On Pins and Needles: Sierra Fox, Book 3 (7 page)

“So, how was your day?” he asked, squeezing my hand.

“I’m not having the best day, to be honest.” I sighed, not wanting to get into any of the crappy things that had happened. “Although it looks like my night’s going to be just fine.”

“Oh yeah, you can count on that.” He leaned closer to my ear. “I’ve got plans for you and me, and I’m pretty sure you’re going to like them.”

I hoped those plans involved a bed and no clothes, but I didn’t voice my thoughts.

“What made your day so bad?” he asked.

I hesitated for a moment. Maybe I shouldn’t tell him the whole sordid story, but I did want to start this relationship with an honest note. I’d kept a lot from him in the past and still hadn’t come clean on all of it. I knew he wasn’t exactly open about everything in his life either, but I didn’t mind. I wanted to set my own pace for sharing. I was already at the stage where I wanted to tell him everything.

“Well, I went to see my friend Lavie—”

“The demon hunter?”

“Yeah, that’s the one,” I said with a smile. “Anyway, I dropped by her aunt’s store because I wanted her to help me with the research I’ve been doing.”

He nodded, because he knew exactly what I was talking about. He’d read some of those
Obscurus
files with me.

“And nearly got run over…”
 

He came to a sudden stop, tightened his hold on my hand as he turned to face me. “What?”

“It was nothing—an accident.”

“Did you get hurt?” He looked me up and down, his eyes shiny.

“No, I used the protection incantation but I’d cleared the road before getting hit anyway.”

Papan frowned thoughtfully. “Do you think it was intentional?”

I shrugged. I could tell myself a hundred times that it had been an accident, and try just as hard to convince him, but experience proved otherwise. I was expecting the next
Obscurus
member to strike at any moment, so this might have been it.

“Did you see the car?”

“Not really—”

“So you don’t know the make and model, color?”

I shook my head.

“What about the license plate?”

“I was too busy trying to get out of its path, Papan!” I exhaled, regretting the fact I’d even mentioned the damn car. “Besides, I was blinded by the headlights.”

He rubbed my cheek with the back of his hand. “You have to be extra careful out there, Foxy. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“I know that.” I didn’t want anything to happen to me either.

“And next time, try to take more notice of the small details.”

I snorted. “Yeah, okay, Mr. PI. I’ll make sure I can describe my surroundings perfectly for you. And thanks for mentioning there’ll be a next time.”

He winked. “With you, there’s always a next time. Come on.”

We continued in silence until we reached the café.

“Anyway, while I was in Sally’s store, she saw my death in the tea leaves.”

Papan froze in mid-motion before holding the door open for me. “Tea leaves can be wrong,” he said, following me inside.

I took a deep, warm breath, sucking in the atmosphere. The warm yellow light helped the cozy ambience of this popular café, and the chill I still carried in my bones faded. It wasn’t a big place, but roomy all the same. The main counter was equipped with several registers and contained a curved glass display, hosting an array of cakes, pastries and muffins. There were several wooden tables and chairs nearby, counters along the two side walls with stools, and four booths at the back.

We waited by the service counter and Papan ordered our drinks. He knew what I preferred, and when he asked what I wanted to eat I chose a blueberry muffin. He grabbed a chicken schnitzel sandwich and a slice of apple pie. The gym must have made him hungry.

He told the attendant we were eating in and the guy said he’d bring it all out to us when it was ready. I held Papan’s hand tighter as we headed towards the back, where two booths were unoccupied. The place was packed with couples and friends, all talking and enjoying coffee, tea, hot chocolate, sandwiches and pastries. Their collective, enthusiastic chatter hummed in the air.

I slid into the booth and Papan sat beside me. He moved in real close and placed an arm over the backrest. He kissed my cheek and pressed his nose into my hair. “Mmmm. You always smell so nice.”

“Thanks,” I said, feeling a little giddy. And glad his mood had lightened. “What do I smell like?”

“A combination of vanilla, lavender…you smell like home.”

“You’re quite the sweet talker, Jason Papan.”

He winked, but we were interrupted when the guy dropped off our coffees and food. Papan thanked him and the attendant left.

“Are you sure you don’t want a sandwich or something?” Papan asked.

“Nah, this is enough.” The anticipation and excitement of being with him made me too excited to eat much.

“You’re not worried about the death thing, are you?”

I shook my head. And honestly, out of everything that had happened today, that was the least of my concerns. For someone who’d lived with death for so long, I’d come to terms with the knowledge that it awaited me someday. Besides, predictions were so often vague. Seeing my death in the tea leaves could mean I was going to die tomorrow, next month, in a year, or maybe in ten.
 

“Good, because you’re not going anywhere.” Papan took a sip from his cup. “What else upset you?”

“Ebony’s still not talking to me,” I said. It made me sound like a petulant child, but he was aware of how much the distance between us affected me. “Actually, I tracked her down at Conrad’s and she pretty much told me to fuck off.”

“She used those words?”

“No.”

“That’s unlike her.”

I couldn’t help but grin. He could soften up any situation. “But seriously, I’m really worried about her. She doesn’t look well and told me she’s taking all of her annual leave right now. Roe said I should keep an eye on her, so I was kinda hoping to take her along for our meeting. You know, trick her into it.” I sighed. “But I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Papan grabbed a few of my curls and twirled them around his fingers. “You told me the same thing happened to both of you, right? And you’re not suffering any of the side effects, so maybe she just genuinely wants some time away from everything.”

“She’s definitely suffering from the side effects. She’s lost so much weight and looks gaunt.” I couldn’t shake the memory of her knobby knees or the bruises. Ebony had always been on the too-thin side, but she was closer to resembling a bag of bones now. “Besides, if Roe hadn’t given her a charmed adrenaline shot, she might not have woken up at all. I returned to my body instantly. I don’t know what effects being separated for so long had on her.”

“But she did wake up and she’s going to be okay.” Papan released my hair and intertwined his fingers with mine. “She just needs some time to get over this and accept it.”

“She blames me for what happened.”

He snorted. “I think that’s just a deflection. She probably feels stupid and maybe a little guilty for not listening when you tried to warn her. Don’t worry about her, she’ll come around. You can’t do much more than give her the distance she wants.”

“I don’t think I can. I need to make sure she’s okay—”

“So keep calling her, leave messages, and she’ll call you back when she’s ready.”

“Speaking of messages, Jonathan’s still at it.”

Papan’s jaw clenched tight. “Have you listened to any of them?”

I shook my head. “And I have no intention to, either.”

“Good, though I doubt that’ll stop him from calling.”

“He can call all he wants, but I’ll just keep ignoring him.” During the infamous night, while making our escape from inside the Spook Catcher Council, I’d seen my ex lurking in the dark. He actually sounded the alarm that got the authorities to the Tower. We narrowly missed being caught inside and I still didn’t know if that’s what he’d intended. But seeing him stalking around in the middle of such chaos had affected me so much the thought of even hearing his voice made my skin crawl.
 

Papan’s phone buzzed and he grabbed it from his pocket, glaring at the screen. “Shit, not again. I better answer it this time.” He placed it on the tabletop, pressed the speaker button and said, “Hello?”

“Hi, Jason, is that you?”

“You called my number, so yeah it’s me. What do you want this time, Anna?”

“Why haven’t you answered any of my calls? Where are you?”

“Hi Vixen, he’s with me.” I couldn’t help baiting her. Since Vixen—aka Anna Smith—the werewolf hunter, had been bitten by the black dog and infected with his lycanthropy, she continually hounded Papan like a stray in need of a master.

Silence suddenly filled the space between us. I thought she’d hung up, until she cleared her throat and started speaking to him again as if I wasn’t even there.

“Jason, I think something’s happening to me…”

“Something like what?” Impatience was written all over his face, but instead of voicing it, he kept his hand over mine and used the other to hold up half of his sandwich. He polished it off in seconds.

“I don’t know—you’re the one who knows about all this,” she whispered. “I need you.”

The last bit sounded too needy, especially for a werewolf hunter who had recklessly hunted Papan without giving up until she put all of our lives in danger and almost got herself killed.

“You need to get on with your life. Don’t act any differently. The last thing you want to do is catch the attention of any hunters,” Papan said.

“But—”

“I’m going to hang up now.”

“No, wait—”

He disconnected the call, and the phone started to ring instantly. He set it to silent and put it back in his pocket.

“Gee, she sounds kinda clingy,” I teased.

“You have no idea. I had to switch my phone off several times because she kept calling and sending me messages.” Papan shook his head. “The sooner the next full moon comes, the better. Then we’ll know for sure if she’s going to shift or not, because I’m sick and tired of babysitting her.”

“I’m sick of her too.” I bit my bottom lip. “Do you think that can really happen—her getting the attention of some hunter?”

He shrugged, polishing off the other half of his sandwich. “Don’t know, don’t care. I just need her off my back.”

It looked like we both had unfinished, clinging business with others at the moment.
 

“Oh, and to round off my perfect day”—I made air quotes around perfect—“I finally met my sister.”

“Oh yeah, how did it go?”

“It was strange,” I replied. “She’s just a kid—seventeen—but she’s got some serious issues.”

He frowned. “What kind of issues?”
 

“Yeah, you can keep frowning because my half-sister has some freaky poltergeist guy and his dog attached to her.”

“What?” He almost choked on his apple pie, but I smacked his back lightly and he took a long sip from his cup of coffee.

“You heard right—she has a poltergeist or two following her around. When I asked her about her father, she went all strange and a lightshow appeared around her.” I hated to simplify something so serious, but this was the situation we were in.

“Is that what the lights flashing from your office were?”

“You saw them?”

“I was crossing the road and thought you were playing with a torch or something.”

I laughed. “No, it wasn’t me.”

“Well, are you going to help her?”

“Of course I am.”

“Yeah, you can’t help yourself, can you?”
 

“It looks like I can’t,” I said, taking another sip of coffee. The blueberry muffin sat mostly ignored.
 

“What’s her father’s name?”

“Uh…” I tried to summon it from the back of my mind. I hadn’t written it down because I didn’t want to come across as dealing with her coldly. Ah, yeah, I remembered! “Eli John Moss. Why?”

“Just curious.” Papan nuzzled the side of my neck and moved in even closer, so close I was almost sitting on his lap. “But enough about death, problems with friends, annoying calls, and siblings we don’t know… I’ve got plans for us, and I’d love to get them on the road.”

“What did you have in mind?”

Papan’s big hand dragged mine along the tabletop, slipping underneath. He slid it up his hard thigh until my palm was pressed against his erection.
 

“Oh, I think I’ve got a pretty good idea now.”
This is what I’ve wanted for so long.

He removed his hand from mine but I stroked him a little. When he ran his fingers lightly up the fabric of my jeans and stopped just before the juncture between my thighs, I jumped.

“And do you like my idea?”

I turned to look at him with a coy smile. “I like it very much.”

“Why don’t we go to my place?”