Oracle's Moon (Elder Races #4)(75)

Behind her, chaos spread. When she looked over her shoulder, people appeared divided into two groups, those that pushed for the door, and those that moved toward the chaos. Either the second group thought they could help in some way, or they were going to join in the fight. Some of them, no doubt, were touching Khalil without his permission. None of them had realized what Khalil really was. If they had, they would all be racing for the door.

Grace made sure she had a firm hold on her purse with its precious contents. Then, carrying the beer and the bowl of snacks, she headed toward the group working to get out the door.

She had only limited success, but she would take it. She lost a third of the beer and half the peanuts and popcorn by the time she reached outside. Inside, the music had stopped. Sounds of shouting, cursing and splintering wood replaced it. Outside, most of those who had exited the bar, talking to each other or on their cell phones. A few were laughing. Sirens sounded in the distance.

Grace took a couple of healthy pulls off the beer before setting the bottle on the sidewalk next to the building. Then she ate the peanuts and popcorn while she walked to her car. It wasn’t what she had hoped to get for supper, but it stopped the noisy hunger pains.

The car was quiet when she drove home. No sexy, distracting, unpredictable Djinn, no chattering Chloe, no whees, hoots or other random, cheerful noises from Max. No unexpected kicks in the head from anybody. The house was quiet too when she unlocked the door and let herself in. Peaceful. It was nice to be alone for a little while.

To tell the truth, she missed the children, but it would also be nice to have the rest of the night without them. Maybe for once she could sleep past the crack of dawn.

She set her purse in its spot on the bookcase by the front door. She had the impulse to cook herself something real for supper. A warm meal sounded good. But cooking seemed like too much effort. Instead she ate one of the nectarines left over from lunch.

Including travel time, the date had lasted just under an hour. She had been on some pretty bad dates, but that was a record even for her. Forget about a midnight deadline. She could brush her teeth and be in bed by quarter after eleven.

So she took off the flower garden. (Pick yer flowers. Ha!) She slipped on a pair of shorts, washed the makeup off her face and brushed her teeth. Then, because the whole evening had taken on a surrealistic quality, she had to look at the check again. That gorgeous, unbelievable, life-altering piece of paper. She sighed with happiness as she tucked it away. Her problems and challenges hadn’t vanished, but she was starting to see a way through them, and the relief made her feel so buoyant, she realized just how much of a crushing weight had been on her shoulders these last few months.

That was when Khalil arrived. He exploded into the house in a blazing rush and formed in front of her. He was back to his original form. In black. His hands were on his hips, his eyes shone like supernovas, and he was glowering.

Oh dear. Himself did not appear to be happy. Grace was fairly certain that was not her problem either.

“I looked for you,” he said. “You were not in the bar’s immediate vicinity.”

“No, I wasn’t, was I?” she said. “Did you have fun on your first date?”

“I do not believe that is how dates are supposed to go,” he informed her.

“Is that so?” She sat on the couch. “How do you believe dates are supposed to go? And what do you think went wrong?”

“That son of an ass put his hands on you,” he said edgily. “He insulted you.”

She shook her head. “Nope,” she said in a calm voice. “That’s not what went wrong. Would you like another shot at answering, or should I just tell you?”

He remained silent, watching her.

“Okay, here we go,” she said. “You were wrong. I was wrong to go out with you. The date itself was wrong. We made the decision to go out, and it all snowballed from there. Of course the date was a disaster. It was going to be a disaster no matter what we did. We are about as different as two different creatures can get. You’re a prince of the Djinn—and I still have no idea what that means.…”

“It means nothing,” he snapped. “It’s an honorific. All the male elders in the five Houses are princes, and the female elders are excellencies. They’re titles of respect, that’s all.”

“All right,” she said, letting go of that. “So what, it doesn’t matter. None of it matters. I’m mortal. You’re not. I’m human, and you’re not. We come from very different cultures; we have different expectations, abilities, and goals for our lives, and—”

“Stop,” he said. “You’re wasting time.”

Again, he caught her openmouthed. “What?”

“We’re still on our date, and you’re wasting time.” He glanced at the living room clock. “We have forty minutes to go before midnight.”

“You can’t be serious,” she said faintly.

“I am completely serious,” he said. He prowled close, took her hand and yanked her to her feet. “You made a bargain. You’re going to stick to it.”

“Khalil, no,” she said.

“Yes.” He looked ruthless. Worse, he looked about as calm as she had felt mere moments ago. “Not everything that happened was a disaster. You had fun up to a certain point. You laughed and were happy. I was watching you. I understand the stories your face tells so much better than I did before. I know what your happiness looks like now.”