He shook his head. “I thought we could take her to L’Auberge Del Mar.”
“L’Auberge Del Mar!” Jina squeaked. “You gotta be rich-rich, yeah? Tell me, is there a pool in your backyard or on your roof?”
We both ignored her. I roughly knew where that was and changed lanes to take a different freeway at the upcoming interchange. “Thanks Vie, that’s great. Later we can figure out how to get her car to her.”
“Nah, forget about my car,” Jina said, stretching out in the back seat. “In fact, don’t worry about the hotel. I’m moving into this thing.”
I forced a laugh. “Might be hard to shower.”
“I’ll use the public ones at the beach,” Jina countered.
We kept up the familiar banter until I pulled up to the hotel. Vie jumped out and rushed to help Jina out of the car and take the bag from her. I was a little slower, so he was already walkinginside before I rounded the car and joined Jina. Before I could follow Vie, Jina grabbed my arm.
Her brows were furrowed with worry. “Are you sure about this guy? I’m not judging him, but he’s, uh,” she kept frowning as she searched for the right word. “He’s different.”
I snorted. “Trust me, you don’t even know the half of it.” I put my hand over hers. “I promise, Vie might be different, but he’s real. He gave me the car for no other reason than he wants me to be happy. He’s not like some of the guys who use money to manipulate. He’s not love bombing me. I can’t explain it, but I know he’s a good guy.”
Jina nodded, but I could tell she wasn’t entirely convinced. I couldn’t blame her, neither of us had great experiences when it came to dating. Jina was bi and after helping me break up with my last boyfriend, she’d decided to stick with women.
I couldn’t blame her. If Vie hadn’t come into my life, I might’ve sworn off men and happily stayed single forever.
“I’ll believe you until he does something," she said. “But if I see anything, I’m speaking up even if you’re not ready to hear it.”
“Feel free to yell at me,” I agreed, confident she’d never see Vie treating me badly.
That seemed to satisfy Jina. “Yeah, okay.” She pulled her hand from my grip and wrapped her arm around my shoulder to walk me into the hotel. “I can’t wait to take the longest shower ever. I’m gonna use up all the hot water in this place.”
We walked up as Vie was turning around with several key cards in his hand. Someone was walking away carrying Jina’s duffle back.
“You’re in suite 221. The next two weeks are paid for,” he said, handing Jina the cards. “Charge anything to the room you want. The two weeks isn’t a deadline, it's only the longest I could rent that suite. At the end of the two weeks, we can reassess and either move you to another suite or a different hotel.”
Jina took the card, her hand shaking slightly. She was at the end of her endurance. “Thanks, Vie. I’ll pay you back somehow.”
“Never,” Vie said without hesitation and absolutely no malice. He even tried to smile. It ended up looking a little creepy, and he stopped when I gave him a little shake of my head. “What I have is yours because that’s what Willow would want.”
She blinked, then shoved one of the key cards into my hands. “Would you stay for a little while? Or maybe come back and we can get dinner together?”
I couldn’t blame Jina for not wanting to be alone. “Yeah, I’ll hang out with you for a little while, and we can all go to dinner later. You head up to the room, and I’ll be there soon. I need to talk to Vie first.”
Jina gave me a relieved smile and headed to the elevator. The moment she was gone, Vie started talking.
“I’m going to seek out my brother Vengeance. He should be able to track the humans who destroyed your apartment. I’ll make sure they pay for what they’ve done.” His smile turned nasty. “Vengeance will enjoy the hunt.”
I grabbed him in a fierce hug. “I love you, Vie,” I whispered. It felt so strange to say the words I voiced so rarely.
“You are my everything,” he said, hugging me back. “I exist only for you.”
I guess that’s how you saidI love youif you were a wraith.
We stood like that for a little longer before I pulled away. Vie gave me a last look before sweeping out of the hotel lobby into the bright Southern California day. I knew he’d find a private place to turn into mist so he could travel quickly.
With Vie gone, I went up to Jina’s room to find that she hadn’t made it to the shower. Except for her boots, she was fully dressed and sound asleep on the king-size bed.
With a chuckle, I woke her up enough to strip her out of her uniform and get her tucked into the bed. I dug the charger out ofher duffle and plugged everything in so she wouldn’t wake up to a dead phone.
Feeling restless, I sent a text to Jina so she’d know to call me when she woke up and then left her to sleep.
My phone started ringing as the door to her room clicked shut.
