The Barrier Between (Collector Series # 2) (13 page)

“
Salud
.” Ryker tipped his beer bottle to
me.

I lifted my beer. “
Salud
.”

The clink of our bottles was sharp, echoing, but the
noise of the bar kept it contained to our little bubble. We watched
each other as we each took a swig. My eyes darted away from his
gaze as I placed the bottle back on the napkin. My hands shook as
my fingers played with the edge of the white paper.
Relax, Zoey.
We are only having a drink.

Pushing back my shoulders, I sat straighter in my
seat, holding up my beer. “Here’s to us making it through...
again.” I shook my head, remembering all the crap we’d survived and
escaped the past month. “And to us finding someone to help transfer
your powers back.” I felt no need to keep my voice down. The noise
level of the bar was so high I practically had to yell, the
celebration energy tingling at my skin.

Ryker tapped the neck of his bottle onto mine. I
downed the rest of my beer. One of his eyebrows hitched up.

“Come on, Wanderer. Keep up.” I motioned to the
bartender. “I see. Look like a Viking but drink like a pussy.”

He snorted and downed the rest of his beer.

The dark-haired, older bartender made his way back to
us. There were at least a hundred people in the small bar, but he
came the moment I signaled.

“Are you glamouring him?” I asked Ryker. He only
smiled in return.

“
Dos cervezas más
.” I held up two fingers to
Tulio.

“
Y dos tiros de whisky
,” Ryker told the
barkeep and turned back to face me, a slight smirk on his face.
“Don’t challenge me, human.”

“Can you really even call me
human
anymore?”

“You’re still human. You’re not one of us yet.”

“Thank God.”

His foot hooked the rung at the bottom of my barstool
and tugged at it. My arms went flying when I felt my chair go
backward. The instant of fear sent adrenaline into my veins. A gush
of wind slammed into me. I blinked... and I was standing at the
opening of the restroom.

Oh hell
.

The place was so crowded no one observed my sudden
appearance near the bathrooms—this time. I was going to need to get
more of a handle on my emotions. The jumping was starting to happen
a little too often. Soon someone would notice.

I pushed through the crowd and made my way back to
Ryker. He sat there sipping his whiskey, looking impervious. My
eyes went to his shoulders, searching for the hidden fury, but he
was relaxed.

“Now look who’s behind.” He tipped the rest of the
brown liquid down his throat. I slipped back onto my stool. “You
obviously didn’t go far.”

“The bathroom.”

He chuckled. “Takes you where you need to go.”

“You are being awfully calm about this.” I took a sip
of my drink. The smoky aroma reminding me of the night we spent in
the house together in northern Seattle. The night I sewed him up,
and we slept in the same bed. My shift from hate to tolerance had
been slow, but from tolerant to... whatever I was feeling now, was
fast.

“I’m not.” His white eyes turned to mine; the cold
seriousness ran deep in his black pupils. “And we still haven’t
talked about what you did in front of Arlo. But tonight I don’t
want to discuss any of it. Right now we relax and have fun.” He
raised his hand to Tulio, nodding toward our drinks. Tulio
automatically reached for the bourbon bottle.

The burden slipped off my shoulders as I tipped my
head back and finished the liquor. He was right. We needed one
night. One night not worrying about anything—to be free and act
like we were any other couple on vacation.

Couple
? I didn’t mean couple as in
together
, I meant couple as in two people being in the same
place...
Oh, shut up, Zoey.

I swallowed the last of my beer, almost choking on
it. Ryker’s eyebrow was up again. “Whoooo.” I patted my chest,
chuckling nervously.
Dammit! I giggled again.

Ryker grabbed my chair and turned me to him. “Relax,
Zoey.” His gaze caught mine, holding it. The alcohol running
through my system took the edge off my tension. I nodded, brushing
my purple hair over my shoulder.

Ryker pushed the freshly poured drink to me. My
fingers wrapped around the glass. The heat of the day had not
waned, and the mass of people packed in the bar intensified the
humidity in the small space. Sweat trickled down my spine, soaking
into my tank. I shoved my hands down, pushing my short cotton
pleated skirt between my legs. I felt sticky everywhere. And a lot
of it had nothing to do with the temperature in the packed bar.

“How’d you leave without Sprig?” Ryker set his feet
on my chair’s foot rung and leaned one elbow on the bar.

I brought the cup to my lips. “I left him with a baby
bottle full of honey, mango chips, his stuffed animal, and South
America’s version of reality TV, which is like porn to him. He’ll
be fine.”

“More than fine. He’ll want us to leave more
often.”

I laughed. “You’re right. But he better not be doing
anything with Pam on the bed we haven’t yet.” The words were out of
my mouth before I could stop them.

Oh. My. God.

“I don’t mean together... I meant separate. Not that
we could really do anything more than share a bed.” My face burned
with embarrassment. Laughing, I swiveled my chair to face the bar,
and I propped my elbows on it. “That would be awkward.”

Ryker’s mouth twitched with humor. His gaze stayed on
me, watching me flounder. I slammed down the harsh liquor, my
throat and chest burned in protest. “When was the last time you had
sex?” Ryker leaned back in his chair.

I choked, coughing into my hand. “Excuse me?”

“You brought it up.”

“I’m not telling you.” My head was getting fuzzy,
along with my inhibitions. His eyes stayed on me, causing a smile
to curl my lips. “Fine. It’s been a while,” I acknowledged. “But
not really my fault. Been kind of busy running from people trying
to kill me. Plus, I’ve been stuck with you.” I grinned and took
another drink.

“You could have taken the boy we met in the garage
who was making eyes at you into a back seat of a Prius. I wasn’t
stopping you.”

“Who?”

Ryker smirked, turning more toward me. “You know who
I am talking about. In the garage. The human kid who was totally
into you.”

“You mean Mr. Kettenburg’s son? Andrew?” My nose
scrunched up. “Are you serious?”

It was still strange to think of my old teacher and
know he had been a plant by DMG the whole time I had been his
student—a spy, recruiting me to be their seer soldier.

Ryker shrugged. “He got a stiffy the moment he saw
you. You could have been Junior’s first.”

“Ugh, he was seventeen. I prefer my men
a lot
older.” A blush came over my face. Ryker never revealed his actual
age, but I knew he was at least a couple centuries old, if not
more. “Andrew was not my type at all, but thank you for lowering my
standards for me.”

“It’s the end of the world, and you decide to be
picky?”

“Oh, shut up.” I smacked at his chest. My arm bounded
back like it had hit cement. “Ow.” I shook out my hand. “Seriously,
you need to put a warning label on that thing.”

“I need to put one on you.”

“Why? Because you think I’m having sex with a
seventeen-year-old in the back of a Prius?”

“A missed opportunity.”

“Somehow I will go on.” My chair rotated to face him,
and I placed my feet between his legs on his foot rung. His heels
were hooked on the bar on either side of mine. “What about
you?”

The side of his mouth curved up. He emptied his drink
and tapped the counter with the glass. From across the bar,
ignoring all the hands waving to get his attention, Tulio moved to
us.

“Stop doing that.”

“I’m not doing anything.”

“Oh, right. Like you’re not glamouring him?”

“I’m not.”

Tulio poured more alcohol and pulled out two more
beers, adding them to a tab by the register, before he went back to
the other waiting patrons.

I lifted my eyebrow.

“He’s doing it out of fear. Not from glamour.”

“What?”

“He remembers us. We showed up in his bar out of thin
air. Roman Catholics have always held the Devil is real, not a
mythical personification.” Ryker pointed between us. “Guess what we
are to him?”

“The Devil?” I responded. “I can see you, but
me?”

Ryker tilted his head forward, almost touching mine.
“You probably even more than me. An alluring purple-haired
woman
with magic. Plus, you are with me willingly.”

“Yeah. I am pretty scary.” I leaned in, a smile
spread across my face. Did he just say I was alluring?

“Tell me about it.”

His lips were so close, I could feel the coolness
from the beer he drank radiating off them. A voice far back in my
brain told me to stop staring at his mouth. Get off my chair and go
home. To be smart, or I would regret it.

I was never good at listening. Especially to wise
advice.

Feedback from a mic pierced the room, hammering into
my eardrums. My head wrenched to see where it was coming from. A
man stood on the tiny stage with a band behind him. He spoke in
Spanish, addressing the audience before breaking into song. The
place went crazy with people screaming and dancing along with the
music, the energy level heightening in the dark seedy pub.

My head felt light, all my problems washing away as
beer went down my throat. I caught Ryker’s eyes on me, examining.
My stomach twisted in my belly. Nervous jitters fluttered around my
insides.

Danger. Danger.

Still, I could not stop my words or the smile on my
face. “You’re dodging the question.”

“What question?” A smirk lifted the side of his
mouth.

Hell.
Why was my heart crashing into my chest
with his every glance?

Ryker and I had been through a lot together, and
somewhere along the way I began to see him as a man. Not fae or a
monster, but my partner. When I thought he was dead, I’d felt
genuine sorrow. Ryker and Sprig were never supposed to get under my
skin, but they had. They changed everything. Now I could no longer
see them as merely fae. They were even changing my feelings about
fae in general.

“Sex. Last time?” Bringing up sex with him was
extremely dangerous territory, but my inhibitions were down and my
mouth forgot it had a filter.

“Like you said, I’ve been stuck with you the last
month. Kind of limited my options.”

The white bar napkin shredded between my fingers. “I
was passed out for a week when we were with Elthia. Don’t tell me
you didn’t take advantage? She clearly wanted to.”

A frown tugged his mouth. “Elthia and I are in the
past. Plus, I had... have someone.” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he
turned away, taking another gulp of beer. He faced the mirror
behind the bottles of liquor. His body a wall.

“Right. Amara.” I stared at my hands and drew my legs
off his chair.

We stayed silent for a moment.

“Where did you meet her?”

He didn’t answer. Silence stretched out. The world
continued around us, the singing and dancing, but I barely noticed
them.

“We met in a bar, actually. In Romania.” He finally
spoke, keeping his head forward. “It was instantaneous.”

A fist punched through my heart. An automatic
reaction. I couldn’t stop the consuming hurt and jealousy I felt. I
swirled the brown liquid and slammed back the rest in my cup.
“You’ll get her back,” I responded. “We’ll find a way.”

He nodded absently. Both our bodies faced forward,
looking away from each other. Horrible tension filled the space
between us, growing so thick it hurt. My lids fell, squeezing
together.

“Zoey?” His voice was low and questioning.

I crooked my neck, blocking my face from him. “Can
you just go back to calling me human? It’s better.
Uncomplicated.”

He huffed out a long sigh. “Look at me.”

I shook my head. I knew if I faced him he would see
what I was feeling. What I still wanted to deny. He grabbed my legs
and swung me around to face him. I became overly aware of where his
hands touched my bare skin. His fingers trailed over my knees
before sliding off.

“Look up.” Again I jiggled my head no. “Zoey. Look.
At. Me.”

Slowly, I lifted my neck, my hair tickling my arms as
it dragged up, along with my gaze. Our eyes locked. His demeanor
had changed. His eyes blazed bright white; his tattoo on his neck
flickered. This only happened with extreme emotions, like anger or
lust, but it had been happening less and less since he began to
lose his powers.

Air caught in my throat. His expression flamed the
desire circling around in my stomach. He searched my face for an
answer I wasn’t sure of the question, but my countenance must have
answered it. Because suddenly his hands gripped the sides of my
face, drawing me to him, touching my forehead to his. His breath
tickled my lips.

“When did you sneak in?” he whispered so low I barely
heard him. “Get this far under my skin?”

It was like a bomb exploded in the room, creating a
shield around us. My heart jackhammered against my ribs, my breath
shallow. Our skin tingled every place it touched. The need for him
consumed every nerve and made it hard to move or think.

His skin glistened under the low light of the bar. A
drip of perspiration trickled down his neck, my eyes watched it
slide down the curve of his neck into the hollow space at the base
of his throat. My hand went to where it pooled. His breath
tightened the moment my fingers made contact with his skin. He
swallowed but did not move. My brain no longer felt a part of my
body. My fingers worked on their own as they trailed up his neck,
slipping over his scruffy chin and stopping at his lips. He
squeezed his eyes shut as the tip of my finger softly traced his
lips.