Honeyed Words (6 page)

I had no desire to watch that, so I quietly made my way back around the other bus, letting the night air clear my head. I only closed my eyes for a second, when I heard someone stumbling toward me. It was the tall girl with red flowing hair and a skimpy skirt that until about two minutes ago was hiked up over her ass. She stopped at the front of the bus, leaned one arm against the grill, bent nearly double, and vomited.

Jesus, but she sounded like she was going to hack up her spleen. I came toward her. “Hey, you okay?”

She wiped her hand across her mouth and spit. “I need a drink.”

Yeah, she needed more booze. “Sure you wouldn’t like to go back inside and freshen up?”

She stood up, rearranged her breasts inside her shirt, and smoothed the latex skirt down over her upper thighs. “Good idea,” she said, pulling her hair back off her face. I didn’t have the heart to tell her she’d gotten vomit in her hair. Where was her girlfriend? Wasn’t it her job to hold her hair while she barfed?

The redhead stepped away from the bus and began a rather crooked path back toward the club. I watched her for a moment, debating whether or not I should help her or if she was going to fall down.

That’s when the screaming started. Okay, I can totally understand drunk chicks getting laid by C-list celebrities, and even the joy of doing something you know you shouldn’t oughta, but nobody screamed like that unless they were afraid or in pain.

I ran back around the bus in time to see the other girl on her knees in the parking lot, her head thrown back and another scream about to erupt from her. Halfway across the scrub to the service road, three guys were dragging Ari away.

They had a bag over his head and his paisley pantaloons bunched around his ankles, but he was fighting—kicking and yelling for all he was worth. But they were big. I sprinted forward, clipping the nearest guy in the back of the leg and sending him crashing to the ground. He dropped the leg he’d been holding, and the other two guys stumbled as Ari’s weight hit the ground.

I grabbed the second guy, spinning him around and landing a solid roundhouse into his breadbasket. It was liking hitting a steer. He dropped Ari’s left arm and stumbled back, holding his midsection. The last guy dropped Ari and lunged at me. Damn, I wish I had Gram. I could hear her in my head, crying for battle. The fog flooded my brain and I launched myself into the mêlée.

By this time, the first guy was on his feet and swinging a wild punch at my head. I danced back and kicked the guy I’d punched, sending him over onto his back, where he sat up, shaking his head once before falling onto his back.

The guy I hadn’t touched yet rushed me, wrapping his arms around me and driving me backward. I stumbled and we both went ass-over-teakettle. As soon as we hit, his shoulder against my chest, I used our combined momentum to flip him over by thrusting upward with my hips and legs. He flew over my head and landed with a grunt.

It hurt like a bitch, and made breathing hard for a minute. I struggled up onto my elbows just as the guy I’d clipped first dove on top of me. He did not appreciate me raising my knees, but I didn’t want his huge bulk squashing me into the gravel like a bug. He felt it as I torqued to the left and let his weight carry him off me. He would be catching his breath for a minute, I hoped, as I scrambled to my feet.

Two sorta down. I turned around. The guy next to Ari was not really moving. The guy I’d flipped over my head was rising, but not moving too fast, and the third guy rolled onto his stomach before rising up onto his hands and knees.

The girl continued to scream. I hoped she or the redhead would get the roadies or bouncers to lend a hand.

Ari was trying to stand, but his hands were tied behind his back and a gunnysack still covered his head. In addition, his pants were around his ankles, exposing him in a way most men would not want. Fear is not kind in certain situations.

“Hang on, Sinatra. I’ll get you.” I stumbled over to him, keeping out of reach of the guy nearest him who still had not moved. Maybe I’d really hurt him. I had Ari sitting up, glancing back at the other two.

“Gotta get you back to the party, big guy,” I said, yanking Ari to his feet. I debated on taking the sack off his head first, but I figured he’d want a chance to cover his wilting manhood. I got as far as steadying Ari and was reaching for the sack when the guy on the ground lunged over and grabbed me by the ankles. So, okay. Lesson learned. Dude was faking it. I hit the ground hard. My jaw snapped shut, rattling my teeth as my chin led the way.

I was seeing stars, one of the girls was screaming, Ari was swearing, and someone kicked me in the ribs. The blow was hard enough to roll me over. One of the attackers landed on my chest with both knees, grabbing me by the throat. He was cutting off the blood to my brain. I only had a couple of seconds before I blacked out.

I bucked, kicking my legs out, while I pounded his arms with my own. Man, he was freaking strong. “Don’t,” I squeaked out as my eyes filled with stars.

The screamer must have decided to play. She hit the guy with a purse the size of a St. Bernard. I rolled over, gasping for air and rubbing my neck. The girl squatted down beside me. “You okay?”

She looked like hell. Her makeup had not been good before the drinking and fucking. Now, with the tears, it was like a mime had been murdered.

I nodded, and she helped me sit up. The guy beat me to my feet and stumbled toward the service road as a large white van came screaming toward us.

“Damn,” I choked out and pointed. The two other guys had a very limp Ari between them and were dragging him toward the van. The third guy reached them just as someone threw open the van door, and they tossed Ari inside.

Screaming Girl helped me to my feet. I took two steps toward the van and realized I’d never catch them.

“We’d better go back and get help,” I said. Okay, my windpipe hadn’t been crushed exactly, but I’d wager I’d have a bruise the size of a ham.

Face it, I’d mostly gotten my ass kicked. Those three guys were big. I’d gotten in a few blows they’d remember come morning, but they’d snatched Ari, and I hadn’t stopped them.

“I’m Brianna,” the screamer said to me as we made our way back toward the club. “Why’d they take Ari?”

Damn good question. Did he schtup someone’s wife or daughter? Lord knows. I’m sure the police would figure it out.

When we got near the club, Pablo and the coke roadies were rushing out to gather us up.

Brianna relayed what happened with quick, precise sentences. She didn’t cry once. The roadies assumed I’d been out partying with Ari and didn’t ask me anything. Brianna’s story was good enough. Pablo pulled out a cell phone and called the Mounties while we spread the word of Ari’s kidnapping.

People scrambled, dumping booze and drugs, gathering stray bits of clothing, and generally making themselves and the club presentable. It’s like they’d done this before. By the time we heard the first siren, the place could’ve passed for an AA meeting.

I collapsed next to Katie and let her fuss over me. Brianna was queen of the ball, telling and retelling the story. Once the police arrived, I let her tell her part first. They questioned me, asked if I needed an ambulance, et cetera. I told them I just wanted to get back to our hotel. After an hour of information gathering and promises to remain in touch—even after we went back to Seattle—they let us go.

Sleep was the only thing I wanted. I was bone tired, and starting to hurt in some very unfortunate places. I hoped I hadn’t pulled a muscle in my back. That would totally suck.

Cassidy and his partner Katherine hustled us into a cab, slipping the driver some money and telling him to take us to our hotel. He leaned into the back window and kissed Katie on the cheek. “Daren’t you fret now,” he said, trilling his R’s with gusto. “We’ll check in with you afore too long.”

Katie patted his hand and he stepped back, slipping his arm around Katherine’s waist and waving at us as we pulled away.

“What was that all about?” I asked, laying my head on Katie’s lap.

“He wants to talk music,” she said, stroking my hair. “That and Ari, of course.”

Of course. I dozed most of the way uptown.

Katie undressed me, gave me a couple of ibuprofen, and tucked me into bed. Not exactly how I’d hoped to be spending the first night in the hotel, but at that moment I couldn’t keep my eyes open even to watch Katie undress.

Six

Katie woke up far too early for the night they’d had. The clock said it was ten, which meant she’d gotten about seven hours’ sleep. With all the wine, and the smoke, and then, my god … Ari. She sat on the edge of the bed and held her head in her hands.

Coffee … she needed about a gallon to kick-start her brain. Sarah would want the same. She pulled on her sneakers, grabbed her wallet, and headed down to the coffee shop.

Twenty minutes later she’d gotten back with two large coffees, each with a couple extra shots of espresso and enough chocolate to sate a romance writer’s’ convention. Sarah wouldn’t eat anything right away, so she hadn’t bothered with the stale donuts.

Sarah was sprawled across the bed, facedown with one arm hanging off the edge and her left leg exposed up to the subtle curve of her ass. Katie leaned over the bed and traced her hand in the air, just above Sarah’s leg, debating on waking her. It had been a long time since they’d been intimate.

When she thought of it, she got sorta tight inside. Katie took a deep breath and let her eyes travel back down to stare at the runes burned into Sarah’s calf. She’d memorized them, seeing them in her mind’s eye as she fell asleep some nights. Something in them called to her, warning her, perhaps, of darkness and pain.

The hours she and Julie had been held captive by the dragon and his minions haunted her, but she wasn’t going to let the bastard win. Sarah killed him; his thugs were scattered and killed by Black Briar; and they’d come home, battered but whole.

Julie was much worse off, she assured herself. With the physical therapy and all.

She stepped away from the bed when she realized that her heart was racing and her vision blurred. Sarah stirred, and Katie thought again about just touching her, seeing what happened. Making out at the concert had been awesome. Why was she freezing up now? The anxiety crested over Katie, giving her a moment of blind panic, then her breathing started to calm.

Sarah loved her. She’d proved it. Katie wanted her, wanted to make love to her, to feel her naked body against her own, taste her …

But not now. Not this moment. Katie backed away from the bed and took her coffee to the desk. She watched Sarah sleep while her computer booted.
Something had to change,
Katie thought. She needed to work through the fear.

The first drink of her own coffee went down like a mouthful of sweet lava. It would have to cool down, unless she wanted to lose the ability to ever taste again. She cruised several Internet sites, letting her subconscious drift, slowly introducing the cooling coffee into her system while letting her brain slip into neutral. By the time she got around to opening her e-mail, the caffeine and sugar had hit her bloodstream like a shot of lightning.

She had mail from Deidre. Her sister-in-law had been home for a couple days between the hospital and the rehab facility. She was learning to operate without the use of her legs and was progressing well.

Katie hadn’t talked to Jimmy much in the last few months, between his anger toward Sarah and his blaming her for the dragon attack, and the fact she had finally realized the depth of Jimmy’s deception. He’d known about the dwarves, known of the dragons, and had kept most of that from her. Oh, he’d given her little crumbs, enough to fill her schoolgirl fantasies, but he hadn’t trusted her with the whole truth.

She wasn’t sure she was ready to forgive him for that. Not yet.

But Deidre. She had really taken over when her mom and dad had disappeared, helping Jimmy look after her, being more a friend than just a surrogate mother. She loved Deidre dearly.

She called Deidre. It would be good to catch up. Maybe get a little of the anxiety out in the open. Deidre always knew what to say to help Katie find her path. It was one of her many gifts.

She spent the next fifteen minutes chatting with Deidre, trading information about the nursing facility and the concert. The news of Ari was quite a shock. They spoke about Ari’s attempts to sleep with any woman associated with ren faires and how he seemed to have hit the easy-chick lotto … right up until he got snatched. Once she heard how Sarah had tried to break up the kidnapping and gotten smacked around for her trouble, Deidre grew more serious. The battle was still vivid in everyone’s mind, Deidre’s especially.

And of course she took Jimmy’s side of things. Not totally, but Katie wasn’t feeling too generous when it came to her big brother these days. They finally collapsed into exhausted silence. Deidre just didn’t have the stamina these days, and Katie was out of sorts. Ari’s kidnapping had triggered a resurgence of the trauma she’d been working to bury for months. And it was giving her a headache.

After they’d said their good-byes, Katie popped a couple of ibuprofen and went back to the computer.

She sipped her coffee and trolled through the rest of the local news highlights, landing on an article that caused her to sit up, gulping hot coffee, and nearly choking. Some kid had been found killed out near the industrial area north of Stanley Park. The photograph showed a sign taped to his chest. The reporter was puzzled, but Katie knew exactly what it meant.