Chapter 20
“Gargoyles?” Gemma echoes.
“Yes.”
“How…how is that possible?”
“They used to be men, but were cursed.”
Gemma’s heart rate increases, evidenced by the little monitor on her finger. “Men? There’s more than one?”
“Yes. There are four. Jacques is who you met tonight.” I swallow hard, glad she can’t see my pounding heart. “I’ll explain the rest later. It’s…it’s complicated.”
“More complicated than you opening a rift?”
I laugh. “Much more. The rift was an accident, and I think I can fix things. But the guys…” I shake my head. “Like I said. Complicated.”
Gemma pulls the thin sheet up to her chin, eyes getting misty. “You’re the real deal.”
“I guess.”
“You are. And I’m so sorry.”
“Gemma,” I say, looking her right in the eyes.
“What you did was shitty, but I forgive you, okay? I’ve never been good at this whole making friends thing, so maybe I picked the worst person to become friends with, but I kinda can see what you did.
I know you’re sorry. So stop apologizing because it’s a little annoying. ”
“Okay.” She smiles, shoulders relaxing a bit. “Who cursed them?”
Gemma’s seen enough to warrant an explanation, but I’m not going into the gory details just yet. “I’ll tell you that later. And probably on a need-to-know basis.”
She rests her head back against the pillow, looking a little pale again.
“Are you okay?” I ask, preparing to call for the nurse.
“Yeah. I think I’m in shock. I’ve always believed in magic, but seeing it…knowing there are other…other things out there…it’s a lot to take in.”
“Tell me about it. I used to think magic was a crock of shit until recently.”
She swallows hard. “What else is out there?”
I watch the shadows of someone’s feet walk by the little ER room. “It’s more like what isn’t out there. Vampires are real, but they’re not sparkly and sexy.”
She wrinkles her nose. “I prefer my vamps to look like Eric Northman.”
I laugh, and the curtain gets pulled back. A nurse’s assistant comes in with a wheelchair and says she’s going to take Gemma up to her room.
“I guess I’ll get going,” I start, moving out of the way as the CNA starts getting things ready to help Gemma into the chair.
I grab a piece of paper from the counter and dig a pen out of my purse, writing down my cell number for Gemma.
I feel a little bad for leaving her, but she needs to rest and I need to get back home and make sure no one else has been attacked by Pink Dress Ghost.
“Call me in the morning,” I tell her. “Let me know what’s going on.”
“I will. Thank you, Ace.”
“You have no idea how much I need this.” I take the glass of wine from Thomas and lean back on the couch.
“I have a bit of an idea,” he says, sitting next to me. “Judging by the look on your face.”
“And how tense your shoulders are.” Gil stands behind me and massages my muscles.
“People are crazy,” Thomas muses, sitting on the couch next to me. Jac and I just got back, and after I showered to get the remaining kerosene off me, I changed into PJs and came downstairs to hang out with the guys.
“Are you sure you can trust her?” Hasan asks, sitting in the chair next to me.
“Yes. I really do think she’s sorry. And wanting a family…it’s something I can relate to. And I understand it even more after seeing how batshit crazy her aunt and uncle are. She never felt like she belonged anywhere, and while I know there are far worse problems, that feeling gets heavy.”
“Pity can infringe on judgment.”
“I know,” I agree, looking at Hasan. “So can desperation. And if she gives me the slightest bad feeling, I’m putting a truth spell on her.”
“Maybe you should do that now. Make sure her intentions are what she says they are.”
“Ace knows what she’s doing.” Jacques comes into the room. He’s shirtless with his wings again, and has a few bandages over the worst burns on his arms. He assured me again and again that he’d heal in his sleep, but I wasn’t taking any chances.
“That’s debatable.” I give him a wry smile. “But thanks.” We talked on the way home, and I finally opened up for the first time about how I’ve never had friends. I was afraid to let anyone in. I didn’t want to care about someone and have them leave my life, whether it be intentional or not.
I wanted friendship. I wanted love. And it wasn’t until the guys came into my life that I stopped running from it.
“I do kinda wish you could have seen their faces when Jac burst into that cellar.”
Thomas laughs. “I can imagine. Fucking nutters, if you ask me.”
“Oh, totally.” I shake my head, just a little curious what’s going to happen to them once they’re released from jail and await trial.
Will the others in their community shun them?
Support them? The official arrest was for two counts of kidnapping as well as assaulting an officer.
With Gemma being in such poor health when I finally got to her, they won’t get off easy.
I take a big drink of my wine, welcoming the buzzed feeling tonight. We ordered Chinese takeout and it should be arriving any minute now.
“How would you guys feel if Gemma stayed here a few days?” I ask, looking at each of their faces. “Just until she’s better.”
“If you’re okay with it, we are,” Gilbert tells me. “She knows what we are already, right?”
“Yes, but that’s all she knows. No one else needs to know exactly what happened.”
Hasan lets out a huff and gets up, going to the large windows. Honestly, I’m still a little torn. Do I feel bad for Gemma? Yes. Is she really sorry? Yes. Do I trust her…I think so.
I want to for the same reasons I wanted to be her friend before.
I wish Mom were here now. She’d know what to do and would give me an unbiased opinion.
I could really use one right now. Hasan doesn’t trust anyone.
Tom and Gil will agree with pretty much anything I do, and Jacques…
his affection for me affects his judgment.
I know it does and I’m positive he’ll admit it too if I were to ask.
I don’t want to be stupid. But I don’t want to toss Gemma to the wolves—so to speak.
The poor woman has been through a lot. She knows about magic and has seen Jacques in all of his winged glory.
We were both orphaned at a young age and know the struggles of what it was like to grow up without a family.
Draining the rest of my wine, I reach up and take Gil’s hand, giving him a little tug. Taking the hint, he hops over the back of the couch and sits next to me. He wraps his arms around me, and I snuggle up next to him.
Jacques takes a seat in the armchair nearest the fireplace, not fitting in too well because of his wings. Rolling his eyes at himself, he stands and pulls the charm from his jeans pocket and slips it over his neck. With a smile, he settles back into the chair.
“So we’re doing this now?” Thomas asks, raising his brows.
“Doing what?” Jacques shoots back, putting his feet up on the ottoman.
I laugh and shake my head. “I love you guys either way, you know. Do what you want.”
“Grab the charms, brother,” Gilbert tells Thomas.
He shoots Gil a look and then gets off the couch, returning a minute later with the remaining three charms. Gil slips his over his head and his wings magically disappear.
He readjusts us on the couch, able to hold me closer now that the wings aren’t in the way.
Thomas puts his on and joins us, moving in close so I’m sandwiched in between.
Hasan took the charm from Tom but hasn’t put it on.
He hasn’t said anything, and I don’t think he ever will, but I think he likes being a gargoyle.
Other than the whole being forced to sleep during the day part, of course.
Thomas told me how Hasan was revered for his skills as a warrior.
I can tell he was built for battle, physically as well as mentally.
“You have to go back to work soon, don’t you?” Gil asks, flattening his hand over my stomach. His fingers are going to start inching down any second now.
“I was told to take at least a week off, though I technically have more vacation time.” I tip my head up to look into his beautiful sky-blue eyes. “I used to feel anxiety over having free time, but now I don’t want to go back. I’m really debating taking the next week off.”
“I don’t understand,” Jacques says. “What is vacation time?”
“When you work at a company or organization, you usually get allotted so many days of vacation. If you don’t take them, generally, you’ll just lose them if you can’t roll them over,” I explain.
“And in some places, overtime is frowned upon, and not taking your vacation days can make it look like you weren’t allowed to take vacation days. ”
Jacques gives me a blank stare. “That entire concept is very strange.”
“Yeah,” I agree. “It makes sense and it doesn’t at the same time.”
“Whatever it is,” Thomas says, “I’m glad you’ve been home all week.”
“Me too. Lying at work isn’t fun.”
“Then just tell your boss about the vampires next time.” Thomas winks.
“Yeah. That’ll go over well. Pretty sure I’d be out of a job if I did that.”
“Would that be a bad thing?” Gil asks.
“Yes. I need money to pay for, well, everything.”
“But you own your house.”
“Yeah,” I say. “But I still have to pay taxes on it, as well as utilities. And that’s not to mention other things like food, gas for my car, car insurance, my car payment, health insurance, life insurance, putting money away for retirement, putting more away in my ‘oh shit’ fund, and then hoping to have anything left over to spend for fun. ”
“That’s, uh, a lot.”
“Yeah.” I shake my head. “But that’s how it is. And I’m fine. I’m a good saver.”
“I didn’t know any women like you in my old life,” Thomas says, getting a distant look in his eye.
“It’s because I wear pants, right?” I add, and Thomas chuckles.
“Yes. Pants weren’t allowed.”
I shake my head. “It’s kind of scary to think about. You were pretty much stuck wherever you were born, right?”
“Right,” Gil answers. “Not too many rich men would want to marry a poor woman.”
“Did anyone marry for love?” I ask.
“Oh, they did,” Thomas answers. “Which is why I refused the arrangement presented to me.”
“That’s just so—”
I’m cut off by a knock at the door. It’s rather frantic to be the delivery person, though the last time I ordered Chinese takeout the guy who brought me the food told me I needed to leave the house.
The food is coming from a different place this time, but even I’ll admit the house is creepy at night.
“I’ll get it,” Jacques says, pushing off the chair. He grabs the dollar bills I have laid out on the coffee table to give for the tip and answers the door. I’m too snuggled up with Gil to look into the foyer, and my stomach grumbles at the thought of fried rice and egg rolls.
“What are you doing here?” Jac asks, and gets all of our attentions.
“Is Ace home?” Jared’s voice drifts through the house. “I need to talk to her.”
Untangling myself from Gil, I stand and the effects of the glass of wine I chugged on an empty stomach hit me. Steadying myself, I go through the house to the front door.
“Jared?” I ask, slipping my arm around Jacques. I gently pull him back. “What’s going on?”
His cheeks are pale and his eyes are wide. “I…I saw a ghost.”
“Really?” I ask as gently as I can.
“Yeah.” He nods quickly. “I…I think it was Lynn.”
“Lynn?”
“The girl you were looking up the other day.” His brow furrows. “It looked just like her.”
Fuck. I close my eyes in a long blink. “Was she by any chance wearing a pink dress?”
Jared looks right at me. “Yes.”