“I can’t talk you out of this, can I?” he says, his voice as resigned as his sigh.
I shake my head again.
“Then I’m going with you.”
“Going where? I haven’t admitted to going anywhere.”
“Aw, maybe not, but a plan is surely forming, I can see it in your eyes. So you better make room for one more, because I’m coming with.”
“No, you hang with Miles, I’ll be fine. Really.”
But despite my protest, he’s already grabbing his phone, already texting Miles and telling him he’s got an errand to run so he’ll be a little late.
“So, where should we start?” he asks, pocketing his cell.
“The store.” I nod, having just confirmed it for myself. “But really, you don’t have to come, I’ll be fine on my own,” I add, giving him one last chance to back out.
“Forget it.” He buckles his seat belt again. “I’m coming along whether you like it or not. And just so you know, all this refusal, well, it’s really starting to give me a complex.”
I look at him, having no idea what that meant.
“Last time? When you broke into Haven’s house and chose to drag Miles along instead of me?”
I look at him, thinking I hardly dragged Miles, not to mention that I really didn’t have a chance to invite him since he was guarding Stacia. But then again, that’s not really the point. What I really want to know is how he happened to know about that when I hadn’t quite gotten around to filling him in on all of those details just yet.
“Miles mentioned it,” he says, answering the thought in my head.
I glance out the window, my eyes narrowed as I say, “Is this what it’s going to be like now that you’re Mr. Popular with all your new friends?” I turn toward him. “You’re gonna spend all your free time coaxing them to spill my secrets?”
“Only the good stuff.” Damen smiles, pressing his
lips briefly to mine as I back out of his drive and make my way toward the gate. “Only the stuff I really need to know.”
thirty-three
We drive past Roman’s old store, Renaissance!, even though I have no plans to go inside since it’s too early for that. The last thing I need is another confrontation with Haven or any of the other immortals that work in the place. Yet I still slow as I near it, quickly calculating just how long it’s been since the last time I was there, and more than a little curious to see what’s become of it now that Roman’s no longer around.
But even though I expected to find some kind of change, I never expected to find it boarded up the way it is. The windows empty, the once elaborate displays dismantled and gone, with a door that’s not just locked but also bearing a sign that reads: closed! With the additional, hand-scrawled scribble of: For Good! Just underneath.
“I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but still, I didn’t see that coming,” Damen says, his voice soft and low, his eyes fixed on the sign. “I thought for sure Haven would’ve taken it over, or even Marco, or Misa, or Rafe.”
I nod in agreement, ditch the car by the curb, as the two of us scramble out, crossing the street until we’re standing before it. Peering through the window at some of the bigger pieces of furniture—the couches, tables, and display cases—that, for whatever reason, were left behind. Seeing that, for the most part anyway, with a few exceptions here and there, all of the smaller items like clothes and jewelry and such are all gone.
And I can’t help but wonder just whose decision this was, just who decided to shutter it for good. Not to mention just who Roman might’ve possibly left control of it to.
Being immortal and all, I somehow doubt he ever thought to make a will.
I take a quick look around, making sure no one’s paying any attention to us, before I close my eyes and open the door with my mind. Forgoing my original plan to wait until dark, figuring with the way things are going, this place could be empty by then, so it’s best to just strike while we can.
“You’ve become increasingly comfortable with the breaking and entering,” Damen says, his lips at my ear as he follows me inside. “Should I be concerned?”
I laugh, a startling burst of sound that echoes in this vast, high-ceilinged space. Motioning for Damen to close the door behind us as I place my hands on my hips and take a good look around—taking a moment to close my eyes and employ all my senses, trying to get a read on the place, tune in to where a stained white shirt might be hidden, as Damen stands beside me and does the same.
But not getting much of anything, we decide to start right where we stand. Peeking inside antique armoires, wobbly old chests of drawers, sorting through everything quickly, methodically, but not finding the one thing we need. Damen heads for the back, the space Roman once used as an office and, once inside, calls for me to join him.
It’s a mess. An absolute mess. Like a tornado blew through it. Like the fault lines recently slipped. Reminding me of the way Jude’s store looked the day Haven left us for dead—and I take it as a sure sign that she’s responsible for this.
We pick our way through massive piles of papers all strewn across the floor. Damen stepping lightly, gingerly, while I’m not quite so graceful and accidentally go skidding and surfing a few times only to have him catch me and keep me from falling.