Visions (Cainsville #2)(52)

Ida glowered at him. “You aren’t taking this seriously.”

“If I wasn’t, I’d be back inside, finishing my chapter, not here, pointing out the idiocy of your theory. The Gallagher boy is a client of Gabriel’s. That’s how he knows Olivia, not because he was set on her by some shady stranger offering him money to f*ck her.”

“There’s no need to be vulgar,” Ida snapped.

“Yes, there is. Boinne-fala nature is vulgar. The boy meets Olivia. She’s an attractive young woman; he’s an attractive young man. Both are unattached. Both are in their sexual prime. Do you really think money needs to change hands for that”—he waved in the direction of the long-vanished bike—“to happen?”

“It’s not just boinne-fala nature,” Veronica cut in before Ida could snap something back. “It’s their nature. From their old blood. I’m sure it’s no coincidence that Gabriel represents the Gallaghers. He met them; they recognized a connection. Cwn Annwn and Tylwyth Teg may not trust one another, but we understand one another. Gabriel meets the Gallaghers. Gabriel meets Olivia. Olivia meets Rick Gallagher and that”—she gestured down the road—“is what happens. Just as it did for her parents.”

“Cachu,” Ida spat.

Patrick looked over in mock shock at the curse. He did not, however, disagree with the sentiment.

A few other elders had joined them, silently listening, as they usually did. One—Minnie—finally spoke, her whispery voice tentative. “What if he isn’t merely Cwn Annwn? What if he’s—”

“He isn’t,” Ida cut in. “He’s a boy. A random disgynyddion. Nothing more.”

“But if he’s with her, isn’t it possible—”

“No.” Ida turned a look on Minnie, and her anger rippled her glamor, light seeping out before she reined it in. “He is not.”

She turned her hard look on the others, daring them to disagree. None did, though Patrick knew they were all thinking the same thing. Wondering the same thing. Not daring to say Arawn’s name but wondering, fearing, nonetheless.

“It’s a fling,” Ida said. “Patrick is right. Their nature taking control. Nothing more.”

Walter rubbed his chin and said nothing.

Ida turned to Patrick. “Where’s Gabriel in all this?”

“Left standing on the sidelines, it appears,” Patrick said. “There seems to have been some tension between them lately.”

“What?”

“It’s nothing too serious, considering they were together last night. My guess is he’d done something to upset her.”

“Really?” Ida’s gaze bored into his. “I don’t know where he’d get that from.”

“About what happened last night . . .” Patrick said.

“We’re handling it.”

“I hope so, because it’s a problem, one that suggests the Gallagher boy might not be the only Cwn Annwn trespassing in Cainsville.”

Ida said nothing. They all went silent. Last night was, quite possibly, the first time in decades that Patrick wished he’d been part of the inner circle, just to see their reactions to the news. One of their special children found murdered. In Cainsville, no less. While he doubted the girl had actually been killed here, the fact remained that someone had murdered Ciara Conway and put her body in the Carew house. It was a message. About Olivia. One they did not wish to receive.

“We’ll solve that,” Ida said. “You handle this.” She waved in the direction Olivia had gone. “Whatever is wrong between her and Gabriel, fix it. Now.”





CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE


When Ricky passed the town limits and hit the gas, I found the rush I’d been looking for all my life. My earliest memories of life with Pamela and Todd Larsen? Me on a swing, Todd pushing me. Me in his arms as he swung me. Faster, higher, the air whooshing past like hits of pure oxygen. My first taste of a drug I’d never forget. No merry-go-rounds for me. I wanted roller coasters. I wanted go-carts and snow sleds. Faster. Higher. I remember my dad taking me out in the Spyder, and even before I was old enough to drive, he’d hand me the keys on a lonely stretch of road just like this, letting me take the wheel and go. Just go.

The wind whipping over my bare arms and legs was the most delicious burn imaginable, something I’d never gotten in a convertible, even with the top down. I could feel the motorcycle, too, in a way I never felt a car, no matter how perfectly the engine roared and rumbled. This rumble went right through me, vibrating against my bare thighs and, yes, everyplace else that vibration feels so damned good, making me really glad I hadn’t put on a pair of jeans.

Leaning against Ricky’s back, my legs wrapped around his hips, the burn of the wind and the rumble of the bike . . . It was a rush—an erotic blood rush, head rush, oh-my-God-this-is-amazing rush. I won’t say it was better than sex, but I’ve had some that didn’t live up to this.

It’s not surprising, then, that as we rode, me leaning against him, legs wrapped around him, my fingers slid higher and crept inward, until my hands were wrapped around his inner thighs. When I realized that, I pulled back to a more appropriate hold. He slowed for a turn and stopped the bike, took my hands and put them where they’d been, twisting to look at me and mouthing, “Okay?”