Repossessed (23 page)

The door opened to something quite unexpected. The man behind the door looked at Tessa with surprise. “Tessa?”

“Hi, Paul.”

“You know this guy?” Rob asked.

His target moved out of the way so they could enter.

“Yes, I see him most mornings on the way to work. He’s a clerk at Starbucks.”

Paul’s apartment was a matchbox—like most places in NYC. The living room served as both his bedroom and dining room. A galley kitchen large enough for one person was directly off the living room. As Rob expected, no crazy people jumping out of corners.

A nice and easy repo for their last trip.

“Have a seat while I get what you came here for.” Paul entered the kitchen as they sat down on his sofa bed.

Rob glanced around again. Paul didn’t have much. Scattered on his coffee table were newspapers with acting gigs circled here and there. Drops of coffee and the remnants of where cups laid stained the papers. A single closet and dresser hid clothes stuffed into them on the opposite side of the room. His target was just another starving actor trying to survive.

Paul returned holding a small jewelry box. His eyes appeared forlorn as he sat down on the rickety chair across from them.

“I’d hope to make some money to be able to keep it, but, with two jobs, I couldn’t make enough.” He opened the box to reveal a silver ring. After placing it on his palm, they watched as the jewelry shifted, attempting to roll onto a finger. With a sigh, he offered it to Rob.

“What does it do?” Tessa asked.

Paul scratched his ear. “The wearer receives confidence and beauty. I wanted to use it to…you know, get some jobs on casting calls.”

She nodded.

“I managed to secure a job as the understudy for the Broadway play,
The Death of a Salesman
, but they never called me in to perform,” Paul said.

“That sounds good. Really it does.” She tried to hide it, but the look on her face spoke volumes: regret. He had to make this quick before she said something. He’d been down this road too many times. But the truth was the truth.
Never play unless you had the money to pay.

Rob took the ring and stood to leave.

Before heading back downstairs, they said their goodbyes.

“Rob, do you ever regret any of your repo missions?”

He sighed as he descended the stairwell. “Not particularly, but I did feel a bit bad after I understood your circumstances.”

“So why did you take Paul’s ring?”

“Tessa, we all have responsibilities. Whether Paul is a starving artist or homeless alcoholic he needs to pay his debts like everyone else who writes a check every month.”

She rolled her eyes and he couldn’t help smiling. His lady had a good heart. And he didn’t want to break it.

“Where will we open the portal?” she asked.

“We’ll do the jump into Limbo from your place.”

When they arrived back at Tessa’s apartment, she waited for Rob to toss in the ring.

At last, a final effort to locate her scroll. With little time left, she bordered on desperate.

They prepared space for their trip by moving the coffee table out of the way. Once the portal opened, she leaped through the entrance and crashed onto an old sled. The rotted wood caved under her weight, leaving a sharp pain running up her back.

“How about you slowly find your scroll?” Rob said with a smirk.

Like he had room to talk?
She wasn’t the one doing repo missions with a rib injury. She made a rude gesture in his direction.

Tessa whipped out the wand. No more games. This thing needed to do its job and that was for it to obey her commands and teleport her where she wanted to be taken. No more casting spells to plant mud in her hands or pull her along until she reached a chasm of doom.

“Seven minutes, Tessa. You can do it.”

With confidence, she held the wand firmly and pictured her car in her mind. From its champagne color to its leather interior—even the small coffee stain on the floor of the driver’s side to CDs scattered on the backseat. The wand jerked as power surged from one end to the other. The air around her folded with a whoosh as the wand teleported her to the vehicle.

She expected the landing to be smooth, but the wand lived up to its crazy antics. One second she was in front of the portal, and the next she was in mid-air dropping ten feet to hit the hood of a car. Her car! After a choked cry from hitting the top, she rolled off the side onto a pile of dusty statues. The bulging eye sockets of one of the bronze figures stared back at her. Eww.

Tessa held her sore back as she limped over the vehicle. Had to move. Not much time.

She grasped the handle, only to find the door locked.
Damn it.
She slapped her forehead. All this time, she never thought to bring the damn keys. Screw it! She tapped the driver’s side window with the wand. The glass shattered and littered the driver’s seat. A couple thousand dollars in car repairs was nothing compared to replacing the scroll. Anticipation filled her. She could see it in her hands. Smell the old parchment. All her efforts led to this moment. She wrenched open the door and scanned the floor. Nothing.

She checked the back seats, looked through the glove compartment box, and waited for that
aha
moment where everything wrong could be made right.

Her car was empty. Someone had been here and taken the scroll. The GPS unit was missing from the dashboard. Had thieves taken her property? Anger heated her face and spread into her chest. A growing need to ram her fist into the seat grew.

There wasn’t any time to debate this. She had to go!

Tessa closed her eyes and focused on the power vibrating in the wand. Everything around the portal was easy to recall—from the three-headed marble statue to the floating bookcase with tomes that smelled like bleu cheese. The wand obeyed her command and threw her in front of the portal where Rob was straining to keep it open.

She hopped through the portal before he collapsed on the floor. The amulet rolled from his hand, plopping to the floor. Smoke rose from the jewelry, leaving a stench of burnt wood in the air.

Tessa checked his hands. “Are you hurt?”

“Naw.” Sweat dripped off his brow, running onto his damp shirt. “I told you seven minutes. Not eight. Not fifteen, but seven minutes.”

“How long was I gone?”

“Long enough for me to have to move heaven and earth to keep the damn door open.”

“I’m sorry. Either way it doesn’t matter.” Her voice cracked as the empty car flashed in her mind. This wasn’t fair. “My scroll is gone.”

Rob tugged her close. “What do you mean gone?”

“The car was empty.” A single tear fell, but she quickly wiped the wetness away. Crying wouldn’t fix this mess. “Someone asshole took everything.”

Rob placed her head on his shoulder. The spot was firm, yet at the perfect height for her relieve her burdens. She let every inhale and exhale come and go, hoping the pain would ease. But the wound persisted like all disappointments in her life.

Warm lips kissed her forehead. She leaned up to look at his face, searching his eyes. “I don’t know what I’m going to do now, but we’ll figure out something together, right?”

His mouth formed a straight line. The pause before he spoke again set off alarms. What was he hiding this time? “I wanted one last time with you…before I go.”

“One last time? Go?”
No. No. No.
All of this wasn’t happening. Not all at once.

She couldn’t miss the disappointment in his eyes. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Dating Tip #10: In magic, what goes around comes around. Relationships are the same way. Be careful what webs you weave to catch that someone special. You may find that the mistakes of the past come back to haunt you. For real.

Tessa stiffened as he continued. “I already told you I was injured while on active duty.”

She nodded—suddenly feeling the need to steel herself for what was coming.

“All I’ve wanted is time and money. Just a small piece of the pie while I kept up the ruse of an injury to the hospital.”

Right then she knew what was coming and her grip around his waist tightened.

“My time ran out a few days ago. I got my discharge papers not too long ago. I have orders to report to Fort Briggs tomorrow.”

Tomorrow.
She couldn’t swallow the word without wanting to cry.

Twenty-four hours from now she’d stand here alone. This warm feeling, this steady wall she’d come to depend on would go away for a while.

Her fists clenched as her throat tightened. She blinked and the world blurred with her tears. Why did she have to let go of one of the good things in her life?

“Tessa, look at me, baby.” He tried to gently move her chin, but she wouldn’t budge. “I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you the truth.”

She wanted to be angry, but she let the bitterness go. What could she say when he planned to serve his country? Wouldn’t he come back? Finally, she found the words to speak. “I don’t know what to say.” The words came out as a choke, her voice hoarse.

“I will have shore leave, and I’ll be back to New York to see you.”

A feeling of exhaustion seeped into her so she tried to pull out of his embrace, but he held her tight. “Let me go, Rob,” she said softly. “I need some time to absorb this.”

Focus became difficult as she struggled to hold herself together.
Do something, make your hands busy!
Two of her neglected delivery boxes drew her eyes. She grabbed the larger one, trying to maintain her composure as Rob remained silent behind her. She tore at the flaps, not caring if she damaged what was inside.

A fleck of cream-colored paper caught her eye from within the box.
No, please no.
With unsteady fingers, Tessa pulled the remains of her torn scroll from the box. The cardboard container dropped from her hands as she grasped the broken scroll. Portions of it were torn to shreds, the magical runes no longer visible. Within the folds of ripped paper, a note:
Special delivery, my sweet. Dagger.

Rob stepped in front of her.

“That motherfu—” A sob clenched her gut, tighter and tighter. She collapsed forward, unable to hold it in anymore. Rob took the pieces of scroll from her hands. He tried to tug her back into his arms, but he didn’t bring her comfort.

All those repo missions: pissed off wood nymphs, crazed warlocks, a fight in a wizard’s bar—all of it for nothing. Property formerly worth a couple hundred thousand dollars sat lifeless in her hands.

Anger pooled in her stomach. “If I had the power, I’d call the ocean to come
swallow
Dagger whole.”

Rob’s jaw hardened, but he didn’t let her go. His hand caressed the back of her head.

“There’s no rescue, no happy ending. Archibald Cramer is in the fifth dimension expecting me to call him about the arrangements. He was my last chance for a big payoff.”

“Tessa, I—”

“Unless you have a cell phone with fifth dimension service there’s nothing you can do.” She pressed her lips together as the dread of the days ahead clawed at her. “I guess if you get shore leave, you’ll have to come to Chicago—the final resting place for matchmakers who can’t hack it in New York.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Dating Tip #18: Everyone wants someone to listen to their hopes, dreams, and aspirations. Be an active listener. Don’t send a clone during your date while you are casting spells in a haunted bog off the shores of Scotland.

Grand Central Station was a blur for Rob. A mob of strangers bumped into him as he took each painful step to leave town. The memories from the last twenty-four hours carried him to his seat on the train. His aunt and uncle had fed him a feast meant for kings last night, but he left in the early morning before they got up. He didn’t want to bring any more pain to his aunt. She’d cried during dinner.

Also, his aunt hadn’t taken it well when he confessed he was leaving. Seeing her saddened face stabbed at him. He was a damn fool for hiding it so long. He only wanted to protect her.

After their quiet dinner, she placed a folded, peached-colored handkerchief in his hand.

“Take this with you,” she said softly. “I forgot to pass it along when you left for basic training.”

Something fragile lay within the folds. “It wasn’t mine to take. It’s my dad’s.”
But his dad was dead now.

His aunt had tucked a familiar black and white picture inside. “It’s your birth-mom, Minho. It’s always been yours.”

How he wished he could share this picture with Tessa. His gaze flicked to the empty seat beside him. He placed his hand on the cushion. He could almost see her sitting here, leaning her head against his shoulder, smiling up at him while he read the words on the back of the picture. He never bothered to ask before. Talking about his birth-mom always made his dad clam up. He’d never taken the time to sneak a peek at the Korean words:
my most precious treasure. My wife and son.

He sucked in a breath. So his dad had taken the picture. A tear dropped on the photo and he quickly brushed the spot away. He forced a smile on his lips.

This was a good shot. Love was locked into each detail. In the way the mid-day sun shone through the nearby window. In the way his mom smiled at the camera as if to say ‘I love you.’ In the way his mom tucked him close like she wanted to protect him from the world.

Why did his parents have to pass away and leave him behind? The pain from loss ran deeper than any injury he’d ever had. He didn’t want to be alone anymore. Especially after meeting Tessa. He tucked the picture into a satchel pocket.

His hand lingered on the empty space for a bit longer.

Reorienting to his old life came quickly. Far too quick for Rob’s liking. Twenty-four hours after arriving in North Carolina he’d been told his deployment orders were ready. Most likely he’d join a SEAL team already in the field. He wanted to shift in his seat outside of Commander Fry’s office, but he refused to so much as twitch. The day of reckoning had come and no matter what assignment he’d been given—or what punishment for taking his time returning to base—he’d face it like a man instead of a punk.