Page 25 of Burn for the Dragon
Hawke walked around the dance floor, completely ignoring the half-clad women trying desperately to catch his eye and carried her two suitcases into the office. “Stay here,” he told her. “Let me go find Kohl and tell him what’s going on.”
She nodded and sank gratefully into the closest leather chair. Her eyes closed as soon as she laid her head back. She sat there for a few minutes, her body strangely calm. But her mind was buzzing away with everything Hawke had told her back at her apartment.
Could it be true?
But how?
Her eyes popped open. Suddenly restless, Everly got up and walked behind the desk. She opened one of the drawers. It was empty. As were all of the others. Where did they keep their paperwork for the club? The schedules. Anything she could snoop through to get evidence for her story, and to keep her mind off of the terrifying fact that she had some creature lurking inside of her that might burst out any day now.
Any moment.
She trailed her fingers along the desktop as she returned to the chairs. The wood vibrated with the beat of the music playing out in the club. She remembered this one. It was a good song. Contrary to many beliefs, she could “hear” the beat and loved to dance. However, right now dancing was the last thing on her mind. She was too freaked out.
All she could think about were the werewolf movies she’d seen. The way the beast inside of them broke a person’s bones and tore through their skin. The way their teeth fell out and regrew and they screamed in pain as their jaw elongated and their legs broke and bent the wrong way.
She froze halfway around the desk and wrapped her arms around herself, pulling her sweater tight, losing the song. The dragon she’d seen was big. Huge, even. And they breathed fire. How the hell was it possible she would turn into one of those things? The blood rushed to her head and she had to sit down. Her heart beat double-time and her skin felt hot and clammy, and she put her head between her legs as panicked tears blurred her vision.
Everly wasn’t good with pain. She didn’t even have any tattoos. Her ears had been pierced when she was really young, and she still remembered it vividly every time she changed out her earrings. She’d never broken a bone or had so much as a sprained ankle. Once, she’d accidentally slammed her hand in the oven door while checking on the casserole she was cooking, and she’d sat on the floor and cried for thirty minutes.
But she hadn’t felt the burn.
Slowly, she sat up and stared down at her right hand. She hadn’t opened the door all the way and it had closed on its own as she was pulling her hand out. The heavy thing had slammed shut hard, trapping her hand. She’d been so shocked it had taken her a few seconds to react and open the door again. Her hand had been burned front and back, the skin red and blistered. The oven was old and cranky, and the crush on the fragile bones had hurt like a son of a bitch. But she didn’t take much notice of the burns until the next day when Tyson had asked her what happened.
Her heart picked up again and she took deep breaths. That didn’t mean anything. She’d probably damaged the nerve endings or something and that was why she hadn’t noticed the burns.
Then why were there no scars?
The door opened and Hawke came in, followed closely by Kohl and Devon, as tall and pretty as ever. They filed inside, shutting the door behind them, and came to stand in a circle around the area where she was sitting.
Feeling much like a science project on display, Everly reached under her hair to discreetly adjust her hearing aids as she stood. It didn’t help much, not the standing or the adjusting of her aids. She was still the shortest one there, and she still couldn’t hear shit. She didn’t know why she even wore the stupid things. They didn’t work, other than to separate voices from the other sounds around her. Individual words were impossible to understand. A person speaking to her was just…a sound. There was no tone or pitch to it.
Hawke touched her arm, gaining her attention. She watched his mouth as he spoke, lip reading, and wished she could hear his voice.
“Do you remember Kohl? And you know Devon.”
Everly nodded and smiled nervously at Kohl, remembering what Hawke had said about him. She looked him up and down, searching for some sign that it was true, but she didn’t see anything except kind brown eyes and muscular arms covered in tattoos beneath his tight blue T-shirt. More tattoos covered his neck, and even the hand he held out for her to shake. She took it and found him smiling warmly at her.
“Hi, Everly.”
“Hi.”
Then she was engulfed in a cloud of curly black hair as Devon leaned in and gave her a big hug before releasing her. She kept her hands on Everly’s shoulders. “Hawke filled us in. Are you doing okay?”
Everly tried to smile at her, but it felt tight and fake. “I’m good.”
“No, you’re not.”
She sniffed and shook her head. “No, I’m not.”
Devon hugged her again for long moments before she finally stepped back.
But Everly hung on to Devon like she was the only solid thing in the room and a tornado was about to hit. “This isn’t real, right?” she asked her. “This isn’t true, what he says about me. It’s not possible.”
Hawke must’ve said something, because Devon looked up over Everly’s shoulder for a brief moment. She nodded and turned her attention back to Everly. “It’s all true. I’ve seen it,” She glanced at the male next to her. “With Kohl. Hell, I’ve been carried by it.”
Everly blinked, thinking she couldn’t have understood that correctly.
Devon gave her shoulders a squeeze and dropped her arms back down to her sides, leaving Everly cold and alone. She glanced back at Hawke, wishing he would hold her.
