Flushed with embarrassment, Jai huffed. “You’re so full of it.”
“You’re in denial, dick.”
“You're the dick.”
“Well, this is very mature,” Trey laughed. “But in all seriousness, Jai, you’ve got to let go of this crap with Luca.”
“She’s just a girl.”
“Okay, maybe she is. You still gotta let this stuff go.”
“I will if you tell your dad you bat for the other team.”
“I don’t. I bat for both teams.”
“You know what I mean.”
There was silence down the other end of the line, and then it crackled as Trey sighed heavily. “We’re trapped, aren’t we?”
The truth of that statement left a gnawing ache in his chest. There was a possibility he was going to go through his whole life trying to measure up to his father’s inexorable expectations. And there was a chance he was going to lose everything meaningful trying. “I think we are, yeah.”
After another moment’s silence, Trey asked, “So, did she like the earring?”
Jai shook his head, a wry smile curving his lips despite himself. “I think so.”
“You still pretending what happened didn’t happen?”
“I have to.”
“Answer me one thing.”
“Okay?”
“She’s hot, isn’t she?”
“Goodbye, Trey.”
“No, come on, man, I want details.”
“She’s not for you, Trey,” Jai warned, feeling that inexplicable possessiveness take over again. Why was Trey so interested in her?
“I know that, didn’t we just cover that? Jeez, someone’s a little overprotective. I just want to know if the girl who’s got you all tied up in knots is hot?”
“She’s not got me all tied up in knots.”
“No, but you wish she did.” He chuckled.
Rolling his eyes at his friend’s weak joke, Jai sighed heavily. “She’s hot. Now fuck off.” He hung up, feeling exhausted. Sometimes talking to Trey was like talking to a politician. He ran you round in circles and you never really got anywhere.
A chill shot through Jai’s body and he stiffened. The sensation was something he experienced when a person he had under trace was in danger.
Ari!
Heart pounding, Jai drew himself up, letting the flames of the peripatos overwhelm him. Two seconds later, he stepped out into Vickers Woods, the smell of damp moss and wet grass hitting his nose just as his eyes fell in horror on the scene before him. Derek laid slumped at the feet of a shaitan and beside him was Ari, unconscious at the feet of another shaitan. The tall one over Derek’s lifeless body smiled at Jai, his teeth sharp silver points that glittered in the afternoon sun.
“I bring a message from the White King.”
Jai’s eyes narrowed, fury flowing into his veins. “Yeah?”
The shaitan winked at him. “Checkmate.”
With one last smirk, and just as Jai was darting toward them, the two jinn stepped back, huge flames engulfing them as they returned to Mount Qaf. Panic consumed Jai. His movements felt slow, his heart rate too fast, and his vision blurred. He fell upon Ari and rolled her over, two fingers resting on her neck. At the feel of her pulse beating steadily beneath his skin, Jai cursed, relief unfurling through his entire body. His throat burned with unnamed emotion and he leaned over, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead and inhaling her familiar vanilla scent. He brushed a trembling hand down her cheek, her skin the softest, finest thing he’d ever felt. He drank in each tiny detail, the long fan of her lashes, the small delicate nose, her full soft lips. Longing punched him in the gut and he sighed, retreating from her. This was getting ridiculous.
With a little distance, sense returned, and Jai rushed over to Derek. Derek looked abnormally pale. Worry spiked through his blood again and Jai nudged Ari’s dad over, his fingers reaching for his pulse. He frowned, not feeling anything. He shifted his fingers, waiting to feel that little steady press in and out against the pads of his fingers.
Nothing.
Disbelief shot through him. There was no pulse. Remembering the shaitan’s ominous message, Jai sat back on his heels and held out his hands, palms downward, moving them through the air above Derek’s body, searching for a trace of jinn magic. It wasn’t until he reached Derek’s head that his hands tingled and he sensed the trauma caused by the shaitans’ hands.
“No way.” He fell backward.
He had been sitting there mooning over Ari like an adolescent boy all the while her dad…
The air crackled behind him and Jai whirled, lowering himself into a defensive position, protecting Ari and her dad’s body. At the sight of the Red King, Jai straightened. The look on Ari’s uncle’s face drove home the truth. Stepping toward Jai slowly, his huge body tense with emotion, the Red King shook his head, his red hair swinging below his waist. “He’s gone,” he told Jai sadly. “My brother sent the message to me knowing I would be too late to stop him.”
“This is revenge?”