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He stared at her for a second, then put his hand over hers and turned to me. “If I have made it seem as if your safety is secondary to anything, then I apologize.”
“Thanks, Dad, good to hear.”
“I hadn’t thought about how the vampires might view someone with your job, Anita. They must hate you the way that some of the human hate groups hate vampires.”
“Pretty much.”
Nicky patted my thigh and motioned with his head toward my window. Ethan was there waiting for me to notice; that I hadn’t meant I was even more out of it than I thought. If the bad guys had attacked in that moment they could have shot me through the window without me even realizing it. Yes, I had a herd of security people just outside the car, helping unload the luggage. I’d notice the fight that would have broken out before they got that close to me, or Nicky throwing himself on top of me like a meat shield, but still, Iwas the only one with a badge in our group currently and I should have been paying better attention.
“Wait until Anita is safely out…please,” Nicky said behind me. I was betting my father had reached for his door again. Ethan opened my door and offered me a hand. Normally I not only didn’t need it but got pissed if it was offered; sometimes in really high heels I took the help, but it was more than that. The moment his hand touched mine I felt that hum of energy that was always there for the sharing with my animals to call. The warmth of it spilled over me like a blanket, so that by the time I was standing I leaned into his body so he could put one arm around me and keep the other free for weapons. I was armed, and normally I’d keep my hand free, but…I started to lean away, to be prepared, but Ethan tightened his arm slightly and leaned over me so he could whisper, “I’ve got this, Anita, just take the comfort for a second.”
I hesitated, then let myself lean into him and share the energy between us: safe.Safeit said,homeit said, because that had been Ethan’s heart’s desire when I met him, and the echo of that was still there between us. It was one of the gentlest connections I had, maybe because Ethan was gentle, or maybe because he was in true love with someone else so there was no pressure for more between us. Whatever caused it, in that moment it was exactly what I needed: comfort with no strings.
“Is this another of your…young men?” my dad asked.
I drew back from Ethan, but he kept his arm around me, so I stayed in the circle of his comfort. Before I could answer my dad, Andria came up to us and answered for me. “Yes, he’s part of her poly group.”
“Dad, this is Ethan Flynn,” I said.
Ethan offered his hand to my father as Nicky walked around the front of the SUV and joined us. Dad took the hand and shook it. When that handshake was finished my dad turned to Nicky and offered his hand. “We didn’t get to do this at the airport.”
Nicky hesitated a second, then shook hands with him. “You take care of Anita the way Judith does for me. I noticed in the car, and if you’re that important to my daughter, then I want to know you better.” He looked at Ethan and said, “Both of you.”
Ethan looked at me. I had no idea what to say, because Ethan was Nilda’s love of her life, not mine, and Nicky’s background was too tragic and too illegal to share with my dad. “I really appreciate that, Dad, seriously.”
“You’re welcome and I’m sorry you’re having to thank me for common courtesy toward the men in your life, Anita. I should be able to do at least that.”
I thought about hugging him, but I didn’t really want to, and if you don’t want to touch someone, even family, you shouldn’t touch them. I stayed with one arm around Ethan. Nicky moved back from the handshake to be on my other side, so if anyone else had wanted to hug me they’d have to get between us. I didn’t think Dad would do that, but he never got a chance because Magda started our way. She stalked toward us with that warrior swagger that she used sometimes when she wanted to provoke a fight so she could prove she could back it up, or when she was insecure about a situation, which wasn’t often. She was five-ten, with thick blond hair that looked even more yellow brushing the shoulders of her all-over black outfit: lightweight jacket to hide weapons at her waist, tucked-in T-shirt, leather belt with a blackened buckle, tactical pants tucked into the tops of tac boots. I had outfits just like it. Nicky had dressed to look more normal in dress pants, shoes, and the leather jacket that was too warm for tonight, but he looked like he’d dressed for a “normal” person’s date night. I hadn’t realized until that second that he’d dressed to meet my family. Magda had not. She’d dressed to look like the bad-ass she was, aggressive and unapologetically not feminine. I loved her in that moment, and wished I’d dressed to match instead of dressed up to impress my family.
I must have stared too long because my dad looked behind him,and then Judith did because he did. Magda offered her hand to my dad, and he took it automatically while he gazed up at her. He’d raised me to give good eye contact when you shake hands. Some people thought it was aggressive, I just thought it was normal, but Magda wasn’t hooked into me metaphysically, so she took it as a power play.
She smiled at him, and I knew that smile. I could have stepped in and stopped whatever she was about to say, but I didn’t. “I hope it’s not just the men in Anita’s life, but all of us,” she said.
Andria stifled a laugh. Judith did a little gasp. Dad didn’t get it as fast as they did. I didn’t have to see his face to know he was frowning up at Magda. I could tell by the set of his shoulders that he was caught off guard and thinking about what she’d said. I think if the other two women hadn’t reacted to it, he might have just not caught it at all. We were about to see whether my dad would hate me dating women more than me marrying a vampire.
6
He let goof Magda’s hand and turned to me. “Anita…”
“Yes, Dad.”
“What did she mean by that?”
“By what?” I asked. I realized I didn’t want to make this easy on him, which meant I was angry and doing it out of anger. That wasn’t cool, because I wanted him to like Magda and the other women in our poly group, and being petty and bitchy wasn’t going to accomplish that. It was just so tempting, and the smile on Magda’s face said she would help me do it. Soooo tempting.
Nicky whispered, “I’ll support whatever you do, but is this the right play before dinner tonight?”
Ethan leaned in and whispered, “What he said.”
I sighed, closed my eyes for a second, then shook my head.
“Does that mean this woman is…teasing me about your…her.” He stopped; he knew it wasn’t a complete sentence but didn’t seem to know how to finish it, so he just looked at me with an almost pleading look in his blue eyes.
Magda looked at me, the smile fading out of her gray-blue eyes first, then leaving her face. She’d let me pretend if that was what I decided to do, but she’d never forgive me. I wanted to make sure she understood that wasn’t what I was thinking at all.
“Dad, this is Magda Sanderson,” I said, and left the security blanket of Nicky and Ethan to go forward and hold out my hand to Magda. The smile was back on her face as she wrapped her bigger hand around mine.
He looked at our hands first, then at us together. He actually went a little pale, eyes blinking rapidly. “Are you…dating…her?”
