I had to take another deep breath because it was hard for me to confess that, to admit that I’d never been with a man in a way that could be called “lovemaking” and not just a fuck. It didn’t make me feel good about myself, but I knew that what I got was what I put myself in the position to get.
“Selene,” Micah said. There was a lot of emotion in his voice. We were close enough that I could feel his body heat, and it was making me feel a little heady.
“I don’t think you took advantage of me,” I said. “I think I took advantage of you by not realizing what I was being offered and treating you like I treated everyone else. Didn’t matter that I was drunk.”
Micah didn’t say anything, so we just stood there staring into each other’s eyes while my hand played across his skin. What I felt just being close to Micah scared me. A lot.
“Selene, may I have a word with you?” Andrew’s voice in my ear jolted me back to reality, and I snatched my hand away from Micah like I’d been burned. But I was sure Andrew had already seen.
I managed a smile as I turned to him. There was a dark look in his eyes, and I knew he only wanted to get me away from Micah. I wasn’t going to be pulled like some puppet on a string though.
“Actually I’m a little busy—”
“Micah! You made it, you look great!” The interrupting voice belonged to Amy, who bounced in out of nowhere and snaked her arm through Micah’s. “Oh, hi, Selene,” she said, very much like I was an afterthought. She turned her attention back to Micah. “The bartender let me make up my own drink, and I think it came out pretty good. You have to try it!”
She started to tug Micah away, and he couldn’t free himself from her without it becoming awkward, so before I knew it, he was walking to the other end of the bar with Amy chattering next to him. He glanced over his shoulder at me, but Andrew was suddenly in my line of view, so I had to focus on him.
“Yes?” I said, sipping my drink to try and hide my annoyance at him and Amy. Couldn’t two people stand around, flirt, have eye contact, and reminisce about the one time they’d been in bed together without getting interrupted?
“Come, darling, you look far too good to stand around chatting with Micah all night.” He tried to steer me away from the bar, but I stepped aside.
“And since when do you get a say in who I stand around talking to?” I said, unable to hide my annoyance. “It’s a cocktail party, isn’t it? The point is to stand around and talk.”
“Oh, Selene.” He ran his hand up my side, the movement hidden by the bar and the shadows around us. He leaned forward as though he was reaching for a napkin behind me, and his lips brushed against my ear. “Why don’t we go to a quieter room to ‘talk’?” he whispered.
I was at the same time turned on and more annoyed. I took a deep breath and stood back.
“Resistance?” Andrew said, taking a sip of his scotch. “I do find that sexy on you. I’m not used to being resisted.”
“I’ll bet,” I said. “But I didn’t come here for that.”
“So you took the time to look as fucking hot as you do right now just to stand around and drink?” The tone in his voice said he most definitely didn’t believe that.
“So what if I did?” I said, draining my drink and almost slamming the glass down. The strength of the alcohol as well as how quickly I’d consumed my two drinks was starting to have an effect. And if there was one thing alcohol did to me, it was make me want to take advantage of any sexy man in my sights. And right now, it was Andrew. I was still annoyed at his audacity, but also turned on by it. When I stood there staring at him without saying anything, Andrew smiled a slow, seductive smile.
“We could slip away unnoticed for a few minutes,” he said.
I was fighting with myself and gathering my resolve to tell him no when I looked past him just in time to see Micah lean toward Amy and whisper something in her ear, which made her giggle. Something hot and angry flashed through me, and it was probably irrational, but when I looked at Andrew again, he knew that my answer was yes.
* * *
We ended up in Andrew’s bedroom, but oddly enough, we weren’t on the bed. Andrew had me up against the wall, and the straps of my dress were already down, leaving my breasts bare for the attention of his hands. Well, one of them. The other hand was under my dress, which had ridden up my thighs to accommodate his roving touch.
As usual, Andrew was all aggression and dominance, but I wasn’t getting the same thrill I usually got out of it. I kept picturing the way Micah had looked at me and how I’d felt just from being close to him. I was also getting flashes of the night Micah and I had spent together, and it was distracting me from what Andrew was doing. He ran his tongue up my neck to my lips, where he proceeded to kiss me deeply and thoroughly, like he wanted to eat my lips right off my face, and my engine still wasn’t revved up for him.
“Care to do something for me?” he asked, pulling back and bracing his hands on either side of my head.
He seemed oblivious to my lack of reaction, which didn’t surprise me. He spread his legs a little, and I knew what he meant. I smiled up at him, hoping that I looked enthused about going down on him, and started to unbuckle his pants.
“Of course,” I said.
He cupped my cheek in his hand then. “Selene, you know how beautiful I think you are, right?”
“Of course…” I said again. There was an intensity in his eyes that I had never seen before.
“You make me feel like a younger man,” he said. “I think that’s why I lost my temper with you yesterday. I just crave you so much.”
That seemed like something every woman wanted to hear, but it wasn’t exactly music to my ears. My hands were still on his pants, and I wondered why he had suddenly interjected this interlude.
“You’re a vivacious woman. I lie awake thinking about you sometimes, did you know that?”
I frowned. I definitely had not known that.
“I’m not worth that much thought,” I said. I tugged at his zipper, but he suddenly took my hands in his and held them tightly.
“I can do so much for you,” he said. I laughed a little, because this was getting awkward. The relationship Andrew and I had didn’t involve this kind of conversation.
“I don’t think there’s much we haven’t done, Andrew.”
“That’s not what I meant,” he said. His tone and expression remained intense. “I can do more for you than any man, more than Micah. I can take care of you—”
“Is that what this is about?” I asked sharply. “You see me talking to Micah, and you suddenly want to assert yourself on me? I’m not your property, Andrew. I’m allowed to talk to whoever I want and do whatever I want with them. And I don’t need anyone to take care of me.” His eyes tightened. “You have some nerve—”
Just then my cell phone buzzed in my clutch, so I moved away from Andrew to answer it, happy for the interruption. I was not turned on in the least. When I looked at the screen, I saw that it was Ilyse calling.
“Hey, Ilyse, what’s up?”
“Selene?” The ragged tone of her voice immediately made me tense up. “There’s been a murder at the office,” she continued. “Several murders. Among the dead witches. I tried to call Andrew, but he didn’t answer his phone.”
“Oh no,” I said. I turned to Andrew. “There’s been murder at the office.”
His face immediately became all business, and he fixed his clothes and dashed out of the bedroom.
“How many?” I asked Ilyse. I’d let him get a head start before I left the room.
“Three,” Ilyse replied, choking on a sob. “No one saw who did it; no one understands how it happened. This building is usually so secure.”
“I’m on my way,” I said.
I ran out and headed back to the party area, immediately finding Micah as though I had some sort of radar for him. I pulled him away from Amy, who didn’t look happy about it.
“There’s been murder at the office,” I said, voice low. I didn’t want everyone else to know yet because there’d be less confusion. Micah looked shocked, then his face grew serious, and we headed for the door. Andrew had already left, and I wondered how long it’d be before someone noticed the host was gone.
Micah and I headed to our cars and drove to the office. Even though it was Saturday, I knew a few dead witches sacrificed their weekend from time to time to get work done. When we got there, I realized in horror that the death toll started in the lobby; both security guards on duty were dead.
We headed up to the eighth floor, where Andrew already was. The dead witches who were still on their feet were in an upset. Many of them were crying. I saw Ilyse playing the role of comforter, but she looked spooked. I went over and gave her a hug.
She looked at me and shook her head, tears welling in her eyes, and I hugged her again. Then I went over to where Micah and Andrew were standing near the victims. Micah already had a rune stone out and was scanning one of the bodies. They were lying near the room where the dead witches worked with runes, and the entire room had been ransacked.
I looked around the suite and realized something—the workroom was the only place that had been trashed. The rest of the office was in perfect order.
Whoever had done this had specifically targeted the witches’ workroom. That didn’t leave me with a good feeling. The witches stored runes here that were important to cases we worked. More specifically, the runes we drew ghost energy with to track beasties. After they were used, we gave them to the dead witches.
The rune Micah and I had turned in from the scan done on Leslie’s body would be here. We’d been told that whoever had handled Athena’s body had also gathered a small amount of ghost energy from her corpse, so if our rune was gone, then I was sure that one would be gone as well.
“Fuck,” I said, walking into the room and looking around. Rune stones were scattered across the floor. Everything was usually labeled, but a lot of labels now lay strewn about, torn from their stones.
Someone really didn’t want us to track down Ethan’s body. Without those runes, the only chance I had was the tracking rune I had created. I took it out of my purse and held it in my hand for a few moments, but it still wasn’t working. I was feeling quite discouraged.
“The morgue sent people up for the bodies,” Micah said, coming up behind me. “The runes didn’t pick up anything from the bodies; the cause of death was actually bullet wounds.”
“Killed from a distance, leaving nothing behind that can be traced,” I said. “Smart. You’re thinking what I’m thinking about who did this, right?”
Micah nodded. “The body-jacker. He was probably looking for the runes turned in after scanning Leslie and Athena’s bodies, to keep us from tracking him.”
I ran my fingers through my hair, frustrated. This was far from where I thought the night would end up. Only in our line of work could Micah and I go from flirting over cocktails to a crime scene within an hour.
“What’s your conclusion?” Micah and I turned to see Andrew step into the room. I suddenly felt tense, and not only because of the murder.
“We’re thinking the culprit is the person we’re already hunting,” Micah said. “The one who killed Leslie and Athena.”
“Won’t know for sure until we find out if what we think is missing is actually missing,” I added. Andrew nodded, looking grim.
“Katherine, Lisa, and Ora,” he said. Those were the names of the dead witches who’d been killed. “The other dead witches who were here didn’t get a look at the killer’s face. They said he was masked and moved too quickly for them to try and stop him. You two better solve this before he kills again. I have to go talk to the police.” He stalked out of the room without looking at me again.
By now, the bodies had been taken away and all that remained were the bloodstains on the carpet. Micah and I walked out of the room.
“Ilyse, how quickly do you think someone can conclude what’s missing from the workroom?” I asked.
“Within a day, hopefully,” she said. She was trembling slightly, and her eyes were too wide.
I felt terrible and incredibly pissed that this had happened. Not only was the killer murdering purposely, he was also killing senselessly in order to try and keep us off his trail.
“Okay.” I put my arm around her shoulders. “Go home and get some rest, Ilyse. This mess will still be here in the morning.”
She nodded, but I knew it was unlikely that she would leave for a while. Micah hugged her as well, and we spent some time talking to and lending comfort to the other dead witches who were around before we left.
“I’m going home,” I said, leaning against my car, which Micah had walked me to. “It’s lame to leave a cocktail party so early, but I just can’t go back.” Not only because of the murders, but because when Andrew returned, I didn’t want to be the focus of his attention again. The murders would make him want a distraction, and I wasn’t in the mood to be that distraction.
“I’m heading home too,” Micah said. “You okay?”
“Meh,” I said with a shrug. Micah pulled me into a hug then, which startled me, but I relaxed into it, realizing how good it felt to be held by him.
“We’ll find him,” Micah whispered against my hair. I nodded. He held me for a little while longer, and when he let go, he touched my cheek gently, then headed to his car.
Chapter Thirteen
Ethan was eagerly awaiting me at home, but for a change, it wasn’t so he could badger me about finding his body. He seemed really excited to show me something, which made me wonder what mischief a ghost could have gotten into in my house. I dropped my clutch; checked on Luna, who was dozing on her doggie bed; then followed Ethan into the living room.
“Look at this!” he said. He bent over the coffee table and slowly reached his hand out and picked up the remote. “I can touch things!”
“I’m aware,” I said. “If you recall, I gave you energy runes to make you tangible.”
“But those runes stopped working!” Ethan said. “And I can still hold things!” He pointed to the coffee table, and I was shocked to see the runes I’d placed on him lying there. “They fell through me after a few hours, which means the energy was depleted, right?”