Once Lost Lords (Royal Scales, Book 1) (29 page)

“What?” Her foot stomped and a cloth purse clanked. Hell.
Officially I knew nothing about his bedroom prowess.

“He looks like minuteman.” I lamely tried to cover up my
obvious mistake. Her face didn’t change an iota from its
steamed look. Another attempt was made to distract her. “Are
you good with illusions?”

It was a rash change of topic, but it got my mind back in the correct
direction. Maybe she was like Evan and could get me in my house. If I
could get inside then maybe I could get money. If I could get money
I’d grab a cab north. Not that I wanted to spend any of it, but
there was enough in the downstairs of my apartment for a cab ride.

“Who exactly have you been talking to, Jeff?” Candy
didn’t know my real name.

“Told you. You’re not the only elf I know.”

“Are you talking about the conversation we had a few days ago?
The one about the elf in supposed withdrawals?”

“He’s not under anymore. We figured it out. Thanks by the
way.” I stood up. Damage from the last few days made everything
ache. Maybe it was just from having my rear planted on cold concrete.

Her eyes were getting wide. “Oh, shit.” Candy uttered.
“Please tell me you’re not. Please. Please tell me.”

“Not what?”

“I thought it was a joke, I had hoped it was.” What was a
joke? “I, I just couldn’t believe that you, you’re
cute and all but nothing special.”

“What are you talking about?” I let the cute commentary
slide by and tried to focus.

“The elf you mentioned, you asked if we’d called anyone
Lord, did he call you Lord?” Candy reached out a hand and
touched the side of my arm. A moment ago and it might have been taken
in a completely different light, but now, now she was worried about
something.

“Why would that matter?” I asked. Maybe information could
be pried out of her before talking to Evan. Then he could skip
straight to handing out whatever was left of Arnold Regious and
everyone could go home happy.

“It does. It’s very important.” Candy said.

“What are your Lords? Why does it matter?”

“Oh no, no, they did. What did you do, Jeff? What did you do?”
Her eyes managed to get even wider. Then her eyes started that
flickering collision of colors. Like a kaleidoscope going off.

Her hand didn’t move from my arm. Finally, after her muttering
stopped her eyes glazed over a milky white. I stood there waiting for
a sign as to what was going on. What was she doing? What was she
seeing?

I saw her throat gulp.

“No. No.”

“Answer me, Jeff, answer me. I’ll give you any favor you
want. Did the other elf call you Lord?”

“Two favors, Candy.” For once I had the upper hand with
an elf. This day would go down in history as a true feat.

“Fuck.” She nodded. “I can’t ignore this
anymore. I had hoped I could.”

“Two things, Candy, before I answer.”

“What?” Her hand was still on my shoulder, and it felt
startlingly warm.

“Silence and a ride.”

“I’m not one to remain silent while riding.” Her
face smiled for the briefest moment. “But that’s not what
you mean. Yes, I wouldn’t dare tell anyone else about this
conversation. But you need to promise me something as well.”

“What?” I asked.

She looked hurt for a moment. “Sorry, you need to agree first.”

“Agree to pay the unknown price first, right?” I
confirmed the deal with her. We had this conversation once before a
few days ago. Candy nodded. “Can I at least know how big a
price you’ll ask me for?”

“The price won’t be more than the worth of the request,”
She said. Her fingers couldn’t even make it halfway around my
upper arm, but still she hung on.

A three-hour drive, on an hourly rate? That wasn’t bad at all.
Silence might be a bit more pricey. My secret was unlikely to be the
only one she had gained over time. Another may not mean that much to
her. I honestly couldn’t figure out how this Lord thing was
such a big deal to anyone but me.

“Fine. I agree. I’ll answer your question for silence and
a lift north to Caesars Junction.” I could find my way from
there.

“Promise?” She asked.

“Sure.”

“Done.”

“Your favor?” I wanted to know what her other request was
beside me answering a question.

“If you’re going to see this other elf, you need to allow
me to meet him first.”

“Alright.” I didn’t see a problem with it. It
wasn’t like they’d get into a cat fight. Maybe she was
just shopping for a new boyfriend, or trying to see how many people
knew about this little Lord thing.

“Good, and the answer to my question?”

I took a breath slowly and let it out. “Yes. He called me his
Lord.”

“Anything else?”

I shook my head back and forth slowly.“I don’t want to
dig myself a deeper hole here, Candy.”

“Did he say anything about you laying claim?”

No, he hadn’t said it, but that was exactly how I’d
tracked him. Evan said I’d called him. My frozen posture must
have indicated more than I might like. She didn’t press it,
having a clear enough answer on the subject. I wanted to ask her what
exactly it meant, why she appeared upset. At least she hadn’t
clammed up and walked off.

“Come on.” She motioned me to the parking lot.

I eyed the guards standing rather unmistakably outside the building.
They stared back with passive faces. From the looks of it, they
seemed to have more than enough confidence that I’d stay on my
side of the security gate.

Candy’s car beeped as an alarm disabled, then doors unlocked.

“I thought elves didn’t like iron.” It was hard not
to phrase my statement as a question.

“You’d be amazed what they can make cars out of nowadays.
Enough layers and the best-padded seats money can buy.” She
smiled as the playful persona came back into focus. “They’re
very comfortable.”

At least I got to sit in the passenger seat this time. She was right
too, the seats were extremely comfortable. Soft leather, carefully
maintained. It was beautiful inside, and that wasn’t a phrase I
used lightly when talking about cars. I’d ‘recovered’
some fine ones, with help, over the years.

Candy seemed intent on something else entirely as we headed north.
She didn’t even ask where we were headed, Caesars Junction must
have been an obvious enough location. I didn’t expect a hotel
to be something she just knew about. An hour down the road some
thoughts I’d been mulling over made me risk asking a question.

“Candy?”

She gave a happy hum but didn’t look over.

“I thought elves only had one addiction?” I asked.

“Are you willing to pay the price for that question?” Her
tone was suggestive.

“That’s exactly what I mean. You seem to be
rather…physically oriented.” Even though I was nothing
special by her words. “And you have that thing with the
questions.”

“I can answer it, but there’s a price, you’ll have
to pay it now, though.” The last two questions didn't have
overwhelmingly bad prices, so maybe they weren’t a thing to
worry about.

“Sure, I guess.”

“Promise?” She said.

“I promise to pay whatever price you ask.” Since I wasn’t
afraid of more questions at this point. She already knew one of the
few little secrets I had, and it was only a secret for the last few
weeks.

“Deal then.” She kept driving for a few minutes before
speaking again.

“So?”

“One is for pleasure, the other is a means to an end, both are
misdirection.”

“What? Which is which?” I know how to sort out the elf's
statements.

“That’s your answer. Now I believe you owe me something
in return.” Candy stated.

“Sure.” I was ready for anything she might ask.

“Well, Jeff, since I’m giving you a three-hour ride
north.” She had a grin on her face that looked beyond pleased
with itself. “I believe you owe me a three-hour ride in
exchange.” Her voice carried every ounce of huskiness you might
expect with that kind of comment.

I blanched for a moment.

“I’m kind of seeing an old girlfriend.” I was smart
enough to know sleeping with another woman wouldn’t go over
well.

Someone would end up dead. I could hear Candy flicking on the turn
signal and pulling off the highway onto a dangerously quiet road.

“Did I ask if you were otherwise engaged?”

“No.” The car had stopped and her seat belt came undone.

“Did you promise to pay my price in return for an answer?”

“Yes, but…” I didn’t want to have to explain
this.

“A deal is a deal, Jeff, besides, you’ll enjoy paying
up.” Then she was too close, and all I could see was the smile
on her lips as she leaned into me. What would Kahina think? But it’s
not like we were actually together, right? After all, I had promised,
and Kahina only thought of me as a glorified blood bank. That much
was proven by her actions back at Julianne’s. And our
conversation back at Kahina’s mansion? It was hard to say how
much I believed that.

I saw Candy slip her shirt off with an expert pull. Then a moment
later she’d unbuckled her pants and started in on mine. She
wasted no time on foreplay, and it had been quite awhile that my body
didn’t mind skipping it either. The most she stopped to do was
pull out a thin blanket of some sort from behind one of the seats.
She positioned it under my hips and took the moment to pull my pants
the rest of the way down.

My brain didn’t have extra room for following that line of
thinking. The press of her skin and the little moans coming out were
very demanding. My last coherent thought, before a year or so of
celibacy caught up with me, was how bad this would get if Kahina ever
found out.

I was in good shape, but it would be a medical nightmare if I lasted
in fine form that entire time. Doctors frequently gave warnings about
‘seeking help for erections lasting more than whatever hours’.
Never mind the stamina of races outside of human. Mentally, the three
hours were enjoyable. Far more than they should have been.

Candy gave me twelve whole minutes to recuperate in the middle of
'payment'. I know it was twelve minutes because there was a dashboard
display blinking the time. She didn’t take a break or stop and
kept other parts of me busy. By that point, I was in no mood to argue
with anything happening. I was probably drooling on myself in
happiness.

Three other tidbits of information were true. One, she certainly
wasn’t the type to remain silent while riding. Two, she got her
wish about me calling out her name, more than once. Three, fuck is a
great word, way better than horse shit.

The three-hour mark hit and she collapsed forward with a satisfied
smile. It was amazing, but she managed to time it right on the dot.
Worn out didn’t even begin to describe me. Even if I did heal
as fast as Stacy thought, this was a different level of work. Maybe
the whole dating thing was worth looking into again.

Though maybe not in a car on the side of a freeway. How we’d
avoided law enforcement knocking on the window was beyond me. Being
in the early hours of the morning just before any sort of rush hour
probably helped.

“How many more hours would it take to tell me which one is your
real addiction,” I said.

She laughed. It was an excited and exhausted sound. I could tell part
of her was absolutely wired while her body celebrated a flood of
endorphins.

“You’ll find out sooner or later.” Candy sat up and
smiled into the distance.

“I don’t think I’d argue with extra rounds later,”
I said.

“We’ll see.” Candy stretched and it was fairly
attractive. Fortunately, even though the spirit was willing, the
flesh was tired.

“No, then?” I asked.

“Not right now. I’m good.” She glanced down at the
leftovers of our act in the car. There was a mess of sweat and
fluids.

“Hell,” I said.

She reached behind the seat and pulled out some effective looking
wipes and a hand towel.

“Prepared for it all.” An eyebrow raised with my words.

“You bet,” She said. I was thankful vampires were
diligent about communicable diseases. That meant the only worry was
pregnancy, and that didn’t happen between races. Candy was
still grinning as she cleaned up. The remains were tucked into a bag
and she put her clothes back on. Her hair was short enough that it
looked wonderful in its disheveled mess.

The only repercussions for our act would be if Kahina cared or not.
Of course, the partial vampire had implied she was aware of my other
excursions when I was traveling. Screw it, a statute had to apply
somehow after four years. Guilt be damned.

“How about that Lord thing? Would I have to endure more of that
for an explanation?” My excitement put me in a stupid frame of
mind.

She paused and her serious face came back. The one that swung a
complete one-eighty from where we had just been. Were all the women
around me bipolar? Or did I have a special knack for saying the wrong
things?

“The more people who know what you are, the worse it will be
for everyone. If you don’t know, you can’t tell anyone. I
will not be the one to try and change history again.” She
sounded sad.

“What does that mean?”

Candy kept the look plastered across her face and started the car up.
I hadn’t gotten my pants fully on by the time she swung back
onto the freeway. At least a few cars going the other direction got a
good eyeful of my privates. Not how I wanted to leave an impression.

“Candy?” I tried her name. “Candy?” My mouth
opened to ask a third time.

“Keep it shut or you’ll never be able to ask me for
anything in the future,” She said.

That shut me up.

“Even if I enjoyed it.” Candy gave a slightly warmer
smile. There was something about those eyes that said she was also
being serious.