Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Before, I’d thought we were always taking taxis because Soyer didn’t have a car. If I had thought about it, which, to be fair, I’d barely had the time to do.
But of course Soyer had a car—several, as he’d confessed to me—and it had taken me getting abducted by an evil witch to piece that together. He’d come to rescue me in his car, and I preferred that memory to anything from before he’d come to get me out.
We were in his SUV with the heat on to keep the chill at bay. October had been cold already, and November had already seen some snow.
“Kitty-cat got your tongue?” Soyer tapped the gearshift with his index finger as he slowed to take a right turn. His nail polish looked like he’d just reapplied it earlier.
“Huh?”
“You’ve been zoning out. Are you okay? Would you rather we go home? We can order ice cream in if you like.”
“No. We can go get ice cream.”
“Even if nothing will be open?”
I looked at him. He kept his eyes on the road, but he was smiling. “I know you know a place. Or a person. Or you bought an ice cream parlor just for me and forced the employees to clock overtime for tonight.”
He clicked his tongue and glanced at me. His black eyes were full of humor. “Amory, I hadn’t even considered buying an ice cream parlor, but I like the way you’re thinking. I’d expect nothing less of the manager.”
“Oh, come on.”
“What?”
I bit the inside of my cheek. “You don’t have to placate me.” I was looking at the back of my hand, flexing my fingers. The ring finger had been broken not too long ago, but it was fine now. My ring fit perfectly. “It’s because I never really trained for management, right?”
Soyer went quiet for a moment. It sounded as if he was holding his breath.
“Are you fucking—my heart, is that what you took away from this meeting?”
“You’re making it nicer. More upscale. The diner, I mean. And I love that! Kasey is amazing. And everyone else we hired, they’re all so good.”
He snorted. “I just ordered a hundred extra plates for Levi to break. And I beg of you, please don’t fucking do stuff like this when I’m driving and can’t hug you. Dwayne and I are not kicking you down the ladder. We’re just making you take a fucking break, all right?”
“You’re angry.”
He pressed his lips together and stopped at a light. It was green, but this early, there was no one behind us. He turned to me.
“Look at me. I’m not angry at you. Never have been, never will be.
You’re too perfect for that. You’re also too perfect to spend all your time at work instead of with me.
I’m selfish, Amory. I think I’ve mentioned that before.
And you agreed to marry this very selfish man.
Obviously I want you all to myself, and I’ll use any leverage I have to get you.
Also, Dwayne really didn’t like the fact you weren’t taking any time off, and he was about to blame me for it, so I joined forces with him instead. Got it?”
Soyer wasn’t going to lie to me, I knew that.
And rationally, I’d already known everything he said.
But sometimes something snagged on even the smallest doubt or fear I carried in my heart, and then it grew and bloated and almost overpowered me.
Soyer had said that was probably normal after the witch.
It still sucked though. It felt so real.
“I know.”
He reached out and cupped my cheek. “I know you do. I’m not angry, okay? And I really do like the idea of buying you an ice cream parlor. I’ll talk to Dwayne about it.”
I made an undignified noise. “No, you can’t!”
I caught the mischievous glimmer in his eyes. “Says who?”
I wiggled my fingers in front of his face, showing off my ring. “Your fiancé.”
He froze, his gaze heating and growing more intense. He got like that a lot, and I never knew why exactly or when it would happen.
“Amory. Must you trigger my rampant libido like this? Don’t answer that—I know you can’t help it.” He faced the road again and continued driving. “Really need that ice cream now.”
I thought he was going to take me to some random corner of the city again, the financial district maybe, but no. I tensed when I realized where we were.
“The bodega?”
“Yup.”
I gripped the edge of my seat as Soyer pulled the handbrake and turned off the engine. “We’re…going inside?”
He took my hand in his. “We are. It’s where the ice cream is. Are you scared?”
“Of…the ice cream?”
He didn’t fall for that. Of course he didn’t. He was Soyer, and he knew me better than I knew myself sometimes. “No. Of the memories.”
I opened my mouth to tell him I wasn’t, but that would’ve been a lie, and he would’ve known. I snapped my mouth closed again and nodded.
“Okay. It’s all right to be scared, but it’s going to be fine. Stay where you are, I’m helping you out.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant by that, and by the time I realized, Soyer had already rounded the car and was opening my door. Cold air whooshed at my face, and he was holding out his hand for me to take. I did, but my stomach was in knots.
The last time I’d been here…well, it had been daytime, and I’d been under a witch’s spell, if that was the correct expression. I shivered, remembering that creature, the way he’d spoken to me. Then, how he’d taken my ring and broken my finger—
“Amory. Stay with me. It’s fine.”
We were walking toward the bodega in a complete reversal of that day. Now, I was safe, and Soyer was going to hurt anyone who’d even think about hurting me. Still, it wasn’t just the cold that had me breaking out in goose bumps.
“You never told me where you went,” I heard myself say, meaning that day.
My phoenix mind reader understood right away. “Just some errands. You don’t have to worry about that.”
“Okay.”
We were almost at the bodega. The lights were on inside, which was…good? I hadn’t thought about this place, not in the concrete sense of who was there running it now. It still said Lorenzo’s Bodega on the sign above the entrance, but that was…
“He’s…dead.”
Soyer turned to me. The light from the bodega outlined him. With his hair and his coat—with his black nail polish, even—he faded into the darkness of the night so easily, even in the city.
“He actually isn’t. Assuming you’re talking about Lorenzo.”
“But I saw—”
The memories came flashing back. Animal crackers and a detached eyeball. I squeezed my own eyes shut.
“It’s okay. We’re just here for ice cream. What flavor do you like?”
“Uh.” Breathing. I had to concentrate on breathing. There had to be a reason for Soyer bringing me here, I knew that. “Maybe…mint chocolate chip?”
He turned when the automatic door opened for us. “Really?”
“I think so. I mean…raspberry’s nice.”
Soyer stuck out his tongue. “Too many seeds.”
Then we were inside the brightly lit bodega. I looked around. I couldn’t help it. I wasn’t sure whether I was looking for any sign that remained of that day—dried blood or a sliver of broken glass—but the bodega was spotless, and just as upscale as I remembered from my first time coming here.
“Black Shuck,” said someone from behind the counter.
“Lorenzo. Hi.” Soyer pulled me with him toward the counter, toward the man. “You remember Amory.”
The man pushed his half-moon glasses up on his nose. He had very blue eyes. Eyes I thought I almost recognized.
“Of course. He survived the witch.” The man smiled. “The witch that didn’t survive the Black Shuck.”
He said witch like it was something vile, something loathsome. I looked at the name tag on his shirt. It said Lorenzo.
“Amory was quite concerned. He saw what the witch did to your spawn.”
My eyebrows crept up my forehead. “Spawn?”
The Lorenzo behind the counter nodded, his expression pleased. “Oh, yes. It was one of the older ones, but I’m fine, Mr. Saintclair. It was minor pruning, and I was able to reabsorb most of it.”
“Reabsorb?”
Soyer cleared his throat. “Yeah, thanks, Lorenzo. No need to add any more details to that.”
“If you say so. Heading down?”
Soyer shook his head. “We’re getting ice cream.”
I couldn’t quite tear my eyes away from this younger version of Lorenzo, even as I followed Soyer to the freezers. I had so many questions, but I couldn’t ask them where Lorenzo might overhear.
Soyer tapped the glass of the freezer door. “There. Mint chocolate chip and raspberry. They have both. Wanna get both?”
I turned my attention to the ice cream, and they did indeed have both kinds, plus several more on top of that. There was pistachio chocolate, black sesame, even matcha and melon. It was a wider selection than I’d ever seen before.
“Well, what’re you getting?”
Soyer looked at me, his gaze intense. “They don’t have my favorite flavor here.”
My cheeks heated. “Shh! Soyer.”
“What? Lorenzo doesn’t care.”
“Still.”
He rolled his eyes. “Fine. Let’s see. Hmm. Roasted hazelnut. I’ll go with roasted hazelnut.”
I nodded, my gaze wandering over all the flavors. I cocked my head. “They have cherry, you know.”
“Oh yeah?”
I pointed. “There.”
He shrugged. “I already said I was going to have roasted hazelnut.”
I looked at him. “But you want the cherry?”
Soyer put his hand on my back, stroking my spine. “I didn’t say that, my heart.”
I nodded. “Okay. I’ll get the cherry.”
Soyer chuckled and opened the freezer to pick out the little containers. “Any last-minute changes?”
“Nope.”
“Okay then.”
He grabbed the ice cream, letting the freezer door fall shut behind him.
“We’re just going to eat these at home?”
“Did you have another idea?” A smile lingered around the corners of his mouth.
Soyer was playing with me. Not in any malicious way, of course, but he was baiting me. He’d brought me here to bait me, and I was ready to swallow his lure.
“Are we going to the underground again? To the old subway system?”
He stacked the ice cream tubs one atop the other. “Did you want that?”
I did. The world down there had been magical, even if I’d only seen a sliver of it, and even if it hadn’t been the best of experiences. But there were people down there, supernaturals, that I’d never known existed. And Soyer, in his way, was offering to take me.
I crossed my arms. “Is that your apology for making me not work?”
He snorted. “Didn’t realize making you take a vacation was something I needed to apologize for, but sure. Trip to the underground for some time off. Lorenzo? We need some spoons for these.”