The Scary Godmother Read online

  Before he could answer, I twined my fingers in his hair and dragged him down to my level, claiming his mouth and savoring a hint of the sweet cocktail lingering on his lips.

  Finally. No one could interrupt us in a glassed-in box suspended who knows how many feet in the air.

  The kiss deepened, tingles dancing over my skin. Desire grew second by second and flourished as his tongue traced the inside of my mouth. I nibbled his lower lip and eased onto his lap, straddling both thighs. He dragged me in closer, holding a fistful of my gym shorts. In our new position, there was no disguising the hard bulge pressing against my inner thigh.

  “Dammit, Sky. Did you influence me?” His lips skimmed my jaw. Then he found my ear and nibbled, sending sparks of delight shooting down my spine to every nerve ending. He snuck a hand beneath my shirt and trailed his fingers up my back until he reached the band of my sports bra.

  “No. Not you. Never you. Besides…” It was hard to think, let alone form coherent sentences when he flicked his tongue against my ear. “Um, Ferris wheel was your suggestion. Mine was going to be a hotel for the night, but then I remembered we have class.” Shit.

  The kisses stopped. “A hotel? Uh, for what I’m thinking of, or some other reason?”

  He was talking and the words all sort of blurred together, but eventually I made sense of what he was asking. Heat flushed through my cheeks. “Well, I wasn’t exactly thinking of tearing your clothes off and tackling you onto the bed—” His hair had fallen back into his eyes, in desperate need of a trim, so I swept it aside and lowered my voice. “Honestly, I was more thinking of letting you get some rest. I’m not saying I’m not ready for that step, but I’m not in a rush either.”

  “Yeah. I’m not rushing you.”

  His dick said otherwise. I lowered my fingers between our bodies and traced the less-than-subtle outline of it beneath his shorts. Gabriel sucked in a sharp breath.

  The attraction hadn’t moved yet. People waited restlessly while the operators down below argued about whose fault it was.

  I drew my hand back. “Sorry. This is so not how I planned for the night to go. Maybe I shouldn’t have kissed you in public.”

  “Hey…” He cupped my face between his palms, eyes filled with concern. “I’m not ashamed of us, if that’s what you think. I don’t want you to ever think I’m ashamed of what we have and that we have to hide in a Ferris wheel to have some time alone. Or a hotel room.”

  “Trust me, ashamed is the last thing I feel about you. I just don’t want to risk Provost Riordan having to separate us. Or getting you into a shitstorm of trouble with Jada.”

  “Fuck Jada and what she thinks. Honestly, she’s about this close to me visiting the provost about her behavior.” He held his thumb and forefinger a fraction of an inch apart.

  “And your family?”

  He sighed and leaned back against the padded seat. “It sucks that they cut me off, but none of that is your fault. Jada and I just weren’t right together. I figured that out a long time ago.”

  “I know I had nothing to do with that, but still. You’re working so hard to pay for crap. Rodrigo sort of let it slip that you were doing some crazy shit.”

  His chin dropped, eyes closing. “You mean like filming amateur pornography for bored married folks?”

  “Hey.” I tilted his face up again. “I’m not worried as long as you stay behind the camera.”

  “Trust me, it’s not as hot as you might think. I actually find it dull, but it pays decent.” He stroked my hair back from my face. “It’s all movie magic, clever angles, and being way closer than I want to be to someone else’s dick.”

  “Ew.”

  “Honestly? Absolutely worth it to be able to take you out tonight and not worry about the cash.”

  “You don’t have to spend money on me.”

  “I know, but I wanted to,” he said, kissing me again. “And I also think the rest of these people want off the ride.”

  “Party pooper.”

  Gabriel grinned. “Sentinels have a reputation for being party poopers. Antonin has a fae for a ward, and you know what he tells us?”

  “What?”

  “If a fae has a fun idea, it’s our job to shit all over it, because they’re never up to any good.”

  I laughed and crawled off his lap. A snap of my fingers produced a magical spark, undoing the jinx and powering the Centennial Wheel again. To take advantage of what time we had left, I leaned against his side and placed my ear over his heart while stroking my fingers down the back of his hand.

  We took our time walking back to the car, and I wished we didn’t have to head back so soon. Still, any time we got together was better than none.

  “Want me to drive back since you had like six of those drinks?” I asked.

  “Three.”

  “Three huge drinks. More like nine regular-sized drinks.”

  He shrugged then fished his keys from his pocket, only to give me a look when I tickled his ribs. “I paid my insurance this month. Why not?”

  “Really?”

  He tossed me the keys. Expecting a different answer, I fumbled them before heading over to the driver’s side. Of course, it took almost five minutes to adjust the seat and mirrors where I could reach and see. His long legs put the pedals out of my reach.

  “Need a booster seat?” he teased.

  “Shush. I’m not even short.”

  Traffic wasn’t too bad to start, since it was late enough that rush hour was over and most people were home for dinner. Despite his teasing, Gabriel didn’t tense or nitpick my driving.

  “Ugh, this idiot in the blue car ahead of us keeps veering over every time I want to pass.”

  “Yeah, looks like she’s texting and not paying attention.”

  Gabriel always had me respond to his text messages while he was driving, but the girl’s friend, a vague shape in the passenger seat, seemed disinterested. “You’d think the other person would say something to them about—shit!”

  Another car attempted to overtake the blue Charger. The distracted driver, busy with her phone, sailed into his rear, and he fishtailed wildly into oncoming traffic. The scream of tearing metal filled the air with the thunderous crash of the Charger swerving then flipping down the road.

  A whole string of colorful epitaphs filled the car as I swerved and slammed on the brake, hoping and praying I’d glide past the crash and that the people behind me weren’t going to hit us.

  No, they were too close. Definitely going to hit us. The SUV behind us was right on my ass, and we’d be accordion crushed like a smashed soda can.

  Instinct took over, a spark of inspiration from the dwindling sun in the twilit sky all I needed.

  The Twilight. Fighting against the barrier between realms, fighting against the tremendous weight of the car, and fighting the rules of reality, I tore Gabriel’s vehicle into the spiritual realm and made it as insubstantial as mist. The effect lasted for only three seconds. Three vital seconds that felt like hours to a mind taxed to its limit.

  I screamed the whole time until we rematerialized on the other side of the accident and came to a screeching halt, leaving a broken path of rubber tracks on the road. My heart raced, pounding hard in my chest, and my knuckles were white around the steering wheel.

  Exhausted, I slumped against the wheel, sweat pouring down my face.

  “We’re alive?”

  I tested my mouth, wetting dry lips. “I… I think so.”

  When I glanced at Gabriel, he was white as a sheet, his palm still pressed against the dash in front of him, the other gripping the arm rest. He stared through the windshield.

  “We’re not dead,” he said out loud, half in awe, but possibly to convince himself too. Then he snapped out of it, jerked his gaze to me, and promptly examined my face. “Are you okay? You look like hell.”

  I didn’t want to know what I’d just physically done to myself, so I didn’t look in the rearview mirror. “I feel like hell, but right now,
I think we need to help those people.”

  The guy who’d been hit stepped out of his car, which had crashed into the center divider and crumpled up his entire front end. Blood dripped down his face.

  We popped our belts and rushed from the car, pure adrenaline fueling me after discharging what felt like every spec of faerie dust I’d had in reserve. The driver hadn’t moved from the other vehicle.

  “Are you all right?” I called to him. The poor guy was in a daze. Another responder helped me guide him to the side of the road to sit on the guard rail.

  Since I overheard someone else calling it in, I followed Gabriel to the flipped car with the two passengers—the ones who had caused this whole mess. We found one young woman hanging suspended by her seat belt, unconscious and bleeding profusely from a head injury. A hint of gold kissed her aura, along with the familiarity of Pilar’s magic. I’d recognize a glamour cast by her anywhere, on any person.

  “Oh no, that’s Yasmina. She’s Pilar’s charge,” I whispered.

  “You should call and let her know.”

  The wail of sirens echoed through the noisy metropolitan night. I glanced toward the flashing lights in the distance, relieved. “Yeah, you’re right, but after we get this sorted out.”

  Gabriel crouched beside the damaged door to look in through the window. With a little shifter muscle, he wrenched it open. “I don’t want to risk moving her.”

  I crouched down beside him and searched the car. Her phone lay on the roof, the cracked blue screen displaying her most recent message about receiving an acceptance letter to the University of Chicago.

  “Wait, where’s the other person? There were two people, right?”

  Gabriel nodded. “Yeah, I’d swear there were.”

  “Could the other person have been thrown from the—” A sharp, metallic smell caught my attention, the subtle scent of magic lingering in the air. It reminded me of ozone but sour. “Do you smell that?”

  Gabriel sat back on his heels and dragged in a long breath. “Another fae has been here.”

  Had we just seen the Scary Godmother? Did Gabriel even know about the rumors? Of course he did. Gabriel knew everything.

  His nose wrinkled. “I smell something else. Gas.”

  “I think that car on fire stuff only happens in the mov—”

  A spark ignited beneath the hood, and curls of smoke rose in the air. Before I could say a word, Gabriel dove into the opening and jerked Yasmina’s seat belt to pull her out of the vehicle.

  “Gabriel!”

  “It’s okay!” He slid her back across the rough asphalt road, panting as he did it, abrading his knuckles in the rush to pull her clear of the vehicle. The glass in Yasmina’s windshield shattered a moment later as the car went up in flames. Gabriel stared at it wide-eyed and turned to look at me. “Call Pilar now.”

  Not natural. I tapped Pilar’s name in the contacts log, and the moment she answered, I blurted out, “Yasmina’s been in an accident. You need to get here right away. I...”

  Exhaustion swam over me and distorted the surrounding world, pitching me backward and stealing the strength from my quaking legs. Strong arms wrapped around my middle and held me up. Gabriel’s heartbeat pounded beneath my ear, and though it sounded like he was miles away, I heard him complete the call to Pilar, telling her where the paramedics were likely to take her charge.

  “Was she in the accident too?” someone asked.

  “No. My girlfriend got a little weak at the sight of all the blood.”

  The rest of their exchange blurred. When I stirred again, we were pulling into his parking space at PNRU and my head felt like someone had tried to open my skull with a chisel.

  “What happened?”

  “You passed out at the wreck. Expended too much energy saving our asses. Nurse Kristi said to make sure you rest and go see her if needed.”

  “Shit, we’re way late for class.”

  “Antonin knows why. We’ll make it up tomorrow during our training time.”

  “I have boot camp tonight too.”

  “Bregman dismissed you.”

  I blinked.

  “I told you, under that tough bitch werewolf shit, she cares about us. You aren’t any good if you’re magically taxed, Sky.”

  “But—”

  “No buts. Rest.” He killed the engine and helped me from the car. The world spun again, and then in the next moment, I was in his arms.

  “You can’t carry me across the campus, Gabriel. People will see.”

  “Don’t care. I’m your sentinel first, boyfriend second.”

  “I’m not sure if I should be offended or not.”

  He looked down at me, a serious look on his face. “No matter what happens between us, I’ll always look out for you. Always. Nothing’s gonna ruin that.”

  Whenever a student stopped us along the way, Gabriel gave them the concise summary of events: his ward had overtaxed herself performing a serious lifesaving miracle.

  It only took a few minutes to cross the grounds to my place. Liadan opened the door before we reached it, and then Gabriel set me on the couch while she fussed over me.

  “I’ll report what we saw to Simon and Sebastian. You get a shower and some shut eye, okay? You were awesome tonight. I know older fae who can’t do what you did.”

  “I didn’t know I could. I didn’t even really know what I was doing. I just—I couldn’t—” Lose him. I couldn’t lose him. I swallowed, mouth dry and chest tight. “I was terrified and didn’t want us to get killed.” And now that it was over, and hearing the awe in his voice, I could look back on what I’d done and marvel myself. “Maybe we can practice that. Without possible death looking over us though.”

  “Maybe.”

  He kissed me and left.

  Silence fell over the living room. Liadan texted someone on her phone, giving me space and time. I needed a few minutes to think about how close I’d come to dying, not because there was a vampire in my way, but because a woman had decided to text while driving.

  Could Yasmina be blamed when a fae had been whispering in her ear, likely encouraging her to send one more text? Yes, most certainly fucking yes, I decided, feeling less sympathetic for the girl.

  A fae couldn’t force anyone to act entirely out of character. We only encouraged. We made okay ideas sound marvelous and transformed bleh thoughts into shitty ideas. Yasmina could have resisted.

  Lia set her phone aside. “You look awful.”

  “I feel awful, like I’ll never get my energy back.”

  “You need a boost,” Liadan said. “And I’m sure Pilar will too when she gets back, but right now we need to get you perked up.”

  “Just throw on a rom-com or something.”

  She shook her head. “It won’t be enough. C’mon, let’s get you to the student center.”

  The idea of getting up and moving made me groan. “Why?”

  “The fae are gathered up for a jam session.”

  10

  The Power of Sweets Compels Me

  Aside from squeezing in nine hours a week at the campus bookstore, I never visited the student center for more than a few minutes to eat lunch. The rec room was located one level beneath the campus store, a large, open space filled with multiple sofas, love seats, and squishy beanbags.

  Flat screens spanned one wall for video gaming, a Dance Dance Revolution machine took up one corner, flanked by a couple classic arcade games, and a group of fae occupied a karaoke machine playing a hit ’80s song. They were actually pretty good.

  While I drifted in and out of an overstimulated daze, Lia managed to get us a seat on one of the limited couches. Within minutes, I had a fruity drink in one hand and a plate of chewy, chocolate chip M&M cookies in front of me. I’d eaten at least five.

  I nibbled one absently, letting the sugary treat console me until the scent of the ocean filled my immediate area. I glanced up at Julien.

  “Skylar? What a surprise.”

  “Hey, Julien.” May
be I’d gotten used to him again, or maybe it was because I had no energy to even get a ladyboner over him, because he didn’t stir my interest even a little.

  “You look…”

  “Horrible?” I offered.

  “I was going to say beat. What happened?”

  “What happened indeed?” Jiro strolled up and set three more snickerdoodle cookies on my half-empty plate. “You looked like you could use some more sweets.”

  “Thanks.”

  Jiro inclined his head then turned to acknowledge Julien. “Sorry to butt in. I’d heard a rumor that Skylar was hurt and couldn’t help but wander over when I saw her here.”

  “Hey, it’s a party. Everyone is welcome to talk to everyone,” Julien said. Then his gaze flickered back to me and his expression softened. “Really though, are you all right?”

  “Yeah.” I went through everything that had happened, minus the fact that Pilar’s charge had been involved. That little fact could wait until the school decided to let it be known. Besides, I didn’t want anyone saying crap about Pilar, because there was no way she could have known.

  “Wow. You jumped the entire car through the Twilight?” Julien stared at me in awe.

  “Then I passed out not long after. Hence my party and sugar recharge.”

  Jiro chuckled and offered a hand. “Well then, let’s get you up on stage or something. Play some music. The more pleasure you inspire, the more energy you can siphon.”

  “Oh no. I am not musically inclined.”

  “It’s true,” Liadan said. She glanced toward the corner. “Though…”

  I followed her gaze to the DDR game. “Oh no.”

  “Why not? You dance all the time.”

  “In my room!”

  “Sadly, I have never played the game,” Jiro said.

  “But I have.” Julien’s eyes lit with glee. “Are you afraid I’ll beat you with an audience?”

  “Nobody beats me at DDR.”

  He crossed his arms and cupped his chin with the heel of his palm. “But if you do not dance… you certainly couldn’t have any amount of skill at the game.”

  I knew what he was doing, and because I couldn’t take the slight against my nonexistent video gaming reputation, I shoved another cookie in my mouth, choked down my strawberry virgin daiquiri, and followed him to the machine. Jiro and Liadan trailed after us and took up spectating positions nearby.