Addict (27 page)

The heavenly scent of enchiladas wafted through the condo. I was looking forward to some dinner and then a nice long nap. My office was closed for the evening.

Of course, if my boyfriend had his way, I was closed permanently. I’d been totally right about how Marcus would react. After I’d woken from his version of anesthesia, he’d started the process of taking us back to Italy.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t sure I could go.

The front door opened and Lisa greeted more of her guests. My aunt had planned a big party to welcome me to the family, and she wasn’t letting a little thing like my complete and utter disaster of a job get in the way. Lisa Hernandez Owens was a beautiful brunette with caramel-colored skin and a ready smile. She looked like nothing fazed her. Given her husband’s dangerous profession, that was a good thing.

The king walked through the living room with my uncle trailing after him. Marcus strode behind, looking cool and collected. He’d spent the afternoon on the phone with Lucia. When I left our apartment, he’d been talking to her about flight schedules and pickups. Donovan must have caught up with him and asked him to join the meeting they were planning. Zack walked straight to me, one finger pointing my way. It was a very judgmental, parental finger.

“Give her a break, Zack,” Donovan warned.

Uncle Zack obviously wasn’t in the mood to listen. “Do you want me to poke out my own eyes? I have to review those tapes every day, Kelsey. I get enough of that crap from Zoey and Dev. I do not need it from you.”

“Sorry.” I was suddenly super interested in my beer bottle. It was kind of funny that he was way more pissed at me for inadvertently making a sex tape than he was for almost losing my arm to a demon.

“And you.” Zack turned on Marcus. I saw Donovan’s eyes light up with mirth. “You should know better.”

Marcus’s brows practically knit together. I bet it had been a long time since he had to deal with an angry relative. “How was I to know there were cameras in the lifts?”

“I think they’re talking about kissing.” Rhys nodded sagely to his brother and Courtney.

Lee made his “ick” face. Lee had zero interest in kissing.

“You’ve known Dev for the better part of a decade,” Zack shot back. “You should know how paranoid he is. You should only do things like that in the privacy of your own home. Better yet, you shouldn’t do things like that at all. She’s a very young, naïve girl.”

“No, I’m not.” I thought about all the times I’d hauled a piece of tail out of some bar. It never worked out well. I decided not to mention that to my suddenly prudish uncle.

Zack’s expensive shoe tapped an impatient rhythm on the hardwood floor. “I’m her oldest male relative. I’m responsible for making sure she doesn’t get taken advantage of. What are your intentions toward my niece?”

“I think he intends to kiss her again.” Rhys was watching avidly. His head swung back and forth between Marcus and Zack.

“Stay out of it, buddy,” Donovan ordered.

“He already kissed her, Rhys,” Lee argued. “Uncle Zack wants to know when he’s going to marry her.”

Rhys shook his head. “I thought he was going to marry Evangeline.”

Donovan’s hand came over his younger son’s mouth. “Don’t mind him. Carry on.”

“Well, Marcus, I would like an answer.” Zack didn’t look like he was going until he got one.

“You know what,” Liv said suddenly, the alcohol making her so much braver than she would normally be. “I’d kind of like an answer to that question, too. I’m her best friend. I have to look out for her. She’s not smart when it comes to men. At least her last boyfriend offered to marry her.”

“Because it was the only way he could drag me to Hell with him.” I was sure my cheeks were flaming red.

“It was good you said no, then.” Lee patted my back.

Liv gave Marcus her most ferocious schoolteacher look. “Vampires have that persuasion thing, you know. Girls can get in serious trouble when they turn on the charm. How do we know he isn’t using it on Kelsey?”

Why was this happening to me? “Seriously, everyone stay out of my love life. I’m sorry Marcus and I…kissed where a camera could see it. It won’t happen again.”

“My intentions toward your niece are entirely honorable,” Marcus said suddenly. “I would be happy to discuss them with you at your earliest opportunity. I intend to take my time, though. Kelsey is wary and needs a while to adjust to a fully functional relationship.”

“You’re serious then?” Zack pinned Marcus with his stare.

“I am,” Marcus assured him. “But you might find Kelsey a bit harder to sell on the idea than you might think.”

“The idea of what?” I was so not following the conversation. I noticed that the king had gotten grim.

“Can we move this along?” Donovan asked. “We have some important matters we need to decide. We can sort out the
Nex Apparatus’s
love life at a later date. Marcus, if you don’t mind?”

The king patted his son’s back and turned toward the back of the condo where Zack’s large office was located. Marcus bowed slightly to my uncle. “I apologize for any embarrassment my actions might have cost your family. Know I only acted the way I did out of my extreme affection for your niece.”

“It’s all right, Marcus,” Liv said, waving him off. “Your butt looked good, too.”

Marcus stared at the schoolteacher. “That isn’t helpful, Miss Carey.”

Liv turned a lovely shade of pink, her eyes sliding away. “Sorry, sir.”

Marcus leaned over and kissed my forehead. “Enjoy your dinner,
bella
. We’ll be retiring early. We have a plane to catch in the morning.”

With that, he and Zack walked off to join the king.

“What the heck just happened?” Liv asked, her mouth slightly open. “Did Marcus tell your uncle he’s going to marry you?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Rhys shook his head.

“No one asked you,” his brother replied.

“Stop, everyone.” I had to catch my breath. “Marcus did what countless other men in the same position would do. He told my irrational uncle exactly what he wanted to hear. Now we can go home to Italy, and Zack won’t bug Marcus anymore.” There was no way someone like Marcus would marry a woman like me. It was ridiculous. Vampires married companions. Except Hugo had mentioned he once married one of his Hunters.

I found the whole conversation completely unsettling and was happy we could move on to other accusations.

“You’re going home?” Lee’s voice rose. He shoved a hand through his thick black hair. “You just got here. This is your home.”

“Why are you weaving, Aunt Kewsey?” Courtney asked. “Don’t you wike it hewe?”

No one can make you feel guiltier than a kid. They don’t take into account little things like obligations. They only know that you promised them something, and now you’re a ratfink bastard for not delivering. “Marcus thinks we should leave.”

“What do you think?” Lee asked.

“No one asks me what I think.” This was the way my life had gone since the king had decided to press me into service. I sat outside waiting while a bunch of men decided my fate.

“And they never will,” Zoey Donovan-Quinn said as she stood looking at me. There was a baby girl on her hip and something in her free hand. The tiny girl was Evangeline, her daughter with Dev Quinn, though I knew the king claimed her as his own. He called the girl Evan. She was a mini me of her mama. She had dark red curls and pretty hazel eyes. She clung to her mother’s sweater like a monkey, but grinned down at her brothers.

“Rhys! Lee!” she shouted and attempted to scramble down.

The Queen of all Vampire set her daughter down and the girl, who looked to be roughly three, ran into her brother’s arms. Lee picked her up and twirled her around then passed her off to Rhys. Rhys and Courtney wandered off to play with the newcomer, but Lee stayed behind.

The queen greeted Liv. She sent me a questioning look when she noticed the near-empty beer bottle sitting near my best friend.

“She got bitten by a vampire for the first time.” I sighed and took another swig of my own beer. My uncle had good taste. “She liked it. Now she feels guilty.”

“I do not,” Liv piped up. “I don’t have anything to feel guilty about. I was only helping him out. He’d been shot several times. I was the only blood available. I didn’t enjoy it.”

I was supposed to believe that? “Yes, you did. Those moans weren’t about pain, my friend.”

“I have a boyfriend.” Her lips turned down sullenly.

She was forgetting so many truths. “You have a boyfriend who’s addicted to drugs and possibly aiding a demon in planning to take over our world.”

“Oh, you can totally cheat on him.” The queen sat down across from me.

“I didn’t cheat.” Liv stood suddenly. “I’m going to get another beer.”

Liv stalked away in search of more alcoholic solace. The queen slid a framed picture across the table to me. I found myself looking at a man with curly brown hair. He was dressed in an army green T-shirt and jeans. He needed a shave, but he smiled gamely. My heart seized a little because I’d never seen one picture of this man, but I knew who he was.

“I had to promise him a case of beer to get him to stand still long enough to snap this one.” Zoey looked down at the picture, her lips curling up with fondness.

This was my father. Lee Owens.

“I like that picture.” Lee stared at the man he was named after. “He looks happy.”

There was a fine sheen of tears in the queen’s eyes as she put an arm around her son. “I know you do, buddy. He was happy.” The queen winked at her son. “Baby boy, why don’t you go do what you do best? Report back when you hear something particularly interesting.”

Lee grinned that adorable grin and was off like a shot. For a human, he was fast and quiet. It was good to know I wasn’t the only one who encouraged the kid’s more criminally inclined talents.

“This was taken a few weeks before we left for England.”

 I knew the story. It was a few weeks before he died. My father had guarded the queen and when the old Council caught them, he’d been executed. The royal family blamed a demon for betraying them to the Council.

Yeah, I wanted to meet that demon someday.

“Your father was the best guard I’ve ever met, and believe me, I’ve run through some.” The queen smiled down at the photo. When she looked up at me, she was super serious. “He was the only one who understood.”

“Understood what?”

“That he didn’t have to manhandle every moment of my day. Lee believed in me. He followed my lead until such time as he knew I was going to be horribly murdered. That actually happened more often than you would think. Trent and I get on all right. Mostly, we get along because I had kids by the time he became my guard. I settled down. I still don’t tell him everything. I still sneak away from time to time. It makes him crazy.”

I liked the idea of Trent freaking out because his charge gave him the slip.

“The point is, I told your father everything. I left nothing out. In exchange, he made damn sure I fought for my place.” She said the last with emphasis and then sat back, waiting for my reply.

“I don’t know what the hell my place is.” I wasn’t quite sure what she wanted.

She shook her head ruefully. “It’s hard to remember sometimes, but I’ve sat where you’re sitting, and I was even a bit older than you. I know you think we don’t have much in common, but you’re wrong. You got a raw deal in the childhood department. I think you can get past that. I had a crappy mother, too.”

“Did she try to kill you?” I could win this particular war. The man who raised me had actually attempted to murder me. That story usually won me first prize in the awful parent contest.

The queen frowned. “No, but she ran off with an accountant. My point is, we’re both women in a man’s world. These aren’t fuzzy, huggy men. These are domineering, take-charge, protect-the-women kind of guys. You have to fight or you’re just something soft for their beds.”

“I doubt Marcus thinks I’m soft.” He couldn’t possibly view me in that fashion. He knew how dangerous I could be. No one would ever think of me as sweet and feminine and in need of protection.

“Then why is he trying to haul you off the continent?”

I was honest with the queen where I wouldn’t be with Liv. I didn’t want Liv to think less of me or feel sorry for me, but I knew why he was doing it. “He doesn’t think I’m smart enough to handle someone like Winter.”

“Felix is going to have to work on your self-esteem issues.” The queen shook her head. “Answer me this, is Marcus sleeping with you?”

“Yes.” I was pretty sure she knew the answer to that question.

“I know Marcus. He wouldn’t be involved in a serious way with you if he didn’t respect your intelligence. He’s a hard man. He doesn’t care about much anymore. He cares about you, Kelsey. He’ll run your whole life if you let him and perversely, that will make him care less about you.”

“Marcus wants us to go back to Italy. He’s not asking for my opinion.” It rankled.

She pointed to the picture of my dad. “He would have pushed you, Kelsey. He would have pushed you to make your own way and demand your rights.”

“Why are you doing this?” I didn’t trust people to look out for me. She had to have an agenda. “Did the king tell you to get me to stay or to go?”

Zoey laughed. “Oh, Danny would be perfectly upset with me for having this discussion. He would love for you to turn out to be a good soldier, exactly like your uncle and Trent. I’m talking to you because it’s what your father would want. He would want you to stand up and tell them what you’ll do and what you won’t.”

The queen stood, leaving the photo with me. “Keep that. I have one of his hats, too. I want you to have it. It isn’t much of a legacy, but it’s yours. The real legacy he left you is in your power. Your father was a champion of what was right, not what was expedient or easy for himself. He would have laughed at the thought, but he was an idealist in a way Danny and Dev aren’t. Daniel needs you to be more than a weapon. He needs you to be you.”

With that, the queen walked away. I heard her greet her husband and saw Quinn picking up his daughter. He tossed her in the air and caught her again. She laughed and enjoyed it because never in her baby brain did she think he would let her fall. I never had that. My mother had loved me, but I never had that big strong man to count on. I stared back down at the picture of my biological father. The image in front of me grew watery. He wasn’t a particularly handsome man, yet everything about him called to me. I wished so much in that moment that I could know him, any part of him.