With Every Breath (Slow Burn #4) - Maya Banks Page 0,6
her one last opportunity to see the people who’d grown so important to her. Her family. People she would and did go to the wall for each and every day. People who did the same for her. Her only regret was that she wouldn’t see the Devereaux wives and Zack’s wife, Gracie, before she left.
She inwardly flinched because she knew she’d hurt Gracie’s feelings more than once by avoiding her every time Gracie had been around Eliza. Eliza had promptly fled when Gracie appeared, and it had been obvious to the other woman, and the last thing in the world Eliza ever wanted to do was hurt Gracie.
Gracie was the epitome of sweet, and she’d already been hurt so much in her young life. She was shy and still struggling with her confidence. Eliza was so very happy that Gracie and Zack had found their way back to one another after over a decade of misery for both of them, but especially Gracie. Eliza dearly loved all the wives. Ramie, Ari and Gracie. And Tori Devereaux, Caleb’s, Beau’s and Quinn’s baby sister, who like the other women had suffered greatly at the hands of a madman. She had been brutalized by a serial killer and was still recovering from the horrific attack. Perhaps she’d never fully recover but then Eliza could hardly blame her.
If it hadn’t been for Caleb hunting down Ramie, a gifted young psychic, and giving her no choice but to aid in his search for his sister, they wouldn’t have rescued Tori in time and she would have died.
All the women were gifted with extraordinary powers. Tori had dreams of future events, though of all the women, her gift was not as fully developed or focused as the others. Her gift was more of a curse, giving her glimpses, but without enough knowledge revealed, she was helpless to prevent the events or even warn anyone they were in danger, and it was a source of great torment to her. Ramie could track the same kind of monster Eliza now found herself about to track. But Eliza would never pit Ramie against a man who was likely every bit as psychically gifted as Ramie was herself. Ari had enormous power, a lot that hadn’t even been tapped into yet. She grew more powerful all the time and as she learned to control it, she would be an unstoppable force. And Gracie . . . Eliza winced again, because it wasn’t the other two she avoided like the plague. Only Gracie because Gracie could read minds and Eliza couldn’t chance being in close proximity to her because if she read Eliza’s mind, it would be all over and Eliza wouldn’t allow that to happen.
Eliza aimlessly drove in the direction of her apartment, stopping at a drive-thru to get lunch though her heart wasn’t into eating, but she had to keep her strength up. She couldn’t be weak when she faced off against Thomas. Weak physically or emotionally.
Her lunch laying unopened in the bag in the passenger seat, she pulled into her parking spot and when she saw the vehicle next to her and the man standing arrogantly in front of the expensive car, leaning against the hood, her mood went from bad to worse.
What the hell was Wade Sterling doing here?
Her lunch forgotten, she climbed out of her car and slammed the door with unnecessary force, a scowl already forming on her face. To her further annoyance, Wade only smirked, his eyes gleaming with amusement as he took in her reaction to his presence.
Deciding that acknowledging him would be far worse than asking him what he was doing here, she clutched her keys and stalked around to the front of her vehicle and started to walk by him without a word. Her “welcoming” expression could do the talking for her.
To her utter shock, as she was nearly past him, a hand suddenly gripped her elbow, stopping her in her tracks. She narrowed her eyes, pasting her most ferocious snarl on her lips, and rounded furiously on him.
“What the fuck is your problem, Sterling? Take your hand off me. Now.”
“Is that any way to express gratitude to the man who saved your life?” he drawled.
She wanted to scream. No one and she meant no one knew how to push her buttons like this man did. But then his mere presence was a huge button. Anytime he opened his mouth, instant push of her many buttons. And the arrogant pull of