Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 113319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
She stared.
He clearly took that as a yes and continued. “I had left this to Master Jimmy, but given he is now coming with us and has no need of it, I will pass it on to you.” He put a credit card on the island, followed by a wad of cash. “If you should find yourself in an emergency, this is a credit card with a very high ceiling and a lot of cash. Get yourself out however you can, and then call the miss—”
“I’m the miss,” I said, dropping my hands from her shoulders. My heart expanded to fill my whole chest at this confirmation of what he’d done for Jimmy.
“Someone will be there to collect you promptly. This applies no matter where you are in the world. If you wake up in a coffin in Mexico with no recollection of how you got there, call us. An underground prison in Rome, call us. An—”
“She gets it, she gets it,” I told him. “She’s not in that kind of situation.”
“You have no idea what kind of situation you might find yourself in until you’re in the thick of it.” His wings fluttered, and I had to concede the point, though I couldn’t imagine she’d find herself in such a situation and still have a phone. “And, might I just say, you are much too nice for someone who is unable to protect you in any helpful way. He is not your mate—”
“Your match, he means.”
“I most certainly do not. If I meant match, I would have said match. There are a great many matches in the world, and candles that will steal their flame. But there is only one mate, and he is not it. Find your mate, as the miss has done. Find your mate so you may find your happiness in love. Until then, find happiness in yourself. He is not worth a ring and a”—he looked around the kitchen—“moderately sized and incredibly uninspired home. Now…” He looked at me. “We must be going. Master Jimmy is famished. He wants something called Texas Roadmap or some such thing. Apparently, there is one on the way back.”
I looked through the drawers to find a piece of paper.
“I have it,” she said in a small voice. “I have your number. Matt gave it to me a while back.”
“Oh right, okay. Good. I didn’t feel comfortable rifling through your things. Use it.”
I veered to the chocolate-covered strawberries, grabbed the tray—I deserved a treat after all that—and headed for the front door.
“Mr. Tom, where is Niamh? The night is young. Let’s go see what she’s been up to.”
EIGHTEEN
Niamh
“That’s not…really what I meant,” Aurora said, her face turning red at the suggestion that she’d come out here so she could ride random guys. “I guess I wanted to go to a place no one knew me, somewhere I could swear and act out. Dance or dress sexy without someone running to tell my dad. Or my uncle.”
Niamh’s phone vibrated. A text from Ulric saying they were leaving the ex’s house, dropping Jimmy off into the safety of the wards, and then going out for drinks. He wanted to know what bar they should head to.
Not this one. She didn’t want any of them around here. They’d cause all sorts of ruckus and people would look at Niamh differently. Then they wouldn’t talk so freely, and she had made some very interesting connections over the last few days.
She typed back, telling him to have Jessie pick one. Or he could. He’d circled some of the posher areas over the last couple of nights. According to him, the clientele got a kick out of his “vibe.” She assumed they meant his cape.
“If that’s all ye’re lookin’ for, ye could do that with anyone, like.” Niamh waved Aurora’s suggestion away. “Go out with Ulric and Jasper. Hell, go out with Jessie. She lets her hair down and does those things. We’re not a bunch of nuns around here. And if ye need to sneak off into a quiet corner and get a little feather tickle, just ask Jasper which corner is the most discreet and mum’s the word. He somehow finds willing partners to knock boots with just about anywhere. Ulric calls it a gift. I call it a sticky mess for some poor sod to have to clean up after closing. Anyway, the rest of them are going out for drinks here soon, so ye’d best finish up so we can get a move on…”
Her words dwindled away as a familiar smell wafted past her. It rode the currents of the air, leaking into the bar and all around her. The creature generating the scent wasn’t moving past the place but lingering, ready to come in.
It had found her. She’d figured it might.
“Aurora, move to the chair on the other side of Broken Sue,” she said urgently, applying the seldom-used power of command to her voice to get the young woman moving. “If ye feel fear for any reason, excuse yerself to the jacks.”