Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
I’m halfheartedly daubing red dots on my sheet, two marks away from a postage stamp, when a familiar voice yells out, “Bingo!”
It appears Aaron just won a hundred and thirty dollars.
At the next break, when I notice he’s at the snack table, I declare a need for chocolate and walk up to chat with him. “Drinks on you tonight?”
“Haha, yeah, sure.” Chuckling, he glances over his shoulder at Leo, then leans in to mutter, “But between you and me, I need to give them all to Leo.”
“What? Why?”
“So he doesn’t kill Rime.”
“Oh. Yeah.” I roll my eyes and inspect a plastic-wrapped brownie.
“They act like my brother and I did when we were kids.”
I laugh. “Immature?”
Aaron grins sheepishly. “More like always trying to piss each other off.”
Is that what Rime was doing when he kissed me? Trying to piss Leo off?
Refusing to go there, I change the subject. “So, uh, have you found out anything about Browne’s Hill?”
“Nothing about the hill.” Aaron sifts through a basket of cookies in ziplock bags. “But apparently people have seen some pretty weird shit.”
“Yeah? Like what?”
“Three-eyed fish and furry snakes and trees growing sideways.”
Abnormalities in nature. “Do you think—?”
He shrugs. “It’s possible.”
I sigh, my eyes on a pile of Rice Krispies Treats with mini M&M’s. Unfortunately, I left my wallet back at the table.
Before I realize what he’s doing, Aaron buys one and hands it to me. “You were drooling.”
“You didn’t have to. I have money back at my seat.”
“Betts,” he laughs. “I just won a hundred and thirty dollars. I can buy you a Rice Krispies Treat.”
I smile and thank him.
“How about you and Rime? Find out anything?”
I try to talk around a chewy bite of puffed rice and marshmallow. “So much I had to take notes.”
“Awesome. Wonder how Avery and Topaz are doing.”
“Avery’s probably doing great. But Topaz?” I grin and shrug.
He laughs. “Well, get back to your seat before your boyfriend comes after me.”
I snort. “The old ladies love him.”
This makes Aaron laugh even harder. “Yeah, I’ll bet.”
Back at the table, I offer some of my dessert to Rime, giggling as his eyes pop on the first bite.
“That’s delicious,” he says, nearly breathless with ecstasy.
“I know, right?”
“What is it?”
Barbara interrupts, “You mean you ain’t never had a Rice Krispies Treat before?”
“No, ma’am. Not something my mam ever made me.”
“You poor thing,” I tease.
He gives me his most persuasive smile. “But you’ll make me some, won’t you, a chuisle mo chroí? Sometime soon?”
I freeze, mid-chew.
“Betts?”
“What was that you just said?”
“The Gaelic?”
“Yes.” That phrase that sounds like wish-la-ma-kree. I remember it now. It’s what Leo murmured to me when we were in the middle of—
I choke on the bite in my mouth, wincing as it scrapes the whole way down my throat.
“A chuisle mo chroí,” Rime repeats, his accent as lilting and beautiful as Leo’s.
I whisper, “What is that? What does that mean?”
Over my head, Rime’s blue eyes cut to Barbara and Linda, then sharply back to me, wide and insistent. I’ve stepped out of character, and he’s trying to bring me back. “I’ve said it to you before, a ghrá. Don’t you remember?”
I shake my head, heart pounding in my ears. Get it together, Betts.
Barbara, bless her, intervenes. “Well, if he won’t tell you, I will.”
I round on her. “You know what it means?”
“Sure do. It’s engraved on the inside of my wedding ring.” She taps a yellowed fingernail on the gold band. “It means ‘pulse of my heart.’”
I blink at her in disbelief, not because I think she’s incorrect, but because that can’t possibly be what Leo said.
“It’s a common endearment,” she adds. “Just like a ghrá.”
My mouth forms an O, but I’m not sure any sound comes out.
Pulse of my heart? What a beautiful, romantic sentiment—so beautiful and romantic that people engrave it on their wedding rings.
No, Leo couldn’t have said that. He was probably just rattling off some sort of healing or calming spell.
I mean, wouldn’t all Gaelic words sound the same to me? All soft and burr-y and musical?
Not that I care. It could’ve been the Gettysburg Address for all it matters now.
Except—I’m sure one of those words was chuisle, because I remember thinking, Wish? What does he wish? Because in that moment, I would’ve given him anything he asked for.
So what if he did say it? So what if he called me a chuisle mo chroí, the pulse of his heart? Why believe he meant those particular words when so many of the other ones out of his mouth were lies?
Shamelessly, I let my gaze drift to him, watching as he sweeps back his bangs, takes a sip of Dr. Pepper, and makes sure the lids of his daubers are screwed on tight.
For half a second, I nearly forgive myself for falling for him.
I mean, for god’s sake, I can see those thick dark eyelashes all the way from here.
Rime regains my attention with a gentle nudge of my chin. “What’s the matter, a ghrá? Don’t you like your dessert?”
I see two things when I meet his eyes: one, he wants me back in the game, and two, he knows why I’m so rattled. Maybe I’m mistaking pretend tenderness for sympathy, but I’m sure it’s what I see on his face and feel in his energy.
I give him my biggest, most blinding smile and chomp into my Rice Krispies Treat. I’m fine. Better than fine. I’m strong.
Invulnerable.
Until, out of nowhere, I’m nearly knocked out of my seat by a tidal wave of fury. One that’s not my own. I grab Rime’s arm and open my mouth to warn him, but it’s too late.
The clang of a toppling metal chair has every head in the room snapping up.
A female voice growls, “Touch me one more time, and I’ll break your arm.”
I jump to my feet, my heart pounding. Topaz has one of the frat boys, the smarmy one who won the hundred bucks, in a chokehold.
He tries to laugh it off, but she merely tightens her grip.
One of his buddies grins while the other tries to talk Topaz down.
And Avery? She’s just standing there, smirking.
It’s not until two older gentlemen intervene that she stops glorying in the douchebag’s misfortune.
Linda sighs and shakes her head. “Those boys are trouble.”
I look to Rime, who, like nearly everyone else, is also on his feet. Out of the side of my mouth, I whisper, “Should we do something?”
“Stay here.” He nods at Leo and takes off toward the altercation. Leo goes too, Aaron close behind. It makes sense for them to do so, they’re the youngest, strongest men in the hall. But what about me?
Screw it. I ask Barbara if she’ll watch our stuff and take off after ‘my man.’
When I arrive on the scene, Topaz is reluctantly loosening her grip, forcing the jerk to gracelessly extricate himself from her hold. When he’s finally free, albeit breathless and red-faced, we all exhale in relief.
Until the dumbass mutters, “Psycho bitch.”
Topaz lunges for him, and it takes Rime and Leo both to hold her back.
The two older men order the frat boys to leave.
“And don’t be coming back!” one of them adds.
The culprits gather their stuff, acting like they wouldn’t be caught dead in this lame-ass hall ever again, while Avery helps Rime and Leo calm Topaz down.
I sneak into the huddle and ask Topaz, “Was he hitting on you?”
“Is that what you call it?”
Avery scowls. “God, it was like we were back in middle school.” She snaps at me, “How can you stand frat guys?”
I jolt like a mosquito caught in a bug zapper. Shame heats my face, although god only knows why.
“Avery,” Leo hisses at the same time that I rush to say, “I don’t know them.”
Her face falls, the frustration giving way to remorse. “Sorry, Betts. I didn’t mean anything by that.”
I nod and swallow, my throat too tight to speak. Just because I went out with the frat boy king himself doesn’t mean I’m an apologist for them all. It’s not my job to bear the shame they don’t feel.
So why do I feel like an accessory to their crimes?
Leo’s eyes meet mine, conveying way too much understanding. Thanks to me, he’s gotten plenty of practice facing down frat boys who’ve gotten out of line. Fighting tears, I hook an arm through Rime’s and urge him away.
He pulls me tight to his side as we head back to our table. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” He may not have calming magic, but there’s something about his energy, maybe combined with his size, that feels like a protective shield around me.
“But I think we’ve blown our cover.” Most of the crowd have returned to their seats, but eyes follow us as we pass by.
God, I hate being the center of attention.
“Maybe we should quit while we’re ahead. ”
“We’ve gotten a lot of good information,” he agrees.
A glance across the room confirms it’s time to go. The rest of our crew are leaving.
Back at the table, we pack our stuff and make our excuses. Barbara tells us to come back anytime, and Linda assures us they don’t mind us Brownhill kids. “At least not ones as nice as you.”
We wish them good luck on the rest of the night’s games and escape out the double doors. Leo and Aaron are already outside, waiting by Leo’s car, but Avery and Topaz have yet to emerge. The lot appears otherwise empty, but distant pulses of restlessness and agitation have me on high alert.
I’m about to warn Rime when Avery and Topaz burst from the hall and out into the night. As soon as the doors slam shut and the darkness settles once again over the lot, three tall figures leap out of the shadows to block their path.
“Shit,” I gasp.
Rime chokes, “She’ll kill them.”
He and Leo order Aaron and me to stay put, but neither of us do. We sneak closer to the scene and shelter behind a car hood, Avery scurrying to join us.
Rime and Leo urge the boys to back off while Topaz stands between them, seething.
“You don’t want this fight,” Leo says. “Trust me.”
“Whaddya gonna do?” the main perpetrator asks him. “Fight for her honor? She’s a bitch, man.” He curls his lip at Topaz. “Nothing but a cheap piece of ass.”
Grinning, she sweeps Leo aside and steps right up to the frat boy, shoulders back and eyes on fire.
Bracing myself, I turn away, but shouts have me swinging around again. The jerk lies splayed on the ground while Topaz squares off with one of his friends, fighting like a trained assassin. In one high, swift kick, her foot slams into the side of his head, sending him flying across the pavement.
The third guy hesitates, torn, it seems, between helping his friends and being the one to take this ‘bitch’ down. But when she hisses at him and, oh god, shows him her fangs, he yelps like a puppy and starts frantically tugging the other guys to their feet.
“She’s fucking nuts,” he whimpers. “Fucking psycho.” His voice rises to a shout, “Just stay away from us! Stay back!”
Hands on her hips, Topaz laughs. “Beat it, dickheads!”
The guys scramble to their car, shooting terrified looks over their shoulders the whole way. A moment later, they’re peeling out of the lot in a cloud of exhaust and gravel.
“Holy shit,” Aaron mutters.
“Uh, yeah,” I say. “I think I know why Topaz isn’t here to do research.”
Because she’s here to be the muscle.