Tempt Me (2 page)

Had it been only a year ago that employees of his father’s investment firm had cowered in fear before him? That Gabriel had taken pride in being known as the Dark Messenger, the smiling bearer of bad news and pink slips? What an evil jackass he’d been.

Maybe he was finally getting what he deserved.

“I can practically feel that self-pity you’re wrapping yourself up in, Gabe. You’re more stubborn than your sister, and that’s saying something. Honestly, I have no idea why I got stuck with you.”

He’d
gotten stuck? Ha. “I apologize for inconveniencing you. Even my hallucinations can’t stand me. There’s a certain poetry to that, don’t you think?”

“I’m not a hallucination, idiot. I’m real, with a name and everything. But you haven’t asked my name, have you? You haven’t asked about me, about the shadows—nothing. You need to stop fucking around, Gabe.” The young man pounded on the bar in frustration. “I never swore before I met you, though I don’t think the Virgin Mother herself would blame me. You came back here for a reason. You need to find out what you are. You need to see your family. Tell your mother what’s been happening to you.”

Not
who
he was.
What
he was. Gabriel already knew what he wasn’t. He was no angel. No
bon ange,
like his twin sister, who could see spirits. The one who had risked her soul for him, despite what he’d done to her. He was no loving son or loyal friend. And even though it felt like it right now, he was no ghost.

He wasn’t sure about anything anymore, not even why he’d come back to New Orleans again. Other than to shut his invisible stalker up. The one no one else saw. The one who could so conveniently appear and disappear at will.

If only Gabriel could disappear that easily, along with the memory of what he’d done—what he’d almost done—to Mimi. Michelle. His sister.

Djab
. That was the name his mother had called the thing that had taken over his body last year. A dark entity, sometimes controlled by voodoo sorcerers she named
bokors
.
Djab
were wild spirits that, when left to their own devices, could wreak havoc on weaker humans.

Weak. That wasn’t a word Gabriel had ever associated with himself until it happened. How easily it had taken him over. He’d been angry at the awkward reunion with his mother, and when Michelle had shown up, injured and so distant, he’d blamed her. In his anger, he’d wished
she’d
been the one the priests had beaten, the one who’d been ripped from their mother and told everything she knew, everything she loved, was no longer hers. His need for vengeance had made him the perfect target.

Gabriel took a deep drink, the hot coffee scalding his tongue, his knuckles white around the porcelain mug. As if it were yesterday, he could recall the feeling of being trapped in his own mind, of screaming and shouting in disbelief as something else took over his body.

His
hands tying up his sister.
His
mouth speaking words so offensive to his soul that he wished he could claw them out with his bare hands.

How could she ever forgive him for that? How could he forgive himself? He shook his head, coming back to the conversation. “I know what I am. And they are all better off without me. You can add
delusional
to the list of reasons why.”

“That does it.”

Gabriel nearly slid off his stool when the bartender appeared across from him once more and purred appreciatively, “Didn’t see
you
come in, lover. What can I get for you?”

He blinked. Déjà vu. “What? Are you talking to me?”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course not, silly; you’ve been here for hours. And I’m really glad you decided to have that coffee, by the way.” Then she looked over Gabriel’s shoulder and batted her eyelashes. “I’m talking to your cute young friend.”

He followed her gaze, then turned back to the bartender. “Who do you see behind me?” When she hesitated, Gabriel leaned closer. “It’s important. Describe him.”

She tilted her head, her blonde ponytail swinging softly behind her. “O-kay, I’ll play. I see a sexy slice of cheesecake with dark hair and stunning blue eyes.” Her own eyes widened. “And he blushes? Oh, baby, what’s your name, what’s your sign, and where have you been all my life?”

Black spots and stars blurred Gabriel’s view as he glanced back at the blushing figment behind him. The figment someone else had just described. She
saw
him?

He heard the bartender’s worried voice as if she were speaking through static. “Oh, damn. Listen, lover, if your friend is about to throw up or something, get him outta here. I’m the only one on tonight and I refuse to clean that up.”

Gabriel felt hands hoist him up as if he were weightless and drag him toward the back door that led to a narrow alley.

He pushed away and fell to his knees, retching. He leaned his head against the rough wall, a rasping laugh escaping his raw throat. “So this is what rock bottom looks like. I always wondered.”

“Congratulations, Gabe. As usual, you set a goal and you reached it. Your father would be so proud.”

Gabriel pulled himself up once more and turned, rage suddenly welling up inside him. “You don’t know shit about my father. But I just set another goal. If other people can see you, that means you’re real. And if you’re real, I can kick your ass.”

The tall man’s lips quirked. “You can try. The shape you’re in? I think I can take you.” He crossed his arms and shook his head. “You used to be a believer, Gabe. Even when you couldn’t see me, when Mimi was the only one who could, you believed I was there. I never thought you’d turn out like this.”

He believed . . . even when
Mimi
could see him? “Who the fuck
are
you?”

His illusion’s hands rose up to the sky, as if in prayer. “Hallelujah. I think he’s finally waking up.” Unearthly blue eyes pierced him with their solemn expression. “The name is Emmanuel.”

Gabriel scoffed, but he felt the name like a kick in the chest, making it hard to breathe. “Emmanuel was a child. A
ghost
child. I told you my sister has that gift, not me. But even I know ghosts don’t age.”

Emmanuel nodded. “You’re right. That isn’t your gift.” He shrugged. “But all the same, I
am
Emmanuel. How else would I know you cracked your tooth when you fell chasing after Ben and your sister in the back of my old house? The same day you told your father you were playing with spirits for the first time.”

Gabriel remembered. How could he forget? That was the day everything had started going to shit.

“If you’re Emmanuel, and I can’t see ghosts, then how can I see you?”

The younger man was suddenly right beside him, so close he could feel his breath. His expression was tinged with pain and regret. They were emotions Gabriel knew well. “You can see me, Gabriel, because I am not a ghost. I’m no longer anything I was. And neither are you. But I’ve faced more than a few of
my
monsters. It’s time for you to face yours. You need to understand what’s happening to you, before you lose yourself completely to the darkness.”

This was some sort of twisted joke. Gabriel closed his eyes and saw a flash of a memory. Father Leon, the priest who had taken special delight in punishing him, tormenting him with images of his sister and mother burning in Lucifer’s inferno for eternity. Warning him that he would join them if he didn’t purge himself of his family’s evil. Warning him that he would be taken by the darkness.

Even then, there was a small part of the young Gabriel who would have taken that punishment, would have burned, if only he could be with his family again. His mother. If only he could have been like his twin, Mimi. Special.

He felt like he was going to be sick again. This couldn’t be happening. He needed to get out of this cursed city. “Fuck the coffee. I need another drink, maybe two, and then I’ll be on the next flight out of town. As far away as I can get.”

Gabriel took a step toward the bar’s back door, but Emmanuel was there before he could reach for the knob.

He shook his head. “Stubborn ass. This is for your own good.”

Gabriel saw Emmanuel pull back his fist and swore when it connected with his flesh. For a ghost, he had a powerful right hook.

He was falling to the ground again, hearing Emmanuel before he hit the cobblestone pavement.

“You’ll thank me for this, Gabe. Eventually.”

Gratitude wasn’t on his mind as the hard ground jarred his bones. His ears rang with the power of the physical blow he’d just received from his imaginary pest. No, it wasn’t gratitude causing the red haze of anger and pain to blind his vision.

It was the need for revenge.

As soon as he could get up again, Emmanuel would learn what everyone who’d ever gotten on the wrong side of Gabriel knew. Clichéd but true . . .

Payback was a bitch.

Angelique Rousseau grabbed a candied pecan but paused before slipping it into her mouth. She’d been planning on announcing her presence, but she didn’t want to miss the hushed discussion between her sister-in-law Allegra and Michelle Toussaint. Not when they were whispering about her current obsession, Michelle’s elusive brother, Gabriel.

Michelle’s sigh drifted into the kitchen from the formal dining room as Angelique hopped quietly onto the marble island. “Mama said she heard a knock on her door at three in the morning. Apparently he was bloodied up and falling-down drunk, with no idea how he’d gotten to her house.”

“He’s been here a week and he hasn’t told anyone why he came back? Has he said
anything
?” Allegra sounded worried and more than a little tired. Angelique wondered if her unborn niece or nephew might have something to do with that.

The little troublemaker. Not even born and it was already driving its mother up the hormonal wall, not to mention putting a cramp in Auntie Angelique’s social life.

She hadn’t had
any
time to herself from the moment she got home. Instead she’d been mobbed at every turn by Toussaints and Adairs. Tasked with taking her mother to one gathering after another, all so Theresa Rousseau could get to know her new extended family better before the baby came.

It was a strange clan they’d created. The three families had known one another forever, but at a comfortable distance. Lately, however, there’d been a contagious bout of the dangerous disease called matrimony. First her brother and Allegra, then Michelle and Ben Adair and their friends Bethany and BD. It was enough to make Angelique twitchy. As if she didn’t have enough trouble dealing with her immediate family’s nosy ways. At least they weren’t as focused on her... for the moment. They were all too busy closing ranks around Michelle since her twin brother, Gabriel, had come home.

Angelique was dying to find out why.

Michelle spoke again, answering Allegra’s question. “He’s barely said a word. Though a few days ago he did ask me some unusual questions. It was... an odd conversation, and I’m not sure he was actually listening. He just kept glaring over my shoulder. Other than that, every time I’ve stopped by the house, he’s been in his bedroom. Honestly, I’ll be surprised if he comes tonight, but Mama did say he promised.”

Was that why Angelique had decided to show up for dinner tonight—because Gabriel Toussaint had promised to be here? Why she’d changed her mind and accepted Allegra’s transparently halfhearted invitation, even though her mother wasn’t invited? Even though she’d had a chance for one night’s reprieve, free of family, free to enjoy herself and get away from all this loving togetherness?

She knew the answer was yes. Gabriel’s presence had changed everything. Since she’d seen him a few days ago, when she and her mother had stopped by the Toussaint family home, he was all she could think about.

He’d stalked into the room, seemingly unaware that he wasn’t alone. His shirt had been unbuttoned to reveal a line of golden skin and muscle that set her mouth watering. His hair was mussed, his jaw set, and to Angelique he’d looked like one hot, delicious mess. Ruffled, brooding, and sexy. Everything about him screamed bad boy. It was a quality the rebellious part of her couldn’t help but find attractive.

But it was more than that. The moment he turned his head and snared her gaze, she experienced a raw wave of need unlike any she’d ever known, heat washing over her body and nearly buckling her knees.

She’d held her breath as he studied her. Her fertile imagination took over, making her breathless as she wondered if he felt the same intense desire that she did.

But then he seemed to notice the other women in the room. She’d hoped he would look her way again, but he’d just scowled, nodded tersely to acknowledge his mother, then turned and walked out without a word.

Mambo Toussaint had made hurried apologies, but Angelique barely heard them. It took every ounce of her restraint not to follow him back down the hallway. To take him to task for his manners... or rub herself against him like a cat; she wasn’t sure which.