got a thing against ol’ Rufus?” he teased, sliding her a lopsided smile.
“Naw, I just didn’t like the idea of anything squishing my hair.”
A burst of laughter rumbled up from his chest, and he was surprised by how good it felt, the husky vibration feeling almost new. Jesus, had it really been that long since he’d laughed?
“And really,” she continued, “I couldn’t see myself doing anything other than what I do. It just … works for me. I enjoy the travel. The freedom. And it probably sounds corny as hell, but I enjoy helping people.”
“What kind of cases do you normally take?”
“There’s a lot of jerk-offs bailing on their families, leaving the wife and kids behind and shacking up with clueless chicks half their age. The whole deadbeat-dad thing, just like you said. But I also work a lot of missing-persons cases, which can just about kill me if we’re talking about a child. Those are the …” Her voice trailed off, and he watched from the corner of his eye as she rested her temple against the darkened passenger’s window. “Those are the hardest, but they’re also the ones that bring the greatest reward, if I’m able to make a difference. Most of my clients have nowhere else to turn, since it’s difficult to involve the police when your child isn’t human.”
Something weird turned over in his chest, and he rubbed at the spot with the heel of his palm. “I wish there were more people like you in the world, Will. It would be a helluva lot better place if there was.”
She gave a soft, self-deprecating laugh, then turned back toward him. “It’s strange to hear you talk.”
He slid her a curious look, wondering if he had a speech impediment he didn’t know about. “Why’s that?”
“You just don’t sound as Southern as you used to.”
With a grin, he said, “It’s easy to lose an accent in California. No one in my family sounds all that Southern anymore, except for my mother.”
“What are your brothers up to?”
“Jackson’s been running my bar for me back in San Francisco.”
“Winston’s, right?”
“That’s right.” He waited to see if she would expand on that, wondering what else she knew about the life he’d left behind in California, but she kept silent. “Anyway, he’s a good kid. Mom was pissed that he dropped out of college, but he couldn’t take it. He damn near already knew everything they were trying to teach him, so it bored the heck out of him. He’s taking it easy for now, content at the bar, trying to figure out what he wants to do with the rest of his life.”
If he has one.
The intrusive thought made him flinch, and he shook his head, surprised when she reached over and put her hand on his arm. “It’s okay, Noah.” Her voice was soft with understanding. “He’ll make it through.”
“Thanks,” he grunted, enjoying the touch of her hand. And missing it when she pulled away, settling her hands in her lap. Giving himself a mental shake, he got back on topic. “And Bryce is a family man now.”
“No way.”
“I swear to God. He married a woman who’s part panther, and she keeps his crazy ass in line. They have a little girl named Zara, who’s the cutest damn thing you’ve ever seen.”
“I can’t believe you’re an uncle.”
He smiled. “I’m not just an uncle. I’m her favorite.”
With a quiet laugh, she said, “I bet she misses you.”
“Yeah, I miss her, too. I haven’t seen her since we moved the unit’s headquarters to England.”
“It seems so odd that you live there.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I guess I just never pictured you as the English-manor type.”
Dryly, he said, “I try not to drag too much mud through the place.”
“I wasn’t saying you’re not classy enough, Noah. Just that you’re too …” She seemed to be searching for the right word, but couldn’t find it. “Never mind. But it wasn’t an insult. I didn’t know you were so … Well, you’re pretty touchy, you know that?”
“And you’re pretty bitchy,” he drawled, liking it when she gave another soft laugh.
They finally caught sight of the motel Will had said would be a good stopping point, and he pulled into the lot. At this time of night, the place was nearly full with travelers and truckers, but the clerk knew Will and managed to scrounge up a room for them. It was clear from the look in her eyes that she wasn’t thrilled about having to share a room, but she didn’t openly complain. Instead, she simply tossed her bag on the king-size bed and told him she was grabbing a shower.
As he sat on the foot of the bed, listening to the rattle and hum of the pipes, Noah considered the situation he and Will now found themselves in. They’d never really been friends. They’d been more like thorns in each other’s sides when they were younger, always bickering and snapping. Constantly rubbing each other the wrong way.
And then everything had come to a head on that last night he’d been in Sacred, and all that prickly energy that’d always been between the two of them had transformed into something mind-blowing. Into something that’d shocked the hell out of them both.
Now, twelve years later, they still weren’t friends. Were more strangers than anything else, and yet, it didn’t feel like he’d just spent hours with a stranger. In some ways, the span of years since he’d last seen her seemed nonexistent—but at the same time, everything had changed. What had happened between them that last time they’d been together had irrevocably altered the cadence of their relationship. Like a match to flame, all that restless, uncomfortable energy had spectacularly combusted, flaring into something violent and raw and explosive, creating a feeling that was … Well, it was …
Damn it, he didn’t know how to explain what it was. Noah only knew it was something he’d never felt before. That he’d never come close to feeling since. And it was still vibrating in the air between them, impossible to ignore.
He just didn’t know what to do about it.
“But I knew this was going to be a mistake,” he muttered under his breath, shoving his hands back through his hair so hard that his scalp stung. He rested his head back on his shoulders, staring at the motel’s water-stained ceiling, and told himself that he needed to start focusing on the mission.
He also needed to check in with the others back in England.
Taking a seat in the cheap wooden chair that matched the room’s even cheaper desk, Noah booted up his laptop and then clicked on the icon that would initiate a secure video connection via satellite. He knew exactly why Kellan had uploaded the software onto his system, insisting that he use it while he was in the States. His friends back in England wanted to be able to see him—to check his expression and read the look in his eyes—so that they could be sure he was still Noah … and not some meat-puppet being controlled by Calder. Not that he blamed them. If he was in their shoes, he’d have done the same thing.
As he waited for someone to connect on the other end, Noah admitted to himself that while he missed his friends, he was glad for the time away from them. As happy as he was for the guys, their luck in the love department had started wearing him thin. All the laughter and smiles and satisfied looks of pleasure. They weren’t naive. They knew there was still work to be done. Knew the fate of the world was resting in the balance. And they were prepared to deal with it. But it didn’t stop them all from wallowing in romantic bliss. It was enough to make a single guy sick to his stomach.
“It’s about damn time you checked in.” Kierland Scott’s deep voice suddenly cut into his thoughts, and Noah jerked his gaze back to the