Sorceress, Interrupted - By A. J. Menden Page 0,48
it.
“Weird way to end the night, huh?” Cyrus finally said.
“Weird ending for a weird night,” I agreed quickly.
“Yeah.” Cyrus cleared his throat. “Just so you know, Fantazia . . . it exceeded expectations.”
My heart sped up. “Oh?” I said noncommittally.
“Yes, and it made me curious about other things.”
But before he could say anything else, the elevator doors dinged open. Wesley stood there. As soon as he saw me, his face changed to a mask of mixed hurt and pity. “Fantazia—”
“I’ve got to go,” I said quickly. “See you, Cyrus.” And I teleported myself home as fast as I could.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
It seemed prudent to avoid my father for a bit after my meltdown. Heck, I needed to avoid all the members of the EHJ. God knows Wes probably told Lainey about what had happened. If he told Lainey, chances are good that she told Selena and Mindy, her two best buddies. And if Lainey told Mindy, Mindy definitely told Paul, being one of those women who feels the need to tell her husband everything. One of them probably told Toby, who probably turned around and told his boyfriend the politician, which meant chances were good the whole United States government knew I’d cried because Daddy replaced me. Granted, I wasn’t likely to meet any of the government, and I doubted they really cared, but I didn’t look forward to walking back into EHJ headquarters and getting looks of pity. Better to let a little time pass, let the heroes get wrapped up in their squabbles and their crazy villains of the week and have all thoughts of me go away. Just like usual.
I wasn’t sure how to act around Cyrus either. We’d shared that hot kiss at the end of a very bizarre and emotionally trying day. Maybe we’d both been a bit out of our heads, in our own particular dramas, and now that a little time had passed we would both feel a bit awkward. Or maybe we had just gotten the sexual tension out of our systems and could move forward as uninvolved acquaintances. At least, I assumed he felt one of those two ways. He hadn’t spoken to me since that night and it had been a few weeks.
I was sure he’d been busy. He was supposedly working on that computer of Chad’s, trying to unlock what exactly it was the poor guy saw before his brain got fried and his magic stolen; unsurprisingly it had been the exact same type of attack as took the Brothers of Power. And I’m sure if the EHJ needed someone extra for one of their battles he was called out of his hidey hole to go play the big hero, just as he seemed to enjoy these days. But we were supposed to be working this case together, damn it. Shouldn’t he have come to my bar by now to discuss our next move?
Okay, I’ll admit it. If I was really that into the case, I’d have hauled my little bum down to headquarters and barged right in. I wanted the magic thieves caught, sure, mostly for the sake of Emily. But this was really more about whatever was going on between myself and Cyrus. While I don’t have a lot of use for romance, I like it when a guy chases me. I like it when a kiss isn’t enough and he has to come back begging for more. On a rare occasion, I’d submit. I like to be the one with all the power. Throughout my past, it’s always been like that. This time, things just didn’t seem to be adding up.
I didn’t sit around on my hands and just wait for him to come back, though. I don’t wait for any man when it comes to business; never have, never will. I did a little investigating my way. I listened closer at the bar, to the whispers and the rumors. There still wasn’t much to go on, but an increasing number of stories were turning up of magic-users being attacked. This put me in a unique position. Just like usual, the lesser mages began coming to me for help. I did what they couldn’t with wards of protection, magical amulets and the like, all in return for their help. Now they were the ones scouring the city, tracking down rumors and innuendo, going to the sites of the attacks and trying to find the pattern.
Cyrus calls himself lazy? I’ve got him beat. But I get results.