need a ride or two tomorrow. You got a number I could call?”
He flicked out a business card and handed it to me through the rolled down window. “There you go. Call me any time, day or night, for a safe ride.” And then he winked as he pulled away, and I was almost sure he was flirting with me.
I shook my head and slowly made my way toward the house.
I leaned on the door for a moment before entering, not listening, just steeling myself for whatever I was going to be up against in there. Maybe Crash would flip out at me?
The last thing I expected was good news.
Then again, the shadow world did enjoy surprising me.
19
I pushed the door open, prepared for whatever horrors I might find within, only to be engulfed in the smell of Eric’s famous eclairs. The bigfoot poked his head out of the kitchen, his face covered with flour on one side, his bow tie firmly in place. “You’re back! I was making your favorites!”
“Eric!” I flung my arms around him, surprising us both, I think. I wanted to cry. Shit, I was crying.
He patted my back with one big mitt covered in an oven mitt. “Yeah, lots going on. Let me pull these out of the oven and then we can talk.”
I looked around and realized no one else was there. “Did Suzy come with you?”
“Of course. The thing is . . .well, Corb gave you information that wasn’t quite right.” He pulled the pan of puff pastry out of the oven and set it on a couple of cooling mats.
I found the kitchen chair, half blind with the tears, and slumped into it while Eric served me a big bowl of something warm. I started spooning it into my mouth without asking what it was, letting out a hmm of appreciation at the Cajun spices, and chased it with slices of fresh bread slathered in butter. My belly was immeasurably happier as I filled it with things that made me feel loved.
“Talk to me,” I mumbled around a mouthful. “What happened with Corb?”
Eric sighed and sat across from me. “Corb separated us from you, and he told you that we wanted to be alone. That wasn’t true. I told him Suzy and I were going to my house for the night to get a few things and talk about how to best handle her siren abilities. By the time we came to find you, you were in jail. Corb never contacted us about trying to break you out. Crash did.”
His words halted the spoon halfway to my mouth. “Why would Corb do that?”
Alan appeared and sat next to Eric with a grunt. “Because Corb is like that. I told you he gets what he wants when it comes to women. And for whatever reason he wants—pardon me, wanted—you. The fact that you kept turning him down probably only made him want you more.”
I frowned at him and so did Eric. As a bigfoot, he lived kind of in between realms and could see and hear ghosts.
“She is lovely, despite what you want to see or say,” Eric said. “And as she continues to gain confidence, more men will be drawn to her because confidence is beauty. Especially for a strong man. But you’re not wrong about the way rejection is affecting him. Sirens don’t get turned down.” He blushed a little because, of course, Suzy was a siren and she and Eric were together in every sense of the word. “But being turned down is a new thing for Corb, and he doesn’t know how to handle it.”
Alan’s face twisted up. “You aren’t his usual type is all. He normally picks women who have no brains and big—” He held his hands out in front of his chest, making the classic cupping motion.
Eric lifted a hand. “You made the right choice, sending him away. He . . .is not thinking straight. Sirens are dangerous, especially when their hormones are out of control. It’s not a good time to deny them—”
“You saying I should have slept with him?” I spluttered out bits of my soup.
Eric shook his head. “No, let me finish. My point is that he’s not really in control of his behavior right now. Possessiveness and hormones are driving his actions. The effect is similar to that spell that the O’Seans put on the Hollows Group. These are classic symptoms of a male siren going through a change. Add in the