Playing Against Type: Soulgirls, Book 4 (8 page)

“You shouldn’t. Yes, you invited yourself to dinner, but it was a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy evening.” And he hadn’t even spoken to Fairuk at that point. “As for today, I wanted to get you out of the hotel, spend some time with you in the light of day.”

“Why?” She opened the ketchup and poured some onto her plate.

The urge to tell her, to fill her in on all the backroom shenanigans and darkness housed in the casino, tempted the hell out of him. Breaking their code of silence wouldn’t hurt him—far from it. They couldn’t touch him. But Pepper was human. Beautifully fragile and innocent. They could
hurt
her. “Do I need a reason?”

“I suppose not.” But she looked disappointed in the answer. She went silent for a moment, then pointed to his arm. “I saw your tattoo earlier. It’s not a fancy heart with a girl’s name on it, is it?”
 

“No.” Not a topic he really wanted to talk about. “I got it a long time go.”

“The joys of a misspent youth?”
 

“Something like that.” His mother had given him the mark, after all, and it was time to change the subject. “I want you to do something for me.” He stirred his coffee and set aside the spoon.

“That’s not an ominous way to begin.” A hint of her earlier smile curved her lips.

“It’s not ominous. I just want you to switch hotels…”

The request buzzed in Pepper’s ear, a wordless hum melting the statements together. His lips moved and he spoke, but she couldn’t process anything past the part where he wanted her to leave the Arcana Royale.

“No,” she whispered, but Finn continued talking. He sat forward, his expression intent and urgent. He didn’t seem to hear her. The man had a beautiful face and a most remarkable mouth, but apparently his ears didn’t work very well.
 

“No,” she repeated.

“What?” He frowned.

“No. I don’t want to switch hotels. I like the Arcana. It’s beautiful. The casino floor has all those games…and you still owe me another round at the slots.” Sweat beaded along her neck and her heart thundered. Securing her future—the very idea of even having a future—depended on staying put.

“Pepper, look—I realize this sounds crazy and a little bit over the top. But I’ll pay for everything, move your stuff, get you set up. They have some amazing shows at the MGM or the Bellagio or the Luxor, wherever you want to go.”

“No.” She shook her hands to emphasize her refusal. “I’m not moving. It doesn’t sound crazy that you want to pay for me to relocate—it sounds suspicious and disturbing.” Maybe her job was to get close to him and distract him, but at not at the expense of her life. They couldn’t ask her for that—she knew damn well Heidi wouldn’t. “You know, maybe this is a mistake.” She rose, appetite forgotten. “I’m sorry you spent all that money this morning. If you give me the bags, I’ll return the items.”

Rising to her feet so quickly gave her a bit of a head rush, but she managed. Clenching her fists, she fought to hide the trembling his suggestion aroused in her. She needed to go back. Right now.
What was I thinking leaving for so long?
Her gut tightened.
What if Heidi thinks I ran?

“Pepper, please—wait.” Finn touched her arm. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you and please, you don’t have to take the things back. I wanted to get them for you.”

“Well, I’m not for sale.” Until the moment he brought up moving her, she hadn’t even considered the implications of letting him pay for everything. She had a couple of credit cards in her purse. Heidi had thought of everything, but Finn always extended his before she could reach the ones she carried.

And face it, when was the last time you went shopping that wasn’t online or in a catalog?
The Internet had brought the dancers so many more shopping options, but walking the strip, flitting in and out of the shops, had been an adventure. She wanted to do it again, but not if this meant what she thought it meant.

“I didn’t mean to imply you were.” His hand tightened around her wrist. “I apologize if that’s the impression I gave you. I just liked that you wanted them. You were like a kid at Christmas. Look, your food hasn’t gotten here and you’re enjoying the fries. Give me to the end of lunch to make amends?”

The fries were good and she really wanted to try the turkey burger she ordered. It sounded exotic and downhome at the same time. “You have to promise you won’t ask me to switch hotels again.”

He let go of her wrist and held up his hands, palms outward. “I won’t ask you to switch hotels again.”

She still considered leaving, but Heidi asked her to take care of this—yes, the word came down from the mysterious beings on high. The paranormal casino with its magical creatures and fantastical opportunities was her home. She’d lived with vampires, Amazons, nymphs and at least one imp, to name a few beings and adored each and every one of the women. The contrast between the mystical resort and the rather ordinary café they sat at now couldn’t be summed up easily.

“Pepper?” Finn waited for her response and others in the café started to stare at her. She was making a scene.

She reclaimed her seat, but gone was the whimsical fancy of the day. “Fine. But I want to go back as soon as we’re done with lunch.”

“All right, but I’d planned to take you to M&M World.”

She had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep her expression neutral. She and the other dancers had read about the decadent shop with its four levels of chocolate madness and delights. But she’d already taken a big bite out of the tempting crumbs he led her out of the casino with. No more. “Not today, thank you.”

“All right.” He tilted his head, studying her as if she had done something to surprise him. Perhaps he wasn’t used to being refused. Or maybe she’d just made a complete jackass out of herself, starting with their crazy introduction to the towel greeting in her hotel room up to the manic fit of shopping.

Though she
was
the tiniest bit relieved she didn’t have to return the green shoes. She adored them. Finn said nothing and the silence began to stretch uncomfortably.

Why does he want me to move?
It didn’t matter, because she wasn’t doing it. But maybe Heidi would want to know. Plucking a fry from the basket, she swirled it in the ketchup and bit into it. It gave her something to do rather than fidget.

The waitress delivered their food, a burger for Pepper and a chicken fried steak sandwich for Finn. At the sight of the sandwich smothered in country gravy—though this gravy didn’t have sausage in it—Pepper nearly forgot her irritation.

She finished about half the burger before the lack of conversation wore her down. Without looking up from the sandwich, she had to ask, “Why do you want me to switch hotels?”

“I’ve been sitting here wondering how to explain. Unfortunately, you don’t know me well enough to trust my word.” He sounded disappointed.

“I don’t even know what you do.” She cringed inwardly at her own lie. She knew a little bit of what he did. Heidi told her.

“I work for the FBI.” And now Finn told her. That was unexpected.

She stopped picking at the burger and stared at him. “Really?”

“Really.”

Worrying a nail, she leaned forward. “Do you have a badge?”

His brief smile softened his features. “Yes, but I don’t have it on me currently. I’m not actually here on official business.”

“Oh.” It was her turn to be disappointed.

“Does knowing where I work encourage you to trust me?”

She considered lying if it helped Heidi’s cause, but shook her head. “No. Not really. You could be lying after all.”
I have been.
“You could have left it with your CIA badge back in the room along with the keys to your rocket car.” Wouldn’t that be fun if it were true?

Finn’s lips quirked in a half smile. “Then why stay?”

No two truths were created equal. “Because I like you.”

“You had to say something sweet.” He shifted and pulled his wallet open to show his badge. Another flip revealed his identification. “I didn’t want to pull this out. We’re in Vegas, after all. The waitress could be mobbed up.”

Pepper felt her eyes go wide. That hadn’t occurred to her. “Really?” The mob didn’t really reach into the casino as far as she knew—not when security was hostile and possessed very sharp teeth.

Finn chuckled. “I think we’re safe.” His amusement took her breath away.

“Are we?” Because she was beginning to have her doubts.

Chapter Six

He delivered a weary Pepper back to her room and accepted her dismissal against his better judgment. The desire to sweep her room for magical interference overwhelmed him, but she’d planted her hand against his chest and shook her head. Brushing off her rejection wouldn’t do, he’d pushed her hard enough for one day.
 

So he let her go and went back to his room to check the recordings. It was none of his damn business if she wanted to stay. He saw conspiracies everywhere—it was what the Royale did to people. Fed off their hopes, dreams, and fears. Chances were high she’d enjoy her vacation and go home without any trouble whatsoever.
And just because she could leave didn’t mean they hadn’t anticipated my need to check that facet of her. She was so tired when I left her. Too tired.
Maybe it took everything in her to be beyond its walls. It worried him.
 

The fact that he worried troubled him more.

Opening the door to his room, the scent of cedar and cut grass burned his nostrils. His skin tightened and itched with the sensation of thousands of ants crawling across his body. Whatever—or whoever—had been in his room leaked magic like mad and it lay over everything. He checked his laptop and found it dead. Completely fried. The cameras in his supply pack were equally disabled.

Everywhere—whatever it was had been everywhere in his room. He ran his palm across the desk. The magic clung like cobwebs over his skin and he tore through them even as he soaked up the power. One by one, he shredded the spells until a fine layer of dust filmed the wood. The slender, octagon shaped wooden box sat exactly where he left it. The fine layer of magic on the room didn’t even disturb the air over it. Satisfied, he turned his attention to his things. It took him the better part of an hour to dispose of the trap spells layered throughout the room—they’d even bespelled the sheets.

Idiots.
Either they didn’t know his protections or they didn’t care. This was beyond the work of an amateur, it was more like a child had bounced off all the walls. The knock at his door didn’t help his mood. He checked the peephole and sighed. Fairuk. The woman wouldn’t give up. He considered ignoring her, but the thought of Pepper walking down the hall and seeing the stranger out there held little appeal. Freeing the locks, he pulled the door open. “What, Fairuk?”

Her black eyes held reproach, and the half-veil hid the rest of her mutinous expression. “May I come in?”

Checking the hall, his gaze lingered on Pepper’s door just two away from his own. He motioned Fairuk to enter and stalked over to the windows. He’d opened the curtains wide to let in the sunshine. Most of the rooms in the casino could be modified to suit the whim of the owner. His looked like any other generic hotel room in any city in the world. The dancer’s presence here in this homogenous setting was as out of place as a car seat on a camel.

“What do you want?” He didn’t waste time on pleasantries. He needed to decide whether he wanted to pursue his mother’s disappearance or head back to Washington and get on with his real work.

“You know what I desire. Vengeance, I believe you said.” She bowed her head, offering a demure, submissive picture. She really shouldn’t have left her job in the theatre, the consummate actress was a professional liar.

“Well don’t hold back, Fairuk. Tell me how you really feel.” Finn leaned back against the desk and folded his arms. Everything about being in the hotel aggravated him right now.

“I feel like you are the only living legacy of Marguerite DuBois.” She shed the façade of passivity and stalked toward him. “You came here to deliver justice like the hand of God.”

“I’m not the hand of God and vengeance is hardly justice. You want me to destroy the Arcana Royale.” Might as well put their cards on the table.

“Yes.” She practically hissed the word. Her hands tightened into fists. “They take and take and take—they cannot be allowed to take her too.”

“You seem to be under the misguided notion that she was a victim in all of this. Overseers aren’t victims. They’re ones who roll the dice. Sometimes the House loses, but don’t deceive yourself. She controlled your fate and she could have cut you off at anytime.” Fairuk’s continued existence niggled at him. She belonged, body and soul to his mother—or so he thought. If Marguerite were truly dead, shouldn’t Fairuk have been extinguished as well?
 

The rules said that Overseers do not allow their personal identities to be known. In the past, he knew of more than one child turned out—sacrificed to the altar of their power. Sometimes he envied those children—his life might have been kinder if his mother had turned away from him, but Marguerite had always played a dozen moves ahead.
 

“They killed her.” Grief rent through Fairuk’s hostility. “They killed her and took her away from me.”