Blown (Elemental Series Book 2) (7 page)

“It looks like they used the same trick that they used to burn down Brooke’s apartment before,” Dean declared late Friday morning. He, Nate, and Logan were gathered in Blake and Brooke’s house to discuss what little updated news they had about the attack on the diner.

“I was afraid you’d say that,” Brooke grumbled from her seat beside Blake.

“What sort of trick are we talking about?” Nate asked, leaning forward to see Dean around Logan.

Eyes narrowed in thought, Dean replied, “It reads like an electrical surge in the wiring. But other than ‘it probably involves lightning,’ I really couldn’t tell you.”

Nate released a breath and looked back toward Brooke, asking, “What’s going to happen with the diner?”

“I talked to Paula yesterday,” Brooke began, “and she says they’re going to try and rebuild. I think she’s hoping to be up and running in time for the winter break crowd in December.”

“Earl already approached us about the reconstruction,” Logan added calmly, referring to his construction company. “We’ll be getting started as soon as he gives us the green light.”

“What I don’t get,” Dean began, frustration heavy in his voice, “is why they do something like this, and then disappear for a while. I mean what the hell? If they wanted to come at us, why not come at us as soon as we all get together?”

For a beat, no one spoke. Nate had said much the same thing during his call with Blake on Wednesday, and he imagined Logan had had similar thoughts at least once as well.

At length, Blake suggested, “Maybe they’re not as strong as they want us to think they are. Maybe they need a recharge period, like we do if we transform.”

“That would actually make sense,” Logan commented thoughtfully.

“Yeah,” Nate agreed, “but there are two of them, right? That we know about, at least. So why not use the weaker one for the distraction that brings us together and then the stronger one can strike. Are they stupid? Or are they deliberately dragging this out?”

Again, silence settled heavily over the group. It was Brooke who broke it, saying, “This is about some twisted revenge on an ancient feud, right? Their family has been dragging this out for generations … maybe they don’t even intend to end things with you?”

“They want us to suffer,” Blake summarized, eyes narrowed at the coffee table in front of him.

“It’s a possibility,” Brooke said.

“That would explain their targets,” Logan agreed. “And their tactics.”

“That’s bullshit,” Dean growled, popping to his feet and pacing out of the living room. “What, they want us to live the rest of our lives hiding in fear from them?”

“We should probably consider that, yeah,” Blake said, lifting his eyes to watch his brother stalk through his house.

Dean stomped back into the room, fists clenched at his sides, and snapped, “Well fuck that! I’m not living in fear of anyone; none of us should!”

“Dean,” Logan said calmly, eyes slightly narrowed, “calm down before you burn a hole in Blake’s floor.”

“Dean’s right, though,” Nate declared, pushing to his feet as well. “We shouldn’t spend our time worrying about what they’re going to do next. We should focus on trying to find a way to bring them to us so we can end this and move on with our lives.”

“That’s easier said than done,” Blake reminded. “We still don’t know who we’re dealing with. We don’t know Jacob’s last name, or his father’s
first
name, and we have no idea how to find them when they disappear.”

“Well we have to try,” Nate asserted firmly. Kirk—and now Madison—had been dragged into this fight because of him. He didn’t want anyone else getting hurt. And he didn’t want either of them getting hurt again. “I need some air,” he grunted as he started briskly toward the door. They could have as many “meetings” about the situation as they wanted. At the end of the day, they still knew next to nothing. They had no leads, no breadcrumbs to follow—nothing. And it was frustrating.

Nate drove the long way home, trying to let the surge of crisp air rushing by seep into his muscles and relax them. He detoured to Kirk’s, pulling all the way into the driveway before remembering it was Friday morning and his friend was still at work. So he drove past his family’s house, just to make sure everything looked all right, and then he begrudgingly pointed his motorcycle toward home. Madison’s car was still parked exactly the way he’d left it when he’d brought her home the night of the fire, and the curtains were all closed in her windows. She was still shut up in her house, like she had been when he’d left. He wanted to go over and check on her, to help her deal with whatever trauma she was suffering through, but he didn’t know how.

Releasing a frustrated sigh, Nate shook his head and let himself into his house. He wasn’t sure he’d ever felt so useless.

****

Madison spent one too many hours wishing things hadn’t gone so horribly wrong between her and Doug, barely remembering that it likely wouldn’t have mattered in the long run, before she finally figured out what she would do. And it was strange how her now-deceased ex-fiancé actually helped point her in the right direction.

“Cooking is what you love,” Doug had said one lazy afternoon when they had been half-heartedly thinking about colleges. “You should go,” he’d added with a lopsided smile.
He had been telling her to apply for culinary school, but something about his words in that memory spurred her forward yet again. It was one of the few untainted memories of him she still had.

Taking a deep breath, Madison stood from her couch and started toward her kitchen. She’d tried this on several occasions since the fire, but each time she got near she suddenly found herself worried something might explode. And she felt that panic swell in her chest again as her foot landed on the tile floor, but she steeled herself and pushed forward.
It’s not going to explode
.
That was a freak accident. That sort of thing almost never happens.

With the help of her internal pep talk, Madison soon found herself standing in the center of her small kitchen. She took another deep breath, rolled her still-slightly-sensitive shoulders, and said, “Okay. Now for phase two.”

****

Nate had his head in the fridge, looking for something that sounded even slightly appealing, when someone began tapping softly on his sliding glass door. Surprised, and not a little confused, Nate stepped back and closed his refrigerator door before turning and striding swiftly through his large living room. He wondered briefly if their enemies would be that bold, but quickly decided they wouldn’t. They certainly hadn’t yet. His eyes widened at the unexpected sight of Madison, standing calmly before him, an apologetic smile on her face.

“Hi,” she began almost awkwardly, “I know this is kind of last-minute, but I think I made too much for lunch. I just sort of started cooking and couldn’t stop. So I was wondering if you were available to help me eat it?”

A slow smile curved his lips and Nate nodded. “As fate would have it, I was just attempting to scrounge something up for myself, and I wasn’t having much luck. I’d love to help.”

She stepped back, making room for him to step out, and after he shut the door they turned and made their way back across the yard to her rented home. Madison led the way inside casually, telling him to make himself comfortable as she headed straight for the kitchen.

Nate watched her move around as he sat patiently on her couch. From the impressions he’d gotten from her, he doubted she had accidentally made too much. But he wasn’t going to call her out on it, as he was pretty sure he knew what she was trying to do. So he waited, a small smile tugging on his lips, and when she returned and handed him a fiesta salad large enough to qualify as dinner, he could only laugh. “Are you sure you weren’t thinking it was dinner time?”

Madison joined in his laughter as she settled down beside him with her own salad and said, “No, I’m not.”

While they ate, ideas began rolling around in Nate’s head. He’d already decided to try and keep a closer eye on her, and he certainly knew he was attracted to her.
So why not do something about it?

“Nate?” Madison was asking, calling him out of his thoughts with a frown on her face.

Trying not to be embarrassed, Nate managed, “Oh, sorry, I was … just thinking. What?”

Frown vanishing, Madison gestured with her fork toward his largely eaten salad and asked, “How is it?”

He grinned this time, stabbed a good-sized bite of food onto his fork, and said, “Delicious.”

She smiled, ate another bite of her own, and then casually asked, “So what were you thinking about?”

Nate swallowed heavily. It was one thing to think about asking someone out, but actually doing so was another matter entirely. There were probably a thousand factors he should consider first, but for the life of him, he couldn’t think of a single one. So, after a long minute, he turned enough to properly face her and asked, “Do you wanna go out sometime?”

Madison froze, her eyes going wide, at the simple, straightforward, question. She clearly hadn’t expected him to ask her out. A moment later she said, “Sure.” The way she blinked after made him wonder if she’d surprised herself with her answer.

Nate grinned and said, “Great,” before returning his attention to what was left of his lunch. Because it was that or he was going to reach for her, and he wasn’t so sure he was supposed to be doing that.

“What, uh, did you have in mind?” Madison asked carefully as she broke off a piece of her taco shell. She kept her eyes on her food but he sensed she was paying close attention.

Nate paused, swallowing a large bite of his own shell, as he thought over her question. “Well, we’ve already done the food thing,” he began, “so … have you hiked the area yet?”

Madison turned confused green eyes up to him and slowly repeated, “Hiked the area?”

“Yeah,” Nate said, flashing her a grin. “There are some amazing trails on the outskirts of town—not far from here, really—that wind their way down to the beach, or up a mountain. If you’re into that kind of thing, it’s definitely worth the walk.”

Her smile returned and Madison said, “That sounds fun. I actually do really like things like that.”

She’s gorgeous, she cooks, and she even claims to enjoy outdoors stuff. She might be perfect.
Okay, so there was more to perfection than those things. But those things helped. A lot. And, as Nate finished his delicious, oversized fiesta salad he realized two things. He didn’t care that, by bringing her deeper into his life right now, he was inevitably going to have to tell her his secret, and he was absolutely going to kiss her. Today. Before he left.

“Can I get you anything else?” Madison asked, her lilting voice snagging his attention. She’d stood and was reaching for his plate, her plate held in her other hand.

Nate’s gaze traveled the length of her arm, from extended, slender fingertips up to the soft curve of her elbow. Up higher, until the skin disappeared beneath the bunched up sleeve of her sweater. Her skin looked soft and smooth; he imagined it was warm to the touch. But he wanted to
know
.

“Yeah,” Nate said, standing and setting his plate aside so as not to make a mess.

Madison’s arm fell to her side as confusion flickered over her expressive eyes. “Nate?”

Locking his gaze with hers Nate reached up and tucked a wayward strand of her thick hair back behind an ear. Her hair was soft. Immediately he wanted to run his fingers through it. He swallowed. “Every good meal comes with dessert, right?”

Her lips twitched and he suspected she was catching on.

He didn’t wait for an answer before swooping in and sealing his lips over hers. He kept the kiss chaste for a long moment, giving her time to pull away. Instead she planted her free hand on his chest and curled her fingers into his shirt, leaning into him.

Nate’s tongue slid out to trace her lips as his hands lifted, framing her face, fingers slipping into those auburn tresses. She responded immediately and his tongue swept into her mouth, finding and dancing with hers. The good kind of electric heat exploded in his blood and he pulled her closer as his tongue stroked hers.

Madison’s hand released his shirt, her arm winding around his torso, as she slid her tongue over his and into his mouth in an effort to take control of the kiss.

Nate moaned, looped an arm around her waist, and hauled her flat against his chest as he sucked on her tongue. Her breasts were pressed into his chest, her hips leaning heavily into his, and there was no way she didn’t know what her kiss had done to him. That didn’t seem to be stopping her. She tightened her hold on his shirt and curved her tongue around his before withdrawing, slow enough to drag out the sensation and pull one more low groan from his throat.

Uncharacteristically breathless, Nate grinned as their eyes met. “Now that,” he said, “is a helluva meal.”

****

“I’m proud of you,” Kirk declared the next day as he leaned back in the comfortable cushioned seat of Christopher Hawke’s boat.

Nate rolled his eyes, laughing, as he drove. He had talked Kirk into going out with him for his seasonal test run, which was mostly just an excuse to leave the world behind for an hour or two. “Aw, thanks, Dad,” he teased.