Page 35 of Blood Magic (Ariel Kimber 3)

No, I was bothered because he hadn’t brought Chucky up once. Now, if Tyson had told him about what he’d seen on television, wouldn’t Quinton have brought it up in this conversation? I thought he would and I knew he wasn’t wrong.

Unease was fast growing inside of me. It made sense to me then, that he had absolutely no clue about Chucky or the Council. No freaking clue. He had raced here to get to me so he could make sure I was safe. When he’d gotten here, he’d first had a conversation with Ty. Ty had explained the situation with Julian to his Uncle but had conveniently left out the situation with Chucky and the Elders. I couldn’t really blame him, if our roles had been reversed, I wouldn’t have shared the happy news with Quinton either.

But this left me back where I had started before the violence had broken out.

Once again, it was up to me to deliver the bad news. I had no one but myself to blame since I had been the one to volunteer for the job. Unless I wanted to throw Tyson under the bus then it was up to me.

“Uh, Quinton,” I said in a rush, stumbling over my words. “That’s, uh… Not why I called you on Tyson’s phone. I actually phoned you before Julian showed up and their fight started.”

His eyes sharpened, and they raked over my face. He was no longer at ease, but he still seemed confident. I bet by the end of my little explanation that he would likely lose that unfathomable confidence of his.

Suddenly, I dreaded doing this and wanted to get up out of my seat and run down the stairs so I could find Tyson and force him to do what I no longer wanted to do for him.

But that would make me a coward and I was done with all of that. Or, at least, I wanted to be. Not that it was working out very well for me.

“What are you talking about?” Quinton rumbled in an angry voice.

Oh dear.

This was already going very badly for me.

“Well, you see…” I fidgeted with my hands and clasped them together on top of my knee. “Tyson was watching the television in the living room while Julian finished with my face and he saw something upsetting on there that he thought you should probably know. He didn’t really want to tell you himself, so I volunteered to do the dirty job myself. I was about to tell you what was going on when the fighting started. And, well, now we’re here.”

He bit the corner of his bottom lip. I couldn’t tell if he did it so he wouldn’t laugh or yell at me. I didn’t want him to do either, but if I had to choose, I would pick laughter over yelling any day.

He didn’t speak, just sat there staring at me while he chewed on his lower lip.

“And now we’re here?” he asked.

I nodded, and he sighed.

“And, just exactly where are we?” he asked in an annoyed voice. I couldn’t really blame him for the annoyance. If I were him, I would be annoyed with me as well.

“Well…” my voice trailed off before I said screw it and blurted out the truth. “Tyson saw some of the Council members on the television while he was watching the news. They were walking out of the Police Station and they had Chucky with them. Ty thinks they got him out of jail, but he doesn’t know the how or why of it, obviously. And, well, he wasn’t exactly sure how to tell you this. He thought you would likely freak out about it, and who could blame him. It’s all a little on the crazy side. I mean, why would they do that? What would the Council want with Chucky? That’s just nuts. Chucky doesn’t have any magic that we know of and he doesn’t know anything about us or that we have magic.”

I was hopeful about that last part but not exactly sure of it.

The look on Quinton’s face frightened me. His eyes had gone cold, dark, and there was something animalistic lurking in the depths. It was the predator behind his pretty face. It wasn’t exactly pleasant to look at, and downright scary.

“Say that again,” he whispered in a hoarse, strangled voice.

He’d leaned forward in the seat with his body held completely still. He was like a snake hiding in the tall grass, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

I did not want to be the person who got bitten when he struck.

I shook my head, not wanting to repeat what I already told him.

“Fuck,” he hissed and sprang up to his feet.

I jumped at the sudden movement and pressed my back against the seat, leaning as far away from him as I could get while still staying seated. The rage rolling off of him was almost a physical, touchable thing. I almost wanted to reach out and try to touch it, to see if I could actually feel it. Whether it was hot to the touch or not was something I really wanted to know. But not enough to actually reach out for it, my fingers would probably singe. No thanks, I liked my fingers just as they were.

“God damn it,” Quinton growled under his breath as he prowled towards the door. “They weren’t even supposed to still be here.”

He didn’t shut the door behind him as he stalked out of the room. I heard his cowboy boots on the floor as he stomped down the stairs. I had no idea where he was going but I felt bad for anyone who got in his way.

I let out a sigh of relief and my body immediately relaxed. It was as if some switch had been flipped in my body the moment he walked out the door.

I was glad to have that over with and finally alone in my bedroom. I didn’t even have to ask anyone to leave. They’d gone and done it all on their own. I didn’t feel abandoned in the least. I didn’t even care that he’d left the door open behind him. I had nothing to hide from them and no reason to close the door.

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