“Yes, I can,” Mac said, scowling at her, and then he added, “Or I would if I knew why the hell I should take off the nice clean clothes I just put on.”
“I told CJ I did not know your size and could not bring you clothes,” Marguerite said abruptly, looking like she was ready to burst out of Julius’s arms and start undressing him again. “You cannot let her see you dressed in the clothes we brought you.”
“I will just tell her that Bastien sent them with Bricker and Decker and you didn’t know it,” Mac assured her with a small frown, not sure why the woman had bothered to lie at all, but not wanting to reveal that she had if he could help it.
“You cannot do that,” Marguerite said with exasperation. “If you have clothes, there would be no need for her to take you shopping.”
“So?” he asked with bewilderment.
“So, I’ve read her mind, Macon. If she is free of the need to take you shopping she will abandon you here and go find and interview Keith Kaye in person, and you will not get the opportunity to woo her,” she said grimly.
“Who’s Keith Kaye?” Justin Bricker asked with curiosity.
“Some kid who got beat up by a police officer during an arrest. CJ is here to investigate the matter on behalf of the Special Investigations Unit,” Mac explained, frowning now as well. It was CJ’s job to interview both Keith Kaye and Officer Jefferson, and she probably would take off and get to it if he didn’t have an excuse to keep her near.
Cursing, he turned on his heel and headed back to the bathroom to change back into the pajama bottoms and T-shirt he’d just thrown out. He’d been relieved to get out of them. After the fire and his being boiled in the bath, followed by hours sitting, pacing, then tossing and turning in them while he’d tried to sleep, they had started to look sad and smell even worse. At least to him, and probably any other immortal around. An immortal’s sense of smell was as keen, or keener, than a dog’s thanks to the nanos circulating through their bodies. But hopefully his clothes didn’t smell as bad to mortals, because he wasn’t going to get far wooing CJ if he smelled bad.
Muttering under his breath, Mac snatched his previous clothes out of the garbage bin, and grimaced at their wrinkled and now damp state thanks to his stepping on them when he’d got out of the shower. Sighing in resignation, he removed his clean jeans and quickly shook out and then pulled the unclean clothes back on. He did not remove his boxers first, though. To hell with that. He’d just showered. He wanted something clean between himself and the material that still had bits of his dead skin attached to the inside of the cloth. The material had apparently melted to his skin in places in the boiling water, or perhaps his skin had melted to the material. Whatever the case, while a lot of it had fallen out when he’d removed the clothes, and again when he’d just shaken them out, not all of it had.
“Disgusting,” he muttered to himself as he finished dressing. This time when he took a moment to look in the mirror and smooth his hair, Mac didn’t feel nearly as good as he had the first time.
Life, he decided, had an interesting way of kicking you in the balls just when you thought things were going your way. Of course, there was the other side too. Just when you were experiencing the very worst day of a long and event-filled life, you met your life mate, turning it into the best day of your life. Basically, it seemed to him that when it came to life, you just had to roll with it and wait to see what happened next.
“Better?” he growled in question as he stomped back out to join the others.
“Perfect,” Marguerite said with a pleased smile.
“Perfect?” Bricker asked dubiously. “He smells. How is he supposed to woo her while he stinks like death?”
Mac’s shoulders slumped at the words. It was a question he was wondering himself.
“You will not smell to CJ,” Marguerite said soothingly to him. “She is mortal, and—” she rushed to the back of the RV and the bathroom he’d just left, and came back just as quickly with what he could only presume was Julius’s cologne in hand “—this will help,” she finished as she began to spray him with it. “Now go before she thinks of a way to get out of taking you shopping.”
Mac led Bricker and Decker to the door, even as she ordered, “And take your time about shopping, then take her to lunch. And you boys give them some space. Watch, but from a distance so he can woo her.”
“Aunt Marguerite seems eager to help you claim your life mate,” Decker commented with mild amusement once they were out of the RV and crossing the backyard.
“Hmm,” Bricker grunted in agreement when Mac didn’t comment. “She’s certainly more helpful than you bastards were with me and Holly.”
Mac glanced at Bricker and raised an eyebrow in question when the comment made Decker laugh.
The younger immortal scowled at Decker for his amusement, but then told Mac, “Decker and Anders did their best to screw with me when I met my life mate, Holly, telling me she liked things she hated and a bunch of junk like that. It was a shit show.”
“We were just paying you back for the stuff you said and did when we met our life mates,” Decker said, still chuckling. “You deserved it, man.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Bricker muttered. “Maybe I did, but I already had it hard with Holly and you guys just made it worse.” Turning to Mac, he explained, “Holly was married when I met her.”
Mac winced at the words, knowing that would have been a serious problem. Immortals were not supposed to interfere with a mortal’s marriage. Ever. “How did you claim her if she was married?”
“Well, see,” Bricker began, and then paused when the porch door clanged shut and CJ jogged down the steps to approach them.
“If we’re going shopping, let’s go,” she said a touch shortly as she walked past them, heading for her car.
Mac and the other two men stared after her briefly, then hurried to catch up.
“Right now?” Mac asked, once they’d closed the distance between her and them.
“Yes. I have a job to do, and the sooner we get started, the sooner we’ll be done and I can do what I’m here for,” she said firmly, and then stopped abruptly to ask, “Or would you rather wait until later? Mrs. Vesper says there is a taxi service in town. She has the phone number. She’ll give it to you if you want—”
“No, no. Now’s fine,” he assured her.
“Great,” CJ growled, not sounding like she thought it was great at all. Turning abruptly on her heel, she continued around the RV to her car. Hitting the button on her fob to unlock the doors, she said, “Get in.”
Mac claimed the front passenger seat as she slid behind the wheel. Bricker followed him around to the passenger side and took the seat behind him while Decker got in behind CJ.
The first part of the drive was extremely quiet. Exceedingly so. CJ obviously wasn’t happy with this chore. Mac tried to think of something to say to break the silence and hopefully ease the mood, but couldn’t seem to come up with anything. In the end, it was Bricker who broke it by saying, “Hey, Mac, you should probably introduce us, don’t you think?”
Relieved to have been handed an opening gambit, Mac said at once, “Yes, of course. CJ Cummings, this is Justin Bricker and Decker Argeneau Pimms.”
“Most people call me Bricker,” Bricker put in even as Decker said, “Nice to meet you, CJ.”
“Pleasure,” CJ said politely, and then commented, “So, Mac’s boss, Bastien, sent you, right? You guys are security working for Argentis Inc.?”
A moment of silence followed as Mac turned in his seat to cast an alarmed gaze on the two men in the back. For a moment he was afraid they’d say no, but he needn’t have worried; immortals quickly got used to having to lie to people. They could hardly go around telling the truth. If mortals knew they shared the world with what they would consider vampires, who fed off of them, they’d most likely hunt them down and try to kill them.
“Bastien thought we should come check out things and keep an eye on Mac, yes,” Decker answered, and Mac was actually impressed that he’d managed to answer without lying. Because while Bastien had thought someone should look into the matter, he wouldn’t have been the one to send Decker and Bricker. Mortimer was in charge of them.
“Are you both American, then?” CJ asked next.
“No,” Decker answered even as Bricker said, “Yes.”
“Uh-huh. Which is it?” CJ asked dryly.
“Bricker was born in California and his family still lives there, but he lives in Canada now,” Decker explained, and then added, “And I mostly live in Canada, but my wife and I have been known to travel for work.”
“So, you weren’t sent here from New York?” CJ asked, and Mac tensed at the way her eyes narrowed at this news.
“No. Toronto,” Decker answered. “Argentis has offices there too, and it was more convenient to send us than drag a couple guys up from New York.”
CJ relaxed a bit and nodded.
“So, what do your initials stand for?” Bricker asked after another moment of silence.
“My first and second name,” CJ said in a tone that made Mac think she’d given that response so many times she didn’t even think about it anymore. He was disappointed, though. For a moment he’d hoped he’d finally learn the answer to that himself.
“Shall we guess?” Justin asked with amusement.
“Only if you feel like walking the rest of the way to Walmart,” CJ said, and this time her voice was cheerful, as if the thought of that made her happy.
Mac chuckled softly at her response, but was surprised when Bricker showed his amusement too by protesting on a laugh, “Stop! You remind me of my sister with your hard-ass talk. You’re making me homesick for California.”
Mac peered over his shoulder at the man. He had no idea if Bricker had a sister or was just using that line as a way to make CJ talk, but that’s what it did. He saw her gaze shift to the rearview mirror to look at Bricker and then she asked, “How long have you lived in Canada?”