Gods and Mortals: Fourteen Free Urban Fantasy & Paranormal Novels Featuring Thor, Loki, Greek Gods, Native American Spirits, Vampires, Werewolves, & More (326 page)

“Wanna go up shtairs? They have a pool table,” he said drawing out the L’s in pool table out just a tad too long.

Nicole coughed discreetly next to me to cover her giggle at the drunk’s poor attempts at a pickup.

“No. Go away.” This time, I added a glare to go with the words.

He looked beyond me with a startled expression, which quickly relaxed into a smile.

“Oh, god it man. Sheesh yours.”

He ambled away, and Nicole and I turned to look at Clay.

“What did you do?” I said. Maybe some secret man-sign for “not interested.” Whatever he’d done had worked well. I hoped I could learn it.

Clay flashed his teeth, showing elongated canines.

I heard Nicole’s whispered “whoa” and glared at him. If he kept flashing his teeth, people would start panicking.

“If you keep those in all night, you’re going to have sore gums tomorrow,” I said thinking fast.

“Those are so real looking. You have to tell me where you got those.” Nicole looked at him in fascination.

“He won’t say,” I said then changed the subject. “Warm enough? Are you going solo or do you want backup?”

She hesitated. She looked uncomfortable and nervous. Honestly, I felt nervous, too.

A group of guys across the room had started watching us once the drunk walked away. Their gazes pivoted between Nicole and me. Most of them just looked confused. One focused on me with a frown. Maybe, this was a bad idea after all. Rachel’s prediction of a butt whooping appeared likely. Since Clay already flashed his teeth once with minor provocation, I didn’t want to think what he’d do if the frowny man approached me.

Nicole’s bright gaze flitted around the room oblivious to the tension I created. Normally an introvert, she seemed to bask in the attention we received, and I understood why she wanted me to come with. Without me, she would have been a wallflower. With me, she shared some of the notice I pulled in. I didn’t feel used but did feel a little sorry for her. I wished I could help her get the man she so obviously wanted.

Deciding to speed things up, I reached out to pat Nicole’s shoulder. She needed confidence.

When my hand touched her shoulder, a shock ran from my hand to her skin, the sting of it strong enough that we both yelped. I saw an actual spark.

“I’m so sorry, Nicole. I was just going to tell you that we should say hi now, and I go and scare you, instead.” That’s what I got for getting all touchy-feely.

“No, I know what that was. It was a jump start.” She smiled at me, and I noticed the group of guys across the room completely shift their focus to her. The face of the man who’d frowned at me cleared as he watched Nicole.

“I’m going to go out there, now. If I can’t get his attention, we can go.” She got up and made her way to the door.

The group started to follow her while others in the room viewed her appreciatively as she passed. Girls who had previously smiled a greeting now frowned or outright glared at Nicole.

Too busy observing, I let Nicole’s lead grow. Something was wrong. This was what typically happened to me. Granted, dressed as a man, the attention I normally drew had flagged a bit when we arrived, but if I’d worn something like Nicole wore...they would be eyeing me as they were her. Their behavior was so odd for me to see as a bystander and not a participant.

Automatically, I got up to follow at a distance. A sudden, dizzy spell sapped the strength from my legs, and I wilted a bit.

Clay had his arm around me, instantly. I didn’t look up at him, but instead tried to keep my eyes on Nicole as I waited for the spell to pass. Maybe I’d gotten up too fast or skipped lunch a few too many days this week. Whatever its cause, it passed, and I did my best to follow Nicole despite the crush of bodies.

Clay had to physically shove a few people out of the way since they were too busy staring after Nicole to pay attention to my attempts to squeeze past. When they did see me, they barely spared me a glance. They just moved out of the way while trying to crane their necks to see Nicole. I didn’t like their reactions to Nicole. Not out of jealously, but out of concern. If all these guys didn’t snap out of it soon, Nicole would be in trouble. She was too introverted to deal with all of this attention.

I made it to the porch in time to see Nicole say hi. She shimmered beautifully in the light. Randy, the guy from our class who she spoke to, appeared captivated. He’d dressed as the man from the Old Spice commercial, with a towel wrapped around his waist and nothing else. I figured it a frat house thing because I’d spotted several others dressed similarly. As the only spice-guy willing to brave the temperature outside, I guessed keeping the keg company also kept him warm.

He laughed at something Nicole said and offered her a beer. His own. He didn’t seem willing to look away from her long enough to fill a new cup. I couldn’t believe this was the same Randy. Since school started, he hadn’t noticed Nicole once. What was going on here?

As unobtrusively as possible, I moved so Clay and I stood close to a railing. Better line of sight from there. The crowd continued to shift around us as people moved from group to group to talk.

After ten minutes of watching, I didn’t know how she could stand the cold. Shivers shook me so badly my head ached. Naturally, I leaned back against Clay and wrapped my arms around myself. The heat of him penetrated through the back of my borrowed flannel and warmed me fractionally, but not enough to stop the shaking.

Giving up on the attempt to warm myself, I reached back, grabbed both of his arms, and pulled them around me. He willingly wrapped me in his arms and tried to warm me. His chin rested on the top of my head. I could feel his heat, but the tremors continued.

“I don’t feel good,” I said with chattering teeth.

When he placed a hand briefly against my forehead a few minutes later, I knew he’d heard my complaint.

“Do I feel warm?” I turned my head to look at him.

He met my eyes and shook his head. I lost my train of thought for a moment. I’d forgotten he’d pulled his hair back so I could see more of his face, and I smiled absently. He had nice eyes. Expressive. My brain began to feel foggy, and I knew he could tell when his brows drew down in concern. I didn’t like his frown. It detracted from his lovely brown eyes. Chocolate. That’d taste good.

I realized my mind had wondered and reined it in.

“I think I’m ready to go, but I don’t want to leave Nicole here. What are my chances of getting her away from him, you think?”

He shifted his regard to the couple on the other side of the porch. I followed his gaze.

A few of Randy’s towel-wearing friends had joined them, and their quiet talk had grown into an animated conversation. Nicole still smiled, but I could read a new tension in her stance. I’d been right. She wasn’t ready for all the male attention she was receiving.

“I think now’s a good time to s-see.” The chatter at the end slipped out despite my Herculean effort to keep it in.

Clay loosened his hold on me and let me lead the way while he kept a hand on the small of my back. Whenever someone moved in my way, an arm snaked out from behind me and jostled them aside. There would be a few hung-over people tomorrow wondering how they bruised their shoulders. But I wasn’t going to complain. It felt like a plague had struck me, and I really wanted to get to Nicole so we could leave.

The men in the group saw our approach and bristled. I tried on a rare smile but knew it lacked wattage because I felt like crap.

“Hi, guys. Sorry to interrupt, but we need to pull Nicole away for just a minute.”

“I’ll be back in just a bit,” Nicole said to them. “Can someone get me a soda?”

She took me by the arm and turned me around so fast that Clay had to step aside for us. We didn’t look back but walked right off the porch and cut across the yard in the general direction of my car. Her arm linked through mine propelled me along more than she realized.

“Thank you for that. It was really weird the way they were acting tonight. I guess mermaid sends off the wrong vibes. I hope he remembers talking to me, though. I liked it until his friends showed up.”

Her astute observations brought a trembling smile to my lips.

“Yeah,” I agreed, “He s-seemed okay. D-don’t trust his friends.”

“Are you okay?” Concern laced her voice.

Behind us, I could hear Clay’s soft footfalls.

“I think I’m getting sick or s-s-something.” I felt colder without Clay’s borrowed warmth. “Clay felt my head, but s-said I didn’t feel warm.”

“Is Rachel going to be home tonight? You said she’s going to school for nursing, right? She’ll probably know if there’s something going around on campus. The nursing students doing clinicals always seem to know.” Nicole switched position so her arm wrapped around me, chafing me in an attempt to warm me. I thought it funny since I wore flannel and she had a strapless dress on.

“Good idea.” The sounds of the party slowly faded to a normal decibel. I tried using my sight to make sure none of the men followed us and felt a sharp pain in my head, instead. I flinched and immediately stopped. Nothing had appeared in my brief peek. No lights at all. That had never happened before.

When I spotted the car down the block, I sighed in relief. All I could think about was getting home, taking a hot shower, and going to bed. Clay surprised me by jogging ahead to the car. I heard the engine start a moment before he was back on the sidewalk, opening the door for me. He looked worried as Nicole helped me into the front.

“Do I look as b-bad as I f-feel?” I tried to joke.

Nicole looked at Clay but he kept his eyes on me so she answered.

“Well, you do look like you’re coming down with something. I’m so sorry I begged you to come out tonight.”

“Don’t w-worry about it. It w-was r-really interesting,” I said, forcing the words through my tensed jaw.

Very interesting. The sudden interest of the men...the animosity of the woman...I was certain I’d somehow passed my pull onto Nicole. And broke my mental fish finder in the process, too.

Clay drove fast, dividing his attention between the road and me. I continued to shiver despite the heat pouring from the vents. Minutes later, Clay smoothly pulled into the driveway. The house was dark.

“I hope you feel better,” Nicole said. “I’ll see you on Tuesday.”

I nodded, unable to speak. My clenched jaw ached from shivering so much.

Clay was out as soon as he parked by the porch. He stalked around the hood. His eyes never wavered from me as Nicole slid from the back seat and left. I blinked tiredly and wondered how I’d get into the house.

He opened the door, and his eyes traced my face a moment before he wrapped an arm around my shoulders to help me out. Between the shaking, the headache, and the stiffness I felt from shaking, I had all the symptoms of the common flu. And I wanted it to go away.

With his arm supporting me, we made it around the car and to the porch. My shivers increased to spasmodic and he still easily managed to unlock the door without dropping me. I figured unlocking the door as a dog made this kind of move child's play.

The quiet house told me Peter and Rachel must have gone out after all, and I was glad. I would rather not have an audience to whatever had decided to plague me. I slipped from Clay’s helpful embrace and started to tug off the flannel on my way to the shower.

“Clay c-can you get my towel?” I asked, dropping the shirt on the carpet outside the bathroom.

Had I felt better, I might have worried about how that sounded. But, really, I just wanted to stop shivering.

He moved past me and strode to the bedroom. His coveralls caught my eye again. I had to remember to ask him about those later.

I closed the door, struggled out of my t-shirt, and lost my balance as it cleared my head. I bumped into the sink. The chilly porcelain along with the cool air prickled my skin and caused more gooseflesh. Curling the fingers of one hand on the sink for support, I lowered myself to sit on the toilet seat.

Tired and cold, I weakly kicked off my shoes then began to remove my socks. Without meaning too, I started whimpering like a little kid. I needed to warm up. Shivering sucked. The more clothes I took off, the worse it grew. It messed with my finger coordination.

I stood and tried to manipulate the button on my jeans but couldn’t get it. I’d just begun to debate if a hot shower was worth the effort when Clay tapped on the door.

“J-just a s-sec,” I said in a panic. “I’m not ready, y-yet.” I desperately yanked at the button and it sprang free a moment before Clay opened the door.

“Hey!” I crossed my arms over my chest even though I still wore my bra. Sick and outraged, I glared at him for a moment. It cost too much energy to maintain.

He tossed the towel on the toilet lid and moved past me without a glance. Nudging the shower curtain back slightly, he turned on the water. I wanted to groan and smack my forehead. I hadn’t thought to turn it on so it would warm up.

He turned from the shower, bent, and had my pants unzipped and around my feet before I could move. I stared down at him in complete shock.

“Clay, g-get out!” Had I not stuttered, it would have been an impressive shriek. Instead, it came across weak, and he ignored it. Embarrassment flooded me. “Really, I c-can do the rest.”

He stayed crouched, kept eyes averted, and indicated I should step out of the pants. Of course, he wouldn’t listen to me when I sounded ready to have a seizure. I looked down at his turned head so close to my belly, and wanted to push him over. But my legs quivered, and I knew I’d just end up falling over, too. Obstinate man.

Sacrificing my pride and my coverage, I placed a hand on his shoulder to steady myself and stepped out of the pants.

“N-now out, Clay,” I said, crossing my arms again.

He picked up my pants and stood. Then, still turned away, he shook his head.

“The h-hell you s-say!” Oh, if my grandma had heard that, I would have gotten an earful; and then she would have laughed because I’d learned it from her at a tender age.