“Here’s to love!”
Fucking Christ. Keep going. Don’t lose it. I rammed myself even harder into Violet praying it wasn’t Anus Man calling.
“All the times that we fucked up.”
“More!”
I wasn’t going to argue with her. Eventually her stupid song would stop. And it did. Grinding into her, I found my pace again and reached beneath her for a tit.
Beep!
Beep!
Beep!
My phone rang. I ignored it.
Mother fucker.
Again, it rang.
Then, the text alerts started blowing up.
Seriously? Whoever was trying to reach me wasn’t fucking around.
“Maybe you should get that. I need water,” Violet said, panting and almost pleading.
Groaning, I rolled off of Violet. She could probably use a break.
“What?” I barked into the phone, seeing the caller ID light up as Ray.
“They took Ethel.”
For fuck’s sake. Always Ethel getting in the way. “What?”
His voice was shaky, like he was going to cry. But that wasn’t new for Ray. The guy invented whining.
“I don’t know, dude. They just took her. Is Violet with you?”
“Yep,” I said, hitting the speaker phone button. And then, looking toward my sweat-damp lover, said, “Call for you.”
With that, I hopped off the bed and made my way to the bathroom. I could care less about Ethel and what Ray wanted. Right now, I needed to get off and no talk about a coven or Cat Girl was gonna work. What the hell had I done? Christ, I hadn’t even worn a condom.
Chapter Eighteen
Violet
Four hours and three pit stops later...
I parked my truck in a parking garage outside of the Newport, Rhode Island Naval base. “This shouldn’t have taken more than three hours. I am really worried here.” Using nervous energy I couldn’t shake, I tapped my foot on the brake pedal.
“We would have been here a whole lot sooner if you didn’t rip my clothes off at the first rest stop.”
I stopped my moving and looked over at him. I was sure my mouth dropped down to my chest. “Excuse me? You followed me at the first two stops.”
He turned his head to look out the window and didn’t answer me. I could see his reflection, though. He was trying to hold back a laugh. I did that. I put a smile on his face. Now we just have to save Ethel, and then he can put a smile back on my face.
“You have it memorized?”
His smile dropped. “Don’t become a nag.”
I rolled my eyes as I hid my purse in the backseat. “I am not nagging. If you need to banish someone, you need to have those exact words memorized. And then, you have to remember how to get back to this layer...”
“...This layer. Yeah, I got it. Think about where I want to be the most. I can only come back if I am true myself.” He interrupted me and mocked me at the same time.
“James!” My voice raised a little, “Take this seriously.”
I was the first out of the truck. The breeze from the ocean hit my skin, making the temperature a few degrees cooler here than in New York. I heard his door shut, but I didn’t look behind me to see if he was following me.
“Slow down.” His long stride was catching up with me easily.
I didn’t stop, instead walked faster. “You don’t understand. If she died because I couldn’t keep myself from jumping you, I would never forgive myself.”
He grabbed my arm and forced me stop. “Weston’s parents are at the house. They would have told you if something happened to Ethel.”
I thought about what he said. I mean really thought about it. “When did you get to understand coven politics?”
He slid his hand down my arm and pulled me out of the garage. “Honey, it works the same way in prison.”
“Let’s find Weston and save Ethel.” I was glad he chose to be on my side.
“MOM LEFT THE BACK DOOR open for us. Ethel should still be down in the wine cellar.” Thank the gods Weston’s SUV had dark tinted windows. The only way into the Newport Mansion was the driveway in the front. The only place to park was around back, after everyone inside could see who was pulling up.
“Stay here until you are sure no one is watching.” Weston got out of the car and walked around to the front door.
We watched and waited. No one was coming out the back door.
“Ready?” I whispered to James.
He climbed out first and helped me out of the car. “Those cowboy boots may not have been the best choice.”
“Shut your mouth,” I elbowed his stomach.
Bless that woman. True to Weston’s mom’s word, the back door opened with no problem. We just had to walk down the long hallway, through the kitchen, and down to the cellar with no one finding us.
We got this.
The heel of my boots echoed off the hardwood floor. I swear it was so loud, they could hear it back in New York.
“Told you.”
“Shut your face.” I switched to walking on my toes.
The kitchen was a little more open than I was expecting. It was huge. Once we crossed into the area, there was no way we could hide. I guess now is as good a time as any. I took a deep breath and stepped into the kitchen.
Five steps in, everything was clear.
Ten steps in, I heard someone else’s steps clinking down the hallway.
“We have to hurry,” I whispered to James as I took faster steps.
“Why are you here?” Arun’s voice made me stop on step sixteen.
I was halfway through the kitchen and could see the door Weston’s mom described as the cellar, but there was no way I could run for it now. I tried to gather my thoughts as I slowly turned around. I couldn’t breathe when I took in the image.
Arun was in the front, not looking at me but more at James. Behind Arun was Sigyn and Loki holding Ethel. She didn’t look hurt and even smiled at me a little. Bringing up the rear was Weston, who kept his eyes on Ethel the whole time.
“We weren’t expecting you to find us this soon.” Sigyn pulled Ethel in front of Arun. “But this is good. If her blood doesn’t do what I think it can, we can get good ole’ Weston to put you in an in between layer and you can call Odin. Either way is good for me.”
How could I forget Weston was the one that could create those mini-portals? That was why being in New York didn’t matter to Loki or Sigyn. They still got what they wanted. Ethel and I should have never come here looking for James.
Looking at Weston now and how soft his eyes were on Ethel, I highly doubt he intentionally did anything on purpose to harm her. He was as much of a pawn in that as us. That is the reason he stayed away from coven politics.
“Arun, do what you want to the Death Seer, and bring me Violet when you are done.” Sigyn and Loki pushed past us towards the cellar with Weston following behind.
Arun stepped forward, with a knife, blade down, suspended in the air. “Gladly.”
He got the element of surprise on us. There was nothing any of us could do. James couldn’t stop the blade and fight the air manipulation. I couldn’t beg Arun not to do it. I watched as the blade flew towards us—hilt over edge.
It hurt.
I knew it would. I pushed James out of the way moments before the blade found its home in his heart. I knew for a fact the sharp edge nicked him, because I felt the drops of warm blood on my cheek before I let the blade sink into me.