Soul Stripper (23 page)

W
ithin seconds of being home, I rushed to take a shower. I’d neglected to do so in the morning and I needed to pick up my paycheck from the coffee shop. I wanted to look my best considering it was the first time Drew and I were seeing each other since our night together.

The hot water pelted my skin and muscles, feeling like a tiny massage. I groaned and dropped my head against the shower wall.
Wills.
I had a date with Wills tonight. It seemed as though every time I found myself thinking about him, I was always wishing I were with someone else or doing something else. That’s probably not a good sign, huh? But then I thought back to that dry, witty sense of humor he has. How gentlemanly and polite he always is. The way his chestnut hair falls into one eye when he laughs. My heart caught in my throat. I turned the water off and bent at the waist, drying my hair.
We just need more time,
I thought.
And I can’t keep dwelling on Drew, as much as I want to.

I flipped my head back and wrapped the towel around my body. I spent a little extra time on my hair and makeup, blow-drying my locks straight and lining my eyes darker than normal. I stood back from the mirror and smiled at what I saw. I was getting pretty good at doing this without any magic. I hung the towel up and wrapped myself in my fuzzy robe.

I opened the bathroom door into my bedroom and screamed when I saw a figure lying across my bed. I pulled the robe tighter around me. “Julian! Damn, you could have let me know you were in here. Shit.”

He winced slightly at my cursing. He was eating popcorn and threw a kernel into the air, catching it in his mouth. “Just doing my job. You know, protecting you.
You’re welcome
.”

I walked to my closet and picked out a pair of low-rise jeans and put the turtleneck back on. I changed in my closet, and a shiver of fear ran through me as I remembered finding one of the notes in here. Nowhere was safe, it seemed.

I came out fully dressed, leaned over, and grabbed a piece of popcorn from Julian. “Get your shoes off my bed.” I slapped at his ankles and he followed me out to the kitchen, still munching on the popcorn.

“I was thinking,” he said, “about your restored powers.”

“You mean, you were thinking about what you
saw
of my returned powers?”

His eyebrow arched, and one side of his mouth slid into a smile. “That, too. But—I was also thinking that, as much as neither of us wants you to, you should find a target tonight. See if you can store any more of your energy.”

I fell into one of my kitchen chairs. “You want me to sleep with someone?”

He sat down next to me. “If it means bringing you to safety—then, yes.”

“I can’t believe I’m hearing this.” I looked up, meeting Jules’s eyes. “There’s something I’m missing here. You initially told me to keep my nose clean while I was human. You said there was a chance that if I died, I could go to Heaven. Why do you now, all of a sudden, want me back to being a succubus?”

He leaned back in the chair slowly, watching me. “Okay”—he sighed—“here it is. I had thought maybe that’s where the girls’ souls were going after death. In my off time from watching you and investigating with Lucien, I’ve been researching the three—well, four women now—who’ve died. Their souls aren’t in Heaven. Which leaves two options: They’re either in Hell being tortured, or they’ve simply vanished.”

“And,” I finished his thought for him, “you’d rather have me as a succubus than not have me at all.”

He nodded. “You can protect yourself if your powers are restored.”

The tightness in my chest was back. I could feel the tears in my throat, and I swallowed them down. I’d done too much crying this past weekend as it was. “But—but, those other succubi . . . they weren’t as good as I am. I’m a good person! Jules, I-I still play for the angel team. I only steal Hell-bound souls.” My breath was ragged and I was having trouble inhaling despite the fact that I was sitting down. “Maybe those other girls were mean, bad people. Maybe they deserve Hell. But
I
don’t!”

He came over and held me. An instant calm wash over me like a salty wave on the beach. It was sudden and peaceful. “Shhh,” he whispered while stroking my hair. His angel magic was beautiful—like a cocaine fix, only not as addictive. “You
are
a good person. You’re a beautiful soul. But the politics of Heaven and Hell are tricky. This isn’t your time.” He pulled back, hands still on my shoulders, and looked into my eyes. “But you will be an angel again. I’m not giving up on you.”

“Does this mean you’ll stay my friend? Even after I’m back to being a succubus?”

“I can’t jeopardize my angel status. I’ll do my best to maintain some sort of contact with you after. But I promise to always love you.”

Another slow tear descended from the corner of my eye and traveled down my cheek. I didn’t bother to wipe it away. It fell off my chin like a large raindrop.

I looked away from his burning gaze. “I hope that’s good enough.”

Something in me itched to look at him again, but I resisted, swallowing a sob. I wiped the tears from my face and mustered up a smile. “I have an errand to run at the café. You up to it?”

He shrugged noncommittally. “I guess I have to be, don’t I?”

“So it seems.”

“I also have a couple of people for us to talk to about the case. Feeling up to some detective work today?”

“I guess I have to be, don’t I?” I echoed him. “How are you getting around Lucien’s orders?”

He sat back down in his chair and lounged back. “I promised specifically about the crime scenes. Not other interviews.” He smiled proudly.

I didn’t know exactly what Jules meant by that—but I trusted him to know what he was doing. I mean, by his very nature he absolutely could not lie. If I asked him if these pants made me look fat, he would
have
to answer truthfully. There’s something dangerous and powerful about knowing this about him.

A soft chuckle came from deep in his chest. He leaned over and brushed his lips just below my ear where skin is soft and tender and full of delicious nerve endings. “Those pants definitely do not make you look fat.”

 

The parking lot of the café was fairly full, with only a few spots left at the back.

“Are you coming in invisible?” I asked.

“No,” he said, “but I’ll mask my powers. Only those with predisposed knowledge of my status will know I’m an angel.”

See? Angels are wily little things.

“I’m going to be tapped into your thoughts for most of the afternoon. I would appreciate it if you kept them—well, on the PG side of things.”

I nodded at him.

The bells stationed at the front door chimed like a welcoming song as they always do each time someone enters. The thick smell of espresso sat like a heady fog around the café. If I ever got to Heaven again, I would make sure it would smell just like this.

“I have to find Drew,” I said, not seeing him behind the bar. “You sure you want to come with?”

His expression darkened just ever so slightly, shoulders slumping, throwing off his center of gravity. “I have to. I am your guardian today.”

I exhaled a breath and stifled a yawn. “Very well.” Jules followed me as I said hi to Genevieve and Marissa, the other baristas. “This is Julian,” I said, introducing him to each.

Both women stared slack-jawed at Jules as he gave them each a warm smile and a genuine greeting. “Genevieve,” he said. “Named for my favorite saint.” He took her hand and brushed his lips across her knuckles. “San Genevieve” he said, standing back up, “the patron saint of Paris was accredited for saving the city from Attila’s Huns.”

Genevieve faltered for a second, stuttering. “My mom spent time abroad in Paris and named me after her.” Her eyes widened and she looked back at me. I gave her a one shoulder shrug and what I hoped was an innocent smile.

“That’s Jules for you. A walking encyclopedia.” I elbowed him “C’mon, Britannica.”

I dragged him to the back where Drew’s office was.
Sheesh,
I thought, hoping Jules was listening.
Could you be any weirder around my friends?

I rolled my eyes.

Drew’s office door wasn’t shut entirely. I raised a fist to knock when I heard crying. A girl’s shrill voice sobbing. I recognized it immediately as Adrienne. “Drew, you don’t understand!” she said through sniffles.

“Just get out, Adrienne. We’re done.” As Drew’s heavy footsteps approached, I backed away from the door quietly.

“No! I’m not leaving.”

“Do you have an explanation for the photographs?”

“Yes!”

“Are you going to tell me what it is?”

“I can’t!” Her whiny voice was a lot to take. I turned and pushed Julian’s chest to retreat. They’d be finished soon enough and then I’d get my check. We could wait a few more minutes.

He nodded and we got all of three steps away when I heard the clomping of her heels behind me.
“You!”
she screamed. When I pivoted back around, a long acrylic fingernail was pointed in my face. “You! You did this! You
whore!
You’ve wanted me out of the picture since the beginning.”

The way she said
whore
made my blood freeze. The word painted on my door flashed into my mind. “
I
didn’t do anything, Adrienne.”

“You did! You must have! You saw me and Damien together. . . . No one else knew who we were, but all of a sudden you popped up and
Bam!
Drew dumps me!”

“Nothing
‘Bam!’
happened to you.
You
cheated on Drew. And
you
got caught. Even if I had been the one to take those pictures—which I wasn’t—it still would have been
your
fault.”

She stepped close to me, invading my personal space in a major way. Her voice dropped, and it was suddenly low and husky. “You don’t understand.” It wasn’t the voice of the Adrienne I knew and hated. She sounded like an entirely different person. Her voice faltered, the words catching in her throat as if she could just barely get them out. “I didn’t cheat on him. You have to believe me.”

Her sudden earnestness caught me off guard. And I found myself standing there staring into large, tearful brown eyes. “But—the pictures . . .”

“Aren’t what they seem,” she said, her jaw muscles so clenched that I could see them protruding from the sides of her face.

“Adrienne!” Drew’s voice boomed from behind her. She closed her eyes tightly and a tear dropped from one corner down the side of her nose. “It’s time for you to leave. Stop harassing my employees.”

Her head dropped, but her eyes shifted up gazing intensely into mine. “Please.” She mouthed the word, barely a whisper. I opened my mouth to answer but realized I had nothing else to say to her. A noise caught in my throat. She squinted her eyes shut as a jagged breath escaped her lips. Without another word, she pushed past my shoulder and ran out of the café.

Drew came over, concern etched into his creased forehead. “Are you okay?”

I cleared my throat and nodded. “Yep. I’m sort of getting used to people yelling at me for no reason whatsoever.”

A small smile flickered across his face. His gaze moved over my shoulder to where Julian stood, and a momentary flash of jealousy darkened his chiseled features. It was gone before I could even be sure I actually saw it. “Julian, right?” Drew held out a hand again.

Jules nodded and took his hand. “Nice to see you again, Drew.” His voice was quiet and assessing.

Drew’s eyes crinkled at the corners, sparkling with a smile as they returned to mine. “How are you feeling today?”

“Oh, I’m fine.” The conversation was strained and uncomfortable. Drew and I had certainly had our fair share of uncomfortable silences, but this one felt different. Awkward. Like two middle schoolers after a make-out session.

He leaned forward, his hands still in his pockets. “Can we—can we talk alone for a minute?”

I looked back at Jules. He rolled his eyes and gave me a barely noticeable nod.
Scream if you need me.

“Sure,” I said to Drew, then turned to Jules. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

Drew put his hand on the small of my back and I entered his office. It was tiny—in fact, I think it had previously been a storage closet that he cleared out. It held a desk, filing cabinet, and a bookshelf. That was about it.

I pulled myself up onto the edge of the desk and sat on it. “What’s up?”

He rushed to me, cupping my face in his hands and kissed me urgently in a way that made my heart sweat. Our foreheads touched as the kiss ended. “Drew . . .” I whispered.

“Shhh,” he hushed, and kissed me again.

I shook my head, my lips still connected to his, and groaned. I put a hand to his chest and pushed him off slowly. “Drew, I can’t. I’m just going to end up hurting you. We’re too good friends to be so careless.”

“Screw that,” he growled, and tucked his hands into the back waistband of my jeans.

I chuckled and slipped my own hands into his back pockets as he pressed his lips to my neck and kissed his way up to my ear. I slid off the desk, away from his grasp. “We shouldn’t be doing this. Not right now. Besides, I still need to talk to Wills.”

His eyebrows fell. “Who cares? I don’t want to wait. I want you and you want me, what else matters?”

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose between two fingers. “You said last night—you understood. And that you were okay with the fact that I couldn’t promise you anything more than the one night together.”

“Yeah—” He paused, and his eyes rolled up toward the ceiling in thought. “Well, I lied. I’m not as okay with it as I thought I would be.” When I said nothing in return, he sighed. “I’ll back off for now.” He took a step closer to me. “But don’t think for a second that this is over.” He took another step and put a hand on my waist. He leaned in, his full lips dancing just above mine. “Because I’m not going to stop trying.”