Possession (Fallen Angels #5)(110)
Author: J.R. Ward

Adrian, who was off to the side, gave a nod.

“How’s she doing?” Jim asked as he came up to the guy.

Dumb f**king question.

Adrian shrugged. “She’s amazing. That’s how she’s doing.”

“Oh.” Jim cleared his throat. “Yeah. Good.”

Talk about inappropriate. He wasn’t actually chaffing at his buddy over here because the bastard had taken the girl to her funeral.

Wow. Classy.

With tangible sorrow, her parents put their arms around their remaining daughter and the trio turned away, leaving Sissy behind.

“Gimme me a minute, would ya?” Jim asked.

Not waiting for an answer, he went over to Sissy. “Hey, there.”

She jumped as if surprised. “Oh, hi.”

Instantly, he recognized that something was off with her. But come on, like this was happy times? “How you feeling?”

“Good. You know, fine. Okay. I’m all right.”

He wanted to put his arms around her and pull her into his chest. He wanted his body to be what she held on to as she struggled to find her footing. He wanted to be the guy she turned to when she needed something, anything.

Instead, they just stood side by side, as her eyes clung to her mother, father and sister. The emotion in her face was so powerful, it was like a tangible object, something with heft and substance and a handle to grab onto.

God knew she was going to be carrying that shit around with her for a very, very long time.

Just as he was about to tell her how sorry he was, she shook her head and met his eyes. “So, how’s work?”

Bizarre thing to ask about, considering what she was going through, but maybe she needed the distraction?

“Good. Fine. You know.”

Guess two could play at that game.

She nodded over at the tall, dark-haired man Jim had been tailing for the past twenty-four hours. “Is he the soul?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh.”

“Listen, Sissy, I can …” Do what? Take some more time off? Not going to happen. Devina might not have shown up here, but she was, as always, a busy little bitch.

You can’t blame a girl for trying.

God, he couldn’t believe she’d somehow infiltrated the spell around the mansion. And crap, he needed to tell Adrian what had happened. It was just so damned embarrassing. He had, however, redoubled the protection at the house. Maybe it had weakened because he’d had his head up his ass—

“… was he an angel, too?”

He shook himself back to attention. “I’m sorry?”

“The other guy? Who’s with my old teacher over there?”

Jim pivoted. “I’m so not following this. What?”

“Over by the Lexus. That singer with the ponytail. He’s got a halo, too—but everyone can see him.”

About twenty-five yards off, a blond-haired woman was getting into an SUV with a man who was tall and had long black hair. Neither one appeared to be particularly happy, but there was certainly no glow or anything around either of their heads.

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” Jim said gently. Damn it, he wanted to go home with her—

“The guy has a halo, like you and me.”

Cranking his head back around, Jim frowned. “Halo?”

Sissy rolled her eyes and made a little circle around her skull. “Can’t you see mine?”

“No. There’s nothing there.”

“Oh. Well, I see them. And you’ve got one, too.”

Sure, fine, whatever. “Listen, I hate to do this, but I’ve got to go.”

Duke Phillips was looking around as if searching for him, and if Jim didn’t make an appearance in the next nanosecond or two, the guy was going to be convinced he was losing his mind—not a good thing, considering Jim had been getting f**king nowhere with this soul yet.

“It’s okay, you do you.” Sissy glanced back at Adrian. “I think he and I are going for a drive. I need to clear my head. I feel … really weird … right now.”

Jim ground his teeth. “Okay. Yeah, sure. I get it. I’ll check in later, all right?”

“Sure.”

She was the one who turned away, and she did not look back as she went over to his buddy. On Adrian’s side? As she approached, the angel’s face had a softness to it that Jim had never seen before.

Great. Just f**king wonderful.

Chapter Fifty-two

“I was going to tell you sooner.”

Cait put the brakes on as she came up to one of the cemetery’s fleet of stop signs. Glancing over, she did not feel good about wherever G.B. was at in his head. He was staring out the side window, chin propped up on the knuckles of his hand, eyes narrowed coldly.

It was a reminder of how she didn’t really know him.

“But honestly,” she continued, unsure whether he was listening, “I didn’t know where things were going.”

Hitting the gas again, she tried to remember how to get out of the cemetery. She wasn’t so hot with directions on a good day, and this had not been a good day. Left?

Why the hell not.

Turning the wheel, she felt the graves press in on her, a chill frisking the back of her neck.

“I’m sorry,” he said abruptly. “I just … I would have liked a chance to see what you and I could be together. That’s all.”

He didn’t look at her. Just kept staring off into space.

“It’s complicated,” he tacked on.

“I haven’t handled this well.” She cursed under her breath. “It was so weird—I met both of you on the same night.”

And it was odd to think they seemed to know each other a little—what were the chances? Then again, Caldwell was a small city—not as close-knit as a town, sure, but it wasn’t a Manhattan or Chicago, either.

He rubbed his eyes. “This has just been a really strange couple of days.”

“I’m so sorry I’ve added to the difficulty.”

He didn’t say much else on the way back to St. Patrick’s, and though she hated to admit it, it was a relief to pull up next to the front door and put the SUV in park so he could get out.

Turning to him, she wondered what to say.

“Cait, I’ve got to tell you something—”

A phone went off, and the ringing was not hers. With a soft curse, G.B. shoved a hand into his suit coat, and as he looked at the number, he seemed annoyed.

“Hold on, I gotta take this.” He put the thing up to his ear. “Hello? Yeah, hey, Detective, how are you? You were? I didn’t see you during the service. Oh, yeah, thanks.” There was a silence. “I have rehearsals today—I’m actually in trouble because I’ve been gone for so long this afternoon. Okay. Fine. Yeah, I’ll come over again. Right now? All right, gimme a minute to get downtown.”