Walter chuckled, the sound truly amused. “I don’t believe his heart is involved, only his—”
“Got it,” I said, holding up a hand like a stop sign. Like most vamps, Walter spoke about sex openly and casually, but I didn’t want to hear that about my baby brother. “Ojos. Is EJ still in the ice bath?”
“Evan Junior is in the ice bath again,”Ojossaid. “He is alternating between the steam room and the ice.”
Ojoshad given me information I hadn’t asked for, which always creeped me out. It was too human.
My brother must be in a lot of pain. He needed to heal. For that matter, so did I. To Walter, I said, “I’ll handle it.”
“Or I could.” He vamped out fast, his jaw unhinging, his fangs clicking down on their small hinges, his eyes bleeding scarlet with wide, black pupils.
“We’ll save the scary vampire for next time. If there is a next time.”
Dinner with Constance and fighting my battle magic had left Walter acting spicier than usual, inside and outside the ring.
I grabbed a towel from a stool and took the elevator to my apartment, where I grabbed an amulet off the kitchen island, and took the elevator to the ground floor. The metal door opened and I stepped out, my bare feet cold on the navy-painted cement of the entry hallway. Winter was coming with a vengeance. I needed to check the forecast.
Across from me, the door to the fire escape stairs opened. Walter had followed me anyway. Thankfully, he stood behind the wall and didn’t come to my side, all vampy scary. I pressed my amulet and walked to the entry.
Opening the front door, I held it, blocking the way. The woman was even prettier close up: pale skin, black hair, color-enhanced green eyes. “May I help you?” I asked.
Londyn said, “I’m here to see EJ Everhart-Trueblood. He’s one of the owners. He’s expecting me.”
“No, he isn’t.”
Her emerald eyes narrowed, hot with reaction. “Are you calling me a liar?”
“I’m saying you’re wrong. If that makes you a liar, that’s your problem.”
“Who are you?” Londyn asked, a nasty curl of jealousy in the question.
I was giving this woman nothing. Her tone set my teeth on edge, and there was also a faint curl of magic seeping from her pocket. An amulet carried in secret on a human woman who wanted my brother was not to be trusted. At all. “EJ is not available tonight.”
“We have a date.”
“No. You don’t. And if you did, it was canceled.” I let a small smile cross my lips, but rise no higher. “EJ doesn’t make mistakes. Go away.”
I started to pull the door closed, and the woman slid her foot in the crack. Oldest trick in the book. “I don’t know who you are, but EJ and I have been dating for three months.”
“You’re right on one part. You don’t know who I am.” I stamped my bare heel down on the woman’s toes, and when Londyn gasped and withdrew her foot, I closed the door and pressed the indentation on the keypad that alerted all tenants to an unwanted person at the door. The alarm also let them know that security had handled the intrusion. I turned my back on the woman and walked away.
From behind the L-turn at the stairs and the elevator, Walter said, “That was oddly harsh. Why?”
“Amulet in her pocket, jealousy in her eyes, lies in her mouth. I have to warn EJ about her, and it stinks when I have to tell him his sex life is a danger.” It was a shame my tiny smidge of precog hadn’t warned me about my own ex, I thought for the thousandth time.
I entered the elevator and waved Walter into the small space with me.
Walter’s eyes stabbed. He had taken the stairs going down because he hated confined spaces, for good reason, but he had taught me to face the things I hated, and I had no problem turning the tables on him about his enclosed-space phobia. I let a mean half smile curl my lips.
He took a shallow breath that he didn’t need and stepped inside. He was human looking again, his vamp attributes concealed. The elevator doorswhooshedclosed. “The woman carried an amulet. Interesting,” he said. “Love amulet?”
“I don’t know. I’d have had to tackle her to get it, and assault’s frowned upon.”
Walter chuckled darkly. “Assault comprises my job description.”
“My brother seems to collect mentally unbalanced people who fall madly in love with him and then want to kill him when he walks away, so yes. I’m guessing it’s a love charm.”
“We should consider that it might have been something less savory.”
