city of dragons 03 - fire magic (8 page)

He shook his head. “Call me later.” He pushed the door open and went through it, leaving behind only a whoosh of hot air.

Ophelia watched him go. “He’s got a nice backside, I’ll say that for him.”

“Ophelia, please.” I rolled my eyes.

She shrugged. “I’m still not sure about him.”

“He’s great,” I said.

“Uh huh,” she said. “Which is why you’re keeping him at arms’ length.”

“I’m not,” I said.

She gave me a look that said she knew better.

I sighed.

* * *

After lunch, I headed back to the hotel by myself. I stopped in the lobby to chat with the new guy who was working there. His name was Stan, and I’d hired him for the busy summer season. He was doing a good job, but I just wanted to make sure that everything was going well with him, that he didn’t have any questions or concerns.

While we were talking, someone came into the lobby.

It was a guy who looked disheveled. His nose was bleeding, and he had the beginnings of a pretty good shiner.

I stopped talking to Stan to go over to him. “Are you all right?”

“Is, uh, is Connor here?” said the guy, glancing over his shoulder warily.

“Connor’s stone right now,” I said. “It’s daylight.”

“Damn,” said the guy. “I forgot about that.” He looked back at the door and nodded once. He turned away from me. “Sorry for wasting your time. I’ll come back later.”

“Wait,” I said. “Are you Brian?”

He turned back to me. “How did you know that?”

“Connor told me about you,” I said. “If you’re… if you’re trying to get away from your boyfriend and you need someplace to stay, you can stay here.”

Brian licked his lips. “I, uh… he’s, um, he’s not usually like this. My boyfriend, that is.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Really?”

He hung his head.

“You’d like to get cleaned up, at least, right?” I said. “Come with me.”

He let me lead him out of the lobby and back the hallway. Connor lived in a little area that I’d converted into a suite back behind my office. It wasn’t as big as the suites upstairs, and it didn’t have unobstructed oceanfront views or anything, since it looked out on the pool area, so I hadn’t been sure how I was going to price it. Then Connor had come along, and it had seemed to me as if I had made it especially for him.

It had one little bedroom, which was where Connor was now, dead to the world, but it also had a pull-out couch in the small living room. I thought that Connor probably wouldn’t mind if Brian crashed there for now. If not, Brian could stay in Felicity’s old room in my apartment. There was no bed in there right now, but I could dig something up for him if I needed to.

Anyway, the important thing was to let him take a shower and all of that stuff.

I snagged some clean towels out of the laundry room on our way to Connor’s suite, and once we were inside, I showed Brian to the bathroom.

“You can take a shower if you want,” I told him. “I’ll go into Connor’s room and see if he’s got any clothes that you could borrow.”

Brian looked shell shocked. He licked his lips and took a breath, as if he was about to say something. But then he didn’t.

“Hey, it’s okay,” I said. “You can say what you’re thinking. I promise I won’t tell you it’s idiotic.”

He laughed a little. “It’s not that. I just don’t want you to think that I’m…”

“Weak?” I said. “Stupid for taking it? Crazy for not leaving sooner?”

“I didn’t leave him,” he said. “I mean… I did, but I don’t know if it’s forever. He’s not usually like this.”

“Brian.” I reached out and took both of his hands. “I know what you’re going through. I was married to someone who did the kinds of things to my face that are going on with yours, and I promise you—”

“He’s not like that.” Brian pulled his hands back. He looked at his palms. “It was all fine until he became a drake.”

I nodded slowly. “I see.”

“He’d get a little out of control when he took the dice,” he said. Dice was a typical slang term for dragon flesh, as in slice and dice, near as I could figure. “But he was never violent. And then he did stupid shit while he was high, and he…”

“Got himself killed,” I said. “Came back as a drake.” It was a typical story. People got hooked on the high from eating dragon flesh, which made them feel invincible, so they did stupid things like throwing themselves off the top of buildings or running into traffic. Once they became drakes, the addiction to the dragon flesh was all-consuming.

Brian nodded.

“And now all he cares about is his next fix,” I said. “And if you aren’t helping him get that, he’s got no use for you except as a punching bag.”

Brian’s lower lip started to tremble. “I love him.”

“You love what he used to be,” I said. “Now, he’s nothing more than the addiction.”

A tear slid out of one of his eyes and he scrubbed at it with one hand. “I’m sorry,” he said in a thick voice. “I don’t even know you, and I just… I knew Connor said that if I needed anything, that he lived here, and I…”

“It’s okay,” I said in a soft voice. “I know we don’t know each other, but do you want a hug?”

He didn’t say anything. He rubbed his eyes. Tears were flowing more quickly now.

I hugged him anyway.

He let me. “Thank you,” he whispered.

I pulled back. “Of course. Now, why don’t you take a shower and get cleaned up? You’ll feel better.” Poor kid couldn’t shift. I wished there was something more I could do for him.

CHAPTER TEN

Brian ended up crashing on the pull-out couch in Connor’s suite. He was exhausted, having been up all night with his boyfriend, apparently. He said that he had finally thought the fight was over and gone to bed around seven that morning. But then around noon, his boyfriend, whose name was Darrell, had woken him up and started screaming him and punching him.

Brian said it had never been that bad before. That Darrell had never wailed on him like that. He’d tried to fight back, but he was half-asleep and stunned and frightened.

In the end, he’d gone for his car and made a run for it, heading for the hotel to find Connor.

I told him that he could stay here as long as he wanted.

I wondered if Lachlan would say that I was picking up another stray. If I was, I didn’t mind. That was who I was. I took care of people. I helped people.

And just as I was thinking of people I had helped, Darla Tell strolled into my lobby. When she saw me, she smiled. “Penny! So good to see you.”

I went over to her. “Darla. Um, is everything okay? I thought that the drake problem was solved.”

“Oh, indeed,” she said. “It is, most definitely. You did a fantastic job.”

I smiled, but inside I felt wary. Okay, maybe there was more to this than helping them out with some drakes. Maybe she was interested in me and my blood bond, maybe she and her Order were a danger after all. “Well, I’m glad we could help out.”

“So am I,” she said, clasping her hands together. She looked around the lobby. “Your hotel is really just darling. I love all the dolphin art on the walls. I suppose that’s because it’s called the Purple Dolphin.”

“Uh, yeah,” I said. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“Have you been to the cafe down the street? It’s the Pink Something-or-other.”

“I was just there for lunch, actually.”

“Oh, you’ve eaten already.” She sighed. “I was hoping I could catch you. Well, maybe you’d want to go for a dessert or a snack or something?”

Truthfully, I did eat little snacks here and there to stave off the pregnancy nausea. But I was thrown by Darla’s appearance. “You came here to take me to lunch?”

She smiled. “Well, we all have to eat, don’t we?”

“Just… lunch?”

“Well, a snack now, I suppose,” she said. “Although I might get something more substantial. Really, since relocating to the States, I haven’t made a lot of friends, and I felt as though we hit it off. It would be my treat, of course.”

“Friends?” I narrowed my eyes. She wanted to be friends? What?

“Yes,” she said, still grinning. “So, what will it be? Can you come with me for a bit?”

Like I was going to say no. “Sure,” I said. “Sure thing.”

“Wonderful.” She started for the door.

I went after her.

Outside, the sun was beating down onto the pavement and the sidewalk. It was hot and humid, and it would have been miserable if it weren’t for a breeze blowing in off the ocean. Overhead gulls soared in the blue sky, calling to each other. In the distance, I could hear the sound of traffic on Atlantic Avenue.

We strolled down the sidewalk to the Flamingo.

I was hoping Ophelia would be there again, so that I could get her to see Darla, but when I asked after her, the waitress said she was on break and wouldn’t be back until the dinner hour crush.

Darla and I sat on opposite sides of the table. She ordered a sandwich and fries. I looked at the dessert menu, but opted for an appetizer instead—spinach and artichoke dip—because this baby had really turned off my sweet tooth. Sweet stuff just sounded gross to me.

While we waited for our food, Darla made small talk about the weather and traffic. She babbled on about how there were more cars on Atlantic Avenue every day, and how it took twice as long to get anywhere.

For my part, I tended to agree. I needed the influx of people during the summer, because I needed paying customers. But they did gum up the works around here. Because of my passion on the subject, I found myself joining rather eagerly into the conversation.

Before I knew it, our food was there.

Darla picked up her sandwich and took a bite. “Delicious. You must come here all the time.”

“Basically every day, yeah,” I said.

“Well, that’s lovely,” she said. “We don’t have anything this nice close to our headquarters, only a bunch of chain restaurants. I get things delivered sometimes for lunch there, but it’s easier to simply bring things from home most of the time. Of course, home is really just up a few floors. We all live at headquarters in addition to working there.”

“I live at the hotel,” I said. “I can’t ever leave work either.”

“But you do work with the police, don’t you?”

And just like that, I was on edge again. I remembered that this wasn’t a social visit. It wasn’t getting to know a new friend. It was something dangerous. “Yes, sometimes. But lately, the hotel keeps me busy.”

“I’m sure. Must be a lot going on this time of year.”

“Yeah,” I said.

“So, that detective that you work with? He’s nothing more than a co-worker?”

Alarm bells were going off in my head. “Why do you ask?”

“Just curious. Seems like a woman like you would have a hard time staying single, and when we were vetting you for the drake job, I didn’t notice any other men in your life.”

I wasn’t sure what to say. I couldn’t think of a good reason to deny my relationship with Lachlan, but I didn’t really want to admit it, either. If I told her it was none of her business, then I’d sound rude and she’d know she hit a nerve. I ate some artichoke dip to stall.

She babbled on. “You really are something. I imagine you have men falling over you in droves. What
do
you use on your skin?” She was gazing at me and smiling.

And I felt that same uncomfortable feeling that I’d felt in her office when she’d held my arm for too long. And then… it sort of clicked. She was flirting with me, wasn’t she? She was asking about men, because she was trying to figure out if I was straight before she embarrassed herself. I cleared my throat. “I don’t use anything special on my skin. And yes, Lachlan and I are seeing each other.”

“Oh,” she said, and her face fell.

I’d been right. Jesus. I felt myself blush. “Listen, uh, Darla, you’re a very nice person, and I
do
want to be friends.”

She recovered, smiling at me. “Yes, of course. That’s why we’re getting to know each other.” She pushed her plate toward me. “Want any fries? Help yourself.”

* * *

I woke up to the sound of an angry voice, yelling from outside. “I know you’re in there, Brian!”

I sat up straight in bed. Darrell, Brian’s boyfriend. He was here.

“I traced your cell phone, and I found your car parked outside, so just come on out now.”

It took me only a few minutes to throw on some clothes and go out the back door of my apartment, onto my balcony. From there, I could see Darrell, who was pacing back and forth next to my pool, just outside the back entrance of the hotel. He must have really honed in on the GPS on Brian’s phone, because he was right outside Connor’s apartment.

When Connor had woken up earlier, he’d been glad to see Brian, and had assured me that it was no problem at all for Brian to stay with him in his suite.

I tried to caution him that it was better if Brian stayed on the couch, and that things didn’t get romantic between them yet, and Connor had gotten huffy with me. “I
know
,” he’d said, as if I had just suggested something completely outlandish.

Anyway, whatever the case, if Darrell saw them together, he was going to assume the worst.

I bounded down the steps off the back of my balcony and hurried up behind him. “Darrell!” I called.

He turned, squinting in the dim lighting. “Who’s there?”

Behind me, the ocean was a faint roar. I stepped closer. “Hi there, how are you doing?”

He could see me now. He looked me up and down. “Who are you?”

I could see him too.

He was one of those drakes who was lucky enough not to have much of his facial features mutated. His hair was totally gone, swallowed up in black and red scales. He had spikes that started on top of his head and ran down his back into his clothes. But his face still looked human. It was a handsome face, the kind of face that seems trustworthy. Even as a drake, he was still handsome.

“I’m the owner of this hotel,” I said. “I know you’re looking for Brian, but I don’t think he wants to see you right now.”