January in Atlantis, Alyssa Day [read any book txt] 📗

Flynn held his hand out to her again, and this time, after a brief hesitation, she took it. It was like reaching out into an inferno and taking hold of pure fire. The sparks between them spiraled up into a conflagration, and she wanted nothing more than to hurl herself into his arms. Even in such a dire situation, her body wanted him.

She quickly stood, gasping, and yanked her hand away. When she dared to look at Flynn, he appeared to be as shocked as she was.

“What in the nine hells is this between us?” he began, but he took a step back as if giving her a safe zone between them. She appreciated it more than she knew how to articulate, so she said nothing. Instead, she waited silently for her heart to slow down and stop thundering in her chest. Whether from fear or desire, adrenaline was pouring through her body, setting her nerve endings on high alert. Fight or flight, maybe.

Fight or flight or fuck, her mind said, using Flynn’s word to inflame her even further.

This close to him, she was even more aware of Flynn. Hyperaware. He was all grace and danger, all leashed ferocity, like the most feral of the animals who’d ever approached her, attracted by her gift. Her pulse began to speed up again.

Flynn said nothing, just watched her for a long moment before he spoke. “Eva. The man?”

“Monkey.” She sighed. “Yes, he’s after me. He’s my ex’s chief flunky.”

One of those dark silken brows winged upward. “Monkey the flunky?”

She blew out a tired breath. “Yeah, funny, except not so much. Look. This is not your problem and, really, none of your business.”

Just then the door from the bar swung open again. This time the man who’d been with Flynn at his table walked in. He was grinning, his bright green eyes full of high good humor, and he had a scrape down the side of his face and a bruise that was already turning purple on his forehead.

“That was fun. But I think you’d better get her out of here, Flynn.” He nodded at Eva and smiled. “I’m Jake. Nice to meet you, ma’am. But I’m guessing you’re trying to avoid the little guy with the weirdly shaped head, and he just woke up and is looking around for you. Since he has a whole bunch of ugly, mean friends and I hear sirens on the way, now might be a good time to get out of here.”

Flynn nodded and held out his hand again. He kept doing that. As if he had some right to touch her or, maybe, as if he wanted to help. It had been so long since Eva had let anyone see the violence following her that she didn’t know how to react to the offer of a helping hand.

“I’m not sure,” she began. “Since Noel is unconscious, maybe I should stay and take care of the bar…”

“Forget the bar. Let the police take care of the bar. They can take care of the Dark Angels too,” Flynn said grimly. “We need to get out of here and figure out exactly what’s going on. We have a mutual enemy, it appears.”

Jake started toward the rear door that exited the kitchen to the alley behind. “We need to find those girls. I’ll contact Griffin and find out what he’s learned, but first I’m going to see if I can’t get myself arrested. It’ll buy me some instant street cred with those bastards.”

Eva felt dazed, almost as if she’d been the one punched in the face. “What girls? What’s going on? What are the two of you doing in town and why—”

But he was already gone.

The door swung open again. It was freaking Grand Central Station in the small kitchen storeroom tonight. This time, though, it was one of the Dark Angels. Eva made a choking noise in spite of herself and shrank back behind Flynn. Somehow she knew or at least hoped that he was the lesser of two evils right now.

“You’d better turn around and walk right back out of here, my friend,” Flynn said, his voice low and deadly. “I’ve taken down one of you already tonight, plus the idiot on the floor. I don’t mind going for another, but why don’t we just call it quits so I can get the lady out of here.”

The man, tall, dark-haired and broad-shouldered, had too much intelligence in his startlingly green eyes to be one of the rank-and-file Dark Angels. He shook his head impatiently but stopped where he was. “Listen, I don’t have much time. I’m not one of them. If you’re who I think you are, I might be your contact. My name is Zach, and I’ll find you again. Get her out of here now. Local law enforcement is in with the Dark Angels.”

With that, Zach turned and headed back into the bar.

“That was interesting, but we need to move. Now.” Flynn held out his hand again to Eva.

This time she took it even though part of her brain was screaming at her to run. Thankfully the electric pulse of desire, while still there, was less insistent now that her stupid hormones had gotten the message that her life was in actual danger.

“Right,” he said, a trace of satisfaction glinting in his eyes. Now we find out what’s going on. First we get you out of here and to safety.”

“I don’t—” She studied his face again. Gazed for a moment into his eyes, but the crashing and shouting from the bar sped up her decision. She grabbed her purse and sweater. “Yes. Let’s get out of here. I don’t know you, but I know them. Anyway, how could things get any worse?”

Flynn groaned and started walking faster, pulling her along beside him toward the exit. “Please, for the love of all the gods, don’t ever, ever, ask that question again.”

6

Flynn shoved open the door and pulled Eva through it and then kept going down the alley and away from the bar. “Should I take you home?”

“I don’t want to go home yet,” Eva admitted, her voice reluctant. “I can just… I’m going to go get some coffee and think about all this. Thank you for everything you did for me. I’ll be on my way now.”

He tightened his grip on her hand, careful to keep his grasp gentle enough that she could pull away if she really wanted to. “Look, I don’t know why that guy was after you. I don’t know anything about you. But I can recognize the signs of a person in trouble, and I wish you’d at least let me try to help you. I need—I need to help. There’ve been too many times when I didn’t.”

She glanced up at him but didn’t try to pull her hand away. In the harsh light of the streetlamp, her skin was so pale, making the few freckles scattered over her nose stand out. He couldn’t see the green and gold of her enormous eyes in the dark, but they were luminous and seemed to be looking right through him.

It made him wonder what she saw, but he knew better than to ask. Some things were better left unknown.

She blew out a long breath and then nodded as if coming to some internal decision. “Okay. Okay. I guess it can’t hurt for you to at least come get coffee with me. I must be out of my mind, but I need to talk this out with somebody, and a perfect stranger seems to be my best option. Thanks, Flynn, for what you did in there.”

“Believe me, it was my pleasure, Eva. Coffee sounds wonderful. Where should we go?” He smiled at her and she stared up at him, dazed.

“Eva?”

“Oh. Well.” Eva glanced back at the bar, shuddered, and then pointed down the street. “There’s a coffee shop here, but I think that’s too close for now. I don’t want to get involved with the police, and I certainly don’t want to… Well. Let’s go to the Early Café that’s just down on the end of Main Street. It’s at least a mile and a half from here, which might keep us out of the immediate fallout from whatever happened in the bar.”

“Do you want to walk?” The January night air had grown cold, and Eva was shivering in that flimsy T-shirt she must have to wear for work, even with the light sweater she’d thrown over it. He mentally smacked himself in the forehead and immediately shrugged out of his jacket. “You take this. Are you okay to walk? I only have my bike here.”

She started to protest taking his jacket but then closed her eyes and snuggled into its warmth with a blissful expression on her face. “Thanks. I didn’t realize how cold I was getting. I think part of it is shock. Anyway, I have my car here, and we should probably take it. If we want… if I want to get away quickly, I’d rather not have to walk back here to get my car.”