My legs ached, my feet were soaked and numb with cold, and I’d lost all the adrenaline that had first fueled me when I decided to tell Peter the truth. I just hoped I wouldn’t lose my nerve tomorrow.
The light in a third-story window clicked off overhead, followed by the flashing neon sign across the street. Even most of the bars had emptied at this late hour, so when I spied a dark figure hovering in my doorway up ahead, I slowed my pace. I was in no mood for another visit from Neo or one of Ludolf’s other goons. I was edging to my right, toward a narrow alley, planning to take a back way to Will’s clinic and crash with him for the night, when I heard my name.
“Jolene?”
I froze. “Peter?” What was he doing in the rain outside my place?
I tucked my soaked hair behind my ears, my fingers ice cold as they brushed my cheek, and hurried forward. Peter stepped out of the shadows, the rain curving around the invisible magical bubble that kept him dry, and frowned at me.
“You’re soaked.”
I shrugged and grinned up at him, though my teeth chattered. I didn’t really care. Relief, and nerves (a weird mix) flooded over me.
A line creased the space between his brows, but he waved me toward him. “Come here.”
I stepped closer, close enough to wrap my arms around him, inside his magical protective bubble. Warmth radiated off him, and the rain stopped pelting the top of my head, though rivulets still trickled down my face. I reached up to wipe them away with the back of my soaked sleeve, but Peter used his own dry one. His touch was gentle and comforting—my shoulders relaxed a little.
I craned my neck to look up at him. “Where’s Daisy?”
He gave me small grin that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I gave her the night off.” His chest rose, then he pursed his lips and blew out a breath. “I—I didn’t like how we ended things.”
I grinned. “Me, neither.” A thought suddenly occurred to me. “Hey—you want to come inside for a moment?”
He glanced toward my metal door, covered in graffiti and peeling band posters, and hesitated. “Uh, is it okay if we talk out here?”
I nodded. “Of course. Um…” I held up a finger. “Then just wait here for a moment.”
He frowned, uncertain. “Okay.”
I dug around in my jeans for my keys, turned the lock, and shot him a quick grin before jogging upstairs. I pushed through the beaded curtain, toed off my shoes, and peeled off my soaked clothes. I found a decent pair of jeans and a not-too-smelly shirt on the floor of my room and threw them on. I grabbed my Walkman off the couch and jogged back down.
I stepped into Peter’s protective bubble again, drier and warmer. “Remember when you asked me to dance, at the policeman’s ball?”
His expression softened. “Yeah?”
I arched a brow. “Think I could get that dance?”
He blinked in surprise. “Now?”
I held up my Walkman, then rose on my toes and placed one earbud in his ear and the other in mine. I clicked the Play button and the music started. The angsty, melancholy music of my favorite band, the Banshees, blared in my ear, and Peter flinched. I hurried to dial the volume back, then tucked the Walkman in my pocket.
Peter pressed one hand against my lower back and clasped his other one around my own hand. The pressure was light at first, then grew more solid, comfortable. We swayed for a bit in silence as the female lead singer crooned.
“This is pretty good.” Peter looked down at me. “Who is this?”
I gawked up at him. “You don’t know who the Banshees are?”
He smirked. “Should I?”
I shook my head in mock disapproval. “You’ve got so much to learn.”
As we swayed, the ball of nerves in my stomach ached until I couldn’t ignore it anymore. I summoned all my courage, and let’s be honest, I didn’t have that much, and spoke.
“I used to be a lawyer.”
Peter stiffened, and we stopped swaying for a brief moment, and then he moved again, and me with him. He didn’t say anything, but I knew from the way he lowered his head closer to mine that he was listening.
“I worked for Emerson at his law firm.” I gulped, my throat tight. I kept my gaze on the rainy street beyond his shoulder, unable to meet his gaze. I wasn’t that brave.
“It was Bruma Eve. There was a work party going on; the whole firm was there with their plus ones.”
I licked my lips. “My boyfriend at the time, Zale, and I had met at work, so… we came together. Everything was perfect. I’d been working furiously for years at the firm—had rocketed up through the ranks, was a ‘rising star,’ as my bosses put it.” I snorted.
“Eve, who you met the other night at the police ball, she worked there too. There was tension between us, but I’d never paid her much attention. She was jealous of me, as far as I was concerned, and if she cared that much about getting ahead, she should pay more attention to her work.” I shrugged.
“The partners, Emerson to be exact, gave a toast that night just before midnight and announced that I’d been made partner. I knew, of course, that it was coming. They’d told me the day before, and I was still giddy on the news. It felt—it felt like everything I’d been through, everything I’d done to fight my way out of the Darkmoon District, out of the orphanage I grew up in, was finally paying off.” I darted a quick glance up at Peter and found his gaze intent on me, rapt.
I gulped and looked back down. “And then, after
