Old Dog, New Tricks (4 page)

“If you want to get technical...” he cradled my jaw in his palm, “...Rook was the other man.”

“Ah.” I kissed his palm. “Our circuit was completed first. Gotcha.”

“I’m a very forgiving mate.” His head lowered. “I’m willing to overlook your indiscretions.”

“Aww.” I tapped his nose. “You’d do that for me?”

“There isn’t much I wouldn’t do for you,” he admitted, snatching the box of Milk Duds off the counter. “Now hurry up and join me on the couch. Tonight we are alone. Tonight your father is out of our hair. Tonight we get to pretend we’re two normal people doing normal date night things like pizza, candy and a movie.”

He spun on his heel and headed for the couch, ripping into the paper as he went.

“Hey, don’t eat those before the pizza gets here,” I called. “You’ll ruin your appetite.”

He tossed a few into his mouth. “You just don’t want me to eat all the chocolate.”

I opened my mouth to disagree but came up with, “Good point.”

While he waited for the delivery guy, I popped corn and groaned when a text message pinged. I checked the screen through squinted eyes, and sure enough, it was from Mom. I hesitated a moment before swiping the screen with my thumb then winced.

We all need to talk. Wait up for us
.

For Mom to cross into the fae side of town this late, she must really want to hash this out before I left, which could be any day now. But then again, Mac had to get home somehow. She was the one who invited him to stay with her, so I guess it fell to her to make sure he got home. Like a date.
Ugh
.

Eyeing the fridge, I had never wished for a higher alcohol tolerance in my life.

Chapter Four

––––––––

M
ovie night consisted of fewer
moves
than I had anticipated. With Mom’s text hanging over our heads and the possibility both my parents might catch Shaw rounding third base, we kept the evening tame. I opted to sit on the floor so I could eat at the coffee table and spread out my junk food. Behind me, Shaw sat on the couch, his thighs blocking me in on either side, providing handy armrests when I finished. Full of pizza and candy, I fell asleep two-thirds of the way through the first movie. Elbows on his legs, head tilted back into his lap, I woke hours later with dry mouth and a crick in my neck.

A wide palm was spread over my collarbone, the slight pressure keeping me upright when there was a good chance I would have face-planted in the plate of leftovers and drowned in cold tomato sauce.

I dragged the back of my hand across my drool-crusted lips. “What time is it?”

“Time for you to stop eating like you’re twelve,” Mom answered.

I jerked my head toward the sound and spotted her in the kitchen. “Where’s Mac?”

She passed a damp towel over the countertop, not bothering to hide her dreamy smile. Now that my eyes were focusing, the whole place seemed tidier. She had obviously been here and cleaning for a while.

With her standing there, in the center of my home, I felt self-conscious about all the clutter. Not embarrassed enough to lock her in the hall while I launched into a whirlwind cleaning spree, but close.

“He’s running an errand.”

Seeing no room for a double entendre, I accepted her comment at face value. Though what kind of errand he was running at this hour I couldn’t imagine. He was sidelined until it was time for the big vote. I placed Shaw’s hand on his thigh and slipped away to join her beside the fridge.

I reached inside for a fresh Coke and spotted takeout containers.
Yum
. “How was dinner?”

She nudged me aside and passed me a bottle of water instead. “Do you really want to know?”

“I asked, didn’t I?” Which wasn’t an answer, but it was all I had.

“We enjoyed ourselves.” A rare softness blanketed her features. “I wish you had stayed.”

After twisting the cap off the water, I drank long and deep. “Well, I wish I hadn’t been ambushed.”

“Macsen isn’t used to being around people he can trust,” she said gently.

“As long as he understands trust is a two-way street and my lane is under construction.”

Her chuckles made me smile. “Keeping secrets has kept him alive this long. It’s going to be a tough habit for him to break. He’ll never be an open book like you, but you’ll work it out.” She smoothed my hair. “You two have all the time in the world. Don’t waste it being angry, all right?”

That sounded oddly morbid for her. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” She made a shooing motion. “You’re using the fridge to cool the whole apartment.”

“Oh.” I flushed and shut the door, stirring the heady scents of honey pork and orange chicken.

Determined expression on her face, she asked, “Is there somewhere we can go to talk?”

“Sure.” I glanced at Shaw, who was sleeping deeply. “We can use my room.”

Mai’s and my living quarters were the next best thing to cramped, so it only took a minute to cross into the hallway where the bedrooms and bathroom were located. Shoving open my door, I winced at the two laundry mounds heaped on the floor. Clean and dirty each got a pile. That was as organized as I got.

She motioned for me to sit while she shook her head and began folding my clothes. “Is there anything you want to tell me?”

My palms went damp. That question led so many places and none of them good.

I wet my lips. “Is there something you want to know?”

Instead of answering, she made a heavy statement. “I spoke with Mable yesterday.”

Crap
. That explained why Mac knew where to take Mom to dinner in the first place.

“Really?” I didn’t have to fake my interest. “You two have been keeping up with each other?”

After years of radio silence, the two most important women in my life had gotten acquainted thanks to Mom showing up on the conclave’s doorstep after Shaw rescued me from Balamohan. I hadn’t expected much from their afternoon together. Figured a Thackeray family Christmas card was as far as their bonding experience would carry them. Learning they were friendly made me...nervous.

“We have.” Her movements became stiff. “She knows so much more about your life than I do.”

I braced for guilt or tears or some combo of each, but more than anything, she sounded sad.

“She sees me every day.” I winced, hoping that didn’t sound like finger-pointing. “She’s the one handing out cases and monitoring our activities, so I have to keep her informed of my whereabouts.”

“It’s more than that.” Mom went to the closet and grabbed a fistful of hangers. “She loves you.”

There was nothing I could say to that. Mable was like a second mom to me. She had taken me in the day I showed up on the doorstep of her building, terrified of meeting the magistrates, so sure they would see the blood on my hands even though I had showered three times before Shaw came to pick me up and drive me over. She fed me cookies and milk and dried my tears with her apron. She made me feel normal again, like being fae was all right, like sometimes bad things happened to good kids, that I wasn’t evil even if I had done wrong. She had taught me through her example to accept myself.

And yeah, I loved her too.

When I didn’t respond, Mom resumed her work, keeping her back to me. “I know about the money.”

I tensed so fast I almost fell off the bed. “Mable had no right—”

“She didn’t tell me.” With neat flips of her hand, she began folding my socks. “I already knew.”

My hands fisted in the sheets. “You did?”

She glanced over her shoulder at me. “I really messed things up between us, didn’t I?”

A pang tightened my chest. “Mom, no, of course you didn’t.”

“I knew Macsen was special from the moment I saw him. He had this calm about him, but there was an intensity in the way he looked at the world too.” She smiled fondly. “The way he looked at me.”

The moment felt so private I wanted to get up and leave. It was like Mac being here had opened up a floodgate of memories for her, and I was afraid of being carried away by the swiftness of them. Thinking of him made her shine. Years fell from her face, and she was, in that moment, just a woman who had been in love with a peculiar man, one she had known she couldn’t keep, known she couldn’t tame, but she had to have regardless or would regret the lost opportunity forever.

All that was conveyed through the girlish voice speaking to me from a younger point in her life, one she had never visited in my presence, her wide smile lit with an inner light I hadn’t seen a man ignite.

“We had so little time together.” Her voice turned thick. “He had to leave. I had been expecting it for weeks, but still...” She shook her head. “I found out I was pregnant with you that last night.”

“I thought he left...”
because of me
, “...after he found out.”

“He had already said his goodbyes.” She hesitated. “Knowing I was pregnant didn’t change anything. He had to go, and even before I knew what he was—
who
he was—I understood his decision was bigger than what either of us wanted.”

I scrunched up my face, unsure if I was hearing her correctly. “You aren’t angry at him.”

She choked on her laughter. “I wouldn’t go that far. I was hurt and mad and overwhelmed for a long time. But I hit a point where I was so bitter and lost I didn’t recognize the person I had become, and I was so afraid of that bitterness spilling over onto you.” Her lips thinned. “I had to step back and ask myself if I regretted my relationship with Macsen, and I didn’t. I couldn’t. How could I? He gave me you. My baby girl.” Her eyes were watery when I met her gaze. “You were a perfect little angel.”

A blush heated my neck. “I pooped and spat up goop like every other baby ever born.”

“But you were
my
baby.” She tossed a ball of socks at me. “You still are.”

My heart lightened from her praise, my chest swelling with happiness. A few of the old wounds, the deep ones, between us were healing, scabs flaking to reveal the pink skin of our new relationship.

Knowing what I risked, I nudged her. “He didn’t warn you at all?”

“He told me he was dangerous, that he wasn’t human. The only proof he gave me was his word, but I believed him. He told me one day you might be dangerous too.” She crossed to me and sat beside me, thigh to thigh, taking my hands in hers. “That’s when he gave me the conclave’s number. He didn’t tell me who they were, only to call them for help if you ever needed it. He said they would take care of you—of us.” Her fingers trembled. “You and I had so many good years, so many normal years. I let his warnings fade like his memory. I told myself you were human because it was easier.”

I let the normal comment slide. I knew what she meant even if the wording stung. I wasn’t normal. I didn’t equate
normal
with
good
. I didn’t believe being different made me bad.

Unaware of my inner debate, she pressed on like she needed the words said now, tonight. After waiting so long to hear them, I wasn’t about to stop her until she was finished, until I absorbed it all.

“If I hadn’t taken the easy road, if I hadn’t buried his warnings, your friends would still be alive. All that guilt you carry—it’s mine. Their deaths were my fault. You had no idea what you were, but I did. I knew you were your father’s daughter. You look just like Macsen. I should have watched you closer. I should have told you about your father when you asked me.” Her voice hitched. “But part of me was afraid if things...if you ever...that if I called that number even once, the people on the other end would come and take you away, take you where your father had gone, where I couldn’t follow.”

“Mom...”

“I read the contracts,” she said forcefully. “I wouldn’t have turned over my baby and not known what that conclave of yours had in store for you. I memorized the exact wording, I read the papers so often. They assigned me legal counsel, but he was a fae
and
a lawyer. I didn’t trust what he told me.”

Numbed by her confessions, I sat there and let her talk.

“I understood by signing you over to the conclave’s care that I was stripping away some of your future choices, but it was the best option I had to keep you safe. I couldn’t protect you the way they could. Your old school—they couldn’t educate you to deal with this new life. I couldn’t let you hide, but I couldn’t do it all alone.” She bit her lip. “When the conclave offered a stipend to help us move, to give us a new home and you a new future, knowing you had to live with my decision, I accepted.”

“You did the right thing.” I squeezed her hand. “The job suits me. I enjoy it. Most days.”

“I’m glad.” She released a tense breath. “Mable says you clock a lot of hours.”

“How much is a lot?” I forced a laugh. “Not sure how I stack up against everyone else.”

Marshals weren’t paid overtime. We earned around twenty-five thousand dollars a year. Anyone bringing home more than that, like me, was going after bounties, but I hadn’t told her about those yet.

“She also told me a large portion of your paychecks are direct deposited into my account.”

The air left my lungs.
Crap
. All the Mac talk really was laying groundwork for an intervention.

“Um.”

“The strange thing is the deposits were listed as coming from the Raleigh Estate.”

To avoid leaving pesky paper trails leading back to the conclave, they often created benefactors, fake aunts or uncles who kicked the bucket and left behind small estates or liquidated assets to people like Mom, humans trapped in the fae justice system or living on the conclave’s dime in a time when even fae paid taxes.

The Raleigh Estate passed on to Mom via her imaginary uncle Orville Mercer, may he rest in fictional peace.

I fumbled for a response and settled on, “Strange.”

A wry smile twisted her lips. “Yes, well, you understand why I called Mable the first time I saw a deposit after your eighteenth birthday, since the papers I signed made it clear when support ended.”

“
What?
”

All that effort to hide and sneak and trick Mom, and she knew. They both knew. All of it.