Page 1036 of One More Kiss

I’d wondered what kind of man he was, to wait six years before coming to meet his daughter. To then snatch her away from her mother and everything she knew. Which was how I’d found out that he wasn’t a man at all.

It was Aunt Joey who’d told me the truth. My father was from the Faerie realm. It sounded exotic, but I hated him for taking my sister. As far as I was concerned he was nothing but a dirty Faery scum bag.

I was ten, and my favorite stories were the ones about magic and fantastical places. I’d never believed they could be true. When Aunt Joey first told me I’d thought she was joking. Telling me a tall tale to stop me asking questions. But she explained about the Realms, and that most people didn’t know the truth so it was watered down into the books I loved to read.

I’d kicked it up a notch with my martial arts lessons then. I’d been training since Alyssia was taken, at first as a distraction from missing my sister, and later because I was naturally talented. Once I learned the truth about the kidnapping my goal changed. I wanted to be able to protect myself, and to protect other innocents. It was one of the reasons I’d become a bodyguard.

Aunt Joey was the one who helped me learn about my heritage and how to use my shadow magic. Mom was in complete denial and it was only because she had shared with Aunt Joey when they first got together that Aunt Joey knew the truth.

The scum bag Faery had swept Mom off her feet, got her pregnant and then disappeared back through the Midnight Gate, promising to return. Apparently time travels differently over there, or maybe he forgot about her. I’d never know for sure.

It was six years later when he returned, and when Mom refused to go back with him he’d taken Alyssia and left. And now, if I didn’t get her back before midnight on our 21st birthday, she’d be stuck there forever.

“Move it, Sunshine,” Jett hissed. He had no trouble seeing through my shadows.

We made our way to the far end of the alley. A large, black car slid to a stop as we got there and I tensed. The door slid open.

“Go! Get in.” Jett nudged me forward. “It’s Shark, my second.”

I peered in to the drivers seat and recognized the huge bald man with the shark teeth tattooed on his skull. It was definitely Shark. I didn’t know which came first, the nickname or the tatts, and I wasn’t going to ask.

I pushed Clara in and climbed in behind her.

With one last look back the way we’d come, Jett slid in beside me and slammed the door shut. “Go!” He tapped the back of the driver’s seat.

The car accelerated, pressing me back in the seat. I was squished into the middle, shoved over towards Clara by Jett’s huge frame. He leant his head back on the headrest and closed his eyes, his body relaxing.

“Where to, Boss?”

I met Shark’s eyes in the mirror. “Drop me off at the train station. But make it a few stations over, if you don’t mind. I’d prefer not to get shot in the back as I board.”

“HQ.” Jett informed him. “All of us.”

“What?” I swung towards Jett. “No way. You can’t make me.”

I sounded like a petulant child, even to myself.

Jett sighed. “We don’t know who they were after. And if it was you, you’ll lead them straight back to your family. Do you want that?”

Well, damn. I hadn’t thought of that.

“We’re going back to HQ and we’re going to figure this out.”

I settled back in my seat reluctantly. I was crammed in between Jett and Clara. Not sure why one of us hadn’t taken the front seat, but I guess we were running for our lives when we climbed in.

“I don’t suppose you have another one of those bandanas?”

I glanced at Jett. He was holding his shoulder and blood was streaming down his arm, which I hadn’t noticed earlier.

“Damn! Why didn’t you say something?” I fished around in my pocket, producing another bandana. It was a fluke that I had two. “We need to keep the pressure on it. Here.”

I wriggled out of my jacket and whipped off my tank top. It’s okay, I was wearing a lycra sports bra underneath. Folding the soft cotton into a square, I nudged Jett’s hand away and pressed it against the wound.

“Hold this.” I grabbed his hand and pressed it against the cloth. Then I took my bandana, made it into a rectangle, and tied it tight around his arm to hold the cloth in place. “There.”

I sat back with satisfaction, only to realize that both Clara and Jett were staring at me. “What?”

Jett’s eyes travelled from my chest, down my abs, six pack thank you very much, and back to my face. His mouth quirked up. “You’re sitting there half naked and you’re asking me ‘what’?”

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