A Monster and a Gentleman (19 page)

“I guess so.”

“When was the last time you ate?”

Cali blinked, not sure.

Seling shook his head. “You need to take care of yourself.”

“I do. Sort of.”

“You need a keeper.”

Cali laughed. “A keeper? That’s real rich coming from you, Batman.”

Seling grinned. “Thank you.”

“Thank you?”

Together they exited the trailer. The set was dark, only a few security lights illuminating the perimeter they’d set up. Cali knew there would be guards on the entrances and another with the camera equipment trailer.
 

But for now, there was no one around, and the night was theirs. Cali slipped her hand into Seling’s. Their fingers laced together. There was a bolt of pure fear in Cali’s belly—this was dangerous. Relationships were dangerous. It would be safer, for both of them, if they didn’t start something.

Cali bit her lip and forced the thought away. She’d already hurt him once by letting her hang-ups get in the way. She wouldn’t do it again.

“So…why did you say thank you?” Cali said, struggling to bring back the light playful note.

“I
am
the Batman. I’ve been waiting for someone to call me that.”

“You are not the Batman.”

“I am, I have wings.”

“You’re green and red. If anything, you’re Robin.”

“Bite your tongue, woman.”

They cut across the main set, which was clear of the trucks and equipment that made the rest of the set a maze. The shadows were even darker at the foot of the half-finished building. “If the superhero cape fits…”

“That’s what I need. A cape.” Seling raised one arm in the Superman pose.
 

“You’re delirious from hunger,” Cali declared.

“I’m—”

There was a loud pop, like a car backfiring. Seling’s fingers tightened around hers. Cali started to laugh, to ask him if he was scared of a car backfiring.
 

There was a second pop, and Seling dragged her sideways. He pulled her through the roughed-out doorway on the first floor of the building.
 

“Seling, what…” She stumbled into him, her hand going to his waist to steady herself. His side was wet.

In the time it took her to blink, Cali understood. Those pops hadn’t been cars backfiring. It was gunfire, and Seling had been shot.

“Seling,” Cali gasped. She pressed her hand against his side, trying to find the wound, to put pressure on it.

“Let go.” His voice was lower and rougher than she’d ever heard it before.

It frightened her.

Cali released him. The air filled with the sound of fabric ripping and bones popping. When the sounds stopped, Cali reached out. Seling had changed, and when she touched him this time it was not the soft supple skin of his human body, but the thick rubbery skin of his monster body.

“Follow me,” he whispered, voice so low she could barely hear it.

“No, wait, we need to call 911.” Cali dug her phone from her jacket pocket, thankful she’d stuck it in there before going to seduce Seling.

“Stay close to me. Hide the light.”

Cali curled her body around the phone, even as she felt Seling’s wing come around her like a curtain.

She didn’t have any reception. She stared at the No Service icon with a sinking feeling in her gut.
 

“There’s no service.”

“We’ll move—”

“There should be service. I called Margo from here this morning. Someone is blocking the signal.”
 

A shudder went through Seling and his wing clattered like leaves in a wind. “Blackwolf.”

“Who?” Cali typed out an SOS text message, set it to send both via SMS and data, hoping it would get through at some point.

“We’re in trouble.” Seling’s voice was more serious and more dangerous than she’d ever heard it before. It was as if he’d changed from the easygoing, fun guy she knew into something else.

A monster.

In the distance, Cali thougth she heard the electronic hiss of a radio, but the sound was gone before she got a chance to listen for it.
 

“They know where we are,” Seling whispered.

He led her deeper into the building. She couldn’t see anything, but it was clear from the way he moved that he could. She wrapped both her hands around one of his. His skin was hotter as a monster, his palm broad, but with only three fingers and a thumb. When he gave her hand a gentle squeeze, his talons clicked together.

It was a terrifying sound.

He led them to the construction elevator. Seling pushed her in, then handed her the control box. “Go up.”

“Don’t leave me.”

“I won’t.” He touched her cheek with his cool, smooth talons. “But I don’t fit in there.”

“They’ll hear the elevator.”

“No, they won’t.”

She felt him move away, though she couldn’t see or hear him. “Seling.”

Panic and adrenaline were coursing through her. Her hands shook, her breath was shallow. She wanted to tell him…everything. Why she was the way she was, how scared she was of relationships and how much she liked him.

“See you at the top,” he said, and she thought she could hear a grin in his voice.

That calmed her. Cali nodded, closed her eyes and pushed the up button. The construction elevator jumped to life. Cali crouched down and held her breath as the elevator started up. The sound seemed impossibly loud. Why did Seling think they wouldn’t hear?

Because he was going to make a lot of noise.

There was an unholy crash. Glass shattered and metal screamed. The sound was followed by pops of gunfire.

“Seling.” Cali took her finger off the button, listening. There was nothing, and she bit down on her lip to hold back a scream. They’d killed him.
 

Another massive crash split the night air. Cali breathed out. Seling was okay. She pushed the button for the elevator again. When it shuddered to a stop, she dropped to her knees and felt for the floor with her hands. It was there, the elevator having stopped just short of level.

Cali carefully crawled out.

Moonlight streamed around her, unhindered by walls, making it brighter than on the ground. While she was glad to be able to see, she also didn’t want to make herself a target. Crawling to one of the massive steel supports, she wedged herself into the well made by the H shape. She held her phone in one hand, keeping the screen covered but hoping that, at this height, it might get a signal.
 

She heard a snap, then a thump. Cali held her breath.

“Cali.” Seling’s voice was low, rough with pain.

Flinging herself out of her hiding place, she looked around for Seling. He was crouched at the edge, wings outspread.

A sob caught in her throat, Cali ran to him.

“Come away from the edge.”

“No, I need to watch for them.”

“You’re hurt, you need to rest.”
 

He looked at her, massive dark eyes glittering in the moonlight.

“I’ll be back.” He threw himself off the building.
 

Cali bit back a scream, dropped to her hands and knees and crawled the edge. She couldn’t see him. But she did hear a whooshing noise and see a flash of light. A moment later, metal screamed and the service elevator dropped out of sight. It clanked and crashed as it careened to the ground floor. As it crashed, Seling appeared, crawling up an exterior steel beam.

He struggled to pull himself up the last bit. Cali grabbed the upper rib of one wing and heaved, though she might have been trying to move an SUV for all the good it did.
 

Seling flopped down and together they got him away from the edge.

“That’s enough,” he said, panting. He lay on his side, wings spread out flat behind him. There were trails of black blood pouring from holes in his side, shoulder and just below his right nipple.

“Seling, you’re hurt.”

“It’s, ugh, not that bad. I took out the elevator and the stairs.”

“Yes, it is that bad.” Cali pulled off her jacket and pressed it over the hole in his chest. The others didn’t seem like much of a threat.

“I’ll be okay.”

“How? How will you be okay?” The tears of fear and anger she’d been holding back were on her lashes, squeezing the back of her throat.

“I don’t know,” he said bleakly. “But I will not be taken by them again.”

“Again? Seling, who is it? Who are these people?”

“Blackwolf. They’re humans—a militia.”

“They’re the ones who killed Runako’s sister, and who…who…”

“Who tortured me.” His breathing was ragged between the whispered words. “They dissected, tortured, killed Runako’s sister.”

And they were doing the same to me when Runako and Margo rescued me.”

Cali sat down with a thump. She knew this, she’d heard this story before, but somehow it had never been real until now. She hadn’t thought about what Seling must have endured before they got him out.
 

“I didn’t realize.”

“I guess I’m not Batman. If I was, I’d be much more tormented because of my past.” His laugh turned in to a wet, agonizing cough.

“Don’t, don’t talk.” Cali scooted so he could lay his head on her lap. She rested her hand on his cheek, which was scorching to the touch. Was that normal or was he getting hotter because he was hurt?

“Talk to me,” he said, sounding almost sleepy.

“I will, I will, but you stay awake. You hear me?” Cali twisted his face so he had to look at her. “Do not go to sleep.”

He nodded.

Cali settled herself, alert for any sound, either of attack or rescue. There were a million questions that needed answers—what about the security? Were they all dead or had they betrayed her and let these men in? Had Blackwolf seen the photos on the blog or had someone tipped them off directly?

But right now she had no answer. All she could do was wait. Either they’d be rescued or the Blackwolf men would find a way up here.

Until then, Cali would watch over him. It was all she could do.

“My dad is from Iran.”

“Where’s that?”

“No talking.” She pressed her fingers to his lips. “It’s in the Middle East. We don’t have time for a history of the region, but the short version is that the leader of Iran was kicked out and a lot of people left. My dad was one of them. He was smart, successful. Even after he gave up everything to come to the U.S., he was successful because he worked hard.”

Cali tried to dim the admiration in her voice. A therapist had told her she idolized her father, but she didn’t care. He was the best man she’d ever known.

“He’d never married. It was unusual, and one time he told me about how all the old married women who’d also fled the fall of the shah would try and set him up with their daughters.

“But my father fell in love with an American. A woman from a wealthy O.C. family. She was in real estate, like my dad was, and sold condos in one of the first buildings my father constructed.”

Cali stroked Seling’s hair, listened to his breathing. She wasn’t sure if he was still awake. And if he
was
asleep or passed out, she didn’t know if she should wake him. Instead she kept telling her story, doing her best to distract both of them from the agonizing wait.

“My mother was pretty and smart but also a complete bitch. She married my father because he was rich. I don’t think she ever loved him, not really. But my father couldn’t see what she was. When I was a child, I could tell that her smiles were lies. I was scared of her, didn’t trust her, but how does a little kid explain that?

“Whenever she was with my father, she was the perfect blonde wife. She fawned on him, smiled and laughed. I could see how much my father loved her.”

There was a bang, and Cali froze, holding her breath. The sound didn’t repeat.
 

“Keep talking.”
 

Cali looked down. “I thought you were asleep.”

“You told me not to sleep.”

“And now you’re going to start listening to me?” Keeping her voice at a whisper, Cali continued her story. “By the time I was in middle school, my parents’ marriage was unraveling. My mother had stopped hiding her affairs and sometimes she’d be gone for days at a time. That wasn’t even the worst part of it.

“She’d been using my father, using him to further her pseudo-career, to maintain the lifestyle she wanted but didn’t want to work for. She wanted to attend lavish parties, mingle with the super wealthy and once a year sell some multimillion-dollar home.
 

“What she didn’t want was a somber Persian man who’d worked all his life, so much that when he was forty he looked fifty. And she didn’t want a child.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I stopped loving her when I was in middle school. That sounds cold, but it’s true. I loved my father, but she was just some bitch making the man I loved miserable.