The Moon Rises (34 page)

“There was a time when science was useless to my
kind, but now we can make miracles. I’m certain we’ll figure this problem out.
Until then, I will make it clear to my minions to stay clear of you or face
death. It won’t protect you from Weres and witches or necromancers, but one
less enemy is still a step in the right direction.”

Gigi could have stayed cuddled with Simon for the
rest of the day, maybe forever. There was something powerful about him that
soothed her loneliness and anxiety. Yet he was in a strange mood. She also sensed
by the way his lips lingered on her neck and he kept inhaling her scent that
Simon wanted to bite her. Knowing he was craving her blood, Gigi left the security
and affection he offered.

Anton had been sneaking kisses from Gigi all
week. Whenever she dropped by the office, he found a reason to bring her into
his private office where he would kiss her. Some days there was only time for a
brief touch of lips. On other days he could kiss Gigi long enough for her to
make one of her hungry moans. Anton found himself alone today in the office
with Gigi and she was making those noises going on twenty minutes now.

Curled up on his lap, Gigi only stopped kissing
him long enough to gaze at Anton with her dark eyes before returning her lips
to his. He should have felt strange for making out in the office. Yet his only
concern was enjoying the sensation of her soft blonde hair as he ran his fingers
through it.

Through the grapevine - Ella’s big mouth – Anton
heard about Gigi’s date with Simon and how the Vamp put the brakes on their
tryst once he realized he couldn’t change her. Glad to have the competition out
of the picture, Anton still worried someone else would sweep in and steal her
away. Kissing in the office wasn’t exactly a relationship and Gigi had plenty
of admirers.

Coming up for air, Anton smiled softly at Gigi
who was licking her lips.

“You know I can’t be seen with you without putting
you at risk,” Anton said, “but maybe we could have dinner at my apartment?”

Gigi’s face up until this moment was flushed with
arousal, but the expression she gave him when he finished his question broke
his heart. She was like a little girl finally discovering what Santa left her
after a year of waiting.

“Yes.”

“We could order in and have dinner,” Anton paused
when Gigi kissed him. As her tongue tasted him, he lost his train of thought
then she pulled away.

“Yes,” she sighed. “I would like that.”

“We could talk without worrying about people
interrupting and maybe you could sleep over?”

Anton waited to see if Gigi found him too
forward, but she only blinked as if trying to put the phrase “sleep over” in
context.

“You mean stay at your apartment all night?” Gigi
asked, looking worried she hadn’t understood correctly.

“Yes, but you don’t…”

Gigi’s lips found his and Anton got his answer.
She seemed ready to sleep over right then, but finally pulled her lips away.

“When?”

“I know you work tonight, so how about tomorrow?”

Gigi nodded and her eyes were pools of need and
hope. Anton felt a slight shudder rush over him as she stared at him. Brooding
over, Anton would find a way to make this relationship work.

Gigi felt extremely nervous as she entered
Anton’s apartment building. Even though his place was on the top floor of the
five story building, it felt like the elevator took forever to get there. Gigi
couldn’t contain her excitement over being on a real date with the Were she had
wanted from her first night at the club.

Reaching his apartment door, she ran her hands
through her hair the way Justine did before going to the witch floor to flirt
with Nolan. Just like Justine, Gigi also checked her breath and adjusted her
boobs. After primping for a minute or two, she finally knocked on the door.

The first knock was too quiet so she knocked
again. Waiting, Gigi worried she should have put on makeup, but she hadn’t worn
it before and wasn’t sure how to make it look like Justine’s makeup looked.
Gigi knocked a third time and put on a smile she hoped wasn’t the crazy looking
one. Finally even though she hated when people rang her bell, she pressed the
buzzer for the apartment and waited.

And waited.

Finally Gigi pulled out the new cell phone
Justine helped her pick out and dialed Ella who wasn’t working that night.

“Hella, this is Ella.”

“Hi, it’s Gigi. I have a question.”

“Shoot, G. Hey, want to come play cards with me?
I want to get good so I can beat Michael so bad he cries.”

“I don’t think he’ll ever cry.”

“Oh, I don’t know. Michael probably cries a lot
which gives him headaches which is why he seems so cranky all the time. Headaches
suck.”

Gigi knew Ella was kidding because it seemed
unlikely Michael ever cried.

“So what’s your question?”

“If you were meeting someone for a date and they
were late, how long would you wait before you knew they had stood you up?”

“Fuck that. Did someone stand you up? Tell me who
and I’ll kick his ass.”

“How long would you wait?” Gigi said, ignoring
Ella’s question.

“I don’t know. How long have you been waiting?”

“An hour.”

“Oh, honey, the piece of shit definitely stood
you up.”

Gigi was hoping Ella would give her a different
answer. “Okay.”

“Do you need me to come get you?”

“No.”

“I could meet you at your place and we could make
plans to kick this guy’s ass.”

“No thank you. I just want to go home and watch
TV.”

Once Gigi hung up, she wiped a tear from her
cheek and glanced at Anton’s door. She didn’t understand why he would ask her
on a date then not show up. He didn’t have to ask her to come over at all, but
he did and he seemed happy when she said yes. Maybe she said yes the wrong way
or maybe he was only asking because he thought he had to or maybe a million
other reasons Gigi didn’t understand.

Walking back to her apartment, Gigi was glad it
was dark outside so her crying wouldn’t be so obvious. Michael said when chicks
cried in public, they were just embarrassing themselves. Gigi did feel
embarrassed, but not because she was crying. She was embarrassed by whatever
she did to make Anton change his mind about her.

Entering the courtyard of her building, Gigi
looked up at the windows to see if the cats were waiting for her. Two of them,
Saturn and Venus, spotted her and she saw their mouths open in a silent meow.
Gigi tried to smile, but she had planned to be at Anton’s apartment overnight
and the fact she was home tore at her heart. Her crying had set off the trigger
in her mind and now she just wanted to sleep.

Movement startled her and she noticed a male in
the corner of the courtyard – his face hidden by a cap pulled low and a hoodie
over it. Gigi frowned at the male who was stepping out into the light. She
wasn’t afraid, but suspected she should be.

“Gigi,” the male said and she recognized the
voice.

“Finn?”

“I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You look like a shady character,” Gigi said as
he stood in front of her, his golden hair hidden by the hoodie.

“I wanted to check on you. Are you okay?” Finn
asked as he reached out and wiped her damp cheeks.

“I got stood up on a date.”

“Oh,” he said with a sad expression. “Why would
anyone stand you up?”

“Because he doesn’t care.”

“Maybe something came up?”

“Why are you defending him?”

“Because I can’t imagine anyone not wanting to
spend time with you.”

“Do you want to spend time with me?”

Finn watched her and nodded. “I shouldn’t be here
though.”

“But you are here so can you come upstairs for a
little while? I’m sad and you made me feel better when Sara disappeared. If you
stay with me, I won’t have to take a nap.”

Glancing around, Finn took a deep breath. “I’m
kidding myself if I think I’ll say no.”

Smiling, Gigi headed into the building with Finn
close behind, his face still hidden by the hat and hoodie. She thought he
looked funny dressed like that, but she wasn’t going to tell him. Once inside,
she waved at her neighbor Violet. While Violet just nodded, her little girl
waved at Gigi then they rushed into their apartment and shut the door. Ignoring
her less than friendly neighbor, Gigi was focused on alone time with Finn.

The cats were sitting in a line waiting for her
and they meowed in unison when she opened the door. Finn glanced over her
shoulder at the cats and laughed.

“They’re so weird.”

“No, they’re normal. I’m weird which is why they
act that way. Ella told me.”

“So it must be true,” Finn said, shutting the
door. “Do you mind if we close the shades?”

Shaking her head, Gigi had only kept the curtains
open for the cats. Finn shut the shades and pulled the drapes over them,
blocking the view into the apartment. Once he felt it was safe, Finn pulled his
hat and sweatshirt off. Now just wearing a white tee and his jeans, he looked
more like Gigi was accustomed to and she stared at him, enjoying the view.

Noticing her interest, Finn grinned almost shyly.
“So I guess you didn’t have dinner?”

“No. Are you hungry? I could cook.”

“Or we could just order in.”

“Yes, that’s what he said we would do tonight,
but I don’t know what that means. Order what in?”

“Food.”

“You mean pizza because I don’t want pizza?”

“Chinese, Italian, sandwiches. Oh, there’s a new
Japanese place which delivers. I have the numbers on my phone so whatever you
want.”

“So you can call them and they’ll bring us food
like they make in a restaurant?”

Finn nodded with a grin.

“Why would anyone ever cook then?”

“Because it gets expensive to eat out every
night. I do, but that’s because I’m a crappy cook. My mom taught me a few
things, but otherwise I order in a lot.”

“I want to order in. Can you show me how?”

Finn typed the numbers into her cell phone. When
he ordered food, he also told the guy to bring menus. Soon they had a bag full
of Chinese food and Gigi was picking out pieces of chicken from her rice to
feed to the cats.

“Thank you for being here tonight,” Gigi told
Finn as he studied the cats.

“I shouldn’t be here, but I got restless in my
apartment and wanted to know you were okay. I sometimes drive by and check to
see if your lights are on. At some point, I became a weirdo stalker.”

“A stalker is bad, right?”

“Yep,” Finn muttered with a frown.

Gigi grinned. “You want me to be safe. That’s not
bad.”

“I should leave you alone.”

“But I don’t want you to leave me alone.”

Finn watched her with his gray eyes and she felt
her skin flush with desire. She loved those eyes.

“Gigi, if I keep hanging around, someone might
hurt you.”

“I’ll take the chance. My ghost fixed me when the
Vamp tried to eat me and with that monster. Her name is Millicent, but I call
her Millie because even though she has white hair, she seems young to me.”

“Is she here right now?”

“Yes, she’s at the window. She likes to watch the
neighbors. I think sometimes she spies on them.”

When Millicent glanced back at her with a frown, unhappy
with this comment, Gigi shrugged.

“So because I can’t be a Vamp, Simon won’t date
me because he might bite me and die. I’m sad about that, but then I thought
this other male liked me, but I guess he doesn’t. Dating is very frustrating.”

“This male who stood you up, is he a witch?”

Gigi shook her head.

“Tobin, the necromancer?”

Smiling, Gigi shook her head, liking how Finn was
jealous. She knew what the look on his face meant because it was the same look
Justine got whenever another female was around Nolan.

“A Were then?”

Nodding, Gigi took a bite of noodles.

Finn looked up as if he was thinking. “I know
Declan wouldn’t stand you up.”

“No, not Declan.”

Finn frowned. “It can’t be Anton…” Pausing when
Gigi frowned, he sighed. “Why in the world would Anton stand you up?”

“He likes to tease.”

“Not really. Declan likes to tease, but Anton
tends to be lazy when it comes to women. If he asked you out, he really likes
you.”

“He stood me up.”

Finn pulled out his phone and dialed. Watching
Gigi, he blinked when someone answered.