Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Sorcha had no idea what was wrong with Luke. All the playfulness was gone. He was exquisitely feral. And truthfully, it scared her.
For the first time, she saw the demon in him. It was ruthless and cold.
Distant.
And the last thing she wanted was to be alone with him when he was like this. “I’ll go hitch a ride with Bernadette back to the office.”
He didn’t say a word.
Okay, then. He really wasn’t the Luke she’d been getting to know.
This side of him…she didn’t like it, and she practically ran back down the cobbled street to where Rory and Bernadette were wrapping up with Jedi.
Bernadette frowned as she saw her. “You okay?”
Not really. She was a lot more shaken than she wanted to admit. “Can I get a ride back to the office with you?”
“I wasn’t going straight back. Is Luke—”
“I can take you,” Rory said, cutting Bernadette off. “That is, if you don’t mind?”
“That’d be great. Thanks.”
He inclined his head to her before he slid his phone in his pocket, then went to speak privately with Jedi.
Bernadette continued to eye her. “You sure you’re all right? I would say you look like you’ve seen a ghost, but that doesn’t really apply to you, does it?”
Sorcha let out a long sight as she realized Bernadette also knew about her powers. “I’m fine.” The last thing she wanted to do was complain about Luke on her second day. Especially since she didn’t know what was wrong with him.
Maybe this was normal.
Either way, he was allowed to have feelings. She just hated that his were so intense.
Rory returned to her side. “My car’s this way.
” He led her back up the hill and across the road to Houston Street where he’d parked his unmarked black Dodge Charger in front of another hotel.
The Brice. She loved the crisp, white stucco that stood out from the restaurant next door that was black with yellow awnings. Probably be a nice place to stay.
And it was most likely above her pay grade.
“Where’s your partner?” she asked as Rory opened the door for her.
“Out sick today. We’re short-handed, so I’m solo.”
“Sorry.” Sorcha got in as he shut the door behind her.
For some reason, she felt a bit awkward and had no idea why. She’d spent a lot of her career with all kinds of officers and investigators.
Unlike IA, her last precinct had been huge. Sometimes she’d known the people at a crime scene, but many times she’d walked in blind without knowing anyone other than her partner.
So why was she so nervous now?
She had no idea.
Rory got in and offered her a kind smile. “You all right?”
“I’m fine.”
He tsked at her. “Fine never means fine. I can tell something upset you. Let me guess…about six and a half feet tall with more baggage than a transatlantic cruise ship?”
She snorted. “Is that your idea of a joke?”
“Yeah, I suck at humor as much as I do at small talk. My sister always said that I should have been a mortician. And maybe I should have. I’d see fewer dead bodies that way.”
“Ouch.”
“Exactly.” He started the car and pulled away from the curb. “Have you been in Savannah long?”
“No.”
“Then you probably don’t know about Pirate’s House, do you?”
She had no idea what he was talking about. In New Orleans pirates had been a big thing, especially Jean Lafitte, and particularly the bar on Bourbon Street that had taken its name from the famous outlaw. “Which pirate?”
He turned left onto Bryan.
Sorcha frowned at the sight of another park. “Are these things all over the city?”
“What things?”
“Small parks.”
“You mean the squares, and yes. Savannah loves her squares.” He paused at the next intersection. “And that’s the Pirate’s House across the street.”
She stared at the old gray building that looked like many of the others they’d passed. “Oh, it’s a restaurant?”
“Yes, and it’s one of the oldest buildings in Savannah. Haunted as all get out, if you like such things. Working for IA, I assume you do.”
“Some days. Is it really haunted?”
“Let me take you to dinner there and you can see for yourself.”
Sorcha wasn’t sure what to say to that. It’d been a long while since anyone had asked her out. Too long, in fact.
Her first instinct was to turn him down. After Bert, she didn’t want any part of the dating scene. She no longer trusted herself in that department. Bert had been so good at lying and deceiving that it’d soured her on romantic relationships.
And yet…
It wasn’t like she could ever date the son of the devil. And no one else had knocked on her door in a long, long time.
Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to try again.
Rory turned to look at her while she silently debated. “I know we just met, but I don’t get a lot of free time, and most women have trouble with my job.”
“It’s okay. I get it. I have the same problem myself, and yes, I’d love to go to dinner with you there.”
His mood lifted immediately. “Saturday at six?”
“Sure. I’ll text you my address.”
Why that made her so nervous, she had no idea.
You know why.
It always came back to Bert. He’d all but ruined her on men. I won’t let you take this from me. Bastard had taken everything else. She wasn’t about to let him destroy the rest of her life, too.
She deserved a chance to start over without him ruining it. Especially given the way he’d loved tearing her down and tarnishing any happy moment in her life. It was as if he could only feel pleasure when he caused her pain.
Why did I ever date such a monster?
Because of her sister. Her family had been so broken back then. Not that they weren’t still. Yet in the aftermath of Siobhan’s death, Sorcha had been weak and needy—a shell of who she really was. It’d been hard to make it through a single day.
Bert had come into her life like the mythical knight-in-shining-armor who had pulled her out of her fog. Made her feel something other than grief.
At least in the beginning when she’d thought of him as a gift.
But as she’d gotten back on her feet and returned to her real self, Bert had become resentful. Clingy. Mean and nasty.
An asshole-in-tinfoil who sought to tear her down and make her weak again.
Gaslight her until she didn’t know who to trust. It turned out that he didn’t really care about her.
It was all about him, all the time. He’d needed her to worship him.
And everything he did, he did to feed his ego and self-importance.
“So…um, do you like to read?”
Sorcha laughed as Rory’s question pulled her out of her musings and away from a beast she never wanted to think about again. “You really aren’t good with small talk, are you?”
“Not at all. It’s why I like being a detective. I ask pertinent questions with no side chatter.”
“Then I’ll send you my dossier before Saturday.”
He smiled. “You joke, but I just might ask you for that.”
Laughing, she made a note about it on her tablet. “I’ll forward you a copy as soon as I’m back in my office.”
Rory fell silent for a few minutes as he drove through town.
Sorcha wasn’t sure what had dampened his mood so suddenly. “You okay?”
He let out an elongated breath. “Yeah. I just want you to be careful and I’m not trying to sound like a controling jerk when I say that.”
“I don’t think you’re a jerk, controlling or otherwise, and I’m always careful.”
“I’m serious, Sorcha. I know Luke’s your partner, but there’s something about him…every alarm in my brain rattles whenever he comes near. It’s like he’s evil or something. And yes, I know how stupid that sounds, but please keep your guard up.”
If he only knew how close to the truth he was.
“I’ll be careful. Promise.”
Rory pulled up to the front of their office. “Okay. See you on Saturday.”
“Absolutely.” She got out of the car and watched as he drove off.
Another weird day at Infernal Affairs. And it made her wonder how many other women got asked out at a crime scene. Now there was a stat she wasn’t about to Google. Either way, the answer would depress her.
Sighing, she headed to the street-level door that opened into the IA garden where her office was located.
She still didn’t know what had upset Luke. But then she didn’t really know him either.
Maybe the nice Luke had been the fake one. Maybe the defensive asshole she’d just left was his normal state.
Like Bert.
“Get out of my head!” She opened the door to the courtyard to find Christian there with a shocked look on his face.
“You okay?” he asked.
Heat covered her cheeks as she realized he’d heard her angry outburst. Maybe I do have Tourette’s…which gave her a whole new level of respect for those who dealt with it. Thankfully, she could control hers.
Most of the time.
“Channeling an asshole. Curse of being a medium.”
Chris nodded. “Understood. As you saw yesterday, I spontaneously spout idiocy in public. Usually in response to the asshole who stalks me. Respect.” He headed for the door she’d just walked through.
Sorcha watched him go. She didn’t know why, but she really liked Chris.
Well, all her coworkers so far. They were a good bunch of people…and imp. Helly was in a class by herself.
She had no idea how to classify Luke. Especially today, but maybe he wasn’t so much like Bert as he was having a bad day. She had to stop looking at everyone through the Bert lens.
“I won’t let you win.” She repeated her mantra as she crossed the yard and went into her office. She would exorcise that demon if it was the last thing she did.
Opening the door, her breath caught as she again saw what Luke had freely given her. Bert had never been so thoughtful. When he gave, it was in order to get something he wanted. Nothing had ever been done “just because.”
Not everyone who had a single asshole moment was a permanent asshole like Bert. She was going to force herself to remember that.
Dropping her crossbody bag and tablet in the white chair beside her door, she went to her desk and sat down. Sorcha let out a welcomed sigh at how comfortable her chair was. Perfect lumbar. Just enough cushion that it felt like a cloud. “I forgive you, Luke.”
This really had been a thoughtful gesture on his part.