Deadlocked (The Harry Russo Diaries Book 3) (16 page)

I awoke with a start, feeling the bed move. I opened my
eyes, instantly regretting it as a stabbing pain split my head in half. Or at
least, that’s what it felt like. I opened my eyes again, feeling disoriented.
I didn’t recognize where I was. I looked around, blinking carefully. Oh
yeah. I was in
my
suite in Salvador’s penthouse. I took a quick look
under the covers to confirm what I already knew. I was buck naked. Where the
hell were my clothes and how did I get here? The bed moved again and I
suddenly remembered why I woke up.

“Here,” Nash stood in front of me, dressed only in his
briefs. He held out two little white pills and a glass of water. “Judging
from the empty bottle of Patron in the bathroom, you better take these. You’re
going to need them.”

I groaned, the bath and the bottles of Patron suddenly
coming back to me. Oh, and Isaac seeing me naked and helping me into bed. Awesome.

“I thought you had to work,” I said sullenly.

“I did, now shut up and take these. We’ll fight about everything
later after we both get some sleep.”

“Fine,” I said, grabbing the pills and the glass. I tossed
the pills in my mouth and chugged the entire glass of water, holding the empty
glass out to Nash. The corner of his mouth twitched as he took it. I flopped
back down, wrapping myself like a mummy in the covers, ignoring him. The bed
dipped again and the covers were wrenched from my hands, cool air washing up
against my back.

Before I could complain, I was spooned up against Nash’s
warm, hard body, his arm wrapping around me, holding me close. “Go to sleep,
Harry,” he growled, his breath tickling the back of my neck.

“Fine,” I whispered, already half asleep.

***

I woke with a start and looked around. Oh yeah, I was still
at Salvador’s. Nash was snoring quietly next to me in bed, his hand possessively
on my thigh. My head was splitting and I regretfully remembered killing two,
six hundred dollar bottles of tequila the night before. I also remembered
everything else. What a night. I shook my head, trying to clear the cobwebs.
I needed to go home.

I slipped carefully out of bed, trying my best to not wake
Nash. I really wasn’t feeling up to having our
conversation
. There
were things we definitely needed to hash out, but first thing in the morning
when I had a raging headache and was starving, wasn’t the best time. We could
yell at each other later.

I slipped into the bathroom and took care of a few
necessities, coming back into the bedroom dressed in my jeans and sweater from
the night before. The enormous dressing room had revealed a stash of undies in
one of the many drawers. It squicked me out for a moment, thinking about
Salvador buying underwear for me - who wants their dad to buy their undies
after all? But then I remembered that he probably used a personal shopper and
I felt better. For some reason a complete stranger buying my underwear didn’t
bother me.

I was passing by the bed, heading for the door, when Nash
rolled over and muttered.

“It’s your birthday.”

“What? No, it isn’t. My birthday’s in January.”

“No, the elevator code,” Nash replied, lifting his head from
the pillow to look at me. “It’s your birthday, day, month, year.”

“Seriously?” Huh. I wouldn’t have figured Salvador for the
sentimental type.

“Yeah, it’s always been that. I didn’t realize it though until I met you and then I just thought it was a coincidence.”

“Oh, okay, um, thanks.” I sidled from one foot to another
not sure what I should do. So much for my quick get-away.

“You’re sneaking off because you don’t want to talk to me.”
Nash’s voice was quiet, more matter-of-fact than accusing.

“No, it’s not that.” I chewed my lip for a moment. “Okay,
it
is
that, but I do want to talk to you, only just not right now. My
head is killing me and I just need to go home.”

“Take my truck. The keys are on the dresser.”

“No, I can’t do that. What about you?”

“Yes, you can,” Nash said patiently. “I brought the Harley
over last night.”

My heart did a little pitty-pat. Even though he was angry
with me last night, he thought about the fact that I would need a ride home.
“Okay, thanks.” I turned to leave then turned back. “Nash?”

“Yeah Harry?” He sounded half asleep.

“Thanks for coming back last night.”

“I’ll always come back for you, Harry.”

***

The ride home was uneventful. I found Nash’s truck right
where we had left it the night before in the parking garage beside Dante’s. As
soon as I stepped out the side door, I picked up a tail. I wasn’t worried
though because it was Jon and Mike, my usual two werewolf babysitters. At the
garage, Jon came up and climbed in the passenger side of the truck while Mike
hopped in their car to follow us.

“I’m going to ride with you,” he said, making it obvious that
it was a statement and not a question.

“Sure, whatever.”

When we pulled up to the firehall, I passed by the front
slowly and looked into the coffee shop. The place was hopping. With a twinge
of guilt, I remembered that I still hadn’t had the time to hire anyone to work
days so Tiffy was in there all by herself holding down the fort.

I parked the truck and hustled around front and inside the
shop, Jon and Mike on my heels. I grabbed one of our plain black aprons and
tied it around my waist, pushed up my sleeves and immediately set to work
clearing dirty dishes. Tiffy threw me a grateful look and I smiled an apology
back at her.

My head was still throbbing, but I threw myself into the
work because the best cure for a hangover was to be too busy to feel sorry for
yourself. That, and another dose of painkillers followed by an espresso
chaser. When I saw what Hilde had been baking the night before, I also decided
that the cure involved several
pain au chocolat
, a sticky toffee bun and
a quickly thrown together turkey sandwich on pumpernickel bread.

After the morning rush, things quieted down, the lull before
the lunch storm more than likely. I was beginning to wonder what I had gotten
myself into, opening the coffee shop. I never expected it to be so busy. I’d
have to get around to hiring at least a couple more people very soon.

Tess came in and I filled her in on the events of the night
before while loading the dishwashers up.

“Your mom is alive? I mean, well, you know.” She looked at
me in shock.

“I know, right? It kind of blows your mind.” I mimed my
head exploding with my hands.

“So what did she have to say? Where has she been all these
years?”

“Beats me. It wasn’t exactly a moving reunion. I don’t
think she’s particularly the maternal type.” I was surprised at the bitterness
that crept into my voice.

“So what now?”

“I don’t know. I guess I’ll talk to her tonight at
the banquet.” I made a face. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to going
back to Dante’s. “Right now though, I really need to see if Gran is around. I
need to talk to her.” I looked at Tess, giving her my best version of puppy
eyes. “Would you stick around and help Tiffy out for a while? I’ll be back in
time for the lunch rush, promise.”

“Sure, but I’m taking my wages in
pain au chocolat
.”

***

There was no sign of Gran in the apartment. I hadn’t seen
her for a couple of days. Not since our last encounter. I contemplated trying
to summon her, but in the end decided against it. Maybe she had finally
crossed over. If she had, I didn’t want to call her back.

Since I had some time on my hands before the lunch crowd
arrived, I went down to the flower shop to check in with Mrs. Potts.
Everything was running smoothly of course, no worries there, which allowed me
the time I needed to create five more true sight amulets. I’d give them to
Nash to give to the SRU teams following Juan Carlo. Hopefully his murder spree
was over, but if he did go out hunting, the amulets would help to catch him.

I was finishing up – I had one last amulet to charm - when I
felt a familiar presence. I turned to see Nash standing in the doorway of my workroom.
He was leaning against the door frame, arms crossed.

“Oh, hi,” I said, feeling awkward.

“Hey minx.” Nash smiled.

“I’m just finishing up. Give me a few minutes?”

“Sure. I didn’t mean to interrupt. Mrs. Potts told
me to come on back.”

“That’s okay. I’m almost done.” Nash took a few more steps
into the room. “Just stay clear of the circle,” I added, indicating the pale
white circle of sand on the floor encompassing my workbench.

Nash held up his hands in front of him. “Oh yeah, don’t
worry. I won’t go near it.” He smiled sheepishly. “I remember last time.”

For a minute I didn’t know what he was talking about, but
then I remembered the circle I had set in the ground when we confronted
Navarre. Nash, or rather his wolf, had broken it, destroying the protection it
had offered us.

“Well, it wouldn’t be as dire as last time if you did. I
just don’t want to have to redraw it and start over.”

Nash took another step, staying close to the wall in order
to avoid coming too close to my circle. “I’ll just wait over here, if that’s
okay.” He pointed to the bench along the wall.

“Sure. It won’t be much of a show though.”

Nash crossed the room and I went back to my task. I held
the small pouch filled with rue, mugwort and wormwood in my right hand, placing
the back of my left hand over top. I have to admit to feeling a little
self-conscious with Nash watching. I rarely spelled in front of anyone.
Taking a cleansing breath to clear my mind, I silently chanted the spell. The
bag warmed in my hand and there was a little sparkle of light and that was it.
Like I said, it wasn’t much of a show.

I placed the amulet in the box with the others and then
looked at Nash. “All done,” I said with a tentative smile. “Just let me clean
up.” I grabbed a small cylindrical container and placed it in the middle of my
workspace. I caught Nash’s eye and gave him a ‘watch-this’ look and then held
up my index finger on my right hand. Nash looked at me skeptically and I
smiled mischievously.

I gave my finger a quick twirl in the air, circling it
around and around and then breathed out a quiet command, “
Revenio
.” The
sandy circle surrounding me began to swirl, circling the workbench and slowly
rising from the floor. It circled me several times, gaining momentum and then
suddenly the circle broke apart and a line of sand flowed inward, straight into
the container I had placed on the workbench. The container rattled and jumped
against the counter top with the force of the sand returning to its keeping.
With a final ‘whoosh’ the last of the sand disappeared inside and the container
was full. I snapped on the lid and glanced at Nash. He had an amazed look on
his face.

“Wow,” he said, his eyes wide.

I shrugged. “I can’t really take credit for that one. The
sand is spelled.” I dusted a few bits and pieces of rue into the trash can
beside the workbench. “A witch I know from the coven makes it.” And she was
making a fortune selling it across the globe. It sure made setting a
protective circle a lot easier. You just needed to be able to invoke the two
key words, one to set the circle, the other to bring it down.

I fidgeted about, cleaning non-existent bits of stuff off
the workbench. I felt awkward and unsure of how to start the conversation we
needed to have.

“Do you want something cold to drink? I have soda or water
in the fridge.” I pointed to the little apartment size fridge under the
counter along the wall.

“Sure.” Nash went over and opened the door. “Do you want
something?”

“I’ll take a soda, please.” I needed the sugar after
spellcasting.

Nash grabbed a bottle for each of us and walked over to hand
it to me. As I took the bottle I met his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” we both said at once. We stopped and looked at
each other. Nash’s mouth twitched into a little grin and I shrugged.

“Listen –”

“Harry –”

We both started and stopped again. I lifted a hand to Nash indicating
he should go first and then waited, my arms wrapped around me, suddenly feeling
cold.

Nash shrugged. “Normally, I would say ladies first, but I
want to say something.” He ran a hand through his hair and let out a deep
breath. “Harry, I’m sorry. I really am.” He huffed out another breath. “I
was an insensitive ass last night. All I was thinking about was how you had
kept the information about Salvador from me. I didn’t even really consider how
his announcing it to everyone would affect you or think about how you must feel
with your mother suddenly appearing, back from the dead.” He reached out for
me and then pulled his hand back, waiting. “I was a real jerk. Can you
forgive me?”

I stood for a moment and then let out a slow breath. “Yes,”
I finally said. Nash let out a relieved sigh. “I can forgive you, but we need
to get some things straight.” I looked at him. “I wasn’t keeping things from
you.” I put up a hand to stop Nash from speaking. “I wasn’t. I only just
found out about Salvador myself, the night I came home from the hospital.” I
absently rubbed the condensation off my drink bottle. “I wanted to tell you.
I
planned
to tell you. There just never seemed to be the right time.”
I frowned. “I guess truthfully, I was avoiding telling you because I was still
trying to wrap my head around it myself.” I wrenched the cap off my soda and
took a long drink and then stared at my feet, not wanting to make eye contact
with him.