. "Okay, I understand. If you want company, you know who to call." Then he bent down and kissed me on the lips while my heart broke.

Three

When I opened my front door, my eyes fell on a manila package lying on my doormat. Sighing deeply as I figured the package couldn't contain anything good (I mean, I hadn't ordered anything so it wasn't like I was expecting it), I leaned down and picked it up. Not only was there no return address, but there was no address, period. It had just been left blank. Yep, this was definitely something ominous but I tore open the seal
, all the same
. Inside I found a white piece of paper folded in half. I opened it and read:

             
D, This is for when I need to get in touch with you. More later.

Quillan hadn't signed his name, but he didn’t have to—I knew his handwriting as well as my own. I further searched inside the package and retrieved a cell phone. It wasn't anything high-tech or sporty. It just looked like a run-of-the-mill, old school cell phone. I had to imagine it was pre-paid and therefore untraceable. So now I really was on call for my father, twenty four/seven.

Great. Just great.

Jamming the phone into my purse, I plodded toward my only means of transportation, my motorcycle, a Suzuki DL 650. Well, that wasn't totally true. Recently, Knight had gifted me with a much faster and nicer motorcycle, but I couldn't bring myself to ride it. Not now
after
everything that had happened, and
not
knowing what I still had to do. I threw on my helmet, hopped on the bike, and headed for ANC headquarters where I knew I'd find Knight.

It took me maybe fifteen minutes to get there—I hadn't allowed for traffic. Once I pulled up to the white, nondescript building, I felt my heart start thudding in my chest as I realized the weight of what I was about to attempt—I was going to beg for my job back. Having been retired as an ANC regulator for a few months, I'd been helping Knight out with cases whenever he needed an extra hand. Now I needed to be much more than that. I needed to be reinstated as a Regulator, in the employ of Splendor ANC, per my father's orders. And even though I'd always loved my job, now I was coming back to it for all the wrong reasons.

I parked the bike and took off my helmet, tucking it under my arm as I started for the double doors. Opening them, I waved to Elsie, the receptionist, who looked surprised to see me.

"Hi, Dulce!" she called out pleasantly, standing up, as if to get a better look at me.

I smiled and placed my helmet on the counter. "Hi, Elsie, I'm here to see Knight. Can you ask him if he can spare a few minutes?"

"Sure thing," she said with a smile and speed-dialed him, announcing my arrival. I could hear him on the line telling her to send me in immediately. He sounded as surprised as Elsie had been when I walked through the doors. She hung up and motioned down the hallway. "He's all yours." She swallowed and then another sweet smile claimed her lips again. "It's really good to see you again, Dulcie."

"Thanks, Elsie, and good to see you too," I said as I hauled my helmet back under my arm and started the trek down the hallway. I waved to my old coworkers as I passed their offices.
Reaching
my old desk, I noticed it was empty
but
Trey
was still
sitting at his desk, which was just across from mine.
Some things hadn't changed.

"Yo, Dulce," he said in a nasally sort of voice. Then he held up one finger as if to say
"
give
me
a minute
"
. He scrunched his eyes together and lifted his head, inhaling three short breaths as if he were wrestling with a sneeze. Eventually the sneeze won and exploded out of his mouth in a brash display of spit. Trey DNA bathed everything within a two-foot radius around him. Thank Hades I was standing a good four feet away. Afterward, he reached for a wadded-up and wet looking napkin from his pocket and blew his nose,
something which
sounded like a duck with whooping cough.

"Whatcha doin' here?" he asked finally, once he'd regained his respiration.

"I came to see Knight," I said simply. "Sorry I didn't come by last night to get Blue." Blue was my dog—a yellow Labrador and as I mentioned earlier, Trey had been dog sitting for me during my sojourn to the Netherworld.

He shook his head, the vibration of which ricocheted all the way to his enormous belly which wrapped around him like an overstretched water balloon. "Nah, it's cool. He's been real good." Then he paused for a second or two before glancing up at me with cow eyes. His four chins made
him look
like a male orangutan. "Hey, do you mind if I keep him another night? We're really just gettin' ta know each other, and on my lunch break, I went to the store and got him some steak bones. We're gonna have us a party tonight!" Then he smiled broadly and I could see the eagerness in his eyes.

Poor Trey needed to get a dog because a girlfriend was pretty much out of the question. But, girlfriend or dog, either way, it was obvious he was lonely. I just smiled and nodded, trying not to remind myself that I was now just as lonely. Nope, I would not, under any circumstances, feel sorry for myself.

"Thanks, Dulce, thanks a whole lot," Trey said, beaming at me. I was spared from further small talk when Knight popped his head out from behind his office door and cleared his throat.

"Dulce," he said, with warm surprise, even as he raked me from head to toe, smiling appreciatively. Knight loved nothing more than seeing me in my bike leathers.

"Hi," I said with a smile as I tried to ignore how freaking beautiful he was. How I'd managed to hold out so long where Knight and sex were concerned, I had no clue. Maybe it was my incredible sense of fortitude, or more so, my incredible sense of idiocy.

"What brings you here?" the sex god asked.

I didn't answer but, instead, quickly darted
into his
office, establishing the fact that I didn't want an audience. As soon as I walked into his office, I
noticed
the panoramic picture window that captured the beauty of Splendor Park with its poppies in full, spectacular orange and yellow blooms. Somehow the vista evoked a sense of wistfulness that suddenly started washing over me.
This same office
had once been Quillan's. That was before I'd caught him double dealing. His actions had gotten him kicked out of the ANC, only to return to my father
in the Netherworld
. I imagined that must’ve been a tough conversation between Quillan and my father since Melchior was pretty serious about having a touch point in the ANC.