Fatal Strike (McClouds & Friends #10)(80)

Problem was, this warm fuzzy stuff melted her to mush. Nobody seemed to judge her for it, but still. She quelled another wave of emotion. “I can’t believe how different you look.” She stared at the bright, fitted sweater Nina wore. “I always thought you were pretty, but you wore baggy dark clothes, so I never knew you had a hot figure, too.”

“Oh, well. Aaro insists.” Nina darted a smile at her guy, Aaro, who sat on the couch near them. He was tongue-tied and uncomfortable, but clearly unwilling to be more than a few feet from his lady. Even if she was hugging the sobbing girl. Tough-guy Kryptonite.

Miles was seated on the other side of her, twitching with discomfort and embarrassment, but whenever he made a move to go, she grabbed his hand and yanked him right back down. Nope. Plant your ass right here, buddy. Do not move it one inch. Everyone needed to get the non-verbal cue that she had not gone to rack and ruin, she was not a poor, broken girl that Miles had taken advantage of in her moment of weakness. Hell, no. None of his fierce friends would dare to slap or scold him if she was clutching his hand in a white-knuckled death grip.

So there, everyone. Take that. She hung on. He was all hers.

Hours had gone by since Nina, Tam, and Edie had arrived. Big platters of deli sandwiches had appeared on the table at one point, and Miles had nagged and poked and prodded until she’d successfully gotten around half of a turkey and swiss, and another glass of juice.

The room was packed. It was an overwhelming number of people, after months of solitude with only occasional vicious attacks from Hu and Anabel to break the monotony, and she and Miles were the main attraction. But damn, out of nowhere, a group of smart, brave strangers had saved her and borne her up. How crazy and improbable was that.

She would endure their focused attention if it killed her. She fished for the tissue again.

“You okay?” Miles leaned in close.

She nodded. “Need more tissues,” she muttered.

“I’ll go and look for—”

“No!” She yanked him back. “Don’t go anywhere. Sorry to be clingy, but just . . . just stay put. I’d rather just leak.”

“Uh, okay.” He sank back down, lifted her hand to his lips, kissed it. Eight people in the room took notice, and exchanged meaningful glances. The stunning redhead with the tight bun and the skintight black clothes, the one they called Tam, clapped her hands briskly.

“Time for one of Edie’s drawings,” she announced. “We need to speed things up. Do you know about Edie’s drawings?”

Lara looked up at Edie, who had been introduced as Kev’s wife. She was tall and slim, with a long, loose, dark braid and a gentle smile. Very pretty, in an understated way. “Know what?”

“I have this ability,” Edie explained. “Maybe a tiny bit like yours. When I draw, I see things about the people I’m drawing for. Sometimes they can be useful. It’s not a precision instrument, but it can help.”

“It only happens when you draw?” Lara asked.

Edie nodded. “It only runs on that channel.”

Lara sighed. “I wish I could pick a channel. When it comes on me, it’s more like an epileptic seizure.”

“We can probably help you with that,” Nina said. “We’ve been working on blocking techniques, control issues. Me, Aaro, Edie. We’ll help you out. We’ll work on it together.”

She tried to smile, but her smile felt weighted down. She had a hard time imagining what kind of conscious control could keep her from tripping when the pull started to suck her down into the vortex.

“Thanks, I guess,” she said, faintly.

“Of course, when it comes to shields, nobody beats Super-Miles,” Aaro said, sourly. “The magical boy that no bullet can kill.”

Edie serenely ignored him. “So? Can I draw for you, Lara?”

Lara stared for a moment, blankly. Still unaccustomed to the idea of her wishes being considered. She stammered a little. “Ah . . . sure.”

Edie still hesitated. “Sometimes it’s scary.”

Lara just looked at her. Edie broke eye contact, her face reddening. “Um, sorry. Forget I said that. Stupid of me.”

“It’s okay,” Lara said quietly. “Go ahead.”

A hush came over the room as Edie started to draw. It was quiet enough to hear the scratch of the pencil on paper. Everyone seemed afraid to breathe. Clearly, they all took Edie’s ability very seriously.

Kev, Edie’s husband, the scarred twin of the one they called Sean, came over and sat next to his wife. Val, too, came over, sliding his arms around Tam, from behind. Nina grabbed Aaro’s hand.

Lara glanced at Miles. Her gaze stuck on him. Those beautiful, soulful dark eyes, so charged with emotion. His gorgeous, battered face.

He held out his arms to her, and she moved into them with such a feeling of magnetic inevitability, it made her heart shake.

She huddled there, folded up tight, her head beneath his chin. Blocking everything out but his warmth, his scent, his heartbeat.

Sometime later, she sensed the breathless tension in the room resolve. She looked up. Edie stared down at her sketchbook with a puzzled frown. Kev pondered it, too, over her shoulder, his mouth grim. Neither of them seemed to like what they saw.

Gee. Why was she not surprised.

The others were clustering around, peering at the sketch with various expressions of perplexity.