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After coming back from the club, the guys went to bed. I hid in my room, staring at my ceiling and thinking too much until the sun began peeking through the skyscrapers. My mind wouldn’t shut off.
I was in the kitchen making tea when Waylon came out of the bedroom. He looked like he hadn’t gotten any sleep either.
“Rough night?” I asked.
He grunted, filling a glass with water.
“Your girlfriend is really sweet,” I said around the rim of my steaming tea, using its warmth to try to hide my real emotions.
“Sofia has her moments,” was his simple reply.
“Like you?”
“What do you want to say, Joslyn?”
“Nothing you’d like to hear.”
“Then it’s best you keep it to yourself.” Waylon’s scowl felt like a slap to the face. He turned away from me, giving me a view of his broad back as he filled his glass with water.
Unable to stop myself, I stepped closer to him, touching his back.
He whirled around enough to startle me. I jumped back, the hot tea sloshing over the rim and burning my hand.
“Shit.” He grabbed the cup and then my hand, wiping away the tea with a dishcloth.
“I’m fine,” I said, trying to pull away.
His grip tightened. “I want to make sure it didn’t burn.”
“Waylon,” I said softly, gaining his attention. “I’m fine.”
Once he loosened his hold, I slipped my hand out from his. Touching him was a bad idea. I held my hand out, showing the back.
“See. No damage. It isn’t even red.”
“How?”
“I’m fae, remember? We are a bit more durable.”
Waylon frowned as he stared at my hand. “Right. Fae.”
Sensing he needed distance from me, I moved to behind the counter, leaning against it as I watched him. “What are your plans today?” I asked.
“I have to see Sofia.”
“Right.” I stared down at the marble countertop. Being with Waylon felt so right, and very wrong at the same time. Sofia was an existence that hovered between us, and it was one I had no right to fight through. “I hope everything is going good with her?”
“What do you want from me?”
I was taken back by the anger in Waylon’s question. He was scowling at me again.
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
He clenched his teeth and slammed the cup into the sink. It shattered. I jumped at the sudden violence from him.
“I have a girlfriend, Joslyn. A long-term girlfriend and it’s serious. Or was. Then you showed up and now I don’t fucking know and that pisses me off.”
“Then don’t stay here. Don’t be around.”
“It isn’t that easy.”
“It is,” I pushed back. “It really fucking is.”
What is going on?
“Nothing.” I glanced at Berry as he stalked into the room, eyes on Waylon, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up.
Waylon released a breath. “It isn’t, though. Your existence seeps into me, Jo. It fills me. I can’t just walk away from you. And all this other shit...” He shook his head. “I can’t not be around you, but I can’t act like Jason or Foster. I can’t ruin what I have with Sofia.”
Waylon swore and then stalked out of the kitchen area. A few seconds later, the front door slammed shut and I knew he was gone. There was no telling when I’d see him next.
“Time for a walk,” I said.
Will you tell the others?
I laughed. “Is that bitterness I hear in your voice?”
It is annoyance. You are mine. Yet those humans act as if you are theirs. I am going to bite them soon to put them in their place.
“No biting my friends.”
Is that what they are?
“It is all they can be.”
Berry made a huffing noise as I gathered my purse and headed out, quietly closing the door so as to not wake the others—if they hadn’t been woken when Waylon stormed out. The city was interesting in the way there were always stores open and people out. I ended up finding a cafe a few blocks away that had their outside seating already set up.
My server was all smiles as he took my order and went back in. I leaned back, noting everyone around me. Most had their heads down as they walked to their destinations, some chatting animatedly on the phone. There were a few runners trying to get their morning jogs in.
I wondered briefly about Waylon. I remembered how he’d get up at six in the morning on a Saturday to get his run in and if it were one of his longer runs, I wouldn’t have seen him until late afternoon. Did he still run like that now? His body frame certainly said he did, but I hadn’t seen him dressed for a run since he began staying with me.
A wavering in the air caught my attention as an older man walked by. A clear sign of a weak glamour. I blinked out of my thoughts and focused on him.
He smells bad.
“Looks like it too,” I said.
The man turned to read the menu that the cafe had set out for pedestrians to peruse. He was over the middle-aged range, hair thinning, skin sagging. Exhaustion pulled at his shoulders as he slumped over.
Then some of the real him slipped through, his skin a brownish green, hair longer and thicker, like vines. Then he was back to his human self.
Damn. The man was struggling with his glamour, and from the glossy, twitching eyes, I had a theory as to why. My blood ran cold as a female human glanced at the man. Paused. Glanced at him again, then crossed the road, not caring that she was jaywalking and almost getting hit by a taxi who honked at her in irritation. She didn’t even acknowledge the driver as she got to the other side and disappeared around the corner.
The fae didn’t seem to notice what had happened around him. I was positive he wasn’t reading the menu too. He swayed on his feet. Back and forth. When he stumbled, he barely caught himself. After shaking his head, he turned, shoving his hands into his pockets, and stumbled away.
Is this what a fae gone bonkers looks like? Berry asked.
“Yes, and it’s bad. Very bad.” I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Judah to meet up with me as soon as possible, sending my current location. He responded moments later that he was on his way.
By the time Judah met with me, I was on my second cup of tea, and I spotted three more fae struggling with their glamour and looking too much like addicts as they skulked around.
“Joslyn, how are you?” Judah asked after ordering some kind of coffee that sounded like it had too much going on. What had happened to having plain black coffee, maybe with some cream or sugar?
“We are finally seeing the bigger picture,” I said and nodded toward a female fae. Her blonde hair was wild around her face, and when her glamour weakened, we got glimpses of feathers on her face and an extra eye. She had already managed to make an old woman think she was having an episode.
“Shit.” He squinted his eyes. I kept my attention on him, and I knew the moment her glamour weakened again. “Fuck.” He whipped out his phone and sent out messages, his fingers flying over the screen. Judah was going to have this contained quickly.
“My very thoughts.”
“And you think this is because of those weak spots?”
“I think so. Otherwise, there is another crazy going on in the city and that does not bode well for anyone.”
Before we had a chance to get more into it, Judah’s drink was served, disrupting the flow of our conversation. I pressed my lips together and reached down, petting Berry and drawing comfort from him. Berry purred, pressing into my touch as he moved closer and settled back down.
“Okay.” Judah leaned back in his chair, playing with his drink. He went to say something else when the phone he had placed on the table buzzed loudly, rattling as it shook against the tabletop. “Shit, that’d be the boss. He’s the only one that can get through. I need to take this.”
I sipped at my drink and watched like a voyeur as he answered the phone.
“Cowan speaking.” He listened briefly before his eyebrows went high. “Something came up. I know. I understand.” His shoulders slouched. “Yes, I will be there. That was never my intent. I’ll handle it.”
The conversation pretty much went that way. He had the volume set to low so I couldn’t make out too much of what was being said on the other end. My own cell phone had quickly been set to be the same way, otherwise it felt like someone was screaming into my ears when I answered the phone.
Judah hung up and sighed.
“That didn’t go well.”
He shook his head. “No. It didn’t. Helping you has caused a couple of complications. Some of the information I’ve been digging up takes time, and some of my contacts love complaining to Foster.”
“Foster?” My eyebrows rose in surprise.
His eyes flickered up to mine and he paled. “My boss.”
Was this the same Foster as mine? What were the chances? I wanted to ask when his phone screeched at him in a way that had me jumping and Berry on his feet, growling. Those around us stared at us, mainly at Berry’s sudden aggression.
“Sorry, this is an emergency.” He answered the phone again. By the time he hung up, he was swearing and getting to his feet. “You might want to come with me.”
“Why?”
“It involves our people.”
That was all he needed to say. I was on my feet, tossing enough cash on the table to cover our bill and give our server a sizable tip. Then we took off at a fast pace to Judah’s car.
What did the fae get into now? Was it related to this new fae addiction that was growing?
