Charade (Heven and Hell #2)(39)
Author: Cambria Hebert

“Sam! Stop it!” Heven yelled. Her fear slammed into me and it drew me up short. Pummeling her brother in front of her wasn’t a good idea.

I got off him and began walking away, but Cole got up and charged me, hooking his arms around my waist only for me to flip him back on the ground. “Don’t make me knock you out,” I snarled close to his face.

“If you aren’t going to do something, then I am.” I heard Heven say to Gemma.

“Let them get it out of their systems. Clearly, they have been waiting for a chance to fight.”

Heven snorted. “Since they met.”

“It makes sense.” I saw Gemma shrug when I pushed away from Cole. Like an idiot he came at me again.

Heven made a sound and jumped between us. Cole wasn’t expecting Heven’s sudden appearance and he tripped, trying not to plow into her and fell to the side. He lay on his back staring up at me breathing hard, his dark hair falling onto his forehead. I smirked. Heven smacked me in the stomach.

“Are you okay?” she asked Cole. He sat up and nodded.

He had a bloody lip.

Heven whirled on me. “You could have hurt him! I thought that things were better since we found out he’s my brother!”

“Don’t ever get in the middle of a fight like that again,” I said mildly. She glared. But I smiled and said, Things are better. I don’t want to kill him anymore, just punch him.

Heven was not amused. “Better be careful or I might punch you,” she muttered.

I grinned. I liked a feisty woman.

“You fight well,” Gemma was telling Cole as he got to his feet. “You should train with us.”

“Are you kidding? He kicked my ass.”

The guy got points for taking it like a man.

Gemma laughed. It made Cole smile. Gemma turned to Heven. “You should tell him.”

“I agree.” Heven nodded and glared at me practically daring me to argue.

They were right. He’d seen too much for him to just accept some generic explanation. Plus there were other advantages of letting Cole in on the secret.

It’s a good idea. He can watch out for you when I’m not around. I might not like him, but I know I can trust him.

Heven beamed with happiness and I figured this would get me out of kicking Cole’s butt a few minutes ago.

“I’ll come back tomorrow. We’ll meet here. Bring Cole,” Gemma told us. She began tossing the weapons into the bag she brought. Cole bent to help her, picking up her dagger. The one that no one was allowed to touch but her. I waited for her to react, but she just smiled, plucked it out of his hand, slid it into some sort of strap on her thigh, then tossed the bag of weapons over her shoulder and began to walk away.

I got a threat and Cole got a smile. Interesting.

“We can’t tomorrow. We have a meeting at school about our trip to Italy,” Heven hurried to tell Gemma. A meeting I forgot about until now. I wanted to train. I needed to. Today taught me how much I had to learn and I needed to learn it ASAP.

“I’ll meet you later, after the meeting,” I said, hoping she would agree. Hoping she would forget about Cole coming along.

“I’ll see you both then, late afternoon.”

So much for that idea.

“Wait,” Cole called after her.

“See you tomorrow,” she called without looking back.

Then she was gone.

Literally vanishing from sight.

It took us all a minute to recover from her abrupt disappearance, but then Cole was looking at Heven. “You have major explaining to do.”

Heven was staring after Gemma with a frown on her face.

What is it? I asked.

Gemma left before giving a few explanations of her own. Like, why exactly my brother’s aura isn’t like anyone else’s.

I stared at the spot that Gemma disappeared from. That was a good question, something I wouldn’t mind knowing the answer to either.

*   *   *

My muscles were screaming. I knew I would be sore after that training session with Gemma yesterday, but I didn’t know I would be this sore. My legs protested as I stepped down from my truck and I stood there on the sidewalk, stretching out my back muscles before climbing the stairs to the front door. The meeting at the school for the Italy trip was later this morning, but I wanted to come home and see Logan before I had to be there. My keys jangled together as I pulled them out of my pocket and lifted them to the lock on the door. But when I went to insert the key, the door swung open. It hadn’t been latched. It hadn’t been locked. What the hell was Logan thinking not closing and locking the door at night?

Why would he even need to open the door? It was late when I left to go back to Hev’s last night and I made sure it was shut and locked behind me. He had been sleeping…

“Logan?” I said, stepping inside the apartment, pausing to close the door and turn the lock.

There were no lights on and nothing looked disturbed. It didn’t take me but a glance to know he wasn’t in the apartment. There were no rooms to search except the bathroom, which I ran to and threw open the door. Empty. I looked around for some kind of note—some kind of sign about where he might be. There wasn’t one.

The entire apartment was empty.

My stomach twisted. I sank down onto the couch and stared at the floor. Where was he? Did I leave him alone too much? Was he mad because I didn’t “fix” him like he thought I could?

Did he run away?

I had to find him! I raced to the door, throwing it open and rushing down the stairs. It was still really early so the streets would be empty. If he was still in the area, he wouldn’t be too hard to track down.

I debated whether to go on foot or by truck… I could move faster on foot, my senses able to pick up his scent if he were nearby but what if he was hurt? I might need the truck.

I rushed toward the truck when something caught my eye. The door to the second-hand store I lived above was ajar. It was too early for the store to be open.

Logan.

Instead of bursting through the door like I wanted to, I pushed it open and stepped in, calling out. “Is anyone here?”

Then my eyes fell on the contents of the store and I froze.

It was completely destroyed.

A swear leaked from my lips as I took another step inside, stepping over a busted mirror and lamp. A noise from the back of the store caught my attention and I pivoted toward it. “Hello?”

I couldn’t see anyone because the destruction was so great. Overturned furniture, racks of clothing and broken glass were everywhere. The glass case that used to be at the front of the store was now shattered, its steel frame was tilted and leaning against the wall in the back.