CHAPTER SEVEN
Perry
My heart pumped forcefully in my ears. It was whole again. Happy. I could breathe.
I sat, chin resting on my hands, and watched Dex drain the glass of amber beer that had been poured for him moments ago. To anyone else Dex may have seen calm and cool, his usual cocky self.
But his hands were shaking ever so slightly and his knee wouldn’t stop jumping beneath the table. His dark eyes kept flitting to different corners of the room, waiting or watching or just trying to make sense. I didn’t know.
It was Dex though, I knew that much. He was alive and well and in my grasp and I wasn’t going to let him go after this. Not just because I could barely survive the twenty-four hours without him but because we still don’t know what happened to him and because of that, it was impossible to know whether it would happen again.
All I did know is that if Michael dared show his smug face again, I was ready to fight to the death. I would steel my mind. I would not let him succeed this time.
“Are you all right?” Maximus asked, but the question seemed to be for everyone, not just me. While I realized my fingernails were clawing into the palm of my hand, Dex continued to look sketchy and Ada was still a bit dazed and blank.
“Fine,” I said quickly. I was the last person anyone should worry about. I reached across the table and lay my hand on top of Dex’s and gave him a gentle look. “How about you baby?”
He flipped my hand over and laced his fingers into mine, giving it a warm, strong squeeze. He smiled, close-lipped. “Well, I’d be lying if I said I haven’t been better. I’m just not sure how to make sense of anything. It’s kind of weird that the three of you know more about where I’ve been for the last while than I do.”
“It is weird,” Maximus said. His tone was light but there was a stiffness to his jaw that I wasn’t too fond of, almost as if he were questioning if Dex was telling the truth. But as excellent a liar as Dex was, I almost always knew when he was lying. He was being honest – he had no reason not to be – and was vulnerable as a result. Vulnerability was always something he tried his hardest to avoid.
Dex stared back at him, though I didn’t really see the animosity I’d come to expect from him. It was almost as if he was trying to figure out if Maximus had a right to be suspicious. Either way, he knew what Maximus was getting at and he didn’t question it.
I wanted to say something to Maximus, admonish him, but before I could Dex said, “So I guess the best thing would be to fly home. Only problem is, I don’t have my wallet – I don’t have ID. Can’t fly without that. I’d have to drive or take a bus.”
Ugh. The idea of driving from New York to Portland used to be on my bucket list, but now I wanted more than anything to just go home. I wanted to feel the Seattle rain on my shoulders, I wanted to hole up in cozy cafes with Dex and plan the rest of our lives together, I wanted to cuddle with Fat Rabbit and go shopping with Rebecca and get back to the life we’d set in motion. I wanted to enjoy being engaged.
This was not how I imagined our engagement would start off. Then again, we were Dex and Perry and our relationship seemed to thrive on the universe being out of order. Either that or our relationship actually caused the world to turn upside down. It was hard to say.
Ada’s phone started to ring. She glanced at it and then quickly excused herself to go stand outside by the door. I twisted in my seat to keep a close eye on her. We were lucky she hadn’t been IDed once we sat down at the bar, not that she was drinking more than Sprite anyway, but she was still nearly sixteen and this was a big bad city.
“I guess,” I said absently, “we could get Rebecca to send your passport over here on overnight. We could fly out tomorrow or the next day after that.” I didn’t want to stay a day longer here than we had to, but it seemed that was the only choice.
“Well, I guess there are worse places to be stuck in,” Dex said but I could tell he didn’t like the idea either. At any other time, New York would have been a dream vacation – especially since I was here with Dex and my sister. But now, it felt like the entire city was plotting against us. That was probably scooping a bit too much from the paranoia box, but still.
And for Dex and Maximus, I was sure the city was bringing about a whole flood of memories that neither one of them wanted to deal with.
Ada came back into the room and slid into her seat with a sigh, looking like your quintessential disaffected youth. “Bad news, guys.”
My pulse picked up the pace. I was certain Dex could feel it against his hand. “What?” What now?
She raised her eyes to me and gave me a dry half-smile. “Our parents are coming.”
I let go of Dex’s hand and let my own fly up into the air like a stereotypical Italian. “What? Why the hell are they coming here? They can’t do that.”
“They can and they are,” she said, repeatedly stabbing the ice cubes in her drink with her straw. “They just called, said they’d booked a flight tonight, a red eye, and will be here in the morning.”
“That’s insane,” I cried out. “Why would they do that?’
“I don’t mean to play Devil’s Advocate here,” Dex said, drumming his fingers on the table. “But you can’t really blame them, Perry.”
I shot him a look. “What?”
He shrugged. “You came after me. It’s only fair they’d come after you. I mean, maybe not if it was just you…” I glared at him but he continued quickly, “because they trust you and all. But you have their teenage daughter. And she does have things like school and stuff. Parents are big on school and stuff.”
I put my head into my hands and groaned, then looked to Ada. “You did tell them that we found Dex and are about to head home, right?”
She nodded. “I did. Didn’t make a lick of difference. So I guess we have to stay right here.”
“We don’t really have a choice,” Dex said. “No wallet, no ID. Rebecca will have to mail out my passport if I want to fly anywhere.”
I looked to Maximus. “What about you? Going to head on home to the Big Easy? I bet Rose is worried.”
Dex raised his brow, not entirely caught up on the Rose and Maximus situation. Maximus shook his head. “I’m sure you’d all love that but actually, I’m going to hang around here for a few days, until you leave.”
“I don’t believe I requested a chaperone from District Ginge,” Dex pointed out warily.
“I know you didn’t,” he said. “But I’m going to hang around all the same, if that’s okay.”
“Is there something you’re not telling us?” I asked. I briefly slid my knowing gaze over to Dex and back. “Along with all those other things you didn’t tell us?”
Maximus exchanged a look with Dex. The look said, she knows I’m an ex-supernatural babysitter man, sorry. He said to me, “No, there isn’t. But we all know that what just happened was a little too easy. One minute you’re certain you’ll never see Dex here again, the next he’s walking along the bridge in a right daze, unsure how he got there. Now, you can sweep all that under the rug and pretend that this shit is all over and believe me, I want to too. But for everyone’s sake, I’m just going to stick around and make sure you guys are all right before you fly home.”
“That’s thoughtful,” Ada spoke up. She actually sounded relieved. Or maybe she didn’t want to end up the third wheel until our parents got here.
“Just one thing though,” he said, now looking a bit sheepish. “I didn’t book a room and funds are a little tight since I flew out here and all. Think you guys could help spring for a hotel room?”
I rolled my eyes and sighed loudly. “Fine, you can stay with Ada.”
“What?” she cried out. “No way am I sleeping with Ginger Rogers.”
Dex snorted, appreciating that.
“You will sleep in separate beds, Ada,” I admonished her. “Ew.” I looked to Maximus. “No offence. But obviously Dex and I will be in the other room.”
“We’ll be just like Lucy and Ricky, Fred and Ethel,” Dex said, wiggling his finger at Ada and Maximus. “Of course, like Fred and Ethel, I’m going to assume you won’t be touching each other.”
Both Ada and Maximus grimaced simultaneously. “Lordy,” Maximus said, exasperated. “Forget I said anything.”
“It’s fine,” I said, whether it was fine to Ada or not. The truth was, even though Maximus seemed to have put on his detective hat, I was a bit relieved he’d be there with Ada. I knew he looked at her like a sister too and that he’d keep her safe. Though he may have no longer had any cosmic ties to Dex, I also knew that he was acting in his best interest, the best interest of all of us.
Me, I was just happy to have Dex back. I didn’t dare think about what else could be lurking around the bend.