The Siren (10 page)

My cell phone beeped. It was a text message from Warren.
Jumped in a cab to see where he goes. Be back soon. Don’t worry.

I put my purse on the bed and tapped out a response.
I may go to the pool to try and clear my head. Please be safe. I love you.

Love you
, he replied a moment later.

I flipped through the concierge book and found out the pool was located on the roof, and it was open till midnight. I sighed with relief. The open air of a rooftop sounded like paradise. I changed into the black bathing suit I had thrown into my suitcase and put on one of Warren’s t-shirts and my flip-flops.

As I walked toward the door, I caught sight of myself in the full-length mirror. I stopped and examined my arms and legs, quickly remembering the night I was dragged through the woods by Billy Stewart. My right leg looked like I had been mauled by a tiger. Silvery pink scars stretched up the side of my calf and up my thigh. The rest of my limbs hadn't fared much better.
 

It occurred to me, I was about to go out of my room at night alone. If the walls hadn’t felt like they might suffocate me, I might have just crawled into—or under—the bed. Instead, I slung a towel over my shoulder and walked out the door before I could change my mind.

On the elevator ride to the roof, I sent Nathan a message telling him not to worry and that I was going to the pool. For a moment, I considered asking him to join me, but decided that was in no one’s best interest.

When I opened the door to the rooftop, the long, rectangular swimming pool was sparkling in the moonlight. Tension began to leave my neck and shoulders just at the sight. There was a couple curled up together on a lounge chair, but the pool was empty. Jazz music floated up from the streets below along with the distant hum of the San Antonio nightlife.
 

I placed my phone, room key, and towel on a lounge chair and stripped off Warren’s shirt. After kicking off my shoes, I walked to the edge of the deep end. Looking at the still water, I sucked in a calming breath before diving in headfirst. The cool water flowed over my body as I dolphin kicked to the surface. I rolled to my back and kicked my feet up in front of me, till I was completely horizontal and floating.
 

There were more stars than I should have been able to see in the city.

When Kayleigh Neeland was kidnapped, Adrianne had convinced me that my ability must have been given to me to serve some kind of purpose, but as I floated on top of the water, feeling the adrenaline diffusing in my bloodstream, my powers felt like a curse. It was commonplace to encounter bad people, but every once in a while, I encountered someone who was truly evil. I shuddered at the mere thought of that man’s eyes.
 

I swam to the edge and pushed off the side and began swimming slow laps across the pool to push the sickening thoughts out of my mind. As I finished lap eight and opened my eyes under water to look for the wall, I saw a pair of perfect calves and bare feet dangling in front of me. I stopped swimming and picked up my head to wipe my eyes.

Nathan was at the edge of the pool, wearing only a pair of red and black swimming trunks.
 

I reached for the ledge of the concrete beside him and looked around. “Where’s your girlfriend?”
 

He laughed. “Passed the hell out. She didn’t even take off her clothes or makeup before she collapsed onto the bed. I’ve never seen her drink that much.”

“I think we were all headed in the same direction before the evening took a nosedive,” I said.

He laughed. “Probably so. Hell, I’m still a little buzzed.”

“Wonder what Shannon would think about you being up here?” I asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

He eased down into the water. “At this point, I’m sure she wouldn’t be surprised.”

A bright pink circular scar was gleaming on his chest. That hole had been put there to save my life. I gently pushed on his shoulder. “Turn around and let me see your back.”

He turned so I could see the entry wound scar. Nathan had been shot in the back as he dove between me and Billy Stewart’s Smith & Wesson. His lung had collapsed when the bullet tore through both sides of his ribcage.
 

“At least you got some cool scars out of it,” I said, smiling as I gently ran my finger across the smooth scar tissue.

He laughed as he turned around to face me. “Heck yeah. Chicks dig scars.”
 

I held up my forearms and slowly turned them over to display the spots where the nurses had to dig gravel and splinters out of my skin. “Do guys dig scars too?" I scrunched up my nose with disgust.
 

He winked at me. "You could be missing your arms completely and you’d still be hot."

A half-hearted smile crept across my face. "Thanks."

I turned around and rested my back against the side of the pool, sinking down till the cool water touched my chin.
 

Nathan leaned on his elbows and looked over at me. “Are you feeling better now?”
 

I blew out a deep breath and shuddered. “That was bad. That guy was terrifying.”

He looked up at the stars. “I wish I knew what it felt like.”

I shook my head. “No, you don’t.”

“Who do you think he was?” he asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I have absolutely no idea. Warren sent me a text and said he was taking a cab to follow him and see where the guy goes.”

Nathan nudged my leg with his foot under the water and grinned with the soft rippled light from the pool reflecting off his face. “It must be bad for him to leave you at a hotel with me.”

I laughed for the first time since we had left the Irish pub.

“Other than the ending, did you have a good time tonight?” he asked.

“Yeah. I have to admit that even hanging out with your obnoxious and belligerent girlfriend was even a little fun. She actually apologized to me in the bathroom for what she did in high school.”

“No shit?”

“No shit.”
 

“Are you going to let it go?”

I shook my head. “Not a chance.”

He chuckled.

“Did you enjoy yourself?” I asked.

He nodded. “Yeah, I haven’t had that much fun in quite a while.” He sank down to my level in the pool. “What’s new with you these days? We don’t talk much since Warren moved in.”

I smirked at him. “I talk to you more than I talk to my own mother, even with Warren around.”

He looked sad. “It’s not like it was before though.”

He was right. Before Warren moved to Asheville, I spent so much time at Nathan’s house that he had bought a leather loveseat to put in his home office for me to have a comfortable place to sit. Much of that time was dedicated to pouring over the investigation of missing girls across the state, but we did enjoy our time enough that it made Shannon extremely jealous.

I thought about those days in stark contrast to my new life with Warren. “There’s not much to tell. I’m pretty boring, Nathan.”

He laughed. “Aside from the superpowers and all.”

“Aside from that.” I laughed. “Oh, I did finally tell my parents about it.”

“Really?”

I dropped my head back and pressed my eyes closed. “It was kind of hilarious. I sort of blurted it out. We were talking about headaches, and I told them my headaches were supernaturally related to Warren’s absence.”

He cracked up laughing. “Supernaturally related? And you’re not locked in the looney bin? I’m shocked!”

I smiled. “They actually handled it spectacularly well.”

He shook his head. “I’m not surprised. Your parents are great.”

“Oh, that reminds me. My mother said to tell you hello.”

“Your mom loves me, you know,” he said.

I nodded. “Oh, I know.”

He smiled. “When she came to visit me in the hospital after my surgery, she asked me to dump Shannon and marry you.”

I gasped. “No, she didn’t!”

“Wanna bet?” He sank under the water to soak his blond head. Then he came back up and raked his fingers through his hair, leaving it spiked in different directions.
 

“Well, my mom loves Warren now too,” I said.

He looked over at me. “Do you?”

I was stunned by his candor. “Do I love Warren?”

He nodded.

“Yes. I love him very much.”

He looked up at the sky. I felt like I wanted to apologize, but I knew it would only make everything worse. I stared at the water droplets drizzling down the side of his face until he looked at me with questioning eyes.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked quietly.

“You, me, Warren,” I admitted.
 

He turned toward me. “What do you think would have happened if he had never shown up?”

I had asked that same question a lot since the Friday afternoon when Nathan cornered me in my office and confessed he wanted to be with me. But there, face-to-face in the pool with him while Warren was gone, was not the time to be daydreaming about what might have been. It felt wrong to even be entertaining the question.

 
I sucked in a deep breath and blew it out nervously as I searched for the right words to say.
 

“Sloan.”
 

While I had been lost in thought, Nathan had closed some of the distance between us. The moonlight bounced off his dangerously tempting gray eyes that were fixed on my lips. The jazz music from the streets below was nearly drowned out by my pounding heart, and every nerve ending in my body began to tingle. His face was inches from my own.

Then the moment was gone.

The door to the building opened, and Warren walked outside. His step faltered as if he could sense the tension on the rooftop.

I snapped out of my daze as he slowly walked over. “Hey,” I said.

Nathan rolled his shoulders back and exhaled before turning around.

Warren looked down at us both. It was obvious he wanted to ask what was going on, but he didn’t.

“What did you find out?” Nathan asked, avoiding direct eye contact with either of us.

 
Warren knelt down at the edge of the pool. “Well, I followed him to a house on the west side of town, not too far from here. I got the address.” He tapped his chest pocket and looked down at Nathan. “Do you think you can work some magic and figure out who he is?”

Nathan nodded. “Yeah. I can make some calls in the morning and see if I can find a name and some information.”

“What did you get off of him?” I asked.

“Well, he hasn’t killed anyone.” He turned his palms up. “Not in the literal sense anyway. I’m sure he’s ended plenty of lives though.”

I reached up for his hand. “Are you all right?”

He kissed my knuckles. “Yeah. Not exactly how I wanted to end such a fun night, though. Are you feeling OK now?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Swimming and the night air helps. Nathan’s been a good nursemaid like always.”

Nathan laughed and then looked at Warren. He rested his arms on the side of the pool. “So, do you want to go after this guy?”

“Oh, I’m going to go after this guy.” Warren’s response had no hesitation. “There’s no question about it.”

“You realize there is zero probable cause here,” Nathan pointed out.

A thin smile spread across Warren’s lips, and he cut his eyes down at Nathan. “You realize I’m not a cop, right? That I have all the probable cause I need?”

Nathan laughed. “All right, man. Just leave my name out of it.”

Warren looked at me. “You ready to get out?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

He tightened his hand around mine and pulled me up onto the deck. Nathan got out behind me.
 

Warren looked around the roof. “Where’s Shannon?”
 

“The girl can’t handle her alcohol.” Nathan laughed and dried off with the towel he had deposited next to my flip-flops. “I told Sloan she passed out as soon as I opened the door to the hotel room.”

Warren laughed as I retrieved my things off the lounge chair. “She’s so loud when she’s drunk, and she doesn’t shut up.”

I wrapped the towel around me as we walked inside. “Does she shut up when she’s sober?”
 

Nathan laughed, but he hung his head and shook it sadly.

When the elevator stopped at our floor, I looked at Nathan. “Are you coming to Mass with us in the morning?”

His head snapped back with surprise. “You’re really going?”

“Yeah,” I said.

He shook his head. “No. Probably not. I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to babysit someone with a really severe hangover.”

“Probably,” I agreed. “I don’t envy either of you.”

“We’ll catch up with you after,” he said. “Maybe we can grab lunch. I wouldn’t mind visiting the pool in the sunshine.”

“That sounds good to me. Goodnight, Nathan,” I told him.

“Night, guys,” he said as the doors closed behind us.

Warren and I walked to our room. He looked down at the black bundle in my arms. “Is that my shirt?”
 

“Maybe,” I answered as he slipped the room key into the slot.

We went inside and he locked the door behind us. I turned around to look at him. “Tell me the truth. Did you kill that guy?”

He shook his head. “No, but I thought about it.”

“Why didn’t you?”

He emptied his pockets onto the desk. “I’ve learned it’s best to have all the facts before making a decision like that. What if he’s got hostages or something stashed somewhere?”

He was right, but I didn’t like it. I touched his arm. “Are you sure you’re OK? I know how badly he got to me tonight, and it seemed to hit really close to home for you.”

He tugged on my towel and pulled me close. “Yeah. I’m sorry he screwed up a pretty fun night.” He pushed my wet hair off my shoulders. “Who would’ve ever thought we would enjoy a night out with Nathan McNamara and the syphilis princess.”

I laughed. “I know.”

“So, church in the morning?” he asked with questioning eyes.

“Yes,” I said. “You don’t have to go, but I’m going to stop in and see if I can find someone to talk to.”

He shrugged. “I’ll go. God knows I’ve got a lot of repenting to do.”