Sweet Peril by Wendy Higgins
“Sure,” she said, yawning now.
“Tell him Kai so wrote that single. I was right.”
“You got it. In your face, Jay, from Anna. Good night, girl. I’m happy for you. But I meant what I said about killing him if he’s playing you.”
“I know, sweets. Don’t worry.”
We hung up, and Blake was standing there with another drink. When I finished it, he yanked me into the water, making me go around and around the edges with him and all the other people to cause a whirlpool effect that dragged us around like a current.
We got hungry around three in the morning, and ordered a ton of pizza from an all-night pizza place. Afterward, Blake talked a guy into letting him borrow his skateboard, and he once again entertained all of us. If it had wheels, Blake could work it.
“Is he your boyfriend?” a girl behind me asked.
I turned to the group of girls watching Blake. They were all coifed and beautiful in their bikinis, not having gone in the water. My wet hair was pulled back in a ponytail by this point and I was wrapped in a towel. “No, he’s my boyfriend’s best friend. We’re watching his place while he’s . . . out of town.”
A pang of fear jabbed me when I thought about Kai.
“What’s your name?” asked a brunette with glossy lips.
“Anna.” I smiled.
“Hey. I’m Jenny,” she said. “This is Daniela and Tara.”
“Hey,” I said to them.
“So, your boyfriend lives here?” asked the blonde, Daniela. She had a cool accent—something European.
“Yes,” I answered, pointing up to his apartment.
The girls all shared looks, raising their sculpted eyebrows.
“Wait,” said Jenny. “Is he that guy in the band?”
The third girl, named Tara, gasped. “The drummer?” When I nodded, they shared awed looks.
“Oh my gawd, don’t get mad at me for saying this,” said Jenny, “but he’s a total piece of eye candy.” Her friends all laughed.
“Yum drum,” whispered Tara, and Daniela playfully shoved her.
Jenny got serious. “But don’t worry. He, like, never comes out or talks to anyone. Now we know why.” She winked at me. “You are so adorable. Where are you from?”
“Georgia.”
This was met with a round of awwws. “Hey, you’re a Southern girl,” said Tara. “You should like this.”
She held out a bottle of bourbon and I felt a tug toward it. My fingers reached out.
“Maybe just one drink,” I said.
Daniela grinned and turned up the music.
Fifteen minutes and three shots later I’d dropped my towel and was dancing with the girls and telling them how much I loved them, while they drunkenly swore to sabotage the efforts of any girl who tried to talk to my man. We’d formed a circle and were singing at the top of our lungs to a song on the radio. Blake threw a heavy arm over my shoulder and pushed his way into our group. The girls screamed with laughter when he started dancing in the middle. And then he accidentally kicked over the empty bottle of bourbon.
“My bad,” he said, righting the bottle. Then his head swung up to look at me. I grinned, swaying, and he muttered, “Oh, snap. Little girl’s been into the liquor.”
“Dance with us, Blake!” I said, clapping my hands. My new friends all cheered.
“No, ma’am. It’s time to get you to bed.”
He grabbed my hand, but I wiggled away. He chased me around the group of girls, me yelling about needing one more drink until he caught me and threw me over his shoulder.
“Don’t leave!” Jenny begged.
“Sorry,” Blake told her. “I promised her man I wouldn’t let her get too drunk. She gets all crazy and starts kissing random dudes.”
“Shut up!” I screamed, pounding his back. “That’s not true!”
At least, not anymore.
Blake smacked my butt. Hard. I screamed again, lifting my hands to protect my behind as he moved us away from the laughing crowd. “I’m telling Kai!”
He laughed all the way up the stairs and into Kaidan’s apartment as I flailed. He tossed me on the bed where I crawled to Kaidan’s pillow and buried my face in it, breathing him in.
Blake left and came back with a glass of water, setting it on the nightstand.
My hand fumbled to pull the phone from my pocket, so Blake plucked it out and handed it to me. I clutched it to my chest after reading the time. Six in the morning.
“He loves you, you know,” Blake said in an unexpected moment of seriousness.
“I know,” I whispered. And my heart melted with the sureness of that knowledge.
“Good. Now drink this water and go to sleep.”
With effort, I sat up partway and drank the whole glass. He took it from me.
“Thank you, Blake.”
“Nah,” he said quietly. “Thank you.”
He left me to go pass out on the couch, and I fell asleep without a single thought in my mind. Exactly as Blake had intended.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
THE ISLAND
A familiar, yet irritating sound forced my eyes open some hours later. I was deliriously confused and my mouth was drained of moisture, as if I’d been gnawing a sock. I attempted to swallow, and blinked through fuzzy eyes. Where am I? On the third ring of my cell phone I jolted up in bed. With shaking hands and a queasy stomach, I answered.
“Hello?” My voice came out husky.
The other end of the line crackled. “Anna? Is that you?”
I pressed a hand over my heart, so relieved to hear Kai’s voice. I cleared my throat. “It’s me.”
“Sounds like you smoked a pack of ciggies.”
I smiled. If he was making jokes, then he was okay.
“Did you get Z?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Oh, thank you, God,” I whispered. “That was fast. Did it go okay?”
“Not exactly, although Kope was brilliant.” His voice held a reluctant admiration.
“What do you mean not exactly?”
“We can’t find Flynn. He sent a message just as we were getting her out. Said he thought he was being tailed. There was a lot of commotion nearby, but we haven’t heard from him since.”
I gripped the sheets as icy fear clawed my belly.
“Have you told my dad?”
“Yes. He hasn’t heard from Flynn either. He told us to head for the airport with or without him.”
“Oh, my gosh,” I whispered. I imagined Flynn’s gigantic smile. Please let him be okay. “Do you think someone saw you guys?”
“No. I think he would’ve looked like a spy if he was caught keeping watch from his vantage point, but no humans would think to link us.”
“Let’s think positive,” I said, more for my benefit than his. “I’m sure he’s fine. Right?”
“Yeah.” But he didn’t sound so sure. “Your dad’s got human helpers here, too. I’m sure they’re on it. We’re keeping an eye out for him.”
Right now I desperately wanted them on a plane, headed to safety. All of them.
“Is Z okay?” I stood, grasping my pounding head, and padded to the bathroom for a drink of water.
“She’s skittish and won’t speak, but she’s coming along without complaint now that she’s recognized Kope, and I showed her your picture. We had one incident, but nothing to worry about. Is everything all right there?”
“Yes. Everything’s fine here. I just want you to come home.”
There was a crackly pause, and then, “I like hearing you say that.”
Home. It was a wonderful word. “I love you, Kai. Be safe.”
“We will. I’ll text you with our flight information. I’ve got to run.”
When we hung up, I drank a glass of water and climbed back into bed, all nervous energy as I thought about Flynn. He was strong—a fighter in more ways than one. It’d be hard to take him down. Still . . . what if he’d been captured? What if we exchanged one jailed Neph for anoth
I was gnawing my cuticles when Blake barged in. His hair was flat on one side and stuck straight up on the other. He flopped down on the other side of the bed, pillow lines on his face.
“What’s up, drunkie?” he asked. “Was that Kai?”
“Yep. They got her.”
“Nice.” He reached out for a fist bump from where he lay. “See. Nothing to worry about.”
“Flynn is missing.”
He sat straight up. “What happened?”
“I don’t know. He thought he was being watched or followed, and then . . .”
“It’s all right. Don’t get upset.” He reached for my hand. “Come on. Let’s get something to eat and we’ll talk.”
I was too jittery at the diner Blake took us to, so we ended up getting our food to go and keeping low-key at Kai’s apartment. We watched television and played video games but I couldn’t stop peeking at my phone, becoming antsier with each passing hour.
The call finally came.
“Hello?” I said.
“Everyone is safely on a plane,” came Dad’s voice. “The summit is over. I’m in Reno again. Some of the Dukes are heading home and some are staying in Vegas longer.”
“Flynn’s okay?” I asked.
“He’s fine.”
I took a deep breath and let it out. “What happened?”
“Two humans found him acting suspiciously and wanted to turn him in. He had to fight them to get away and lost his phone in the scuffle. He lay low after that, but he made his way back to Damascus and the airport without any more incidents.”
All I could do was breathe.
“They’ll be in L.A. tomorrow afternoon,” he said. “You’ll need to get Z settled at the convent and then head back to Georgia. I’m going back to Vegas to keep an eye on Sonellion until he leaves. I wanna make sure he buys the story of Z’s purchase by an unknown buyer. You okay there?”
“Yeah,” I whispered. “I’m okay now. I’m with Blake.”
“All right. I’ll be in touch tomorrow.”
I ended the call with a grin of relief. Blake’d obviously been listening because his pierced brow bobbed up and down.
“Wanna go clubbin’ again?” he asked.
“No freaking way!” I laughed. He was crazy.
“Okay then. Play me in the dance game?”
I groaned. “I suck at all these games. It can’t possibly be fun for you to play against me.”
“Why not? That means I always get to win. I love winning.”
I laughed again. “Fine. I’ll play whatever you want.”
The next morning. I got a text from Dad:
Something’s going on. Mammon has summoned Flynn to Vegas.
My gut twisted. I thought about how Mammon had acted toward his son in Australia and texted back: Maybe he just wants his company?
Maybe. Maybe not.
Stay alert.
That afternoon we waited in the car outside the arrival gates until Zania, Kope, and Kai exited the airport.
Zania let out a sob and ran to me.
“It’ll all be okay now,” I whispered.
She clung to me. My eyes darted around the skies, paranoid about stray spirits who might’ve left the Dukes for whatever reason.
I reached up with my free hand and stroked Kaidan’s smooth face, glad to see his blue eyes again while he drank me in. I sent a smile to the somber Kope as we made our way to the car. Everyone was okay. It would all be fine now. The more I thought about it, the more I was certain Mammon called Flynn to Vegas for entertainment purposes. He liked to show off his son, and Flynn provided him protection as well. Dad was just being cautious. That had to be it.
When I climbed into the backseat with Zania, Blake called shotgun. Kope and I sat by the windows, with Zania between us.
“Where to?” Kaidan asked.
“The convent,” I told him.
Zania pressed herself close to me and whispered in a shaky voice, “I need a drink. Just one. Please. It will help.”
Her plea sent a pang of empathy through me, but I didn’t answer. Kaidan gave me a look of warning over his shoulder. I had a feeling this wasn’t the first time she’d asked. When she let out a weak groan, I put my arms around her. She slumped into my lap and cried, trembling.
Kopano watched a moment, sadness in his eyes, before turning to stare out his window.
I ran my fingers through her hair, just as Patti did to mine when I was hurting. I hoped the women at the convent would know how to handle this.
We were nearly there when my phone rang. Dad.
“Hello?”
“Are they back?” He sounded on edge.
“Yeah, they’re here.”
“I need all of you to get out of L.A. Get as far away as you can right now. Understand?”
All three guys turned to me with wide eyes.
“Okay,” I told him, my heart rate quickening.
“A few of the Dukes are headed to LAX in Pharzuph’s jet with some women they picked up in Vegas. Mammon and Flynn are with them. Everyone scattered before I could get any straight answers. At best, they’re just gonna play around in Hollywood for a day or two, but I want you out of there. Text me your location and I’ll send someone to let you know when it’s clear to return.”
“Yes, sir.”
He disconnected, and the air in the car thickened with worry. Zania sat up.
“Where can we go?” I asked everyone.
“Mexico isn’t far,” Kaidan said.
“Nah.” Blake shook his head. “We don’t have time to mess around with the border stops. Let’s get off the mainland. Head to the port.”
Blake started scrolling through the GPS.
Kopano leaned forward. “You suggest we go to sea? We could be out there for days.”
Kaidan’s eyes rounded as he looked to Blake. “The island?”
“Yup,” Blake said with a grin.
“What island?” I asked them.
“Blake’s father owns one of the Channel Islands,” Kaidan explained. “Never uses it. Total waste.”
He owned an island? I shook my head. Wow.
“Have you been there?” I asked Kaidan.
“Once.” He got quiet and shifted in his seat. Blake burst into laughter.
“He got so seasick! Puked his guts out the whole way there.”
Kaidan reached over and smacked Blake’s head. “The water was bloody choppy!”
This made Blake laugh harder.
“For real, though. We can stay there as long as we need,” Blake said. “The whole island is a nature preserve, so there’s not much there. But it’s got one of those green-economic houses. I’ll charter a boat for us when we get to the docks.”
“But is the island far enough away from the mainland?” I asked.
“It’s fifteen miles out from Santa Barbara—even farther from here. No worries. They’ll never know we’re in the area. Think of it as a mini vacay.”
Zania slumped into my lap again as a vicious tremor shot through her. I held her while Kaidan wove through traffic, eliciting honks from surrounding cars. He stopped before the docks to buy enough food and drinks for a few days. He also bought motion-sickness bracelets and pills. Zania refused to take the offered pill or drink any water. She just moaned and curled herself smaller on the seat. I looked around at the guys, helpless, but they could only offer sympathetic glances in return.
At the port, Blake rented a luxury speedboat. More like a small yacht. I didn’t know anything about boats, but judging from the others around us, ours was big. And shiny. My hair blew in the breeze and the sun shone down as we climbed aboard. I might have felt like a rock star under better circumstances.
As Blake pushed away from the docks, I remembered Dad. I sent him a quick text saying, Melchom’s island. Then I called Patti.
“I’m going to be a few more days, and I won’t have cell service,” I told her.
“Are you okay? Did they get . . . your friend?” She wou
“Yes and yes.”
“How’s she doing?”
I looked down at Z, who was lying next to me across the white-cushioned bench at the back of the boat with her head in my lap. “She’s . . . having a hard time.”
Patti sighed into the phone. “Poor thing. She needs a gentle hand right now. That’s all you can do.”
We said our good-byes and I promised to call as soon as I could. I watched from my comfy deck seat as the guys put things away and helped navigate us out to sea. The boat bumped and rocked, leading me to believe it might always be a little choppy on the Pacific. One particularly large swell turned my stomach and I closed my eyes.
I jumped at the feel of something touching my hand.
“Just me,” Kaidan said softly.
Zania slid closer to me at the sound of Kaidan’s voice. He pressed his lips together and pushed one of the motion-sickness bracelets over my hand, positioning it on my wrist.
The water and sky turned his eyes a shade of bright blue, and I let myself stare. Hair lashed against my eye, so Kaidan reached out, winding the tangled mass of strands behind my ear, then cupping my cheek.
“Do you need anything?” he whispered. I shook my head.
I caught Kopano watching us from where he stood on the raised captain’s tower. He held my eyes for a moment before turning away.
It didn’t take long for Zania to get sick. She dragged herself from my lap, sitting up and turning enough to lean over the side of the boat. I held her waist, afraid a big bump might send her overboard. I could feel her ribs protruding from all the weight she’d lost. After a bout of dry heaving, she lay her cheek on the side of the boat and I brushed her hair back, feeling tears on her skin.
“There’s a bed downstairs,” I told her. “Would you like to go lie down?”
She groaned as the wind gusted, rocking the boat. In a moment Kopano was there, scooping her up into his arms.
“No,” she protested weakly. She opened her eyes and looked at him, becoming aware. She let out a yell and tried to push him away, kicking her legs, but he held her close and murmured something in Arabic. I took her hand.
“Kope won’t hurt you,” I whispered in her ear. “He’s going to carry you downstairs and I’ll be with you the whole time.”