Page 27 of Fake Fae-Ancée

Dammit! That was even more dangerous terrain than the restricted zone around the site of the mega-breach…

"McKenn?" I called out, tapping gently against the wood.

No answer, only lots of angry silence. I swallowed, my brain sorting through the scenarios. I could barge in, provoking a bunch of screaming women powdering their noses or doing other unspeakable things I wanted absolutely nothing to do with — whatever they might be, what the hell did I know about ladies’ rooms?

I knocked again.

"Hello-o?" I called out. No answer. Just my echo in the hallway. Really, this was getting really stupid really fast.

"Stop acting like a brat and come out!" My voice grew louder again, Bear circling in the background of my mind, impatient and fed up.

"Let’s get back to my place and talk," I added a little more quietly. I wondered if she even heard me in there. She was probably leaning against the sink, staring a hole into the mirror. Or she had retreated into one of the stalls…

...what if she was crying again?

This drove a cold stab through my chest.

Screw any screaming ladies, fuck modesty. I yanked open the door and stormed into the ladies’ room.

"McKenn?"

My own stupid face stared back at me from the mirrored walls. This ladies' room was of the glitzy kind, with fluffy towels and a red velvet sofa and a chandelier on the cavernous ceiling. The doors of the three cubicles were all closed.

"Kai?" I called out. "Are you okay?"

Again, no answer. But the room seemed far too quiet. Even if Kai was hiding, I should still be able to hear her... Not to mention that she should have been yelling at me by now.

I narrowed my eyes. No fucking way!

I pushed open the doors to the toilet stalls, all slammed crashing against the wall. Bam, bam, one, two.... and three. Bam! All empty. Only an open window in the third stall yawned back at me. Outside, the branches of a blossoming apple tree swayed in the humid air.

A curse in my mother tongue escaped me, echoing from the walls. That stubborn woman would rather break her neck climbing out of a first-floor window in a party gown than have a talk with her own husband, you know, like a grown-up!

…well, I had not really acted grown-up myself, had I?

And then I realized.

She wasoutside the building!

Fuck!

I darted forward, leaned out of the window. One floor down, footsteps in the flowerbed led away from the mansion. My eyes raced up the perfectly manicured lawn and along the park that surrounded the house, searching the paths that snaked along perfectly trimmed trees and hedges.

Oh crap.

A little ways away, a pink blur was bouncing up and down. Like someone in a dress running away.

"McKenn!!" I yelled out the window. A couple of peacocks strolling on the lawn fluttered up in fright. My roar echoed through the park. But of course, the dot didn't stop running and I bloody well scrambled out the window and followed her.

Kai

The rain had stopped,the thunderstorm had rolled off, rumbling in the far distance. The sky had cleared, the bushes and trees dripping heavily on the ground as I rushed by.

I ran, holding my shoes in each hand like weapons, my bare feet slamming on the turf, my purse hanging around my shoulders slapping against my hip with every pace.

Really, I could have thought of that option earlier. The ladies' room! Of course! Kalinin wouldn’t venture in there, lest he would be robbed off his masculine mojo as soon as he walked through the door, or whatever was going on in this giant jerk brain of his. I could have ditched him hours ago.

Instead of confronting him and getting my heart stabbed all over again.

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