“We didn’t talk long at all. Didn’t have to for me to know that you and Derrick
were destined to meet the kind of end you did.”
“And how, oh sage one, did you come by this wisdom?”
“Let me ask you something, then I’ll answer you.”
She nodded.
“How often did you fight with Derrick?”
“We never?—”
“I don’t mean physically. In a few days we’ve had a goodly number of disagreements. I don’t expect you’ve held yourpunches one time. So, with him, how often did you blast him with that furnace of a mouth.”
“I didn’t hear you disliking my mouth?—”
“Stop avoiding the question.”
She shrugged. “We always got along; we were just good that way. He?—”
“Bullshit,” he said, and laughed humorlessly. “Bull. Shit. I don’t think there’s one person on this mountain you’ve talked to for more than ten minutes you haven’t argued with. Even my fragile elderly great-aunt who’s only concerned with doing good deeds before she passes beyond this mortal coil.”
She laughed, hitting her forehead against his chest.
“That woman is diabolical. A witch. But because she’s beautiful and graceful and has style and is charismatic, people don’t see it. I have seen beyond her magical glamour. She deserves the heat.”
“And Derrick, did he ever deserve that heat?”
She stopped smiling and looked away, toward her house, but she didn’t try to escape.
“We had a fight once. In the beginning. I felt like shit after. It was like kicking a puppy, and I swear I wasn’t even being mean.”
Santiago frowned. “Only one fight. What about when you found out about him and your sister?”
“I got my shit and got on the road, and I was still numb when I got here.”
“That must have been exhausting banking down all that fire for fear of him getting burned. And still he betrayed you. With your sister...hell, even with your mother. Because what kind of man rats you out instead of facing the consequences of his actions?”
“You make him sound weak? And he wasn’t, really.”
“I’m not making him sound any kind of way, all I’m doing is telling you what I know. Listen, he may be a good man to a lessstrong-willed woman. That woman could never be you. You have a knack for trying to protect the weak. I’m not saying Derrick is weak…I’m just saying he sounds like he is.”
They stood silently now, listening the thunder break in the distance. The wind picked up, blowing around them.
“You have a long line of witches in your family huh? You, Lina...”
She nodded knowingly as if she’d unearthed a family secret.
“Witchcraft? No, but degrees in philosophy and humanities go a long way. Add a lifetime of being sensitive to what exists on either side of the shroud, then being paid to put people over there…”
He reversed their positions, and turned her to face the lake, pressing his groin against her ass. He didn’t know why, but he wanted this woman addicted to him, he wanted her coming back for her fix again and again.
Her moan of pleasure was a soul song that seemed to make the surface of the lake vibrate with a new resonance, rolling higher upon the shore to reach them.
He wanted to bring her to the water soon.
Pressing deep into her heat, he’d continued to move inside her until they both broke within the gathering storm.
