Return to the Darkness - Ripley Proserpina Page 0,7
your darkness?” Aaron shook his head. “It’s something in you, Lacey, but it’s more like your abilities based on a genetic heritage. Maybe you and Thorn could use his considerable talents to find information on everything and figure out what those abilities are. That could be a very useful thing for us to know going forward. Once we leave here, we can set up lives. If we get called to do other paranormal-type things, you could have a real sense of what you can do.”
I wouldn’t mind some clarity, but I was pretty sure Aaron was still dismissing the fact that for whatever the reason, I was pretty dark inside. Whether that was my upbringing, some facet of the fae an ancestor had made a baby with, or just a Lacey thing, I didn’t know. I didn’t know if it mattered.
“You know, what I do for a living is find people. I’m a PI. I could get licensed here. I’m sure Rick will provide whatever documentation I need. Firearms proficiency probably.” My mind began to whir. “I’ll need to show I’ve got ten thousand dollars in bond. Rick took care of that stuff. I’ll have to…”
Thorn nodded. “We’ve got that under control, Lacey. Ten-k is yours.”
I loved how easily he could handle money. I mean… it made me uncomfortable as hell, but I loved it just the same.
“Um… we can talk about that.”
Thorn shook his head. “Consider it done.”
Fine, we’d figure that out. “Anyway, the point is, if you don’t find any paranormal clues, maybe I can find him. That is what I do. What I’m good at. Are you guys going to try to see your moms?”
I looked between Colton and Thorn. The former rolled his eyes. “I suppose, at some point. I avoid that as much as humanly possible. We don’t get each other particularly well.”
Thorn sighed. “What he said. I don’t see my family if I can avoid it. But it might be one of those times I have to.”
“And when will we see your mom?” I looked between Oliver and Aaron.
Oliver snorted, and Aaron rolled his eyes before the latter spoke. “Probably at exactly the wrong moment. Like when I’m trying to get between your thighs in bed. She’ll pop in and think she needs to give us advice on lovemaking.”
I covered my face. “We are locking the door at night.”
“Like a lock could keep my deeply inappropriate mother out.” Oliver smiled.
Aaron pointed at me. “Do you remember when she gave you permission to sleep with both Oliver and me? Like you needed her to say it was okay. We were teenagers. What parent does that?”
I squeezed his arm. “Everything was weird back then. That was the smallest thing.”
“Maybe to you. She was always doing things like that. Fuck, we’d better find Dad,” Oliver said. “He takes up all of her time. If she doesn’t have him, she’ll want to be more involved with us, and I need that like a hole in the head.”
Yikes. That hinted at the need for a lot of space. I did remember Jacinda being over-the-top, but I also remembered that she’d taken me shopping and tried to care for me the best way she knew how. It was funny how much more forgiving of the Chees I could be than of my own family.
“So we have a plan,” I said, changing the subject. “Tomorrow, we start searching?”
“I’m going to get right to it,” Thorn said. “Since all I need is a chair and Wi-Fi. I want to tap into some satellite images of the trailer park. Maybe I’ll see something there, and we won’t need to investigate in person.”
“That’s a helpful skill to have.” How much easier all my spying would have been if all I had to do was zoom-in or enlarge the image. I thought back to a cheating spouse I’d once busted. I’d caught him going at it with the girl he met at his thirty-fifth high school reunion, and dear god, that was a picture I never wanted to see enlarged. Even the memory made me shudder. Ew.
Pushing my hair off my face, I caught sight of my pruney fingers. “I think it’s time for me to get out.” The air had cooled considerably, and my breath made white fog. It felt amazing on my super-heated skin, but forty-five minutes in a hot tub was my limit.
“Good idea.” Oliver gripped my elbow as I stood and made my way to the side of the tub. “I’m