Black Wings, Gray Skies (Black Hat Bureau 4)

4

The dented bullet in my pocket kept me oddly centered as I rolled it between my fingers, considering it had been lodged in Asa once upon a time. It was both talisman and reminder that he wasn’t invulnerable. Even his daemon had weaknesses.

Ten minutes after Asa left, I began to have trouble breathing.

Fifteen minutes in, and I was a fish gasping for air in a dry tank.

Twenty minutes in, I spelled myself the same as I had him then stripped to my underwear.

Hidden from sight, I was ready to dive in after him…

…when he rose from the surf looking like he ought to have been the Haelian Sea royalty instead of me.

The swim had caused one braid to come undone. The other held on, but it was matting from the salty water. His eyes were brilliant in the sun, glittering like gems, and when they raked down my body, I flushed from head to toe.

“Rue?”

Reading me with terrifying ease, he opened his arms. I slammed into him before I realized I had made the choice to go to him. To run to him. He lost his balance, probably something to do with how my legs had snaked around his hips. We toppled backward, landing in a puff of loose sand.

“It’s okay.” He spoke the words against my throat. “I’m fine.”

“I’m the one who’s fine.” I held on tighter. “Why are you soothing me?”

“You’re shaking.” He ran his hands up my back. “You were worried.”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” I grumbled. “I’m half naked. I’m just cold.”

Beneath me, Asa’s soft laughter shook my entire body, but he didn’t call me out.

“There are laws about indecency,” Clay said from nearby. “Why are you two always breaking them?”

The urge to pepper Asa’s face with kisses and cling to him like a barnacle surfaced within me, this fragile want that scared me spitless.

“Why can’t you let us break laws in peace?” I heaved a sigh, grateful for the excuse to extricate myself with grace. I stood, feet to either side of his hips. “Just once, you could wait and see what happens.”

“I know what would happen.” He tossed pants at Asa’s face. “That’s why I don’t want a front row seat.”

“Fascination is gross,” Colby said from Clay’s pocket. “I’m never dating. Boys are too much trouble.”

Oh, yes.

A spelled pocket was happening as soon as I had a minute to work out how to safely craft it.

“I’m glad one of the Hollis girls has sense.” Clay exhaled. “We can’t be too hard on Rue. Fascination makes her brain sizzle like bacon on a griddle. All that delicious fat is cooking out, leaving her crunchy.”

“Huh?” Colby wiggled in his pocket. “What does that mean?”

“My thoughts exactly.” I chose to miss the point on purpose. “Are you trying to tell me you’re hungry?”

“Shorty, plug in, okay?” Clay helped her settle. “Dollface, do you know me at all?”

“So, that’s a yes.”

“I wouldn’t cry if we hit an all-day breakfast spot after this.”

Much like me, Clay wasn’t as affected by gore and tragedy as most people would be.

We weren’t normal. By any metric. We had to grow thick skins to survive the Bureau.