Chapter Seven
Cal awoke Sunday morning and stared at the ceiling.
Audrey’s touch, her kiss, had been stunning. Phenomenal. It had been all he could do to keep from taking her against the door, God help him. He hadn’t wanted to let her go.
Like hell she was vanilla. Life couldn’t be that cruel. He’d attributed the intensity between them to BDSM, but what else was he going to say? I think you might be the only woman I can touch. Are you the love of my life? No, that wouldn’t be weird at all.
She had to have talent. There was no way a normal human could have withstood the current he’d pumped into her last night. His monitors would have picked up on the slightest degree of physical or mental distress, and the readout had been dead-level normal. He had to find out if she was a neutral, but he wasn’t looking forward to the conversation that would give him more information.
He growled, rolling over, very aware of his morning erection. He closed his eyes, considering his options. Rub one off before he called her brother? Or call Jake while sporting a massive hard-on? Either way, it wasn’t going to be a comfortable conversation, but he had a few questions for Jacob Fallon, a.k.a. The Cobra, a.k.a. the man who knew every talented person in the Western New York area, maybe even the country, possibly the world. There was no way Jake didn’t know there was something special about his own sister. No fucking way.
He reached for his cell, scrolling through his contacts for Jake’s name. He pressed dial, then waited for the call to go through.
“We’re not going to talk about this,” Jake said in lieu of hello.
“I didn’t call to ask for your blessing. What’s her talent, Fallon?”
“You couldn’t figure it out?” Jake’s voice was mocking.
Cagey bastard, answering a question with a question. Cal could play that game too. “You don’t know, do you?”
“Why would I? I’ve never scened with my sister.”
“Reassuring, but not an answer. Seriously, Fallon, what’s your goal here? She thinks she’s a normal.”
“My goal is to keep her safe.”
“Safe from what? Herself? After last night, she knows she’s got some sort of power. You want her to experiment on her own? Ignorance is dangerous.”
“Not necessarily. So what happened?”
Cal wasn’t giving an inch. “You tell me her talent and I’ll tell you what happened last night.”
Finally, Jake sighed. “I think she’s a neutral.”
Yes. Wait— “What do you mean you think?” Jake practically made it his business to know everything about every talent he could find. Why not his own sister? “Why don’t you know?”
“Look, Audrey doesn’t remember our father…but I do. The less she knows, the better. She can’t protect herself. I don’t want her to get sucked into a world she can’t handle.”
Cal burst out laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Jake snarled
There was no delicate way to phrase it. “I pumped fifty thousand amps into your helpless sister last night. She begged for more.”
“I’m going to break your mind the next time I see you,” Jake growled.
“You can try, snake charmer.” With that out of the way, Cal continued. “I’ve never seen anything like it. She wasn’t affected at all. She said it didn’t hurt. I even kissed her.” There was wonder in his voice.
“Shut up.”
“Sam tried to shift her reality and couldn’t. Can you hypnotize her?”
“No. Hold it—when did she meet Sam?”
Overprotective big brother wasn’t going to like this at all. “I followed Audrey out of the Lair last night and saw some guy trailing her. She was about to get dragged into an alley when I caught up with them. The guy blew my arm in half before he ran. I called the Doc for roadside assistance, and I figured Sam could rearrange Audrey’s perceptions. No dice. You know the rest.”
“I knew I should have walked her out. No one thought to mention this to me last night?”
Cal grinned. “We had other things on our mind.”
“You’re really asking for it, Davis.” But he sounded worried, not angry.
“Whatever. You were her safe call. What did you think we were going to do? Watch a movie? Get over it.”
“Was Audrey hurt in the attack?”
“Her purse was stolen, but that’s it. We found it halfway down the block and it looked like everything was still in it.”
“Audrey’s a ninth degree black belt. Tell me about the fight.”
Cal told him.
“Hmm,” Jake said. “I guess the guy was a normal, then. Talent wouldn’t have worked against her. How come he got away?”