Guild of Truth 01 - Silent as the Grave (13 page)

Felix continued to toy with the volume. She wanted to laugh but didn’t want to break her concentration. After a moment his head turned ever so slightly from side to side, no doubt noticing all the volume changes.

Finally his eyes fell on her. “Did you — ?” Felix slammed on his brakes.

Cali threw her arms out in front of her. Her scream lodged in her throat as an ambulance raced past, centimeters in front of Felix’s car. They were in the middle of an intersection, the light for them glowing green.

Instantly, her sound bubble popped.

The ambulance’s siren wailed out into the distance. Inside the Hummer, the radio blasted the latest dance song. Felix fumbled for the volume while simultaneously turning down the nearest street. From what Cali could tell, they were only a few blocks from his house.

They came to an abrupt stop, her seatbelt cutting into her chest and neck.

Felix shoved his car into park. “What the hell was that?” he snarled.

He was white as a sheet. His pulse pounded in his neck. His grip on the steering wheel was so intense Cali feared he’d snap it. She’d never seen him so shaken.

“Sorry. Wanted to keep you on your toes is all.” She tried to laugh it off.

Felix’s lips didn’t even twitch. “That’s not funny, Cali. Do you know how close I was to Erasing that ambulance?”

Cali winced as his voice rose with every word. “But you didn’t.” She tried for the silver lining. It didn’t work.

“That’s not the point. The point is that I nearly slipped up. I could feel my powers kicking in. I felt my body act out of self defense. All I would’ve had to do was finish that final thought — move my hand just a millimeter, and all those people would have been gone.” He gently peeled his hands from the steering wheel and stared at them as if he didn’t understand what they were doing attached to his body.

“Hey,” she said gently and reached out for him. He jerked away from her touch. It was like a punch to the gut. She covered up the hurt the only way she knew how. With anger. “Look, you were telling me earlier that it was okay to fuck up every once in a while. No one’s perfect. You can’t be prepared for everything.”

He quit staring at his hands to pin her with his eyes. “I meant that it’s okay for
you
to mess up. You manipulate sound, Cali. I fucking Erase things. Gone. Never to be seen again. I don’t even fucking know where they go. Bottom of the ocean?” He shrugged. “Inside a volcano? How the hell am I supposed to know, huh? They could be trapped in some kind of limbo, starving or suffocating to death, and I would have no idea. I could be responsible for
killing
people with nothing more than a flick of my wrist. I’ve never Erased someone before. I couldn’t live with myself if I did.”

That was when it hit her. Somewhere deep down, under all the humor and charm, Felix was afraid of himself.

Without even thinking about it, she leaned over and pressed her lips to his. He tried to pull away. Did he think he was going to Erase her? She grasped his shoulders and held firm. “You’re not going to Erase anyone. Especially me. Could you imagine how pitiful your life would be without me?”

Something flashed in his eyes too fast for her to read. “Does that mean you’re sticking around for a while?”

Her breath caught in her throat. Did it?

She eased back into her own seat and gave him a nonchalant look that was at complete odds with what she felt inside. “Don’t push your luck.”

The tension riding Felix’s broad shoulders seemed to have lessened. He started the Hummer and drove them the few blocks back to his place.

By the time they got into his house he was starting to act more like himself.

“What the hell do you have in here?” He lifted her duffle for emphasis.

She bee-lined for his kitchen and a cool glass of water. “You’re the one that wanted to carry it for me,” she pointed out. “And be careful, some of my art supplies are in there.”

He disappeared down the hallway and came back empty handed. “I put it in the guest room.”

They lapsed into silence as Felix took down his own glass for water.

“You know that’s two, right?” Cali broke the quiet. Felix raised a brow in question. “Calming your ass down.” She held up two fingers and wiggled them playfully. “That’s two.”

Felix took a slow sip from his glass. His eyes glittered.

Cali’s body instantly went hot. “Well, goodnight.”

She went to escape but Felix caught her in two easy strides of his long legs. His hand clasped her upper arm loosely, letting her know he’d let go if she wished it. Which made it all the harder. If he’d hold her in place against her will, she could simply explain that she’d had no choice but to let him touch her, but when he left her the option of pulling away and she didn’t …

She didn’t want to admit to craving his touch.

“In the Hummer you were trying to practice. If you want to practice, we’ll practice. Tomorrow. When I get off work. Deal?” The clipped way he spoke told Cali he was holding his own temptations in check.

She shouldn’t have stayed with him. She needed to get away from him, not spend more time with him.

Her mouth betrayed her. “Deal.”

• • •

Living with Felix turned out to be everything Cali could have wanted when she’d moved out on her own. The added benefit of Felix being a baker who brought her fresh pastries was just the cherry on top. Literally.

There was a companionship between them that she never would have thought possible. And when it came to her powers, despite his wicked and playful attitude, Felix was actually a great teacher. He was patient with her when she was sure others would have quit on her. He was supportive when she wanted to quit on herself.

The only drawback?

Felix’s ungodly morning schedule. He even worked weekends. He woke up way before the sun rose and was finished with his day before lunch, usually around the time Cali was getting up to start her day. And on the days she was still sleeping when he got home, Felix took it upon himself to be her personal wake-up call.

She’d only bloodied his nose once.

And it was by accident.

Either way, Felix loved scaring her ass out of bed.

But as the days ticked by, Cali could feel the unspoken tension between them building. It was there in every glance. Every touch. In every unsaid freaking word.

And on top of that tension was the anxiety that came from sitting and waiting as everyone anticipated Collette’s next move. There hadn’t been any sight of her or the mystery shadow in nearly a week. It was beginning to wear on everyone. The signs were there for all to see. Sydney was more jumpy, Joel constantly looked tired, and Niella was more snappish than usual.

Felix was better at hiding it. He held his tension in his posture. Everywhere they went his shoulders were stiff, as if he expected an ambush attack at any moment. A few days ago the doorbell had rang. He’d been taking a nap on the couch while she’d been sketching. The sound had him shooting up over the couch and colliding with the side table so hard he sent a lamp careening into the wall, shattering it. When he’d wrenched open the front door the young boy selling magazine subscriptions had been terrified.

“A little FYI,” she had called from her sketch spot in the kitchen. “I don’t think Collette would ring the doorbell before an attack.”

As for herself, she tried to stay relaxed but it was difficult when everyone else was so on edge.

Even now, as she sat sketching at Felix’s small round table in the kitchen, her body was on high alert. Felix had gone out to get them fixings for a late lunch. She’d stayed behind to finish her sketch. The clock was ticking when it came to her two-week deadline for Mrs. Deder, and she hadn’t even started painting yet. She only hoped this piece of work would make enough to reach her rent without dipping too much into her savings.

When her phone went off she nearly jumped out of her skin.

She fumbled in her bag, spilling makeup and other contents across the table.

She didn’t recognize the number.

Could it be Collette? Or was she being paranoid?

“H-hello?”

“May I speak to Miss Cali Crazar, please?” a pleasant feminine voice asked. This was most definitely not Collette.

“This is she.”

“Hello, Cali. I’m calling on behalf of Mr. Vander Donahughe in regards to the Kratos Corporation.”

Cali stomach nearly dropped right out of her.

Vander. The job offer he’d proposed three months ago. After all those sporadic check-ins he was finally getting back to her, for real. Excitement bubbled. She’d be able to make her rent after all.

She wiped her suddenly sweaty palm on her shorts. “I’m so glad to hear from you. What can I do for you?”

“Mr. Donahughe would like to schedule an interview with you for a position that has recently opened.”

The interior design-like position. Vander had briefly explained it to her when he’d approached her with the job. They’d give her the layout of all the different room designs before they started construction on a new building, and it would be her job to match her painting to the decor of the room.

It sounded too good to be true, but she’d done some research on the Kratos Corporation. They’d gotten their start a few years ago designing active wear. Their mission was to create “clothing that empowers.” No doubt they would expand to empower lots of new items, not just clothing.

She flipped her sketchpad to a blank page. “An interview? Of course. Uh, what time?”

There was the faint clicking of a keyboard on the other end of the line. “Does tomorrow at nine
A.M.
suit you?”

Cali blanched at the hour. “Nothing in the afternoon?” she blurted before she could stop herself.

There was a long pause.

Cali dropped her head to the tabletop.

Way to go, Cali. You just ruined any chance you had. You really couldn’t have woken your ass up at nine?

“Miss Crazar,” the secretary spoke up. “There is an opening at two o’clock tomorrow afternoon. Shall I pencil you in?”

Cali sat up so fast she nearly toppled backwards. “Yes!” She winced and lowered her voice. “I mean, yes, that works out perfectly. Thank you.”

“We’ll see you tomorrow, Miss Crazar.” The secretary rattled off the time again and an address that Cali quickly jotted down onto her sketchpad.

She sat for a few moments, letting the reality of it all sink in.

The sound of Felix’s Hummer pulled her from her thoughts, and she stared at the table she’d made a mess of. “Crap.” Felix might use his guest bedroom like a messy storage unit, but he kept the rest of his house pretty neat.

She quickly started throwing her spilled make-up back into her bag. Her eyes landed on one of her shiny lip-glosses.

Felix’s keys jiggled in the lock.

Cali swiped the gloss over her lips, checked her hair, and closed her purse.

• • •

Felix knew something had changed the second he entered his house. For one thing, Cali looked flustered. She stood by the table in the kitchen, face flushed.

His first instinct was to think something was wrong, but nothing screamed
threat
to him.

He placed the groceries onto the counter. “Everything okay?” he asked, continuing to scan for anything unusual.

Cali instantly went for the bags of food when he stepped away to put the milk in the fridge. “I have a job interview tomorrow,” she said brightly. Some of the cheerfulness left her voice. “Where’s the bread? I thought we were making sandwiches later. How are we supposed to make them without bread?”

He closed the fridge and leaned against it, arms crossed. He gave her a droll stare. “Cali, I’m a baker. I don’t buy bread at the grocery store. I make it. Fresh. At home.”

He went to the oven and set the temperature.

“Get out the flour, the salt, and one of those yeast packages, would you?” he called over his shoulder.

“Are we really doing this?” Cali questioned, though she did as he asked without complaint.

“Yes. Honey.”

Cali’s footsteps came to a halt. “What did you call me?”

He looked up from where he was retrieving his mixing bowls. “I didn’t call you anything. I said honey, as in ‘take out the honey.’ We’re making honey wheat bread.”

Red dotted her cheeks.

He couldn’t resist. “I didn’t think you were the type to want cutesy nicknames, Cali, but if you want, I’ll call you honey. Honey.” He added a wink because the temptation was too great.

Her hand disappeared into the flour container. “Like hell,” she said playfully. Flour shot out of her hand, hitting him square in the face. “Don’t you ever call me that.”

He wiped flour from his eyes.

Cali was grinning.

He got to his feet. When he stood at his full height her smile waned. Her expression turned into something like
Oh, shit
.

Now it was his turn to grin. He lunged for her. Cali screamed and raced around the counter that acted as an island separating the kitchen from the living room. Her hand disappeared into the flour, and she blindly threw it over her shoulder. She missed. By a mile. He was gaining on her as they ran in circles. Or he was, until his sock hit a patch of flour on the kitchen floor and his foot went out from under him. He slid like an ungraceful baseball player into his cabinets.

Pain flared in his knees. “Fuck.”

Cali was at his side in an instant. “Are you all right?” An idea formed in his mind. He hid his smile of victory.

“I think I broke something,” he added a pained edge to his voice that should have won him an Oscar.

“Shit. Don’t move. I’ll call the paramedics.”

He waited till her back was turned and took a large scoop out of the flour she’d abandoned. He got to his feet. “Hold on, Cali, I think I’m all right.”

As soon as she turned, he plucked her up with one arm and set her on the counter next to the sink where he got a close up view of her face as he rubbed the flour onto the top of her head.

Her expression was priceless.

“You jerk.” She shoved at him, but he leaned closer so she couldn’t get away. “I thought you’d seriously been hurt.”