Fated (The Soul Seekers #1)(77)
A swarm of kindness, followed by the deepest, most unconditional love—all of it directed at me.
“Daire…” he says, voice husky and thick.
The lilt of my name on his lips causing me to sway toward him. Ignoring the warning in my head, in favor of the yearning in my heart. Lured by the invisible magnet throbbing between us.
“Daire,” he repeats, the words barely a whisper. “Someone’s here.”
My eyes open wide and I turn to find Jennika glaring into the window.
thirty-eight
“Why’d you have to embarrass me like that?” I follow Jennika down the walkway and into the house as the rumble of Dace’s engine fades into the distance. Admiring the way he held his own, kept so steady and calm, but those icy-blue eyes told a whole other story—he couldn’t wait to be gone.
I’ve seen it before. An angry Jennika is a scary Jennika, and she was—correction, is—undeniably angry.
But I’m angry too. And unlike Dace, I’m not the least bit intimidated by her.
“Seriously—why’d you have to be so incredibly rude?” I throw my bag on the kitchen table and head for the sink, where I retrieve a blue handblown glass from the cupboard, fill it with water, and down it in three easy gulps in an attempt to calm myself.
“Oh, well—excuse me for embarrassing you and acting so rude. Please accept my most heartfelt apologies.” She shakes her head, clearly not meaning a word of it. “Maybe you can tell me just exactly what is going on around here? Maybe you can explain how you’d like me to react upon finding you parked in a beat-up wreck of a car with a boy who’s up to no good—at one thirty in the morning—on a school night, no less?”
I lean against the counter and stare hard at my boots. Struggling to get a rein on my emotions—arguing with her won’t solve a thing. But I’m far too annoyed to take my own advice, so I lift my chin and say, “Well, for starters, you really didn’t have to yell. That was completely uncalled for. And for another thing, you really didn’t have to jump to conclusions. Nothing was going on. It wasn’t at all what you think—you misread the whole thing. I only just met him today! He gave me a lift, nothing more. But instead of trusting me, you just go off on a rant and assume the worst. Way to go, Jennika. Seriously.”
“Oh, so now I’m supposed to trust you?” She fumes under her breath, surveying Paloma’s home as though she’s suspicious of everything in it, most of all me. “How can I trust you when you go for days on end without returning my calls? How can I trust you when you renege on our deal?”
I sigh. Roll my eyes. Hardly able to believe we’re back to this—the same argument we’ve already had over the phone. Twice. But apparently she’s gearing up for round three, and once she gets started, she’s hard to contain.
“That was one time, and it was only for three days, as you well know—”
But I barely get to finish before she’s shaking her head, practically shouting, “It was four days, Daire. Four.”
“That’s only because of the time difference and you know it,” I mumble, thinking how sad it is that after weeks of not seeing each other, this is the way she chooses to greet me. But now that she’s started, I’m not in much of a hugging mood either. “The point is, it was just once, and there were special circumstances involved since I was”—enduring a vision quest/full-body dismemberment in a remote cave—“not feeling well … due to my injuries from the accident and all.”
“Yes, so you say.” She looks me over, brow quirked, eyes appraising. “And ever since then, you’ve been very good at keeping our conversations to a minimum and evading all of my questions. And the ones you do choose to acknowledge are answered in a way that’s intentionally cryptic. While you may not believe it, I was once a teenager too. You’re not pulling anything with me that I didn’t pull on my own parents. So if you think your coming out here is a free pass to party, well, I hope you enjoyed it because the party just ended.”
“A free pass to party?” I scowl. “Surely you don’t mean that?” I eyeball her carefully, seeing she does indeed. “Have you even seen this place?” My voice rises in outrage. “Out of all the places I’ve been—Paris, London, Rome, Mykonos—heck, even Miami—why on earth would I chose to rebel here—in barren, boring Enchantment, New Mexico?”
I chase it with some additional phrases I mutter under my breath not meant for her ears, which is why I’m caught by surprise when she says, “Good. I’m glad to know you see it that way. That means you won’t miss it when you go.”
I narrow my gaze, my skin prickled with cold.
“You’re out of here. So take a good look around and say good-bye to this place because after tonight, you’ll never see it again.”
“You can’t be serious?” I stare. There’s no way I can leave. I’m a Seeker—the town needs me—and tonight I saw all the proof that I need to convince me it’s true. While I have no idea what Cade’s up to, he’s definitely up to something, and it’s up to me to stop it. I’m the only one who can.
Jennika nods, a self-satisfied smile hijacking her face. “I’ve taken a TV gig, which means no more traipsing the globe—”