Deceived By the Others - By Jess Haines Page 0,101

though. I’ll be up to join you in a little while if this doesn’t take too long.”

Sara’s look made it clear she knew I was lying through my teeth. Rather than call me on it, she nodded slowly and turned away. “Don’t forget you’ve still got friends, Shia. We’re here when you need us.”

I didn’t say anything as the door shut quietly behind her. Her words smacked a little too closely of what Royce had said to me, making the lump in my throat too hard to speak around. I muttered a quick prayer under my breath, then picked up the phone and dialed my older brother, figuring whatever he had to say to me was no doubt the lesser of two evils. My hands shook badly enough that I had to redial twice to get the right number. It didn’t take long for him to pick up.

“Mike here.”

“Hey, it’s Shia.”

“Shia? Jesus Christ, where have you been?! I’ve been trying to reach you for three days! Are you okay?”

I cringed, covering my eyes with my hand. “I know, I’m sorry. I’m fine. Sort of.”

“I saw the paper. Who did it? I swear to God, I’ll kill them with my bare hands—”

“Mike!” I cried, cutting him off. Yeesh, he was more like me than I liked to admit. Being brash and hot-tempered must be a signature Waynest family trait. “Don’t do anything stupid. They’re Others. It’s too dangerous.”

He growled something I didn’t quite get, then resumed in a reasonably normal tone. “Where are you? Mom and Dad have been worried sick.”

“I can’t say. Sara and I are hiding out for a while. We’re safe.”

As safe as we could be surrounded by vampires, that is.

“Damien said he stopped by your apartment today and the door was unlocked. Looked like everything was okay inside, nothing missing that he could tell.” That gave me a chill. I distinctly recalled locking up behind me. While theoretically the lock could have been picked, the only other person who had a key to my apartment was Chaz. If it was him, when would he have stopped by? What would he have done if he’d found me there?

“Police have been looking for you, too. They called the family. Are you going to need someone to rep you in court?”

“Maybe. You offering?”

“What are big brothers for? I’ll protect you if you need it. Pro bono and everything.”

I chuckled. “You sure the rest of Graves and Pearson are going to appreciate that? This might be a bit heavy for them.”

“Doesn’t matter. You’re family. The partners can take a hike—I’ve been thinking about opening up my own office anyway. Enough of that, though. Tell me what happened.”

I did. As tempting as it was to keep mum about some of what I’d done the past few days, I didn’t pull any punches. He stayed quiet, asking a couple clarifying questions, but otherwise not interrupting as I explained to him my relationship with Chaz, what really happened at Damien’s birthday, how I ended up contracted to Royce, and why that had so much to do with what happened this weekend. I told him about Chaz’s infidelity, the Nightstrikers, the Cassidy family, even what I did to destroy Chaz and Kimberly’s things after I found out he was cheating. Basically, everything Mike might need to know to defend me in court.

He made a faint sound—a mixture of worry, disgust, and anger, all balled up into one—when I told him that I’d been scratched and potentially infected with lycanthropy by Dillon.

It took a while to get it all out, and by the time I was done, I felt about a million years old. The emotional gamut left me high and dry, too wiped out to be prepared for his response.

“Wow. Mom’s probably going to kill you when you tell her.”

That set off a fit of giggles. Which quickly devolved into guffaws. Soon, I had tears streaming down my cheeks, and it wasn’t entirely thanks to the uncontrollable laughter that exploded from me at Mike’s observation.

Once I managed to get myself back under a semblance of control, Mike spoke up. “You sure you’re going to be all right?”

“Yeah,” I gasped, choking back a last chuckle as I wiped a few tears from my eyes with the back of my hand. “Jesus. Mom is really going to have a fit.”

“Do you want to tell Damien, or should I?”

My younger brother avoided the news like the plague. Unless my parents had said something to him, he probably didn’t