Ace Is Wild (32 page)

Vivi was beyond thinking. She was busy being scared. Flip knew who she was.
Sappresi’s psychic
. And if Daniel had his way, if he captured Hatch or Flip, it wouldn’t be long before they spilled the beans, and Daniel learned the whole ugly truth of her involvement in Tom Zukey’s death. No matter her naïvete, Daniel wouldn’t understand. Daniel wouldn’t forgive her. Daniel would walk away.

Not that he’d need her anymore, Vivi reminded herself, because if Daniel captured one of the hit men, he’d find out who was trying to have him killed, and he could make sure the murder attempts stopped without her help. And if he never saw her again, it wouldn’t matter to him.

But it mattered to her.

Chapter 21

VIVI WOKE FROM A DEAD SLEEP, HEART POUNDING,
eyes wide, a scream echoing in her straining ears. Her scream in the vision, she realized, already checking to see if Daniel was still in bed with her. Because in her dream he was dead. And it was her fault.

He stirred behind her, one arm slipping around her waist, his breath warm at her temple. It should have been comforting to feel him wrapped around her. But it made her feel trapped, claustrophobic. She’d forced herself into Daniel’s life, but somehow he’d wormed his way into her affections. It was a recipe for disaster, even without the life and death stuff.

What she did was a part of who she was, and even if he’d been interested in having a relationship that didn’t involve guns and possible death, she couldn’t hook up with someone who didn’t believe in her one hundred percent. Not to mention the upcoming betrayal. Daniel was a black-and-white kind of guy; even if he’d felt something for her besides amused tolerance and reluctant need, finding out about her history with Sappresi would destroy it.

She extricated herself from him, but the open window across the room wasn’t enough, so she went out of the apartment and down the stairs, picking up the pace when she went past Eric’s door. Eric had a guest—a very vocal and enthusiastic guest, and she was in full agreement with whatever Eric was doing. Either he’d found a self-starter or he’d learned a few things since their time together. Whatever the case, they were having a good time, considering the solo had become a duet. Life should be so simple as an orgasm. Vivi thought, with a kind of soft sadness, that it would never be that way for her.

Then again, would she want it to? It was great in the moment, but when the moment was over she wanted to able to have an intelligent conversation. Not that her conversations with Daniel were all that intelligent. Mostly they were contentious. But it worked for them.

It had been cloudy during the day and it still was, the city lights staining the overcast night sky a dull, blackish orange. Vivi dropped down to sit on the steps. It was still warm, but the wind had come up and she rubbed her arms, chilled.

“It’s going to storm,” Daniel said from behind her.

Vivi hadn’t heard him come out, but she wasn’t surprised. “Seems right, somehow,” she said. “You can’t do anything about a storm, you just have to ride it out.”

Daniel sank down on the step beside her, close enough for her to feel his warmth without actually touching her. “You can carry an umbrella.”

“Sure, you can keep yourself dry, and you can stay away from the high ground, but there’s no way to predict when and where lightning will strike. If your fate is to die by a freak of nature, you might as well kiss your ass good-bye. All the precautions in the world won’t save you.”

“I don’t believe in fate.”

“I know.”

“Want to tell me what this is all about?”

“No,” she said, and meant it—for all of ten seconds. “I had another vision.”

“That’s what all the thrashing around and mumbling was about. Not to mention the scream.”

“That was Eric’s friend.”

“It wasn’t that kind of scream. And it wasn’t loud enough to wake anybody but me.”

Vivi would have apologized, but she wasn’t all that sorry.

“I take it I was dead in this vision,” Daniel said.

“I guess your head isn’t as hard as I think it is.”

“No room for error, huh?”

Vivi grimaced, trying to forget the staring eyes, the trickle of blood from his temple.

“A few hours ago that would have made your day.”

She hunched her shoulders. Sarcasm might help, but it was hard to be quippy when you had a corpse in your brain. Especially a corpse you were in love with.

Yeah, she thought with a sigh, it was love all right. No problem admitting it anymore. She was just too mentally exhausted to shut it out.

If Daniel had been privy to her thoughts he probably would have run screaming, but since he didn’t have her kind of insight, he just sat there, deep in problem-solving mode, from the gist of his next question. “Any idea where this took place?”

It was the last thing she wanted to do, going back into the vision, but she drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, then took herself back. “Cars,” she said.

“A parking lot?”

“No, broken-down cars.”

“What make?”

“I can’t tell,” she said, pulling back from the cars, past Daniel’s staring eyes, and out of the vision. “Some of them didn’t even have grilles or bumpers.”

“Sounds like a garage, or maybe a dealership repair facility,” Daniel said.

“What difference does it make? We’ve been down this road already. Three times.”

“And we’ve defied your predictions three times.”

“And then I have another prediction. You dead again. I’m beginning to see a pattern.”

“You think?”

“I don’t know what to do anymore.”

“So you’re just giving up?”

“It was different this time,” she said, resting her chin on her drawn-up knees. “You were protecting me.”

“I thought you couldn’t get any premonitions about yourself.”

“That’s what I thought, but getting close to Flip today . . . Maybe I channeled him somehow.” She sighed, reliving the main event in her head one more time, just to be sure her interpretation was accurate. It was. Regrettably. “All I know is every other time I was a spectator. This time I was somehow involved in your death.”

“And now you’re going to tell me that you leaving will prevent it.”

Vivi huffed out a breath, lifting her head to glare at him. “I didn’t concoct this to convince you to let me go.”

Daniel did his silent mulling thing. This time he added steepled fingers. He didn’t, however, share the outcome of his musings.

“You said yourself the hit men were probably trying to use me to get to you,” she reminded him. “If I’m not around, I can’t be a liability.”

“You can’t be an asset, either.”

“You don’t think I’ve been an asset anyway.”

“You’ve come in handy a time or two. So has Maxine,” he added. And he was definitely smiling.

It shocked the hell out of her.

“That’s the second time I made you speechless.”

“Yeah, once for each time you complimented me.”

“I’m just stating the facts. Don’t get all flummoxed.”

Flummoxed was an understatement. Her cheeks heated, her pulse bumped up a couple of notches, and she had to fight to keep the stupid smile off her face. So he’d complimented her. It was only a matter of time before she did something to tick him off again. Or worse. “Me being the reason you get killed is a fact, too,” she said.

“It’s not the first time you’ve seen me die in one of your visions.”

“This time feels different,” she said. “With the others I felt like I could change the future by sticking around. This one . . . It feels like I need to take myself out of the game.”

“No.”

“No? That’s it? Just no?”

“You can’t go home,” Daniel said. “They know where you live.”

“I’ll get out of the city, somewhere they won’t be able to find me.”

“What makes you think that will save my life? These guys aren’t going to give up because you’re gone.”

“That doesn’t mean I have to make it easier for them.”

“In other words, you don’t care if I die as long as it’s not your fault.”

It took her a minute to fully absorb that. “Is that what you really think?” she asked him.

Daniel exhaled heavily. “No.”

“You should go to the FBI,” Vivi said, “work from that angle to figure out who’s after you.” And she’d go to Sappresi, make some sort of deal to keep Daniel safe.

He tapped a finger on her temple. “I don’t know what’s going on in there but we started this thing together, and we’re finishing it together. Whatever the outcome.”

“So I guess I should have kept going when I walked out a little while ago.”

“If you were really serious about leaving you would have.”

Vivi shoved both hands back through her hair, rubbing her sore head. “I don’t know what to do.”

A car whooshed by, the wind blew, and sounds drifted to them from the bar down the street. Daniel was silent.

“What, you have nothing to say?”

“You get mad when I tell you what to do,” Daniel said.

“But you’re not going to let me leave, are you?”

“Leave?”

They both shifted around in time to see Eric come strolling out of the building. His shirt was unbuttoned. So were his jeans, and the zipper was down way too far. On Daniel, unzipped jeans and no underwear would have been sexy as hell. On Eric, it violated the too-much-information rule.

He stepped around Vivi and went to the bottom of the steps, leaning against the rusted wrought-iron railing in front of Vivi. The jeans gapped more. Vivi kept her eyes above waist level.

“You going somewhere?” Eric asked, and when they only stared he added, “I heard you guys talking out here.”

“Amazing you could hear anything, considering the brick walls and the competing noise factor.

Eric cracked a smile. “Jealous?”

“Revolted,” Vivi said. “Why are you here?”

“Just getting some air,” a woman said from behind them, “same as me.”

Daniel turned around again. Vivi didn’t bother. She knew that voice, so it was no surprise when Heather oozed her way down the staircase, her hand ruffling through Daniel’s hair on the way by. She took the railing opposite Eric, lounging with her back against it. She was wearing one of Eric’s T-shirts. And nothing else. Unless Vivi counted the smirk on her face when their eyes met. It wasn’t, however, a relief when she looked away because her gaze landed on Daniel and didn’t move.

“I thought you two broke up,” Vivi said to her.

“This is just a casual thing,” Eric said. “Me and Heather hook up now and then, and we do business once in a while, too.”

“You’re into potpourri and candles now?”

“Diversity, babe. It’s the name of the game. Don’t want to get bored.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Heather said, shifting closer to Daniel. “Maybe we should diversify our activities for the rest of the night. You know, change partners.”

“Been there, made that mistake,” Vivi said.

“Well, it’s not really about you,” Heather replied, her eyes still on Daniel.

“I’m sorry I called you a stalker,” Daniel said to Vivi. “You don’t have the focus for it.”

Vivi leaned her elbows on the riser behind her, and watched Daniel scowl at Heather. She didn’t even try to keep from grinning.

Eric must have decided he should step in before Heather pushed her luck too far. “So . . . how’s your plumbing?” he asked.

“The plumber told us he couldn’t do anything until the end of this week,” Vivi said. “Is that a problem?”

“Oh, uh . . .” Eric looked up at the building. “The owner claims he can’t get a permit to demolish this place, so I guess they’re going to rehab it.”

“We can go if you need us out,” Daniel said.

“Not necessary. I expect to get a call any time telling me they’re going to start work, but ’til then, hey, me casa, you casa.”