“Tarker, that’s the least of your worries right now.”
“Surely you don’t mean to still choke me.”
“No, I’ve moved on from that plan.” Jerrick curled his mouth with menace. “Too quick and painless.”
“But I had nothing to do with whatever’s going on. I’m a victim here, just like you.”
“Bullshit. You helped set me up.”
Lex tried shaking his head, but it didn’t budge much thanks to the firm grip of Jerrick’s hand. “No. I swear they only hired me to arrange your services in acquiring the ivory kelluta. That was the extent of our dealings. You’ve got to believe me.”
He couldn’t afford to trust anyone at this point. Which was why he saw no choice but to drag Lex along when the transit driver pulled into the lot a few minutes later. Until he was reasonably satisfied that Lex knew nothing, there was no way he was letting him out of his sight.
Giving the man a less-than-gentle nudge into the backseat, Jerrick climbed in after him and gave the driver the address for Avi’s shop. Plowing a hand through his hair, Jerrick visualized squeezing the life from his captors. He wanted to kill them. So badly, he could taste it. No one threatened Avily and got away with it.
The insane bottleneck of the roads doubled the time it should have taken to reach Primus Avenue. Jerrick dug for a couple of bills and tossed them to the driver before grabbing Lex by the collar and hauling him from the vehicle. Quickening his pace, Jerrick maneuvered through the aggravating horde of Amora Moon revelers, his pulse ratcheting. He shoved past a barricade of costumed fairies and slammed to a halt the second he spotted Avily slumped unconscious in the doorway of her shop. The oxygen exploded from his lungs in a sharp, painful cannon blast. “Sweet gods, no.”
Knees threatening to give out, he hunkered next to Avily and brushed aside a lock of her pale hair with trembling fingers. A heavy snore broke past her lips, releasing the awful tension in his gut. The next instant that emotion was replaced with an equal dose of anger when his attention snagged on the discarded liquor bottles nearby. “You little idiot.”
He had half a mind to tan her backside for putting a scare in him and foolishly endangering herself by passing out drunk and leaving herself defenseless. The streets of Tul’dea were overridden with lowlifes who possessed unsavory ideas of what they’d like to do to helpless, unconscious females they were fortunate enough to stumble across.
Then there was the sinister threat of the individuals who’d threatened to harm her if Jerrick didn’t do their bidding.
With that reminder steeling his fury, Jerrick gathered her into his arms and hefted to his feet. The door behind her was unlocked. He cycled between relief and anger over that fact. Nodding to Lex, he motioned for the man to precede him inside the shop.
Lex dutifully obeyed, his curiosity evident as he stared at Avi’s limp body. “Who is she?”
“The death of me,” Jerrick uttered beneath his breath before wedging the door shut with his hip. After shooting the deadbolt home, he directed Lex to an adjacent closet housing cleaning supplies. Once Lex stepped inside the space, Jerrick swung the door shut, attempting not to rattle Avi’s head in the process. Course, not like he bloody had to worry about knocking her unconscious. He clicked the locking gizmo, earning a plaintive whine from the other side of the door.
“It smells weird in here.” Loud snuffles came from Lex. “Like moldy mop.”
Jerrick ground his teeth. “If you don’t shut up, I’m opening this door and shoving that moldy mop up the first available orifice.”
Crickets could be heard over the deafening silence that descended on the closet. Satisfied his threat had subdued Lex’s sulking for the time being, Jerrick hiked Avily tighter to his chest and strode through the dark interior of her shop. Years of skulking around in pitch-black environments made it relatively easy to reach the back stairway leading to her upstairs apartment without running into anything or breaking his neck. Fishing in his pocket, he located a thin metal pick. His magic would be infinitely faster at defeating the lock, but he doubted she’d appreciate him destroying her door. Considering his current mood, no telling the damage he’d inflict.
Less than two seconds later, he sprang the deadbolt and swung the door open. The rickety stairs creaked beneath his boot heels on the journey up. Deciphering his way through the shadowy maze of her apartment, he located her bedroom. Or at least he assumed it was her bedroom. He’d never been inside this section of her apartment. Regardless, there was a bed in the middle of the space. Good enough.
With far less gentleness than he’d employed when picking Avily up earlier, he tossed her on top of the mattress. The springs boinged in protest, and the mountain of pillows near the headboard went tumbling over the side. A groaning murmur spilled from Avily before her eyelashes fluttered.
He leaned over her supine body, boxing her in with his arms. Her glassy gaze took forever to focus on him. Once it did, she graced him with a goofy smile that was likely influenced by the six empty liquor bottles littering her entrance downstairs. God knows there was no way in hell she’d be giving him seductive, come-hither grins if she were sober.
“Imagine seeing you here in my dreams.” She giggled as if she’d uttered the funniest damn thing ever before tiptoeing her fingers along the front of his T-shirt. Muscles tensing beneath her touch, he sucked in a breath. Propping herself up on one elbow, she licked her bottom lip, drawing his attention to its succulent curve. “Are you going to tie me up like you did last time?”
His eyebrows arched the same instant liquid lust surged toward his cock.
What bloody hell kind of dreams was she having about him?
Willing away that intriguing but entirely best left unanswered mystery, he sat on the edge of the mattress and speared her with a stern look. “You probably won’t remember a single damn part of this conversation, but promise me you’ll never pull a fool stunt like this again. If anything happened to you, Avi…” A fierce shudder tripped through him at the horrible possibilities parading through his mind.
“Don’t be angry at me. Please. I couldn’t bear it.” Fingers curling in the cotton of his shirt, she coaxed him closer. Her eyes a dreamy invitation, she slipped one hand around his neck and twined her fingers in his hair.
He stared at the beckoning softness of her lips. Don’t fucking think about it. Even as he hammered that warning into his brain, Avily leaned into him, the sweetness of her breath an appetizer to the lush surrender of her lips upon his.
It wasn’t the first time he’d come up against the potent addiction of Avily’s kisses, but he was still woefully unprepared for the complete enslavement she inflicted on his senses. The sheer intoxication that rode shotgun with kissing her shivered through his bones. Sang inside his blood with heady enticement. Groaning, he cupped her cheek and eased his tongue past her lips.
She yielded with zero resistance, her tongue eagerly encouraging him to deepen the kiss. So he did, glutting himself on her like he was starved for her sweetness. Hell, starved didn’t begin to describe the ravenous hunger she brought out in him. He’d had nothing but time these last five years, and he’d spent every second of it torturing himself with the memory of her. The memory of this.
Sweeping his tongue along hers, he basked in her shaky whimper. He was a goddamn bastard for taking advantage of her in a moment of weakness. Whether that weakness belonged to them both equally didn’t make any difference. It was wrong. Momentously, stupendously idiotic. Even if she tasted like pure ambrosia.
Falling victim to his own desire, he sucked her pillowy bottom lip between his teeth—one last delicious memory to file away for a lonely night when he felt the need to torment himself. The seductive catch of her breath was like velvet dragging on his overheated skin.