WeirdNights (4 page)

“I could use some help.”

Braxton grinned. “I could really use something to do. Since
I’m supposed to be finding myself. Or whatever. Sitting around. Taking classes.
Meditation. It’s not getting it done.”

Jonah could understand that. “Busy is better. Come on. We
have to go get Mindy and then the three of us are going to strategize how to
figure out what kid is causing a poltergeist. Oh.” He shook his head. “Do you
know a Shaman?”

Braxton raised an eyebrow. Yeah, he might look at himself as
if he were nuts too.

* * * * *

Jonah knocked on Mindy’s door. She opened it and stared up
at him. “Shouldn’t you be in the hospital?”

“For stitches? No. They let me go without giving me any
trouble about it. I have a whole story I gave but truth is Foy gives them a lot
of money. He’d get me out of it if I ended up in serious trouble.”

“Well, that’s good.” She scuffed one of her feet on the
ground. “What are you doing here?”

She sounded so forlorn he had to pull her against him for a
hug. Embracing didn’t come naturally for him and he might not have done it
right. She made an oomph sound and it was several seconds before she squeezed
him back.

“Jonah?” Her voice came out tight.

“Yes?” Whatever she needed to say, he wanted to make it
better for her.

“You’re squishing me.”

“Oh.” He let go. Well, hugging would be out of the question.
Why had he thought he could do that? Ridiculous notion.

“Would you like to come in?” Her cheeks turned red and he
wondered just how tightly he’d held her? Had she been choking? Hell.

“No.” He really did not want to come in. Not with the way he
botched everything up. “But I’d like you to come out. Braxton is in the car. We’re
going to strategize. You, him, and me. On ways to beat the poltergeist and find
the kid, which is probably one and the same.”

Her blue eyes lit up and for a second he felt as if he could
float from the sheer joy radiating from them. “You’re going to include me in
this?”

“I am.” He held up her hand when she would have spoken
again. There were conditions and she needed to hear them. “But you’re going to
do what I say—or what Braxton says—without question when it comes to safety.”

Mindy narrowed her eyes and he thought she might argue but
then she exhaled loudly, nodding instead.
Smart girl
. She knew when to
give in to things that were beyond her control. He wished he could learn that
lesson himself.

“The other thing is that you’re going to study and train.
But this time it’s going to be with books that I give you that have proven
methods and truth to them. Not conjecture. For example, you should be able to
tell me after you read them the difference between a poltergeist, a ghost, and
a haunting. They are not the same things. As you saw for yourself earlier
today.”

He’d never forget the feeling of walking into the home and
seeing her about to be assaulted by the thing on the wall. She’d had no idea.
Standing there, muttering her nonsense, holding the sage. Fear didn’t creep
into his world very often but right then he’d known it.

“One more thing.”

She looked up at him. “Yes, Jonah?”

Shit. The way she said his name. He wanted to roll around in
it for a while, hear her utter it in the throes of passion. Shaking his head,
he dismissed the thought. What good did it do to want what he couldn’t have?

“You were right about a couple of things and I was wrong.”

“Oh?” She held his eye contact.

“Yes. Obviously there was more going on at that location
that just the Satan worshipers. I should have listened. In the future, you make
me listen. If we’re going to be a team, that’s what we’re going to be. I won’t
take any running around, vigilante crap.”

“Fair enough.”

“And.” This last part was hard but it had to be said. “I did
bring you here to train you and to be fair I haven’t done what I said I would
do. I left you to the care of Foy’s martial art’s teachers, as if that would be
good enough.”

She shook her head. “You got me a job. An apartment. I’m
enormously grateful.”

“No.” He shouted out. “I don’t want that. Don’t ever feel
beholden to me. I also almost got you killed in Austin.”

“That’s not true. You’re not remembering that correctly.”
She put her hands on her hips.

He didn’t want to hear her versions of events. He knew
perfectly well what had happened. “I didn’t do what I said I would do because I
have feelings for you. I want to fuck you. And it makes me crazed. I’m not
telling you this to make you feel scared or intimidated. I’ve got it under
control now.” He didn’t. But he would. Somehow he would. “And by the time we’re
done here, no one will be able to hurt you. Not a human or a paranormal
creature. You’ll be strong.” When she didn’t speak he cleared his throat. “Get
your shoes on and we’ll go.”

Mindy turned without saying a word and scampered into the
apartment, presumably to put on her shoes. Her bare feet had been driving him
crazy. He could have done without knowing she wore pink polish on her toes.
That seemed far too intimate.

Outside Braxton honked the horn of the car. Jonah rolled his
eyes. He knew eventually he’d get used to all of this, but until then? This was
going to be ridiculously hard.

Jonah
wanted
her. Mindy drummed her hands on the car
and tried to think about something else. There were life and death situations
going on—they were standing outside the house where she’d royally screwed up
waiting for a Shaman for goodness sake. As far as she knew she’d never laid
eyes on a Shaman before in her life. What would he look like?

Braxton had been avoiding her question as to what they had
done with the homeowners, but she didn’t intend to let the topic drop just
because he went all silent on her.

“Seriously. You have to tell me.”

Braxton stood next to her and when she spoke he pulled his
coat tighter.

“Tightening your clothing against the wind doesn’t count as
an answer.”

Jonah hung up the phone and turned to them. “The Shaman is
almost here. What’s going on?”

“He won’t tell me what he did with the homeowners.”

The man who
wanted
her shook his head. “That’s
because he didn’t do anything. I did.”

“What?” Mindy whirled on Braxton. “You could have just said
that.”

“It’s not my business to tell what Jonah does or does not
do.” He tugged on his coat again.

“You really are cold, aren’t you?” Either that or he had
some kind of clothing tic.

“I am. A bit. Weather is different in San Francisco.”

Right at that moment, she wished she had a bottle of cold
water to dump on his head. Make him colder. The jerk. It wasn’t his business to
tell her? What? Were they in grade school?

She whirled on Jonah. “Are you going to tell me what
happened to the homeowners? I have a vested interest in this. I care what
happened to them. This mess is my fault.”

“It’s not…”

Mindy interrupted him before he could let her off the hook
again. For some reason, he never let her feel responsible for anything bad that
happened. If she caused a mess, the least she could do was say so.

“It is, Jonah. So would you please tell me what happened to
them?”

“They got sent on an impromptu vacation to Disney World. His
employer suddenly had a conference he couldn’t make. He sent the guy who lived
here instead. All expenses paid for the whole family. They didn’t even have
enough time to stop home and pack. They have a suitcase full of new things
waiting for them in Orlando.”

“How did you do that?” Tears threatened to pool in her eyes
and she looked away before he could see. If he thought she was a mess he’d
change his mind on this whole thing.

“Foy has contacts everywhere in Chicago. Master may have
taken himself off into la-la land for a while but I can still use his people to
get what I want.” He shrugged and she wanted to hug him. Probably he wouldn’t
like that even though he’d told her he desired her. She’d bungled their
encounter earlier. His hug had come seemingly out of the blue and she hadn’t
known what to do. Of course, she wished she could redo it. Squeeze him tightly
until he took her inside and…

Pushing away the rest of that imagery, she leaned back
against the car to regard his profile. “You did something amazing.”

“I did something necessary. It will always be my job to
protect us from outsiders knowing what we do. That’s how we get to keep doing
it. You, for one, should never have known.”

“There is always going to be a part of me that wishes I
didn’t know too.” She rubbed at her cheek.

Jonah had come into her life when a demonic clown had torn
up Austin. Her best friend had gotten involved with a blood-oathed man who
lived across the hall. Around the same time Mindy’s boyfriend had been
slaughtered, Jonah had arrived in town. He’d sat outside her door at night so
she could sleep and then taken care of her when she’d stupidly gotten herself
bitten up by a hellhound.

Before vanishing to Chicago for months with no word.

Then suddenly he’d returned and offered to take her with him
if she wanted to learn. Jonah Wylie defined the word enigma. One second the
hero, the next the cold, distant, typical male.

“You’re beautiful, you know.”

She didn’t even know what to say. No, she did not know she
was beautiful. Maybe at one time—before her hair happened and her face got
destroyed—she’d been presentable. Men hadn’t turned away being invited to her
bed, even if she hadn’t asked that many of them to do so. Truth was, she’d
never had really fantastic sex.

But she would bet she could have some. With the hottie who
stood next to her. Mindy licked her lips.

“Thank you for the kind words. I think, right now, I look a
little scary.”

Jonah reached out and touched her cheek where she’d been
bit. “Nonsense.”

He dropped his hand and walked away. Mindy stood, slack-jawed,
watching him move down the street. Where was he going? And why did he run away?

“How long are you going to torment my boy over there?” Braxton
rubbed at his nose before jamming his hands in his pockets.

She turned to him, moving slowly. “Pardon?”

“I asked you how long you were going to torture poor Jonah.
The guy clearly has the hots for you. Don’t be a bitch. If you don’t want him,
tell him so—then he can move on.”

Her head spun. “Are you for real?” Never in her life had she
wanted to punch someone in the nose as much as she wanted to reach out and
break Braxton’s nose right off his face. Who did he think he was? She hadn’t
been leading Jonah on.

She stopped and tried to regain her equilibrium. Had she
been doing something? Heavens knew she was attracted to Jonah. Was she sending
out some kind of signals?

A car pulled up in front of them stopping her thoughts and
right at that moment her cell phone rang. Nothing could ever happen by itself.
She looked down at her phone. It was her girlfriend Dodie calling. She answered
it before it could ring again.

“Dodie.” Her friend was one of the few people in the world
she could tell the truth of her situation to. “Can I call you back? A Shaman just
arrived to do something about the poltergeist I stirred up in a house I broke
into.”

Mindy’s best friend didn’t speak for a second. “Sure. If
you’ll answer one question for me.”

“Okay.” Even as Mindy answered her she watched an African-American
man get out of the car. He had dreadlocks and wore a suit and tie along with a
pair of Birkenstocks on his feet. The effect made her do a double-take.

“Will you be my maid of honor?”

All of Mindy’s attention flew back to the phone call. Her
eyes filled with tears and they spilled onto her face. “Yes, of course. I would
love to. You know that. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love you.”

“Thanks.” Dodie sniffed on the other end of the phone. “I
promise not to put you in pink. Now go back to your Shaman. I don’t want to
know too much about that. I worry enough about Christian.”

“Love you.” Mindy hung up the phone.

The Shaman had been speaking with Jonah and Braxton while
she spoke on the phone. He turned now toward the house and Mindy hurried to
catch up with them.

When she reached them, the Shaman turned to speak to her. “So
you’re the young lady who made this mess worse.”

“Yes.” She nodded. “I’m the one who foolishly thought I
could handle something I had no business messing with.”

The Shaman laughed. “You learned a lesson and no one was
hurt.”

Jonah smiled at her. “That’s right. No one was hurt.”

“You were.” Braxton pointed out to Jonah and Mindy looked at
the floor.

“No, I was hurt with the Satan worshipers. This was a re-injury.”

“Well, I see Foy’s boys are back to their old ways. Never a
dull moment with any of you around.” The Shaman shook his head.

Mindy realized she’d never learned the man’s name. She stuck
out her hand. “I’m Mindy Spellman.”

He stared at her hand for a second before he took it. “I’m
Lance Torant. It’s nice to meet you, Mindy.”

Lance blinked rapidly, looking between Jonah and Mindy. “Well.”
He dropped her hand. “This is an interesting turn of events. Foy always said
there would be a shift for you boys. I just didn’t see this particular set of circumstances
coming.”

“What?” Jonah shook his head. “I’m afraid I didn’t follow
that, Lance.”

“No. But you will.”

Lance stepped over the threshold into the house. He raised
his hands into the air, closed his eyes and then threw his head back. With a
loud sigh, he exhaled.

Mindy waited, not sure what to do with all of her nervous
energy.

Lance opened his eyes. “The house is clear.” He nodded and
walked out the front door.

She looked at Jonah. “That was it?”

“Apparently.” He nodded.

“How can you be sure he did anything at all? I mean I hate
to vocalize that thought. But he may have taken money—I assume he got paid—and
pretended to clear this house.” There had to be fraudulent people in this
business. She knew Jonah to be legit and if he trusted Braxton that was good
enough for her. But who knew Lance?

A loud thunderclap sounded outside and she turned her head
toward the door. Lance stood, hand extended, with a bolt of lightning streaming
from the sky into his outstretched fingers. He cocked his head at her while he
played with the lightning as if it were nothing at all.

Jonah whispered in her ear, “Were you saying something?”

She groaned. “No.”

* * * * *

“Where are you going?”

Braxton walked away from the house, shivering in his coat.
The man really had to readjust to Chicago if he was going to make it through
the winter here. They were all from here. How long had it taken Braxton to
become so weather wimpy?

He turned back to Jonah. “You guys need to work this out
between the two of you. We’ll meet here in the morning and start figuring out
what to do about the kid making the poltergeist. Unless Foy has returned to the
world by then.”

“What do you mean?” He chased after Braxton. “What do Mindy
and I have to work out?”

Braxton laughed but didn’t respond. He just kept walking. Jonah
stopped trying to follow him and turned around. He supposed he could try to
delve into self-denial but he had a pretty good idea of what Braxton and Lance
both thought.

He turned to regard Mindy who was climbing into the car.
They all knew he had to deal with his feelings for that woman or he wouldn’t be
able to get anything done.

Steeling his spine, he stormed to the car. Getting in the
driver’s seat didn’t help anything. The car smelled like apricots, which seemed
to be the scent that followed Mindy around.

“Look…”

“Hey…” They spoke at the same time.

He cleared his throat. “You go.”

“I would like you to take me home, since Braxton left and
we’re, I assume, not going to do any strategizing.”

He put the key in the ignition. “That’s fine. Mindy…”

She wasn’t done talking. “And I want you to come in with me
and, well, I want you too, Jonah. I really, really do.”

He stepped on the accelerator.

* * * * *

They pulled up to her apartment building and he wondered how
they had gotten there. He knew he’d driven the car, but he had no memory of it.
Mindy’s words still hung in the air as if she’d uttered them just now instead
of half an hour earlier.

She wanted
him
.

Mindy got out of the car and walked toward the building. He
stayed tight on her heels lest she change her mind. Still, in the vein of the
schizophrenia he seemed to have inside him whenever he was around Mindy, he had
to warn her away from him.

“I’m not good news. You know that, right? You probably got
hurt the way you did in Austin because I showed up.”

Mindy laughed, covering her mouth after the abrupt sound.
She put her key in the door. “You really know how to get a girl turned on.”

“I’m serious.” He followed her into her apartment, checking
all the doors and windows. The closets were next. He’d seen her place before
she’d come down. He’d picked it out for her. Decorated now in her way—strong
colors, blue, red, maroon, not the pinks or pastels of some girls’
apartments—it suited her. “You want to stay away from me.” Her eyes were big
when he turned to her. “Are you okay?”

“You checked my apartment to see if it was safe.”

“Ah. Yeah. I hope that didn’t freak you out.” He hadn’t even
thought of how invasive that would be. Protecting her seemed second nature to
him. Whatever happened now, he had to see that where she slept was secure.

Mindy leapt into his arms and he caught her. Before he could
breathe, or even think about his wound, she kissed him, square on the mouth. This
was not their first kiss, but their second one. Still, if the first one had
been ill thought out, this one felt like a claiming.

She plunged her tongue against his and he groaned. His cock
hardened instantly. He’d meant to tell her to never invite him to her bed
again. Only he couldn’t because he would take her now and then again until they
were both sated.

If such a thing was at all possible.

Jonah carried her through the apartment and over to the bed.
A surge of the most profound need moved through him. He set her down on top of
her quilt. It had the same color scheme as the rest of the room.

She looked up at him. “You saved me. Do you get it? In
Austin, I would have died. Or lost my mind. And then coming here gave me
something to live for. So hush about this being your fault. I won’t hear it
anymore.”

He would have argued but then she kissed him again. Her lips
were warm, her breath sweet, and the way she fit against him as if she’d been
made for him. How could he resist?

Jonah took control of the kiss. He wouldn’t have her
thinking he didn’t want this too. Their kisses became more frantic and he ran
his hands up and down her arms, her back, the side of her face. Anywhere to
feel the softness of her skin beneath his fingers.