Home. When did I start considering this little farm house my home?
Now it wasn’t a matter of when I would leave, but if I even could go now that Cash knew everything about who I was and my past.
The reasons for continuing to run were dwindling by the hour and as I crawled underneath the blankets and curled into a ball, I just hoped that all of my fears were for nothing.
That Mike wasn’t coming for me and that somehow, some way I could keep the peace I’d built here forever.
Fourteen
“Yeah, let me know what you find, thanks Art,” I said to the monster on the other end of the line. He was one of Dallan’s contacts from before we opened Monstrous Ink, back when Dallan used to run in darker circles in order to protect other supes.
I hung up my cell and leaned back in the chair I was sitting in. It had been three hours since Daphne told me everything and my mind was still reeling with it all.
She seemed too fragile to have gone through so much in such a short amount of time. It made me want to fly to wherever that fucking asshole was and tear him limb from limb.
But I couldn’t fly and I didn’t even know where he could have gone. My back ached for the first time in a long time at the reminder that I was only half a gargoyle at this point.
Art was looking into both of them for me now, but it would take a couple of days and I needed a plan now. I’d roped Dallan in on a need to know basis, partly because he was Daphne’s boss and because he could help her more than I ever could.
Her friend Wendy had called back about thirty minutes after I put Daphne to bed and filled me in on everything that she knew.
It was odd that he’d chosen to move out of his house right before filing a missing person’s report for Daphne. Wendy had sent the poster to my email and the old Daphne I saw in the picture was completely different from the woman sleeping upstairs.
Her hair was the biggest difference. In the picture it was a fiery orange color, cut into a sensible bob. She was also dressed like an East Coast socialite, pearl necklace and all. But the more I looked at it I could see the same sadness behind her whiskey colored eyes and the pain behind her smile.
Daphne’s tattoo was also covered in the picture, but it was mentioned in the description. Now I understood why she was so hesitant to let me touch it up or to show it to anyone else at the shop.
All I wanted to do was to sit and plan on how to protect her, but without more information I was stuck.
Heaving a frustrated sigh, I scrubbed a hand over my face. I was supposed to go to Ronan’s place in a couple of days, but now I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to. I didn’t want to leave Daphne on her own, especially not now.
Saoirse forced her wet muzzle into my lap, clearly having picked up on my mood. She let out a plaintive whine, her brown eyes worried.
“Sorry, lovely,” I murmured, giving her a gentle stroke. “Why don’t you go up to Daphne?”
As if she understood every word I said, Saoirse made a chuffing noise before she loped to the stairs and disappeared up them, quickly followed by Oscar.
My phone buzzed on the table with a message from Dallan.
DALLAN:Effie wants to know what’s going on. Can I loop her in?
A low groan left my body. I knew he wouldn’t have been able to keep this from Effie for long, but I at least thought he could manage for eight hours.
ME:No. Wait until Daphne tells her herself.
DALLAN:Cash. This is Effie. I don’t like being kept in the dark about things especially when it comes to Daphne.
Effie had become almost as obsessed with Daphne as I was over the past month. I assumed it was because she wasn’t used to having female friends so close by. She was like oil and water with most of the women who came in, especially the ones who flirted openly with Dallan, but it was different with Daphne.
ME:Daphne will tell you everything herself when she wants to. Now give Dallan back his phone.
After a few minutes, when I got no reply, I assumed that she’d done as I asked.
Leaving my phone downstairs, I climbed the stairs to check in on Daphne. The door was ajar, probably thanks to the two giant dogs that had entered the room and flopped down on the floor next to the bed.
Daphne was still asleep, but it didn’t look peaceful. She was tossing back and forth, sweating as she frowned at whatever dream she was having.
Then her entire body shuddered and she let out a little gasp.
