As she gave them her number, the peanut gallery did themselves a favor and didn't ask any whys--then again Shadows were like symphaths in that they tended to know where people were at.
"Roger that," Trez said. "We'll hitchu the second anything happens. "
Dematerializing, she took form in front of the Brotherhood mansion and crossed the pea gravel to the basilica-size steps. After she went into the vestibule, she put her face to the security camera.
Fritz opened the way after a moment and bowed low. "Welcome home, madam. "
The H-word sent a jolt through her. "Ah. . . thanks. " She looked around at the empty rooms off the foyer. "I'm just going to go upstairs. "
"I've prepared your previous room. "
"Thanks. " But she wasn't heading there.
Drawn by the sense of John's blood, she jogged up the grand staircase and went down to his crib.
Knocking, she waited, and when there was no answer, she cracked the door into the darkness and heard the hush of a running shower. Across the way, a lateral strip of light showed at carpet level, indicating he'd shut the way into the bathroom.
Crossing the Oriental, she shed her leather jacket and left it on the back of a chair. At the bath, she knocked again. Without hesitation. Loudly.
The door opened by itself, swinging free and revealing humid air and the dim glow of the inset lights above the Jacuzzi.
John was facing her behind the glass enclosure, the water rushing down his chest and his six-pack and his thighs. His cock sprang up into a massive erection the moment her eyes met his, but he didn't move and he didn't look glad to see her.
In fact, his upper lip curled in a snarl, and that wasn't the worst of it. His emotional grid was completely closed off to her. He was blocking her and she wasn't even sure he was aware of doing it: She couldn't get a bead on anything that she had always sensed so clearly before.
Xhex lifted up her right hand and spelled out awkwardly: I came back.
His brow twitched. Then he signed much more smoothly and quickly: With intel for Wrath and the Brothers, right. Feel like a hero? Congratulations.
He shut off the water, stepped out, and leaned for a towel. He didn't cover himself, but dried off, and it was hard not to notice that with each move and arch, his erection bobbed.
She never thought she'd curse her peripheral vision.
"I haven't talked with anyone," she said.
This left him pausing with the towel stretched across his back, one arm angled up, the other down. Naturally, the pose popped his pecs and pulled the muscles that ran over his hip bones out in stark relief.
He snapped the towel free and draped it over his shoulders. Leaving it to hang, he signed, Why did you come here?
"I wanted to see you. " The ache in her voice made her wish she'd used ASL.
Why.
"I was worried--"
You want to see how I'm hanging together? You want to know what it was like to spend the past seven hours wondering if you were dead or--
"John--"
He ripped the towel free and snapped the end in midair to shut her up. You want to know how I handled the idea that you were dead, fighting alone, or worse, back where you'd been? Your symphath side need a little diversion for kicks and giggles?
"God, no--"
You sure about that? You're not wearing your cilices. Maybe you're feeding that hunger, coming back here--
Xhex wheeled around for the door, her emotions too much for her to handle, the guilt and the sadness choking her.
John caught her arm and they ended up against the wall, his body holding hers in place while he signed up close to their faces.