Winging It (11 page)

Meagan nodded with excitement, then pushed her glasses up her nose. ‘I like the way you transitioned from the minor key for the chorus in “Snow Goddess”.’ She wasn’t stammering anymore, and I liked that Jared made her feel comfortable.

They talked about music and keys and timing for a couple of minutes, the two of them clearly finding some common ground. It might as well have been Greek to me. I had no idea what they were talking about. I just liked the song.

Isabelle, meanwhile, went to talk to the drummer, a tall skinny guy with dreadlocks who had been openly checking her out.

‘Sorry!’ Meagan said abruptly, glancing at me and blushing again. ‘It’s just really interesting to talk to someone about the structure of music.’

‘You don’t have to apologize,’ I said and bumped her arm. She smiled again. ‘Meagan plays piano,’ I told Jared, then glanced at her. ‘But I didn’t know you were so into composition.’

‘It’s math. I love math.’ She smiled sunnily, then elbowed me in a very unsubtle way. ‘Hey, I’m going to talk to Isabelle and the drummer.’

‘Rick,’ Jared said.

‘He has those new syntho drums, doesn’t he?’ Meagan’s eyes were shining and she was nearly salivating at the prospect of checking out new gadgets.

Jared nodded. ‘And the traditional percussion, too. He says the syntho drums don’t replicate all of the sounds.’

‘Oh, but they should,’ Meagan said, frowning as she pushed her glasses up again. ‘The sine waves were perfectly matched by the engineers behind the project. It was a really interesting initiative and—’ She glanced between us, flushed and smiled again, then excused herself.

‘She’s nice,’ Jared said, watching Meagan.

‘My best friend.’

‘Cute,’ he said, surprising me. I thought I was the only one who saw beyond Meagan’s glasses and braces. He winked at me, appreciation in his gaze as he glanced over me.

Okay, I was having heart failure again.

I tried to look mysterious and was pretty sure I failed. Instead, I watched Meagan.

It was better than losing myself in the green of Jared’s eyes.

Rick seemed a bit condescending when Meagan first spoke to him, as if he was entertaining a fangirl, but within seconds, Meagan’s technical questions brought out his enthusiasm. He started to show her the syntho drums and tapped out a couple of beats so she could compare the sound. She was riveted.

‘They’ll be buddies before the night is through,’ Jared said with a smile. ‘Unless Rick talks her ear off about the specs.’

‘Meagan will love it.’

He slanted a long look at me, one that was simmering hot and ten thousand shades of green. His voice dropped low, to that pitch that makes me shiver. ‘I missed you, dragon girl.’

My knees went weak right on cue. I couldn’t even look at him.

And maybe because I wasn’t looking at him, I thought more clearly. If he’d missed me, then why hadn’t I heard from him? His words simultaneously made me feel special and fed my own doubts.

‘Funny I never heard from you, then,’ I said, trying to keep my tone light.

It didn’t work. I sounded desperate.

He gave me a steady look, like a warning. ‘I don’t answer to anyone.’

That didn’t sound promising. I pulled my hand out of his and folded my arms across my chest, needing to keep a bit of distance until I had things straight. ‘You left before we could talk last spring.’

‘Places to go,’ he said, turning his attention to his guitar as if he didn’t care that I’d pulled my hand away. He was doing it again, leading me on, then becoming evasive.

Because I’d expected some contact from him?

Well, that wasn’t unreasonable, was it? My frustration grew – because I knew I hadn’t expected much, because I wanted him to be everything wonderful I believed him to be, and because I really really really didn’t want my dad to be right.

I needed to know for sure, no matter how much reality bit. ‘And you blew me off when I sent you that message in the summer.’

‘No, I told you the truth.’

This wasn’t going at all as I’d hoped. I’d secretly dreamed of a happy reunion – or at least another kiss. Right now, his guitar seemed to be more interesting than me.

I hugged myself a little tighter. ‘I owe you a ride. I thought that was what you wanted.’ Great. Now I sounded hurt.

Well, I was, but still.

Maybe that was why he didn’t answer me, just kept tuning the guitar.

Okay, I’m not stupid. ‘Have a good show,’ I said and started to turn away.

Jared froze in the act of plucking a chord, then laid his hand flat across the strings. I glanced back at him, ever (pathetically) hopeful. He put the guitar down, then looked up at me, the intensity of his expression taking my breath away. ‘Okay. Here’s the deal. I have had it explained to me by a certain individual that I need to stay in my place.’ He arched a brow, inviting me to figure out what he meant.

‘What place?’

‘Away. From you.’

‘Who?’

His gaze flickered and I knew. There was only one person whose advice he took.

‘Donovan,’ I guessed and Jared frowned. Donovan was Nick’s dad, Jared’s uncle, and the
Pyr
who had sold Jared that vintage Ducati motorcycle. ‘But why?’

‘Well, he has a good point.’ Jared folded his arms across his chest but leaned closer to me. Our arms brushed against each other as his gaze bored into mine. My mouth went dry and my heart did a cartwheel or two. My doubts faded big-time. ‘You’re not on the same timeline as I am, Zoë.’

It was disgusting that he would make the same argument as my dad.

‘A couple of years doesn’t make that much difference,’ I protested. ‘I mean, it’s a lot now, but eventually …’

‘And that’s just the thing.’ His voice dropped impossibly lower, so I was feeling it as much as I was hearing it. ‘You’re going to live for centuries, Zoë, maybe even more than that. It’s part of the dragon plan. Me, I’m in for maybe eighty years.’

‘But …’

He reached out and touched my cheek with one fingertip. I quivered, the touch of his finger making me feel hot and unsettled. ‘The thing is, it doesn’t matter how fascinated I am by you or how good I think it could be between us. I’ve read the book.’ He slid that fingertip down to my chin. My knees were dissolving. I could barely listen to what he was saying, especially with my heart pounding so loud. ‘You’re going to have a firestorm with some guy, and it’s going to be your duty to your kind to follow the heat of that firestorm.’

I parted my lips, but he touched his fingertip to them. Oh. Was there ever a better way to silence anyone? I could feel the callus on one side from him playing guitar. He watched his finger’s progress, his gaze heating exactly the way my blood did.

I wanted to protest. I wanted to argue with him, to defend the cause of true love and the power of choice, but I sensed that he was right.

Because the firestorms I’d witnessed had been overwhelmingly powerful forces, a tide of heat and desire that shorted the mental circuits of a
Pyr
. The firestorm heated to greater intensity the longer it was denied, and never sputtered until it was satisfied. None of the dragon dudes I knew had managed to step away, even if they had been dead set against satisfying the firestorm.

I didn’t know what I could say that wouldn’t be untrue or at best unreasonably optimistic. My chest was tight.

There was no air left in that club.

We stood there, his gaze boring into mine and my heart leaping all over my chest, and then he looked away, his expression grim. And when he did, something changed. The connection between us was severed, cut as cleanly as if it had never been. Or a door was closed. His interest in me was nonexistent.

I think he practically forgot I was standing there.

I felt forty-five thousand kinds of stupid. Even if I really wanted to have something with Jared, that wasn’t enough to ensure that he wanted something with me.

If he had really been interested, he would have contacted me. He wouldn’t have been able to
not
contact me. He wouldn’t have been able to leave me standing here, wanting something – anything – from him.

Maybe it was time I stopped liking guys who didn’t like me.

‘Too bad I wasted a birthday present,’ I said, turning away. There was no reason to prolong my humiliation. ‘See you around.’

‘Your birthday? When’s that?’ he asked, to my surprise.

I glanced back, wary. ‘Soon.’ I sighed. ‘I only wanted three things.’

His eyes glinted. ‘What else?’

That he’d guessed seeing him was one was mortifying, but I answered him anyway. ‘A grudge match with Kohana.’

‘Forget it.’ His protective determination made me smile. I was the dragon, after all.

And what difference did it make to him anyway?

‘What else?’ he demanded.

‘A tattoo.’

His surprise was clear. ‘No way.’

‘A dragon, here.’ I gestured to my left shoulder, my tone nearly daring him to question me. ‘On my back and upper arm. Watching out for me.’

‘Got an artist in mind?’

‘Me. I drew it. I love it.’

He watched me carefully. ‘But …?’

‘My mom says no ink before I’m legal.’

He smiled, as if he had a secret, and turned back to his guitar. You can believe I wanted to know what he was thinking. You can believe I knew he wouldn’t share.

I’d had enough. I turned away again. ‘Have a good show,’ I said, but my heart wasn’t in it. I felt the weight of his gaze on my back, and my feet dragged. I like to think Jared might have called me back – once a relentless optimist, always one – but Angie in the tight pants clapped her hands abruptly.

‘Let’s get it together, people!’ she said as she strode past. ‘We need to put some money in the jar.’

Jared tugged the guitar strap over his shoulders. He looked even more like a renegade with that electric guitar slung low over his hips than he did riding his Ducati. He saw me looking and after a long moment, he blew me a kiss. My heart leapt, which just made me feel even more stupid.

Then he was gone, striding to the stage.

I needed some air.

The first chords of ‘Snow Goddess’ rang out as I got to the door of the club. It was an anthem, a love song, a call to fight for justice and love. It made my blood simmer and my heart thump.

Just like Jared did. With the touch of one fingertip, he’d left me jangled, my lips burning. I wondered whether he was confusing me on purpose.

How could he blow me off, then play that song? He could read people’s thoughts. He knew what I was thinking. He knew what I wanted.

And he’d deliberately done the opposite.

I made the mistake of glancing toward the stage. Then I couldn’t take my eyes off him as he played and sang. He was really enjoying himself, totally into it, and I understood that making music was what he’d been born to do. I listened to him, savoring how his voice seemed to resonate in the deepest part of my heart. I felt the power of his song enthrall the audience.

It certainly enchanted me.

I’d seen Mage spells before and I’d known that the Mages had wanted to recruit Jared once upon a time. I’d assumed it was because of some raw talent he had, and on this night I saw that it was true.

I shoved my hands into my pockets and found the ring. I pulled it out, saw that it was twinkling again, and on impulse, shoved it onto my finger. It was mine now. Why shouldn’t I wear it? To tell the truth, I wasn’t in the mood to think about repercussions from anything.

Suddenly, the scene before me changed. I could see the vibrations of Jared’s songs spiral into the air. They weren’t orange and binding like Mage spells. They weren’t yellow bolts of lightning like the weapons Kohana and the Thunderbirds threw.

They were spirals, bouncing and frolicking through the air. Plus there were little explosions in between the dancing spirals, like sunbursts. They were all different colors of light, as joyous as a rainbow. They reminded me of confetti and streamers, the kind that people throw from the deck of a ship in old movies as the ship pulls out from the dock.

As the spell light emanated from Jared’s throat and his guitar, it was cast over the crowd. It infected the mood in the club. Instead of being pressed together to listen, or just marking the beat, people started to dance. The pulse of the music slipped into our veins and took us all to the same rocking place. Most people weren’t drunk. We were just lost in the joy of the music.

It was wonderful.

I wondered whether that was how he mixed me up and turned me inside out. I wondered whether he was casting a spell on me. I couldn’t see that any of his spells targeted me, though. They were dancing around the crowd, cajoling people into dancing along. The crowd swayed, a few people sang, and the mood became festive.

Because of Jared’s spell.

At that point I remembered I’d intended to ask him about the book.

A bit late.

Had he steered the conversation deliberately, setting me off balance so I didn’t ask for the book? I didn’t want to think about it, but once I had the thought, it stuck. Was Jared manipulating me?

I needed to think, and do it away from Jared’s spell. I told Meagan I’d be back, and waited for her nod. I strode across the club, shoved the door open, and stepped into the night.

The thing was, I had a hard time believing that anything anybody said to Jared would stop him from doing whatever he wanted to do. He said he didn’t answer to anybody. Even Donovan couldn’t have that power over him. Donovan’s argument was just a convenient excuse for blowing me off.

But why? What else didn’t I know?

In the end, I can only blame my complete fixation on the problem of Jared for the fact that I missed the obvious. I should have been paying attention. I should have been using the keen
Pyr
senses I’d been born with instead of trying to figure out Jared Madison.

That’s how Kohana surprised me. I wasn’t looking for trouble, and so it – or he – found me.

Maybe he even guessed that I would be under Jared’s spell.

Maybe he was counting on it.

I was surprised when I stepped outside the club. The cold air was bracing, but I’d expected that. What I hadn’t anticipated was that there would be no one on the street.