Devils & Thieves (Devils & Thieves #1)(20)
He glanced at me, leveled his stare. “Just don’t lie to me, Jem. It’s as simple as that. I’m your father, you know.”
“Oh, really? I hadn’t noticed, what with you moving hours away!”
He turned into the next aisle. “I keep a roof over your head, don’t I?”
I grabbed an extra carton of frozen comfort, grinding my teeth. “That’s it? That’s what you have to say?”
He was waiting when I entered the aisle where he was loading up on pasta. “Jemmie, someday, when you can talk to me like an adult instead of like a toddler throwing a tantrum, I’ll tell you why I left.”
“Fuck you,” I snapped, tears starting in my eyes. “I have a right to be mad.”
He bowed his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay. You’re right. I’m sorry. Look—let’s go home. We’ll cool down and talk later.”
“Whatever,” I mumbled, but followed him to the checkout line. I didn’t want my ice cream to melt before I could get it to a freezer. I also didn’t want to break down in the middle of Delmore’s.
The girl behind the register greeted us in a too-high-pitched voice. I tossed a few things on the conveyor belt. She rang up a total of three items before saying, “Wow. Your tattoos are incredible.”
“Thanks,” Dad said. He fished his wallet out.
“How long did it take you to get all that done?”
She was stalling now. The conveyor belt had stopped moving and our milk sat, waiting to be scanned, the plastic sweating in the heat.
“A few years,” Dad answered vaguely, probably used to having these conversations.
It was so weird to stand there next to him. He was only in his mid-thirties; he and my mom had had me so young. Didn’t mean I was cool with a girl my age stumbling over herself to flirt with him.
“They’re incredible,” she said again. Her cheeks flushed when she noticed me staring at her, my lip curled in disdain. She scanned the milk. The sun beat through the windows, momentarily blinding me. If only it’d deafen me, too.
The girl finished scanning the groceries. “I’ll be in the car,” I said, and grabbed a few bags.
“Wait, Mo,” Dad said, but I was already gone, the automatic doors rushing open in front of me.
Outside, in the parking lot, I slid my sunglasses on and sighed against the sudden warmth of the sun. As I made my way to the car, I smelled something heavy in the air. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. Magic.
Dad ran up behind me. “I said to wait. You never listen to me.”
Three motorcycles sat parked in the back of the lot, with three members of the Devils’ League perched atop. Hardy, Flynn, and Boone.
Dad had his sunglasses on—great big aviators with mirrored lenses. But I could tell he was staring at them, and they were staring at him, and something tense and hostile thrummed between them.
“Dad?” I said, my voice sounding young and unsteady as the scent of his magic hit me, mint so strong it burned the inside of my nose.
“Get in the car,” he said, so I hurried to it and climbed inside, locking the door behind me. I didn’t think the Devils’ League would hurt Dad, not now, and especially not out in the open, not in broad daylight. At least, not if they were sober. But the power was so thick and pungent that my head throbbed with it. I pressed my face into my hands and breathed through my mouth.
Dad slid in behind the wheel a second later and started his car up with the push of a button. “You all right?”
“What did they want?” I asked. I could still feel the Devils behind us, like a storm cloud growing on the horizon.
“Tensions are high right now,” Dad answered, echoing what Crowe said last night. “They just wanted me to understand that they know I’m here. A welcome party, if you will.”
“Um. They didn’t look that welcoming.”
“Yeah, well. It’s just a game. I know how to play it, and all I want is for folks to keep to the rules.” Fake casual again. He couldn’t fool me.
“You’re not here just to watch the Devils, though, are you?”
“No, not unless they’re breaking those rules.”
“Dad, of course they are. Everyone knows that.”
He let out an exasperated sigh. “Some rules are more important than others.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Jem, it’s Syndicate business, and I can’t discuss everything with you. Especially not when you’re still obviously in Crowe Medici’s orbit.”
“Believe whatever you want, Dad,” I said, more harshly than was probably necessary. “It’s not like you actually know me or anything about my life, after all.”
His jaw clenched. He put the car in gear and pulled out of the parking lot.
I crossed my arms over my chest and said nothing on the drive home. I didn’t want to get between Dad and the Devils anyway. Maybe Mom was right. Maybe I should just stick with a guy like Darek who could understand our world but wouldn’t be fully immersed in it.
Maybe I should just walk away from all of it and teach myself not to care.
Or maybe I should grow wings and fly to the moon. Sadly, that would have been easier.
SIX
ALEX FINALLY TEXTED ME AFTER MY TENSE CHICKEN FAJITA lunch with Dad, which had ended with him kissing me on the forehead and promising he’d catch up with me later before taking off in his shiny car. When I saw her name flash across my screen, I was equal parts relieved and terrified to read the message.