I swallowed back at the sight of Caleb’s intense blue eyes. Jake was right, the alpha was mad and he wasn’t hiding it. I glanced over at Thomas who was standing back as the nosy bystander. “I didn’t say you could open my door.” I stupidly thought that if Thomas hadn’t opened the door, I could’ve avoided Caleb. When the truth was Caleb couldn’t be ignored. His presence and everything about him was too strong.
“I was being polite. I’ll go sightsee outside and give you some time alone.” At least Thomas knew when to butt out.
The air only grew tenser as Caleb and I stood alone now. “What is it?” I was the first to break the cold silence.
“I’ve met Thomas before through Jake. He’s part of the SCF.” That sounded like an accusation.
“Yeah, I decided to take Bess up on her job offer.” I hadn’t intended to say that but the words flew out my mouth. More and more my body was betraying me and answering to Caleb like I had some duty to, my animal twisting inside wanting to submit to him. “I know that isn’t why you stopped by.” I didn’t like how nervous I was. For years Caleb and I coexisted and I never felt out of control, even when we would argue over his dislike for vampires.
“I don’t like how we left things earlier. You don’t owe me anything and I shouldn’t have acted like you did.”
For what sounded like an apology his words stung deep inside my heart. “What does that mean?”
“You live your life and I’ll live mine. I won’t ask for your assistance anymore and I think it’s best if our paths don’t cross again.” His words were as hard as his eyes, deadly edges he wanted to wield like a knife and cut deep, he was succeeding.
“That’s what you came to say? You could’ve called and left that on a message or better yet ignore me as you’ve always done in the past because I wasn’t good enough.” He was hurting me and I didn’t know how to fight my emotions when I was hurt. “I’m sorry things got so out of hand and all the times I went running to you when I shouldn’t have.”
His jaw hardened as he said nothing and his eyes moved off my face and down to the ground. “Do you regret it all?”
A powerful cord of emotion twisted around my heart as again I couldn’t lie to him. “No.” I dragged a hand down my face and tried to keep control of my tears. “You were there for me when no one else was through this mess with the Coven.” I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his face even as he couldn’t look at me. “I only regret hurting you.” I whispered truthfully.
He nodded and turned toward the door. “Good luck with the job.”
I stood there like a fool hating the fact I didn’t stop him and admit I didn’t want us to cease all ties to each other. I had come to rely on Caleb as a friend and when I least expected it a bond had formed between us. I didn’t know how to forget it but at the same time I didn’t know how to explain it or what I even wanted from the guy. It was better to let him walk away and maybe in time the aches wouldn’t be as strong.
Except, what was happening? I let myself think about him for a moment. In a perfect world, what did I want from Caleb? I walked over to my couch and sat down. My heart felt tight like I couldn’t get enough air in my lunges, I couldn’t stop everything I was feeling and I sure as hell couldn’t control it.
Thomas stepped back in the house and took one step back when he saw me crying. He was a guy who couldn’t handle a few tears like they were acid instead of water. “Um…?”
“You don’t have to say anything.” I let him off the hook and stood from the couch, I needed to get out of there and forget the impossible. “So let’s go and find something to eat. I hope you’re not a health nut.”
“I like greasy burgers and fries just like everyone else.”
I glanced at him as we left the house. I wasn’t sure if he was being honest or just trying to fill the air and placate me. “Good.”
“I know a place close to the police station, so we’re close when Bess calls.”
I nodded and followed his lead, his ideas were a lot better than anything I was coming up with. I couldn’t shake what I was feeling, which was numb and confused about what happened with Caleb. It was times like those it’d help to have more experience with guys but something told me there was nothing out there that could’ve prepared me for Caleb. I had traded one problem in for another, just when I finally found a way to accept my break up with Michael I was feeling something for Caleb. Something I didn’t know how to put a label to. It didn’t feel like friendship.
I decided to do what worked best for me, I was going to ignore everything I was feeling and focus on what needed to be done now. I hoped as time passed the confusion would lift and I wouldn’t worry about Caleb and his disappointment in me.
The place across the street from the police station served up burgers, pizza, and different subs. I noticed several different uniformed cops sitting at tables and eating a quick dinner. Thomas ordered the burger and fries he mentioned back at my place and I went for a steak foot long sub loaded with cheese and onions.
“Can you eat all of that?” Thomas asked with interest.
“Yup.” Like most shifters, I had a high metabolism and could eat something that fattening and still be hungry an hour from now. When I worked at La Amour I always snuck food from the kitchen every moment I could.
“Do you want to talk about what is bothering you? I’m a good listener, I don’t judge and I have amazing advice. Is it Caleb?”
“I understand you’re a nice guy and you want to help, but I don’t need to talk about it. There’s nothing to say.”
“Ok then.” Thomas wasn’t going to push and overstep his boundaries. “What do you think about the bank robbery? Is it something the SCF needs to be involved with?”
“It sounds like it. Magic is tricky, it isn’t something you have to be born with and it’s easy to get ahold of different books and supplies to do spells.”
“What kind of magic do you do? Are you one of those that need the book or can you wiggle your nose and make something happen?” it sounded like he watched too many I Dream of Jeannie reruns.
I looked at the fork to my left and moved it over to his side of the booth without lifting a finger. “Does that answer your question?” I smiled while enjoying the wide eyed look of shock he had while staring at the fork.
“Holy shit, that’s amazing. I’ve seen some crazy things working with Matthew and Bess and I’m always jealous I’m the normal ass human.”
“Some people would love to be normal. Who’s Matthew?” I was much more interested in hearing about the type of work Thomas did and the different people he knew, than I was about talking about me. I remembered Bess mentioning Matthew before.
“My boss, everyone’s boss actually. He runs the FBI division that is holding jurisdiction over every SCF unit.”
Our food arrived and the conversation was put on pause. The food was too good to try and talk over. As I was finishing with my sub and considering buying another one for later, Bess joined us at the booth.
“I saw you across the street.” Bess answered about where she knew how to find us. We were seated by the large window overlooking the street.
“Are you hungry?” Thomas asked as she sat down next to him.
“No, I ate back at the office.” Sadly it seemed Bess spent most of her life inside the office first for the FBI and now for the SCF. “I spoke to the manager of Town Center Plaza bank and he’s waiting for us.”
I finished the last bite of my sub. “I’m ready now.”
“Me too.” Thomas agreed after taking another French fry off his plate.
Together we rode in my car over to the bank which wasn’t more than three minutes from where we were. In downtown Celestin everything you needed could be located, the biggest mall where the bank was, the police and fire station, and numerous more places to shop.
I hung behind the two officers and stayed closed enough to hear what they were saying so I could learn. I had nothing against Thomas but I was looking forward to flyin
g solo and finding out how good I could be at law enforcement. As a child I never thought about what I wanted to do with life, I had spent most of my days dreading getting older because of what it meant. When I ran away from the Coven and began working at the restaurant I got comfortable and stayed there all these years. I was looking forward to the idea of finding a career.
Bess introduced us to the bank manager and the guard who had been on duty at the time of the robbery. She introduced me last and eased right into the conversation of magic. The manager looked like he didn’t believe anything the guard had seen but they had run out of leads and he was willing to grasp at straws.
I asked the guard to walk me through the scene and to show me where the robber had been standing when he chanted his spell. I didn’t have any more doubt the case fell right into my expertise. I felt hums of magic radiating off the walls and the strength in the magic was fresh enough to be left over from the robbery.
Bess stood back with the manager as Thomas came with me and the guard whose name was Larry. “Are you getting something?” my partner asked when we stood near the vault.
“Yeah there was magic used in this area recently but it’s from a spell not a person.” I had my hand against the wall and cleared out my mind to focus only on the magic signature. All magic left something behind no matter how big or little the action was.
“How do you know the difference?”
“If the spell had come from the magic inside a person I’d feel their strength but instead I feel the residue of the spell left behind.”
Thomas pulled out a small notepad from his back pocket and began to write notes. “So we know the robber is a human using magic to break barriers. Can you pick up on anything that will point the finger to the couple Barry here saw?”
“No, only the type of spell.”
“That’s ok. Barry sat with a sketch artist and we can use the composite to show around the local shops that sell things for magic.” He slipped his notepad back in his pocket and thanked Barry for all his help.
Bess looked optimistic as we joined her and the manager back in the main lobby. “Are you ready to go?” she wasn’t going to tell the manager anything until she was sure and the case was on the verge of being closed.
I nodded yes and she took care of the pleasantries that came along with a cop making their exit. She promised the manager she’d call as soon as we had something worth sharing. The manager didn’t believe that magic was used to break into his bank because he didn’t think magic existed but nonetheless he was hopeful we could find something useful and arrest the robbers. The couple had gotten away with nearly a half a million dollars out of the vault.
There was one magic shop in Celestin that was actually on the up and up with what they taught and sold. It made me antsy to know how easy it was for people to get ahold of something powerful. Not all magic was good. The shop was owned and run by Samuel Constance, he was a born witch that stayed on the right side of things using only white magic but that didn’t stop people from coming into his shop and buying for black magic.
Robbing a bank was serious business and if the couple wanted to do the spell right they would’ve come to Sam’s shop to gather supplies. When we showed Sam the sketch of the couple he recognized the girl. “She came in about two weeks ago to purchase several different herbs.”
“Do you know where we can find her?” I asked.
“I have receipts with each customers phone number. I can try to track down the ones with the items she bought.” He reached under the counter and pulled a safe box free. When he was done searching through the receipts from two weeks ago, he had them all in order, there were two that matched what our female robber took from the shop.
Bess again took the lead and thanked Sam for his time. As we walked back to my car I hoped one of these two numbers belonged to our bad guys. No one expected to be arrested because their spell was traced. Vampires were made public months ago but the rest of us supernaturals were still tucked in secrecy.