Bearly Hanging On (The Jamesburg Shifters #6)(68)

“I knew it!” Jamie said. “I knew I broke him somehow. There’s no way I didn’t.”

“Not a robot,” Branson said defensively. “Can’t break. You just surprised me is all.”

As Ryan and Jamie both approached the table for a closer look, Jenga stopped them. “I have to warn you. This is going to be... different. I don’t want you to be—”

“Oh my God!” Ryan gaped at the man on the table. “He doesn’t have a face at all! It’s just like Madonna in Dick Tracy. Just a blank sorta... face? Not face?”

“Shocked,” Jenga finished what he was saying before he got cut off. “And yes, it is a bit odd, but remember, he has feelings too.”

Branson – or whatever his real name was – grunted as Atlas inserted what seemed to be a garden hose directly into the side of his neck, but made no other hint that it caused him any pain.

“Probably what happened is that when you fed on him, his fluids backed up in response. You got a very small amount, and then they stopped flowing. I’m massaging them back to normal. He should be fine in an hour or two.”

Apparently, ‘massaging’ meant that Atlas was hooking him up to a car battery, and shocking the hell out of him while some copper-colored mess came out of the garden hose. Jamie watched for about three seconds before it was time to look away.

“And that’s going to make him better?” she asked, glad for an excuse not to watch anymore.

“Oh, yes, I’m sure of it,” Jenga said cheerfully. “Atlas, turn that crank a little harder.”

“And,” Jamie said, looping her arm through Ryan’s, “that is where we take our graceful exit.”

She pulled him toward the door, but just before they exited, she heard a squawking noise, a sputter, and then some very uncomfortable-sounding words in a voice that vaguely resembled Branson’s, but with a healthy dose of phlegm. “You’re safe,” he croaked.

“Huh?” Ryan stiffened and turned back. “What about all those guys who tried to bum rush me in the cave?”

Branson shook his head... thing. “Recalled. They think I’ve been deactivated.”

“Oh, is that what this is?” Jenga held a small metal cylinder between his thumb and forefinger. “Some kind of sensor?”

The not-alien nodded. “I am now officially off the record. The only problem is I have to find somewhere to be. To go.”

“Jamesburg,” Jamie said with a smirk, and a squeeze of Ryan’s hand. “There’s always room for one more. Or, you know, fifty or sixty.”

Branson let out a groan, and his head thumped backward against Jenga’s examination table.

“Which reminds me,” she said. “I think you were talking about needing a place?”

Ryan smiled back. “I guess I’m not looking anymore, huh?”

“Happy to keep you,” Jamie said, as they walked through the wind-chimes, the aisles of odd poultices and the strange smelling cauldrons. “If you’re willing to keep me, that is.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said, leaning in for a soft, gentle kiss that dragged a tingling surge through the bottoms of Jamie’s feet, all the way to her scalp.

She grabbed at him, running her fingers through the hair on the back of his head, latching on and refusing to let him go, at least for a moment. When he pulled away, slowly, leaving his taste on her lips, Jamie sucked a deep breath, inhaling Ryan’s scent, and letting the warmth wash over her before she opened her eyes.

A slow, soft clapping sound emanated from behind them. When Jamie turned her head, she saw Atlas, smiling, drooling just a little, and clapping.

“That might be our cue to take it somewhere else,” Ryan said, giving Jamie another one of those smiles that turned her into jelly. “Think you can carry me all the way to the house?”

She jabbed him playfully in the arm. “I think we’d be better off calling a cab. Or, you know, you could turn into a big magical bear and let me ride you all the way out there.”

“Now there’s an idea,” he said, giving her a sly wink that made her blush. “Although if there’s a town ordinance against him standing around without any pants on, your idea might be about eight steps past acceptable.”

“Oh, shut up,” she said, laughing. “Come on you big idiot, let’s go see what Erik’s managed. What do you say?”

Once more he grabbed her, planted a deep, warm, toe-curling kiss on Jamie’s lips, and watched her face for a moment before he spoke. “Let’s go home,” he said.

Home. The word swirled in Jamie’s mind, stirred her soul. She nodded. “Home it is,” she said, laying her head on Ryan’s massive shoulder as they walked out into the night.

“One thing though.” Jamie squeezed his hand and pulled him to a stop.

Ryan raised an eyebrow.

“Do you think maybe we could put something up in the attic? I’ve got... well, I kind have a thing for heights.”

She smiled, and a moment later, Ryan’s lips warmed Jamie’s one more time. “For you? I think I can manage,” he whispered.

Jamie went to turn again, to keep walking, but he held her still, his eyes studying her face. “For you,” he continued. “I’d do anything.”