Secret Worlds (578 page)

“Jesus, Davis. Are you kidding me?” Ari’s heart pounded in her chest.

“Yeah, this is not really how I saw this happening.”

“Saw what? Me finding you creeping around my house? At midnight?”

“Can I come down?”

“Are you going to murder me?” She said it as a joke, but there was a hint of truth behind her words.

“Of course not.” Ari waved him down and he landed noiselessly. “I’m not here to hurt you.”

“No, you’re just a stalker or something?”

“Really? You think I’m the stalker?” he said dryly, obviously noting her nights at the club. “I’d hoped we would see each other officially, like at work or back at the club, but you’ve been hiding from me. I didn’t have any other choice.”

“I wasn’t stalking you,” Ari defended.

“What were you doing then?”

Ari leaned against the back porch railing. “Blowing off steam.”

“I understand that,” he said. “But alone and looking like that? Seems a little dangerous.”

“I told you, I’ve never done anything like that before.”

“Like what?” he asked, taking a step closer. “Gone to a club alone? Had an immediate attraction with another person?”

“Sucked face for an hour with a guy I didn’t know?” And embarrassingly realize he’s a colleague the next day? she thought. “Nope, that was the first time.”

“I haven’t stopped thinking about you since,” he confessed, easing toward her. He placed his palm flat against the side of the house but kept his eyes steady on hers.

Ari’s stomach burned with desire. “How does this even work?”

She knew, though. She knew the answer. Because she felt alive for the first time in days. Her heart beat strong and the hair on the back of her neck rose in excitement. It didn’t matter how this worked. It only mattered that he pushed the numbness away.

“No strings?” she asked, because she couldn’t get into something with this guy. Not with how things were going with Nick.

“None,” he agreed, closing the space between them. He waited for her to kiss him first and Ari didn’t waste any time. Their mouths were warm against the cold night air but she let out a shriek when his freezing fingertips grazed the skin on her back.

“Shhh …” she said, as though he had been the one to make the commotion. “My roommate’s asleep. Plus my neighbor is 98 years old. She’ll call the cops on you in a heartbeat.”

“I’ll be quiet,” he said, leaning down for another kiss, harder this time. Ari felt the connection from her head to her toes, zipping through her like a bolt of lightning.

“Do you want to come in?” she asked foolishly.

He nodded and breathed, “Yeah,” into her mouth and it felt nice not to be turned down. It felt amazing to be wanted. She ushered him into the house and shut the door to the backyard thinking how awesome it was to feel alive.

***

He touched her stars. All of them. The three on her hip. The one on her foot. The scattered constellation on her shoulder. He didn’t ask her about them though, because that counted as a string and Ari refused to go there. Not with this guy. He was heat and fire and, well, sex.

“Mmmhmmm,” Ari breathed, biting her fist to keep quiet. Davis rolled on his back with Ari straddling his hips. His hands grazed her skin, her breasts, keeping every nerve on edge. Davis stripped off his shirt and pulled hers over her head. His hot mouth covered her body in kisses until he settled down, perhaps realizing she wasn’t going to disappear—that this was happening.

Davis barely had the condom on before Ari felt him inside. Pushing his hips against her own. This was undoubtedly the dumbest thing she’d ever done. But possibly the only thing that could pull her out of the continuous funk that threatened to pull her under. The trade-off was worth it. At least momentarily.

Seeing Davis resting his head on her pillow made her head hurt. Surely he wasn’t the guy that should be there. But he was. He’d come for her. He knew what she needed and as she rolled her hips and reached that place where she was unable to catch her breath, unable to see straight—she forgot about everyone else. He sat up to kiss her, pushing her on her back where she could see all eight of his magnificent ab muscles, shaded perfectly in the dark room. He kept his eyes closed when he reached his own climax. Ari watched as his nose wrinkled and she ran her hand down his chest. Moments later he fell into a crumpled, gasping heap on top of her body.

Under Davis’ heavy weight, every inch of her body felt alive for the first time in months. The word she searched for was satiated. He lay there for a moment before rolling off, kissing her neck gently. Barely awake, she curled toward him, drifting off into sleep.

***

“So you finally talked Nick into staying over, huh?” Oliver said the next morning.

Ari choked on her coffee. “What?”

“Not to sound like a perv but you guys were going at it pretty hard when I got up to go to the bathroom. You kick him out or something?”

Taking her cup to the sink, Ari poured the remaining contents down the drain. She used a napkin to wipe the dripping coffee off her pajamas. “Yeah, he got up early and went home.”

“Tell him he doesn’t have to sneak in next time. I’m not your dad or some crazy older brother with a shotgun.” He made a pretend shotgun motion. What a dork. “But then again, maybe he and I should have a talk. Man to man.”

“Please don’t say anything to him, okay? He’s skittish due to our working relationship and potential problems with all that. We agreed not to talk to anyone about it, okay?”

“That wasn’t some kind of booty call was it?”

How could someone so self-absorbed and ridiculous also be so perceptive? Ari wondered. “Just be cool, okay?”

“I can be cool,” he agreed. “Won’t say a word—swear.”

“Thanks,” Ari said in relief. Nick. That was a problem she didn’t give much thought to last night. She’d had an itch and Davis scratched it. She and Nick weren’t exclusive, he wouldn’t even come in the house. There was no doubt Ari wanted to justify her decision, and she was justified. It didn’t matter anyway. One-time thing, she assured herself, as she walked out of the kitchen to get ready for work. No big deal.

***

Much to Ari’s relief, her interaction with Davis was limited after that night. She suspected it was a one-time thing for him, too, the kind of thing that built up from their first meeting at the club and had escalated from there. He’d sent her a package including two tickets to the fighting event at the GYC on Friday night. A small note inside listed Curtis’ time and event. Apparently he’d decided to let him participate after all. She double-checked the envelope, but there were no other messages inside. Maybe this was one of those one-night stands that worked.

Glad her hookup with Davis could be compartmentalized, Ari found herself obsessing over different things during the following days. Nick occupied a segment of her mind that normally remained rusty and forgotten. She liked him. A lot. His texts and phone calls had become the highlight of her day, other than the real treat of meeting him for lunch in her office or with a group for dinner. The lunch date was fairly benign and consisted mostly of talking about work, but dinner ended in a tentative make-out session in the back hallway of the restaurant. Ari had a feeling the mutual self-imposed rule of “taking it slow” was about to crack—it just depended on which one of them would crumble first.

“Sure you can’t come with me on Friday?” Ari asked. She’d spent the last 30 minutes alternately kissing Nick and trying to convince him into going to the fight at the GYC with her.

Nick pushed a wisp of flyaway hair over her ear and said, “I wish I could, but I promised my mother I’d help her move some furniture.”

“Doting son, eh?”

“Total mama’s boy. I can’t even deny it,” he laughed. “Why are you going to this again?”

“The director asked me to come to the fight. And I told Curtis I would be there.”

Nick touched her chin with his thumb, holding her gaze. “It’s okay to take a night off, you know. These kids will survive if you miss an activity.”

“Honestly, I’m interested to see how it all works. I suspect it’s a glorified fight club.” This wasn’t just a suspicion, it was a fear. Ari had a feeling she’d probably end up reporting the program for inappropriate conduct. She wanted to see it for herself.

“Hey Ari, come here!” Oliver called from his seat near the bar. Nick gave Ari a fast kiss before spinning her toward the seating area. Oliver showed up with Veronica again. Rebecca and some other girls sat together. All of them were looking up at the television screen.

“What’s up?” Ari asked, moving next to Oliver.

He gestured his beer bottle at the screen. “There’s your boy. Back in action.”

On the television, a reporter stood outside a fast food restaurant surrounded by police tape. In the corner was the same photo as last time, the word “Vigilante” stamped across the top.

The mystery man.

Or her mystery man as she’d begun calling him. He was her other obsession. She’d kept an ear out for any information about him since the package had been delivered to her office. He’d been scarce. Until now.

“Where is that?” she asked.

“Burlington Road,” Veronica said. “Seems like some kid tried to rob the store and had everyone held hostage in the back. That guy, the Vigilante, came in and stopped it.”

“Shhh,” Nick said from behind her. She felt his fingers on her hip.

Ari looked back at the television and the reporter held a microphone out to an older woman with curly blonde hair in her Chicken Shack uniform. “The kid came in yelling and cursing. I was working the fry station. He came around the counter and made all of us go in the back. He wanted in the safe even though it’s on a timer. Not even Jim,” she paused, her eyes wide and nervous, “the manager can open it until it’s time. Nikki was crying and he hit her—that’s when the other guy came in. I thought it was another robber but he jumped over the counter and told the robber to stop before someone got hurt.”

“So the Vigilante accosted the robber?”

“Yep. The robber held his gun up to him and the Vigilante kicked the gun out of his hand and got him down on the ground. He told all of us to get out, and we did. I wasn’t hanging around to see what happened.”

“What did the Vigilante look like?”

“I don’t know. It all happened so fast. Plus his hood covered half of his face.”

“Was he tall? Short?” The reporter looked at the camera. “Any description you can give now can help the police find this man.”

“Why would I want to help the police find him?” she asked, incredulously. “He saved my ass and everyone else in that restaurant.”

“What would you do then if you saw him again?”

“I’d give him a big hug. He’s a hero.”

The camera cut to the next story and Ari looked way from the screen. Oliver gave her a drunken smile. “Uh oh, your superhero-boyfriend saved someone else.”

Ari narrowed her eyes. “Oliver, you’re drunk. Shut it.”

“What’s he talking about?” Nick asked.

“Nothing. I’ve just been following this guy—the crazy vigilante. It’s kind of like Glory City has our own superhero.”

Nick frowned. “I wouldn’t really call that guy a superhero. He really should leave situations like that to the professionals.”

“Yeah! He should totally leave it to the cops, you know, because they’re so awesome at catching the bad guys and stuff,” Oliver piped in. “But you guys stick together, right?” Veronica saw the look on Ari’s face and pulled him toward her. Good thing, since Ari was one second from smacking his obnoxious grin off.

Nick stood behind Ari and she reached around him for her jacket. “I’ve got a meeting first thing in the morning, so I really should go.”

Nick grabbed his own coat and followed her out the door. When they got outside, he stopped her. “You aren’t mad at what I said back there are you?”

“Nah, not mad. Just tired, and Oliver’s an obnoxious drunk.” Nick put his arm around her waist and pulled her close. She nuzzled into his warm arms.

“I guess I’ll see you next week?” Ari asked.

“Yeah, I’ll probably get home from my parents’ late Sunday. I’ll give you a call.”

“Have a good trip.”

“Be safe at that fight—and steer clear of all superheroes okay? I can’t compete against that.”

Ari smiled. “So that’s it. You’re jealous.”

“Of a guy who may wear tights and probably, most definitely, has abs of steel? Yes.”

Ari reached for his face and pulled him close, “Jealousy makes you kind of cute.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yep,” she said and gave him a kiss goodnight.

***

The last thing Ari expected to see when she walked to her car the next morning was a patrol car, idling by the curb. Officer Baker waved from his rolled-down window. Ari locked the front door and walked down the driveway.

“Everything okay?” she asked.

“Just wanted you to know there was another armed robbery last night. Similar M.O. as the last time. It’s possible Jace Watkins was there.”

“Is this the one all over the news? I saw that. But didn’t they catch everyone?”

“Nope. Different robbery, but it happened around the same time. This crew got in and out quickly. They didn’t waste time on the safe, which is what held them up at the hardware store. The leader—he matches the description we have on Jace. Hopefully, we’ll have some security footage to look through.”

Yeah, that and a hooded vigilante, Ari thought. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because it happened at The Garage.”

“That’s just down the street—I was there last night.”

“It happened about an hour after closing. We asked for a list of customers for possible witnesses and you were on it. Probably a coincidence, but I wanted to let you know. This kid is around too much—and he’s from your office, the hardware store, and now the bar. It makes me uncomfortable.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Ms. Grant, give me a call if anything suspicious happens, okay? Any other break-ins or vandalism—anything suspicious.”

“Of course,” she told him. “But I doubt it’s him. You know these kids are poor planners. They’re too impulsive. The car thing—sure. The robberies? Must be a fluke.”