Lost Paradise Read online

  Lash smiled, baring one fang. “Yes, they can,” he hissed.

  “What did you have in mind?” I said awkwardly, remembering his special diet restrictions. “There isn’t a sushi place near here.”

  “There is one now. It’s near the movie theater now outside Alan’s Creek,” Lash hissed. “Tell Danny we’ll be gone a few hours.”

  He hadn’t just shown up, hoping that I wouldn’t already have a lunch date. “You know Theo isn’t here,” I said slowly.

  He nodded. “Yes, I know.”

  Was Brian still reporting to Devlin, or was it someone else here? Probably Brian. He was deathly afraid of Lash. If Lash had asked him a question, any question, Brian would have told him whatever Lash had asked him.

  “First, assure me you are not here to try to kidnap me and take me to Dev,” I said flatly.

  Lash narrowed his eyes and said nothing.

  “Tell me. Say it, and I’ll believe you, Lash. But I need to hear you say it.”

  “Only lunch,” Lash hissed. “Then maybe a short walk, if you are up to it.”

  “Then I’ll be right back,” I answered, turning and going back inside.

  After stowing the sushi in the fridge, and marking it with my name so Theo wouldn’t eat it all, I left the DVD on an end table and headed upstairs to Danial.

  He was sure to throw a fit, and I was tempted to not tell him, to just come back in a couple hours with no one the wiser. But if something happened because of it, I’d kick myself later. Also, I wanted to meet Lash again for lunch in the future. Danial might not find out once, but he would if it happened twice. It was better to be up front and get it over with

  Danial concluded the conference call as I entered. He hung up, and looked over at me, surprised. “Did you already have lunch?”

  “Lash is here. I would like to go out with him to lunch.”

  Danial’s eyes went red immediately, glowering. “If you are asking permission, the answer is no. He’ll take you to Devlin—”

  “I’m not asking permission,” I retorted. “I’m telling you because I don’t want you to worry, or think I’m somewhere I’m not. But I want to go and I’m going.”

  Danial gaped at me. “You want to spend time with him?” he said slowly. “Why? You can’t enjoy his company.”

  “I surely do,” I replied saucily. “He likes the same things I like—”

  “No, Sar; take one of the foxes with you instead.”

  Time for the prepared speech. “Danial, if The Lust rises, I’d rather not do a complete stranger, or one of your employees. Now just tell me to have a good time and get back to your work.”

  Danial’s eyes went red again, but he didn’t speak.

  “This is no big deal,” I said more contritely. “I’ll leave my phone on. We won’t be gone long. A couple hours at most.”

  “If Theo was here, he would not let you go—”

  “I know,” I interrupted. “Just tell me it’s okay already.”

  Danial looked at me out of the corner of his eye, raising an eyebrow. “Is there more to this, Sar?”

  I flushed. “For all the bad things I’ve heard from you and Theo, Lash has never treated me as anything but his best friend’s girl,” I said hotly. “He could have easily made moves on me dozens of times, or tried to bring The Lust. He’s never once tried to take advantage—”

  “Go ahead then!” Danial said, throwing up his hands. “You will anyway.”

  “Thank you,” I said curtly, and went downstairs. Danial didn’t follow me.

  It had taken so long with Danial I thought Lash might have left. But he was waiting, leaning against the truck. “Ready?” he hissed.

  I nodded.

  “Get in then,” he said, opening his door.

  * * * *

  Lash was silent until we’d reached the restaurant and been seated. Even then, all he asked was what I wanted when the waiter came, his eyes fixated on the sake list. The place wasn’t too crowded, being a Monday, but there were enough people there eating to encourage me that the restaurant might make it.

  Lash said nothing for many minutes, his eyes never leaving me. That behavior wasn’t outside the norm for him, though, so I just relaxed and enjoyed being out with someone who wasn’t pressing me for anything, not even conversation. Most of the people I spent time with weren’t quiet. Even Danial, the quietest of them all, was always on the phone, giving orders, or coordinating something. It was nice to share silence and not try to please anyone but myself.

  When our food came, I noticed he’d gotten a few pieces of eel. “You branching out?” I asked.

  “You liked it so much I wanted to try it,” Lash said, making a face. “But no, I don’t really care for it.” He motioned to his plate. “Help yourself.”

  I wasn’t turning down extra eel. “Thanks.” I moved his pieces to my plate. “But why did you really come here?” I asked, giving him a smile with serious Don’t-Bullshit-Me eyes.

  “You know why,” Lash hissed, eating a piece of salmon. “Devlin wants you to come back to him. I’m his best friend. It’s my duty as such to come to you, and ask you to take him back.”

  I’d suspected this, but didn’t want to believe it. “You want me to forget what he did?” I said, disbelieving “You’ve got to be kidding.”

  “I am,” Lash said drolly, and then he laughed, baring his fangs.

  I gave him a look to let him know he was being strange and to knock it off.

  Lash leaned over the table. “Take your time letting him back in, Sar,” he hissed. “You need to show him he can’t treat you badly, and get away with it. That’s understandable. I’m not saying what he did was okay. It wasn’t. And you shouldn’t forgive him quickly. He needs to earn your forgiveness.”

  I was feeling odder by the minute. “When you were angry…was it because you knew what he was doing?”

  “I checked her for weapons before she went inside. I knew what she was there for,” Lash hissed angrily. “It wasn’t right—”

  “Why do you care how he treats me?” I said, my eyes narrowing. “You didn’t seem to care about how he treated Catherine. What’s it to you?”

  Lash gave me a long look. I held his gaze as long as I could, then looked down.

  “Because you are having his child,” he said finally. “You are risking your life, Sar, to do this for him. Dev made you promises. Promises should be kept, or never spoken at all.”

  “That’s pretty profound of you—” I began sarcastically.

  “But he does love you, Sar,” Lash continued, talking over me. “Don’t use this as an excuse to shut him out of your life forever. Give him another chance to make things right between you when you’re ready. That’s all I’m asking.”

  “I can’t do that,” I replied. “I had enough trouble trusting him the first time around. I don’t think I can ever trust him enough to be in a relationship with him again. All I can think of is he and Catherine in bed together.”

  “You know he doesn’t love her,” Lash hissed insistently. “He never let her sleep beside him. I have never seen him let anyone sleep with him, save you. Not even in the same room. Not in all the years I’ve known him.”

  Well, at least that part had been true. “So what? That doesn’t give me a lot of comfort.”

  Lash regarded me silently for a moment, and then ate more of his sushi. I finished mine, and sat back, wondering if I should leave.

  “Are you still hungry?” he hissed suddenly. “Do you want some of mine?”

  He did have some avocado he wasn’t going to eat. “If you don’t mind.”

  “Please,” he said. “Let me know if you want more.”

  I was tempted briefly to say I always wanted more, but decided that was way too inappropriate even for me. We weren’t that close, even if my imagined retort had been pretty funny. “Thanks.”

  Together, we finished up the last of his platter. When the bill came, Lash took it.

  “I am paying half,” I insisted stub
bornly.

  He ignored me, giving the waiter a solid black credit card. “You are not paying,” Lash hissed with authority. “I asked you and I am the man.”

  I rolled my eyes. Another male chauvinist. “Thanks for lunch then.”

  “Do you want to go for a walk?” Lash hissed. “It’s a beautiful day. We have another hour until Danny sends out the trackers.”

  I couldn’t help cracking a smile. “Sure, that’s—”

  Suddenly, it registered I’d heard my name in the hum of the people around us. I looked up with horror and saw Theo and Terian following a waiter to the table next to ours. They were smiling; their meetings must have gone well. I had a split second to think regretfully that this was going to ruin their day.

  “Tears, you are going to love this stuff. Sar got me to try it, and it’s wonderful—”

  “Raw fish?” Terian said with disdain. “Can’t we go and get Chinese food instead?”

  “C’mon,” Theo encouraged, laughing. “Where’s your sense of—”

  Everything happened at once.

  Theo’s blue eyes found Lash and me and held fast, the blue lightening and shifting to yellow. He went for his gun, but Terian grabbed hold of his arm. Theo shook him off with a growl, and kept coming. Lash was already on his feet, his whip unclipped, the thick coil in his hand. His other hand held his knife.

  “Get away from her—”

  “Stop it!” I said shrilly, causing the nearby patrons to dash for cover, screaming.

  “Theo, not in the restaurant!” Terian shouted.

  Lash alone said nothing, just waited for Theo with eager menace.

  I had to stop this. Lash would hurt him, if not kill him. I reached over quickly, my hand closing on Lash’s arm, and teleported us both outside near his truck.

  “We’re going to have to wait for another day to walk,” I said anxiously. “Go, before he gets out here.”

  “I am not afraid of that cat, Sar,” Lash hissed angrily. He uncoiled his whip and faced the restaurant entrance, his knife still in his hand. “Just stay out of the way.”

  “You are not hurting him!” I yelled angrily. “No one needs to fight.”

  Theo burst through the door and headed toward us. “Yes, we do,” he said furiously, his words difficult to understand because his fangs had grown. He brandished a long survival knife. “Get away from her, you scarred son of a bitch!”

  Lash got in front of me and braced himself. “Do you need another lesson on which of us is better with a blade?” he hissed. “I’ve given you quite a few over the years. But I think you need reminding.”

  Terian came up beside Theo, his eyes red, blackness boiling out of him. “Stop this!”

  I got between Lash and them. “Yes, stop. Lash is leaving,” I said, glaring at Theo. “We just had lunch.”

  “Why?” Theo growled. “You missing something you’re not getting?”

  Terian clapped his hand over Theo’s mouth, flushing faintly.

  I gave Theo a look of death, then turned back to Lash, resisting the urge to tell him to leave with me. “Please go.”

  Lash looked at me, and then back at Theo, obviously dying to wipe the parking lot with him. Instead he resheathed his knife, coiled up his whip, and clipped it back on his belt. “Be seeing you,” he hissed politely, then his eyes came back to me.

  Theo started for Lash again, and Terian grabbed hold of him.

  Lash gave me a twisted smile, then got in his truck, opening the window. “Bye, Sar.”

  “Thank you for lunch,” I said politely, resting my hand on his open window. “And for bringing me my stuff. Be safe going back.”

  “Thank you for coming to lunch with me,” Lash said politely, his flat eyes holding mine.

  Then he put his hand on mine, caressing gently, his tone shifting to insinuating. “I was glad you came.”

  My shock hit me like a slab of ice in July: Lash was trying to raise The Lust.

  Theo let out a crystal-shattering roar. “Get your fucking hand off—!”

  I took my eyes off Lash for a moment, turning to Theo. Lash used the opportunity to cup my head with his hand and yank me forward, his lips banging into mine. My lips parted in a gasp and he used that, too, his tongue sliding in to lick me playfully, a soft hiss of pleasure escaping.

  For a moment, I lost myself in the kiss, remembering how good he’d been. Then reality crashed down and I pushed back from him. “What are you

  doing—?”

  Lash pulled back in surprise, blinking.

  Terian yanked me away, pulling me off my feet and out of the way as Theo’s fist came right past my head to smash into Lash’s face, knocking him back into the truck.

  “Don’t ever fucking touch her again!” Theo screamed, leaning in the truck window. He grabbed at Lash with clawed hands, trying to drag him out of the truck to beat the shit out of him.

  There was a harsh click. Theo went still, then slowly leaned back out of the window, Lash’s gun against his temple.

  “You shoot him, Lash, and you’re dead!” Terian growled, a ball of blue fire appearing in his hand. “I’ll cinder you.”

  Lash’s expression was livid as he wiped at the blood running down his face with his sleeve. “You fucking cat. You had to come in right then. You couldn’t have waited another few minutes, picked a different fucking restaurant?”

  Theo growled at him softly. When Lash didn’t shoot, he growled louder.

  Lash licked his welling blood off his cut lip. “I always let you live and what’s it gotten me? Why don’t you challenge me for real, Theo, so I can just kill you? Let’s end this bullshit once and for all.”

  He was going to kill Theo. “Lash, please don’t.”

  His eyes cut to me, looking at him in revulsion, and he eased the hammer up, then took the gun off Theo’s forehead.

  “As if she would let you have her again!” Theo shouted. “But you’re just like your master. You don’t care if she wants you, you know she doesn’t! You would never have gotten near her otherwise, and you know it! You were going to try to force her today after lunch, when you were alone with her, weren’t you? I think you planned the first time it happened, just to fuck with me! Hell you probably put those bears up to grabbing her, for the same reason—”

  That wasn’t true, none of it. I’d been the one who’d gone after Lash. He’d done everything he could to avoid my advances. He’d never have forced me, never. But instead of standing up for him, I looked at the ground, ashamed.

  Lash’s eyes slid off Theo to me, then back to Theo. “Don’t disrespect her, Cat.”

  “Stay away from her,” Theo finished. “You come to Danial’s again, and I’ll kill you.”

  “And I’ll help him,” Terian added. “Get out of here, Lash. Now.”

  Lash’s eyes came back to me. “I’ll let Dev know that The Lust is done with,” Lash hissed, “Good-bye, Sar.” He started his truck, put his gun down, and drove off in a squeal of tires.

  Theo swore again, still furious. “Son of a bitch!”

  Was he angry for the kiss, or because Lash had gotten the drop on him yet again? I was disgusted, either way. “I’ll be at the house.”

  Terian grabbed my arm before I could teleport. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine!” I shouted. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “What the hell were you doing here with him?” Theo yelled back.

  “Having lunch,” I said sheepishly. “Talking.”

  “Talking about what?”

  “He and I’ve had lunch together for weeks now, whenever I went to Hayden. I like to talk to him.”

  “What could you possibly have to talk about?” Terian said, abhorred. “You have nothing in common besides Devlin.”

  How would you know, Tears? “Movies. Books. Music,” I said, counting them off on my fingers. “The gardens at Hayden. Some of the bigger nursery items that I’d still needed to buy—”

  “Fine,” Theo said gruffly. “What about the kiss?”
<
br />   “He never did that before,” I said angrily. “I can’t believe he—”

  “Let’s get out of here,” Terian urged quietly. “We’ve got an audience.”

  There were a few spectators looking at us now from behind the restaurant windows, their faces pressed to the glass. Well, more than a few.

  “Someone’s called the cops by now.”

  “Relax, Tears,” Theo said gruffly. “Danial’s got it covered. The PD gets paid to look the other way, so long as no locals get hurt. You should know that, especially after the attacks last year.”

  “He never mentioned it to me—” I started.

  “Someone always reports the automatic weapon fire,” Theo said, rolling his eyes. “It’s less trouble this way, with the police staying out of it.” He made a face. “It’s either that or move again.”

  Had Danial left Colorado and relocated here because of trouble with police? It sounded that way. Paying for ignorance made sense, both in practicality and for why we weren’t in cuffs right now. The sheriff’s office was five buildings down from the parking lot, yet no police had arrived.

  “C’mon, Sar,” Theo said, grabbing my hand. “Let’s go home. I’m not hungry anymore for sushi.”

  I yanked my hand free. “Then I’ll see you back there.” He reached for me again, but I evaded him, teleporting to Danial’s.

  * * * *

  Hours later, Theo came into the kitchen as I was finishing up the rest of my sushi.

  “I’m sorry if I scared you,” he said. “I saw him with you and freaked.”

  I didn’t answer.

  “I told Danial that The Lust was gone,” Theo went on. “He—”

  “Where are the kids?” I asked pointedly.

  “In Elle’s room, watching a movie.”

  I’d made Elle and Theoron dinner earlier when I got home. They’d known something was wrong when I didn’t eat with them. They’d eaten quickly and excused themselves. I’d been so relieved to have a moment to think by myself I hadn’t checked on them since pouring myself a small glass of wine. “Good.”

  Theo looked at me uneasily. “Lash brought you that?”

  I didn’t answer. I’d had some time to think, not that it had taken a lot of thought to understand Lash’s motives. He’d tried to raise The Lust because having Theo watch me throw myself all over Lash would’ve cut Theo deeper than any blade. As much as I was relieved that The Lust was finished, I felt terrible that Lash had used me that way. You’re a fine one to talk about disrespecting me, Lash.