Chapter Forty-Seven
Even TraceyAnn was caught up in the excitement, now that it was almost time for Miller to show up and bring Lily into town. She kept hovering near the front, and as soon as she spotted the older man’s form, making his way towards the entrance, she stopped where she was, pushed her cleavage out and threw one hipbone at a sharp angle. She was ready as the door opened.
“Why, hello, Miller,” she bellowed.
He winced, but was rescued by the twins who ran up to greet him. “Unka’Miller, Unka’Miller,” they shouted. He laughed and bent over to hug them.
Lily smiled, as she always did, to see any of the fierce men from the house completely disarmed by kids. He rose up and winked at Lily. “Got the message from Rika to take you to Undercover Frills on Main?”
“Do you know where that is?” TraceyAnn called out. “Here, I wrote out the address for you.” She pulled out a piece of folded paper from her cleavage, and Lily pressed her lips together not to laugh at Miller’s expression.
If there was a caption underneath his face, it would read,Kill Me Now.
But he graciously accepted the folded note and thanked her without mentioning that he would be using the GPS on his phone or car. He even managed to not bolt for the antibacterial gel pump dispenser in the back of the center, as much as Lily was sure he was dying to.
Lily’s cheeks were hurting with suppressed laughter, although the shit-eating grin she now sported was probably a dead giveaway that she was close to losing that battle.
“It has my telephone number too,” TraceyAnn added, even louder, and now Lily had to pretend she was coughing.
“You okay there, Katie?” Miller’s tone was anything but sweet. Which set off another bout of “coughing.” But at least it saved Miller from having to answer TraceyAnn, who glided away now that her mission was complete. It would seem that Lily could have needed CPR, with the same response from TraceyAnn.
When she could breathe again, Miller herded her and the twins to Lily’s loaner car, where the seats for the twins were installed.
And then they were off to Undercover Frills on Main, and afterwards, Lily would have her date with Col.
In all the excitement and anticipation, she didn’t even feel the eyes that were boring into her with a steady hatred, only a few cars away in the parking lot.
* * *
Rey seethed with rage as he watched Lily leaving the Staff Childcare Center, accompanied by yet another guy — this one older but also a gym-body — holding two smaller kids. He had slumped down in his seat so he wouldn’t be easily noticed, but his eyes tracked them…all the way until she let the older guy get into the driver’s seat of her red Subaru.
What. A. Whore.
Apparently she was now into these buff, better bodybuilding through chemistry looking men. A whole revolving door of them. Although this one, Rey could probably take on a lot more easily than the blond himbo from the day before. This older guy was around the same height as Rey. Carried himself like military. Still kept himself in good shape, but his glory days were long behind.
Rey turned his key and prepared to follow. Today must be his lucky day at last.
The bitch was heading into town.
* * *
Cadmus muttered dire curses under his breath. If Jordy had led him on another wild goose chase, what he did to her in the car last night was going to feel like a tickle fest. He had rushed out of the house once he had taken her call, after her fifth or sixth attempt. He didn’t even remember to grab the tranq darts, a fact which he only realized after he had already neared the exit he needed.
Cadmus’ knuckles whitened on the steering wheel of his car, wishing that he was squeezing her throat instead. Last night while they were out on that fool errand, there had been an intruder—or several —in his rental accommodations. Hismagickalcharms had alerted him, although they hadn’t the strength to keep out the intruders. He had set them up when he had first arrived, and was reeling from the effects of thatmagickalmalaise that had ailed him. But he hadn’t maintained them since.
It was more evidence that he had been getting sloppier, no doubt the residual effects of themagickalmalady, and perhaps from being around Billy Bob and this girl. It would seem that incompetence was contagious after all.
Cadmus tamped down the other possibility for this recent inability to adhere his usual high standards for performance. He refused to admit that Micah was getting to him. No, he was going to have to shore up the defenses at the rental, and make sure that the root cellar was completely cleared out of anything incriminating. Just in case.
The intruders could have been merely looking for cash, or valuables. He narrowed his eyes. They could have been associates of Billy Bob’s, whether that dolt was a knowing or an unwitting accomplice. Even though nothing of value was taken. But then, Billy Bob wouldn’t know what a Waterman fountain pen was anyway. He’d just assume it was a pen that leaked. However, Billy Bob was just enough of a fool to divulge what could be a possible source for all the items he had been “disposing of” recently.
Whoever it was, if they had discovered what was in the root cellar, they didn’t call law enforcement. Which further suggested that they weren’t on the up and up themselves.
And they didn’t seem to find his stash ofmagickalingredients, which was secreted in the areas that Jordy had shown him in the rental.
Okay, so the girl did have some usefulness still. So maybe, just maybe, she would never get these ingredients used on her.
He smirked to himself, thinking of how Resting Witch Face would piss in her pants if she saw these ingredients now, resting on the front seat beside him in the rental car like a prized passenger. That is, if Resting Witch Face even recognized what they were, in between her tarot cards featuring costumed cats and lavender dreamcatcher patchouli nightmare of a store.
And in the extreme unlikely chance that she did, she would definitely not have had the knowledge, experience, skill, let alone the daring, to be able to use them. Few people did. It was how Cadmus had risen through the ranks of the Merciless. It was about as dark as one could go, short of killing one’s own flesh and blood and using their remains formagick.
Cadmus almost pitied the person he was going to use them on.
