Repossessed (9 page)

To calm her nerves, she took a brisk walk before settling on lunch at the Aquagrill off 6th Avenue. To add to her luck, the sky darkened with rain clouds. After stepping into the line behind others waiting for a table, the sky opened to a torrent of rain. Great. She didn’t have an umbrella, either. She could hide out here, but an afternoon of doing business from her cell phone didn’t seem appealing.

Fifteen long minutes later, she was seated and waiting for her warm chicken salad lunch. As she checked her iPhone the shadow of a man crossed over her. She glanced up to see him peering down at her with black eyes. In stark contrast to his white-blond hair, his raven-colored irises bore into her soul.

Her grip on her phone tightened.

“Is this seat free?” He sat without waiting for a reply. Her waiter waltzed past without asking her new guest about a drink or menu. Blankets of powerful magic swirled around his head like hazy smoke, masking him from the world within this plane of existence. Not good. He stared at her with a sneer.

He probably didn’t want her matchmaking services either.

“Tessa Dandridge. I’d hoped we’d meet someday under different circumstances.”

“Do I know you?” She pushed confidence into her voice.

He stared at her for a bit. “I’ve seen you before, but we’ve yet to cross paths. I’m Dagger.”

What kind of name was Dagger? She sure as hell didn’t have the guts to ask him where he got it from. She sealed her mouth shut to prevent a quip from emerging.

The waiter appeared with her meal. She just couldn’t touch it with Dagger sitting there. Dark magic rippled between the fingers of his right hand as he tapped the table. With each thump, black spots darkened on contact.

“You’ve been assisting someone who makes trouble for men like me.”

Rob.

“I believe you’re a respectable witch and I thought I’d warn you.” He cracked his knuckles as he offered his hawkish profile. “That piano you took didn’t belong to you. And you know you’re over your head playing repo witch.” He leaned forward, revealing straight white teeth like a shark. “The fun and games end now.”

He pulled a cigarette from his pocket. With the flick of an antique brass lighter, he lit the end. Not a single patron noticed her uninvited lunch date was puffing away. The tainted energy leaking from his fingertips resembled one of the hissing wraiths from his home. The white linen under his hand turned dark gray as the shadows drifted in her direction.

As a child, she remembered her Uncle Orland discussing such men in hushed whispers with the other adults. Instead of playing with white magic for good, these men lurked in the shadows using their power to wring money from pockets of regular people. One of the greatest fears for warlocks, wizards, and witches was that one of these cretins would cast a great spell to undo the veil of secrecy that everyone had managed to maintain for centuries. In her quest for her scroll she’d leapt into a boiling pot.

Tessa squirmed in her seat before briefly meeting his eyes. “In all honesty, the only reason I dropped by was to snag a free ticket to Limbo. I kinda lost something valuable.”

Before replying, he took a deep drag and exhaled. “Be that as it may, you’re still meddling in affairs that aren’t your own. When Mr. Shin took my imbued mask, I accepted the loss, but the piano wasn’t an item I was prepared to give back.” He laughed softly, and then twisted the cigarette butt into the blackened table cloth.

The stench of burnt cotton didn’t hide the enticing scent of her lunch. Hunger bit into her growling stomach, but she didn’t move an inch. What kind of fool would budge under such circumstances?

“Heed my warning, tell your friend to watch his back. If he’d kept his nose clean, he wouldn’t have to deal with the likes of me.” He grinned as his eyes darkened. “You’re an attractive woman. Would be a pity for you to fall in line with the wrong kind of warlock.”

His gaze never lefts hers as he stood. He strolled out of the restaurant into a down pour. Rain soaked the streets, but not a single drop touched him as he walked past the window. With each step he took, dread tightened her stomach until she released the breath she held.

Rob was so dead meat.

CHAPTER NINE

Dating Tip #7: I’ve met a warlock or two who have fallen for ghosts. Let’s be realistic here. If she materializes in and out of reality, then don’t expect kids and a white picket fence in your future. Try dating someone with a pulse.

Being the ever attentive employee, Rob didn’t show up after the lunch break. He’d left a short message that he wouldn’t charge Tessa since he got paged for a quick job. How kind of him to disappear after her encounter with Dagger.

By the next morning, her fingers trembled as she dialed Clive’s phone number. An answering machine message echoed through the phone with the voice of a lady who smoked way too many Newport Cools. With a nervous voice, she left a message to have Rob call her regarding someone of importance named Dagger.

She was expected at work but she spent her Tuesday morning at home hiding out in front of her Mac. Yep, she was spooked.

After fixing a quick breakfast, she checked her phone to see a message waiting from Clive.
“If you’re looking for Rob, here’s his address in Park Slope…”

During the cab ride to his house in Brooklyn, she wanted to turn back a few times. Why didn’t she call him, instead, to warn him? And second, why did she take the time to care about her appearance?

Deep inside, she wanted not to care. Why bother with a man like him? Yet she hungered for something, and it became alarmingly apparent with the skip in her step as she left her apartment that the something she hungered for was Rob.

Tessa’s cab reached Park Slope and pulled up in front of a row of brownstones. The street was relatively quiet with a few kids playing tag down the street. As she stared at the homes she wondered,
Would he be alone?
Would he answer the door shirtless? With less than that perhaps? As to how someone like her who interacted with guys all the time could feel this way seemed ludicrous, so she shoved her nervousness aside and used the knocker on the door. She didn’t have long to wait.

Eventually, she heard a soft feminine voice say, “Just a minute.”

Oh, God.
Did he have a girlfriend? Tessa’s heart sped up and her hands suddenly felt clammy. The pleasant breeze should’ve helped her keep her cool, but a line of sweat formed at the nape of her neck.

The door cracked open and Tessa had to look down to see an elderly white woman who held open the door. The lady peered at her from behind a pair of enormous light purple glasses.

“Can I help you?” the woman asked.

Initially, her mouth moved, but nothing came out. “I need to leave a message for Rob.”

Kind eyes squinted at her and the older witch smiled. “You must be Tessa. Come on in, you’ll have to wait for a bit. I put Minho to work in my garden.”

“Minho?” she asked.

“Oh, you didn’t know his birth name?” She chuckled. “My sister, his step-mom, preferred to call him Robert, but he’d been born Minho Shin.”

Tessa smiled at the thought. She’d learned one of his secrets.

“Come inside, I’m making stew.”

As they weaved through the cozy home, the woman introduced herself as Rob’s aunt, Matilda. In the sitting room they passed his snoring uncle, Arthur. A newspaper shifted up and down under his slumbering form. She wiped her damp palms on her sides and couldn’t resist grinning. So his family had heard of her before.

The place had those subtle touches to make visitors feel at home. Handmade quilts over the sofa, family pictures all over the walls. She took a moment to peer at a picture of Rob with his parents. They looked so proud of him in his uniform. Right beside that photo was another faded black and white one of an Asian woman holding a slumbering baby. Was that Rob’s birth mother? The woman smiled at the camera, her vibrant black hair pushed over her shoulder and head tilted to reveal beautiful cheekbones. The facial features were all too familiar.
So that’s where Rob got his good looks
, she thought with a sigh.

Compared to her grandmother’s upper-middle class home, Matilda’s house looked like someone truly lived here and didn’t mind a tiny mess here or there. She especially loved the aspects that only a water witch could enjoy: Matilda grew her own herbs and placed plants around the house that Tessa felt an affinity toward. As they passed the living room, Tessa spied several vases with gardenias and fuchsias. The vibrant flowers both craved water and pulled at her to brush her fingertips against them.

As they entered the kitchen, the sounds of tea water boiling and a pot cooking dinner greeted her. Matilda lifted the lid and stirred the food. The rich scent of herbs, vegetables, and stew meat drew Tessa in.

A breeze from an open window to the backyard shifted Matilda’s long gray skirt.

“Minho’s outside. He should be done any time now. Feel free to check on him. He tends to get lost out there sometimes.” Then the older water witch began to hum a soft tune as she sprinkled more spices into the bubbling pot.

Tessa’s steps were tentative, but eventually she reached the back door and quietly opened it. The backyard was tiny but landscaped with care. Now she knew where all the flowers came from. Rob used a hoe to prepare a new row in the middle of the yard next to rows of other budding vegetables.

Dirt covered his jeans and his sweaty shirt had been tossed into a pile of tools nearby. He grunted as he continued to dig. Sweat poured down his back as she watched his shoulder muscles flex. She wet her lips and her thumbs anxiously rubbed their respective index fingers. He bent over and yanked out a weed. Tessa gulped as his buttocks clenched in his jeans. Damn it all to hell, did she just imagine herself butt-naked bent over in front of him pulling out weeds? She covered her face as a red flush crept into her cheeks.

She turned to see his aunt busy preparing a salad. The older woman continued humming under her breath, unaware of Tessa’s burning desire to practice sexual gardening with Rob.

To distract herself, Tessa sat down in the breakfast nook, murmuring something to his aunt about waiting for Rob at the table.

He entered the kitchen a few minutes later. Matilda turned. “Wash up, we have a guest for lunch.”

Tessa stood as Rob peered in her direction. In seconds, his eyes caressed her form. Sweat ran down the hard muscles of his abs and she stifled the urge follow the trail with her eyes.

“I don’t need to stay, I have a quick message, that’s all,” she mumbled.

Rob took a step in her direction.

“Nonsense!” Matilda scolded. “And Minho, get your dirty shoes off my floor and get cleaned up for lunch.”

He towered over his five-foot aunt, but lowered his head when she spoke to him and grinned like mischievous teenager. Before heading out of the kitchen, he obediently took off his work boots. His feet thundered up the stairs as his aunt turned to Tessa with a smile. “Would you like to help set the table?”

A cheesy grin hit. All she’d wanted to do was deliver a quick message and now she’d been put to work. But the payoff of seeing Rob in the garden and a free lunch was the best payday she’d had all week.

Twenty minutes later, everyone was seated at a table covered with a light gray linen cloth and gleaming white plates. His aunt and uncle sat opposite each other while Rob and Tessa did the same. The rectangular table comfortably seated four people in the soft-white dining room. Matilda passed around a bowl of salad, while Arthur selected the largest piece of baguette bread from another container.

“How’s your foot, Tessa?” Matilda inquired before eating a bite of salad.

“It’s better.”
How much do they know about me?
“Thank you for asking.”

“Arthur used to find those things all the time back in the day. Didn’t you, hon?”

Rob’s uncle nodded vigorously as he buttered his bread. “Nasty fuckers.”

Matilda’s mouth dropped open. “Arthur! We have a guest.”

Arthur huffed and stuffed his mouth with bread as Rob chuckled.

Arthur shrugged. “Back in the day, wraiths were just as evil as they are now. Unfortunately, in this day and age, we have a problem with dipshits using them for protection.”

Tessa nodded as if she knew the real deal regarding her attackers.

“Robert, your military training wouldn’t have prepared you for the likes of a rogue werewolf. When I was on the front lines in Korea, we found dozens of those crazy bastards hiding in holes.”

Rob nodded with a hidden smile. Apparently his Uncle Arthur loved to dish out war stories like Uncle Orland. Tessa’s poor father often had to sit for hours and listen to Uncle Orland talk about how he’d worked as a sniper on the front lines in World War II. Back in those days, he’d told her only the warlocks with
real
balls went to war for something other than a cash payoff.

While Arthur continued his diatribe about fishing out the pesky werewolves, something developed under the table. A leg brushed against hers, and she glanced up to see a pair of dark brown eyes staring at her. She moved back. Her stomach flipped when he moved again to rest his leg against hers. The heat from it burned against her bare calf.

She should be eating and not lingering in the fantasy of his hands slipping down her sides in the confines of a broom closet. How come none of her daydreams involved a regular bedroom? She tried to pay attention to the bowl of thick, meaty soup in front of her.

“Did you have something to tell me?” Rob asked before she could eat her first bite.

“A warlock named Dagger came to me yesterday. He told me to tell you to butt out of his business.”

Rob’s knuckles turned white as his fingers tightened on his fork. “He approached you?”

Tessa sipped her soup, savoring the delicious blend of herbs, trying to distract herself from Rob’s hard stare. “Yes, during my lunch hour yesterday. Do you know this guy personally?”

“All I need to know is that he can’t pay his bills on time. I returned property that didn’t belong to him.”

Matilda hushed her nephew.

Tessa scratched her cheek and took another generous bite of soup. In the middle of her third bite, she coughed as a strange urge to scratch her face deepened.