She grabbed at the handrails to regain her balance. He’d kicked the whole thing off its support posts. Was he jacked up or what?
After mopping his face with a white gym towel, he sat—no, collapsed—on a nearby bench. Interesting. There were many other places to sit, yet he chose this one. And he faced her. She draped the cord of her headphones around her neck and eased into a slow, non confrontational jog.
“Feel like talking?” Lily asked.
He flashed her a look that said no. As in, hell no, but he couldn’t fool her. She didn’t have to wait long. “About BJJ and BJs? Thought you had a regular hook-up anyway,” he said.
“Maybe. Maybe not.” Had Santiago said anything? Surely he wouldn’t without consulting her first.
“Don’t want to make you tap out if you have a boyfriend. I’ll leave that for him to do.”
Figured he’d come out of his funk to torment her. “Me? Tap out? The only way you could do that is if I let you. You okay, love?”
“So you admit it. There is a guy.” He ignored her question. That was okay. He didn’t want to talk about it. At least she’d addressed it with him and he knew she cared.
“Who said anything about a guy? Maybe I’ve come to like my bread buttered on the other side, eh?” Lily said.
He picked at the white tape around his wrists and hands and said nothing more. After punching a few buttons on the control panel, she began running at her normal pace.
“How’s Zoe?” he asked. No matter what was going on, he always had a soft spot in his heart for her daughter.
“Great. She loved the latest Hello Kitty stuff you got her. Carried around that little purse all week. Today when I called to give her a long-distance good-morning kiss, Mother said she’s been sleeping with it, too.”
That got a smile. Finally. She hit the stop button on the treadmill and walked over to the bench. “Feel like talking?” His shoulders relaxed a notch, but he shook his head. “You don’t have to tell me what caused you to come back. To be separated from her must be difficult. But if there’s something else…”
For several moments, he sat with the towel over his head before he cleared his throat. “It’s the weirdest thing, Lil. I…a…discovered I’m able to vapor.”
Holy hell. “No way. You mean like our ancestors were supposedly able to do?”
“Yes. That’s it exactly. When Mackenzie was threatened by the remaining Darkblood, I vapored into the car through the crack in the window to get her to safety. I suppose I could’ve fought the bastard like I did with his partner, but I was overcome by the desire to get her away from him. My solid form just sort of disintegrated and flowed into where I wanted to be. I wasn’t consciously aware of it until I was sitting in the driver’s seat.”
“My God, Dom. How can that even be possible?”
“I have absolutely no idea. But I have a feeling it’s because of the way Mackenzie’s blood reacts with mine. She’s the source of my power.”
The double doors to the gym burst open and Jackson strode in, cell phone glued to his face. Dom stood from the bench, his eyes flat and dull.
“Not a word, Lil.” He turned and headed toward the locker room. She’d never seen him like this. He was a friggin’ mess. But could you blame him?
“Hey, did you hear what we found out about the guy you stiffed last night?” she called after him. “I sent you a text, but maybe you didn’t get it.”
Dom stopped, but didn’t turn around.
“We tracked his buddies to a shithole of a house on the Eastside. I thought it was all McMansions over there in software land, but this guy lived in a pigsty. It’s a wonder the neighbors didn’t call the cops because of the stench. I nearly lost my midnight snack when I smelled it. Jackson said you’d want to take care of the dude yourself, but I didn’t want to risk losing him—” well, that and she wasn’t sure what his San Diego plans were “—so I wasted the ass hole.” She climbed back on the treadmill. “We searched the place, not expecting to turn up much, but we came up with some stuff that was off the hook.”
Jackson snapped the phone shut as Dom finally turned. “You got that right.” He pulled out a triangular sandwich half from somewhere. Wearing a black Extreme