On my way back across the hall to my door, I pulled my cell phone from my bag and checked the call log. Two more missed calls from Alex.
It had been a night for revelations, not that they’d proven helpful. What Jean’s eloquent words had done, however, was underscore how much Alex and I needed to sort things out. We needed to talk calmly, without a looming crisis. That didn’t seem to be possible, so I’d have to settle for whatever I could squeeze out between now and tomorrow’s council meeting.
I didn’t listen to the messages but called him instead. He picked up on the first ring.
“Where the hell are you? Why the hell haven’t you taken my calls? If that goddamned Lafitte has been—”
“Stop it.” My tone could cut ice and, to my surprise, he shut up. After a couple of seconds of silence, I said, “Can I come over? We need to talk.”
“More than you know.” He waited a few beats. “You need a ride?”
“I can take a cab,” I said, hoping he’d offer to come anyway.
“Let me come and get you. It’s rough out there and my SUV handles the roads pretty well.”
I smiled. Just the fact that he’d offered was enough. “No, keep the fire lit and the house warm. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
I called the concierge desk to see if any cabs were running, and the über-efficient Monteleone staff person assured me he would conjure a taxi from snow if he had to. Everybody was into drama tonight.
I brushed my hair and put on a touch of makeup. For Alex, I’d at least make an effort to look like I hadn’t been crying. I wouldn’t go out coatless, though, and I looked at the white plastic bag containing the coat that had cost more than my monthly salary from the Elders. If I wore it to talk to Alex, what would that say about me? That I was choosing my friendship with Jean over my love for Alex? That I was willing to take a bribe?
I decided it would only say that I was a practical wizard with elven blood, who chose not to risk spontaneous hibernation in a taxi. I pulled the tag off the coat and ran my fingers along its buttery leather, then slipped it on. It was a little wide in the shoulders, but otherwise pretty close to a perfect fit. And Jean was right; teal was a good color for me.
By the time I reached the lobby, a yellow Metry Cab sat in front of the door, ready to dash me through the snow to see the man I loved.
Why did I dread it so much?
CHAPTER 19
The three-mile taxi ride took almost forty-five tense minutes. After twenty minutes, with signs of a familiar mental fugue setting in, I asked the driver to please roll up his window.
“What, you don’t like da fresh air?”
“Only when it’s above thirty degrees.”
He grumbled but rolled it up, and slowly my mind came back online.
I tipped him extra when I got out at Alex’s. He might have to come back for me in an hour or two, open windows and all. I hoped not. Just in case things went well, I’d gone ahead and set up the transport in my hotel room, powered it up, and left my extra key card under Jean’s door, reminding him to pronounce Hebert Hall, our meeting place, as “aye-bear” like a Frenchman and not “hee-bert,” or he might end up somewhere in Mississippi.
I went to Alex’s front door, glancing catty-corner across the intersection of Nashville and Magazine at Plantasy Island. There was no sign of Rand. A few times during the evening, I’d sensed him trying to make contact, but I definitely didn’t want to deal with the elf tonight. The undead pirate, the merman, Truman Capote, and the freaking Faery Prince of Winter were bad enough.
By the time I got out of the cab, Alex had already opened the door and stood waiting, and my heart melted a little. Damn it, I wanted our relationship to work, and I wanted to be loyal to Jean Lafitte, and I wanted to protect Eugenie, and I wanted to be a good sentinel. How was I supposed to accomplish all of that?
He gave me his crooked smile as he moved aside to let me in. “Nice coat. I’m glad to see you got rid of that ugly plaid thing. That’s a sexy color for you.” As if to prove it, he kissed me, then kissed me again. I should have told him Jean bought me the coat, because it was entirely possible that Jean would mention it himself to annoy Alex, given the chance. Jean might trust me with the truth, but his ability to resist poking at le petit chien was another matter.
Then, after another kiss, soft and sweet, Alex turned faster than a starving gator after a piece of rotten chicken. “Where the hell have you been? Why weren’t you answering your cell phone?”
I took off my jacket and hung it over the back of one of his dining room chairs, then walked toward the kitchen. I pulled a soda out of the fridge and took my time returning to the living room. He hadn’t moved, his body fixed in a wide stance with his arms folded over his chest and his eyes narrowed in suspicion. Sort of piratelike.
I decided on the truth. What a novel concept. “I spent most of the afternoon in bed, trying to recover from spontaneous hibernation.”