CHAPTER 57
I yawned and then winced as every bone in my body screamed in protest. I was now truly Blue, as bruises in an array of bluish colors covered my ribs. Damien had gotten in a nice punch. Not good enough, since I was still alive and he didn’t have his magic pea. I was fairly sure it was only a matter of time until our paths crossed again.
The thought of him walking around a free man set my teeth on edge. How the hell had the fairies let him escape? In all fairness, vanishing in a puff of smoke was a pretty good excuse.
My anger at Damien soon transferred to the pink-winged fairy responsible for the entire mess. She’d lied to me from the moment we’d met, claiming Jack the Tooth Ripper was after her, when, in truth, she was after the pea.
Since I’d swallowed said pea, I needed to watch my back or else I might find a sharpened toothbrush through my spine.
An hour later, as I settled onto a fluffy, feather hotel bed that cost more than I’d made in the last ten years, I let out a loud sigh.
Penelopee, who had insisted we spend the night at the upscale hotel rather than return to my apartment, sat on the bed a few feet away, smiling.
“Penelopee,” I said, reaching out but dropping my hands before I accidentally fried her and subsequently burned down the entire hotel. “You sure saved the day. Thank you.”
She blinked at me. “Once I got over the smell of cabbage radiating from Clayton, it was a pretty easy favor. And both the twins were happy to help.”
I bet. After all, if the pea got into Damien’s hands, all was lost for the winged devils. Damn Izzy. Why did she have to lie to me? But I knew the answer. I wouldn’t have stopped searching for the pea, no matter what. Just like I wouldn’t have given up my quest to catch Jack the Tooth Ripper. Blue Reynolds solved the case, against all odds.
Penelopee slowly stood, heading for the well-stocked minibar. Glass clinked and she soon returned with two highball glasses filled with ice and amber liquor. The liquor was appreciated; the ice not so much. I took a glass from her hand.
“I can’t believe how Isabella lied to you, used you, and nearly got you killed tonight,” the princess was saying, “and for what?”
“To save the fairies, I suppose.”
She scoffed. “Tonight wasn’t just about the pea. Not entirely.”
“Then what else?”
Her tongue darted from her lips, wetting the soft flesh. “Isabella was looking for payback too.”
“Payback? From whom?” As I asked the question, I knew the answer. Damien. He’d lied tonight. Izzy hadn’t broken their engagement. He had. She’d told me as much our first night together. Damien had dumped her because of her wings.
Penelopee took a long drink from her glass. “I’ve been in her glass slippers. I know what it feels like to want revenge on the person responsible for hurting you.” She paused, her eyes searching my face. “I never got it, and to this day his betrayal is like a scab that won’t heal.”
“Penelopee . . .”
“I’m sorry. You don’t want to hear about my past.” She bit her lip.
My gaze fell on her, and for a brief moment I wished things were different. Don’t get me wrong; I liked her well enough, especially as a client, since she’d paid her bill.
But the spark was there.
We could never truly connect as long as the possibility of total electrocution hovered around us.
Somewhere out there was a woman perfect for a blue-haired guy with electrical issues. I thought of Izzy and shook my head. I’d been such a fool. There was nothing real between us.
Only lies and fairy dust.
Penelopee took a step closer to me and smiled, a come-hither one that most men feared. While losing myself in what she offered was tempting, it would be a mistake, leaving both of us with regrets. I had enough of them already. “Penelopee, we should talk,” I said, taking a deep breath.
Her eyebrow rose. “About?”
“Us,” I said, with more of a question in my voice than I’d intended. Suck it up, Blue boy, I ordered. I’d had plenty of experience with ending relationships; mostly women ending them with me but the process still held true.
I leaned back farther into the mattress. It molded to my body as if meant just for me. And maybe it was, if the tag on the side that read 100 PERCENT FLAME RESISTANT was any indication. My body relaxed even more.
“Another drink?” Penelopee held up the amber liquor, swirling it around the bottle.
I nodded, willing the alcohol to numb the aches and pains of the evening. “Thanks,” I said, holding out the crystal glass. A man could really get used to this, I thought as she poured my drink. Beautiful woman, the best booze this side of the New Fairsey Turnpike, and no one plotting my murder.
At the moment.
At least I hoped so.
One could never tell with a couple thousand fairies on the loose in Fairyland.
Penelopee took a sip from her drink and then set it down on the glass and gold—actual 24-carat stuff—coffee table. “I’m glad you’re bringing the topic up. I also wanted to talk about you and me, Blue. About what the future holds.”
Uh-oh. This didn’t sound like the same conversation I planned on having. I held up my hand to ward off any awkward tears and recriminations. “Listen, Penelopee, you’re great. I really enjoy your company. . .”
“Glad to hear it.” She smiled over her glass, flashing perfectly formed teeth, each as smooth and shiny as the next. Her daddy must’ve paid a fortune for chompers that perfect. “I feel the same.”
“Right. But the thing is . . .” Oh, hell, what was the thing? My brain seemed to suddenly lose all track of the conversation, let alone function as my stomach roiled.
She tilted her head. “Blue? Are you all right?”
I swallowed back a tide of rising bile. “Excuse me.” I jumped to my feet, holding a hand over my mouth as I ran full tilt to the bathroom. I barely made it in time before I threw up a day’s worth of drinks, Happily Ever After Meals, and one blackened pea, dating from over a hundred years ago.
My cheeks burned with embarrassment. I hadn’t tossed my cookies after a few drinks since I was a blue-haired schoolboy.
Fucking magic pea.
Apparently, fairies aside, it really would be the death of me. I laid my head on the cold tile of the bathroom floor and wished for death as my stomach continued to have its revenge on my body for eating a very rotten pea.
“Blue?” Penelopee asked, knocking on the bathroom door. “Are you all right?”
“Just peachy,” I groaned.
“Can I do anything for you?”
“Let me die in peace” came to mind, but I swallowed the retort. None of this was her fault. “I’ll be okay. Go to sleep,” I said as another round of vomit charged up my throat.
Ten minutes later, my body completely devoid of any gastric fluid, I pulled the puke-coated pea from the toilet, washed it off, and set in on the bathroom sink. Then, weak as a kitten, I crawled from the bathroom across the floor to the bedroom, almost making it to the bed. But it wasn’t to be. Instead, I dropped face-first onto the soft, shag carpet, and fell into a deep, near-comatose sleep.
I dreamed a pack of giant dentures were after me.
I ran and ran, but they were always there.
One step ahead.
I only had one shot at saving myself.
If only I could figure out the puzzle swirling inside my head. Images of Izzy, her pink wings shining like beacons, flew through my head, morphing into the hazy shape of Damien.
In the distance a voice sounding much like Penelopee’s screamed. I tried to reach for her, but I was too late. She was trapped in rolls and rolls of dental floss, her perfect smile gone, leaving rows of broken teeth and bloody gums.
I tried to scream, but my own mouth was sealed shut. Lips sewn together with thick strings of dental floss. A roll of floss and a bloody needle held in tiny, stubby hands.