She racked her brain for a solution as she pulled a few things out of her hamper. She heard the front door slam shut and realized Angie must have taken off. “Damn!”
Darting out of her room and around the corner, she noticed Angie’s jacket was missing. So was her backpack. “Crap!” I can’t let her tell anyone else what she’s read.
At a complete loss as to what to do, Bliss stood in the middle of the room, looked at the ceiling, and called out, “Taxi.” When no one appeared, she waited a few moments, raised her voice, and shouted, “Taxi!” Still nothing.
Frustrated, she stomped her foot and yelled, “Taxi, taxi, taxi!”
The front door opened and Drake rushed in with Angie on his heels.
Drake pulled her into his arms and held her close.
Angie stared at her with a worried expression. “D—don’t worry, Bliss. Drake and I will find you a nice taxi.”
Bliss closed her eyes and muttered, “Oh, for Christ’s sake…”
Chapter 16
“I’ll take it from here, Angie.” Drake stood next to Bliss and draped an arm over her shoulder.
Angie looked unsure about leaving and backed toward the door slowly. “Should I… call anyone?”
Bliss slipped her arm around Drake’s waist and seemed to relax. “I’m perfectly all right, Angie. Really.”
“Oookay. If you say so.”
“We both do,” Drake said.
Angie bit her bottom lip and didn’t look convinced, but she finally reached the door and turned the handle. “I’ll just go and do… something.”
“Laundry?” Bliss asked cheerfully.
“Yeah. Laundry. That’s where I was headed. I’ll see you later.”
“Hold on,” Drake said. After a brief hesitation he added, “I might need you.”
“Oh? Oh, yeah. I guess you might.”
“Could you wait in your room for a few minutes?”
“With the door closed,” Bliss said.
“Sure.” Angie gave her a funny look as she scooted around her.
For God’s sake, even if I was off my rocker, that wouldn’t be contagious.
As soon as Angie’s door closed, Drake and Bliss stared at each other.
“Poor Angie,” Bliss whispered, then sat on the couch. “What did she tell you?”
“Not much. Just that she thought you were losing your mind.”
“Is that all?”
Drake settled next to her and leaned in for a kiss. Bliss met him halfway. When their lips parted, they weren’t alone anymore.
“Vulcan,” she blustered in a loud whisper. “Will you ever learn to knock?”
“Sorry.” He disappeared.
A moment later, a knock seemed to come from the air in front of them.
Bliss rolled her eyes. “Oh, for the love of—”
“Vulcan, buddy,” Drake said, “come in.”
The god appeared in front of them again. Drake couldn’t help being amused by how easily Bliss ordered the god around and how he obeyed. She probably still didn’t know he was a god. To her, he was part of a TV-show race, and that’s how he and Vulcan wanted it to stay.
Bliss folded her arms. “What are you doing here?”
“You called me, remember?”
“Oh. That was so long ago, I’d forgotten. Where were you?”
Vulcan strolled around the living room, looking at the pictures on the walls and the books in the bookshelves. “I was engaged in a conversation with someone I couldn’t simply run out on.”
Ah, Drake thought. Mother Nature, most likely.
“Did you locate Zina?” Bliss asked.
“No.” Vulcan addressed Drake. “Did she locate you?”
“No. I made myself plenty visible too. Hung out right in front of the bar.”
Bliss rubbed his arm. “So that’s how Angie found you so fast.”
“Yeah. Why did she think you had lost your marbles?”
Bliss blew her bangs out of her eyes and hesitated. At last, she admitted. “She read my diary.”
“You keep a diary?” Drake asked.
“Not really. It’s just a little notepad I use when I get ideas for cards. This was the first time I actually used it as a diary.”
Vulcan raised an eyebrow. “And what did she read?”
Bliss grimaced. “Look, I needed to talk about all the craziness of late, but I couldn’t. I swore I’d never tell anyone, um… other things existed, and certainly not that I had one of them for a boyfriend. But after Drake’s little confession the other night, I was a bit unsettled.”
Drake rubbed her back. “That’s putting it mildly.”
Vulcan paced with his hands clasped behind his back. “I understand, but how did your roommate discover it?”