A muscle ticked her in cheek. “Maybe I should have stayed in my closet.”
He wasn"t sure he wanted to know what she meant.
****
Margot wasn"t exactly certain how she had ended up digging around a room looking for who knew what in a stranger"s bedroom, but that was exactly what she was doing. Lael asked her to do it, and the longer she knew him the less inclined she felt to deny him anything.
Maybe it was the hurt in his eyes when he talked about there being no forgiveness for him.
What could he have done to warrant such self-hatred? She sighed. He wasn"t for her to fix. First she had to find out who the heck she was before she could even attempt to heal anyone else.
Maybe she had murdered a million people, and the trauma of her heinous actions had caused her to forget. Maybe the they who were after her were the police.
She rubbed at her eyes. When this was over, she planned to never leave her closet again. It was safe there, even if made her neck hurt.
“Find anything?” She jumped and stared up at Lael who leaned against the door. How could a man look so delicious simply leaning?
“It might help if I knew what I was looking for.” She stood up. “Or if you did this and I passed out the flyers I bought.” Margot pointed to the pile of papers she had set down when she came in the room. “Did the person who runs this place have any input?”
Lael shook his head. “No. They haven"t seen him in four days, and, on day five, tomorrow, they"ll give away his spot here, which is a shame. I didn"t realize he had been gone so long because I had two days off work.”
“Don"t blame yourself.”
She held up some of the funny drawings she had found on Henry"s dresser. They had caught her attention because of how many the man had doodled. It had seemed important to note them because Henry had invested a lot of time in them.
“Found these.”
Lael took them from her hand, and, for a moment, the heat of him touched her skin. She took a deep breath. The knot in her neck loosened a bit. “Are you always hot?”
He nodded, not taking his eyes off the notes. “I run a little warmer than most people.”
“How does that work? Don"t most people all run the same body temperature?” She wasn"t exactly sure what to do. Should she sit down? Go pass out the flyers? Run her hand up and down Lael"s arms to see if they were soft?
“There"s a slight variation to these things.” He smacked the notes down on the nightstand.
“Damn it.”
Her cheeks heated up. “Sorry, I won"t ask so many questions.”
“I"m not swearing because you"re asking about my body temperature.” He stood. “It"s these pictures. I"ve seen them before, and seeing them again isn"t making me happy. I think you should go distribute the flyers. I need a little more time to sneak around in here.”
“And what you"re planning to do, you don"t want me to see?” She walked and stood next to him.
“Right.”
The fact that he had admitted he wanted her to leave the room made her take pause. Most people lied. They"d say something to make her feel better. Or at least she thought they did. Lael
seemed constantly compelled to tell her the truth. Even when it was something she preferred not to hear.
The note had said not to trust anyone. But what about trusting a person who she shouldn"t believe? Eventually she would have to tell someone what was going on with her. It had been two weeks since she"d had a conversation with anyone. Maybe longer. But at least the last two weeks she remembered.
She was broke, alone, and terrified. Was Lael the they she had been warned against? She bit down on her lip, and her stomach grumbled.
Lael pulled a granola bar out of his pocket and held it out without taking his eyes off the paper. A proud person would say no, but she was too hungry to hold onto any falsehoods. She wanted to eat it, so she took it and opened it up to take a bite.
“Thank you.”
He nodded. “Welcome.”
“Lael, I have no memory before two weeks ago. I woke up alone with a note and a little bit of money. The note said I shouldn"t trust anyone. It told me they"d be coming after me. I"ve been living in my closet of my tiny apartment ever since. I don"t even know what town this is.” Her voice shook. “And I"m afraid, if I don"t start getting some answers soon, I"ll die.”
She closed her eyes. If he was one of the bad guys, then she was dead. He might as well get it over with. Margot didn"t need to watch.
His gentle touch on her arm invited her to open her eyes. “I won"t hurt you.”
“Do you think I"m crazy?” She pulled the note out of her pocket. “I carry it around.”
“I think we can figure this out.” His eyes met hers. “This is Braxton, Michigan. We"re maybe half an hour by car to Detroit.”
She sniffed. Tears pooled in her eyes. Why should she feel such relief? “Thank you.”
“A couple of things, if you can stand hearing them.” Lael sounded so kind. When she"d first seen him on the street, with his movie-star good looks, she"d not have pegged him for being sympathetic.
She wiped at her eyes. “Sure. Tell me what you"re thinking.” She put the note in her pocket.
If he"d been one of them, he"d have taken it from her.
“Well, number one, I"m certainly not letting you out of my sight today until we figure some of this out.”
He"d told her not to trust him, and yet his words allowed her to take a deep breath for the first time in weeks. “Do you think it makes me pathetic I"m so relieved?”
“Not at all. We all need help sometimes. I"ve needed it a lot.”
“Right. Nice of you to say, even if you"re only trying to make me feel better.”
“Margot.” Goosebumps jumped out on her skin with the way he said her name. “I never say anything I don"t mean.”
“Okay.” If she leaned into him, would he hug her? Take her in his big, muscled arms and let her stay there forever? She didn"t move. There had to be a limit on how needy she let herself be.
“The other thing you need to understand is the cards you found, well, they"re very bad news for Henry. Makes me think he is dead. A group called The Organization makes them. They"re a hate group who specifically target Guardians. They don"t keep prisoners for very long.” He paused. “Do you understand what I mean when I say Guardians?”
“I have my knowledge intact. I"ve only lost my personal memories. Guardians are the dudes who fly around New York City wearing the capes, and they charge for saving people.”
“They fly a lot of places but, yes, you"re right on with the rest of it. These symbols, the claws, and the two round eyes, they place this symbol on the side of all their inventions. Ten years ago, they tried to kill the head of Powers, Inc. and did murder some of his associates.
After, they went dormant, but reemerged five years ago. The Guardians have been fighting them ever since.”
“Who pays the Guardians for battling the Organization?”
Lael ran a hand through his blond hair. He suddenly looked tired. Had those dark circles under his eyes been there earlier?
“I think the Guardians might call fighting the Organization self-preservation. They don"t charge for those fights unless someone else is involved who hires them.”
“It"s such a strange system.” She walked to the window. “And your former employee,
Henry, was involved with them enough he drew a whole bunch of those pictures.”
“Looks that way.”
She turned around. If she and Lael had met under normal circumstances—whatever
"normal" meant—would they have liked each other? Or was she already involved with someone else? The thought had occurred to her before, but the more she knew Lael, the more she liked him. What if her heart wasn"t solely hers to give? Could she have a significant other who missed her, searched for her, wanted her home? Somewhere out there, was someone looking for her?
“Lael, I don"t remember anything about mys
elf.”
“I have ways of solving mysteries. We"ll get to the bottom of it.”
“See, that"s the thing.” She stepped toward him. “You"re a bit of an enigma yourself, aren"t you? I mean you help run a soup kitchen, which I find incredible. But you"re loaded with resources, somehow, allowing you to solve mysteries. Forgive me, but—it seems a little farfetched.” She rubbed her palms together. “I"m wondering if I made a mistake. Someone is after me, and you"re clearly more than you seem.”
“I won"t hurt you. Can you believe me?”
After he told her not to trust him? She shook her head, wanting her closet immediately. “I"m not sure.”
“Ah, damn it. Margot, I"m not a bad guy. I used to be a Guardian, okay? You"re right, I"m more than I seem. But I"m also less than I seem, too. You"re safe with me for now, and, if I think you won"t be permanently, then I"ll give you to someone who is better at this than me.”
She opened her mouth but no words came out. What did a girl say when the hunky blond from the homeless facility also proved to have super human powers?
Chapter Four
“How does a person go from being a Guardian to not? Can they actually fire you?”
She dug into her piece of apple pie as if it were the best thing she"d ever eaten. He sipped his coffee while trying not to enjoy the sight of her loving her dessert. Lael had prepared the dessert himself. He"d made all the pies that afternoon after they returned from the halfway house. But this one he had saved to put out until the rush was almost over so Margot could enjoy it. Not that she"d eat the whole thing herself.
There were others chowing down, too. But he only had eyes for her, which made his
stomach turn. He should not be feeling so completely taken with her. For Margot"s own sake, he should take a big emotional step away from her. People who got close to him either blew up, got dropped from the sky, or couldn"t trust him not to do something dumb.
She hadn"t asked him one thing about his Guardian status until then. He"d almost thought she"d forgotten it altogether.
But, apparently, she"d only been waiting to get her questions out.
He glanced around, wondering if anyone had heard her, but the remaining diners were focused on a football game on television.
“I quit.”
She looked up at him while she wiped her face with a napkin. When she missed a crumb, he reached out and brushed it away. She smiled, a gentle pink appearing in her cheeks.
Shit. He was in so much fucking trouble.
“You can quit being a Guardian?”
“You can when, five years earlier, your own recklessness got a girl killed. My co-workers didn"t trust me. I had to find something else to do with my life.”
She motioned around the room. “And you found it here.”
“I flew for hours, circled around a long time, and then, when I was finally too tired to go any further, I landed. Here. Felt like a sign.” He shook his head. How should he explain when who he was wasn"t exactly clear to him either?
“Seems a good place to be if you want to help people.” She smiled and set down her food.
“That"s what I thought, too.” Maybe he could make her smile again. She lit up a room.
Margot turned her attention away from him and frowned. “Your former co-workers are on television again. This time it looks as if they"re fighting a giant metal bee.”
He stared at the television to see Ace circling in the air around the black and yellow contraption. “Yeah…they do seem kind of busy lately.”
Lael forced his gaze down to the table. Watching his brothers awoke old hurts and longings he could never act on. They had metal monsters to manage; he had smaller, but just as important, concerns. And he actually might be able to help. Finding Henry could lead the Guardians to where the Organization was hiding out.
He could offer assistance while still maintaining his separate life.
“Here"s what I want to do, sweetheart.” The nickname was out of his mouth before he could stop it, and he spoke quickly to try to cover the slip. “I want to take you to my apartment. You"ll be safe there. I need to do some investigation about Henry and the Organization.”
She chewed on her lower lip. “No.”
“No?” He had expected an argument, but flat refusal surprised him. In the future, he"d need to remember that, even when Margot seemed down, she wasn"t out. His beautiful enigma possessed a spine made of steel.
“Yes. I mean no.” She stood up. “That was confusing. No. I"m not sitting in your apartment and waiting. They might find me there. You might be a former Guardian, but you"re more Guardian than I"ll ever be. I need help, and I"m not too proud to beg. Wherever you"re headed, I"m coming along.”
His cock jumped to attention with her use of the word "coming." Man. He swallowed He had to be really hard up to be adolescent about sex. He shifted in his seat. Somehow he"d get control of himself. Even if she wanted it, sex with her might be a problem. Some women couldn"t handle Guardians in the bedroom. He rubbed at his forehead and tried to concentrate before he got any more ahead of himself.
She continued speaking. “Listen, I"ve been thinking, and there"s a chance I come from people with means. Maybe I don"t. But I figure it"s got to be a fifty-fifty chance, right? When you help me figure out who I am, I can pay you.”
Lael tried and failed to stop himself from gritting his teeth. “I"ll help you without the money.
I don"t give a shit about it. I never did.”
Why did her words make him so mad? He wasn"t Draco. It didn"t fall to him to defend why Guardians charged for their services. Lael hadn"t worked for Powers for months.
“Oh.” She sunk down into her chair. “Then can I stay with you? Please?”
“Yes, Margot.” He stood. “You can. But, if it gets dangerous you"ll do what I say the second I tell you to. Understand?”
She saluted him. “Absolutely.”
The room filled with a strange, green light. It burned his eyes, but, unlike the others in the room, he didn"t have to close his lids to manage the glare.
Margot screamed as she covered her eyes with her hands. Soon every other soul in the room shouted at the top of their lungs. “Oh, the pain!”
Lael rose to his feet and looked around the room for the source of the green light. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary except for the painful illumination.
“Everyone be calm,” he shouted over the screaming. “If you can hear me, make your way to the door.”
No one moved, and he rushed to Margot. If they couldn"t hear him to move, he"d simply get them out one at a time himself. He grabbed at Margot and tried to lift her up, but she was glued to the seat. He yanked harder, not wanting to risk breaking any of her bones.
There was a fine line between his using his extra strength and his crushing her in the process. If she was stuck to her seat because of the green light—whatever the hell it turned out to be, and he"d bet money on the Organization—than he"d move the whole damn thing. With a hard yank on the chair he lifted her in the air.
She cried out louder, and he ran for the door holding the chair with her in it pressed against his chest.
Outside, the light didn"t reach them. She ceased screaming and took her hands off her face.
Lael quickly set the chair down on the ground.
Before he could over-think the desire, he kissed the top of her head. Her hair smelled of strawberries, and he let it wash over him. “Stay here. I need to get everyone out.”
“Lael.” Her eyes were filled with tears. “I know what the light is."
“Okay, tell me in a minut. But first the people. Stay put.”
She nodded, and he ran into the eating area. They were all stuck to their seats the same way Margot had been. He moved them all outside before making his way into the kitchen. When he walked into the food preparation area, he stopped short. There was no green light in the room.
The kitchen was empty, no one occupied it, and there wasn"t a trace of the green light. This w
as exactly the type of situation he preferred to face with Draco. His brother sorted out a mystery better than anyone he knew. But, since Lael had only his own deductive skills to work with, he had to have to do the best he could.
Margot had told him she knew the green light. He"d start there.
Lael ran outside. The people had all stayed still as if they"d been instructed to, but they now stood in a circle, with Margot separated a bit to the right. She looked pale, her big eyes standing out even more than usual on her face.
Everyone seemed to be talking at once, but none of them knew anything, and he dismissed their chatter for the moment. The green light was gone. Damn it, the whole thing got weirder by the second.
Lael walked over to Margot. “You okay?”
“The ringing in my ears has stopped.” She rubbed at her nose. “And I guess that"s a good thing.”
“A very good thing.” He waited a second, not wanting to rush her. “What the hell was it?”
“Aliens.” She met his gaze, her own steady when she spoke the very last word he ever wanted to hear in his life.
“Aliens?” He tried not to choke on the word.
“Yes. It"s aliens. They abducted me from my apartment several weeks ago. I"m a little vague on the other details, but the green light brought it all back. Images. Prodding. Strange noises.
Hard to explain, but I remember.”
Lael took a deep breath and tried to steady himself. “I"ve seen a lot of things, sweetheart—”
Margot stepped forward. “Your tone. It"s…skeptical. You"re a Guardian, and you"re looking at me like, because I said the word aliens, you want to throw up.”
He had to do a better job of schooling his features. “My experience, as a Guardian and before, tells me when someone thinks they"ve been abducted by aliens, then something else has usually happened.”
“You don"t believe me.”
“I didn"t say that. Let me get these people under control, and then we can talk about it. If there"s no other explanation than we"ll talk…aliens.” Even saying the word tasted bad in his mouth.