Chapter 9

9

The kiss lasted only seconds.

Long enough to steal my voice.

Long enough to scramble my thoughts.

Long enough to cream my clean undies.

Short enough that I almost wondered if I imagined it but for the tingling of my lips and the smug look on his face.

Rather than ask why he did it, I drove. Drove and wondered how to ask why he’d kissed me. The most basic answer could be that he found me attractive. No doubt he’d been aroused when I’d fallen atop him in the elevator. Then again, most men would have been hard-pressed to not respond, given how intimately I’d straddled him. However, the way he spoke to me, and acted, didn’t jibe with how a man usually behaved around a woman he liked.

“It meant nothing.” He spoke suddenly.

“What didn’t?” I played dumb.

“The kiss. It was stupid. I shouldn’t have done it, but I had no idea how else to get you to stop talking.”

“You could have asked.”

He snorted. “As if that wouldn’t have unleashed a storm.”

“You shouldn’t be kissing a woman unless it means something.” It might have emerged a tad miffed. So much for briefly thinking he might have been overwhelmed by passion.

“It won’t happen again.”

“Good.” I lied. I’d enjoyed the brief embrace but, given his reaction, had to wonder, was the magic in the curse trying to drag him in? How would he fit into the Little Ash Girl story?

“When we get to the hotel, you’ll drive into the loading dock like we did this morning.” He turned businesslike, and I wanted to scream.

I wanted to talk about the kiss that he claimed meant nothing, because for me it changed everything.

Before I’d ignored the flutters when he appeared. The dreams featuring him. The racing pulse. The attraction.

But now, with my lips and other parts of my body yearning for more, it hit me.

I like him.

Liked him, as in, how a woman liked a man. Only he’d already made it clear he didn’t date or want to settle down. As for me, I wasn’t into casual flings.

“Princess.” He snapped his fingers in front of my face.

“What?”

“The light is green.”

“Oh.” I drove in silence, but he suddenly got talkative.

“Are you reliving the attack?”

“No.” The truth.

“You don’t have to worry. I’ll be keeping a close eye on you.”

How close? “You’re not going to make me use the bathroom with the door open, are you?”

“No. But someone will be close by in case you yell.”

“Not you.” Bodily functions might be normal, but that didn’t mean I wanted anyone listening while I tinkled or worse.

“If I’m not around, someone else will be.”

“Shouldn’t I share a room with Hannah, you know, her being a woman and all?”

“Hannah doesn’t like to share, and her room only has a king-sized bed.”

“Oh.”

“I know that kiss might make you think otherwise, but you don’t have to worry about your virtue. I will treat you with the utmost respect.”

Pity.

Wait, did I say that out loud? A glance showed him looking out the window.

My shoulders relaxed. What was wrong with me?

The hotel loading dock door somehow knew to open as I neared. I pulled inside to see Hannah waiting.

She took one look at my gummed hair and probably still sticky face and whistled. “Hot shit, look at you.”

I grimaced. “I’m a mess.”

“We’ll get you cleaned up,” she promised. “Follow me.”

“Just a second. I need to gather my friends.” Izzy crawled into my arms, while the mice raced up my sleeves to ride on my shoulders.

To her credit, Hannah didn’t say a word about my menagerie. She led the way to a service elevator that took us to our floor. When she stopped in front of a door, Levi barked, “She’s staying with me.”

Hannah whirled around so fast I worried about whiplash.

“With you?” she questioned.

“I have two beds.” Said almost defensively.

Hannah glanced at me then Levi before she drawled, “Good point. I’m a rough sleeper. I might kick Cinder if we shared.”

The door for Levi’s suite proved to be farther down the hall and opened onto a decent-sized space. A corner unit with windows on two sides and the promised two beds. It also had a small kitchenette, a couch, and even a round table with two chairs. Homey.

The mice cheered as they scampered off to explore. Izzy turned his nose up at the carpet.

“I know, buddy. You prefer wood flooring. This is temporary.”

Hannah and Levi whispered at the door before he said more loudly, “Why don’t you shower. I’ll be in the hallway if you need me.”

“Oh yes!” I might have yelled it a little too happily.

The door to the room shut, and I stripped, quickly immersing myself under the hot spray. Spider goo sluiced from my flesh, and I sighed in relief, especially since it didn’t seem to have left behind any skin irritation. Since I had my eyes closed, I didn’t immediately notice the tub filling with water. When it swirled around my ankles was when I took note. I must have accidentally stepped on the pressure plug.

The murky water, covered in a layer of suds, meant dipping my hand in to swish around looking for the round metal cap so I could press it. Something brushed past my fingers and startled me enough I jerked, which, in turn, unbalanced me, and I landed with a splash on my ass. The jolt whooshed my breath, meaning I didn’t even manage an audible squeak.

As I pushed to stand, something slid by my hand again, and on reflex, I closed my fingers around it. I lifted it from the water to blink in surprise at the fish I’d caught. A squirmy little bugger that flapped its mouth open and shut before chomping me!

“Ow!” I dropped the fish and barely had time to wonder where it went after it splashed before the door slammed open.

Levi stood on the threshold, once more gun in hand, expression slightly crazed as he barked, “What is it?”

I scrambled from the tub and pointed to the water. “There’s a fish.”

“A fish?” he repeated, his expression confused.

“Yes, a fish in the tub. It bit me!” I held out my hand to show the red mark.

Despite his frown, he knelt by the side and reached in, finding the plug, and with a suctioning noise, the water began to drain. Even before it fully evacuated, the fish appeared, flopping on the bottom, orange-scaled and kind of fat. It reminded me of an oversized goldfish.

“What the ever-loving fuck?” he muttered as he reached in to snag it by the tail.

“What are you going to do with it?” I asked, standing there shivering despite the towel I’d wrapped around myself.

“Gonna save it for the bureau.” He plopped it into the sink, which he filled with water. “Finish your shower.”

“I’ll wait.”

“You’re covered in soap. Rinse,” he snapped.

“I will once you leave.”

“Ain’t happening, princess. Or are you hoping for an alligator next time?”

I glanced at the empty tub. Would the Grimm Effect be so savage? I didn’t know what to think anymore. “Don’t peek.” A dumb thing to say given A) he’d already seen my naked bits, B) I kind of wanted him to look and admire, C) he obviously wasn’t that interested, given he’d not met my gaze since entering.

I placed the damp towel on the bar, and the curtain rustled as I went back into the shower. Clear plastic on the inside, a filmy white fabric on the outside. He technically couldn’t see much even if he did look, which he didn’t. I’d have known since I kept turning my head to see.

The shower remained hot, but I shivered a bit inside. What was happening to me? Another nursery rhyme at play? I knew of one from when I was young, One, Two, Three, Four, Five. The short sing-along poem spoke of catching a fish and letting it go because it bit. Just like what happened to me.

“You okay in there, princess?”

“Yup. Done. Turn around while I grab a towel.”

His broad back faced me as I slid back the curtain. My damp towel didn’t help my chill; however, I wasn’t rude enough to grab the other, as he would need it when he bathed. Levi also had some spider gore to deal with. Not as much as me, which made no sense since he’d been the one slicing.

A peep at the sink showed the giant fish sulking at the bottom, and I’d swear it glared at me as its mouth opened and closed. At least it didn’t have razor-sharp teeth.

My bag of clothes sat by the vanity, on the other side of Levi. “Could you step out while I dress?”

“Leave the door open.”

So much for having any privacy. At the same time, I appreciated the fact he wanted to protect me. At the same time, that appreciation wouldn’t last if he insisted on standing over me while I peed.

I dressed quickly in leggings and an oversized sweatshirt. My hair I wrapped in the towel to sop up most of the moisture. I kept my feet bare and emerged into the room to find Levi pacing, his posture tense.

“Sorry I freaked out about the fish.”

He whirled and growled, “Don’t you dare apologize. Something weird is going on, and that gives you the right to be upset.”

“Weirder than me talking to mice?” I tried to make light of the situation before immediately frowning. “That’s odd.”

“What is?”

To be sure, I returned to the bathroom and stared at the fish.

It glared back.

“I don’t think it’s sushi material,” he drawled at my back.

“I wanted to check something.”

“Dare I ask what?”

I turned to see him standing close, close enough I had to crane to see his face. “It doesn’t speak.”

“It’s a fish. Kind of normal.”

I shook my head. “Most animals have the ability to communicate, just not in a language most understand. It’s how I can speak with my mice and Izzy and all my other friends. But this fish…” I waved my hand. “It’s blank.”

Judging by his expression, I had his interest. “What do you mean by blank?”

“It’s not exuding any thoughts or emotions. As if it doesn’t have a mind. Or if it does, not one that projects.”

“Could be it’s not a thinker.”

“Everyone has thoughts. Everyone feels something, whether it be joy, annoyance, sadness, anger. My mice right now are excited about the new room. Izzy is disgruntled by the carpet, which he claims smells. But this fish has nothing.”

“What do you think it means?”

My lips pursed before I blurted out, “I think it’s not real.”

He arched a brow. “It’s real. I touched it. So did you.”

“Sorry, that’s not the right word. More like it exists but isn’t an actual fish.”

“Then what is it? A dog?” his sarcasm clear.

“I think it’s a golem.”

“A giant mud monster?” This time his query shone with incredulity.

“A golem is a magical construct that mimics a living thing. Traditionally, it’s a giant, but technically, it could be anything.”

“So the curse is now making fake living things?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. What I do know is if it starts making something out of nothing, we’re going to have problems. Big ones.”

“As if we don’t already.”

“You’re not seeing the bigger picture. Right now, when people are transformed, they still retain some of their humanity, along with whatever morality they followed in their pre-curse life. For example, just because someone becomes a wolf doesn’t mean they’ll automatically start killing.” Aidan, Hood’s boyfriend, was a good example of a wolf with a moral code. “A human, even transformed, is afraid of pain and tries to avoid death. But imagine something like that fish, no compassion, no emotions whatsoever. That kind of blank slate would be capable of anything, even the most depraved act, because it would feel nothing.”

His lips stretched into a thin line. “You’re talking about sociopath golems.”

“Yes. If the curse were to start creating them and setting them loose, can you imagine the havoc they’d cause?”

“Assuming the Grimm Effect can do something large-scale, it would be bad,” he agreed. “However, given it’s always used magic to create elements for its curses, this isn’t really new. I mean look at places like Regent Park and the trees that sprouted overnight. Trees are living things.”

He raised a valid point. I chewed my lower lip. “I don’t know why, but this feels different.”

“I agree, and this is why you and I will be joined at the hip until the danger passes.”

“What of the prince?”

“The other knights can handle him.”

“And just how long do you plan to remain glued to me?”

“As long as it takes.”

I arched a brow. “Why, Levi, are you proposing ’til death do us part?” I teased, but his face… Oh my goodness, his face. It turned red, bright red, and he stammered.

“I won’t let you die. And as for the length of time, most likely, once the ball is over, things will go back to normal.”

I snorted. “As if there’s such a thing anymore.” Mind you, I’d hardly lived in a world pre-Grimm. I was very young when it hit and so never knew that other time before we had to worry about magic.

“I will keep you safe, princess.”

“I know you will.”

But while he guarded my wellbeing, who would protect my heart?