Part II CHAPTER 9
"What did you do?"
Tory jumped at the sound of Ash's deep, accented voice behind her. Guilty about contacting his friend, she turned around to face him and froze. Dressed in black pants and boots, he'd left his damp hair to hang freely around his broad shoulders. Good night, the man was unbelievably delectable. But it was the faded gray T-shirt that had a pile of skeletons on it that really caught her off-guard and made her wonder if his propensity for that wouldn't have him kill her over what she'd done behind his back.
She cleared her throat and tried her best not to look too nervous. "What?"
"You turned something on while I was in the shower and froze the crap out of me."
Relieved that was all that had him ticked off, she laughed. "Sorry. Dishwasher. I won't do it again."
"Please don't. One minute it was scalding. The next freezing."
She scowled as she saw the dragon tattoo back on his forearm-where it'd been originally. "Is that like some sort of temporary thing you do to screw with people's heads? I swear it keeps moving to different parts of your body."
Before he could answer, her phone rang. Tory groaned at the sound. "You know, between the two of us, we can't have a minute's peace from these stupid phones." She picked up the phone, surprised to find Bruce there. "Hey, sweetie. Did you get the journal for me?"
"No. Someone killed Dimitri last night and ransacked his place. They must have taken the book."
Staggering back at the unexpected news, Tory dropped the phone as horror and grief enveloped her.
Ash barely caught Tory before she fell to the floor, sobbing. "Breathe," he whispered.
But she didn't appear to hear him as she kept saying, "No, no, no," in a low tone.
He picked up the phone from the floor. "Hello?"
"Where's Tory?" a man demanded.
Ash looked at her. She'd gathered her legs to her chest and was sobbing against them while she covered her head with her arm. "She's really upset. What happened?"
"One of our friends was killed last night."
Ash ground his teeth as he remembered the horror of Dimitri's final hours-no one deserved that. "Okay. I'll have her call you back when she calms down." He hung up the phone and pulled her against him.
Tory buried her face against his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his neck in a stranglehold that somehow didn't manage to hurt him. "How can he be dead? Why?"
He held her close. "I don't know, Tory. Shit happens to the best of us."
"No. Not over a fucking book." Her language shocked him and let him know exactly how upset she was. "Please, Acheron, tell me a book isn't worth a man's life." She launched herself from the floor and grabbed the phone.
"What are you doing?"
Lifting her glasses up, she wiped at her eyes as her cheeks flushed red with anger. "I'm calling everyone on my team and telling them to hide immediately. I won't have another person hurt. I won't!"
He didn't try to stop her as he rose to his feet. Instead, he attempted to sense something about this with his powers. It was so frustrating to have no insight or clues about what was going on. He hadn't felt this vulnerable since the day he'd died.
After calling everyone she could think of, Tory hung up and sighed. "Everyone else is accounted for and safe. Let's hope they stay that way." Sniffing, she pulled her glasses off and used her shirttail to wipe the lenses. Ash admired the way she'd pulled herself together.
She put her glasses back on and pierced him with an angry, hurt look. "What do you think is in that book that makes it so important?"
"The end of the world."
She scoffed at him. "Be serious."
"What if I was?" he asked, wanting to feel her out and see what she'd do if she had it. "What if there was something in that book totally apocalyptic?"
She didn't hesitate with her answer. "Then it would have to be destroyed."
"Even if it contained proof of Atlantis?"
She pushed her glasses up with the back of her hand. "Well since we're being hypothetical, yes. Proof of Atlantis wouldn't be worth the destruction of the world. I mean, really, what good would it do to save my father's reputation when there's no one left who cares?"
He smiled at her indignation. "You think quickly on your feet."
"So they tell me." Tory paused and closed her eyes. "I can't believe Dimitri. God, I hope he didn't suffer."
Ash didn't comment. He didn't want to lie to her and the truth . . .
Sucked.
Instead, he tried to get her mind off it. "What do you normally do on a Saturday?"
She sighed as she put away her dishtowel. It was obvious she was still torn up over Dimitri, but trying to be brave. "Depends on the Saturday. Here, lately, I've been skydiving, but my pilot canceled day before yesterday due to illness. So I was planning on grading papers and watching bad movies. What about you? Other than stomping a young boy's ego first thing in the morning, what do you do?"
Smiling at the mock sarcasm in her voice, he pulled a pocket watch out of his jeans. "In about two hours, you'll know."
"What's in two hours?"
"Basketball game."
She made a sound of supreme disgust. "Oh no. I don't do spectator sports. They bore me to tears."
Ash tsked at her. In this one thing, he was the mighty mountain who wouldn't be moved. He'd made a promise and he was going to be there no matter what. "You might as well reconcile yourself to the fact that you will be sitting on the bench today since I can't leave you here alone."
She actually hissed at him like a cat. "Dream on, buddy. Not going to happen."
"Yes it will."
"No," she said firmly. "It won't."
Tory couldn't believe his obstinacy. Why was he being so unreasonable? What difference would it make if he missed a stupid game with his friends?
But the more she protested, the more he ignored her. They literally fought over it up until Ash came downstairs wearing a black and white polyester referee shirt. He even had on basketball shoes instead of his requisite boots.
The sight of him dressed like that stunned her until the ludicrousness of it struck her.
It was all she could do not to laugh at the sight he made with his long red and black hair pulled back in a ponytail and nose ring . . . not a stud. A small silver hoop to match the two he now wore in his left earlobe. "They let you referee, huh?"
"No one argues with my calls."
"I'll bet."
He shrugged his coat on and picked up the backpack of death. "You want to ride with me over to the game?"
His offer surprised her since she hadn't seen him do anything other than walk or ride with her. "You have your car?"
Ash smiled. "Motorcycle. I brought it over last night when I went to get my clothes." It was a small lie. He'd actually manifested it this morning when he'd decided he wanted to ride for a bit and he was hoping she wouldn't balk over it.
"I don't have a helmet."
He pulled a black one out of the backpack. "You do now. What do you say? You up for some adventure?"
Tory wrinkled her nose at the helmet and folded her arms over her chest. She would love to join him, but she wasn't stupid either. "I have no gear to wear and the last thing I want to be is SQUID."
He laughed at her use of a biker's term to describe anyone dumb enough to ride without the proper safety gear on.
He pulled a worn, black Stitch Brazilian leather jacket out of his backpack. The shoulders, elbows and waist of it were heavily stitched and the armor in it extremely lightweight, but it was the dark gray skull and crossbones on the back with a gold Hayabusa symbol over it that made her laugh. "You have a thing for skulls don't you?"