“I do need to be going, though,” she said. “I have an appointment with the lawyers. If you need anything, or have any problems, I’d like you to let me know.” She stood, and I marveled at how her petite frame could be so rounded in front and otherwise look exactly the same.
Kevin was already on his feet, holding her coat out for her. All the sounds from the room came rushing in like someone had pulled plugs out of my ears. Kevin’s Mute spell was gone.
“I’ll call you when I move back into the condo, or if I hear anything about the legal actions.” Violet put on her coat. “And you call me if you are contacted by anyone, stockholders, members of the board, anyone. I want to know if they are offering you anything. . interesting in return for favors.”
“Like I’d have anything to do with this political business maneuvering crap,” I said.
“We all have our price,” she said pleasantly.
“Did you just tell me I’m going to sell you out?”
“I don’t think you would, no. You’re. .” She paused and gave me a critical look. Her eyebrows dipped. “What have you been doing lately, Allie? You look good.”
“Remodeling. Next door for the Hounds. Oh, and the whole three-meals-a-day thing is catching on.” Not lies. But not the whole truth. I’d been training my butt off. Physically and magically. And it showed. In all the right ways.
“Still seeing a self-defense teacher?”
“Yes.”
She nodded, but I had a feeling she didn’t think I was telling her the whole truth.
Note to self: tell my sibling never to lie to her.
“You were saying?” I prompted.
“Oh, right. Don’t get pregnant. It ruins your short-term memory.”
I was the last person she needed to explain memory loss to.
“Keep a journal,” I suggested, with as little sarcasm as possible.
She actually laughed at that. “I can’t believe I said that to you.” She pressed her fingertips against her lips. “Pregnant makes me a little stupid. I’m sorry.”
“At least you won’t be pregnant forever.” I gave her a crooked smile to take the sting out of my words.
“True. True. And I was saying you do have a price. We all do. It’s human nature. But you’re not easily bought.” She nodded. “You’re like your father in that. Unbreakable morals.”
I swear she and I had not known the same man.
My father, in my head, exhaled a moan, and the need, the loneliness, swelled in me.
“Take care, okay?” I said. “And let me know if you need anything. Anything I can do for you.” It came out soft, concerned. I didn’t know how much of it was me, and how much was my father.
Probably mostly me. When he tried to take control of my mouth, I got shoved into the back of my head and had to fight to regain control.
“I’ll be fine.” She looked around like she was missing something. Kevin handed her purse to her.
“Thank you,” she said. “I would have completely forgotten it. What would I do without you?”
He smiled back. Polite. Friendly. But I watched how he held his breath, how his shoulders tensed, how his fingers spread open as if trying to catch or hold something fleeting.
Something inside me hurt. That something was my father.
And yes, it worried me. My father was not a nice man when he was in pain.
“You’re welcome, Mrs. Beckstrom,” Kevin murmured.
“Good night, Allie,” she said. “I’ll see you soon. And I’ll call if I hear anything has changed with the. . project.”
“Night, Kevin,” Zayvion said. Zayvion had been so quiet, I’d almost forgotten he was sitting there. This, I decided, was what it would be like to date the invisible man.
“Night,” he replied. “Coffee on me next time.”
“Let’s make it a beer,” Zay agreed. “Shoot some pool.”
“Pool sounds good. Give me a call, okay?”
I was pretty sure they weren’t really talking about coffee and pool. It wasn’t just Zay and Shamus who had a secret code.
Before Violet could open the door to let herself out, Kevin was there, bending over her, smooth, unhurried, holding the door for her.
They both stepped out into the night.
“What was that all about?” I asked.
Zay shrugged.
“Pool?” I asked. “You play pool?”
“Why do the most mundane things about me surprise you?” he asked.
“Because you never tell me any of this stuff.”
A corner of his mouth quirked up. “I play pool. Shoot hoops sometimes too. Any other sport you’re curious about?”
“Hockey? Polo?”
“Simultaneously. Trick is to keep the horses on their skates.”
I rolled my eyes. “Forget I asked.”
“No, I’ll show you sometime.”
“Deal. Horses on ice skates, Jones. Now, what were you and Kevin really talking about?”
“Business. Someone doesn’t like the idea of your father’s latest wife running the company.”
“I know that. She told me that. I mean the other thing.”
“What other thing?”
“Beer and pool.”
He lifted one eyebrow. “It’s beer and pool. One’s a drink. The other’s a game. That’s all. Ready to go?”
I let it slide since I didn’t want to cast a Mute spell when we could just talk about it at my house in a couple minutes. The coffee shop had quieted some. Enough I could hear the music, something that had a country beat, and a sitar. I took a quick look at the people still in the shop.
And noted Anthony was gone.
“When did Anthony leave?”
“After you sat down with Violet.”
“Did he say where he was going?”
“The warehouse. To see if Davy was there. He wants to apologize.”
“Are you serious?”
“Always.”
Great. If Davy was there-and I thought he’d mentioned he was going to check on the place this evening- there’d be blood on the floor before I could dial 911. I rubbed at my eyes, thinking maybe I shouldn’t have promised Pike anything. Hounds were nothing but trouble.
“Listen,” I said, “if you want to head out, you can. I’ll go up there and mop up the blood and call the cops on someone.”
“When are you going to stop that?”
“Stop what?” I asked.
“Telling me to go away.”
“I don’t do that.”
“You do.” He caught one of my hands. His fingers were warm. His touch radiated a sense of peacefulness, of calm.
I, on the other hand, radiated nerves. Too many things were going wrong: Dad, Greyson, Chase. And now Violet was in trouble over the disks. The whole Anthony-Davy-Pike’s-death thing was one more hassle I didn’t need.
“I’m staying right here, with you,” Zayvion said. “Because I don’t want to be anywhere else in the world.”
I inhaled his words, felt the assurance of that promise reverberate through me.
“Me too,” I said. And I meant it. Zayvion and I had an agreement that we were going to give this relationship
