Darker Days (The Darker Agency #1)(28)

“And then breakfast tomorrow,” Barnes finished with a suggestive swing of his hips.

Mom, a class act to the core, simply smiled. “Bindle, I don’t think you’ve met Damien.”

Officer Barnes gave Dad a dismissive wave and continued to stare at Mom.

Dad looked annoyed, but I had to give him credit. He kept it together. “I’m Jessie’s father,” he said. My parents had never been officially married, but that didn’t mean anything. As far as they were both concerned, he was her husband and she his wife. A stupid piece of paper didn’t matter to them. Telling Officer Barnes he was my dad was his way of saying this is my family so back the hell off.

But Binkie didn’t take the hint.

“How nice for you,” he said, pushing Dad aside. “So about dinner… Clothing is optional.”

“Officer Barnes!” Mom exclaimed, eyes wide. “What is the matter with you?”

He winked and said, “I’ll make it worth your while.”

Dad took Mom’s hand and nodded to me. “Out. Now.” He was losing his temper. Leaving seemed like a pretty good idea.

They turned and started for the door, and Lukas and I followed—but so did Officer Barnes. In a move I would never scrub from my brain no matter how hard I tried, he reached out and slapped my mom across the ass. The sound was like a gunshot echoing through a churchyard. He whistled and said, “Hot damn, baby’s got back!”

I thought the riot had been bad. It was nothing compared to the look of fury in Dad’s eyes when he whirled on the guy. His hand shot out, and he had Officer Barnes pinned to the wall across the room before I could even blink. “If you ever touch her again, I’ll snap your bones like twigs and feed them to the armies of hell.”

“Twigs,” Officer Barnes nodded like a bobble head. “Armies of hell.” His head swiveled back to Mom and he smiled. “Hands off the hot—”

Dad grabbed two handfuls of Barnes’ uniform and jerked him closer. Judging from the look in his eyes, Officer Grabby Pants was about to be paste.

Beside me, Lukas went rigid. There was a flash of red and a sharp intake of breath, and I knew we were teetering on the verge of a meltdown. I rushed forward before Dad could take it any further. “You need to chill.” I hitched a thumb back toward Lukas who was starting to twitch. “You’re going to set Lukas off. This is all the work of the Sins, right? Maybe Officer Barnes was hit by Lust.”

For a moment, I didn’t think Dad would leave it at that. I held my breath, waiting for the blow that thankfully never came. With a final shake, he stepped away and rejoined Mom across the room, never taking his eyes from Officer Barnes.

I stepped back to where Lukas stood, still stiff, but looking much less like a balloon ready to pop. “You okay?”

He gave me a slight nod.

Voice still laced with anger, Dad said, “Jessie, take Lukas and go back to the office. Your mother and I will clean up here.”

I wanted to argue but decided against it. Going head-to-head with Mom over little stuff was one thing, but Dad? Hell no. “Kendra was here. She was affected, too.”

Dad nodded. “We’ll find her. Go.”

…

“You didn’t tell them about Vida. Why?” Lukas asked.

We’d cut back through the field and crossed the train tracks in record time. I didn’t know how long Mom and Dad would be and had no intention of pushing my luck. Back at the office, Lukas settled in the main room while I went upstairs to take a shower. Soda and long hair did not mix well. Plus, I hated the smell of root beer. The only thing keeping me from burning my clothes was our serious lack of funds.

The phone kept ringing, but I let the voicemail get it. If I picked it up and something juicy popped, I’d be way too tempted to hop a bus and go out on my own. That would only add to the hot water I knew I was already in.

“I didn’t think right then was the perfect time to tell her I’d gone head-to-head with lust at school.” I picked at the edge of the couch. There was a small rip in the end cushion that I’d systematically made bigger over the last few months. It wasn’t on purpose—just habit. “I’ll tell her later. No sense in making her worry more than she needs to right now.”

Lukas stood and began to pace the length of the room. “Any witch powerful enough can free them—they’re not bound to the box by a specific bloodline like I am. That scene at the store was deliberate.”

“Deliberate? Yeah, they deliberately wanted to cause trouble.”

He shook his head. “You don’t find it odd that it was so close to your home?”

I shrugged. “Penance is a small town. Everywhere is close to home.”

“No,” Lukas insisted. “That place we were this afternoon—that would have been a much stronger feeding ground. There was a lot of negative energy and they could have done maximum damage there. This was done to draw you out.”

I stood. “Well, they didn’t try very hard, did they?”

“I believe they’re still testing the waters. They need to know what they’re up against. What your limits and weaknesses are. They’ve underestimated the Darker family in the past. I don’t believe they’ll make the same mistake again.”

Lukas, not paying attention, ran right into me. His hands shot out to steady me, fingers grazing the bare skin of my arms where I’d rolled up my sleeves.