“Hey, isn’t that one of the faeries who was at your apartment on Christmas Eve?” Trey asked.
My stomach did a little tumble as I followed his gaze to the other side of the street where a lone figure stood outside a restaurant. I let out my breath when I saw it was Faolin, not Lukas.
Faolin’s head turned slowly as if he was doing a sweep of his surroundings. His eyes met mine, and he frowned. I couldn’t tell if it was from displeasure or surprise.
I gave him a cheeky grin and a little wave that was sure to annoy him. I was rewarded with a scowl as a large black car pulled up in front of him. He made no move to get in, and I realized too late that he was waiting for someone.
The door behind him opened, and a couple walked out. The man was handsome, in his thirties, and he looked a little familiar. A celebrity maybe? His companion was blonde, beautiful, and Fae.
Another person appeared behind them, and my gut clenched when I saw Lukas. The female faerie turned to say something to him, and he laughed.
The day after Faolin’s visit, I had summoned the nerve to call Lukas and thank him for what he’d done for me. I’d gotten his voice mail instead of him, and I’d left him a short, rambling message to which he’d never replied. I had been telling myself that the reason I hadn’t seen or heard from him in the last two weeks was that he was busy dealing with the barrier problems. Apparently, I was mistaken.
Faolin leaned over to say something to Lukas. Seconds later, Lukas’s head swung in my direction, and his gaze locked with mine. His smile was gone, but that didn’t stop the quickening of my heart or the physical pull toward him. It felt like months, not weeks, since I’d last seen him, and I was relieved for the traffic that prevented me from giving in to the urge to go to him.
The female faerie said something to him. When he didn’t respond, she followed his gaze to me. She clearly wasn’t happy that someone else was stealing his attention from her, and I could feel the hostility she directed at me. If not for the street between us, her glare might have reduced me to cinders.
“Jesse?”
I tore my eyes from Lukas to look at Trey, whom I realized had said my name a few times. He glanced between Lukas and me, and I could almost see the light come on over his head.
“Was he the one who…?”
“I’ll tell you about it on the way home.” Pasting on a smile, I hooked my arm through his. I don’t know what compelled me to do it. Maybe I wanted to show Lukas that I was doing fine without him, too.
I cast one last glance across the street. Faolin now sported a knowing smirk, but Lukas’s mouth had formed a thin line. I might have allowed myself to believe he was jealous if he hadn’t avoided me for two weeks. My anger flared. He had been ignoring me, and now he looked annoyed that I wasn’t sitting at home waiting for him to finally have time for me. He couldn’t have it both ways.
I turned my back on him and tugged on Trey’s arm. “Let’s go.”
“Do I want to know what that was about?” he asked as we started back to where the Jeep was parked.
“Nope.”
We walked in silence for a few minutes before he spoke. “Why don’t you want anyone to know about… what happened to you?”
“Because the media will go nuts, and I can’t put Mom and Dad through that.” Dad had been doing well this week, but I’d seen the strain around his eyes a few times when he thought I wasn’t looking. It had to be killing him to know his son was alive but to not be able to reach out to him. I’d never been a vengeful person, but every time I saw what this was doing to my father, I wanted to hunt Queen Anwyn down and make her pay for what she’d done to my family.
Trey stopped walking and turned to face me. “I swear I won’t tell anyone – even without the blackmail. I like your parents, and I wouldn’t do anything to hurt them.”
“Thanks.” I smiled. “I wouldn’t have told anyone about Pennywise.”
He laughed. “I know. Otherwise, you would have done it back in school.”
We started walking again, and we’d barely gone ten steps when he asked, “Can I have those pictures?”
“No.” I grinned, feeling lighter.
He sighed heavily. “Can’t blame a guy for trying.”
* * *
Finch whistled, pulling my attention from the spreadsheet I was working on. I looked up as he sat on a stack of books on the corner of the desk.
I thought we were going to see Mom today, he signed.
“We’re going when Dad gets back.” I glanced at the time on the computer monitor. “He’s only been gone an hour.”
Finch’s big eyes sparkled. Do you think he’s getting your present?
“Probably.” I laughed. Finch was more excited about my birthday than I was.
A series of soft whistles came from the top of the shelves where we kept our gear. Aisla had started coming into the office with Finch, but she was still too timid to sit on the desk.
“What’s she saying?” I asked Finch.
She said maybe Dad will bring Gus home. Finch gave me such a hopeful look that my chest squeezed in response.
I cleared my throat. “Gus went home to Faerie to live with all the other drakkans, remember?”
Finch’s eyes grew sad. We miss him. Do you think he misses us?
“Of course. How could he not miss you?” I couldn’t tell my brother that Gus had most likely forgotten all about us and his time here. Faris had said that would happen once he was among the wild drakkans.
The doorbell rang, and I jumped up. I had no idea who could be calling, but I was glad for the interruption.
I peered through the peephole, but all I saw was a wrapped box sporting a large, blue bow. Dad. I rolled my eyes at his antics as I opened the door.
“Happy birthday!” shouted a voice that was definitely not my father’s.
I gaped at my visitor. “Violet! What are you doing here?”
“Some welcome home that is.” She threw one of her arms around me and hugged me while awkwardly holding the present. I pulled her into the apartment, took the box, and tossed it on the table. Then I hugged her until she grunted that I was crushing her.
I let her go. “Sorry.”
She pretended to shake out her arms. “I see the faerie strength is finally kicking in.”
“It comes and goes.” I couldn’t stop smiling. “You’re home!”
“You didn’t think I was going to miss your birthday.” She took off her coat and hung it over the back of a chair. “Where is everyone?”
“Finch and Aisla are in the office, and Dad had to run out. He should be back soon.”
She walked into the living room and sank down on the couch. “Perfect. That gives us time to catch up before the birthday festivities begin.”
“Tell me everything about the movie. What was it like being on an actual movie set?” She and I had texted every day, but she hadn’t gone into a lot of detail.
“It was exciting at first, but it gets old fast. This movie has a ton of CGI, so there’s a lot of green screen shooting. I was able to get away for a few days because they won’t be shooting the rest of my scenes until later.” Her face lit up. “Oh! I’m doing two extra scenes I wasn’t supposed to have. The director thought there weren’t enough females in them, so they’re switching out a male actor for me.”