The Burning City (7 page)

“You hear that, Dip?” June lifted her head. “You wanna come live with me?”

Dipity meowed.

“I brought all her stuff,” Cindy said. “Her litter box, her food, her basket of toys. Mommy will miss her so much, but I think she really belongs with you, June.”

“You can visit her.” June dropped her head back on the carpet.

“This is my house,” Sam said. “This place is not pet proof.”

“Don’t listen to the noisy man.” June petted Dipity. “We’ll just sleep outside if he doesn’t want us here. Out in the cold and rain.”

Sam groaned. “Oh my God.”

June twisted her head around to look at him. “She saved my life, Sam.”

“So did I.”

“Yeah, and I’m keeping you, aren’t I?”

He rolled his eyes and left the room. June looked back at Dipity. The cat’s eyes were narrowed, her purr rumbling June’s chest.

Cindy squatted beside them. She had a skirt on, giving June a front row seat to her panties peeking out between her thighs. They were neon pink.

“Have you heard anything from Occam?” Cindy lowered her voice. “Since you got that note?”

“No, but I’m pretty sure he’s always watching.”

“I hope Jason is all right.” She folded her arms on her knees. “And your friend…Ortega?”

June scowled. “Diego.”

“I hope they’re both okay.”

“I’m sure they are, as long as I don’t say anything one way or another.” She grimaced. “Now get your vag out of my face.” She rolled away, taking Dipity with her.

Sam spent the rest of the afternoon in high Type-A personality mode. Natalie brought him a mobile hotspot so he could do things online. He was constantly on the phone, arguing either with the utility companies or with a bank. Cindy and Natalie sorted through bins and put stuff away.

Around five PM, the first triumph of the day occurred—the power company showed up, and shortly after, the lights came on.

“Hallelujah.” Sam lifted his arms. “Now we’re getting somewhere.”

The water company showed up as well. They took a bit longer, as more was involved in getting the water running. June and Cindy sat on the porch. Sam followed the workers around outside the house, haranguing them.

“It’s good to see him back in top form,” Cindy said. “I can’t wait for this party on the beach. I think it’s good we’re reaching across the aisle.”

“He’s insane.” June sat slumped in a chair. “How can he jump out of what we’ve been through and back into his life like this?”

“That’s how he is. He thrives on being busy, on being a powerhouse. All this time he’s just…not been himself. Being in hiding sapped who he was.”

Maybe Sam wasn’t the man for her. Maybe, once he was in his full glory, they wouldn’t be right for each other, the way she and Micha hadn’t been right for each other. Was she making another stupid emotional mistake?

“You two seem cozy.” Cindy seemed to be reading her mind. “I mean, you look happy together.”

“I know how it seems, me being with Micha that whole time, and now I’m with Sam.”

“Honey, I’ve been married four times. Trust me when I say things change.”

June looked over at her. “I guess if you were with a man like Kevin, you have experience with difficult men.”

“Kevin wasn’t always like that, though.” Cindy tucked an arm behind her head and looked up at the porch ceiling. “I knew him when he and Thomas were best friends. Back in the day. Kevin was supportive of the paranormal community then. His grandmother was a powerful telepath. She was heavily involved with vampires. I know that sounds crazy, and it was.”

June recalled Occam telling her Kevin’s grandmother had a vampire lover, and that was how she got the Oracle of the Dead.

“That’s why when Thomas died, Kevin was able to go to the vampires and hire them to seek out Thomas’s murderers. But vampires are unreliable. He would have gone down hard for that. They would have given him up to the first person who asked about it. He wasn’t thinking straight.”

“So Aaron paid them off,” June said. “In exchange for Sam protecting Muse. And Kevin owed Sam a favor.”

“I was married to my second husband at the time Thomas died,” Cindy said. “But after we split up, Kevin and I got together. We’d known each other a long time. I think I was Kevin’s way of trying to shake his fear, trying to get over the bigotry growing in him. But the whole time we were together, his hatred toward the paranormal just grew and grew. It tore us apart.”

The sound of Sam griping drifted around the side of the house.

“So believe me,” Cindy said. “I get it. I’ve been through a hundred men, looking for the right one. Being what I am doesn’t help. Being what I am is probably the reason I’ve been through that many.”

June thought of how Micha had always been so reasonable about how they probably weren’t right for each other, how they were merely a comfort to each other.

“Sam and I are so different,” June said. “Like Micha and I were. I’m not the type of girl I could see Sam being with.”

Cindy lowered her arm. “Sam’s an unconventional man. I don’t see him being with a conventional woman. He needs someone like you. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he’s a little off the wall. A nonconformist is exactly his type.”

June narrowed her eyes. “What are you saying? I’m some kind of gutter punk?”

Cindy hauled herself to her feet. “Yes, you tattooed whore.”

June grinned.

The water was restored, and they turned on all the taps in the house to let the sludgy orange water run out of the unused pipes. Dipity ran as the house was filled with sputtering and popping.

Sam shook his head. “I can’t believe we have a cat.”

“
I
have a cat,” June said. “You’d better stay on my good side, or I’ll make her eat your face.”

Natalie and Cindy stuck around until after dark, helping unpack bins and clean up. Sam raged every time he discovered they’d taken something from the house. At least his cars were still in the garage—albeit rifled through like everything else.

“I’m bringing a professional cleaning company in,” he told them as Cindy and Natalie were getting ready to leave. “I’m not opening that fridge myself. And I don’t even know how you get six months’ worth of dust out of furniture.”

“Rich boy’s never had to clean,” June said. “He only knows how to do this with his hands.” She did a mocking Queen of England wave.

Sam jabbed her in the side, and she leaped away, grinning.

“I like her.” Natalie smiled. “Are you coming to the beach party, June?”

“Do I look like the kind of gal who misses a beach party?”

Hugs and good-byes were exchanged, and Cindy cuddled Dipity one last time, whispering to her to be good and that she’d visit her soon. She left with tears in her eyes and the cat in June’s arms.

“Why don’t you go upstairs and get a shower?” Sam said. “My bathroom is wonderful. Then we can get some rest. I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted.”

“Am I actually going to be allowed to rest?”

He waved. “It depends. Can I do anything else with my hands?”

Upstairs, she tried to pretend it was her first time seeing Sam’s room. He pushed bins into corners, muttering. He told her he would change the bedclothes so they weren’t sleeping in a tomb.

His bathroom was indeed nice: big, white tile, a huge mirror, two sinks, and a massive tub as well as a glass shower. The room didn’t seem to have collected much grime during six months of disuse; that was the nice thing about smooth nonporous surfaces.

She didn’t lock the door, and she expected him to come creeping in while she showered, but he didn’t. She was disappointed. He didn’t even need to get in the shower with her; he could perv at her through the glass.

After she got out, she took her time drying off, brushing her hair, and going through some semblance of a beauty routine. Sam had all sorts of lotions and potions in a cabinet next to the sinks. She rolled her eyes at his collection of cologne, taking up one entire shelf. Men.

She blow-dried her hair, something she hadn’t done in a while. Now that she’d actually had it colored and cut, she could bring herself to style it again.

She pulled on an oversized black T-shirt from her bag and a pair of panties, and finally emerged into Sam’s bedroom.

Sam sat on the bed, which now had different sheets and a red blanket on it. The scent of Febreeze hung on the air.

He had his laptop on the bed in front of him. He looked up at her. “You should put some pants on.”

She padded across the room, stroking her fingers through her dried, silky hair. “Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

She stopped next to the dresser and glanced at the pictures. “Why should I put pants on? Why don’t you take yours off?”

He clicked around on the computer. “Please.”

He was serious. She stood staring at him.

He nodded to the bathroom. “Go get a pair of pants out of your bag, put them on, and then come here. I have something to show you. Just do it.”

She huffed and walked back to the bathroom. She didn’t want to go outside. Or meet anybody. Those were the only two reasons she could imagine needing pants right now.

She pulled a pair of black yoga pants out of her bag, yanked them on, and returned to the room. They were a little too long and hung over her feet.

Sam patted the bed beside him. “Come here.”

She walked over to the bed. “What, do you have bedbugs or something? You don’t want my ass getting bitten?” She flopped down on the bed.

Sam picked up the laptop and turned to her. He plunked it in her lap.

She was confused for a moment, but then she saw the screen. She clamped her hands over her mouth, her vision blurring with tears.

“Oh my God.” Her mother did the same thing on the screen, clamping her hands over her mouth. “June, baby!”

June wasn’t the type to burst into tears, but they spilled over and she drew a deep, shaky breath. Sam squeezed her shoulder.

“Oh, God, it’s so good to see you again.” Her mother was crying too. “Are you all right?”

June lowered her trembling hands, struggling for words. Her chest tightened and ached on the right side, like it always did when she got stressed out or emotional.

“I’m okay,” June choked out. “Are you okay, Mom?”

Her mother’s long, honey blond hair was pulled back, her face clean of makeup. She looked like Jason, with her high cheekbones and pale eyes. Contrarily, everyone else said she looked like an older version of June, but June didn’t see it. Right now, what she saw was the best thing she’d ever seen in her life.

“I’m fine now.” Her mother wiped her eyes with a tissue. “I watched your press conference today. It was so good to see you up there, to see you alive. You’re so thin, though.”

June swallowed the lump in her throat. Tears were still falling. “My allergies are making it hard to eat. Where are you? Are you in California?”

She nodded. “I’ve been talking to the FBI. They said I couldn’t talk to you until you were no longer sequestered. This year has been so awful.” She touched the screen. “My baby. You’re alive.”

June wiped her eyes. Sam handed her a wad of tissues.

“Is your brother there with you? He wasn’t at the press conference.”

June froze, tissues pressed to her face. She hadn’t prepared herself for this moment, hadn’t thought up a story yet. She couldn’t tell her Jason had been kidnapped by vampires. She’d already told the FBI he wasn’t in Chicago, and she’d told the masses he didn’t want to speak at the conference. She was going to get tangled up in her lies and hang herself.

“He’s not here.” She lowered the tissues, sniffing. “We…um…”

“The FBI kept them apart.” Sam leaned over in front of the screen. “They’re still questioning him, but they should be releasing him in a few days. All this red tape, it’s ridiculous.” He sat back.

June swallowed. “Yes, but… He’s fine, Mom. We’re both fine.”

Her mother broke down, crying into her hands. June cried, too, positively wept, like she hadn’t done in months. Sam slid an arm around her and rubbed her back.

After a few minutes, they both composed themselves. June’s side hurt worse.

“I’ve been searching for you since you disappeared,” her mother said. “I even sent Diego to find you last month, but I haven’t heard from him. I can’t get him on his phone. He’s not e-mailing or texting me…”

June cleared her throat. “The FBI has him.”

She blinked.

“He found us,” June said. “But it was dangerous. We couldn’t let him contact you. The FBI is still questioning him and Jason.”

She heaved a deep sigh. “Oh, thank God.” She pressed a hand to her chest. “I was so worried something happened to him. He was my rock through this, you know. I wanted to come to Chicago so many times, but he told me to be reasonable. He kept saying if you were on the run, you’d probably come home, and I needed to be here to help you. I kept praying, hoping… I would have hidden you until the end of time. I kept waiting for you to reach out to me.”

“I’m sorry.” Fresh tears formed in June’s eyes. “I couldn’t… I couldn’t get out of the city.”

“Oh, baby, it’s not your fault.” She touched the screen again. “I know you’ve been through hell. I’m just so happy to see your face.”

“It has. It’s been hell, but I’m here.”

“Don’t you worry. I’m getting on a plane to Chicago tomorrow.”

June froze again, widening her eyes.

“They said you can’t leave there yet,” her mother said. “But they’ve got no restrictions on me, so I’m coming. I can’t wait to hold my baby girl in my arms again.”

Her mother couldn’t come to Chicago. If Occam found out she was there, he’d snatch her too. She could envision Occam with a zoo full of her friends and family, taunting her, telling her the key to letting them out was saying yes.

June glanced at Sam, panicked.

He leaned over again. “Mrs. Coffin.”

“Andrea.”

“Andrea. I understand wanting to come, but you can’t, not just yet.”

“Why?” Her voice sharpened.

“Because we’re not sequestered anymore, but they don’t want us having too much contact with people outside the case. They don’t want to take any risks.”

“So you mean after all this time, all we’ve been through, I still can’t come see my children?”