House of Cards (20 page)

Rae wanted to argue, but Molly immediately came to mind. If she went back to the school now, Molly would be on her in seconds. So, she nodded, leaned back against the comfortable seat and stared out the window. He knew her, and she appreciated it at the moment.

He drove through the countryside and when he pulled the car into a closed gated driveway to turn back around, he spoke quietly. “Are you worried?”

Rae watched him from her peripheral vision. She wished he would pull the car over and wrap his arms around her, just as she wished she could scream at him and have a cathartic, loud fight. Both urges were wishful thinking. As much as she wanted him to hurt the way he had hurt her, she lacked the energy and focus required to wage war with him at the moment. There was too much else going on, too many fires that needed to be put out or managed. “About Kraigan? Should I be?” She had to wonder if he knew something that she didn’t.

“I think the moment he’s free he’s going to go after you.”

“I don’t think so. I took his tatù.” She couldn’t be sure, but pretending to believe it had to count for something.

“Even more of a reason he’ll want to.” Devon focused on the road as he went around a tight bend. “I’ve asked to be on your detail. To act as a bodyguard.”

“What?!” Rae had not
meant to yell the word. It just slipped out.

“Don’t worry. Carter refused. He said it would only make you more of a target.” He glanced at her before turning back to the road. “He also mentioned that you didn’t need help; that you could hold your own.”

Rae turned the full force of her stare on him.
Is that doubt I hear in his voice? Is he seriously doubting me?
“What do you think?”

It took a moment before he replied. “He’s probably right. I just…”

“Don’t. Please don’t.” She knew she was about to ruin any chance of them getting back together. However, Devon had pissed her off, broken her heart and done her a favor all at the same time. She had needed to find herself, to come to terms with her family history and her past in order to proceed into the future. She was finally starting to accomplish something in that regard, but she was back to feeling like there was no one in her world that she could trust completely; and having Devon acting like he cared and wanting to protect her was both pointless and painful. “I’m okay. Carter’s right, I can handle whatever Kraigan wants. Let me do this on my own.” She paused a slight moment and, in a sense, pushed the knife though his heart. “I don’t need you.”

The car slowed slightly as Devon’s foot lifted off the gas. He accelerated suddenly, as if he had had enough of her company and couldn’t get back to Guilder fast enough.

Rae felt the same. The car grew stuffy and she wanted out. When Devon pulled into a parking space, Rae unlocked her door and jumped out before the car was even in park. “Thanks for the ride,” she called out as she ran toward Aumbry House. She blamed the tear sliding down her cheek on the wind pushing into her eyes as she raced along the sidewalk.

She slowed her pace inside Aumbry and pulled the phone out of her pocket. Luke had sent a text with the address for some
dessert café in town. She replied that she would be there in half an hour. A non-tatù boy could be just the right distraction – at least for a couple of hours. Tonight, while lying in her bed, she could try to figure out what to do about Kraigan.

Right now, she needed ice cream.

A Walk in the Park

Rae dialed Julian’s number. It took three tries before he finally picked up. His excuse was that he had been drawing. Julian sounded uncomfortable when she asked to borrow his car. Rae chalked it up to his poor estimation of her driving skills. He grudgingly met her outside of Aumbry and just tossed her the keys before apologizing, saying he wanted to get back to his drawing. He refused to look her in the eye.

Rae watched him jog away, puzzling over his behavior. He hadn’t asked about the meeting with Carter. By his awkwardness she figured he knew. Strange that he hadn’t said anything about it. He usually had a positive word of advice to make her feel better.

She shrugged and headed to his car, right now she had ice cream to consume and a normal life to pretend she had. She carefully drove the fast car downtown. She slowly pulled into a double parking space. She wasn’t taking any chances. She bought two parking meter vouchers, hoping it would prevent any ticket from appearing behind the windshield wiper.

Luke stood outside the shops leaning against the old brick. He waved when she saw him. In his other hand he held a leash to a very patient sitting yellow lab.

Rae grinned. “Your dog?”

The dog’s tail swept the sidewalk and she gave a short bark as Rae approached. Luke held his hand in a loose fist in front of the dog’s head. “Quiet, Sandy.” The dog immediately obeyed but her tail did not stop wagging.

Rae bent down so Sandy could smell her hand. She patted Sandy’s head. “Good, girl.” Sandy’s wet nose tickled her forearm. She straightened. “How old is she?”

Luke haphazardly tied the leash to the bike rack beside the shop. “She’s three.” He used his hand again, this time held flat to the ground and then sideways in front of Sandy. The dog sat again and stayed put. Luke turned and opened the door for Rae. When she hesitated, he chuckled. “Sandy’s fine. She won’t move till we get back. There’s a dog park a block from here. She can run while we eat our ice cream cones.”

Rae followed him inside and peered out the window several times while they waited in line and ordered. Sandy sat perfectly still, only her tail wagging when people walked by. “She’s very good.”

Luke smiled. “I trained her myself. My father runs a kennel, breeding and training dogs.”

“Neat! You grew up with dogs then?”

Luke paid for their cones and chatted as they walked out of the dessert café. “All my life. I can’t imagine not having them around. I’m in a bachelor flat at the moment, but Sandy doesn’t mind. It’s got a decent sized backyard.” He picked up Sandy’s leash and tucked the one end loosely inside his pocket. Sandy followed perfectly at his left side, not a step ahead of Luke.

Rae watched in awe. “When I’m done with school, I’d love to get a dog.”

“If you do, I’ll help you train it.”

“That would be cool.” Something occurred to Rae. She had never told Luke where she went to school. But hadn’t he offered to pick her up at Guilder earlier? The thought stopped her in her tracks.

“What’s up?” He licked his cone to stop a dribble of ice cream from running down his hand.

Molly’s tatù flared up inside Rae, ready to protect at all cost. Rae felt her eyebrows press together as she clenched her jaw tight. She
inhaled and forced herself to exhale slowly. “I never told you where I went to school.” She grabbed his wrist and wrenched his arm over, his ice cream dropping to the sidewalk beside Sandy.

The dog never noticed the food, but the hair raised along her spine let Rae know Sandy had noticed what Rae had done to her master. A low growl rumbled in the dog’s chest.

Luke gave Sandy a hand command and Sandy sat, but not before another growl gave warning to Rae.

Rae didn’t bother checking his arm for a tatù. There wasn’t one there. She would have absorbed it already.

“I don’t have one.” Luke didn’t try to pull his arm free. He did not resist.

Rae let go of him and stepped back. She switched to Jennifer’s tatù ready to run and risk being noticed in public if it meant saving herself. “What do you want from me?”

Luke gave her a sympathetic look. “Your friendship. Honestly, that’s it.” He grinned sheepishly. “Maybe a little more than friendship, but I’ll start with that.”

She blinked.
What the heck is going on here?

“Will you give me a chance to explain?” Luke held his hands up. “We can just walk Sandy at the park. You can listen and just leave if you don’t like what I have to say. I’ll never bother you again if you want. I promise.”

It only took Rae about five seconds to decide that listening and gathering information was better than storming off angrily without any. She just didn’t have to be nice about it. She started walking again. “You have one bloody chance. I’ll freakin’ beat the crap out of you if this is some kind of set up.”

Luke jogged to catch up to her, Sandy right at his side. “It’s not.”

“How do you know?”

“About you? Or about…” He glanced toward her lower back.

“Me. And that.”

They reached the park.
The lab waited patiently for Luke to free her from her leash and the moment the metal clicked, she took off running over the open fields. “Don’t you go chasing any rabbits,” Luke called out quietly after her. As he watched the dog run, he said, “I honestly didn’t know about you when we met.”

Rae thought back to that day. Could someone have been at the train platform who knew about Devon and her? It was possible. Not really believable but possible. “Really?”

“I didn’t. It wasn’t till the night in the club I realized. The friends I was with actually told me who you were. They have tatùs.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

“Did they go to Guilder?”

Luke shook his head. “No. We work together.”

Rae shook her head. What was he talking about?

“I work for the Xavier Knights.”

She stumbled and nearly fell. “You have got to be joking!” He worked for the enemy? This day couldn’t get any worse. She tossed her melting, uneaten ice cream in a
garbage bin nearby.

Luke shook his head. “That’s why I know about tatùs. I heard about you, but didn’t realize you were the Rae Kerrigan.”

“So what’s your plan? Earn my trust and then stab me in the back?” Rae’s hand clenched into a fist.

“No! Crap!” He brushed his fingers through his hair. “I just wanted to tell you that I knew about tatùs. That I didn’t care.”

“But you know I go to Guilder and about the Privy Council.” She didn’t admit she worked for them, just in case he didn’t know yet. If he worked for the Xavier Knights he could be friends with Kraigan. He could be setting her up right now.

“That’s why I wanted to tell you. It’s not a big deal.”

She scoffed. “Not a big deal? What do you know about Kraigan?” She reached for his hand and switched to a tatù she had never used before, Carter’s. “Don’t move.”

Luke stood still, his eyes wide.

She flashed through his memories knowing Luke could see them as well. She ignored his “What the heck?” She didn’t know how to hide the intrusion the way Carter did. He could search through someone’s memories without them even knowing. Kraigan had taught her how to block him from searching, but this side of the ability she had never used before.

She watched Luke at the Twisted Cork when his friends bugged him after she left and teased him about who she was. She saw him convince them not to say anything. Could the vision of the past be trusted?

Rae blinked and let go of his hand, only to grab it again and try to search further back. She saw glimpses of kennels in the countryside, him working in a large office on his own. Nothing to show he had been assigned to her. His job was problem solving, cleaning up messes, trying to hide other mistakes made by the tatù people he worked with. She let go of his hand. He didn’t know Kraigan. She was sure of it.

“That’s freaky.” Luke whistled and Sandy came racing back. “I’ve seen different tatùs in action, but never like this. I think I know what you were trying to find.”

Rae’s heart sped up. Did he know about Kraigan? Had she been that obvious?

“You were trying to find out if I knew about you before the
café, weren’t you? I didn’t. Honest.” Luke pulled a tennis ball out of his pocket and threw it. “What other kind of things can you do with your tatù? I heard it’s got loads of abilities.” He grinned and winked at her. “I’d ask if you would show me it, but that’s kind of inappropriate… being in a public park and all.”

Sandy picked her already furious pace up a notch. She caught the ball mid bounce and came trotting back to Luke, her tail wagging like mad. He tossed Rae the ball and nodded at the field. Sandy barked to hurry her up.

Rae added a zing to her throw with a tatù. The ball flew across the field. “Oops!”

Luke laughed as Sandy chased after it. “That’s some arm. I should hire you to walk her.” His face turned serious. “What are your plans when you graduate?”

“Work.” She couldn’t believe he wasn’t mad that she had just searched through his memories. He seemed completely cool about it. Rae, on the other hand, felt so freaked out that it seemed a miracle she wasn’t yelling.

“With the Privy Council?”

“Of course.” She looked at him.

“What about
working with the Xavier Knights?”

She snorted. She was pretty sure he was clean, but that didn’t mean she had to trust him. “Would you trade sides and come work with the Privy Council?” It’d be like giving up Coke for Pepsi, or vice versa.

“Touché.”

Rae watched Sandy, judging Luke based both on what she had seen in his memories and the happy, loyal dog trotting back their way with a ball in her mouth; and decided to push the red tape. “Are we supposed to be enemies?”