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“What is she planning?” I asked, trying to ignore the way his heated stare seemed to warm me from the inside. “The demon, what is she going to do?”
“She plans to take you by force.”
39
NEVER
Hook straightened, pressing his lips into a thin line as his nostrils flared. “Leo, I appreciate you coming to me with this.”
“Can’t that little bitch pixie just fly her glittery ass out here and zap me back to the island herself?” It was a valid question. She had wings, after all.
I got another tandem head shake from the two men, but it was Hook who filled me in. “She can’t come near the ship. I have it warded against her magic and her presence.”
Interesting. “Are you afraid of her?” I asked, genuinely interested to hear his answer.
They certainly had a connection when I’d seen them together on the island, but to go as far as warding his home against her? That meant something.
Hook let out a long breath and sank into his chair, leaning back and kicking his feet up on the desk before he deigned to grant me an answer. “No.”
Just no? Nothing else? Did he have to make a conscious effort to be that difficult or did it come naturally to him?
“Whatever. I don’t actually care. Give me back my necklace. I’ll go meet with her in the morning and find some way to get close enough to my brother to make the damned thing work.” That was assuming I had any fucking clue how to make that happen, which I didn’t. But I had plenty of time to figure it out, right?
I held out my hand again. “And you’ll never have to see me again.”
He flinched just the tiniest bit at that, but it could have just been one of his many, super annoying quirks. Like making me feel—
I tried to shut down the thought before it filled my head, but it didn’t work. He’d betrayed me. When I’d curled up next to him and drifted off to sleep, I’d actually let myself think he was something other than an asshole pirate.
It was so much worse than seeing Clint with the girl in the park. I didn’t even really care about that, because, let’s be honest, I didn’t really care about him. I wanted to care, or I maybe wanted to want to care, but the feelings weren’t there. The feelings were never there with other guys. But with Hook…
Fuck it. Whatever.
“Hand it over, pirate.” I made a ‘gimme’ motion with my hand, fully expecting another flat refusal and bracing for an argument. I wanted to fight with him, to tear him down and try to hurt him the way he’d hurt me. Not that I could, necessarily, but that vicious, vindictive little part of me wanted to take him down a notch.
He dropped his feet to the floor and leaned his elbows on the desk, watching me intently. “You’re sure it was the pendant that brought you here?”
My growing anger pulled up short. “Yes, I’m sure.”
“Where did you get it?”
The glimmer of hope that had just started to shine in my chest fizzled out. I was not in the mood to play twenty questions, so I gave him everything: finding Clint with the slutty cop, the demon attack, my escape artist dog saving my ass, returning home to find Matty gone. All of it.
When I was finished, I took a breath and glanced between the two men, who were both watching me like I was the most interesting bug they’d ever seen.
“Lily was the one who found the necklace, actually,” I added with a flick of my hand, remembering the way she’d knocked the box of junk over and nudged that cursed necklace at me.
“Lily?” Leo asked, his eyes glittering with suspicious interest.
“My dog. Well, actually, I think she’s at least part hellhound because she’s been around forever.”
They shared an indecipherable look before Hook turned to me. “How long is forever?”
Why the hell did it matter?I seriously considered pausing there and starting my own line of questioning, but since I was already in overshare mode, I just kept right on rolling.
“As long as I’ve been alive. I think she was around when my mom was a kid too, but I can’t guarantee that. My mom loved to tell stories.” My voice faded on the last sentence because she did love making up stories.
At least, I’d always thought they were made up. But so many of the stories her grandmother had written about were turning out to be true, at least to some extent.
