Chapter 10
KIERA
“And in you go!”
It was the next day, mid-morning. Elli had just whipped up a batch of her homemade cinnamon rolls and popped them in the oven.
Costumes weren’t my normal content, but it was a fun change of pace given the spooky season.
For example, in one shot I modeled a modern twist on Cleopatra.
The next was a punk-gothic Victorian-mistress look, complete with a black feather shawl.
The third was a sexy axe murderer ensemble à la Lizzie Borden meets Catholic school girl.
That last one might have been in bad taste, but it was getting a lot of likes. I didn’t know if it was the short skirt or all the gore.
“Lukas sleeps late,” I remarked while typing out a reply to one of the comments: LOL Thanks, Girl! Have fun with it!
Last night, Lukas had come home sometime after eleven and gone straight to bed while Elli and I had stayed up to finish the last movie on our girls’ night itinerary.
“Not really.” Elli plugged in the hand mixer. “His alarm went off at seven, and he left around eight.”
“Wow,” I said without looking up. “I didn’t hear him go. I must have really been out.”
Normally, I was a light sleeper, but we had gone to bed super late. I also wondered if Sean had been right about it taking a while for the human body to fully recover from a tilt.
“He wanted to go check out your apartment.” Elli turned on the mixer and started beating the frosting.
My head shot up. “What?”
She didn’t respond, so I yelled it louder, “Elli, what?”
“Huh?” She glanced over her shoulder at me, then turned off the mixer.
“He went to my apartment?” I was hoping against hope that I’d heard her wrong.
“Well…yeah.” She turned to face me, and a glob of frosting dripped off the beaters onto the floor. She frowned, ripped off a paper towel and bent to wipe it up.
“He wanted to make sure it was secure,” she said, “and… Okay, don’t be mad, but if any workmen were around, he wanted to encourage them to make your apartment their top priority.”
She lifted her free hand and rubbed her fingers together, indicating that by “encourage” she meant “bribe.”
I just stared at her. Lukas couldn’t go to my apartment. If he did, he’d know there were no broken water pipes. He’d know that I’d lied to him, and that Sean had lied to him, too.
I didn’t want to cause problems between two friends.
Worse, if Lukas knew it was a lie, then he’d want to know the truth. Then Elli would know the truth.
It was one thing for her to accept a new friend from a sketchy background. But nobody wanted a friend who brought danger into their lives.
Because of me, Sean had been shot at just yesterday, and my trouble wasn’t over. One hundred thousand dollars—plus the gun that was probably used to obtain it—was still missing.
Even if Elli turned out to be as cool about this as she was about the rest of my story, there was no way I was going to drag her into an ongoing disaster.
Maybe when it was all over I’d tell her about it. It would make for a good story. Assuming I was still breathing and able to tell it.
“I know, I know,” Elli said, totally misreading my silence. “But Lukas says throwing money at a problem is sometimes the only way to get things done.”
Before I could say anything—anything at all—the apartment door opened, and Lukas stepped inside. He didn’t look mad exactly, but he didn’t look happy either.
I sat up straight on the kitchen stool and held my breath, bracing for his accusation. I was a liar. I was taking advantage of their hospitality because my apartment was bone dry.
“Everything looked good,” he said.
I just stared, trying to make sense of his comment. He didn’t sound mad that I’d lied, or surprised or confused or…anything really. It was matter of fact. Maybe even reassuring.
“The plumber was already there and getting started,” he said, kicking off his shoes by the door.
What on Earth? That wasn’t right. There wasn’t any plumber. I studied his face, but it gave nothing away.
“Excellent,” Elli said, throwing a smile in my direction. “I’m sure it’ll be all fixed up in no time. Do you want coffee, Lukas? There’s still some in the pot.”
“Thanks, babe,” he said. “But I’m good.”
He entered the kitchen area and while Elli got back to mixing, he gave me a surreptitious wink.
My head jerked back. Was he…? Was he protecting my secret? Why? What was in it for him?
He returned his focus to Elli, slipped an arm around her waist, and pulled her against his body.
Elli’s back arched, and the beaters continued to whirl, flinging bits of cream cheese frosting through the air, speckling the cabinets.
Lukas turned off the mixer and landed a soft kiss on her lips.
God, these two… What a pair.
“I could smell your cinnamon rolls from all the way down in the parking garage,” Lukas said, murmuring against Elli’s lips.
“Really?” she asked. “You have quite the nose on you.”
“Yeah. I can still smell your popcorn from last night,” he said, giving me a quick glance. “Not much gets past a wolf. That’s what Murph always says.”
That’s when it hit me. Lukas’s comments about his sensitive nose weren’t casual small talk, or even for Elli’s benefit. They were for mine.
Sean must have told him what really happened. I couldn’t even be mad about that because I needed to get that bag back, and if Lukas could pick up its scent, or even the scent of the person who’d delivered it, maybe I stood a chance.
I leaned forward, hopeful and a little terrified, too.
“Not just Murph,” Elli said on a laugh. “Everyone says that about your nose.”
When Lukas pulled away from Elli, his gaze slid back to me. “It rained last night.”
“Oh yeah?” Elli asked. She dropped into a squat, opened the oven, and checked on the rolls. A cloud of cinnamon-scented steam rolled out into the kitchen.
“Unfortunately, everything’s sparkling clean,” Lukas said, his eyes locked on mine.
Elli laughed. “Unfortunately? Don’t you mean fortunately? That sounds like a good thing.”
“Right,” Lukas said. “That’s what I meant.”
I gave him a nod, signifying that I understood what he was saying, and sat back against my stool. If the rain had washed away all traces of the delivery man and the bag, there were no clues to go on. My life was still in the toilet.
My phone vibrated on the kitchen counter, and I looked down at the screen.
Minnesota State Correctional Facility.
“Be right back.” I snatched up my phone before either of them noticed the name of the caller and dashed into the guest room. “Hello?”
The recorded message began. “This is a collect call from…Braden Jones…an inmate at the Minnesota State Correctional Facility. You are advised that this is a recorded line. Do you wish to accept the charges? Press one for yes. Two for no. Presione tres para espanol.”
I pressed one.
There was a pause as the connection was made, then I heard my brother’s caustic voice. “Kiera, you stupid bitch.”
“Braden?” I’d been so worried about his safety, I wasn’t prepared for the acidity in his voice.
“How hard is it to take care of a fucking bag?” he asked.
“Now, wait one god damn minute,” I said because—now that I knew he was still breathing—if anyone had the right to be angry, it was me.
“I trusted you,” he snarled into the phone.
“And I did what I was told to do. It’s not my fault someone—” I stopped myself, remembering this was a recorded line. “It’s not my fault what happened.”
“No?” he asked. “Then whose fault is it?”
I didn’t have an answer for that because if I knew who’d taken the bag, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, and also because anger was beginning to clog my throat.
“You fucked up,” he accused, “and now, I’m fucked.”
“Maybe,” I suggested, emphasizing both syllables, “if you tell one of the guards that you might be in danger—”
He scoffed. “You gotta get it back.”
“How?” I cried, throwing one arm out in exasperation. “I have no idea where it is. It could be anywhere.”
“Then you’ll have to look everywhere,” he said. “Start with those fancy new fae friends of yours.”
Was he serious? “Screw you, Braden. They didn’t take it!”
“Jesus, Kiera. Are you really that stupid? I mean, use them. Use their resources to find it.”
I rolled my eyes to the ceiling. “I already have. One tried to pick up a scent but got nothing. Another one rescued me from getting shot…”
I paused to let that sink in, thinking my brother would have some regret about putting me in the line of fire, but he had no response.
Fine. Great. Cool. Got it. Such an asshole.
“So, I don’t know what more you expect them to do,” I snipped. “The bag, the m—” I cleared my throat. “The two things that were in it. They’re all gone.”
“Two things?” Braden asked.
“Yeah. Well, three, counting the note.”
“What were the first two things?” His tone was strangely grave.
“Um…well…you know…a lot of paper.” That seemed like the safest way to indicate the money.
“Uh-huh,” Braden said. “And the second thing?”
I didn’t know how to signify the gun while keeping a mind to the recorded line. Then I remembered the gun-shaped cigarette lighter our father had when we were kids.
“Byron’s cigarette lighter,” I said. “Except it was a real one.”
Silence. Then…“There was real one in the bag?”
I could tell by the seriousness in Braden’s voice that he got my reference and my meaning, so I didn’t feel the need to confirm. The less said the better.
“Anything else?” Braden asked.
“Just the note. It said, One more thing. You know what to do.”
There were a few more beats of silence, then Braden barked out an angry, “Fuck!”
“What?”
“Someone should have told me.”
I was startled by his reaction. I figured he knew all about the bag and its contents. He was the one who was supposed to be making the delivery, not me.
“Told you what?” I asked.
“This is serious, Ki-Ki.”
“I already know that, Braden. Do you think this has been fun for me?” My face felt hot, and my throat was tight.
“I had no idea,” he whispered, and I didn’t think he was commenting on how much fun I was—or wasn’t—having.
There was fear in his voice now, more so than the first time we talked, and it washed a chill over my skin.
“Braden—”
A woman’s canned but ultra-pleasant voice came over the line. “You have one minute remaining.”
“Damn it,” Braden muttered. “My time’s up. I gotta go. Just…find Byron’s cigarette lighter and…make it disappear. Just like I would.”
“What?’
“Ki-Ki,” he said, sounding even more urgent. “Black magic. Remember?”
“Black magic? What do you—?”
I thought I heard a click, so I pulled the phone away from my ear to check the screen. He was gone.
Crap. I wiped the back of my hand under my eye, surprised to find some wetness on my cheek.
“Kiera?” It was Elli. Her voice was coming from the doorway.
I glanced over my shoulder at her.
“Whoa, mama.” She stepped into the room and halfway closed the door behind her. “What’s wrong?”
My body twitched as I quickly gathered myself. “Nothing’s wrong. Why would anything be wrong?”
I didn’t sound convincing. Not even to myself. My face still felt hot.
She took a step closer. “You look…shook up.”
“Nope,” I replied brightly. “What’s up?”
“I was just—” She furrowed her brow. “—looking at my calendar and remembered your birthday’s next week.”
This took me by surprise—not that it was my birthday, but that she would remember. We hadn’t even met a year ago.
“So, I was thinking…” she continued. “We should do something.”
“Like what?” I asked, thinking there wasn’t much to be done. A year passed; you got a year older. The end.
“Uh…like have a party.” She rolled her eyes. “Duh.”
I blinked once. Slowly. Trying to play it cool even though I was anything but. No one had ever planned a party for me. Not even my mother.
“You only turn twenty-six once, right?” she asked. “I’ll call around. See when everyone’s free.”
“Okay, I guess.” I glanced down at my phone, then back up at her. “If you really want to.”
She gave me another hard look. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
I plastered on a smile. “Peachy.”
Her gaze dropped to my hand, and I slipped the phone into my back pocket.
“Who was that?” she asked.
“No one. Telemarketer.”
Elli pressed her lips together in an expression that said she wasn’t buying any of my bullshit. Still, she didn’t press.
“The Spriggans play at three,” she said. “I have to take some action shots for the spread on Murph, but you could come, too. We can sit in Lukas’s suite.”
I’d never watched any hockey before meeting Elli, so I didn’t understand much about the game. Still, right now, I’d do just about anything if it meant not being alone.
“A suite sounds fancy.”
“You know what?” She tipped her head to the side. “Come to think of it…the other girls might like to go to the game, too. We could plan your birthday party in between periods.”
I manufactured a tight-lipped smile and gave her a nod.
She studied me for a few more seconds and—unlike mine—her expression was genuine. It was also worried.
She turned to go, then stopped with one hand on the doorknob and the other on the jamb.
“You know, Kiera…” She looked back at me. “Whatever’s going on, you don’t have to go it alone.”
“I know,” I said. “Thanks.”
She continued to hold my gaze, probably waiting for me to give in. When I didn’t, she sighed. “I’m going to take a shower. Then we’ll call the girls. Jen and Amy like to sleep in late.”
“Sounds good.”
Elli opened the door more fully, revealing Lukas.
She jumped. “Yikes! You scared me!”
One side of Lukas’s mouth curled up into a smile. “Sorry, babe.”
“I’m going to take a shower,” she said. “Can you grab some bath towels for Kiera, too? They’re folded on top of the dryer.”
“I can do that,” he said.
She rose up on her toes and kissed his cheek before crossing the hall to their room and closing the door behind her.
Once she was gone, Lukas’s ice-blue eyes locked on mine, and I saw the disapproval on his face.
“Secrets don’t help anyone,” he said.
A sudden wave of exhaustion swept over me. “Whatever Sean told you about what happened, please, don’t tell Elli.”
“I won’t. But you should. It wouldn’t hurt to open up.”
“Listen, Lukas. I really appreciate you checking things out this morning…trying to pick up a scent or whatever…but this is my problem. You’re off the hook. Sean, too. I’ll figure something out.”
“And how are you going to do that all by yourself?”
My mouth suddenly felt like cotton wool. “Not sure yet. But trust me. I’ve had loads of practice.”