Two for Tamara (3 page)

She waved her friend off, laughing at the hundreds of cans tied to the back of the limo. Vin was like a big kid with a cheesy grin on his face, and she knew he must’ve helped put them on the car.

She wanted what Selena had, maybe not the two men, but her future wasn’t to be if her vision was true. Ever since she saw Rafe for the first time and the sight of the black crow above him, she had been seeing her own death.

That was why she had run that day, and every day since. Now, looking across the parking lot, she saw not one, but two black crows above the two men who looked more like brothers. Hell, for all she knew they were brothers in the true sense of the word. When she’d questioned Selena, her friend said they were all part of a group that called themselves Ravens. Tamara joked and called them a gang, but Selena shook her head and said they were good men who fought for humanity.

For the past ten years Tamara had focused on enjoying life, not worrying about whether she would be here tomorrow. She hadn’t thought about becoming a mom, or a wife, she’d just assumed she would have time for all that. She had put it off as one of those things that she’d do when she got older.

“Where would you like to go, sister of my sister?” Asteria asked.

Tamara knew a lifeline when she saw one, and she took what the gorgeous woman was offering. A chance to get away without anyone knowing where she was going, except Asteria of course, but Tamara knew she could trust her.

“To the beach,” Tamara sighed.

“Close your eyes and imagine where you want to be.”

Blocking out everything except the great little cottage on the beach she’d bought several months back, Tamara focused on where she wanted to go. She’d found peace there and wanted to reclaim that same sense again.

* * * *

The sound of waves hitting the shore woke Tamara from a dreamless sleep. She sat up and stretched her arms above her head, and swung her legs over the side of the bed, nearly falling over in her haste to hurry to the door.

“Holy shit,” she mumbled. The memory of speaking with Selena’s sister, and the strange sensation of the other woman speaking in her head, came rushing back.

She looked down to see she was dressed in her favorite sleeping attire of basketball shorts and tank. Not the sexiest outfit, but she was shooting for comfort when Asteria had told her to imagine where she wanted to go and all the things she wanted there.

To be honest, Tamara hadn’t really thought about it. The other woman had flooded her with a sensation of comfort, exactly what Tamara had needed at that moment in time.

She inhaled the sweet, salty scent of the ocean.

If she was to believe that she was magically sent by Asteria to the bungalow that she’d purchased earlier in the summer, then she figured all her clothes would be in the closet and the drawers.

Stalling wasn’t going to change anything. Tamara opened the wardrobe where she kept her bikinis the last time she was there. Lying on top was the yellow polka-dot one that she’d bought because of the song, and then fell in love with once she put it on.

At five feet nine inches tall with her mixed Cajun and Spanish ancestry, Tamara had been told she could wear just about anything. But when your best friend was a tiny blonde bombshell, Tamara tended to feel like an Amazon around her. Her style in the last five years had become more of a shock and awe, the complete opposite of Selena. She loved short leather skirts and tall, high-heeled shoes. In fact, the shorter the better was her motto. But the yellow polka-dot bikini was in a little boutique and she had to have it. The song had played over and over in her head until she had no other choice but to buy it.

Knowing that she’d crossed several time zones made her feel gross. A quick washing off of the travel grime was needed.

After a shower, where she found all her necessities, she donned the bikini, grabbed a towel, and headed toward the beach.

The sand beneath her toes was cool and inviting early in the afternoon. She laid her towel out to watch the waves beat against the shore. The pounding the sand took from the angry water reminded her of humans and how they treated each other. Strange, how she now thought about humans and others.

A loud squawk had her looking up to see a flock of sea gulls. One broke away from the group, swooped down toward the water, and scooped up a fish to take back up before flying away.

How long she sat there watching the waves without thinking about anything, Tamara had no clue. She was just happy her mind drifted. Her stomach rumbled, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday. She hoped Asteria had stocked the fridge. If not she’d call a cab to take her into town for some provisions, enough to last at least a week. She didn’t want to leave her little place on the beach for any reason.

She stood, then brushed the sand off her butt that must have blown on her while she sat drifting in a lazy haze. A frisson of fear, like she was being watched, had her looking around the deserted beach. She shook her head. Nobody should be around for miles, she thought.

At times like these if Vin had hair, he’d surely rip it all out. One minute he was messing around with Rafe, watching Max and Malcolm leave with their bride Selena. They had played a game of rock-paper-scissors, which he’d won fair and square, so he was the one who got to ask Tamara to dance. As the limo drove off, he’d looked over to where Tamara had been standing with Selena’s sister Asteria, hoping to make eye contact. What he got was an eye full of Zeus. He shuddered just thinking of the mind-fuck the man was capable of.

Rafe slapped him on the back. “I’m out.”

“Just like that? Don’t you want to know where she went?” He tried to keep the growl out of his voice.

His best friend shook his head. “Nope. It’s not the first or second time she’s done a runner. I can take a hint. It took me weeks to find her last time, and I only found her because she contacted Selena.” Rafe looked up to the sky. “I’m tired, Vin.”

Vin didn’t think he’d ever heard the desolate tone from Rafe before. And he didn’t like it one iota now. “What the fuck. You becoming a pussy or something?”

With a nod of his big bald head, Rafe swung around, lifted his hand in a one-finger salute, and dematerialized. Vin reached out with his mind, trying to connect with Rafe, trying to see if he could reassure himself that his friend was okay. The blockade he mentally ran into made him stumble on a physical level.
Yeah, not doing that anytime soon again.

“Give him time.”

Vin jumped. “What th—” He placed his palm on his racing heart. “Excuse me. I didn’t see you there, your highness.” Vin bowed awkwardly.

Hera giggled. “Oh, you were always such a charmer, Vin Thorn.” Her hand on his bicep had calmness arcing through him.

“Thank you, I think.” He was puzzled from not only her words but her touch. In all the years he’d been on Olympus, he couldn’t remember ever having a conversation with the wife of Zeus. He wasn’t sure he wanted to have one now.

“Ah, you are wondering why I am here? I always appreciated you and the other Ravens. All of you were warriors who deserved so much more, which is why we sent you to Earth. I know it seemed like a punishment, but it wasn’t. I’m sorry…”

A tear slipped from her crystal-blue eye. Vin reached up to wipe it.

“Hands off my wife, boy, or I’ll remove them,” Zeus boomed.

“Oh, hush you.” Hera wiped her cheeks with a cloth that appeared out of nowhere. Zeus wrapped his big arms around her and rested his chin on her shoulder, pinning Vin with his laser stare. Vin wished like hell he’d dematerialized when Rafe had. Instead, he felt like a butterfly that was caught in one of those nets, then had its wings spread out and pinned to a board for all to see.

Zeus snorted. “You are not as pretty as a butterfly.”

“Stay out of my head,” Vin yelled, immediately regretting his words.

The big man grunted. “I apologize. My wife says it’s rude to intrude so.”

And just like that Vin was sure Hell had frozen over. He looked around for signs of ice around the island paradise.

“What are you doing?” Zeus stepped beside Hera, keeping his arm around her waist.

Vin was many things, but stupid was not one of them. “Um, nothing. I was just looking for my…keys.”

Hera covered her mouth with one hand, mirth shining in her eyes. Zeus on the other hand didn’t seem to be convinced of the lie. “Aren’t you supposed to take the priest back somewhere?” Zeus reminded him.

Vin took the lifeline. “Yep. That’s what I was looking for.”

“You were looking for an airplane under your feet?” Zeus wasn’t letting him off the hook quite so easy. Luckily for Vin, Hera gave up the act of covering up her fit of laughter, and doubled over she was laughing so hard. Zeus shook his head, swung her up in his arms, and turned to walk off, but not before he zeroed in on Vin one last time. “Don’t hurt what is mine, I know everything.” With those words he and his wife disappeared.

What Vin would do to just be able to say fuck it and dematerialize too. The priest was just finishing eating what looked like his second piece of cake and several glasses of wine. Oh goody, a drunk man of the cloth. Surely, there was a joke about when a priest and a demigod flew off into the sunset somewhere.

* * * *

“I wish I could see the future,” Zeus murmured. How he wished with all his might that he could do something so great. His wife snickered.

“Ah, my love. You think that is a weakness. But if you could truly do that, imagine the havoc you would wreak on everyone you love.” Her hand traced lazy circles on his chest.

He stared down at the most beautiful creature the Most High had ever created. “My heart wouldn’t ache so if I could fix everyone the way they should be.”

Hera snorted. He decided he didn’t like that sound nearly as much as the ones he heard when he was making love to her. But in that moment her hand trailed farther south, and truly all thoughts of others and their happiness was beyond Zeus. Come tomorrow he’d think on how he could help Tamara and her two Ravens.

* * * *

Rafe eased the throttle back on his Harley. A crash may not kill him, but his body meeting the asphalt sure would hurt a whole hell of a lot. Why he allowed one woman to affect him so much was a mystery to him.

Since the first time he saw her, he’d been living like a eunuch. Sure he’d gone a long time between sexual partners before, but that was out of necessity or choice. However, this time it was like his dick was in a state of rest, except when he was within sniffing distance of one Tamara Mejia. Add in the fact he acted like a teen boy, a thing he’d never been, and he was royally pissed off around her.

The feelings were obviously mutual.

When she practically ran from him the first night they’d met, he’d marked it down to the fact he was a big mother with tattoos, and women tended to be either scared or turned on. He had always been able to get them to come around to his way of thinking, and that was usually within minutes of his meeting them.

His mouth still watered at the picture she’d made in her tiny miniskirt and fuck-me heels. Her mile-high legs, which he wanted wrapped around his hips while he fucked her against any flat surface, haunted his days, nights and everything in between.

In the dark club, with the multitude of strobe lights, she had had a glow about her that had nothing to do with the lighting. Rafe didn’t know how to explain it to anyone. It was like a halo had surrounded her.

A loud blare of a diesel’s horn rang out, and Rafe barely missed becoming roadkill under the 18-wheeler.
Fuck man, get your head outta your ass.
Maybe hitting the open road wasn’t the smartest thing he’d ever done. He needed to get his head on straight before he ended up under the wheels of a big rig, or causing an accident that got a human killed.

He pulled off the first exit that had a decent hotel. Why he’d dematerialized back in California he had no clue, maybe since it was the last place he’d found Tamara, but for now he needed to park and regroup. He would contact Vin in the morning.

His Harley with the modified pipes rumbled into the parking lot, making a group of young punks turn to look at it with interest. Rafe hoped like hell he didn’t have to hurt any of them, and he sure as shit didn’t want to play the “who has a bigger dick” game tonight.

He sat for a few minutes after he shut the engine off, then pulled his helmet off and hooked it on the handle bar. A couple feminine gasps could be heard from the peanut gallery. He knew what was coming.
Fucking great!

“Oh my God! It’s The Rock.”

Rafe rolled his eyes, swung his leg off the bike and stood to his full seven-foot-two-inch height. In his shitkickers he was over seven foot four.

“That ain’t him.”

One of the guys with more piercings than a pin cushion seemed to be the leader. Rafe hoped they listened to the guy. However, luck wasn’t on his side.

“Can I have your autograph?” The girl didn’t look like she was old enough to be out past nine, let alone hanging in a motel parking lot with a bunch of guys who looked like they sold drugs for a living.

This night keeps getting better, thought Rafe. “Sweets, why would you want my scribble?” Rafe turned on the southern charm. Having been on Earth long enough to know most dialects, he chose one even the dumbest of the group would understand, and one that the actor wasn’t known for having.

“See, I told you it ain’t him. Now get your ass back here, now.” The threat was clear from what Rafe assumed was the leader of the merry bunch of idiots.

A little whimper caught his attention from the petite brunette in front of him.

Rafe raised his eyes to the stars. It was a sound he was sure the young girl was completely unaware he’d heard her make. “Let me take you home,” he murmured.

“What?” She swung her head to look back at the group of people she obviously called friends.

His eyes narrowed. “How old are you?”