Pure Redemption (Tainted Legacy) (26 page)

He shrugged. “It makes me feel better to have it with me.” He glanced around, noticing for the first time that the sigils were no longer pulsating. “Whatever set them off must be gone,” he decided. “Or maybe it was just a fluke. They aren’t pulsing anymore so maybe…maybe just being near Cam…maybe some of that darkness stayed with us. Maybe it was enough to set them off for a bit.”

He walked around, checking the windows for signs of entry. The door had been locked when they arrived, he was sure of it. He glance
d around. Nothing was out of
place. The windows didn’t seem to be disturbed. It seemed very unlikely anyone had actually been inside.

Unlikely.

Not impossible.

Would someone poking around outside be enough to make them behave that way
? he wondered. He didn’t want to ask Ava, she seemed upset enough.

As if to prove his thought correct, she shuddered. “I don’t think it was a fluke. Angelic sigils don’t just, they don’t just malfunction. If it wore off on us just by being near him, what can it do to Julia?” She tossed herself onto the couch and groaned miserably. “I should have tried harder to make her come with us. I could’ve pretended you and I were fighting. Kara would’ve been the perfect opportunity for that. If I was upset and she thought I needed her, she would’ve come with me.”

“So I guess I shouldn’t have told her we’re perfect.”

Ava lifted her head to look at him. “Do you really think we’re perfect?”

He nodded and sat down next to her. “As perfect as we can be, under the circumstances.”

Ava thought so too as she snuggled into him. “This is pretty close to perfect. It kind of feels wrong though, with Julia out there somewhere with
him
. Who do you think he is?”

“A friend of Rafe’s,” Gabe said unhappily. “Just like Kara, apparently.”

“What do you think that was about, anyway?”

He shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. The only time I remember seeing her was the night you were with me. I have no idea why she kissed me like that.”

“Just trying to cause problems, I’m sure.”

“I’m glad you’re not letting it,” Gabe honestly replied.

“Don’t get me wrong,” she told him. “I’m not happy about it but I think it was meant to bother me so I’m try
ing not to let it. But you know Rafe has
a knack for making people do things for him. I think he put her up to it. I mean, obviously, the message was from him
. M
aybe that’s his way of letting you…
us
, know that he’s not out of our lives
.”

“Right,” he said, “because I’m sure he wants me to come back and claim my half of the fortune. Or maybe he’s lonely in that big, expensive house and wants my company. Or possibly he misses my charming face at the radio station.”

“Gosh,” Ava said with wide-eyed mockery, “feeling sarcastic are you?”

He sighed. “Sorry. It
just pisses me off that
I don’t know
what he’s up to. I thought he’d be happy I was out of his life. I’m sure as hell happy that he’s out of mine and I don’t even remember the guy. That day I saw him outside of the radio station? It made me glad I don’t know him.”

“Yeah, I was hoping he was out of our lives too. But Cam and Kara in the same night? That
seems a little suspicious
. What could he possibly want with Julia? Do you think he’s using her to get close to you?” Ava wondered.

“It would seem to be the obvious reason. Except for the fact that he hasn’t even really tried to contact me so going through Julia seems a little pointless.”

“So, what…? You think this Cam is actually interested in Julia?
That maybe he has nothing to do with Rafe at all?
”

Gabe shrugged. “It seems a little too coincidental but he could be
interested in her
. Someone like
Julia
, all sweet and innocent, yeah. I think he could see her as a challenge. Actually, not even a challenge. A plaything. Did you see how she
w
as looking at him?”

She had. Julia had always snuck shy, surreptitious glances at Mitch. That hadn’t been the case tonight. She’d been looking at Cam
with blatant adoration and he was
fully aware of it.

Ava’s phone rang on the other side of the room. She leapt up to grab it. Gabe watched as the tension seemed to flow out of her body.  She let out a breath of relief when she hung up. “It was Molly,” she confirmed. “In her words, ‘Julia’s home safe and sound and seriously smitten’.”

“Which is exactly why Cam might think he could have some fun with her, but hey,” Gabe said when he saw his last statement was not helping matters, “at least she’s home. We know she’s safe. There’s nothing we can do about this right now.”

“I know. But I can’t help it. I’m worried about her. I mean, if it were Molly, yeah, I’d worry but she’s pretty good at taking care of herself. Julia…she’s a little too innocent.”

“So we’ll talk to her,” Gabe said. “Obviously not tonight. She was pretty pissed tonight.”

Ava nodded in agreement. “I’ve never seen her mad before. Not ever. This is already off to a terrible start.”

“But you’re one of her best friends. Just talk to her. Reason with her. Tell her whatever you have to tell her.”

“Even the truth?” Ava asked with raised eyebrows as she settled down next to him again.

“If it means keeping her safe then yes, even the truth,” he agreed.

To her surprise, the thought of telling Julia the truth brought her a sense of relief. She hadn’t realized until that moment
just
how stressful keeping things from her friends had been. Maybe she could turn the events of the night around. Use them to her advantage. Use them as an excuse to stop keeping secrets from them.

She liked the sound of that.

Gabe had been watching her closely. “You look more relaxed. What are you thinking?”

“That it would be really nice to not have secrets between us but I still don’t know if telling them is a good idea,” she admitted.

“Why? Don’t look at me like that. I mean, I get why, kind of. It’s a big thing to share. But do you think they’ll be mad at you for keeping it from them?”

“I’m more concerned that they won’t believe me. I mean, it all sounds so insane.”

“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that. One way or another, they’ll believe you,” he assured her. “I’ll make sure of it.”

Chapter
1
9

“You’re just jealous
.
”

“What? No,
I’m not,
” Ava
said firmly
. She had been relieved when Julia had answered her phone. She’d answered it cautiously, clearly still annoyed with Ava but she had agreed to come to
her house
so they could talk. Ava had started with an apology but somehow things had gotten turned around quickly and no matter how she tried, she couldn’t manage to get them back on track.

Julia was still
livid
with her and worse yet, extremely hurt by what she perceived as spiteful behavior on Ava’s part the night before.

Julia shook her head, as if trying to convince herself that she was right as she paced across Ava’s kitchen. She was clearly on edge and had refused to sit down. “There’s no way you could really be okay with Dawson wanting to ask me out. You guys were together forever.”

“Only five months, Julia, and it was over a year ago. And if you’ve forgotten, I’m with Gabe now. Dawson is the last thing on my mind,” she
said quite insistently
. She was leaning against the counter, trying to appear relaxed but she wasn’t sure she was pulling it off. Gabe was outside, doing
nothing in particular
, just trying to stay out of her way until she needed him. “I’ve already told you that I think you two would be great together,” she continued.

“You thought you were completely in love with him once. He was your first real boyfriend. I don’t think you’re as over him as you think,” Julia accused.

“I was
sixteen
! I am
so
over him now.”
She was starting to get annoyed. What she’d felt for Dawson at the time had felt intense but it was absolutely nothing when compared to what she felt for Gabe. She and Dawson had managed a friendly break-up and they’d both started seeing other people within weeks. “But Dawson isn’t the reason for this conversation.”

“I know,” Julia said as her lip began trembling. “I saw the way you were checking out Cam. Trust me, he noticed too. He thought it was pretty tacky of you considering Gabe and I were both standing right there!”

“I wasn’t checking Cam out!” As soon as the words tumbled out of her mouth, she realized they may not be entirely true. She
had
been checking Cam out. Just not in the way that Julia thought. She had been
scrutinizing
his features, trying to determine if her first instinct, that he was Nephilim, was accurate or not. The moment she felt Gabe’s body fill with tension, she’d known she was right.

“Cam’s not the person you think he is,” Ava tried to explain.

“And you would know this because of the
one
time you met him, for all of a few minutes? Which by the way, you and Gabe were both incredibly rude,” Julia pointed out.

“There’s a reason for that
. If you’ll just let me explain.
”

“You don’t need to explain. I get it. You’re jealous! You and Molly have always gotten all of the guys and you hate the fact that not one, but two are interested in me. I’m sorry it’
s so hard for you to believe,
but Cam really likes me,” Julia said defiantly. “I knew something was up with
you and Gabe when I saw that girl kiss him. Cam sensed it too, how uptight the two of you were. So you can pretend everything’s all fine and perfect with the two of you even though it obviously isn’t. But that doesn’t give you the right to be checking out my boyfriend. Or to say bad things about him.

“Boyfriend?” Ava asked. They’d gone on a whopping one date, as far as Ava knew. “Oh, Julia—”

“No! I don’t want to hear it! Friends are supposed to support one another. I didn’t like Gabe at first. I thought there was something off about him. I thought he was going to break your heart but I didn’t say anything because I trusted your judgment. And I’m the first to admit that I was wrong about him. And you,” she said as she pointed a finger at Ava, “are wrong about Cam.”

“I’m not,” Ava said as she tried to reach out and put a calming hand on Julia’s arm.

“Why can’t you just be happy for me?” Julia asked as a tear trickled down her cheek. She wiped Ava’s hand off and started to back away. “I finally found a guy that I really like that actually like
s
me too and you’re just trying to ruin everything!” She turned and ran out of the front door. Ava followed her out, catching her by the elbow as she reached for her car door.

“Julia! I need to tell you what I know about him!”

Julia pushed Ava away, her face livid. “You know
nothing
about him! So what are you going to tell me? Are you going to make up lies about him? Why don’t you worry about your own mixed up mess of a relationship and leave me alone!” She dove into the front seat, slammed the door and drove away at a speed that was far faster than was usual for her.

“It didn’t go well?” Gabe asked as he appeared next to Ava.

“It went horribly,” she admitted.

“Now what?”

Ava gave him a look that was somewhere between an apology and a question. “Now I talk to Molly? I tell
her
everything?”

Gabe nodded. “I know you’re not sure about this but I actually think it’s a good idea. Ever since we brought it up, you seem a little…I don’t know, just relieved. Get Molly over here.”

***

“I thought you sounded frazzled on the phone but you look even worse,” Molly accused. “Please tell me Gabe didn’t go running off again.”