The Beckoning of Broken Things (The Beckoning Series) (8 page)

“
Yeah, ew. But hey - I’ll do anybody, any time, any place. I’m kind of a slut.” He scoffs. “If that’s what it takes, that’s what it takes. Only this time I kind of messed up.”

“What do you mean?”

“Marissa, I’ve been in here a long time. A really, really long time. Dr. Bellows refuses to release me. The rest of the staff - the ones that I won’t fuck, at least - hate me. But I’ve become Bellows’ narcotic. I’ve tried to not give him what he wants, but then he goes ballistic. That’s what I meant when I said it goes with the territory. People do what they do to get their needs met.” He gestures to his swollen face. “I’m hoping I can get out before the prick heals. I’m glad you messed him up. It was worth it to be thrown into isolation. I thought I’d be in there for a while. But then…” One of his shoulders rises and falls.

“Opportunity knocked?”

He snorts. “Something like that.”

“So what’s it like for you? If it’s like a first for everyone else…what do you experience?”

“Same old, same old. Don’t get me wrong. Some are better than others. But I imagine that I could have a totally different experience if I were ever to fall in love.”

His blue eyes catch me off
-guard. I think he means me - if he ever fell in love with me it would be different. “I’ll be taken for eons. This soul bound business…” I smirk and turn my head away from him.

“A guy can be hopeful. He can long for things.”

“Like what?” I scoff. “Like Daniel dying? Don’t count on that one.” I think of what Daniel just revealed to me. I think of him telling me how he’s got all that super badass power that El Demonio held, all at his command. And that’s in addition to his already super badass power. “No,” I continue, shaking my head. “That won’t happen. Besides, I love the guy.”

“Who say
s you can’t love more than one guy? There are no rules about numbers of loves.” Rafe sniffs and turns his head. “How’s my gash doing?” He taps his wound with his fingertip. “Feels better. Anytime I run energy like that, it provides a healing boost. If I weren’t heavily medicated, these would be gone in a snap.” He snaps his fingers. “Well,” he says, standing. “Opportunity awaits me.”

“So soon? Who this time?”

“The guy who got me out of isolation, that’s who. I have to be extra nice to him.” He looks at me, no doubt noticing my look of disgust and displeasure. “It’s a job, Marissa, it’s a means to an end.”

“It cheapens you, Rafe. I’m growing fond of you already. I don’t like to see you use your skills in this manner. They’re using you.”

“Don’t judge, Marissa. You don’t understand what it’s like. For one, the Haloperidol gives some of us lucky individuals an increased sex drive. I get so fucking stiff sometimes, no pun intended, it’s painful. I have no doubt that’s why Dr. B keeps me on it. The guy’s a horny bastard. In spite of that, I
have
to engage with others.
Have to.
It’s a mutual using. If I don’t use these abilities in some way, they back up inside of me. That’s when I become aggressive. It’s kind of a double-edged sword. All these willing escorts are doing me a favor. Still…” He fingers my cheek, pushing his fingertip softly up and down with delicacy. “Someday, I’d love to be in love.”

He wanders off, leaving me twitching with longing. The place where he touched my face still burns with the heat of hi
s innocent touch. I swallow hard and close my eyes again. I want to experience this man and his forever fountain of youthful folly. What I don’t want is for him to end up a eunuch, de-balled by my dark and dangerous soul bound lover. Nor do I want Daniel to ever, ever, ever hear of what Rafe has revealed to me as his willing and wanting more participant. Daniel keeps a lot of secrets. It seems I shall have a few of my own to keep.

“So, if I can get out of here, will you come with me?”

Rafe looks at me, a curious expression on his face. “What kind of escape do you have in mind?”

“I don’t have any ideas yet, but my mental clarity is coming back - I haven’t taken any drugs today.”

“How’d you manage that?”

I lean over and whisper into his ear. “All Smiles.”

“I wouldn’t get so close to me if I were you.” Rafe gives me a seductive smile, laced with promise. “These would be at stake.” He grabs his crotch. “But it doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have a go.”

I shake my head at him. There’s something about sharing secrets and knowing that we’re kind of cut from similar cloth that has forged a bond between us. We’re sitting in the patient lounge area, waiting to be summoned to our chambers for lights out. There are a few other patients milling around. Some pretend to play checkers. One is sitting in the corner with a rope, a literal rope, of drool spilling from his mouth. It stretches all the way to his chest. It makes me gag to look at him, but my eyes invariably find their way over to him.

Rafe notices my
wandering gaze and turns to see what I’m looking at. “Oh, him. He’s their latest experiment.”

“In what?”

“Modern medicine.” Rafe stands, grabs the arms of my chair and spins it in a 180 so I have to turn my head to look at the drooling guy. “There. Stop looking.”

“Thanks. You didn’t answer my question. Would you leave with me?”

“Do you know what it’s like to go cold turkey on the drug cocktail they give me?”

“Haven’t a clue.”

Rafe shudders. “It’s not pretty. But yes, I’d go.” He cocks his head to look at me. “We’d be fugitives, you know.”

“Would we?”

“Absolutely. They don’t take break outs lightly.”

“Have you ever tried?”

“How do you think I know what will happen, both in the form of my withdrawal and the psych ward’s punishment?”

“Pretty bad, huh?”

“You have no idea.”

We both fall silent.

Rafe taps the arms of his chair. “Still…as soon as these drugs wear off - it takes a while - but as soon as they wear off, my abilities will be restored, and I can just disappear at will. Poof! I’ll be back to being a shadow.” He flicks his fingers in the air.

“Seriously?”

He nods. “There’s only one teeny tiny little thing.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s that thing that I mentioned. If I don’t take care of my needs, I can go berserk. It will just come on without warning.”

“Does it help to…you know…take care of it yourself?’

“Nope. It has to be contact with another. Strange ability, huh?” He cocks his head and winks at me.

“
Yeah.”

“The stealth part is cool, though.”

A nurse pops in and calls a patient’s name. “Janet? Your husband is here to see you.”

A gray
-haired woman stands up and shuffles toward the door. She looks mean as hell. Her face is puckered up in an angry sneer. She shouts an angry tyrant at the nurse.

“Now, now, I can send him away if it’s going to upset you.”

“No,” the gray haired woman cackles. “I’d like him to see for himself what he’s done to me.”

“How long do visiting hours go on here?”

Rafe glances at the huge clock above the door. “Another half hour or so.”

“Do you get ma
ny visitors?”

He shakes his head. “My brother showing up the other day was the first. My family doesn’t really know what to do with me. They know I’m different.” Again with the air quotes. “But they don’t know
exactly what I do or what I’m capable of. They just know me as somewhat promiscuous.” A mirthless laugh escapes. “And that really doesn’t fit with their socialite lifestyle. They’d really like me to figure out what team I swing for and settle down.” He scoffs. “Little do they know who I become if I don’t keep swinging.”

“Yeah, I can relate. I was put here by my aunt. I guess my sister - who
swore
she’d keep my secret - got concerned and got together with Aunt Topaz for a little intervention.”

The nurse peeks back through the doorway. “Marissa Engles?” she calls.

“Yeah,” I say suspiciously. “Over here.”

“Someone is here to see you.”

“If it’s my sister or my aunt, tell them to go to hell.”

“It’s a man,” she says patiently
as if she hears retorts like that all the time.

Daniel? Is it Daniel?
I hasten to my feet and head for the door.

“Want me to wait for you?” Rafe calls to me.

“Sure,” I answer back. “This could be it, Rafe! It could be it!”
Daniel’s here. He’s come to get me out of here. I knew he could do it. I knew it.
Excitement percolates inside of me like bubbling coffee. I follow the nurse down the hall only to see my ex-boyfriend, Jason Harmonia Brown, sitting in the waiting area. My excitement whizzes around the room like a rapidly deflating balloon. It lands in the corner and dissolves.

He looks up at me and
grins. “Hey, baby-doll.” He’s super tanned and his blond, curly hair looks almost white from the sun. He reaches out to grab my hands.

I fling my hands into the air, avoiding his touch.
“Hey, asshole. How did you get out of Brazil so quickly?” The last time I saw Jason he was being unceremoniously ushered off of the coffee plantation that I had inherited from El Demonio. Apparently the sorcerer had big plans for him and me. I, however, knew nothing of his plans and would never have agreed to them.

“Oh, you know, you know,” he says, flicking his curly mane of hair.

It’s a habit that bugs the hell out of me - his repeating phrases and flicking his head like a pony. “No, I don’t, I don’t. And frankly I don’t care, I don’t care.”

He looks at me, confused. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Haven’t you noticed? We’re standing in an insane asylum. And you told Jill that the reason I was delirious was Daniel’s doing.
You’re
partly responsible for me being in here, not Daniel. I could strangle you.”

He takes a step back. “Calm down. I came here to offer my assistance.”

“Why ever would you want to assist me?”

“Since I came back and told my tale, I’ve gained more cred with my following.”

“So now it’s a following?”

“Oh, you know, my community.”

“Your community of Tantra practitioners?”

“One and the same.”

He smiles, smugly. If I wanted to break Dr. Beasley’s smile the other night, I want to cram Jason’s smile deep into his brain.

He steps backwards as if sensing my regard of him. “Cool your jets.
You don’t have to interact with any of them.”

When Jason and I dated
, he was always trying to get me to be a part of his community. Apparently, he was “grooming” me so that we could be an esteemed couple. I wanted nothing to do with him and his strange practices. I mean, to each his own and all that, but Jason was such a bone-headed idiot, with no boundaries whatsoever, he even gave surfing a bad name. “You got that right. So tell me again what you’re doing here. I’m certain I’ve got better things to do with my time.”

“That’s the deal,” Jason said, looking at me with his childlike blue eyes. “My cred has blown up since I got back from Brazil.”

“What did you tell them?”

His eyes shift back and forth.

“Jason…”

“Only that I helped you escape from a demon.”

A mirthless laugh erupts from my throat. “You, the guy who was huddled in the kitchen while Daniel and I were kicking butt and risking our lives? That guy?”

“I told you, I had to keep the ladies’ safe.”

“Uh huh. So how does your tall tale affect me here in the Land of La La?”

“Only that I
can help you get out of here.”

“What
did you say?” I stiffen and cock my head, suspicious. “You can help me get out of here, how?”

“I pulled a few strings. I told them that we’re engaged to be married.
I told them I want to take care of you, at home.”

My
lip curls in distaste.

“Don’t look so excited.”

“Jason, that’s one of the most disgusting things you’ve ever said to me. Marry you? I can’t seem to get rid of you. I can’t stand you. Why would I want to marry you?”

He sniffs. “It would help you get out of here. It’s just something I’m willing to do for you.
In spite of the way you’ve treated me.” A haughty expression colors his features.

“What would I have to do in return?”

“Only one small thing,” he says slyly.

“And what is that?”

“You’d have to come to a few events with me and tell them what a badass you are and how in love we are.”

“No, Jason,” I blurt. “No, no, and no. Hell to the no to the nth degree.” I stand, ready to make my departure.
“Did you forget about how we broke up, I threw you off the property -
my
inherited property - in Brazil, and that I don’t like you? Oh, and that my dog despises you? Dogs are sensitive that way. Did you forget those little facts?” I start to stalk away.

Jason lunges at me and grabs my arm.

“Let go of me,” I hiss and sparks zing into his flesh.

Jason releases his hand and yelps. “Nurse!” he cries. “I’m injured!”

“Oh, Jesus Christ! Nurse, we’re done here. I’m afraid this visitor has agitated me to no end.” I smile sweetly at her.

She looks at Jason and then at me, glaring.

I know, I know, my fault again.

As she hustles Jason from the waiting room I can barely hear her soothing tone. “She’s a wild one, that one. I’m sure she’ll settle down once she’s out of here. You might want to think twice about the engagement until she’s really healed, though.
”

Yeah, Jason, think twice.
I shove open the door to the patient lobby again, and Rafe is waiting for me where I left him.

“I take it that wasn’t who you hoped
it would be?” He idly swings his leg that’s slung over the arm of the chair.

“Not
. At. All.” I say crisply. I’m so mad I could boil potatoes with my spit. “That was my ex-boyfriend. He told me…” I splutter, unable to get the words out. I have to calm myself, pronto, or I’m going to burst into a light show.
Breathe, Engles, breathe.
“He told me that he ‘pulled some strings’ and that he could get out of here if I pretend to be his betrothed.”

Rafe swings his leg to the floor. “I take it your answer was no?”

“It was a hell no. I can’t stand that guy. How I put up with him for a year is beyond me. I just can’t seem to get rid of him. He’s, like, super glued to me or something. I even…” I glance around and lower my voice. “I even had to put a protection spell around my yard to keep him out of my house. Daniel said merely changing the locks would not suffice. It was my first magic practice. It was pretty cool.”

“Well, it could be a way out,” Rafe says with a shrug.
“It could get you out of here and then you could just take off.”

“I don’t want to encourage him at all. He’s nothing but trouble.
He’ll want something in return.”

“Yeah, I know people like that too,” Rafe says darkly.
“That’s how opportunities present themselves around here.”

“There’s got to be a better way. We can do this, I know we can.”

“I think you might want to consider your ex’s idea. I’m not sure how we can escape this place. People like us…people with unexplainable abilities…you know if they can’t understand it, they’ll want to keep us locked away forever. I tried to get out of here, and I’m a Stealth Numen. If I can’t do it, who can?”

“You said that the drugs dulled your abilities. I know what that was like. Mine were super dulled and erratic as hell. But I haven’t been sedated as long as you and my mind is getting crystal clear again.
I’m sure I can come up with a plan.”

“Suit yourself,” Rafe says. “
But I’d think about his idea, as dumb as it is. It
is
an opportunity. In the meantime…” He glances up at the clock and prepares to rise. “Our wardens will be here at any minute.”

Sure enough
, a minute later, at 9:30 on the dot, the doors open and the staff shoos us to our rooms. “So, you know where my room is…where’s yours? I might need to find you in a jiffy.”

Rafe laughs. “Oh, you temptress. My room is C-
21. The C stands for fucking crazy. The 21 stands for how good you’ll feel when I’m done with you on a scale of 10. I can guarantee it.”

For a split second
, I’m almost tempted. I look at him and sigh. “Sorry, Rafe, you know the deal.”

He sighs, too. “Hug?” he asks, a mischievous smile on his face.