15. Chapter 15
Chapter 15
Tessa was trying to keep it together for now. She sat on the end of the bed after Ben left the room and watched her leg bounce up and down. She wasn’t sure how Megan, Eric, and the rest of the clan were going to take the news she was about to tell them. But she needed to get Lily and Evelyn to a safe place, and it was better to warn them ahead of time what was coming. The birthmark Tessa had just seen on Lily’s shoulder confirmed things for her.
Megan picked up on the third ring. “Hey, Tessa. I hope this phone call means that you found something out about Mia.”
“I did. Is Eric nearby so he can listen?”
“Yes. We’re with Marcus and Sienna too.”
“You might as well let them all listen in so I only have to tell this story once.”
“Okay, we’re all here.”
“This is convoluted, so you might want to wait until the end to ask questions.”
“If Tessa thinks this is convoluted, we’re in for something,” Eric supplied unhelpfully.
Tessa started from the beginning, telling them about going to Evelyn’s hometown, the lies from the townspeople, and Evelyn finally telling them the truth about Mia bringing Lily to her.
Of course her warning didn’t do any good since they peppered her with questions anyway.
“Why would Mia do that?” Megan asked.
“Because Mia knows that dragons are real.” She took a deep breath. “Lily is a dragon.”
They all started talking.
“Wait! Not all at once! That’s not all. And you better be sitting down for this. Lily can see the future. She’s an oracle.”
Dead silence greeted her.
“Are you guys still there?” Tessa asked.
“How is this possible?” Megan said in a choked voice.
“I don’t know, but I’ve seen her birthmark, and I have also seen her in action regarding seeing things in the future. We’re bringing her and Evelyn to the clan house to protect them. Men showed up at Evelyn’s looking for Mia and Lily almost a year ago. They need protection. Lily just had a vision of men grabbing them from the house they were staying in.”
“Oh my God,” Sienna said.
“We’ll be at the clan house in the morning. I’ll text you when we’re close.”
“How much does Evelyn and the PI know?” Marcus asked.
“Evelyn knows Lily is a dragon. Ben knows about her ability to see the future, but isn’t one hundred percent convinced. I haven’t told him any more than that. But he wants to know what’s going on.”
“You can’t tell him anything, Tessa. We don’t know if we can trust him,” Eric said.
“I know. I just don’t know if he’s going to let this slide.”
“You’re creative. You’ll think of something,” Marcus said.
A couple minutes later, after explaining the highway was shut down and they would be there as soon as they could in the morning, Tessa hung up the phone. She flopped back on the bed. Ughhh. Ben was waiting for her to text him. How long could she delay the conversation? Would he believe her if she told him she’d talked for hours on the phone? Probably not, and the longer she delayed, the more suspicious he would become.
Get it together, Tessa!
She decided to brush her teeth and wash her face to give her some more time to think through what she was going to say.
She texted Ben and within a couple minutes he was opening the door.
“Did you get ahold of your friend?” he asked as he shut the door.
“Yes. I told them that we would be back to Nashville in the morning.”
He sat in the desk chair. “And they’re okay with you bringing strangers to stay with them?”
“Yes.” She didn’t want to add more. She just wanted to answer the questions he asked and see how much he was going to push her.
“Did you tell them about Lily’s ability to see the future? Or are you going to spring it on them once you get there?”
Guess he was going to push her sooner than later. “They’re aware.”
His eyebrows rose. “And they believed you?”
She nodded.
He stood up and walked over to the door and then back again. “Tessa, what aren’t you telling me? You weren’t surprised about Lily’s ability.”
Her stomach dropped and Tessa shook her head. “I was surprised.”
He crossed his arms. “You might have been surprised that Lily had powers, or whatever you want to call them, but you weren’t surprised about the power itself. Is this something you’ve seen before?”
Holy snickerdoodles. Even though Marcus and Eric thought she was creative enough to dodge questions, it wasn’t that easy when she was looking into Ben’s big brown eyes. What to tell him? “I haven’t seen it personally, but I’ve heard of it before.”
He stopped his pacing and stared at her. “From these friends of yours we’re taking Lily to.”
Tessa tucked her hands under her legs to stop her fidgeting. “Ben, I am trying to protect Lily and Evelyn, and the best place for them is with my friends.”
He frowned. “What were you and Evelyn talking about at the house before we left?”
“I was trying to see if she was holding back anything from us about Mia and where she might have gone,” Tessa said. It wasn’t a lie, but not the full truth either.
“And?”
“She doesn’t know where Mia could be.”
“Anything else?” he pushed.
She had to give him something. “I asked her if Mia had powers as well.”
“What did she say?”
“She said no. She had never seen anything from Mia that would make her believe she had Lily’s ability.”
Ben started pacing again. “Why would a college professor be hiding a little girl who can see the future?”
“I don’t know.” Which was kind of the truth. She didn’t know how Mia knew dragons were real or how she ended up with Lily.
He turned toward her. “And if I call John Baker to ask him what the hell is going on and why he is really looking for Mia White, would he tell me a different story?”
Tessa pressed her thighs down on her hands. She would start waving them around if she didn’t control them. “You can call John if you want. You’ve met him. He’s a man of few words and most of them are delivered between grunts and growls. I don’t see him supplying any sort of information. And I think the less people who know about Lily, the better. Someone is obviously after her.”
“You told your friends,” he argued.
“I did.” What could she tell him to calm him down? “I know you don’t know me or my friends well, but they’re good people. They’ll protect Lily and not take advantage of her gift.”
And off he went again. He was going to wear a spot in the already thin carpet. “You think someone was using her? Like some government conspiracy movie?”
Better him head in that direction than her telling him about evil witches and curses. “Possibly. I can’t imagine the lengths someone would go to for this power. If they think they can have her predict the future of the stock market or something else, they could make millions.”
Ben dropped into the chair. “I don’t know what the hell is going on. This is unbelievable.”
She relaxed her shoulders, which had been tensing up as he questioned her. “I agree. And I also know that we both want to protect that little girl. Let’s get her to safety and then figure out next steps and what all this means.”
He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “Okay, for now. But if your friends have seen this before, then they need to clue us in on what’s going on. Maybe that can help us find Mia. She’s obviously in danger as well.”
“Yes, finding Mia is still important, especially since we know she’s hiding from someone.” Tessa freed her hands and placed them in her lap. “So do we have a truce?”
The corners of his mouth tipped up. “I didn’t know we were fighting.”
Tessa smiled. “Fighting might be too strong of a word. But working together is better than apart.”
“Agreed.” He sighed. “I’m exhausted. Do you mind if I use the restroom before we settle in?”
“Go ahead. I’m already done.”
He stood and grabbed his duffel and closed himself in the bathroom.
Tessa blew out a rough breath. That was too close. She had dodged a bullet. Once they had Lily to safety, Ben was going to push hard for the truth. But the truth about dragons wasn’t hers to tell.
She understood why the clan didn’t want more humans to know about their existence. But the longer she spent with Ben, the more she was beginning to trust him. And that surprised her. She didn’t trust easily. Experience had taught her to be wary, especially of rich, entitled men. But Ben was so down-to-earth. He was a kindhearted lumberjack who respected her and was willing to hold his opinion on this whole mess until Lily was safe.
And he was so kind to that little girl. There was something sexy and sweet at the same time about a man who treated kids with care. When he’d called Lily little bit and tucked her in earlier, Tessa’s ovaries started to dance. But there would be no fox trot, waltz, or salsa allowed. Especially tonight.
She bit her lip. They were going to share a bed. Thank God she hadn’t packed some sexy nightgown. She grabbed her T-shirt and sleep shorts from her bag and changed before climbing under the covers. A few minutes later the bathroom door opened, and Ben stopped in the doorway when he saw her in bed.
“I claimed the right side of the bed. Hope that’s not a problem.”
He dropped his duffel and shook his head. Was he going to strip to his underwear? Boxers or briefs? Boxers or briefs? She swallowed at another thought…commando? Was it hot in here? And now she was going to have to give both her brain and her hoo-ha a time-out.
He sat on the bed, pulled his boots off, and lay on top of the covers.
“You sleeping in your clothes?”
“Yep.”
Well, that was…disappointing. “You afraid I’m going to try and take advantage of you?”
He turned his face toward her, and his dark brown eyes danced. Roll away from the lumbersnack!
“Should I be worried about my virtue?” he asked.
“I don’t know. Is there anything you’ve done to tarnish it?”
The mischief in his eyes drained away, replaced with what? Confusion? “Not that I’m aware of,” he said.
She turned onto her side and faced him. “You know a lot about me, and I don’t know anything about you, Ben Wells.”
“There’s not much to tell,” he responded before turning his attention to the ceiling.
She could be a bulldozer on the best of days, but tonight she wasn’t going to push him. Something about his past bothered him, and she didn’t have the right to ask what it was when she wasn’t being totally truthful with him. “Ahh, a man of mystery. The lumberjack version of 007, huh? I get it.”
He chuckled and relaxed, so her joke did what she wanted it to.
“I don’t know which is more ridiculous in that statement, being a lumberjack or a spy.”
“You look like you’ve chopped some wood in your life, and flannel seems to be your wardrobe choice.”
Ben faced her again, and her heart sped up. “True on both counts.”
She smiled. “And I bet you could rock a suit.”
“While I’m jumping out of a helicopter onto a moving train?”
“Exactly!”
Ben smiled. “What am I supposed to do with you?”
Her hoo-ha was screaming a bunch of suggestions, and Tessa told the little busybody to shut up. “Would you believe me if I told you I’ve been asked that question more than once?”
“I’m not surprised in the least.” He reached over, and she held her breath as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Go to sleep, trouble.”
“Sweet dreams, Wells…Ben Wells.”
He chuckled again and settled onto his back. She turned away from him. There was no way she could face him anymore while they were sharing a bed. She needed to get herself in check or she would show him what trouble was all about.