His head nodded as he tied his dress shoe, his curls in complete disarray about his head, his tone more business than intimate, focused on what he was doing. “I have a meeting at eight-thirty.” He lifted his other shoe, putting it on. “If I want to make it in time, I need to leave,” a glance at his watch, “about two minutes ago.”
“Alright,” I murmured, a bit more awake with the return of Elder Merrick, not the man, Cain, I had been with last night. “There’s Coke in the fridge if you need the caffeine.”
“Already downed one,” he muttered, his voice growly, jerking his head at the night stand, “and I stole another.”
“That’s fine,” I stated evenly, pulling the blanket up to my chin, the room a bit chilled without him in bed with me, even if this man, Elder Merrick, was a bit brusquer. He stood, peeking out one of the blinds, staring for a few moments before he raised it completely, opened the window, and popped the screen off as I stared wide-eyed.
“You might as well keep that off,” he rumbled, tossing it behind the bed in the crack. He grabbed the Coke from the nightstand, put it in his pocket before calmly lifting on the window—all kinds of limber as he maneuvered—and slipping his legs outside it. Glancing at my shocked expression, he stated lightly, “I’ll see you on Tuesday.” Then…on the side of the building, he just dropped out the window.
Chapter Four
The man outside the clothing store I worked in had me laughing more than a few times this morning while I covertly watched him through the glass windows watching me—not so covertly.
He was a tail.
Had been since this morning when I’d left an hour after Elder Merricks mad dash out of my apartment. The tail had tried not to be obvious when I raced from my apartment, the wind buffering me as soon as I had opened the door, but I mean, a man with a pile of burnt cigarettes outside his car door and sunglasses and hat on before the sun was even up was…well, obvious. Not to mention he was an air Elemental with bright yellow hair, at least six and a half feet tall, muscle bound, and extremely handsome, to boot. From the looks of it, he had been there all evening in the parking lot, and then had followed me discreetly to work.
“Hello? Sadie? Back to Earth!” Shelly stated loudly across from me, the water Elemental I was working with today. “You haven’t folded anything in the past four minutes.”
Oops. “Sorry,” I mumbled, glancing back to the new shipment of shirts on the counter I was folding, trying not to laugh at the air Elemental across the street, sitting at a table outside—in the cold—at the ice cream parlor, trying to disengage from someone who apparently knew him, the woman attempting to make conversation with him while he was on the job. “Just a little distracted today.”
She hummed to the—horrible—song playing over the intercoms, grinning at me. “Have a good night, then?”
My own grin couldn’t be diminished. “Actually, I did.” I folded a shirt. “I met someone really nice.” And someone I should back away from…really, probably run…but I didn’t think I was capable of it now…or…I just didn’t want to.
“Nice?” She snorted. “Nice is boring.” She waggled a shirt at me. “You need to find someone that’ll shake you,” eyebrows lifted, “if you know what I mean.”
I laughed outright. “You sound like you need to get laid, not me.”
“Well…that might be true, too.” She shrugged, and as I started folding again, she whistled quietly, staring out the window, a hand instantly going to her hair, fluffing it. “Oh, my God…I think…I think he’s coming in here.”
I peered out the window, my heart fluttering, idiotically thinking it was Cain with that type of reaction, but instead I saw Fergus exiting from the driver’s side of what was a shiny black BMW, Kincaid getting out of the driver’s side, and Venclaire and Nelson exiting from the backseats. I had to hide my grin, even if I was a little stupidly disappointed it wasn’t Elder Merrick—dumb, dumb—and a definite girly action. I glanced at the clock because they shouldn’t be out of school yet…and it appeared the four of them were skipping out during the lunch hour. All four made their way into the store, even though Kincaid looked like he wanted to gobble up the entire ice cream parlor.
Nelson waved. “Hey, Sadie.”
I waved absently as the other three said their hellos, all four making their way to the counter, two of them eyeing some of the men’s clothing. “Hey, guys.” Shelly made a noise in her throat, glancing at me in surprise, but I ignored her expression, and her wistful gaze at Fergus. “Shouldn’t you four be in school?”
Venclaire’s lips lifted a bit. “Maybe.”
Fergus tilted his head at the ice cream parlor. “Come to lunch with us.”
My lips pinched, and I shook my head. “I can’t. I already took my lunch a half hour ago.” I raised my brows. “Next time, give a girl a little warning.”
Kincaid grunted. “Take another.”
My lips trembled a bit at his sour expression. “Next time. I promise.” I waggled my finger at them. “And call first.”
Kincaid’s expression turned even darker, and he reached a hand into his back pocket, pulling a twenty out and thumping it into Fergus’s waiting hand, and a grin on his face. “Fuck. You.”
Fergus tapped his ear, still smiling happily as he pocketed the cash. “Listen better next time. She told us what time her lunch was.”
Venclaire and Nelson both nodded.
Brusque words. “I must have been in the bathroom.”
I laughed outright, shaking my head at them. “I am not an object for bets.”
“Everything, and everyone, is an object for bets.” Fergus stared out the window, squinting a bit. “I think someone’s casing your store.”
I snorted hard, doubling over, thumping a hand on the counter top. “Damn, he is so bad.”
“You know already?” Venclaire asked, scowling now at the window, too.
Gurgling, I nodded. “Yes. Elder Jacobs and Elder Merrick paid me a visit the other day. My answers weren’t clean enough, so Elder Jacobs is having me followed.” I shrugged a shoulder, every one of them glaring now. “I have no background. Do the math. They’re just looking out for you guys.”
Kincaid grabbed a piece of paper off the desk and started scribbling on it. “These are all of our phone numbers. Call us if the Elders or Kings bother you again.”
“They didn’t bother me,” I muttered, slapping at his writing hand. “I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”
“Yes…well,” Fergus rolled his shoulders still glaring, “I’ll take care of this asshole right now.”
“Fergus,” I muttered as he started marching away toward the door, Venclaire and Nelson hot on his heels. Kincaid shoved the paper at me before he hurried after them. “Fergus! It’s really alright!”
He just waved an absent hand over his shoulder, storming out of the shop, Nelson turning on his heel back to me, stating, “We’ll see you tonight. We’ll bring the groceries.”
“If he does anything to him, or if any of you make a fuss about this, it’ll only make it worse!” I shouted. “He’s only doing his job!”
“We don’t like his fucking job at this current time,” Venclaire stated casually over his shoulder before he exited the building, the door swinging open a bit too forcefully.
Kincaid grabbed the door before it hit a poor bastard walking by, and Kincaid waved a hand at me where I stood with my mouth slightly gaping as Fergus walked sedately across the street—except his shoulders were stiff and I was fairly sure I could see rocks flying away from him, his power leaking harshly. “See ya, Sadie.”
I waved distractedly as he left, and then stared wide-eyed as Fergus said something offhandedly to the air Elemental across the street while moving past him…just as the earth shot up like a thick totem pole under the chair he was sitting on. I could hear his shout from inside the store, pedestrians stopping to watch in shock—even as Fergus calmly entered the parlor, not even glancing at him. Right when the earth appeared to eat the air Elemental, the totem pole of earth swiftly slammed back down into the ground, the chair, and air Elemental…just gone from view on the even concrete.
Shelly choked as we both stared at the even, spotless ground. “Sadie?”
“Huh?”