Broken Wings (25 page)

Dex? What the hell?

“
Let’s go 4th,” Stone
replied.

Ava leaned in, pressing her breasts
against his back. He laid a hand on her thigh and tugged at her
leg, as if coaxing her closer. She ignored the gesture.

“
I thought you said your
name was Stone?” She asked over the bike’s thunder.

“
It is. My name is Dexter
Stone. But you can call me Stone.” He slowed, approaching a red
traffic light. Dropping his feet to the ground, he glanced over his
shoulder. “And what should I call you?”

“
Ava,” she said, resting her
hands, palms down, on her thighs. “My name is Ava
Valentine.”

“
Well, Ava Valentine, we’re
going to make a little stop before I take you to Cole.”

What? Agitation pumped faster through
her veins and pounded her heart against her chest. This guy was
supposed to be trustworthy. She was going to kill Lorenzo Leighton,
the dipshit that hooked her up with Dexter Stone—if she made it out
of this alive.

“
Where exactly are we
going?” she asked, trying to conceal her anxiety.

“
I just want to confirm that
your payment is genuine.” He must have sensed her body tighten,
because he laid a hand on her thigh again and caressed it as if
they’d already been intimate. “Don’t worry, sweetheart...as long as
the jewels are real, you’re safe with me.”

His touch heated her blood, flushing it
hot against her skin. She wanted to be safe with him, just as much
as she wanted to feel indifferent. Stalled somewhere in the middle,
she couldn’t quite make either mark.

The light turned green. “Hold
on.”

Appreciating the warning, she slid her
hands around his midriff and his rippling muscles ensnared her.
They soared in front of Skeet and Mickey with the wind chilling her
cheeks. The farther they traveled down 4th Street, the more
deserted and dangerous the neighborhood became. She didn’t like it,
but she had no choice. Not if she wanted her bounty.

Amongst the stone shoulders of the
city, a few lights streamed by in the darkness. The stench of
decaying refuse mingled with the more pungent aromas of the river a
few blocks away. It smelled like fish. The near-deserted streets
conveyed a lost, lonely feeling—one that loomed with imminent
danger.

They slowed to a stop in front of a
pawn shop. Ava scrutinized the immediate area, sensing nothing
threatening. She glanced at Stone, tried to read him again and got
nothing. But Skeet had this brassy glow around him. He didn’t care
for whoever they’d come to see.

Uneasiness crowded her confidence. Her
niggling attraction for Stone, and the fact that he may or may not
be a vampire was messing with her head.

A sense of urgency commandeered her
judgment and she followed Stone around the corner to a side door.
Raw desire cajoled her to wrap her arm around his, to run her
fingers down the length of his bare arm, but she refrained and
counted off three steps instead.

A twisted vamp spell was behind this
affliction. It had to be. Confusing it with anything else was
risky, not to mention stupid. Ava needed to push it aside, and
she’d start by putting a little distance between herself and Dexter
Stone. She had to overpower this impediment, and fast.

Stone paused at the door and looked
over his shoulder. He turned his palm up and waved his fingers at
her, flashing one of those
hurry-up-you’re-wasting-my-time
looks.

“
What?” Ava threw her
frustration out with that one word.

“
Come on.” He waggled his
fingers. “Cough ‘em up.”

Mickey stopped beside Ava and leaned
against the building.
I don’t like this
. His voice invaded
her head, even though he hadn’t said a word out loud.

Me either, Mickey
.
Me
either
. She glimpsed into Mickey’s eyes.
Maybe you’d better
wait out here
.

Just yell if you need
me
.

That’s one of the things Ava liked
about Mickey—his absolute trust in her direction.

Stone nudged her shoulder. “Time’s
wasting.”

Ava latched onto Stone’s arm and used
him as a prop. Electrified desire pulsed through her. She tried to
pull away, but it was like she was magnetized to him. He didn’t
move while she stuffed her finger and thumb inside her boot and
fished out the small leather pouch. “Here,” she said, handing him
the cache. “I expect you to keep your end of the bargain,” she
said, thankful she still had her wits about her, even if she
couldn’t control her desires.

“
Or what?” He winked and
raked his hand against hers, taking the jewels.

Ava masked the awkwardness by feigning
boredom. “Let’s just get on with it. I’m in a hurry.”

“
Uh huh.” Stone’s tone
matched the doubt crinkling his brow. He turned away and opened the
door to a dimly lit room.

A cloak of caution swathed around Ava,
but she stepped through the door anyway. Lucien used to say that
was a fault of hers, ignoring her intuition.

Damn it. There he was again, invading
her thoughts. She forced her brain in another direction,
scrutinizing the inside of the building.

A musty smell permeated from all the
junk on the shelves lining the walls. Glass-top cabinets formed a
rectangle around the center, showcasing rows of sparkling jewelry
under miniature spotlights.

She followed Stone to the opposite end
of the store and gave reading him another shot. The process was a
lot like trying to interpret a blurry x-ray, the information was
there, yet lost in the distortion.

Wasting her energy on someone she
couldn’t grasp was not conducive. In fact, it was dangerous. She
only had so much to spare. Instead, she settled on someone easier.
Skeet’s emotions still glowed bright and brassy, giving her no
indication she should be worried. The man was nothing more than
annoyed.

That didn’t stop the blaring alarms and
warning signals overloading Ava’s brain. Something was wrong, but
she wasn’t leaving without her bounty.

She tapped out a divertive tune on the
counter with her pink-tipped fingernails.

Stone stopped her with a gentle hand.
“This’ll just take a minute.” He looked at her while passing the
jewels to the guy emerging through a door behind the
counter.

Ava slipped her hand out from under
Stone’s. “Good, because that’s about all the time I’ve got to
spare.”

Stone ignored her, watching the guy
with the jewels instead. The stranger looked over a couple of
pieces and returned them to the pouch. He pushed the small bag
across the counter toward Stone and then cleared his throat.
“Where’d you get these?”

“
Are they real?” The tension
in Stone’s voice reached out and knotted Ava with agitation, even
though she knew she had nothing to fear—as far as the jewels were
concerned.

“
A more real gem...” The
jeweler shook his head. “I have never seen.”

Stone dragged the pouch off the counter
and shook a diamond into his hand before stuffing the rest into the
front pocket of his Levi’s. “Thanks,” he said, offering the
gem.

Ava’s opinion of Stone plummeted. He
was either very generous or incredibly stupid. Even the smaller
stones represented a steep payment just to confirm the jewels’
authenticity.

The jeweler took the diamond and a
smile stretched across his face. Ava cringed. He slipped the
diamond in his front pants’ pocket and glanced over his
shoulder.

Uh oh. Who was the jeweler looking for?
Dread ripped through Ava’s veins like an out-of-control raft riding
the rapids.

Insight exploded in her head and
pounded out through her ears. Sometimes her Karellian blood felt
more like a curse than a good thing. Especially when she realized
stuff a split-second before it happened—too late to
react.

She closed her eyes. As if that was
going to help. Maybe if she didn’t see him, he’d go away. Fat
chance.

“
Well, well, well...”
Lucien’s familiar voice clouded around her like a stifling fog and
she opened her eyes. “If it isn’t Nevada Valentine.”

She wasn’t surprised to see the two
guys lurking behind Lucien, hanging on to Cole like he was some
kind of prize.

The sight of Lucien pulling something
out of his jacket’s inner pocket and Stone stepping in front of her
was the last thing Ava remembered before everything faded to
black.

~~~~

Chapter Two

Freaking tiki powder. That crap was
like troll dust on steroids, and somebody had drenched Ava with a
liberal dosing.

She ignored the side-effect—akin to a
dozen imps pounding spiked hammers against the inside of her
skull—and prepared to open her heavy-laden eyes.

If only her will was as strong as her
ability to read people. Then she could easily dissolve the bonds
forcing her eyelids shut—an after-effect of the tiki powder.
Rubbing her eyes didn’t dissolve the pasty sensation, but she
managed to pry them open anyway.

The hammering inside her head
escalated. Apparently the little rascals didn’t like reality
creeping in, and opening her eyes was like opening the curtains on
a bright, sunshiny day, even though it was near-dark inside the
pawn shop.

Ava’s heartbeat spiraled when she saw
Mickey and Skeet lying in the doorway, neither of them moving. She
dragged her head to the other side, even though it felt like she’d
been fitted with a cement cap.

Stone was lying at her side, inches
away. That was both liberating and troubling. Ava’s instincts had
put him at the top of Lucien’s payroll.

Lucien St. James.

The man was a walking nightmare. And
the biggest mistake she’d ever made. Stealing her bounty was one
thing. That was part of the game. But he’d called her by
that
name.

Nevada
.

Ava hated that name. And now, thanks to
Lucien, a whole slew of people knew about it. Lucien was going to
pay for that. Somehow, some way, she’d make him pay.

Just not right now. Right now she had
to figure out how he’d managed to steal her bounty out from under
her. He’d obviously had help.

Damned vamps
.
You can’t trust
’em
.

~~~~

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