Chapter 18
WHEAT ALE WITH AN ANTACID CHASER
LEVI
The bait had been set. Now we were waiting to see if the hunters would pounce.
I was a herbivore, so why I was thinking in predatory metaphors, I had no idea. But everything about today had felt topsy-turvy and upside down.
I hadn’t seen any of the hunters since that morning, but I’d received updates on their movements all day long from the team following them.
They’d filmed at the lake, at the cemetery, somewhere downtown, and, disconcertingly, somewhere close to the pub.
Although, apparently, Jake had not allowed them to record anything inside the pub or the Willow Lake Inn.
More importantly, however, so far, they hadn’t slipped their tail.
And it didn’t appear that they’d discovered anything they shouldn’t.
They were supposed to leave Sunday morning, and I was counting down the hours.
Literally. I’d set up a countdown clock on my phone and everything.
Like most supes, I wasn’t usually much for technology, but sometimes it had its benefits.
I glanced at the app, only eighteen or so hours to go. Less, if they checked out early.
By the time we’d retreated to the Willow Lake Pub for a late supper, I wanted to guzzle a couple of gallons of magically enhanced wheat ale and crawl into bed.
But the last thing I needed was to get drunk when I’d placed a target on both my and Parker’s backs today.
I’d regretted that little stunt ever since we’d done it.
How had I let myself be talked into something so dangerous?
My hand shook with anxiety I couldn’t repress as I chalked my pool cue. Gage had done his thing again and cleared away all the magical energy and that wasn’t helping my mood either.
The pub wasn’t as busy as it had been the night before, but it was still busier than normal. It seemed no one wanted to be alone and vulnerable when hunters were in town.
Across the room, Davina was introducing Edith to Gage and Jake. I was surprised Gage was at the pub tonight. He must have trusted his people to let him know if the hunters were close, so he could get away before they saw him.
I gaped as Edith leaned over and poked one of Gage’s horns with a bony finger.
Davina and Jake laughed, but Gage’s eyes were turning red as he accessed his demonic powers to read her greatest desires.
Well, if she was going to poke a demon, she needed to accept the consequences.
She was just lucky she was meeting him now, and not a few months ago, before he’d bonded with Willow Lake .
Parker leaned over the pool table to rack the balls. My gaze caressed the rounded contours of his ass. How many times had I done this exact thing? I’d dreamed about cupping it in my hands and…
“You gonna break?” Parker said when he straightened.
“Uh… Okay.”
As I lined up my shot, Parker sidled over and ran his hand over my ass, exactly as I’d been dreaming of doing to him a few seconds earlier. My hand slipped. The cue ball went spinning off wildly, missing the other balls completely before sinking into a pocket.
“Oops.” Parker laughed. “Sorry about that.”
He retrieved the ball and lined up to take a shot of his own. I thought about doing to him what he’d done to me, but I held back. Once I started touching him, I wasn’t sure I would be able to stop.
And this was just pretend.
I couldn’t get involved with Parker, not for real. Sure, he might know about supes now, but he was still a human. I might have felt different if Parker was my fated mate, but I’d already had one of those.
The best thing Parker and I could do after the hunters left town was to go back to how we’d been before. Everything would be fine. Except…
Now I knew what Parker’s lips felt like against mine.
I rubbed my forehead, wishing I could scrub out the memory, too.
Then my chest tightened at the thought of forgetting how Parker had felt in my arms. Fuck.
It was like a damn demolition derby in my head right now.
All those different thoughts crashed into one another, each trying to obliterate the others.
I hated it. My life was supposed to be orderly.
I’d structured my entire world to be tidy and predictable.
Ever since those hunters had walked into town, chaos had nipped at my heels.
Lies .
Great. Now I had another voice in my head competing for dominance. The strange thing about this new voice though was that it had silenced the others.
You’ve been lying to yourself ever since you met Parker, the voice continued.
“Son of a…” I muttered.
“That’s what happens when you let me break,” Parker said.
“Huh?” While I’d been dealing with the voices in my head, he’d cleared the striped balls. He was setting up to sink the eight ball. He called the shot. His cue hit the ball, and it rolled straight into the pocket without protest.
“That went better than expected.” Parker winked at me and rolled his shoulders.
“Hmm…” I frowned.
“Let’s get these racked and I’ll let you break first again.”
“It’s fine. I don’t think my head is in the game tonight.”
Parker glanced around the room. “Oh, I didn’t see that they’d arrived.”
I followed his gaze to the same table they’d claimed the night before.
“For Magic’s sake…” I mumbled. I hadn’t seen them come in either. How was I supposed to protect Parker when I was so… so… befuddled ?
Half an hour later, after I’d thankfully managed to sink a few balls before Parker cleared the table, Finley wandered over with a pint in his hand. I swore every supe in the bar held their breath, anxious to see what would happen next.
“I’ve been watching Parker whip your ass,” he said to me.
Since I couldn’t deny it, I didn’t say anything. I didn’t usually play this horribly.
“So, I thought I could give you a break for the next round.” He placed a quarter on the corner of the table, an indication he would play the winner.
I grimaced but agreed. It smarted that he assumed Parker would win, but I’d been playing shit tonight, so I couldn’t fault his logic.
Parker, though, was surprisingly calm. It was like laying a trap for the hunters didn’t bother him in the least. Honestly, I would have expected him to be antsier than me.
It didn’t take long for me to lose. Again. I surrendered the pool table to Fin and Parker.
Then I grabbed my ale from the nearest table. I wished it was magically enhanced, but it was better than nothing. I took a long draw and hoped it’d steady my jumpy nerves.
After the first ball dropped into a pocket, Fin glanced toward the table where Kyle and Tammy were sitting. Tammy nodded and Fin took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“So, this might sound a bit weird, but you both seemed interested in our paranormal investigations,” Fin said .
I swallowed hard. Holy fuck, our bait had worked. My heart’s tempo picked up so fast I felt light-headed.
Parker, bless him, grinned and nodded. “Yeah. They didn’t have anything like that in the culinary art program I went to after high school. I feel like I missed out.”
“It is pretty wild. I might not have heard about it either, if it hadn’t been for that class I’m taking.
” Fin nodded eagerly. “Anyway, Tammy was saying that the group is open to other people too. Like, you don’t have to be a university student to join.
They thought you might want to check it out.
See what it’s like.” He shrugged. “Or whatever.”
Parker and I both looked at the two hunters. Kyle averted his eyes, but Tammy smiled and nodded. It always surprised me how normal they could look. How friendly. How good their mask was. I barely suppressed the shiver threatening to roll down my spine.
“Are you sure?” Parker asked after he missed his shot.
It was one I’d seen him make hundreds of times before.
Had he missed on purpose to extend the game, or was he not as calm as he appeared?
“Because it’s been a long time since either of us have been in university.
And we wouldn’t want to show up and make things weird for you. ”
Finley took his shot, then grinned in Parker’s direction. “Nana started auditing my class a few weeks ago. You couldn’t make things any weirder than that.”
“Oh my God, she didn’t tell me that,” Parker said as he covered his mouth with his hand to cover his laughter. “Seriously? How does my mom not know about that? Does Nana sit beside you? ”
“You know the Nana-nator,” Finley said. “She has everyone, including the professor, wrapped around her finger.”
Parker wiped tears from his eyes. “Fuck. I bet. That’s awesome.”
“She’s something,” Finley agreed, as he chalked his pool cue.
“Anyway, what do you think? Apparently, the next meeting is on Tuesday night on campus. It’ll be my first official meeting too.
I’m excited to hear all the stories.” He looked at me.
“I don’t think they’ll be too scary. But I get it if the idea of paranormal beasties still creeps you out. ”
“I’ve decided to face my fears.” I’d been doing that a lot in the last few days. Even now, for example, when I’d been confronted by the fear of throwing up all over the pool table.
“So, you’ll come?”
I glanced at Parker. “I’m game if you are.”
“That’s the spirit!” Finley clapped me on my shoulder. “What do you think, Pow Cow?”
Parker scowled. “What did I say about calling me that?”
Finley laughed. “Come on. Say you’ll come.”
Parker rolled his eyes. “Fine, we’ll come. But I can’t stay late. We’ll have to drive back from the city that night.”
“Yeah, sure. It’s at like six or seven or something. I’ll text you the deets.”
“Great!” Parker said.
“Yeah, great…” I said.
Then I went over to the bar and asked Jake for an antacid. When he dumped one on my palm, I wiggled my fingers for more. I ended up downing the whole bottle.