What’s New Pussycat(55)

Martine pulled her arm out of his hold. “You’re hurting me, Jerry.”

He softened then, his face melting back into his easygoing smile. “Sorry, but you’re scaring me. Why so intense?”

What could it hurt to tell him why she was worried? He knew about Escobar because of Derrick and the lockdown to keep her safe anyway.

He didn’t have to know she planned to go after Derrick. “I’m worried about Derrick. He’s gone off to find my mother, thinking she can somehow help with my Escobar troubles. But she can’t. No one can. He’s too powerful.” Fear slithered along her spine, and anxiety settled in the pit of her stomach.

Jerry held out his arm, escorting her to Derrick’s front steps. “Your mother?”

She sighed, trying to formulate a plan. “Yeah. My mother. He seems to think Escobar might have something to do with the impossible part of his curse. Like maybe he’ll be the one to stop us from mating on the full moon. If that’s the case, his assumption is that my mom can help because she’s a familiar. But my mother isn’t going to be interested in helping me, and even if she were, my father would never allow it.” At the top of the steps, she pushed the door open and waved Jerry in first, following behind him.

“Does your mother know magic?” Jerry asked over his shoulder.

She shrugged, hoping against hope he’d let this go so she could figure something out in peace. He was edgy today—edgy and something else she couldn’t put her finger on.

“I don’t know what she knows. She shielded me from most of it with the exception of the occasional floating object. I do know I don’t want her involved in this, at least not without me there to help Derrick explain.”

Jerry brightened. “So you’re planning to go see her? See if you can find Derrick? Is that what all the rush is about?”

Martine popped her lips. “I have no plans.” Yet. Which wasn’t exactly a lie.

“Yes you do. I can see it written all over your face. But you can’t figure out a way to get there.”

Guilty. “Forget it, Jerry. It’ll all be fine.”

“You want me to take you?”

She squeezed his arm with a smile of gratitude. “Um, no. I can’t let you get involved, too, Jerry. First, Derrick would kill me if anything happened to you, and I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to you. Second, you know not thing one about magic and neither do I. So one lame-o going in unarmed is stupid, I’ll admit. Two of us? No can do.”

“Why don’t we text him and see if he’s even located your mother? Maybe all this worry’s for nothing and he just made a trip in for something else?”

Martine cocked her head. “You know him better than I do. Why else would he go into the city? Morris said he hates it.”

Jerry nodded solemnly, his handsome face and clear skin as perfect as always even in broad daylight. “With a passion. So let’s just text and ask him.”

“Okay, but do me a favor and don’t tell him I’m asking. I don’t want you to lie for me, just avoid why you’re asking.” Because she had to know.

He nodded. “Anything if it’ll bring you peace of mind,” he said, pulling his phone from his pocket and moving his fingers over the screen.

As her mind raced, she began to pace, until Jerry’s phone pinged the sound of an incoming text. Her eyes looked hopefully to him.

He held up the phone for her to read Derrick’s message. Yes. On my way to the city to see her mother. Please don’t tell Martine. Keep her on lockdown and watch her carefully until I get back.

Fuck. And lockdown? Hello! She was a grown woman. She could do as she pleased. But that didn’t worry her nearly as much as what could happen if her father got his hands on Derrick. “My father will kill him if he catches him, Jerry.”

“Derrick’s a werewolf. Not so easily killed.”

“But my father is a drunk familiar. Who knows what he could do to him? Derrick’s strong, sure, but how will he combat magic?” How would she, for that matter? It didn’t make any difference. All that mattered was keeping her mother and Derrick safe.

“Not if we go help him,” Jerry enticed, holding up the keys to his truck.

“How are we going to do that? He asked you to keep me on lockdown. You’d be going against his wishes. Maybe we should go to Max and ask his advice?”

Jerry shrugged his shoulders, pushing a hand over his square jaw. “I guess we could. But you know Max. Always playing it safe.”

Screw safe. Screw sitting here and waiting to find out if Derrick was going to come out of this unscathed. Her father scared the living shit out of her with his loose-cannon ways, but Derrick or her mother getting hurt scared her more. “Okay, let’s just go. But how are we going to get out of here? Don’t we have to go through town? What if someone sees us?”