“Oh, there you are, ladybug. I’m so glad you outsmarted those media hounds.” The comment comes from the smiling guy off to my right, who “enters” and hugs Kara as if he’s freshly arrived at the shop. “And Regina Nikian, as I live and breathe! Once a certain little bird told me that you owned this place where she likes coming with Maximus, I knew I had to come and see all the fun for myself.”
Reg accepts Gio’s effusive hug with a bemused look. “Mr. Valari,” she murmurs before giving herself an obvious mental kick. “I—I mean Giovani. Or—errr—”
“Why don’t we simply go with Gio?”
He dilutes the awkward tension with the same ease that Kara just diffused the issue about her odd wardrobe. As a broader smile actually has Reg showing teeth, I’m able to take my first full breath in the last five minutes.
“Technically, I was never really your employer,” Gio continues. “Anyway, it seems more fitting now to be your friend. I have a feeling these two will be keeping us on our toes for quite some time.”
“That would be a nice thing, Gio,” Reg answers, seeming more relaxed—at least on the surface. I’m not sure she’ll ever trust the Valaris as far as she can throw them, including Kara herself, but for the moment, she’s trying. I can be nothing short of grateful.
I try to tell her so with a meaningful glance. She accepts it but is clearly still a little confused. I don’t blame her. Who knows what my communication really looked like. What I am most is exhausted right now, and I’m wondering how I’ll stay awake during coffee and a catch-up chat with the guy I’ve just been gallivanting around hell with for the better part of a few days. A few weeks? How much time has passed anyway? I’m still without my watch, my phone, and all digital ways of checking.
Just when I tell myself that I really don’t care and all that matters is counting the minutes until I can go home and sleep for three days with my woman, more music punches the air. A badly bellowed song coming from the hallway that leads in from Recto Verso’s back entrance.
“Good morning to you! Good morning to you! We’re all in our places with bright shiny faces, good morning to—”
Jesse stops as soon as he rounds the corner and drops his jaw. He doesn’t alter the look while scouring all four of us. “Okay, pardon every bad double entendre here, buddy, but what the hell are you doing back here?”
And that’s as subtle as a tsunami.
The giant wave of meaning that definitely doesn’t get past Regina.
The kind of storm that rides the furious tides in her dark eyes, descending over the irate sneer on her lips, as she stares hard at Kara and me.
I swerve a look toward Kara, hoping she picks up the message in my gaze or the shout in my spirit. They’re the exact same, so either is cool.
Anything you can pull out of those pretty sleeves without a massive set of incantations, my beauty—that doesn’t involve my lifetime security detail discovering I took a jaunt to the underworld without her?
Chapter Eighteen
Kara
Jesse seems to be putting at least some of our story together. He rolls forward slowly, his gaze traveling rapidly over my disheveled state before noticing that Maximus and Gramps aren’t presenting much better. For someone in the know, all we’re missing are T-shirts that read I just took a trip through hell and didn’t bring back anything for you.
I start laughing nervously. I even manage a half-believable blush. “Oh, no! We’re so busted!”
Maximus chimes in, chuckling like he has any idea where I’m going with this. He attempts to hide his amusement as I dip my face into my hands as if to cool my faux flush.
“Wow. I’m so embarrassed,” I mutter. “We were at a friend’s party last night, and I guess we overindulged a little bit. We lost track of our driver and had to take a cab back to Maximus’s place. But as soon as the driver recognized us, we told him to stop at the closest place we could think of before he got anything scoop-worthy from the trip. So here we are,” I add with a little laugh and flourish of my hand. “Sorry, everyone!”
Reg doesn’t join in the awkward smiles that are infectiously spreading through our little group.
Even Jesse plays along, shaking his head like a dad listening to his kids’ mischief. “Well, I’ll be as green with envy as the guy who missed the party bus. You’re still drunk, aren’t you?”
Maximus rolls his eyes. “As if.”
Reg scoffs. “As if? You came in here with a splitting head two mornings ago, Maximus Kane. Don’t tell me special firewater can’t dunk you into the cups.”
“Two mornings ago.” Maximus blinks, confused, but quickly recovers with a rough laugh. “Uhhh, sure. Busted again by the barista who forgets nothing. I guess it’s just been a wild couple of days.” He exhales a tense sigh. “On that note, we’d better get back to my place before someone recognizes Kara.”
Jesse rolls closer. “Or you, man. Your face is still on every gossip rag in town, you know.”
“Let’s go,” Maximus suggests then. “I’ll drive.”
“I can drive,” I insist.
Jesse shoots me a glare and bounces the keys in his hand. “Not a chance. Come on. Later, Reg.”
Before Regina can open her mouth to object, he’s spun his chair in a smooth one-eighty and started playing drum major for our little band down the narrow hall that leads to Recto Verso’s loading dock and back entrance. I’m beyond thankful the guy knows enough to get us out of here fast, but what he doesn’t know about the twists that brought us back here could fill half of Hades’s library. Maybe more.
As soon as I debate spilling everything—like about how the trash in the alley dumpsters is a better smell than the despair of Dis—Jesse is rolling down the slight concrete incline leading from Recto Verso’s back door. The rest of us hurry behind.
“So, forgive me. Can someone spill the proverbial tea for me, kids?”
“In a minute,” Maximus replies, clearing the width of the alley in three long strides, then turning it into six on his way back. “What day is it? I mean, exactly?”
Judging by Jesse’s initial reaction from inside, I’m already guessing that Gramps and Maximus’s trip was a shorter hop than they all anticipated. But that hardly means anything. I have no idea how long it took them to coordinate their mission after I was taken. While so many aspects of my time in Hades’s world will never fade in my memory, time isn’t one of them. Every moment there felt like a year.
“It’s Monday,” Jesse supplies. “You didn’t know that?”
“No watch, no phone, and I’ve been navigating underworld physics,” Maximus explains.
“Which is why you need to start dishing some details. That was the deal, right? I stay here at headquarters, and I get a full download the minute you’re back. Which, granted, wasn’t quite as long as I was expecting.”
As soon as they exchange another commiserating look, I’m beyond relieved. It’s clear Maximus has finally chosen to confide everything to his friend, meaning we don’t have to worry about a conversational tiptoe around Jesse anymore. It releases a weight I didn’t even know was there—a good thing considering there are a few more to easily replace it. One in particular.