Priceless (27 page)

“
So, you
’
re telling me that
A
gent Liam O
’
Shea tracked you down and forced you to drive him . . .
here?
”
The disbelief in the officer
’
s voice told me everything I needed to know. I was about to go down with O
’
Shea. Two birds, one big nasty, lying stone. There was no way I would be walking away from this.

I let Alex
’
s collar slip through my fingers.
“
Find Milly
.
”
He lifted his big dark eyes to mine and nodded, then took off like a shot into the overgrown and
junk-
filled alley that ran alongside Giselle
’
s home, much to the dismay of the officers around us.
Even though we were at odds, she would look out for Alex, would maybe even come to pull my ass out of this fire. Maybe.

“
Oops,
”
I said
.
“
Fingers slipped.
”
The officer glared at me, his face darkening
to a shade that
,
in the light of the sirens
,
looked a distressing shade of purple.

Unable to help myself
,
I asked
,
“
Do you have high blood pressure? You look like a plum that
’
s about to explode.
”

Without further ado,
I was spun, frisked and handcuffed
with my
hands behind my back
, then shoved inside the same police cruiser as
O
’
Shea. Or Liam, I suppose.

My hip bumped against his; he glanced over at me, but said nothing. All that spark and humour I
’
d seen earlier was gone, wiped out. Back
were
the cold, distant dark eyes I
’
d grown used to seeing glare at me out of his sharp angled face. There were no handles inside, nothing to even rattle in an attempt to get out. But I wasn
’
t panicking, at least not yet.

Leaning back into the pleather seats I stared up at the battered ceiling of the cruiser. It looked as though more than one set of feet had been smashed into it.
“
You never told me your name was Liam.
”

He said nothing, so I kept talking.
“
It suits you.
”
I shifted down a little further and put my feet on the ceiling, setting them inside the prints of the previous passenger.
“
He had big feet. At least a size fourteen or fifteen. Maybe he was a Big Foot.
”
That got his attention.

“
They aren
’
t real.
”
No one was in the cruiser with us yet
,
so I leaned toward him and put my lips to his ear.

“
You sure about that?
”

He shivered and a flash
from a camera
went off behind us. A picture of me snuggling up to the agent who
’
d shot his partner while hunting me. Oh, that was not going to help us any.

An officer got in the car, flipped the lights off
,
and stared at us through the metal bars that kept us from climbing out
.
“
Was she worth it?
”

O
’
Shea glanced over at me
,
and I smiled up at him and gave him a wink.
“
Go ahead, tell him the truth.
”
Something in me wanted O
’
Shea
—
Liam
—
to smile again.

There it was
;
a flicker of devilry in those dark eyes.
“
I don
’
t know. Yet.
”

Heat, intense, searing heat flared between us. I couldn
’
t look away
—
the promise of that one, single, simple word was all it took to spin my mind back to a very tight cramped bathroom and the feel of his chest under my fingertips. The taste of his lips and tongue against mine. I swallowed hard, my heart pounding
, blood rushing to places I’d ignored for a long time
.

“
You
’
re a disgrace
, piece of shit cop killer
,
”
the
officer said, breaking the spell between us.

I looked out my window, feeling the distance between O
’
Shea and I seemingly shrink. His side pressed up against mine
,
and I knew my mind hadn
’
t been playing tricks on me.

His hand stole around my back, hampered by his handcuffs
,
but undeterred. Even if I
’
d wanted to pull away from him, I couldn
’
t, there was nowhere for me to go. Fingers linking with mine, he leaned into me harder. I stared at his mouth, only inches away from my face,
and
tried to form a cohesive thought other than how good he tasted.

Then he jabbed his key into my hands. Key? Blinking, I flicked my eyes up to his
,
which were almost laughing at me. My fingers curled around the key and I slid it into the handcuffs. A small
“
snick
”
of metal un
latching and I was free. In a manner of speaking
.

“
Now what?
”
S
till crushed up against him
, my voice was whisper soft
.

“
We give them a show, one that
’
ll make them pull over and try to separate us
.
”

“
You just want another chance at my lips
.
”
My whisper was
just a tad too breathy.
Damn
I sounded e
ager.
Maybe I shouldn
’
t have employed Milly
’
s tactics. They were certainly landing me in a whole different pot of hot water.

His lip
s
quirked up, putting a slight dimple in his cheek. How had I not noticed that before?

He pushed his face even closer to mine, a mere shiver away from touching.
“
You don
’
t?
”

I couldn
’
t think of a
nything
to say that
would
n
’
t
damn me
all to hell and back
,
and
my own reaction to him did that well enough.

The same officer who
’
d interrupted us before did so again. Thank the gods.

“
You two, chill out
.
”
H
is babyish features pegg
ed
him for the rookie he obviously was. That
,
and the way his hand never strayed from the butt of his gun.

O
’
Shea obediently slid back to his side of the seat
,
and I sucked in a large lungful of air. Moments later another officer joined
the first and we were off to the police station. Or at least, that was what I thought.
About ten minutes into the drive the silence broke.

The young officer turned to his partner.
“
Where
’
s our escort?
”“
I thought we were going to be flanked by the FBI?
”

In answer, the older cop shook his head.
“
Pull over.
”

What was this? The young cop did as he was told, without question
, putting the car in park
. Not a good thing, even I knew that.

“
Shit.
”
O
’
Shea mumbled under his breath.
“
Be ready.
”

For what? I wanted to ask
—

The older cop pulled his gun, placed it right against his partner
’
s head and pulled the trigger, the shot r
everberating
,
shaking my eardrums.
Blood and brain matter splattered the inside of the c
op car
in a macabre graffiti.
I almost pulled my hands up to my ears, at the last second managing to keep them behind me, hiding the fact they were no longer cuffed.

The older cop
’
s image wavered
,
and then I star
ed
at one of the ugliest trolls I
’
d ever seen. Not that any of them are particularly handsome, but he won the
“
nasty looks
”
contest hands down. Orange and yellow spotted skin hung in folds off his body, the clothes he
’
d been wearing tore and revealed far too much for my taste. His four
-
fingered hand clutched at the gun
and he waved it
at
us, one eye hanging from its socket, the other blinking rapidly as if to clear some unseen haze.

“
Get out
,
”
t
he troll commanded.

I knew there was a reason this would work out in our favour.
“
Can
’
t, no door handles inside. It
’
s a human thing you know.
”
I shrugged.
“
You want us out you need to get the door open for us.
”

Grumbling, the troll smashed the side door to let himself out.

Now it was my turn to be pithy.
“
Be ready
.
”

“
For . . .
”
O
’
Shea started to ask when the troll grabbed the door on my side and wrenched it off.

“
Get out.
”

Sliding carefully, slowly, across the seat, I wracked my brain for the best way to handle this. Trolls were sketchy at the best of times. One minute your friend, the next they were trying to eat you alive. This one didn
’
t look to be interested in making new friends. He
(
and yes it was a he by way his double genitalia hung
nearly
to
his
mid
-
thigh
)
glar
ed
at us and click
ed
his broken teeth together, bits of tooth flicking out around him. The only upside I could see
wa
s if we had something he wanted, he
c
ould be swayed to our side, momentarily at least.
Trolls were fickle
,
and that could work in our favour.

I stepped out of the car
.
T
he
six-foot tall
troll stepped back, his hanging eye staring around as if seeing us for the first time.
“
You
’
re prettier than they said.
Those witches were right
;
you will be a fun time.
”

Ugh, that was not what I wanted to hear
, not the part about the fun or the fact that he
’
d been sent by the
black
Coven.
Both of his, um, members started to rise as his hanging eyeball roved up and down my body.

A long, split tongue licked his lips.
“
I could let you go if you do something nice for me
,
”
the
troll said, stepping forward.

“
No
,
”
O
’
Shea said, stepping around me, putting his body in the line of fire.