Charming Blue (17 page)

And that was what he couldn’t tell Dr. Hargrove.

“I promise,” Blue said, “once this crisis is resolved, I will check myself back in.”

Doctor Hargrove tilted his head, and Blue braced himself. This time, the response would be patronizing. And Blue wasn’t sure he blamed Dr. Hargrove. As Blue had spoken those words, he had heard how stupid they had sounded. Who checked themselves back in after fleeing a place like this?

Except for him, of course. He had done it a dozen times, mostly because Tank forced him.

He could probably stay here, but it didn’t feel right. He needed to see what was going on for himself.

“Blue,” Dr. Hargrove said in his most patronizing tone, “that hasn’t worked in the past.”

“Well, there’s always a first time,” Blue said. “I’m checking myself out, no matter what you say.”

Doctor Hargrove crossed his arms. “Are you leaving with Ms. Walters?”

“Yes,” Blue said, even though he hadn’t asked her. He hadn’t told her any of his plan. Maybe he
was
acting like an impulsive alcoholic.

“Are you sure that’s wise?” Dr. Hargrove asked.

Blue felt a surge of panic. Had he told Dr. Hargrove about his dark side when he was drunk? He never thought he had.

“After all,” Dr. Hargrove continued, “she’s not trained to handle a recovering alcoholic.”

Doctor Hargrove was making an assumption. He had no idea who the real Jodi was. Blue let out a small sigh, forcing some of the panic to escape with it.

“She’s just going to take me to a place in Anaheim,” Blue said. “It’s that recovery house I’ve used before.”

He had listed the Archetype Place as his recovery home on at least three occasions. The first time, the rehab center had checked the Archetype Place out, and someone had to magick the center’s representative so he didn’t see the dwarves and fairies and griffins and other so-called mythical creatures that visited the place every day.

In the end, the center had approved the Archetype Place as a recovery facility. And even though the rehab center called to update its files every now and then, it hadn’t tried to prevent him from going there in the past.

“Can you guarantee that you’re going there?” Dr. Hargrove asked.

“Yes,” Blue said.

“Then here’s what I want you to do,” Dr. Hargrove said. “I want you to check in with me on a regular basis, and I need to see you at least once a week.”

“All right,” Blue said. This was easier than he had expected.

“I’ll release you on an outpatient basis, and I’ll give you a list of local meetings. You must attend at least one per day.”

Or
what?
Blue wanted to ask. But he didn’t, because he didn’t want to complicate this any further.

“Thank you,” Blue said. “You won’t regret this.”

“Oh,” Dr. Hargrove said, “I’m regretting it already. But you’ve made some progress. You’re talking with a woman. You’re caring about things outside of yourself. Maybe you need someone to trust you just a little. I’m going to do that.”

But Blue could hear the words that Dr. Hargrove left unspoken.
I’m going to do that, even though it goes against my own best judgment
.

“I appreciate it,” Blue said. “I’m going to let Ms. Walters know what I’m up to, and then I’m going to get my things.”

“I’ll have the release documents waiting for you at the front desk,” Dr. Hargrove said, “along with a date and time for your first appointment. Do you want me to call ahead to the Archetype Place and let them know you’re coming?”

“That’s not necessary,” Blue said. “Ms. Walters has already been in touch with them.”

And strangely enough, that wasn’t a lie.

“I wish you the best with this, Blue,” Dr. Hargrove said. “You’re an unorthodox man. Perhaps an unorthodox method of treatment might just work.”

He extended his hand. It took Blue just a second to realize that Dr. Hargrove wanted to shake on this. So Blue took his hand and shook.

Then Dr. Hargrove nodded and headed down the hall.

Blue felt a pang as he watched the man go. For all his quirks and his mistaken judgments, Dr. Hargrove had done his best by Blue.

Blue owed it to him to resolve this.

Blue owed it to himself as well.

Chapter 22

Jodi hadn’t moved from her chair, but she kept glancing through the glass at Blue and Hargrove. They stood just outside the door. Hargrove looked upset. He kept gesturing, but Blue looked immobile. His back was straight, and he looked strong.

Until this morning, she had never seen him look strong.

Tank climbed out of the purse. “Should we do something?”

“You should get back in that purse,” Jodi said.

Tank stuck her tongue out. “No one is looking at me,” she said as she flew upward.

For a minute, Jodi thought Tank was going to fly right in front of one of the cameras, but she didn’t. Tank just zoomed around the room as if staying in that purse had seriously cramped her style. (It probably had.)

Then she stopped in front of the glass, staying up high so that Hargrove wouldn’t notice her. (Or might not notice her. Jodi wasn’t sure which. Not that it mattered. What mattered was Blue, the Fairy Tale Stalker, and that damn curse, which was starting to freak her out the longer she had to think about it.)

“That doctor guy, he looks mad,” Tank said.

Jodi resisted the urge to stand up. But Hargrove’s body language had tension in it. He seemed upset. Blue had crossed his arms. He kept nodding his head just a little, the way people did when they were emphasizing something.

The power relationship between the two men was changing, and Hargrove didn’t know how to deal with it.

Then he nodded once and spoke to Blue. Blue looked determined. Hargrove extended his hand. Blue shook it. Then Hargrove walked away.

Jodi exhaled. She hadn’t realized that she had been holding her breath, but she had. She was nervous. For Blue? For Tank? Or for herself?

Probably all of the above.

Blue watched Hargrove walk away. Then Blue moved once toward the corridor and seemed to decide against it, pushing open the door.

Tank fluttered down toward him.

“You should be in the purse,” he said as he walked across the room.

Tank stuck her tongue out at him too, but he clearly couldn’t see it. His back was to her, and his gaze was on Jodi.

He looked… different. Stronger. Straighter. Handsomer, if that was possible. His blue eyes blazed, and she got a very real sense of power from him.

But she got no sense of danger.

Her heart started to pound. She stood up, mostly because she couldn’t continue sitting any longer.

“What was that?” she asked.

“I have a favor to ask of you.” His voice was shaking just a little. That confidence she had seen vanished with the very first word. “Would you mind driving me out of here? I told Dr. Hargrove you would, but I’ll arrange something else if you need me to—”

Tank whooped. Then she pumped her tiny fists and whooped again. “Finally!” she said.

Blue’s mouth opened, and he frowned at Tank. Then he must have realized he was looking at her, and that the cameras would find her as well, because he turned his head toward Jodi. But he wasn’t looking at her. He was clearly watching Tank out of the corner of his eyes.

“You’re the one who kept bringing me here, Tank,” he said with just a touch of annoyance.

Good
point
, Jodi thought. But she wasn’t going to get into the middle of this.

“Yes, I did,” Tank said. “But you’ve never decided to leave before. You waited until they kicked you out.”

She whooped again, and then flew in dizzying circles, leaving little glowy swirls in the air.

Jodi hoped the cameras wouldn’t pick that up. She tried to ignore Tank’s euphoria.

“Where would I take you?” Jodi asked Blue. Her heart was still pounding so hard that she could almost hear it. Did she really want to be alone with this man? Would she be alone or would Tank be with her? Could Tank defend her? Could she defend herself?

And what was she so frightened of?

“I told Dr. Hargrove you’d take me to the Archetype Place,” Blue said. “But they’re not real fond of me there. Still, I’m sure they’d help me find an apartment—”

“I thought you had a place,” Tank said.

Blue shook his head.

“You
said
you had a place,” Tank said, her voice rising.

Blue shook his head again. He was not looking at her, which was a good thing, because Tank was getting visibly angry. She had stopped flying and she was hovering near him.

“Tank,” Jodi said. “The cameras.”

“You
told
me
you had a place to live,” Tank said again, so firmly that she sounded like she was much larger. “You lied to me.”

Blue closed his eyes. “Let it go, Tank.”

“I hate it when people lie to me,” Tank said.

“Purse,” Jodi repeated.

Tank shot her a furious glance and then flew to the ceiling. She stuck close to it and moved to a far corner, probably out of camera range.

At least Jodi hoped it was out of camera range.

“It doesn’t matter right now, Tank,” Blue said.

“It does right now,” Tank said, her words echoing with fury. “We have nowhere to take you. Selda won’t help you get another apartment. Not after what happened to the last one.”

“What happened to the last one?” Jodi asked in spite of herself.

Blue closed his eyes. “I—you don’t want to know.”

“I do, actually,” Jodi said. But she wouldn’t tell him why. She wasn’t about to tell him she had access to some apartments.

“He says he trashed the place,” Tank said. “I don’t believe it. He’d never trashed a place in his life. I think he let some of his homeless friends in there, and they trashed the place after I brought him here a couple of trips ago. But he says no.”

“Tank,” Blue said, “it’s irrelevant. What matters is this: we need to continue our discussion, and we can’t do it here. I worked a long time last night on those clippings Jodi gave me and I want to talk about them.”

He paused. Jodi could see him thinking about how much more he wanted to say. And then he stopped.

The man kept a lot of things close to the chest. Normally she respected that, but in this case it worried her.

Everything about him worried her.

And intrigued her at the same time.

“You also want to talk about the curse,” Jodi said. “About what’s been happening to you.”

He shrugged one shoulder and bowed his head. “I didn’t mean to get you involved in this.”

“And you didn’t get me involved,” Jodi said. “Tank did. So any time you feel like taking responsibility for the fact that the curse is on me too, blame Tank.”

“Hey!” Tank said.

Blue frowned. He moved his head toward Tank, then stopped himself again, keeping those amazing blue eyes on Jodi.

She made sure he was focusing on her before she spoke again.

“Realize this,” she said. “If Tank and I are right, then Tank has done you a favor. Maybe the biggest favor anyone can do for another person.”

Blue blinked, as if he didn’t quite understand. Or maybe he was having trouble processing. After all, he had thought of himself as an out-of-control psychopath, when really he just suffered under one major curse.

“I do him a favor,” Tank muttered. “The biggest favor anyone can do for another person, and then he calls me a bitch.”

“What?” Blue asked. “I didn’t call you anything.”

“‘
Ms. Walters’s pocket dog, Tank, is female as well
,’” Tank said, mimicking Blue’s voice exactly. “What is that if not a bitch?”

Blue blinked again, then looked at Jodi, who couldn’t help herself. She smiled. He smiled too, and it seemed to soften him.

Not to mention what it did to those marvelous blue eyes.

Wow. He hadn’t even turned on the charm, and she could feel it. She was going to have to watch herself.

“I’ll drive you out of here,” Jodi said, partly so he wouldn’t have to answer Tank on the bitch comment. “And I’ll help you figure out what to do next.”

He let out a small breath. All of that power, all of that confidence, seemed to fade with the breath.

“Thank you,” he said. “I just have to grab a few things and then I’m ready to go.”

“I’ll take these papers to the car,” Jodi said.

He nodded and hurried toward the door. When he reached it, he turned.

“Thank you again. You don’t have to do this, you know.”

“I know,” she said. “Believe me, I know.”

Chapter 23