The Keepers (The Alchemy Series) (23 page)

“How do you feel?”

“Hmmm? I’m fine.”

“I’m not holding your hand anymore.”

So wrapped up in the moment, everything else had fallen from notice. As I realized I now stood alone
, I had to fight the urge not to cling to the closest tree, but I didn’t.

“You aren’t floating away.” He smiled but awkwardness hung in the air. Although nothing was said, we both knew what had just happened.

“Yes, I guess I’m cured. Mostly, anyway.”

“It’ll take a while to completely get over it.”

“Yes.” My mind was racing so fast it was hard to even keep track of what he was saying. “I’m actually a little cold. Let’s go back in.”

As we left the roof, I pondered to myself how quickly things change. The pursued to the rejected, and what a bitter taste it left.

While I cleaned out my trailer fridge, I thought of the last visitors from Festiva who had left this morning. I hadn’t been here in a while, and although I was about as far from Susie homemaker as you got, the milk and few other provisions I did have were long past their prime.

I’d come over here
this morning to pay the rent for the next three months—working for Cormac paid generously. I also needed some space. It was hard getting use to this much togetherness, especially with how rejected I felt. I needed somewhere private to lick my wounds. I wasn’t used to having people around constantly. If it wasn’t Cormac, it was Dodd or Buzz. Then there was Ben. I don’t know where he had gone for the last week but he was there all the time, now.

I couldn’t even leave without the Cormac interrogation of where I was headed, another thing that drove m
e crazy, lately. I wanted to walk out the door for once without everyone having to know where I was going, and what I was doing. When I told him I was headed here, he couldn’t understand why. It was perhaps the stupidest question he had asked. Eventually this portal issue would be resolved, was I suppose to live in a tent in the desert, then? I knew he figured I’d have the money, but maybe I didn’t want to blow it on a place I didn’t need. Maybe I liked my trailer, even if no one else did.

It had been a little stressful getting here
, since I still had my fear-of-floating-away anxiety going on, but it hadn’t happened once while I was awake. Since being on the roof the other night, I was starting to feel confident that maybe I wouldn’t drift off into space. I guess there was one positive thing that came out of it.

Walking around my little space, I was so glad I’d come. I lounged on my couch and flipped on my crappy little TV. It was a second hand couch, I stared at a twenty-inch screen, and I was happy. The setting sun filtered in a warm glow through my window, and I completely relaxed for the first time in weeks.

I heard my phone ring in my purse, and I wanted to ignore it. Only Cormac and his men called me. I wanted, no needed, a Cormac free zone, but I knew if I didn’t answer, I’d most likely have someone pounding on the door, soon. I gave up and dug my phone out.

“Hello?”

“Where are you?”

“I’m at my place
, Cormac. I told you I would be here.”

“When are you coming back?”

“I’m staying here for tonight,” I said and then waited.

“Okay. When you coming back?”

I would have fallen over if I hadn’t been sitting. No fight?

“I’ll be back at nine.”

No argument, he just hung up. That was easy. Perhaps I was toeing the line too much. Nah, that couldn’t be it.

I looked out the windo
w, knowing that there wasn’t much time before full nightfall, and quickly grabbed my worn out sneakers. I hadn’t been out running in weeks. I’d gone on the treadmill in the gym of the casino, but I longed to be outside. I wanted to feel my body moving, instead of feeling like a gerbil on a wheel.

I stretched my legs
, then ran at a sprint because the world lay open and I could. I pushed all anxiety away, refusing even to think of it. I quickly became winded, and then fell into a slower steady pace. I didn’t make my way back to my place until a light sheen of sweat covered me and there was only the tiniest glimmer of light left in the sky.

My panting, and my complete physical relaxation from the strenuous exertion, added to my being oblivious to the two men until one of them had my arm wrenched behind my back.

The other thug, the one I could see, circled in front of me.

“You sure this is her?” He was huge, with a thick barrel chest, and greasy hair.

“She looks identical to the picture,” the guy who held me said.

“Okay, let’s get her to the car before anyone sees us.”

I fell limp, lulling the guy holding me into a false sense of security. I didn’t look like a threat, and I didn’t want to let them know I might be one. Might, I wasn’t sure, myself, how much of one I really was. I saw their car not twenty feet away, and I wanted to shoot myself for not having noticed it before. Didn’t matter, as long as these two weren’t Keepers, I could take them. I’d prefer the odds of one at a time, hell, I’d prefer a lot of things to be different, but that wasn’t working out too hot for me.

The larger of the two men walked ahead, clearly not concerned about me, which left me with just the one in near proximity. I’d never done it blind before, but I shot the energy through my arms, hoping for good contact.

It wasn’t perfect, but he let out a yelp and released me long enough to finish the job. My knee connected between his legs and I blasted him full force. Before I’d finished, a hand grabbed my shoulder, and ripped me away from my current victim. With no time to dodge the huge fist aimed right at my face, I concentrated on throwing my hands on his arm when he connected. It hurt like a son of a gun when he did, and I was afraid I’d lose consciousness, but I held on. I’d managed to throw enough juice at him that he was clutching his arm in agony. I wasn’t sure how long I’d have, so I took off at a run with no cell phone or purse.

I couldn’t find a single pay phone. Ever since cell phones, they’ve become increasingly harder and harder to find. An hour later, I was still jogging at a steady pace and had just made it to the Vegas Strip. I knew I must have looked a wreck because of the
number of stares I received.

I’d given up on stopping to call, and just jogged the whole way over. My legs burned w
orse than the last marathon I’d run, and I never thought I’d feel so grateful to be back at Lacard.

No one questioned me as I walked in. They all recognized
me. I wasn’t sure if Cormac handed my picture out or what, but lately I could do whatever I wanted without so much as a raised eyebrow.

My feet were sore by
the time I stepped out of the elevator into the hallway that led to the penthouse. The hall was empty, which was slightly unusual, but not unheard of when Cormac was home. You couldn’t get off of his floor without entering a code, anyway, so it wasn’t necessary.

The moment I opened the door, I knew something was odd. I just didn’t know what. Then I noticed the smell of perfume that lingered in the air, and it clawed at my brain. I knew that scent.

I turned the corner to find Lacey’s back to me, her hand rested on Cormac’s thigh. Cormac’s eyes shifted upward to mine instantly and locked.

I wasn’t sure what he saw there, but I knew what I felt like. It stabbed right to the heart of me. While
I attacked, he’d been trying to screw the only friend I’d ever had.

The other night suddenly made sense to me. He’d moved on.
I said nothing, I knew I didn’t have any valid cause to be upset. I stepped out of the room before Lacey even noticed my presence, and closed my door as silently as possible. Then I lay on my bed in the dark.

When a knock sounded
on my door less than five minutes later, I wasn’t sure who it was, Lacey or Cormac. It didn’t make a difference. I didn’t want to see either of them. Lacey was still the only friend I had and I didn’t want to not be happy for her, but it was hard and I needed a little time to adjust. And Cormac, well, I just didn’t want to see him.

“I’m just getting in th
e shower.”

“Let me in.” It was Cormac’s baritone voice.

“I’ll come out when I’m done.”

My eyes shot to the door as it swung open.

“What the hell happened to you? You’re a mess.”

I had a vague idea of what I probably looked like. I knew my
nose had bled when the thug punched me in the face, I was also aware my torn shirt and who knew how much dirt clung to me.

“How did you get in? Where is Lacey?”

“I sent Lacey home. Told her I forgot about a meeting.”

“You never forget anything.”

“Yeah, well, she bought it.”

“How did you get in?”

“Hanger. Now what happened to you? You’re a wreck.”

“Two guys jumped me on my way back from a jog.” I gave him a complete rundown of the short events.

“Did they say anything else?”

“Nothing much. Just compared me to a photo they had and agreed I was the correct target.”

“Let me look at your nose.”

“My nose is fine.”

“It looks broken.”

“Ow! Get off!” I said as he leaned over me and started touching my face.

“We’ve got to get that set unless you want to look like a former boxer for the rest of your days. I’ll call the doctor.”

“I’ll do it myself.”

“You’ll never be able to do it yourself.”

He reached in again to touch my face and I knocked his hand away.

“Why are you angry?”

“I’m not,” I screamed.

I pushed off the bed and stepped around him into the bathroom. My reflection caught me a bit off guard; blood had dripped down my face and made a trail down the front of my ripped shirt. Cormac’s reflection over my left shoulder grimaced.

“We have to get that set
. Your bones are already meshing together.”

“I’m handling it.” I gently ran my fingers along the crooked bridge of my nose, trying to determine the best way to proceed.

“You have no right to be mad.”

“I’m not sure if you noticed, but I
don’t have a lot of friends. Do you have to fuck the only one I have?”

“I haven’t fucked her. She’s a nice girl. Did you want me to wait around forever
?”

I didn’t want to admit it, but yes, that is exactly what I had wanted him to do. Just because I rejected him, didn’t mean he was suppose
d to move to the next girl. What kind of crap was that?

“Why her?”

“Why not? Did you have someone else in mind?”

Unfortunately, I did, whether I wanted to admit it or not. Not willing to go there, I ignored the question and tried to figure out what to do about my nose. He was right, if I didn’t get it straightened out soon, I would indeed look like an ex-boxer.
I gripped the bottom portion of my nose and saw Cormac shake his head.

“You’re going to do it wrong.”

“Shut up. I’ve got this under control.”

I closed my eyes, took a large breath and tried to ram it into place. The pain was horrific and it took a minute to catch my breath and get control. Once I did
, I looked at my handy work. It looked worse than when I had started.

“
I told you. Now turn around and let me see how much worse you made it.”

I complied out of a sheer panic of vanity. I’d always been pretty, and I
suddenly realized I didn’t want to be any other way.

“We might not have time to call the doctor. You’re really starting to set up.”

“That quickly?”

“It happens like that sometimes.”

“You’re right, I can’t do it. Fix it.”

“I
t’s going to hurt like hell.”

“Just do it.”

“You sure?”

“I don’t want a crooked nose. Do it!”

I thought he was going to argue with me, but he just snapped my bones back. The pain shot through my head and I ran over to the toilet and threw up what little I had eaten.

A wet towel hung near my face after I finished.

“I thought you were going to give me a warning first.”

“Just makes it worse.”

“Not possible. It didn’t feel that bad when it happened.”

“You had adrenaline pumping through you. I’m putting the guys back on you.”

“No, you are not.”

“Yes
, I am.”

“You gave me your word.”

“When you weren’t being attacked.”

“So you are breaking it?”

He stood silently for a moment. I knew I had hit a nerve. “How about no guards as long as you are on the casino grounds? You take someone if you go anywhere else.”

I was about to open my mouth in protest.

“Work with me.”

“Fine. Now back up. You’re crowding me.” Every cell in my body was
at full alert with him so close.