Tab Bennett and the Inbetween (29 page)

“Maybe I will.”

“Maybe I’d say yes if you did.”

“Maybe,” Patty scoffed, shaking her head in dismay.

“Well now, don’t you two rush into anything,” John said. “You’ll need a lot more than ‘maybe’ to make a marriage work. When the time is right, you’ll know.” He put his hand on top of Maggie’s. John and Patty held hands too. It was very sweet.

“To true love,” Jim said, raising his glass.

“True love,” Alex said, his deep blue eyes locked on mine.

“To the birthday girl,” I said.

*******

Alex asked me to drive on the way home. He fiddled with the radio for a moment as I pulled out of the parking lot and then laid his head back against the seat and closed his eyes. As we wound our way back through the farms and woods that lead into Bennett Falls, I glanced over at him; his long, lean body was stretched out beside me on the passenger’s seat.

“Are you awake?” I whispered.

“Yes,” he whispered back.

I glanced over at him again. “Thank you for tonight.”

He patted my knee, careful not to let his hand linger for a second longer than necessary.  “I’m glad you had fun.”

“I did.” Of course, many of the people I loved were dead and while I was out for the evening, enjoying dinner and flirting with Alex, many others were in danger. I thought of Rivers and Molly and Becky. I thought of Pop, Francis, and Matthew. For the first time that night, I thought of Robbin. “You don’t think it’s horrible of me?”

He looked confused. “What?”

“To go out and have fun.”

He put his hand on my knee again, letting it rest there until the initial shock at being touched by him gave way to comforting warmth.

“I think it’s human in the best sense of the word. I don’t think any one of them would begrudge you one night off.”

 “Robbin might….” I let that trail off without going any further. I didn’t know what I’d been planning to say anyway. I doubted he’d be happy to know that I was out with his former best friend or that Alex’s hand was still on my knee.

I parked in front of the Manor but neither of us moved to get out. I could have opened the door and broken the spell but I didn’t. I sat there waiting to see what would happen next, enjoying the tension in some mildly masochistic way.

“I wish I could read your mind,” he said.

 “I was just thinking that you’re a good friend.” That was so not what I was thinking.

He leaned toward me ever so slightly and whispered, “Is that what you want me to be? Your friend?”

I nodded slowly, knowing it wasn’t true—not nearly. I wasn’t sure what I wanted from him but it wasn’t friendship.

His hair was almost silver in the moonlight but even in the dark car I could see how bright, how blue, his eyes were. He reached over and tucked a stray curl behind my ear. For a second I thought he was going to kiss me, I hoped he would. I felt my body respond to the unspoken offer, to the look on his face and the swirling colors in his eyes. It took me a moment to realize it was my body responding, not the enchantment. I wanted him to kiss me, just me without any magic pushing me toward him. I leaned toward him ever so slightly. Waiting.

It was a shock when the overhead light came on inside the car, signaling that he’d opened the door. “Friends then,” he said and got out.

I had a few seconds to get the look of disappointment off my face while he walked around the front of the car

“I had a really good time tonight. Thank you again.” My voice was just a little too bright, forced. I hoped he wouldn’t notice. I pulled my jacket closer around me.

“It was my pleasure,” he said.

Placing his hand on the small of my back, his long fingers resting on just this side of decent, he escorted me up the stairs to the Manor’s front door. I was all too aware of him, of the gentle pressure of his hand so low on my back, but the enchantment was quiet. I waited for it to tell me to kiss him, touch him, let him touch me. Nothing.  No yelling or forcing.

I wanted to know if it was really gone. I wanted to know how it would feel to be kissed by him because I wanted to be, not because the enchantment thought it was a good idea.

“I guess George is still out. George?” I called as I pushed open the front door, hoping he would answer. “Nice of him to leave a light on for us.”

I reached for the light switch next to the front door wondering if I should just turn around and kiss him.

“Tab?” We stood there for a moment staring at each other, the air between us crackling with need and magic and desire. “I don’t want to be your friend.”

 Then he pulled me closer and I melted against him, pressing the length of my body against his so there was no place we didn’t touch. We kissed for a long time, just teasing and tasting. Finally, when I thought I couldn’t stand it anymore, I felt his impatient fingers on the button of my coat.

He made a noise in the back of his throat as his hand cupped my breast, his thumb found my nipple. He reached to pull aside the thin fabric of my tank top and I shivered from the cold air and the heat of his touch.

“Jesus,” a familiar voice said from behind us. “Don’t you two ever stop? Get in here.”

Francis stood framed in the doorway. He looked tired – like he needed a shower and a good night’s sleep more than anything else. He definitely didn’t need to see me and Alex in such a delicate position on the front porch – again.

I pulled my coat closed. “Sorry,” I mumbled.

 “Just get in here,” he said, waving for us to follow him. Francis didn’t look back to see if we were following. He hurried down the hall assuming we were.

Alex rested his forehead against mine and sighed. “We can come back to this later, yes?”

I nodded. “But we’d better go in now.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Alex’s frustrated chuckle was meant just for me. “After you, Princess.”

I peeked into the study before I went inside, doing a quick head count. If someone was missing, I wanted to know right away. Robbin was sitting as far away from the others as the small room would allow. He was looking out the window as if his life depended on it. A perimeter of anger and frustration was almost visible around him; I didn’t have to read his mind to know who that anger was directed at.

Matthew and George were collapsed on either end of the leather sofa, both clearly exhausted. George appeared to be asleep, no surprise there, and Matthew was scowling. Francis leaned on the edge of Pop’s desk; the chair behind it was empty.

“Where’s Pop?” I asked, dreading the answer.

 “No one is dead,” George said without opening his eyes. “Francis, tell her no one is dead so she’ll come in and we can get this over with.”

 “No one is dead.”

 Relieved but suspicious, I took a seat opposite the desk. Alex stood behind me, his hand resting protectively on my shoulder.

“So where is Pop?” I asked.

“Licking his wounds,” Matthew muttered. His face was a mask of anger. “He’ll be back in a day or two.”

Alex looked around taking the temperature of the room, studying each of them for a moment before he asked, “What was the result of the vote?”

George sighed and shook his head and Matthew barked one short, bitter laugh.

“It went the other way,” was Francis’ curt reply.

“The other way?” I asked.

“Estella?” Alex asked. The note of surprise in his voice was hard to miss. She was supposed to have been a sure thing – even I knew that. “What happened?”

Francis he didn’t respond. He shifted awkwardly to his feet and then stood with his arms crossed over his chest.

“What happened?” I asked. “What was the vote?”

Matthew looked sharply at Francis who literally snarled in response. Everything about him, from his narrowed eyes to his clenched fists screamed “Don’t start.”

“Tell them Fran. Tell them what your fiancé did,” Matt said, clearly intending to start anyway.

That’s when Francis and Matt erupted, all their anger and fear and frustration bubbled to the surface in a hurry. They started stomping around shaking their fists in the air and promising retribution and demanding things of people who were not in the room. They were yelling, often at the same time but about different things.

I’d never seen them like this. I’d seen them fight before; growing up all the boys got into it one time or another. But back then it was always over silly things, kid things. This was as serious as a heart attack and twice as deadly. Both looked like they would happily murder the other.

“Estella voted for caution.” Matthew spat the words out of his mouth like they tasted bad. “She thinks we should wait until the matter of the crown is decided before attempting anything as risky as an offensive in the Underneath.”

George’s eyes were still closed but I knew he was thinking that Estella was right, that They would crush us in a fight. “It was her right to vote as she saw fit,” he said.

Matthew shook his head in disgust. “Estella never should have been a General in the first place.Everyone knows that was a favor to Francis, when she got promoted, not something deserved. Now she’s a lady’s maid with delusions of grandeur and an army at her back.”

“She’s earned her title and the respect of the entire army,” Francis spat back. “She got promoted because she deserved to be. I had nothing to do with it.”

“Who are you kidding? She got promoted for fucking you,” Matt yelled. It wasn’t like him to get so worked up. Red-faced yelling was really more Francis’s thing. “And now for some reason she has the authority to decide the course of the entire Queen’s 1000. She must be one hell of a lay.”

“Shut up,” Francis said, his voice freezing cold.

Sensing danger, Robbin got up and moved closer to our anxious circle.

“That’s enough you two,” George said. He sat up, stretched, rubbed his eyes and tucked in his shirt. “That’s enough. Estella gets a vote just like every other General. It’s been cast and that is that. She says she wants the matter of the crown settled? Let’s settle it for her. Tabitha, do you want to know about the circumstances of your birth?”

“Without you, without the old Magic that is here and nowhere else,” George said, touching his fingers to the center of my chest, “the Inbetween does not exist. It’s already been weakened by your long absence.”

“I know. Alex told me. He also told me that They of the Dark have never been stronger than they are now. Maybe Estella was right to vote the way she did.” George was the only one who looked like he approved. “Bring me back to the Inbetween, right now, tonight, and let me restore everyone to their full power, then go ahead and have your war, you know, when We can win it.”

They all looked nervously around the room, carefully avoiding my eyes. I saw Francis shoot George a warning look. It was meant to stop him, but it didn’t.

“They’re afraid to bring you,” he said simply.

“George,” Matthew said, the tone of his voice was a warning.

“No. No, it’s ridiculous at this point. She has to know. You want her to be queen? Then let her be. Tell her the truth and let her rule.”

He turned to me, a look of cold determination in his eye. The laughing, charming George I knew was nowhere to be seen, this was a man possessed.

“You know that your mother was attacked, yes? But no one has ever told you the circumstances of the attack, have they?”

I knew whatever George was going to tell me would be unbearable, the stillness, the tension growing in the room promised me that much, even before Alex leaned close to me and whispered, “I’m right here.”