Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
B ackstage, Britannia chatted up the two body builder guys who led us down a utilitarian white hall to the dressing rooms. Every tittering laugh and hair flick sucked away parts of my soul. What was I even doing here?
Agatha had a red sparkly star on her door.
Britannia opened it while the muscled boys took a place on either side of the doorframe.
She rubbed against the guy on the left, and he fondled her ass as she passed him.
I gave him a hard glare as I walked through the door.
If the guy had done that to me, I would have bitten his hand off, or other parts.
Britannia would love Tyre. I should introduce them.
Wald sat on a low couch with his long legs sprawled out, reminding me of when I’d seen him inside the Signet. That seemed like days ago. My eyes flicked to his crotch before the woman in front of a dressing table smiled into the light-framed mirror, captivating me.
“My dears, what a pleasure it is for you to visit.” She turned to us, uncrossed her legs, and stood up, opening her arms. Britannia threw herself into Agatha’s embrace, like she was five.
Agatha was six foot four—at least. Her fluffy white robe matched her slippers, which had massive red sparkly pom-poms on them.
On the other side of the room was a five-panel dressing screen with the sequined gown she’d been wearing tossed over it.
Agatha’s stage hair sat on a wig stand, holding court over an array of bottles and cosmetics on one side of a dresser.
She appraised me with sparkling amber-brown eyes, which I was convinced were contacts, and released Britannia.
Her shiny red lips opened to reveal shockingly large white teeth.
“And you must be, Harlan.” She stretched out a red-taloned hand.
Between the fangs and the claws, I was frozen.
Her eyes narrowed, and it broke me out of the weirdness.
Avoiding the claws, I grabbed her strong hand and firmly shook it.
She looked surprised, then threw her head back with a low throaty laugh.
But the sound stopped as her eyes met mine.
Still holding my hand, she turned it over and dipped her head drawing a talon over my palm.
“Oh my. That is quite unexpected. You were not supposed to be here yet.” She released my hand and sat down, fanning herself with the other hand as if she were overwrought.
“What?” I asked, my mouth going dry as Britannia looked at Wald.
Wald shrugged his shoulders. Who the hell knew what he was thinking?
Agatha focused on me, then leaned closer, giving me a whiff of gardenia as she whispered, “Victoria said you had the artifact with you? Apparently, time is precious.” She got up and walked behind the dressing screen, chattering to Britannia about clothing designers as she changed .
I pointed at my offending palm, thrusting it at Wald. “What?” I asked him quietly.
Wald shrugged and shook his head.
Great.
“Agatha, what did you mean about my hand and the unexpected part?” I hollered over the screen.
“Your hand, dear? These are troubled times for you, and that will not change quickly. I believe in destiny, don’t you, honey? Your heritage speaks volumes about your future,” she replied in a low gravelly voice from behind the screen.
What the hell was she talking about? Everyone in my family was dead. Destiny was only possible if you believed the future was planned out. I didn’t believe that.
I sat down on her dressing table stool and examined my hands.
Tapered fingers, a fading scar on the side of my hand from when I’d broken the window in my petty thieving days after Mom died.
Short nails with a faint trace of the eggplant nail polish I’d last put on.
I needed hand cream. My reflection in the mirror was someone who had slept poorly, in someone else’s clothes.
Not quite a disaster but I’d looked better.
Agatha’s makeup selection was a girlhood dream of rainbow colors and glitter.
I fingered a tube of hand cream, wondering if Agatha would mind, and decided it wouldn’t be polite.
In a couple of minutes, she emerged wearing a Jackie Onassis-style dress that ended below the knee with white gloves and a pillbox hat, all in a shade of powder blue which enhanced her golden complexion.
Her amber hair curled at her collarbone.
She looked as much like Victoria as the moon resembled a redwood tree.
The powder blue heels were platform. Always being the giant of the room, I never understood why extra-tall people wanted to be taller.
I probably should have asked, but there was a knock on the door.
It cracked open, and an older woman with square glasses poked her head through. “Your car is here, Agatha.”
“Excellent. Follow me kids,” she said, picking up a blue clutch that matched her outfit that was sitting beside the dressing table.
She strutted out the door, ripping the sparkly red star off as she passed.
She flipped open the clutch, dropped the star in, and shut it.
The star fit perfectly, even though it was more than twice the size as the purse she’d dropped it into.
That was when I realized we weren’t dealing with a normal human being.
T he car creeped forward in the traffic, which clogged the cross street from the Strip alongside the casino.
“Where are we going?”
“To my home, of course.” Agatha slid back a panel in the limo to reveal a bar and hauled a bottle of champagne out of a concealed ice bucket.
By the time the cork popped and the bottle emptied, the car had made it across the Strip and was barreling up side streets.
With the firm base of bourbon, chips, and root beer, the champagne bubbles sunk in fast, relaxing me.
Maybe once Agatha fixed the ring, she’d fix everything, and I could go home.
I leaned back, listening to the family catch-up chatter, recognizing only Maverick and Victoria’s names, while sipping champagne.
By the time we pulled up in front of an ugly, rundown two-story apartment block, I was laughing at my own jokes and even Britannia’s. A police car with a siren blared past as we spilled out of the car. My heart palpitations instantly sobered me up.
Agatha pressed some bills into Wald’s hand and asked, “ Wald, would you be a dear and go pick up my order?” nodding at the Chinese restaurant sign among the array of glowing neon, in the strip mall across the street.
There was also an adult video store, tattoo parlor, massage parlor, and a bar advertising strippers. One place to have it all.
Faced with Agatha and Britannia, or a walk in the cooling Vegas air with Wald, the choice was obvious.
I nodded at the apartments as we jaywalked across the street. “If Agatha’s so successful, then why is she living here?”
“Looks can be deceiving,” he said cryptically.
I started across the parking lot with him, and he turned into me and blocked my way.
“Stay here. There’ll be cameras,” he said, his lips too inviting.
I reached up and caught him in a kiss that was long enough it left us both sucking in air.
His hands roved down my back to my butt, and I ground my hips against his.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” he rasped with that little curved smile, but it was me who pulled back from him.
I was so glad I had done that.
The lingering taste of his kiss was like savoring a good steak and wanting another bite. I wanted a hell of a lot more than that.
I leaned against a lamppost, keeping my back to the cameras while I waited. A car pulled up behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder. A youngish police officer got out of a cop car. Nine hells, maybe I should have stayed with Agatha.
“Excuse me, ma’am, it’s really cloudy, I’d like to ask why you are wearing sunglasses?”
I bit my lip and glanced over at the strip mall. The officer’s partner was entering the Chinese restaurant. Hopefully, Wald would figure out I was in trouble .
“Sensitive eyes and the neon is super bright here.” I laughed, praying he’d laugh back. He didn’t.
“Take off the glasses, please ma’am,” he ordered.
I whipped them off and glared at him with wide eyes, and he leaned over, looking for druggy dilation.
Fortunately, his cursory glance cleared me.
“You guys getting dinner too?” I asked, making small talk while sweat trickled down my back.
“Yes, ma’am. We are required to take breaks.” He hooked a finger through a belt loop.
“So you’re off duty?” I stepped sideways, letting my hair obscure part of my face.
“Yes, ma’am,”
“My boyfriend’s picking up our order too.”
Some act of God made Wald magically appear a moment later, carrying a box piled with takeout containers.
I breathed out my relief and ran up to him, kissing him full on the lips.
I slipped my hand around to the back of his pants and slid my fingers inside his waistband.
The touch of skin on skin gave me strength.
I waved at the officer as we passed to throw off the nervousness, but I was shaking.
We jaywalked across the street to get back to Agatha’s apartment. Some days it’s good not all the rules are enforced.
“That was too fucking close,” I said as we climbed the stairs at Agatha’s. The concrete of the suspended upstairs open hall bounced at Wald’s every step. I stopped. “Are you heavier than you look?”
“Excuse me?”
Sweet Jeezus, I loved how his S’s elongated. “Your weight? Is your weight like now or the weight of what you are underneath the illusion?”
“My mass does not alter, no.”
The bouncing became clear. Somehow that was really hot too. Like a super strong guy who didn’t look like a bodybuilder. Wasn’t that my ideal? I might not care how he looked. I was a sucker for that accent.
“And the accent?”
“Dew tar piston flambe,” he said.
It was something unintelligible which sounded like that.
“Not from around here, are you?”
“I told you that,” he snapped.
I crossed my arms with a huff. I don’t like being shut down or growled at. He had sort of told me, but it wasn’t explaining why he was grumpy.
Agatha’s apartment wasn’t as ugly inside as out, but I entered the weird front room with slowing steps, marveling at my reflection in mirrors hung on walls covered in jewel-toned fabrics.
The floor was layered with Persian carpets.
In the center of the room was a table with the largest crystal ball I’d ever seen.
The place was part sultan’s tent, part mirror shop.
Wald walked across the carpet and disappeared through a curtain of stranded glass beads, which tinkled as they hit each other. I stood for a second, wondering if I should follow him.
I followed.
A strand of my hair got caught in the flipping beads.
I yelped and stood for thirty seconds untangling it.
The next room was like a living room with no windows, three chairs, a glass coffee table, and a couch.
There were a couple of those Moroccan cut-metal star lamps hanging from the ceiling and one floor lamp in a corner with a tasseled silk cover thrown over it.
Let’s call it dimly lit. Every single non-upholstered surface was covered by mirrors.
Floor, ceiling, even the top of the coffee table.
I was appreciating the dim light, not wanting to see my reflection.
Britannia had snuggled up beside Agatha on the low modern bench couch and had her head in Agatha’s lap. Agatha was braiding a strand of Britannia’s hair. She’d changed out of the prim powder blue suit into an ankle-length kaftan printed in colors that shouldn’t go together.
Wald appeared without the takeout box through a hallway on the left. The smell wafted through the apartment, and my stomach was wolf-pack worthy growling.
“Are we eating? What are we waiting for?” I asked.
“Honey, you need to relax,” Agatha crooned. Britannia shot me a look, which was not entirely the cat who got the cream. The effect was lost on me.
I crossed my arms. “What the hell is going on between you two? Isn’t she your aunt?”
“Aunt Agatha raised Britannia for a number of years,” Wald said. “Mother had trouble raising the twins, Britannia and Caledonia, and so Agatha helped out. I stayed with my father.”
“Twins? Britannia and Donia were twins? You didn’t mention that.
” I looked at Wald and then back at Britannia during the uncomfortable silence, wondering what they looked like as kids.
Agatha pushed Britannia up and pulled a book from under the couch.
It was more a leather-bound tome. She walked over, handed it to me with a haughty huff, and sidled past Wald, running a very un-aunt-like finger across his chest as she passed him, then disappeared down the hall.
The book was heavy with bronzed clasps etched with flowers. My Family was stamped in gold on the faded brown leather cover.
I sat in the nearest chair and opened it.