Page 17 of Entangled (Guardian Academy 2)

The lightness in his eyes dims as he turns into the parking lot of a two-story steel warehouse. He makes a half-loop around the building, parking in the back near a flight of stairs that leads to a rusted metal door.

“So, this is where your friend lives?” I ask, eyeballing the door.

“They’re not really a friend, just someone I go to sometimes when I need a favor.” He glances into the rearview mirror and tousles his fingers through his hair until they’re sticking up perfectly chaotically.

I suppress a smile. “Is this not-really-a-friend of the female gender by chance?”

He leans back from the mirror, his forehead furrowing. “Yeah. Why?”

I conceal my mouth behind my hand to stop myself from laughing. “Because you just turned into Mr. Primpy. Honestly, I thought you only had one level—Mr. Cocky, I Look Fantastic All the Time—but clearly, you’ve got more layers than I originally thought.”

He extends his arm toward me, his finger splaying across the back of my seat, right beside my head. “Again, you sound jealous.”

“And again, you falsely accuse me of being jealous.” I open the door to get out. “I know this is going to be hard to believe, but not everyone’s in love with you, Jax.”

His eyebrow arches up in infuriating confidence. “Who said you were in love with me? Being jealous wouldn’t mean you were in love with me. It’d just mean you’re attracted to me and maybe kind of like me, both of which, you do.” Grinning, he reaches for my face to do God knows what. I don’t wait to find out.

I shove open the door the rest of the way and just about fall out of the car. I manage to catch myself before I eat dust and get my feet planted underneath me. I spin around and bump the door shut, smothering the sound of Jax’s chuckling.

Moments later, he climbs out of the car with a confident smile on his face. “Ready to go in? Or do you want to fall out of the car again?”

“I didn’t fall out.” I round the car and walk past him, heading for the stairway. “I almost fell out. And that only happened because I was trying to get away from whatever you were about to do.”

He strides after me, walking so closely his breath dusts my ear when he speaks. “You were flustered. Admit it.” Our boots thud against the metal steps as we stomp up the stairs. “You were flustered because, deep down, you like me. You just don’t want to admit it.”

Almost to the top of the stairway, I reel on him. He’s standing closer than I calculated, and I just about smack into him. He grips the railing, startled, but refuses to put space between us.

I cross my arms over my chest. “Is this your way of paying me back for the Truth Serum incident? Because I think we’re getting pretty close to being even.”

“We’re not even close to being even.” He slants toward me, his voice dropping an octave. “Do you have any idea how bad it is to be forced to say things against your will?”

“I’ve had a few possession spells cast on me before, so I actually do.” I hold on to the railing as my heart thunders in my chest, either from the intensity of this conversation or his nearness—I’m not quite sure. “Look, Jax, I am sorry about what happened. I just felt like I had to, you know, or else I’d never get answers. But if I could go back, I’d probably have found a better way to get the truth out of you.”

He rubs his lips together, considering something. “All right, I accept your apology, and I’ll stop with the jealousy thing.” I start to relax, but then he throws out a, “But I still need to pay you back so we’re even.”

I sigh. “Fine. Pay me back. Make us even. Then maybe we can move on from this.”

“I’m glad I have your permission to get you back.” He grins then pushes past me and climbs the rest of the stairs.

I follow after him, wondering how on earth he’ll even things out between us. He warned me before that it wouldn’t be magical. What will it be?

“You won’t figure it out,” he says when I reach his side.

I throw a cheeky grin at him. “Maybe not, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try.”

Chuckling, he raps his knuckles against the door. “You’ll know when I do it because you’ll feel as stupid as I did when I realized—”

The metal door swings open, and a faint mist laces the air as a woman in her early twenties appears in the doorway. “Jax, darling, how are you?” she purrs.

The first thought I have is, no wonder Jax was fussing with his hair, because the woman standing in front of me is absolutely stunning with long, auburn hair that flows in curls to the base of her back. Her lips are stained a fierce red that brings out the intense gold-green in her eyes. And her body is freaking amazing. The tight red dress she’s wearing shows off her curvy and voluptuous frame. It makes me suddenly loathe my tall, lean, bean-pole body. I seriously just want to …

Wait a second …

My gaze drops to her legs and scrolls up all the way to her neck. A viney, floral tattoo loops the hollow of her neck. Jackpot.

She’s a succubus, known as seducers of men and hypnotic to everyone unless you can manage to tug yourself out of their powerful, exhilarating, euphoric trance …

I shove the sensations away like I was taught by my parents. They did a lot of training with me while I was growing up, preparing me for the day when they thought I’d become a Keeper and have to know how to protect myself from potentially dangerous, very powerful creatures.

Sucking in a breath, I peek over at Jax. Yep, he’s definitely smitten by her. In fact, I think there’s some drool dripping off his chin.

“I’m doing great … just great …” He dazedly grins at her then lets out a content sigh. “Just … great …”

The succubus glances me with her lips curled in delight. “You brought me a present?”

“What? Oh …” He blinks at me as if he forgot I was standing right next to him. “Layla, this is Alana … my …”

“Trainee.” I give the succubus a cold smile. “And I’m not a present for you. Neither is Jax. So turn off the sexy charm and let him go.”

She momentarily gives me a cold, hard stare, but then a massive smile spreads across her flawless face.

“Jax, she’s adorable. I can see why you like her.”

“He doesn’t like me,” I tell her, confused over her sudden personality change. “He’s just stuck with me.”

She laughs as if I?

??m being stupidly cute. “Sweetheart, trust me, he definitely likes you.” She inhales then angles her head to the side. “I can smell it all over him.”

I don’t know what she smells, but all I get a whiff of when I breathe in is Jax’s woodsy scent. And he usually smells like that.

I cough loudly into my hand to break the feelings of euphoria expanding inside me again. “So, are you going to let him out of your trance or what?”

Her lips curl as the mist from inside snakes around her. “Well, since you asked so nicely.” She snaps her fingers then leaves the doorway, heading inside. “Come along and tell me why you’re here. I don’t have all night.”

Jax gasps, blinking his eyes as he focuses on me. “What just happened?”

I point inside the doorway. “You got succubussed.”

He frowns, wiping the drool off his chin. “Layla.” He storms inside, disappearing into the smoky darkness. “I thought we had an agreement that you wouldn’t use powers on me.”

I follow after him, drawing the collar of my tank top over my nose as I make my way across an open area decorated with red velvet couches and a giant, wall-sized fish tank.

“Would you relax?” she tells him. “I was just having some fun, something you should try more often.”

“I don’t have time for fun,” Jax says, “not with all the shit going on.”

“Yeah, so I’ve heard,” she replies through a yawn.

“You act as if this is nothing, but what’s happening affects all of us.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, chaos is threatening the world again,” she says dryly. “Tell me a story I haven’t heard, and then I’ll react.”

“What have you heard?” An edge carves into Jax’s tone.

I track their voices to where the smoke thins and find them at a tiny bar tucked in the far back corner of the room. Layla stands behind the black marble counter, wiggling around a cocktail shaker, and Jax is perched on a stool, his rage-filled gaze on her.

“Oh, look, your adorable, little friend decided to join us.” Her smile is all mocking as she sets the mixer down on the counter.

The way she keeps using the word “adorable” toward me makes me feel stupid and small, and I kind of want to kick her ass for it. But I promised Jax I’d behave, so I force my irritation down the best I can.

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