I shook my head.The nerve of this woman…“Is someone paying you to fuck with me, Haley, or have you just lost your damn mind?”
“The fact that I’m even here should be a pretty good indicator of my current mental state.” She shoved her hands into her hair, stopping just short of tearing it out. “Let me break it down for you, okay? Basically, I’m supposed to portal on over to some deadly dark-fae realm where the sun never shines and the good guys never last, hijack the blood of a psychotic warlord without killing him, and zip back home like fucking Dorothy with the ruby slippers. Only I don’t have ruby slippers, Elian. I have you. The asshole bloodsucking fae whosomehow—even though he’s a spineless amoeba who needs to crawl back into his petri dish andripenfor a few more decades—holds the distinguished honor of being the only guy to ever escape Midnight alive. So I’m sorry if my sudden arrival is confusing or annoying or inconvenient for you and Mr. Tall, Dark, and Demon over here, but seriously? How fucked amI?”
“On a scale of one to ten,” Jax said, still glowering at me, “you’re fucked by a magnitude of a thousand, give or take.”
He was right. Didn’t matter that there were actuallythreeof us who’d escaped Midnight alive; Haley was well and truly fucked. Whatever she’d gotten into with Melantha was so far beyond fixable, the best I could do for her was hand over a pile of drugs, say goodbye, and put her in a permanent coma.
“Aren’t you going to call him a prick, too?” I asked.
“Jax? He’s just being honest.You’rebeing a prick.”
“Honesty doesn’t preclude prickishness. In fact—”
“You know what? I didn’t come here to reminisce about my penchant for pricks, thanks.” She crossed the office and stood before my desk again, staring me down. “Are you going to help me or not?”
Shit.
My cock throbbed at the proximity of her. The fall of dark brown hair over her breasts. The lace top of her dress, dipping just low enough to make my mouth water…
Fucking witch was putting me under her spell without even trying.
“I’m not an inter-realm Uber, Haley,” I said. “So unless there’s a fantasy I can conjure up for you, no. I can’t help.”
“You know what my fantasy is,Saint? A man who keeps his promises. A man who doesn’t pledge his immortal love one night, then vanish into the mist the next.” She leaned across my desk, black manicured fingertips pressed against the glossy mahogany, the scent of her red-hot blood rushing over me in a seductive wave. “Youoweme this, asshole. So man up, help me get it done, and I’ll be out of your life again before you can say ‘how much for the fae lap dance.’”
Darkness swirled in her eyes. It’d always been there—the quiet rage, the simmering fury she hid so well with jokes and smiles. But still… the Haley I’d walked out on all those years ago was softer. Hopeful, despite what she’d been through. This one was hard-edged and gunning for a fight, ready to blow up her whole life over some debt to a goddess she had no business fucking with in the first place.
It broke my heart to see her like this.
Turned me on like nothing had in years, but damn.
What was her life like now? In all the time that’d passed since our last kiss, what mountains of shit had fate thrown at her?
Or were all those hard edges because of me? Because of whatI’dthrown at her?
Fuck me. In that moment, all I wanted to do was take her into my arms, push her down on my desk, and claim her until she knewexactlyhow sorry I was. How much I’d truly missed her.
But I wasn’t that man anymore.
Haley was right—Iwasa prick. Worse.
And I needed tostayworse. For both our sakes.
“You’re welcome to hang out for another drink,” I said. “Maybe that fae lap dance you mentioned. On the house, of course.”
Disappointment chased the darkness from her eyes.
Never before had I so badly wanted to kick my own ass.
“Tempting offer,” she said, her tone dripping with sarcasm. “Unfortunately, I think I left my kneepads back at the Temple of the Dark Moon.” She stood up to her full height and headed for the exit, those sexy boots thudding across the floor, her hot little ass swishing. “I’ll be sure to give Melantha your regards. Thanks again for reminding meexactlywhy I never came looking for you here. Enjoy your fantasy life, Saint. Sweet dreams.”
She grabbed the door handle, and my world ground to a screeching halt.
Fuck. Five years on, and she was still as stubborn and fiery as the night she’d pushed me off a pier in Blackmoon Bay for spilling coffee on her shoes. It was the first time I’d ever seen her, standing out behind Luna’s Café, her long hair blowing into her mouth, eyes flashing in the dark. I’d sworn it was an accident, but we both knew I was full of shit. I just wanted a reason to talk to her, and I panicked and pulled a dick move with the coffee.
So, into the water I went.
Then she felt bad about it and jumped in after me.
