Reborn Yesterday (Phenomenal Fate 1)

Jonas shuddered at her touch. “Ginny…”

“You were chained in a room planning to off yourself,” she said unevenly. “And you have the nerve to shout about me going out for one beer?”

“Ahhh.” Tucker laughed and slapped the table. “Human women don’t lose arguments, man. They have a filing system of shit you did wrong. You better recognize.”

“Is that true?” Jonas asked, amusement softening his expression.

“I don’t know.” Her nose wrinkled. “I’ve never won an argument, because I’ve never been in a relationship.”

“Thank God for that,” he murmured, leaning in to look at her mouth.

She quickly reared back. “I don’t have a toothbrush here,” she blurted, covering her mouth. “That wasn’t me asking for one, either. I know it’s only my second time staying over.”

“And?”

“And…I don’t know.” Heat stole up her neck. “I don’t want you to think I’m presuming anything.”

Jonas glanced over at Roksana. “What am I missing?”

“Don’t ask the slayer,” Elias drawled. “She doesn’t know how normal women think.”

“She’s worried you’ll think she’s a clinger.” Roksana flashed Elias her middle finger. “I usually worry more about the men I date getting clingy. So annoying when that happens.” With a sharp sound of irritation, Elias blurred from the kitchen so fast, it left a smug Roksana’s hair floating in the air. “Touchy touchy.”

“Why wouldn’t I want you to cling to me?” Jonas asked, ignoring the scene. “I expect you to cling, Ginny.”

“It’s just that we haven’t had a conversation about…logistics. When we’ll see each other and where. Are you just going to appear in my bedroom at nighttime? Am I still going to be blindfolded everywhere we go? Am I—”

“She’s feeling insecure, Jonas,” Tucker called. “Fix it.”

“Oh I will,” he said slowly, studying her with harder than usual intensity. “As soon as I figure out the most effective way. Although I’m not sure anything says ‘I’m committed’ more than making a woman one’s sustaining life force.”

“You’re thinking like a vampire,” Tucker said. “She’s a human. She needs human gestures.”

“Hey.” Ginny crossed her arms. “Stop talking about me like I’m not here.”

Jonas’s lips tugged. “Sorry, love. Are you hungry?”

“Yes.” She set her voice to a whisper. “Are you?”

“Always,” he breathed, lids drooping. “I can wait, though.”

“Can you?”

“I’m going to exercise restraint from the beginning.” Jonas circled his thumb in the hollow of her throat. “I will not overwhelm you.”

He turned and zipped to the counter before she could reply, remaining poised with his fists on the counter a moment, before reaching for the carton of eggs on the counter. What would have been her reply? That, oddly, she liked how it felt when he took his fill? That it felt like relief and homecoming, all rolled into one? Did that make her shameful or weird?

Ginny shook herself. “Roksana, can I use your phone to call Larissa? I left my things at the bar.”

Roksana rolled her eyes over Jonas’s growl. “Sure thing, lady.”

She took the phone into the living room and sat down on the couch, keying in the number to the funeral home by memory. Ginny’s stepmother answered on the second ring. “P. Lynn Funeral Home.”

“Larissa. Hi, it’s Ginny.”

“Ginny. Where are you? I came down for a box of tissues because I still feel like shit and there were five messages from a man wanting to schedule his son’s services. I can’t meet with him. I’m like a zombie.”

She held on to her patience. “When does he want to meet?”

“Tonight. Six o’clock. I know your shift doesn’t start until later, but—”

“Oh, Larissa. I would do it, but my dress expo is tonight—”

“Your what?”

Ginny closed her eyes. “Nothing. I’ll just set up late. Can you confirm the appointment and let him know I’ll be there?”

“Yes. Fine.” She sounded like a deflating raft. “Ginny, we have to sell this place, even if we take a loss. This is like the Groundhog Day from hell. I’m not cut out for being surrounded by death and sad people. I swear I think it’s making me ill.”

“Okay, Larissa,” Ginny pushed through numb lips. “I’ll really sit down and consider it this week. I mean that. I don’t want you to be miserable.”

“Aren’t you miserable, too? Don’t you want to try something new? We could…I don’t know. We could try something new together, even? I’m not that bad, am I?” Her stepmother bit off a curse. “Listen to me rambling. I’m just stressed.”

“It’s fine.” Ginny pressed her lips together. “Bye, Larissa.”

The line was already dead.

Ginny let the phone drop to her lap, starting when she found Jonas standing at the end of the couch, watching her with concern.

“Did you hear all of that?” she asked.

Equations solving themselves behind his golden eyes. “Yes.”

She nodded, grateful when he didn’t press. “I have to go home.”

“I know.” It was clear he didn’t like it, too. “Tonight is important to you. Roksana will stay with you until I can…”