Filthy Rich Fae

Chapter Eleven

“That can’t be good,” an amused voice murmured in my ear, the heat of his breath tickling its shell.

I whipped around, colliding into Gage, who caught me smoothly. “What are you doing here?”

“You rang.”

“I didn’t.”

But he tapped the pendant. “Your prayers have been answered. You were asking the gods for help.”

The stupid necklace. “They couldn’t send a fire extinguisher?”

“Clearly, you need me.”

“Believe me, you are the last person I need.” I opened the back door and started digging around until I found an old sweater. Grabbing it, I started toward the front of the car.

“I don’t think it’s cold.” Gage leaned against the side of the car and watched me. Fantastic. A fae jerk had arrived to heckle me.

“I. Need. To. Put. Out. The. Fire.” I might have imagined the hood was his stupid, perfect face as I smacked my sweater against it. Tears smarted my eyes, but I blinked them away. I wouldn’t cry in front of him, even if my life was literally going up in flames. My brother wasn’t speaking to me, my job was on the line, and the man responsible for all of it was watching the whole thing go down like he wished he had a bucket of popcorn for the show.

“I’d let it burn,” he suggested.

“Leave or be helpful!” I shouted at him. I wasn’t certain what was worse: that my car was on fire or Gage’s unwanted commentary.

But he didn’t move. “I am being helpful. This car has lived a good, long life. Let it burn.”

I ignored him and kept beating at the flames, but the fire only spread. I didn’t realize I was crying until his arm wrapped around my waist and dragged me to the safety of the sidewalk. Once we were there, he muttered something under his breath, snapped his fingers, and the fire died out.

But the damage was done. The entire hood was charred black, and if it looked that bad on the outside… Whatever hope I’d had smoldered along with it, but I fanned the last ember into red-hot rage.

“Why didn’t you stop it?” I hurled the question at him as I stared at the ruins of my car.

“You didn’t ask.” He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. For a second, I only stared up at him, part of me processing the fact that he was here in the real world, wearing a black T-shirt and jeans and looking far too much like the god I’d been calling upon even with his human glamour. Apparently, his sexy magic worked even in my world.

Finally, the rest of me caught up with his words.

“I didn’t ask? Are you fucking kidding me?” I threw the ruined sweater at him. He caught it before it hit his face. “So you’ll only help me when there’s something in it for you. Is that it? You’ve already got my soul. Why help me? I’ve got nothing of value unless you want to bargain for the shirt on my back!”

“Now that could get interesting.”

I hated his arrogant smirk, hated how completely unapologetic he was even now; mostly, I hated him. The hatred boiled inside me until I was shaking, words spewing out of me. “Why did you even come? I tried to kill you last night. Did you honestly think I was calling for you?”

He snorted, stepping away even as his body remained angled between me and the street. “I never know what to expect with you, princess.”

“That makes two of us,” I grumbled. “Why don’t you just kill me and get it over with?”

It was the only logical course of action after I’d tried to take him out. He had to have reached the same conclusion. And if that’s where this was heading, I’d rather he didn’t toy with his prey for too long.

“I considered it.” The sheer boredom in his voice coupled with that endless smirk told me he actually had.

And maybe it was a couple nights of lost sleep or watching my car’s Viking funeral or just the mere fact that Gage wouldn’t leave me alone, but I tilted my face up to the sky and screamed.

“Cate, it’s just a car,” he said, the smile finally dying.

“‘Just a car’?” I repeated, nearly choking on the words. “Just a car?” I jabbed a finger at the scorched mess. “I spent two years saving up for that car.” The only reason I’d been able to buy it was because the windows didn’t roll down. Some days, I could barely afford the gas. More than once, the insurance had lapsed because money was too tight that month. But it was my car, the closest thing I’d ever had to a ticket out of New Orleans.

And he had let it burn in front of me.

“You can have one of mine,” he said.

I detonated. “I don’t want your car or you or any of this!” I ripped the necklace off and threw it at him. It bounced off his chest and landed on the street.

Some of his glamour slipped, his tattoos shifting as he glowered at me. His jaw tensed, shadows filling his eyes. “We’ve been over this. The bargain cannot be broken, and you are required to wear that to fulfill your end of the bargain. No exceptions.”

“I thought you were some powerful fae prince, but you couldn’t grant Channing’s freedom without stealing mine? Your bargain doesn’t work without some stupid necklace?” I planted my hands on my hips. “I think you’re full of it. I think the Gage family—”

“Be careful what you say about my family in this city.”

“What do you care?”

“I care because I own New Orleans. Because someone is always listening,” he hissed, grabbing me by the shoulders and yanking me closer. “What you say matters—”

“Like that I hate this city almost as much as I hate the family that runs it?”

He winced.

“Or that you prey on—”

“Careful,” he interrupted, the word drawn out low and deadly as he leaned closer, his dark gaze fixed on mine. A shiver raced down my spine but not in fear.

It was a testament to how stressed I was, because all of a sudden what I wanted was for this man to make me forget. Forget my shitty car. Forget my shitty suspension from work. Forget the shitty lies I’d told my brother. Even forget this shitty little bargain. I just wanted to say “fuck it” and give in to the need pulsing between us and forget.

Our eyes met, and for a second I swore I saw understanding, as though he knew exactly what I wanted but would never ask for, before his mouth smashed into mine. The kiss cut off my breath and stole the words from my lips. And then my senses lit up like a live wire and instinct took over.

If I’d thought I’d reacted to him before…

Stupid, fucking, sexy magic.

My body melted into his hard one as Gage claimed my mouth. He tasted like the sweet fire of wine and spice and wild things, and his fingers tightened possessively on my shoulders. Wrong. It was so wrong. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that, but I didn’t care. Not as his hands swept up to cradle my neck and his fingers tangled in my hair. Not as I lost myself to him. Not as the line between my anger and my attraction to him blurred. Until he drew back and pressed his forehead to mine.

“Watch your mouth,” he rumbled.

I balked, pulling a little against his hold, but he didn’t let me go. “Or what?”

“Or I will watch it for you. I might find your little threats and insults amusing—endearing, even—but you will not speak poorly of my city. Don’t test your luck.”

That’s what this was about. His city?

“The city that you’re poisoning with trinity?” I glared at him. “If you cared about New Orleans, you wouldn’t let that shit on its streets, let alone be the one responsible for putting it there.”

“You think you have me figured out, don’t you? I promise you have no clue, princess,” he shot back.

I knew what I’d witnessed at the hospital and what I’d seen on the streets. But it was hard to believe that Gage was responsible. Was he an unbelievably arrogant, selfish ass of a fae? Yes. Definitely. But his worst behavior since we’d met didn’t quite add up to evil, even if I wished that it did. Still, he needed to be held accountable.

“Let me go,” I said through clenched teeth. Or maybe I was just being influenced by the heady combination of his proximity and my hormone-clouded brain. “Stop using your sexy magic.”

His grip loosened in surprise, but he didn’t let go. “Sexy magic?”

“You know what you’re doing, asshole,” I hissed. “Stop using your magic to fuck with me.”

He chuckled, the rich sound burrowing under my skin. “I’m not using any magic on you.”

I didn’t believe him, but what was new? He couldn’t be trusted.

He studied me for a moment. “Have you learned your lesson?”

“Yes.” I squirmed under his hard gaze.

Gage fully relaxed his grip, and I slid away from him, all too aware of my trembling legs, the sweat slicking my skin, the racing of my heart. The lines of his face remained stony as I retreated and put some very necessary distance between us.

“You kissed me.” The words were half accusation, half confusion.

“Don’t let it go to your head.”

“My head?” I spluttered, instantly regretting any doubt I’d had about him being a grade-A prick. “Do you think I wanted you to kiss me?”

He shrugged. “You didn’t seem to mind.”

My mouth hung open, every rational thought emptying from my brain, which was busy imagining a target right over his arrogant face. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. I wouldn’t let him get to me. “Don’t do it again.”

“I won’t.” But those sinful lips twitched, sending a rush through me. “Not until you ask me to.”

I dared a step closer. “I wouldn’t hold your breath. Because I will never ask you to kiss me.”

“Never is a long time.”

“Not long enough,” I snapped. Forcing my hands to stay at my sides, I backed away from him. “I have to go.”

“How?” He squinted at my car.

“I can walk.” Anything to get away from here, away from him.

He bent and scooped the necklace off the ground. “What are you really mad about?”

I glanced at the burned husk of my car. “That, to start with.”

He nodded. “And?”

“This bargain,” I shot back. And the fact that I was no closer to guessing what his secret was—why he’d agreed to the deal in the first place.

“And?” he pressed. “It’s something beyond that.”

“I think that’s more than enough.” I narrowed my eyes. He was trying to get into my head. It was probably another fae trick. But there was a glimmer of something in his eyes, foreign to him but familiar to me. It wasn’t possible that he actually cared, though. “But if you’re keeping track, the hospital is short-staffed because people are covering for me. Because I got suspended for breaking the shitty policy they agreed to in exchange for your money.”

He rubbed his lips thoughtfully. “I see.” He was going to see my foot up his ass, but before I could cheerfully follow through, he pulled out his phone. “I already told you the job was unnecessary. I can see now that it will only be a problem.”

“What are you doing, Gage?” I lunged for the phone, but he turned away. He only had to make one call to get me fired. “Don’t. I have student loans. I have bills.”

He held up a single finger, his back still turned to me. “Garcia, please.” A pause. “Make him available.”

He was making a power play. I’d pressed too many of his buttons, and now he was going to press one of mine. Unfortunately, it was the one that sent my entire world into self-destruct mode.

I tried again, the fear in my voice making it thin and needy. “I’m begging. Please don’t—”

“Garcia.” He didn’t bother to tell him who was calling. I barely managed to stay on my feet. “I wanted to let you know I’ve taken on a private nurse.”

Private what? “What are you—”

The finger went up again to silence me. Forget our new deal; I was going to kill him.

“Miss Holloway works for me now. You may have her back when I decide or when she wishes to return. In the meantime, I’m concerned about your staffing shortage. I nearly couldn’t lure her away because of it. If the hospital is that underserved, you should have told me. I rely not only on your discretion but on your services, as does my city. Hire more nurses,” he said swiftly. “I don’t care how you find them. Try doubling the starting salary.” He waited, and I just stared at him. “Then double the salary of the other staff, too. And Garcia? Don’t risk my city again, or the next position we hire for will be yours.”

He hung up with that threat and finally turned to face me.

“You just threatened the chief of medicine,” I said, feeling a little numb.

“I dealt with a problem. That’s what I do for my city.”

But it wasn’t for his city. Not really. It was for me, and that was…disorienting. “You told him I was your nurse.” Apparently, I was going to work out my confusion aloud and in real time. Fantastic.

“How did you put it? Even immortals bleed?” he asked tightly. “You know that Gage Memorial exists to provide care for my kind and for our associates. Perhaps it’s time I had someone on call in case of an emergency.”

I couldn’t tear my eyes from his. Nothing about him made sense. “You have an entire hospital on call for you.”

“But I don’t trust them.” He slid his phone into his pocket.

“Why would you trust me?” I blurted out. “I pulled the trigger.” I really shouldn’t be reminding him of that right now—or ever.

A slow smile spread over those lips. “I trust you because you pulled the trigger.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets, his eyes straying past me. I looked over my shoulder to where my burned car sat forgotten. “Sure you don’t want a ride home?”

“You didn’t drive,” I reminded him, my brain still trying to catch up with the dizzying events of the last twenty minutes.

But he only laughed. “Later, princess.”

He snapped his fingers and was gone before I remembered the necklace. He’d taken it with him and left me with more questions instead, but I kept coming back to the same one.

What was he getting out of our bargain? There was something in this for him, and I needed to find out what.

Okay, maybe I had two pressing questions.

How was I going to keep myself from asking him to kiss me again while I figured it out?

The second question should have been easier to answer than the first. The trouble was, it didn’t feel that way.