Craving (31 page)

“I’m really tired,” I managed to say. “Would you mind if I went straight to bed?”

Ellie exchanged a look with Sam, and he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “Is this something to do with that Dante?” His gruff voice threatened to make me crack. “He seemed nice enough, but is he worth throwing everything away for?”

I held back a sob.
He’s a two-timing, drug-dealing, knife-wielding thug. Maybe.
“He’s trouble.”

“Katie.” Sam ruffled my hair. “You’re hell bent on following in your poor mother’s footsteps, aren’t you? Do you think he might come looking for you?” I shook my head, but he continued. “I’ll leave my shotguns out. If he comes round here again, he’ll leave with buckshot in his arse.”

“Sam.” Ellie glared at him. “Marina is desperate to talk to you, Katie. She’s rung three times now.”

“She probably wants to talk me into going back. But I can’t. Not now.”

They exchanged another weighted look. “You get some rest, love. We’ll talk about this tomorrow.”

16.5 Dante

I stared at Josh some more. He stared back. Neither of us seemed capable of handling this. Josh’s lips turned up at the corners. “Guess I’d better add you to the Christmas card list.”

I shook my head. “Won’t be here.”

He took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. “It’s so fucking random. One minute I have family I never knew about, and the next, you get wasted by that
thing
.” He hugged Suki tighter. “Can’t you do anything about it? Hide?”

“You’ve seen what he can do. What do you think?”

“I think we don’t give up without a fight.”

I smiled at his fierce tone. “We tried that. You nearly got killed. Remember?”

We talked a little longer. Josh told me about the man who claimed to be his—
our—
father, and something fell into place.

“That’s who I summoned at the Grey House.”

“You never did tell me how that came about?”

I watched him idly caressing Suki and thought about Kitten. I took a long slow breath and launched into my story. “I’d been doing some protection training with a psychic in the area, and she told me about it, how all the local mediums went there. One described it as a hotspot, and I was curious.”

He nodded. “Why call for Raphael, though?”

“There’s this story that some powerful guy called Raphael sacrificed himself in an upstairs room and how the door never opened again. I’d tried to summon him a couple of times, but just had glimpses. Man, he looks so much like you.”

I yawned, tiredness sweeping over me, and Josh noticed. “Why don’t you get some sleep on the sofa. We’ll head down to Cornwall this afternoon.”

“Yeah, maybe.” I stared at the floor and tried to order my thoughts. There was something important I wanted to ask him before I lost my nerve. “Josh. Did you see how the staff behaved at the club? How they didn’t seem, well, normal?”

He gave a short, unamused laugh. “They were like zombies. Definitely lacking in brain cells.”

“Yeah.” I stood up and walked to the window, to finger the blind. “That’s exactly what I mean. I think they were being controlled by Alistair.” I turned to meet his gaze. “I think that’s what he’ll do to me. Eve said he’d most likely use me for errands.” My heart raced. “And I’ll tell you what freaks me out the most.”

“Go on.” His intense stare gave me courage.

“I think he’ll send me after the Talismans. Yours. The others.”

He frowned and rubbed his nose. “You think you’ll have to threaten me.”

Nausea had taken up residence in my gut. I wanted to run to the bathroom and hurl the scant contents of my stomach, but I knew it was just nerves. “I want you to stop me, Josh.”

“
What
?”

“I might come after you. Suki. God help me, even Kitten. I have to keep my end of the bargain by giving myself to Alistair so I want you to make sure I can’t actually do anything after that.” I held my breath. There. My latest crazy plan out in the open.

“For God’s sake, Dante. You might be my brother. I can’t hurt you.”

“If I came after Suki?”

I saw pain in his eyes. “If you threatened Suki… I would stop you.” He gathered his sleeping lover close to him. “I hope it doesn’t come to that.”

16.6 Katherine

I had a long shower, ate an omelet, and then lay on Ellie’s spare bed and gazed blankly at the ceiling. Physically I was wiped out. Every muscle ached, but I couldn’t switch off my brain. I still wanted Dante, more fool me.

I heard a car arrive, doors banging, the murmur of voices. Ellie called through the door. “You have a visitor, can I send him in?”

Dante
.

He lurked in the open doorway. Pale and battered, but infinitely desirable. My heart did a little flip at the way his eyes roamed over me, hot and hungry. I stood up and shoved my shaking hands in my pockets. “Well. I didn’t expect you here.”

He mirrored my move. “I can’t stay. I just wanted…” He took a quick breath. “…to see if you were okay.”

“Yeah.” I made my voice hard. “You can see I’m okay. Okay?” I glared at him. “Nanette come with you?”

“No…”

I didn’t let him say any more. “So why did you come? Really?”

He moved forward, and I made myself look at him properly. Eyes flashing, piercings glinting, he oozed danger.

“It scares me, Kitten, that you might have done a deal with him. With Alistair.”

My heart flipped some more at his use of my nickname, and hope surged. “No, I didn’t.”

He blinked and then ran one hand over his face. “Good.” He sounded hoarse. “That’s good.” I watched as he fiddled with his bracelet. “I’m sorry for everything.”

All my words were stuck in my throat. There was so much I wanted to ask. Before I could say anything, he lifted one shoulder in an awkward shrug. “Look after yourself. You won’t see me again.” He turned to leave.

What
? “Wait.”

He froze.

“You came all this way to talk to me, and you’re leaving already?”

He didn’t move.

“What happened, Dante? What
was
he?” I wrapped my arms around myself, shivering at the swell of memories.

“Your godfather is pointing a shotgun at me, Kitten.” He sounded amused. “It’s okay, Mr. Corbett. I’m leaving.”

Oh for God’s sake. I strode to the open doorway to stand beside him. “Sam, please don’t.”

“Dante, she deserves an explanation.” Josh stepped forward, Suki following. “You might want to tell her.”

My heart sank. What other horrors were there?

Sam hitched his shoulders. “I’ll give you ten minutes, lad. Then it’s up to Katherine if you stay or not.”

Another long pause. “It’s going to take a bit longer than ten minutes.”

16.7 Dante

I told Kitten everything. Every detail, every sordid transaction I could remember. Why Eve had told me to pick Nan. What was the point in hiding anything? I didn’t want her to mourn me. I talked until I had no voice left, and she sat on the bed, all curled up, listening to the train wreck that had been my life.

I’d been tempted to ask Sam to unleash both barrels at me, but I didn’t want to saddle him with that burden. I’d made a deal and I’d stick to it.

I sagged into the chair and let myself feast on her image. The way her hair caught the light and gleamed a dozen different shades. Her strong, determined chin. Soft, full lips. Lush curves that I knew intimately. One week was nothing… I wanted a lifetime with her.

Stiff now, with my shoulder aching and tired beyond all reason, I pushed myself out of the chair.

Tears glistened on her eyelashes.

I’d made her cry. Again.

“Wait, please.” She rubbed at her face. “There are things I need to tell you.”

I slumped back.

“You seem to think I’m some posh girl a million miles from you, but we’re not so different.” She licked her lips as though unsure what to say. “My mum left my father when I was a baby. She fell in love with a biker and moved in with him, and I grew up on that estate in Salford. Mum worked odd jobs, and Stan, my stepfather supplemented his benefit money with bare-fist fighting in the local pubs. We were happy though, at least until he left Mum for another woman.” She stared into the distance. “We stayed there and we managed, but money was tight.”

“I was eleven when I saw a picture of my father’s house and realized how wealthy he was. It was so unfair. We were struggling and eating beans on toast every night while he… well you’ve seen how he lives.” She picked at her fingernails, her focus on her hands. Her voice dropped to a whisper. “The last time I saw Mum, I was arguing with her, telling her I wanted to meet my father and if she refused to take me, I’d go by myself. I told her she could go to hell, and that’s when we had the accident.”

She wiped at her eyes. “Ironic, huh. I wanted to see my father, and that’s where I was taken, afterwards. He was appalled to have this scruffy council-house daughter, and I had to work hard to fit in. Elocution lessons, extra classes, until I was ready for the school he chose.”

Kitten’s eyes met mine. “I’m a fake, Dante. My life is an elaborately constructed lie. I don’t belong in my father’s world, but I can’t go back to my old life. The only time I felt like I belonged was with you. And then you picked Nanette.” She swallowed hard. “I should have trusted you. I’m sorry.”

The ache in my chest intensified. “Gabe’s spirit called you the Little Lost Girl, and now I understand why.” It came out as a whisper. I couldn’t stand the pain in her eyes. I moved to her side, held open my arms and we clung to each other.

“Angel,” she whispered. “I’m lost without you.”

16.8 Josh

Katherine’s godparents were polite and friendly, and when I asked if they could recommend a local hotel, they insisted that we use their holiday apartment. It was getting late, and I fretted over Suki’s pale face and the bruise-like shadows under her eyes.

I took our overnight bags into the holiday apartment accompanied by Sam, thankfully without his shotgun. “Ellie and I are very fond of Katherine,” he told me gruffly. “I won’t allow Dante to hurt her. That poor lass has enough to cope with already.”

“She means the world to him.” I wanted to reassure Sam, even though if Dante was right, he wouldn’t be here for much longer. I couldn’t get my head around this. Dante was still closeted in Katherine’s room, so Suki and I went to bed. Ellie assured me that she had somewhere else for him to sleep.

As soon as we were alone, Suki wrapped her arms around me and buried her face in my chest. “I’ve been such a bitch, I’m so sorry. And then when you were trapped under the club and I was scared I’d lost you.” Her body trembled, and I tightened my arms around her. “I love you so much, Josh. Life is too short to stress about things we can’t change, and I can’t wait for us to be a family.” Warm breath filtered across the base of my throat. “You are going to be an amazing father.”

Even though there was only the tiniest possibility of the baby being mine, I didn’t care. Suki was right. We would be a family, and I couldn’t wait.

16.9 Katherine

“So what happens now?” My voice was probably muffled against Dante’s T-shirt, but he must have understood me. His arms tightened, squeezing me tight.

“I don’t know.” He sounded surprised. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I just needed to see you and say…”

“Goodbye,” I whispered into the gap.

He rested his chin on top of my head. “I wish things were different.”

We stood there a long time, his heart beating a steady thump beneath my ear, his leather-spice scent filling my nostrils. I couldn’t bear to let him go. My heart had already been smashed into a thousand pieces, there was nothing left to hurt.

“Where are you sleeping tonight, Angel?”

“I have no idea.” He made a frustrated noise. “Shit. I left Josh and Suki waiting for me. They’re good people, Kitten. I need to go and find them.”

Unwilling to separate from him for even a minute, I slipped my arm around his waist and tucked my fingers into the pocket of his jeans. “Let’s go talk to them.”

The house was silent and deserted. We found a note pinned to the inside of the front door.

Your friends are staying in the apartment. I’ve left a sleeping bag on the sofa for you. Ellie.

I made my voice light and playful. “What’s it to be then? Sleeping bag on the sofa, or sharing with me?”

“God, Kitten.” He groaned. “It’s not fair to you.”

I turned to face him, to stare into his beautiful silver eyes. “Don’t I have a say in this? I might never see you again.”