Call to Arms (War of the Fae: Book 2) (42 page)

When I went back, I sat across the aisle from them, taking the window seat in the same row as Chase.
 
That way I didn’t have to look at his face.
 
I grabbed a blanket from under the seat and covered myself from toe to neck.
 
Luckily, my seat reclined all the way back to make a pretty comfortable bed.
 
I ignored Spike and Finn who I knew were itching to tease me and closed my eyes, planning to sleep as long as possible on our long trip.
 
Tim joined me on my pillow and flopped down on his back, obviously preparing to fall asleep next to my face.
 
I opened one eye and warned, “One fart and you’re outta here.
 
And make sure you sleep on your side so you don’t snore.”

Tim yawned as he flipped over.
 
“Do you have any idea how much you sound like a pixie wife?”

“Whatever.
 
You’ve been warned.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah ... ” he said, as he drifted off to sleep.
 
That’s one thing I noticed about pixies – or at least, this pixie.
 
He fell asleep almost instantly.
 
I wished I could do that, especially now.
 
I wanted to escape my embarrassment in dreamland but it took a while for sleep to claim me.
 
I kept thinking about Chase and his muscles, Tony and this guy Ben, and what I was going to say to Tony when I saw him – that is, assuming he’d agree to see me at all.

We arrived at the smaller executive airfield next to Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach.
 
It was late afternoon, almost the time Tony would be getting out of school.
 
We all got off the plane and collected our bags to take with us into the executive airport lounge where we went to regroup.
 
Tim stayed in my hair, which I had taken out of its ponytail so as to hide him better.

Jared made a phone call from a cell phone he took out of his bag.
 
I suddenly remembered my old cell phone and wondered what had happened to it.
 
The last time I saw it was when I took it to the airplane that had Ivar and his poison brew on board.
 
It’s funny how I hadn’t even thought about it in over a month, when before, it was like an extension of my hand.

Soon after Jared made his call, a hotel shuttle came to get us.
 
We were staying at the same chain hotel that had hosted our meeting and interviews in Miami.
 
I was sharing a room with Chase and Tim and all the other guys were next door.
 
After throwing our stuff on our beds, we all met down on the ground floor to finalize our plans.
 
Tim kept his fanny pack on, refusing to keep it at the hotel.

“Jayne, do you know Tony’s phone number?” asked Jared, holding out his phone.

“Yep.
 
I used to call it about ten times a day.”

“So, what are you going to say?”

“I’m going to ask him to meet me at the library at six o’clock.
 
That gives us enough time to grab a sandwich, ‘cause I’m starving.
 
Plus the library is a safe, public place, right?”

“Does this sound good to everyone?” Jared asked, looking around at all of us.

The guys nodded.
 
Tim said, “Yep!” from the back of my head.

I dialed Tony’s cell number and waited for him to pick up.
 
I was freaking out, listening to the sound of the ringing.
 
I couldn’t wait to hear his voice but I was also afraid to hear it – afraid it would be different or sound angry.

All my worrying was for nothing because he didn’t answer.
 
I hung up as his generic voicemail message started playing.

“Now what?
 
Should I text him?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

‘T. IT’S ME, JAYNE.
 
CAN U MEET AFTR SCHL?
 
LIBRY, 6PM?’

We sat around waiting to see if he would answer.

Five minutes later, the phone buzzed.
 
I grabbed it off the table in front of us and read the text.

‘HI JAYNE!
SHR. SEE U THR.
U CN MT BEN’

“
Shit.
 
He wants to bring Ben.”

“Tell him you want to meet privately and you can meet Ben later,” said Jared.

‘HOW BOUT JST U N ME?
I CN MT BEN LTR.
CAN’T WAIT!’

I could just picture Maggie the witch
yelling,
‘Lie!’
in my face at that last part of the text.
 
No, I really don’t want to meet Ben at all, Tony, thank you very much
.
 
But I had to lie just in case Ben was reading the texts.

The return text came back right away.

‘K.
 
C U SOON.’

“Huh.
 
That was easier than I thought it would be.”

I looked at the guys and they all had the same cautiously optimistic look on their faces that I know I did.
 

Finn stood up.
 
“Well, I’m starvin’.
 
Let’s go grab some grub.
 
I’d kill for a juicy burger right now.”

“There’s a burger place about two minutes from the school if you guys want to eat there.”

“I want some pineapple,” said Tim.

“They have a mixed fruit plate too.
 
But Tim, you’re not gonna eat that shit in my hair.”

I could hear him grumbling something about pixies getting no respect.

“Great.
 
We’ll take a taxi,” said Jared.

Jared handled the transportation and within thirty minutes we were at the grill ordering our burgers and fries plus a side of two chunks of pineapple picked out of a mixed fruit cup.
 
I took Tim into the bathroom so he could eat his pineapple in a stall while I pretended to pee.
  
We had almost an hour before the meeting.
 
The library was close to the school and it would probably take us about ten minutes of walking to get there.
 
Luckily the weather was cooperating, meaning it wasn’t raining like it did a lot of the time here at this time of year.
 
It was horribly humid, but that was normal.

The closer it got to six, the more nervous I became.
 
At five-thirty we left the burger place and went to the library.
 
Tony and I used to study on the second level, in the back where it was quieter.
 
There were several rows of bookshelves there on either side of the banks of study tables, so the guys went and stationed themselves between them where they could remain hidden from Tony’s view.
 
Tim stayed with Finn in one of his front shirt pockets.
 
I sat at one of the tables, cell phone in hand.
 
Chase sat next to me, a book open in front of him.
 
He looked pretty funny sitting there, trying to act like he was studying.
 
I didn’t think he would fool anyone, especially since he rarely turned a page, and when he did, it was in reverse order.
 
No one else was back there though so it didn’t matter.
 
I couldn’t see the other guys from where I was sitting.
 
I got this weird feeling that we were doing some kind of sting operation instead of having a reunion.
 
It didn’t feel good to me at all.

I heard the soft fall of footsteps on the carpeted floor coming from around the corner.
 
I stood up anxiously as I saw a guy in jeans and ragged flannel coming towards me.
 
If I hadn’t seen Tony in my astral travels, I would have watched him walk right by without recognizing him.
 
He looked totally different.
 
Chase nudged me from under the table but didn’t move from his seat.

I pushed my chair back and ran over.
 
I couldn’t help myself – I jumped into this stranger’s arms, squeezing him for all I was worth.
 
At first he just stood there, his arms hanging down by his sides.
 
I felt the tears threaten at this one-sided love attack.
 
Before I thought too much about it I said, “Tony, you’d better fucking hug me back or I’m gonna have to kick your ass right here in the library.”

I felt him laugh once over my shoulder and then his arms reluctantly went around me and squeezed back.
 
He rested his head on my shoulder for a second and said, “I can still feel your vibe.
 
All this time I wasn’t sure if it was you, but now I know it was.
 
It was you all along.”

I pulled back for a second to look at his face.
 
I put my hands up on his cheeks.
 
“You look so different, I almost didn’t recognize you.
 
What the hell happened?”

Tony looked around nervously.
 
“Lots of stuff.
 
I’d rather not talk about it here.”

I looked around too, slowly dropping my hands from his face.
 
“Is there something wrong?”

“No.”

I didn’t believe him.
 
Something was off.

“Come on, Tony, it’s me.
 
Tell me what’s going on.”

Tony looked me in the eye and reached up, putting his hand on my arm.
 
He looked like he was getting ready to say something, but then a voice spoke up from behind him.

“Hey, Tony, what’s up, man?
 
I didn’t know you were gonna be here.”

Tony smiled and turned around, dropping his hand from my arm.
 
“Hey Ben!
 
I didn’t know you were going to be here either.
 
What’s up?”

“Nothin’.
 
Just hangin’.
 
Who’s this?”

Tony stepped to the side and I got my first look at my new arch nemesis
.
 
Ben.
 

I was not prepared for the utter gorgeousness that greeted my eyes.
 
He had dark tousled hair, a little on the long side and nearly black, and very dark green eyes.
 
At first I thought they were brown but he turned his head a little and I saw them in the light.
 
His skin was tanned and super smooth.
 
He had the sculpted full lips, a strong but narrow nose, high cheekbones and the squared jaw of a male model from some foreign country.
 
He was bigger than Tony but smaller than Chase, with a broad, muscular chest and shoulders.
 
Holy Blessed Mother Fucker Be.
 
He must have the girls at school drooling like dogs over one hell of a meaty bone.
 
I hoped like hell Spike had his little medallion with him right now so he could breathe through the sexy thoughts I was having at this moment, because,
hoo-boy!
 
This guy was gorgeous.
 
Well ... in a bad guy, awful person kind of way.

I saw his eyebrow rise up in appraisal of me.
 
I’m not sure if he liked what he saw or not, but I didn’t care.
 
I saw the nervous look on my Tony’s face and I knew I had to get him the hell away from this gorgeous monster.

Tony held his hand out towards me and smiled.
 
“This is Jayne.
 
Jayne, this is Ben.”

Ben held his hand out.
 
“Nice to meet you, Jayne.”

I reached out to take his hand and shook it.
 
“Nice to meet you too.”
 
Lie!

I felt the heat as soon as we touched.
 
It wasn’t normal heat.
 
It was fire heat.
 
I didn’t even think about it before I did it – it was an automatic reaction.
 
I reached out to The Green of Florida, through the ley line I was happy to discover running under the library, and it answered me with lightning quickness.
 
It surged into my burning hand and put the fire out like someone had dumped a handful of ice into my palm.
 
I smiled serenely at Ben.
 
“I’m so glad to finally meet the guy who
tried
to steal my Tony away.”
 
Emphasis on the ‘tried’, asshole.

He smiled shrewdly back at me, dropping my hand and subconsciously rubbing his palm that had just touched mine with the fingers of his other hand.
 
“I wasn’t aware that he was
your
Tony.”

“Oh, he is.
 
Trust me.”

Tony reached up and patted my shoulder.
 
“She always was a little possessive.”

“Really?” said Ben, staring me in the eye, his anger barely checked.

“You have
no
idea,” I said, my underlying threat unmistakable.