Stone Cold Seduction (2 page)

With a muttered curse, he grabbed me around the waist with both arms and jumped. I didn’t have time to draw in a breath to scream before he gently set me down on the street, five stories below.

I gurgled and stared up to where we had just been standing. “What…I…I…”

His expression was grim when he faced me. “We need to talk.”

“Buh…buh…but how did you…” My words trailed off as I looked up and down the street, at a complete loss. Was I going crazy? How had we gotten to the ground in one piece? How had Luke not seen us? Maybe I’d finally gone off the deep end. It sounded like a viable option.

I brushed a shaky hand against the small, velvet bag that was nestled against my chest, inside the suit. It was still there. My heart thundered against it, and I swore I heard the echo of the beat. The stress of the past few moments caught up with me, and I felt my knees begin to buckle.

I was in another nightmare. Except Luke didn’t have a starring role, and I couldn’t seem to wake up from this one.

Jax grabbed me around the waist before I crumpled to the pavement. He strode away from the building, half-dragging me beside him. “Let’s get you home and get you a drink. We have a lot to discuss.”

I stumbled along and felt my breath coming in short gasps, suddenly feeling uncomfortably awake and wishing I weren’t. Jax had caught me breaking and entering, we’d barely escaped my father’s sadistic enforcer by jumping from five stories up, and now he wanted to go get a drink?

The cool night air held the lingering scent of rain and the undertones of a flowering tree, but thankfully, no sound of sirens or alarms. I couldn’t remember the name of the tree, but the soothing ritual of identifying scents helped calm me down.

We arrived at my apartment on Seattle’s Capitol Hill a half hour later. My neck hurt from constantly looking over my shoulder for Luke or the police. I’d cringed at every shadow, real and imagined. Despite my paranoia, I hadn’t seen anyone on our walk beyond the late night partygoers.

I loved the area. It had a fun, funky feel and suited my business perfectly. My building was plain, but my neighbors were great. I had a Thai restaurant to the left and an accountant’s office to the right. Directly across the street was my favorite yoga studio. I didn’t have to venture far for anything. My shop was downstairs, and my apartment was upstairs. As an employee, Jax already had a key to the shop. Now, he held out his hand and demanded the key to my apartment.

Don’t ask me how I managed to fit a key in a leather catsuit. I did.

My limbs felt heavy with exhaustion. The long walk home hadn’t helped, but public transportation hadn’t been an option. I remained silent until Jax had pushed me inside and locked the door behind us.

“Am I dreaming? Because not one moment of the last twenty minutes has made much sense.”

Part of me was hoping he’d lie. Maybe Teryl would jump out from behind my favorite overstuffed chair and yell “You’ve been
Punk’d
!”

Life is never that easy.

“Elleodora,” Jax began.

“It’s
Elle
. Just Elle,” I grumbled. I’ve been telling him for two months to call me by my nickname. Only my father and my mother called me Elleodora. My mom had only used it when she was mad at me. My father used it as an insult.

Jax sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Putting extra emphasis on my name, he said, “
Elle
, I need to know how long you’ve been able to shadow.”

I still had no idea what he was talking about, so I turned away and walked into my small kitchen, and sagged into one of the chairs at my breakfast table.

I love my little kitchen. It smells like an herb garden. I keep pots of lavender, basil, thyme, and lemon balm on the counter. My favorite place to be is sitting at my table, holding a cup of hot tea. I’d found the round table at an antique shop and refinished it myself. The scrollwork on the pedestal leg shows old-fashioned craftsmanship at its finest.

The warm mocha color of the kitchen walls wraps around me like a cozy blanket. I can read the paper, eat in peace, or stare out the small window and watch people rushing by on the sidewalk below. I always find comfort here.

Tonight, that comfort eluded me. Instead, I felt cold and numb.

Folding my hands on the table, I let my head sink onto them. My breath shuddered through me as I tried to let the weight of my tension slowly slip away.

If my father had Luke on the job, it would only be a matter of time before he found me. I was certain Luke had never, ever come up empty-handed in a hunt. And fool that I was, I had taken on this crusade like some misguided, modern-day Robin Hood. The problem was, I had no Little John to back me up, and I was completely inept.

Who was I kidding? I’d been playing a dangerous game, and I’d known the potential outcome. I had let my ego get the better of me. Seeing Luke today had brought reality crashing down around me.

Lost in a moment of self-pity, I jumped when Jax sat down in the opposite chair.

He watched me with his calm, knowing eyes.

I took another breath and stared at my hands. “What shadows are you talking about?”

Jax leaned forward and stared at me intently. “You really don’t know what shadowing is.” It was a statement, and he was waiting for my reaction.

Some of my hair had escaped the ponytail I’d pulled it into earlier. I wearily tucked it behind my ear. “Since you showed up tonight, nothing has made sense. I don’t understand what you’re asking me, and I don’t understand how we got off that ledge. If Luke had caught me tonight, neither you nor any shadows would have been much help.” My voice had risen with each word, and Jax sat back at the volume of my last word, “help.”

Fear had overridden my good sense once again. Jax didn’t know a thing about my father or Luke or our history, and I didn’t want him to know. The fewer people on this planet who knew how screwed up I really was, the better. “Never mind. Scratch that. I don’t know what shadowing is.” And I didn’t really care at this point. I had enough on my plate that I couldn’t handle. The police worried me a hell of a lot more than Jax’s shadows.

His voice was soft when he replied, “You’re coming into your powers, and one of them is obviously shadowing. How else would they not have seen us?”

I dropped my head to my hands once more. Powers? Shadowing? Maybe he’d had a good idea with that drink suggestion. I also needed to get out of this catsuit.

One crisis at a time.

I decided to tackle the simplest one first. With effort, I pushed myself to my feet. “I need to change. I have no idea what’s going on, but I sure hope it was a really, really bad dream. I’ll see you in the morning.” I turned to walk away. Hopefully he’d let himself out, because I just didn’t have it in me to play hostess. My terror had gone as quickly as it had come, and it had burned through my energy reserves. I was wiped out and wanted to be alone.

Jax gently stopped me with his hand on my arm after I’d gotten only two steps out of the kitchen.

A banging at my door made me jump. Heart racing again, I stared at Jax.

How had they found me so quickly? Luke must have called the police. I could hardly believe he’d decided to let the authorities handle this, but if Luke was at the door himself, he wouldn’t be bothering to knock. I had to hide the stones. Crap, I had to answer the door. I had to—

“Elle, open up! It’s colder than shit out here.”

I let out a strangled laugh when I recognized the voice. Teryl had the worst timing.

He’s been my best friend since we were ten years old. He’s my partner in crime and the worst fashion advisor a girl could have. I leaned against the doorframe of the kitchen while Jax went to the front door.

He’d barely turned the lock when Teryl pushed his way in. “What in the hell happened? I tried to…” He stopped short when he saw Jax standing halfway behind the door. “Hey, Jax. I…um…this must be a bad time.”

Pivoting quickly, he turned to leave.

Jax grabbed his arm. “In the kitchen. Now.” Gone was the soft, steady voice. Hard steel, coated with menace, Jax all but growled at Teryl.

Eyes wide, Teryl pivoted again and brushed past me into the kitchen. He looked like he’d stepped out of a clothing ad. Dark wash jeans fit his slim, lanky figure great. A black jacket hung unzipped over a wildly-striped polo. He looked as comfortable as I wanted to be. He sat at one of the four chairs and watched Jax nervously. I took the seat to his right, too tired to argue about shadows or leaping off buildings, and too confused to care.

Jax said nothing. He stared at Teryl, while Teryl did his best to look anywhere and everywhere but in Jax’s direction. He jumped when Jax said his name.

“Teryl.”

Even in my weary state, I recognized the command in Jax’s tone. I slapped a hand on the table with irritation. “Can someone please explain what is going on?”

Neither man answered right away. They were too busy staring at each other, communicating silently.

My hands slapped on the table as I stood up. “Have your silent
man
versation outside, but right now, I want words!”

“Manversation?” Teryl’s smile was brief. “Is that even a word?”

“I suggest you start kissing the ground I walk on because you will pay for the rest of your miserable life for tonight. And for your information, a manversation is a conversation men have where only grunts, growls, and manly looks are exchanged.”

“Is that so? I had no idea we did that.” Teryl’s cheeky grin pissed me off even more than his sarcasm. Normally, I found his sense of humor a little twisted, but a lot funny. I found nothing funny about what had happened tonight.

His smile faded as he realized I was serious. “Hey, I think you look freakin’ amazing in that leather.”

I dropped into the chair, slumping back. “Start explaining what you’re trying to avoid telling me. Now.”

Teryl began to fidget, which was never a good sign. He fidgeted, but he didn’t say a word. I looked at Jax, who was equally silent.

It didn’t matter who spilled the beans, but they’d better start talking. Now.

Jax sighed and leaned back so his chair tipped against the wall, facing us. He folded his arms across his chest, causing the muscles in his shoulders to bunch. Not that I’d notice such a thing at a time like this. Not that I
should
notice such a thing.

Jax’s sigh strummed across my last nerve.

“You know what? To hell with you.” I let my glare slide over Teryl’s guilty face. “You, too. Luke almost caught me tonight, Teryl.”

His face blanched and he reached across the table and grabbed my hand. “Luke? He’s in town? Are you okay?” He squeezed gently.

Teryl was one of the only people alive who knew my history with Luke. Because I wanted to keep it that way, I tilted my head slightly to remind Teryl that we had an audience.

He cleared his throat and let go of my hand. “Right. Uh, what happened?”

I rubbed my temples. A headache was beginning to develop behind my right eye. I pulled the ponytail holder out of my hair and let it fall loose around my shoulders in an effort to ease the tightness along my scalp. “I don’t know what happened. We weren’t caught, and we didn’t die after stepping off the ledge, and if one of you doesn’t explain, I’m going to start crying. Big, fat, hysterical woman tears.”

“Elle shadowed,” Jax said to Teryl.

There was that word again.
Shadowed
. It sounded like something a superhero—or supervillian—would do. I caught another meaningful stare between the two of them.

“Explain. Now.”

The chair squeaked against the floor as Teryl scooted back and stood up. “How about a drink?”

“I don’t want a damned drink.” Well, I did, but that could wait.

“I meant for me,” he grumbled, as he began rummaging around in my cupboards. He found a bottle of whiskey in my small liquor stash and poured a shot. I watched him grimace as it went down. Teryl rarely drank.

Unease slithered through my irritation as I watched him drink a second shot. He coughed when the alcohol hit his throat, and then turned back to us. “She doesn’t know about it.”

The word Jax muttered under his breath startled me. I’d never heard the man curse before, not in that deep, sincere voice of his.