Gargoyle: A Reawakening (Briarcliff Series, #2) (24 page)

The more he stared at her, the hotter she
became. She knew she should turn her head and look away but she
couldn’t seem to find the strength to do so. It may have been
different if Kingston wasn’t acting like an ass…well, that was the
excuse she was using at the moment. It may have been something
more…

something she was not quite ready to admit
just yet.

She glared at Addison and Brianna. They were
holding on to both his arms, petting him. They looked like dogs
trying to hump his legs. She had the inexplicable urge to storm
over and knock them away so she could claim him for herself. She
gave him what she hoped was a shy innocent smile instead. Fine. It
wasn’t very innocent but it was a smile.

He gave her that knowing smile of his and
mouthed something to her…

She shook her head. “I can’t hear you,” she
mouthed back and then smiled at him.

He lifted his brows and
directed his eyes to the door under the balcony.

She shook her head and held onto the desk
more securely to fight the urge to follow him. It seemed to only
make him smile even wider.

“
Moriah what are you
doing?” Evie whispered fiercely leaning towards her.

“
Nothing,” she bit back too
defensively, startled, ripping her gaze from Simon.

“
Well it doesn’t look like
nothing. You better stop,” Evie warned.

“
I am not doing anything
Evie. You stop,” she complained.

“
For God’s sake Moriah, you
are in LOVE with Kingston, remember?” Evie reminded her.

“
What the hell Evie? Whose
friend are you?”

“
You know whose friend I
am.”

“
Well it doesn’t feel like
it.” Moriah stared at the ground.
“Hey, I am trying to stop you from making a mistake.”

“
What mistake? He has been
checking Heather out all night and acting like I don’t even exist,”
she complained, her face turning red with embarrassment or guilt
she wasn’t sure which.

“
Yeah, but you’re better
than that.” Evie said and then sighed. “Listen, I am not trying to
be a prude or anything. I get it. You are hurt and angry that
Kingston is acting like an asshole.” She put her hand on Moriah’s
and squeezed it, trying to make her feel better.

Moriah jerked her hand away, like Evie had
cooties or something. Evie glared at her. “Fine, you do what you
want, but you better think long and hard before you do anything
stupid. Once you cross over, there isn’t any going back.” And with
that, she walked away from Moriah and was surprised to find herself
walking towards Heather.

“
Hey Heather,” she said and
looked out the door into the foyer, trying to see what was so
fascinating.

Heather jumped, startled
like she was caught doing something wrong. “Hey Evie,” she said and
took a step back, flinging her long hair over her
shoulder.

“
Are you looking for
someone?” Evie had to ask.

Heather chewed on her lip, like she was
contemplating whether or not to say anything. “Yeah, I am
actually.”

“
Really who?” Evie asked
with sudden interest.

“
Oh,” she breathed. “Just
this guy I met,” she said, like it was no big deal.

“
Oh.” Evie didn’t know why
but she didn’t believe her. “So is it anyone I know?”

Heather let out another heavy sigh, pulled a
perfect curl over her shoulder, and began running her fingertips
over the top. “No. I don’t think so. I only just met him
myself.”

Evie contemplated her for a moment. There
was a distinct flush to her cheeks; they looked rosier than usual,
as did her lips. “So is he cute?” she prodded, connecting the
dots.

Heather giggled, actually giggled like a
little girl, and leaned forward. Evie couldn’t stop the shock from
showing on her face.

“
Yeah, actually he is,” she
gushed excitedly.

Heather’s excitement was contagious. Evie
could understand her reaction. That’s how Adriane made her feel,
hot and bothered but it was even more than that. She smiled back at
her she couldn’t help it. Heather seemed so nice all of a sudden.
Not like the bitch, she had dubbed her at all. It was weird. Moriah
was acting sketchy, and Heather, her arch nemesis was acting nice.
It was all very twilight zone. She shook her head, not quite able
to comprehend the weirdness of it all. “So… what does he look
like?” He had to be pretty- great for Heather to start being nice
to her all of a sudden. She only hope it lasted.

Heather stepped closer to her in
conspiratorial way warming to her subject with enthusiasm. “Well
he’s tall, and muscular. He has dark hair and a crazy weird tattoo
on the inside of his left arm.”

Evie gaped at her in shock.

“
What’s the matter Evie?”
Heather asked, looking worried.

Evie swallowed hard and waved her hand. “Oh
nothing…he sounds…um great.” The guy she was describing sounded
just like Adriane.

“
Hey,
have you heard of Adriane,” Heather asked not having any idea the
reaction she would cause with her question. A horrible tightness
started at the center of her chest, squeezing where her heart was
and her stomach dropped to the floor. She felt sick.
Oh no…
“Why?” Evie was
barely able to ask, not really wanting to, but doing it just the
same, she had to know.

“
Oh the guy I was with…”
she said and paused. “ Never mind, it’s probably not
important.”

Evie grabbed her arm and squeezed hard, not
meaning to. “What? Tell me,” she demanded.

“
Ow, Evie that
hurts.”

“
Sorry.” She released her
hand and quickly shoved it into her jacket pocket.

“
Yeah…”Heather gave her a weird look. “
A
nyway, the guy I was with, you know
the one I was telling you about…”

“
Yes…” Evie asked, holding
her breath.

“
Well he told me to tell
him something, if I saw him, that’s all.” She shrugged her
shoulders indifferently and looked back to the foyer.

Relief washed over Evie. Thank God! She
couldn’t believe it. She wanted to break into song suddenly, like a
bad episode of Glee. “What did he want you to tell him?”

“
Oh, what was it…” She
tapped her chin. “It was weird…he said to tell Adriane there is a
hot one on the loose,” she finished, frowning.

“
A hot one? What is that
supposed to mean?” she asked completely confused.

“
I have no idea, but he
sounded pretty adamant about it. Then he took off after him,” she
added, and then jerked her head over towards where Simon was
standing.

Evie whipped her head around and looked at
Simon. Well there was only one way to find out. “You should totally
go ask him what he was talking about.”

“
Me!” She gaped. “Why me?”
she asked.

“
I don’t know,” Evie
replied, and she didn’t know, really. The only thing she knew was
that she wanted to find out and it seemed like the best course of
action at the moment, besides the fact she didn’t want to do it
herself.

“
Okay.” Heather took a deep
breath and ran her hands over her clothes. “How do I
look?”

“
Great,” Evie answered,
surprised she actually meant it. She shook her head. Was she
starting to like Heather? Things were getting really-
weird.

“
I’m off,” she said
turning. “Be back in a bit,” Heather promised with a sly smile.
“Wish me luck,” she tossed over her shoulder as she strutted off
towards Simon.

“
Yeah, good luck,” Evie
called after her.

DIVERSIONARY TACTICS

SATURDAY * 11:33
PM

Heather smoothed her damp palms over the
sides of her jacket and purposefully wedged her body between
Addison and Brianna, shoving them out of the way.

“
Hey watch it,” they both
whined out in unison gaping at her in disbelief.

Heather cut them a warning glare.

They both slinked backward. It was obvious
neither was pleased, but she knew they wouldn’t say anything. She
was the leader of their little group. Still, they both wrinkled
their pale faces in displeasure. She ignored them.

“
Hey you,” Heather purred
enticingly.

“
Hello.” Simon cocked his
head to the side. His dark gray eyes alight with humor.

“
So where are your
friends?” she blurted without thinking.

“
Are you interested in
talking with me or my friends?” Simon asked casually, raking his
eyes down her body then back up to her face.

A flush of heat crept into her face. She had
meant to act nonchalant, toying with him a little to get him at
ease, and then once he was putty in her hands she would pry him for
information. Instead, she asked exactly what she had intended,
straight out of the gate. She shook her head confused, not knowing
why she had asked that so soon.

“
Let me guess, you didn’t
mean to ask me that? At least not yet…am I right?” he asked,
raising his brow.

“
Ah…yeah…I guess,” she
responded lamely, not feeling as confident any longer.

Simon laughed loudly. “Don’t worry,” he
said. “I have that effect on all females, not just you.”

“
Somehow that doesn’t
reassure me as much as you would think.”

Simon let out another peel of laughter, his
body shaking with amusement. “You’re a fun one, aren’t you?”

Heather’s mouth fell open. She shut it
quickly, her cheeks flushing again. “I hope so,” she answered
finally, stepping even closer.

“
So what would you like to
know?” Simon asked all business now.

Heather shook her head. It was weird. She
had felt such a pull to him only moments before and now suddenly he
seemed no different from any other guy. She didn’t get it. “What,
who are you?”

Simon slowly turned back towards her, a
crease pulling between his brows. “Ah,” he said. “Now that is a
tricky question.” He crossed his arms and thoughtfully stroked his
chin. “You sure you want to know the answer to that? It’s a loaded
question you know?”

“
What?” she asked, and
shook her head as if to clear it. “Well, of course I do… I
think…wait, what?” She couldn’t seem to form a coherent thought,
her brain felt muddy.

Simon dipped his head down, his mouth inches
from her neck, inhaling deeply. “I am your best dream and worst
nightmare all rolled into one,” he whispered hotly.

Heather visibly shivered.

“
HEY EDIE,” Colton yelled
down from the balcony.

Evie cringed. What a dolt. She had to wonder
if he was doing the name change shit on purpose cuz he seriously
couldn’t be that stupid—could he? “Yeah,” she called back not
really caring what he had to say.

“
Why you in this book,” he
asked, tearing through the pages quickly.

“
What are you talking
about?” She balled her hands into fists. She wanted to hit him in
the face until he said her name right.

Simon turned and jerked
his head up to the balcony surrounding the room. His eyes zeroed in
on the big lummox with the short-cropped blonde hair. He was
flipping through an ancient tome—like a Neanderthal.
He found it.
What were
the odds? He didn’t know why this surprised him so much. Adriane
and Alistair were off looking who knew where all this time and here
it was, literally, right under their noses. At least part of what
they were looking for.

Barnaby fast walked across the landing and
yanked the book from Colton’s hand.

“
What the hell Barnaby,”
Colton complained, clearly miffed. “You could just ask you
know.”

“
Yeah—right—sorry,”
Barnaby, said even though he wasn’t sorry at all. Carefully leafing
through the pages of the old book, he tried to decipher the
language it was written in. It didn’t look like anything he had
seen before. There were symbols too. Alchemical ones, these he
knew. There was the symbol for water, moon, and stone. And sure
enough, there was an old lithograph of a young girl, standing under
a full moon with her hands raised in the air, which looked a lot
like Evie. He turned a few more of the fragile pages as delicately
as he could. Some of the pages were torn from the book itself. He
cut Colton a scathing glare, noting the torn edges. There were
pictures of creatures too, ones he had never seen before, and they
were grotesque.