“Sounds good. But first, I’m going to find Chloe.”
Logan shoots a glance my way as if he was listening in the entire time.
That’s right, Chloe Bishop, you little bitch. I’m coming for you. Only, I’m not entirely sure who you are anymore.
But deep down, I know.
Yes, I do.
* * *
Paragon in autumn is just like Paragon any other time of the damn year. It’s cold, gray, and foggy. You can’t see three feet past your own hand most days, and it creates one heck of a problem on the island’s only main artery. But lucky for me, I no longer have to rely on vehicular transportation, I can simply materialize wherever the hell I want to.
The next day, the storm has blown over and the island streets are still slicked with dampness that will never leave us.
I had breakfast with the boys, took them to preschool myself—even if it was easier for my mother to take them along with her. After all, they are in her class. She’s the director and owner of the pint-size learning establishment. And since the boys are there, she is right back to teaching. I saw Wes as he was dropping off his daughter, Tobie, and he all but gave me the finger. He’s been moping around this haunted rock ever since Laken walked out on him. It hurts to see him so miserable. Mostly because I happen to know what it feels like. Laken is to Wes what Skyla is to me. But then, there is Cooper Flanders. Fucking Flanders. None of this would have happened if it weren’t for his existence.
That little snub Demetri threw in my face last night comes back to mind. Yes, I might be a finger pointer. And who the heck cares? I certainly don’t.
Even though Wes has shirked off the Fems and the Barricade he loved so much, he’s still my brother. I care for him. And hell, it surprises even me. In the beginning, I couldn’t care less about Wes or the fact anyone was ripping his heart through his ass. But I care. I care deeply, and I wish I could be there for him right now. But I get the feeling this relationship won’t go the way that Logan and I took ours.
No, Logan and I were able to rise above our differences and maintain a certain level of civility, a sense of brotherhood despite the very raw facts. But Wes is like an injured animal, feral, dangerous, snapping at whoever comes near him whether or not they’re a threat to him. And I’m sure Wes sees me as more than dangerous. What I stand for has cost him everything. The stupid idiot can’t see how he risks losing eternity with Laken. But my big brother doesn’t have to worry. I have his back. I’m taking this victory all the way to the bank and cashing in on a win for the both of us.
But not this afternoon. Nope. This afternoon I’m on the hunt for Paragon’s resident witch, Chloe Ball-Buster Bishop. I try a few of her usual haunts, the Gas Lab—the eatery that Nev and Ezrina own and run—the gym next door to the bowling alley—Logan’s baby—and then Brody’s rental, where Chloe has been squatting since that infamous night, all of which turn up empty. I drive around town, secretly hoping Chloe took a dive off Devil’s Peak, but instead, I spot her at the strip mall across the street from West, standing in front of a small boutique called The Enchanted Closet. The boutique is a business venture that Michelle Miller, Lexy Bakova, maybe Nat, and Chloe all went in on. I guess it makes sense she’s standing out front talking Michelle’s ear off.
I park at the supermarket at the end of the lot and jog on over. No need to startle her from the get-go. If I’ve learned anything about Chloe, it’s the fact you need to catch her unaware. I think she likes it that way, too.
Michelle spots me first with those dark glowing eyes. Michelle and Chloe have always reminded me a bit of sisters, same long dark hair, tawny colored skin, same angry disposition in life. Her expression sours as she looks right at me, and Chloe is quick to follow her gaze.
Chloe’s eyes expand in size a moment before narrowing their hatred for me.
“In need of a dress to go with that pussy of yours?” Chloe doesn’t miss a beat. And something about that snipe warms me. It is very much something Chloe would say. I don’t know why I thought Skyla might be lurking in the skin of hers. Paranoia, I guess. But I’m not entirely satisfied just yet.
“I thought I’d ask my wife out to lunch.” I shed my signature grin that Chloe has never been able to resist. Come to think of it, neither has Skyla.
“I’m not your wife, Gage. After all, it wasn’t you who I made it official with here on Earth, now was it? That would have been Wesley. The man that looks like you, who actually has a pendulum swinging between his legs. You don’t have a dick, Gage. Youareone.”
Michelle breaks out into titters. “You really screwed up good this time, Gage.” She ticks her head to the side. “I never thought I’d see the day Chloe Bishop gives you the finger.” She leans my way. “And I think she means it.”
“I mean it,” Chloe assures as she molests a blouse on the table next to her.
I press my hand over it until she’s forced to look me in the eye.
“Lunch,now.” It comes out curt, like a demand. And then I soften because I have to. It may have been acceptable to speak to Chloe that way at one time but not anymore. Michelle is right, the spell is broken. And if I’m right, and Skyla is on the other end of those dark sinister eyes… “I’ll make it easy. We’ll go next door.”
Tasaka is Skyla’s all-time favorite sushi restaurant. She has never turned it down, and we’ve been known to pop into that establishment twice in one day. Chloe hates the thought of raw fish. Or at least she did while we were joined in holy matrimony, and despite her denial of it, it was true. She’d no sooner pluck her eye out and eat it—sort of the way Skyla almost did to mine yesterday.
I bear hard into those cold eyes.Who are you? Tell me now.
But she doesn’t. Instead, her lips quiver the exact way Skyla’s used to when I looked at her that way.
“I’m buying,” I say.
“Why would I go with you?”
“Because you might just like what I’m going to say.” Heck, I don’t know what I’m going to say, but it’s irrelevant at this point.
Her feet are moving and so are mine, and before I know it, we’re inside the small sushi restaurant, seated at a table in the back. It feels like old times, sans Chloe’s body being in the way.
